(A/N) Thanks to liz.r for betaing!

I originally intended for this to be a one-shot, but then I had an idea on how to continue it so... Yeah, you guys know how that goes.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you're the butterfly kwami," Alya said.

The kwami nodded. "My name's Nooroo."

He hesitated. "Did- did you rescue my Miraculous from-"

Bubbles came out of his mouth.

"Are you alright?" Alya asked, alarmed.

Nooroo nodded. "It's an ancient spell. We can't reveal the identities of our wielders."

Alya grimaced. "I can see that being useful, but it kinda sucks right now." She let out a sigh. "I'd already guessed who had you at least. It's the only option that makes sense."

Nooroo tilted his head to the side, looking up at her questioningly.

She scrolled through Adrien's instagram feed, showing Nooroo the picture of Gabriel hugging his son. "Gabriel only hugs Adrien after he almost dies… but he might ALSO do it if coerced into it. Say, by an akuma keeping his Miraculous hostage."

Nooroo looked morose, his wings wilting. "...Yes," he said, in the faintest voice Alya could imagine.

He was just too cute and sad. SCREW YOU, Gabriel.

Oh, what the hell.

Reaching out, she patted him on the head, using a single finger because he was so small. He… was he purring? Could butterflies purr?

Huh. Apparently if their wings vibrated quickly enough they could. Was- was that Nooroo's equivalent of tail wagging?

Kwami biology was weird. Or butterfly kwami biology was weird. Whichever.

How could anyone mistreat this sweet little butterfly puppycat?

...Okay actually Gabriel managed to hold off on hugging his own son, so clearly he's allergic to cuteness and sunshine.

*ping*

Oh yeah, she was in the middle of uprooting Adrien's entire world. Damn Nooroo's distracting adorableness.

What do you mean? Adrien typed back.

She took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. No going back.

Just a couple minutes ago, I found a brooch in my pocket, one I've never seen before. I must've snatched it while I was Lady Wifi. I pulled it out and well - she snapped a pic of the butterfly kwami, who looked a little less sad after the petting, looking around curiously at her room instead - you can see the result.

...Did the brooch change the color of your wall? Or do something to your bed? Sorry, I've never been in your room, I can't tell.

She blinked. Uh, can't you see the-

Wait.

The pic she sent.

She'd been sure she'd centered the shot on Nooroo - she'd used her phone camera often enough, she barely needed to look at the camera screen to know what it'd show.

Yet, he was entirely absent from the photo she sent Adrien.

Experimentally, she tried to take a picture of Nooroo again, paying close attention this time so she could be absolutely certain she didn't miss.

And stared.

She moved her phone closer to him.

She changed the angle.

She even shook her phone (which she knew wouldn't help, but it made her feel better, dammit!)

"Uh… Nooroo? Are you a vampire kwami?"

"Nooo? Fangg was in a different box," he said, puzzled.

...She'd unpack that later. "Then do you know why you're not showing up on-camera?"

"Oh! Kwamis can't be seen by technology."

Good to know. Inconvenient right now though.

Never mind, Nooroo says that kwamis can't be seen by tech.

WHAT?!

Oh right, Adrien would have no idea about Nooroo or kwamis. He'd never used a Miraculous before. Kwamis give Miraculous holders their power. Nooroo is- was- Hawkmoth's kwami.

"And never will be his again, if I have anything to say about it," she muttered.

She waited a minute.

Then another.

And another.

Before, Adrien had been reading her messages instantly. Now? Now it'd been several minutes and her previous message was still unread.

Please, please let Adrien just have needed to reply to someone else. To just have been interrupted. It'd only been a few minutes, it didn't mean much, right?

Unless Gabriel heard all the pings and confiscated Adrien's phone-

No. Don't think like that. If she started down that road she'd start catastrophizing, and she knew how much that didn't help, what with helping Marinette with her anxiety.

*knock knock*

Her blood froze. Slowly, she inched to the side, fumbling for some sort of weapon.

There weren't any.

Note to self: get a baseball bat. Or a knife. Or a shuriken.

Black cat ears twitched.

She let out a sigh of relief. Then frowned. "Chat Noir? How'd you get here so fast?"

"I- uh- I was visiting with Adrien! You know, just checking up on a lonely civilian!" he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Especially with his father…" his face turned stormy. "You meant it, about Nooroo and the Miraculous?"

Nooroo flitted into view. "Chat Noir!" he said excitedly. He drooped a moment later. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to fight against you, but-"

Chat gave the little kwami a reassuring, but strained smile. "It's alright, I know you didn't have a choice. No one under his control does." He muttered the last part bitterly.

"You've got a pretty good idea what he's like, huh?" Alya asked softly.

Chat's eyes darted around the room. "Uuuuuhhh…"

"What with being Adrien's friend," she continued. "I'm glad he has someone who can visit him when he's locked up. Not even Nino can do that, as much as he'd like to."

"Yeah, sure!" Chat said hastily, rubbing the back of his neck. "That's definitely why I know what he's like."

She narrowed her eyes, but let it go for now. There were more important concerns than Chat Noir's strange evasiveness. "Did Adrien seem okay?" she asked urgently. "Do you think he's in any danger? I'd hope he'd be safe from his own father, but…"

Chat grimaced. "But I wouldn't count on it," he said, continuing Alya's thought. "Hawkmoth's attacked plenty of times when he knew his son was in the line of fire. Don't worry, I moved Adrien somewhere safe. He's shaken, but he'll manage."

She let out a sigh of relief. One problem taken care of.

"Did you contact Ladybug yet?" she asked. "To figure out a game plan?"

He shook his head, looking faintly embarrassed. "We've suspected Gabriel before," he admitted. "It didn't pan out. He was akumatized later that day, so we crossed him off the suspect list. I wanted to make sure you were right before calling her over."

She frowned. "But he has an accomplice. He could've gotten Mayura to akumatize him."

He made a face. "This was before we knew about her. We just… never revisited the theory."

"Why'd you suspect him in the first place?"

Chat shook his head. "I didn't. Ladybug did. She said she had proof, but she couldn't show it to me. It did make sense though, even without it. He's alone often, he could easily pause his work to go and prey on people's sadness and anger. Plus…" He pulled out his stick, opening a screen. "He has this whole butterfly motif going on. Like, on these shoes he had Adrien model, for instance."

Her eyebrows shot up. Sure enough, there was a highly stylized butterfly. "You know, normally I'd say this was a point against him being Hawkmoth," she said. "But considering how over-the-top Hawkmoth is, I could see him doing that. Wouldn't have pegged Gabriel for the type, though."

"Yeah well," Chat said bitterly. "There's a lot of things I never would've thought he'd do."

"Do you have any idea who his accomplice might be?" she asked, changing the subject. She had an idea, but best to get a second opinion.

His eyes dropped to the floor. For the first time, he looked more sad than angry. "Nathalie, it has to be," he whispered. "She's the only one who makes sense. Gabriel doesn't have a lot of visitors, and he's not exactly the most trusting person in the world."

"She wouldn't turn him in? I mean, I guess she'd need proof…"

He shook his head. "I think she and Gabriel… they seem closer than just employer and employee. Nathalie practically raised Adrien since M-" he hesitated for just a moment, "my friend's mother fell ill. He thinks of- thought of- Nathalie as family already. He was ready to welcome her as his stepmother."

She winced.

"That's not going to happen now," Chat said, his voice steely. "Not after all this."

Yeah, with Nathalie-

Wait.

Nathalie was Mayura.

Alya had the Butterfly Miraculous.

She didn't have the Peacock.

If Gabriel had any clue that she was the reason his Miraculous was missing-

"Chat, we need to leave," she said urgently. "NOW."

He looked at her, confused. "What's wrong?"

She opened her mouth-

*swoosh*

Something flew through the window.

Instinctively Chat rushed in front of her, extending his stick.

And relaxed.

"Buginette!" "Ladybug!".

"Geez, you scared me to death," Alya complained, collapsing onto her bed. She frowned. "How'd you know to come here? I thought Chat hadn't called you."

"Oh-uh- well-" Ladybug stammered. "I- I was just on patrol and saw Chat come in here, figured I'd see what he was up to."

Chat looked hurt. "You started patrolling without me?"

"Sorry Kitty," she said soothingly. "I just needed a little alone time. I was going to call you once I'd gotten it out of my system. Then I saw you enter Alya's window and well, I didn't have to."

He gave her a small smile. "It's alright, I know what that's like. Jumping around Paris, feeling the wind in your hair… it makes all your problems seem small, insignificant. Or at least, they can't catch up to you, not when you're free-falling off the Eiffel Tower."

She might need to talk with Chat after this was over. Or talk to Ladybug about talking to Chat. That didn't bode well.

She glanced at Ladybug, gauging her reaction to Chat's words, and frowned. The superheroine hadn't changed expression at all.

Maybe she was just overthinking things. If even his partner wasn't worried, then it must not be a big deal.

Now if only she could turn off the part of her brain that kept screaming that he needed hugs. Must be left over from Adrien. Not everyone has neglectful supervillain parents, brain.

Ladybug's eyes drifted towards her hands. Self-consciously, Alya stuck them in her pockets.

The cool stone of the Butterfly Miraculous met her touch.

"We know who the Butterfly wielder is."

Ladybug didn't even blink. "Who?"

"It's Gabriel, Milady," Chat Noir stated, sounding as dead and crumbling as a cataclysmed object. "You were right all along."

"How do you know? How can you be sure?" Ladybug demanded.

"Last time, you didn't find this," Alya took her hand out of her pocket, slowly uncurling her fingers.

The Butterfly Miraculous sat innocently in her palm.

Ladybug's eyes fixated on the gem. "I should take that," she said, reaching out for it. "I can take it somewhere safe.

Instinctively Alya drew it close to herself.

"I…"

No.

No, she'd already done this.

When Ladybug first gave her the Fox Miraculous, she'd been reluctant to hand it over, for her time in the spotlight to be done. She thought she could help more as a superhero than as merely a reporter on the sidelines.

In the process, she came close, so very, very close, to breaking the trust Ladybug had in her.

She didn't want to do that again.

Slowly, she relaxed. Maybe she'd be able to help with the fight as Rena Rouge, or spread the news of Hawkmoth's identity as Alya Cesaire, Ladyblogger extraordinaire. Maybe she'd just get to comfort Adrien after his whole world has crumbled. She'd have a role, whatever the case. She'd get to help, to be important. She would matter.

As she slowly extended her arm again, she glanced at Nooroo.

He hovered in the corner of the room, not far from where he hid after Ladybug launched herself into Alya's room, frowning questioningly at the superheroine.

He hadn't reacted that way to Chat.

*beep beep*

Chat's eyebrows shot up. He pulled out his still-beeping stick. "Hello?"

Ladybug made a grab for the Butterfly Miraculous.

NOPE NOPE NOPE.

Alya scrambled backwards, fumbling for the doorknob.

"Chat Noir? What's wrong? I saw news reports of you racing across the city. Is something wrong?"

Chat grabbed Ladybug's arm as she tried to make a grab for Alya.

Or rather, the Ladybug Impostor's arm.

"I'm at Alya's. Come NOW," Chat said curtly.

"Chat, WHAT-" He ended the call, extending his stick to its usual combat length.

"You want the Butterfly Miraculous, faker?" he spat. "Come and get it."