After putting a few miles between himself and the mansion, Chat found a secluded rooftop and detransformed.
Adrien sank down, burying his face between his knees. Ladycat nuzzled him, purring.
"I wish you could talk," he told her. "You always know what to do, no matter how dire the circumstances. And even if you didn't, at least you'd be able to talk with me. You're one of the people I'm closest to. I think the only one who knows me better is Plagg. I miss you, My Lady. I know you're trying your best to cheer me up however you can, but... it's not the same. As adorable as you are like this," he reached down to scratch her head, "you're not really YOU right now. And I- I really need you."
Plagg peeked out from Adrien's shirt. "We need to get to Master Fu's. I don't know how much he can help you with, but you CANNOT go back to that house."
He breathed out slowly. "Okay, just tell me where to go."
He arrived at Master Fu's place a few moments later. It had been tricky making his way to Fu without being recognized (he was getting REALLY sick of that perfume ad being plastered everywhere), but he was pretty sure he'd managed it. Luckily for him, Ladycat seemed very amenable to the idea of draping herself on top of Adrien's head in order to help conceal him slightly. Leading Hawkmoth to Master Fu was NOT something he needed right now.
He burst into the room, "Master Fu!"
Fu jumped, startled. "Adrien! What are you doing here?"
Taking in Adrien's wide eyes, short breaths, and overall freaked-out expression, he grew even more alarmed. "Did something happen?"
Adrien burst out into wild, crazed laughter.
Ladycat jumped down from Adrien's head, making her way over to Master Fu and rubbing against him.
He reached down to pet her. "Ladybug, I presume?"
Plagg answered, since Adrien wasn't exactly coherent. "Yep. Unless you know of any other superpowered girls who could've been turned into cats. Or a regular superpowered cat."
He shook his head. "None that I know of."
He frowned. "I assume you came to see whether I could set her right? But you seem more frantic than I'd expect for that..."
Plagg opened his mouth, about to answer, when Adrien finally stopped laughing. He let out a deep, shuddering breath. "My father is Hawkmoth. And if he doesn't know I'm Chat Noir yet, he will soon."
Master Fu stared for a moment, then shook his head. "Why don't I put on some tea and start on a cure for Ladybug while you tell me what happened?"
Fu started grabbing ingredients, mixing them together and heating them over a stove.
Adrien blinked. "Cure for Ladybug? You can cure her, then?!"
Fu nodded. "Indeed I can. It will take some time for the full cure to take effect, however. It's hard to dispel magic using normal means. Ladybug will be stuck as a cat for the next three days, I'm afraid."
"WHAT?!" Adrien yelped. "THREE DAYS?! She's going to be stuck like this for THAT long?!"
"I'm afraid so. And the other people who were transformed are stuck until she can turn back. I don't have enough ingredients to cure all the people who were struck by Catwoman."
Adrien started hyperventilating again. "But what if an akuma attacks? How will we repair the damage? And- and her parents! They must be worried sick! She could wander off and fall into Hawkmoth's hands! And what if-"
Fu pressed a finger against his lips in a 'shushing' gesture. "Calm yourself, Chat Noir. First of all, all damage that occurs during any intervening akuma attacks will be fixed after Ladybug uses her Miraculous Cure. In the meantime, I recommend trying hard to avoid collateral damage when possible. As for her parents, I have it on good authority that they knew their daughter was going to be near the park at the time that the akuma attack occurred. It will not be difficult for them to draw a line from that to her disappearance. They will be worried, but will at least believe that their daughter is relatively safe in the care of the city, along with all the other people-cats."
Fu took the pot off of the stovetop. "As for your last point, you will not have to worry about her randomly wandering off. While it will take three days for the FULL cure to take effect, it will start PARTIALLY working within a few minutes of taking it. The cure dispels magic around the mind first, then the body. Mentally, she should be back to herself within minutes."
Fu poured the cure into a small cup, holding it out for Ladybug to drink from. She took one sip and turned up her nose, stalking away. It smelled TERRIBLE. That thing was NOT going in her mouth.
"Ladybug, you must drink," Fu told her firmly. She gave him a disdainful look, hopping onto a counter and proceeding to groom herself. Fu frowned. "This might be more difficult than I thought. We cannot force her to drink, she's too strong."
Adrien's heart dropped. He couldn't let that happen! He couldn't force her to drink, but maybe... hopefully... "Fu, can I try please?"
Fu handed the cup over, smiling at him. "Ah yes. If anyone could get her to drink, it would be you."
Adrien blushed slightly.
Slowly, he made his way over to Ladycat. She saw the cup and gave him a Look. Adrien didn't need to speak cat to get the message; do really expect me to drink that?!
Adrien just gave her a soft, sad smile. "I know, Ladybug. I know it's nasty. I know you don't want to drink it. And I can't make you. But it's the only way. I need my partner back. I need my friend back. Please. I- I don't want to try to do this without you."
She looked at the cup, and at his pleading eyes. Tentatively she stepped forwards, giving one experimental lap of the nasty-smelling liquid. Immediately she recoiled. It was just as bad as she thought.
She looked up at Her boy again, wanting to let him know exactly what she thought of him trying to give her this horrible substance... and then stopped. He was giving her the most heartbroken expression, like all his hopes and dreams had just died in front of him.
She wasn't sure what he was talking about before. Understanding Human speech was... difficult, and understanding what it MEANT, even more so. But she knew that he wanted, more than anything, for her to drink this nastiness.
She lowered her head and started drinking. She had to pause between every lap to let the bitter taste die down a bit before taking another drink (after a few rounds of this, Fu brought some water out, which let her get rid of the taste far faster), but she eventually got through the whole thing.
She didn't understand why it was so important to Her boy that she drink that. But his fond smile as she slowly drank it made it all worth it. She'd do anything to protect that smile.
She crawled into Her boy's lap, purring, and curled up. She felt a little strange after drinking all of that, but not bad.
Adrien stroked her, continuing to give her that loving smile.
Not bad at all.
Fu watched the two of them for a moment, then cleared his throat. "It will take a few moments for her to come fully to her senses. In the meantime, the tea is ready. Why don't you tell me what all led to you charging into my house? Don't worry, you don't have to get up."
Adrien blushed again, but started on the story of what had transpired this eventful afternoon.
Marinette dozed a bit. This bed was so nice and warm and comfy, and the PETTING... she wished it could continue all day.
Wait... petting?
Her eyes snapped open.
Fu looked back at her, a little concerned.
Ok... not too alarming. Not sure how she got here, but fine.
But he was in front of her. She looked down.
She saw someone's legs folded underneath her. As for her own legs...
She waved one of her 'hands' experimentally. A little cat paw waved back.
She was a cat.
SHE. WAS. A. CAT.
"Ladybug? Are you okay?"
That voice! She knew that voice!
She looked up.
Adrien Agreste stared back at her, worried.
WHAT WAS ADRIEN DOING HERE?!
She bolted up right, catapulting (she nearly groaned to herself. Chat would LOVE that one) about three feet into the air.
How- why- he should NOT know about this place! And he called her Ladybug. How did he know she was Ladybug?!
"My Lady!"
Her eyes went wide. She knew that voice. She knew those words. But why were they coming out of Adrien's mouth.
Oh right. Because Adrien was Chat, of course.
...Wait, WHAT?!
It all came flooding back. Being hit by Catwoman's laser, breaking the akumatized object, jumping around following Chat like the world's cutest bouncy ball (she just KNEW that there would be a few viral memes featuring her Superkitty form)
Jumping into the manor, seeing Plagg, finding out he was Chat... Being petted and stroked as he stared at her softly...
She felt her cheeks go red. Oh. Oh no. How was THIS fair. She was a CAT! CATS DON'T BLUSH.
Except, apparently, superpowered humans magically transformed into cats DO blush. Because the world hated her sometimes.
Okay. Okay, she could work with this. Adrien was her kitty. Chat was the Love of her life. She could work through this. She HAD to work through this. Because right now he needed her more than ever. Because...
Her eyes bugged out.
GABRIEL. ADRIEN'S FATHER. HE WAS HAWKMOTH.
And Adrien's mother... she wasn't missing! She was in that pod-thingy! (She tried desperately to forget how much it looked like a coffin).
Oh hell. Gabriel had a defense system that tried to MURDER them. They almost died! What if Adrien HADN'T been Chat Noir? HE WOULD BE DEAD.
She was SO gonna use Hawkmoth as a scratching post.
But for now she had to get a hold of herself. Her boy needed her.
OH GOD. SHE'D SCENT-MARKED HIM. SHE'D CLAIMED HIM.
Okay, getting a hold of herself starting now.
"MY LADY! Please, are you alright? Did something go wrong?"
She shook her head. A relieved smile broke out on Adrien's face. "She's responding!"
"She was nodding and shaking her head before," Plagg observed, "but she had a cat mind. This might not mean anything."
A concerned look crossed Adrien's face. "Plagg's right. Fu, do you have a computer for her to type on? If she's all the way back, she should be able to type us a message."
Fu nodded. "Ladybug made sure I got one. She even showed me how to use it. Hold on, I'll retrieve it."
A moment later he returned with a small laptop, opening up a Word document. He turned the computer towards Ladybug, clearly offering it to her.
She tentatively reached out a paw. Fortunately for her, the keys were large and far enough apart that she could press each of them with ease.
Unfortunately that ALSO meant that she had to move around a little in order to press all the keys. This would take awhile.
As she pressed the first few keys, Adrien's face lit up. "My Lady! You're back!"
She smiled at him and let out a quick meow before turning back to the computer. As much as she wanted to bask in his affection, he needed her to keep a level head right now.
It took her a couple minutes, but she was able to type out a few short sentences.
I understand you. Remember everything. What now?
Adrien stalled. "I'm- I'm not sure. You're usually the one with the plan milady."
Ruefully she typed out another message. Again, it took her a few minutes.
Typing's hard. Takes too long. You know your father best. You take lead.
Adrien took a shaky breath. "I'll try, Milady."
He paced around the room. " So, what do we know? My father wants the Ladybug and Black Miraculous especially, but he seems to regard other Miraculous as a bonus, but one he's willing to let others have if he believes it will allow him to obtain those two Miraculous in particular. So he IS probably after the Wish primarily, as hinted at on Heroes Day. I don't know whether it's the only thing he wants, but it seems like the main thing."
"Another thing we know; M-Mom's alive," he stuttered slightly, still not used to the idea. "She's in some sort of enchanted sleep in a pod thing. She looks well taken care of."
Adrien's brow creased. "As far as his accomplices go, we know he has a woman who he gave the Peacock Miraculous too. The only person I could think of who he'd trust enough to give it to... is Nathalie."
His gaze dropped. He muttered quietly for a moment, but Marinette's new cat hearing caught his words easily enough.. "Her too. She's in on it as well," before looking up and speaking at a more normal volume. "Father also has several hidden areas. Such as that chamber with Mom, his lair, and his safe behind the painting of Mom."
"Safe?" Fu asked, suddenly curious.
Adrien nodded. "Yeah, I saw him unlock it a few months ago. Plagg opened it for me. I actually took something from it."
His eyes widened. He groaned. "The book! There was a book with some really weird writing and lots of pictures of past Miraculous holders! I bet that book's important somehow."
Master Fu nodded. "It was. Luckily, Ladybug obtained it and was able to make copies of its contents. In fact, the recipes for the transformation potions for your kwamis and the recipe for the magic-dispelling potion that I just used on Ladybug both came from that book."
Plagg winced. "Oh. THAT'S why it looked familiar."
Master Fu turned to him, surprised. "You saw the Miraculous Grimoire? And you didn't instruct Adrien to bring it to me?"
"I- I forgot what it looked like," Plagg cut in weakly.
Fu raised an eyebrow. "Even when Adrien opened it, showing pictures of previous Miraculous wielders? Even then you didn't remember that it was important?"
"I- I was busy thinking about cheese, okay?" Plagg said.
Fu stroked his beard. "It seems that you need some refresher lessons on what all the Miraculous artifacts look like and what they're for. As soon as there's time, I or Wayzz will give you a refresher."
Plagg hung his head. "Please no. I HATE school. There's hardly anything about cheese!"
Adrien watched the exchange with some bemusement. He'd known his kwami was lazy, but he hadn't realized he was that ignorant of even things directly related to the Miraculous.
The memory of his discovery of the vault floated into his mind. He buried his face in his hands and groaned. "There was a pin shaped like a peacock's tail! I bet that was the peacock miraculous! It was RIGHT THERE! I could've grabbed it and then he wouldn't have had Mayura!"
Fu shook his head. "You couldn't have possibly known what it was. Am I correct in guessing that Plagg hadn't told you of the existence of Miraculous besides the Black Cat, the Ladybug, and the Butterfly at that point?"
Adrien nodded.
Fu continued. "Then you would have had no reason to think that it was related to the Miraculous, and certainly not that it WAS a Miraculous."
He eyed the small cat kwami again. "Plagg, on the other hand..."
"Remedial lessons, I know, I know." Plagg muttered.
Adrien grunted. "I know, it's just so frustrating! If I had-"
"There are many things people wish they would have done differently," Fu cut in. "Believe me, I know. But we must work with what HAS been done, and what can be changed."
Adrien slowly nodded. Fu was right. He needed to focus on what to do next, not on what he could've done differently if he knew then what he knew now.
He exhaled. He needed to focus. "If Mom's in some sort of magical coma and Father's taking care of her... maybe he wants to heal her with the Wish? When we confronted him on Heroes Day, he talked about us not knowing whether his Wish might actually be beneficial. Ladybug and I both brushed him off at the time, but what if he was telling the truth? What if he had good intentions?"
"The Wish has consequences," Fu gently reminded him.
"There must be balance, so in order for my Mom to be healed, someone else would have to take her place, I know. That's not where I'm going. What I'm saying is that if his goal is to save my mother, then maybe we can appeal to that. Resolve this peacefully, mostly. He'd still have to go to prison - he's been terrorizing the city for nearly a year now, there's no way he's getting away with that - but maybe there doesn't have to be a fight."
Adrien looked hard into Fu's eyes. "If you saw Mom, were able to find out what happened - do you think you could heal her?"
Fu hummed for a moment. "I don't know. I can make many powerful potions, but without know exactly what's wrong, I can't say."
He turned slightly, directing his next words at a certain kwami. "And I don't exactly trust Plagg to have the most accurate idea of what's going on with your Mother, considering his lack of knowledge on magical matters."
Adrien's heart felt like someone had grabbed it and squeezed. "So- so Plagg might be wrong? That- that could have been a coffin?!"
He sat down heavily. Ladybug jumped down and rubbed against him, purring comfortingly. After being this hope amid all the bad news, then to have that taken away - he wasn't sure how he'd cope.
Plagg's eyes widened. He flew over to Adrien. "Kid, NO. I may not remember everything about the Miraculous, I may get distracted by cheese a lot, but something like this? I made SURE. I checked her brain to make sure. There's activity in there. She's definitely sleeping, NOT dead. I wouldn't do that to you, give you hope unless I was sure."
Adrien's chest slowly loosened. His Mom was definitely alive.
"So I guess you need to get close enough to examine the pod," Adrien told Fu.
Fu frowned, but nodded. "Indeed. And somehow do so without Hawkmoth capturing me. Do we know that this pod is still in the same location? Hawkmoth knows that we know where it was, he may have moved it at this point."
Adrien considered for a moment. "I don't think he could. That pod didn't look very portable. I don't think he could move it without hurting Mom. He's not going to do that. And by now he should know that I'm Chat Noir, and that I wouldn't purposely put Mom's life in jeopardy. He might have some guards, but I don't think he's going to be too worried about me harming her. We might be able to persuade him that we mean no harm, and that we really do want to just take a closer look, see whether we can fix her."
He sighed. "But I wouldn't completely count on it. Father - I didn't think he'd be capable of this. Of the things he's done to the city as Hawkmoth. And the things he's done to me. I don't understand him as well as I thought I did. Plus, if you CAN'T fix her... well. He'd probably try to go back to Plan A, and kidnapping the Guardian would help with that."
Ladybug thought for a moment. How could they do this, give Fu a chance to examine Emilie and perform any needed tests while minimizing the chance of his capture?
Then it hit her. She left Adrien's side (sadly), and made her way over to the laptop again.
Fu uses Turtle. Get Rena. The four of us head to Manor. Chat talks to Hawkmoth. Rena disguises Fu while talking, allows to examine pod. Fu uses Shellter to protect if necessary.
Ladybug gratefully let her paws rest after typing all of that out. It wasn't NEARLY as quick and easy as when she was a human. She had to be very precise about pressing down keys, and some of those keys were pretty far from each other. She hoped there weren't too many questions about the plan, she couldn't type much more.
Adrien read her message, then nodded. "That makes sense to me. It's still risky, especially with both him and Mayura potentially wanting to fight, but it's doable. Hopefully with Rena concealing you, Fu, and herself, you guys can at least get inside without a fight. And maybe I really CAN talk him down. Who knows? A miracle might happen and he decides to listen to me."
Adrien's brow furrowed, as if he'd just thought of something. "We'll need to retrieve Rena first though."
Ladybug typed up another message. I can do it.
"Are you sure, Milady? You might have superpowers, but you're still a cat right now."
She turned around and gave him a LOOK. He put up his hands. "Okay, okay, you win! I guess you can just carry the box in your mouth or something. I'll write a short message explaining what we want her to do. I still don't like the idea of you just running around the city by yourself with no way to contact anyone else or what might have happened to you, though. Wait! I know! Plagg, Claws Out!"
Marinette watched as her gentle, kind classmate transformed into her punny, flirtatious partner. She'd almost been able to forget for a moment about THAT particular revelation.
She shook herself. She could figure out how exactly she feels about that and what to do about it later. Probably scream into a pillow. For now, she needed to stay focused.
Chat opened his staff, shaking out a small loop of cloth with a little pawprint in the middle. She leaned her head forwards, allowing him to put the collar around her neck. "There. That should serve as a tracking device so I know where you are and can make sure you get there and back safely. Plus it looks quite nice, if I do say so myself."
Fu brought out the Miracle Box, retrieving the Fox Miraculous from it. Adrien scribbled out a short message and stuck it inside the box, then handed it over to Ladybug. She gently took it in her jaws and raced off.
