"So…a switch in medication, huh?" Adrien processed what he'd just heard.

Marinette nodded with fake confidence. After how suspicious she'd acted around Adrien yesterday, she made a point of coming off as calm and collected as possible. She'd already made him skeptical enough with her with her odd behavior, and if she let herself act up much longer, the whole school would be up in her business. And she wouldn't be able to keep up her lie under that much pressure.

The two of them stood in the hall just outside of Ms. Bustier's class. They were both early (she felt like she had to be to make up for how late she'd been yesterday) and school didn't start for another few minutes. There she was, lying to someone's face. She thought she'd be used to this by now.

"Yeah, my doctor prescribed me a different brand of sleeping medicine, and I guess my body didn't handle the shift very well," she explained to Adrien. She felt like Lila. What a horrible feeling. "So my brain was a bit fuzzy yesterday, and it caused me to forget some things. I'm sorry for worrying you."

"Wow. Well, at least you're feeling better," Adrien responded. He was leaned against the wall, clutching the strap of his school bag as he listened. "So, has everything come back now?"

Marinette was about to say yes, but stopped herself. She wanted him to think she was doing as well as possible, but if something came up from the past few days, she needed something to justify not remembering it.

"Almost everything," she told him. "The past couple days are still a bit mixed up in my head. The doctor said over the phone that it might take me a while to remember." She'd refreshed herself with articles and programs reporting Mr. Agreste's death, as well as past text messages, social media posts and even leftover schoolwork from the days she couldn't remember so she would be as updated as possible.

"I see." Adrien nodded. He looked off for a second, then back at Marinette. "So…I'm assuming you don't remember much from that time you were at my house the other day?"

The mere thought of her being at his house was enough to make the hairs on her neck stand up. She wished so badly that the answer was yes.

"No," she said, her shoulders dropping in disappointment. For once it wasn't a lie. "You said Nino and Alya were there, right?"

"Well- yes," he answered. "Chloe too. But they came at a different time. You actually came alone, after they left."

"I did?" Marinette blinked. She hadn't expected that.

"Yeah, uh," Adrien scratched at his neck, clearly nervous about something.

Marinette's mind instantly jumped to the worst scenario. "Oh, no," she said, covering her eyes with her hands. "I said something stupid and embarrassed myself, didn't I?"

"No!" Adrien denied instantly, standing up straight and shifting his weight off the wall. He cleared his throat, composing himself and lowering his voice a bit. "No, not at all. Uh..."

That wasn't convincing at all. Adrien had to be lying to make her feel better. Gosh, was this how other people felt when Marinette was lying badly?

"You can tell me," Marinette moaned pitifully, dragging her hands down her face and pulling at her cheeks in preparation for whatever horror story she was about to hear. "Just tell me. I can take it, I swear..."

"N-no, really, everything is fine. More than fine, actually..." Adrien stopped, pressing the side of his fist to his chin for a while. He sighed in what sounded like defeat. Then he looked back up at her with a kind smile. "You know what? Don't worry about it. It's no big deal."

Well, if that wasn't a guaranteed way to make it the only thing Marinette worried about for a week straight, she didn't know what was.

"Uh, okay," Marinette said. "Are you sure? Was it…important?"

"No…" He said, waving it off. His face changed a bit. "Well-…I mean, no. Yes. Never mind, not important."

Marinette giggled, surprising herself.

"What is it?"

"Oh, nothing," Marinette said, shrugging her shoulders. "You just remind me of someone right now."

"Right." Adrien cleared his throat. "Sorry for acting so mysterious. Just…let me know when you remember, okay? I don't want to rush it. It'll come back on its own eventually you said, right?"

"Right." Marinette echoed, somehow more confused than ever. "And uh, Adrien?" She stopped him as he passed her, before he reached their classroom.

"Yeah?" He turned towards her.

"Could you just…not mention to Alya the whole medication thing?" She asked, pointing awkwardly in various directions as she spoke. "It's just that, you know how worried Alya can get about that kinda stuff. And she's got so much on her plate right now with her speech for the Ladybug tribute and everything…I just don't want to stress her out, you know?"

"Sure," Adrien agreed. "It's sweet of you to be thinking of your best friend like that."

"Oh, uh…" Marinette's hands instantly found their way to one of the locks of hair by her ear, fiddling with it bashfully. "You think so?" she murmured.

The real reason was that if Alya had gotten the idea that something was up, not only would she not fall for Marinette's excuses, but she wouldn't rest until she'd milked every detail out of her. But hearing him call her sweet…even if it was over a bent truth, sent her butterflies nonetheless.

"Of course," Adrien said, continuing to make his way to the classroom. "She's lucky to have you as a friend."

Marinette hoped that was true.

Marinette's hands found their way from her hair to her ear, once again fidgeting with her naked earlobe.

It didn't get easier. Every time she remembered that Tikki and the miraculous was missing, every good feeling in her died instantly.

She had to go to Master Fu first thing after school today. She longer she went without answers, the more it ate away at her.


So Marinette was having memory problems, was she?

Since Adrien's father's death, the two of them seemed to be together and talking a lot more often. The whole school had noticed. He was clearly paying much of his attention to her, even when they weren't speaking, and the way he looked at her seemed to change. Had he really chosen Marinette Dupain-Cheng to confide in at the time of Mr. Agreste's death?

This wasn't going according to plan at all. Something was going to have to change, and fast.

Lila stood up from her spot on the stairs where she'd been sitting, in easy earshot of Adrien and Marinette since she'd caught ear of their conversation, walking casually like she hadn't just been spying.

Adrien had barely even looked at Lila since she'd approached him with her apology yesterday. She'd thought it was going well, as she was finally able to convince him of her sincerity. But she hadn't gotten another word from him since. And waiting for him to accept her offer and confide in her about his father's death so she could finally have his attention, all just to see him chatting it up with Marinette instead of her? Not acceptable.

A medication issue. Lila denied that one without hesitation. She'd used the excuse before herself. It was a solid story, but there was no way. Marinette couldn't lie to save her life, and while it appeared to have fooled the ever-naïve Adrien, it most certainly didn't fool Lila. But, why would she lie to him? What made her feel the need to tell him these things?

Unless, of course, the part about the memory loss was actually true.

With Gabriel Agreste gone, she no longer had their deal to help her get ahead with Adrien, and was on her own. But with Marinette was having memory troubles, and Adrien still in such a vulnerable state, maybe tampering things in Lila's favor was going to be much easier than she'd thought.


"Sooo, what were you and Marinette talking about this morning?"

Nino appeared behind Adrien suddenly, his hands creeping onto his shoulders. Adrien shrugged them off playfully as he pulled his history book out of his locker.

Adrien had finally gotten around to telling Nino about the night Marinette came over, and ever since then, Nino was quick to bring it up. It was one of the few positive things going on in Adrien's life right now, and was a nice break from all the not-so-nice things. Sometimes he felt like Nino was more excited about it than he was. He'd mentioned that he'd been rooting for them to be together for a while now, which surprised Adrien.

His cheeks warmed a bit at Nino's teasing. But Marinette mentioned she didn't want Alya knowing about her memory issue quite yet, so it was best Adrien didn't let him know too many details of their conversation. He knew Nino, and the boy couldn't keep his mouth shut to save his own life.

"Nothing to write home about," Adrien answered, closing his locker and turning to face his best friend. "Just school work."

"Aw, come on," Nino complained, slumping over in frustration. "You two almost kiss and you're both still so awkward that you can't even talk about it?"

"Keep your voice down, would you?" Adrien hushed, quickly looking around the locker room. "I don't need people talking about me more than they already are."

"Oh, shoot. Sorry." Nino covered his mouth. Speaking of Nino not being able to keep his mouth shut.

"She just… needs time to process everything, that's all." Adrien slid his textbook into his bag and closed it. "We both do. We each have a lot going on and we just don't want to rush into anything quite yet."

"Sure, I guess that makes sense."

"Yeah, I mean I don't want to-" He was interrupted by a rapid beeping coming from his phone.

His hairs stood on end. That was an akuma alert!

"That's a…weird ringtone," Nino remarked as Adrien quickly pulled it out of his pocket.

"Oh, uh…y-yeah, it's…" Adrien thought, feeling a slight panic. "It's one of my dad's business partners." He edged around Nino, heading for the exit. "I should probably go take this."

As soon as he knew he was alone, he turned his phone on and clicked the notification, and Nadia Chamack's face was on his screen in seconds.

"Paris is, once again, being terrorized by the creature known as the 'Lollipop Monster.'" Plagg poked his head from Adrien's shirt, peering up at the screen. A box in the corner showed the city tops of Paris being treaded through by the all too familiar giant, assorted from brightly colored candy. "Though it appears to have caused no considerable damage yet, the people of Paris are frightened and fleeing from the creature. There has not yet been any sign of Ladybug or Chat Noir at this time."

"Seriously, would someone just give this kid his stupid lollipop already?" Plagg groaned, taking the words out of Adrien's mouth.

"Nice of Mayura to finally show up," Adrien said, examining the sentimonster as it stomped around. "Don't tell me Hawk Moth is having her do all his dirty work for him?"

"Well if she is, she needs to come up with some more creative ideas." Plagg shook his head.

Adrien held up his ringed hand. "Come on, let's go."


"Hey! Woo hoo, over here!" Chat Noir called, waving his arms around wildly, stopping the lollipop sentimonster as it nearly stepped on the park gazebo where several citizens had taken refuge and were now bracing themselves. "Yeah, this way. Betcha can't catch me!" he teased, turning and making sure the lollipop had fully diverted its attention towards him before flinging himself onto the next building over. He stopped, turned and waved again, and flung himself onto the next one, sprinting across the top.

He quickly flicked open the screen on his baton, holding it to his ear as he made his way to the other end of the building.

"Hi, it's Ladybug! Leave a message." Figures.

"Heya, Bugaboo. In case you haven't heard, the lollipop sentimonster is back to play. Could use your help, whenever you have a minute." With a single motion, he flipped his screen shut and propelled himself onto the building across the street.

The lollipop monster was still at a considerable distance, making its way over in loud, awkward footing, so he took a minute to decide his next move. The street lead to another populated area, so he couldn't let it too much further that way. Maybe he could try to stall it in this area for as long as possible until Ladybug showed up.

He leaped, extending his baton in midair until it wedged in between the two buildings. He held onto the middle, swaying his feet playfully as he hung directly in the lollipop's path. "Come get me!" he beckoned.

He waited until the monster was close enough. The lollipop brought its arm back, preparing to swipe it at Chat Noir. He heard the swing break the wind barrier as it came hurdling for him.

"You're too slow!" He swung himself forward just before it hit him, flipping around his baton like a gymnast and retracting it as he launched himself high into the air. He flew up and over the lollipop's head until he was on the other side of it, once again propping himself between the next pair of buildings, this time sitting in a crouched position on his baton like a cat.

He tilted his head sideways, grinning mischievously as the Lollipop turned its hefty body to face him. "Missed me."

The monster's arms began shaking slightly. He was making it mad. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, he was just gonna have to find out.


"Where are they? Where are they?" Marinette whispered to herself, frantically rummaging through the scattered trinkets and electronics in her desk drawer.

As soon as Alya had made note of the TV news reporting the lollipop sentimonster terrorizing the town between classes, Marinette had quickly made her excuses and ran home. Of course, there was finally another attack on Paris after weeks, and she didn't have her miraculous.

Ugh, nothing. She slammed the drawer shut and moved onto the one below it. She kept the news playing on her phone, placed on top of her desk as she searched so she could keep tabs on what was happening. Nothing in this drawer either.

"Come on…!" she whimpered in panic and frustration, running over to her dresser and throwing it open. She knew how low the likelihood of finding the miraculous in her room was. There was no way her waking up without them with no memories of recent events was just a coincidence. Someone or something had to have done something to her and took them. But that didn't stop her from searching. If there was any chance she really had just taken off her earrings somewhere, she had to be sure. She couldn't just do nothing as the sentimonster threatened to destroy the city.

"Chat Noir has now arrived at the scene and has confronted the monster." Nadja Chamack's voice through her phone's speakers stopped Marinette. She looked back and at her phone, temporarily abandoning her search and walking over to pick it up.

Sure enough, the footage showed Chat Noir flying from roof to roof, keeping an eye on the monster as it caught up to him. She mentally praised him when she realized he was distracting it, and leading it away from the populated area. She noticed him holding his baton to his ear and her gut wrenched when she realized he was trying to call her.

"He's successfully lead it away from the park and appears to be preventing it from leaving this particular evacuated street," Nadja's voiceover continued as Chat ended the call and directed his full attention to the lollipop monster. "He's keeping it distracted now. There's still no sign of his partner yet, but there's no doubt Ladybug won't be far behind."

"Be careful, Chat," she pleaded in a whisper.


Sorry for not updating in a while! Had a very busy few weeks. Still have plenty of chapters finished, so don't worry, I'm not going anywhere!