Chapter 9 Someone to talk to…
Author Note: Thank you to those who reviewed!
Marinette bit her nails down to the quick on the walk home. On top of worrying for Tikki, (who had yet to wake up and was spending the night with Master Fu), Marinette dreaded to think what could've happened to Chat while they were apart.
Was he fine? Had he lost his Miraculous, and this imposter found it? Or – and this was the one that made her stomach twist – had he died?
She shook her head. No, my partner isn't gone… But deep inside, she wasn't sure. The worst part was not knowing. Was this how the citizens of Paris felt after my battle with Chat Blanc? Sick to their stomachs because they had no idea how it ended?!
Furthermore, how was she supposed to find out? Tikki might know, but it was possible the kwami found Chat's body after the thief had taken his ring. Maybe, Tikki didn't even FIND Chat. Maybe she saw the vines take over the city and came racing straight back. There was no way to know until she woke up.
And if Tikki DIDN'T have the answers, then the only person who knew what happened was currently running around masquerading as her partner!
Nauseating guilt gave way to righteous rage. Where does this phony get the idea that he has any right to where my partner's ring? Master Fu wanted her to get close to him to figure out his identity, but Marinette was half inclined to throttle the imposter the next time their paths crossed.
And then as if that weren't enough, there was the issue of her missing miraculous. Master Fu claimed he could create a 'stabilizer' for her out of the kwagatama that Tikki gave her for her birthday. But a 'kwagatama' was no Miraculous. At best, it would work with her remaining earring to let her transform and retain super strength (and her yo-yo) as Ladybug, but as for her other powers…
It wasn't looking good.
Fu explained that one earring carried her Lucky Charm and the other her Miraculous Ladybugs. Without one, she lost the power of creation, and without the other, she couldn't restore the city after an Akuma.
And until Tikki woke up, there was no way to find out which power she lost. (The only consolation was knowing that Mayura couldn't use the Miraculous at all without Tikki… Well at least, that was the theory.)
Marinette slipped in the front door with barely a word to her parents. She climbed the stairs two at a time, just to get to the privacy of her room, and once inside, she kicked off her shoes and crawled into bed fully clothed, pulling the covers over her head.
She'd lost a Miraculous, her kwami, and her partner in one day. That had to be some sort of record. Master Fu was confident that Tikki would be fine and that the stabilizer would allow them to keep transforming, but he still expected Marinette to figure out the imposter's identity on her own. How exactly was she supposed to do that? It was too much! She was just one kid!
And then, as if she didn't have enough problems, a new terror hit her: Did this Chat know her identity?
She sat up in bed. Someone left me in that attic before I changed back. Did he hide somewhere to watch and learn my real identity?! It never occurred to her that someone was tailing her. When Marinette saw Tikki was sick, she ran straight to Master Fu. Did she inadvertently lead the imposter back to the Miraculous Box?!
Marinette clumsily jumped out of bed and dove for her phone which she'd left on her vanity. She had to call the Guardian. But Chat could be outside listening with his super-hearing, she worried. Switching gears, she sent a text.
He might know where you are. GET OUT NOW.
Agonizing seconds ticked by as she waited for a response. Should she go back to Fu's studio?
She tucked her knees under her chin and rocked back and forth. Sure, she might be overreacting. But considering how this day went from bad to worse, and then from worse to UNIMAGINABLE, there was a good chance she was on the brink of losing everything.
Her partner. Her kwami. Her miraculous. Everything. Worse still, if Chat knew her identity, then the danger didn't stop with her. Her friends and family were at risk too.
Her phone dinged, and she fumbled to read Fu's response.
Understood. Leaving now. Will contact when it is safe
Marinette breathed a sigh of relief even though she knew it was premature. Chat might be plotting to take her Miraculous at that very moment, but the Guardian and the Miraculous Box were safe… for now.
At least, that's something, she thought. Ugh! How did it all gone so wrong? Just that morning everything had been FINE! How did it all fall apart in ONE day? That afternoon, she was at a rally celebrating superheroes, and now, she was hours away from losing her Miraculous or worse!
Her eyes searched the room frantically as though the walls might hold the answers she sought.
And to her surprise, they did.
Right next to her bed was her ever-growing collage of Adrien pictures. She stopped rocking to climb back up and get a closer look. For the first time in months, the sight did not comfort her. Instead, her stomach churned.
Adrien, she thought, he is where it all went wrong. She'd been so hung up on a boy who only saw her as a friend that she'd broken her partner's heart. She'd rejected Chat Noir. Made him think he was unlovable, all for a boy who'd never shown the slightest interest in her romantically. Her "love" for Adrien had driven her to hurt Chat Noir, a boy who ACTUALLY loved her back.
"Was it worth it?" she asked the largest picture. She snatched it off the cork board. "Was it all worth it?" She tore down another. And another. She ripped the collage apart with her bare hands. "Was it worth it?!" she cried.
Was Adrien Agreste worth the fall of Paris to supervillains?
Was he more important than her own PARTNER?
Was he worth endangering Chat Noir, Tikki, Master Fu, her family and friends…?
WAS. HE. WORTH. IT?!
No!
She piled the pictures and scraps into a trashcan and dragged them out to her balcony. She lit a match and watched them burn.
Worse still, my 'love' might've cost Chat his life. Whether it was Chat foolishly loving her or her foolishly loving Adrien, it didn't matter. Her obsession only caused pain and destruction for everyone.
One picture escaped the flames and drifted to her feet. It wasn't of Adrien – well Adrien was in it, but he wasn't the focus. Adrien, Marinette, Alya, and Nino posed in front of the statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir in the park. Marinette fell to her knees, focused on the confident smirk on Chat's face.
The guilt was too much.
Desperately, she wished she could release a swarm of Miraculous Ladybugs to reset everything, to repair all the damage she caused. But even if Tikki was well, she couldn't fix this. It was worse than if she'd killed Chat with her own hands…
Tenderly, she picked up the singed picture. And then, hunching over, she pressed it to her chest, and cried her eyes out.
Elsewhere in Paris…
When Adrien finally got back to the street where he lost Mayura, she was already long gone. He searched for hours but to no avail. Finally, he returned to the house where he'd left Ladybug, but she too was gone without a trace.
Without a lead on either of them, Adrien wasn't sure where to go. He could go home, but just the thought of that large empty room without his kwami left him hyperventilating. He couldn't take it. He couldn't be alone in the house without Plagg. Everything reminded him of his friend. In his room, there was the pillow where the little cat slept. The piano where Plagg watched his master practice. Not to mention the faint smell of Camembert coming from the cabinet
Adrien knew he couldn't stay away forever, but he also wasn't ready to go back yet. If he was being honest, he really needed to talk to someone. This had been the worse day of his life, and he couldn't carry the burden alone. If only there was someone that he could open up to.
Naturally, his first choice was Ladybug, but she wasn't answering her bug phone. His next thought was to try Master Fu, but when Adrien arrived at the man's studio, it was completely cleared out.
So, now what? Adrien couldn't go home, but he really wanted… No, he absolutely NEEDED to talk to somebody. His kwami was gone. He'd been gifted all the power of destruction AND he'd been akumatized. Maybe, it was wrong, but if Ladybug or Master Fu weren't around, would it really be so bad if he confided in a friend? Adrien debated it for hours. He must have crossed the length and breadth of Paris a dozen times before he finally rested atop the Effiel Tower.
It was well past midnight. The city lights twinkled around him like a million fireflies. Few cities rivalled Paris's beauty at night. In Adrien's mind, none did. It was the type of view that he always wanted to share with someone. Well, if there was ever a night for me to share things, this is it.
Adrien de-transformed and pulled out his phone. The screen was cracked, likely from his fall, but still functional. Much like me, he thought cynically as he scrolled through names trying to figure out who could handle the burden of keeping the biggest secret in Paris.
At the top of his contacts were Alex and Alya. He almost laughed. He and Alex weren't that close, and Alya was the "Ladyblogger." Not exactly, the first person he trusted to keep things hush-hush.
He had a similar problem when he saw Chloe's name. Chloe was his oldest friend, but if Chat Noir OR Adrien showed up on her balcony, he could count the seconds till gossip was all over social media.
He kept scrolling. There was Kagami. She understood what made his life difficult because – besides the superhero stuff – she was dealing with much of the same. But if her life was tough, then did Adrien really want to burden her with his issues, too? No, he wouldn't do that to her.
Next up, Lila Rossi. Yeesh! No.
Luka? A nice guy, but Adrien didn't know him well enough to go to him with this.
Then, he hit the "M's" and at the top of the list was Marinette. Adrien believed she was trustworthy, but were they friends?
He stared blankly at the cityscape, trying to make sense of their relationship. Half the time Adrien wasn't sure if Marinette liked him AT ALL. She was always in such a rush to get away from him. Does she think I'm a like Chloe? Or worse, like Lila?
He sagged. She probably thinks I'm another stuck up, rich kid. The sort she only tolerates for short periods at a time. He gave up on her and kept going.
Nadja, Nathaniel, Natalie, Nino…
He paused. Nino was his best friend and a great listener. He had to be to counter a spirited conversationalist like Alya, but would Nino be able to handle something like this? More importantly, would he keep it a secret from his girlfriend? And will he forgive me for lying to him for the past year?
Adrien hoped so. As far as he could see, Nino was his best bet, so after another breath, he set out towards his friend's apartment, leaping from rooftop to rooftop until a wailing slowed his stride.
His ears twitched to locate the source, and then, in the distance, he spied Marinette Dupain-Cheng sobbing in the light of a small fire. Forgetting his own pain, he went to her.
She didn't notice his approach, but that wasn't exactly surprising. On a moonless night, Chat Noir was virtually invisible as he landed on the roof behind her. He peeked around her chimney, and when Marinette peeled back, Adrien caught a glimpse of the photo in her hands.
Four carefree friends posed in front of the famous tribute to Ladybug and Chat Noir in the park. Adrien remembered that day fondly, but he couldn't imagine why Marinette was weeping over it? What? Did she and Alya have a falling out or something?
Only one way to find out… "Marinette," he asked, emerging from the shadows, "are you ok?"
Marinette whirled to see him creeping down from her roof. The Imposter.
"I didn't mean to startle you," he apologized softly.
Marinette did not want to talk to the boy who probably ripped Chat Noir's ring off his cold bloodied corpse, but before she could say so, she remembered Master Fu's instructions. He ordered her to gather intelligence. This was her chance, unless…
Wait, she panicked, did this imposter come because he knows my identity? Her chest seized. "What are you doing here?"
"I saw someone else in Paris having a night as a rotten as mine, and I'm…" He trailed off. He really hadn't thought it out past that. "Sorry."
"You're having a rotten day?" Marinette repeated. She was about to snap at him for whatever role he played in hurting her Chat Noir when out of the blue, his stomach rumbled, LOUDLY. "Uh… Are you ok?"
"Um… I'm just a little hungry." Adrien realized that he hadn't eaten since that morning. The pain first hit him after the battle with the sentimonster. But compared to the pain of losing Plagg, hunger was easily forgettable. Now though… "I wouldn't suppose you have anything to eat. I can pay you back in the morning." His stomach growled again, and a sympathetic part of Marinette caved.
"Let me see." She descended into her room and spotted Tikki's snack box. Marinette already planned to refill it with fresh pastries before Tikki came home tomorrow (assuming Master Fu let her to come home tomorrow), so these would've just been trashed anyway. It was no real loss.
She returned to the balcony and offered him the box. He opened it quickly, but hesitated when he saw what was inside. "Is everything ok?" Marinette asked him. What? Does he not eat sweets?
She couldn't help compare him to her Chat Noir. She'd seen her real partner down an entire ice-cream in about four bites. Little did she know that Adrien was worried what his father would say if he heard his son ate a whole pile of sugar and carbs in one sitting. But Adrien's appetite won out. What his father didn't know couldn't hurt him. He dug in.
"Thank you," he mumbled around a mouth full of cookie.
Silently, Marinette studied him. No puns, no smile… It was terrifying to think that it took Master Fu pointing it out for her to realize this was not her partner. "You're not Chat Noir, are you?"
The boy looked away, and Marinette felt the burn of a fresh wave of tears. Oh, what in the world happened to MY Chaton?
Adrien hesitated. He should say "Of course I am Chat Noir. Who else would I be?" But 'Chat Noir' was who he was when he transformed with Plagg. Without Plagg, who was he?
Unsure, he said, "It's complicated."
Marinette scoffed. Hadn't those been her words to Chat Noir just that afternoon? And they set him up to be used by Hawkmoth. Still, whereas her relationship with Adrien was complicated, the answer to whether the boy in front of her was really Chat seemed pretty straight forward. Maybe it'd insult him, but she had to ask, "How complicated can it be?"
Adrien closed his eyes and searched for the answer, "I AM Chat Noir, but I am not the same Chat Noir that you and the rest of Paris have known for the past year," he said honestly. He set the remaining cookies aside, no longer hungry. He was about to leave when Marinette grabbed his arm, her hand like a vice and her eyes frantic.
"Is he dead?"
The answer caught in his throat. Is he? A version of Chat Noir perched right in front of her. But Plagg was gone, possibly forever. Marinette couldn't know a thing about Kwamis or their role in Miraculous transformations, so how could he explain what he'd lost? WHO he'd lost?
He gave the answer that felt truest. "Your Chat Noir gave his life to save me, and then he chose to pass on the power for me to secede him." Marinette's eyes shone with unshed tears. She choked back a sob, and a tiny part of Adrien felt relieved to know that someone in Paris was grieving with him. In one small way, he felt less alone.
Marinette covered her eyes with her hands as she continued to cry. How could she have ever doubted her partner? Of course, he would sacrifice himself to save someone, and if this boy was Chat's choice as Heir to the Black Cat, what right did she have to refuse him? Especially when he's just as torn up about it as I am?
She peered up at him through her fingers, before stepping forward to pull the New Chat Noir into a hug. The boy tensed momentarily but was too lost in his own heartbreak to care. He buried his face in her shoulder and let himself weep.
"I'm so sorry," Marinette said.
To her surprise, he whispered, "It's not your fault."
It crossed Marinette's mind that Chat might just be messing with her. If he knew her identity as Ladybug, he might be waiting for a full apology, but if he didn't know… Marinette took a deep breath, saying, "I'm sorry for your loss. I'm sorry that you lost your friend."
Randomly, Adrien paused, wondering what Ladybug would think if she saw him like this with a civilian. She'd probably have a fit, but strangely, that didn't upset him. For the life of him, he didn't care what Ladybug thought. He needed this. He needed someone to hug him while he grieved.
He needed a friend. "Thank you, Marinette."
She smiled weakly. "Anytime."
And then, with a glimmer of the Chat Noir he once was, he said, "Be careful what you say, Purrincess, or I might take you up on that one" He bent his knees to jump from the balcony, but before he could go, Marinette grabbed his tail.
"Chat! Er… um, should I even call you 'Chat?' Uh…" He turned back, and Marinette steeled herself. Looking him in the eye, she said, "I meant what I said. If you ever need to talk – or even just to not be alone – well, I'm here to listen." She'd failed her own Chat Noir. She wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
Adrien was silent as he saw Marinette with new eyes. He had called this girl 'a friend' from about the day they met, but never did the title seemed more fitting than it did now.
When he couldn't go to his father or Natalie or even Nino…
When he couldn't talk to Ladybug or Master Fu…
When he didn't have Plagg…
He still had her. He might've felt alone, but he wasn't. Not really.
Feeling a hint like his old self, he said, "Thank you, Marinette. That's Purr-fectly kind of you."
It was nearly dawn when Adrien de-transformed in his room. His body sagged with exhaustion. He got his shoes off, and climbed into bed fully clothed. He rolled over and pulled the covers over his head. He never made it to see Nino. His time with Marinette drained him, even if he did feel better.
The room was so quiet without Plagg. Perhaps he should call someone? Maybe not Marinette since he'd already bothered her enough for one night, but there had to be someone, right?
He pulled out his phone and scrolled back through the contacts all the way up to the last two, Alya and Alix. He stared blankly at Alix's name wondering how it was possible to have so many friends and none to talk to when he really needed them. When did he even GET Alix's number? He vaguely remembered it was after the Bunnix incident…
Adrien froze.
Wait, Alix… Bunnix… Alix who will one day grow up to be Bunnix. Bunnix, a time-travelling Miraculous Holder! He sat up in bed.
Time travel! That's it! That's how I can save Plagg!
But how to do it? He hadn't the faintest idea how time travel worked, still there had to be some way to go back and prevent Plagg from dying. Perhaps Bunnix could go and prevent Adrien from being akumatized in the first place (or from falling four stories in that alleyway).
He looked around, half-expecting the flow of history to change around him right away, but when that didn't happen, he supposed he had to go through events the "original" way before they could go back and change it.
But WHAT should they change? Short of convincing Ladybug to give up her useless boyfriend and go out with Chat Noir, Adrien wasn't sure how to prevent him from being Akumatized. And if she had gone on a date with him and then given him up to go back to her boyfriend, he STILL might've become Hawkmoth's next victim.
It might be better to research where and when he fell. That way he can have Bunnix there early to catch him when he fell… when he falls? Will fall?
Maybe this was crazy – in fact, it sounded certifiably insane – but he had to try. For Plagg, Adrien truest and best friend, he had to try.
"Just you wait Plagg, we're coming to save you. One way or another, I will save you!"