Note: this was written prior to the majority of season 3 airing, so aside from the events of Heroes' Day, no akuma victims have been akumatized more than once.

It's Not Him

Adrien was ready for a day of fun. He needed it and, by God, he deserved it. After the past couple of weeks, he'd more than earned it. So at nine o'clock, when Nathalie told him his friends were waiting for him, he rocketed out of his new room and down the stairs.

Chloé, surprisingly enough, was the first to pick up on the fact that something had changed. "New room?" she asked.

When the other three cast a strange look her way, she gave them a shrug. "What? His room's on the other side of the building, and it's not like he does much in the house outside of his room, so… new room."

"She's actually right," Adrien confirmed. "I told my dad I felt trapped in my room, so he changed out all the windows and got me a new room."

If Alya, Marinette, and Chloé looked surprised, Nino could only be described as astonished. "He did that?" he asked. "Like, you said what the problem was, and he listened?"

Adrien nodded.

"Dude! This is incredible!"

"And you're calling him your dad?" Alya asked. "Not your father? What happened?"

A little laugh escaped Adrien, and he shook his head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he replied.

One of the hallway doors opened, and Madelaine walked out, phone to her ear. "Yes, the reservation will be under the name Madelaine Foy," she declared. "Thank you." She hung up the phone and looked at the scene before her. "Are these your friends, Adrien?"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "Madelaine, these are Chloé, Nino, Alya, and Marinette. Guys, this is Madelaine."

He certainly didn't miss the weird looks he got at that.

Madelaine smiled, oblivious, and gave them all a wave. "Well, it's nice to meet all of you. Adrien and his father have been so kind letting me stay here until I find a place for myself."

"And it's been lovely having you here."

Adrien spun to see his father at the top of the steps. Gabriel walked down, his hand coming to rest on Madelaine's arm once she was in range. "You're welcome here as long as you want."

"Thank you," Madelaine replied. She glanced back to Adrien and his friends, eyes landing on something. "Oh, Marinette, you've got a tag sticking out." She reached over and turned the tag back inside her shirt. "There. All better. You kids have fun today, alright?"

Adrien grinned. "Thanks Mom- I mean, Madelaine. Sorry."

Madelaine gave him a little nod, as if to say 'it's okay' before the quintet turned to leave.

The second the door shut, he was bombarded by questions.

"What was that about?"

"What happened to Helena?"

"Why was your dad so chill?"

"She was actually cool with you calling her mom?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Adrien held up his hands as a defense. "One at a time, and it's… really freaking complicated." He sighed, his head falling back. He trusted his friends to keep him from walking into traffic.

He took in a deep breath, trying to come up with an answer without taking too long. He rolled his head forward again. "So… my mom found out about a magical terrorist organization a couple years ago, and when she tried to turn them in to the police, they kidnapped her and used magic to replace her memories with a woman named Helena's."

"So Helena was your mom," Chloé said. "Ha! I knew it!"

Adrien chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, she was. But then Helena started getting too close, and they tried to kidnap her. That's what got Chat Noir involved in that car chase the other week. He kind of… bodyguarded her after that, but the terrorists got her again before he could stop them, which made him get senshified into Chat Blanc. Apparently Hawkmoth had a beef with them, too, so he was willing to work with Chat to stop them, and they did, but not before Helena's memories were replaced with Madelaine's."

Alya put out an arm to stop everyone. "Okay, is anyone else getting a massive headache trying to keep up?" she asked. "Why don't you just tell her she's your mom?"

"We tried," Adrien sighed. "She won't believe us, and Chat Noir and Hawkmoth said it's better to show her than to tell her. It's a process. But at least Hawkmoth isn't a supervillain anymore!"

Crash!

"An akuma!"

"You sure about that?" Nino asked.

"I gotta go make a phone call," Adrien declared before he took off running. He rounded the corner and slid to a stop, opening his shirt for Plagg.

He flew out, hovering in front of Adrien expectantly. "You okay, kid?"

Adrien nodded a tiny bit. "Yeah," he sighed. "But I thought… he said he was done, right? So it can't be him!"

"I'm sure it isn't," Plagg replied, but even as convinced as he sounded, Adrien couldn't believe him. Not 100%. Not yet.

"Right," Adrien sighed. "Plagg, claws out!"

The second his transformation was done, Chat Noir jumped up onto the roof and looked around for any sign of the akuma. Seconds later, Ladybug landed by his side.

"You okay, kitty?"

Chat Noir turned and blinked. "Why wouldn't I be?" he asked. "Just another akuma, nothing out of the ordinary here."

She looked him over, then put a hand on his shoulder. "I know you thought your dad was going to stop…"

He never told her Hawkmoth was his dad. In fact, the only person who knew was… "Marinette?" He watched her tense up. "She told you about my dad? How could she?"

Ladybug relaxed, and she sighed. "I'm sorry, kitty, I kind of begged her after I saw you leaving her house," she explained. "But… are you okay to do this?"

"It's not him," Chat Noir declared. "It can't be, really. It's gotta be someone else."

She gave him a nod, but it was clear she didn't believe him. "Okay," she said. "I'm with you, remember? We're partners."

Chat Noir took in a deep breath. "Right. We should, uh, we should probably figure out where the akuma is. What they can do."

"Right." She gave his shoulder a squeeze, then turned to survey the city.

Their answer came in the form of a flock of pigeons dive-bombing them, knocking them both off their feet and nearly throwing them off the roof. Instinctively, Chat Noir covered Ladybug, defending her from the birds; the fight could still be won without Chat Noir, but if she was gone, no one would be able to undo the damage.

Once the birds passed, the duo looked up to see them flying around a familiar akuma.

"M. Pigeon? Again?" Ladybug asked. "He's never- I mean- we've never seen a repeat before other than on Heroes' Day."

Chat Noir let out a small, nervous laugh. "Thanks for trying to spare my feelings."

Ladybug shrugged and gave him a half-smile. "Least I could do," she replied.

The two jumped over to the next roof, getting in front of M. Pigeon. "Stand down," Ladybug ordered. "Whatever happened, we can find another way to work through this."

M. Pigeon smiled in a sickly way, darker than anything they'd seen the first time he'd been akumatized. "You're not winning today," he declared. He cooed like the birds he so loved, and they flocked toward Ladybug and Chat Noir, knocking them off the roof and down to the ground.

Chat moaned in pain and pushed himself up, squinting his eyes in an attempt to see through the flood of gray. His hand went to his baton, and he began to spin it, forming a sort of shield in front of himself and Ladybug. She got up as well and wrapped an arm around him, then cast her yo-yo out in front of her.

Suddenly, Chat was yanked off his feet and through the fray of birds, landing on a roof.

"Achoo!"

Chat groaned. "Seriously?" he grumbled. "I'm still allergic after-" He shook his head. This was no time to focus on the fact that he was still somehow allergic to pigeon feathers when his mom was the damn peacock kwami- though he'd probably make a joke about it later.

"C'mon!" Ladybug yelled, and the two took off running, trying to escape the pigeons.

"Got any ideas?" he asked.

Ladybug checked over her shoulder. "A few!" she called back. "Follow my lead!"

When they got to the edge of the roof, she didn't jump to the next one, instead dropping down and running inside. He followed her lead, but the birds took a moment to redirect and go through the building. They came out the other side, and without breaking her stride, Ladybug called for her lucky charm.

A whistle fell into her hand, and she didn't hesitate in blowing through it.

The duo came to a halt in front of M. Pigeon, and Ladybug blew through the whistle again.

"Nice try," M. Pigeon declared. "Those pigeons will only follow my lead."

Ladybug smirked and waved the whistle. "This isn't for pigeons."

As if on cue, a hawk swooped down at M. Pigeon, and Chat Noir took the chance to run at him and kick his legs out from under him. Ladybug grabbed the pigeon whistle as he fell and crushed it in her hand. Chat took the few steps towards his lady, inspecting the whistle. It was definitely the akumatized item, but no butterfly flew from it.

Chat let out a sigh of relief, the stress dropping from his shoulders as he turned back around to M. Ramier as he transformed back. He walked up to the deakumatized victim, his thoughts still lost in a flurry of confusion and emotion. It wasn't his father, it couldn't have been… right?

Right, he told himself. He promised not to, and the fact that there wasn't a butterfly when Ladybug broke the whistle confirmed it.

"M. Ramier?" Chat asked, placing a hand on the man's shoulder.

Slowly, the man looked up, more disoriented than he had been the first time he was akumatized. "Wha- where am-" He cut himself off with a coughing fit so strong he fell back on his hands and knees. Chat dropped down to help him; that's when he saw it.

Eyes wide, Chat Noir turned to Ladybug. "Call an ambulance," he ordered. "He's coughing up blood."

A/N: Hey everyone! Been a while since I've done a note, but I thought this was important. First, thank you all for your reviews; they really brighten my day amid all this crap in the world. I hope you're all doing well and social distancing as much as possible, keeping safe and healthy. Now, as you might have noticed from the last line, this fic is about to get a little bit real. Chapters 23, 24, and 25 all involve a mysterious SARS-like virus that spreads at a rapid rate, though contained within Paris. I wrote this storyline nearly a year ago, well before covid 19 was even a thing, and there are too many necessary plot points I hit with it to rewrite or scrap it. Please be advised when reading the next few updates. Thank you.