Adrien

Adrien woke up to the pounding on his door, Natalie's annoyed coming through it, "Adrien, wake up! You are behind schedule!" Adrien groaned, not wanting to get up at all after staying up till early in the morning with Marinette. He grinned stupidly at the memory, something he never done before with anyone.

Plagg yawned, then glared at the door. "Can you please tell her to shut it? I already lost enough sleep when you and your girlfriend decided to watch anime during ungodly hours."

Adrien grinned at the cranky kwami, "I regret nothing."

"Except that you didn't kiss her goodnight?" Plagg smirked. Adrien didn't answer, his face going red as he got out of bed to shower. Plagg simply cackled as he retrieved a piece of camembert from his stash. Ten minutes later, Adrien was freshly showered and dressed, his bruise freshly covered up again. Adrien pulled out his blue scarf and wrapped it around his neck. It was the only sign he had that said his father cared about him.

"Come on, Plagg," Adrien said, opening his shirt to let the kwami in.

Adrien opened his door, finding Natalie still on the other side of the door. "Adrien, you are behind schedule," Natalie scolded him. "You will have to skip breakfast if we are to stay on track. Let's go." Before Adrien could protest, she was already walking away looking at her tablet. Adrien followed her, sighing in despair. His good mood would be ruined at some point he knew, but he wished it wasn't this soon.

Marinette

Marinette sat on a park bench across from the outdoor studio, waiting for Adrien to arrive. In her purse was the memory card for Vincent's camera, retrieved by Tikki. She felt guilty for taking the card, but she needed to stall the shoot long enough for her to steal Adrien away.

All doubt was erased from her mind when the black car pulled up. Adrien was escorted by his bodyguard and Gabriel's assistant. Marinette felt her breath taken away as she recognized the scarf around his neck: the one she made for his birthday. Adrien came to school wearing it the next day, thinking it was from his father. Marinette had seen how happy Adrien was when he said his father gave it to him, deciding to never tell him.

Vincent started shouting at his assistants, jerking Marinette out of her thoughts. The photographer was gesturing wildly at Natalie, who sighed and walked away with her phone to her ear. Adrien moved to the edge of the park, still accompanied by his bodyguard. Marinette grabbed the bag of bakery treats and moved to put her plan in action.

Adrien was staring out at the busy street while his bodyguard just sat there with a grumpy expression on his face. "Hi," Marinette greeted. Adrien looked over and smiled brightly at her while the Gorilla simply grunted at her. Marinette held out the bag of treats to the Gorilla, "Brought you a few treats from the bakery, on the house." He grunted, sniffing the treats and smiled. "Is it okay if Adrien and I take a stroll around the park?" The massive man nodded, completely distracted by the treats.

Adrien knew something was going down the minute Marinette smirked the same way Ladybug did when she figured what to do with her lucky charm in a battle. She grabbed his hand and pulled him away from his bodyguard. "What's going on, Mari?"

"Wait just one second," she told him as she led him. Marinette looked over her shoulder once they were a few meters away, Natalie was still on the phone and the Gorilla was still distracted by his treats. Without warning, Marinette quickly changed direction and pulled him across the street.

"Mari, wait a second," Adrien pleaded, looking back at the photoshoot set.

Marinette pulled him inside a bus stop, a poster preventing anyone from seeing them. "Adrien, do you really want to do that shoot today?" she asked, looking him in the eye.

"No," Adrien admitted, looking away. "And Lila is supposed to come around lunch time."

"So why not just skip it?" Marinette suggested. Suddenly, Marinette's phone's ringtone sounded off. She checked the caller ID: it was Alya.

Adrien saw it too. "Has Alya been calling alot?"

Marinette shrugged, "This is the first time she called. She has been texting me since yesterday."

"Are you going to pick it up?" Adrien asked.

"No, I'm not sure I'm ready to talk to her yet," Marinette admitted. She rejected the call and looked back at him. "So what do you want to do?"

"I don't know, but I do know I don't want to go back there."

Marinette grinned, "Then let's get going!" She peered around the corner of the bus stop, Adrien's bodyguard now on his feet and looking around frantically. "We've got to be quick if we don't want to be spotted." She pointed to a nearby subway entrance, "If we get on the next train, they won't be able to keep up with us."

Adrien nodded, now fully committed to the plan. They waited until the Gorilla glanced in a different direction, then Marinette dashed out pulling Adrien behind her. The duo was halfway down the stairs when Marinette tripped, pulling Adrien down with her.

Marinette found herself lying on her back, Adrien on top of her. Their locked eyes, blushing wildly as they realized their intimate position. Adrien gave her an apologetic smile, "Um, so-sorry for falling for you?" Marinetteface grew hotter as she tried to stammer out a reply, only to find her words failing 's eyes widened when he realized his slip up. "Uh, I mean falling on you. So-sorry," he apologized.

"No-o, it's my fault." They both stayed there frozen, until a rumble from Adrien's stomach broke the tension. Marinette giggled as Adrien got up and offered her his hand. "Someone is hungry," she noted. Then she frowned instantly, scowling, "Must be that model diet your father forced on you."

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, and I kinda didn't have breakfast this morning."

"What?!" Adrien winced at the sharp tone in her voice. Marinette stared into his eyes, asking, "Why didn't you eat breakfast?"

Adrien sighed, "We were behind schedule, so Natalie told me to skip breakfast and get to the shoot."

Marinette frowned, "That is not acceptable! Come on, we are going to find a cozy breakfast diner and you will get a proper meal." Before Adrien could say anything, Marinette pulled him onto the train. He gave in and sat down next to her, knowing when Marinette set her mind nothing could stop her.

Natalie

"What do you mean Adrien left?" Natalie asked the Gorilla, mentally berating herself for letting Adrien sit on the edge of the set.

The bodyguard shrugged, "The nice girl with pigtails came along and wanted to walk around with him. When I looked up, they were gone."

Natalie sighed and walked away, pulling up the FindMyPhone app on her tablet. Gabriel, the Gorilla and Natalie herself popped up, but Adrien did not. She scowled, the boy must have turned off his location option. And the girl that helped him get away must have been Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Natalie pulled out her phone and called Gabriel. "Yes, Natalie?"

"Sir, Adrien has managed to leave the shoot without his bodyguard. I can't track him and I believe the Dupain-Cheng girl is with him."

'While Adrien's sudden need to rebel is annoying, the fact that the Dupain-Cheng girl is out there with him gives us an opportunity to enact part of our plan."

"Understood sir, I will attempt to contact and locate Adrien." Natalie hung up and pulled up Adrien's contact, pressing the call button. She ended up getting Adrien's voicemail. Scowling, Natalie walked back over to the Gorilla, trying to plan how to find Adrien.

Lila

The purple butterfly flew into her necklace, the all too familiar purple outline glowing in front of her face. "Hello Hawkmoth."

The villain's voice spoke inside her head, "Volpina, now is the time to make our move."

"I am ready, Hawkmoth." The purple energy consumed Lila, transforming her into Volpina once more. In seconds, she was bounding across rooftops. Dropping into an alley, she eyed her target: the Dupain-Cheng Bakery.

Volpina blew her flute, an orange flash disguising herself as Marinette. It pained her to do so, but it was a necessary act to achieve her goal. She walked across the street and into the bakery. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice her go upstairs.

Volpina entered Marinette's room, disgusted by the overall pinkness of it. The walls were covered in pictures of Adrien, even her desktop's wallpaper was a collage of Adrien with a pink heart filter. Trust Marinette to be so pathetic.

Looking around the room, Volpina began searching for Marinette's sketchbook. She found it sitting on Marinette's crafting table, clasped shut. It was pink too, of course, a black heart on the clasp and an M on the bottom right corner. With her objective in hand, Volpina began to walk down the stairs leading out of the apartment into the bakery.

"Marinette, dear please wait." Volpina froze as Sabine Cheng called from behind her. Slowly, Volpina turned around. Gabriel had been clear that no one must know who she really was, so fighting was out of the question. Sabine ducked back into the kitchen momenttarly, coming back out with a small bag. "If you are going outside to sketch for a while, then take some snacks in case you get hungry again."

Volpina forced a smile, accepting the treats as carefully as she could. One wrong move and her illusion would be destroyed. Sabine let go of the treats, giving Volpina a warm smile, "Don't stay out too late."

"Thanks, I won't!" Volpina gave a small wave as she continued out of the bakery.

She was almost home free when a familiar voice called from behind her. "Mari, wait up!" Alya called, running up to her. Volpina did her best not to scowl, Alya had been calling her non-stop since Gabriel removed the blog. "Look, I know you said you don't want to be friends anymore, but please just hear me out!" the former blogger panted out.

"Why should I? You never listened to me before." Volpina was probably doing Marinette a favour by chasing off Alya, but the loss of her sketchbook would hurt the designer more deeply than Alya being ignored.

"Please, Marinette. I'm asking for one small chance to talk," the blogger begged.

"Go away Alya, no one wants to hear you anymore." Without another word, Volpina walked away. It took a lot of willpower for her to not look back at the other girl to see how broken she must be. Volpina smirked, she learned a long time ago that friends are pointless, only allies and minions are useful.

Finally out of Alya's sight, Volpina ducted into an alleyway. As the illusion dropped, the purple outline appeared in front of her face. "Hawkmoth, I have the sketchbook. No one knows that it has been stolen yet."

"Excellent work, Volpina."

"May I destroy it?" Volpina asked, more than ready to watch the book burn in flames.

"No!" Hawkmoth's voice cried. "The designs in that book may still have value. Bring it to me at once." Volpina scowled as the outline faded. She wanted to destroy the sketchbook to pay Marinette back for exposing her, but Hawkmoth still held all the cards that mattered. She would have to wait a little longer.

Marinette

Marinette stared in disbelief as Adrien finished his third serving of food, her own empty plate long forgotten. "So how much food do you regularly get?"

Adrien looked up, then down at his plate. "Uh, sorry. Guess I got carried away."

"Stop apologizing for everything."

Adrien frowned, not sure what Marinette meant. "What do you mean?"

"You don't have to be sorry for things that aren't your fault. You are allowed to be hungry despite what your father says," Marinette insisted.

Before Adrien could reply, his phone lit up on the table displaying Nino's caller ID. "Hey, Nino?"

"Dude, where are you? Your father's assistant called me to ask if I knew where you are."

Adrien smiled, "I'm okay, Nino. Marinette stole me away from my bodyguard and now I'm skipping out on the shoot."

"Duuude, that's the way to stick it to the man!" Nino cheered. "Well now that I know you aren't kidnapped or anything, I'm just gonna text that assistant dudette that you wouldn't tell me where you are."

"Nino, wait! Are you okay?" Adrien asked.

"I'm fine dude, I just need some alone time to figure things out." Without another word, Nino hung up on him.

"We should give him some time alone," Marinette suggested. "Lila did a lot of damage to the class."

Adrien sighed, "I guess that's one is my fault."

"No, it isn't. Lila is responsible, not you." Marinette stared at the scarf, "Adrien, how much do you eat each day?"

"Not a lot," Adrien admitted. "But it's so I stay in shape for modeling."

Marinette sighed, "Adrien, I think you should leave home and file a report of child abuse and neglect."

Adrien's jaw dropped, "What? Why?"

"Adrien, he starves you to make a profit. He hit you when you said you didn't want to stay inside and work for him. You are forced into shoots that make you feel uncomfortable. Your schedule is so packed that you barely have time with your friends."

"He is just doing what he thinks is best," Adrien insisted.

Marinette sighed. "How often do you eat a meal together?"

"Once a month maybe?" Adrien admitted. "But that doesn't mean he doesn't care for me."

"Adrien, what sign of love has he shown you in the past year?" Marinette asked.

Adrien frowned, then yanked off his scarf. "This year he remembered my birthday and made me this. He didn't even put it in any of the catalogues." He handed the scarf to Marinette to let her inspect it. "He clearly thinks about me still."

Marinette felt a tear roll down her cheek. She thought she was letting Adrien be happy by letting him think the scarf was from his father. Instead, she had given Gabriel a free pass to be a terrible father to Adrien. She fumbled for the end of the scarf, finding her signature. Without saying anything, she handed the scarf back to Adrien and pointed at the signature.

Adrien stared at the signature, the significance of it hitting him like a punch to the gut. He looked back at her, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to, but you looked so happy when you thought it was from your father. I told everyone else to never tell you because I didn't want to take that away from you," Marinette confessed. "I didn't realize that your father was this bad before, blinded by a stupid crush."

Adrien felt his hands shake. His father stole Marinette's gift and passed it off as his own. His father stole someone else's hard work and pretended to care for him by passing it off as his own. "No, it's not your fault. I never should have missed your signature before." They both fell silent for a moment, then Adrien said, "Thank you, Marinette."

Marinette looked at him surprised, "For what?"

"For showing me the truth. And giving me an awesome birthday present." Adrien gave her a sad smile. "What was your plan for me leaving home?"

Marinette looked down at her phone, "I need to ask my parents a few things, but I doubt they wouldn't let you stay at the bakery." Marinette listed a number of other items Adrien should try to retrieve as he held the scarf tightly in his hand.

Across the street from them just out of sight was Kagami. She glared at the two, a single tear rolling down her face as jealousy burned inside of her.

Natalie

With Adrien not showing up, Natalie resigned herself to going back to the mansion and do some paperwork. It was almost time to water the guardian anyways. Natalie took the elevator down into Gabriel's lair. On her way to the Guardian's cell, she stopped to take a glance at Emelie resting in the stasis chamber. Natalie knew Emelie when she was in good health and how she brought light into Gabriel's life. Ever since she fell into the coma, Gabriel had grown grimmer. He was willing to do almost anything these days it seemed, which worried Natalie.

What if the Guardian knew of another way to save Emelie? One that didn't involve the warnings from the stories of the Miracle Wish, that said an equal sacrifice needed to be made. These questions in mind, Natalie entered the cell holding the Guardian. Gabriel had spilled the bottle of water she had down there she realized, the puddle sitting on the floor next to the empty bottle.

Coming to a decision, Natalie began to remove the chains holding the Guardian down. Fu's eyes opened up, "Excuse me but what are you doing?"

"There is something you need to see," Natalie stated. "Something that will change your mind about telling us where to find the Miracle Box."

Fu let out a weak chuckle, "Nothing you show me will cause me to willingly tell a man as corrupt as Hawkmoth where to find the Miracle Box. You are just wasting your time."

Natalie didn't answer, pulling him along to Emilie's chamber. She walked him down the path and stopped him in front of the statis tube. Fu gasped as he recognized Adrien's mother. When he visited Adrien under the guise as his substitute chinese teacher, he saw the photo of Adrien and his mother. "This is Emelie Agreste, isn't it? That means Hawkmoth must be Gabriel Agreste."

Natalie nodded, "She used the peacock, but it was damaged. Gabriel has managed to preserve her, but barely."

"There is nothing I or the Order of the Guardians can do to save her. The damage caused by the use of a broken miraculous cannot be healed." Fu turned his attention back to Natalie, "If he uses the Miracle Wish, then he will have to sacrifice Adrien, or even you."

Natalie frowned, "No, there has got to be a better way!"

"Get me the butterfly and peacock miraculous, then I will try to help her. But right now, I can't help you with anything. Not without the Miracle Book and the necessary items," Fu explained.

Natalie pondered for a moment, then sighed. "I will see what I can do, but Gabriel…"

Bang.

Natalie fell to the ground, a hole where her heart was. Fu stared in shock at Gabriel Agreste standing at the elevator with a cold look in his eyes, a smoking revolver in his hand.

Adrien

When Adrien entered the mansion, no one was around to yell at him. Taking it as a stroke of good luck, he headed straight to his room and pulled out a duffle bag. In it, he threw a few extra changes of clothes, deodorant and a stash of money he had been saving just in case. Adrien also threw in his laptop, the few photos he had left of him and his mother. Next he opened the desk drawer he had hidden Master Fu's letter and the envelope containing Ladybug's identity. For a moment, Adrien considered opening the envelope, then shook his head and stashed it away in the bag. He didn't need to know her identity just yet and Ladybug deserved to reveal it to him herself.

Plagg observed him quietly before asking Adrien, "Kid, are you sure about this?"

Adrien nodded as he searched for something else inside in the largest drawer in his desk. Reaching under a stack of binders, Adrien pulled out a hard drive and a USB stick. He plugged the hard drive into his desktop computer, transfering all the files he wanted to keep. "Sure as I'll ever be, Plagg." The file transfer began, the loading bar slowly progressing. Adrien groaned, he hoped to be in and out.

"But what if your father comes for you?" Plagg asked. The kwami had no desire to see his Chosen dragged back into

Adrien held up the USB stick to show it to Plagg. "That's why I'm going into his office to find some dirt on him," Adrien explained as he started towards the door. Plagg nodded and followed Adrien out of the room.

Adrien found his father's office empty to his relief. Strange enough, the computer was left on and logged in. Adrien frowned, his father would never be so careless as to leave it open. Then Adrien froze, the name of the file his father must have been viewing before leaving: Marinette Dupain-Cheng.