Review. I own nothing. Not even this computer.
Adrien sniffs and wiggles in his sleep. His shoulders and back are sore. He snorts as the stink starts to go into his dreams. He gasps in his dream. He is falling, faster and faster. The hands that are bleeding out of the wall scratch at him.
He is finally caught by them, there are six of them. They cup him hold him upwards. They look wrong though, pulled out of line. He glances around wildly, desperately trying to find something familiar. Then he recognizes one of the hands, the ring that she wears with her family's symbol on it.
"Kagami." He gazes upwards. Another hand flashes in the darkness. Bright red with black polka dots.
"Ladybug!" He calls out as he wants his throat to form words. Desperate for some sort of help.
The last set of hands are soft but firm, gentle yet leaving no room for argument. There are callouses on their fingertips. He gazes upwards and catches sight of her bluebell eyes and dark blue hair.
"Marinette." He breathes out. A deep rumbling fills his ears as the hands fade away and he is falling again. One word being echoed in his mind.
"Choose." The three girls echo out as he falls faster and faster. He sits up with a gasp as the stink of cheese fills his head. He feels like he is about to scream when a small black nub is pressed to his mouth.
"We don't have a lot of time. Maybe two or three hours. I will need to return this." Plagg says pressing the ring against Adrien's hand. Adrien glances down at it in delight. His lost ring! He had felt so...vulnerable without it. Naked. Exposed. And here it was!
"Plagg! Have you been hiding this or-" Plagg shushes him glancing around the small trailer nervously. Adrien had never seen the normally relaxed god so anxious before.
"Plagg is everything-"
"Everything is fine Adrien! Just get that thing on so that we can go for a little joy ride! You'll have to give that back to me so I can hide it again though!" Plagg looks so wide eyed and desperate that Adrien can only nod.
"Okay...I understand." Adrien slips the ring on, slips out of the trailer, glances around and transforms.
Chat Noir jumps across the rooftops a wild yowl of cat like joy fills his throat. He smiles and bounds from one rooftop to another. He feels lighter then air. Stronger then a demigod! He could tear the world apart or hold it all on his shoulders. Another bellow of joy comes out of his mouth. He lands on all fours and sprints across the rooftops.
"Oh man! Thank you plagg!" He shouts at the top of his lungs. He jumps over another empty street as a woman walks down it. She yawns and shades her eyes wondering what that was all about.
Chat Noir pauses right outside of his house. He stares at the forboding walls and the barred windows. He gulps. It couldn't hurt to just peek inside right? To just take a quick look around...He would be in and out and then gone. He could say hello to his father, reassure him that Adrien was safe. He could take to Natalie and put her fears to rest...He could pop into his room and get some of his stuff. He could do so much.
He sighs. He shouldn't do any of that though. The Gorilla had made it clear that it was not safe. Maybe his father was being blackmailed, maybe his father was being held hostage. He would not go into his house though. He glances around. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, his muscles felt refreshed, even just a few minutes in the suit recharged all of his energy. It was like getting a shot of adrenaline.
He stares off towards the distant Eiffel tower. It had been a while since he climbed it...And it was so late that he doubted anyone would mind...Chat Noir jumped, swung his baton to the ground and was launched across the rooftops. Another yowl raising in his throat.
Marinette stood on her balcony, she yawned, she had a bit of insomnia and it was always hard to gauge when she would actually be asleep. She watches the moon blankly. She never used her phone when she was this tired, otherwise she would just be up all night playing games. She blinks and feels her head start to droop. She should probably go back to bed now...
Chat Noir jumps across the moon and she blinks for a few seconds. Wondering if she just imagined it. Then she hears the loud wild meow following the cat boy and she growls.
"Of course." She says. She smiles to herself. Secretly pleased. She had been worried about him. Chat Noir had not picked up his phone or answered any of her messages for a while now. She had been concerned.
"Tikki!" She snaps down into the bedroom where the kwamii was sitting on Marinette's phone going through the girls social media page and liking a few of Marinette's friends pictures for her. Just because the small red bug mouse creature cared.
"Tikki!" Marinette snapped again sticking her head down through the trap door. "Spots on!"
Chat Noir lands at the top of the tower and gazes around sighing in delight. It was a lovely night and he could see the entire city. There was no one out on the street which was odd. And no one trying to take pictures. Heck there weren't even any couples strolling along in the moon light! Which was very very odd for the city of love.
"Curious." Chat Noir said as he plopped down on the tower walkway and leaned his head against the railing kicking his feet.
"What is?" A voice comes from behind him. Chat Noir grins like a stray that had just found a chunky fish laying around.
"Oh that my favorite superhero hasn't shown up to sweep me off my feet." Chat Noir glances up at Ladybug as she descends from her yoyo and lands beside him. "How are you tonight my lady?"
He bows a little and Ladybug groans rolling her eyes at his cheesiness.
"Miffed that you haven't responded to any of my calls for the last two days! Where have you been Chat Noir! We are a team and I can't just-" She pauses and glances over him. Clearly something wasn't right. Same boots, same tight black leather outfit made out of magic, same tail. But his hair...
"What did you do to your hair kitty cat?" Ladybug said plopping beside him and rubbing her hands over his head, right past his black ears. Chat Noir blushes and smiles enchantingly.
"What? Haven't you ever wanted a short fur cat?" He said before chuckling at the joke. She groans and rolls her eyes in irritation again.
"Now isn't the time for jokes kitty. We have a problem. One of PAris's leading citizens has been kidnapped. Adrien Agreste disappeared-"
"Adrien?" Chat Noir says gulping and twiddling his thumbs. "Oh dear...How long has that been?"
"Did you listen to a single one of my messages?" Ladybug deadpans as Chat Noir gulps and shrugs. He pulls out his baton and starts scrolling through his messages. There were over fifty calls and two hundred texts. The texts start out sweet but then get meaner, and then specific. And finally threatening.
"My lady! I didn't know that someone so sweet could text something so salty!" Chat Noir said feigning hurt as he touched his chest.
"Yeah yeah. Don't play the innocent kitten route mister." Ladybug saids with a frown before guiltily looking over his shoulders. She had probably gotten a bit too mean in the last few. She winced at some of the descriptions.
"Yeah that is a little far." She admitted as he quirked an eyebrow as if to say 'you think?'
"I am sorry for having left you in the loop though my lady. I've been busy on another mission."
"Does it have anything to do with the terrible haircut?" Ladybug teases again and rubs the top of his head as if to get good luck. Chat Noir waves her off with a chuckle.
"Something like that." He watches her face, so lovely and smooth and round. Like a moon, with a bright blue fire in her eyes. He can feel his heart going at a hundred miles an hour and blushes. "I've been trying to get in contact with you. I just want you to know that I would never leave you on purpose. I would have to be dragged away kicking and screaming."
He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. Ladybug pulled back a little and he let her go, after all he didn't want to be considered innapropriate or creepy, he genuinely liked her. And it was so so hard to get her to understand that even though he had confessed it to her again and again and again!
"Chat Noir? What are you talking about? Of course I know that you would you know, never willingly leave. Why? Is something happening?" Chat Noir sighed and looked down. He felt her small dainty hand cup his chin and pull it back up. He could feel a few callouses on her fingers and along the inside of her palm, the suit might be thick but he had sensitive skin. He gulps as he stares at her.
She is so cool. And powerful. And beautiful. He felt himself falling in love with her all over again.
"I might be leaving. Soon. I will try to be back as soon as I can and as often as I can. But something beyond my control is happening." He said gently and sadly. "And I'm scared. I have so many friends here. And I can't leave them here without telling them something. And I don't think that I'll be able to tell them how much they mean to me."
Chat Noir felt his heart starting to thunder and Ladybug put a finger to his lips to slow him down.
"Wait. What? Chat you need to-"
"I'm sorry. But aren't you the one who constantly says that we can't risk our secret identities? Well this has to do with mine." He closes his eyes and lets out a long breathless sigh.
"I don't know how to respond to this Chat." Ladybug said. She felt her head spinning, she felt lightheaded. This wasn't a akuma attack, this wasn't searching for a missing person. This was losing her most important second in command. Chat Noir gazes at her mournfully.
"This was all super sudden to me too. But I'm not going to be going anywhere anytime tonight. So don't worry. I will find a way to get the ring back to you too. I promise. Even if I have to mail it back."
The two look at each other. Ladybug's face looks drained and Chat Noir's mind races. SHe looks like she is about to have a heart attack or a stroke or something. He needs to think of something to say to calm her down, to get her back to functioning!
"I'm sure that you will find a new Chat Noir fast. I have total faith in you." He said with a warm smile. She shakes her head once then again harder this time.
"No. Chat...I can't...You...You're it...I can't imagine working beside anyone besides you." Chat Noir feels his heart break again. It felt like that was happening a lot that night.
"Welll...I think that you're going to have to bugaboo." He said before looking back over the city.
"It's not cancer is it? I mean the dissaperance, the hair loss..." Ladybug said her mind instantly going to the darkest possible place. Chat Noir yelps and shakes his head.
"What! No! I'm not going to die! I just...I won't be able to be Chat Noir anymore! Something big and impossible has come up. I just...I won't be able to help you. I'm sorry."
"And you can't give the ring to me now because?" She said wonderingly.
"Well I still need to get home somehow right?" He said chuckling slightly. Ladybug looked far from amused. Chat Noir sighs and takes her hand gently in one of his.
"Do you mind if we just sit here for a little big Ladybug? Just the two of us and the city?" He asks. Ladybug glances at him, nods once. And the two sit in silence for a few hours not talking or interacting. Just sitting and holding hands.
Chat Noir glances between two tents and sprints past them. He ducks behind a barrel jumps over a squat lion cage. And skids to a stop beside the elephants.
"Plagg. Claws in." He mumbles. Plagg detransforms and Adrien stands breathless in the darkness.
"Good thing no one saw me." Adrien mumbles before handing the ring back to Plagg. Plagg took it reluctantly before he started to float off. He pauses again and glances back down at Adrien.
"Go on. You need to put it back where you found it." Adrien says with a smile. Plagg floats back down to Adrien's eyes level and looks steadily in the young mans eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere until I absolutely have to. Okay?" Plagg said making firm and unwavering eyecontact with Adrien. He smiles and nods.
"I know Plagg. Thank you." Adrien smiles. Plagg nods and takes off again. Adrien sighs and stars walking to his trailer.
Plagg pops in and floats over towards the sleeping Gorilla. He hovers for a moment, trying to find a good way to get down there. When a trashcan lid sized hand plucks him out of the air and brings him close with a growl. Plagg gulps as The Gorilla rolls over and puts a hand over his eyes ignoring everything. Plagg glances upwards as Adrien creaks open the door, tip toes in and gets into his cot.
Plagg looks at the Gorilla's face and much to his surprise the big man is actually smiling softly to himself. As if this was all part of some strange plan known only to him.
I own nothing not even this computer.