Marientte woke with a start. She looked around her room, wondering why something felt off. Her room looked the same as always. There was her mirror, stretching from floor to ceiling. Her desk was in the same disarray she had left it in. The stone wall looked as good as it did yesterday. She looked to her right and saw Tikki's empty bed.

"Ohmyword TIKKI!" yelled Marinette. She stood up with a start only to fall out of her bed.

"Yes, Marinette," Tikki said, flying over from the window eating her cookie. She felt a little sorry for the girl trapped in blankets.

"Nothing," she rolled over, "go back to sleep." And with that she turned over again and promptly went back to sleep.

Tikki smiled to herself and floated down to the girl.

"Come on," the spirit encouraged, "at least get back in bed."

Marinette mumbled something and went to bed halfway. Her feet still touched the ground. It was three weeks until she married the King of the West, she deserved sleep. Wait. King of the West? This sounded new. She stood up again.

She was wide awake again and trembling.

"Tikki, this is gonna sounds stupid but..." she looked nervously about her, "am I supposed to be here?"

Tikki looked confused for a second.

"That villain must have hit you harder than I thought." Tikki zoomed up to the girls face. "Princess Marinette, you are exactly where you need to be. You are here in this palace, waiting for Alya to come wake you up. You are being the bravest person I know and marrying the King of the West to escape death. You are Ladybug, wearer of the earrings."

Tikki's speech said all of this encouragingly, so much so that Marinette felt right at home. She felt a few old memories come to mind. Funny how she had forgotten.

"Thanks Tikki."

She was about to say more, but Alya entered and Tikki had to hide.

Adrien woke up with the biggest scare of his life. A child, not older than four, was hauling him down the street with the biggest smile on her face. With a shriek he jumped five feet into the air, landing on a low roof.

If it hadn't been for his claws he would've fallen off. He watched the girl sit down and wait for him to come down. He warily watched her and sat down. His proportions felt off. His arms were closer to the ground, his legs had never... A quick glance at himself told him that he was not doing well. In fact unless he had always been a cat he was doing terribly.

Long, black hair covered all of him. Little beans stood in the place of feet. Hands and feet were paws instead of what they should be. Adrien was completely bewildered. Until he remembered what he should have known all along. Funny how things escape you like that.

Chat Noir hadn't made it home last night. Home was the only place where he could be human at day. Or should he say next to his father. He dreaded going home. He dreaded seeing his father.

Almost two years ago, Gabriel, Adrien's father had found out about his nightly escapes. They had been small attempts at freedom, things that lasted for just a few hours. Adrien was punished in two ways, he was not allowed out of his room for a month. No human contact, unless you count the trembling maid delivering food, for a month. Secondly Adrien was bound to his father, ironically during the day, through a curse.

Gabriel was a collector of odd magical things. He could never know if one would bring him back to his former glory. An item could bring him gold or power, or in his son's case, keep wandering children home. A cracked silver ring in the bottom of a pile of useless things could turn anyone into a cat, and that is what Gabriel used. So long as Adrien was away from him he would turn into a cat.

Gabriel bound the ring's spirit to himself, and made it so Adrien could never take the ring off. He forgot about true love, or maybe disregarded it, but it was the only way out of the spell.

But Adrien had seldom little time for love. He had time for only two people, Ladybug of the East, his masked partner, and the King of the West, his father. His day was spent doing whatever his father wished, and the night was spent doing whatever he wished. After all, the night was the only time he could be almost human away from his father. And he spent it fighting next to his Lady.

Feeling like this was all new information Adrien slipped down from the roof, expertly avoiding the child's grasp. He would go home to the place that felt least like home.

As he walked down the street he noticed something odd. The people parted to make way for him. No one came close, save a few children who dared to pet his back. If he veered to the left the people to the left would move farther away and the people to the right would come closer. It was the same for both sides. A few people bowed as he passed.

Adrien thought he should have some fun. Pouncing left and right, Adrien smiled as people made room for him. He jumped after a fly and rolled on the ground for a second. He merrily made his way towards the castle, jumping and bouncing along. Suddenly, his merriment ended. A woman to the side of the road sat in the dust, begging for coins. It was not an uncommon sight, no, it was quite common. This woman, maybe not older than thirty, was thin and panting. Her sign said that she had been injured in the wars.

Adrien stared at her for a minute. This was a person his father had abandoned. A scarred soldier. There were thousands. This one was not far from death if help did not reach her. He walked to her and put a paw on her leg. She smiled at him.

"Bless you, child of the Chat Noir. May your lookalike be as blessed as you."

The lady said this weakly to him. She reached to pet him and Adrien moved past her hand and sat in her lap. As he purred people took note of him and gave the woman money and even a bite to eat. He stayed for a long time, until an old couple came up and offered the woman a place to stay and work.

As he jumped off the lady called out a thank you. He turned and bowed as best as he could, and she curtsied. One life was better now. That was the power of the black cat, after all, Chat Noir brought hope. So now all black cats were respected and in some cases revered.

It wasn't a bad day, not at all. It was an amazing day and even if it got worse one life was blessed. One life was saved. That was enough.