Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or elements relating to Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir.

Miraculous: Borderline

Chapter 12: Direct Confrontation

Cat Noir slipped in through his bedroom window and transformed back. As soon as Adrien's costume vanished and released Plagg, his kwami left without a word, leaving Adrien feeling sick and tired of Plagg's recent disappearances.

Adrien had half an hour to stew over Plagg's mysterious attitude, and by the time Plagg finally returned, Adrien was waiting for him.

"Plagg, where have you been?" Adrien said, gritting his teeth.

Plagg immediately darted over to the plate of camembert cheese and started helping himself.

"What?" Plagg said innocently. He swallowed another bite of cheese. "I was off doing what kwamis do."

"Stop with the vague responses, Plagg," Adrien growled. "Let me ask you something: Is Marinette Ladybug?"

Plagg spewed out the cheese he'd been chewing. "W-what? What makes you think that?" Plagg protested.

He flew around in circles before settling on the plate of cheese again. "You think that nerdy, clumsy girl is Ladybug?"

Adrien didn't blink. "Yes."

Plagg stared at him for a moment. "Well, how would I know?" he finally said. "I'm just a kwami—your kwami. I don't know other miraculous-holders out there."

He decisively shoved a giant piece of cheese into his mouth.

Adrien sighed. "Well, it wouldn't matter now. I asked her today and she—well, she's not Ladybug."

Plagg choked for the second time in a minute. "W-when did you ask her that? What did she say? What made you think that?"

Adrien narrowed his eyes at his kwami. "I thought you said you didn't know anything," Adrien said suspiciously.

Plagg shrugged. "I don't!"

Yet Plagg stared at him unblinkingly, waiting for an answer.

Adrien fingered a piece of thread hanging from the arm of the sofa. "Marinette denied that she was Ladybug, even though I saw Tikki hang around her, and Marinette seemed to know exactly how to use my ring to somehow 'heal' Tikki."

Plagg swallowed. "What makes you think that?"

Adrien stared at him. "She told me that."

Plagg didn't say anything for a moment. "Oh."

"Anyway, then Ladybug came up and ordered me to get a move on like she's done for the past week. So Marinette can't be Ladybug because she can't be in two places at once. And Ladybug—"

Adrien suddenly punched the sofa arm in frustration. "Arrgh, she's so—so—"

"Annoying?" Plagg offered.

"Yeah, well, she shouldn't be that way!"

"Because she's your 'one true love,'" Plagg inserted bluntly.

Adrien glared at him, sensing the barb coming. "She's supposed to be. And she's not acting like herself. Honestly, I have no idea how Marinette's even supposed to fit in any of this if she's not Ladybug. I mean—"

Adrien let out a long breath and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I got to take a breather," Adrien muttered.

"Please do," Plagg piped up. "You're making me nervous, and I'm a kwami."

Plagg shoved another piece of cheese into his mouth and burped in contentment. "And kwamis don't get nervous."

Adrien didn't reply as he stared off into the distance. He was missing a piece of the puzzle, and it was nagging at him. If only there were a way—

Wait. There was a way.

"Finally," Hawk Moth breathed out.

He stood leaning on his cane in his underground chamber, staring out the window triumphantly as he fed on the negative energies that drifted in from the city of Paris.

"Marinette's emotions are back at work," Hawk Moth murmured. "Yet she's holding them back. Hmmm."

Hawk Moth leaned his chin on one hand as he thought. Slowly, his lips curled up in a sinister smile.

"I know what I have to do," he said softly.

Marinette strode through the park, feeling as if the weight of her book bag was nothing compared to the burden on her shoulders—her burden as the ex-Ladybug of Paris.

Marinette sat down on a park bench and watched the video on her phone again.

"This is Nadja Chamack with the latest news on Ladybug. Recently, she's been tied with a string of property damages that occurred as she recklessly swung through Paris chasing what she thought was a robber but was just an innocent man auditioning for a role in the movie Thief's Lair.

"Last week she accidentally hit a man in the face because she 'thought he had been akumatized.' And a few days ago she was reported blocking the streets and causing a traffic jam just so she could yell at a bystander for not moving out of her way fast enough.

"The mayor has given her a one-week grace in which Ladybug is to pay for the property damage and apologize to the people she has hurt in her reckless rampage throughout the city.

"Which brings up the question: Should Ladybug be allowed to function anymore as a lawless vigilante? This is Nadja Chamack."

Marinette groaned and buried her face in one hand.

It was all too much. At school, her moping around had isolated her from her best friend Alya, and Marinette could barely concentrate in class. At home, Marinette felt disconnected from her family and refused to use her Bee miraculous still.

It was taking a toll on her.

Marinette closed her eyes for a moment to calm herself down. She'd gotten better at controlling her emotions over the past two weeks, and even though she still had enough pain and anger to power Hawk Moth's akumas for a whole month, Marinette had gotten to the point that she could shed her emotions like snakes shed their skin.

Marinette had had to learn that. Otherwise she, and all of Paris, wouldn't survive.

Marinette opened her eyes, feeling calmer already. She slowly stood up, shouldering her backpack and pocketing her phone.

She could deal with this. It was just another day like normal. Lonely, boring, and nostalgic, but still, Marinette could handle it.

Marinette started striding out of the park when she caught a flash of silver.

What is that—

Marinette gasped.

No. It couldn't be.

At that moment, the clouds drifted over the sun and the park turned a whole shade darker. Marinette squinted to see something move in the shadows. Someone.

A black dress shoe stepped out from the darkness. The man strode forward, swinging his cane with every step. Power radiated from him like darkness pooling out from a cave mouth, and Marinette stumbled a step back.

It was like seeing a vampire in the rays of sunlight. It was like seeing Frankenstein step out in broad daylight.

It was Hawk Moth.

End of Chapter 12: Direct Confrontation