-Past-

I need some time to think things over. I'm sorry.

How much time are you talking about-

-like today or…

Are you suggesting a break??

Adrien???

Adrien's phone buzzed three more times before he turned on his silent mode. He wasn't good at this; he had never been in this situation. He'd call Nino later to get some perspective. Although, Nino had only ever had Alya. He may be just as lost as Adrien was. Great.

There was no way Adrien could focus on particle fusion right now. With a sigh he packed up his books and tucked away his laptop into his backpack. The library was completely empty today too, what a waste. The whole campus felt empty, it was spring break after all.

With a somber mood, he decided some tea was needed to help him ease his mind. Natalie made the best tea but a small coffee shop on campus was a close second. Adrien found himself there on days he was feeling homesick. The atmosphere was a tacky French imitation, but it was close enough for a hint of nostalgia.

"Welcome in! Oh, oh it's you! A-Adrien Agreste!" A small girl behind the counter leaned over with a wide smile.

"Hi, I'm sorry. Have we met?" Adrien asked returning the smile and making his way to the register. He wasn't bad with names or faces usually. Since he had been in the states he didn't get recognized nearly as often as when he lived in Paris. It was a welcomed change that would hopefully stick when he returned.

If he returned?

The girl held up her hands. "Oh, no! We haven't met, sorry. I didn't mean to address you so informally! I meant to say we are meeting now! No, I should say it's nice to meet you! Oh, that was so dumb. Why did I say all that? Can I start over?" The girl was now a bright shade of red and quickly ducked under the counter and out of sight. She was clearly embarrassed. So, she was a fan?

Adrien began to laugh but then stopped. His chest suddenly ached. Marinette. That was just like something Marinette would do. The flashback from his last visit to her room as Char Noir had hit him all at once. He had hurt her. He had ruined everything. Hawk Moth had got too close to Ladybug because he had been useless.

Ladybug.

Adrien could feel tears stinging the corner of his eyes. He balled his fists. What was this sudden rush of emotions?!

He needed to leave. Adrien searched his wallet for a cash tip, he didn't want to be rude. Finding a bill, he stuffed it into the plastic cup. "I-It was nice meeting you, I'll stop back in another time!" Adrien managed to choke out. His vision was burry.

Hearing his tone change, the girl peaked over the counter.

"I made this too awkward, didn't I? I'm so sorry, talking to famous people is - well it's not easy! You don't need to leave though!"

Adrien barely registered what the girl had said. Tears were slowly falling down his face into his open wallet. How long had he been lettingem this well up? Were these real tears?

"Oh my god…" The girl quickly scurried out from behind the counter. She had made him cry. She made Adrien Agreste cry. What the hell was happening. Was she going to end up on TMZ?! The girl mentally panicked. In a blur, the girl ran to lock the front door and then pulled the curtains closed. Once the place had been sealed from onlookers the girl gently tugged Adrien's bag over to their cushiest lounge chair, careful not touch his person. He plopped down in place resting his face in his hands.

"Thank you. Sorry for my outburst, it wasn't you. Well not directly you, anyways." Adrien took a few deep breaths to collect himself. He couldn't shake sad and broken Marinette from his mind.

"Not directly me… Good? Look I'm really sorry. Did you want to maybe, taallkk about it? I think seeing the Adrien Agreste cry actually helped me in a weird way. It's like, oh he's a human!" The girl quickly offered, trying to cheer him up. She spoke fast still, but it wasn't as nervous as she had been before.

Adrien chuckled and met the girl's face. She was much younger, maybe a first year. She could have been a Rose's cousin, the same petite features but with longer dyed hair. It was almost uncanny.

"Please sit down, too. Sorry about all that, I didn't catch your name." Adrien motioned to the identical seat across from him.

The girl sat, smiling now that the model seemed to be done crying. So surreal, her best friend was not going to believe her. No one would believe her. "It's Carly, and it is nice to officially meet you Adrien Agreste. Now please, what was all that? I mean, if you are cool sharing..."

"That, has never happened to me in my entire life. I'm not really sure what that was. You just-" Adrien paused looking away. "-you reminded me of an old friend."

"Oh I see. I'm sorry. Did something happen to this person?" She asked carefully, not wanting to overstep or trigger another outburst.

"Not exactly. I'm sounding dramatic, sorry. We just haven't seen each other in a long time. She's in Paris, I left on not the greatest terms. I didn't really realize it affected me until, well until seeing you actually. She used to do the same thing around me. Stumble on her words. Get nervous or say a lot of random things. It was like a de ja vu, really. I'm rambling now. Sorry, I'm sure you need to open your shop and I'm just here moping."

"You don't need to apologize! Please, let me make some tea and you can tell me about her. It's good to vent, I do it all the time with my best friend. If I don't, well, it's just a bad time for everyone. Don't worry about the shop, we've been dead all day anyways."

Adrien looked around at the empty shop considering. What the hell, it couldn't hurt. Adrien smiled and agreed with a nod.

Two black teas and two hours later, Adrien had let go of everything he had unknowingly stored up over the last few years. It was like he was a wet towel being rung out until there was no water left. He had never talked for so long, he felt like he'd need to sleep for a week to recover.

Carly, who had barely said much, except for the occasional "-and then what happened?" or the "I'm so sorry-", leaned back in awe. That was so much. She just thought he was a bubble headed model finishing college. Paris sounded crazy. "I'm so glad there are no akuma attacks here. I would be the first to be akumatized. Guaranteed."

Adrien laughed. He hadn't revealed his identity as Chat to her but had revealed about as much as he could about his life. It just poured out of him without him realizing. Marinette and the attacks. His friends, his school, his modeling work, his dad even.

After a moment of reflection, Carly stood up, collecting their empty cups. "So then, are you going to call her?"

"Call Marinette?" Adrien asked incredulously.

"Yeah. I think that will help you get closure on the whole thing. Ending things like that is obviously eating away at you. I say just call; it's been enough time! She might need the closure too. I mean, if that's what you want?"

Adrien wasn't sure. How would he start that conversation? 'Hey Marinette, sorry I got you akumatized?' He shook away the thought. He'd write down some options later, maybe he should at least try.

Adrien checked his phone, it would be getting dark soon. How had he stayed so long? "Um Carly? Thank you for that. Really. I should head home now, I feel bad for tying you up for so long. Sorry again."

"Carly shook her head aggressively. She then grabbed a napkin and a pen. "No more apologies! We are friends now, so here, take down my number. If you need a friend, you'll know where to reach me."

Adrien took the napkin and immediately added the number to his phone. He had lost a lot of unsolicited phone numbers to the washing machine. This was a number he didn't want to lose. After he added it in, he held up his phone. "Thank you. Really."

Carly beamed and unlocked the front door, letting the model out of her shop and back into the world. She had done good, or at least she felt like she had. Maybe she should change her major to psych? She decided it was a conversation for her best friend, amongst other things.

Now, where was her phone?

When she returned to behind the counter to collect her phone, she noticed the crisp 50.00 bill sitting in the tip jar.

-Present-

Tikki could sense Plagg, she always could. He was the yang to her yin. As soon as his user had reentered Paris a few months ago, Tikki had awakened with a buzzing feeling in her chest. Having Plagg gone for so many years had been hard, they were not meant to be so far away from each other. Her bond with the other kwamis was not nearly as strong as her bond with Plagg. The closer they were to each other, the stronger their powers were. That's why Ladybug needed Chat Noir. It was something Marinette needed to realize on her own or the strength from their bond would never reach its full potential. As frustrating as it was. Without Chat, she would never find balance.

Tikki followed her buzzing feeling through the dark rooftops of Paris to a familiar place, The Agreste manor. She could already sense something was wrong with Plagg. He was blurry to her, unconscious maybe? It was hard to tell from this far away. She carefully avoided the flood lights of the property, already knowing the ins and outs of the Agreste Manor's security system. The buzzing led her to the south wall and down through to a basement level, except this wasn't a basement.

It was an underground fortress! It held plants and capsules and a balcony where Hawk Moth himself stood in front of three pods. Two of the white glowing pods were sealed off and the other was uncovered and held Adrien! From what Tikki could make out from the shadows, Adrien still wore his ring meaning Plagg hadn't been discovered! Hawk Moth was on the phone, angrily speaking in a stern voice.

"Have you caught up to the girl? I gave you her exact location when she was in the alley way!" he exclaimed.

There was a pause as the other person spoke, Tikki couldn't make out their end.

"It took you that long to get to her? Idiots! What am I paying you all this money for?! Who knows what she was doing in that amount of time. She is crafty, do not let her out of your sight or I'll make you regret ever signing a contract with me." Hawkmoth ended the call and stalked off of the balcony to a glass elevator.

Tikki watched as he lifted off to the upper levels of the estate. She felt Nooru and Trix for a moment but it quickly faded the farther they went. Her poor friends. She would save them but first, she needed her user's love interest/partner (what a mess these two were) to wake up.

Tikki carefully flew to the pods using the guise of the shadows and phased through Adrien's pod from below, careful to not be exposed to any spot lights. She floated next to the back of his head, resting on the white pillow. Tikki gently pulled the hairs of Adrien's blonde head. Nothing. She tugged a bit harder. Still nothing. Getting frustrated she filled both of her tiny hands with hair and yanked as hard as she could pulling a few strands with her.

"Ouch!" Adrien shot up, head bumping the glass of the pod. He looked around, startled. "What is this? Plagg?" Plagg emerged from the ring looking dazed. "Tikki, is that you?" Plagg said with a raspy voice, still out of it. As Adrien moved to find Tikki the pod began to ring a small alarm from within. A yellow gas began filling the chamber at his feet.

"Plagg, claws out!" A flash of green came and Chat Noir triggered his baton, shattering through the glass of the pod. He jumped out onto the balcony coughing as gas continued to spill out of the pod. Suddenly a lock down sequence initiated causing the three pods to seal up and descend to the lower levels. Once they were out of sight, a metal door extended out, enclosing the lower levels, sealing up the area the pods had descended to. Adrien was disoriented from the gas and had barely caught a glimpse of the other pods. Had someone else been in the other pods? Adrien coughed more, trying to get the the gas out of his throat.

"What.. what is this place? What is going on?!" Chat exclaimed looking to Tikki for answers. She hovered next to him looking unsure of what they had just witnessed.

"We are at your home Adrien, or underneath it anyways." Tikki responded.

Chat stumbled back against a railing. He looked around at the dark bunker-like enclosure that was supposedly underneath his childhood home. This was too much. Why was he here? How did he get here... His father! He had been on the stairs. The blackness that had overtaken him!

"Tikki, I think my father has been akumatized! He put me in here. He said something about keeping me out of the way? Maybe this is a part of an akuma attack?" Adrien was scrambling for an explanation. His father hadn't looked akumatized when he saw him.

"Oh Adrien, I'm really sorry to be the one to break this to you," Tikki started.

She was cut off by the sound of the elevator descending down to their level. As the elevator stopped, the doors drifted open and out stepped Hawkmoth. Adrien's father.

"Quick! We need to hide!" Tikki yanked on Chat's tail and led him over the side of the balcony. Chat nimbly caught on the side and hung from the underside of the walkway.

"Natalie, get those spotlights on. The sensor indicates Adrien's pod was opened." He heard his father order. His voice was harsh and cold. His father really had trapped him in here.

Chat's grip on the bars tightened. "I need answers." He whispered to Tikki. He moved to climb back up.

"Wait! You can't confront him now, he has Rena Rouge's miraculous! That may not even be him!"

Footsteps sounded over their heads, creaking on the platform. The two sat silently as they continued forward.

It suddenly occurred to Adrien. "Wait Tikki. How did you find me here? Did Ladybug send you?"