Felix stood there, momentarily frozen. He'd give Ladybug credit, she'd only seen him for like a minute and knew he wasn't Chat Noir. "Where is he?" she demanded again, face pinched in anger.
"I didn't hurt him if that's what you're asking," Felix told her, not bothering to lie. He may not tell her much, but lying about it wasn't going to help anything.
"And how do I know that?"
He narrowed his eyes. "I can't actually prove it without telling you who he is, which I won't do." Felix wasn't a snitch. It was bad enough he knew that Adrien was Chat Noir, no one else needed to know unless Adrien wanted them to. "You'll just have to trust me."
"Not likely," she told him. She still looked fierce, like she was ready to take him out there and now.
That gave Felix an idea. "If you won't trust me, then you can try to take the ring off. If you can get if off, you can have it." Maybe she'd get stuck with the curse and Felix would be free.
If possible, her eyes narrowed further. With the utmost caution, she crept closer, watching any small movement from Felix as he held his hand towards her, palm up. Felix felt a ray of hope as she got closer. Plagg did say that her magic could counteract his, maybe she'd be able just to take the ring off. Forget getting her to kiss him...
She flung the yoyo at him, the string surrounding him and pinning his arms down to his sides. Was that really necessary? She reached forward and Felix's heart pounded as she gripped his hand firmly, going for the ring. This is it!
"I can't," she told him, quickly throwing him onto the ground like a wrestler. "Why not?"
The air left Felix with a whoosh as he hit the ground, with Ladybug pinning him face-down on the roof. How had this turned so bad? Why couldn't she take the ring off? Frustrated, Felix wiggled, grabbing his baton to extend it and pry away the yoyo's string from trapping him. She jumped back, poised lithely and ready to retaliate, the yoyo zipping back to her.
"Look, I'd rather not fight with you," Felix told her, holding his hands up. "And by the sound of that-" he pointed to her ear rings that began beeping incessantly, "and my ring, you're about to change back, which means I am too. We'll talk next time, and I'll explain more." With that, Felix turned and used the baton to reach the ground safely. He didn't miss her look of confusion before he leapt down, and a part of him felt good about that. It wasn't only him who was confused about everything.
Felix was beginning to think that Ladybug was transforming on purpose. Since she had no knowledge of the curse, he doubted that was the case. There had been a significant increase in patrols and akuma attacks, according to Plagg. Within the last two days, there had been three attacks. One time he had been stranded in his suite again, just pacing with crossed arms until it wore off. For the second one, he had gone back to the same grocery store to get more food since his had ended up in the dumpster where he transformed. Felix had to run inside the bathroom and squeeze out of the tiny window to get out before someone caught him. Then, once again, he had to go back for his groceries when the transformation was over. At least he hadn't actually bought them again before he had to sprint to the bathroom.
The third attack, Felix had actually been really close to the akuma victim. The butterfly had actually floated past him to someone across the street in a distant car, before the car doors had been blown off the vehicle for someone to start flying around destroying stuff. In between screams from the akuma (something about traffic) Felix had found a place to hide so no one would see the transformation. It took Ladybug a full thirty seconds to transform after he'd hidden, so he had to wait.
Once transformed, Felix figured he could make a quick get away as he still didn't know how to use his powers. Plagg was very little help, opting to complain more than actually inform Felix of anything. They had driven each other crazy, and often didn't talk to each other unless they had to.
As Ladybug showed up, Felix exited his hiding spot far closer to the fight than he found comfortable. "Are you going to help me?" Ladybug had demanded as she spotted him, dodging cars as the akuma had started flinging them around like toys.
"Feel free to take this one down by yourself, too," Felix responded, trying to get away from the fight. There was no way he was going to try and fight-
That thought was cut short by Ladybug tackling him to the ground as a car went flying down the street. "You're not going anywhere!" she nearly hissed at him. "At the very least Paris needs to see Chat Noir is still here, even if you're a fake."
"I'm not a fake-" Felix started, before Ladybug turned to him with a grin. Suddenly, she grabbed his arm and threw him in the direction of the akuma.
Eyes wide and heart now pounding wildly, Felix's body twisted in the air, claws first to smack into the akuma. They collided with a smack and tumbled to the ground. Felix popped up quickly, checking over himself. A normal human would have several broken bones, but he was fine. Glaring, Felix looked back at Ladybug, who was already running towards them, yoyo at the ready.
"What the hell-"
Ladybug pushed Felix to the side to grab at the akuma's hand. She grabbed a set of keys and broke one, causing the akuma to dissolve into the human underneath.
"I hope you don't treat the other Chat that way," Felix said, dusting his suit off. So much for being a hero of Paris; Ladybug wasn't very nice.
"He's an actual hero, unlike you. I'm not sure how you got the ring, but you're not my Chat," she told him, grabbing the akuma butterfly to purify it. After setting everything the way it was, she grabbed Felix again and swung them up to another rooftop. She landed, dropping Felix on the roof in a heap.
"I'm sensing rooftops are a thing for you," Felix snarked under his breath. What was wrong with the normal ground?
"You've got about thirty seconds to start talking," Ladybug told him. "How come the ring didn't come off before? How did you even get it?"
Felix arched a brow at her. He could appreciate her not wasting time, instead getting to the heart of the matter. Finally, someone who didn't want to have idle chit chat. "I took the ring-"
Before he could finish the sentence, she had already started swinging the yoyo around, flinging it at him to wrap him up like before. Quickly, Felix snatched the end, wrapping his hand in the string. Perhaps that wasn't the best way to start... "Would you let me finish? I took the ring, but I had no idea what it was. If I knew this would've happened, I wouldn't have bothered. But I'm Chat Noir... for now, so we're both going to have to deal with it." Even though he really didn't want to.
She tugged on the string a bit, but Felix held strong, holding her glare. Hopefully, she could see that he was telling the truth. "Fine," she nearly after staring him down, "but I don't have to like it. Paris needs both of its heroes, so you better step up. People have noticed that Chat Noir doesn't show up half the time."
"Fine, I'll make appearances," Felix conceded, letting go of the yoyo so it could zip back to Ladybug.
She huffed quietly to herself though he heard it anyway. "Just answer one more question," she continued. "How's the real Chat Noir doing?"
Well, at least Felix knew she had Adrien's back when they were out around Paris being crazy magic vigilantes. She seemed genuinely worried that he'd done something to Adrien. "He was sick, but he's fine. Now, if you don't mind, I'm leaving," Felix told her, before turning and leaping from the roof. His ring had one little paw print left, and he had about five whole seconds to get to solid ground.
"Will you shut up already?!" Felix asked, fuming at Plagg as he hovered around the suite. The kwami had not stopped laughing since they'd returned. It was grating on Felix's ears and his nerves.
"I can't believe she threw you at the akuma!" Plagg howled again. "I'm gonna have to send her a cheese basket!" Plagg made some pantomime motions like he was throwing something and kept cackling to himself. Then he flew over towards the TV remote, turning it on. "I wonder if someone got it on camera for the news..."
"It was not funny, you little pest!" Felix growled, snatching up the remote to turn the television off. He had been scared out of his mind! He hadn't known that he'd survive the throw without an injury.
Storming off to his room, Felix tried to calm himself down. There was no point in letting his emotions get the better of him. At least, more than they already had. His hands hadn't stopped shaking the whole way home, from the adrenaline or fear he didn't know. Probably both. He never wanted to go through that again, so if he had agreed to 'make appearances' then that was all he was doing. Ladybug could fight all the akuma she wanted, but Felix was not cut out for being a hero.
Adrien paced around his room, trying to keep his panic from taking over.
He'd lost his freaking miraculous!
How did that happen? Sure, he knew the ring could come off, but still! The worst part was that he hadn't even realized the ring was gone until about a day or two after he had fallen sick! He'd long grown used to the weight of the ring, so he hadn't even thought about it until he realized he hadn't heard Plagg around his room. Immediately, he had asked Nathalie if she or any of the house staff had seen it around, but she just shook her head.
I know I have bad luck, but c'mon!
Did he even have bad luck anymore without Plagg around? Without being Chat Noir? Then again, he'd quit seeing his luck as bad for quite some time now. Plagg was probably the luckiest thing to happen to him in a long time.
"And I lost him!" he groaned to himself. So much for being Plagg's friend, even if the little kwami wouldn't actually say it out loud.
Adrien ran his hand through his hair repeatedly, not caring how many directions it stood up. He hadn't been allowed to leave his bedroom today, even though his fever was gone. Nathalie had told him to stay in bed to recover since he'd been sick for a couple days straight. She told him that she didn't want him collapsing again, genuine worry in her voice and expression. Adrien knew she cared, even if she acted indifferent sometimes, but he didn't know she cared that much. It was a nice surprise.
He absently turned on his computer, checking up on the Ladyblog. "Please tell me that Ladybug is alright," he hoped. She could definitely handle herself, that was no question. But sometimes akuma were tough to handle, even with both of them. He wondered if she was worried about him. He'd been gone for a few days now...
The screen showed some posts speculating about who his Lady really was, some nonsense (that Adrien totally agreed with) from the more fanatic fans that hoped Ladybug and Chat Noir would get together. Then a few recent akuma attacks... Thank God for Alya, even though Adrien kind of wanted to shake his friend when she put herself in danger.
One video started with Ladybug attacking some akuma by herself. Not that the video was off on its own: Alya tended to get shots of Ladybug mostly. He tried not to feel too slighted about that. There was another video of Ladybug fighting an akuma. No sign of Chat Noir. A couple more videos showed Ladybug mostly after the akuma attack as she did her normal short interviews with people. Maybe no one had found the ring yet...
Then another video, with an akuma flying in the air, causing cars to go flying. He watched as Ladybug leapt down from somewhere, distracting the akuma from throwing cars at the pedestrians. The video cut off for a few seconds as Alya had to take cover for a moment, before the footage went back to Ladybug leaping to the side to tackle someone to the ground...
There! Clear as day, was Chat Noir. The video was a little shaky from Alya moving, but the cat suit was hard to mistake for anything else. Not long after, Ladybug stood up before- Adrien paused for a second. Did she...did she really throw Chat Noir at an akuma? He had thought they were past that by now. Maybe she knew that wasn't him? He hoped she knew.
"...and Ladybug has done it again, with help from Chat Noir, guys! Seriously, dream team or what, am I right? I'm gonna see if I can get an interview again-" Alya's voice interrupted, the camera turning towards her face.
Adrien sat back in his chair, looking at the video as it ended. He felt... oddly empty now as the reality of just being Adrien sank in. He wasn't Chat anymore...Someone else was out there being Chat Noir instead of him. Someone else got to be a hero, got to help people and enjoy the freedom that Chat Noir had given him.
Nathalie came in not long after, bringing some more soup and medicine. Now that his fever had broken, she wanted to make sure it didn't come back. "You also need to drink this," she told him, giving him a glass of cold water. With an almost affectionate hand to his forehead, she told him to relax for the rest of the night before she left him alone.
Instead of eating, he made his way towards his windows. He used to go run through Paris as Chat Noir right around now. Sunset was purfect for a good stroll around the city. Even without Ladybug by his side, he had enjoyed the freedom away from the suffocating schedules and plans for Adrien Agreste the model, son, and student.
That settled it; He wasn't going to give up that easily! He knew Paris better than anyone since he used patrolling as an escape far too often. He'd find the new Chat Noir, and figure out who had his miraculous! Getting his ring back was priority number one.
It turned out actually escaping his house was harder than he remembered. When he was Chat, Adrien could just leap out the window. Obviously, he couldn't do that now, so he had to try and be sneaky. Not easy when Nathalie seemed to be everywhere and had access to the cameras around the mansion. She was there when he got dropped off for school, and she was there to pick him up every day. He thought she and his father had been overbearing before... It was like they expected him to collapse at a moments notice. The only bright side to him being sick was that his father had given him a week reprieve from modeling work and some of his other lessons at home.
However, there was a downside. He was expected to stay at home and 'rest' the remainder of his time. He could have no visitors, and couldn't leave except for school. Stalking the Ladyblog was his only source of information to any miraculous business. Sure there was the news, but they covered more of the person that was akumatized and what had happened overall. They didn't focus on the heroes in particular except for interviews after the attack was over. Adrien didn't need after the attack; he needed eyes during the attack. Which is where Alya came in.
The videos, in Adrien's opinion, just got worse and worse. He began to notice that the new Chat Noir didn't actually do anything to help out. He'd show up, but he definitely did not engage the akuma. At least Chat tried to avoid fighting, until Ladybug found a way to throw him into the fight, sometimes literally. Adrien winced in sympathy as Ladybug grabbed Chat and pushed him towards the akuma to distract it. Why didn't Chat Noir use Cataclysm to help? Did he not know how to use it? Did he not want to?
There were so many questions, and he wouldn't get any answers just sitting in his room under strict watch. The Ladyblog popped up another video, just now live streaming; Alya trying to chase after Paris' heroes. Maybe now he could finally get some answers...
Popping his head out of his door, Adrien looked back and forth, straining his ears to listen. He could hear Nathalie on the phone with someone, getting flustered for some scheduling accident. Definitely his father then. Nathalie flew past his bedroom door, causing Adrien to jump back behind the door, heart pounding. She hadn't noticed him, and now she was busy...
Now was the purfect time to escape! Adrien thought with a smirk. Plagg would be so proud of him, sneaking out on his own. All he had to do was find Plagg and get his friend back, then everything could go back to normal.
So there it is, chapter 3! Hope you guys liked it. It was more of a transitional chapter, showing how everyone is (or isn't) getting along. Who am I kidding, like no one is getting along!
Anyway, if you guys have got any ideas for any akuma, let me know! I'll be happy to put them in. I'm tremendously bad at coming up with ideas for them, so any help would be appreciated! If not... I take no responsibility for how cheesy or stupid they turn out!
Keep the feedback coming guys! I love your comments and shamelessly re-read them like a million times to get more inspiration and motivation to write! Until next time, people!