"Where the heck have you been?"

Those were the first words Ladybug had to say to Chat Noir when he finally showed up after not joining her for their normal patrols for the past three days, and needless to say, she was very annoyed with him. From him acting strange after the last Akuma they dealt with, to now, she was convinced that something was wrong with the damned cat, and it was starting to get on her nerves.

"...Personal problems."

Chat didn't know how else to respond. He didn't know what to say. The truth was, he didn't even want to be here. Three days of this had been sheer hell for him, and he was here, only because Plagg had pushed him towards doing one thing.

Explaining to her exactly what happened.

He hadn't done it originally because he didn't want to drive her away. If this was Ladybug now - If this was Marinette now - And explaining what happened to her didn't help remind her, or snap her out of the lingering after-effects of Spite, or anything else for that matter, then he had to accept that this was the girl he had to live with now. And if that was the case, the last thing he wanted to do was drive her away.

It was cowardice. That was all it was, he thought to himself.

Just pure cowardice.

"You didn't think to at least let me know?" Oh, the tone of her voice made her feelings abundantly clear. She was angry. It was rare to see her purely angry. It was rare to see Marinette so purely angry. It felt surreal. Like it didn't naturally fit with the kind of person she was.

"Sorry, Ladybug..." Chat Noir sighed, still reluctant to go through with this. Could he do it another time?... He doubted she'd take the news he had to tell her all that well in her current frame of mind.

Maybe things would be different if Ladybug had used her ability to reverse all the damage done... But since damage to the city was basically negligible, aside from there being a few knives scattered around the place, and she herself didn't remember the fight, there wasn't a need to, from her perspective. Spite had put the Links back together himself, so her powers wouldn't have done anything. Agreeing to let Spite go had secured the lack of a need for Marinette's Miraculous Ladybug ability, thus leading to her not using it and fixing her and Adrien's Soul Link, since she had no awareness of it.

It was all very ironic.

"You realize I've been dealing with criminals without any back up, right? A notice would have been appreciated!" Something almost felt wrong about this entire aspect of Ladybug's - Of Marinette's - Personality. She seemed almost infuriated by Chat Noir, as opposed to being mildly annoyed by him. Her usual sweet personality had been pushed aside in place of this more angry persona.

It had to be down to stress. Or something like that.

"...Look, Ladybug... We uh... We... We need to talk..."

"Yes, we do! I thought we were supposed to be a team! A team-mate can't just up and leave without so much as a memo!"

"Not about me not -"

"No, we are going to talk about -"

"Marinette." Chat spoke, firmly, and rather loudly, cutting off Ladybug's yelling, stopping her dead in her tracks. Once she had fully stopped, and he had let out a sigh through his nose, Chat looked at her. "We need to talk, Marinette."

Ladybug's eyes were wide open at this point, her jaw ajar, and clearly surprised. Stunned in disbelief for a few moments, she blinked, looking at the partner she had in front of her. How the hell did he know? "...What did you call me?"

"Marinette." Chat repeated.

"I - I don't know what you're talking about." A very poor lie.

"Marinette... I know that it's you under there. Your Kwami is called Tikki, you live in a bakery about... I'd say ten minutes away from here, and you attend Collège Françoise Dupont." He let that sink in with the visibly taken aback super-heroine before he continued. "Like I said, we need to talk."

Understandably, Ladybug was shocked beyond all comprehension. How had Chat discovered all of this information... Was that what his 'personal reasons' were for not showing up to patrol? Had he been... "Have you been freaking stalking me?!"

"No! No! Absolutely not!" Chat protested vehemently, holding his open palms up as a sign of innocence. "I - I wouldn't do - "

"Then how the hell did you figure all that out?!"

Chat Noir sighed, knowing that he wasn't able to back down now. Despite the reservations he had, he explained everything to her. He explained about the messages of the Miraculouses. He explained about the concept of the Links, the Soul Links, how they worked, and how they were formed. He explained everything that happened from his perspective, his rejection from Ladybug, the pain he felt for that, how he wound up becoming friends, and eventually falling for Marinette, the joy he felt when he learned that Marinette was Ladybug. He told her, with a particular fondness to his voice, how she had kissed him once she had learned who he was - Which he refused to tell her, on the basis that this didn't help her recover her memories. The last thing he needed was Ladybug coming for him with a vengeance - He told them about their date, and how they ended up as boyfriend and girlfriend.

He explained to her, with a particular disdain, the appearance of Spite, and the powers he wielded. He explained to her about the sadistic and psychotic Akumatized individual, and what he could do. How he changed the Links of the people around him. How he had done that to Nino and Alya, and the various others. He told her about the deal she made with the villain, to change her friends Links back to normal in exchange for Spite's freedom.

With a heavy heart, he explained to her the battle. How she was stabbed. And how the Link between them was shattered.

He told her then that they had shared a Soul Link, but that she couldn't remember.

To her credit, Ladybug listened. She didn't interrupt. She let Chat explain himself.

But then she took a step back.

"You're insane."

"M-Marinette, I -"

"Do not call me that!" She looked shaken, confused, and absolutely terrified by Chat Noir's mental state right now. She was convinced he'd hallucinated all of this, but the eerie fact remained, he knew who she was. He hadn't imagined that...

So he actually believed all of this insanity. He had been stalking her... And this...

This...

"You're a freaking lunatic..."

"Mari - Ladybug, you know I wouldn't lie to you. I've told you that - "

"Apparently that doesn't extend to not stalking me!" Ladybug felt a mixture of emotions all at once, stopping her from thinking even slightly clearly.

Anger.

Confusion.

Vulnerability.

Betrayal.

Above all, she felt one particular emotion towards Chat Noir right now. Something that, despite all the frustrations, despite all the flirting, despite everything like that, the things she could work with, the things she knew how to deal with... She felt something she never expected towards the 'hero' in front of her.

Hatred.

"Is that... Is that what your personal reasons were for?!" She yelled now, not holding back an inch. "For your... Sick, freaking... Stalking games?!"

"Ladybug, I swear to you, I didn't stalk you! Ask - Ask Tikki! She can vouch for what I'm saying!" This couldn't be going worse, Chat thought to himself. This could not be going any worse than it already was. It could not physically be worse than this.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you!" Another accusation came, hurled at Chat. "You'd like me to transform back into weak, defenseless Marinette! You - You perverted freak!" If the previous accusations hadn't hurt Chat, that one definitely did. Just the mere idea that he would ever - Ever - Do something to her that she didn't want... That she... That she'd ever think he would... Just the thought made him sick, but she still wasn't done. "You tell me all of this, and you won't even tell me who the hell you are under that mask! And you expect me to believe all of this?!" Hypocritical, since she was the one who insisted on their identities being kept secret, but to hell with that right now!

"I'm - " He wanted to say it was him. That It was Adrien Agreste. That it was that blond model with the green eyes that sat in front of her at school, that that was how he knew all of this.

But given how angry she was now... Would that alone be enough?

Given how much she hated Adrien as it was?...

No... It wouldn't.

He couldn't tell her.

Not until he found a potential way to restore her memories. If he told her who he was... There was a serious risk of her letting other people know, or of her attacking him.

"You're what?" Ladybug demanded, her fists firmly by her waistline, trembling as the clenched them to the point she could feel her nails dig into her skin, despite them both being covered by her jumpsuit.

"... An idiot." Chat sighed, sadly. How could he have expected her to take his word for it? To understand all of this without proof? To accept all of it so blindly... How could he have done that? How? How had he been able to even consider that?

'You're a coward, Adrien. You're an idiot, and you're a coward.'

A few tense seconds passed, Chat's head slumped forward, looking at the ground, defeated. Ladybug wanted to punch him off the building for all intents and purposes. She had to restrain herself, remember that she was a heroine. And a heroine didn't do that sort of thing to another person, even if they were... Whatever the hell Chat had become.

"Stay away from me." She warned, growling as she said so, viciously, so much so that it hurt the back of her own throat. "Don't come anywhere near me. Don't talk to me. Don't even look at me... And if I see you again..." She let the threat linger in the wind.

Chat Noir didn't respond as she roped away.

Instead, he just cried.


Tikki was worried. Absolutely worried for Marinette. She was furious beyond all words. Fuming almost. If she was any more red with anger she could probably start bleeding, and no one would notice the difference. The had thrown out anything even slightly resembling Chat Noir, including the dolls she herself had made, now located in the bin under her desk, along with every poster she had of Adrien.

It actually scared Tikki to even speak.

"Marinette..." The tiny Kwami called out, in what was more a whisper than anything else. Catching Marinette's attention, she carried on, albeit nervously. "What... What Chat Noir said... It's true you know..."

"What? That trash about Links? You're telling me that's all true?" Marinette didn't even sound surprised.

"Well, yes, but that's not - "

"Okay, let's assume that it is true!" Marinette said, turning around. "He still freaking stalked me! He still followed me back here! He still figured out who the hell I was without me ever telling him!"

"That's not exactly true..."

"Tikki, I don't care about technicalities right now!" Marinette yelled back. Had her parents been home, she could have one hundred percent been heard. "He knows who I am! He knows where I live! It's bad enough having to put up with Adrien every day, but now I have to deal with the possibility of Chat coming here to - To - To - Do God knows what to me! I'm not concerned about the specifics when I have to worry about a stalker breaking into my room at night to do... God, I don't know!"

The small Kwami swallowed. Since Spite had attacked her, she had forgotten about Adrien, about her feelings for him, about how much she loved him. How badly Tikki had wanted to speak up... How badly she had wanted to tell Marinette the truth...

But it was against the rules. They were on way too slippery a slope already. Pushing Marinette any further could result in her snapping and killing Chat Noir. As it stood right now, she could already sense a blood-lust coming from the blunette girl. She hadn't been joking when she said that she would... Do something to Chat if she saw him again. While Marinette hadn't vocalized her threat, Tikki knew what she had in mind.

She'd hang him from the Eiffel tower with her yo-yo.

That was how dangerously close they were to a total and utter disaster.

That was why Tikki couldn't speak up. The wrong word... And Chat Noir's corpse would be a decoration for the French landmark.

What Tikki couldn't understand was why Marinette's Miraculous wasn't sending out messages. In this situation, if the Soul Link was in serious danger, Miraculous holders were lucky, and could repair them, thanks to their magical objects sending them the messages, the riddles, the poems to warn them.

But it wasn't working for Marinette.

It was like their connection wasn't even shattered.

Wasn't...

Shattered...

It suddenly dawned on Tikki, her eyes widening as she figured it out. That was why the effects were still lingering after Spite's fall. That was why Marinette had quickly gained a dislike for Adrien, despite having little to no interaction with him after the battle had gone down.

This wasn't Marinette's fault. She had been manipulated to think this way.

If their Link had been broken, she would have felt nothing about Adrien - Not just romantically. She would have no emotions, positive or negative, towards him whatsoever.

But she now hated him. That could only happen if there was still a Link between them.

Their Soul Link hadn't been shattered.

It had been corrupted.

Spite's power hadn't been Link Destruction. It had been Link Alteration. When he had stabbed Ladybug, he hadn't tried to kill her, he hadn't tried to shatter their Links... He was completing an objective, set to him by Hawkmoth.

Hawkmoth wanted the Paris duo separated.

And he'd succeeded.

Tikki had figured it out.

And she couldn't say a thing to warn them!


Why?

Adrien laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Hadn't he been here before? He had that sense of déjà vu, that he'd already been through this mess once before.

Oh yes. He remembered exactly where that had come from. From his rejection from Ladybug when the Soul Links first became a thing they became aware of. How she hadn't meant it, but had inadvertently shattered his heart into a thousand pieces.

It was pretty much exactly like that again, wasn't it?

He stared up at the ceiling and just asked, why? Adrien wasn't particularly religious, but now he was convinced there was some sort of God who was getting a kick put of watching him squirm and suffer like this.

'Enjoying yourself, you sadistic bastard?' He thought to himself at this fictional entity he had just created in his mind.

Thinking from a pragmatic stance, Adrien was happy about one thing. He was happy Marinette was, at least, safe. She was, at least, healthy. She was, at least, for the most part, happy, although his own stupid actions might have seriously jeopardized that. She was at least safe...

It was enough to know she was happy... That she was safe...

That version of events just hurt a lot more.

A lot more.

Plagg had apologized for pushing Adrien to do that. He had apologized time and time again, showing his kinder side once more to the blond model. Having an understanding of the Soul Links, Plagg knew exactly how much this must hurt, how much pain this would cause any individual who had been through what Adrien had been. How happy he had been, only to have it abruptly ripped away from him.

The Kwami was honestly impressed Adrien hadn't done something he would have deeply regretted yet. He was strong to not have done that. Plenty of Chat Noir's before him had done. Some had died young thanks to it.

"Kid... You're not gonna give up on her are you?"

"I'm... Content knowing she's happy and safe..." Despite his statement, there was clearly an upset tone to the hero's voice. His emotions were betraying his words. He was as see through as a pane of glass.

"...You're kidding yourself, kid." Plagg said, knowing full well the pain Adrien was in. Denying that pain wouldn't bring any happiness or closure. Plagg had seen it too many times.

Adrien forced a smile that showed his perfect white teeth, as the tears ran down his face. "I know I am, buddy."


The aim of this chapter was to address a few issues you guys came up with in relation to how this story was playing out, so I hope I was able to fill in the plot-holes this story had, that you guys pointed out so very clearly to me ^_^

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