Tikki

Not long after Marinette left the room, I saw Plagg at the balcony door again. He came inside, and I floated to his side.

"Plagg, what are you doing here? Where's Adrien?"

"Could Marinette get me some Camembert?"

I shook my head. Typical Plagg. "Marinette is eating breakfast. You'll have to wait. Go back to Adrien for now."

He groaned. "I don't have time to wait."

I sighed. "Where did you leave him?"

"In a nearby alley by some boxes. Why?"

I flew toward the balcony. "You wait for Marinette. I'll keep an eye on Adrien. Come back to him when you're done, then I'll return to Marinette."

It wasn't something Plagg and I typically did, but I didn't like the idea of leaving Adrien totally alone like this. It wasn't like I could help him in any way, but I felt better knowing that he had someone watching over him. At least I could alert Marinette if there was any trouble.

I searched every alley near Marinette's home until I found a pile of boxes large enough to hide a teenage boy. When I found it, though, Adrien wasn't there. I kept searching, but I found nothing.

A strange mist lingered in the air. It wasn't strong, but I felt kind of sleepy. I got out of there before it could over power me. Something had happened here, and I had a bad feeling Adrien was involved.

I went back to Marinette's, finding Plagg eating swiss cheese (a look of displeasure evident on his face) and Marinette sitting on her bed watching him. I slid in through the balcony doors, and Marinette smiled at me, though it shifted to worry after a moment.

"Tikki, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Adrien wasn't there," I said. "but there was some weird mist. It was making me sleepy. I have a bad feeling about Adrien."

Plagg flew to me, abandoning the cheese. "What? We need to find him!"

Marinette crossed the room. "We'll find him. Hold on. Get in my purse."

Plagg and I flew into her purse and she ran downstairs.

"I'm going to go meet Alya in the park to work on a . . . Science project," she told her parents. "i'll be back sometime this afternoon." She kissed her parents on the cheek then ran out of the bakery. She ducked into the first alley we came to.

Tikki, spots on."

Marinette

With Plagg holding on for dear life, I searched the city for any sign of Adrien, but several hours passed and we didn't find him. We searched everywhere. With each passing moment, the dread creeped up inside me more and more. If I just told him to stay in my room, none of this would've happened. We would know where he was.

I knew he wouldn't have willingly left without his kwami, but where was he?

I stopped cold. Of course. Everyone in Paris knew Adrien was missing. If someone found him, they would've turned him in. He could've already been on his way home for all I knew.

"Do you think he's been found?" I asked Plagg.

"I have no idea," he answered.

I frowned. The reason I never turned Adrien in was because I wanted him to return on his own when he was ready. If he wasn't ready and he was forced to go home, he would just be as miserable as he was when he left.

"Uh oh."

I looked to Plagg, just in time to watch him disappear. What-

My eyes widened. If Adrien removed his ring, Plagg would disappear. But maybe he removed it so he could easily get Plagg back. That had to be it. I refused to give any thought to the alternatives.

Not knowing what else to do, I went home. I wanted to go to his house, but I feared being caught if I came during the day. If I hadn't found him by nightfall, I would go there then.

I ended up back in the same alley I started in and released my transformation. "Tikki, spots off."

My transformation faded. Tikki floated in front of me, her expression panicked.

"This isn't good, Marinette!"

I sighed. "I know, Tikki. But, what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know, but we need to find him," she said.

I ran up the stairs, ignoring my parents' questions and comments as I made my way to my room. My only concern was Adrien.

I had left my cell phone on my desk during our outing, and it was currently about ready to vibrate off the table. Grabbing it, I found that Alya was calling me, and that she had already tried seven times. This must've been big, whatever it was. I answered.

"Sorry, Alya. I left my phone upstairs while I was in the bakery," I lied. "What's going on?"

"Turn the news on right now," she said.

Getting on my computer, I looked up a livestream of the local news. My heart twisted when I saw a picture of Adrien with the caption "Teen model returns home".

"What happened?" I asked Alya.

"Apparently he returned home on his own. I don't know. They won't give any interviews," Alya said. "But, you must be relieved. You can go back to gushing over your boy again."

"Y-yeah." Even though he had been hanging out around my home all week. "I need to go. My parents need my help. We'll talk later, okay?"

"Oh, alright, girl. Talk to you later."

Putting my phone down, I looked to Tikki who was staring at the computer screen.

"Marinette, I don't think he went home on his own," she said. "Something seems really off. And why did Plagg disappear?"

Dread threatened to consume me. Adrien-Cat Noir- said he would see me tonight. Would he keep his word with everything that had happened today?

I just had to cling to hope. If he didn't show up, I didn't know what I would do.

/

I did everything I could to keep myself busy. School work and helping in the bakery took over my day as I tried to fight down thoughts of Adrien. When night rolled around, I paced back and forth, waiting for my kitty to come see me. When ten came and he still hadn't showed up, the ache in my chest worsened. Surely he should've been here by now.

There was only one way I could find out if Adrien had transformed. After checking to make sure my parents were asleep, I transformed myself and tried to call Cat Noir, but there was no answer.

I had one other option. Taking a deep breath, I lept off my balcony and made my way through the city. I went straight to the Agreste mansion.

I lowered myself from the roof to his window. I wished now more than ever to have been blessed with Cat Noir's night vision, but I made the best with what I had.

Something was at least producing some light. I knew where his bed was located, and I squinted as I tried to make it out in the dark.

A memory resurfaced. How I found out his identity in the first place.

"Lucky charm!"

It gave me a pair of glasses. Taking a deep breath, I put them on, hoping my powers wouldn't fail me now.

I could see his room clearly now. My heart sunk when I found Adrien, fast asleep in his bed.

Why did that upset me? I should've been glad he was back home. But, somehow I knew this wasn't his choice. The wrong person had to have caught him.

He turned toward me, but his eyes remained closed. He looked so beautiful, and all I wanted was to wrap myself around him and give him all the love he deserved. For one moment, it didn't matter to me if he preferred Ladybug. With or without my mask, I just wanted him to feel loved.

Reluctantly, I pulled myself away from the window and headed off. At any second, my Miraculous would beep and I wasn't prepared to walk home.

Once I reached my balcony, I released my transformation. Tikki floated into my hands.

"Something's not right," I said.

She nodded. "I couldn't sense Plagg at all."

"What do you think that means?"

She looked away. "You're going to have to confront Adrien. It's the only way now."

Adrien

Moonlight shined through the window as I opened my eyes. Groggily, I sat up, noticing the blankets covering me. I was in a bed, but whose bed?

"Plagg," I said. "Where are we?"

Silence.

I felt for my ring, but my finger was bare. Jumping out of the bed, I flipped on the lights. The room was mine.

Panic seized me as I remembered everything. An akumatized Nathalie and my gorilla were behind this. Nathalie must've given my Miraculous to Hawkmoth, but now where was she? Oh God. Plagg. Where was he right now?

I needed to contact Ladybug, but I had no way of doing that now. But, I could talk to Marinette. Not right now, but in school.

School.

I groaned internally. How much had I missed? Would catching up even be possible?

I threw myself back onto the bed. I didn't want to deal with it. I didn't want to deal with any of this.

I jolted up. Wasn't this way of thinking what got me into this mess in the first place?

Plagg was right. I needed to deal with it. It wasn't a matter of wanting to anymore. I needed to. For Plagg. For Marinette. For Ladybug. For all of Paris. But, most importantly, for me.

Apologies for the longer than expected wait for this chapter and the fact it's shorter than what I normally post. I really wanted to end it here though because next chapter gets into the tension surrounding the disappearance of Cat Noir and the return of Adrien. Thanks for reading :)