Ladybug had detransformed just down the street from Adrien's mansion, but she never stopped running. She passed a few sleeping people in cages, careful not to wake them. All of Paris was so quiet and peaceful.

She finally arrived at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, once more, but this time she ran inside.

"Mama? Papa?" She called, searching every room for her parents.

The whole bakery was empty, and so was their home just above it. She stopped in her room.

When she realized her parents must be in cages too, she fell to her knees and began to cry. Her kwami tried to comfort her, but it hardly helped. "They'll be okay, Marinette. When Chat Noir is back we can go find them, and stop the akuma."

That only made her cry more. "But Chat Noir is Adrien," She whispered. "I'm scared, Tikki."

She already knew that after this akuma, Adrien would want to talk about it, but Marinette didn't want to. She wasn't ready for this, and she was scared.

"But isn't that a good thing? You like Adrien, and Chat is your partner," Tikki said, trying to calm her down quickly so they could get back out there and fight.

"That's just it, Tikki! It is good." Marinette cried.

"I don't understand, what's the problem then?" She asked, obviously confused.

Marinette stood up, using the wall to balance herself. She wiped the tears off her face and took a shaky breath. "I'm just so confused, Tikki. I feel like…" She paused for a moment, thinking of a good way to explain her feelings. "I feel like I'm falling, and no one is there to catch me. I feel like I can't breathe, yet I'm breathing. I feel like I can't walk..." She took an unstable step forward, leaning her head against her bedroom wall. "But I'm walking."

"I think I understand now," Tikki said, putting her tiny hand on Marinette's shoulder, "But we'll get through this. We'll talk to him about it and we'll tell him how you feel. Everything will be fine."

Marinette turned her head to look at her kwami. "I hope you're right."

'Mari?' Who do I know that has 'Mari' in their name? Mario? The thought made Chat Noir chuckle. Sometimes, he made himself laugh. Waiting for Ladybug was far too boring for this cat, so he took off down the street, his feet taking him to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

He used his staff to launch himself up to Marinette's balcony, and he quietly crawled inside. He immediately heard her voice.

"Are you ready to go?" Her sweet voice asked.

"Almost, just give me a minute or two." He heard another, familiar voice say.

Chat couldn't remember where he'd heard that voice before. After a moment, he shrugged and jumped down to greet Marinette.

She instantly screeched and turned her body to hide a little red and black thing. Is she a LB fan?

Chat hadn't thought this through. "So, uh," He said awkwardly. She didn't move, but she kept her eyes on him. "S-so yeah, I'm just going to go now…" He turned around and started to climb back to the door that lead to the balcony.

He had almost made it outside when Marinette called out, "Wait!" He turned his head to look at her. She was a bit closer now, and he could see that she had been crying. "I-I need to talk to you." She said, her voice just barely a whisper.

He took a shaky breath, and hopped back down. She backed up instantly, back to where she was when he first entered the room. He noticed a picture of his civilian self hung up on the wall, and he began to blush. Thankfully, she didn't notice.

"So you're…" She began, "Well, you're you."

He wanted to run so badly, but his feet wouldn't move. "Yeah." He said.

"You can sit, if you want." She said, gesturing to a chair. Chat shook his head.

"No, I don't believe I can," He said, backing up a little. "I-I have to go help Ladybug with the akuma, I just stopped by to see if you were doing okay because of your ankle." He hadn't even realized what he was saying until after he had said it. Her ankle? He suddenly remembered that her ankle had been nearly broken just a few hours ago. He looked down to her feet. She had hidden her injured ankle behind the other one.

"Oh! Yeah, I'm fine now, t-thank you!" She said quickly. That made Chat very curious.

"Are you sure? You didn't seem fine just a few hours ago."

"Yeah! A-and shouldn't you be helping Ladybug right about now?" She was very nervous about something, Chat knew that for sure.

"Well, off you go! She's probably waiting for you."

Hadn't Ladybug been limping earlier?

"Marinette?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"What's going on?"

"Nothing! I'm fine, really, it's just that Ladybug must be waiting for you." She said, the fear in eyes betraying her strong voice.

Chat took a deep breath. "Alright, but I need to have a talk with you after the akuma is defeated."

He turned around and climbed back out and onto the balcony, leaving Marinette to stare at where he had been moments before.

And now, just like her, he was alone with his thoughts.

"TIKKI!" Marinette screeched as soon as Chat had left.

"I think he's onto us. Hurry up with those cookies and lets go!"

Tikki quickly ate her cookies and Marinette transformed, climbing out of the bedroom and using her yoyo to take her to the Eiffel Tower.

She found Chat Noir there, and as soon as he heard her he turned around.

"We need to talk-" He started, only to be shushed by Ladybug. "No, we need to find this akuma and defeat it. I don't have time for this. I need to find my parents."

He was surprised at the aggression in her voice, but he could understand her wanting to find her parents.

After about twenty minutes of searching, they found the akuma frozen in the middle of a street, surrounded by a few cages, which were full of sleeping people. Why was everyone in a cage asleep?

Ladybug pushed that thought out of her head. "I think the akuma is in his police badge." She said, pulling out her yoyo and preparing to fight the akuma. Chat Noir grabbed her wrist, making her flinch. "Wait! Do you remember what happened the last time we tried to just run at it and fight?"

She paused for a moment, then nodded. "I could try my lucky charm." She said quietly.

Chat looked down for a moment. "Okay, just tell me what to do if you need help."

"Alright."

'I'm worthless until you tell me what you need me to do, anyways." He whispered.

"What? I couldn't hear you."

"Nothing, just lead the way."

She nodded again. "Lucky charm!"

It was duct tape. "Eh, this might be useful…" She said, looking around. Her ladybug vision showed her The Jailer's arm, just where the cages were generated. "Distract him for me." She told Chat. She began to run towards The Jailer, who instantly began to move, grabbing a cage from his arm.

Chat ran to the right side of it, grabbing its attention. It threw a cage at him, which he swiftly dodged.

Ladybug ran up behind it, then jumped onto its arm. It reached for a cage, but it didn't know how to throw it onto Ladybug, who was now wrapping duct tape around its arm, covering the thing that generated cages.

"Chat, grab his badge!" Ladybug yelled, diving off of The Jailer's arm just as he tried to grab her.

He threw his final cage at Ladybug, who dodged it. Chat used his staff to launch him up to The Jailer, and he grabbed the badge.

He threw it on the ground in front of Ladybug, where it shattered and an akuma was released. The Jailer grabbed Chat, squeezing him tightly in his hands. "Ladybug, the akuma! Quickly!"

She quickly captured the akuma, and purified it.

"Bye bye little butterfly." She said, freeing it. She ran to grab the empty roll of duct tape.

"Miraculous ladybug!" She threw it up in the air and the beautiful magic spread across the city of Paris. All the cages disappeared and everyone inside them woke up looking extremely confused. The Jailer turned back into the police officer he had been just hours before, and Chat was set down gently beside him.

Everyone was cheering when they realized they had been saved by their favorite superhero, but before the news reporters could arrive, Ladybug was gone.

Chat Noir had searched everywhere, but he couldn't find Ladybug. He found himself, yet again, walking to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. This time, though, he went through the front door instead of climbing in through Marinette's balcony. He was greeted by Mrs. Cheng, who was wearing her usual clothes and an apron.

"Chat Noir!" She said excitedly. It wasn't every day one of Paris's superheroes came to say hi. "How can we help you? Would you like some freshly baked muffins?"

"Uh, no. Is Marinette home?" He asked politely. She seemed a bit shocked that the superhero would want to see her daughter, and even more shocked he even knew her name.

"Of course! She's upstairs in her room." She said, a warm smile now on her face. "Although, I'd suggest knocking. She's been really jumpy lately, and just a few minutes ago my husband went in there to bring her cookies and she threw a book at him."

Chat nodded, and made his way to Marinette's room. He knocked on the trapdoor that lead up into her room, and she opened it almost immediately.

Marinette jumped back in surprise when she realized it was Chat. "W-What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"Like I said, we need to talk." He said, climbing into her room and closing the trapdoor.

She relaxed a little bit. "What about?"

"First of all," He said, "How is your ankle?"

She quickly hid her ankle behind her other leg. "W-what do you mean?" She asked innocently.

"It was nearly broken just a few hours ago. Are you okay?"

"U-uh, yeah! I told you earlier, I'm fine. It was just a- uh- a minor sprain, It feels way better now." She stuttered. "T-Thanks for stopping by to check up on me though."

Chat thought about what Plagg had said earlier.

'It's Mari-'

Both of them have an injured ankle.

Both of them knew he was Chat Noir.

Both of them were avoiding him.

Marinette's ankle seemed to heal within hours, not even a single bruise left.

Ladybug's suit heals her.

Marinette was hiding something black and red behind her the last time he visited her.

She had been speaking to a familiar voice, but seemed to be alone.

He remembered where he had heard that voice.

When Ladybug detransformed and talked to her kwami, it sounded just like when Marinette was talking to someone when Chat went to visit her.

The thoughts flooded his mind and he realized what that meant.

"Marinette?" He asked nervously.

"Yeah?"

"...Are you Ladybug?"