"Listen, Chat Noir," Hawkmoth said in an oddly calm tone to the boy, who was sitting at the table. Hawkmoth stood between him and the open door, holding his gun casually and striding around the room idly. Chat felt like a young schoolboy being disciplined by a teacher, sitting in the desk, and he idly played with the cards, setting up a game of solitaire as Hawkmoth started to talk. "I know you're not dumb, and so does Plagg. He's probably told you by now that there have been multiple Chat Noirs throughout history."

"I'd figured it out by now," Chat frowned. "Plagg didn't tell me, but with the info from the fight with the Pharaoh, it was an easy realization to come to."

"Oh, so Plagg didn't tell you?" Hawkmoth asked, with the sort of tone that a friend would talk in when gossiping. It made Chat twitch. Hawkmoth was most certainly not his friend. "Odd. He told the last one."

"The last one?" Chat asked, gaping slightly. How did Hawkmoth know?

"Oh, yes, well, that's part of the story. You see, Hawkmoth's mantle has been passed on, too. You see, the kwamis used to have peace and harmony and all that in ancient times, but then one of them got a little huffy about the way they were treating humans and started the line of Hawkmoths, so the other kwamis followed suit. Made their own little heroes." Hawkmoth examined his nails, which was dumb, because they were under his gloves. "Obviously, knowledge is not passed from person to person. You're not trained, your kwami gives you instincts when in hero form and they start to stick with you in civilian form, that's all. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is Hawkmoth and every other hero's mantle has been passed on. There have been, and always will be, hundreds of Hawkmoths and hundreds of Ladybugs and Chat Noirs and other heroes, and so on."

Other heroes? Chat thought to himself, before shaking his head again. "If knowledge isn't passed on, how do you know about the last Chat? Did you kn-"

"I'm getting to that," Hawkmoth interrupted, pausing his walking for a moment to raise an eyebrow at Chat like an annoyed teacher. "Listen, there are only two ways you can stop your hero business. You either give it up or you get killed in action. Your kwami can't leave you, no matter if it's an insufferable boy such as yourself."

Chat frowned at him, resisting the urge to flip the man the bird.

"As you can see, Chat Noir is a different person from the civilian. Whether it be a slight change or a totally makeover of personality based on opportunity, Chat Noir has mostly stayed the same, even though his other halves have not. Chat Noir, as I'm told, has always been an excitable, bombastic, flirty, unlucky, self-sacrificing hero. Which has led to more deaths than pass-ons, I'll tell you that right now."

Chat couldn't believe it was possible, but he felt himself frowning even more now. He had ceased to care about the solitaire game and had started gathering the cards up.

"This leads me to think that you, Chat Noir, and that boy, Adrien, are different people. So, onto my story."

Finally, Chat thought to himself.

"Yes, finally. Don't be shocked by that, Chat, you were thinking out loud," Hawkmoth muttered, turning on his heel towards the door, then sharply turning around again.

"I've been Hawkmoth twice," the man stated, standing up straight and tall. "Or, you could say it's been one long ride with a break in-between. I started one day after my father had given me an hour-long verbal beatdown… Probably the opposite of what Adrien's gone through," he mused, as Chat leaned back slightly. How did he know that?

"He- the kwami, that is- came to me, I suppose just as an akuma would. Only less possession, you know. He told me I might be the youngest boy he'd ever chosen. Odd that he chose me, really- he usually chose strong rulers or businessmen. But no. A young man. I guess he just saw my potential," Hawkmoth chuckled. The sound made Chat squirm in his chair a bit.

"Anyway, things went on like usual. A Chat Noir and a Ladybug appeared together to stop me, and things were going smoothly. Until…" Hawkmoth twirled his cane idly as he paused. "until they found where I was." He smiled at the floor, seeming to stare at memories instead of the tiled floor below his feet.

"They found you like we did?" Chat asked curiously.

"Well, it wouldn't be 'we' in your case, per se, but yes. I had a much more original hiding spot back then, too. It's a pity I lost such a place, really, but I couldn't go back after what happened."

Chat gulped after asking, "What… did happen?" He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Well, I had four akumatized villains after them in the building, but it didn't work. They kept luring them away and beating them, and by the time the others got to that spot, the duo had moved on. Eventually, it was them, the last villain I had left, and myself on the dark street behind my building. They were quite smart, I'll give them that, but a little distraction threw them off. Some young tourist couple was out for a late-night stroll, and went into quite the wrong area. I had my last villain attack one of the empty buildings nearby in order to crush them. The best case scenario for Ladybug and Chat Noir happened. They saved the couple and told them to run along, whilst simultaneously purifying the villain. It went all according to plan." Hawkmoth smiled, turning on his heel to face Chat. "They were quite predictable. Unlike you. Congratulations on that, I suppose."

Chat growled deep in his throat. He had a sickening feeling he knew what came next in the story.

"Anyway, Ladybug and Chat got sort of off-task sending the confused lady off, and Ladybug escorted her away while Chat made a distraction. There was lots of banter between him and myself as we fought. I have to admit, he was good. But, poor Chat, he left an opening while we were fighting, and it was just muscle memory that struck the winning blow. Ladybug came back just as I did it. Some kind of timing, eh?" Hawkmoth looked at Chat as if he was expecting a grin, then rolled his eyes and continued.

"So, there he was. I watched as she scrambled to the the wall behind them and looked him over. The good old magic on his suit broke, and there… There was Felix."

"Felix." Chat ran the name over his tongue, trying to figure out where he'd heard that name before. Felix, the previous Chat Noir, killed in action.

"I knew him in real life, you know. I hated him. I loathed him, so, so much. He was from a rival family, but that wasn't why I hated him. He could have anything he wanted, but so could I, so we weren't uneven there. We didn't go to the same school, and I couldn't figure out why I had such an obsession with him. But then, there was Bridgette."

Bridgette. It wasn't familiar. Not like Felix. Chat started multitasking, focusing on the story whilst trying to figure out where he'd heard that name.

"She loved him. I didn't know why. He was such a loathsome human being, such that even Plagg didn't like him. But Bridgette obsessed over him, and he never reciprocated her love. I loved her, she loved him, and he loved no one. Imagine my surprise that he was not only an obstacle in one of my lives, but both.

"Ladybug looked as surprised as I did, and as tears ran down her face, she told poor Felix over and over that he'd be alright and all that dribble, and then Felix said probably the only emotionally-driven statement he'd ever uttered. Out there, lying on the street, blood everywhere, he handed Ladybug his ring, and pushed plagg into her arms, and told her to run. Run as fast as she could, and never come back. Not for him, not for herself, and not for Paris. Felix was found dead the next morning, and Bridgette moved away. Ladybug disappeared from the city, and I made the connection eventually. Too bad Felix never knew, now, isn't it?"

Chat balled his fists, hating the fact that he'd been right. "What did you do after that?"

"I stopped."

Chat looked up, and Hawkmoth had paused his idle walking.

"Felix was dead, and Bridgette was gone. There was no reason to continue. That night just… sucked out all the fun."

"But you started up again." Chat pointed out, cocking his head to the side. "Why?"

"Chat, there are some things you will never understand, not through any of your incarnations. Love is one of them." Hawkmoth turned to him. "And do you know why you'll never understand any of them?"

Chat stared back at the man. "Why?"

"Here's why, Chat." Hawkmoth unsheathed his cane, his blade showing flashing under the flourescent light. He walked at a brisk pace towards Chat, pulling the table over with one hand. The box of cards hit the floor, and the contents scattered everywhere. Chat tried to back up, but fell backwards in his chair, knocking the back of his head on the wall behind him. Hawkmoth picked him up by his neck and pushed him against the wall, holding the blade where Chat could see it.

"Because just like every other Chat Noir, I'm going to kill you before you tell Ladybug how you really feel."

Chat fumbled for anything that could help him, but Hawkmoth dropped his cane, grabbing Chat's hand and ripping the ring from his fingers. Chat Noir disappeared and Adrien materialized where the hero had been, in a near-chokehold, grabbing onto Hawkmoth's arm to keep himself from breaking his neck. Hawkmoth released Adrien and he crashed to the floor, onto the chair, and while he rolled over slowly to start getting up, Hawkmoth pocketed the ring, then picked up and reassembled his cane before plucking Plagg out of the air, holding the kwami's head between his forefingers. Adrien got up, and Hawkmoth motioned slightly with the hand he was holding Plagg with.

"A deal is a deal. You listened like the obedient boy you are, so you get your little rat back."

Adrien hurriedly cupped his hands together and held them out, and Hawkmoth dropped Plagg into his waiting palms. Hawkmoth turned on his heel and left, carefully stepping around each card on the floor, before shutting the door behind him with a clang!

"Have fun talking to Plagg, I suppose. He can't really help you anymore anyway, now, can he?" Adrien heard the tap, tap, tap of Hawkmoth's footfalls and listened until they were well out of earshot, then turned to Plagg, frowning.

"So, Plagg," Adrien spoke slowly. "What else have you been keeping from me?"