Sometimes it seemed like things were going a snail's pace in terms of preparing to defeat Hawkmoth. The scrolls had to be designed, printed off and properly aged (and of course Plagg was asked to do that, because why not overwork the god of destruction just a little bit more?. He was rather regretting having insisted on playing a larger role than normal in taking down the supervillain. The ability to brag was not worth this much work) and the book pages had to be altered just so and had been sent off to be bound, but it was taking quite a long time.

Other times, it seemed like everything was going too fast. It seemed like Plagg was given something new to investigate or check on every time he and Adrien went in to see Fu, and already talks about how they might try to approach the final fight were coming up. Plagg could tell that those particular talks made Adrien anxious.

After all, once the final battle was over, no one particularly knew what would happen to him.

"I don't think I have any distant relatives or anything," Adrien told Fu. They had stopped in for tea and cheese and the chance to have a one-on-one chat with the old guardian. "Both mom and father were only children, they always told me, and my grandparents died when I was young."

"Do you think your father would have plans for guardianship somewhere, for in case something happened to him?" Fu asked. "Is he the kind of person who would do that?"

Plagg snorted before Adrien could answer. "He's the kind of person who thinks that he won't get caught," Plagg said derisively. "And who thinks that nothing will happen to him. Nooroo said that Hawkmoth wants to change the timeline, so he thinks that anything he does now doesn't matter, because it'll get erased later."

There was a pause.

"That... would have been good information to know earlier," Fu said slowly, turning to look at Plagg. "Did Nooroo say what in the timeline Hawkmoth wants to alter?"

"Nope," Plagg told him. He took a large bite of Cheddar and continued talking, mostly because the face Wayzz made was hilarious. "And why does it matter, anyway? He's not supposed to get the Miraculous either way."

"It's just nice to know what is goals are," Fu said. He poured more tea for Adrien. "And perhaps it helps, to know that he did not intend for his actions now to be permanent. With an alteration in the timeline, all of the akumatizations would be erased, all of the damage to relationships undone. And he clearly did not intend to fail."

Plagg still didn't get how it would help. Then he took one look at Adrien's face and understood. Knowing that Mr. Agreste had akumatized himself and knowingly gone after his son had hurt Adrien a lot. The idea that Mr. Agreste had planned for that action to be eventually erased helped heal that ache just a bit, but hopefully not too much.

After all, planned changed timeline or not, Mr. Agreste had still thought that it would be a good idea to make Adrien think that his father was deeply upset and hurt and then try to hunt him down as a supervillain. And on top of that, Hawkmoth had sent several akumas after Adrien knowingly, and there was still the whole matter of the 'equal exchange' and who that might have affected. It was better in the long run if Adrien just let go of his idea of a loving father and a perfect family now. It wouldn't be much longer before he would be helping put the man in jail.

"I bet the change that he wanted to make was to stop whatever it was that got my mom killed or taken away or whatever happened," Adrien said. His voice was a little unsteady. "I don't know if he was with her or not. But you said that there would be a price, right? That there would have to be some sort of a trade, and whatever that was couldn't be undone even by magic."

"I am willing to bet that you are correct," Fu said slowly. Plagg glanced up in time to see the glance the old man exchanged with Wayzz. "And I do have a theory about what it was that happened. But before I say anything, I want to impress on you the fact that, without the journals or without talking to your father directly, there is no way to confirm my theory. At this point, it is entirely conjecture, as are any of my theories about how, if I am correct, the problem might be solved. I don't want you to get your hopes up, only for you to be let down again in case anything is wrong."

Plagg perked up, interested, and set his cheese aside for once. It was time to see if the old man's theories were the same as Plagg's own. Adrien was staring at Fu, eyes wide.

"You think you know what happened?"

"I have vague theories," Fu corrected again. "Theories that may have some evidence to support them, but given that I don't have all of the information that I need, I can't be too positive yet."

"I understand," Adrien promised, but even Plagg could sense the waves of anticipation coming off of him. If it weren't for the fact that he was sitting on the floor, he would probably be perched precariously on the edge of his seat. "Even a theory is better than nothing. I'm tired of not having any clue about what happened to her. My father doesn't tell me anything."

Fu still looked a bit wary. Plagg didn't blame him. Adrien had been pretty far along with accepting that his mother was gone, and while Fu wanted to not have to keep him in the dark, it would be crushing if he was wrong and Adrien's mother couldn't be rescued somehow.

"Perhaps we should have Plagg ask Nooroo if he knows anything more first," Wayzz suggested. "If we can strengthen the theory a bit..."

"No! Please! I get that it's just a theory!" Adrien pleaded. "But you said you had some evidence already. What if my father hasn't told Nooroo anything? Then are you going to keep it a secret for even longer?"

"I think that asking Nooroo would be a good idea, but I don't think we should wait until then," Fu decided. "Very well. Adrien, you said that your mother went missing in Tibet."

Adrien nodded.

"I originally trained in Tibet," Fu told him. "As I have told Ladybug, there was a temple of sorts there, where selected children went to learn the ways of the Miraculous. It was a hard life, and those who didn't keep up with the rigorous training that the monks demanded were cut from the training and sent home. Many of those who were ejected had turned out to be selfish, or greedy, or lazy, and therefore unfit to hold a Miraculous. Others simply had no interest in the lifestyle that the temple demanded of them, and they left on their own. Kwamis and elder Guardians picked successors out of those who were left."

Adrien nodded. He looked a bit confused, which was probably to be expected. There was no immediate connection to his mother there.

"Of course, problems sometimes arose when a student managed to hide their true nature until their later years of learning, when they actually started to come in contact with the Miraculous and learning more of the magic. By that time, they knew about the powers that they could have received and the magic that was possible, as well as the layout of the temple buildings. To protect the Miraculous holders, parts of the temple had heavy magic protection. Magical booby traps, if you will. If people went searching for the Miraculous holders- to hurt, or to steal- they would get trapped by the magic and held in limbo."

Adrien's eyes widened. "Really? But what if someone was just curious or they were just exploring?"

"They could be freed," Fu assured him. "...how, I do not know. It happened only very rarely, and not at all after I was given a Miraculous, though that is probably because the temple was destroyed not long after I got Wayzz."

"Destroyed?"

Fu winced. "I- well, to make a long story short, at least for now, I made a mistake. I trusted someone I should not have trusted, and they got hold of magic that they never should have been near. There was a battle, and the place was leveled. Many were killed. As the youngest and most inexperienced in battle, I was sent off with the scrolls and items that had been grabbed first, along with the box containing all of the inactive Miraculous, and tasked with keeping them safe. Keeping the box was always going to be my main duty, as the Turtle, but at the time the main concern was simply getting it out of reach of the rouges. Several of the other holders were killed in the first assault, since they had not been transformed at the time, and we managed to collect their Miraculous then. All except for the Butterfly and the Peacock, that is. We hadn't known right away that they had been killed, and then there was simply too much magic in the area to return. It was too dangerous. They were lost, along with the book and a number of scrolls."

Plagg was pretty certain that if Adrien's eyes got any bigger, they would just pop straight out of his head.

"Others have died either in battle or of natural causes since then, and most have managed to return their Miraculous to me, the box-holder," Fu finished. "Some have trained in their descendants instead and simply passed the Miraculous down, but that has never been the best way to do it. People are often blind to their kids' faults, and jealousy between sibling or other family members does not help. Either way, the number of active Miraculous is now significantly lower than it used to be."

Adrien was frowning now. "Wait, you said that there were a lot of kids that did this training," he objected. "But there's only seven Miraculous. How was that supposed to work? And I thought that you only had two out that you hadn't assigned, the butterfly and the peacock."

"There are others," Fu said, and Plagg sniggered as Adrien's jaw dropped further. "There are other levels to the box. The uppermost level is simply the most powerful circle. And some people did not receive Miraculous, but were instead trained to work with them and to perform magic alongside them. That was still seen as a great honor, since most did not make it that far. And you have to remember that people did not always live as long as they do now. Many would retire a couple decades in, so there was more turnover."

"With the exception of the Turtle, of course," Wayzz added. "We have the gift of longevity, so it made sense for us to keep going and be the ones to pass the knowledge along. It was pure chance that Master Fu came of age just when the previous holder was becoming unable to continue his duties."

"At any rate, after the temple was destroyed, it was impossible to go back," Fu continued. "Even once we regrouped and discovered that there were Miraculous missing- and from the top level, no less!- it was impossible. It was too dangerous. The magic was too wild still after so much being unleashed. I thought maybe I could give it some time to calm down and dissipate, and then I would make another attempt."

Wayzz looked solemn. "We waited too long and travelled too far. When we last tried to find the remains of the temple and test the magic levels, we couldn't find it. We searched for weeks, and there was nothing. It was too well-hidden, and the Guardians rarely traveled out of the temple. We simply hadn't paid enough attention as we fled from the fight."

"What does this have to do with my mother?" Adrien finally asked. "I mean, it's super-interesting learning about the history, but..."

Fu smiled. "Right. From what we have discovered, your parents somehow located the temple and went there. There are photos of them approaching the temple ruins. This is just a theory, but I suspect that the last photo of your mother showed her approaching the Moonrise Temple, the one that had the most security and spells on it. It was where the Guardians slept, and where the most valuable artifacts were held. If she tried to enter and did not have a Miraculous, then she may have been trapped by one of the old spells. It is fortunate that your father apparently did not follow."

Adrien snorted. "Yeah, it's really fortunate that he could escape and become a supervillain," he said, sarcasm dripping off of his words. "Absolutely peachy."

"If he had not, then we wouldn't have had a chance to guess at what might have happened to them," Fu pointed out. "They would just have mysteriously disappeared, and even if you had found the journals about the temple and where it might be, you would not have had a way to actually use that information."

Adrien still didn't look particularly mollified. "I guess. But if he had gotten stuck, then I wouldn't have to deal with knowing that one of my parents is a supervillain! Even if we can get my mom back, then people will still know that my father was Hawkmoth and they'll judge me for it."

Plagg's ears flatted reflexively against his head. Adrien had clearly moved on to being angry about his father's supervillain activities. Maybe it was healthy, but Plagg was worried that the anger would make Adrien's carefully constructed mask around his father slip. It probably didn't help at all that Plagg and Fu were the only ones who knew that Adrien was Chat Noir and that his father was Hawkmoth. That didn't give him a whole lot of people to talk to about his feelings.

Maybe Fu would consider having Adrien and Ladybug reveal themselves to each other earlier than planned. Adrien could definitely stand having more support right now.

Fu didn't look bothered by Adrien's outburst. "In the long run, I believe people will forget. If we can take Hawkmoth down quietly, perhaps we can wrangle an agreement with the police to get less media attention. Wayzz and I will have to take a look at the laws and see if there is some way to argue that his identity should stay a secret because of you."

Adrien scowled and slouched. "I don't care if his reputation is ruined. He deserves it. I just..." He let out a long breath. "I just want him to not be a supervillain. I want my mother back. I want to know why they were even looking for the temple and the Miraculous in the first place. What if they were planning to use the Miraculous for evil anyway? Then what am I supposed to do?"

"I suspect we won't know the answers to your questions until we take a look at your father's journals," Fu told him. "They may have been looking to use the lost Miraculous, or they may have simply been curious. Wild guesses and theories help no one right now."

"But what if it turns out that my mother wanted to use the Miraculous for evil, too?" Adrien's voice was quiet. "Even if we have the butterfly and the peacock back and out of her reach, I would still be in the house. It would be dangerous to have the Chat Noir Miraculous near her then."

Plagg blinked, puzzled. Adrien had never had anything but kind things to say about his mother before. According to him, she was kind and caring and loving. Unlike his father, she had never been distant.

The kid must have been more rattled than he let on by the revelations about his father if he was starting to doubt his mother as well. Plagg wondered if the doubt was limited to just his parents, or if Adrien was wondering who he knew who he could actually trust.

Hopefully he was just going through a phase. As much as Plagg pretended not to care about anything, it would be awful if Adrien's cheerful outlook on life was destroyed by his father. His Chosen deserved better.

"We should be able to tell from the journals what her role was and what their goals might have been originally," Fu assured Adrien. "And if there is anything of concern, we will come up with plans to address it then. But if all else fails, I'm very sure that Ladybug's family would be willing to take you in."

Oddly enough, Adrien didn't perk up as Plagg had expected. It was almost as if he hadn't heard.

Things didn't really get better after Adrien left Fu's house at the end of their meeting and headed over to school to work on his project with his friends. They could definitely tell that Adrien was in a sour mood, and they were also clearly confused about what had upset him. Adrien wasn't telling them anything- not that he could, not really- and any attempts to cheer him up just seemed to deepen his scowl.

Now Plagg was really concerned. Adrien's anger was healthy and not even remotely undeserved, but if he wasn't able to hide that anger around Nathalie and his father, then he might raise suspicion. Plagg had worked so hard (well, Nooroo and Fu's trick ring had worked so hard) to make Mr. Agreste think that Adrien wasn't Chat Noir and that he didn't know anything about his father's less-than-positive activities.

"Would it help if I went up and caused a leak in the lair?" Plagg asked as they headed home. Adrien was only moderately less grouchy now, after Marinette gave him a hug and some cookies before taking off. "It's supposed to rain tomorrow. And I won't even ask for any extra cheese to do it."

Much to his relief, Adrien cracked a small smile. "Maybe."

As the week went on, Plagg's little pranks on Mr. Agreste continued in earnest. He balanced a file folder on the edge of Mr. Agreste's desk just so, so that it would be easy to accidentally knock off onto the floor. He made several of Mr. Agreste's pens run dry, and his bedroom door squeak, and his bedroom faucet drip during the night. Design sketches were misplaced and had to be redrawn. Lightbulbs burned out, and Mr. Agreste slipped and fell in a puddle of spilled water after a window "accidentally" was left open during a rain shower. His computer took a frustratingly long time to start up one day, and then there were problems with the internet connection the next day after Adrien had left for school.

They were small annoyances, sure. But they added up, and any time that Mr. Agreste had to take to fix things around the house meant that he had less time to spare to go up to the lair and akumatize people. Besides, Adrien always smiled a little bit more when Plagg reported his efforts.

(Not that he made it sound like he was putting in all that much effort. After all, Plagg had a reputation to keep.)

Of course, Adrien's sour mood returned as soon as they went in for another meeting with Master Fu. Plagg didn't completely understand it- annoyingly, Adrien only babbled on and on about his feelings when they were feelings of soppy lovesickness- but he suspected that the meeting only served as a reminder that they were getting progressively closer to the day when they would put his father in jail. Ladybug picked up on Adrien's mood only a few minutes into the meeting, even with their voices altered by the weirdo black masks and hidden from each other by the screen. She scooted forward to the edge of the screen and held her hand around it, so Adrien could twine his fingers around hers. He did so after a moment's pause, and then let out a quiet sigh and leaned against the screen. Plagg tried not to gag at the cuteness as Ladybug did the same on the opposite side of the screen.

Gee, if only he had known that all he would need to do to cheer Adrien up properly was to get him some Ladybug cuddle time, he would have begged Tikki to tell her holder to do that ages ago.

"How is the progress with your computer person?" Fu asked. "How soon do you think that he will be ready?"

"Max told us during the akuma battle yesterday that he's figured out all of the security camera stuff," Ladybug reported. "And that the virus is most of the way done, but he just has some finishing touches to put on it. He said he's going to test it on an old computer of his first."

"And he said he would make a new account on that computer first and put some old files on it for the virus to delete, so that he wouldn't be risking deleting anything really important," Chat Noir chimed in. "He's thought of everything, it seems."

Fu smiled. "Very good. I admit, I would not have thought about using those little computer tricks to cover my footsteps. Does he know when it might be done?"

"He said to check in in about a week" Adrien responded. He curled closer to the screen. On the other side, Ladybug mirrored him. "And hopefully he would be done. If not, then he'll just show us how to do the camera stuff."

"Perhaps I should go as well," Wayzz volunteered. "The more eyes you have, the more likely it is that one of us will be able to remember how things are done."

"We could try to get Trixx and Pollen out as well," Fu added. "Having more kwamis with you for the visit with your computer person and for the raid could be incredibly useful. They could search the office for anything else that might be of interest, or act as lookouts, or be the ones to hack into the security camera footage to get it set up for you since they don't show up on camera. I know how to briefly pull them out of their Miraculous- every Holder of the Box does- but that only lasts for a few minutes, and it's just so we can lets kwamis know what is going on before they get to their Chosen."

"Because the Chosens never know what's going on," Plagg interjected with a snigger. "Ever."

"They usually know that something is happening," Tikki objected. "But sometimes people are too panicked about that and our sudden appearance to give us all of the information we need to know what exactly to tell them."

"The easiest way to have kwamis out for an extended period of time is to assign them to a new holder," Fu continued, ignoring Plagg. "But if possible, I would rather not do that. More holders means more variables, and it could be difficult to persuade new holders to not be involved in the office raid. I know that it is possible for kwamis to be out for hours or days at a time without a holder, but it is just a matter of finding the spell that makes it possible."

Plagg made a face at the thought of new, inexperienced holders coming in now. They would probably be too excitable and bullheaded and eager to show off and make a good impression by doing more than what they were told to do, leading to mistakes that could tip off Mr. Agreste. Plagg had seen the reactions of new holders joining an established superhero group before in Tibet, and he suspected that it would only be worse now, with how much attention the superhero duo got in Paris. At least those who had been chosen to become Guardians in Tibet had been training for it pretty much their entire lives and it didn't come completely out of the blue when they were picked. The Fox holder that had joined Ladybug and Chat Noir for a fight had apparently been pretty good for a newbie, but that was for an akuma attack, not a special mission. It was easier to recover from an excitement-induced mistake during an akuma attack than it would be when they were facing off against Mr. Agreste.

Clearly Adrien and Ladybug agreed. Plagg could feel waves of what could best be described as oh gosh no radiating off of them. He was pretty certain that if he could see their faces (seriously, did their ridiculous voice-changing masks have to cover their entire face?), they would be screwed up in distaste.

"I will work on that," Fu told them. "I've been working on deciphering that pages that I took pictures of from the book, and I can understand most everything now, though it is slow going most of the time. Now it's just a matter of finding the page that talks about pulling out kwamis for extended periods."

"Wouldn't it most likely be near either the front or the back?" Adrien wanted to know. "That would make the most sense."

"Most likely, and thankfully Ladybug and I took pictures of those sections while we had the book. I will look through those and see what I can come up with. Hopefully I can find the spell and get it to work in time for your meeting with your computer person. If not, then perhaps before the office raid. They could still be helpful there." Fu nodded thoughtfully, fingers already trailing over the tablet with the pictures. "Check in with me before you go over to your computer person, please. We can have a brief meeting beforehand and if the other kwamis are out, then I'll send them with you. If not, then Wayzz will tag along by himself. Does that sound good?"

It had. The meeting had wrapped up quickly, and then Adrien was heading back home, dragging his feet as he did. They had met earlier than normal, and it was still only mid-afternoon.

"We could swing by the farmer's market," Plagg suggested when Adrien turned to head down a side street to take a meandering route home. "I hear the one nearby has a pretty good cheese section."

Adrien turned towards the market, and Plagg grinned. He could just taste the lovely cheese now, creamy and smooth in his mouth...

"Hey, Adrien!"

Adrien turned, and Plagg peeked out of the bag to see who it was that was delaying his trip to the delicious cheese. To his surprise, he spotted the civilian Ladybug hurrying towards Adrien.

"Hey!" Adrien said as she came up. His smile had grown. "How are you?"

Plagg tuned out their conversation as they meandered down the street slowly towards the farmer's market. It would no doubt just be pleasantries and general harmless yabber. Thankfully the girl didn't seem to be in a babbling-in-front-of-Adrien mood (and boy was it going to be interesting to see how that turned out once they did their reveal), so she and Adrien were able to have an actual proper conversation. Adrien probably wasn't in the mood to put up with senseless babbling in his direction at the moment, and Plagg cringed to think of what it could do to their friendship if Adrien just brushed civilian-Ladybug off in a moment of impatience.

Ladybug would probably understand that her babbling was ridiculous and recover after a short bit of sulking. Adrien would probably obsess over the blow-off after the fact, worrying that he had offended her and might lose her friendship. He would spend forever worrying about it- and give Plagg indigestion as he rambled about what he could try to do to fix the friendship.

...maybe he should talk to Tikki about making sure that her Chosen kept talking normally around Adrien. Plagg needed his boy sane, darn it.

They reached the market, and Ladybug stuck by Adrien's side as they wound through the crowd. Adrien seemed rather pleased by her continued presence, even though it would be difficult for him to buy Plagg's cheese with Ladybug there. Plagg sulked about that for a minute- he had rather been hoping to try to persuade Adrien into buying as much cheese as he could, but now he would be lucky if Adrien picked up more than two rounds- before deciding that Ladybug's continued presence was probably better for Adrien in the long run. After the reveal, he would know right away that Ladybug wasn't going to judge him about his father, since she had been hanging out with him even after they figured it out.

Adrien had better appreciate the sacrifices Plagg was making for him, really.

Ladybug giggled at a joke Adrien made, and the boy's entire face lit up. Grinning, he said something else, and the exasperated groan and poorly-hidden grin he got made his face light up even more, smile growing wide as he watched his companion. Marinette pointed out some of her favorite stalls, steering Adrien a little further from the delicious scents of the cheese area.

Plagg made a face and burrowed down in Adrien's bag. His boy would get around to the cheese eventually. Hopefully.

(Surely Ladybug wasn't distracting enough to make Adrien forget?)

The two of them spent forever wandering around the market, looking at all of the different stalls. Ladybug bought something at one of the farmer stalls, tucking her purchase away in a bag she had stashed in her purse. Adrien bought some sort of sandwich from a stall Ladybug recommended, and spent a while exclaiming over how delicious it was. They ran into some other friends from school and spent some time talking.

Finally, finally, when Plagg was starting to feel faint from hunger and his stomach was growling so loudly that he was surprised that the entire market hadn't heard, Adrien stopped at a cheese stall. Plagg peered out from the bag to watch as Adrien looked over the cheeses.

"This one is a really good melting cheese," Ladybug commented, pointing to one of the cheeses. "Sometimes I make baked cheese bread bowls, and that what I use for the cheese part. It's really tasty."

Adrien was going to have competition for Ladybug's heart, Plagg decided then and there. Baked cheese bread bowls? Sign him up. That sounded delicious.

"Are there some that work better than others for that?" Adrien asked. He was standing right next to Ladybug, watching with interest as she started to explain what cheeses worked best for what with baking. He actually looked interested in what she was saying, unlike all of the times he just ignored Plagg when Plagg was trying to teach him the finer details in the differences between double cream and triple cream Brie.

Ladybug would probably have liked that discussion. She was apparently the type to appreciate cheeses.

Ten minutes later, Adrien had bundled his purchases away in his bag and was wandering back out of the market with Ladybug. They seemed to be heading towards her house, which meant that there was a chance of Plagg getting some cheese bread.

"Adrien! We weren't expecting to see you today!" Ladybug's mother exclaimed from her place by the register. "Did you and Marinette run into each other in the market?" There was a pause- presumably Adrien had nodded- and then she spoke again. "That's lovely! Are you going to hang out here for the rest of the afternoon, then? We would love to have you for dinner."

Adrien perked up. "If it's not any trouble, I'd love to."

Half an hour later, Adrien finally remembered to feed Plagg (or, rather, Plagg finally got the chance to remind Adrien that he was actually fading away from hunger here). The cheese he had bought had all gotten tucked into the Dupain-Cheng fridge, so Adrien had to creep down and cut a couple chunks while Ladybug was in the bathroom.

"You could have come down and eaten anything else that was sitting out," Tikki said disapprovingly, phasing through Adrien's bag to join Plagg once Ladybug returned upstairs and she and Adrien had started up a game of Mega Strike. "You don't have to have cheese. If you were really that hungry-"

"I had my stomach set on cheese," Plagg responded tartly. "And my taste buds, and my eyes."

Tikki sighed.

"I'm glad they ran into each other," Tikki said softly after a few minutes. "Adrien looks like he's having fun."

"It's the first time in a while I've seen him this relaxed," Plagg admitted. "He's mostly to the point where he's mainly worried about what will happen to him after his father is in jail. It doesn't help that things have changed since Fu's time and a nearby family can't just up and adopt him."

"No, not if there are already plans in place," Tikki agreed. Then she frowned. "Are there? Have you found anything?"

"Nooroo said there aren't," Plagg reported. The butterfly kwami had managed to let him know that much during a quick meeting during lunch a few days back. "Not that Mr. Agreste has made, at least. Nathalie had asked him about it and Mr. Agreste said he didn't plan on losing, so planning for it was pointless."

"Which means Nathalie probably has made plans," Tikki said. At Plagg's startled look, she shrugged. "What? You know it's true."

"I think Fu is really hoping that we can figure out how to recover Adrien's mom," Plagg added instead of admitting that Tikki was probably right. "But the kid is worried that his parents originally wanted to get the Miraculous to use for evil, because Mrs. Agreste was lost when they were looking for the Miraculous in the first place. And if we free her, then she'll be close to the Cat Miraculous."

"He doesn't want to go from living with one supervillain parent to one would-be supervillain parent," Tikki said. She paused as a cheer from Adrien filled the room. Apparently his computer bot had managed to defeat Ladybug's computer bot. Once the duo started a new game, Tikki's attention returned to Plagg. "So have you found out if she was evil, then?"

"How?"

"The journals?" Tikki reminded him. "That's what Fu would use. If you read them now, maybe you can put Adrien's mind to rest."

"Or make him more worried," Plagg said. He wasn't entirely sure if that was actually possible, but knowing Adrien, it probably was. "What if she and Mr. Agreste did want to find the Miraculous just to use them for evil? The kid's gonna be a walking ball of nerves."

Tikki groaned. "Then don't tell him right away! Fu would be better than you at delivering that kind of news anyway. But if there's a chance that you could set Adrien's mind at ease..."

"Then you would take it, and you're telling me that I should, too." Plagg couldn't help groaning. More work, just when he thought that he might be almost done with the running errands and doing most of the footwork for their little investigation. "Fine, fine. But I'm not telling the kid about it, not unless I find something that suggests that his mother wasn't evil. He'd want updates all the time."

They watched their Chosens battle it out onscreen for a few more minutes, and then Tikki spoke up again.

"He deserves better than what he's gotten," Tikki said quietly. "I don't know what his mom is actually like yet, but he deserved a better father."

Plagg could only nod.

A/N: So we find out what (might) have happened to Adrien's mother! Not gonna lie, coming up with that backstory was probably one of my favorite parts of writing the story (after, of course, getting to write in Plagg's cheese-obsessed POV).

There'll be another side story/Outtake posted next, this time from Marinette's POV. It's the only part of the story that I haven't actually finished writing yet (I came up with the idea only relatively recently and then I've been distracted with HTFAM editing and also several IP Coco fanfics) and this is probably one of the worst times of the year for me to not have something pre-written and finished (what with Easter stuff and visiting relatives going on- my family got the bulk of the extended family Easter brunch cooking dumped on us without a ton of warning, which is why this chapter is later than I intended it to be- well, that, a snowstorm, and logging me out most of the way through my final edit of the chapter and making me redo it. But ANYWAY, I haven't been able to post OR write for the past couple days, so I need to try to catch up on that).

As always, reviews really make my day!