Chapter 5

The Fox

Ladybug only caught a glimpse of dark denim before she turned away in fear. Her lucky charm was still loosely wrapped around Chat Noir's head from when she forced him to the ground - but now she didn't dare remove it. Who was underneath that polka dot towel? No. She shouldn't even think about questions she didn't want the answers to.

"What do I do… what do I do!?" Ladybug paced, biting her lip as her thoughts raced. She couldn't just leave him here in the rain. Maybe she could take him to a hospital? It would be easy to lie about the situation and say she saw him collapse in the street when she was passing by. Could she do all that with her eyes closed though?

"You could find me some cheese…" A wary voice said from a gap underneath Ladybug's towel.

In the darkness, the heroine could see green glowing eyes and the outline of a cat-like head. It was severely unimpressed with the situation it found itself in. "Unless you don't want me to transform him back…"

Ladybug took a step back. Of course he'd have a kwami too! But she didn't think to bring any food with her. She only came out to see if the power outage was due to an akuma.

Plagg shivered and looked miserable. "I take it you don't have any cheese."

Ladybug was frozen, completely at a loss of what to do in this situation.

"The longer you keep him out here… the more likely he is to catch a cold, or hypothermia." Plagg stated simply, watching Ladybug intently. "If it's his identity you're worried about, I doubt that he would mind you knowing. Especially given that he's sleeping in a puddle." He started to tug on his master's shirt in a half-hearted attempt to wake him, but stopped the moment his paws hit dampness. Plagg hated the rain.

For some reasons those words didn't bring the comfort Ladybug thought they would. She stepped forward and made to reach out to grab the corner of the towel, but she couldn't. What if their roles were reversed? Would she care about Chat Noir knowing her true identity? It could mean everything… or it might mean nothing.

Plagg sighed loudly and gripped the towel with his tiny appendages. "You teenagers are always so dramatic! Do you know how many times I've had to watch this same situation?" He ripped the towel from Adrien's face and gestured at the boy with impatience. "I mean really, is this face even familiar to you?"

Ladybug's knees hit the rooftop and Plagg knew that something was awry immediately. The girl was wide-eyed and all the colour had leeched out of her face. It took the kwami a few seconds to realize that she wasn't breathing.

"Whoa whoa!" He flew out and punched her on the nose. "Take a deep breath, if you pass out too we're really in trouble."

So she knew him. Well, that might create more complications than he thought he was solving. "Look, I want off this rooftop, and you only have the strength to carry my friend here as Ladybug."

"Adrien." She breathed, feeling incredibly light headed as she rubbed her nose. "Adrien is Chat Noir." There were two people in her head: one flirty, laid back, kind of goofy - the other was kind, quiet and charming. They couldn't be the same person. They just couldn't.

Working on autopilot, Ladybug dispelled her lucky charm and undid whatever harm Dreamweaver unleashed upon the world. It was a distraction that gave her enough time to push the whole Adrien/Chat Noir thing to the back of her mind. First thing she needed to do was not panic and get Adrien up out of the rain.

The moment her hands touched his wrists she realized how low his body temperature had dropped. The shock of everything dissipated, replaced with worry for Adrien. "I'm taking him to a hospital… just in case." She gently set the boy on her shoulder and started to wind up her yo-yo. "You should stay with me for now, just to be safe."

Plagg frowned, "If he wakes up and I'm not there he might panic and think his Miraculous was taken."

"I'd rather that then someone else misplacing it… besides I have some questions I want to ask." She found his hand dangling near the small of her back and slipped his ring onto her finger. A strange feeling ran up her arm - tingling and warm like when entering a hot bath.

Plagg groaned and tried to summon enough energy to dodge the worst of the rain, though his eyes flitted to the ring Ladybug just acquired. In the end he perched himself on Ladybug's shoulder. "Questions, questions. When will you understand that the less you know the better?"

Without further delay, Ladybug repelled down the building and made her way to the nearest emergency room in silence. She didn't agree with Plagg's statement. There were more to the Miraculous than the kwamis were letting on, and their enemies were starting to figure it out.

Dropping Adrien off at the emergency room was easier than Ladybug thought. She only needed to walk through the doors before all eyes were on her, ready to show their gratitude for her services to the city. She signed two autographs for the most persistent of the staff before vaulting out of there just in time for her transformation to wear off.

As Marinette walked home she felt the full brunt of the rain. Her whole body felt numb; but her mind felt even worse. This whole time Adrien was Chat Noir. How was that possible? The more she thought about it the more things fell into place. Chat Noir knew her classmate's names. He was always missing when she was… with the same lame excuses. But Chat Noir was so flirty! All the times he kissed her hand… held her close… that time she kissed him! Marinette turned bright red and Tikki could have sworn she saw steam coming off of her wet hair.

Marinette tried to sneak in her house since it was well past midnight, but her parents were up waiting for her to come home - worried sick at her absence. It was time for another lame excuse.

As Marinette toweled her hair the lies came easy: a cat got hit by a car, she saw it from her window and raced to save it. She took it to the address it had on it's collar, but no one was home so she ran to the nearest person that would help. Her words were weary enough that her parents believed her, but scolded her for not thinking to talk to them about the event. Marinette was certain her parents would fight her a little more on the subject if it wasn't so late. She counted herself lucky yet again.

She was sent to her room where she immediately set Tikki and Plagg down on her desk. The kwami's looked to each other than back to Marinette before they both suddenly let out a cry and pointed behind the girl.

Marinette turned to see Volpina, looking nonchalant while she looked at some of Marinette's personal belongings distributed around the room. She was back in her fox-form, though she looked sheepish at having been discovered.

"I am sorry to scare you. I was hoping to talk before I go back. There is a problem with what happened tonight I did not expect." She set down a photograph of Adrien and looked apologetic.

Marinette's face took a second to go from scared, to shocked, to relaxed, then back to shocked. "I-I'm not Ladybug! These are just… uhh…" She looked to the two kwami for help, but they both just stared blankly back - not sure of what Marinette wanted their help with. It was too late to hide her real identity, Volpina obviously knew it.

Volpina looked confused, "I don't understand."

Marinette stared at the ground and rubbed her face. "You're the only one that knows…."

"Knows what? That you are the girl that is Ladybug?" Volpina tilted her head with an incredulous expression, "Really? Not even Chat Noir? Not even your parents?"

"Yes! Shh…! My parents are light sleepers and they just went to bed." Marinette collapsed onto her desk chair and groaned. "It's been such a long day. What are you hear for? I thought I'd never see you again."

Volpina crossed her arms. "There is more to this problem than I thought… and it is perhaps better for you to know." Volpina frowned and started to pace. "The girl Lynn was akumatized by a family member who was Queen Bee. The girl had lost most of her family to a fire and wished that she could… uh… fix it." She seemed to struggle to find the right french words. "Queen Bee knew of the Miraculous' power. She akumatized Lynn to see if though using her powers in this way they could reverse time, or undo what had been done. It did not work. Dreamweaver became warped by the misuse of this power stole the Miraculous from Queen Bee - thinking that she could wield greater power from it." Volpina started to pace. "I thought that once Dreamweaver was destroyed… I would find the Miraculous. I cannot and Lynn does not remember anything from her time as Dreamweaver."

Tikki and Plagg looked at eachother concerned and said at the same time, "Sunaa."

Both girls looked to the kwami's with interest. Volpina approached the desk cautiously. "Can you find the missing Miraculous? Sense it?"

They shook their heads, though Tikki took the spotlight. "We can only sense it if it is close and in use. Sunaa hasn't been activated by anyone in this city. Even if she did have a new master, we cannot sense her exact location unless she wants us too. We can only sense the master's existence."

Volpina sighed and sat down cross-legged on Marinette's bed. "I was afraid of this."

Marinette turned to the kwami. "How do we find it then?"

"You don't, that isn't your duty." Plagg said simply, curling up in Tikki's bed and getting the stink-eye from her for it. "It is Wayzz' job to make sure the Miraculous are where they are supposed to be."

"Who?" Volpina and Marinette asked, their interest piqued by the sudden influx of new information.

Tikki smacked her partner's nose. "You know better than that Plagg!" She huffed and looked at the curious eyes of the girls and frowned sadly. "The Miraculous have a way of finding themselves in the right hands-"

"You have a rogue Miraculous here though correct? This 'Hawk-Moth' Ladybug has been fighting? How can you say that his kwami is in the right hands?" Volpina pointed out. This made Tikki cringe and droop her antenna. "There is more to that than you know…"

"And you're not going to tell us are you?" Marinette said, trying not to sound bitter. Tikki bit her lip and gave her friend an apologetic look. Marinette stood from her chair and sighed in frustration. "Well than, what options do we have?"

Plagg grumbled, "Do nothing - until it becomes a problem!"

More thunder and lightening punctured the heavy rain and wind outside. They all paused to look out the window and feel grateful that it was warm and dry inside. Collectively they brainstormed about their current dilemma, but no solutions other than Plagg's were spoken.

"What ever you decide, I can't stay in Paris for long… I have at most a couple of days before I return to Italy. I have a foe that has been plaguing my city. Yet another rogue Miraculous that you say is in the right hands." Volpina also got up and slowly made her way to the upper balcony. "I need to leave, it is late, and this storm is only getting worse." Marinette followed, tapping the fox on the shoulder.

"Wait! Umm… can I have some way of contacting you, in case we ever need you again? Or if Queen Bee shows up? I mean… I've never seen another one of us that wasn't… ah… evil." Marinette smiled nervously. Volpina blinked dumbly at the question, unsure of how to reply.

"Ah… yes. I suppose." She looked around for a pen and paper and picked up a post-it note from Marinette's desk. "This is my mobile phone. Only call for emergencies! I am busy with my job. Do not let anyone else have this number." Volpina blushed, thinking about Chat Noir and his flirting. "Few others know I am Volpina… I would like to keep it that way."

Marinette nodded, though was shocked that Volpina would share her identity with other people. She took the note with the number and stored it in her diary. Volpina went to the balcony, the rain coming down harder than ever.

"Goodbye Ladybug, I hope the next time we meet it will be under different circumstances." She split her tail magically into two and seemed to vanish in the storm. Marinette gasped at how fast Volpina's powers made her - and was a little jealous. Speed seemed far better than her own abilities. She went back inside, making sure all the windows were shut tight and that the two kwami's weren't fighting. While Marienette was on the balcony it seemed that Tikki found her way back into the make-shift bed Marinette made her and Plagg was looking dejected curled up on a stuffed animal in the corner.

Marinette flopped on her bed and groaned at the luxury. She kicked off her socks and buried into the covers. This day just refused to end. she thought about Adrien, alone in the hospital and felt a little guilty. She could have taken him home… but he was so cold. Was he alright? She would have to visit him tomorrow… tell him that she had Plagg - tell him that she knew he was Chat Noir. Marinette closed her eyes, picturing his face as she told him… sleep came easily soon after.

Author's Notes: So I watched the first of the Origin episodes! I'm very glad that most my guessing so far has been correct. I have nudged a few things in past chapters to make it more canon. Hopefully you enjoy this new chapter. Please read and review~!