The next day at school, Adrien dropped down into his seat with a loud thump. He still didn't care enough to be there, but part of him was paranoid about raising suspicions. Surely once they realized Ladybug was gone, they'd blame Chat Noir. He couldn't risk it.
Her heard a soft sniffle behind him and turned to see Nino in Marinette's seat, trying to comfort Alya. Alya's hair was a mess, hand covered her tear-streamed face, and she looked like she hadn't slept. Her phone was on the desk in front of her, but it wasn't lit up like normal. It was such an unusual sight that for a moment, Adrien was brought back to reality.
"Alya," he spoke up. "What's wrong?"
Nino looked up at Adrien sympathetically. "They still haven't found her."
Adrien froze. Of course. Alya was Ladybug's biggest fan and reporter. She would be the first person to know Ladybug was missing. His mouth went dry. What if she noticed how Adrien had been acting? What if she knew he was Chat Noir? What if she found out that he was the one that…that….
"Her mom called me this morning," Alya sniffed. "There's no trace of her at all. And no ransom notes or anything either. It's like she just vanished into thin air!"
This statement confused Adrien. Alya knew Ladybug's mom? No. Now that he thought about it, she couldn't be talking about Ladybug. "Wait, who?"
Nino glared at him. "Dude, don't."
"What?" Adrien stared back at him in confusion. Why was it so wrong to ask who Alya was upset about?
"Marinette!" Alya screamed. She slammed her fist down on the desk in front of her. "Marinette! The little black haired girl that sat right behind you! The girl that tried everyday to get your attention because she was so in love with you! My best friend! And now she's gone and you don't even have the decency to be upset about it!"
Nino chased after Alya as she stormed out of the room sobbing, but not before throwing Adrien an angry glare.
Adrien felt his heart drop into his stomach.
Marinette was missing.
Plagg had been right. The unpurified akuma had come back. It must have found Marinette. What if she was forced to do evil against her will? Poor, sweet Marinette. Her smile was too bright to be taken over by-
Hang on a second. Did Alya say Marinette was in love with him?
Once he was home, Adrien raced up to his computer and quickly typed Marinette's name into the search engine. What popped up immediately were small news reports about a missing girl in Paris. At the bottom of the list was a small article from the Ladyblog. Adrien paused for a moment and stared at the Ladyblog logo next to the article.
Oh Ladybug. What he wouldn't do to have her back.
He forced himself to look away from the red and black spots and read the small blurb about Marinette.
'Ladybug, I know you read my blog, and I know I've never asked anything from you before, but please find my friend Marinette. She's gone missing and no one knows if it's from an akuma or something else, but this is not like her. Her parents are worried sick. I'm worried sick. Please, Ladybug. I wouldn't ask unless I thought something terrible had happened.'
Adrien felt his gut wrench. Reading Alya's plea to Ladybug was like a condemnation of himself. Ladybug couldn't help Marinette. Chat Noir had seen to that. Ladybug couldn't help anyone ever again. He pushed himself away from the desk and spun around in his chair. He couldn't take it anymore. All this pain and guilt. Without Ladybug, Paris was a mess. Even his own classmates were being affected. This was all his fault.
Plagg must have read his mind. "It's not your fault."
Adrien shook his head. "Yes. It is."
"No it's not, Adrien, don't be silly. You were being controlled." Plagg's voice slipped back to his normal self for a fraction of a second, but he softened right back up again when he saw how Adrien reacted to his words. "It's not your fault."
Adrien scoffed and pushed himself up out of his chair. He walked over to his window and looked up at the grey sky. The clouds were dark and heavy. Even they seemed upset about Ladybug. And now it wasn't even just Ladybug. He was responsible for Marinette, too. She was missing because he couldn't save Ladybug.
Why couldn't he have just fallen on his own hand instead? Rather him than her. Paris needed Ladybug. Chat Noir was nobody.
"Well," Plagg spoke slowly. "Maybe you can help?"
Adrien turned back to his kwami with a glimmer of hope. "I can bring back Ladybug?!"
Plagg sunk down. "Erm, no."
"Oh," Adrien turned back to the window. Plagg's answer stung him harder than he expected.
"But!" Plagg spoke up again. "You can look for Marinette. You can find the akuma and capture it. Even if you can't purify it, you can contain it so it won't hurt anyone else. You can save Marinette and anyone else affected by the akuma."
Adrien simply shook his head. No, he couldn't. Not without her. Without her, he was useless. He'd probably find Marinette and then get taken over again and wind up killing her too.
"No, Plagg." Adrien sighed.