Adrien went wide eyes as a dark figure flew toward him and his friends. He knew it was Lucy coming for them, the timing was too perfect for it to be anyone else. He quickly told everyone to run and everyone scattered. Lucy flew over and grabbed Kim. The boy froze in place and soon his figure began to fade. Marinette ran over and pleaded for Lucy to stop. The girl they once knew claimed her name was now Time Breaker now.

"I'm going to go back in time. I can't save him, but I can save the watch. And you all are going to help me."

"What?!" Marinette asked. "What did you to Kim? Why is he fading?"

"I need his energy, besides, the guy was kind of a ass. He deserves to disappear forever. I just want to fix it Mari. You'll help me wont you?" Lucy said with a cold smile as she zoomed over to touch Marinette. Thinking fast Marinette threw the banner she had been holding at Time Breaker, momentarily blinding her. When she was able to see again, Time Breaker found Marinette to be no where in sight. As she zoomed off to find another victim Ladybug appeared and struck the villain with her yo-yo.

"Time out Time Breaker!" She said, pleased.

Time Breaker looked down the steps to see rose and reached out for her.

"Rose..help. I'm sorry, please help me..."

Being the kind girl that Rose was, she went to help only for her energy to be stolen. Time Breaker got up and went for another teen. Ladybug jumped down and frowned at her inability to save another friend.

"One and a half minutes. Not bad." Time Breaker said looking at the clock necklace she was wearing. A tap on her shoulder made her turn to see Cat Noir.

"Let me guess, we are all playing a game of tag and your it?"

"Exactly." She replied with a smile, zooming to Cats Direction.

"Don't let her touch you!" Ladybug warned. Cat jumped over Time Breaker.

"Missed me, just a second too slow."

Time Breaker glanced to the side and saw Alya filming and smirked. Alya ran and the villain chased her, catching up quickly and taping her back.

"No!" Ladybug shouted watching her best friend fade.

"She's really not wasting any time is she?" Cat Noir said.

"Yeah, and of we don't catch that akuma, everyone is going to disappear forever!"

Time breaker flew towards a hiding Ivan and attempted to grab him when Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo around her wrist. The time villain smirked and yanked Ladybug towards her.

Now Time Breaker! Grab her miraculous!

Quickly Time Breaker reached for Ladybug, but like lightning Cat Noir jumped in front of her, taking the blow. Time Breaker froze momentarily. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Quick! Grab his ring before he disappears!

She reached out for him, not truly knowing if his ring was what she was reaching for.

"Go ahead and try!" Ladybug threatened putting Time Breaker out of her daze. She moved forward but the heroin got the upper hand and tossed her to the side. A pain shot through her head as she felt Hawkmoths frustration.

"Don't worry. I just got a killer idea."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Lucy's eyes fluttered open and she was overcome with the feeling of being hit by a truck.

"Ow!" She hissed. "What...the fuck."

"I believe this belongs to you." Ladybug said handing Lucy her pocket watch. Lucy looked at it in astonishment.

"Whoa, how did you...?" She smiled. "Ladybug magic." A realization then hit her. "Wait! Was I akumatized?!"

"You were." Ladybug confirmed. "But it's alright now."

"What did I do?"

Ladybug shook her head. "It doesn't matter, it wasn't you."

Lucy wanted to argue that a bit but chose against it.

"I was just getting used to having two Ladybugs around." Cat Noir joked.

Ladybug rolled her eyes and smiled. "Well now you'll need to get used to no Ladybugs. Gotta split before I change back." With that she threw out her yo-yo and was off.

Lucy laughed a little at Cat Noir's frown causing him to look at her.

"Hey you." She said quietly.

"Hey," He greeted back, reaching out a hand to help Lucy off the ground, which she took.

Cat had things he wanted to ask her. A lot of things but mainly about her watch. He knew it was from her dad but there had to be more to it then that for her to be akumatized over it. Unless of course she was just sensitive. Something told the hero that was not the case though.

"Lucy?"

"Yes?"

"May I visit you tonight?"

Lucy looked at him strangely.

"Since when do you ask permission to show up?"

Cat smirked. "Normally I wouldn't. I like to believe your happy for my company at any given moment but after last night..." He trailed off, his smirk falling. Lucy gave him a weak smile before looking down at her watch again.

"Your not wrong." Lucy stated. She brought her eyes back up to his and the heroes. "I am happy for your company at any given moment." With that statement Cat Noir felt his heart flutter for the girl in front of him.

"I'll see you tonight then."

Lucy nodded and watched Noir pole vault away. Walking home Lucy decided to keep her akuma experience from her mother. For now at least. Telling her mother about being akumatized wouldn't make anything better. Lucy would talk to Cat when he came. She knew he would have questions, and something in her felt compelled to answer them. Someone slamming into her shoulder brought Lucy out of her thoughts.

"Oh! Fuck, I'm sorry." A pale girl with medium length black hair spoke. Her look struck Lucy as a girly goth, if that was a thing. Dark makeup consisting of a black eyeliner and mascara, dark red full lips. She wore gray sweater that hung off the shoulder and a black pencil skirt. The girl was slightly taller that Lucy, but only because of the heels she was wearing.

"Your fine, I was in my own head." Lucy said with a smile, waving the girl off.

"Cool watch." She commented, causing Lucy to open her palm and allow the girl to examine it.

"Thanks. It was my dads."

"You should get a chain for it."

"Yeah, considering the close call I've had with it today, that's probably a good idea."

"I'm Talia by the way." The girl introduced herself.

"Lucy. I like your bracelet." Lucy complimented noticing a thin chain around Talia's left wrist, it connected to three other chains that met up to her middle finger, the center chain holding 3 blue stones.

"Thanks." Talia said, looking down at her wrist.

Talia swished her lips back and forth a moment before speaking again.

"So, like, not to be fuckin' weird or anything but if your interested, I know this really cool vintage shop that sells stuff like that, they probably have a chain for it if you wanted to check it out."

Lucy looked at the girl who looked at her awkwardly, probably thinking that Lucy would indeed think her suggestion was weird.

"That would be awesome. Thanks."

The two girls looked at each other for a moment in silence.

"Did you mean now, or..."

Talia laughed and apologized. "Im sorry, I don't usually just make random friends on the street, this is weird for me. But, like in a good way. I'm happy about this, I get good vibes from you. I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

Lucy smiled and nodded. The dark mood she had looming over her not too long ago seemed to vanish. This would perhaps be one of the best days of her life, a day during which she lived her life and didn't think about her life at all. Just her going to a new place with her new friend. A girly goth girl who seemed to like the F word.

OoOoOoOooOoOoOoOoo

Adrien sat in his room that evening while Plagg munched on cheese. He was anxious to get to Lucy's place. He wished he could understand what compelled him to want to be so close to the girl. To know all her secrets. To give tell her his own. He thought about Ladybug, and the conversation he had had with Lucy about her. He thought about the many times he tried to tell Ladybug he loved her. How many times have you tried to talk to someone about something that matters to you, tried to get them to see it the way you do? And how many of those times have ended with you feeling bitter, resenting them for making you feel like your pain doesn't have any substance after all? Like when you've split up with someone, and you try to communicate the way you feel, because you need to say the words, need to feel that somebody understands just how pissed off and frightened you feel. The problem is, they never do. "Plenty more fish in the sea," they'll say, or "You're better off without them," or "Do you want some of these potato chips?" They never really understand, because they haven't been there, every day, every hour. They don't know the way things have been, the way that it's made you, the way it has structured your world. They'll never realize that someone who makes you feel bad may be the person you need most in the world. They don't understand the history, the background, don't know the pillars of memory that hold you up. Ultimately, they don't know you well enough, and they never can. Everyone's alone in their world, because everybody's life is different. You can send people letters, and show them photos, but they can never come to visit where you live.
Unless you love them. And then they can burn it down. He thought he loved Ladybug, but she still never understood his feelings. Better yet, she never wanted to. But Lucy did, or it seemed like she wanted to at least.

"You ready Plagg?" Adrien asked. Plagg rolled his eyes taking his last bite of cheese.

"Yeah yeah, whatever kid, lets go have another heart to heart with your lady friend." Instead of arguing with his Kwami, Adrien gave him a satisfied smirk.

"Thanks, I'll do just that. Plagg, Claws out."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

When Lucy got home, the house was quiet and dark. She tiptoed through the living room, the only real light coming from a single lamp on the side table to the left of their powder blue couch. On the couch, Lucy's mother laid, curled into a ball, on hand tucked underneath her, the other dangling over the edge of the couch, loosely holding a few papers. On the coffee table in front of the couch laid several other paper, all folded like the had been removed from envelopes. A large cardboard box also say in the table, filled with more papers as well as a number of other various items and photographs. Peeking into the box, Lucy realized it was one of her dads boxes of things. A box of mementos from the looks of it. Lucy grabbed a throw blanket from off the arm chair near by and placed it over her mother, gently taking the papers out of her hands. Skimming over them, the teen discovered that they were all in fact letters from her dad. Looking at the dates at the top of a few, it was clear they were all letters he had written over the past few years. Letters he had written to her mother, as well as to herself. Letters he never sent. Lucy placed the letters down on the table. To say she didn't want to read every single on of them would be a lie. But tonight she was expecting a guest. The letters had waited this long, they could wait a little longer.

Her timing seemed to be perfect, as Lucy heard a tapping on her window just was she walked into the room. Placing down her bag on her bed, she walked over to the window and let her Cat friend inside.

"Hey you." She greeted again. Cat Noir smiled and noticed her watch was now hanging around her neck.

"You got a chain for it."

Lucy looked down at her watch and smiled. "I did. I made a new friend today too."

Lucy walked over to a drawer and started pulling out some Pjs. A simple loose fitted blue tank top and gray shorts. Without words she raised the clothes in the air and waved them at Cat Noir, indicating she was going to change and stepped behind a small white room divider in the corner.

"Anyone I know?" Cat asked, feeling heat in his face rise a little, knowing the only thing keeping him from seeing a half naked Lucy was a small room divider. The girl was tall and the boy could see her arms as the lifted her shirt over her head. Not wanting to weird he brought his gaze to a few photos Lucy had on her dresser. One of her parents and her together caught his eye. It was an older picture he could tell. Lucy looked much younger, maybe ten? They all looked happy. She looked happy.

"Her name is Talia. I doubt you know her but it would be a weird coinkydink if you did."

" Coinkydink ?" Cat asked laughing. Lucy walked out from behind the room divider and rolled her eyes.

"An American thing." Lucy walked over to her bed and laid down side ways. She patted the spot beside her, looking at her Cat friend. As he approached, Cat's eyes raked over her form. He internally shook his head ignoring his teen hormones that seemed to be acting up this evening. Ogling her was not why he came. Laying down beside the blonde female, Cat turned his head to meet her eyes.

"So." Lucy started. "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Can I not just want to see you?" He asked with a sly grin.

"Of course you can." Lucy responded, not missing a beat. "But that's not why your here." He couldn't argue.

"You gonna sleep with that on?" He inquired looking at the watch still around her neck.

"Probably not, but I'm not sleeping yet."

"What happend today Lucy?"

The two kept eye contact a moment before Lucy broke it and brought her eyes to the ceiling.

"My dad died." She said softly and Cat Noir frowned. "That's why I went away a few days ago if you noticed."

"I did."

"We went to go take care of some things in America. Paperwork and all. My dad left me this and I have no idea why, but it was important to him, so I'll make it important to me."

"And then it got crushed." Cat concurred. Lucy nodded.

"What did I do?" She asked looking back a Cat.

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me."

Cat Noir sighed. Not many people asked about their time akumatized. They don't remember and it was his guess that knowing they were villains being mind controlled was enough to make them not want to. He couldn't say he blamed them. If Cat ever got akumatized, he wouldn't want to remember it either.

"You really wanna know?" He confirmed, getting a nod from the girl beside him.

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't."

"You wanted to go back in time. To get your watch back I guess."

"How was I gonna do that?" She asked, thinking time travel was a complicated power to give someone.

Cat swallowed. "You needed peoples energy. Their life force, to power you."

Lucy took in a sharp breath. In her time in Paris. Akumatized people rarely actually harmed anyone. Put them in danger, used them as minions, of course, but their goal usually didn't involve physical harm, not really at least. The only one she could say may have come close was The Bubbler. He did after all sent people into the sky, and had they gone high enough, they probably would have suffocated. However, before she passed out in a bubble of her own, Lucy noticed the bubbles tended to stop after a while, never reaching that point.

"Did I get anyone?" She asked quietly. The hero looked hesitant to answer her, making it that he didn't really have to.

"Yeah." He said chuckling, attempting to lighten the mood. "You didn't waste any time I have to hand it to ya. Snagged up a few people, myself included." His smile went away instantly as he saw the look of horror on Lucy's face. She held her hand over her mouth and her sea colored eyes watered. Cat Noir instantly regretted answering her questions, hating seeing her so upset.

"How can you laugh about that Cat? I killed people, I killed you." She choked.

Sitting up quickly the masked boy cupped Lucy's face.

"No! No, you didn't. I'm fine, everyone is fine!"

Lucy sat up as well and removed Cat's hands from her face, scooting her body away from his. An action that pained him more than it should.

"It's not fine! That's horrible! If Ladybug hadn't fixed everything-"

"But she did." Cat interrupted.

"But if she didn't-"

"But she did." His tone firm and demanding. Lucy stopped arguing but continued to frown.

"Lucy, this is what I do, okay? Do you know why we call people targeted by Hawkmoth Akumatized victims? Because that's what they are. That's what you are. A victim. A victim of a mad man who used your sorrow for his own personal gain. Ladybug and I, we will continue to do everything we can to take him down but until we do, this is just a thing that happens. It wasn't you."

Lucy brought her knees to her chest and rested her cheek on her knees.

"What if it was?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"What do mean?" Cat asked carefully.

"I don't remember being Time Breaker. I don't remember hurting those people, hurting you. But I do remember the anger. The sorrow and the darkness that filled my heart. I remember it because its still there. My dad died and I'm upset about it. Not being akumatized anymore doesn't make that go away." Bringing her knees down and sitting criss cross, Lucy made a gathering motion with her hands, as if trying to collect her invisible thoughts. "That's the reality isn't it? Hawkmoth controls us, yes, but he magnifies and encourages the negative thoughts we are already having. He takes our negativity and pushes it forward making us become the absolute worst versions of ourselves, the version that in a way is always a part of us, always inside of us, but because we have morals and the ability to think rationally we never act on. Most of us anyway. Obviously people do terrible things all the time without being akumatized. Hawkmoth just gives the rest of us an excuse."

Cat didn't like that. He didn't like what Lucy was saying, and he didn't like how he could't find a way to argue with her theory. If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of their own heart? People are complicated. How can a queen be both a good witch and a bad witch? How can a prince be a murderer and a savior? How can a typical villain be evil-tempered but right-thinking? How can a parson be wrong-thinking but good-hearted? How can invisible men make themselves more lonely by being seen?
The thought made Cat Noir exhausted. The answer is that it does not matter what you think, because your mind will contradict itself a hundred times each day. Cat wanted Time Breaker to go down while at the same time he was desperate to save her. Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.

"I wonder if that's Hawkmoths problem." Lucy spoke taking Noir out of his thoughts. He looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "What if he's not evil? What if he's just sad."

Cat clenched his fists and shook his head looking at the ground. "That isn't an excuse for doing the things he is."

"Of course not." Lucy agreed looking at Cat, placing a hand on his shoulder. Cat looked at her and his frustrated expression softened.

"All I'm saying, is that people aren't math problems, sometimes there isn't a right answer. Everyone gets sad, and when we get sad, it can make us angry. Bad things happen to everyone Cat Noir, and if there is one thing that is apparent here, its that sometimes it is hard to keep being ourselves when they do."

"So what are we supposed to do Lucy? Cat asked. "Every time someone gets akumatized go, oh boy, looks like Hawkmoth is having a bad day."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "No. But if you figure out his motive, what he wants-"

"He wants our miraculous."

"But why? For the sake of being evil? I don't think its that simple. If you figure out his motive, you may be able to figure out who he is." Lucy explained.

Cat Noir sighed. "Okay, yeah, maybe."

Lucy didn't say anything else, but instead moved closer to the blonde hero, leaning her head on his shoulder and taking one of his hands in hers. It was a gesture he accepted, leaning his own head on top of hers, squeezing her hand in his gloved one.