Lucy and Ladybug have never been close. Her need to keep her personal feelings and professional ones separate was something Lucy could easily understand and respect. So when a knock came from her window, and Lucy was greeted by Ladybug instead of her usual hero visitor, she couldn't help but stand there a little dumbstruck. Ladybug stepped into Lucy's room slowly and gave the girl a small smile before clearing her throat and greeting her.

"Hello, Lucy." She said simply, to which Lucy raised an eyebrow.

"Um, hi there Ladybug. How are you?"

"I'm, fine," Ladybug responded. "But I'm not here for small talk."

"Good," Lucy said with a small smile. "I would be a little freaked out if you were."

Ladybug took a deep breath before stepping further into the room. Glancing around. As Marinette, she realized she had never really been in Lucy's room in the time that she had known her. They hardly ever spent time at the blonde's house when they hung out, and she supposed that wasn't for any particular reason. Marinette's home was just closer to school. Otherwise, they were out somewhere like the park. Lucy's aesthetic was somewhat darker than her own. The room covered in hues of blue, gold, white, and silver. Her desk area was somewhat messy looking, not in a disorganized way so much as cluttered. Paint, glitter, brushes, and canvas on or around in, leaving a small portion for her computer. A body mirror surrounded by twinkle lights stood against the wall by the closet door. A collage of photos pinned on the wall beside it, some of which she was in. A hand full of photos she had with Adrien caught her eye and the pigtailed girl didn't know if she should smile or cry. One of the photos had the two of them covered in what looked like flour, both laughing into the camera. He looked so beautiful. He looked so happy. Ladybug swallowed and shook her head, taking her gaze away from the room and bringing her attention back to Lucy who was watching her quietly.

"Is everything alright Ladybug?"

"Uh, er, yes, of course." Ladybug said, gathering herself. "I came to talk to you about something very important. I actually planned to send Chat but I am having some issues getting in touch with him."

"Oh, well. I'm all ears. How can I help?"

"Your father. He worked in law enforcement, right? Profiling?"

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows together but nodded. "Um, yes. He was, why?"

"Do you by any chance know anything about that?"

Lucy scoffed and gave Ladybug a smirk. "Do I?" She asked sarcastically before her lips fell to a frown. "Yeah, my dad was a bit of a workaholic. I thought if I put interest in the thing he was so passionate about that it would give us something in common and he would want me around more. My dad loved me!" Lucy suddenly felt the need to clarify. "He didn't like...ignore me or anything. He just, didn't have time for much else, ya know?" Lucy crossed her arms and looked away from Ladybug who gave her a sympathetic stare.

"Yesterday, Adrien Agreste showed you a book he had taken from his father. That book held invaluable information about different Miraculous and its holders."

Lucy blinked at Ladybug. "Uh, yeah, we looked at it briefly but Adrien misplaced it at some point. He's in deep shit with his dad over it."

Ladybug sighed sadly. "Yeah."

"What's all this about Ladybug?"

"What would you do if you were trying profile Hawkmoth?"

Lucy looked at Ladybug who wouldn't meet her eyes. "You have someone in mind." It wasn't a question.

Lucy walked over to her desk and skimmed her fingers over a number of papers and folders that sat on the top shelf, pulling out a thin manilla folder. Her tongue ran over her bottom lip before she bit down on it, looking from the folder to Ladybug who eyed her curiously.

"This is all I have," Lucy said, opening the folder. She moved to stand closer to Ladybug, showing her the information she had inside. In it was a map of Paris, with red dots showing areas of akumatization. It also had photos of locations around Paris, information on butterflies, as well as some notes.

"Most of the information is pretty broad. You'd be looking for a male, probably middle-aged, private, assuming his butterflies are produced naturally he would need a place to keep them. So you're looking for someone with a decent amount of space that can accommodate a butterfly's life cycle. It would be helpful if you knew exactly why he wanted your miraculous."

Ladybug shrugged and shook her head. "I can only guess it's for power. He's an evil man doing evil things."

"No," Lucy disagreed. "It's more complicated than that. If hawkmoth wanted to kill for the sake of killing he could do so. If he wanted to do it just to toy with you, he could do so without your miraculous having anything to do with it. There is something that we are not seeing. A pattern of sorts. Unfortunately, the only thing any of his victims have in common is that their negative emotions are what triggered his ability to control them...us. She spoke softly. "All our situations have been different. Triggers different. With the exception of Chloe being said trigger, but based on what I have seen, that has nothing to do with anything. Our time under Hawkmoths control is erased once we have been released from him, so any information he might let slip about himself to any of his victims is forgotten before it would ever be a problem for him."

Lucy looked over at Ladybug who was staring hard at her notes.

"Who do you think it is?"

Ladybug tensed before swallowing, not removing her eyes from the papers in front of her.

"Gabriel Agreste."

"Oh shit," Lucy said, backing from the heroin. "That's..."

"Crazy I know."

"No, it actually fits pretty well." Lucy countered, getting Ladybug to look at her. "Middle-aged man, large house, money. privet, and..."

Ladybug watched her, waiting for her to finish.

"His wife's gone. Missing for over a year now which means she is probably dead. Adrien told me how his dad turned into this shell of a person after she went missing. If he was Hawkmoth it would make sense in a way. "

Ladybug frowned. "People lose people all the time, that's not an excuse to do bad things."

Lucy chuckled a little. "You sound like Chat. "You'll get over it…" It's the clichés that cause the trouble. To lose someone you love is to alter your life forever. You don't get over it because 'it" is the person you loved. The pain stops, there are new people, but the gap never closes. How could it? The particularness of someone who mattered enough to grieve over is not made anodyne by death. This hole in our heart is in the shape of them and no-one else can fit it. Why would we want them to?"

"I'm sorry." Ladybug said softly. "I know you lost your dad not that long ago. You must miss him."

"I missed him when he was alive," Lucy spoke honestly. She walked over to her bed and took a seat, slumping over to rest her forearms on top of her thighs. "Why did you come here with this? Why trust me with this information? Not to be ungrateful that you do it's just...you've always been a little...distant from me."

Ladybug placed the folder down on Lucy's desk and sighed. "I try not to mix business with pleasure. It's safer for everyone involved. However, I trust Chat with my life. And Chat trusts you. Therefore, I do too. You're his friend." And you're my friend too.

Lucy gave Ladybug a small smile before glancing at the folder. "Gabriel Agreste huh...gotta say, m'lady, I really hope you're wrong."

Licking her lips, Ladybug grabbed her yo-yo and nodded. "Me too." She said before climbing out the window and zipping off.

OoOoOOo

Gabriel Agreste was a man who tried to keep every possible move in his view. Adrien had lost his book and if anyone traced it back to him it would raise too many questions. At least it would for his dear friends, Ladybug and Chat Noir. The real odds of anything coming of it may be slim, but that wasn't a risk he was willing to take. He would summon his Akuma with his own rage, exaggerating it to be just enough to attract the little butterfly, remove his miraculous temporarily and let himself become akumatized. Ladybug and Chat Noir would either be taken down by his hand or save him. Both scenarios were beneficial for the Sr Agreste. If he failed, at the very least, he would no longer be seen as a possible suspect as Hawkmoth and that was a victory that he desperately needed. Gabriel had worked too hard and waited too long to be found out from something as simple as a misplaced book. Too much was on the line for him to fail. Gabriel Agreste would get Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous one way or another, even if it did not happen today.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Chat Noir landed on the rooftop to find Ladybug clearly agitated with his tardiness. Tigress stood beside her with her arms crossed, tapping her foot on the ledge. When Ladybug finally did see him, her irritation melted away and was replaced with determination, asking if he had gotten her messages.

"Yeah, and I can't wait to know more, M'Lady-tective. So, who's the suspect?" He asked leaning on his staff.

"Gabriel Agreste." She said simply and Chat almost fell over at the name.

His father. That was who she thought Hawkmoth was?

"Proof?" He asked defensively.

"Uh...I can't really tell you... it's a secret.." Ladybug stuttered out.

"She wouldn't tell me either, apparently Ladybug has a secret source she doesn't want to share," Tigress said rolling her eyes. Ladybug sighed at her before bringing her attention back to Chat.

"I talked to Lucy too. She agreed it was worth looking into."

"Lucy...she also thinks Mr. Agreste is Hawkmoth?"

"Not exactly. I brought it up though and with her own deduction, she concluded that it was a possibility. Lucy is pretty close friends with Agreste's son, Adrien. Believe me, she wasn't keen on the idea of him being Hawkmoth either. But look at his logo on almost everything."

"A butterfly." Chat gritted his teeth. How was he supposed to just accept that? What if his father was Hawkmoth? What was he supposed to do? He's not really sure why. But... do you stop loving someone just because they betray you? He didn't think so. That's what makes the betrayal hurt so much - pain, frustration, anger... and he'd still love him. He still does.

"Are you alright Chat?" Ladybug asked, noticing his demeanor shift.

With a grim determination Chat extended his staff. "It's time to get to the bottom of this."

OoOoOoOoOooO

Talia was no fool. Her hearing was never something she questioned and she did so even less as her superhero persona. Being tigress gave her acute visual and hearing abilities so if Chat really thought she would miss his little mistake as he ran off to check on Mr. Agreste, he would be very mistaken. Father. He was going to address Gabriel Agreste as Father. It was such a simple mistake. One that went unnoticed by Ladybug or Mr. Agreste himself. As this new information hit her like a ton of bricks, Tigress found herself gripping the wall for support. This wasn't good. She wasn't supposed to know this. She wasn't supposed to know that Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste. But now she did know. She knew and her first instinct was to run off to Lucy and tell her everything. She couldn't do that though. It wasn't that simple. Lucy respected the boundaries that were involved with secret identities. She never once asked Talia if she knew who Ladybug or Chat was, or asked her to try and find out. However, under normal circumstances, keeping this information would be a no brainer. The circumstances weren't normal though. Lucy and Chat Noir's relationship wasn't normal.

Chat liked Lucy. Tigress could tell by the way he talked about her when they were out on patrol. It had happened so suddenly. One day it was Ladybug this, Ladybug that, and then it wasn't anymore. Chat still admired Ladybug, he still spoke to her the same charming Chat way, but the tone behind the words became less and less serious. Out of nowhere, Lucy was always brought up. The big issue with this was that Lucy liked Chat too. She never admitted it out loud but she didn't have to. Talia could tell by the look on her face whenever he came up. She thought she was so natural but Talia could see right through her. If Chat liked Lucy, that meant Adrien liked Lucy. Talia made a mental note to bring up Adrien the next time she saw Lucy to gauge a reaction out of her. As far as she was aware, Lucy had no significant romantic feelings for Adrien but the more she thought about it, the more Talia began to wonder if she simply didn't realize it. Or if she was pushing it to the side because of Marinette. Oh, poor innocent Marinette. The girl didn't stand a chance. Oh, this was bad. This was all so fucking bad.

Talia detransofrmed and Roaar sighed at his master's troubled look.

"You cannot meddle Talia." He said wisely before flying over to his pillow.

"So what am I supposed to do? Sit here and pretend I know nothing?" Talia asked, throwing her hands into the air.

"That is exactly what you are going to do." Her kwami answered. "Being a miraculous holder comes with a number of responsibilities and requires the sacrifice of personal feelings. It's not always easy, but that is the price."

Talia groaned as she rubbed her face with her hands, throwing herself back on her bed.

"It's not fair."

"No, it is not. But life rarely ever is."

OoOoOoOoOoOO

Lucy screamed as Chat busted open her window with a smile on his face, greeting her loudly. She swore she almost kicked him right out her window.

"Why?!" She shouted, holding her hands over her heart. Chat chuckled.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Lucy sighed and took a seat on her bed. "So, how did it go?" She didn't have to elaborate of course.

"It wasn't him." He said lightly and Lucy smiled. "Good. How did you figure that?"

"He was akumatized. As far as we know, Hawkmoth can't akumatize himself." Lucy raised an eyebrow as Chat took a seat next to her.

"As far as you know?"

"Well yeah, how could he mind control himself? It wouldn't work right." Chat explained certainly. Lucy gave a short nod.

"Right. Well, I'm glad it's not him. Adrien would be crushed. He's already lost so much."

Chat took Lucy's hand and gave it a small squeeze. "You don't have to worry about Adrien, Lucy, but he's lucky to have someone like you looking out for him." His eyes traveled down her face to her bare arms, her scars now visible to him once more. They often were when he visited, as she was usually in her PJs when he arrived. He always noticed them, but most of the time didn't give them much thought, always believing if Lucy wanted to talk about them she would. However, it was times like these that he found himself wanting to ask. His gloved finger grazed over one that was just above her elbow. It was small and lightning-bolt shaped.

"You don't wanna know," Lucy said simply, glancing down at his hand. "It's not a happy story."

"It doesn't look like it is. I would never pressure you to talk about it, but you know you can talk to me...if you want to." Chat admitted. Lucy gave him a weak smile and shook her head.

"It happened a long time ago. Spent enough time in therapy after that talking about it doesn't really bother me anymore. But like I said, it's not a happy story. Most people regret asking after they hear it."

"Everyone has a sad story here and there." Chat said with a small smile.

"Oh yeah? Even you Chat Noir?" He couldn't tell her of course. It was a story she already knew. One day his mother was there, and the next she was not. The worst part is that in all reality he had no idea where she was. She didn't say where she was going or die unexpectedly. She just vanished. Leaving him and his father to speculate on something they did not know. Confliction sometimes presented itself when Chat thought about his mother. He and his father, treated her as if she had died. Someone missing for over a few days usually is, and his mother had been gone months. He didn't want her to be dead but at the same time, if she was alive...that would mean she left them. Left him. How could she do that? What did he do wrong? No. He refused to believe that. His mother was dead. Chat would rather believe she was taken from him than to have left by choice.

"I do. But I can't talk about it. Not without giving too much away. I know a sad story though. One my mother told me a long time ago."

Lucy raised an eyebrow and leaned back against her pillows. "Sure. Go for it."

"Once upon a time, there lived a boy and a girl. The boy was eighteen and the girl sixteen. He was not unusually handsome, and she was not especially beautiful. They were just an ordinary lonely boy and an ordinary lonely girl, like all the others. But they believed with their whole hearts that somewhere in the world there lived the 100% perfect boy and the 100% perfect girl for them. Yes, they believed in a miracle. And that miracle actually happened.
One day the two came upon each other on the corner of a street.
"This is amazing," he said. "I've been looking for you all my life. You may not believe this, but you're the 100% perfect girl for me."
"And you," she said to him, "are the 100% perfect boy for me, exactly as I'd pictured you in every detail. It's like a dream."

Lucy gave a playful scoff as she looked at Chat.

"They sat on a park bench, held hands, and told each other their stories hour after hour. They were not lonely anymore. They had found and been found by their 100% perfect other. What a wonderful thing it is to find and be found by your 100% perfect other. It's a miracle, a cosmic miracle. As they sat and talked, however, a tiny, tiny sliver of doubt took root in their hearts: Was it really all right for one's dreams to come true so easily? And so, when there came a momentary lull in their conversation, the boy said to the girl, "Let's test ourselves - just once. If we really are each other's 100% perfect lovers, then sometime, somewhere, we will meet again without fail. And when that happens, and we know that we are the 100% perfect ones, we'll marry then and there. What do you think?"
"Yes," she said, "that is exactly what we should do."
And so they parted, she to the east, and he to the west.

"And they never saw each other again. So sad." Lucy said making a single tear motion down her cheek with her finger. Chat hushed her and continued.

"The test they had agreed upon, however, was utterly unnecessary. They should never have undertaken it because they really and truly were each other's 100% perfect lovers, and it was a miracle that they had ever met. But it was impossible for them to know this, young as they were. The cold, indifferent waves of fate proceeded to toss them unmercifully. One winter, both the boy and the girl came down with the season's terrible influenza, and after drifting for weeks between life and death they lost all memory of their earlier years.
They were two bright, determined young people, however, and through their unremitting efforts, they were able to acquire once again the knowledge and feeling that qualified them to return as full-fledged members of society. Indeed, they even experienced love again, sometimes as much as 75% or even 85% love. Time passed with shocking swiftness, and soon the boy was thirty-two, the girl thirty.
One beautiful April morning, in search of a cup of coffee to start the day, the boy was walking from west to east, while the girl was walking from east to west, but along the same narrow street. They passed each other in the very center of the street. The faintest gleam of their lost memories glimmered for the briefest moment in their hearts. Each felt a rumbling in their chest. And they knew:
She is the 100% perfect girl for me.
He is the 100% perfect boy for me.
But the glow of their memories was far too weak, and their thoughts no longer had the clarity of fourteen years earlier. Without a word, they passed each other, disappearing into the crowd. Forever.
A sad story, don't you think?"

"Man, how could I ever top that," Lucy said sarcastically. Chat rolled his eyes.

"That was a story of two people losing their soulmate. My mother told me that story when I was twelve years old and I thought it was the most tragic thing I ever heard!" Chat exclaimed, crossing his arms in a huff. Lucy laughed and shook her head.

"Yeah, I'm definitely not telling you about these then." She said referring to her scars.

"Nothing can be as bad as someone losing their soulmate. How about I guess. Bad car accident?"

"I have to respectfully disagree. And no."

"Well, hopefully, you never have to experience that and see how right I am." Chat said, placing his fist under his chin as he examined her. "There really is not a whole lot of scenarios I can put in my head besides a car accident for the number of scars you have. Did someone throw a plate at you? Maybe you got Caesar'd and stabbed by 27 people?" He joked.

Lucy laughed and shook her head. "No, and no. Why do you wanna know so badly?"

Chat paused and gave her a sheepish smile, bringing his shoulders upward.

"Because it's you. I have this never subsiding need to know everything about you. Even the bad stuff. It's all apart of what makes you, you. I won't push if you really don't wanna tell me. But, I want you to know you can talk to me about anything. Even if I can't always do the same. It's never because I don't want to."

Lucy bit her lip and sat forward hugging her legs. Her thumb running over the small scar above her elbow. Chat could see the internal debate in her head and he almost told her to forget about it. He wouldn't make a big deal out of it.

"I was ten." She began, making Chat look at her intently.

"I had come out of my room and found a man in our living room. He was looking out the window from my dad's recliner and as I looked at him I knew I didn't recognize him but when he saw me he smiled. It was like I didn't know who he was, but he knew exactly who I was. He said my name and waved me over. I was a kid. Maybe I should have known better but I listened. He took me by the shoulders and looked me up and down, there was something sad about how he was looking at me. My mother walked into the room from the bathroom and screamed. She started asking who he was and what he wanted. Telling him to get away from me and that she was going to call the police. I think he must have had a weapon. I didn't see it but my mother froze. He told my mom I was beautiful, that I reminded him of his own daughter."

Chat listened to the story with his jaw clenched. Everything about it was setting him on edge.

"He then went on to tell us how smart and lovely his daughter was, how she was his world, and how he would do anything for her. His eyes watered and I remember thinking she must have died. He gripped my shoulders and told us that thanks to my father, he would never see her again. He made us sit and wait for my dad to get home. The look of terror on my father's face seemed to be exactly what the man was looking for. My dad tried to calm him down, tried to do his job, and get me out of that situation but it was no use.

"If I can't have my daughter, neither can you."

"Then he threw us both out a three-story window. And then he died, and I didn't."

Chat stared at her and she did her best to crack a smile. "Kinda a sad story? Don't ya think?"

The past does not haunt us. We haunt the past. We allow our minds to focus in that direction. We open memories and examine them. We re-experience emotions we felt during the painful events we experienced because we are recalling them in as much detail as we can.

"The man's name was Arnold Robertson. He apparently got into kidnapping for money. Says he did it to pay his daughter's tuition for college. My father was the one who profiled him and built the case to get him put in prison."

"That's why you are afraid of heights." Chat concluded quietly, getting a small nod from Lucy,

"Yeah. I'm working on that."

Yeah...Yeah! I mean, you sit on the roof with me sometimes. That has to mean something!" Chat spoke, his tone perking up.

Lucy tilted her head and smiled at Chat. "It does mean something. It means I feel safe with you. You told me when we first met, that you would catch me if I ever fell. I didn't believe you then, but I do now. I can only hope I don't end up regretting that."

"I'll make sure you never do." Chat said, resting his head against hers.

"Good."

Alright, there is that. I have a kind of layout in my head for the direction of this story and I feel like it's gonna get good soon. Not that it isn't already but ya know. I also noticed. I made Roaar a boy, but in the profile, it says she. Oops, oh well. I'm sticking with it. How are you feeling about the new information Tigress has? I noticed that I don't have her in many of the chapters as Tigress and that mainly because I'm bad at action scenes, and it started to feel like she was kinda there for no reason so I felt giving this information to her gives a bit more purpose to her character. We got to know a little bit more about Lucy's past which was fun to write. As always I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Remember to comment and like! As always I will see you in the next chapter!