Symbiotic Whiskers

Chapter 13

Let's see, note for Nathalie to express his appreciation for all her hard work in his life, check.

Note to Sabrina so she knows he isn't abandoning her, check.

Note to Nino explaining he is a great friend and this isn't because of anything he did, check.

Note to Ms. Bustier to explain things to the rest of his class and that he loved his time at school because of her, check.

Note to a few other of his classmates like Juleka, Rose, and Ivan that he was honored that they wanted him involved in a band and he hoped to either buy their cd in the future or if things worked out he could still be a part of the group.

All night he had been writing simple letters, letting each person know that it wasn't their fault and that he still wanted them in his life. But he didn't know what his life was supposed to be at the moment, so he had to go figure it out for himself. Of course, he couldn't just go around telling everyone he found strong evidence his father is Hawkmoth and because of his double life as Cat Noir he would have to take him down.

This was the best he could do.

Sitting on the underside of a bridge, Cat Noir held out a few of the remaining notes he had left to deliver. Morning was almost here, and he wanted to make sure they all heard the news from him before anyone else.

"Ok, sun is almost up and I have two more." Laying the paper flat on the concrete, Cat Noir danced the pen between his fingers before coming up with the right words. "Zoe, I'm so happy I got to catch up with you this past week. You've become a great friend, even if we only reconnected after a tragedy….No that doesn't sound right."

Erasing the last sentence, Cat Noir reworked the letter to make sure there was not a hint of blame or negativity pointed towards the girl. "I think that does it. What do you think Plague?"

'Tell her that we are grateful for all the cheese.'

Rolling his eyes as he stood up, walking to the edge of the bridge, Adrien saw dark clouds moving in. "This is supposed to be from me, Adrien. If I slip in a note from her previous kwami she's gonna know who I am."

'We can trust her.'

"I don't want to put a bigger burden on her as is." Leaping out to the side and sending a quick string out to latch onto the edge, he yanked himself up and began swinging over Paris. "She's already handled enough."

'Isolating her from the few friends she made in Paris isn't a burden?'

….Good point. "Look, we can't visit her as Adrien because he's ran away."

Kicking his legs out to swing higher, Cat Noir let go of his tether and let himself drift through the air before letting gravity start pulling him down again. At the last second he shot out another line, swinging low again before rounding a corner. "And if you want to say hi, should Cat Noir really be the one to visit the home of the guy who is turning all of Paris against us?"

'We can take them.'

"And have Zoe be in trouble for letting the guy he hates stay over for a chat?"

'...Good point.'

With the building in sight, Cat Noir flipped upwards to land near one of the windows. Crawling along the side of the hotel, he found a nice little vent to open up and crawl through. "We can talk about it more later."

'Fine, but we want to see her again.'

"Me too bud." Adrien halted, seeing through the metal slits the mayor in much better shape arriving to Zoe's door. It didn't take long after he knocked for the girl to come out.

"Morning!" Zoe greeted with a genuinely happy smile.

"Good morning Zoe." The man relaxed around her, more relaxed than Adrien had ever seen him. "I have a car prepared to take us to the school today. If things go well then we can begin moving your credits over and have you start this week."

She gave him a short hug, Adrien keeping his breathing quiet as he watched the two connect. Guess he didn't hold anything against her for being Black Cat. Once they had gone away, Cat Noir let a small tendril peek down from the vent to check the hallway.

'Clear.'

The tendril split into multiple parts, latching onto the screws and twisting them out to let the vent cover fall. Cat Noir caught it with his sticky fingers, climbing out of the vent before hopping down onto the ground, using his legs to cushion the fall so no one could hear him. Sliding the note under her door, he hopped back into the vent before making sure everything was back how it was.

Navigating through the shafts, finding his entry point, Cat Noir lunged out into the humid morning. The sun's rising light was hidden behind the curtain of the building storm, the hero swinging through Paris as he had one last one to deliver.

Swinging with one arm, Cat Noir held up the blank piece of paper as he tried to imagine what he could write on it.

The last time he talked with her, without the mask, it didn't go so well. At the high point of his swing he let go, pulling out the pen as he tried to find the right words. She liked him, no she was stopping that, but he didn't know, but he couldn't write anything to reveal himself as Cat Noir.

Without a single word, the ground approaching fast, Cat Noir had to abort in order to shoot out another anchor along a building to swing off of. "Marinette was almost akumatized because of me, anything that I would have written to her as Adrien would just hurt her more."

'Then don't write anything.'

Landing atop of a billboard, Cat Noir sat down as he tried to think of something else. "I can't just say nothing, because I wrote notes for everyone else. That will make it seem like I don't care for her, because I do. I really do but what could I say?"

'The truth.'

A drop landed on his paper, Adrien looking up to see the beginning of a rain storm. Clenching the page he began rushing over the next couple of streets until he spotted the bakery, Marinette's room, right there. Tell her the truth? His life was full of secrets to the point where he had a hard time keeping track of which ones he could tell to others.

He never wrote notes to Marinette, he always told them in person. That girl who listened, laughed, shared his struggles. Ladybug did that too but Marinette was down to Earth, no expectations of being a hero around her only being himself.

Leaping down onto the sidewalk that was becoming soaked in the rain, his suit morphed into a dark hoodie, allowing him to stare into the warm home. There was her father, an honest man doing a simple job he loved. His wife was yelling up towards the stairs, the woman who was on top of everything and always had a solution.

Then their daughter, Marinette came rushing down in a frenzy. The energetic, talented Marinette who was taking up his thoughts for so long just getting ready for the day. But here he was, a guy out in the cold street who was a threat to Paris in more ways than one. Yet she still helped him, and became something more than just a friend to him.

Plague was right on one thing, she deserves the truth. But who he was, what he needed to do, put her in danger. He found the simple words, writing them on his crumpled piece of paper as he wished he could give it to her.

Not yet, his responsibilities came first, even if that meant putting aside what he desperately wanted to share. Dropping the page to soak up the growing puddles on the ground, he felt the endless pouring of the rain wash down his jacket, a few drops flowing down his forehead as he turned away, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked down the lonely road.

Just as soon as he was gone, Marinette went rushing out with the black umbrella gifted to her at the start of the school year, her foot trampling the forgotten page with the water smearing those three words.

I love you.

Marinette entered the school in a rush, already fighting against the clock to make it on time. She went to bed early, but from the lack of sleep before she was out like a brick for so long. Tikki could barely get her up, and the kwami was starting to come up with some dangerously effective tactics at waking her up.

"My sewing needles Tikki?!" Marinette hissed towards her bag as she ran up the stairs to her class.

"You were asleep for sixteen hours." The tiny voice piped up from her bag. "You said you couldn't afford to be late again and do whatever it takes to-"

"But sewing needles? You couldn't have tried feathers or tugging my hair?"

"I needed something effective!"

"Sewing needles Tikki! Friggin sewing needles!" Marinette was at the door to her class, hoping she didn't arrive too late. "We'll talk about this later."

Opening up the door, Marinette swiftly moved over to her seat as she set her school bag down. Taking a moment to catch her breath as she saw that the teacher hadn't arrived yet. Good, she was on time.

"Hey." Alya's hand touched Marinette's, the girl glancing over to her best friend. "How are you taking this?"

"Do we have a test?!" Shooting her hands back down to her bag, she yanked out every text book she had. "What subject?! I need to review while I have a chance to-"

"Stop." Alya placed her hands over the pages, keeping Marinette from entering a study spiral frenzy. "No test. I'm talking about the note this morning."

"Note? Was I supposed to share my notes with someone?"

As realization dawned on Alya, Marinette began to notice a heavy atmosphere in the classroom. No one else was speaking up on the topic, but everyone was focused on her. Sabrina's seat "What note Alya?"

She kept quiet, Alya staring down at her hands as she wasn't sure if she should be the one to say something.

"The note Adrien gave each of us." Nino, as subtle as always, crashed the news on top of her head. "Did you not get one?"

"No." Marinette uttered as Alya leaned forward to grab his hat and slap the boy repeatedly with it.

"Ow ow! Quit it Alya!" He weakly defended himself with his arms, Alya giving one last slap before throwing the hat back at him. With her attack over, Alya slammed herself back into her seat with her arms folded.

Marinette felt herself getting heavier, as no one would speak up about the notes, and it all revolved around Adrien. What had happened?

The click of the handle echoed through the quiet classroom, Ms. Bustier walking in with another unexpected guest. Adrien's father, a very exhausted Gabriel Agreste. His normally clean shaven face, his hair unwashed and barely combed.

"Hello class." The sunken woman, who cared deeply for each of her students looked out to each face. "Before we begin….Gabriel Agreste wishes to speak with you about his son."

Marinette stood upright, giving him her unwavering attention as she had to keep her paranoia in check. All she could think about was the last time she saw him, the fight in Adrien's home….Cat Noir said he was ok.

"Adrien-" Gabriel swallowed the lump in his throat, standing up a little straighter to say what he needed to. "-ran away from home last night. If any of you hear from him, if he stops by. Please, reach out to me, so I can tell him everything that I should have as a father. His father."

He ran away from home, he ran away from home and left notes for everyone. Except for her.

Why would he? He thought she hated him.

As no one spoke up about the missing boy's whereabouts, Gabriel sighed as he faced the door.

"Thank you Mister Agreste." Their teacher let the man depart. "Whatever reason Adrien has for running away from home, please contact the authorities as soon as you see or hear anything. If he needs help, that's the first step to getting that help for him. We all care about him, and above all else we want him safe."

"Excuse me." Alix rose her hand, abrupt and honest with the class. "But does anyone know why he ran away from home?"

No one spoke up, no one could answer, and that only filled random answers in Marinette's mind. Could it have been the akumas targeting him on multiple occasions? Was it something at home, his modeling career, school? Was it, because of her?

Just when she starts to get Adrien out of her head twenty four seven now he's back consuming her every thought and worry. Maybe Cat Noir knew something she didn't, he was the last one to see him.

When Adrien went to scope out a place to hide away, under the shadows of the city just to find some shelter, he was only trying to find some peace and quiet.

Not a rising criminal empire.

The gun fire exploded out through the dark tunnels, Cat Noir holding out his hand as his suit morphed into a makeshift shield that rippled with each bullet. The hero charged forward, tanking the attacks before he got right up to them.

"How did he find us?!" One of them yelled, before in quick succession his gun was pulled out of his hands by dark sticky yarn, with two more strands binding his hands and swinging him over to crash into another group.

"Hello?" Cat Noir teased as he leapt over the table in the center of their supplies, using a few tendrils to whip out against a few of the others. "Unlucky day, black cat, anyone else making the connection?"

"You're not Black Cat!" One of the bigger ones, having expended all of his ammo, went to take a swing at the hero. His arm snapped out to catch it without looking, Cat Noir's grip bending the gun in his grasp.

"You're right, but you would have been more lucky if she came." Throwing a straight punch into his gut, the man rolled across the floor as he wheezed out in pain. Cat Noir leapt forward, slicing his claws through the remaining two goons' barrels. "We're much worse."

Grabbing their shirts, smashing them along the ground to release a loud thud, Cat Noir stood over the broken bodies and all sorts of stuff that somehow slipped through Paris' finest boys in blue. Hopefully this wasn't because the mayor was diverting more resources towards his hero hunt. Oh who was he kidding this was exactly that.

Throwing out a few more nets of alien goop to bind them with the evidence, Cat Noir grabbed one of their phones and began taking a few pictures of the scene, including one of their map to how to get to here, tagging their exact location, and letting his suit seep into the circuits to make sure the signal would go through as he sent it out to the local police.

"Guess this place is a bust." Cat Noir kicked one of the guys as he left them in the catacombs.

'If we stay here though, we can catch them more often.'

While the offer was tempting to be able to vent his frustration out onto bodies that deserved a little hand to hand justice, that wasn't the goal. "The whole point was to find somewhere quiet where I could think. I can't come up with an answer on how to handle my father when I've got the mob marching through my home every night. But we could keep a closer eye on this place."

'You should be more worried about what to eat. We're starving!'

Right, they didn't have breakfast yet. While he kept some cash on his person, it wasn't going to last very long with their appetite. He didn't really think this whole running away from home thing through.

'Money? No problem.'

Cat Noir's tail launched back towards the various supplies being smuggled in, whipping across the lock on a suitcase before snatching a wad of cash from inside.

"Hey!" Cat Noir intercepted the money before his suit could pocket it. "We can't just take this!"

'Why not? It belonged to criminals and they don't need it.'

"It's uh….huh. Actually yeah I guess I don't feel bad about taking some cash from criminals as long as they weren't stealing it from someone else. But only what we need."

'We need to eat.' Cat Noir leapt up to the top of the ceiling, crawling along it until he came across a narrow tunnel leading up. Shimmying his way up, he gave the manhole cover a quick flick to knock it up, jumping out before it landed back down. Quickly he fled to the rooftops, running up the side of a building before standing over a residential area.

"What are we feeling like today? Chocolate or cheese, but not both at once because that's gross."

'For someone who had a personal chef you really don't have a refined pallet.'

"Dipping a hershey bar in melted cheddar isn't what I call fine dining."

'Fine, in that case, we know just the person.'

Lunch time had arrived, but not many felt like eating. Marinette decided she would rather do something else, something productive. Like helping Tikki in her personal investigation.

"Adrien might have found something in that book." Tikki whispered, hidden behind Marinette's hair to peek down at the books scattered around the school computer she was on. "I didn't want to say anything until I was sure, but if he ran the night that he found it-"

"Then he's scared Hawkmoth is targeting him." Marinette realized, a surge of duty moving her to be thorough with her studies. Trouble was looking up 'vague secret ancient china book' didn't turn up much results. "Holy crap, maybe that's why Hawkmoth sent Volpina after him."

Good thing Cat Noir chased her off, in a way that somehow terrified her.

"We don't have enough proof yet." Tikki whispered, still watching in fascination by how quickly Marinette could pull up all sorts of documents and records just from looking up a few key words. "We need to find Adrien, see if he still has the book, and find out where he got it from. We should also let Master Fu know about this right away."

"Ok ok." Marinette began looking up anything to do with anything regarding the powers of the miraculous. Ladybug, cat, butterfly. Not much, but if the two main ones were the ladybug and the cat then she could focus on that. "Once school gets out, I'll meet up with Cat Noir so we're on the same page. Then we can talk to Master Fu about what we know."

Creation, ladybug….destruction, cat…maybe narrow it down to key events in history and mix up the terms a little.

"Maybe we should hold off on Cat Noir." Tikki tried to advise. "This book likely has sensitive information that only a guardian and trusted miraculous holders should ever see."

"I trust Cat Noir with my life, and he's never let me down."

Ladybug, destruction, and historic events. Woah, she actually got something.

It wasn't much, but it was a short piece of art during the late Yayoi period of Japan. There was hardly any record, just scattered battles that were part of the Civil War of Wa and mostly pulled from Chinese records. There were two figures depicted, the shaman queen in a red kimono with black spots and a yo yo. The other, a humanoid dragon of blood and shadows with a mouth full of blades. Its wings carried tortured souls, all dripping with crimson.

Then there were those eyes, those white flames rushing out as it stared down its prey with vicious intentions and a sinister smile.

"Himiko." Tikki uttered, floating down to the depiction of the woman on it.

"You know her?" Marinette kept an eye out to make sure no one could see her little friend.

"She was one of my holders, and that's when she fought a terrible creature." Tikki rose up, looking at the beast depicted that could hardly capture its violent nature. "We weren't sure how it came to be, but it was ruthless. Possessing people, filling them with uncontrollable rage and bloodlust. We fought it many times, and so many lives were lost each battle. It could move from person to person, shaping their will to its own. It even hunted us down until Himiko finally managed to defeat it at a price."

"What was it?" Marinette tried to find other records regarding the creature, but historians guessed it was a representation for how bloody the battles were in the war. They could never have guessed it was real.

"We never figured it out. All we could do was keep it from possessing someone with a miraculous." Tikki reflected back to the many times when her holder de-transformed, relaying the awful news of what she had to do or how many perished. "Himiko tried to negotiate with it, but its desire was simple. It wanted to slaughter everything and everyone. Anywhere it went was a bloodbath. That creature, was pure carnage."

The meeting went well at first, Zoe showed up with her dad, met the principal, had a short talk, and then when she brought up she already had a friend who attends it all went downhill. The principal had to break the horrible news that Adrien ran away, her step father immediately calling Gabriel personally to offer whatever he could to help locate the boy.

All the police turned up was a broken phone dropped from the Eiffel tower.

Her step dad offered many things on the ride back to the hotel, but material things wouldn't make her feel any better. Adrien was missing, the one person who she had any real connection with in her life.

Walking back down the hall to her room, she wished she could do something more than just let the adults handle it. If she still had Plagg, then maybe there would be something. No, just herself. As soon as she got into her room, she was reminded of the fact when she saw the note that was slipped under her door at sometime earlier in the day.

A note, they mentioned he left one for everyone. Guess that included her.

Grabbing it and moving over to her couch, she sat down and was ready to devote the rest of her day to this.

That's when she heard her fridge close, Zoe freezing at the noise until she slowly turned around ready to scream bloody murder at an intruder. Cat Noir, with a plate of cheeses that were originally Plagg's, was just a few inches away from putting a piece of it in his mouth. "Um, I was told you would be fine with sharing."

Staring, not uttering a word, Zoe was trying to figure out if she was still asleep for the day. Cat Noir, gauging her reaction as he slowly brought the snack to his mouth, gave it a nibble as he stared back unblinking.

Finally she shot back up from her seat to whisper out in a panicked mood. "What are you doing here?! You know if the mayor sees you here he's going to have you gunned down on sight!"

"That's what I said!" Cat Noir whined as he let his mask crawl back down over his mouth. "But someone insisted."

"Who? Ladybug?"

Cat Noir could feel the hunger in him rising, knowing that this little secret was gonna come out sooner rather than later. "Not exactly."

Zoe flinched back as Cat Noir's torso began to bubble, two cat eyes opening before it pushed itself out. A back cat made of tar and a smile filled with fangs leapt out to Zoe, the girl falling back as the terrifying feline pounced on her.

"Zoe!" Plague gave a short purr as Zoe's initial fear began to subside.

"Plagg?!"

"Not quite, we are Plague now, but we remember your kindness." At a closer look, there were some similarities between Plagg and, whatever he became. But his features were distorted, corrupted into something that she could barely recognize.

Yet she could still see Plagg inside, especially when Cat Noir's hand moved out on its own to bring the cheese platter right to the cat. His tongue slithered out of the kwami's mouth, scooping it all into his widening jaw to fit it all in at once. Yep, that was Plagg. Wait a second, Plagg?!

"You have the cat miraculous?" Zoe sat up, Plague resting in her lap while his tail tethered his form to Cat Noir.

"Yep. I am now officially the only cat in Paris." He proudly stated before he recoiled in her presence. "Not to say you were any bad at being a cat."

"You would know a thing or two about being a bad kitty." Zoe accidentally slipped into her mannerisms as Black Cat, her longing to be the heroine again coming to the surface. Stroking her hand along the symbiote/kwamis's back, all of it right at her fingertips. "I really missed you guys."

While Plague rubbed his face into her palm, Cat Noir sat down right across from her. "We missed you too."

"I'm, glad you came when you did though." Zoe said, thinking about the note she was about to read. "In my personal life, I only had one friend and he just….ran away."

"We wouldn't worry about him." Plague purred out, Cat Noir wanting to strangle the cat for spilling that out.

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked, Plague keeping quiet as Cat Noir searched for an answer of some kind.

"Well um, that Adrien guy, he's got some money. It's not like he's stuck on the streets." Just in the catacombs, and even that option has expired.

"I guess." That didn't really assure her Adrien was ok. "But, there's still something that doesn't make sense."

"What's up?" Cat Noir asked, Plague deciding to hop out of Zoe's lap to go exploring around the room.

"How come you have the cat miraculous?"

"Beats me." He fell backwards, kicking his feet up to roll behind himself until he was up on his feet. "Just got chosen I guess."

"I mean, he was so skeptical before about your powers." Zoe pondered to herself, asking what brought about the sudden change of mind to Master Fu. "Did you ever figure out what they even are?"

Cat Noir was about to speak up, ready to share almost everything with Zoe. But his jaw locked, keeping him silent. Just past Zoe's shoulder, Plague's paw became a thin tendril as the cat held it up to its own mouth. He trusted Zoe, so why would he want to keep this a secret from her.

'Fu would want us separated. We do not want that.'

"Well, if Plagg was ok with this so am I." Zoe decided, Cat Noir thankful for her trust as he offered a hand to help her up. Easily pulling her onto her feet. "What are you doing out though? I thought you usually patrolled at night."

"Decided being a superhero wasn't a thing to half commit to." Cat Noir walked over to the window, looking out towards the still cloudy sky. "So, I do this twenty four seven now."

"Wait, all day everyday?" Zoe joined him, trying to get him to look her in the eye. "Are you even sleeping?"

"I get in my cat naps." He mentioned casually as he kept staring outside, wondering if it was the best idea to stay here.

Zoe studied him, looking over to Plague, realizing that this wasn't just a drop by. The kwami got hungry, and they were desperate for food enough to risk coming here. "What about your family?"

"I…." Cat Noir couldn't come up with another one, too many secrets and too many lies. "I can't be with them right now, maybe not ever again."

Zoe reached out, turning his face towards her as she didn't need x-ray vision to see how he was feeling behind the mask. "Kitty, I-"

"Hide!" Plague suddenly slurped back into Adrien's suit, his body yanking itself into the other room. Zoe was about to run after them, a knock interrupting her.

"Zoe." Her step dad softly called out. "I, brought something I think you'd like."

"Be there in a second." No way did she want him in here right now, to potentially find the target of his vengeance these past weeks. Shuffling over to her door, she opened it up to see a disc case in his hand.

"I just, was going through some older movie projects I talked to you about before, and I came across this. Adrien's mother is in it, and I thought you would appreciate her performance in it. It was spectacular." The man handed it over to Zoe, the girl tenderly accepting it.

"Thanks. I'll give it a watch."

"I have some more business to attend to." Straightening his sash, the man resumed his duties on top of dedicating some time to gather up some more resources to look for the missing boy. "But I would love to hear your thoughts on it, and maybe we could come up with our own ideas for a new one when things settle."

"I'd, really love that. Thank you." Zoe was touched by how great the man was, but could still hardly believe he married her mother. Sealing the door, Cat Noir poked his head out and cautiously came out of his hiding spot.

"By chance, is that 'Solitude'?" Cat Noir's question came out of nowhere, Zoe glancing back to the cover to discover that the movie just handed to her was, in fact, titled 'Solitude'.

"Have you seen it?"

"I always wanted to, but never got the chance." Cat Noir confessed, Zoe tossing it out to him for his hand to smoothly intercept.

"Put it in, I'll get some popcorn going." She told him, moving to the kitchen as she kept an eye on the hero. Things were starting to make too much sense all of a sudden. Cat Noir left home, knowing Adrien would be ok, his knowledge and interest in an unheard of film that starred Emilie Agreste, who Zoe got the cat miraculous from, and Master Fu not really knowing who Cat Noir was.

She would keep his secret, let him feel safe here. It was the least she could do.

One class left, then she could begin looking into all of it. Meeting up with Cat Noir, looking for Adrien, figuring out where he got the book, talking to Master Fu about it, while things looked back this was their greatest hint towards figuring out who Hawkmoth was and his goals.

A nightmare could be over, Paris could be safe.

Luckily classes weren't too intense today, Marinette able to come up with some key questions and topics to bring up to Cat Noir and Adrien. Once she got as much as she could from them, she would have Cat Noir look after Adrien while she brought the book to Master Fu.

"Pst." Alya tapped her wrist with a pencil. "You up to go to the protest tomorrow?"

"What protest?"

"The mayor is going to do another speech today, pushing for military intervention to either capture Ladybug and Cat Noir or have them driven out of Paris. I've been urging my followers to show up in their support for the heroes and to try to get the mad tyrant to see reason."

"I don't know,." Glancing to her many notes, Marinette didn't really see a better way to help other than what she was doing. "There's a lot on my plate right now."

"No pressure." Alya was not offended in any way, only imagining how hard the news of today was hitting Marinette. "But, if you want, I could make a post for you in case Adrien sees it."

Keeping her voice low but hardly containing it, Marinette wanted to squeeze the life out of Alya in the biggest hug. "Really?"

"Yeah. Pretty sure this one guy who's been following since the start of my blog is him. I was thinking about getting a few clips from our classmates, and I could end it with a video of you."

That, wow that would mean a lot. Plus, if Adrien saw this that would mean they would be much closer to finding him. If she could say something, hinting towards a place they both knew, it could work.

"Marinette!" Their science teacher harshly yelled out to the girl. "Principal's office, now. Bring your belongings."

Not liking the sound of that, stiffly complying while grabbing her things. Alya gave her a confused look, Marinette mirroring her with the same one. She didn't know what this was all about. While she hoped that somehow it related to some news about Adrien she could use to help, the fact that she was hauling her bag along made her believe something worse was waiting for her.

Going to the man's room, knocking a couple times, she was shocked to see her father opening up the door. "Dad?"

"Come inside. There's something your Principal wants to talk to you about." The broad shouldered man let his daughter inside, Marinette seeing her mother was here too, the Principal sternly watching her from his desk with his wide eyes, and one other person in the room.

Lila.

A scowl flared across Marinette's face, the brunette acting all sweet and innocent even though she got Adrien to run away.

"Have a seat, Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Principal Damocles ordered firmly, Marinette complying with her parents standing behind her. "While looking into Adrien's recent disappearance, some concerning evidence has been brought to my attention. Lila Rossi here, one of Adrien's closest friends-"

What?

"-revealed that in a note he gave her, Adrien ran away due to feeling unsafe at home, at work, and at school."

"I'm sorry I didn't speak up sooner." Lila wasn't sorry at all for whatever she was saying. "I didn't want to cause any contention soon after I started coming here but I had to do my best to look out for Adrien because he's too nice to say anything himself."

"It's ok." The Principal was on her side, caught in whatever plan Lila was weaving before Marinette. "I'll take it from here. In Lila's note, Adrien mentioned how a classmate had continually intruded on his privacy. I tried to keep an open mind, hope it was just a misunderstanding, but when I began asking around it became obvious the rumors were true."

"What rumors?" Marinette's mother asked, the man taking a steady breath before bringing out a folder. Opening it, was a startling amount of photos of Adrien with various notes written on them. Marinette recoiled at the sight of them, until she remembered how she had already cleaned out her locker. Those weren't hers, the handwriting was different, and some of them said things that disturbed even her.

"Marinette has been stalking Adrien to the point where he felt there was no other option. These were found in her locker" The Principal revealed.

"I hoped the rumors weren't true either." Lila spat out, lies and deception that Marinette wished would just choke in her mouth. "You seemed like someone I could be friends with."

"Now hold on a second." Tom, the man who was willing to do anything for his daughter was ready to defend her innocence. "That boy came by our bakery almost every day, even requesting to talk to her multiple times. Why would he feel scared of the girl that he willingly went out of his way to talk to so many times?"

"That must be what he meant." Lila suddenly piped up. "In the note he said he tried to clear things up but she never would speak to him."

"And where is this note?!" Marinette shouted towards Lila, sitting right at the edge of her seat. "How do we know you're not just making this stuff up?"

"I left it at home." Lila shared conveniently, about to shed crocodile tears. "Do you have one?"

It stung, reminded that somehow her efforts backfired and made him believe she hated him. That wouldn't stop her from helping him, it never stopped him from being nice to her.

Taking her silence as a yes, Lila moved on. "I didn't want to risk losing what could be Adrien's last words to me. I can bring it tomorrow if that helps."

"That would be appreciated." Principal Damocles gave an appreciated nod to the girl, before bringing his stern attention back to the family. "I trust many of my students, but sometimes there are those who betray that trust and make this school a hostile environment. Until any other evidence comes to light that Marinette has not been stalking this boy, taking photos of him without permission, or following him without his knowledge, she will be suspended."

"Suspended!" Her mother could hardly believe it, just like she didn't. Why was this happening now of all times, when she was trying to help Adrien when he was in trouble? "We shouldn't prosecute without any-"

"There is plenty of evidence." The Principal gestured back to the folder. "I have even conducted some personal interviews with some of the students to see if what they knew matched the behavior. I will continue looking into this, speaking with all her classmates to see if there's something being overlooked."

Tom, with an anger Marinette never saw, clenched his fist and practically growled at the other man. "I don't think you know our Marinette as well as we do."

"Do you?" Principal Damocles posed to the man. "I'm willing to listen for a moment to see how this could have been misinterpreted but until we find solid evidence that could overturn the ones I have she is suspended. Lila, you are dismissed. Marinette, wait outside for a moment."

Her parents looked ready to get into a shouting match with the man, Marinette stomping out right behind Lila who was 'nicely' holding the door open for her. As soon as it closed, Marinette was in Lila's face.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What?" Lila dropped the act, smiling slyly to the other girl. "You pretending like you haven't been keeping tabs on his every move, collecting every photo, watching him when he's not looking?"

"I'm over that." Marinette hissed out, Lila walking down the stairs but not leaving earshot. "You and I both know that those photos aren't mine, and I would never write anything so disgusting on his beautiful face!"

"This isn't about you." Lila reached the bottom, sitting down on the floor. "This is about Adrien, and making sure that when he shows up there won't be anyone else to drag his attention away from me."

What was she talking about, and why was she laying down on the floor?

"AH!" Lila screamed out, clutching her leg all of a sudden.

The adults rushed out of the Principal's room, teachers pausing their classes and students wandering the halls all coming to take a look. Lila kept crying out in pain, making sure there was a big enough audience to witness. "Marinette, why did you do that?!"

No.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" The Principal roared as someone had the nurse rush to help Lila. "I was willing to give you a chance but you just ruined any shot you had at returning to this school!"

No!

"You are expelled!"

NO!

The worst part about living in a mansion is how empty it could feel, how quiet it was, especially when the other inhabitants were either dead, ill, or missing. Gabriel had built an empire of fashion and amassed great power and influence.

Yet all of it was useless in keeping Emilie alive, helping Nathalie recover, or bringing his son home. Sitting inside of his son's room, watching the rain drops rush down the large glass windows, he could feel he was not alone in the suffering.

There were many he could sense distraught, for one reason or another, some of them he wondered if it was because of Adrien going missing. The temptation to use their emotions to amass some forces to find the boy was growing, but the hope of Adrien returning home on his own outweighed it.

Maybe not for long, the longer he waited the higher risk of Adrien never returning grew. Or perhaps it was lessening, he didn't know, that was what tormented him.

He needed noise, but he wasn't willing to make it this time around. Instead he would resort to the cheap artificial noise, using the remote nearby to turn on Adrien television and maybe look over what the boy spent some of his time watching.

The news? Out of all the things to spend his free time doing, Adrien chose to keep updated on current events. Whether or not it was the boy's choice or him doing it out of obligation, it didn't change the fact that Adrien left from what he found.

The missing book, the information of the miraculouses. He was clever, but he should have known leaving with that was more dangerous than confiding in him.

"The ferris wheel has been stuck for over an hour now and the people inside are only getting colder. The mechanics have been claiming they would be able to get it moving again in five minutes, that was forty minutes ago. The police are standing by, working with the fire department to begin evacuating who they can reach but those at the top might have to wait hours before-Zoom in right there! Cat Noir has just appeared and is-what do you mean you don't see him?"

Gabriel looked on, seeing the camera zooming in towards the top booth, and the people were reacting inside but no Cat Noir was on screen.

"Cat Noir is moving down to the center now, police below are threatening to begin opening fire but many below are attempting to stop them with force."

Just like the reporter said though, police were aiming their guns up, citizens shouting all around, but Cat Noir still couldn't be seen on screen.

"Cat Noir is now attempting to turn it by hand!" The camera man tried to zoom in towards the event, all he was capturing was the metal spokes being bent.

He was invisible, no, the people there could see him but the camera couldn't. Just like how kwamis couldn't be captured by technology. Gabriel couldn't help but find the new development welcomingly distracting, another mystery to add to Cat Noir.

"The wheel is stuck, he'll break it before it budges and…He's going for the support bearing!"

One of the support towers suddenly shriveled with rust, people screaming as the ferris wheel groaned out. Gabriel leaned forward as he recognized the pattern of destruction, one not used by Cat Noir before but Black Cat.

"Cat Noir is using, tentacles to hold up the wheel but it's turning! Police are unable to do anything in fear that if Cat Noir lets go it will fall over."

Gabriel watched attentively, the large metal wheel slowly moving as the passengers quickly rushed out when their car was close enough to the ground. Cat Noir must be standing on the last support on the far side of the wheel, there were large imprints pushing themselves into the top of it. Cat Noir was strong, but would he last longer than the platform he was standing on?

He wouldn't need to, Ladybug swung onto the scene, helping use her uncuttable yo yo string to wrap up the rest of the frame, keeping it stable enough for her to talk to thin air, where Cat Noir probably was.

An invisible force pulled open the door to the last booth, the family inside all coming to the doorway and suddenly floating down on their own to the ground. Once everyone was free, Ladybug used her charm to repair everything.

Interesting how she could only use it after the fact, her powers for some reason unable to fix things before things got worse. It might be her inexperience, the potential those two had were squandered on naivety.

But wasn't it his pursuit that chased Adrien away? This obsession, he knew it consumed him as fires of determination refused to be snuffed inside his soul. He tried every alternative, all disappointing, but only a wish could accomplish that.

Money, connections, influence, status, all of it useless compared to literal magic.

Bridges were a lot cooler than people gave them credit for. People walked all over them all the time, rarely appreciating the architectural achievement that they were. Some like Pont des Arts were known in Paris, but no one got a good view of the underside of it.

Ladybug had her yo yo string wrapped around the bars of the side of the bridge, using it as an improvised swing to hang below the bridge. Cat Noir swung as well, hanging upside down clinging to his tail that was latched onto the bottom of the cement.

"Glad you came when you did." Cat Noir mentioned, looking over to her. "Got to admit that was pretty heavy."

"Then why didn't you just go up and grab the people instead?" Ladybug asked right back to him.

"Some of them were saying some hurtful things." In mock pain he held a hand to his chest. "Also, not gonna lie, kinda wanted to figure out if I could lift it or not."

Staring at his arms, Ladybug traced the muscles underneath the skin tight outfit with her eyes. "Were you always so strong?"

"Oh you noticed?" Flexing a bicep as a joke, Ladybug felt herself clench her jaw at the way it bulged out on command. "Special diet of awesome will do that to you. And an extra power up doesn't hurt."

"Wait, power up?" Ladybug asked, Cat Noir squirming around in place until he slapped his own face.

"Dude, it's Ladybug!" Cat Noir yelled out to himself. "I work with her she's got to know!"

Slightly leaning forward to look on with concern, Ladybug took a guess at what was happening. "Are you, arguing with your powers?"

"My kwami thingy, yeah." He answered.

"You said kwami the other day before, but I thought we figured out you didn't have one."

"Well, that was the case originally." Cat Noir suddenly was tugged up as if gravity reversed, face planting along the bottom of the bridge. Ladybug stood up on her improvised swing, worried about Cat Noir's sudden loss of control.

He forced himself up, pushing as his suit kept resisting him. "What, you think she wouldn't figure it out after the first cataclysm?"

"Cataclysm? No, wait a second." It clicked, Ladybug gasping as it hit her. "You have the cat miraculous now?!"

His powers stopped fighting him, Cat Noir suddenly pulled by the Earth to the water. Ladybug immediately reached out with her hand, catching his before pulling him back up onto her very thin platform. They were practically pressed up against one another just to stay on it, Ladybug feeling his heart beating against her own chest.

"You have a miraculous." She reiterated, trying not to focus on how his leg brushed against hers.

"Yep." Adding some emphasis on the p, he did his best to look anywhere but directly at her face. This was really close, closer than he ever got to Ladybug before. "Part of the reason I can talk to Plague all the time now, on top of having extra enhancement, techno powers, the staff is cool, oh and of course the power to actually delete things I touch. Hawkmoth won't know what hit him."

"Isn't his name Plagg?"

"When they did, whatever they did, both the symbiote and Plagg merged into one entity to share their powers and knowledge. So now they're Plague."

This was, a huge turn of the day. If Cat Noir has full control, or at least fully talk with his powers alongside a kwami, then that means there's nothing to hold them back. Tikki can't complain now that Cat Noir is officially a miraculous holder. After a very rough start to the day for Marinette, things were looking up for Ladybug.

"That's great!" Ladybug hugged him, accidentally making them spin to get tangled up in her yo yo string. "Oh crap, sorry."

"It's alright." Cat Noir nodded his head towards their trap. "Little help Plague?"

Ladybug's eyes nearly shot out as a mass moved out from Adrien's shoulders. A cat, a black cat made of dripping shadows and piercing green eyes emerged from his suit.

"Fine." It leapt down, always connected to Cat Noir in some way as it began to untangle their bonds. While they waited, Ladybug needed to talk about something before her mind could wander to very bad places being tied up with Cat Noir.

"I think I have a lead on Hawkmoth." Ladybug stated, getting Cat Noir's full attention. "Adrien, the boy you just saved from Volpina, he has this book with him. My kwami happened to spot it by chance and we believe that it's connected to Hawkmoth. He just ran away the day he finds it, the day Hawkmoth sent an akumatized villain after him, we think Adrien could point us right towards where Hawkmoth is. You're good at tracking, do you think you could help find him?"

"U-um, well I-WOAH!"

The wire went loose, Cat Noir falling again before he shot out a string to latch above, springing back before latching onto the bridge on all fours. Plague slithered around his body before sitting on his back, slowly dripping back into his body while he stared down Ladybug.

"Don't tell Tikki."

Huh?

"Alright enough of you." Cat Noir pushed the rest of Plague's head down to merge back with the rest of his suit. "Ok, I'll help find Adrien but no guarantees."

"We have to give this our all." Ladybug reminded Cat Noir. "This is our best lead on finding the villain who's been terrorizing Paris!"

"I get it I get it." He seemed more agitated on the subject, moving on from it sooner rather than later. "Oh by the way, Zoe says hi."

"You went and saw her?!"

"Yep. Plague insisted and we hung out for a bit. She's cool and-"

"Do you like her or something?" Ladybug spat out all of a sudden, throwing her face away from him as she mentally slapped herself in the face. "Sorry, I know you two got close. She's a good person and I'm happy you two are catching up."

"Maybe you can join us sometime." Cat Noir offered, before scratching his chin as he mulled over one of the details Ladybug threw out. "But uh, while Zoe is nice and all, she's not exactly who I'm interested in."

Unblinking, not even breathing, Ladybug forgot about everything else she had planned between Hawkmoth and the expulsion. "Who?"

"I didn't realize until recently, and I hope you're not upset." Cat Noir added, not wanting to offend the girl he previously confessed to and still considered a close friend. "It's, I don't even know if I should tell her."

"WHO?!" Ladybug leapt up, tugging at his shoulders and literally hung onto them with her feet dangling over the river.

"Marinette!" Cat Noir let out, grabbing onto her wrists to make sure she didn't fall. "It's Marinette, but you said before about being superheroes and all our identities could-"

"Go for it!" Ladybug shook him with a splitting smile across her face. "You can trust her, Marinette can keep a secret. Trust me on this."

"Woah seriously?" Cat Noir helped Ladybug back down to her yo yo. "Look if something starts, and that's a big if, I don't want to put her in any danger. You know the mayor is after my head and-"

"I know you would never put Marinette in any danger." Ladybug smiled warmly towards him. "I've got a good feeling about this, go."

"Like, right now?" He asked for clarification, Ladybug swatting towards him to leave already.

"It doesn't have to be a candle lit dinner." She rolled her eyes, though that did sound really good right now. Maybe she should have something prepared when he shows up. No wait, she couldn't let him know that she was aware of what was happening. "It'll be special no matter what you do, because you're special."

Cat Noir unstuck all but a few of his fingers, dangling in front of Ladybug as he quirked his head towards her. "Do you know something you're not telling me?"

Yes, but she wouldn't tell.

"Just go already!" Ladybug laughed while giving him a push of encouragement.

With a jolt of excitement and commitment, Cat Noir threw himself over to the side before zipping out with a quick tug on a line. Letting out a quick whoop through the air, Ladybug clung to the string of her yo yo, resting her cheek against it as she let out a content sigh watching him go.

Maybe this was the universe's way of apologizing for letting Lila ruin her life.

When Marinette arrived home at sunset, she made sure that Cat Noir hadn't arrived yet. Quickly rushing down into her trashed room to begin a hasty clean up. It was a….little wrecked after the whole 'expelled' thing because of Lila's twisted lies. Some of them were some tiny truths spun into widely fabricated lies convincing everyone that she was some freakishly obsessed stalker.

There was also the aggravated part that she had moved on from Adrien! All those photos Lila somehow got into her locker, she had thrown those out. Still, even though Marinette could go into another rampage and rant about how awful of a person Lila was, Marinette had some of the best news she could ever have in a while.

Now that Tikki was out to observe Marinette humming away, cleaning her room with vigor and a skip in her step, the kwami was a little more than confused. "What happened Marinette? The last time I saw you, you looked ready to use your powers to knock out Lila's teeth."

"Oh I wanted to do more than that." Marinette's burning hatred rose to the surface before being stomped out by the new overwhelming positivity dancing around her heart. "But I can put that aside right now, because I have to get this place ready for when Cat Noir shows up."

"He shows up a lot." Tikki pointed out. "Why is this time different?"

"Because he said he liked Marinette, me!" She cheered out, throwing the rest of the photos of Adrien into a bin. Some ripped up some not as she let her hair down. "I told him, well Ladybug told him to go and tell her how he felt. So this place has to be spotless before he arrives! Well, you can keep your spots Tikki."

Willing to help, Tikki grabbed anything that would be considered embarrassing and found a place to stash them. "I'm happy for you Marinette, I really am but are you absolutely sure that this is a good idea?"

"It's the only good thing happening in my life right now." Marinette scooped up several books and work pages from school, dumping them into the overflowing bin. "Lila ruined my school life and is probably spreading lies to all of my friends. It doesn't help that my parents grounded me from my phone and cut out the internet so I can't explain anything to them. Even Adrien is gone! And yes he's technically the best lead we have to Hawkmoth but he's still missing! The only person who sticks by me, that handles anything that throws at him especially when it's hardest, who managed to master the strange powers that got dumped on him, was even entrusted the cat miraculous, decides that a person he likes is the clumsy useless Marinette that had her life ruined!"

Tikki kept herself still, watching as Marinette wiped the moistening corners of her eyes. "Please Tikki, if I can have anything let me have this. Let me have him."

The kwami loved Marinette, she really did and wanted the best for her. But there were duties, responsibilities she had to make sure that above all else she made sure that the powers she and her fellow brothers and sisters were not in the wrong hands. Marinette was not the wrong pair of hands, probably one of the best, but "Cat Noir has the cat miraculous?"

"Yes!" Believing this was the point that would convince Tikki of Cat Noir's indisputable character while also finding the skirt she made that just so happened to resemble Cat Noir, completing her outfit. "Him and his suit merged to be some kind of, slimy cat thing called Plague. Wait, you don't think that his kwami is going to be aware of, anything that happens right? Oh my gosh Tikki you can't be in here either! I couldn't live with myself if it gets-"

A subtle thump along the ceiling was the only warning, Marinette quickly finding a pair of cat ears she could wear put decided against it. That would have been too much.

"Marinette." Tikki needed to speak up about this, now more than ever because there was a real crisis on their hands.

"Go Tikki!" The girl hurriedly waved her off as she ascended up the ladder to open up the door for her visitor.

The kwami hid away, watching in distress as Marinette eagerly undid the latch and opened up her balcony door. Cat Noir was waiting, with a few harvest bell flowers held between his fingers. Marinette was about to speak, but no words came. She just froze, not knowing how to proceed.

"Wow." Cat Noir uttered, a little awestruck at her look. "I don't think I've ever seen you style your hair down."

"Oh no! Is it bad? Please tell me it's-"

"I like it." His compliment painted her cheeks red, Marinette moving out of the way to let Cat Noir enter in his own way. He simply walked in from the top, and stayed on her ceiling as Marinette got down from the ladder. "Here, I saw this along the way and, thought of you."

"T-thanks." She accepted it, tenderly grazing her fingertips along the blue petals. "It's very sweet of you. Speaking of sweets I have some!"

Moving over to her desk, Marinette was so glad she ended up swinging by a store on her way home. Her dad had some chocolate stuff sure, but he didn't have any special ones in a heart shaped box. The box felt like too much, so she put them in a little bag that just happened to be a leftover plastic bag from valentine's day.

"Why thank you." He politely bowed before flipping down onto the floor, his hands reaching out to gently accept the gift, his hands gliding over her own. "You do so much for me Marinette, I can never thank you enough."

"You protect Paris, saved my life, and you help me in more ways than you know." Seriously, way more ways than he knows.

"At least I have one fan." Cat Noir cut open a small tear in the plastic to get access to one of the treats. His mask peeled away from his mouth, Marinette watching his lips run over the chocolate as he pressed it into his mouth. "Paris doesn't seem very keen with a stray."

"More people appreciate you than you think." Especially her, but given now was a moment she could show him what she found Marinette pulled up her phone to several trending topics. "The mayor keeps taking them down, but you still have lots of fans. There's even going to be a protest against the mayor's stance on superheroes coming up."

"Really?" Cat Noir looked over her shoulder, his warm breath tickling her neck. "Wow, I never knew that many people cared about me."

"They care a lot, I care a lot." Doing her best to somehow naturally push the conversation along to a certain topic, Marinette's heart raced as she dared go closer to the subject. Turning around but not getting any farther, Marinette could only bring herself to look up at his strong jaw but not any higher. "You, mean a lot to me."

He brought his face closer, softening gaze lowering to her awaiting lips. "As much as I feel about you?"

"And….how much is that?" Her hands drifted out, finding his to bring closer to her. The orange light of the day had faded, night beginning to shadow over the city as the two were inching towards embracing one another.

"This much." Cat Noir leaned down enough to peck his lips along her own, Marinette savoring every detail for the brief moment. "Are you sure this is, alright? I don't want to take advantage of you being a superhero and all and-"

She wouldn't let him escape, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her forehead right against his to feel his shaggy bangs tickling her eyelashes. "You visit me almost every night, I think I'm more than just a fan."

"Touche." He didn't bother to resist her plunge into him right after that, his grip taking her by the sides as he accepted her with passion. His tail whipped out, turning off the lights to give them solitude.

Even Tikki, who couldn't bring herself to interrupt Marinette's chance at happiness, left the scene.

She needed to tell Master Fu right away, that Plagg had been turned into something else from a foreign influence of strange powers. Something she should have recognized before but it had been so long. The way it changed shape, the way its fluid form enhanced its host, the way it could possess its host, the rage it filled into the bodies it took over.

The cat miraculous had been corrupted by something not of this world.

A lot to unpack here, and let me be honest I should really get to bed. So I'll let you guys freak out and realize the storm that is brewing is nothing less of a hurricane.

Rain jackets aren't going to be enough this time.

Also, I cannot thank you guys enough for the wonderful reviews you leave. I've said it before how this story really isn't that popular, but because you folks leave such thorough and detailed comments about multiple aspects I put into this story it makes it one of the most satisfying to write. It's probably why I'm punching out lengthy chapters so fast too.

I look forward to reading each and every one, from your thoughts about each plot thread building up and where you see it heading.

Kamen Rider Sentry: How about we let Chloe be dead and you just enjoy what else this story has to offer?

Ruby Warrior Girl 730: Sure they might not do things right all of the time, but I bet every superhero team would beg for Ladybug to join them just for the fact that her power cleans up after them.

SSJB312: Maybe if Adrien stuck around he might have been able to convince his Father to stop, but now he is desperate to do anything to get his family back and he just happens to know there's magical gems that can grant exactly that.

Redemption for Lila? Impossible. The moment Cat Noir finds out that his new girlfriend was expelled he is going to be on that ASAP.

I wanted to do more perspectives of Adrien running away, but I'll have to save that for next chapter.

Sailor Dragonball 87: Yeah, heavy inspiration from Spectacular Spider-Man.

Planar-Walking-Entertainment: Thank you! Luckily Plague knows where to get his fill up at.

Juxshoa: Thanks for the kind words. As for where he will stay, he's got a couple options. Marinette has practically volunteered herself with a kiss.

Fire turtle: If fanfic isn't working for newer chapters maybe you should go to AO3 where I crosspost this story.

As for overcoming the weakness part, I don't think it should be removed. Can't have Superman without kryptonite right?

Huh, guess the vampire thing works in a way. Though I don't know if kwamis can be seen in mirrors or not.