Chapter Text
Cat Noir leaps from rooftop to balcony. Here and there, a few people scream “hey, watch it! That’s my plant you’re stepping on!” Honestly, whatever gets him to catch up to his lady, who is surprisingly Marinette, his girlfriend, the fastest!
He never meant to accidentally eavesdrop on her and her parent’s conversation. He had only meant to drop in, say hi, and give Sabine his gift…which still lies, sitting in his pocket. Turns out, Chrysalis had already left a gift for Sabine…a tracker.
Marinette has so much on her plate already, and now he knows why and how much she’s been hiding…how much has been weighing on her. It’s eating away at her.
He doesn’t know what to do about his anger and sadness. He doesn’t know what to do about his newfound distrust with Natalie, or with the heavy burden that his father made him out to be. He isn’t sure he can keep it together. One question and he’ll snap, bursting into tears. Snap like a puppet on strings. Snap like a sentibeing when it’s released.
He isn’t sure if he can even trust Marinette or Natalie ever again. With time, maybe…Adrien isn’t known to hold grudges, but he definitely can if he wants to and feels very pained.
All he knows is he’ll protect Marinette…and her super-heroine identity, Ladybug, with his life.
-
“Nice to see you could join us, Kitty!” Ladybug faces Cat Noir.
Somehow he was reflecting too much…and found himself right in the smack-dab middle of Felix’s apartment living room.
“Of course, Mar—M’lady!”
“Still on and on with that M’lady nickname, I see!” Ladybug laughs. She doesn’t sound too distressed and uncomfortable about it. Cat Noir wants to check-in with her but he finds this moment to not be the right time.
“Of course, Bugaboo. If you don’t like it, just let me know.”
“No, it’s fine! Your puns lighten the mood!”
Puns. It’s not a pun. He longs for her so much, he wants to let her known that it will all be okay. He would take her pain away and make it one with himself if he had to!
“I wanted to warn you of something important,” Felix grits out between his teeth. This is the most serious slash frightened that Cat Noir has ever seen his cousin at the same time! Something tells him that this visit won’t leave him with puns to share. Not like he would want to say anything after what he just so happened to learn earlier.
Kagami glares at Cat Noir’s gloomy face as she hovers over her boyfriend, looking just as stressed. This doesn’t ease Cat Noir’s worry.
“Okay, are my whiskers in a bunch or am I reading the room wrong? Something is cleverly up, what is it?”
“Something is indeed, “clearly up,” Cat Noir.” Something in Cat Noir’s domineer shifts. He becomes less laid-back, more serious.
“What’s going on?” Ladybug questions, shifting her feet on the matted floor.
“The peacock miraculous. Somebody stole it.”
“WHAT?!” Cat Noir yelps in realization.
“You good, kitty?” Ladybug questions her partner.
“Just peachy,” Cat Noir grits the famous line through his teeth.
…How am I supposed to live with the fact that I am a sentibeing?! I am vulnerable to being randomly snapped into nothingness or being controlled by someone just as ill-intended as my father! I’m even more in danger now that somebody has the peacock miraculous. Weren’t in danger and there’s nothing that we can do about it. Absolutely nothing. We’re pawns in a bigger game, it’s absolutely distressing. I hate being a sentibeing…
“It’s just like the miraculous up and left. It’s as if it disappeared, never to be seen again!” Felix tiredly exclaims with his hands. He screams out and punches the wall, which causes Cat Noir to flinch and backup. He’s had a lot of bad moments here back when he and Felix switched places. He hates Felix’s old man for what he’s done. He’s tried to avoid it, but whenever he switches places there’s just no way. He’s seen first-handedly how bad it can get. He almost forgot. He doesn’t mean to compare Felix to Colt, it just…being here in this place gives him bad memories that he’d wish had stayed buried.
Cat Noir bites his lip, his staff trembling in his hand as it props himself up. He’s makes sure not to back into the opposite wall.
“It’s like it disappeared! I was staying the night, helping Felix and his mother pack for Paris as their apartment will be ready in a few days. Felix was taking a shower and…” She pauses, “I’m scared that this was done on purpose, Ladybug.”
…What about me? I’m scared too! I can’t even speak. I can’t get any words out of my mouth. Am I sure that I’m not really being controlled right now? Is it a fake ring…do I really have my amok on me!? I would detransform to check but I can’t speak!…
“Are you sure you didn’t just misplace it?” Ladybug hopes.
“WHY ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT THIS?!” Cat Noir finally manages to blurt out.
“Cat, calm down. We’ve dealt with the mireculouses getting stolen before, however I’m not the one spiraling this time. Are you okay?” Ladybug tells towards him.
…How can I be calm when you lied to me?!…Cat Noir refrains from screaming.
“I would never misplace the peacock miraculous, Ladybug. Dusuu would also have come and found me if I would have by now.”
“Cat Noir is right, how are you so calm about this?” Kagami wonders.
“I’m trying not to spiral just yet,” Ladybug says. “You too Cat, if you were wondering,” she turns to face him, yet he is distancing himself. She wonders, pondering, full of worry, what’s gotten into him.
“I left it on the coffee table. It couldn’t have just gotten up and walked on its own! How can it be gone as if it was transported from one place to another super quickly without anybody noticing? Kagami, you were with my mom when it happened, correct? You are sure you didn’t see anything?” Felix nearly hyperventilates, however, he stops himself by taking deep breathes. Cat Noir on the other hand is not doing so great.
“You are correct, and no, I did not.”
“Wait. Transport. Teleport! Max is the mole…”
“What, how do you know?” Felix raises an eyebrow.
“You really think it’s him?” Kagami wonders.
“Why yes, I do indeed. Earlier today, during my mom’s celebration, Uncle Wang showed up at the bakery. Or so I thought. Turns out, the real Uncle Wang was in Shanghai. This was just Chrysalis disguised as Uncle Wang. Or so I thought, perhaps she has the peacock miraculous. She made the perfect clone, almost too perfect.”
…The image of perfection… A single tear rolls down Cat Noir’s eye.
“When I checked the guest room that Uncle Wang went into, I found it to be empty. Either the amok was released…or Pegasus teleported him out of there. You see, Max mentioned to me that he got a love letter. At first, I thought it was a sweet thing…but now I’m staring to think not so much. Sabrina got a letter from “Chloé,” which wasn’t the real Chloé, that came from a stamping place in Paris. It had that same stamp on Max’s letter. I reckon that the person who is sending these out and writing them is the new holder of the butterfly miraculous. We just need to find one of these letters and compare the writing to thousands of other people’s handwriting. Tada!”
“Isn’t that a bit extreme…or too much work to do?”
“There is nothing as too extreme. Well, minus the spirals,” Ladybug laughs internally at all the work that needs to be done.
“Does Cat Noir know your identity? You basically just revealed who you are by saying guest room and the bakery.”
Shoot. Kagami’s right. Ladybug slowly turns to face the spot where Cat Noir stood in hopes to tell him that what he heard was nothing important and didn’t concern her identity, when she realizes that Cat Noir isn’t there. Nobody is behind her.
“No I- Cat Noir!?” Ladybug yells as her eyes dart around the room.
“I’m not Cat Noir anymore. I’m Nemesis. Feel my wrath as I gain control!”
“What has gotten into you, Cat Noir!?”
“We can all be happy once again! No more burdens…no more secrets and no more lies. That is, only once your miraculous is truly mine!”
A winged figure with a stone statue texture, paralleling Gabriel, Cat Blanc, Ephemeral, and Celestial Cat, which freaks Ladybug out greatly, swoops down from the chandelier in a great effort to snatch up Ladybug’s earrings.