Chapter Text
Another regular school day morning. The alarm clock rang exactly at 7:00, and Marinette groaned, exhausted under her bed sheets as her right hand tapped the small shelf over her head looking for her phone.
“Good morning Tikki!” She yawned with an eye open, hoping to see her kwami. “Did you sleep well?” But Tikki didn’t answer, or cared to rise from the usual cushion where she used to sleep.
“Tikki?” Marinette’s voice was slowly filling with concern, even though she tried to keep calm. Maybe Tikki was just sleeping soundly and she didn’t listen! Yes, that was it. Tikki was sleeping and everything was okay. Marinette had nothing to worry about.
“Tikki, wake up!” She tried one more time. “I have freshly baked cookies downstairs!” But still no answer.
With panic invading every fiber of her being, Marinette looked over her cushion to check on Tikki but to her surprise, she wasn’t there. She started screaming Tikki’s name non stop now, looking everywhere in her room for the kwami but it seemed like she vanished from this realm. How could have she lost a kwami? The ladybug kwami! How would Marinette tell Master she had lost Tikki; was that even possible? Losing a kwami? She didn’t know but she hoped it wasn’t. Marinette rubbed her face with her hands, trying to ease her own mind, but when she did she felt something strange on her face. Something cold …
“Ah! What am I doing with Chat’s miraculous!” Marinette gasped in surprise, her eyes wide, staring at Chat Noir’s ring on her finger. Unconsciously, she took her hands to her ears to check on her own miraculous. Surprisingly (or not, at this point) they weren’t there. “Where is my miraculous?” She was at the verge of a panic attack now. Not only she had lost Tikki, but she also lost her miraculous and she woke up with Chat’s miraculous! What a great way to start her morning! But if Marinette had Chat’s miraculous now, where was...
“Hey kid!” Plagg floated in front of her face. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost! I’m sorry I had to leave you alone but you didn’t had more Camembert up here so I just had to go downstairs to get some.”
“P...p...plagg?” Marinette stammered nervously “What are you doing here? Where’s Chat?”
“What do you mean where’s Chat, Marinette?” He asked curiously. “You’re Chat Noir, you’ve always been.”
Looking once again at her ring, Marinette let that sink in, even if it didn’t feel right. She could swear she was Ladybug yesterday. She could swear she left home with Tikki, she could swear she transformed as Ladybug yesterday… She could even swear she came home with Tikki after a regular patrol! A whispered ‘ what ’ escaped her lips and Plagg looked at her as if she had grown a second head.
“Tikki you don’t understand, this is all wrong! I can’t be Ladybug!”
“Adrien, you have to believe me! You are Ladybug. You’ve always been! And you are one of the best I’ve had the honour to work with! We are a match and we work so well together! So what makes you think you aren’t Ladybug?”
“ What about Mari? Wasn’t she one of the best Ladybugs you’ve ever had too? ” Adrien thought to himself. It was so weird that Tikki didn’t remember Marinette.
Adrien was scrolling through the third page of the ladyblog, watching videos of his fights, pictures of his apparitions and articles about the most various themes, all of them with one common point: him. He didn’t know how it happened but the truth was that, according to the ladyblog, he had been Ladybug all along. Even if he doesn’t recall a thing of being Ladybug.
“You’ll laugh at me if I tell you the reason why!”
“Have I ever laughed at you, Adrien?”
He doesn’t recall because he had never been with Tikki, ever, but yet something was oddly familiar about her so he ended up nodding in agreement like he met her his whole life.
“No, I guess not.”
“So tell me, why can’t you be ladybug?”
“I can’t be ladybug because I’m not ladybug! I’ve been Chat Noir this whole time and… and…”
“And?”
“And I’m in love with Marinette who happens to be Ladybug and now I feel weird and I don’t understand it. Father will kill me when he finds out I pierced my ears! I just want to be Chat Noir again! I want things to go back to normal, whatever normal means in my life.” He stopped for a second and then a glint of hope showed up on his eyes. “Do you think your Miraculous Cure can fix this?”
“No, it can’t. I thought I had explained you that the Miraculous Cure only fixes what is destroyed during Hawkmoth’s akuma attacks. And this certainly didn’t happen during an akuma attack. I’m sorry! I wish I could help but you have to figure this out on your own!”
“It’s okay, Tikki. I know you would help if you could.”
Adrien’s phone started ringing which made both him and his kwami divert their attentions to it. Tikki floated over it for a second and she grabbed it, showing the screen to Adrien, a goofy smile on her features.
“It’s Marinette! I really think you should pick up!”
“Great!” Adrien mumbled. “Probably she already noticed what happened and wants to talk about it.” He took the phone from Tikki’s paws and answered it. Even though he didn’t have much motive to. Adrien was feeling incredibly nervous when he picked up the call. His hands were shaking and his heart pounding in his ears. He had to take a deep breath before answering to keep his cool.
“Hello, M’Lady! What do I owe the honour of this call?”
“ Bugaboo- I think I can call you that now, can’t I?- Bugaboo, we have a problem.”
“Yes, I am already well aware of it.” He sighed defeated.
During their earlier phone call, Marinette and Adrien decided to meet up at the top of the Eiffel Tower at the time of their regular patrol so they could discuss what could possibly cause their kwami swap. Why did no one but them remember their previous roles as heroes?
Chat had been waiting for an hour now. She knew her partner could be late sometimes but as far as she recalls he never got this late to a patrol and when he did, he would always let her know in advance. She was about to contact him when a sudden red blur landed right next to her.
"I'm sorry to leave you hanging, kitty! You might not believe it but dinner today took longer than I expected. I even thought I wouldn't be able to come today, but eventually I had to excuse myself." Ladybug's excitement was clearly noticeable on his voice and there was a glint in his eyes that Chat didn't see for a long time. She couldn't help but smile. The fact that things in the Agreste household were changing for better made her extremely happy and comforted.
"I'm glad to hear that, Bugaboo! I'm so happy for you, you know? Knowing that your relationship with your father is improving, that things between the two of you are finally working out... It almost feels surreal!"
"I know right?! Moving on was the best thing that father did, honestly. Being stuck to the past was messing up things too much and to be honest, Nathalie is great! They look so happy together... This was really the best outcome we could have! Even if sometimes I still miss mom."
“You know… Ladybug, you know it’s okay to still miss her right? Remember that no one is replacing her, you’ve just learnt how to move on!” Chat patted his shoulder in a comforting way. “Don’t be sad, you’ve been thinking about this scenario for awhile now!”
“I know, but--”
“Silly bug.” Chat smiled. They sat in silence for a while, leaning against each other. Everything seemed so perfect and peaceful for a moment that they almost forgot why they were there in the first place. It wasn't like Ladybug to comment on Chat's miraculous.
"Did you try taking it off?” Ladybug asked, pointing to what used to be his miraculous, his eyes wide open. “The miraculous, of course!”
"Well, that's another issue I wanted to talk with you!" Chat laughed nervously. "They won't come off. I tried taking the ring off for some good ten minutes, this morning, after our call and it felt like it was glued to my finger!"
"That's weird. Not that I don't mind seeing you as Chat- you look great with that suit! Way better than I'll ever look- but if the miraculouses won't come off, it probably means magic is more involved than we would like to."
"I know and that’s bothering me a lot, to be honest. But what scares me the most is that no one remembers how we used to be! Not even our kwamis. We used to be Ladybug and Chat Noir, the heroes of Paris! Everyone loved us and now..."
"We still are Ladybug and Chat Noir, the heroes of Paris, you know?"
"Yes! But... Oh, you know what I mean!"
Ladybug laughed and then he stared into the distant Paris lights, frowning.
"What's up? Did you see anything weird?"
"No! I was just thinking... Is there any way that an akuma could have caused this?"
"An akuma? I don't remember fighting any akuma lately, do you?"
"No...? I don't. That’s weird, isn’t it?"
There were less akuma attacks lately, that was a fact, but the ones who occurred were nearly impossible to defeat. It was hardly possible to forget them and yet here they were. For some reason, the fact that they couldn't remember any recent akuma attacks sent shivers down their spine. Something was wrong... Really wrong. Chat and Ladybug exchanged a panicked look and no words were needed to express what was crossing their mind. Magic alone was already a dangerous thing, but when in the wrong hands the consequences could be disastrous.
"Bug, we can't fix this for ourselves." Chat finally spoke, anxiety overflowing her voice. "I think we both agree we need an extra hand with this."
"What are you suggesting, kitty...?"
"We should see Master as soon as possible. I know you still don't know him very well but he's our best shot. We don't have other choice. Besides, he doesn’t bite, you know? I’m sure he’s very fond of you already!" Chat unplugged her baton from her back and typed an address, sending it immediately to Ladybug. “Meet me there, tomorrow at 17:00, sharp! Please don’t be late and since we already know each other’s identities, I think there’s no need to come transformed. He will know who we are, one way or another!”
Ladybug saved the address to his yo-yo’s GPS and looked defiantly into Chat’s eyes.
“Did my punctuality ever let you down, kitty?”
“You can never trust anything these days!” She laughed and winked at him. “See you tomorrow, Bugaboo!”
“See you tomorrow!”
In the darkness of a street close to the tower, a shadow stood stoically, carefully observing the interactions between the heroes of Paris. When they left the spot, she closed her eyes and soon after, a purple glow invaded her face.
“They haven’t figured out yet, but they already noticed there’s something wrong.”
“Good. Thanks for letting me know.”
The next day
“Mari, why did you told me to meet up with you at the door of a massage therapist? If I wanted a massage, I would have asked for one at my house!” Adrien stood at the door slightly annoyed, moving his hands energetically, disapproval clear in his voice. Marinette couldn’t help but laugh; Adrien frowned even more.
“You silly boy!” She bopped his nose. “We didn’t come up for massages! This is Master’s house. He works as a massage therapist when he can, hence the address.”
“Oh,” He was now rubbing the back of his neck. “That makes more sense, then! I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay! The first time I came here I was confused as well! Who could imagine that such an old man could give great massages?”
“Have you tried them out?”
“Nope, but I’ve heard some of his customers compliment him. I’m not a big fan of massages, to be honest.” Marinette rested gently her finger on the doorbell and took a deep breath. “Are you ready?”
Adrien nodded and with a quick motion, she pressed the doorbell and the door opened immediately. Adrien holded Marinette’s hand and she guided him through the building until she found Master’s door. There was no need to knock since he had left the door ajar so they could come in.
“Master?” Marinette peeked through the door and then got in. Master Fu was sit in front of a small coffee table, his back turned to the door. There were three cups of tea set on the table and two plates: one filled with cookies and one filled with Camembert. As soon as their kwamis understood where they were, they came off of their spots and met with Wayzz and the three of them went to the music box and sat there chatting while their chosen stood by the door.
“Chat Noir, Ladybug! Come in.” He replied. “I’ve been waiting for you. I’m afraid that what brings you here today has to do with your miraculouses, am I right?”
“Yes.” They sighed in union. Marinette kept talking while both men sat down on the table and served themselves. “Our miraculouses were swapped, Master. They won’t come off and we feel there’s something more to it. No one remembers who we were, not even our kwamis and even we have difficulties remembering anything that happened before yesterday. We don’t know what’s causing this or what to do to fix it, so we came to see you, hoping for an answer.”
“You made the right decision to come here.” Master replied with a frown. “The truth is that I’ve been sensing an unusual energy lately. I thought it would go away with on its own or with the help of some charms, but the truth is that it got more intense these past days. I wish I was wrong but I think this energy is deeply related to your swap and I’m afraid that’s… that’s not a good thing.”
“Why?” Adrien asked, side eyeing him. “Why isn’t it a good thing?”
“Because…”
“Master please, don’t hide things from us.” Marinette pleaded.
“The source of this energy resides in a spell. A strong one, and dangerous too. If this is indeed what’s causing your swap, it means that both of you are under the spell and that’s the reason why neither you, or your kwamis can remember much from the past. Fortunately, the magic provided by the Miraculouses can give you two a small protection against it but it won’t last forever, hence why you haven’t forgotten everything like everyone else. But once it reaches its limit, you’ll end up having the same fate as the rest of Paris. We must act quickly against this threat.”
“A spell…” Marinette murmured. “Can you fix it?” She was now holding Adrien’s hand tightly but only noticed it when he started moving his fingers so she could loosen her grip on his hand.
“I’m afraid I can’t. This is too powerful, even for me. Whoever made this spell knows what is doing. Only you two, as a team, can break it. I’m sorry.”
“How much time do we have?” Adrien questioned nervously.
“One week or two, at the best.”
“Great…” He whispered. “Being a superhero should really come with a contract so we knew what we were going into. One day everything’s fine, the other you find out you have one week to break a spell that will make you forget everything you know! Amazing, right?”
“What keeps bugging me is why would someone want to do this to us? Why would someone want to swap our kwamis and make us forget everything? It doesn’t make much sense, you know?” Marinette sipped a bit of her tea and nibbled one of the cookies meant for Tikki.
“I’m afraid Hawkmoth may be related to this. However, he’s not alone. As strong as he may be now, he’s not strong enough to come up with such a thing on his own.”
“Well, that’s a good thing isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not entirely a bad thing. At least not for now.” Master looked at the sullen faces the teens were giving him and smiled. “However, even if I can’t break it myself, I can give you an hand in finding a way to break it. Or at least to understand what led you two to this situation.”
“Really?” They asked together, a hint of hope reflecting on their eyes.
“Yes. It won’t be easy and it might exhaust you, but I think it’s the best chance we have now. We can’t simply sit and wait anymore.” Master rose from his spot and went to a near drawer to get a pair of cymbals and some candles, which he ended lighting up and spreading them across the floor. When he faced the teens again, he pointed to the center of the mat that covered most part of the living room floor. “All you have to do is lay down on the mat and let everything go. Find your essence and focus entirely on that. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Master…”
“Don’t worry, Marinette. I won’t let anything happen to you two. If you are in danger I will wake you up immediately.”
She sighed in relief and laid next to Adrien on the mat. She closed her eyes and focused on her essence just as Master instructed. The cymbal sounds grew more distant and soon Marinette fell asleep.