Not Who You Think (inspired by Kuro Neko)

Not Who You Think

What was he thinking? Any time things got rough he decided to just give up his miraculous? Without even telling her before he was gone forever?

Her heart froze at that last thought, but she quickly brushed it off and threw her yo-yo angrily in the direction of home.

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She slammed open the trap door to her bedroom, and didn't bother to detransform, knowing that her parents had gone out for the day.

Throwing the ring and paper onto her bed, she jumped down and began pacing back and forth in frustration. "How could he do this to me again? How could he be so - so selfish! With all these other heroes I have to take care of and Shadowmoth growing stronger every day I need to rely on him more than ever and then he just...quits? I'm the guardian, I should decide who gets to keep or lose their miraculous - not him!" she swung her leg out sending papers flying as she kicked a pile of boxes that cluttered her bedroom floor. She knew it was childish but kicked it again halfheartedly.

The other kwamis swarmed over, and a chorus of voices asked her what had happened.

"What happened is that Cat Noir decided to give up his miraculous without ever consulting me."

The kwamis gasped in shock and Wayzz flew hurriedly beside her. "Perhaps there has simply been a misunderstanding. Why not activate the cat miraculous and ask Plagg?"

Just then Ladybug's suit disappeared, and Marinette absently dug in her pocket for a cookie before handing it to the worn out red kwami.

Tikki took a bite, then turned to Marinette with concern. "What are you going to do, Marinette?"

Marinette glanced at Wayzz then replied firmly, "I'm going to get some answers."

She climbed up onto her bed and slipped the black ring onto her finger, immediately summoning the kwami of destruction.

"Plagg, tell me what happened. Why did Cat Noir give up his miraculous? Doesn't he care about how much this hurts me and understand the position he just put me in?"

Plagg's head shot up. "How much this hurts you? Do you have any idea how crushed he was when he made this decision? But no, all you care about is what makes things easier for you Ladybug, how things affect you."

The small kwami began to tremble with fury. "You want to know what happened, Ladybug? What happened is you made him feel worthless by always leaving him out, to the point that he thought you didn't need him anymore! You stopped treating him like a partner and treated him more like a puppet to simply carry out your masterful plans. You're - you're as bad as Shadowmoth!"

Marinette gasped, her face having grown paler with every word, and Tikki darted up in front of Plagg. "Plagg you know you're not being fair to Marinette. She has no way of knowing how Cat Noir is feeling and since he didn't tell her there was nothing she could change."

Plagg glared at her. "If she didn't treat him so terribly in the first place nothing would need to be changed."

He turned back to face Marinette. "You want to talk about bad positions to be in, Marinette? Can you imagine being trapped in your own house, every aspect of your life controlled by a father who doesn't have the decency to spend time with his only son? To lose the only person who ever loved you and make you constantly wonder if you will ever be loved again?" his voice rose and the room itself began to shake as a current of repressed frustration radiated from the destructive energy surrounding the black kwami.

"Being Cat Noir was his one chance of freedom - his one chance to be someone without worrying about what his father thinks, and now even that is taken from him! You were one of the only people who he felt actually cared about him, and now you pushed him away too, making him give up his miraculous leaving him all alone, without me to help him." Plagg's voice broke, and the tears that had been building in his eyes spilled over, as the great kwami of destruction sobbed in despair.