Shadow of Noir

Chapter 7- Camembert

Plagg gorged on the old, stinky camembert that Marinette 'borrowed' from the bakery supply cuboard. It was reassuring to see that Plagg hadn't lost his appetite despite everything.

Plagg, tell me what happened" Marinette pestered, "where is Adrien?"

Plagg was still chewing the sweet camembert but he continued to answer the questions "Well... *scoff*... we just got in after... *nom*...  that night"

Marinette blushed. 'Plagg knows' she thought to herself, embarrassed about what she did. She motioned for Plagg to continue. 

"Then... *munch*... I don't remember much." Plagg finished 

"Wait that's it!?" Marinette yelled, obviously furious how unhelpful Plagg was being right now. 

Marinette grabbed Plagg by his tail and yanked him away from the camembert making it clear he was not getting anymore until he told her everything. With the distraction of cheese out of the picture Plagg's head began to clear. He was like a brand new Kwami, but he was also distraught. He finally began to process that his friend was gone, lost, missing and all he'd been doing was lazing around downing camembert.

"When he got in he was heartbroken... I tried to comfort him... and he took the ring off and threw it on the floor." Plagg sniffed, attempting not to show his emotions. 

While that explains why Adrien wasn't wearing his miraculous that still didn't reveal where he went or why Plagg was still here without someone actively waring the cat miraculous. 

"I don't know what happened in-between, but he did try and put the miraculous on again" Plagg whispered "Before he could transform he got a-a-akumatized!

Marinette and Tikki gasped before welling up. "This is all my fault Tikki!" "I hurt the one I love and know he's akumatized!". Marinette began to feel helpless knowing she was to blame for the disappearance of both Adrien and Chat Noir.

"Don't say that Marinette! " yelled Tikki "We will fix this, we will find him"

Plagg continued his account of events "As I was about to enter the ring the akuma appeared out of nowhere" "The next thing I knew there was a bright white light" 

'Bright light?' Marinette recalled the markings she saw in Adrien's room. Could the Akumatization process have resulted in an overwhelming surge of power?- enough to scorch the floor of the bedroom? 

By the time Plagg came to the room was empty with no sign of Adrien or Chat Noir, so he hid to avoid being found, especially since Nathalie kept checking the room over and over again. Marinette whipped the tears from her eyes as she picked up on what Plagg had just said.  Nathalie had been checking in on Adrien's room? It became clear to Marinette that she needed to confront Nathalie. Sure it was nice of her to help her escape, but she must know more than she's letting on. And Marinette was gonna find out everything.

"I think it's time Ladybug gave her a little visit."