"Adrien, it's time for school!" Nathalie knocked at his door.
At the sound of her voice, Adrien glanced up toward his door. "There's an issue that I'd consider a little more important than my education!" He yelled back, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"And what might that be?"
Adrien jumped at the familiar, deep male voice that came from beside him. He sat up, realizing his father was sitting at his desk. "Father! What are y-you doing here this morning? I thought you'd be at work!" The boy asked, smiling nervously as he sat up straight.
"I heard from your bodyguard that you and Nathalie returned home late. What were you doing?" Gabriel asked with a raised eyebrow as he noticed the slideshow background of his computer changing to a selfie of Marinette and Alya, more zoomed in on Marinette's face than her best friend's.
Adrien's face reddened as he got up and slapped the button to shut the computer monitor off. "Oh, I was... doing a school project with the people I was assigned to group with!" He thought up the excuse quickly, "And Nathalie had to drive me there and back!"
Gabriel grunted a small thoughtful response, then looked at the door. "You know, when I had asked Nathalie, she offered me a different explanation," he clasped his hands together, standing to tower over his son in height.
Adrien gulped, letting out a nervous laugh, "Oh?"
"Nathalie told me that you were volunteering with your friends," Gabriel spoke curtly. The tall man adjusted his glasses, clearing his throat seriously. He bent down slightly with narrowed icy gray eyes to look his son in the eyes, then asked in the most solemn tone, "So let me ask you again, what exactly were you doing last night?"
Adrien parted his lips to respond breathlessly, but Gabriel cut him off, "Don't think this is the first time I've seen you sneaking off at night either. When I'd come home late at night, I'd notice you weren't in your bedroom."
It was then the boy felt he'd been whacked in the stomach with a dumbbell, and he looked to his drawer where Plagg slept helplessly before looking back up at his father. What could he tell him about all those nights? It wasn't like he could reveal his identity to his father, but he suddenly realized he could do much worse.
It was a terrible idea, Adrien knew, but revealing his identity wasn't an option. If he offered a less crazy explanation, Gabriel likely wouldn't believe him.
With a smirk, he looked up at his father and looked back and said, "I'll give you the truth, Father."
Gabriel looked taken aback by his sudden change of heart, and he pushed on curiously, "Well, then what is it?"
Adrien spoke smugly, and told his father, "What I do is something not a lot of people know about. Not even my closest friends know this, but I..."
Nathalie snuck the door open and looked at Adrien, anxiously awaiting his answer. Was he going to tell Gabriel that she was Lady Luck? Was he going to tell him that he had been assisting in helping cure Ladybug's dysfunctional development?
"I sneak out to botanical gardens to learn about plants and further my interest in plant science!" Adrien blurted randomly. Seriously? Plant science?
Originally, Adrien planned on blurting out something completely scandalous, but of course, his "good boy" filter basically let something educational and safe slip out from his mouth. He mentally scolded himself, watching his father's reaction relax slightly at his odd response.
"When your mother was a teenager, she used to obsess over botanical gardens. She would always bring me to her favorites on our dates," Gabriel's face softened at the memory, "For your next birthday, I'll have my schedule cleared so we can take a visit to your mother's absolute favorite botanical garden."
Adrien's heart fell at the mention of his missing mother, and he immediately regretted lying about having an interest in something so personal and important. "... Thanks, Father."
"You always seem to remind me more and more of her," Gabriel nearly smiled, but he cleared his throat as he stood back to his feet. "Anyways, you have school soon. You should begin getting prepared. Nathalie and your bodyguard will take you."
Adrien nodded, almost solemnly, then he hung his head sadly. How could his mother have disappeared like nothing?
Gabriel walked out of his room and his assistant quickly scooted to the side, allowing his accessible exit. Once he left, Nathalie went into Adrien's room.
"While you're at school with your friends, I'll continue to assist Ladybug and Master Fu. Don't worry about her. Just focus on your studies," Nathalie assured him, and he nodded.
"Just... please don't let her disappear too. I can't lose my partner too," Adrien looked up at her hopefully.
"I'll do my best to save her, Adrien," Nathalie promised, but then it took a few moments for the words he had said to set in. PARTNER?! Did Adrien just refer to Ladybug as his partner?!
Adrien saw Nathalie pale, and he finally realized what he accidentally let slip out. "Wait! I didn't-" he tried to backtrack his words, but Nathalie just looked at the ring on his finger for what seemed like the first time and knew.
"I won't tell anyone," she quietly reassured him before closing the door behind her after leaving his room.
"Way to go, plant boy!" Plagg whisper-shouted as he left his hiding spot.
"I don't know why I said that," Adrien groaned in shame, falling back to his bed.
"Said what? Being an avid plant lover or letting your identity slip?!" The kwami asked him, his aggression clearly escaping.
"Both," the blonde replied exhaustedly.
* * *
Adrien gave Alya and Chloe an acknowledging nod once he caught their gazes upon his entrance into the classroom.
He looked back to the empty seat beside Alya that once contained the bubbly yet shy girl who went missing. She didn't deserve it, Adrien thought sadly.
Alya even seemed to be trying to ignore the void space in their desk, barely ever turning in the direction.
"How is she?" Adrien quietly asked Chloe as he passed his own desk. He remembered how when Alya was catching him up on the details he missed, he learned Ladybug was Bridgette, so she'd been living with Chloe for a while.
"She's... still the same. Emotionally, she seems drained," Chloe sighed, remembering the past night and how she found Ladybug in the middle of the night.
Upon being questioned, Chloe learned that the heroine was worried about her family and friends, and how they would be so upset if they learned what was happening and how she lied to them about being able to maybe return one day.
"Gosh... We have to do everything we can to help save her. We can't let her disappear," Adrien told both Chloe and Alya.
"We have a research period coming up in class today. Maybe the school library has something on previous superheroes and their developments," Alya suggested helpfully.
The school bell rang, and the students scattered to their seats as the teacher walked into the classroom. "Good morning, class. As you know, you all have an upcoming group project. Today I'll explain it, then we can head on down to the library to do research!" Miss Bustier began.
She tidied her desk quickly, then clicked the projector on. Miss Bustier set out an old paper under the camera, showing its requirements.
"Hey man, what's up with Chloe and Alya?" Nino whispered to Adrien curiously.
"Oh, it's nothing. Just... uh- Marinette stuff," Adrien lied.
Nino rose an eyebrow, "Why would Chloe care about Marinette? I know they used to be BFFs, but she used to pick on her a lot before she disappeared."
"Guilt?" Adrien's stomach twisted at the idea of lying about something so serious. He was using poor Marinette as an excuse for Ladybug. Gosh, he thought, why did she even like him in the first place? She deserved someone so much better, he thought to himself.
Nino could tell Adrien was lying, but he didn't persist on the detail. The teacher was already giving them a scolding look for chatting, so he quieted down and listened to her.
"You guys will be in groups of three! No more or less! The research topic can be about anything you guys are deeply interested in, but it has to be about an issue in today's world, and how it was dealt with in the previous years," Miss Bustier explained.
Nino looked to Adrien to ask him if he wanted to partner up, but he was already looking at Chloe and Alya. What was going on with the three of them?
Nino shook off the small bit of betrayal he felt, and looked to Max and Kim who gave him a thumbs up. He smiled in return, but looked once again at Adrien. The blonde seemed distracted, he noticed. Deciding he'd ask his friend later, Nino abandoned his desk to go with his group.
* * *
"But Chloe, we're always in a group! Why haven't you been talking to me like you used to? I thought we were besties!" A certain redhead whined quite loudly.
"I'm busy with something right now, Sabrina. It's very important I do this with them," Chloe told her friend, urgent to ensure that their group would consist of people who could help save Ladybug.
"It's like I don't even exist anymore! I won't keep letting you use me anymore! Goodbye Chloe!" Sabrina stomped away to find another group.
Chloe sighed exhaustedly, mentally reminding herself to apologize to her melodramatic friend after the entire ordeal was over. She truly learned to appreciate the girl for previously putting up with her garbage and bad attitude, but she was often really sensitive.
"I remember when Marinette tried to get her to chill out," Alya sadly reminisced, and Chloe turned away guiltily.
Whenever someone brought up Marinette, Chloe immediately felt responsible for not letting them know the truth. People assumed she left and died, and the police already gave up their search. Everyone was left with little hope of ever finding her, and yet she knew exactly where she was.
"Let's get headed to the library," Miss Bustier announced, "Everyone stay with their groups and line up against the wall so I can write down your names!"
The class did as instructed, and with Sabrina brushing past Chloe with the cold shoulder, the blonde sighed again. She had to keep reminding herself that she used to be a terrible person to put up with, and if Sabrina used to do it, she could as well. If the girl wanted to ignore her, it was her choice, the blonde told herself.
Soon enough, the class was arranged properly into groups, with Miss Bustier fixing each to ensure everyone was put into one. She led her class down to the library.
Adrien suddenly saw Marinette sitting on a chair, using his game controller to beat Max for the school's competition.
He saw her looking up at him curiously when he had just told her that he was happy to begin working with her.
He saw her smile at him in delight, cuddling his remote, then sheepishly giving it back.
"Adrien? Adrien!" A voice snapped him back to reality. Chloe pulled him to the book aisles where the rest of the class had already ventured back to.
"Sorry!" He apologized, following her back to Alya.
The brunette was already skimming the "M" title aisle in the efforts to finding anything Miraculous-related. "Adrien, I'd suggest you start looking in the 'L' section for Ladybug or Lady Luck. Chloe, look for either the 'D' section for development or the 'S' section for superhero history. We meet back up by the chairs in fifteen with the books we find," Alya planned, "If we don't find anything at all, the computers are our next best option."
Adrien and Chloe agreed to her plan, then split off to their respective sections.
The boy found the "L" section, and immediately found a large selection of books referring to ladybugs. He honestly doubted his school's library would actually contain any useful information in this subject, but it was worth trying.
'A childrens' book on getting to know Ladybug, a manga based on the Ladybug Miraculous, a Ladybug superhero guide, a history book of previous Ladybug holders... Some of these are more helpful than others,' Adrien thought to himself. He set these books aside, rushing over to the "C" section.
If he could find something on the old Chat Noir and how he reverted Lady Luck's permanent transformation, maybe it could lead him to better clues about how to fix Ladybug. Maybe it was something involving his own miraculous that once saved Lady Luck?
'Cat Puns: The Best Of Chat Noir,' Adrien mentally read to himself, outwardly chuckling. Placing that book aside for later, he looked through a few more Chat Noir-related books. Considering he was looking in the nonfiction, he was able to find some biographies of the past holders of his miraculous, but they were mostly theories based on them. What did Nathalie say the last guy's name was again? Fredrick?
'I don't think he publicly revealed his identity though, so maybe we're basing the biographies by years,' Adrien thought to himself. Most holders kept the name the same for his miraculous, Adrien discovered, but a female renamed herself, Midnight Kitty. What year did Nathalie's Chat Noir have the miraculous? Late nineties?
Adrien knew there wasn't much to be said about how he found the solution, otherwise Nathalie wouldn't have had the trouble of changing him back. Why couldn't he change himself back? Why did he need Nathalie to do it and why couldn't he tell her? Was it different?
The boy was just getting more questions than answers at this point, and he just carried the stack of books to the chairs Alya told him and Chloe to meet her at once they had finished.
Seeing as he had arrived a bit earlier, he started looking through some of the more useful books he found. Although he was intrigued by some of the facts he discovered about the older generation, Adrien kept himself focused. He searched through the biography of the 1999 Lady Luck.
'Lady Luck retired from her duty at fifteen, a year after losing her partner to a battle,' Adrien read. He skipped to the chapter labeled, "Power Change."
He learned that she developed wings, and was able to use them easily. Her sense of sight increased sharply, making her able to detect things more easily, but only after her partner had helped fix her development, leaving a portion of her hair red. He didn't reverse anything, but set it on the right path, Adrien found.
So how could he help set her back on the right path?
If nothing was reversible, then it meant she would forever be cursed with terrible vision, and her beautiful bluebell eyes were left purple. Of course, her appearance wasn't going to be an issue, but just the fact that his poor partner was going to be left practically blind made him sad.
The worst part was that she would be able to be detected more easily as a civilian once she was changed back to normal with such distinguishable features such as red-black ombré hair and purple eyes. How would she be able to hide from the public as a civilian?
'Aw, now I'm just thinking too far ahead. It's important to just focus on the solution we need to find,' Adrien thought to himself.
"I see you've already dug into your research, Agreste," Alya spoke up from behind him suddenly, causing him to jump slightly at the surprising entrance she made to their designated meeting area.
"There's nothing about the solution. Only history about how the previous Chat Noir allegedly died in an akuma attack in the year, 2000," Adrien groaned, "I found some history, but it only left me with more questions than answers."
"Well, that's research for you! In my LadyBlog, I have to gather those questions I came up with during me research and string together what I've got, searching for the missing pieces when I can, then coming to a solid conclusion after finding evidence!" Alya explained, causing Adrien to weaken slightly at such an idea.
Ladybug was always amazing at putting together random things to save the day, Adrien felt. She was practically blind, but she wasn't dead, meaning the heroine was still available for resource.
Being that she wasn't exactly the most emotionally solid person thanks to her knowledge of the incoming doom she thought was inevitable, Adrien wasn't sure if he wanted to put such a thing on the heroine. If it came down to that, he would likely go to her. As of now, the LadyBlogger was available.
"Where the heck is Chloe? I thought I was late, but it's already been like twenty minutes! This library is terribly big. I'll just go find her. You can watch all these books," Alya grumbled.
Adrien sighed, watching the blogger storm off to find the blonde. Deciding to take a peek at older generations of Ladybugs, Adrien grabbed a few of the biographies he found from his book search.
He noticed that all of them did go through a change in powers, but they all affected the holder positively, such as making them stronger, smarter, or quicker. They did get upgraded powers, he discovered, but it seemed that it was Nathalie who was the first to get the messy development. It seemed to be a result of something however.
What happened that made the development go wrong in the first place?