Nino held as still as possible, goosebumps rising on his skin as he fought back the urge to shake off the gently glowing white butterflies that settled on him. Their bodies were so light that he was hardly aware of them until they flapped their wings, steading themselves as they clung to him. They did not swarm him or overwhelm him, but they did seem drawn to him... the only light flooding in from a single large window and shining off of the wings of his company in an eerie and unsettling way.

Nino struggled to sit up, ignoring the burning pain in his wrists as he strained against the coarse restraints binding his arms. It felt like rope, irritating the skin and tied too tightly. He took a deep breath, flinching every time he saw a butterfly shift and flutter near him, doing everything he could to be quiet.

This was Hawkmoth's... this space. It was empty and... unsettling, filled only with the gentle persistent sound of butterfly wings. The quieter he was the more they settled, sitting obediently on the ground as they waited for their master.

His head ached and he swallowed back fear, hating how he couldn't stop himself from shaking but biting his tongue forcefully to maintain silence.

This was bad...

It had happened so suddenly, the window exploding out and throwing him against the wall like a bomb had been set off. He remembered Plagg flying towards him, panicked and concerned but Nino had been too disoriented to say anything, acting on instinct and hiding Plagg behind him when something started to crawl in the window. It was massive and hulking, an akuma from the looks of it. Its eyes were vacant and obedient, the thing so massive that Nino was shaking in terror, but even still he hid Plagg from view. He vividly remembered the chill of horror he felt when Plagg slithered beneath his shirt, clinging to his back and hiding there even as Nino was picked up by the monster. Silently he had been shouting at Plagg to hide, to stay behind, if both of them were captured things would only be worse but now as he sat in the darkness of that room he understood why Plagg had done it.

He could feel him shaking too.

"Plagg..." Nino dared, his voice so painfully loud but he was sure that for the moment they were alone. "You can't stay here."

"I can't leave you," his small voice replied, Nino wriggling in discomfort as Plagg darted up his shirt to cling to his neck, glaring at the butterflies. His voice was surprisingly heavy, tense for such a jovial trickster. "I can't leave you alone here."

"You have to get back to him," Nino said, no name needed. Nino knew that Adrien was all Plagg had thought about since they had been taken. "You should have stayed in the first place."

"I couldn't just leave you!" Plagg shot back, sounding conflicted. "This is my fault... I should have stayed with him. Then he could come and save you. I can't do anything without the ring... Nino-"

"Don't say sorry," Nino cut him off, his eyes fixed on the huge window nearby. "Run Plagg, I'm serious."

"I can't!" Plagg protested, Nino flinching at how hurt he sounded. It didn't fit him... in the short time they had spent together Nino knew it didn't fit him.

"You have to buddy," Nino whispered, starting to scoot towards the window and watching the butterflies fearfully. "You have to. You can't stay here, he needs you. You need to go to him."

"What about you?" Plagg asked instantly, and Nino faltered. He didn't have a real answer.

"I won't tell him anything," Nino said quietly, deflecting slightly as he fought to move closer to Plagg's best escape route. "I swear, I won't tell a soul. So don't worry about that okay? Just get out of here, get to safety and find Cat Noir okay?"

"I-" Plagg started, and Nino could feel his tail thrashing around against his neck. "I don't know where he is... I can't find the house on my own. I don't even know if he's there."

"You've got to try little man," Nino answered, his voice trembling slightly as he considered his next words. The swarm of butterflies was terrifying, so gentle and unassuming but the vessels of so much horrible power. Hawkmoth would be there soon... and Plagg couldn't be there when he arrived.

"Plagg," Nino spoke again, pressing his back to the wall directly beneath the window and staring sightlessly out into the great light it cast on the ground. "You got to listen to what I'm gonna say man."

"What?" Plagg asked, and Nino could feel his tiny hands gripping his shirt uncertainly.

Nino swallowed, closing his eyes for a second and trying to be brave.

"You've got to find him," Nino said again, voice shaking a little, "him and Ladybug. And when you do you've got to tell 'em... tell 'em not to come for me okay? Tell them to stay away."

"What!?' Plagg shouted in disbelief, and Nino stared in fear as the butterflies shifted in agitation.

"Tell them to leave me!" Nino said back, desperation clear in his voice. He had a feeling they were running short on time. "I'm serious it's too risky there is way too much to lose! No matter what he does I won't tell him okay? Their secrets are safe but I can't protect them if they try and confront him. I won't let him use me like a bargaining piece, so find them and tell them to stay away!"

"No!" Plagg hissed, and Nino felt him lift off his back. He twisted around to watch Plagg dart for the window, looking down at him at the last second to say, "We're going to come and find you! We won't just leave you behind I don't care what you say! So hold on!"

"Plagg!" Nino called out, but the small cat charged the window and phased through it.

And suddenly he was alone again.

"Damn it," he said to himself, hitting the back of his head against the wall. "Damn it! Just stay away guys..." he spoke into the air, curling his legs close to his chest defensively." Stay away..."

Adrien stood in the wreckage of Nino's room silently, hands clenched into fists and shaking with rage. He cringed at the sound of broken glass shifting underfoot as he stepped forward, fighting against the panic he felt in his chest.

Nino had been taken... and Plagg was nowhere to be found. He was powerless, there was nothing he could do. Nino was in trouble because of him and there was nothing he could do.

"Adrien," he suddenly heard behind him, the voice soft and shaken but he knew who it was. He had known she was there, she was the only reason he had been let in by the police in the first place but they hadn't actually seen each other yet.

Adrien turned slowly, his emotions so complicated and confused that he really wasn't sure what expression Ladybug saw on his face in that moment, but hers was clear.

The guilt was destroying her, he could see it. Her hands her wrapped around her yo-yo and shaking, her face set as she did her best to be strong. She was enraged, and terrified.

"I'm so sorry," she said again, her voice breaking a little on the last word and he just shook his head, surprising her.

"It's not your fault," he said robotically, fighting to keep his own guilt from killing him as well. They'd be no use to anyone if they couldn't keep it together. "Don't blame yourself. We've just got to plan on how to get him back, and how to keep Hawkmoth from hurting anyone else."

She blinked, staring at him for a moment too long and he remembered suddenly that not every secret as out in the open but he barely cared. He was too distracted, he didn't give a damn if things slipped. If she rejected him he deserved it.

"I won't let him hurt Nino," she said defiantly, the power in her voice surprising him. Her eyes were fierce even as he could see tears threatening to overwhelm them. "I'm not going to let my stupid mistake cause him harm. I'll get him back, I swear... but I can't-" she hesitated, looking at her yo-yo again and he could see anger and doubt in her expression. "I can't do it alone, but I might have to."

Adrien just stood there, unable to move as the most horrible and unnameable feeling settled in his heart. He watched her flip open the screen of her compact, glaring at it with such potent hurt that he could barely breathe.

"He isn't answering," she explained though she didn't need to. He knew who she had been trying to call. "I can't get through to him it's not even ringing... I need him now more than ever and I don't know where he is."

Adrien didn't speak, so much about what he saw before him unspeakably horrible.

There was Ladybug, the girl he loved so deeply it was like an unexplainable pain all its own stood in the doorway of his best friend's trashed bedroom. Broken glass was scattered all around them, his computer in shambles and desk smashed to pieces. The thing that hurt the most was the pair of headphone she had seen his friend wear every single day, thrown out towards the doorway with the cord chewed through. And in that room his partner cried out for him and got no reply, feeling betrayed and let down, afraid and alone as she struggled to be the hero everyone needed her to be.

She felt utterly alone and he was standing right there, and in that moment he swore that she hated him. And he hated him too.

"Ladybug-" he managed, the word surprisingly broken and stunning her. When she looked up she froze, watching in confusion as Adrien cried.

"I'll get him back Adrien," she tried to comfort quickly, stepping forward and putting a hand on his shoulder, pulling him into her so she could hug him. "I'll save him even if I have to go alone... I promise."

"You shouldn't have to go alone..." he replied, curling around her and holding her. He could feel her shoulders tense but he didn't know how to respond. "I should go with you."

"A-Adrien no!" she said, trying to pull back to look at his face but he was staring at the ground, looking at the broken glass crushed beneath his feet. "It's way too dangerous Hawkmoth-"

"Hawkmoth is the biggest threat there is!" he suddenly shouted, making her jump as tears streamed down his face. "You can't go into that alone I don't care if I have powers or not!"

She stared at him in bewilderment, her own tears threatening to fall as she watched such potent emotion overtake him.

"I-" she tried to speak, putting a hand on his chest and looking up at him, trying to provide some kind of comfort. "I'm sure Cat Noir will come, he's always been there this time won't be any different."

And he couldn't stop himself, looking at her deep blue eyes and seeing so much doubt and pain, knowing that for even a second she had doubted him hurting so horribly. He couldn't stop the words before they fell out, keeping them in any longer choking him and making him feel like he was going to suffocate.

"Don't you think I would have answered if I could!?"

His words hung in the air and he could see them as they seeped into her, her eyes widening and her breath catching in a gasp that never quite formed. He could see his words in the scattering of debris as she quickly stepped back, her hand leaving his chest like it had been burned, and he could feel them in the horrible fear that paralyzed him.

But he felt them the most when he heard the tone of her voice, her words shaking.

"W-what did you say?"

Adrien stood there, feeling like for a moment that he was losing everything. He was surrounded by the consequence of his recklessness and faced with the fallout of all his lies, and nothing had ever been more terrifying.

Ladybug looked at him, really looked at him and couldn't speak, her silence cutting into him as he despised every mistake he had made on this stupid winding road. But he couldn't be silent, not even as his heart hammered in his chest and he swallowed against the tightness of his throat.

"Don't you think... that if I could have I would have ran to you the second you needed me?"

Her lips trembled, complete shock dominating her expression but mixed with a hundred other things. Doubt, fear, anxiety, uncertainty, disbelief.

"Cat..." she whispered, and finally he watched a single large tear overflow and wind its way over her mask and down her face. He could see the recognition shine in her eyes, and he marveled at how he still had the nerve to pray.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, reaching up and covering his eyes with one hand to try and stem the tears, feeling comfort in hiding behind something. "I'm sorry... I didn't know how to tell you. But this... is my... Nino knew," he explained, unable to look at her. "I told him... Not that long ago. I had seen you two together and I- I just... I put him at risk too, you hadn't meant to put him at risk but I did it willingly I revealed myself to him knowing the risk it was selfish." He lifted the hand to gesture at the room, his hand shaking as he did as anger was clear in his voice. "And now this happened. And somehow I'm still selfish enough to tell you too because I couldn't listen to- I couldn't just... stand here when I know you needed me and I'm sorry."

"A-Adrien," he heard her say but he didn't stop, too much confused, painful emotion in too short a time.

"I can't even transform I don't have my kwami I can't help him, there isn't anything-"

He jolted when he felt her against him, her arms wrapping around his chest and holding him. He just stood there, stunned as she spoke into his chest.

"We can't do this right now," she explained, her voice still shaking but surprisingly... frim. Locking it down. "We can't... we have to find Nino we can deal with this later but..." she faltered, not looking up at him even as he stared down at the top of her head. "I have no idea what to say, but it doesn't matter right now. We can't get distracted, we have to save our friend."

Adrien didn't move right away, feeling the heat of her against him and choking back any more outbursts as he gently wrapped his arms around her. Neither of them pulled away, just like before but infinitely different.

She was right.

"Can't get distracted..." he echoed, holding her a little tighter like he was pulling himself back together. "Okay... okay. We have to save Nino, but please my lady... please know I'm here. I didn't abandon you... I never would."

He could hear the murmur of police just outside in the rest of the apartment and littering the street down below, oblivious to everything that was happening in the privacy of their loyal friend's bedroom. No one knew except for them... even more secrets in such a complicated web. But it was the first secret they shared together.

"I know Cat..." she said back after a few seconds, the words making his heart falter in its rhythm. He could feel her hold him a little tighter. "I know..."

Ladybug took a step back, staring up at him so he could see her bury every emotion beneath the task at hand. "We can talk about this later... for now we focus on finding Nino before midday. I'm going to need my partner on this... even if you don't have the ears."

He was amazed by how she could just... cope, for the greater good. She was so impossibly strong, selfless in the ways he needed to be too. In the ways he knew he could be. He could be strong too, and he would. For Nino.

He even smirked a little though his eyes were still heavy. "Should have known you'd prefer the cat ears, most people do."

She snorted a little, actually managing to roll her eyes though the gesture held a weight as well. "I like both just fine, at least you won't scratch anything up this way."

"That was one time!" he joked, and they both laughed a little, looking at each other before looking away. It was awkward, and hard and complicated and disorienting but... they would cope. For Nino. They had to.

He'd do it for them.

The air was heavy all over Paris, so many cloaked in its suffocating nature. Two partners did their best to be strong for someone who had always been strong for them. The boy they sought to protect was restrained alone in the darkness of a nightmare, only the skittering of butterflies on his skin to distract from the steps slowly drawing nearer. A small cat like creature clung to the shadows as he desperately sought landmarks, anything to tell him where his boy could be in such a large city. And civilians watched their TV's in silence as the police made a futile attempt to secure a perimeter around the Notre Dame. One viewer in particular felt a great heaviness in his heart, looking carefully at the face of a young boy in a bright red cap as he appeared yet again on the screen, a tense reporter repeating what few details there were on the story.

The old man sighed heavily, feeling a weariness he had grown accustomed to in his old age wash over him. His ancient eyes drifted down to a simple jade band that rested on his wrist, feeling its weight more potently then he had in many, many years.

"Master," a voice spoke beside him, his attention drawn to a small floating creature that also watched the screen with heavy eyes. "Isn't that him? The one you had talked about?"

Master Fu was quiet at first, setting down his cup of tea on the floor he sat on before humming his confirmation. "Yes," he replied, watching the kwami carefully. "That is him."

"I remember him," the turtle like creature responded, his voice distant as he still watched the screen. "From the bakery. You called him admirable."

Master Fu nodded, looking down at the steam rising from his cup as silence fell between them, the only noise coming from the broadcast.

"This kidnapping was undoubtably the work of Hawkmoth, the villain who jeopardizes the safety of our city with his monstrosities. He has never gone so far before, many are speculating as to what has caused the change and what made this poor boy the target."

"Is his standing with the heroes not public knowledge?" the kwami asked, looking up at the aged man beside him.

"I do not believe so..." Master Fu answered, folding his hands in his lap. "He's been careful. I don't believe this event is through any fault of his own."

"Was it Ladybug and Cat Noir's mistake then?"

"It does not matter," Fu replied, closing his eyes, "all that matters now is how they correct it... but I have my fears."

The kwami watched his master diligently, looking on as the old man spoke.

"Wayzz..." Fu addressed him, the turtle kwami whizzing to fly in front of his face as Fu's eyes opened. "This is no game for old men dear friend... you know that don't you?"

Wayzz didn't reply at first, meeting his master's ancient eyes before looking away, saying quietly, "Yes master..."

From the corner of his eye Wayzz saw his master smile somewhat. "I understand your reluctance, but it is time. Even if this is resolved and the boy is returned he is a target of our enemy now. Ladybug and Cat Noir can not defend him forever, he must be capable of protecting himself. He would be good for you I believe... you would be great friends."

"I don't doubt it master..." the kwami replied quietly, his gaze drifting to his miraculous that the old man currently wielded. "You have hardly chosen poorly, and he has already proven capable of holding great secrets." Wayzz managed a small smile of his own as he met his master's eyes again. "I suppose I am just slow to adjust."