They had no idea where the akumas came from- or rather, where HawkMoth sent them from.

They didn't even know why they were called akuma, at first. Tikki hadn't explained that when Marinette first started out as Ladybug. It was just a name, which Tikki later explained was Japanese for "demon." It certainly wasn't a stretch; after all, they used a person's weakest moment as an opportunity to turn them into a monster (sometimes quite literally), but neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir had any idea how the person encountered the akuma in the first place. How was Hawkmoth doing it? How was he finding the people just after something bad had happened to them? The villains seemed to have two agendas: whatever thing they'd set out to do when they were possessed by the akuma- or "akumatized," as Ladybug and Cat Noir called it- but they also had another one. It was a constant in all the fights. They'd talk out loud to HawkMoth (who Chat and Ladybug couldn't hear) about taking Chat Noir's and Ladybug's Miraculous. Then, of course, the villain would be defeated; their weapon of choice broken, the akuma captured, and the butterfly freed from evil. Ladybug would throw whatever random object she'd gotten for a lucky charm into the air, undoing everything that the villain of the week had done. It was really quite formulaic, but the different villain themes kept it interesting, at least.

Marinette, after transforming back to normal, was left to ponder where exactly the butterflies went. There were a lot of butterflies released if you added them all up, she thought as she lay on her bed at home. Did they just go do whatever little butterfly things that butterflies do, or did they have a home, too? That thought made Marinette's jaw drop as she sat up suddenly. Do they go somewhere special? She'd have to follow the next butterfly, if she had time before her transformation ran out. It would be more helpful to see how they infected someone, though.

The akuma victims never remembered what happened or how they became a villain, but they certainly tried to remember. It had started making Ladybug sad, how everyone was so distraught and confused. Some even had children, and didn't know if they were alright, worrying out of their minds. Ladybug certainly wanted to help, she just wasn't sure how she could. She just walked over and took care of the press, if she had time. It was what she was good at. Chat Noir was the one who stayed behind with the victims, asking their names and where they lived. Sometimes, he'd even walk them home, if they were feeling well enough to stand and didn't need a police escort. It wasn't even something Ladybug and Chat talked about; it was just a pattern that arose. After pondering over the butterfly situation, however, Ladybug realized whatever Chat Noir talked about with the victims could possibly help them. The smallest little thing could mean the world, and figuring out why every akuma victim seemed to be dealing with a bad day would help a lot more.

Marinette suddenly asked Tikki if she'd mind going out as Ladybug for a while. Tikki chimed in her little voice, "Not at all! But… uh… why?"

Marinette just smiled. "Maybe if I'm out, Chat will see me and come talk! I want to talk to him. He might have some knowledge that can help out, he just doesn't know it."

Tikki scratched her head. "You can talk to me about it, if you want!"

Marinette responded as politely as possible. "No, that's fine! I'd just like to see what he talks about with the victims."

Tikki seemed confused at that. "Can't that wait until next time, Marinette?"

"No," Marinette shook her head, jumping off of her bed. "If it will help us understand the akuma better, then we have to find out before it's too late!" She opened her bag as her kwami jumped inside. Marinette opened the hatch to her bedroom, going downstairs and grabbing some cookies for later, in case Tikki needed them.

"Marinette, where are you going?" her mother asked as the girl walked towards the door.

"Just taking a walk, Mama! It's a nice day, and I've been cooped up inside since school ended!"

"Okay, then!" Her mother smiled as the door shut, and stood at the counter for a moment, before looking at the time. "Wait… she only got home twenty minutes ago." The woman stood for a few moments before shrugging. "Oh, well. I guess twenty minutes is a lot of time for a young girl to sit around…"

Adrien wasn't exactly in the mood to do anything in particular. He was off of practice, and the photoshoot for the day had been cancelled, which he knew for a fact was because of last week's akuma attack. The photographer's girlfriend had been cheating on him, then left him (and taken his dog- how cruel could you get?), and next thing Adrien knew, he was watching a man on TV wreck several shoe stores after learning his new ex's newer boyfriend worked at one.

Nino wasn't available to hang around with, because he was on a date with Alya. What exactly happened in that panther enclosure, the world would never know, but Adrien knew better than anyone that some secrets were best kept that way. Adrien looked at his phone. His father usually didn't care what he was up to or who he hung out with when he wasn't on the clock (although Nino definitely wasn't on the Christmas card list), so his options were pretty open.

"How about Marinette?" Plagg asked from across Adrien's bedroom. The little cat kwami sat on Adrien's desk, eating a piece of camembert in a way that was surprisingly not as messy as usual.

"What?" Adrien looked up from his phone at the pint-sized cheese disposal chute.

"Marinette. We both know you don't want to sit around here, and your friend's off being a lovebird with her friend, which means they can't bother you. You two can have all the fun you want over at the bakery, enjoying sweets and playing your little video games." The kwami ended his graceful style of eating, stuffing the remainder of the camembert into his mouth. "Plus she loooves you. You might want to call ahead, first, though. If you show up at her door so suddenly like last time, she might have a heart attack!" the kwami teased.

"Knock it off," Adrien groaned, tossing a pen at Plagg. "However, going to the bakery… does seem like a good idea," he said, standing up. His mouth was already watering.

"Of course it does," Plagg laughed, shaking his head and laughing. "Don't forget me, lover boy!"

Adrien opened his jacket up and let Plagg hide in it while he walked out of his room to seek out Nathalie. It wasn't hard; she was standing in the hallway. Adrien mustered the words he wanted to say, ever careful not to let the wrong thing slip.

"Hey, um, Nathalie? Since I don't have any appointments right now, may I go take a walk to the bakery? I'd like to hang around with Marinette, and since I don't have anything else scheduled today, you won't have to worry if I get sweaty on the walk or something." Adrien assured her.

Nathalie took a quick look at her tablet to make sure there wasn't anything she could go make him do instead, and luckily for him, there wasn't. He couldn't be sent off to the places he usually was, because they required appointments. She looked at the blonde with the same bored look she gave everyone else and shrugged. "Don't get yourself too dirty, and don't spoil your dinner."

Adrien gave her his signature grin, stepped outside, and immediately frowned. Home sure didn't feel like a home. In fact, he didn't remember the last time it had felt that way in the least. He shrugged and walked down the stairs from his house, watching as the gate opened, courtesy of Nathalie. He was pretty grateful that this had worked out; usually, he didn't get an opportunity like that. As free as he felt whenever he got out of school, he felt caged again whenever he stepped inside his dad's limo. What was that, a minute of freedom? Well, at least he had the freedom he wanted now.

Adrien hadn't gotten very far on his walk before he saw a blur of red and black in the sky that he recognized almost instantly. Ladybug jumped from the building closest to him on the left side of the street to the other side, and Adrien was left wondering why she seemed to be in such a rush. Was there an akuma attack right now that he hadn't heard about?! Ladybug usually didn't go swinging around the city for no reason, so Adrien started worrying right then.

Adrien turned on his heel and slipped into the nearest alleyway, speaking into his collar as he did so. "Ladybug's swinging around. We need to make sure she's not in trouble!"

Plagg flew into the air, hovering at eye level with Adrien. "Really, lover boy? She's probably just out for a stroll. Maybe she wanted to cut loose for a while."

"That's possible, yes, but we have to make sure, at least! Plagg, claws out!"

The black cat kwami didn't have time to protest as he was sucked into Adrien's ring, and the boy transformed.

"Chat Noir! There you are!" Ladybug gave him a smile as Chat jumped onto the rooftop she was standing on. "It took you long enough, didn't it? Was your kwami giving you trouble?"

"He always gives me trouble," Chat looked down at his ring, before looking at Ladybug with concern. "Why are you out right now? Is there trouble? An akuma? A robbery?"

Ladybug smiled at Chat, but shook her head. "No, nothing like that! I just wanted to talk to you. I knew if I went around the city, you'd come out eventually."

"Well, you were right about that," Chat relaxed, but also looked disappointed. Ladybug stared at him oddly until he started to grin and lean closer to her, speaking in a purr. "So, what did you need me for, my lady~?"

Ladybug rolled her eyes and booped his nose, pushing him back. Chat leaned on the chimney behind him, smiling his usual smile. Ladybug is so pretty and sweet and strong! Chat thought, watching as Ladybug shifted her weight to her other side, crossing her arms. "I need to ask you about when you're talking to the akuma victims after the battle, when I'm taking care of the press."

Chat stopped leaning against the chimney and stood up in much the same way Ladybug did. "Well, I just want to make sure they're okay. Some of them are more disoriented than others, and they need a hospital visit. The ones who don't usually at least want someone with them. If my ring isn't about to run out of power, I do my best to help."

"I'm aware of that," Ladybug said, uncrossing her arms and putting a hand on her hip. "But do they ever… tell you anything? Do any of them ever know what happened to them?"

Chat shook his head, standing up straight and looking down at the street. "I usually don't ask, because they're always so confused. The shock kind of fries their brains for a while, so I wait a few days to track them down and ask about the details. And, no, they don't remember much of anything. They remember getting angry or sad about whatever was troubling them, but everything after that is a blur up to when we free them."

"That's...not good," Ladybug looked disappointed, and Chat felt the same way. He wished he was able to help her. "Does this mean Hawkmoth just looks over Paris and asks, 'Who's the most emotionally distressed person in Paris today~?' Because that's literally every human being ever. No wonder that most of the victims are teenagers!"

"Some of the things aren't even that bad," Chat commented. "Sure, there's shame in the moment, but it's usually something everyone else wouldn't remember after a week, if it weren't for the akuma!"

"I know what you mean," Ladybug agreed. "I mean, Kim insults a panther's caretaker and he gets mad enough to go dinosaur and eat me?" Ladybug laughed. Chat laughed too, but quieter. He hadn't found that part of the story very funny. Ladybug could have died during that fight, and for what felt like ten whole seconds, Chat thought she had. He had been ready to straight-up kill Animan for what he'd done. Chat took a step closer to Marinette, trying to keep up a smile and forget about the fact murder had crossed his mind back then.

"Yeah," Chat replied half-heartedly. "Alix's watch breaking, no matter how special it was, led her to actually kill people! How crazy is that…?"

This time it was Ladybug's turn to recollect on bad memories. Chat immediately felt terrible for that. He hadn't meant to bring the whole "him-being-erased-from-existence" thing back into her mind. She'd clearly been distressed after his disappearance, even if it didn't last that long. He hadn't been so concerned about it himself once he returned, but Ladybug was different.

"It's pretty crazy," Ladybug muttered, looking down at the rooftop for a moment before looking over the city. "I heard what happened to Nathanaël. That was pretty fair to get mad over, getting humiliated over a crush so terribly." Chat had to agree on that one, to some extent. Nathanaël really didn't deserve that. He was the type of guy that didn't seem to have one bad bone in his body- or at least, he didn't until becoming the Evillustrator. Then, he'd tried to kill Chloé with a saw blade. Chloé didn't deserve that, herself. She definitely deserved something, but not anything that drastic or violent. Plus there was the fact that Chat had almost fallen to his death, what with the ball and chain. Cats always landed on their feet. Chats, however... not so much.

Chat took his mind off of it and looked to Ladybug. "Well, my lady, was there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes, actually," Ladybug said, a face full of excitement showing. It wasn't a smile, more like a stern, determined face, but Chat could tell whatever she wanted to talk about was important. (What Ladybug wanted to talk about was always important to Chat, but this wasn't going to be just anything.) "It's a question I can't believe neither of us have asked until now."

Chat cocked his head to the side. "What would that be, my lady?"

"Where do the butterflies go?"

That stopped Chat's thoughts in their tracks. It was a simple question, with so much impact that just like Ladybug, Chat couldn't believe that neither of them had come up with it before. The butterflies had become part of every fight in such a way that it had almost faded out of Chat's mind. It was par for the course for Chat to watch Ladybug break the object the Akuma was in, to watch it try to escape and fly away. "Au revoir, joli papillion!" Ladybug would say, her face lighting up as she watched the snow-white creature ascend up, up, and away.

"Do they go back to Hawkmoth?" Ladybug questioned. "What happens to them?" She shook her head, looking out over the city's roofs. "We need to follow the next one. But…" Chat felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked into Ladybug's bright blue eyes. "Whatever happens, we can't have our suits running down. We can't have prior appointments or anything. Our minds need to be clear, and we need to be together. If the butterflies really to go back to Hawkmoth, who knows what could be waiting for us? When we follow the butterfly, we're going to do it together. Do you understand, Chat?"

Chat Noir nodded his head. "I wouldn't even think of doing such a thing without you, Ladybug!" he said, smiling. Smiling was what Chat liked most about being with Ladybug, or what Adrien liked about being with his friends. It was natural. It was most often natural with Ladybug, but Adrien's friends were nothing to sneeze at, either. The best smiles were the ones where he didn't realise he was doing it until someone pointed it out. That happening was Chat's way of knowing that he was truly happy in that moment.

"You promise not to do anything foolish and run off on your own, Chat Noir?"

"I promise!" Chat stood up straight and brought his finger across his heart's place in his chest in an "X" motion. "Cross my heart, and, uh… Try not to die." He gave a nervous grin as Ladybug gave a smirk, and stood back.

"Time for us to go our separate ways. We need to make sure we have our energy if there's an akuma attack!" Chat nodded, and as soon as Ladybug had secured her yo-yo on a building and jumped forward, leaping towards the skies, Chat ran to the edge of the roof to watch. Her graceful, energy-filled movements… Chat could watch them all day.

"I hate to watch you leave, but I love to see you go," Chat said out loud to himself, before shaking his head and frowning, descending down into an alleyway, transforming, and walking out onto the street. Nino has a bigger influence on me than I thought, Adrien frowned to himself as he continued on his path to the bakery.

Chat was doing something foolish and running off on his own, because of course he was.

It had been two weeks since the meeting the two had, and three attacks had happened. Today, was the third one, and it had just wrapped up. That one guy from KIDS+ had been ranting about ratings or something like that when the show he starred on had been pulled from the air for lack of viewership. He apparently hadn't been given the memo yet that he was supposed to be starting another show, and thought he was about to be let go. He started through the city, destroying everything with a screen. Boy, had Alya and Nino panicked.

Ladybug had freed the akuma from the microphone the man had been brandishing a minute earlier, but disappointment was already in the air before she did so. Her Miraculous was running low, which meant that for the third time straight, Chat Noir and Ladybug couldn't go after the butterfly to finally discover where Hawkmoth was hiding.

Chat was sick of it. He was so utterly done. He hadn't even had to use Cataclysm, for once, which meant that he had ample time. Ladybug's wave of healing magic swept through the city, and even watching the destruction disappear, Chat felt anger. Not at Ladybug, for not having more time, not at the announcer for becoming angry, and for once, not at himself for failing to make sure the fight was easier for Ladybug, so her resources wouldn't be wasted. He was angry at Hawkmoth. Hawkmoth, who had been taking advantage of everyone in Paris, giving every day the possibility of being someone's downfall.

Chat waved goodbye to Ladybug as she swung along Paris's skyline, making sure to keep an eye on the butterfly. Then, he made a decision he knew he'd probably regret.

The black cat started chasing the butterfly.