Chapter One

Marinette was in shock when she woke up. She was currently in what looked like an interrogation room, sitting next to Adrien. Across from them, an Interpol officer was seated.

The last thing Marinette remembered before waking up was just after Ladybug and Catnoir had chased away the powered up Hawkmoth. Ladybug and Cat Noir were retreating when she had noticed Cat Noir falling, appearing to be unconscious. She had caught him and brought him into an alleyway to hide him when she had felt a prick in the back of her neck and lost consciousness.

"Marinette, Adrien. You are probably wondering what you are doing here", said the Interpol Agent. "Well, I'll tell you why. Adrien, the girl sitting beside you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, is the true identity of the one known as Ladybug." Not even pausing, he continued: "Marinette, the boy sitting next to you, Adrien Agreste, is the true identity of Cat Noir."

Both Marinette and Adrien stared at each other, a deep red blush on Marinette's face and an expression of shock on Adrien's.

The agent continued: "While I would have preferred your identities to be a secret (especially since my daughter is a fan of yours), I have been given orders directly from my superiors. In bringing you here, we allowed the reporter's cameras to catch sight of you transforming, so now everyone knows who you are. If you have any doubts, we can show you the feed if you want.

Realizing that Marinette was too shocked to respond, Adrien turned to the agent and said, "Despite my curiosity, I respected Ladybug's wishes for us to remain anonymous. Tell me, why have you endangered both us and our families and friends? And when Hawkmoth is finally gone, how can we return to our normal lives when we have a target on our backs? We only have these abilities BECAUSE of Hawkmoth's presence. When we no longer have them, we will become a target for those who desire power. We will constantly be on the run."

Marinette, who was still in shock, had to restrain herself from gushing over Adrien as she glared at the officer.

"Despite your efforts to stop Hawkmoth, his actions today were a declaration of war. With the power to take control of so many people, he could take over France, and may even be able to take over the entire world if he is no contained. Thus, my superiors decided that we needed to do what we could to help you. To stop Hawkmoth, we need your full cooperation, which includes knowing who you truly are. Since you always retreat so quickly, we decided to take matters into our own hands and force you to speak with us."

Marinette finally dared to speak as she said, "I can understand that you want to work with us to stop Hawkmoth. I can understand your need to know our true identity. But that does not explain why the entire world had to know. As A...A...Adr...Cat Noir said you put our families and friend lives at stake. I can live with never having a normal life. It is already too late for that. My problem is that you put my parents and my friends in danger."

The officer sighed and said, "Calm down. We have experts who have been studying Hawkmoth since he first appeared. We have found that Hawkmoth has never once attempted to kill anyone. His main focus is on you and your "Miraculous." Through extensive research, we have concluded that by revealing your identity it will protect them from harm. Hawkmoth will no longer have any need to draw your attention by taking control of innocent people. And with you under our protection, Hawkmoth will find it much harder to get to you."

After pausing for a moment, he continued: "My superiors have instructed me to ask you some questions, but for now you can go home. I will give you a week to decide if you will work with us or not. If you refuse even after thinking about it, I will have no other choice but to take your miraculous from you and give it to someone who will work with us."

After looking at the two adolescents, the officer said, "You must still be in shock about this. I will give you a moment to talk. Marinette, your parents, are waiting in the lobby. Adrien, we are still trying to contact Gabriel Agreste, but if you wish you can go the Marinette."

After the officer left the room, Adrien put a hand on Marinette's shoulder in an attempt to help her relax but got the opposite effect instead: She made a squeaking noise and pulled away, her face getting even redder than it already was.

Surprised, Adrien asked "What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"

Marinette shook her head and tried to speak, but nothing would come out.

Adrien could feel his irritation growing, and he angrily said, "Will you please say something! Do you hate me this much?"

An expression of horror appeared on Marinette's face, but before she could say anything, Tikki came out of her bag and angrily said, "This is not the time to be discussing this. We need to leave so that we can talk without them overhearing!"

Adrien sighed and said, "Fine" before going over to knock on the door to the room. When they were let out, Marinette hastily moved towards the lobby to meet her parents while Adrien followed behind with less enthusiasm.

The moment Marinette got into the lobby, she hugged her parents. When they released her, she stood awkwardly as her father approached Adrien. Marinette was scared at first at what her father was going to say, but what happened next shocked her. Her father hugged Adrien and said, "Thank you for protecting my daughter."

Her father invited Adrien to join his family for dinner, and though he tried to refuse her father insisted. The drive home was silent and awkward, and the meal was even more uncomfortable. Adrien and Marinette finally got some time alone when her parents said they would wash the dishes, and left them alone to talk.

Marinette quietly led Adrien up to her room and let Tikki out.

It was then that Plagg finally came out of Adrien's pocket and said "Can I get some cheese now? I'm starving."

Tikki, who appeared to be irritated, grabbed onto Plagg's ears and said, "You can have cheese later! Now is not the time."

Because Marinette still hadn't recovered, Adrien directed his question towards Tikki: "Why is Marinette acting so unusual?" Tikki started to answer, "I would tell you, but..."

Plagg interrupted, "Marinette is just embarrassed because she just found out that Cat Noir is the boy she has a crush on and is upset that she has been unknowingly rejecting him."

Marinette screamed at Plagg's blunt words, and Tikki slapped Plagg hard before flying over to comfort Marinette.

Now in a state of shock as well, Adrien collapsed onto his butt.

Plagg rubbed his cheek and said to Tikki, "It won't help to keep it a secret. It is better to get this drama over with now, or it will be even more difficult for Ladybug and Cat Noir to work together in the future."

Marinette forced herself to ask, "What does he mean, Tikki?"

Tikki looked sad as she explained, "Because you did not choose to reveal your identities to each other, you weren't ready for it. The result is that your unresolved feelings desynchronized you. If you try to go out and fight Hawkmoth or an Akuma in your current state, you will be easily defeated. I know this because with every Ladybug and Cat Noir I have known, one of two things always happens. They either find out when they are ready, and can resolve their issues, or find out by force, and they grow distant from each other. It is especially painful of Plagg and me because it causes us to become hostile towards each other. As you just saw, the process has already started. The last time there was an incident where Ladybug and Cat Noir found out too early, Plagg came up with an idea. He believes that we can prevent the problem by not keeping any secrets at all. That the sooner we start, the more likely we are to fix the problem. Last time, we didn't get a chance to try it out, but in the past, it also wasn't as vital as it is now."

Adrien once again tried to reach out to comfort Marinette, but she pretended not to notice as she reached over and hugged Tikki. "It's going to be okay, Tikki. I...I...I need time to process it."

Plagg groaned and said, "Tikki, if you won't tell them, then I will."

Tikki pulled away from Marinette and screamed: "No, they aren't ready for that yet!"

Plagg ignored her and said, "Master Fu didn't choose you to be Ladybug and Cat Noir. We did. We chose you because we know the truth about you."

Tikki was sobbing now as Plagg said: "Every single Ladybug and Cat Noir...are reincarnations of each other."

The room was silent, except for the sobbing of Tikki.

After a few minutes, Plagg flew over to Tikki, but when he reached over to comfort her, just like with Marinette with Adrien before, she pulled away. With a cold monotone voice, Tikki said: "Just leave me alone."

Plagg suddenly got angry and yelled at Marinette "Stop it with the moping! You're the reason Tikki is acting this wa...!" It was then that he lost consciousness, along with Tikki.

Worry overwhelming their confusion, Marinette quickly picked up Tikki and Plagg and said to Adrien "They're exhausted! They haven't been able to eat, for hours even though they were exhausted from the fight!"

Adrien stood up and said, "I'll go get some cheese for Plagg! What does Tikki need?"

"She loves chocolate chip cookies, but she will eat anything in the bakery. Just hurry!"

As Adrien rushed downstairs, Marinette rushed Tikki and Plagg over to her bed and set them down on her pillow.

"Please be okay!" she said, watching them struggle to breathe.