Chapter 1: The Black Cat Miraculous

Another day, another one of Hawkmoth's akumas. It was pretty much a standard routine by now. Both Ladybug and Chat Noir were used to it. Same old, same old.

Perhaps that complacency was why everything had gone oh-so-terribly wrong.

Hindsight was always 20/20. And in hindsight, Ladybug really wished she'd paid more attention to her partner during the battle. Still, she was forced to concede that it had been a barrage of absolutely horrendous bad luck that had somehow led to Chat Noir losing his Miraculous.

His Miraculous!

And as of right now, the ring was in Hawkmoth's possession… which was pretty much the absolute worst-case scenario. At the very least Chat's identity was still safe from her and the masses, but she couldn't even take solace in a silver lining like that when Hawkmoth had Chat Noir's Miraculous.

When she transformed back into Marinette, her mania reached an all-new level of hysteria which had historically only been saved for moments involving her crush with Adrien.

But before the raven-haired girl could launch herself into a frantic stupor, an amused giggle from her side caught her attention. Marinette had to vigorously blink her eyes in disbelief, unable to understand why Tikki of all people had broken into a laughing fit. Her kwami—her pillar of support in times of crisis, her ever-serious counsellor and friend—was actually laughing!

"This isn't funny, Tikki!" Marinette suppressed the urge to scream, panic, run about her room in a frenzy, or hurl herself onto her bed and scream into her pillow as loudly as she possibly could.

Instead, she did none of those things. Facing her kwami, Marinette began to reflect on the severity of their current predicament. "This is really, really bad!" Her frantic words spewed from her mouth like a verbal barrage. "Hawkmoth actually managed to take Chat Noir's Miraculous away from him! He can't transform himself into Chat Noir without it! What do I do!?"

"Oh, Marinette… I'm sorry," Tikki reassured her holder with a wave of her paw, "I should have considered that you would be worried about this. But really, there's no need to fret. Please calm down. Deep breaths, okay?" she advised.

Marinette obliged her kwami, although her breaths were so frantic that she began to hyperventilate. When she eventually cooled off, Tikki seized the opportunity to speak up.

"Remember when I told you that both the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous must always be activated at the same time in order to preserve the balance?" Tikki continued to chortle as she flitted over to the window, the kwami wistfully looking up to the night sky, the view complimented by the many lights littering the skyline of Paris. "There is a very good reason for that."

Marinette quirked her head in befuddlement at her words. Just what was Tikki driving at? How could her normally-sane kwami manage to find the slightest trace of humor or hilarity in this dire situation?

There was being optimistic, and there was being realistic. And realistically, Marinette knew that without her partner, Hawkmoth would have the upper hand and could easily have his akumas overwhelm her.

She needed to rectify this situation, and fast.

Noticing that Marinette was beginning to panic again, Tikki gently shushed her chosen. "Do you know what I'm talking about, Marinette? I mean, you've met him before, haven't you?" the kwami continued with a fond smile, her blue eyes focusing on the twinkling stars above. "That lazy cat?"

Marinette immediately scowled. "Chat Noir?" she muttered with disdain, her mind instantly recalling an oft-used cat pun from her carefree partner, causing her to inwardly groan.

Tikki giggled at Marinette's exasperated reaction, the kwami idly twitching her tail. "Nope," she refuted, "I'm not talking about Chat, Marinette."

Marinette's breath hitched as she finally brought herself to ask, "Who?" Her mind was buzzing with questions and anxious for answers.

"Hee, silly." Tikki paused, the kwami allowing a sly, almost melancholic, smirk to cross her face. "I'm referring to the kwami who's bound within Chat Noir's ring…"

The kwami that is bound within Chat's Miraculous? Marinette's eyes widened as a mental image of a small black cat entered her mind.

"That's right…" Tikki's somber face became one of unbridled glee as she grinned, realizing that her chosen had gotten the message from the shocked gasp that the kwami had heard from Marinette.

"…I'm talking about Plagg."

"At long last, it is mine! Chat Noir's Miraculous — the Miraculous of the Black Cat!"

Deep within his lair, Hawkmoth gripped his fingers around the cold metallic object in his palm, peals of sinister laughter escaping his jaw. "Muhahahaha! Chat Noir's Miraculous is finally in my hands! After so many failures, victory is now within my grasp… I can almost taste it!" he smirked in triumph, licking his parched lips.

Hawkmoth raised his indigo cane up into the air, gleefully signaling for the shutters around the large window in his lair to swing shut. "Without her faithful partner by her side, Ladybug will be a cinch to eliminate, once and for all! And with her Miraculous in addition to Chat Noir's, I'll finally get the happy family that I rightfully deserve!"

It didn't even matter that Ladybug had managed to purify the akuma in the end. The akuma that he'd controlled this time, Particulate, had managed to succeed where so many others before him had failed.

He'd managed to retrieve a Miraculous.

And unlike with Dark Owl, this time Hawkmoth knew that the Miraculous he had with him was legitimate. He could almost feel the immense power in the tiny object flowing through him.

Grinning, he calmly grabbed the ring and slid it onto the ring finger of his right hand. Hawkmoth was immediately rewarded by seeing a glowing sphere of energy fly out of the ring. With a searing flash of green light, the sphere materialized into the form of a tiny floating black cat.

There it was. He remembered seeing it once before, when he'd akumatized Sandboy — Chat Noir's kwami. One half of the key he required in order to achieve his greatest desire.

And it was now in his possession.

"Greetings, Kwami of Destruction." The masked man spoke the title with mirth, projecting an aura of confidence that was further amplified by the numerous white butterflies flitting about the vicinity. He was the one who was currently in control, and he was going to make damn well sure that the kwami knew it. "I am Hawkmoth," he introduced with a curtsy, sarcastically giving a small bow to the cat, "and I am your new master now."

The cat merely glared at the gloating man with all the hatred he could muster up. Which, as the god of chaos and destruction, was quite a lot.

Hawkmoth remained unfazed, however. "As long as your Miraculous is in my possession, you can't do a thing to me," the villain taunted.

His smug words were rewarded by a snarl from the kwami. "Big deal. Sod off."

Hawkmoth hollered at the kwami's retort, his laugh a haunting voice that reverberated around the empty dome.

It actually thought it could defy him? That kwami was wrong… dead wrong. He knew how kwamis worked, and considered that he'd already broken Nooroo to his will… one additional kwami wouldn't be that much harder.

"Dark wings fall."

When he awoke, Plagg wasn't surprised to find himself in Hawkmoth's possession.

Gah… at times his chosen was really, really, really stupid. This was one of those times. How had Adrien managed to lose his Miraculous for real?!

And to Hawkmoth, to boot!

Plagg's first thought was to use Cataclysm on the scumbag to get the whole thing over with and get back to Adrien. No one would complain if he put the prick who'd controlled Nooroo and terrorized Paris out of the way for good.

That idea was shot down quickly when he realized why he'd awakened. Plagg twitched his whiskers in irritation when he saw his Miraculous snugly fitted on Hawkmoth's right ring finger.

Whup. This was now officially worse than Adrien withholding Camembert from him.

"Greetings, Kwami of Destruction. I am Hawkmoth, and I am your new master now."

Ah, come on! Plagg scowled. Of course Hawkmoth was smart enough to immediately try to place him under his control. Hawkmoth had Nooroo with him, after all, and the scoundrel probably grilled his poor friend for all sorts of juicy tidbits and information.

Now that Hawkmoth was his "holder"—Plagg adamantly refused to acknowledge him as that—he couldn't Cataclysm the cocky villain. A darn shame.

Still, he wasn't going to go down without a fight. "Big deal," Plagg said with a disinterested voice, bluntly making his opinion of the man known, "Sod off," he proceeded to add for emphasis, his green eyes flashing maliciously as he made eye contact with Hawkmoth.

Hawkmoth then cackled, evidently finding his defiance amusing. When he dropped the laugh however, no amount of preparation could prepare Plagg for what he saw next.

"Dark wings fall."

What the… he's transforming back in my presence? But before Plagg could even raise a paw, a flash of purple blinded the room as Hawkmoth reverted back into his civilian form.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

Plagg didn't expect to recognize the man outside the mask. A small estranged gasp escaped him, his jaw dropping before he could suppress his shock when he realized that he did.

But could one blame him for his reaction? There was a legitimate reason for the kwami's response to be so profound.

Hawkmoth—the vile villain who had been terrorizing all of Paris in search of him, Tikki, and their Miraculous—was none other than his chosen's very own neglective father.

Gabriel Agreste.

Plagg would have made a Star Wars—he secretly enjoyed the film—joke here, but at the moment, he couldn't even bring himself to. He was berating himself for not seeing the signs earlier, for letting the situation in front of him play out to its terrifying conclusion.

So not happening. The scenario that was playing out now was somehow worse than him being coerced to go through a Camembert withdrawal. Because if Gabriel was Hawkmoth, that meant that he was actively trying to injure—or worse!—Chat Noir, Adrien, his very own son.

Father of the year, ladies and gentlemen, Plagg thought. Finally finding it within himself to glare at the man, he began to see red. The kwami was practically seething with fury as he clenched his paws and viciously bared his fangs at the blond-haired man.

The man who meticulously controlled his chosen's life on a daily basis and the villain who sent out akumas to cause havoc (also on a daily basis)… were one and the same.

Oh, hell no.

The playing field had now changed, and most certainly not for the better.

Plagg firmly made up his mind. Before, he had wanted to screw with Hawkmoth until the man made a mistake, thereby allowing Plagg to escape and wind up back at Adrien's side. Plagg would then enjoy yet another delectable five-course meal of Camembert while he and Adrien bantered and rubbed Hawkmoth's near-victory in the villain's face, laughing off his chosen's temporary loss of the Miraculous and shrugging it off as yet another failed attempt by Hawkmoth before changing the subject to tease Adrien about his crush on Ladybug.

But now?

The floating Plagg hissed under his breath, his eyes shifting slightly to make eye contact with a trembling Nooroo, the purple butterfly kwami shuddering as he apprehensively hid behind Gabriel's right shoulder.

As the gears in Plagg's mischievous mind began concocting a diabolical plan to make his new master's life hell, the small cat decided that now, it was personal.

Author's Note:

Hi! I'm back at it with my humorous 'kwamis torment Hawkmoth' crack nonsense.

After writing about Nooroo trolling Gabriel in "Bring Me Their Miraculous!", I received a couple of comments saying that Plagg would approve of Nooroo's actions in that story… which instantly planted the idea of Plagg being the one to troll Hawkmoth in my head.

Well, that idea now exists. I hope that you are all happy for the disaster that this shall become… a kwami swap of sorts—except not really—and with well, twice the hijinks and anarchy.

So yeah… Gabriel with Plagg. I'm still debating on whether to make this story humorous or serious — probably a mix of the two. Hope y'all stick around!