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cawndiez · 4 months

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Missing - Part 2

Please leave a message after the tone.

*Beep!*

“Marinette, where are you? You said you would be spending with your friends, but It’s late and you have school tomorrow. If you want to spend the night with Alya, you know your father and I are fine with it, but you need to tell us first. Just call us back as soon as you can. Love you.”

*Beep!*

“Girl, you had better have a good reason for bailing on us yesterday! I don’t care what is going on between you and Lila, but that was no excuse to stand us up! You need to get over this beef with Lila, she has done nothing to you. You’re supposed to be better than this, remember? You’re not like Chloe.

I’ll be going to your house after school and we are going to have a talk because this? This just can’t continue. I’ll see you later.”

*Beep!*

“Psst! Mari, it’s Nino. I wanted to give you a heads up, but Alya looks furious and it seems to be at you. I’ll try to cool her down, but I don’t know what happened and it might help if you let me know your take. You know how she gets sometimes. Call me back!��

*Beep!*

“Hey, Marinette? This is Adrien. I noticed you weren’t in school today and just wanted to make sure you were okay. If you need anything, please call and let me know.”

*Beep!*

“Hello, Marinette! It’s Rose! I know you’re probably very busy and that’s why you didn’t come yesterday. No worries, I’m not upset! I just wanted to check in and make sure everything was okay. I just noticed you’ve been a bit down lately. Or maybe it’s because of whatever has you so busy? Anyway, if you need help, I’m only a phone call away. Bye!”

*Beep!*

“Marinette, it’s your dad. Where are you? Your school called and said you never made it in today. Your mother and I are worried. Please call us back and at least let us know where you are. We love you.”

*Beep!*

“Marinette, are you okay? You weren’t in school yesterday and now Alya is saying you never went home? That’s not like you. We all really care about you, so please, just let us know you’re all right.”

*Beep!*

“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but it won’t work. All you’re doing is making it easier for me. I hope you realize that.”

*Beep!*

“Hey, it’s Juleka. Where are you? Your parents are at the school and they seem pretty worried. They’re asking if we know where you are. Did you get into a situation? It’s never taken you more than an hour to respond to a text or call and some of the others said they’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday.”

*Beep!*

“Marinette, it’s Alya. If you think you’re being cute or funny, you’d better stop and come clean now. Your parents are calling the police and naming you a missing person. If this is a joke, I’m never speaking to you again.

I just…you’d better be safe. And if you are, let me know.”

*Beep!*

“Hey, Mari. It’s Nino. Look, I don’t know what happened, but I hope you’re okay. A bunch of us are getting together to try to look for you. So if you get this, just call any one of us. Though it might be best to reach your parents first.

Just hang in there.”

*Beep!*

“Listen, it’s Alix. We know something’s happened and we’re all out looking for you. If you’re in a bad situation, just call or text us a location and we’ll be there guns blazing before whoever’s messing with you can blink. Just reach out to us however you can.”

*Beep!*

“Marinette. It’s Alya. If this is about what I texted earlier, I just want you to know I didn’t mean it, okay? I was just angry. We can talk things out and I’ll…try to listen better this time. Just please tell me you’re safe.”

It had been four days since the official announcement and there was still no sign of Marinette. Regardless of any issues or conflict, she was their classmate and they wanted to help in the search for her. Sabrina had been a good source of information given her father’s role with the police, though the information they had at this time was limited.

Marinette was gone. Her parents had contacted the police and named her a missing person. Law enforcement officials were currently keeping an eye out for the girl. But at this point, that was all they knew.

“Maybe we can help look for her ourselves?” Rose suggested earnestly. This would help in the overall effort of hopefully finding their friend, or at the very least would cheer them up and allow them to feel useful. “We know her pretty well. So what if we look around in areas we know she’s been or would be and see if we can find anything?”

“We may not be necessary.” Lila replied smoothly in a way that seemed to ease the other class members but made Adrien suspicious. “She already has multiple people looking out for her. We would just get in the way.”

“Hey, we’ve been through a lot together already from akumas to natural disasters and akumas that cause natural disasters.” Nino replied with a grin. “We’ve made a difference then and we could be the difference needed now.”

Adrien smiled at that, as did others in the class. Count on Nino to stand up for his friends and encourage everyone to coordinate. Honestly, if Marinette hadn’t gotten the position of Class Representative and more than proved her capability for it, Nino certainly would have been his second choice.

“There’s nothing to worry about.” Lila replied with a smile. She brought up her hand to her mouth and spoke more lowly, as if sharing a secret. “I didn’t want to come out and say it, but I’ve already spoken with Ladybug and asked her to personally look into the matter. It’s why she’s been seen around Paris so often lately. I’m sure this will all be taken care of soon.”

At that, the others in the class seemed reassured with the knowledge that their local hero was involved.

“Wow Lila, it’s great that you were able to get Ladybug involved!” Alya said, appearing cheerful.

Lila smiled. “Well, we are friends. And of course I wouldn’t want anything to happen to Marinette.”

Adrien frowned. Yeah, no. He wasn’t trusting her on that.

“Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have a few more eyes and ears out and about.” Adrien spoke up, causing the others in the class to turn to him. “Ladybug and Chat Noir are good at fighting akumas and helping with problems, but that’s if they know about them. Sometimes, we’ve had to be the ones to send out word to let them know there was a problem.

Max nodded in agreement, much to Adrien’s relief. “Even if they’re already on the case here, there’s every chance we could come across something they haven’t yet. More people can only be beneficial.“

“Yeah!” Alix cheered. “Besides, it’d be better than just sitting around here and waiting.”

The others agreed, given the lack of anything else they could do about the matter at this time and resolved to aid in the search the next afternoon.

To Adrien’s joy, the rest of the class was on board and they worked on making plans to search for Marinette. They agreed as a group to attempt to look around the city in hopes of finding anything that could lead to her. Lila, unsurprisngly, wasn’t too happy with the plan but put on a smile and played as though she was completely on board. Alya seemed reluctant to believe the seriousness of the situation, but still resolved to try to find her friend regardless. As such, the class worked out a plan to start a search that afternoon and agreed to split off into teams to cover more ground.

Adrien, by some matter of cursed luck he was sure, ended up in a team with Lila—who seemed more interested in milking her time with him and remained clinging to his arm. She kept playing up the “fearful girl” act, going on about how if Marinette was missing, maybe something was targeting young girls and oh she was so terribly frightened! Sadly, his other teammates were of little help in the matter, as Kim simply smirked at him and gave him the thumbs up sign like he was cheering him on for something while Max was working with Markov to run possible statistics and compile a list of places Marinette could be.

He was about to resign himself to an afternoon of feeling uncomfortable and experiencing numbness of the arm until a flash of red out of the corner of his eye attracted his attention and a glance upward revealed a certain spotted heroine surveying the city from a rooftop.

Ladybug! What was she doing out here?

Actually, that made him pause, considering. If he needed to be searching anyway, he could cover much more ground as Chat Noir. Plus he could tell his Lady of the situation and they both could search together! With the two of them on the case, surely they could find Marinette!

And it would get him away from Lila. Though a part of him said he really shouldn’t be as happy about that as he was. That was drowned out by the rest of him that really wanted her to stop touching him.

He ended up only feeling slightly guilty for the poor excuse he gave before rushing out of view to transform and join his Lady. He still fully intended to help in the search, it was just going to be from a better vantage point.

She loved the sky.

Why had she never noticed before?

Maybe it was because she never got to fully enjoy it due to the akuma fights. But here and now, just being allowed to stop and take it all in, it was like she was really seeing the world for the first time.

It was especially lovely at night.

The stars were amazing, though a shame the lights made them so hard to see. She loved getting to see the city like this, though. Those very lights may have made seeing the stars difficult, but they had their own kind of charm, she thought. It was like looking out over a sea of stars.

But everything was so much brighter and vibrant during the daytime. Color everywhere. The variety of flowers. Birds singing. Seeing the people going about their lives.

It was calming. Peaceful.

Why didn’t she get to see it this often? The clouds, the sunrise and sunset, the subtle ways the color shifted as the day continued that made her want to do…something with her hands to recreate it.

Maybe she should take up painting?

Well, she needed to find something to do with her free time now that she wasn’t just here when summoned. She had thought about taking advantage of her current situation to try to search the city for Hawk Moth, but without an akuma to try to trail, there was no way to even know where to start looking for him. So she took to patrolling the city instead, keeping an eye out for any butterflies or other strange activities. She had to be diligent, after all.

But oh, how her hands twitched to do something, and no amount of swinging around Paris or tricks with her yo-yo seemed to ease them.

There was a feeling of discontent she couldn’t ease. And a growing urge to do…something but she didn’t know what.

“Ladybug! Hey, LADYBUG!”

The shouting brought her out of out her musings. Turning towards the source, she found a Chat Noir waving his hands and calling to her as he leapt towards her. He looked upset for some reason. Was there an akuma?

She paused and allowed him to catch up to her. “Chat Noir, what are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you. Can’t a simple cat come by and greet his Lady?”

Ladybug wasn’t moved, nor was she feeling particularly inclined to share her current state of confusion. “Did you need something?”

He blinked a bit at her abruptness, but decided to let it go in favor of a more important matter. “I’m helping out in a search.”

That sounded serious, she noted. “Has something happened?”

Chat Noir nodded. Now that he had found Ladybug, he just needed to explain the situation and soon enough the two of them would join the search. He was almost bouncing with anticipation.

His friend would no doubt be found soon.

“Marinette has been missing for the past three days, it seems.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

That gave him pause.

“Marinette?” He asked, sounding uncertain though Ladybug didn’t know why. “Marinette Dupain Cheng?”

Her expression didn’t change, and whatever excitement he originally had seemed to wilt. “We’ve helped her before, remember? You had me protect her from the Evillustrator. And then there was Befana, Gamer, and Glaciator.”

Ladybug shrugged. “She doesn’t stand out. Though she seems to have been involved in a number of akumas.”

He raised an eyebrow at that. “Seriously? She’s been a big help before.”

“Chat Noir, we can’t know everyone in Paris by name.”

He looked away, uncertain. He couldn’t really argue the point as it did make sense. Still, it did seem a bit off. He could have sworn it seemed like Marinette and Ladybug at least knew each other. If they weren’t friends.

And he would have sworn they were.

“Maybe you should. I’m sure the two of you would get along. You have a lot in common.”

She was far from impressed at the thought. “I’d hope not, if she really has been involved in so many akuma attacks.”

Chat frowned at that, not particularly happy with the criticism of his currently missing friend. “She’s a good person.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” She said, altogether unconcerned.

He wasn’t pleased, but he didn’t argue further. It would just turn into a conflict and likely make her less inclined to assist.

“Well, she’s disappeared and nobody knows where. I figured we could help out in the search for her.”

“But aren’t the police already involved? We shouldn’t interfere.”

His frown grew at that. This was really not how he imagined this conversation going.

“Are you sure she didn’t run away?”

He blanched. “Of course I’m sure! Why would she?”

She sighed—sighed! What was going on with her? “Chat Noir, we can’t presume to know people’s lives.”

“She wouldn’t run away! Marinette’s not like that!” Chat insisted, growing more frustrated.

“How do you know?” She asked.

That made him stop for more reason than one.

Because truthfully, he couldn’t know. He didn’t know what Marinette was thinking or how she was feeling. He knew certainly that she had been having some difficulty over recent weeks with the reappearance of Lila and her constant lying to everyone. He even knew that Lila herself seemed to have a grudge of sorts against Marinette. There was still that incident not too long ago where Marinette was forced to the back of the class. He felt bad, because she had seemed pretty upset by that and no one else seemed to notice. Maybe that had affected her more than he thought? Maybe there was more going on in her home life than he realized? He didn’t know. He really had no way of knowing for sure that she wouldn’t run away.

But what he did know of her screamed otherwise with all the ferocity he normally reserved for battle. The very thought made him want to rear back and hiss. She wouldn’t run away. She couldn’t have. Marinette was strong and strong willed. Despite the issues he knew of that had been going on lately, Marinette wasn’t one to run away.

But he couldn’t tell Ladybug any of that either. She’s made it clear they need to keep their civilian identities hidden. And as much as it irked him to keep that part of himself hidden from her, he at least understood why. He knew she wouldn’t run away precisely because he knew Marinette and the kind of person she was. He knew her both as Chat Noir and as Adrien. Even if she acted differently between them, he still thought he knew her well enough. But he couldn’t tell Ladybug without revealing his relation to her. He wasn’t supposed to risk anything—not his identity and not any possible relationships or ties he may have.

He wanted to groan in frustration. Times like these, the secret identities were more of a pain than anything.

“She’s been through a lot as it is. She’s strong and determined. She’ll stand up to bullies and liars and always faces her problems head on. She’s kind and has many people who care about her.” He stopped, realizing just what he was saying. “Or so I’ve been told.”

Ladybug raised an eyebrow incredulously. “Chat Noir, are you having a relationship with someone while in the mask?”

He froze. His mind went blank for a moment before forcefully rebooting and realizing what she had just said and how this could appear.

“What—no! I’m not in a relationship with her! I just—she’s a good person and I really think we can help!” He insisted.

She hesitated, and seeing this, he chose to press on.

“She’s a good person, and as heroes, isn’t it our job to help people in need?”

“I don’t think we should interfere with the police investigation.” She stated firmly, but seeing his forlorn expression, something in her relented. “However, I will keep an eye out during my patrol and I’ll let you know if I happen to see her.”

His ears perked at that and he grinned widely. “Thank you, Ladybug! That’s all I can ask for.”

“I can’t promise we’ll find her.” She reminded him.

“But we can at least try. Thank you.”

“If we’re going to keep an eye out for her, we’ll need to know what she looks like.”

He blinked, startled. “Oh, right! Let me get a picture.”

With a couple of simple clicks on his baton, he sent Ladybug the picture he had of Marinette. He watched her expression to see if there was any sense of familiarity, but she only glanced over the image and nodded. There was no recognition there. No realization of who Marinette was. Maybe she was right? That Marinette was just one out of the many citizens of Paris and she couldn’t recall them all. Still, something bothered him about that and continued to bother him even after they parted ways.

How strange that she didn’t even know who Marinette was or what she looked like. It was somewhat unnerving that she didn’t even seem to recognize the other girl despite being the one to point Chat to her in the first place. Well, Chat-him, at any rate. She didn’t know about Adrien-him or that he would already know Marinette from his civilian life.

But Chat didn’t think much of it. He was so relieved to have Ladybug agree to help. They would find Marinette soon enough. He had no doubt!

Looking back, maybe he should have.

Soon enough, she and Chat Noir parted ways with the agreement that they could cover more ground that way. Ladybug was honestly grateful for the time to herself. She would certainly try to keep an eye out for any missing persons or strange activities, but something was nagging at her and she wanted to ease the growing headache she was feeling because of it.

She had been making progress on lessening the ache until she again heard her name being called.

Looking down towards the source, she found a couple of teenagers waving their hands and calling to her. Oh, they were from that school. That akuma-attracting class, she believed. And they looked upset for some reason. Was there an akuma? Or something else?

She swung down to meet the duo. They looked familiar and thinking back, she recognized them as the civilians that had become Lady Wifi and Bubbler. Alya Cesaire and Nino Lahiffe. Alya ran the Ladyblog. Both were generally a good source of information and had a strange tendency to end up in the middle of akuma attacks.

“Has something happened?” She asked, looking between them.

The students looked nervous. No, worried.

“It’s a friend of ours. She’s gone missing and we’re trying to find her.” Nino explained.

“Missing? Wait—do you mean that Marinette girl?”

The two nodded, appearing relieved.

“She went missing a few days ago.” Alya informed her. “Marinette was supposed to meet us at a cafe and never showed up.”

“I see. Did you have contact with her prior to that?” Ladybug asked. If she at least had a timeframe to look at, that could perhaps be a starting point and narrow the search. Though three days was admittedly long enough that she could be anywhere.

Alya started glancing through her phone. “We had texted each other a bit before then, but there reached a point where I was sending her texts and she just stopped responding. I thought…” She hesitated.

Ladybug frowned. “You thought…?”

The other girl hesitated, appearing anxious. “There was something of a disagreement. And when she didn’t show up at the cafe, I just sort of assumed it had to do with that.”

“I see.” Truthfully, she did, and not in a good way. It almost sounded as if the girl might have had cause to run away after all.

“Still, is it official? Are you really on the case then?” Alya asked, appearing excited at the news.

“We aren’t taking over the search or interfering in the police investigation.” Ladybug clarified. “But both Chat Noir and I have agreed to keep an eye out for her just in case.”

The couple seemed pleased with that. Like a weight had been lifted.

“We knew you would be willing to help.” Nino said with a smile. “We shouldn’t have been surprised since Lila said she had already told you about it.”

Here, Ladybug tilted her head in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

Nino blinked in surprise at her response. “Lila Rossi. She’s a friend of yours, isn’t she?”

“Yes!” Alya chimed in. “She told us about how you met! She even told us how you carried an ear plug for her during the Chameleon incident! It was great that she was able to get your help on the search!”

None of this was familiar. She knew nothing about anything either of them were saying and couldn’t help the growing frown. Was she forgetting things? It felt like she was, but even so…

This rang false.

“I’ve encountered her more times when she was akumatized than I have her civilian self. My only interaction with her was when I confronted her on telling stories about a relationship with me and claiming to have the Fox Miraculous. Just doing either of those things is dangerous, but claiming both would surely make her a target, regardless of how untrue they were.”

Alya froze, smile strained. “What?”

“I’m sorry, but it seems you may have been misinformed.” Ladybug stated, holding her hands up in a peaceful gesture. “Aside from her multiple akumatizations, I haven’t had any interaction with her. Other than when she became Chameleon, the last time I had any involvement with her was when she was Volpina during the Hero’s Day battle.”

Nino blanched. “Wait—you mean the illusion of you and Chat?”

Ladybug nodded. “It was most certainly another of Volpina’s tricks. I’m almost positive she was also the one who created a false Hawk Moth for Chat and I to face so he could attempt a sneak attack.”

“But…that means she had to have been in Paris that day.” Nino pointed out, looking to Alya in confirmation.

Alya’s grip on her phone tightened. “But she was supposed to be in Achu meeting with Prince Ali.”

“I don’t know anything about that.” Ladybug said simply. “But I can say with certainty that she was present for that battle.

“Then…how did you know about Marinette?” Alya asked, almost seeming to be reaching for something that wasn’t there.

“Chat Noir informed me just an hour ago. Prior to that, I didn’t know anything about this.”

Nino swallowed thickly. “N-nothing at all?”

“You haven’t spoken with Lila at all?” The Ladyblogger appeared to be growing desperate for something. Though for what, Ladybug wasn’t certain and no matter her answer, she couldn’t seem to give her what she was hoping for.

Ladybug thought back. Funny, she could swear she felt a dislike for this girl, but her encounters with her were minimal at best. “I haven’t spoken with her since immediately after she was restored from being Chameleon, and that conversation was brief.”

“A-about her tinnitus?” Alya asked, sounding hopeful for some strange reason.

“I wasn’t aware she had a disability.” Came the offhand response. “She seemed to have little difficulty getting up and down the tower on her own.”

Both Alya and Nino appeared to be growing more tense. Nino kept glancing to Alya in something like worry, while Alya appeared to be trying to hold herself together.

Ladybug glanced between the two, noticing how they both only appeared to be getting more agitated. But she was uncertain how to proceed or what specifically to address. And that nagging feeling and headache from earlier was returning with a vengeance.

“I’m sorry, but I really must be going.” She told them. “I’ll be patrolling the area for a while yet, so I’ll see if I can’t keep an eye out for this Marinette in the meantime. If there is anything else you need?”

Neither of the two said anything. They simply shook their heads in response.

“Then bug out!”

With that, she let her yo-yo fly and took off. She didn’t know what either of those students had been trying to achieve or what they had been seeking from her.

But there had been something in Alya’s expression that appeared heartbroken.

*Beep!*

“…Marinette. Alya again. I…I spoke with Ladybug. She’s been swinging around the city more the past few days and I was able to talk to her.

She…didn’t know Lila at all. And she pointed out things that I…hadn’t really considered previously. I…really need to talk to you. So if you get this, please call me back.”

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