"Chat Noir, watch out!"

Her partner scrambled out of the way with a yelp just as Foudre slammed his mighty fist down, smashing the pavement of Paris's beloved streets below. Now on the ground, Ladybug thought they would have the advantage over this giant, but now, she was quickly realizing that even with having this giant's weakness in her hand, there was still no good way to enact it if Chat Noir and her were so out of sync.

Before, it used to be them against the word. Chat Noir once recited that mantra to her whenever she was in doubt, and she believed it. Back then, it was as if they could read each other's minds. They knew what the other was going to do. They could practically finish each other's sentences.

But now... she had no idea what his next move was going to be.

Chat Noir skidded across the pavement on his heels before he was launching himself up at the giant again. Ladybug watched and winced when Foudre swatted him with a backhanded slap as if her partner was a mere worthless fly.

But it didn't matter how many times Foudre pounded him backward. Chat Noir always somehow got back on his feet and launched himself back into the quarrel. Ladybug was unsure of what to make of his sudden, rash and reckless decisions, but she did know that if she intended to defeat this villain, she needed Chat Noir to work with her, not against her.

For the tenth time that night, Chat Noir fell face first into the pavement. But before he could resume his reckless encounters with the giant, Ladybug placed a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to a sudden halt.

"This clearly isn't working." She said with a tentative squeeze. Even under the dimly lit sky, she could make out all the scrapes that littered his face. Even blood was oozing out from his bottom lip. "We need a plan."

With a sniff, he shrugged off her touch. "When you have one, let me know."

She didn't let him get away that easily. Ladybug grabbed a hold of his wrist, forcing Chat Noir to stay put. He threw his head back, letting out a loud, impatient huff, before he turned to face her.

He looked agitated, but so was she.

"What's with you?" She frowned at him, searching his eyes for the answer. His usual emerald irises were dull. "We're supposed to be working together, not recklessly throwing ourselves into the fight."

His lips were pulled into a frown and his eyes were narrowed, dangerously so. The look didn't faze her in the slightest, though.

"I just want to get this over and done with." He said.

"So do I, but we need a plan. At least try and work with me here."

Foudre came at them again with a bellowed shout followed by his mighty fist. Both heroes did a backflip to quickly avoid the blow.

"I am trying," Chat Noir gritted out as they both took multiple backward. "But I haven't done this in a long time. I'm out of practice."

The akumatized giant wasn't exactly thrilled to have missed again. He let out an ear-piercing bellow as he stepped forward, his footstep alone shaking the earth down to its core. Ladybug and Chat Noir stumbled under the tremble and even reached out to hold onto each other for support. The presumed earthquake cracked open the pavement along Paris's narrow streets farther than even her eyes could see.

In the distance, Ladybug could make out the shouts of citizens struggling to escape. There were cars being sucked underneath the streets and people struggling to avoid fall in themselves. She was rather immune to the damage, because she had confidence she could fix it, but Chat Noir's expression spoke volumes. He was terrified.

Ladybug grabbed a hold of his shoulders, forcing him to face her. "You're still Chat Noir no matter how rusty you are, and if I'm going to defeat Foudre, I'm going to need my partner to focus."

Chat Noir's irises glistened at her choice of words. She could tell they lifted his spirits, and perhaps that was all he needed to get himself back on track.

He nodded before gently removing her hands. "Okay, so what do we do?"

"This is the lucky charm." Ladybug replied as she held out the item in between them. It was a red and black spotted wedding band. "I called it sometime while you were fighting Foudre... but I can't figure out what I'm supposed to do with it."

Chat Noir squinted his eyes. "Is that a wedding ring?"

"Specifically the man's wedding ring? Yeah." Ladybug was just as confused. "Do you have any idea what it could mean?"

Another earth-quaking footstep suddenly trembled the earth. Foudre was getting closer. Ladybug launched herself onto the next building and Chat Noir followed on his baton. In an attempt to keep herself hidden from the akuma, Ladybug ducked behind a stone chimney. Chat Noir followed her example and squatted beside her.

"I have no idea." Chat Noir answered, perplexed. "Maybe it's a sign for what we need to do next? I don't see how it could be useful any other way. I mean, how could a ring defeat a giant?"

Ladybug slowly moved the ring between her thumb and index finger. No matter how hard she tried to understand this lucky charm, she simply couldn't. Scanning her surroundings earlier for what she should do with the ring hadn't helped either.

"If it's a sign... it must mean something to one of us." Ladybug said.

Chat Noir looked up at her, uncertain. "Okay... well... what's the first thought that comes to mind when you think of a wedding ring?"

Another tremble beneath them occurred. It caused Chat Noir to let out a wince when he lost his balance and hit the back of his head against the stone chimney.

Ladybug pursed her lips and furrowed her brows in thought. "My parents' marriage?" she shrugged unsurely, "But that doesn't exactly give me the answer I'm looking for. How could my parents help me with this? They don't even know I'm Ladybug."

"What if it's not your parents..." Chat's eyes had gone ghostly then, as if he'd come to some realization. Even his skin had gone pale. "What if its mine?"

She didn't understand what he meant by that. In fact, she really didn't understand why he suddenly looked so frightened.

"What do you mean?" She asked, confused.

"The wedding ring..." Chat Noir pointed at the lucky charm. Her gaze fell downward. "You said this was a man's wedding band, right? Take away the spots and it kinda looks a little bit like my father's ring."

"What?" She blinked up at him. "That doesn't make any sense. What does your father have to do with any of this?"

"I don't know! But it's the first thing I thought of whenever I looked at the ring because he's always been obsessed with my mother's ring and his own."

Confusion was still etched in her features, but Chat Noir's theory made a bit of sense. What if the ring really did symbolize his father's?

"Are you saying we should go give your father a visit?"

Chat Noir's confused irises met her own. "...I don't know. Should we? The weirdest part of all of this is that I actually visited him earlier today."

"You did?" Ladybug was surprised at that. Adrien had been avoiding his father ever since he returned to Paris. Actually, ever since he left for the states. To find out he'd actually gone to see the man was shocking.

"Yeah." Chat Noir nodded, "I went to tell him I planned to return to America... which is not true anymore. I also told him about Emma."

Ladybug tensed a little at the mention of Emma. She wasn't sure how she felt about Gabriel Agreste knowing about their daughter, but then again, he was her grandfather and kind of had the right to know she existed.

Chat Noir instantly noticed her risen shoulders which caused his ears to fall flat against his head. "Should I not have done that? I'm sorry... I should have asked you first—"

"No, no." Ladybug quickly interjected. "You have every right to tell him. I'm just... I guess I'm just a bit wary about him knowing. Your father isn't exactly the nicest man out there."

Chat Noir let out a bitter chuckle at that. "Yeah... except weirdly enough, he gave me advice about what I should do concerning you and Emma... which I thought was a bit strange since he isn't much a family man... like at all..."

Ladybug swore she was listening, but his words fell distant to her ears as Ladybug's attention averted to the complete silence that now lingered throughout their city. The once thundering footsteps of Foudre had completely vanished. In fact, now that she thought about it, there hadn't been any trembling in quite some time.

Quickly standing to her feet and revealing her hiding place, Ladybug took a quick look around.

Any trace of the akumatized giant was gone. There was no sign that Foudre had even existed except for the damage that was still visible below.

Not even realizing she had stood, Chat Noir continued on. "But I will say his advice actually made sense (even though he has never once cared about helping me in any way)—"

"Chat Noir..." Ladybug interrupted him. "Foudre... he's gone."

"What?" Chat Noir quickly stood to his feet. He also took a look around, but neither he could spot the giant that had tried to take their miraculous only minutes ago. "Where did he go? That giant wouldn't have been able to run from the scene without causing the whole world to shake. Besides, since when are akumatized villains ever known to just give up?"

"They're not." Ladybug glanced down at her lucky charm, which she had slid onto her ring finger as to avoid losing it. "Foudre was a distraction."

They both fell silent at that, unsure of what to make of such a revelation. If this was true, Ladybug was even more concerned than she was before. If Foudre was really meant to be a distraction, what exactly was he supposed to be distracting them from?

"A distraction from what?" Chat Noir voiced out her own thoughts for her. Swallowing nervously, Ladybug unraveled her yo-yo and turned to face him.

"I don't know." She answered in less confidence than she would have preferred. "All I know is that Hawkmoth is up to something. Let's get back to the apartment so we can figure out what we should do next."

Nodding in agreement, Chat Noir extended his baton, and together, they launched themselves into the night. But Ladybug didn't dare take her time to return. Something unsettling now sat in the bottom of her stomach, slightly churning.

Whatever it was, she had a bad feeling about it too.

____________

When Ladybug and Chat Noir returned to the apartment, everything was exactly how she left it at first glance. All the lights were off, everyone was still asleep...

Except for the fact that her apartment had been completely trashed... and Alya and Nino were now sitting on her couch. Now de-transformed, she took it all in with a gasp behind her hands, as did Adrien who was right behind her. Alya had her head in her hands, and she was crying. Nino was trying his best to console her.

"What the hell happened?" Marinette asked in absolute horror.

Nino looked up from Alya. She could see the pain in his eyes even with the lack of light in the room. "We thought it was a burglar... but it wasn't. It was Hawkmoth."

"Hawkmoth?!" Adrien repeated the dreaded name in an angered shout. "What the hell would he want with a couple of civilians?"

Nino's shoulders fell, and Alya let out a whimpered cry.

Marinette took another glance around. Her apartment was trashed, and a lot of her belongings were broken, but she wasn't too concerned about her possessions. What mattered was that Alya, Nino and Emma were okay—

"Emma!" Marinette suddenly gasped, realizing that in the midst of all this chaos, her daughter was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Emma?! Is she okay?!"

Nino lowered his head in absolute regret. The sight caused her heart to skip a beat. "We tried our best Marinette... but... he was much stronger than us and there was nothing we could do—"

"No." Adrien said before she could even begin to comprehend those words. He shook his head and stumbled back, almost as if he'd been slapped in the face.

"I'm sorry," Nino seemed like he was on the verge of tears. "But it's true. Hawkmoth took her."

"Dammit!" Adrien shouted as he grabbed fistfuls of his blonde hair and pulled, most likely burning his own scalp. His voice was so loud that it vibrated off the walls of the home. Even the picture frames hanging on her walls trembled.

Marinette could already feel the tears threatening to spill. Her body was trembling, but so was his, except she was trembling out of fear. Adrien was trembling out of rage.

Marinette forced herself not to openly cry. Alya was already doing that, and the last thing she needed was for crying to cloud her better judgement. What she really needed to do was think. Why would Hawkmoth take their daughter? How were they going to get her back?

There was only one logical explanation for the first question, and it was frightening... but there was no other way to make sense of it. Hawkmoth must've taken their daughter because he knew their identities.

But how did he find out? When did he find out?

How did he even know Marinette and Adrien had a daughter?

"Why would he take her?!" Adrien was quickly spiraling. She could tell with the way his voice continued to rise... and the fact that he wouldn't stop pacing. "She's innocent! He has no reason to—!"

"He has a reason." She interjected quietly. Surprisingly, her voice was incredibly calm, but she didn't even recognize it. "He must know our identities."

Adrien's eyes fearfully widened at that, as did Alya's and Nino's. She watched as Adrien swallowed anxiously. "H-How?"

Marinette wasn't sure how, but that had to be the reason. Why else we he take a five-year-old girl, who was like every other girl in Paris other than the fact that her parents were Ladybug and Chat Noir? Even if she wasn't sure how he found out, she knew he was planning to use Emma as leverage. He was making the bold assumption that they would come blindly running without a logical plan and trade in their miraculous for her.

"I don't know." Marinette answered. "But that has to be the reason. Emma means nothing to Hawkmoth except for the fact that she's our daughter."

"I thought we had been so careful about our identities." Adrien voiced out aloud. "I just don't understand how he could've found out... and how he knew we had a daughter."

"There's only one way he could've known we have a daughter." Ladybug's gaze met his in all seriousness. "He knows at least one of us personally."

"You can't be serious." Nino interjected in absolute shock. "You're saying all this time, at least one of you has been in contact with Hawkmoth without even realizing it?"

Adrien shook his head in denial. "No. No, we would know if Hawkmoth was in our lives."

"How?" Nino asked somewhat rhetorically. "You didn't even know each other's identities until recently. Hawkmoth could literally be anyone."

Alya sniffled, drawing her friend's attention. She sat up slightly and wiped the lingering tears that were cascading down her freckled cheeks. Her gaze held determination. "Not just anyone. Hawkmoth has to be somebody close if he knew Adrien and Marinette had a daughter. So, who did you guys tell?"

"I told my family, my friends..." Marinette let out a disbelieved TCH. "A few coworkers... I don't know. Are you saying I could have told Hawkmoth straight to his face?"

"Well... it's not like either of you meant to." Alya said with a shrug. "You both told people you trusted, right? There's no fault in that."

"Except there is fault in that. I shouldn't have told anyone!"

"Marinette, that's unrealistic. You wouldn't have been able to keep Emma a secret."

"But I shouldn't have told coworkers! I should've only told my parents, and you guys—"

"Marinette," Adrien was the one to break her out of almost spiraling into the abyss. She turned to face him, silent tears already staining her cheeks, when she realized he looked just as devastated as she was. In fact, he looked like he was on the verge of crying himself. "This is not your fault."

She wanted to object. How could it not be her fault? She was the mother. "But—"

He shook his head. "No buts. This isn't your fault. You're not the one who told Hawkmoth."

She watched as Adrien suddenly stumbled back, seemingly overwhelmed, and without another thought, she rushed to try and steady him, but Nino beat her to it by grabbing onto Adrien's arm and forcing him to say upright. However, it seemed Adrien's legs had temporarily given out on him, so Nino helped his best friend to the couch. As soon as he was seated, Adrien placed his elbows on his knees and hid his face in his hands.

"Dude... it's okay." Nino tried to assure him. "We're going to get her back."

"You don't understand." Adrien's voice was trembling now. When he lifted his face from his hands, he was openly shedding his own tears. "I'm the one who told Hawkmoth without even realizing it."

Marinette's hands flew to her mouth as she gasped. Alya's eyes widened in fear.

"Who, dude? Who did you tell?" Nino pressed urgently.

Adrien shook his head in shame. It took everything in Marinette not to rush to him and throw her arms around his neck.

"I told my father." Adrien's voice broke as soon as he admitted it. "My father is Hawkmoth."

_______________________________

This chapter is a little shorter than the last... but I had to do that. Cause the next chapter... whoo... it's going to be heart-aching...

And it needs to be in Adrien's POV hehe.

Tune in for chapter 17 on (9/30/2022) where Adrien and Marinette hatch a plan to rescue their daughter. Meanwhile, in the midst of all this chaos, Adrien and Marinette talk about some things.

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