The Missing Purrincess

Chapter 44: Realizations and Questions

 He wasn't eating the cheese, It hung loosly at his side instead.

---Adrien's POV---

I looked back at Master Fu's place. I wasn't dropping it, but Milady was already mad enough at me. I'd rather bring Nino going in there up with her before making another rash decision. Besides, this was Nino Lahiffe! My best friend! 

If Nino was hiding something bad, I'd know about it. This was the same guy who was akumatized into a gumball shapped bubble man for crying out loud. 

Even thinking back on it the whole Carapace thing would have been a whole lot more obvious if I wasn't always absent during akuma fights and everything. I had no idea when he was around or not. Honestly my main question there was how he kept it a secret from Alya. 

I would have to tell Ladybug about it later then. I turned back towards the rest of the city, honestly wondering if Marinette could even be found.

Not that i'd ever stop looking of course, she was one of my best friends. Even if I made her slightly uncomfortable, she was always there for me. No matter what Ladybug says, I knew she would want me to keep looking till I found her.

Awesome as that girl was, she was also tiny and clumsy. There was no way she could fight for herself if needed, which ment every moment I wasn't with her was another where she could get seriously hurt.  I've seen Marinette get thrown across the lawn by Chloe with a single push. If someone really wanted to hurt her...

No. She had to be here somewhere. She had to be. 

Leaping off the rooftop, I scanned the streets again for any sign of her smile. Her positive demeanor or her bouncy little walk. I searched the entierty of Paris' streets twice over for her, but nothing. 

I jumped back into my room and destransformed. Plagg, upon being freed, went straight for the cheese. Figures. 

"Kid?"

I turned to my kwamii. He was holding out a piece of camenbert in my face.

"Gross! Plagg get that away from me!"

"That's your problem kid." Plagg said, looking me in the eye. "I have been the kwamii of destruction since destruction was invented okay? I've seen my fair share of kittens, and yet SOMEHOW, you may be one of the most stubborn."

I stared at him, eyes wide. He wasn't eating the cheese, It hung loosly at his side instead.

"Plagg?"

"No. You and your wide eyed sunshineness need to accept something for me. Pigtails has been gone for a while. At this point, you're not gonna find her by searching streets like she was going on a walk. She's either in a building, or not in Paris. That's just common knowladge."

"So I should look inside peoples homes?!"

"No! I'm saying that you need to lighten on your searches. Scouring the streets everyday is doing nothing for her. And you kid, need to learn when to let something go."

"I-I can't just let her go! She's my friend!"

Plagg got closer to my face, stubs hand things on his side. "Is she? Because from my view, Pigtails and you were not nearly as close as you and DJ. Not even you and the laddyblogger. Do me a favor?"

"What?" I asked sternly, mad at how he was describing our relationship.

"Describe her. Her personality, her looks, anything. Then try to tell me, while looking me in the eyes, that you two are just friends."

---Alya's POV---

I sat in my room, curtains closed and lights off. There was no noise except me and my thoughts.

One day knowing and I messed everything up. I never used to be so careless. It took Lad... Marinette, giving me my miraculous right in frount of Nino for him to realize. How could I be so reckless with her secret like that?

Who cares if he had a secret about Marinette! Why should that have mattered?! Why was mine the only possible answer?

Marinette. How would she react to us knowing? Given when Ladybug first showed up, she would have been a superhero for about as long as we've known each other. She- She would have had to keep it secret from me for our entire friendship and I couldn't keep it a secret from Nino for an afternoon. How pathetic was I?

And then there was sweet Nino. He had just heard one of the craziest things I had ever said, believed me right away, then comforted me when he had every right to be angry on Marientte's behalf. He was obviously freaking out as much as I did, but was going through the effort to try to help me. After everything.

I don't deserve a Nino. For that matter, I don't deserve a Marinette. Even after everything. Identeties, heros, secrets, both of them have been there. It's no wonder without Marinette the class fell apart. She was the glue that kept us together in the first place.

She had seen us through our worst and most embarrasing moments as Ladybug. She had helped us recover from the aftermath as Marinette. And she did it all with a smile on her face.

I thought back to our convorsation while having the matching foot injuries. How long had it been since she could just rant like that? Surely she would have had a kwamii to talk to, but a human connection? Did anyone else know? Did that matter?

(A/N Sorry it took me so long to upload, finals are coming up at my school and i've been pretty busy)