missing

three

Days past, then weeks, then months, with Ladybug and Chat Noir leading the investigation for Adrien Agreste. Yes, they worked other missions together, trying to cleanse akumas. But most of their work was trying to find Adrien. Because for some reason, there seemed to be less and less akumas. They searched and searched, and all the while, marinette became stronger and stronger from the results of her experience. She no longer cried at the mention of Adrien, and she was certain that if she ever saw him again, she wouldn't be a bubbling idiot and mix up her words. Marinette had matured, and she was proud. But this didn't mean she didn't miss him. She started the habit of writing letters to him and keeping them in a box, hoping to give them to him if he ever returned. And she never crushed on anyone else, not even when the gorgeous new kid Alexander moved in and developed a crush on Marinette. Everyone was vying for his attention, but Marinette didn't.

Two years after he disappeared, the authorities decided to stop the search. They decided that since they still hadn't found him, that he was probably dead. But they did encourage citizens to alert them if they found any signs of him.

Ladybug was outraged. She begged and pleaded for the leaders to keep searching, but they refused. Even chat noir said softly that he was probably dead, which made ladybug incredibly angry. She slapped him and left, and he didn't hear from her in months. Chat Noir felt terrible, and often thought of letting himself be found, but plagg convinced him not to every time, pointing out that it would seem suspicious.

In those few months, ladybug and chat noir operated by themselves. Chat couldn't do much, as he needed ladybug to cleanse the akumas. But he did the best he could. Ladybug, on the other hand, devoted her time entirely to finding Adrien. But at the end of those months, she finally forced herself to acknowledge the fact that he was probably dead. She grieved, of course, as anyone would, but soon went back to working with chat noir to help the town.