Miraculous One Shot Compilation

Stolen

To the perception of most of Paris, nothing was out of place. Adrien wasn't most of Paris. The current situation had him feeling incredibly anxious, for his partner had disappeared.

Nobody else in the city (except for the true Ladybug, if she was still out there) had a clue that anything had gone wrong. Earlier that afternoon yet another akuma had set about terrorizing the city, but the crime fighting duo had taken it down with relative ease. The day's events were normal enough not to excite worry in the hearts of the onlookers. Only Adrien knew something was terribly wrong.

He couldn't blame the public for not noticing the change in Ladybug. The new one was almost a complete replica of his beloved partner - the same dark, shining hair; the same delicate stature.

He, as Chat, had himself at first mistaken her for his partner. She'd swung into action much as always, acting every bit the heroine - there to save the day. He felt the first twinges of something being amiss when she stopped to wave to a cheering crowd on the street. His lady was usually too preoccupied to do something of the sort during a battle.

The point was finally driven home when he, not paying close enough attention to his own misgivings, tried to flirt with her. It was their tradition, after all, but she didn't follow established tradition.

When he brought her hand to his lips, he was expecting nothing other than her - perhaps slightly amused but nonetheless firm - rebuff. Instead, she giggled and blushed a deep shade of red as his lips brushed the back of her hand. Surprised, he looked up to meet her deep brown eyes.

His first reaction was to fling himself backward from her as though he found her so grotesque that he couldn't get over the fact that he'd just touched the thing. Quite the opposite, actually. He did find this girl physically attractive; she surely stood her ground against his lady in the looks department, but she was just wrong. Somebody else's beauty. Where was his?

Adrien still wasn't sure what the girl's motive could be. She hadn't caused any trouble, really. She'd fought by his side and had even purified the akuma at the end of the battle. She'd done everything to make him believe she was his ally - except for one thing: new allies don't impersonate an established ally and say nothing about it. He was keeping an eye on this one, and not in the same way as before. This time it wasn't out of romantic interest, but distrust.

--

A breakthrough didn't take too long, but it still seemed like forever. The impostor wasn't nearly as uptight as the real deal, and often dropped details about her civilian life. Soon she'd even pointed out the house she lived in - an enormous no-no from the viewpoint of his real partner, he was sure.

He knew he could just confront her at any time, but something held him back. He had a feeling she was oblivious to the fact that he knew she was a fake, and perhaps it was best he kept her under that impression until he knew just what she was up to.

He looked up the address of the house she'd pointed out, and information as to its inhabitants wasn't exactly scarce. He learned that a family by the last name of Cheng lived there. The man of the house was of Chinese descent; his wife was Belgian; they had a couple of daughters as well.

They seemed to be a pretty upstanding family, except for the fact that one of them had stolen his partner's miraculous. He really doubted it was the man or his wife, and one of the girls seemed too little to be involved. He'd found his culprit; it was time for a stakeout.

--

From the first time he'd seen their daughter without the mask, she'd strongly reminded him of somebody. She was a few years younger than he'd first guessed, and he decided to claim that as his excuse for why he hadn't realized immediately of whom she reminded him. It wasn't until he thought he saw her at school one day that he realized the similarity. The girl in question turned - and he saw it was Marinette. The two girls could pass as the same person a few years apart in age if it weren't for their eyes; blue versus brown. They had to be related, right?