A Hero's Strength Is Measured By His Heart

The Other Side Of Me.

Nothing.

Adrien had found no answers as to why he had suddenly begun to change into the person he was becoming. He had slaved over books and ancient dialects for days now, getting little sleep in between the stress and confusion of the situation. With each growing desire to give in to whatever evil was consuming him, fear shook his entire being. No matter what his thoughts were telling him to do, he did not want to hurt anyone.

"This isn't healthy Adrien. You need to get some rest." The fatigued boy didn't even look up from his research to acknowledge that he had heard the Kwami's comment. "How are we supposed to fix you if you're too tired to even understand your problem?"

Plagg had hopelessly tried to convince his holder to listen to reason, but it seemed Adrien was blocking out anyone who even attempted to help him. His friends. His Kwami. Marinette.

"Have you ever considered the fact that maybe I don't have a problem? That maybe this is just me?" Adrien hissed, slamming the book he'd been reading shut.

"We both know that's not true, so don't even try kid. Cause you're convincing neither me nor yourself of that claim."

"Shut up, Plagg." Spending the days locked up with this darker side of Adrien were definitely taking its toll on the noir Kwami. Adrien had thrown callous comments his way since the start of the whole research experiment. But what made the difference now was that Adrien no longer apologized once he realized what he had unintentionally said. Now, he mostly ignored Plagg. Depriving him of food and abusing the power he gave him every time Adrien said the words 'claws out.' Which was becoming more and more frequent. Adrien may not have been able to remember everything he did as Chat Noir, but Plagg could. And it scared him. Deep down, he knew that what Adrien said or did was not of his own accord but, he couldn't help but still feel hurt.

As Plagg gazed at the broken boy, Adrien could feel his eyes on him. It took every fiber of strength in his body to conceal the growing urge to lash out at the Kwami. An urge that came to him in a sinister voice.

There was a cold tension in the air as hours of silence passed. One so frigid, that even batting an eyelid could disturb the stillness. Adrien sat at his desk while Plagg hid out of sight, and it wasn't until the tortured blonde spoke that the quiet was broken.

"Plagg, what do you think?" Adrien clinched his fists under his desk, digging his finger nails into his palms. Welcoming the pain in order to distract him from the compelling voice that told him to do evil.

'Let it out.'

No.

Curious, the Kwami emerged from his hiding place. "About what Adrien?"

"I know you have theories about what's been going on with me. I want you to be honest with me. I want to know what you think the problem could be."

'The problem is that you subject yourself to feeble minds such as these. Forget them.'

Stop it.

Adrien's old self seemed to be showing through the cracks, and it was at times like this when Plagg wasn't afraid to speak.

'This isn't you.'

"Okay kid, listen. I've thought about this for a while and the only thing I can think of that would effect you in this way is the reemergence of Ladybug."

"What do you mean?"

"The miraculous of the ladybug and the black cat compliment each other. Once activated, they are not meant to be separated. I think that when Marinette reunited herself with her miraculous after disconnecting it with yours for so long, it created an imbalance between you and the miraculous of creation. All I can believe is that this disproportion is pushing you to follow your own path of destruction."