The Other Side of the Mirror -- genderbend

17.5: Chat to Chat

One day ago

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Adrien followed his counterpart into the empty warehouse. They jumped up on top of a stack of boxes and sat down at the edge.

"This is the most secure spot I could find," Adrienne said. "No one can even see inside, since it's so dark, but you and I have night vision when transformed. Now, spill. What did you want to tell me about?"

Adrien hesitated, glancing around the warehouse once. His night vision couldn't detect anyone around.

"Fu gave me a message," he said. "He said that we have to follow the plan, no matter what."

"What do you mean?" Adrienne asked him.

"I mean, if we disobey any of Ladybug or Ladybeetle's orders, something bad will occur."

"That's all he said?"

"Uh, did you actually listen to anything I just said?" Adrien said.

"Yeah. Put together with the real reason we're here, it makes enough sense that he wants us to do everything right. But what's going to happen if we don't? Will the original version of the future continue to occur?"

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. "From the way Fu said it, I'm guessing something worse."

Adrienne hummed thoughtfully. "I'm guessing it has something to do with my mother. I wonder what, though."

Adrien watched her. Finally he decided to ask her one of the questions that had been nagging at the back of his mind since she and the other heroes from the other world had arrived.

"How did you find out each other's identities?" he said.

She didn't answer at first, and part of him didn't expect her to. At last she spoke.

"Well, to understand the circumstances, you have to start at the beginning of the story," Adrienne said. "My story starts like this: I was homeschooled for several years."

Adrien nodded. He had, of course, also been homeschooled.

"You remember the day on which you received your miraculous?"

He nodded again.

"Well. I didn't run out the front door, or any door for that matter. I climbed out the window."

Adrienne wasn't looking at him as she continued.

"Every day, I would grab my schoolbag and climb out my window, and walk to school. Only two people were aware--Nina of course knew, and so did Nathalie. Nathalie usually covered for me, but one day she decided it was about time she told my mother. Gabriella of course was furious. She said I was not to return to school or she would have me locked in my room all day, every day. And so I stormed up to my room."

She paused.

"What I am about to tell you, I have not told another living soul," she said. "I lied to Marin about the course of events after that point."

Adrien nodded, intrigued.

"I realized what I had just done. I knew I was a ripe akuma victim. So I transformed and climbed out the window. Hawk Moth can't see through the akumas, only sense, and she could still sense an angry person, though she didn't realize it was the same person, much less that the anger was coming from Chat Noire. After all, why would a hero be mad enough to be akumatized? So she assumed I was some Chat Noire cosplayer or something.

"Well, the akuma had reached me by now, and of course it flew into my ring. I felt Hawk Moth try to take over me. In my rage, I let her.

"Most likely it was because I was willing to become an akuma victim, but I could remember who I was. I knew my name, and my superhero name, and of course the reason for my anger. But I couldn't remember why I'd transformed into Chat Noire, or what I had been planning to do from there. So I started heading towards Agreste Mansion to attach Gabriella. But she stopped me--sent pain through my arm with the akuma in the ring.

"Then I met a civilian, who asked why my suit was all white. Hawk Moth of course wanted me to say that I was now Chat Blanc, and that I would be taking over Paris. A part of me wanted to, knowing the pain that she could cause me otherwise. But I draw the line at harming civilians. I realized everything I had done in the previous hour was not very hero-like at all. Instead of obeying Hawk Moth, I ran to the Eiffel Tower via rooftops, in plain sight, knowing that my hero friends would see me and find me.

"I made it up to the lowest platform by the time Hawk Moth decided to send more pain. I refused to give in this time, though. She threatened to take my powers and 'return me to the nobody I was'. I told her she was wrong, and why else would the akuma enter my ring? I think she managed to figure out what I meant. I'm almost certain more pain was going to come, but it never did. Ladybeetle found me, and I broke the ring myself. He purified the akuma. I turned to my civilian form again. Then I took my ring and became Chat Noire. I passed out after that.

"The biggest part, though--the part I never told Marin--was that when he first arrived on the scene, a part of me wanted to attack him. Because he let this happen to me, to get his miraculous, to kill him--I don't know which it was. That's the real reason I broke the ring. Not to get rid of the akuma--I know Marin could have done that himself. I broke it to make sure I didn't attack him. It took some serious strength, but at the same time it was one of the easiest decisions I've ever made. But I'm never going to forget that I could have--and likely would have--attacked my partner, and one of my best friends.

"That night, Marin met the other three at the Eiffel Tower and told them who I was. They also revealed their identities to each other, and Marin told me the next day at lunch."

"Did Hawk Moth remember who you were?" Adrien asked.

"No," Adrienne said without hesitation. "Definitely not. And besides, I didn't become a civilian during that whole ordeal, only after the akumatization."

"Why are you so certain?"

She laughed, without the slightest hint of humor.

"There was a week where more than one akuma victim would appear at a time," Adrienne told him. "One day, there was too many. And being the headstrong hero I am, I decided to go after Hawk Moth. I was furious that she had dared to akumatize me, Chat Noire. We fought on top of a building, then she went to the Eiffel Tower. I managed to get to the top of the tower and then destroyed her staff with my Cataclysm. That was the worst mistake I've ever made."

"You'd have transformed back in five minutes," Adrien realized aloud.

"Yes."

A pause. Then--

"I had Hawk Moth cornered. But she flipped over the edge of the tower, caught herself, and used the momentum to throw me off."

Adrien's jaw dropped.

"She definitely didn't know I was her daughter," Adrienne said, "because I detransformed right then. And the last thing I saw before I blacked out was the utter shock and horror on her face."

"Your own mother threw you off the Eiffel Tower ?!" Adrien exclaimed.

She nodded. The entire time, she hadn't made eye contact with him.

"Whatever happens tomorrow," Adrienne said, "make your father understand what he has done. Especially to you, his own son."

"I will," Adrien promised.

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Yo! MERRY CHRISTMAS, MIRACULERS!

I don't care if that's a word or not. It is one now!

My mom, who totally knows how obsessed I am with Miraculous, gave me a Queen Bee hair comb and I haven't taken it off since. Buzz on! ;)

I realize this chapter is really long. But I had to get it all typed and I couldn't very well stop in the middle. I hope this helps y'all understand Adrienne more.

By the way, has anybody figured out yet what'll happen if they don't follow the plan? I know, of course, but I wouldn't say no to hearing y'all's theories. Because it's Christmas and I feel nice, I'll give you a hint: It's mentioned briefly in the very first part (Prologue: The Mirror) and then once again briefly in chapter fourteen (14: The Decision).

That's all I'm saying, though.

Merry Christmas again, y'all! Stay Miraculous!

-Cassie ✪