Shadow of Noir

Chapter 5- Mask's off

Stars Glimmered in the noir night sky. Streetlamps lit up the paths and roads below. And a red wearing black polka-dotted Ladybug swung from the Parisian rooftops. Ladybug was not stopping for anyone or anything. She was set on ending her suspicions tonight. Even if what she found was incriminating, horrifying, or unrelated, Ladybug had to get these spiralling thoughts out of her head. 

Cold shivers went through Ladybug's spine as she entered through Adrien's bedroom window. It was if she was walking in a graveyard, like no one had entered that room in years (although we'd soon come to learn that wasn't true). The room was large, at least four times the size of her... Marinette's room. Papers and stationary remained on his desk still set out to begin homework (which by now was clearly overdue). Everything appeared spotless- no sign of a struggle. It had been a week though, there was no telling how the room may have altered or meddled with.  

Eventually, Ladybug composed herself and hurried over to the desk and began shuffling paperwork hoping an obvious, and incriminating note would just appear out of nowhere and point the way forward like in a crime novella one might watch on TV. Surprisingly, nothing like that surfaced. Next were the shelves. Hundreds- heck possibly thousands- of books filled the shelving units. All but one blended together creating a rainbow of colour. But this one book was different. It was thin and short (almost like it was trying to be hidden). Obviously not well enough if Ladybug found it so quickly. Having said that, Adrien's father ,Gabriel Agrest, probably didn't spend anywhere enough time to notice such an insignificant book. 

Ladybug reached for the thorn of a book and yanked it off the shelf. Photos of Ladybug poured out the book all over the floor, some gliding to the other side of the room like cattle trying to escape their field. Ladybug scrambled to gather as many of the photos as possible.

"Adrien loves Ladybug!" Marinette thought to herself almost upset until she remembered she WAS Ladybug! 

Ladybug was blushing with the idea that the boy she loved loved her back (even if it was her superhero identity). She shuffled over to Adrien's bed to sit down and catch her breath. swiftly, Ladybug collapsed onto the once well made bed and let her feet hang down. In doing so, Ladybug heard a clang of metal rolling across the floor. This noise was enough to snap Ladybug out of her trance and she proceeded to get on her hands and knees and peered under the bed. Deep in the darkness lay a silver ring, barely visible. Ladybug managed to grab it with the tip of her fingers. Inspecting it closely, Ladybug identified it as belonging to Adrien, although it seemed oddly familiar... like she'd seen it elsewhere before. 

Things were looking bleak. Other than Adrian's personal belongings there was nothing that suggested what happened or where Adrien or Chat Noir were. Ladybug head towards the open window thinking it best to leave before she got caught. Planting herself by the window in preparation to leave, Ladybug noticed something. Marinette had been in Adrien's room a few times before, most of them invited, and Ladybug could tell the room had been altered. Beneath her feet lay a large, oversized rug. Only now did Ladybug acknowledge how much it stood out against the rest of the room's decor. Clutching onto the side of the rug, she began to roll the rug up to see what secrets it might hold. Marks, once concealed, were now visible. Deep black scorch markers stained the floor of Adrien's bedroom.

"Did Chat Noir's cataclysm cause this?" Ladybug wondered as she ran her fingers across the burns engraved onto the surface. Assuming Chat had used his cataclysm, it wouldn't have caused this type of damage. Cataclysm destroyed whatever it touched- not just leaving burns. Whatever energy caused this had to be different  to the regular power harnessed by the miraculous.  All of a sudden, something hit Ladybug. A smell stronger than anything she'd ever smelt before, even stronger than Chat Noir's... Camembert...

With no time to waste, Ladybug followed the smell to a small, black cupboard. Ladybug reached out her hand and began to open the cupboard door.  

"AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH....!" screamed the black cat Kwami as he jumped out the cupboard. 

Ladybug stumbled backwards in disbelief. All the signs were there. Adrien's photos of Ladybug and Chat Noir's flirtatious attitude, Adrien's silver ring had the exact same design as Chat Noir's miraculous, and finally the obsession with camembert and a KWAMI! 

"ADRIEN IS CAT NOIR!?"

The thoughts were to much to handle. Ladybug kept inching further back trying to maintain her balance until she slipped on a loose photo of Ladybug from Adrien's book. As she fell she ploughed into the grand piano, consequently making one hell of a racket. Tikki de-transformed Marinette to check she was ok. 

"Are you ok Marinette?" Tikki asked as Plagg pushed past her.

"Yer, yer I'm fine Tikki I'm just..." but before Marinette could finish her reply footsteps could be heard approaching Adrien's door. The door handle jiggled and soon a figure emerged. 

"Nathalie?"