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Illusion

Feeling her there against his back, Chat Noir continued. "Go ahead, M'lady."

"Okay. Spots off."

For a minute neither of them spoke, allowing her to get a snack for Tikki. But once she settled down, Chat Noir asked a question. "How have you been doing since yesterday?"

A pause. "Not well. I couldn't sleep last night."

"You couldn't?"

"I was too scared."

Chat Noir narrowed his eyes in confusion. He opened his mouth to ask another question but stopped when he heard the beeping.

"Go ahead," Marinette encouraged him when it stopped.

He smiled brightly before detransforming. "Claws in," he said. Then he promptly grabbed some food for Plagg, knowing the kwami would start complaining any second.

With both kwamis happily munching, Adrien continued the conversation. "So uh, you said that you were scared?"

"Of losing the Mouse Miraculous again. I was afraid of putting it back in the Miracle Box. I mean, if Monarch gets my yo-yo like last time, I'll lose it all over again. But then I was afraid of just leaving it in my room too. Like, what if my parents find it? What if I hide it but then forget where it is? What if..." she continued on and on.

Adrien couldn't breathe, too focused on what Ladybug said. She just said 'parents.' Plural. And she didn't mention any siblings possibly finding the necklace. So she lived with two parents, and was probably an only child just like him.

"...So I kept getting up, putting it back in the Miracle Box and then taking it out again. Before I left this morning, I put it back in. But now I'm nervous about it being there. Ugh, I'm such a mess," she finished with a sigh.

Adrien shook his head. "No, you're not. You're stressed out. It's completely understandable after what happened." He paused. "I have an idea, why don't you just give it back to your holder? And do the same for the Pig Miraculous too? Have them be like us, always having their own Miraculous. That way they're all spread out instead of being in one place."

No response.

After a minute of nothing, he had to ask. "M'lady?"

Marinette sighed again. "I don't know, Kitty. This whole thing is making me seriously reconsider my original plans. Even if they're all spread out with their holders, I would still know exactly where they are. And what if I get akumatized? Monarch would get all of them again, along with mine. Then you'd be the only one left to defend Paris."

"You would never get akumatized..."

"I almost was," she interrupted. "And more than once."

Silence as Adrien didn't know how to respond.

"I don't know what to do," Marinette continued, putting her arms across her knees and resting her head down.

A light breeze went by while they sat there, both lost in thought. Birds flew overhead and cars drove by on the streets below.

Then Adrien made a suggestion. "What if I pick the holders?"

She lifted her head back up.

"Not all of them," he said in explanation. "Just some. Then you wouldn't know all of their locations, and neither would I. If Monarch akumatizes one of us, then he'd only get some of the Miraculouses. The others would still be safe."

"But... but what if he somehow manages to akumatize both of us simultaneously?"

A shrug. "Then he'd already have the most important ones. He'd have your earrings and my ring. And that's all he needs."