Keep the Mask, It Goes With Your Costume

~Chapter Fifteen: The Call~

As soon as the costume came off that night, Plagg started yelling angrily at Adrien for his decision. Of course, knowing Ladybug's true identity, Plagg was well aware that Hawkmoth was lying, and had to convince Adrien without revealing her. He began first by just telling Adrien how foolish it was, but before getting very far trying to convince him out of it, Adrien got inflamed.

"If you wanna forget about Marinette too then fine! But I'm not gonna quit and you should just shut up!!" He said, furiously, snapping his fingers during those last two words. But what he didn't realize was that by making that motion while saying those things, he forced his Kwami's mouth shut. Just as Gabriel would do to Nooroo on purpose. Adrien didn't even realize it, but now Plagg was unable to utter a word or even open his mouth! Still angry, Adrien didn't even look back at Plagg to see why he suddenly stopped talking, he just turned out his lights and flopped into his bed.

But he didn't sleep, he shivered late that night in his bed, with anxiety trickling down his spine. Adrien was definitely starting to second guess himself and his decision, but there was no backing out now. He thought about the whole situation, it was almost kind of scary. He himself, Adrien Agreste, was siding with the enemy! But he didn't want to think of it like that, he wanted to think of it as making the difficult, yet right choice, even if that choice has to do with forfeiting his partner to his most detested enemy. But he had to do it for Marinette, right?

"It isn't at all for me, it's just for Marinette of course" he would think to himself. "Ladybug will survive just fine she has powers, but Marinette will die if I don't make this trade" he told himself just so he wouldn't feel as guilty about his actions, he was trying so hard to convince himself that he was doing the right thing, when deep down he knew it wasn't a good choice.

So when he got all tripped up thinking about how he did wrong, he consoled himself instead by convincing his mind that Ladybug deserved it completely, she was wrong after all, right?

"She's the one who lied to me about making a deal with Hawkmoth! Well, she didn't lie, she just never mentioned it. But she DID keep Marinette's location hidden from me when I only wanted to help! But..maybe it's cause she knew how dangerous Hawkmoth is and was devising a plan... But-" thoughts like this filled his mind for an hour while he lay awake in the middle of the night, he still was aware deep down that Ladybug wasn't completely to blame. But he also knew all too well that he couldn't say no the Hawkmoth now, who knows what he'd do to Marinette? He had to go through with it even when his gut told him to do otherwise.

Since he detransformed, Adrien's anger for Ladybug had surely calmed down a bit, something about being the strongest force of destruction alive seemed to make his emotions, especially negative ones, more intense. He was still exceedingly mad at ladybug, yes, but he was beginning to see the reality of the situation again.

He was Adrien Agreste, the same Adrien that everyone knows and loves, the same Adrien that everyone thinks is so pure, the same Adrien who would do anything for his loved ones, and the same Adrien that wouldn't hurt a soul. At least that's what every one thought of him, but boy, did that have no idea. He wished for a moment it was him who had disappeared, not Marinette, "at least Marinette was true to her personality and didn't betray the most trustworthy person in the city" he thought, "I'm sure everyone would be happier if she was still here instead of me."

He teared up at the mere thought of Marinette, missing her now more than ever. But he remained firm upon realizing that he would see her again tomorrow! In just a day he would be back with one of his best friends, even if it meant living the rest of his life in the lie that he's the boy who traded Ladybug away. He hoped it'd be worth it to see Marinette again. The poor boy was truly convinced that Hawkmoth was going to give him back Marinette, when in realistically, Adrien was going to be the one giving her away.

But as he thought about seeing Marinette again, he realized how important she was over Ladybug, and that he would go through with it, and give away his best friend. Adrien wanted dreadfully to tell all his jumbled thoughts to someone, just to get them out, he turned around toward his Kwami.

"Hey Plagg," he started quietly, expecting the little cat to still be mad at him, but instead, Plagg remained silent.

"Plagg!" Adrien said a little louder, still no response, Adrien didn't even notice that he accidentally muted his little friend forcing his mouth closed. He instead figured Plagg was not talking to him to show he was mad, so Adrien resorted to talking to someone else.

He pulled out his phone and started scrolling through the contacts, Nino was probably asleep, considering it was now nearly 1am, and Alya wouldn't be any help since she was the one who led him to make the decision he was much overthinking. He got to Chloe...Chloe definitely had plenty of experience making bad decisions, maybe she would know how to help him, plus, knowing her, she was probably still awake this late. He pressed facetime, expecting a very welcoming and excited face to come through, but was flabbergasted at what he really saw, she was......crying?? Great, now instead of getting help with his problems he was just going to have to help Chloe with hers, he thought, selfishly.

"Chloe? What's wrong?" He started politely.

"Oh it's horrible Adrikins!!" She said, in her usual, over-dramatic way, "it's all my fault! Did you see that utterly ridiculous video Alya posted?!" she said through tears.

Now Adrien was really concerned, that couldn't have been her fault at all, in fact if they were speaking literally, it was 100% HIS fault, considering he was the one who blurt out all the horrible things about Ladybug in it.

"What do you mean? That's not your fault Chloe! Cat Noir just-"

"Shh" Chloe shushed him "you don't understand." She said, and then took a deep breath before explaining "you can't tell anyone this Adrien, I'm only telling you because you're my most trusted friend."

Adrien nodded.

"Well," she began "a few weeks ago Ladybug came to me needing to stay at the hotel for a while, something was definitely up with her."

Now Adrien was perturbed, he hadn't heard about any of this from Ladybug.

"But I ruined it, I almost blew her cover and she left. And now she's in trouble and I know she didn't do anything Adrien! When she came to me there was definitely something wrong that must have caused her to lie to Cat Noir or something, but she didn't do anything bad I know of it!" She said distressed "if I hadn't ruined it then she could come back here and explain so I could get daddy to convince the city she's not bad! But I can't, cause now I'll never know where she is." Chloe sniffled, and remained quiet from there.

Adrien had so many questions and was overall stunned that all this went on without him knowing! But now he had more information about why Ladybug was acting strange, maybe there was more going on to this whole situation then he realized. But it wouldn't matter if he knew, since ladybug would be gone as of tomorrow due to his horrible upcoming deed. And instead of helping, Chloe ended up making him feel even worse about his deal since now he knew ladybug likely had good reasons for what she did. He suddenly didn't want to talk to anyone anymore.

"Hey Chloe I think I hear Nathalie coming up" he lied, as an excuse to hang up with her "I'm sorry but know it's not your fault okay, and I'll help you work it out."

Her face lit up at Adrien's remark. "Promise?"

Adrien's face drooped, he knew very well he would be the opposite force in working out Ladybug's problem, but he wanted to make Chloe feel better nonetheless. "Yeah...promise" he finally said, knowing there was absolutely no truth in his words. And with that he hung up, more guilt than ever before pierced his conscience.

He finally fell asleep knowing the following morning would lead to either one of the best, or likely one of the worst days of his life.

And poor Plagg would just sit and watch, silently. Even the indigent  Kwami let out a tear thinking horrible thoughts of the day ahead, before falling deeply into sleep.

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Sorry this chapter isn't as dramatic as I promised it ended up taking more words than expected so all the real drama is gonna be in the NEXT chapter which should be published soon. But also Chloe seems to be making a comeback into this story ammi right?😉

-Elise, Your Everyday Ladybug