22: No return

You zoomed through the city, glancing to your sides as you raced around. Buildings. Streets. People's fearful faces. Scared animals. But no Chat Noir...

You rushed through the rooftops before coming to an abrupt halt. You stood still for a moment before seeing Chat Noir's baton pass right through your torso, black smoke escaping from the area.

"Huh... This'll be harder than I thought." Chat Noir spoke with a smirk, retracting his baton as you turned toward him. You lunged forward, your whisps doing the same. Your whisps dove at him as you ran; but he evaded everything with ease. He leapt backward to safety. "Gotta do better than that~!"

You bounded toward him, then, in the blink of an eye, you hardened your whispy body and skidded on your feet. You twisted around, sending him a swift kick to the ribs which connected perfectly. He yelled in pain, but he still found it in him to lunge forward, away from the whisps. He quickly recovered and started to run whilst yelling, "Where did you hide Marinette?!"

"Ah, you know... Only the same place Ladybug is..." You smirked. Chat's eyes widened. You tried to use this as an opportunity for your whisps to get him as you did with Ladybug, but he dodged.

"Y-You... You got Ladybug too?! Give them back!" He yelled as he pounced at you, swinging his baton through your whispy form. You lunged forward hastily, your whisps approaching from behind. You hardened your body and started to fight, using moves you'd never known how to do. His baton bolted at you, hitting you in your solar plexus. The wind was knocked out of you as you rolled onto your side. You tried your best to breathe, your whisps stopping in their tracks.

"Y/N... Why are you doing this?" Chat Noir asked as he walked closer. Your heavy breathing made him gulp, guilt seeping through his core. You sent him a glare.

"Shut up..."

"Please... Where's Ladybug?"

"Hah, you think I'm just going to tell you?!" You laughed, getting up from the ground, still clutching your diaphragm and breathing heavily. Your whisps darted at him once more.

This won't work... I need to leave. Even if I could capture her, I'd never be able to take her Akuma... Without Ladybug, I can't do anything... I need to find another plan. I'm not sure, but maybe she'd listen to Adrien..?

I leaped off, catapulting and launching myself through the city. Y/N, surprisingly, didn't follow me. I eventually swung into my window and detransformed, feeling my suit being replaced with my regular clothes as I closed my eyes.

"What are you gonna do now?" Plag asked, whizzing around. He went over to get a piece of camembert, assuming he'd need more energy.

"...I don't know. Do you think she'd listen to Adrien?" I asked with a sigh, leaning against the wall and clutching my head softly as I thought.

"You're not in a photoshoot! Come on, think quick and act already! She's probably getting more powerful with those white whisps as we're talking right now!" Plag yelled, his mouth full. 

"Let me concentrate!" I sounded. Silence followed after my request. "Now it's too quiet..."

"Make up your mind!" Plag complained, finishing his piece of cheese in a bite. "Well?"

"I think... I think I'll go talk to her. Like this." I breathed out, walking over to the door.

"Yeah, like that'll work..." Plag pouted. I motioned for him to get in my shirt, which he did so wordlessly.

You sat on a roof, your vision on your whisps that were attacking people in the park. You sent out new ones as the white whisps came back to you, getting a sort of double-vision. It was weird and hard to control, but you slowly got used to it. The pain from earlier had dispersed after the first whisp you consumed.

"Y/N...?" You heard a muffled voice. You snapped back to reality, your whisps quickly returning. You glanced back and saw Adrien standing behind you.

"Huh? How did you get up here?" You asked the boy. 

He laughed awkwardly, "Th-There was a ladder, and when I saw you up here, I went up it..."

"That's dangerous. Don't do that." You mumbled. His eyes seemed to widen, surprised you weren't trying to use your whisps against him. You rolled your eyes. "About Jake..."

"Huh? What about him?"

"He's a jerk. He's trying to use you." You spoke as you stood up. You looked down at the park from a distance. People were crying, holding onto their loved ones. You would have got all of them if Adrien hadn't shown up.

"W-What...? What do you mean?" Adrien gulped. You rolled your eyes.

"He went through me to get information on you. Then he went to go befriend you. And now he's going to try to get close enough to talk with your dad and all this stuff... He doesn't like either of us. He says I'm clingy whilst you're annoying and over-polite. I heard him on a phonecall with his mom." You spoke nonchalantly. Adrien's eyebrows furrowed.

"O-Oh..."

"Ahhh, who cares?" You sighed, stretching your arms. Ambulances showed up at the scene along with a few police cars. You sunk behind a wall, careful not to be seen. Adrien did the same.

"Clearly you do..." Adrien sighed. You glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. He gulped, averting his eyes. You changed from your whisp form to your human appearance, which made Adrien's eyes widen.

"What do you mean?" You asked. He shrugged, seemingly more comfortable with you now that you were no longer in your whispy form.

"You got akumatized..." Adrien gulped. You let out a laugh.

"I mean, Hawkmoth was desperate to get me akumatized. He tried twice before I finally agreed on the third go. That's like, four seperate akumas including the first time I was akumatized." You spoke, leaning onto the wall.

"Huh...? Why was he so desperate?"

"Because I knew Ladybug's identity. I found out about it in my first Akumatization." You shrugged. Adrien's eyes widened considerably as he staggered back slightly. You let out a laugh, "What are you so surprised for?"

"I-It's just that..."

"Yeah; no one knows, I guess. I'm going to remember if I get back to normal, too. I remembered the full of first akumatization, just not the part where I found out about Ladybug. But remembered after seeing... something." You shrugged as you stared down at the ambulances leaving the scene. The police were searching around. You glanced at Adrien in the corner of your eye. He looked worried. "Huh? You wanna know who she is~?"

"N-NO!" Adrien yelled, making you jump in surprise, turning into mist on instinct. You quickly turned back, your eyebrows furrowed. He gulped, "I... I don't want to know..."

"And why is that?" You asked, your eyes narrowed. He was acting suspicious... He shrunk back once saw the glint in your eyes.

"It's dangerous, right...? I mean, if I knew, I'd get caught up in it all..." Adrien gulped.

"But you won't tell her that you know. You can just.. know." You shrugged. Adrien shook his head.

"I'd rather not..."

"Whatever." You sighed. You stood up and waved, "Well I've got to go. I need to get some food..."

"Huh..? Wait!" Adrien stuttered. "You... Y/ N, please... Why are you doing this? You weren't bothered by Jake, right? So why is this happening??"

"Because I have nothing else to do." You shrugged. Adrien's face was filled with worry. "The one person that actually hung out with me was using me to get to you. I knew the whole time but I just denied it. Of course I'm gonna be frustrated, and actually, being akumatized is pretty nice."

"What...? C-Come on, Y/N, that's a joke, right?" Adrien spoke. You laughed at his reaction.

"It's calming, in a way, and you don't feel sadness. Only anger. I can't really do that normally, so it's a nice change."

"But..."

"If you're trying to get me un-akumatized, it won't work. I don't think words can do that, if I'm honest." You sighed. Adrien looked to the ground.

"Please, Y/N, just... Come back..." He gulped. You let out a sigh.

You mumbled, "How could I do that? I've been akumatized twice. That's more than anyone. People are bound to get scared at me at some point, plus this'll just happen again, with the fact I know who Ladybug is."

"...Please." He spoke, giving you hopeful eyes. A moment of silence passed by.

You sighed, "I... I'll consider it."

"Really?" He asked, his eyes wide. You scoffed.

"Nah."

And with that, you left.