Blood

The night was creeping up fast. Sir Noir new that it'd be harder for them to beat Street Fighter and his followers during the night, especially with Hawkmoth on his side. Sneaking back into the Agreste mansion was easy as making tea for him especially because his only cousin left his bedroom window open for anyone to climb in.

Jumping in, Sir Noir looked around and saw that everything was as neat as it always was, save for the fact that all of the Ladybug posters were torn off of his walls. The shredded pictures covered the floor next to his bed with the rancid scent of blood lingering with the little specks of glass lying on the carpet.

He didn't pay much mind to it knowing that Adrien had just walked back into the room with a bandaged foot and snacks flooding his arms.

The two stood across from each other in silence, neither surprised in the least.

Adrien walked past the cat with disgust in his eyes as he flopped down on his sofa while spreading his 'light' snack on the coffee table. Sir Noir didn't stop him nor say anything to deter his carbon-copy cousin. He just settled himself down next to him, seeming to forget that they're not blood right now.

The room was silent for a while before Adrien spoke up with venom in his words laced with curiosity, "why aren't you out there fighting with Ladybug? The sun will be down soon, you should know that only cats can see in the dark." He didn't look at Sir Noir, just scooted over to put a little inch of awkward distance between them.

"She never showed up."

"Wha-?" Adrien turned to ask more about the situation but remembered his promise to himself the night before. He thought to himself, you're not getting mixed up in all of this again, Agreste. There's no point in asking, he wouldn't answer anyway.

"I have no idea why or even where she could be. If anything, she's probably been taken as one of Street Fighter's goons." Sir Noir slouched over in annoyance at not knowing what to say in this situation. "Ladybug is better at doing these things than me," he mumbled.

Adrien was about to ask what he was talking about when he noticed a black and red box sitting on the coffee table in front of them. The intricate designs made it clear what resided in the small box. Standing up, anxiety ran down Adrien's spine as he realized exactly why his replacement was coming to him at this hour.

"There has to be someone else!"

"There's no one. Even you know that with how long Street Fighter has been out, there's no way there would still be regular Parisians outside that I would know." Sir Noir realized that Adrien still doesn't know who he is and will most likely never know so he corrected himself, "I'm new to the city so I don't know many people, but I know that you can do this."

"No. I need you to leave right now." Adrien turned away leaving the impression of his disgust with Sir Noir. He went to leave the room but had the door slammed shut by a familiar silver staff from behind him. Turning around, Adrien came face to face with the boy that shared Agreste blood with him among many other things pertaining to some other miraculous power.

"You know I can't do that, Adrien. How can you turn your back on the city you once guarded with your life? They need us right now!" Sir Noir held his ground as Adrien turned around in all of his pent up anger he didn't know still existed.

Swinging around he yelled back at the cheap cat that replaced him, "no! They want you, not me! You're the reason Chat Noir doesn't exist anymore, why should I help you now?"

"Chat Noir will always be with you, you are Chat Noir!" He pounced at his cousin's words and explained, "you're the one who told her your true identity, this is no one's fault but your own! You can't keep blaming others for your own mistakes!"

Adrien stood silent letting his green eyes crash with Sir Noir's stormy blue ones. He didn't know what to say before spitting out, "you know nothing! It wasn't my fault, Ladybug didn't have to tell anyone else!"

"She had a duty to carry out and a promise to keep everyone safe, keeping your identity to herself would've put everyone, even you in danger!"

"How do you know that?" Adrien stood stalk still realizing that he knows how everything happened. He sat down on th floor against his door and drooped his head.

Sir Noir retracted his staff and sighed, "Master F--The Miraculous holder told me about it. I'm sorry for yelling at you but it's true. You should've been more careful about it, if Ladybug ever became akumatized, she would know your identity and could tell Hawkmoth without even realizing it." Walking back over to the table, Sir Noir picked up the box and continued, "she wanted to keep you safe." He sat down across from his cousin and said, "everyone knows you're ready for a fresh start, Adrien. You've made your mistake, now it's time to redeem yourself."

Holding out the box, he waited for Adrien to take it and help him stop Street Fighter. But after a few minutes, Adrien just looked away dejectedly.

Slouching over, Sir Noir sighed and began, "I know how you feel about all of this."

Adrien perked his head up not knowing what the stray cat could be talking about. He is the most popular superhero in town, especially with the new elegant name. He didn't know what Sir Noir could possibly know about how he was feeling at all. "I'm sure you don't," he rolled his eyes.

Curling his knees up to his chest, Sir Noir glumly looked at the carpeted floor and sighed, "it's a responsibility I didn't want to bare again. After hurting so many people I cared about when I had the power and choice to, I didn't want to tie myself to the Miraculous again."

Poking his head up, Adrien asked, "you've had the Cat Miraculous before?" His eyes went wide with the realization of the parallelism of their situations.

"I had to overcome my past struggles with wielding the Miraculous before you to help a new city, a new country...A new Ladybug." Sir Noir looked back at Adrien without wincing, "I couldn't standby and watch Hawkmoth continue his rain of terror on more people. I told myself, 'you need to step up. Especially if no one else will.' There's no way to fix the past but to make a future that you'll be proud to tell the people that will look up to you one day. The best you can do now is to step up and help now." Sir Noir's blue stormy eyes stared through Adrien's as he finished it off by saying, "it might not have been what was best for me but it was for the better of this city."

Looking up at the familiar catsuit he used to inhabit, Adrien felt a sense of dishonor flush through him as he realized how he's been acting this whole time. Remembering everything he's done and said up until now made him feel...empty.

I can't believe I thought of myself before the whole damn city! Hawkmoth could've used my anger against me but I didn't care. I despised Ladybug and Sir Noir for causing my own downfall when in reality, I wasn't careful enough. She's been protecting me this whole time but I was too angry to clearly see the reasons in front of my face and now... Adrien trailed off in his own mind as the thought escaped his mind.

Standing up, Adrien walked side by side Sir Noir and whispered, "I'll give it back when we're done, don't worry about that."

Sir Noir turned to his cousin and gave him a knowing smile as well as the familiar red and black box that caused a stir in both of their hearts when they saw it for the second time. He watched as Adrien pulled out the belt from the box and put it on to be greeted by a small green and red dragon Kwami. Turning to him, Adrien asked, "what's been going on? I barely watched the news."

A shadow cast against Sir Noir's eyes as the sun fell from the sky completely leaving just darkness surrounding the boys, "a girl named Marinette has been held captive since the Akuma has flown out. Apparently, the Akumatized victim or Street Fighter is a boy named Luka." He stood at the open window and gazed out at the glowing golden tower as if he could see the girl he called a friend from that far out.

Without waiting for a signal, Adrien took the words he was given and demanded, "let's ignite the fire!" Green and red lights swarmed Adrien as his signature white shirt and jeans were replaced by a tight green suit with red scales riding up and down his back. A jar appeared that hung down his side as he jumped out of the window and flew towards the Eiffel Tower.

Sir Noir looked after him with a melancholic expression and muttered, "for you Bridgette. This will not be in vain." With his staff in hand, Sir Noir jumped out of the window after Adrien who has now taken on the persona of being Tarragon, the dragon miraculous holder.