Cause Of Conflict

"Where the heck have been?"

Those were the first words Ladybug had to say to Chat Noir when he finally showed up after not joining her for their normal patrols for the past three days, and needless to say, she was very annoyed with him. From him acting strange after the last Akuma they dealt with, to now, she was convinced that something was wrong with the damned cat, and it was starting to get on her nerves.

"...Personal problems."

Chat didn't know how else to respond. He didn't know what to say. The truth was, he didn't even want to be here. Three days of this had been sheer hell for him, and he was here, only because Plagg had pushed him towards doing one thing.

Explaining to her exactly what happened.

He hadn't done it originally because he didn't want to drive her away. If this was Ladybug now - If this was Marinette now - And explaining what happened to her didn't help remind her, or snap her out of the lingering after-effects of Spite, or anything else for that matter, then he had to accept that this was the girl he had to live with now. And if that was the case, the last thing he wanted to do was drive her away.

It was cowardice. That was all it was, he thought to himself.

Just pure cowardice.

"You didn't think to at least let me know?" Oh, the tone of her voice made her feelings abundantly clear. She was angry. It was rare to see her purely angry. It was rare to see Marinette so purely angry. It felt surreal. Like it didn't naturally fit with the kind of person she was.

"Sorry, Ladybug..." Chat Noir sighed, still reluctant to go through with this. Could he do it another time?... He doubted she'd take the news he had to tell her all that well in her current frame of mind.

Maybe things would be different if Ladybug had used her ability to reverse all the damage done... But since damage to the city was basically negligible, aside from there being a few knives scattered around the place, and she herself didn't remember the fight, there wasn't a need to, from her perspective. Spite had put the Links back together himself, so her powers wouldn't have done anything. Agreeing to let Spite go had secured the lack of a need for Marinette's Miraculous Ladybug ability, thus leading to her not using it and fixing her and Adrien's Soul Link, since she had no awareness of it.

It was all very ironic.

"You realize I've been dealing with criminals without any back up, right? A notice would have been appreciated!" Something almost felt wrong about this entire aspect of Ladybug's - Of Marinette's - Personality. She seemed almost infuriated by Chat Noir, as opposed to being mildly annoyed by him. Her usual sweet personality had been pushed aside in place of this more angry persona.

It had to be down to stress. Or something like that.

"...Look, Ladybug... We uh... We... We need to talk..."

"Yes, we do! I thought we were supposed to be a team! A team-mate can't just up and leave without so much as a memo!"

"Not about me not -"

"No, we going to talk about -"

"Marinette." Chat spoke, firmly, and rather loudly, cutting off Ladybug's yelling, stopping her dead in her tracks. Once she had fully stopped, and he had let out a sigh through his nose, Chat looked at her. "We need to talk, Marinette."

Ladybug's eyes were wide open at this point, her jaw ajar, and clearly surprised. Stunned in disbelief for a few moments, she blinked, looking at the partner she had in front of her. How the hell did he know? "...What did you call me?"

"Marinette." Chat repeated.

"I - I don't know what you're talking about." A very poor lie.

"Marinette... I know that it's you under there. Your Kwami is called Tikki, you live in a bakery about... I'd say ten minutes away from here, and you attend Collège Françoise Dupont." He let that sink in with the visibly taken aback super-heroine before he continued. "Like I said, we need to talk."

Understandably, Ladybug was shocked beyond all comprehension. How had Chat discovered all of this information... Was that what his '' were for not showing up to patrol? Had he been... "Have you been freaking me?!"

"No! No! Absolutely not!" Chat protested vehemently, holding his open palms up as a sign of innocence. "I - I wouldn't do - "

"Then how the hell did you figure all that out?!"

Chat Noir sighed, knowing that he wasn't able to back down now. Despite the reservations he had, he explained everything to her. He explained about the messages of the Miraculouses. He explained about the concept of the Links, the Soul Links, how they worked, and how they were formed. He explained everything that happened from his perspective, his rejection from Ladybug, the pain he felt for that, how he wound up becoming friends, and eventually falling for Marinette, the joy he felt when he learned that Marinette was Ladybug. He told her, with a particular fondness to his voice, how she had kissed him once she had learned who he was - Which he refused to tell her, on the basis that this didn't help her recover her memories. The last thing he needed was Ladybug coming for him with a vengeance - He told them about their date, and how they ended up as boyfriend and girlfriend.

He explained to her, with a particular disdain, the appearance of Spite, and the powers he wielded. He explained to her about the sadistic and psychotic Akumatized individual, and what he could do. How he changed the Links of the people around him. How he had done that to Nino and Alya, and the various others. He told her about the deal she made with the villain, to change her friends Links back to normal in exchange for Spite's freedom.

With a heavy heart, he explained to her the battle. How she was stabbed. And how the Link between them was shattered.

He told her then that they had shared a Soul Link, but that she couldn't remember.

To her credit, Ladybug listened. She didn't interrupt. She let Chat explain himself.

But then she took a step back.

"You're insane."

"M-Marinette, I -"

"Do not call me that!" She looked shaken, confused, and absolutely terrified by Chat Noir's mental state right now. She was convinced he'd hallucinated all of this, but the eerie fact remained, he knew who she was. He hadn't imagined that...

So he actually believed all of this insanity. He had been stalking her... And this...

This...

"You're a freaking lunatic..."

"Mari - Ladybug, you know I wouldn't lie to you. I've told you that - "

"Apparently that doesn't extend to not stalking me!" Ladybug felt a mixture of emotions all at once, stopping her from thinking even slightly clearly.

Anger.

Confusion.

Vulnerability.

Betrayal.

Above all, she felt one particular emotion towards Chat Noir right now. Something that, despite all the frustrations, despite all the flirting, despite everything like that, the things she could work with, the things she knew how to deal with... She felt something she never expected towards the 'hero' in front of her.