"What you mean, 'I can't?!'"

"Exactly what I meant; until the ring is repaired, I can't transform you into Chat Noir."

Adrien stared at Plagg as if the kwami had struck him with lightning, jade green eyes wide as saucers dropping to the white signet ring in his palms as if needing confirmation a third time. Despite the growing pit of horror in his stomach, the crack running along its centre was very much real and wasn't going away. A hairline fissure, barely visible, cut diagonally across the circular surface, marring the smooth white metal.

He was hardly aware of his shivering hands until he'd almost dropped the ring, hardly aware of his jellified legs until they gave way beneath him and he was sitting on the edge of his bed. Running a trembling finger along the crack, he took a shuddering breath.

"But it's not … permanent, is it?" he said, raising his eyes to look at Plagg's. "You-you can fix this, right?"

Plagg scoffed, flicking his tiny tail. "Me? No, of course I can't, but it can. Miraculouses didn't get their name for nothing. The damage wasn't done through magic; give it a week or two and it can repair itself good as new."

"A whole week?" Adrien repeated, his tone incredulous as he stared, thunderstruck, at the indifferent Plagg, who was already eyeing a fresh slice of camembert. "You're telling me that Paris and Ladybug have to do without us for one entire week?"

"Or two," Plagg reminded, wolfing down the entire slice whole. He pawed at his whiskers, licking at imaginary crumbs before looking Adrien in the eye. "Three if we're really unlucky. Until then, I suggest you hang tight and be patient. And for heaven's sake, don't let that Bourgeois girl anywhere near it again."

Adrien's only response was to groan, fingers closing gingerly over his damaged ring as if it would shatter completely if he so much as touched it wrong. Chloé had naturally thrown one of her tantrums earlier when he'd told her that no, he really couldn't accompany her to see the lavender fields this weekend because of a photoshoot. What he hadn't expected was for her to be angry enough to slam the door in his face on her way out. As it was, his fingers had been saved from a painful fate between the door and doorjamb by the ring, which had not been as lucky.

"Relax," said Plagg, rooting around the nightstand drawer for more cheese. "I'm sure Ladybug will do just fine without you for a few akumas."

A/N: I've been holding onto this for weeks because I SWEAR I find little errors in it every single time I proofread, but I think this is about as good as it will get so I figured I may as well stop fretting and start posting. Since this is a really short prologue, I'm putting up the next chapter in a few hours on Tumblr (user kasumiafkgod).

Someone has to stop me from giving overly long titles to my fics. xD