Marinette froze, completely in shock. Never before had she thought something could be so horribly wrong with her kitty. Chat seemed to appear so energetic, always playfully engaging her in his games. How could her confident, upbeat partner be suffering underneath the suit? What kind of friend was she, constantly overlooking his affections as mere play, when he was vying for her attention? How could she have not noticed her best friend suffering?

A small hand touching her shoulder pulled her out of her thoughts. She turned slightly, looking down to give them her attention. Tikki, her precious kwami, looked up at her with tearful eyes, before mumbling,

"It's not your fault Marinette; I made a mistake. I shouldn't have forced the secrecy on either of you. Especially this time."

"Wait. You knew. This whole time, Tikki, you knew that something was wrong this whole time.

I don't understand. Why? I can't believe you. You've always been so positive and reassuring, and would never let somebody hurt. So why would you let Chat suffer? You let him feel like he is alone, made me force him to believe I didn't care, all for anonymities sake. How could you? Tikki...please…," choked Marinette, her hands shaking as she began to sob harder.

Plagg watched the scene with interest, noting he would have to have a serious conversation with his fellow kwami later on. Slowly, he floated his way over to Marinette, and gently settled on her chest, before reaching his arm out to wipe away the tears staining her face.

"Hey. You know it's not your fault. His old man is mostly to blame. The poor kid is always trapped at home because his father thinks something's gonna nab him. But we need to be getting a move on. If we wait too much longer, I'm not sure what will happen," Plagg consoled, looking her warmly in the eyes, as he finished wiping the wet, salty trails away. He tapped her lightly on the forehead before he lifted off and settled on the windowsill, pushing a light cloud of dust up into the surrounding air. Silently, he watched as she rose from her position on the bed, unfurling long arms in a stretch to loosen the tension built from the stress brought by the situation at hand. The girl settled her arms down by her sides before she called for Tikki to return.

"Tikki! Spots on!" she yelled out into the empty night, as the kwami of luck slipped into the earrings gracing her face. A pinkish-red hue began to fill the room, as the transformation began. The suit appeared over Marinette's pajamas, the shimmering began to recede as her yo-yo took form. Her spots had come on. She lifted her hand to her right side, grasping the round disk between her fingers. Gently, a finger slipped between the loop on the string surrounding the black spotted, cherry-red yo-yo, as her left hand lifted the latch on the balcony door. Carefully, she climbed up, out into the night. She left the door open so that if she were to return, so as to quietly slip back into the comforts of her room. Her parents slept in the rooms below, missing the raven-haired teen slipping out into the night.

The Parisian air was chilling, the stars splayed beautiful paintings of light across the pitch-dark sky. Ahead, the moon hovered above, almost as if it were watching her, it's worrisome gaze loomed over the city, waiting for the nighttime troubles to stir. Plagg appeared before her then, waiting with directions to the lonely kitten needing a loving carer, to nurse it back to health. He floated in front of her face, the glow of the city lights scattering across his back. His piercing green eyes reflected the darkened sky, swirled with the chaos energy within him. He spoke gently, " We must head for the Eiffel Tower. From there, I shall pinpoint a path towards the stone mausoleum that my kitten calls home."

Marinette jumped across the rooftops, watching the pedestrians on the streets below in an attempt to distract herself from thoughts of the situation she would discover when she reached her destination.