Still shocked and confused into a hurt and guilty silence, Ladybug remained quiet as the strange boy led her swiftly along the roofs. Her head was spinning, and all she could hear was his voice, his cross and desperate questions just hours earlier in the day. The anger in his tone made her heart begin hurting all over again every time she thought about it. She tried instead to think about the strongly affectionate glow in his eyes just weeks before, when he'd given her the rose, told her she was everything to him, and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. And in all this time to let her mind wander, Adrien Agreste did not enter her thoughts once.

"This way." The boy touched her arm and pointed to the left. "Around the wall over there."

"Thanks," she told him, then held out her palm. "I need the miraculous back, though."

He looked slightly disappointed, having to give up the magic jewel he'd only just gotten, but he reluctantly nodded and took off the ring. After the blinding golden magic disappeared, revealing a boy she didn't know, she took the black ring and began heading in the direction he had shown her.

He'd be detransformed, she realized as she approached the corner. Wanting to respect him in the least way she could at the moment, she closed her eyes and stepped past the wall into his sight.

"Cat Noir?" she asked tentatively, but his answer made her heart sink as she realized this was not going to be easy. His tone sounded more like a cat's growl than anything else when he replied.

"That's not my name anymore."