Chapter Text
The robber on the roof lunged for her.
Almost reflexively, Marinette swung her fist as hard as she could towards his face. Her punch went wide as he dodged with plenty of room to spare. 'Bad idea, shouldn't have punched.' Marinette thought grimly, even as the momentum of her swing carried the fragile girl past the larger black clothed man and into the railing of the roof. Trying to keep to her feet, Marinette staggered into the rail, the iron bars slamming into her stomach. She saw stars, but still she managed to stay upright.
Of course no sane burglar would stay still and do nothing while a 'witness' tried to catch her breath and prepare for her next attack. Although realistically, a small girl couldn't do much to endanger him. She could scream, however and give away the whole operation.
Thinking along such lines, this less than friendly cat thief, lunged for her while her back was turned.
Now would have been a perfect time to scream; a thought that hadn't occurred to Marinette before that moment. Unfortunately with the wind knocked from her lungs and her stomach aching, she wasn’t exactly in peak screaming condition. However, by some stroke of luck, Marinette shifted to turn around just as he moved towards her. Instead of a bone splintering right hook across the girl's flushed and fear stricken face, the fist of Marinette's assailant caught on her purse strap. The thin black string snapped and sent the pink purse flying over the roof's edge.
"Tikki!" Marinette screamed, air somehow finding its way into her lungs so she could let out her strangled cry. Time seemed to slow down for Marinette as she watched the bag, with her Kwami companion inside, vanish over the side of the railing. Lights flashed on in the house below her and she heard the hurried footsteps of her parent's running up the stairs. But Marinette paid that no mind, her body was filled with a different kind of strength than earlier.
She felt her heartbeat speed up and before she knew it she was twisted up in her own feet with her ankle smarting, having delivered a roundhouse kick into the burglar's torso. Finding her feet she made as to lunge for him again but her punch yet again missed. She staggered past him with arms and legs like lead. Black spots filled her vision as she panted and she became aware of an acute pain in the back of her skull.
Blearily, Marinette wondered when he had hit her. She slumped against the railing facing the large man in black. Fury simmering in her bluebell gaze, barely disguised, and wavering. Marinette pulled herself to her feet one last time and hurled her entire body weight towards him, nails clawing.
The man, who was taller than herself by at least a head and a half, easily caught her wrists before she stumbled into him. Her strength gone, without enough remaining to complete this last attack. The man, sweating under his black ski mask, easily held both her wrists in one hand as a he fumbled around in his jacket. Marinette was too exhausted to even kick at him, leading her to just sag in his grasp. Her ankle throbbed in rhythmic pulses, mirroring the thundering in her ears.
She barely registered the man pulling out a knife. Nor the horrified scream of her mother who had just opened the trapdoor leading onto the roof. The only thing that shone with pinpoint clarity through the haze, was the chill of cold steel against her throat. So, so cold.
The wind up on the roof stole the heat from Marinette’s sweat soaked skin and she shivered. The blade pressed against her bounced up and down on her neck every time she shook. A flash of silver sliced past her cheek, like a shooting star, leaving a long silver trail in her vision that refused to fade even after her eyes fell shut. Marinette felt her arms slip to her sides and she fell forwards into something firm and warm. So very warm.
A bit of her consciousness returned to her long enough to murmur one sentence before she sank into oblivion;
"It's about time, kitty."
The black cat smiled a small smile as he looked down at the exhausted girl pressed against his chest. Chat Noir reached up one hand to stroke her hair gently, Ladybug would forgive him, this small girl did well in persevering as long as she did.
Carefully, he looped the knotted strap of her satchel over her head to settle around her shoulders, before sweeping his arm beneath her knees to cradle her to his chest. The lights of the city that lay before them bathed her face with a warm glow. Before turning around to deliver her into the arms of her tearful parents, He paused, considering.
Well, she deserved a reward.
Before he had a chance to change his mind, he brushed his lips, feather light, over her forehead as red and blue flashing lights and sirens rang out in the distance. The lights cast the faintest red blush over Chat Noir’s cheeks.
Flustered, he turned his back to the city and deposited the unconscious girl into the waiting arms of her parents. Ducking his head he smiled and stooped to pick up his baton from where it lay next to the collapsed form of the burglar. Leaving the rest to the police and her parents, the grinning black cat sprang from the balcony into the chilly Paris air, enjoying a few airborne somersaults before vaulting off into the depths of the city.