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"Chat Noir, NO!" shouted Ladybug, her eyes going wide in pure horror as the butterfly hit his bell.
No. It couldn't be. It was impossible. She had been so careful. She had tried so hard not to fall in love with him. She had tried so hard to keep that wall that separated them, make it bigger, keep things professional. She had watched anything she said to avoid any chance that he discovered her identity. When she desperately needed to talk to someone, she had ended up confiding in Alya over him, even if it hurt her soul that he wouldn't be the first to know. Because she didn't want this to happen.
And yet, as she saw the ethereal mask appear on his face and him raising his fists to the sides of his head and screaming his lungs off, ordering Papillon to leave him alone, she knew she had failed. She had broken his heart again by working so hard to keep her distance. And she had broken her own heart too—because as much as she didn't want to admit it, she loved him. Now, as she watched him struggle to fight the voice of their nemesis in his head, she realised that she'd done it all wrong. She shouldn't have pushed him away. The words he had said to her before the butterfly hit him made her realise it. The words he was shouting at Papillon now made her realise it even better.
"Get your filthy voice out of my head," he roared. "She may not value me, but I'm not lowering myself to take on a deal with a monster." He growled worse than a caged lion. "You need to try harder than this, grandpa. She rejected me too many times already; I won't fall for that!"
Every word was a knife stabbing her in her heart. She wanted to scream that it wasn't true, that she does value him, that she was trying to prevent this very thing from happening. She wanted to scream that she loved him—and not as a partner. She loved him for real, but she didn't know what to do. She was terrified that by saying anything she would disrupt things and cause his akumatisation rather than preventing it. She was afraid she would break his heart even further.
Then she heard it. The loudest scream a human being could possibly utter. So loud that the words came out only as a whisper. A painful, terrifying whisper.
"F-FATHER?" Chat Noir's eyes were as wide as saucers as tears started streaming from his eyes. "No, it's impossible. Impossible!"
Ladybug died inside. Poor boy, he didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve a shock of that sort. That was too much. She could see him hesitating. She could see his determination faltering.
"Chaton, don't listen to him. Please stay here with me, mon minou!" She grabbed his clawed hands and squeezed them, bringing them to her mouth and placing a soft kiss on his knuckles.
"You don't understand! He's my father Ladybug! My father! Mayura was his assistant! I loved her nearly like my mother! What kind of failure superhero has two supervillains in his own house and doesn't even notice? I'm not worthy of this ring!" He put a shaky hand on top of the black ring sitting on his right ring finger and made to slide it off, but Ladybug stopped him.
"It's not your fault, Chat Noir. None of this is. You wouldn't have been able to know. It's his fault, not yours. And I…" She closed her eyes shut and lowered her head, pushing his hands on her forehead. "I'm sorry. It's my fault too. I… was terrified that something like this could happen if we grew closer and I kept pushing you away. I've allowed you to feel rejected and alone. To feel that you had been replaced."
She raised her head, expecting to see a white spandex wrap around him. Expecting to see those icy blue eyes full of hate and madness that had lived in her nightmares from the day she first saw them.
Instead, she saw black. She saw green eyes, full of tears. Papillon's mask was still covering his face, but he wasn't listening to him. He was listening to her. Ladybug gulped. She still had time. She could save him. She could save them all. But to do it, she had to trust him.
"I... love you, chaton. Not as a partner, not as a friend. I love you for real." She saw his eyes widening in shock. Her heart in her ears, she lifted her weight on the balls of her feet and placed a soft peck on his lips that made butterflies—of the right kind—storm into her belly. "I still love the other boy too," she admitted, her hand gently stroking his cheek as a flash of pain shone in his eyes. "But this doesn't mean that the feelings I have for you aren't as strong."
She grabbed his bell and with a firm movement, she detached it from his costume. Her gaze never left his as she broke the bell, released the akuma and purified it. Then, she showed him her hand and waited patiently for the boy to get out of his stunned stupor and take it.
"Where are we going?" he asked with a shaky voice.
"Home," she whispered back. She held his gaze as his brows furrowed into a confused frown. "My home." A timid smile popped on her lips when comprehension dawned on him. She heard him sucking his breath in and giggled. "I'm not allowing you to go back to him. Not after what I just heard, chaton. It's time to be truthful. It's time to let the masks fall."
That said, she twirled her yoyo and plunged away, waiting for him to follow. He smirked and extended his baton, right behind her, as always.