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Marinette carefully detailed the apocalyptic landscape that displayed around her, a feeling of déjà vu gnawing at her to the core.
She was on a rooftop she quickly recognized: it was the one where Chat Noir had first declared himself to Ladybug.
Above her head, the sky was bathed in a cold and austere blue as also in a thin layer of mist, giving the city of Paris a surreal atmosphere, as if the sun had never risen.
In the streets below, the asphalt and the pavement of the roads and sidewalks were cracked, leaving gaping craters as if the earth was about to swallow the world whole: if it hadn't already. Indeed, in the distance there wasn't a single building or monument still standing on the Parisian ground. Cars, buses, cabs... all were frozen or immersed in the Seine, or at least, what was left of it: on the one hand, it had partially flooded the city, on the other hand, in some places, the river was only a block of ice.
And the citizens... There was no trace of them anymore... not a single living soul for miles around.
Marinette stifled a sob of terror and sorrow. Chat Blanc , she thought, unshed tears painfully knotting her throat.
She turned and found herself face to face with the figure of her feline partner: a gray shape, transformed into a stone statue. " Chaton ," she whispered in a shaky and broken voice.
She brought her hand up to Chat Noir's face —or maybe Blanc? It didn't matter, it was still her partner— and the rock crumbled under her touch, reducing his body into ashes.
Marinette pressed her hand against her mouth, stifling a gasp of horror as her tears now made their way down her face.
"Please, don't cry, Marinette." A familiar voice, filled with bitterness and melancholy startled her from behind. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her memory trying hard to assimilate this voice to a known face.
The soft and angelic features of Adrien Agreste were the only ones Marinette could paint in her mind. Mechanically she took out the matching lucky charm that Adrien had made for her, clutching it tightly in her hand, just against her heart. She eventually turned around, heart pounding fast, threatening to burst out of her chest as she found out that her auditive memory hadn't played any tricks on her.
Her eyes fluttered, hoping to erase the terrible vision in front of her. Adrien was dressed in white from head to toe. His hair was also completely immaculate and his skin was pale, like thin porcelain. The vastness of the forest of his eyes had become an icy ocean, frozen and devoid of life: they were a deep blue, like a bottomless abyss. Something caught her eyes. Tight between his fingers, was the lucky charm she'd given him, but it had also turned bright white, deprived of its shimmering colors.
"Adrien," she whispered, her voice trembling.
"Milady," he answered back, his voice barely a murmur in the silent atmosphere. "Don't be afraid, we're gonna fix everything!" He uttered, crawling around her —like a… cat? "Now that you're back and that you're going to GIVE ME YOUR MIRACULOUS!"
Marinette took a step back, her eyes widening with undisguised fear and her mouth gasping for air. "No, it can't be. You… no! You can't be him. You're wrong, Adrien. Please stop it!" she shouted, afraid by the impossible scenario playing on her mind.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude, Milady. Could you please hand me your Miraculous ? Adrien has... gotten into some mischief…" He confessed, fidgeting with the silver ring —now white—adorning his right hand.
"No!" she sobbed, her voice breaking, thick with tears.
"Why? We could tie the knot together now that the cat isn't standing in our way anymore!"
She fell to her knees, tears washing over her like tidal waves. "Bring… Chat Noir… back, please… Adrien!" she hiccuped, her sobs punctuating her every word.
"You're not even listening, you don't understand! You always kept Chat Noir out of the loop, you kept him behind doors locked twice and walls built in armoured concrete! You don't need him. You don't even like him," he shouted angrily. "Why should I bring him back? Now this part of me is gone! It's what you wanted. Isn't it? Being with Adrien," he spat, his words spreading out of his mouth and sinking into her like venom.
Even if he wasn't transformed, she could picture his ears perked up on his skull and his tail whipping the roof behind him, the anger inside him reminding her of the cold and winter-like feline she had once unfortunately met.
His words cut deeper than a knife, sinking onto her heart like a blade digging relentlessly. Even though the fear was behind her, she could now feel how his statement was full of sadness and unspoken words.
Is that how her Chaton felt about her now?
What have I done...
She saw the pain throughout his gaze, sadly mirroring her own. He looked completely…broken. Dead from within. It hurt her more than any words could ever explain to see him in such a state.
"It's not true! If you're Chat Noir, then you will always be Chat Noir to me, Adrien! You're both part of me... and... I—"
"...bug!"
A seemingly distant call interrupted her. Marinette closed her eyes, focusing only on her partner as a sudden headache hit her.
"And... I... L—" she tried to articulate her words as her pulse pounded frantically in her temples, her hand clenching around her lucky charm as her skin turned pale from squeezing it too tightly.
"...dybug!"
Her eyes suddenly snapped open. She took a huge, deep breath that practically burned her lungs.
"Ladybug! Are you alright?"
The heroine blinked a few times and her sight slowly adjusted to the surrounding light. The blur dissipated, leaving behind Rena Rouge's familiar face.
"Where is Chat Noir?" she immediately asked, the only thought that could cross her mind being that of her partner turned to dust.
Ladybug stood up, wincing as a stabbing pain shot through her shoulder. "Is that an arrow stuck in my arm?" She worried.
Rena Rouge nodded and at the same time, the arrow dissipated, carried away by a purple mist.
"We couldn't risk pulling it out: we didn't know what her power could do to you then. We hastily hid you in a safe place and Chat Noir went back to try to free the akuma and bring it here."
Her words echoed in Ladybug's head and the fight began to come back to her. An arrow! The Akuma! Manifesto! She had been hit by one of her arrows. Oh no! Her arrows could only plunge one person at a time into a deep sleep, in which the victim would endlessly live out its greatest fear.
"Where is he!" she screamed, realizing that there was only one explanation for the fact that the arrow had disappeared and that she was now awake, out of her nightmare.
"He teased and taunted Manifesto until she reached her breaking point and decided to shoot him, even if it meant that Ladybug would wake up and fight alone," she explained. "You know how Chat Noir can be stubborn and persuasive som—"
But Ladybug wasn't even listening to Rena Rouge anymore, she was looking at her Bugphone, inquiring about the position of her feline partner. That done, she rushed out of what looked like a room of the Grand Paris.
She found her partner with Carapace, hidden inside the Louvre .
"LB! You're awake! He didn’t sacrifice himself for nothing, thanks dude," Carapace sighed with relief. "Last time I saw Manifesto, she was near the Tour Eiffel ! She's looking for you!"
"Thank you Carapace ! But first, I need to take care of Chat Noir. Can you please leave us alone?"
"There's nothing you can do, Dudette. You must stop Manifesto to bring him back," he noted.
Ladybug glanced at Chat Noir, his body was shaking slightly, his face was dim and his features were deeply tensed. Even if he was sleeping, he looked utterly terrified.
"I'd like to try something but it could compromise both our identities. I need you out of here. Sorry Carapace," she confessed, biting her lip.
"I'm gonna do the lure then. Good luck, LB!" He waved and left the museum.
"Just the two of us now, mon Minou ," she whispered, cupping both his cheeks. "Adrien, I know it's you. I know what just happened was only meant to be my greatest fear and just a nightmare… but it happened to free my heart and remove the blindfold before my eyes so that I clearly see you now, mon Chaton ," she admitted, her voice filled with all her past repressed feelings.
As she said that, she leaned in for a kiss: a true love kiss. "I need you back by my side. I… need you. I'm in love with you, Adrien, Mon Chaton ," she whispered against his lips.
She suddenly felt warm and electricity spreading over her whole body, sending shivers down her spine as he took control of her lips, returning her kiss a hundred fold.
"What did you call me?" He asked a few seconds later, when they broke apart, both gasping for air.
"Adrien… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you felt kept out of the loop and I hadn't been able to realize how you felt," she almost sob. "I love you so much. I'll never, EVER abandon you. You're too important to me. Don't ever doubt it!"
"No more secrets, then, Marinette?"
She gasped, her eyes popping out of their sockets. "You know… How?"
"I've seen Ladybug renounce being the Guardian and lose her memory. When I bumped into Marinette in the street during an Akuma attack without Ladybug by my side, it just clicked. You were feline afraid by my suit and didn't even recognise my chat-rm." He winked at her, a smirk dancing on his lips.
She laughed: it was good to get her silly partner back. Even if she could tell how much it cost him that she'd forgotten Chat Noir.
"I love you too, Buguinette ," Chat Noir whispered, his voice filled with tenderness. "Now let's defeat this ridiculous copy of Cupidon so I can get more kisses when it'll be over."
Instead of agreeing and getting back to the fight, her lips were on his for another kiss.
"What was this one for?" he inquired, his mouth chasing hers again when she moved back.
"To seal the promise that there will be more," she cooed as she booped his nose.
They defeated Manifesto in a blink of an eye, soon keeping their promise alive as they continued making new ones all over again.