Chapter Text
Once every three years, the moon rose red. It was not a traditional blood moon, not a trick of the light or a phenomenon easily explained by science. People had tried but it continued to defy modern understanding of the cosmos. In a world filled with increasingly magical oddities, it finally fit right in.
Nathan strolled along a bustling street, hands in his pockets, whistling softly. People brushed past him, hands full of food purchased off street vendors, voices chattering with excitement. As had happened throughout history, whenever there was some regular strange occurrence, a festival of celebration was born. The Sang de Lune Festival.
In the past, Nathan had attended with his family, before his mother-
Well , there was a reason the Agrestes were recluses now.
For tonight, Nathan was merely a face in the crowd. No one gave him a second glance—the idiots.
He wore sunglasses to conceal his eyes, a scarf wrapped high around his face to hide his powerful jaw and cheekbones. He was built like a wolf, lean and powerful. For a long time, it had frustrated him; the way his muscles did not bulge like the other boys; how he was tall but never quite as broad. Now he knew it for what it really was: an advantage.
Plagg hummed in his pocket. The ring burned on his finger.
He hated to take it, he really did. Adrien always screamed so much and Nathan didn’t need another headache today. And the scratch marks Felix left on his arms were such an eyesore.
But they didn’t know what needed to be done. They were children. Nathan was a predator .
He ducked into an alleyway and waited. No one followed him. No one cared. They were distracted by the lights hung overhead and the smell of food permeating the street. Voices prattled and bodies swished, dressed in hanging lengths of red and black: a tribute to their sky and to their heroes.
Good.
Nathan did love to be adored. He’d done a good job at tricking Paris into loving him.
If only he could trick Ladybug into doing the same.
“Ready little guy?” He asked, opening his bag and releasing Plagg.
The kwami did not move. He glared up at Nathan with those piercing, judgmental eyes. His destructive energy leaked out of him and into the school books Nathan had forgotten to take out of his bag. He winced. Pages yellowed and the spine cracked.
The library was going to be so mad at him.
“Oh don’t give me that look. This is for the best, you know that.”
Plagg didn’t speak. He never did on the days that Nathan got him, as if he was mad or something. Insufferable little monster.
“Whatever.” Nathan didn’t need the kwami to like him. He only needed the being’s power. “Claws out.”
The transformation took hold in a wash of black energy. It was never green for him, not the way it was for Adrien. It was not bright either like when Felix used the ring.
The cloud of destruction squeezed Nathan’s throat. It racked its claws down his body, leaving long grooves of black in their place. His suit churned into reality, made from the same material as broken dreams and last words.
It was solidly black, darker than the night around him. Long lines of texture, ridged like fur turned into spikes, ran up and down the suit. The only speck of color were his wicked, golden claws. They were jagged and sharp. He rarely got the chance to use them, unfortunately. He was forced to only imagine the damage he could cause.
Still, he curled his tail triumphantly. At last.
For months they’d denied him this power, this right , but he had it back now. And on the day of the Blood Moon too.
Finally finally finally-
He had no baton—Plagg smugly refused him that each time—but he didn’t need it. He climbed his way to the top of the nearest building with his claws alone, leaving large gorges in the bricks behind him.
The owners should thank him really. It made the entire place look far more interesting.
He prowled above his city, watching the festival goers with a smirk on his face. They had no idea the danger that lurked in the shadows around them. But he knew. Those shadows were his to rule.
Chat Nuit owned the night. He was the night.
( “What if we were all cats?” Adrien asked excitedly, leaning forward with lights twinkling in his eyes. The shadows of the room were never dark when he was there.
Felix rolled his eyes, head laid back in Adrien’s lap. He lounged with a natural grace that Nathan envied. Where he was fight and Adrien was freeze, Felix embodied every aspect of flight; carefree but serious; elegant but casual. “We are all cats. It’s the Cat Miraculous.”
Adrien swatted Felix’s head, making his twin scowl. “I know that, silly. But what if we all had cat in our name?”
“No, that’s dumb.”
“No it’s not!” Adrien insisted. His face was filled with determination; there would be no deterring him now. He scratched Felix’s hair and the other boy purred quietly, forgetting to keep arguing. “I could be Chat Noir, and you could be Chat Ebene, and Nathan could be Chat Nuit!”
“Cat Night?” Nathan repeated skeptically, watching the two with the utmost reluctance. This was Emilie’s job, but she was gone, again. “What kind of a name is that?”
Adrien stuck out his chest defiantly. “The best name! For the best brother!”
The best brother.
“We’re not related,” Nathan whispered, too low for the twins to hear. Then, loudly, he said, “Alright alright. Chat Nuit it is.”)
Chat Nuit answered to no one. Not even to family.
He stood tall and proud despite the memories, form lost in the darkness but that was fine. Attention was grand and all, but sometimes life required a more… subtle touch.
“And which one of you do I get the honor of seeing tonight?” A familiar voice chirped behind him.
Chat Nuit whipped around, extending his claws instinctively. He growled—who dared to interrupt him?—before he recognized the face staring at him, amused and unafraid.
“Ladybug,” he straightened up and gave her a short, flourished bow. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
She stood casually before him, one hand on her hip, the other absently playing with her yoyo. Eyebrows raised under her mask, she looked Chat Nuit up and down; there was always something critical and calculated in her gaze. At first it had drawn him to her, assuming her to be a kindred soul, but quickly it went from admirable to annoying.
She completed her inspection. And then she sighed. “Yep- It’s you.”
With a tiny, unexpected flick, she sent her yoyo out. She overshot though and nearly hit him. Nuit ducked out of the way nimbly—the yoyo whistled past his ear harmlessly, though the wind accompanying it ruffled his hair. The barbs on his suit bristled.
Ladybug caught the toy easily in her hand, smirking.
“You dare- ” He stopped himself. Polite. He could be polite. “I- It’s- It’s good to see you again.”
She tucked her little toy around her waist, her smirk never dying. Her long ribbons quirked and quivered, reacting to things he couldn’t sense. She took no notice of them.
(But experience told him she’d be in motion far faster than him if danger did approach)
“Wish I could say the same. Where are Ebene and Noir? You know, the nice ones?”
“I am nice,” he hissed. He was keenly aware of his tail lashing, his claws that he’d never retracted, and Ladybug’s doubtful stare.
He fooled all of Paris. He fooled his entire school. He fooled the idiot girl who insisted on following Felix around. He fooled even the pathetic excuse for a father that had attempted to raise him for the past six years, and yet he could never fool Ladybug.
Why?
“And my suit is neon green,” she snarked, stepping forward, walking past him. As if he wasn’t even worth her time. Her footsteps were silent, light and graceful. She walked on air while he stamped through shadows.
He followed her.
“It could be,” he said, because he couldn’t let that slide. “Just ask your kwami.”
“Like how yours gives you the baton?” She asked innocently, glancing just barely over her shoulder. Her eyes twinkled just like Adrien’s did.
Chat Nuit scowled.
“That’s different,” he grumbled. The ring burned on his finger; Adrien’s screams echoed in his ears.
The kid was just being dramatic. He was a child, he didn’t know what was best for him. Nathan did. Nathan could protect him.
Plagg didn’t choose you.
Shut up.
“I’m sure it is,” Ladybug said. She kept walking until she ran out of roof; never once did her steps make a sound. Her grace reminded Nuit so much of Felix and her inner light so much of Adrien.
Maybe that was why he disliked her so much. She was just as infuriating as the twins, if not more. But Nuit followed her. Not because he respected her—of course not—but he needed her.
And then she paused.
Nuit walked up beside her. He was taller and older than her, looming like some sort of statue. Powerful. Important. She was tiny, barely a blip of red on his radar. She should not have been so infuriating.
She was a child too, was she not? A naive, incapable kid like Adrien and Felix. Why couldn’t he bend her to his will? Why did she not listen?
She took out her yoyo once more and wound it up in preparation to throw, ignorant to his thoughts and turmoil. Always so ignorant. “Race you to the top of the Eiffel Tower?”
Nuit blinked at her. His mind ground momentarily to a halt.
A… race? Like that thing the twins did? Those stupid displays of speed and flamboyance? She was inviting him to race? They didn’t do that. She did that with Ebene and Noir, never him.
Never… with him.
( “Race you!” Felix called, sliding down the railing of the stairs. Adrien squeaked and scrambled after his twin, but he didn’t have the balance to stay atop the thin strip of marble. Instead he scurried down the steps, tripping over his own feet but never falling.
Nathan paused, arms full of books, to watch the two. They were getting taller, almost up to his shoulders now. Too big to be manhandled anymore. Despite that, they’’d clearly never matured mentally. Racing each other like children did?
Felix got to the bottom first. Adrien tackled him a heartbeat later. They fell to the ground in a heap of giggles, elbows, and wild blonde hair.
They looked happy.
They never invited Nathan to join them.)
“Fine. Sure. Whatever.”
She was gone in a flash, before Nuit had fully registered that he’d even agreed at all. His feet felt rooted to the floor, weighed down by memories and old decisions. Echoes of the past continued to haunt him. They strived to tear away everything that made him special, that made him who he was. Time and time again they tried. Time and time again they failed.
Her back bounced away into the night. She was faster than he was.
That was all the motivation he needed to launch into motion. He would not lose.
She was faster. She used her Miraculous more often than he used the ring. She knew Paris far better than he did. Everything was stacked in her favor.
Good.
Nuit always did like a challenge.
She swung in large arcs ahead of him, propelled through the air by her yoyo. He had no weapon, no tool, only his own two legs.
(Adrien said it was faster to run on four.)
Chat Nuit could see the monument ahead, lit up like a beacon. They always lit it up so bright, as if it could drive out the shadows from the hearts of the people. A foolish hope for a foolish city. Still, it was impossible to miss and he carved a path straight towards it. Let Ladybug do her tricks and flips; she always over complicated everything and that would be her downfall.
He leapt easily across the rooftops, clearing gaps in powerful bounds. Homes and establishments alike blurred away beneath him. He landed heavily each time, leaving dents behind. He could crush these things easily. The mighty and the weak; they were all nothing before him.
The cheers of the crowds below became screams in his mind’s ear. Their shrieks of delight now shouts of terror. The way they held to each other in companionship became tainted by fear.
Some part of him wanted it. It would be so easy. Even with Plagg fighting the transformation with every breath, Chat Nuit could destroy it all. Everything could be bowed before his feet.
The power inside him, locked away by the stubborn kwami, roared in delight. It fought its chains, asking- no, begging for Nuit to let it free. To let it burn.
He hesitated for the briefest of seconds, the race fading into the background of his brain. Why shouldn’t he? Why shouldn’t he let it out? What had the world ever done for him?
(The world had Adrien and Felix in it.)
He curled his claws up, feeling the sparks of destruction alit in his palms. They were too weak but they would work. A simple touch and-
Ladybug landed in front of Nuit, breaking through the moment. He bristled and snarled. The power cowered.
No no no- You’re mine-
He reached for it with figurative fingers, but it had already fled. Gone where he could not pull it back. Gone gone gone-
Everyone respected Ladybug. Paris. Gabriel. Adrien. Felix. Even Plagg, even destruction itself.
Not Nathan. Never Nathan.
“You’re getting slow,” she twittered teasingly; she was as annoying as the insect that she was named for.
He needed her, unfortunately.
But when he was done with her… the echoes of destruction still burned against his palms. Waiting.
“I was giving you a head start,” he shot back. “With all that unnecessary looping you do, I could reach the Eiffel Tower twice before you got there.”
She grinned. It was not a happy grin. It cared no warmth or friendship, none of what she denied Nuit but so freely offered to everyone else. This was the grin of a predator catching up to their prey. “Care to put your Miraculous where your mouth is?”
She was making a mistake. Nuit was a predator too; he knew how this fight went.
Still, he stared at her suspiciously. One of her hands lingered next to her yoyo, in case he attacked her. He would win, but she would not be an easy opponent. Her powers worked with her while his fought him at every step.
But it didn’t matter. He was not here to fight.
“And what would that entail, exactly?”
He paced around her in a circle, watching. She turned with him, maintaining eye contact. “Oh it’s simple really,” she said casually. “You run to the Eiffel Tower, back here, and then back again. But if I reach the Tower before you do, then you have to give me your Miraculous.”
He snorted. She wasn’t serious, was she? “And you actually expect me to give it to you?”
“No.” She kept grinning. He didn’t shiver from the intensity, the hidden fury, of that grin. He didn’t. “But that’s alright. I’ll get it anyway.”
“Over my dead body.”
“If that’s what you want.”
Silence stretched between them. She wouldn’t- She was too good for that. She was bound by morals, kept captive by them unlike Nuit. He was free to do whatever he wanted.
So, why don’t you?
Shut up.
If she thought she could defeat him, she had another thing coming.
But he needed her. Not her Miraculous- her.
He growled silently. Fine. “And if I win?”
“You get to race me again!” She chirped. Gaiety twinkled and popped in her expression—because that’s just how she was. Even when she was threatening him, she appeared so joyful and lighthearted.
It baffled him. Time and time again, he compared her to his brothers. She had the soul of Adrien and the mind of Felix. Nathan had neither. Only his pride, and his old promises.
Chat Nuit folded his arms and raised an eyebrow at her. He pushed the thoughts away and focused back on the task at hand. Ladybug was a fool, but even she wasn’t this dumb. “Really?”
She rolled her eyes. That was all the answer he needed. “What do you want?”
"Your powers- not your Miraculous," he clarified quickly, seeing the spark of argument alighting in her eyes. "No, you can keep that. But you need to use your powers to do a favor for me."
She peered suspiciously at him. Her fingers tapped her arm thoughtfully. "What favor?"
He grinned—all teeth and no warmth. "I'll win and you'll find out."
"Fine… but I have one more condition."
Of course she did. Everything always came with strings attached in this world. "What is it?"
"You-" she darted in and booped his nose, voice litting. He snarled and clawed at her but she was too fast; he only caught empty air. "-Have to think when you run."
"...what? Is this some ploy to make me slower? Are you trying to get me lost in my head?" He spun her words through his mind over and over, trying to find the trick. Was this a jab about his intelligence? She may have made all the plans but she was still a child; she knew nothing about how the world actually worked. He was smarter than her and the twins combined.
"Just think fast," she said unsympathetically, and she took off.
I hate her .
He glared at her back, but every moment spent brooding was a moment spent not running.
I really hate her.
He ran after her anyway. Because that was how it worked, wasn’t it? He was the chaser, never the chased. He was constantly playing catch up, because no one would work with him. They thought him a monster and he could be, if circumstances required. But did they not see that he was trying to help?
( “Such a helpful boy,” Emilie cooed. Her face was soft, her hair spilling in curls over her shoulders. It hid the marks there.
Nathan glowed under her praise, straightening up and setting his shoulders wide. She was not his mother—not in the way that truly mattered to the world—but he would do his best every day to make her forget that.
She adjusted her pale, flowy dress as she stood up. It did a poor job at disguising how frail her frame had become. Her eyes hung low on her face, drooping with bags only half concealed with makeup. Still, her countenance shone with what he knew to describe as love.
“You must watch the twins closely today, alright? Gabriel will be coming by to pick the three of you up.”
Nathan glowered. He swapped his brightness for bitterness. “Why me? And why him? What about Dad?”
Emilie’s smile tightened. She patted Nathan’s shoulder and stared at him closely, firmly. Her gaze left no room for argument. Not if he wanted her to be proud of him. “Your father isn’t coming back, remember? Gabriel will take care of you while I’m gone. He can be your new father and you should treat him as such. Felix and Adrien will be your brothers.”
Nathan pouted. If he went for cute, she might listen to him. It always worked for the twins after all. “But I don’t want them- I want my dad back.”
Her hand tightened painfully on his shoulder. He didn’t protest; he knew better than that. “Your dad is gone, alright love? Take care of the twins for me. Like the good, helpful boy that I know you are. You are good and helpful, right?”
She tilted her head to the side innocently, asking the question with a light voice. The strings attached to it were thin and hard to see. Nathan knew that they were there, but if it made her proud of him…
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll take care of them. You’ll come home soon, right?”
Her smile slipped. Only for a second, shorter than the time it took to blink. He imagined it, he must have; Emilie never wavered.
“Of course dear,” she cooed. “You won’t even notice that I was gone.”)
Nuit pounded a path across Paris. This time he took no delight in the trail he left on the rooftops behind him. Every shattering of tiles and concrete beneath him felt only like another splinter in his heart.
He didn’t need a heart. It didn’t work for him anyway.
Ladybug was a distant figure, half shrouded by the light, half illuminated by the city’s celebrations. She walked the line between the good and the bad, better than anyone else he knew. She tipped her toes into places she should not go, but she remained uncorrupted. She stayed happy , hopeful when everyone else broke under the pressure.
He hated her. He cursed her as he stumbled, eyes blurry from staring at the lights. That was all. The only thing fogging them was tiredness, the only liquid running down his cheeks was sweat.
He ran and he thought . Damn her, he thought.
Because she’d told him to and Nathan just had to be a good boy.
(“Nathan,” Adrien whimpered, pulling on the older boy’s sleeve. “What’s going on?”
Nathan peered out the crack of the closet and pushed Adrien back with one hand. He heard his brother stumble and Felix’s small “Hey!” as he caught his twin. Nathan paid both of them no mind. So long as they were quiet, they would be safe.
“What do you mean?” Gabriel asked harshly outside in the lobby, arms crossed. Adoni stood in front of him, her hands clasped crisply before her.
“Exactly what I said,” she responded calmly. “Mme. Sphinx will not be returning.”
“She’s an Agreste,” Gabriel snapped, taking a step forward with his fists clenched. His body shook with poorly contained rage. Adoni was unfazed and continued to stare him down with her collected, eerie gaze.
“I’m afraid her legal records state otherwise.”
“SHE’S AN AGRESTE!” Gabriel roared. Nathan flinched and pulled Adrien further behind him. The young boy cried quietly. Nathan heard rustling and soft murmurs as Felix attempted to comfort his brother.
Nathan didn’t dare glance back at them. He stared ahead with mounting horror at the trainwreck he knew was coming.
It always came. No matter where they ran to, no matter where Emilie tried to hide him, it always came for Nathan again.
Adoni stayed still as Gabriel lunged towards her, anger getting the better of him. Nathan’s mouth went dry, remembering the bruises Emilie always poorly concealed. But Gabriel didn’t hit Adoni, only shoved her and screamed for her to get out.
She held onto his arm as he tried to back up. Nathan wanted to wrench his gaze away though he couldn’t. He was trapped in a cycle of disaster after disaster. He almost craved it; he almost wished it was him out there, being stared down by those eyes that never felt. Those eyes didn’t look at him now but the memories always would.
“You seem agitated,” Adoni said serenely. “Why don’t you calm down?”
The emotion bled out of Gabriel.
Literally.)
Chat Nuit ran for the light of the Eiffel Tower. Shadows chased him. They weren’t any more real than the echoes of the past living in his brain, but he feared them just the same.
He had spent a lifetime running. When would it be enough? When would he be the one who got to rest? Where was his turn at the finish line?
Destruction sparked against his soul. Plagg was pushing at him, trying to communicate something. Nuit didn’t listen. He didn’t have to listen to anyone anymore. He was Chat Nuit. He was the scourge of the night.
The blood moon burned overhead. Nuit gasped and glared at it. Was this its fault? Was it amplifying his memories and the emotions burning under his skin? Did it know what he had done?
(“PLAGG-” Adrien thrashed in Felix’s arms, so consumed by his feral desperation that he didn’t see the way his fingers dug into his twin and left deep, bruised marks behind. He wailed and kicked. His efforts propelled the two of them forward, but he couldn’t make progress fast enough to stop Nathan.
Nathan forced himself to watch, feeling the sting of the Miraculous as it bit into his palm. He always watched for a moment. He saw their pain. He would reject it later, but for this moment he made himself acknowledge it.
“GIVE HIM BACK! YOU’LL HURT HIM- HE HATES YOU I KNOW HE HATES YOU!”
“It’s for the best, kid.” Nathan said. Like that could ever be enough. “You’ll understand one day.”)
“I own the night!” Chat Nuit screamed. His voice carried over the city, startling the festival-goers on the streets below. “I own these memories! They do not own me!”
He sounded crazy, yelling at a moon that could not see, could not feel. But he saw and he felt and he hated it- He hated her- He hated the moon- He hated Plagg- He hated himself.
People gawked up at him as he flew past, propelled by the pain of his thoughts and that throbbing as Plagg pushed against his soul.
The destruction bubbled up closer, amplifying the feeling of strength in his limbs. Buildings, people, the sky- It all blurred away in his frantic sprint. He could taste sourness on the back of his tongue, hyper aware of how dry his throat was. He couldn’t swallow.
The air tasted of cinnamon and meat, sprinkled on top with starlight. There was always pollution layered underneath it. He choked on the tang of it as it burned his mouth. Sweet, savory, sour.
His mind whirred too quickly. The destruction urged it on, making him faster, making him more desperate. Every emotion boiled in his blood- Guilt, fear, loss, hope-
“No,” he croaked. “Stop it.”
The air was cold but his suit was warm. The wind didn’t pierce him through how he wished it would. He wanted the pain. He wanted the chill to bite at his extremities and leave him desperate for warmth again. He was sweltering in his own powers.
None of it could distract him from the thoughts. Memories. Promises. Kept and broken- All of it.
“Stop!”
(“Stop!” Felix cried, wrestling Nathan away from Adrien. He’d gotten so big; Nathan couldn’t handle him forcefully anymore. He would have to resort to other methods.)
“Leave me alone!”
(“Leave me alone!” Adrien screeched, bolting up the stairs away from Nathan, away from the ring he’d offered out in apology.
“I only needed it for a minute!” Nathan yelled back. “Why do you have to be so dramatic?”)
“I didn’t do anything to you!”
(“I didn’t do anything to you!” Nathan pulled his arm free of his father’s grip. Richard stared on impassively. He left his hand extended as if Nathan would magically put himself back where he could be controlled. “Why did you hurt her?”)
“Why do you hate me?”
(“Why do you hate me?” Ladybug asked quietly, standing above Nuit. He closed his eyes. He was laid eagle spread across the roof, trying to enjoy the silence, and of course she had to be out and about today of all the days.
“Because you deserve it,” he replied and didn’t elaborate.”)
Chat Nuit sank to his knees. The race wasn’t important anymore; let Ladybug have the ring, it was cursed anyway!
He dug his claws deep into the roof, hunched over and sobbing freely. His tail hung limp. His claws lost their luster. Heat kept pouring out of the ring, overwhelming him and burning all his memories back to the surface.
Deserve. It. Plagg thrummed.
The kwami had no solid form when Nathan was transformed, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t feel Plagg. He was in every breath Nathan took, in the vibrations running up his legs as he walked, in the crackle of energy leaking from his palms, in the fabric of the suit that pressed uncomfortably against his skin.
“I-”
(“I-” Gabriel reached out towards Nathan but he backed away. “I didn’t mean-
“I hate you!” Nathan snarled. “You’re pathetic- A pathetic excuse for a man, an even more pathetic excuse for a father- Richard was a thousand times better than you!”
“He was a monster.”
“I DON’T CARE- He was my dad!”
Nathan’s back hit the wall. He hugged himself tightly, unable to look up at Gabriel, at that man who was supposed to be his dad’s replacement, as if anyone could ever replace Richard. Nothing could fill this hole that he’d left behind.
Gabriel sighed. He was volatile, but he found patience somehow to deal with Nathan. Nathan hated him for it. Nathan hated him for a lot of things.
“I know,” Gabriel said softly. “And I will never be him. But, if it matters at all, I love you anyway.”)
“Stop-” Chat Nuit sobbed, afloat in a sea of his own creation. He was drowning and he couldn’t swim. Plagg quieted but the damage was done; the memories ran rampant, laying out Nathan’s flaws so plainly. He couldn’t look away from them. “Just. Stop .”
Ladybug landed before him, stormy. He didn’t look up at her and he didn’t see her expression, but he knew. He knew it the same way he knew that it was her standing there. He knew it the same way he knew that using the Miraculous never brought him anything good. He knew it the same way he knew that he’d never stop doing this anyway. He knew. She hated him as much as he hated himself.
She knelt in front of him. He stared down at her feet. It was easier than glancing up at her face or retreating back into his own mind.
“I know you’ve hurt them.” She hissed, and he didn’t hear the good in her voice anymore. “I see it in the way they mention you. How they flinch, how they light up even when they’re crying. They love you and you hurt them. And they still love you. ”
“I know.”
He squeezed his eyes shut.
“I know.”
“You don’t deserve them.”
“I know.”
“They don’t deserve what you’ve done to them.”
“I know…”
“You’re a monster.” She grabbed his face and she forced it up. Her eyes were full of emotion, nothing like Adoni, but they condemned him just the same. Seeing the hate there made Nuit sit stronger. He leaned into it, craved it. He’d always been in pain- Why should that change?
But he hated it so much.
“Say it.” She growled. Her nails dug at his cheeks through her suit. Her eyes glowed like coals; the burns they left behind would not heal without a scar. “ Say it.”
Why not? The words were easy. Of course they were. After everything he’d had to fight so hard for, finally something came easy. It was the same thing as it always was.
Hate.
“I know.”
She released him. Her heavy breathing drowned out the pitiful beats of his heart for a moment; her quiet fury overpowered the echoes of Adrien’s screams in his head.
But then she was gone. She didn’t ask for the Miraculous like she said she was going to. She didn’t even do Nathan the favor of ridding him of this burden. She should have thrown him off the roof to rot alone, broken in an alleyway below, but she didn’t. She left him alone, rotting and broken on a rooftop, body intact.
“I know,” he told the silence. The moon stared on, the only witness to his agony. “I know, I know, I know.”
He pressed his forehead onto the cold rooftop. It eased the burning of his skin. Plagg withdrew fully, leaving Nuit with his mind free and emotions dampened. He remembered anyway.
“I’m sorry.”