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“Oh, my God…”
Seriously, when Adrien saw his father coming out of a secret hole in the floor of his office the day before, he didn’t know what the hell was going on, but he didn’t expect anything too extreme. Maybe another office. Maybe something Adrien just… forgot was there. Something innocent. Something he could make sense of.
He didn’t have time to check it out right after seeing it – plus, his father was right there. But the next day the man left on a business trip before Adrien had to go to school and once he and Nathalie were out the door, leaving Adrien alone to get ready for school as usual, the boy decided to finally see what was in his father’s office. Plus, Plagg was bugging him to explore some more, probably affecting him too much with his terrible attitude and lack of boundaries.
There wasn’t much time, Adrien knew. He needed to get to school on time because he knew his father would hear about him being tardy immediately and that wouldn’t end in Adrien’s favor. So he decided to just scope it all quickly and get out before he could get caught. He knew about the buttons in his mother’s paintings thanks to seeing his father using them, yet it still took Adrien a minute to find and press them all correctly.
Once he did, the floor began to lower and Adrien and Plagg looked at each other as they were taken underground, to whatever secret his father was hiding from him. It wasn’t a long ride in the strange elevator, but Adrien felt like his heart was beating out of his chest by the time it was over and the doors opened. Plagg and he both froze up at the sight before them, though.
It was a dark room that was mostly empty – furniture-wise, that is. Adrien’s breath caught in his throat when he noticed the sea of pure, white butterflies fluttering their wings on the ground, looking so innocent and cute and familiar. Plagg was absolutely dumbfounded by the sight, but then he seemed to notice something else and he quickly tapped Adrien’s shoulder rapidly, his catlike eyes staring at a desk in the middle of the room, in front of a butterfly-shaped window that was the only source of light.
Looking over to see what Plagg was staring at and feeling mostly numb at this point, Adrien didn’t expect to see the table in the middle of the room covered in familiar jewelry. Familiar items that he’s seen during battles. Items that have been stolen by his… his cousin. Who was helping Monarch. Who was… who was…
“Oh, my God…”
“Kid?” Plagg watched Adrien worriedly as the boy crossed the room to stand in front of the desk and the Miraculous on it. His fingers brushed over the bracelet of the Snake Miraculous. Plagg hovered next to him, his usual aloofness gone in favor of clear and unfiltered concern. For Adrien. Because apparently Adrien’s father was… he was… “Hey, are you okay? You still in there? Kid, talk to me.”
Adrien lifted the bracelet. “I need to check to see if it’s real.” He said, voice hollow. He didn’t need to check – he knew it was. He remembered Ladybug revealing to him that she was suspicious of his father. It felt like ages ago. Back then, Adrien claimed it wasn’t true, because how could she think his father out of all people could be a villain? And then his father got akumatized, which only proved his point… Or it meant that his father akumatized himself. Oh, my God!
Putting the bracelet on, a blinding light appeared before Adrien before Sass showed up, looking apprehensive for a moment before his eyes brightened at the sight of the frozen Adrien. “Chat Noir!” He exclaimed happily. “You’ve found usss!”
This was all too much. It was too much! Adrien stumbled back and Plagg quickly followed him down to the ground where Adrien sat, feeling small and out of his depth. He was in his father’s secret lair, where Miraculous were on the table, surrounded by countless butterflies. He was losing his mind, wasn’t he? This was all just a dream. A nightmare. A nightmare straight from hell. Was Sandboy back? Could it be a real nightmare coming to life? Could it be none of this was actually happening?
“What’sss wrong?” Sass asked.
“Monarch is his father.” Plagg said, sounding upset and angry. The other Kwami gasped. “This is a little shocking. He needs time to process this.” Then he lowered himself to float in front of Adrien’s face. “Hey, kid, you need to breathe. You’re safe. He’s not here now. We’re going to figure it out together, okay? You’re not alone.”
Adrien shook his head. “Ladybug suspected him, remember? Plagg, I shot her down and she was right!” He protested weakly, voice shaking madly. “I’ve been living in the same house as him and I had no idea. How could I have missed that? She took notice of something suspicious but I was so oblivious! I should have investigated. I should have listened to her. She’s always right – why did I ever think she was wrong about that?”
“Because what were the chances that your father could be a supervillain?” Plagg replied easily. “She could be wrong. Ladybug makes plenty of mistakes – some of them I’m sure you don’t even know about.” He waved his hand – paw? – dismissively and snuggled closer to Adrien. “Point is, we know the truth now. We can get the Miraculous back to her. We can figure the rest out later, okay? Just focus on one step at a time.”
Looking at his Kwami, Adrien’s eyebrows furrowed. “I can’t come back here. How can I knowingly stay in the same house as Monarch?” He asked and his voice broke on the name that came out of his mouth. He shuddered and then stood up determinedly, opening his bag quickly before shoving all of the Miraculous inside, including the Snake Miraculous, making Sass blink out of existence. “I have to get them back to her.” He looked at Plagg questioningly. “How do I find her, though? I can’t risk taking all of the Miraculous to school with me before finding Ladybug. Things might go wrong – I have to first get them all back.”
Plagg slumped a little. “I’d tell you to just give it to – “ Bubbles came out of his mouth and Plagg looked annoyed as he gestured towards them. “But I can’t tell you her name, see?” He complained.
Lips tugging downwards, Adrien felt strangely helpless. He had all the Miraculous back. But at what cost? His father was a supervillain, sending evil butterflies after emotional people. He couldn’t even get the Miraculous back to Ladybug because the chances of her not being at school right now were slim to none and he felt like he was trapped in his own house – more so then ever before.
And then his eyes lit up. “Alya! I can tell Alya to send Ladybug a message.” He said and started running back to the elevator, Plagg following close behind and nodding along. “So we’re going to school after all.” He watched as the doors closed, hiding the dark space that would surely fuel his nightmares for the next eternity or so. “Let’s hope this works.”
Alya was casting worried glances over to Marinette, just to make sure her friend was alright. Of course, Marinette kept on insisting that she was and that she wasn’t falling apart of breaking to pieces, but it was pretty damn obvious that wasn’t the case. The girl was losing it, and there was nothing Alya could do because despite wanting to be there for Marinette as her best friend, Alya knew better.
Once upon a time – when Hawk Moth was still new, as were Ladybug and Chat Noir – Aly and Marinette really, truly were best friends. They were half-strangers and still closer than most friends. Marinette called Alya her best friend and Alya called Marinette her best friend. It was something they both agreed on, because who else would they grant that title to?
Funny thing was that unbeknownst to Alya, the same day she had met Marinette, Marinette had also met Chat Noir for the first time. They fought together ever since, standing up against Hawk Moth, then Shadow Moth. Not Monarch. It was stupid, how many times the guy had to change his name for no reason. But the point was that Marinette spent a lot of her time with Chat Noir, even if her first opinion on the guy wasn’t very high. She seemed to appreciate his help during the fights, but that was it. She claimed they were a team, but she never wanted to know anything about him other than that he was going to be there.
At some point it must have changed. They got closer. They weren’t just a team – they were two people operating as one unit and they were damn good at it. They were so in sync, Alya was almost jealous of the flawless way they could communicate with each other during fights without even saying anything. Just one look was enough to say whole sentences.
Well, being saved by a sacrificial partner would do that to a person, she assumed. Despite the claims that Ladybug and Chat Noir had nothing romantic going on, Alya still had eyes. And even if their bond wasn’t romantic, the connection between the two was something she couldn’t ignore. They were Ladybug and Chat Noir. They were Paris’ superheroes. They were closer than other people were because they kept on fighting together, risking their lives together, putting themselves in danger for one another. It was clear from the start that Chat Noir was willing to do whatever it took to keep Ladybug safe. And later on it became obvious that this went both ways.
So despite Alya wanting to be able to claim Marinette as her best friend, she knew that if Marinette had a best friend out there, Chat Noir was on that list. It wasn’t even debatable. Alya knew it was a fact. Maybe because she knew that Marinette was Ladybug and how much the girl cared about her partner. As stubborn as she was about the two of them keeping their private lives a secret, Marinette clearly cared about the guy. And she was worried every time he managed to slip something about his life that made it sound like he was having a hard time at home.
Seriously, the amount of times Alya had to sit through Marinette’s rants about how much she was worried about her precious kitty… it was ridiculous. Maybe not utterly ridiculous, but still ridiculous, nonetheless.
There haven’t been rants about it lately, though. Marinette was quieter than usual, more serious and worried. Ever since the Miraculous all were stolen and given to Monarch, Marinette was a walking zombie, trying to appear like nothing was wrong while also visibly fighting to keep all of the pieces of who she was together. The class was worried about her and if the few times Alya has seen Chat Noir and her together were anything to go by, her partner was, too.
That was why Alya stayed at Marinette house now. She couldn’t tell the truth to her parents, obviously, but when she said that Marinette was going through a really difficult time and that she was going to need her friend by her side, her parents let her go. Mostly because they saw Marinette a few times lately and she did NOT look good.
Still, Alya wished she could do a little more, maybe. But what could she possibly do?
“Hey, Ladyblogger!”
Alya and Marinette both stopped on the steps outside the school at the voice coming from the roof. They tilted their heads up to find Chat Noir perched there, looking straight at the two of them, his expression looking nothing like it usually did. He didn’t look like he was going to crack a joke. He didn’t look like he was going to grin and try and flirt with either of them. He looked… strangely solemn and serious.
Marinette’s body turned stiff at the sight of him and she didn’t even flinch when he jumped down to stand in front of them, a little taller than both girls. Alya did shift back a little, though. It wasn’t something she was REALLY used to, after all. Chat Noir spared Marinette a look, like he could tell she was going through something but he wasn’t sure whether or not it was his business to intervene. It most definitely was, but he couldn’t know that.
And then he turned to Alya. “I need to send Ladybug a message quickly.” He said. “But I know she’s not transformed now and I can’t wait until she decides to show up. It’s…” He looked away for a moment, his gaze darkening. “It’s urgent. Like, should-have-been-dealt-with-last-year urgent.” He pressed.
Both girls looked at each other in confusion, a look of worry overtaking Marinette’s expression. Then Alya turned back to Chat Noir and tried to ignore the fact that he was literally standing in front of Ladybug. “I can do that…” She said, nodding. “What, uh… what do you want me to tell her?”
Chat Noir opened his mouth to respond and then he bit his lip uncertainly and glanced back at Marinette. “This might sound weird, but would you mind if we met up on your balcony?” He asked. Marinette seemed to be speechless. “I mean, I don’t want an audience and I’m not sure who to trust right now. It’s… it’s complicated.” He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.
The girl’s eyes widened. “Y-yes! Of course!” She exclaimed. “You can go down to my room – I bet it would be more private there. And my parents should be in the bakery so no one would interrupt you.” She said. Chat Noir looked relieved as he sent her a weak grin. Something was definitely wrong with him. Alya wondered whether Marinette would even share it with her afterwards.
“So just tell her to get there as soon as possible.” He told Alya who nodded and already whipped out her phone to try and pretend to send something to the girl standing right next to her. Chat Noir grabbed his button and extended it. “Thanks, Alya!” And he got out of there and to the house across the street. The balcony. Marinette’s home.
They both looked at each other as they quickly got inside the school, Alya shoving her phone back in her pocket. “He looked seriously stressed out.” She commented.
“Yeah, I’ve never seen him like this.” Marinette said, a concerned frown on her face. Instead of going towards the class with Alya, she turned towards the locker room. “Cover for me, okay?”
“You got it, girl.”
She found him pacing in her room from one side to the other, hands held behind his back. He was so engrossed in whatever was going on inside his head that he hasn’t even noticed she was there with him. Marinette looked around at the room, feeling oddly like she was a guest in the space that was her own. But somehow Chat Noir’s presence in there was so much, it almost overtook her own influence on the room. She felt like she was in his space instead of her own.
A part of her was aware of the fact that she was supposed to be at school right now, sitting behind Adrien and next to Alya and wanting to fall asleep instead of listening to their teacher. But she couldn’t really help but feel like this – whatever this was – was a big deal. Chat Noir never asked her to show up when he knew she was probably busy with her life, unless it was for an akuma fight. So for him to go to Alya to ask her to contact Marinette – Ladybug – it was… it was worrisome.
“Hey, Kitty.” She said, announcing her presence.
His reaction was… well… unexpected. He actually jumped in surprise and turned to her with a fighting stance, like he was ready to face off against her instead of telling her whatever he had burdening him. Marinette’s eyes widened at the sight of it and she only slightly relaxed when he seemed to take note of who she was. His hands fell back down and his shoulders sagged. He stopped pacing at last and looked at her with those piercing eyes that could possibly stare into her soul.
It was almost absurd, in a way. Chat Noir was the person who always got her back on her feet, making her see that not all hope was lost. He’s been by her side as emotional support ever since that fight against Stoneheart. He was there when Hawk Moth took over the whole city with his akumas on Heroes Day. He was there now, when Monarch got all of the Miraculous and Marinette absolutely lost it. And now… now Chat looked like he was the small one, needing support and someone to lean on. It broke her heart and she clenched her fists. Whoever did this to him, Marinette wanted to punch them in the face.
“You were right.” He mumbled eventually, voice broken. So broken, it made Marinette shudder to her core because this didn’t sound like her partner. This sounded like a distant version of him. It sounded almost like Cat Blanc. Almost.
She took a step towards him, hesitant. He didn’t do anything to stop her, so she crossed the room to stand right in front of him. “Chat Noir, what are you talking about? What happened?”
Instead of answering, he took her hands in his and stared right into her eyes, desperation shining back at her. “Do you trust me?” He asked and she didn’t need to think about it before she nodded easily, sharply. How could he even doubt that. He exhaled and sent her a small, fragile smile. “Then close your eyes. Please. I need to… I need to get something, but I need to de-transform for that.”
It surprised her, but when she saw the look in her eyes – like he was fighting off his anxiety and panic to be able to have this conversation with her – she just let her body obey. Her eyes closed and he exhaled softly before mumbling the words that made a flash of green cut through the darkness. Marinette heard some shuffling, like Chat Noir was looking through the contents of a bag. And then he started putting things on her desk. She didn’t say anything.
“Kid, you look awful.” Plagg’s voice cut through the silence.
Chat Noir snorted. “Thanks.”
“I mean, it’s understandable. If one of my cheeses betrayed me, I would have – “
“Plagg,” The boy sounded tired. Maybe a little impatient. “I know that you’re trying to help in your own… weird way, okay? But I’m just… I can’t right now, okay?”
The Kwami went quiet after that, not saying anything else. Marinette’s heart was pounding. What was going on? It sounded bad. Worse than bad. Chat Noir was always the quirky, happy, optimistic one. What happened that made him this… reserved? It wasn’t quite the right word, but it was the only thing Marinette could come up with. And the fact that Plagg felt like he needed to somehow help when it was clearly unlike the Kwami to cheer up his holder… well, it only made Marinette even more worried.
She was about to ask again what was going on when Chat muttered his transformation words again and with a flash of green donned his leather suit and mask again. She opened her eyes without waiting for his confirmation and her eyes moved from his down expression to her desk.
Her eyes widened in shock. All of the Miraculous… all of them were there. Well, a closer look revealed that the Butterfly Miraculous and the Peacock one weren’t there, but she could live with that. This was amazing. It was like seeing hope with her own two eyes. She felt like squealing with joy at all the Miraculous and Kwamis coming back.
“How… where… what…” She let her gloved fingers brush over all of the familiar items and her eyes filled with tears before she turned back to Chat Noir. He didn’t look overjoyed. He didn’t look like he was happy at all. He looked more upset than she’s ever seen him before. “What happened?”
He shook his head. “I can’t fight Monarch.” Chat Noir said.
Marinette frowned. “What?”
“I can’t fight him.” He gave her this… this look. This miserable look. When she just stared back in confusion, Chat Noir sighed and lowered his gaze to the ground. “I found out who he is. It-it was an accident.” She was frozen in place, just watching her partner. “I wasn’t… it wasn’t supposed to happen. But then I went to this secret place I saw him coming out of and… and it was all there. The butterflies, the Miraculous. I-I-I didn’t know what to do.” He was shaking a little now.
Stepping forward, Marinette put her hands on his shoulders. He looked up at her pitifully. “It’s okay. You’re okay. It’s safe here.” She promised. Chat Noir looked around for a moment, taking in the room, and then he nodded at her. “You just need to… need to explain. If you can.”
He gulped. “You’re gonna find out who I am.” He said, and for the first time he sounded actually terrified of the idea of her knowing who was under the black mask. Chat Noir was always the one who wanted the identities to not be a secret between them. And now here he was, sounding absolutely horrified at the mere thought of her knowing who he was. Maybe it was because he was somehow close enough to Monarch to find out who he was. Maybe because he was just scared right now.
It shouldn’t matter. It didn’t matter. “It won’t change anything.” She promised sincerely.
Eyes searching, Chat Noir just watched her for a minute or two, his body still trembling a little in her hold. But then a spark of familiar determination entered his gaze and he nodded – only barely – to himself. He took in a deep breath and glanced at the Miraculous, as if asking for the dormant Kwamis to help him. They didn’t respond, of course, but Marinette was there to help. She was never going to abandon him, no matter what. She knew that. She hoped he knew that, too.
“It’s…” He frowned and shook his head, like he was trying to get rid of the rest of his hesitation. “It’s Gabriel Agreste. Just like you said, My Lady. You were right.” He gave her a sad, little smile that didn’t make her feel better. If anything, she felt worse, somehow.
She squeezed her eyes shut. “B-but he got akumatized.” She said, reminding him. “H-how can he be Monarch? Unless he… unless he wanted to get us off his trail by intentionally akumatizing himself.” She was thinking out loud, Chat just watching her. And then she blinked at him in confusion. “H-how did you find out, though? Nearly no one sees him. How did you get close enough?”
Chat Noir whimpered a little. “I was always close enough. I just… I just didn’t want to see it.” He shut his eyes and tore away from her hold to pace around again. Marinette watched him in bafflement. How could he be close enough to Gabriel Agreste all this time? “I can’t believe I just… I can’t believe he would…” He growled a little, anger now showing on his face and changing his tone of voice to a sharper one. “What was he thinking? How could he??”
Marinette’s thoughts were racing as she tried to piece it all together. A teenager around her age that had blond hair and green eyes that could get close enough to Gabriel Agreste without it being suspicious. Someone that has been around the designer for a long time and wasn’t able to see that the man was a terrorist, abusing the emotions of the people of Paris.
“Ladybug, try to keep calm. Think. There must be a way to get your yoyo back!”
“I guess, maybe if I transform back and then – “
“Go ahead. You’ll be safe here.”
“I don’t know anymore! I-What if it’s a trap? What if you’re Felix?”
“If you’re gonna trust me once, please let it be this time!”
She remembered those moment of absolute horror, when Marinette realized she had given the Dog Miraculous to Felix instead of Adrien. When her yoyo disappeared and she ended up completely panicking in Adrien’s room. When he tried to keep her calm and help her. When he let her use his bathroom to de-transform and try and get to the Miraculous in time. When he didn’t even hesitate before jumping in to try and keep her going.
Her heart hammered in her chest. But if Chat Noir really was… really was… then that meant that she wouldn’t have been able to give the Dog Miraculous to Adrien, anyway. He was already there to fight. He wasn’t on the train because he stayed in Paris. Because he didn’t want to leave his friends and she was one of his friends. Not just in school, but in this whole mess, as well. Because the city needed Chat Noir and he couldn’t leave.
Going back, her memories took her back to the trip to New York. She told Chat Noir to stay behind and keep an eye on the city. That was before she had convinced Adrien’s father to let Adrien join the trip as well. And then… then he got the chance to come to New York with the rest of his class and he probably didn’t want to miss out of on it. Come to think of it, if Chat Noir was right, then Gabriel Agreste’s decision to send Adrien away was probably because he wanted his son as far away from Paris because of his plan. Marinette got so upset at Chat Noir back then, making him nearly disappear forever, when the only reason he was in New York in the first place was because she insisted on him coming on the trip.
She collapsed to the ground, feeling overwhelmed. This was too much. This was all too much! How was she supposed to digest all of that? How was… oh, God… here she was, panicking because her partner and best friend was her crush from school while he was absolutely losing his mind because his own father was their enemy. His father was Monarch. He’s lived in the same house as his enemy all this time!
Apparently, Marinette falling numbly like that was enough to draw Chat Noir’s attention because suddenly he was hovering next to her, looking concerned. Not for himself, but for her. She felt so guilty about it. Why was he focusing on her when he had such bigger problems to deal with? What was he thinking, abandoning his own issues to help her? Why was he always putting her first??
“Wow. My heart is just like that yoyo-wrapped baby’s wrist. Taken prisoner by My Lady forever.”
“Admit it, for a second there you almost fell for my poetic verse.”
“Such a shame. I could have been your date to the play tonight. Just you and me.”
“It’s probably just trying to tell you that you’re chained to me forever.”
“I get it, Ladybug. Your friendship means everything to me. You can keep the rose – it goes with your costume.”
“You know I’m all yours, My Lady.”
“Aw, my poor Bugaboo. Another supervillain fan has literally glued themselves to you. Sorry to disappoint, but I’m the only one to stick to My Lady.”
“Hands off, you pale imitation! Only one cat is allowed to have her hand.”
“Two Ladybugs? I’m in heaven!”
“I’d stick around, but then you’d see me without my mask and… you wouldn’t be able to resist me.”
He loved her. And he kept on saying it even after he knew she wasn’t going to reciprocate his feelings. Well… little did they know that they were already in love with each other, in a way. Marinette stared at Chat Noir with wide eyes. He kept on throwing himself in front of her during fights because he cared and she let him, reluctantly, because she had no other choice. He wasn’t willing to listen to her when it came to her protection. But thinking about Adrien doing all of this for her… she didn’t want to even imagine something like that.
“Are you okay?” He asked in distress.
Marinette nodded. “I-I’m just…” She looked down at her hands. “When I started suspecting your father it was because of that book Lila stole from you,”
He cringed a little at the mention of Gabriel Agreste being his father but then just tilted his head to the side. “How DO you know about that? The book, I mean. Where to find us that day?”
“I might have… been… following you?” She mumbled. He tilted his head to the side at that, confusion reflecting in his eyes. She sighed. “It doesn’t matter! She stole that book from you – the book that made your father take you out of school,” She ignored his growing bafflement. “And then, in the park, she threw it in the trash once she was done with it so I fished it out since Tikki thought it was important. When we took it to Master Fu he said that it might have belonged to Hawk Moth and he asked me where I got it, but I didn’t believe it could be you, so I didn’t tell him. I was so afraid, so I promised to look into it and then I went to class and everyone said you couldn’t come because you lost your father’s book and – “
“Wait, class?” Chat Noir’s mouth fell open and Marinette blinked twice, frozen at her own words. “You mean, we go to the same school, after all?” He squinted his eyes a little. “No way… but you were Multimouse! I saw the two of you together. How did you – “
She squealed in alarm and waved her hands frantically. “It doesn’t matter!” She protested. He didn’t look like he agreed with that statement, but he let it go, nonetheless, thankfully. “The point is that because the book belonged to your father, it meant that he was the real suspect. I… I can’t believe I told you I suspected your dad. Now your reaction makes so much more sense.”
He eyed her for a moment. “Alya didn’t write anything, did she? She knows already. Plus, I mean, you were right there.”
Marinette bit her lip and looked away. Telling Alya the truth wasn’t planned. It was pretty great because it meant Marinette wasn’t alone in all of this, but she knew for a fact that Chat – Adrien – had kept his secret for only himself, not sharing it with anyone. Because of her. And then she decided to step on her own stupid rule to not be so alone. To not lose her friend.
How could she do that to him?
“Rena Furtive, right?” Chat said. “You let Alya keep the Miraculous full time. ‘Cause she’s your friend.” He noted. Marinette felt like she was about to drown in guilt. “It’s alright – I get it. I probably wouldn’t have even known about it if it wasn’t for Risk – “
“It’s not alright! I shouldn’t have kept all of this from you.” Marinette argued. She thought back to how frustrated he was during their fight against Risk – well, before they even knew Risk was around. She thought about how he gave up on his Miraculous before because she was pushing him away. Chat Noir was probably the only bit of freedom Adrien had in his life and she replaced him, taking it from him and making him feel unwanted even during those times. “I should have trusted you with all of it. I shouldn’t have kept all of those secrets from you. I was just…” She closed her eyes and pursed her lips.
“Just what?”
Her thoughts were racing again. “You told you will never get akumatized,” She said and Chat drew back a little, clearly unsure about why she decided to bring that up. He nodded anyway. “But the thing is, that’s not true. Bunnix showed up once and took me to a future where Paris was flooded – the moon was cracked! There was nobody around but… Cat Blanc.”
Chat narrowed his eyes. “Who?”
“It was you, but you were akumatized. You could still use cataclysm, but it was so much worse than your normal power. Everyone was gone. I swam down to try and figure out what had happened, and I found Hawk Moth and I, both statues. And when I touched them… they just turned to dust.” She choked on a sob and drew her eyes away from the shocked boy in front of her. “When I asked him what happened, he said it was our love for each other that destroyed the world. He knew my name. He wanted my Miraculous, though I’m not even sure what he would have done with it without Hawk Moth around.
“When I tried to find the akuma, I couldn’t find it. Everything I tried to break ended up not being the akumatized object. And then he was going to destroy everything – the entire world, including the two of us – so I-I tried to make him stop and he clued me in on where the akuma was.” She sniffed and jumped a little in surprise when Chat’s hand came up to wipe her tears away. His touch was so gentle, she just didn’t understand how he could be so… calm. Okay with all of this. To some level, at least. “I’m sorry I never told you about it. I probably should have, but I was so worried! I was afraid it would happen again and then I figured, if I’d push you away – “
“It won’t happen again.” He finished for her. There was a sad smile on his face as he looked at her like she wasn’t a monster even though she definitely was. She totally was, in some aspects. Neither one of them was perfect, but this was… it was a lot on her part. “You probably should have told me about it, but it’s… it’s okay. It just doesn’t make sense.”
She sniffed again and furrowed her eyebrows. “What?”
Chat Noir shifted in front of her, getting comfortable on the floor. She could see Adrien sitting this way in the middle of the room, not even minding that the walls were covered in pictures of himself. God, how many times had he seen those?! This was so embarrassing!
“I mean, how could it be our love for each other?” He asked, not sounding the least bit sheepish about any of it. Marinette stared at him in awe. How could he just… say it? Like it was nothing?? “It had to be something bad, right? But the only bad thing that could happen, already had – I mean, you’ve rejected me countless times,” She cringed and looked away. “And I never got akumatized over it before. So it doesn’t make sense. There had to be something else that caused it. Something you didn’t know. Maybe I… well, um… he…” He shook his head. “Cat Blanc – maybe he was lying to you. Akumas do that. He was just trying to throw you off.”
Staring at him, Marinette felt like she was coming back to life – slowly but surely. Because it made sense. It made sense that Cat Blanc told her a lie. Chat Noir was right – he had no reason to get akumatized because of her since he already thought multiple times – still did, in fact – that he had no chance with her. There was no reason for him to get akumatized from something like that – something that wasn’t even new. It was old news. Old news that Marinette needed to explain to him were NOT accurate, but old, nonetheless.
Then she set her jaw and stood up. Chat Noir stared at her. “It doesn’t matter now. We can figure it out later – we need to figure out what to do about your – “ She cut herself off when a shadow crossed his face. She flinched and rubbed the top of her head awkwardly. “Monarch.” She corrected herself with a cough. “What are you gonna do? You can’t go back there…”
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. It was such a familiar sight – especially from Adrien – that for a moment Marinette’s brain stopped functioning. “I know. I figured, maybe I could go to Nino’s? I mean, it’s not like he hasn’t asked me to sleep over before.” He smiled sheepishly, already looking tired. “But I don’t think I can fight him. I’, just going to freeze. I mean, it’s my father – how can I – “
“It’s okay.” She put a hand on his shoulder and smiled her most comforting smile. The look he sent her was one of complete trust. She wasn’t going to let him down. “We’ll take it one step at a time.” They both turned their heads towards the window when they heard the distant school bell. “Like going to school – that’s one step. I can’t lose any more classes.”
“Me neither, My Lady.” He grinned knowingly and then got up as well. Self-consciously, she de-transformed. For a second he just stared at her, looking almost dazed, and then – without a word, thankfully – he followed suit and caught Plagg in his hands. Adrien smiled awkwardly. “Do you have some cheese, by any chance?”
She stared at him. This was going to take some getting used to.