Work Text:
Nino hit the ground with a solid thud, pain pulsing through his head and back as he landed. He groaned slightly as he suddenly found himself awake, closing his eyes tightly as he listened to the sound of lapping water. He was quite sure he hadn’t fallen out of bed since he was a child, so he didn’t know what had caused it to happen now of all times.
“Ow...” He muttered as he forced himself to sit up, the rough cement of the floor beneath him having scuffed his skin– which was the first thing that told him something was wrong, as this most definitely wasn’t the floor of his bedroom. Eyes immediately snapped open, confusion racing through him as he took in the sound of lapping water and the open sky that stretched above him, a faint headache pulsing in the back of his head.
He scrambled onto his knees, looking at his surroundings with wide eyes, a cool breeze rushing over him. The sun shone overhead, emptiness seeming to stretch out in all directions, and his hands patted the ground around him to find anything of use.
His phone he found not far from him, a crack in the glass and the time on the screen showing it was indeed in the middle of the night, despite the sky above him that said otherwise. His glasses were resting right by his knee, which he gratefully slipped on, looking about to get a better view of his surroundings. Nino felt his heart plummet as he realized the void of blue he had seen before had been no illusion– empty blue sky stretching out to the horizon, the water below reflecting the same color, a seeming ocean in the midst of an unnatural calm, islands occasionally poking out.
“What on earth...?” Nino whispered in shock. Once again he looked down at his phone– no signal.
He stuffed it in his pocket, trying to make sense of what was happening. There was no doubt it was an akuma attack of some kind, one that probably teleported him to the other side of the world by the looks of it. But usually there was some kind of warning with akumas, screams or a flash of light. He must have really been out of it, to have not even been awoken before being struck.
All he could really do now was wait for the heroes to defeat whatever akuma was raging across Paris now, and for the Miraculous Ladybugs to whisk him home. Instead he focused on his immediate surroundings– and he seemed to be up on a roof of some kind, though it must have been long abandoned, everything about him looking empty.
He carefully walked towards the edge, trying to get a better look at where he was. As he looked down he expected to see a small beach below, something that led to the ocean he was on– but his hands gripped the rusted railing as he saw nothing but a straight drop towards the bottom, the building he was on seeming to jut straight out from the water.
His eyes darted across the water, looking in horror at the cars and debris that drifted about in the water, and what he had briefly thought to be islands he now realized were the roofs of buildings peeking out. While the water seemed vast in the distance he realized that it wasn’t all too deep– the remains of a flooded city.
Was this– was this Paris?
No, it couldn’t be Paris, the times didn’t match up on his phone. It wasn’t like he had woken up here, he had bruises to prove he had physically been dropped here. Nino shakily began making his way around the perimeter of the roof, looking for any sign of actual land in the distance. He had no idea why an akuma would want to teleport him here of all places, but he just had to wait it out–
All thoughts immediately ceased when Nino laid his eyes on the Eiffel Tower, toppled over on its side as it laid in the flooded water. Above it the moon was rising in the sky, the moon much larger than he had ever seen, as if it had been drawn towards the earth. On its surface a large crater could be seen, showing the fracture that had shattered the moon nearly in half.
Nino fell to his knees, panic rising, mind not knowing t to take in– because this was no ordinary akuma.
“H-hello?” Nino called out desperately, voice cracking slightly. If this was Paris there had to be others here too, there had to be other people.
He tried not to think of what would be found below the water’s surface.
“Hello!” Nino called again, louder this time, spinning around as he desperately searched for any sort of reply. “Anyone there? Hello?”
His voice barely even echoed, no reply save for the sounds of water lapping against the building he stood on. His heart was panicking, and with every moment he stood there his panic only grew. So he threw himself forward, grabbing the nearest items on the roof– a chuck of cement and old debris– picking them up to examine them. He dropped them just as quickly, moving on to what else sparsely populated the rooftop, trying to make sense of where he was. Trying to find anything that could explain what had brought him here.
There was only emptiness and debris.
That didn’t stop Nino from searching, however, making his way back over to where he had woken up. Like how he had found his phone and glasses, there was a few other things from his room as well. His pillow lying a few feet away from where he had fallen, candy wrappers he had snacked on the night prior, a page of his math homework– but nothing of actual use. From there he turned his attention towards the old doorways that lead off from the roof and down into the building below, though they had been locked from the inside, leaving nothing but rattling as he tried to open it.
He suddenly froze as he made his way to another of the doorways, hair standing up on end– with the horrible feeling that he was being watched.
Nino spun around, searching for the gaze that he knew he had to be there. Despite the desperation he had looking for someone else earlier, it was fear that pulsed through him now. Eyes scanned the roofline, nothing but the vast blue sky meeting his gaze.
And then he saw him.
The stark white figure sat perched on the railing, unmoving as if he had been there the whole time. White– that’s all there was– true pure white. His outfit as sleek as snow, his hair the same hue. Even his skin seemed to lack any pigment, looking as if frost had crept across it. The only color there was were in the blue of his eyes. Frozen, glacier blue eyes that were locked straight on him.
The person was foreign, alien, and yet Nino knew him. “...Chat Noir?”
The empty expression of his face immediately shifted with those two words, twisting from a hollow gaze to one of pure rage. Shivers raced down Nino’s back as this strange white Chat Noir’s eyes seemed to glow with anger, lips curling back into a bitter snarl, the words slipping from his throat being laced with a hiss.
“I’m Chat Blanc.”
Nino stepped back, his heart pounding as he watched this twisted form of the boy he knew as a hero crawl down from the railing he had been perched on. He crept forward like the cat he resembled, tail lashing as he prowled toward Nino. He still didn’t know what was happening– how he had gotten here or why Paris appeared like this– but there was no doubt that what was moving towards him was not the hero he knew. He scrambled back the same moment this Chat Blanc sprang, unable to move fast enough as they pounced, the white feline slamming him into the cement rooftop.
Nino’s eyes fluttered up, looking at Chat Blanc with wide eyes as he was pinned below him. Claws were digging into his shoulders, and he was ready for the burning rage to be released at him, but as he met Chat Blanc’s gaze he found there was only fear in their eyes.
Ears were flat against his head, pupils shrinking down to mere slits. As quickly as he had brought Nino to the ground the akuma was scrambling off of him. He scampered back with claws scratching at cement, just staring at him with that look of horror, tail still lashing.
“...No...” Chat Blanc whispered.
Nino couldn’t bring himself to say a word.
“No!” Chat Blanc roared, claws digging into his scalp. “No, no, no! You’re not real– none of this is real!”
Then with a pained yowl Chat Blanc turned, racing away as swiftly as he had struck. Within seconds he had scrambled off of the rooftop, plunging down towards the water below. Nino pushed himself to his feet, rushing over towards the railing to look down in horror– just in time to see the shadow of the hero he had once known launching himself away with his baton, landing on the distant roofs that peered above the water.
And just like that, Nino was alone once more.
Though the clock on his phone did not match the time of his surroundings, he could still use it to measure the hours to see how much time had passed.
Four hours. He had been stuck on this roof for four hours.
Nino had long accepted that this was no average akuma fight– he actually didn’t know what he could even call it– but that had done nothing to calm his nerves. Not only was there the matter that he was stranded here, wherever ‘here’ was, but it most certainly wasn’t his Paris– but he was also stranded on this rooftop. The only two exits were both locked, and no amount of shaking, hitting the handle with chunks of debris, or shouting at them would get the doors to budge.
And he had absolutely no idea of what to even make of the strange Chat Noir.
If it wasn’t for the bruises he had gotten when Chat Blanc had knocked him to the ground, he might have thought that he had imagined it. The being had seemed so unearthly, so unlike the hero he knew so well. If Nino didn’t know better he would have said that Chat Noir had been...
But a hero wouldn’t be akumatized, there was no way they could be akumatized–
…He had seen Miraculous holders be akumatized before.
Nino leaned over the railing, looking down at the plunge towards the water below. That would be one way to get off the roof, but he did not have the guts to do that. Higher the fall the more dangerous water was, this would be no jump into a pool. Would it be a possible option if nothing else happened? But where would that leave him– in the middle of this wasteland and being soaking wet. Yes there were other buildings, but most only had their roofs above the water, not multiple levels like the building he was currently on. There had to be something inside he could use, he didn’t know what it would be, but it was better than being stuck here on the roof...
Nino let out a scream as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
He wheeled around, heart thundering in his chest at the sudden contact, hands clutching the railing for support as he found himself looking at a pair of haunted blue eyes.
To be fair, Chat Blanc seemed just as startled, the white cat leaping back at Nino’s shout. Eyes were wide, ears were back, entire figure tense as if he were about to bolt. The two stared at each other for a moment of silence, before Nino let out a shaky breath.
“Dude, you almost gave me a heart attack,” Nino whispered.
An ear flicked up as Nino spoke, which was the only movement from Chat Blanc for a good thirty seconds. Nino felt his heart pick up once more, an uneasiness washing over him. As much as this figure resembled Chat Noir, they were not the hero he knew. They were a ghostly copy of them, one that had attacked him. He didn’t know if this was an akuma of the one he had fought along side before, or a pale mimic from an unknown source, but either way he did not know if this was someone he could trust.
“You’re still here,” Chat Blanc murmured, being the first to break the silence.
“Heh... not really anywhere else for me to go?” Nino said uncertainly, shifting from side to side. He wished he had his cap with him, just so he had something to hold, but that had not been something to land on the roof with him.
“Why are you still here?” Chat Blanc asked, a hiss creeping into his voice as he stepped forward.
“Th-there’s nowhere else for me to go,” Nino said uncertainly, inching along the railing so Chat Blanc was not looming in front of him. “Not even sure how I got here, dude, I just–”
“You’re. Not. Real.” Chat Blanc snarled, claws curling, and Nino felt chills run up his back.
“But I am?”
“No!” Chat Blanc screamed. “You’re not real! They’re never real! NONE OF YOU ARE EVER REAL!”
Nino broke into a run, not even waiting to see what this Chat Blanc’s next move would be. He scrambled across the roof, feeling the heat building behind him, when suddenly a bright flash illuminated the sky behind him. Nino stumbled as the building shook, looking over his shoulder just in time to see the fading white flare, the spot where he had been standing had been completely obliterated. Part of the roof was gone, chunks crumbling down as cracks formed along the edges. Cataclysm dust drifted through the air, white specks dancing across Nino’s vision from the brillant flash that had engulfed it.
“They’re gone, everyone’s gone, you’re gone, and have to keep seeing you,” Chat Blanc murmured, turning to keep those frozen eyes trained on him as he scrambled along the rooftop. “Why must you mock me? Why won’t you leave me? Why must you make me go through this again!”
“I– I am real!” Nino stammered, watching as a white light danced across Blanc’s claws. “I- I’m here, I’m-” What was he supposed to say? How did you stop something that didn’t believe you were there? “Y-you touched me, you felt me, you couldn’t do that if I wasn’t real!”
These words did make Chat Blanc freeze. Going from on the prowl to as stiff as a statue. Nino felt his breath get caught in his throat again, a shaky sigh escaping him as he watched the white Cataclysm sputter out. Once more Chat Blanc was staring at him, eyes unreadable as he crept forward, a hand reaching out.
Despite everything telling him to run, Nino did the same, offering his hand to Chat Blanc as he came closer. A shaky gloved hand reached for him, and Nino shivered as he felt silver claws slowly trace his skin. One hand grasped his, the other running fingers across it with a delicateness he could barely fathom. Chat Blanc just stared at Nino’s hand as he held it, before looking up to meet his eyes. Nino pulled back slightly as a hand reached for his face, but allowed Blanc to trace it in the same manner he had with his palms.
“But you can’t be here,” Chat Blanc whispered. “It’s impossible.”
“Why?” Nino asked, and Chat Blanc’s next words sent chills through him.
“Because you’re dead. Because everyone is dead.”
Mouth dry, Nino tried to think of how to reply– but what was one supposed to say to that? Even if he didn’t know exactly where or what here was, even with the ruined Paris around him, those words were impossible to digest. His mouth opened, but no words came from him, Chat Blanc now cradling his cheeks with both hands.
“You’re dead, Nino,” Chat Blanc whispered, and those frozen eyes began to water. “Why? Why are you here to haunt me? I– I d-didn’t mean to, I didn’t want this to happen. I’m sorry– he made me do it– I didn’t mean to do it!”
Then the warm hands on Nino’s face vanished, and Chat Blanc fell to his knees. His tears were now falling, shoulders hunching as he began sobbing. Gloved hands clawed at his face, Blanc gasping for air as he cried. Nino quickly fell down beside him, not sure of what to do. The words Chat Blanc had told him echoed in his head, the idea nearly incomprehensible. Everyone is dead. He made me do it. They spun around in Nino’s mind, and he realized he truly didn’t know what reality he had fallen into.
He placed his hands on Chat Blanc’s shoulder, who instantly stiffened at the contact. After a moment, however, he reached up, a clawed hand wrapping tightly around Nino’s wrist. It coiled around him, desperate, as if afraid he would pull away. It was in this moment that he decided that it truly was Chat Noir in front of him. Not a mimic, not a twisted form of any kind, but a reflection no one wanted to see.
“You were akumatized,” Nino said softly. “When? How long have you...?”
How long have you been here? How long have you been alone?
“It doesn’t matter,” Chat Blanc whispered, bitterness in his voice. “Not when this is going to be forever.”
“Nothing’s forever,” Nino replied.
Chat Blanc whipped his head up, tears streaming down his cheeks– but the rage had returned to his eyes. Nino pulled back slightly, but Chat Blanc’s grip had not loosened. He leaned forward, looming above Nino as a low hiss escaped his throat.
“This is forever,” Blanc snarled, claws digging into his wrist. “You don’t understand, Nino, what he did to me. He always tried to lock me away, he always left me alone– and his very last act was making sure I would be alone for all eternity.”
He let go of Nino, rising to his feet as he turned away. His belt tail was lashing, hands curled into fists, shoulders still shaking as his tears continued to fall. Chat Blanc looked up at the sky, at the fractured moon that hung overhead.
“I can’t die, Nino, not like this,” Chat Blanc spat. “I don’t hunger, I don’t sleep, and as long as Plagg is in this ring I cannot age. And because of this akuma, I can’t detransform, I can’t activate my timer. An eternity alone, with only hallucinations to mock me.”
He looked back at Nino, the anger fading slightly.
“I... I don’t know if it’s better or worse when one of you are here,” he muttered softly.
“I’m not a hallucination,” Nino said. “I mean, I don’t know how I got here... but I know I’m real.” He stood up, reaching out, but Chat Blanc pulled away before he could touch him.
“Maybe you aren’t,” Chat Blanc agreed. “Maybe... maybe you’re a ghost. A memory. I dunno. But you’re dead, Nino, just like everyone else. I kn-know it’s my fault, but... but please,” he turned, looking back at him. “Please don’t hate me. Please forgive me.”
Nino couldn’t stand there for another moment, heart aching as he stood there. He still did not fully know what had befallen this world, but seeing the torture in put in Chat Blanc’s eyes... he stepped forward, closing the gap that had stood between them. His arms wrapped around the akuma, pulling Chat Blanc into a fierce hug as he held the hero– who had gone completely still.
“I don’t hate you,” Nino promised, and he felt Chat Blanc’s face be buried into his shoulder. “I never could, and there’s nothing to forgive. This isn’t your fault, not when an akuma did this to you.”
Chat Blanc was trembling, and then he was crying once more. A sob shook his frame, and a crushing grip surrounded Nino as he fervently returned the embrace. He practically fell forward, and Nino found himself supporting Chat Blanc as he broke down, the two of them sinking back down to the roof as the akuma sobbed into his shoulder.
“The only one to blame is Hawk Moth,” Nino whispered, but this only seemed to make Chat Blanc cry harder. “I– I’ve been akumatized as well, multiple times, and I know how easy it can be to blame yourself– but it’s not your fault.”
“Wh-why did he do this to me?” Chat Blanc cried. “Why didn’t he care? Why wasn’t I enough for him?”
Nino’s head spun slightly, the pain of the words so clearly etched into his voice, but they didn’t make sense to him. Why did Hawk Moth do this to him? Why didn’t Hawk Moth care? Why wasn’t he enough for Hawk Moth?
“Why did Father akumatized me?” Chat Blanc whispered, and Nino felt his heart shatter with those five words.
Tears of his own sprang to his eyes, the horrible understanding washing over him in an instant. His throat tightened, vision blurring as he held the broken hero close. Hawk Moth– who was and still is a faceless enemy in his mind– became so much more in that single moment. Because for Chat Noir, it hadn’t been a faceless foe. It hadn’t just been an enemy to defeat, it had been something much more. Much more personal, and much more twisted.
“What happened?” Nino whispered back, terrified at what answer he would get back.
Chat Blanc just shook his head.
“He has M-mother down there too,” Blanc croaked after a moment. “This whole time, he knew where she was and he... he let me think Mother was missing. He let me think that she left me.”
Chat Noir had always been a hero, but not much more to the city, there was a mask that had always been in place for a reason. He didn’t know much about Chat Noir, even when he had donned the Turtle Miraculous to become Carapace. It was because of that Nino was becoming more unsettled by the second, because Chat Blanc’s words sounded all too familiar.
“He lured me down there, we thought we had a chance to stop him... but he already knew who I was,” he continued in a shaky voice. “He knew it was me, he knew everything he did to me but he still... he still... he attacked. He hit me. H-he didn't care.”
How could that man... how could anyone do that to their own child?
“I thought he loved me, he told me he did.”
“I–” Nino began, but what was he supposed to say? “...I’m so sorry.”
“You were always right,” Chat Blanc whispered. “That I was always making excuses for him. If I had realized sooner then maybe... then maybe I wouldn’t be...”
When had he told Chat Noir that? As heroes they had never talked about family in any form, not dropping a hint about their personal lives. That was part of the rule of holding a Miraculous, for the secret identities they kept.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Nino said firmly. “Stop blaming yourself.”
Chat Blanc chuckled bitterly. “I... I don’t know if you’re really here or not... but you haven’t changed at all, Nino. You used to always say that... I still don’t know if you’re right or not, but... but it does feel nice to hear it again.”
There was only one person he had ever said that to, and it hadn’t been Chat Noir.
No. No. No no no.
“But it won’t change anything,” Chat Blanc continued. “You’re going to fade eventually, like everyone else, and I’ll be alone here again. I don’t like being alone, but I am glad that I did get to see you one more time. Even if this is just a memory.”
“A-adrien?” Nino choked out, terrified that he was right, but he had to know.
“Yeah?” Chat Blanc replied.
No.
He heard Chat Blanc’s voice– Adrien’s voice– but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t respond. The pain he had felt, the anger that had gripped him... it had already been strong, but now knowing that this was Adrien he was holding in his arms. Knowing what the most important person in his life had gone through, knowing just a glimpse of their suffering... It hurt more than anything, and it made the anger in him burn.
How could someone do this to Adrien?!
“N-nino?” Again he heard Chat Blanc’s voice, a desperation in it now. “Nino, please, don’t go yet.”
Nino cradled Chat Blanc’s head, pressing his lips to his forehead. “I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
“Th-then what’s wrong? Why are you...?” Chat Blanc trailed off, as if he didn’t know what to say.
“...I’m just thinking about you,” Nino finally said, choking back a sob, tucking his head against Chat Blanc’s neck. “I’m sorry that I... I wasn’t here sooner. I’m so sorry you were alone. But I’m not going to leave, I promise. I’m going to stay right here with you.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Nino swore. “I love you, and I will never leave you.”
“I love you too,” Chat Blanc said quietly, a low purr rumbling from his throat as he held him close.