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The streets of Paris glowed beneath the soft haze of a late evening. From up here, above the honks, the hum of cars, the faint chatter drifting from open windows, it was just Ladybug and Chat Noir, darting from rooftop to rooftop like the two kids they are, escaping the world below.
The cool air brushed against their skin beneath the suits, crisp enough that tiny clouds of breath puffed out with every exhale.
“Tag, you’re it!” she laughed, vaulting over a chimney.
“Not for long!” Chat bounded after her, staff extended, grinning wide as his boots skimmed a rooftop edge.
They’d been doing this for months now, not so much patrolling as turning the city into a playground. Crime still happened, sure, but even Paris’ villains had learned there was no escape from a particular Ladybug-and-Chat team.
Nowadays, their nightly rounds were less policing and more playing, with just enough vigilance to make sure any troublemakers got a swift and stylish takedown.
And tonight, they’d somehow turned their route into the world’s highest-stakes game of tag over the largest obstacle course.
Ladybug crouched low on the lip of a tall building, eyes fixed on the alley a block over over.
“You’re cheating,” Chat Noir’s voice called from somewhere behind her.
“I’m strategizing,” she corrected, smirking under her mask.
He vaulted over the gap to join her, boots landing with a soft thump. “Strategizing is just cheating with a fancier name.”
“You say that like you’re not about to copy me.”
She looked at him, analyzing his figure, not willing to be caught.
“Copy you?” He grinned, resting his staff across his shoulders like a lazy cat. “M’lady, please. I’m an innovator.”
“Innovator? This from the guy whose ‘big new move’ last week was just running at the akuma while yelling ‘surprise’?”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
He tried to fake her out, lunging at her, but she just laughed and launched her yo-yo out.
She shook her head, already leaping to the next roof. “Come on, minou. Try to keep up.”
“You’re getting slow!” Ladybug called, gaining a lot of distance between them.
“Slow?!” Chat bounded after her, his baton telescoping out so he could pole-vault over a rooftop gap. “Please. I’m pacing myself for dramatic effect.”
Before she could even finish the sentence, Chat Noir launched himself forward with a gleeful whoop, tackling Ladybug squarely in the side.
They crashed onto the rooftop, the impact sending a puff of dust and loose shingles into the air. For a heartbeat, neither moved before laughter spilled out uncontrollably from both of them.
“Gotcha!” Chat said between chuckles, looking down at her with triumph.
Ladybug laughed, her breath coming in quick bursts as she tried to catch her balance while half-buried under his lanky frame.
“Okay, okay! I’m it, I’m it!” she gasped, her voice playful but genuine.
Chat pushed himself up onto one elbow, flashing a roguish smile. “Well, well. Looks like the tables have turned.” He then stood up and backed away slowly.
She scrambled up too, brushing dust from her suit.
Next thing she knew, Chat was circling around her, waiting until she pounced so he could run.
“Prepare to be outmatched by the master of the rooftops!”
Ladybug rolled her eyes, already sizing him up.
“Watch out kitty, I’ll go get my tent peg if you’re not careful!”
Chat’s grin widened, undeterred. “No thanks, I’m happy without a Judges 6 woman at my skull!”
She barked a laugh, “Chaton no, I’m no Judges 6 woman, I’m the queen of rooftops.”
She crouched low, ready to spring, heart pounding with excitement.
Ladybug’s eyes flicked to Chat’s confident stance. He was all swagger, already smirking like victory was in the bag.
But she had other plans.
With a quick shift, she lunged forward and hooked her foot behind his ankles in one smooth move.
“Whoa—!” Chat’s surprise was audible as his legs flew out from under him.
Down he went, flopping onto the rooftop with a dramatic thud.
She knew he was fine, he’d handled worse during akuma fights. The suit was made for impacts like that.
“How dare, Ladybug?” he gasped, throwing an arm over his face like a tragic actor struck down in his prime.
Ladybug crouched beside him, trying not to laugh. “All’s fair in rooftop tag, minou.”
“Oh! My legs! Betrayed! Broken! Ruined!” he wailed, flinging himself dramatically onto his back and stretching out his limbs like a cat playing dead.
He groaned theatrically, one hand flung over his forehead. “Why, Ladybug? Why must you be so cruel? Was it worth it?”
He threw her a look that was equal parts mock indignation and pure amusement. “I shall compose my eulogy now… ‘Here lies Chat Noir, fallen by the swift sweep of his lady’s foot.’”
She laughed, grinning wide. “You’re exaggerating.”
“You broke my legs, my best mode of transport! No hospital can repair the damage! You’re just too strong!”
“Welp, it means I’ll be and stay undefeated in tag. By the way, you’re it!” She shoved his shoulder and bounded off in the other direction.
Chat laughed and immediately took off after her, boots skimming the rooftop as he tried to close the gap.
“I can’t believe you’ve done this, Bug!” He called, grinning wildly, “Now you’re breaking more than my heart, M-“
A sharp gasp escaped Ladybug before he could finish.
The world seemed to tilt for the girl in front of him. Her heart sank and a cold weight settled deep in her chest.
In that suspended moment, the playful rooftop vanished, replaced by the distant, haunting echo of a name she hadn’t heard out of his mouth in ages.
The words were harmless in any other world. But suddenly they weren’t in this world anymore.
Her foot caught the rooftop edge. Gravity pulled hard. She didn’t even brace.
Below, the streetlights melted into long streaks of white and gray, as if the world around her had dissolved into a blur.
The sky was pale and endless, a vast expanse with shards of the moon scattered like broken glass.
The rooftop beneath her transformed into a broken, white building, tumbling through the water below. Paris lay drowned beneath an ocean of silence and darkness, cold and unforgiving.
The faint smell of rain mixed with a biting chill wrapped around her.
She was falling, tumbling through freezing darkness.
Her lungs burned as icy water loomed over her head—sharp, unforgiving, relentless.
She gasped, but no air came.
The cold wrapped her tight, squeezing breath from her lungs and hope from her heart.
Memories crashed within her brain, her body sinking beneath that dark water, accompanied by the bitter sting of helplessness, into the cold that had once claimed her before. The water that left a fragmented statue of herself.
A white-haired figure appeared, eyes cold and unfamiliar. Chat Blanc, stared down at her with a gaze that pierced through her soul. He stood menacingly at the top of the fallen building.
His white hair drifted around his face like a halo, his eyes glowing that unnatural, piercing blue. There was no playful smirk, no cocky tilt of his head. Just a stillness, as if the life she’d known in him had been carved away.
And then, just as suddenly, he was gone, vanished like a flash of lightning, leaving only the echo of his absence.
The icy water closed around her, dragging her deeper into the darkness. Her lungs burned, panic swelling as the cold seeped into every fiber of her being.
And then she wasn’t.
He, the nightmare who had been terrorizing her for years, held her in a frozen grip she couldn’t break.
“Get away!” she screamed inside her mind, thrashing against the invisible chains.
Her hands clawed at the water, searching for air, for anything real.
She kicked and twisted, fighting the figure that haunted her nightmares.
“No! No!” she cried, voice sharp and raw.
The grip held firm and words of manipulation tried to reach her, but she couldn’t hear them over the pounding of her own heart.
Her breath came in ragged gasps as she struggled, caught between the frozen past and the world reaching out to save her.
A fist shot out, connecting hard with the arm holding her. Pain flared across Chat Blanc’s face as she punched him without mercy.
He staggered, surprised but didn’t let go.
She twisted free, breath ragged, and sprinted toward the edge of the rooftop.
“Ladybug, wait! Please!” he called after her, voice thick with concern and confusion. Trying to get her to feel bad for him, but she wasn’t going to fall for it.
So she didn’t stop.
Cold terror ruled her steps, and the shadow of Chat Blanc chased her down every rooftop.
Suddenly, strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her off her feet.
They crashed down together onto the rooftop in a tangle of limbs. Ladybug’s breath caught sharply, her body tense and wild beneath his hold.
But there was something familiar in the way he held her—a weight and warmth that cut through the shadows chasing her.
Ladybug’s hands shot out instinctively, claws closing around the cool metal of Chat Noir’s bell hanging at his collar.
Desperation fueled her grip — if she could just release the akuma, maybe she could break free from the nightmare choking her mind.
But before she could wrench it away, strong hands pinned her wrists firmly to the rooftop. Eyes peering straight through her.
He turned, looking away. She tried to break free of his grasp again but he pushed down harder. Ladybug can fight him, she knows she’s just as strong, but she almost didn’t want to. This was still her partner, she didn’t want to hurt him.
That changed when she heard a prayer from his lips. A prayer to her God and a faith only her and her kitten has. Not this mockery of an akuma.
Her voice shook with anger, sharp and biting. “No. No! You don’t get the right to bring God into this.”
She wrenched against his hold, fury fueling her strength. “You don’t get to use my faith as a weapon to trap me.”
An arm was yanked out of his grip, and soon punched him in the face again. However, Chat Blanc didn’t even flinch, just swiftly put her hand back in its place on the floor.
Her glare bore into him, fierce and unyielding, a storm ready to break. She tried to kick but he wouldn’t let her.
Chat Blanc tightened his grip, his eyes never leaving hers.
“Bug,” he said gently but firmly, “I’m not your enemy.”
Tears welled in her eyes as the weight of fear and frustration pressed down.
She shut her eyes, unable to keep looking at the face of someone she once knew.
Now, she didn’t know him at all. Especially with the nightmare changing on her. Neither of them knew Jesus the first time she saw him. This was unprecedented.
He loosened his hold just enough to slide his hands from her wrists to rest gently beside her own on the rooftop.
A teasing grin tugged at his lips as he glanced down at their hands lying side by side.
Chat Blanc laughed softly, “You know, my hands are bigger than yours. I think that means I can beat you in an arm wrestle.”
Ladybug blinked, caught off guard by the unexpected lightness. Using the small opening, she shifted back against the rooftop, pushing herself up slowly until she was sitting.
Her eyes met his. His green eyes.
The nightmare’s grip weakened, though echoes lingered.
Tears welled in her eyes, mixing confusion and relief as the walls she’d built cracked open. She covered her face with trembling hands, the flood of raw emotion pouring out.
Without a word, Chat Noir moved closer, carefully wrapping his arms around her in a steady, solid hug, almost becoming a shield from the outside world. The night air was cool and crisp, but somehow his presence warmed the space between them.
Ladybug’s shoulders sagged as the tension in her body began to ease. She leaned into the hug, pressing her cheek lightly against his shoulder.
The roof beneath them shifted with a faint creak, loose shingles settling under their weight. She breathed in slowly, grounding herself, the scent of cool stone and dry earth calming her.
He murmured something she couldn’t catch, but it didn’t matter. The tone alone kept her grounded.
Chat Noir held her firm but careful, giving her the space to take the moment on her own terms. He didn’t want to trigger her again, unsure of what caused the issue.
Finally, she whispered, “I… I’m sorry.”
He shifted his weight, his usual grin gone. “You have nothing to apologize for.” He started, “Alright… we’re not moving until you’re breathing steady. Just match me, okay?”
He inhaled deliberately and let it out even slower. Again. And again.
Her chest rose and fell unevenly at first, but after the third try, she found a rhythm.
“That’s it,” he said softly. “Better?”
“I… I don’t know.”
They sat side-by-side, backs against the chimney. The night noises felt too far away, a scooter engine, the sounds of a nearby party.
He kept his voice low. “Was it the fall? Did you hurt yourself?”
Her fingers tightened around her knees. “No.”
He tilted his head toward her. “Then…?”
Her shoulders rose in a shallow shrug.
“Did I do something?”
Ladybug went silent, nervously picking at the fingers of her suit.
She pulled her gaze to the roofline across the street. “You didn’t mean it.”
His brow knit. “Was it something I said? I’m so sorry, Bug, I never wanted to hurt you.”
The way he said it made her chest tighten.
“Do you want to tell me what it reminded you of?” He added.
She shook her head, quick and small. “Not really.”
“Alright.” He leaned back, giving her space. “We can just sit here.”
They sat like that for a while. She fiddled with her yo-yo string, winding and unwinding it, the click of the spool filling the silence. Chat glanced sideways now and then, but didn’t push.
Finally, she spoke again, so quietly he almost missed it. “It’s not you. Not… this you.”
He turned toward her, but still didn’t interrupt.
“It was another you,” she said, eyes still fixed somewhere else. “From… somewhere else. Some other time.”
He waited.
She swallowed hard. “I don’t—I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Okay,” he said gently. “But if you ever can… I’m here.”
That should have been the end of it. But the words hovered on her tongue like they wanted out. She pressed her palms together. “It was… bad. Everything was gone. Paris. Everyone. You—” She cut herself off, shaking her head. “I can’t.”
His voice was barely above a whisper. “You don’t have to tell me everything. Just do what you need to.”
She hesitated, the yo-yo string trembling between her fingers. “You were akumatized. Not just akumatized but… worse. You destroyed… everything. The moon was cataclysmed. Changed the tides. Flooded everything.” Her breath caught. “And I found my own body. In the ocean.”
The string slipped from her hands. She hugged her knees, as if she could fold herself small enough to hide.
“I had died. I left you to face everything alone.”
Her eyes flickered with pain. “I feel like I abandoned you, like I’m the reason you suffered so much.”
She shook her head slowly, swallowing the lump in her throat.
“Bug, you didn’t abandon me if I…was the reason you couldn’t be there with me.” Chat supplied, voice cracking.
She gave a weak laugh, one without humor. “I wanted to tell you but what was I supposed to do? Tell you ‘Hey, I saw you end the world’ and watch you try to sleep after that?”
“M’lady…”
“I didn’t want to give you that burden. Especially after…” She glanced at him. “After you came to Christ. It’s not right to bring up your past like that, you’re born again now.”
He leaned forward, catching her gaze. “That–Bug, no. That’s not how that works. I want to help you with everything that plagues you. That includes this.”
Her eyes shimmered.
“And for what it’s worth,” he went on, “you wouldn’t be weighing me down. You’d be letting me in.”
She looked away, blinking fast. “I’ve prayed about it. A lot. But it’s like it’s glued to me. I let it go, and then one night, I’m right back in that ocean again.”
Her eyes stayed on her knees.
“It’s hard to patrol with you… then go have nightmares about you that night.”
Chat Noir’s voice softened even more.
“How long ago was that?”
She hesitated, swallowing hard before whispering,
“Two years.”
He nodded slowly, understanding flooding his expression. “You’ve been holding onto that alone for two years. No wonder it’s still clawing at you.”
“It got better after a while, but I just couldn’t handle it when you said that.”
He wanted to ask what, but she was shaking again and so he decided against it.
She swallowed hard, then looked up at him, voice barely above a whisper.
“That day… two years ago… when I randomly called you for patrol. I never told you what it was really about.”
“That was the day?”
Ladybug nodded then added, “Things you had said…alluded that it was my fault you were akumatized. I just didn’t know why. So I avoided you, scared I would cause it. I ruined our friendship for months because of it.”
He reached out, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear with a tenderness that made her heart skip.
“Bug, none of that was your fault. Akumatization—it’s on Hawk Moth, not you. You didn’t ruin anything. I was never upset that you withdrew, and I’m glad you’ve told me now.”
She didn’t meet his eyes, embarrassed and vulnerable.
“I was so scared… scared of losing you, of being the reason you hurt.”
He hugged her tight, “You won’t lose me. You can’t lose me. You, me, and Jesus. We’re the dream team.”
She leaned into his hug, shaken, but relieved.
“Yeah,” she whispered, voice barely audible, “the dream team.”
He pulled back just enough to look at her, wiping away a stray tear with his thumb.
”I’m sorry I punched you. Like twice.”
”Yeah…maybe I’ll rethink my declaration of an arm wrestle after that one.” He laughed, reassuring her that he wasn’t upset.
They sat there for a while in silence, just decompressing from an emotional patrol.
Eventually, Chat turned to his partner and asked, “How about we get some hot chocolate? My treat.”
She looked him in the eyes. His green eyes. And nodded.
“Race you there?”
He grinned wide, eyes sparkling with a playful challenge.
“You’re on!”