A/N: This will be a multi-chapter sequel to "Kiss It Better", which is a one-shot song fic I did not too long ago, set roughly fifteen years after (which makes Adrian about 31). It's not necessary to read "Kiss It Better", but I would suggest it. I'm expanding because the idea would not get out of my head any other way.

Warnings for darkness and plenty of angst.

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Chapter 1: The Dreams In Which I'm Dying

Suzette Montagne sat back from her computer with a sigh. For the past three days she had been going over every article, video, and court record she could find about the infamous, world-watched case of Chat Noir's trial. She had only been a year old when it had happened, so she had no previous first-hand knowledge of the case, but if it hadn't obviously been such a big deal already, there would have been no doubt in her mind now.

She was trying her best to filter everything she had seen and read, but the entire scandal had her heart aching for Adrien Agreste, the man under the mask of Chat Noir. He hadn't known that his friend was actually the other half of the crime-fighting duo and watching her murdered in cold blood as he found out had sent him over the edge. He had stalked and killed the man who had murdered Ladybug, freely admitting it all to the court. He had sat hollow-eyed throughout most of the court proceedings, but when they put him on the witness stand and questioned him about that night, he had broken down.

In the end, he had been sentenced to twenty-five years in prison, which he had accepted without so much as batting an eye. If he had been chosen by Master Fu to be a Miraculous holder, he would surely never forgive himself for what he'd done. Most likely, he thought the punishment far too light.

"Suzette?" Tikki asked quietly.

The dirty-blonde looked down at the kwami, who sat somberly next to her computer. When the kwami saw that she had her Chosen's attention, she looked back to the screen, her face falling.

"Are you sure this is the right choice?"

"Yes," Suzette replied with a firm nod. "I've already made up my mind, Tikki. I'm not turning back now."

The kwami didn't respond as she studied the frozen, heart-broken face of Adrien Agreste that was still on the screen.

"Are you ready?" the new Ladybug asked gently, holding out her hand.

Tikki nodded slightly and flew to land in the offered transportation. Suzette slung her purse over her shoulder as the kwami ducked into the masses of curls her new Holder possessed. They would check the purse at the prison after all.

Suzette drew herself up with a determined air.

"Let's do this."

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

"And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had…"

"Agreste! Hey, Agreste, you've got a visitor!"

The sound of his name slowly penetrated the fog in his mind and Adrien opened his eyes as the guard continued.

"Come on, Agreste. Let's go."

Adrien took a deep breath and let it out, bracing himself to deal with the world. He wondered without real curiosity who wanted to see him. The only visitors he had anymore were Nino and Alya, and they came on Thursdays. It wasn't Thursday.

He sat up as he heard the guard shifting impatiently and didn't bother trying to tidy himself up at all. There was no point. Never any point anymore.

The guard ushered him along, though he knew the way perfectly well with as many Thursday trips as he'd made. When he stepped into the room, there was only one other occupant and he didn't know her.

She was about sixteen, he would have guessed, with big brown eyes and dirty-blonde curls that were everywhere. She wore jeans, flats, and a shirt that proclaimed 'Volleyball, Beat All!' across the front, but the thing that caught his attention were the little red earrings she was sporting.

He sat down across from the girl and waited.

She studied him carefully and tried to catch his gaze, but he kept it firmly planted on the metal table between them. His hair was a mess, he hadn't shaved in several days, and his plain shirt and pants were rumpled nearly to ruin, as though he had been sleeping in them since he'd stopped shaving.

"Um, hi!" she said after a moment. "You don't know me, but my name is Suzette Montagne, and we have a mutual friend."

That got her no reaction, so before the silence could become awkward, she forged ahead.

"Well, our friend heard that you were going to be released early and wanted me to meet you so that I can give you something on his behalf. After you're released, that is."

Again, no reaction. She kept going.

"Obviously, they'd never let me bring anything in for you, but I'll leave my address and phone number with them at the front so you can come find me after you get out."

Still no reaction. It almost felt like talking to a wall. The pause stretched out to the point of awkwardness this time and just as Suzette was beginning to regret her decision to come, he spoke. His voice was deeper now than it had been in the recordings, but he had also gotten taller and broader, which should have been no surprise. What was a surprise, was how rusty his voice sounded, as though he never used it anymore.

"The last time I saw those earrings, a dead girl was wearing them."

Suzette's eyes went wide and she unconsciously reached up to touch her left ear. He knew who she was!

'Come on, Suzette,' she chided herself. 'You can't wimp out now. Of course he would have guessed.'

"I'm sorry," she said aloud. "I didn't think about that before I came."

He didn't even acknowledge that she had spoken for long enough that Suzette found herself briefly wishing she had listened to Tikki and not come.

"Not your problem," he said finally, his voice low. "Mine."

He lifted his gaze from the table, then, and met her eyes for the first time since he had entered the room. Suzette got an unpleasant jolt and she had to stop the gasp that nearly left her. He had changed quite a lot since his last public appearance in court, but the one thing that hadn't changed were his eyes. They were dull, lifeless, and hollow. It was like looking at a dead man and it was both disturbing and heart-wrenching, because she understood. Yes, she had seen and read about everything that had made him that way, but that was the sympathy that tugged at her. The understanding hit her like a brick in the stomach as she put herself in his not-so-distant shoes. If she ever lost her partner like that…

She swallowed hard to keep the tears at bay and reached across the distance to touch his arm. He jerked, surprised by the touch, and stared at her hand as though it were some sort of alien contraption he couldn't quite comprehend. Suzette waited until he looked up at her again, the barest hint of confusion now in his dead man's stare.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her eyes pleading with him to understand what she meant.

She was sorry for everything he had been through. She was sorry that he had lost his love and partner and was now being reminded by a complete stranger of what had once been. She was sorry that he had been outed as Chat Noir. She was sorry that he had lost so much, but most of all, she was sorry for what she was going to ask him to do.

But not now. She couldn't bring herself to ask him yet.

No one should have to endure what he had been through.

He blinked at her slowly, seeming to try and find the reply that social graces dictated he should make. Finally, he nodded.

She pulled back, feeling as though she hadn't made herself clear at all, but who could tell with a man who had realized who she was, yet had the eyes of a dead man in his face?

"Our friend wants to see you," she said quietly.

Another slow blink greeted that statement.

"Then, why didn't he come?"

Suzette's brow wrinkled as she set her jaw.

"He was admitted to the hospital four days ago. Otherwise he would have come himself."

The slightest crease formed on the man's brow, though his eyes still held nothing.

"I will… go see him," he told her after a moment.

She nodded.

"I think he would like that."

He stood slowly, obviously done with the conversation, but then paused and looked back at her.

"What is today?"

She blinked in surprise.

"Monday."

He nodded slowly and walked away as the guard attached himself to his prisoner's side again. Suzette watched him go, wondering at the odd question.

As the young woman left the prison, Tikki popped out and looked at her with sad eyes.

"I told you, you shouldn't have gone. He's not Chat Noir anymore. He's… broken."

Suzette cuddled the little kwami to her cheek for a moment before pulling away to look back at her.

"But, Tikki, I can't do this alone."

"Then find someone else!" the kwami cried. "I hate seeing him like that, but asking him to be Chat again might kill him. Find anyone else!"

"There is no one else, Tikki!" Suzette cried, pulling the kwami away from her so they could look directly at each other. "We've been over this so many times I've lost track! My Fox is gone, the Butterfly is still missing, the Turtle is in the hospital, and the last thing I need is to bring some random unknown into the picture to try and help me as the Peacock or Bee. I won't put more people in danger."

"So you'd ask help from a man who's been through more than his fair share instead?" shot back Tikki, flying up to hover in front of the girl. "You'd ask that poor, broken man to sacrifice even more?"

Suzette drew herself up, looking her kwami straight in the eye.

"Yes. It's his choice, but I have to ask."

X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X

Adrien was still nodding slightly to himself as his cell door closed behind him. Monday. Three more days before he had to pretend to be alright again. As he lay back down, he wondered how long he would be able to keep up the pretense for his friends after he was released. He'd almost forgotten about that pending doom until the girl had reminded him.

Closing his eyes, Adrien let himself fall back into the waking dream. Marinette was there beside him once again, running her fingers through his hair and smiling down at her silly kitty.

There was no sleep. There was no true peace, but it was all he had anymore.

"I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very, very
Mad world
Mad world…"