Percentages, life was full of percentages. It wasn't a thing you were thinking about every second of the day, but every second of the day was filled with percentages.

Percentages and probabilities were such a big part of life and no one ever gave them the importance they deserved.

Of course, when you were gambling, percentages and probabilities were all you could think about because those little yet insignificant terms were the only thing you could rely on when it come to gambling games. And thought you could try to manipulate them, try to use them in your favor, try to understand them, you never would be able to do so. Probabilities and percentages couldn't be tamed, they just were, and whoever who said they could was the biggest liar the world had known, cheating percentages wasn't the same as manipulate them, and in fact was only another percentage itself.

Life was a percentage itself. But who woke up thinking that? Only a little percentage o people did.

Adrien Agreste didn't belong to said percentage.

xx

Have you ever stopped to think what makes a day different to another? Probably not, and why would you? There's no reason to do so.

Days pass and it's a new one every morning, yet you are stuck in the same routine that yesterday, and the day before and the day before that and probably years and years before. If you looked back probably every day looks the same, and that's not wrong, when the human world is build up in routines to follow there was no one else to blame but human nature.

True, there are little details that difference one day from another, you may find new information as the days pass, but they are still pretty much the same one to another. So what made a day memorable and other a completely waste of space for your mind? What were the reasons why something ended up being engraved on your mind and other things were erased just as easy as words written in the sand? There was no way to tell, not with little details at least.

But who lived thinking about what memory would be relevant on your future, who was constantly thinking about the little things in life wondering if the memory of them would change anything on the next days. Nobody did that, nobody had good reasons to do it.

Maybe if you knew something was going to happen, something big, life changing and obviously memory worth it then you would pay more attention to the little things, the little moments that may seem insignificant but that could mean the world one moment later.

But routine was such a strong force into the human world that the feeling of something so normal and recurrent made you brush off some of the things that could turn special. I mean after all it was something that happened every day, if you didn't appreciate today you could appreciate it tomorrow.

That's what routine does to you; you always think there's a tomorrow, because yesterday and today were the same, and the days before that too, then tomorrow obviously will be the same, right?

But tomorrow doesn't have the same percentage to exist as the days that are in the past, like and it doesn't have the same percentage to exist as the present, for obvious reasons. Then why do we think that way? Why do we take tomorrow for granted?

Routine.

No surprising since it's well known that routine is the enemy of time. People should have that on my mind; sadly they'll never will. People were consumed by routine.

Marinette was one of those people.

xxxx

Adrien remembered perfectly everything about his morning, but somehow after that he didn't have much memory of the day…

The day started as it always did, with the beeping sound of his alarm coming from the speakers on his phone.

Adrien loved to sleep, he always did because he never really got the time, with such a strict schedule to follow and with acquired cat tendencies he enjoyed and treasured the sleeping hours he got.

Yet, difference to sleep lovers he didn't need more than one alarm to jump out of his bed, this had nothing to do with him being a morning person, something he was not, no, Adrien just knew that if he didn't go out of the bed at the first alarm he wouldn't be able to be out of bed in a million years, and he didn't want to face the rage of anyone in the Agreste's mansion just because he hadn't followed up his perfect schedule.

So he stood up from his bed, taking the covers and sheets with him making them fall to the floor. He rubbed his eyes as he made his way to the bathroom, to take a warm shower, one of his favorite moments of the day was this, he was alone in a safe warm place and no one was telling him what to do, and he hadn't smell cheese just yet. Just a perfect place to be.

He went out of the shower and brushed his hair in front of the bathroom mirror, took a basket full of creams and lotions for his skin care routine, he didn't need to shave that morning so he skipped that step. Once ready, he walked to the closet. Being son of one of the most influent and acclaimed fashion designer in the world meant that his closet was always filled with the best clothes money could buy, and while in the hangers you could find the most elegant suits, the fanciest jackets and the most exquisite hand knitted sweaters, Adrien always ended up picking up the first pair of clean jeans he could reach and a t-shirt, in the winter he picked up a sweater on a jacket too, but he never put much attention on what he was wearing, he wasn't good at fashion and he didn't want to, of course he knew about names and a few technical terms, but that was because he was drowned in fashion, it was impossible to not pick up a few things along the years, but his fashion sense was a nonexistent thing. If somebody else didn't buy and organize his clothes, he would probably end up in the most ridiculous clothes anyone could wear, and that probably would cause a heart attack on a good amount of people, his father and Marinette would be part of that group.

With a light pair of jeans, a white t-shirt with a little ladybug on the pocket of it, and a pair of black vans, Adrien was ready to start his day.

As he was used to, he woke up Plagg with a piece of camembert, waited for him to eat the whole triangle of smelly cheese and hided him on his bag, placing another wheel of cheese and a few cheesy crackers. With that taken care of Adrien went downstairs to the dining room, where as every morning was a plate with his breakfast. Fruits, a nice portion of scrambled eggs and just recently squeezed orange juice. To the side, a pack of vitamins and complements he had to take, he still didn't know why, his friends didn't take a salad of vitamins pill and they were just fine, anyways he was so used to it that he didn't think about it anymore.

He ate his breakfast as fast as Nathalie allowed him to, the faster he finished his breakfast the earlier he could go to school and that meant he had more time to chat with his friends before the bell rang.

As was usual when he went out of the car, he saw Nino waiting for him on the stairs and at his side Nathanaël, both of them waving at him with a smile on their mouths. Adrien waved back and joined them.

As odd as his group of friends was, he was the happiest guy in the world to have friends like Nath and Nino.

"Nice hairstyle, Adrien!" Nath exclaimed poking the little pony tail on his hair "Trying to be as handsome as me?" This time he brushed his own hair, showing his little bun.

"Couldn't do it, even if I tried" Adrien joked back and Nino laughed at his two friends.

Maybe three years ago this would be a strange situation for anyone in school, but as the years passed and Nathanaël joined the guys, he started to loosen up, showing the dashing personality he had been hiding, making him bond with Nino and Adrien because of the similarities they had.

They walked to the classroom and sat on top of Nino's and Adrien's desk as the chatted and joked around, a routine Adrien would never get tired of.

"Have you talked with Alya?" Nathanaël asked Nino, his sight pointed on the open door.

Adrien gave a look to the point Nath's eyes were focused, finding that Alya was outside, leaning on the bars of the stairs. He waved his hand to her, who had just caught his sight. She waved him back with a smile and stared at his phone once again, she was probably texting Marinette.

"No" Nino sighed "And I know what you are about to say, I know I have to talk to her if I want her back but I just can't, not now"

"How many times have you heard him say that?" Adrien asked Nathanaël

"I don't know, is a daily thing by now" The redhead shrugged

"Let me be, is not that easy, okay?" Nino pinched the bridge of his nose "I'll talk to her when I'm ready"

"When will that be? In the after light?" Adrien chuckled "Seriously, it's been a month already, you guys need to get back together"

"Stop it" Nino brushed him off, real anger showing on his eyes "You haven't date anyone, you guys don't understand… and you know how Alya is"

"Do you want me to talk to Marinette?" Adrien asked.

"I spoke to her yesterday" Nath said as he chewed a new piece of gum "She doesn't have much to say"

"Yeah, I doubt she will spill Alya's secrets" Adrien nodded "Do you have more gum?"

Nathanaël nodded, from his pocket he took a pack of gum and throw it to Adrien's hands.

The bell rang exactly at the same time it did every day, making the three friends jump out off the desk and get into his respective seats. The rest of the classmates that had been waiting outside entered. When Alix passed by their desks, she high fived the three guys as a greeting as she did every time she saw them.

After Alix entrance, Adrien could only wait for Kim to yell something at her before going to his own classroom. And there he was, screaming about a new bet the both of them had, Alix rolling her eyes and back clapping to every single word he said.

Adrien laughed and so did his friends, he was happy that he hadn't grown bored of them, in fact Adrien found fascinating how they managed to fight over something new every day.

Adrien loved school so much. Okay, it was boring sometimes, and homework wasn't fun but the whole experience, the whole routine was always so full of surprises and new events that Adrien couldn't help but smile every chance he got.

And that wasn't the only routine he loved, there was also another side of his life that he loved. Fighting crime wasn't exactly an everyday thing, but surely was a repetitive one and he enjoyed it so much. Every new experience he got into the job was something that made Adrien smile the rest of the day.

Also watching the girl you are in love being badass never got out of style.

After that it was more of the same, nothing abnormal so he couldn't place his finger in what had gone wrong.

xx

The chances of Marinette waking up at the first beeping of the alarm didn't deserve any mathematic formula, in a 99% of the cases it was a big and bold: not going to happen.

Second beep? 20% of probabilities

Third beep? 55%

Fourth beep? 75% of probabilities

Fifth beep? 90%

Screaming Tikki telling her she was late? 100%

Marinette jumped out of her bed at the speed of light as she was used to.

You'll think that after the years Marinette would have gotten better, but that wasn't the case, the only thing she now did was planning her outfit for school the night before. Marinette loved fashion and she liked to look good at school. So on top of her divan there was a long summer dress in lilac and aquamarine tones. To go with it Marinette took white flat sandals, if she wasn't such a klutz she would wear a pair of high heeled sandals, but since she was and the changes of tripping in heels were a big 85% she chose the safer option.

Once she was ready she ran upstairs to catch the bag with food her mother probably had already left for her to pick up, the chances of Marinette were not even a probability anymore but a fact and instead of keep fighting them, Sabine had learned to live with them, helping Marinette out by picking and packing her breakfast.

Marinette took the bag with her; today it was heavier than other days. 50% chances for it being filled with croissants, 50% chances of what was inside was an apple. But 100% chances for the bag to have cookies, Marinette had made very clear that she couldn't live without chip chocolate cookies, and thought they weren't for her, she wasn't lying. She needed Tikki to be healthy and charged for her to be Ladybug and cookies made the job.

Marinette ran out of her house, crossed the street and made it into the school building. Alya wasn't waiting for her at the front which meant she was upstairs. 90% chances of Alya waiting for her outside Nino's classroom, as she had been doing for the last week. The other 10% was that she was in the bathroom.

Marinette smiled when she saw Alya on front of the door of the classroom. She ran to her, crossing an arm around her shoulders, surprising her in a hug.

"Good morning!" Marinette exclaimed

"Finally! We are late" Alya caught Marinette by her wrist and pulled her to her side as they walked to their classroom.

"You didn't spoke to him did you?" Marinette sighed

"He was busy" Alya shrugged, she was obviously lying.

"I'm 100% sure he would stop being busy if you asked him to talk" Marinette said as they entered the classroom.

"I'm telling you he was busy!" Alya repeated in between her teeth.

"Alya" Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Césaire, Dupain Cheng, if you are late at least make the favor to be quiet about it" The teacher said without turning around to them, still writing on the blackboard.

They sat on their desk in silence and picked up their things as the class continued. Marinette picked up a notebook and ripped a page of it, writing a note to Alya.

C'mon, Alya it's been a month, you can do this.

She placed the note closer to Alya so she could read it. Alya picked up her own pen as she frowned at the note.

C'mon Marinette, it's been years, you can do this… See? We both can play this game.

Marinette was caught by surprise with the note, Alya must be in a really, really bad mood if she had written that to her. She picked up her pen once again and wrote down.

M:Sorry… still I think you are waiting too long, what are you waiting for?

A:For us to be dead

M: Hahaha, you are so funny, Alya. I'm being serious, I spoke with Nath yesterday he says Nino wants to speak to you too.

A: Then why hasn't him?

M: I don't know, why haven't you?

Alya didn't gave an answer and Marinette stopped pushing, she knew if she did there was a 70% chances of them ending in a fight, and she didn't want that, and for sure Alya didn't need that right now.

Marinette sighed. She didn't like how days had been after Nino and Alya's breakup, she liked the way life was before that. It was nice and happy and predictable, unpredictable things were a big part of her other life and as familiar those things were, they still were abnormalities that she was getting tired to face day after day. Not that she hated to be Ladybug but sometimes she wished she could have a calm week, where she could live her predictable and peaceful school life without any surprises. Yet, since the breakup Marinette crossed her fingers for an akuma to happen, the tension between Alya and Nino was so palpable that she had only seen Adrien from afar these days, and thought they had texted, Adrien had been busy lately, as he usually was when the school year was ending.

Marinette gave a glance to Alya, she was still frowning. She sighed, the possibilities of this being a good pacific day had lowered from a 60% to a 30%. She was once again crossing her fingers for an akuma to happen, at least in that way Chat could make her laugh.

Those were Marinette's memories and probabilities of what could have happened that morning… after that everything was a blur.

xxxx

There were a 100% of chances of Chat Noir making a pun of what Marinette had jut said. So when he didn't she knew something odd what happening.

She turned around trying to find him, he was supposed to be there, but he wasn't.

Ladybug ran to the end of the rooftop, trying to catch a glimpse of him running to her or leaning against one of the pipes walls as he sometimes did, but he wasn't there.

Where was that cat?

She had cast cataclysm and broke the antennas she had need to make her own lucky charm work. Then she had run to distract the akuma and Marinette had focused on assemble the weapon she had thought to defeat the akuma. She had used the weapon, she had called the cure, she had reverted all. The fight was over, why wasn't he there? They were supposed to bump their fits as they did every time, it was a ritual by now, not fight was finished if they didn't celebrate it.

So when she heard the screams she couldn't stop the fear that ran through her veins.

Ladybug ran guided by the screams and bustle of people who started to reunite in a circle. There were so many people, camera flashes blinding her on her way there, but she didn't need to see, she knew something was wrong, very, very wrong.

Marinette stared from above the circle when she saw him. Her brain didn't get to process the information when she was already screaming.

She jumped in the middle of the circle, trembling, tears starting to stream down her face as she sobbed. She covered her mouth with her hands to repress another scream but she only muffled, the pain was too much to stop her physical responses to it.

There in the middle of the circle of people, on the gray hot ground, lied a guy dressed in black leather and car ears, a blonde guy whose hair was now stained in red. Green eyes open with no life on them, no sign of blinking, and no sign of breathing.

Ladybug let herself fall at his side, knees hitting the ground making a horrible noise, that should have hurt a lot and yet it was like a scratch compared to the pain that her heart was facing.

It felt like someone had taken her heart on their hands, strangling them with all the strength they had, as if they were cutting her open without any dose of anesthesia. Being hit and thrown out of roofs into the ground hurt like hell, she had scars and bruises to prove it, but the ache she was living right now? Nothing was as hurtful as this was.

Marinette felt like she was drowning on her own tears, she tried to clean them up so she could focus her sight on Chat but they kept coming, as a broken faucet that couldn't be stopped.

She extended her hands and reached for a piece of his hair, long beautiful blonde hair that now was damped in blood. Her hand traveled to his neck, searching for his pulse, searching for hope. But as she should have expected nothing was throbbing on his neck.

Marinette lost it. She thrown herself to his unconscious body and hugged him tight, letting her tears fall on his chest. She could barely breathe thanks to the tears and the sobs, but Chat's body was muffling her sounds.

Marinette wasn't expecting this, not in a million years. She expected what she was used to, the old plain routine she loved. How stupid of her to think that winning was a granted thing for them. Marinette had never stopped to think how things could go for her and Chat Noir. She was so used to defeat the evil, so used to win that she completely forgot the risks they put their selves into. After all there was a 50% chances for them to be the winners, and a 50% chances for them to be the losers. She was so used to the good part of the percentages that she never stopped to think that there was another 50/50 in their lives. 50% says you live today, 50% says you die, why? 50% because they were two options and the odds were tied. But being a superhero it was to expect for those percentages to change. Why hadn't Marinette ever thought about that?

Why had she been so stupid?

Ladybug hadn't been paying attention to anything but Chat, so when she heard the beeping familiar noise, the other noises around her came back.

Everything was so loud, everyone was trying to watch what had happened and Marinette felt like she was about to puke. How morbid and disrespectful could people be? They weren't suppose to be here, this wasn't a movie, they weren't here to entertain them.

Marinette stopped hugging her partner, and kneeled once again. Taking a big breathe she stood up, ready to take Chat on her arms and take him far away from here, where no one could turn his death on a joke.

She kneeled to catch his body on her arms when a green light blinded her.

"No!" Marinette gasped but it was too late, displayed in front of her was the guy behind the mask.

She covered her eyes without even thinking about it. This wasn't how it supposed to go, this wasn't how they had agreed to reveal their identities. And thought Marinette didn't wanted to look, in between the just founded silence a scream made her uncover her eyes and focus on the person who was yelling

"Get the hell out of here!" Alya was screaming, phone in her hands as she brushed all the people out. Her eyes were full of tears and she was coming closer. "I already called an ambulance, Ladybug" She said in between sobs.

Marinette could count with the fingers of her hand how many times she had seen Alya cry, she knew how much Ladybug and Chat Noir meant to her but this was another level of love, which made Marinette look down to the dead boy.

Marinette's world stopped.

The broken pieces of her heart were now turning into dust. The world had just pulverized her.

This time the scream that came out of her mound was almost inhuman. A scream so raw and full of pain that everyone around them felt her ache, a scream that had muffled the sound of her earring.

"Ladybug…."Alya whispered at her, she was holding up her tears, trying to keep it together. Alya took Ladybug by her shoulders and made her look directly into her eyes "You are about to de-transform… I know how h-hard this is b-but you have to go"

It wasn't fair, she shouldn't have to go, she was supposed to stay by his side, holding him, keeping him safe, making him company till his family came for him. But she knew Alya was right, she hated that Alya was right.

Marinette kneeled by his side, struck pieces of his hair out of his forehead and left a kiss on his still warm skin. As she did that, without anyone noticing she took the ring out of his finger, closing her hand around it. She kissed his forehead one more time, then his cheek, going closer to his ears.

"I love you…" Those weren't words she meant as confession of love for him. She was in love with Adrien, you could ask anyone, but those three words weren't said with that intention. She genuinely loved him, as Adrien, as Chat, as her friend, she loved him so much and now he was gone "I will always love you, minou"

Marinette caressed his cheek and closed his eyes, kissing his eyelids softly. Then she turned to Alya.

"Please take good care of him" She begged. She knew Alya would do anything to protect Adrien, but she needed to hear it.

"I promise" Alya nodded.

"I'll be back as soon as I can chaton "She waved at his corpse, she didn't know why but she had to do it" Bug out" And she was gone once again on the rooftops.

She didn't go that far when her transformation worn out. She was in a little street with only a few people around just minding their business, there she let herself fall apart, because she couldn't contain it any longer.

As tired as Tikki was she tried to help out Marinette, but Marinette just brushed her off every time.

Marinette wanted life to be as it had been a month ago, happy and predictable, warm and familiar, she wanted her routine back. She wanted to be able to appreciate the little things she had missed, she wanted to go back and collect more memories, no matter how insignificant they were, she wanted happy little details to fill their head, she didn't wanted this aching on her heart, she didn't want this pain on her body, she didn't want to remember this, but she knew she would, this was too big, this was too shocking, this wasn't a tiny bit of information on his day, this was going to become part of her daily life… maybe that's how the mind chose the memories…

Marinette didn't want these memories, Marinette didn't want this pain to become a routine on her day, but what were the chances of her forgetting about this? None, there was no way she could forget that Adrien Agreste, her Chat Noir had died.