'Ow!'

Oh no. Oh god no.

Ladybug turned around slowly, her eyes wide behind her red mask and her mouth clenched. She looked furious!

I backed away from her, nearly falling off the carriage roof.

'Did you just- '

I had not meant to do that; I had not meant to do that at all! I was just so caught up in the moment, and the carriage was just so hard to balance on as it bounced around the dirt road, the high pitched screaming coming from inside it was just so distracting, and I didn't think putting my hand holding my sabres out for balance would be a big deal. I didn't KNOW my partner had moved from her position behind me, I didn't know that the very tip of my sword would hit her! It had just been a big mistake performed by a series of unfortunate events that together had made this the WORST mistake in the history of humanity itself! But it had happened, and I was still here to face the consequences, of just hitting Ladybug on the ass in a very crude fashion. So, as I may repeat from before. Oh no, Oh god no.

'Did you really just do that' she demanded furiously, marching closer to me very threateningly.

'Ladybug' I stammered. 'I'm so- I didn't mean – I just- forgive me!' I pleaded.

'How dare you do that' she yelled, raising her hand holding her whip up behind her as if she was about to strike.

'Wait!' I yelped, raising my hands to protect my face as she sent the tightly woven leather strip flying at my face, only for it to miss my neck by mere cm's. I turned to see Ladybugs whip, instead of scaring my face, had wrapped around an oil fuelled fire drum, and had caused it to capsize over, making flaming oil to spread across the road. The closest bandit fell from his horse screaming in pain. People ran from their houses to douse the fire with water buckets, or chamber pots if they were desperate.

'I will deal with you later' Ladybug hissed as she whipped her black velvet cape around her and strode back to her position at the front of the carriage where she protected the driver.

I breathed a sigh of relief that turned into a yelp as a bullet brushed my head and knocked my hat off. I caught it and pulled it hastily back onto my head, I liked that hat! The way it hid my blond hair and dipped low over one eye with green feathers perched up in the air, with it I cast quite a figure.

'Focus Chat' Ladybug called as she kicked a man off the carriage who had been trying to climb on board. The screaming coming within got louder as the carriage rode over his body with a thump that nearly dislodged its two protectors. I saw the man's still body then trampled by his friends on their horses as they rode behind them. I gnashed his teeth and started to fight with a new ferocity. No one should be treated like that by their friends, even if they were a god stinking thief.

'How much further?' Ladybug called to the driver as she stood over him whipping her whip back and forth with a loud crack.

The poor terrified man pointed in response, both Ladybug and I turned to see Île de la Cité spread out as grand as ever between buildings, with the royal castle resting on top of it, lit up like the sun. They were close, they just had to make it to the bridge and they were home free!

The horsemen following them, releasing that this night was going to be for mute, urged their horses faster on the thin city roads of Paris.

'What are they doing?' Ladybug cried out as they pulled their horses beside the carriage, 'the road isn't wide enough, they will die!'

'Not today Lady' yelled one of the closest villains, a cigarette dangling from his smiling lips as a thick scrap of material covered his eyes. He tipped his wide hat in my directions and flicked the cigarette through the open carriage window. The screams grew louder as fire flickered to life.

Ladybug swore loudly, causing the now cigarette-less bandit to laugh and pull his horse's reins back harshly. In an instant he and his crew had disappeared down a back ally.

I caught Ladybugs eye, she looked equally as mad as I was that our attackers got away, but as we both knew, we had a bigger priority.

The carriage suddenly titled violently and I tipped over the side, just managing to snag my leg on the edge. I gasped as the top feathers on my hat just brushing the cold stone road. It was far too close for my tastes, so when I felt a small strong hand grip the back of my coat, I grabbed onto it for dear life, which I kind of was.

'My Lady' I called, looking up at her as she knelt on my leg I managed to hook over the side before I fell, to make sure I didn't completely fall off.

'Give me your hand, you silly cat!' she yelled, leaning over the edge to offer me her other hand. I reached up and gripped her fingertips for a few seconds before my hand slipped.

'Come on!' she yelled, 'use those muscles you always boast about'

'If you wish' I said weakly, grunting as I reached up again. This time I caught her hand and didn't let go as Ladybug heaved me back onto the roof. The momentum nearly sending her over the other side of the speeding carriage, and she would have bought me down with her by our tightly grasping hands if I hadn't of caught the side of the rooftop.

She looked at me with wide eyes, then down at the road she would have spattered on, then back to me. She looked like she wanted to say something but then the carriage went through a series of sharp turns and we both dived flat down onto the carriage roof side by side, holding onto the roofing above the terrified driver tightly as our legs went everywhere.

'Why are we going so fast?' I yelled to her, the wind stole my voice and left it weak and small, I was surprised she could even hear it.

'It's the fire' she yelled back, gripping the roof harder as the carriage got steadily faster and faster. 'It scared the horses'

'We need to put the fire out!'

'The river' Ladybug said quickly, 'We need to cut the horses loose and crash the carriage into the river'

'The countess will drown!' I said, looking into her steely blue eyes and were inches from mine. They twinkled beautifully in the fire light.

'Pull them out the threw the driver's window, I'll go round the side and help them with their dresses!'

'How come you get the fun job?' I complained playfully. She smiled and held out her hand, I took it gently and kissed her knuckles before gripping it tightly as she slid over the side of the carriage.

It was terrifying to hang off the side of a runaway carriage. To be honest I had never been on something so fast in my life and if I stopped to think about the situation I would have gone weak at the knees, but, there was no time to think about these things as I held onto my partner's thin hand for dear life as i opened the door that frankly snapped off on a passing building, I ignored the fact that the door could of just of easily of been me and climbed into the burning carriage.

The countess we were currently huddling at the front of the carriage with her hand maid as the complete back of the cabin was engulfed in flames. I coughed as a blast of smoke went into my face, before climbing inside and grabbed the screaming woman's arm. She screamed louder while her maid beat me with her gloves until they actually looked and saw who I was.

'Ladybug' she gasped, gripping my hand with both of hers. I was startled to see how young she was, practically the same age as me! Her blond hair was coming down from its fancy fashion and her makeup had smudged, but I guess before the screaming and crying she had been doing she must have been very beautiful.

'Quick' I told her, 'Climb out the driver window!'

'What!' she said gasping. 'There is no way I can fit in there!'

I turned to see a she was right; the driver window was more like a peer hole then a window. I swore very unladylike which seemed to shock the countess and her maid into finally stop screaming. I stuck my head and shoulders back out the door shape hole in the carriage and looked up at Chat, holding onto a chunk of the thick velvet that lined the walls of the carriage.

'Have you seen how small the driver's window is?' I called up to him in annoyance. 'I can't even fit my hand in it!'

'Then what do we do now?' he asked, his body thumping against the roof as we went over a particularly big bump that might have been a very unfortunate donkey or a potted plant, it was too dark to tell which.

I looked ahead to see we were heading straight for the entrance of the bridge, guards stationed there were running all over the place, and I guess I would too if I saw a flaming carriage speed towards you!

'Cut the ropes!'

'What! It's too soon!'

'Do it' I yelled frustrated. He swore and leapt forward onto the driver's seat, unsheathed his sabres and with expert procession cut the leather ties off the horses with one swipe. The horses, free of their weight took off towards the bridge where the guards scattered so they didn't get trampled, we, on the other hand, were not so lucky. The front left wheal instantly broke off, sending us into a spin that made us miss the bridge entirely and instead head down a thin road between the water front and a row of houses. I fell back onto the carriage floor, the side of my cape singed from being so close to the fire. I braced my legs against the two seats and stood up again, grabbing a better hold on the roof material this time as I once again stuck my head out the door of the moving carriage. Chat Noir and the driver were at the edge of their seats, seriously, they were just about to fall of their seat, and the only thing preventing them was their grip on the leather remains or the horse's reins. The right corner of the carriage bumped into an old water barrel, Chat's hat fell off and I reached up and caught it. He caught my eye and grinned as I put the hat on my head instead, his blond curls flying in every which way. I looked past him to see we were running out of road for the path took a sharp left with an awfully strong looking warehouse getting closer and closer.

'Jump' I yelled to Chat. He nodded.

I reached back into the carriage and un-mercifully threw the countess out the door. Her hand maid practically threw herself out the door behind her master. The driver soon joined them, I looked up to see Chat Noir grinning as he was about to jump himself, he's a maniac that way. I tucked my whip onto my belt and let go of the material, just as the flaming bench-seat next to me collapsed, trapping my foot against the other seat with a heavy flaming wooden beam. I struggled and tried to free myself, but I was stuck.

'Why aren't you jumping?' Chat yelled to me.

'I'm stuck!' I screamed back.

'WHAT!'

I looked up to see him climbing over the outside of the carriage to get to me, he must be crazy.

'Just jump' I told him, pulling harder at my leg. It was getting painfully hot in my leather boot.

'Not without you, My Lady' he said as he reached me. He took one look at my leg being trapped by the flaming wood and unsheathed his sabres from his side.

'Don't you dare hit me with that again' I joked weakly as he wedged his thin sword between my foot and the wood, trying to wiggle it out of place.

'I wouldn't think of it' he said not looking at me, but I could still see his worry in the motion of his movements. Then, as if a miracle sent from God himself, the beam shifted and my foot was free, but it was too late, we were seconds from impact. I turned to Chat, gasping, but he just pulled me INTO the cabin onto the remaining seat and wrapped both of us in his long black cloak. He braced himself against the walls of the cabin just before impact.

I jerked against Chat, then slammed against the seat again as the carriage jerked through the front doors of the warehouse and collided with whatever it was inside. I bashed my head against something hard and the world started spinning again. I looked up to see Chat's face close to mine, he was saying something that I could hear, but it was like he was speaking in another language that I couldn't understand. But what I could understand is that he was fully pressed against me, his legs entwined with mine and his arms propped up against the cushion next to my head. This was the most intimate I had ever been with someone before, and by the blush that was spread across Chat Noir's face, I could tell it was a first for him too. Usually I would be screaming right now for him to get the fuck up, but my brain was handling everything ever so slow! I don't even think the shock of the crash has worn in yet. I was still looking up at Chat Noir, he looked a bit panicked now, one of his hands gripped the side of my face, I rolled into it and realised I was looking right into the fire. It was awfully close now wasn't it. I guess that was why I was so warm, well either that or from Chat's cloak that was covering both of us. It was padded with the finest leather that was awfully hard to come by, but was flame retardant, so in our work line, it was worth it. And how do I know about his fire proof cloak? Well I made it. But now was not the time to be thinking about such things, for I do believe that my hair was about to catch on fire. I looked up at Chat again and mumbled something that was meant to be

'We need to move. Fire'

but even my own words sounded foreign to me. He must have got the meaning of it thou, for in moments he had pulled the both of us out of the flaming carriage had wrapped an arm around my waist and was half carrying me half pulling me towards the back exit. My feet stumbled underneath me and I was sure I wouldn't even be able to move without my partner. My head rolled to the side and I saw line upon line of creates all marked with the same Chinese writing, a close crate was open to reveal brightly coloured paper and string, the other was full of fine dark powder. Chat was saying something, and if I concentrated I could make out every second word he was saying. Something about hurry, explosives, view, and fireworks. Ohhhhhhhhhhh. We were in a fireworks factory, and the carriage was still on fire so we had to get out before it blew us all sky high. Now it makes sense why my blond haired partner was looking so panicked and why he would not slow down. I tried to make my feet more controlled but it was like trying to walk with cement block shoes, I stumbled and in the end Chat just scooped my up into his arms and carried me like a maiden in distress, which I guess I was but I wasn't happy about it.

'Just leave me' I muttered to Chat, trying to concentrate with the world still spinning. He looked down at me and grinned, his white teeth flashing in the dark.

'Not without my hat' he said smirking, holding me tighter. Next thing I knew we were outside and running down alley ways and up stairwells, Chat set me down on the roof top of the old library, it had a beautiful view of everything in Paris, on a clear day you could even see the city walls that lined the town.

'Are you feeling better My Lady' Chat asked as I leant against the old chimney. No one has used it in years.

'I can understand you at least' I muttered, taking off Chat's hat and rubbing my head. My leather glove came away wet with something. I stripped it off and rubbed my head again with my bare hand, it was blood. I made a noise of surprise and held my hand up to Chat as if I had just found a pretty object out of the blue and was surprised about it, not that I had just realised that I was bleeding. He quickly knelt down next to me and started looking through my black hair for the cut.

'How did I not realise?' he muttered to himself. I laughed stupidly, just like drunks do at the pub.

'Red and black my friend' I said, pushing him away from me. 'It hides all blood; why do you think I chose these colours in the first place?'

'For luck' Chat said weakly as he tried to look at my head again, I slapped his hands away.

'I will be fine my silly cat' I told him. 'I can look at it myself, and you have already touched me enough for this evening'

'But how do you know where the cut is?' he asked.

'Because it's right here!' I said, pointing at the place that hurt behind my right ear. 'No wait it's – '

'Too late' Chat Noir said smirking as he straddled my legs and turned my head to the side to see my cut. I moaned.

'Get off me' I said weakly, shoving at his chest since it was right in front of my face. 'It's just a small cut, and you don't need to sit on me!'

'How do you know?' he murmured, brushing my hair out of the way with gentle hands.

'I don't' I said softly. Leaning back against the chimney again and closing my eyes.

'My Lady?' Chat said softly, concerned.

'Just closing my eyes' I said softly. 'That way the world doesn't spin as much'

'You really hit your head that hard?'

'You have no idea' I said sadly. There is nothing so embarrassing then have to be saved like this, being carried away while you babble about stupid things. I once had to carry Chat four blocks to our hide out at the time while he repeated over and over that he hated his life, and that seeing me was the best thing in it. Then he had passed out for four hours while I took care of him when I could. When he had woken up the first thing he did was ask me what he said, I lied and told him he said nothing and he looked so relieved that I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. And now here he was, returning the favour.

'You were right' Chat Noir said, interrupting my thoughts, I looked up at him as he holds my head in his hands. 'It was only a small cut; you will be alright'

'You can get off me now' I said shoving him to the side. He slid off me and sat down next to me. We just sat there, looking out at the landscape of Paris, smoke rising from chimneys all over the place, moonlight reflecting off the rivers that cut across the city like a knife, so many lights shining from inside the palace it was the brightest thing around.

'Hay Chat' I said softly, he made a noise of acknowledgment.

'Do you think those men wanted to kill the Countess?'

'They probable wanted to kidnap her' he said turning towards me. 'Then they can demand a ransom, it has happened before'

'When?' I asked looking over at him. He was a lot closer than I thought.

'A long time ago' he said breathlessly. I saw him glance down at my lips quickly, then back up to meet my eye. Oh no.

'I'm still mad at you by the way' I told him suddenly, just as the fireworks warehouse finally exploded. We gasped up at the dull night sky as it was suddenly filled with colour and light!

'Hay Ladybug' Chat said softly.

'What?'

'I think we should move!'

'Why?'

But just then an un-exploded firework fell out of the sky onto the roof by our feet, the fuse was lit.

'Yeah, time to go' I said as we jumped to our feet and leapt off the library rooftop just as the firework exploded. We sprinted across the rooftops of our city dodging sparks and fire where they fell randomly and unexpectedly around us. I could help myself, as I glanced over at my partner in black, his long leather cloak dragging behind him in the wind, the bright purple light behind him illuminating his black vest with his long-sleeved green tunic underneath, shinning off leather gloves that matched his boots and tight pants, I laughed. When I donned my own leather gloves, pants and boots, when I pulled on my own red tunic with black and red striped over-corset, I never thought I would be here, running through a spectacularly beautiful mine field. These rare moments where beauty trumped violence is the reason I put my mask on in the first place, because in the small life I am expected to live, moments like these where terror and adrenalin and bliss course through your veins at the same time was never meant to happen! And that is just something I cannot live without.

Chat Noir's bright green eyes, hidden behind his striking black mask caught my own, and he started to laugh as well.

'Feeling better My Lady?' he called as we easily leapt over a particularly wide gap.

'Always' I replied as we slipped down a water pipe into a side ally with a secret tunnel built into the wall 15ft above the ground. It was our favourite entrance into the catacombs that lay underneath Paris's un-expecting gaze, for it was a slide, straight down with no handles or foot holds, and I have to say, it is wicked fun to use. It took us straight into the middle of a five-way junction with each path leading to a different place in the city, Chat grabbed my hand and dragged me down to the path 3rd from the right. He always was the one to lead the way when we were down here. While I still had the tendency to get lost, he knew the tunnels like the back of his hand, he knew exactly where there were hidden doors in the darkness, or when there was a random hole in the ground with a very deep bottom, it was like he could see in the dark or something. We came to a locked door half hidden by moss that grew from the dripping sealing, I unlocked it with a key I had hidden in my boot. We entered into a wide rectangular room furnished unlike the rest of the endless tunnels, for this room was our hide out. There was dim light streaming in threw a window built into the roof, it was covered in water and I expected right now we are actually underneath the bridge leading to the royal palace. How someone managed to build this is unknown to either of us since it was here when we first arrived, but whoever did build this must of been very wealthy for only the rich could afford glass windows! The walls were left plain white cement but we have nailed pegs into them to hand our weapons and gear off. Chat somehow managed to sneak a table and chairs in here, along with a locked chest that we keep all the money we are paid with when the king or his nobles want some paid protection. Today when we saw the carriage in distress, we had no idea it was a countess inside, and only found out when we heard her screaming 'How dare you, I am the countess visiting the king you mongrels, how dare you!', so sadly, we won't be paid today.

There were three doors in the room, the one we came through and the two doors we use when leaving, one that leads to the royal kitchen bakery that I use to get home without anyone noticing and one that Chat Noir uses to get home un-noticed. I have no idea where Chat's door goes too.

'Well that was exhausting' Chat said as he took off his coat with a moan.

'I always hated carriage rides' I said pulling the knives out of my sleeves and putting them on their rightful place on the wall opposite. 'I never told you that did I?'

'No you did not, and it would probably be more useful if you had of'

I laughed, winding up my whip and hanging it from my whip.

'I'm serious'

I turned to see Chat Noir staring at me, his collar was undone exposing his chest, his vest open and his hat in one hand and his sabres in the other. He looked dead serious. No, I can't deal with this again.

'I'm still mad at you' I said quickly.

'No, don't change the subject again- '

'You hit me!'

'Ladybug!' he groaned stabbing his sword into its holder and dropping it onto the floor. He placed his hat on top of it.

'On the ares! It was mortifying, and from my own partner too!'

'it was an accident' Chat complained turning away with his head in his hands.

'Sure it was, you know perfectly well how to use your sabres and you knew- '

'I didn't know you had moved over there' he said angrily pulling his vest off and throwing it onto the nearby chair.

'Oh bull shit, you know everything in a fight!'

'I'M SORRY OKAY!' Chat exploded stomping over. 'I'm sorry I hit you, I'm sorry I didn't follow your orders and just leave you in that carriage, which I'm just saying in case you're about to yell at me for that next just to stop us from having a different argument that you do not want to have'

We stood in front of each other, him panting hard and me hardly breathing. I am shorter then almost everyone I know so I learnt early on to not be intimidated by height alone, but seeing my partner glare down at me (since he was a head taller), I realised why most of Paris feared him.

'You should have left me' I said softly. He moaned loudly and turned away from me to stomp across the room, yanking off his green tunic on the way and discarding it on his way to the door.

'Because then you wouldn't have all those bruises' I called to him sadly. He stopped in his tracks, the blue marks on his back standing out boldly as they lined his white skin. He reached up and gripped his shoulder where a faint cut was just forming.

'You have to be more careful next time' I told him sadly. 'I hate it when you get hurt because of me!'

'It was either these bruises or your death' he said not turning. 'And I would trade that any day!'

And with that he was gone, back into his world unknown to me until disaster needed us again.

I sighed and unclipped my over corset. It was like nothing else of its time, with most corset's being under thick material dresses they weren't meant to be seen, just made for strength and stability, but quite quickly into my crime fighting days I realised I needed to breath, and such, couldn't wear a corset, or a traditional one at that since I had been wearing a corset for six years now since the age of nine and found not wearing one quite uncomfortable. So I got some thin metal sheets from a friends and moulded them to my waist, sewed them into some thick coarse material and ta-da, I had a stab proof corset that has been VERY helpful over the years, plus, it did wonders to my figure. I folded it up and placed it on a chair I had draped my cloak over before placing my boots next to them, my gloved still had blood on them. I washed them in the bucket that collected the drips of water from the roof, and was just about to dip my head in the bucket to get the blood out of my hair when I heard a polite cough. I turned to see Tikki standing in my doorway, she was hunched over as with her arms full of her medical bag and several towels. Her real name wasn't really Tikki, it was Matilda, but in her early years of working in the palace people started calling her Tilly, but then one day about 35 years ago years ago some ass-hat called her Tikki by mistake and the name stuck. So now in her 59th year of palace service, she is just known as Tikki, the woman who knew the castle better than the king, but there was much more about this mysterious woman then anyone knew, and even me, the closest person to her by far didn't even know her real name wasn't Tikki until three years of knowing her, less alone her real age.

'Marinette' she said worriedly, dumping her bag on the floor and rushing over to me as fast as her old legs would let her.

'How did you get here so fast?' I marvelled.

'Plagg told me'

Oh, Chat Noir's friend who lead him down here like Tikki lead me. The only one that knows to worry about us fighting crime every night, and talk about worry, it was painted all over her face.

'I'm fine' I told her quickly, brushing the damp hair that had gotten tangled in my mask off my face, she made an impatient noise and ripped my mask off, stuffing it into her apron pocket.

'How long has it been bleeding?'

I shrugged, she dragged me over to the closest chair.

'You're lucky you can hide it under your hair' Tikki muttered furiously. Before asking louder 'What was it this time?' as she pulled my hair out of the way.

'Flaming carriage crash'

'Oh yeah?' she said sceptically as she dabbed something that stung into the cut. 'Nothing else?'

'We blew up the fireworks factory on the water's edge'

'I saw' she said stiffly, 'all of the palace saw'

I tried not to smile. Alya will be gossiping about this for a week.

'There is something you should know' Tikki said suddenly after a few minutes' silence. 'The countess you saved today'

'Yeah' I said, not liking her tone at all.

'She came to the city to be wedded to the Prince'

Oh.

My sweet Prince Adrien. I always loved him, even though I always knew he could never be mine, I just couldn't make myself stamp out the dream that Adrien could love me one day, but now it was official that he will never be mine, I couldn't stop my heart from breaking no matter how hard I tried. So Tikki held me as I cried into her apron, whispering soothing things into my ear until I could cry no more. She braded my hair and helped me into my work dress that I kept hidden behind my door while I sat there sniffing, then she helped me up the long dark corridor that exited into the baker's kitchen underneath the small sink in the corner that broke long ago, then she took me to my boardroom that I shared with Alya and laid me to bed. I watched with tired eyes as Tikki snuck out the back door without making a noise, wondering how the old widow knew so much about soothing the heart when she herself never promised her own to anyone.

Hello my friends, it is me, the amazing writter who wrote this written work.

Oh and good job, you made it threw this first chapter, which, in my opinion, is the worst, but i cant rewrite it now since it has some important idea's in it and i am lazy as fuck.

Sorry if you don't like swearing and all, but i do so (SHRUG)

And if you dont know, this is a fanfiction set in the year 1760, 30 years before the french revolution and the queen who was obsessed with cake.

I promise to submit a new chapter every week for i have already finished the whole story since i have WAYYYYYY to much free time.

That is all, good bye, good luck and if you have trouble reading some of the french quotes, google it.

;)