WARNING: THIS FANFIC IS EXTREMELY ANGSTY AND FEELS WILL BE FELT! MENTIONS SUICIDE AND CHARACTER DEATH- PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION! IF YOU ARE TRIGGERED BY DEPRESSIVE SUBJECTS, DO NOT READ THIS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

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"Well…" Marinette smiled and stood up, stretching with a yawn as she finished up. "Chat should be coming by any minute now. Are you excited, Tikki?" Marinette paused for a moment, looking around when she didn't hear a response. "Tikki?"

"Marinette…" Marinette moved around until she found Tikki behind a pillow on the chaise, curled up on herself and trembling.

"Tikki! Oh my gosh, are you okay?! What's wrong?!"

"M-Marinette…" Tikki looked up at her weakly, her eyes wide and full of terror. "It… it happened…"

"What happened?!" Marinette asked, picking the kwami up.

"Chat…" Tikki took a shaky breath. "Something's wrong… don't go…"

"Something's wrong with Chat?!" Marinette asked, gasping. "We have to help him!"

"No… we can't…" Tikki's eyes rolled back and she fainted.

"Don't worry, Tikki." Marinette said, moving to go downstairs. "I'll take you to Master Fu."

It was easy to sneak out of the house without waking her parents, jogging down the street. As she walked past them, the streetlights flickered off and on. Marinette swallowed the fear down her throat as she ran around a corner, only to be pulled into an alley only moments later.

"Let me go!" Marinette exclaimed.

"Are you sure about that purrincess?" A low voice asked sinisterly, and Marinette froze.

"Ch-Chat…?"

"Give the girl a prize." He said in an overly sweet tone. He pulled her back and pinned her to the brick wall, Marinette's head spinning as she looked up and into his cat-like eyes. They looked to be glazed over, his pupils dilated as he smirked at her.

She couldn't move.

She couldn't breathe.

"And what's a princess like you doing out at this hour?" Chat Noir continued in his sweet tone, and Marinette could feel his sharp claws that were awfully close to her throat.

"R-Running an errand." She found herself answering, unaware to look away from his eyes. "A-A-And you?"

His eyes seemed to glow an unearthly glow as he leaned down, close to her face. Marinette's heart was beating irregularly, making it almost impossible for her to breath as he stared her down.

"I'm sick of it." He whispered to her. "I'm sick of getting second place- of being judged for who I am. I'm tired of being your side-kick, and I'm done with chasing after your stupid worthless heart."

"Ch-Chat, what's wrong with you?" Marinette asked, eyes growing wide. "Th-This isn't like you, Adrien! What's going on?! Talk to me!"

A gleam entered his glassy eyes as he chuckled, dragging a claw down her neck. She could feel her blood travel down from the wound.

"Not like me?" He asked. "No, I'm well aware of just how me I'm being right now. No, you're wondering what happened to the model in me." he suddenly jerked his hand and Marinette cried out in pain. "This has always been apart of me, milady. All these thoughts and temptations whispering in my head. It's about time that I let it all out."

"Chat, I-I don't understand! What happened?!"

"I saw truth." He said, hand suddenly clasping around her throat and pinning her to the wall. "I saw the lies that my life is, and I saw the cause, and I'm tired of living like this." He lifted her off of the ground, and Marinette's hands found their way to his, gasping for air. "And when all of the voices in my head agreed with me, I knew that there was only one thing left to do."

Marinette stared with wide eyes into his, vision going hazy as she found herself struggling to breathe.

Those eyes glared at her with such hatred that it made her skin crawl, but the thing that broke he was that, now, she could see the truth behind his words.

She could see how long he had been suffering- could see all of the pain that he held.

And it was her fault.

As his partner, she should have been able to see it far before now- she should have been able to stop this years ago.

And she hated herself for it.

She took a breath, trying to gather enough to speak her next words, her eyes full of tears and her voice emotionless and raspy.

"D-Do it then."

"What? The Miraculous Ladybug isn't going to fight back? How disappointing." He teased. His grip tightened on her neck. Black spots entered Marinette's vision, and her breathing slowed.

"Do it… because, n-not only… do I… deserve…" She took in a shallow, shaky breath, closing her eyes. "But… I… never told you…"

"That… That I love you… you silly… cat…"

Her body fell to the floor with a thud, her head hitting the ground with a sickly crack. She didn't move, her chest still and signifying to him that she was no longer breathing.

As if him no longer being able to hear her heart didn't already tell him that.

Chat Noir could only stare.

And stare.

And stare.

The smirk that he had been wearing before fell, his hand still outstretched in the hold that he had had her in, her words echoing around in his head.

He fell to the dirty ground, his eyes wide as his body shook. He didn't dare look at the lifeless form next to him.

Tears came to his eyes and he let the tears fall, unable to feel them as his mind was clouded in thought.

He…

He had actually killed her.

He looked down at his right hand- the one that he had used to choke her with.

Not only could he not live without her, but…

But he didn't deserve to live.

"I'm sorry." He told the empty alleyway, lifting his hand up to the part of his face that wasn't protected by his suit.

"I'm sorry." He repeated, taking a deep breath, and he closed his eyes.

"Cataclysm."