A/N: Hey everyone! I've got a new story here, fresh off the presses. This was actually a request fic from Shiranai Atsune, and as such I'm taking some risks and chances I might not normally write. This is definitely not my normal kind of fic, and as such it's going to be a journey for all of us. Please take a look at my a/n at the bottom of the page for more information about all of this, so I don't take up all the room up here. Without further adieu, I present "Unfortunate."
Night had settled over Paris like a sheet, quiet and smothering. The air was warm and neon lights dressed the streets and skies like jewels. The good and decent folk of the city had long since shut up their houses and closed the blinds. Gay Paris in the daytime was everything the postcards promised, but by night the tides turned and the town became a place where only the bravest souls ventured.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng just so happened to be one of the those brave souls. She was always a brave soul, and Paris at night had long ago stopped worrying her. On this night she had more to worry about than the seedy men and women who walked the streets. She wore a long black jacket and kept her head down as she moved through the streets as fast as she could.
A dark figure leaned in the doorway of a bar and held his palm open to Marinette as she walked by. She ignored him and the few dark butterflies that fluttered above his open hand. Unlike far too many of the others who hurried along the streets with her, she wasn't looking for a fix.
As she moved she only lifted her eyes from the ground to glance quickly at the people around her. She was searching for someone who she hadn't seen in a long time, and had almost given up hope for seeing again. That is until someone had posted in a forum about seeing him. Once upon a time Marinette couldn't imagine a day where she would actively seek him out, but something about this post worried her.
Though it was fair to say that many things worried her lately. Finishing her degree was up there, although maybe not as high as it should be. Saving the world should be a little higher too. But she couldn't help it. She was most worried about Adrien. Nail bittingly worried. Awake for hours worried.
She shook herself of these fears. Today wasn't about Adrien, or college. Today was about Chat Noir. Today was the day she found Chat Noir. Marinette heard the clock chiming an ungodly hour to be awake for, and she pulled her jacket closer around her. She prayed that this information was correct and she wasn't chasing a ghost. Chat Noir had been missing for a few months, seemingly out of the blue. One day he was by her side as a loyal companion, and the next day and the days thereafter he was nowhere to be found. His vanishing act was a sort of catalyst. God help her she was making puns.
Regardless his disappearance had put her in a particularly sticky situation. She had no way of finding him or reaching out to him. She'd tried using her yo-yo, and he never answered. She tried visiting his usual hangouts, and he was never there. This left her as the sole guardian of a city that was already slowly slipping away.
Then there was the small fact that after all these years together Marinette still didn't know his true identity. Of course he didn't know hers. That was just part of the deal. It was safer for them to not know. It was just a question of privacy. It was just a totally foolish move.
She wished she had known. If she knew who he was she could have found him long ago. She would have helped him. She would have suffered any of his awful puns and flirtations. It wasn't until she lost him, until she started to lose the battles with the Akumas, started to lose herself that she realized how pivotal he was to her. There was only so much good luck you could have before you'd run out. That's why she was paired with him all along. Sometimes you just needed a little bit of bad luck.
But with any luck tonight would be the night that she would find him again. The forum post had stated that for the past few nights Chat Noir was sitting alongside the river Seine, right near the Eiffel tower. Of course there was some doubt that it was even him, as his suit seemed to be a few shades lighter.
Marinette had hope it was him. Sitting at such an iconic location was exactly as cheesy a move as her old partner would make. She didn't know why he hadn't searched her out, but then again she hadn't donned the Ladybug getup in a while. It had become futile and crime had seemed to regulate itself.
Since Akumatization had become a simple as walking into the street and buying it off a dealer, the people stopped being victims. The effects also now had a time limit and wore off in a few hours. Whatever mayhem they wrecked became just part of the taxes, and just a part of Paris. As summer drifted away, leaving Chat Noir behind as only a memory and the new semester of college started, Marinette became her alter ego less and less.
The late fall air had a chill that cut down the bone, the leafless trees stretched out into the night like grasping fingers reaching toward the unknown. Her own fingers ached from the cold and the tense way the clutched at her sleeves, the urge to crack them burning into ever joint. Her jaw was set and her teeth clenched tightly as the Seine drew ever nearer.
The Eiffel Tower stood as a silent sentry over the pulsing city, the neon lights flashing against it, a promise of red lights and tight lipped secrets in the foul streets below its watch. The Seine carried on past it, languid and tired as ever, the follies of man an unimportant feature of its eternal life. Marinette laughed bitterly. She should have gotten out of Paris like everyone else.
Alya stayed for a while, but her semester abroad slowly turned into semesters as she studied journalism around the world, chasing new stories as far away from Paris as she could. Nino had decided to study film making and music in England, and aside from the occasional video chat, he didn't even think about Paris. Lila had returned to Italy as soon as she graduated and never looked back. Nathanael was the closest to home as he went to study art in Germany, but the friendship they had developed in high school had ebbed as the years in college separated them. Even Chloe had left to travel the world on her Father's dime.
Only Adrien had stayed in Paris. That was part of why Marinette had stayed too. Of course she had made a promise to herself and Tikki that she would stay and protect the city of lights as Paris' own Lucky Charm, but that was only half of her story. Her parents still ran their bakery and she would break their heart to leave. When Adrien declared where he would be going to school for business, Marinette had followed to study design.
It was understandable to Adrien to stay as well, studying to take over his father's business someday. There was a time when Adrien was set on going to America to study, and that time was some of the worst in Marinette's memory. She knew that she was lucky to afford what she could, and America was well out of the realm of possibility for her. However, Adrien slowly decided that France was the better option for him and had decided to stick around. He showed just a trace of sadness when he declared his college, and the next day Marinette declared it as hers as well.
She shook her head again. Now was not the time to be thinking about him. Now she only needed to focus on Chat Noir and she was nearing the spot that she was told he would be found. The sound of the river was peaceful in the night, even with the distant bass thudding from clubs all around. The night, albeit cold, was still by the river.
In the distance she saw a figure sitting on the banks. Her heart leapt into her throat and blood pounded in her ears. She was nervous and also a little angry. She used to be very angry, but it had since dwindled to being just a little and a lot of hurt. The worry she had about his well being could now finally be filled with the other emotions she felt that promised to spill out of her like a wave.
She never reciprocated his feelings for her, and that seemed to be well understood between them. Yet she found it hard to understand how he, he of all people, could just vanish without so much as a goodbye. He knew how dangerous the city was becoming and the spoke of it endlessly, and yet he simply left, leaving her behind to fight by herself until all the fight had left her.
She wasn't sure it was really Chat Noir, but she still approached the figure cautiously. Chat Noir had always flirted with Marinette and she had hope that she could get some answers out of him as this. If this didn't work she would brave being Ladybug again. If she could find out where he'd been, what as wrong, then there might be a small chance that they could save the city from the darkness the promised to envelope it entirely, even in the daytime.
As she neared, she noticed a set of ears atop the stranger's head. Her heart pounded even harder as a new feeling began to blossom in her chest. Hope. It was a warm and welcome feeling that spread across her. She had not allowed herself to hope that this would truly be Chat Noir, but now it could be. It could also just be someone dressed as him.
"Chat Noir?" She whispered. Of course she was too far out of earshot and the stranger continued to look out across the Seine.
Marinette finally stood far enough away from him that he could hear her. His back was to her, but she was sure it was him. His leather suit tights against the muscles in his back. It was dark, and he sat right below a night cast shadow. But there were ears atop his head, and she just knew it was him. She worked up her nerve and called out to him.
"Chat Noir," she called, a small amount of hope creeping into her voice.
The figure didn't move or react to her. The night rushed into her ears, her words hanging on the air like fog. She could almost see the words drift into the night and away from them. Her heart pounded in her ears and she thought maybe her voice was quieter than she meant.
"Do you remember me?" She called out again, trying to be louder this time.
Once again the figure ignored her calls. Marinette felt the hope that was in her chest start to drop and fade. This was all just some prank thought up by a few costume wearing kids. The real Chat Noir would never ignore the somewhat panicked calls of a young lady. He wouldn't even ignore Chloe.
"Never mind, I guess," she called out sadly. "Sorry to bother you."
She wrung her hands together and pressed her freezing fingers hard against her lips. Heat burned her cheeks, sadness and shame sparking a rouge on her face. She felt that hollow feeling of needed to sob, but it wasn't the time or place, nor could she summon the tears to flow. The center of her chest ached and throbbed.
"I do remember you," came a voice. Marinette whipped around to face him so fast she nearly toppled over. His back was still to her, but that voice. It was Chat Noir without a doubt.
"Is that really you?" She asked, her voice weak.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Who could forget you?" The voice mused. It was the same voice she knew, but it wasn't as playful as she recalled. There was something there she couldn't pinpoint.
"Chat Noir? Where have you been?"
"The beautiful girl with a strange connection to Ladybug," he said. Was it sadness that tinged his voice to deeply?
"Everyone has been worried sick," said Marinette, but he continued to ignore her.
"I often wondered if she was your sister or cousin, as the resemblance is uncanny. But sweet Marinette could never be Miraculous Ladybug."
"Why won't you listen to me?"
"Regardless," he said standing up. Marinette watched, the scene playing out in almost slow motion. He stood and stretched, turning toward her and slowly walking up the bank to her. She felt herself reel back as he reached out a hand to her.
His suit wasn't the iconic Noir it once was. It now gleamed a dazzling white under the lights. Still his voice it wasn't quite right. Was it pain?
"For all your sweetness and beauty, Marinette, I was wrong to pursue Ladybug. She didn't care if I lived or died," he said gazing into her eyes. "I've waited here these nights for her, and she never came. But here you stand, your heart racing, hoping beyond hope it was me."
"She cares," she whispered, her voice washed away by the wind in moments. His white gloved hand reached out and touched her cheek, and she felt a shiver creep up her spine.
"You care. But I have two very important things to tell you. To tell everyone," he said. Was it regret in his voice?
"What is it, Chat Noir?" She said, fear, real and genuine as she had never felt before, filling her heart and spirit.
"The first that I'm not Chat Noir, not anymore. I'm not sure I ever was, but that is in the past. And the second, of which is far more important, particularly for you to hear, my dear," he said and leaned in closer.
Marinette swallowed hard, the smell of leather and citrus mingling from him. She leaned as far back as she could, his hand still against her cheek, his thumb stroking her. In that moment she realized what was in his voice that was so wrong. It was malice.
"The moment I meet Ladybug again, I am going to kill her."
A/N: So the fic requested was one about Miss Fortune and Chat Blanc, and I took a few days to decide how to handle it, and I came up with an idea. It's a bit out of my normal style and I'm taking some chances, but I think it might be a fun story to write.
I'm sure some of you know I'm currently writing my Nathanette fic "Hide Me" at the same time as this. This story is not a Nathanette fic, and while he will have a later importance to the story, he will only be a minor character and this story will be predominantly an Adrien/Marinette story in their various forms. I feel a lot of MariChat possible.
This story is also going to be a lot darker than "Hide Me." It's set in the future a few years, and in a world where Hawk Moth has slowly risen to an underground crime boss as well as a super villain. As such the world has evolved to be a sort of Rapture meets New Vegas landscape in Paris. I think I'll call it my Unfortunate AU.
With all of this information dump out of the way, I hope you'll stick around to see how this story unfolds with me. I guess I should also mention that my fanfic requests are always open, so if you've got something you should shoot me a message and we can work something out!