~Prelude~

"Get out of here! We don't want you!"

"You're useless to us!"

"Go back to where you came from!"

"Get out of Paris!"

"We only want one of you! Just give up!"

"You disgust me, Ladybug!"

"Go die, Chat Noir!"

"Give up your miraculouses!"

"You're nothing to us now!"

Ladybug inhaled shaky breaths, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. It would have made hearing these things easier if they were akumatized while saying them, but she knew that wasn't the case.

Paris simply hated her and Chat Noir now.

"Chat," she whimpered, turning to him. he was blinking rapidly, as if trying to hold his own tears in.

"My Lady," he rasped in reply, sniffling.

"One of us has to -"

"No!" He growled, not letting her finish.

The two were on top of Mayor Bourgeois' hotel, an angry mob of Parisian's protesting at the base.

Chat pulled his lady into a bone crushing hug with a desperation that rivalled no other. "Please, I can't - I can't lose you. Paris needs us. Both of us. Even if they don't realise it right now." He swallowed the lump forming painfully in his throat and glanced down at the hoard.

Signs with the heroes' faces crossed out in red sharpie, offensive slogans and threats plastered on white cardboard, numerous fires with Ladybug and Chat Noir memorabilia slowly burning - it was an all out protest of over a thousand Parisians, the troop spanning across the road and around the building.

News vans and helicopters stood by, cameras faced at them as they hugged, and the foreboding grey clouds that hung dark over their embracing figures flashed with lightening from a storm that had yet to begin.

Thunder rumbled the hotel and city street, providing an unpleasantly matching mood to the already dark day.

"You know it's the only way." The spotted heroine protested weakly, equally as unwilling to quit as her black-clad partner. But it was true. It was the only way. And they both knew that.

"Ladybug-" Chat's voice cracked with emotion as the tears he'd valiantly been tying to hold back broke the dam and streaked soundlessly down his distressed face. Ladybug's followed and together the two cried in each other's arms as they prepared to say their final goodbye's to one another.

The raucous shouts of the protesting citizens below increased in sound as the lightening flashed again, the first fat raindrops splashing down onto the cracked pavement, an incessant splat sound echoing dejectedly into the frigid air.

"My Lady," Chat tried again, sniffling once more and looking straight into his partner's eyes. Her own widened at the emotion clearly displayed in his. Her Chat was usually so flamboyant, flirty and energetic. His eyes usually gleamed with an unpronounced vigour and mischief. This Chat's eyes only held lost hope and a sadness no one his age should ever experience. It shattered her already broken heart.

"I need you to know - these last three years have been... everything to me." He breathed, sobbing into the now pouring rain as it mercilessly washed away every hopeless dream he'd had of a future with his lady.

"Chat," she attempted to respond, before being cut off again.

"No, please Ladybug - I need to tell you." He pleaded, emerald eyes brimming with new stinging tears. She closed her eyes and nodded, hiccuping a sob as her kitty laid himself bare to her.

"I love you, my Lady. I will always love you. Whether I'm no longer Chat, whether you're no longer Ladybug. You'll still always be my everything." He sobbed, closing his eyes and preparing for her imminent rejection. Ladybug gasped.

She had long since given up her crush on Adrien, the two were eighteen now and he still haden't even noticed her. It was at this moment she realised, in the centre of the storm, the heat of the riot, who her heart truly belonged to.

"I love you too." She whispered back. Chat's eyes flew open and his mouth opened in shock, unprepared for her to smash her lips into his own, and froze as she did just that.

Her mouth pressed unmoving against his own for an unmeasurable amount of time before he realised what was happening and kissed her back. Lightening streaked and thunder rumbled, rain gushed down from the hateful sky, and the remaining protesters who hadn't scattered at the storm screamed bloody murder at the masked teenagers.

And Chat was kissing his Lady.

It was as sweet as it was heartbreaking. She tasted like cookies and cream and her lips were soft as the warmth she naturally emanated. It was everything he'd ever wanted and more. And it was all he was ever going to get.

Like giving candy to a baby only to immediately take it away, Chat felt physically sick as she retracted herself from the kiss. He'd had a glimpse of what he could have. A taste of what could be. It it was being violently ripped away from him and he didn't have the chance to stop it.

"I'll miss you so much," she panted, tears streaming down her face, aided by the droplets pouring from the clouds. "Ladybug, please. We can change their minds. I- I need you." He sobbed desperately, anything to convince the love of his life to stay.

"I'm sorry, Chat. It's the only way." She breathed, backing away, sobbing herself as she watched her funloving partner fall to his knees and break down in front of her. His screams echoed throughout the storm and the Parisians below held their breath as Ladybug jumped down from the building.

Chat remained up the top and cried agonisingly, knowing he should get up, follow her, but the pain in his heart held him down. Physically draining, the tears that pooled around his hunched figure mocked him. Ladybug.

At the bottom of the hotel, the booing crowd surged around Ladybug, demanding she transform and give up her Miraculous. She inhaled a deep shaky breath as she sniffled once more.

With a deep exhale, she felt one final tear trail down her mask, sealing her fate. The Parisian's had a chosen this. It was their decision. They were to blame.

"Tikki. Spots off."

Hey! What's happenin? I introduce to you my new (and technically only, on this site anyway) story! I'm so happy to finally be publishing it, I have big plans for this one. I hope to update often, though work and school may get in the way of that occasionally. A quick sort of disclaimer though, this chapter does not occur before the events of the actual story, and is led up to. It should happen around chapter 26 I'd venture. I hope you look out for the updates and please remember, I love ya bubs .