When Chat Noir arrived at the windows of his large bedroom, he felt very disoriented and exhausted from the fight, more so than usual.

Even after the two heroes finally defeated Lucid and parted to go their separate ways, Chat had been feeling so distressed by the flashbacks in his head. Thoughts of his previous horrifying nightmare still filled his mind, along with an intense wonder and worry of what had happened to him. Was this a one-time spell that the vicious little girl had cast on him, or was this something permanent?

He stepped down from the window sill and into his room, detransforming in a flash of neon green as he did so. His cat-like kwami, Plagg, immediately appeared from his ring miraculous and zipped off, collapsing against the bed in exhaustion. Now Adrien Agreste, he approached the weak kwami and looked down at him in worry.

He could hear his small friend muttering a few words, but he decided not to delve deeper into it, assuming he was simply hungry or complaining about something. Adrien gave Plagg a light pat on the head before walking over to his window-plastered bedroom wall and looking out at the lights of Paris.

Adrien lightly groaned and stretched his arms a bit as they ached. He knew his situation made full sense. He recalled how he had jumped in Ladybug's way to protect her from Lucid's powerful magic, so he should've expected to feel extra sore.

Being a hero has to come with a cost of some kind, he thought to himself.

The longer the blonde boy stood and watched the city, the harder it was for him to keep his eyes open, despite falling asleep during the akuma fight.

His body and mind just too exhausted to try and fight it, Adrien surrendered to the feelings and fell over onto his bed, still fully clothed. His head felt light as the softness of the mattress beneath him made him smile with relaxation.

Adrien let his eyes rest, giving in to the temptation of sleep. He didn't realize at the moment, but that decision was a big mistake.


When Adrien reopened his eyes, he found himself on the cold ground, not sure how and why he was even there. His body ached, and he was left with barely any energy, but he knew somehow that he had to get up. There was definitely something wrong, which he began to realize as he came to his senses.

He wasn't in his room anymore, nor was in his civilian clothes. He noticed how his hands that rested near his head were clad in black, his ring glowing with a bright green paw print. Adrien was transformed into Chat Noir, but he had to memory of ever calling, "Claws out!" to Plagg.

All he could do was lay there against the cold just like in his dream before, slowly coming to his senses while all sounds around him rang in his ears.

Chat Noir lay in front of a desk, and having enough energy to lift his head and look around, he found himself quickly recognizing the surrounding area. He was sitting alone in his classroom at school. How? Why?

He had to push his questions aside.

The floor beneath Chat felt as if it was practically shaking like the entire building was about to collapse. The ringing in his ears silenced just as he noticed the cracks indented into the wood floor, and realized with horror that the entire building was about to collapse.

He could hear the walls and ceiling creaking almost agonizingly as the support beams groaned and cracked in protest, folding in on itself. A chuck of heavy rubble fell near his face and he bolted up, finally taking in the danger of his situation. He had to get out of here now, making sure there were no other civilians as well.

'But wait, where's Ladybug?' he thought with panic, as the roof continued to drop chunks of wood and metal around him.

As Chat Noir raced out of the room to escape the crumbling school, he quickly found the spotted heroine around the corner, and at the sight she ran over to meet him. Her face was filled with urgency and, dare he say it, fear. It was enough to send him on edge.

"Chat Noir! We have to hurry and get out of here, the school's about to cave in on itself!" she exclaimed, rushing over to him and grabbing his wrist to bring him with her. He had so many questions, but he knew better than to ask.

Side by side, the partners dashed through the school's main foyer, their feet thumping against the floor, dodging the many pieces of rubble that continued to rain down on them.

Chat felt his heart sink to his stomach. It was a disaster. He dared to look back at the school's second story, and witnessed in horror the caving in of the roof and pillars as the everything collapsed and formed a large dust cloud.

"Hurry Chat Noir!" Ladybug's shout brought his attention back to the exit. They were so close now! They would make it out!

The sound of whistling made Chat jump, and looking up he saw a gigantic chunk of metal hurtling toward them from above. "Watch out Ladybug!" he shrieked as he pulled her back, the rubble narrowly missing her.

The two of them looked at each other with obvious panic in their eyes. The building surely had less than a minute left before it was gone for good, and Chat didn't even have time to feel upset about it. Thinking quick, he raised his fist into the air and summoned his Cataclysm, his palm getting dyed with inky black powers.

Chat Noir pressed his hand firmly against the steel in their way, and a hole was caved through for him and his lady to escape. He smirked confidently.

"After you my l-"

"WATCH OUT!"

Ladybug's scream rang in his ears as in a few short moments, he felt her hands shoving him out the exit of the school. Chat noir collapsed hard onto the front stairs with exhaustion as the breath was knocked out of him, but when he looked back behind him after a moment, his partner was already gone.

The ladybug heroine had vanished from sight. The only thing that remained from where Chat and the spotted girl stood moments ago was another large chunk of steel, surrounded by many more pieces of rubble, and an ominous splatter of scarlet liquid.

"L-Ladybug," Chat whispered in almost silent terror. A shiver ran through his spine as he stood up and slowly approached the completely collapsed building.

Looking down into the remains, the only thing that was left of his love was her red and black spotted arm laying against the ground, motionless palm facing up, sticking out from under a pile of metal where a blood pool had formed.

"Not... not again," Chat Noir choked as he collapsed to his knees. He felt cool raindrops begin to splash against his forehead and drip down his face. He couldn't have cared less.

"She's d-dead again... and it's all my fault!"

Hot tears building up in his eyes again, Chat Noir lifted his head to the cloudy night sky and let out an agonized scream.


Alarmed by a sudden wave of alertness, Adrien bolted upright from where he had flopped over onto his bed and fallen asleep. The sudden surge of unexpected energy sent him toppling backward and to the floor, and he felt his back slam against the wall. In a span of about 6 seconds, he was wide awake in a mess on the floor, sweat dripping from his forehead and his heart rate going what felt like a mile an hour.

Adrien had to take many moments to calm himself down. Unlike before, he quickly realized this time that he had been dreaming, and focused on slowing his accelerated pulse and drying himself off from the sweat and tear remnants that soaked his face.

What's happening...? he began to think once feeling better. That's the second time that I've had a nightmare about Ladybug dying.

Determining it as his best and only solution, Adrien slowly pulled himself up from his spot on the floor and shuffled over to the end of his soft bed where his fatigued kwami lay in silence. "Plagg?" he whispered.

He wasn't sure if he should expect a response or not, but he received a very weary one. "Y-you're... such an idiot..." Plagg muttered in a hoarse voice.

Adrien's eyes widened. He had never seen his friend so physically drained before, and he felt guilt tug at his stomach. He should have helped him, or fed him, or something! But his mind was too distracted when he got home to focus on the cat kwami.

"I-I'm sorry buddy, you ended up like this because of me."

He scooped Plagg up with two hands and looked down at him with tender green eyes. "Anything I can get you?" he asked. "You want some camembert?"

He weakly nodded.

Shortly after two pieces of the smelly cheese had been gobbled up by Plagg, the golden-haired boy was surprised to find him still not very energized. However, now he had the ability to talk.

Plagg spoke in an abnormally soft tone, "Kid, do you have any idea what's happened to you?"

He shook his head after hesitating for a moment. "N-no. All I know is I was struck with a hefty blast by Lucid, and, well, now I've had a couple nightmares about Ladybug gruesomely dying in front of me," Adrien explained.

He then frowned with dismay. "I'm assuming those are connected?" Plagg solemnly nodded.

The small kwami looked up at Adrien with pained green eyes and revealed to him, "You've been struck with a powerful curse Adrien. It's been given the name Fatal Dreaming, a magic spell that repeatedly causes a person to witness their worst fear every time they sleep. The result is usually either suicide or insanity, but either way it'll kill you if you don't find the cure."

Adrien usually had the ability to find a response to what people told him, but for one of the first times that he could ever remember, Adrien was left completely speechless. His breath caught in his throat and he struggled to process the thought. The result is usually either suicide or insanity.

Every time he slept he would see his worst fear, he would see Ladybug dying.

Ladybug dying, Ladybug dying, over and over and over again. How could he stop it? He didn't want to go insane! What was the cure? What could he do?

What could he do?

What could do?

"Hey, c'mon breathe kid! You still with me? Breathe!"

Plagg's voice was barely audible over Adrien's sporadic thoughts, however the desperation in his tone was enough to bring Adrien back to his senses. He just then realized the uncomfortable tightness in his chest and his lightheadedness.

Breathe! Breathe! Breathe!

The golden haired boy finally managed to sputter a choking gasp that resulted with rough coughing. Geez, I'm screwing myself over already... he thought.

Plagg sighed miserably. "What am I going to do with you?"

After catching his breath, Adrien stared at his kwami with terrified green eyes. "I-I can't do it Plagg... tell me I don't have to sit and watch Ladybug die every time I sleep. Please! Tell me what to do!"

"Why don't you start by shutting up before someone hears you?" Plagg snapped.

Once the boy obediently sat down in silence on his bed, Plagg still cupped in his hands, the kwami continued sadly spelling out to him, "There was another Chat Noir from centuries ago who I also watched go through this mess. Unfortunately, there's some kind of remedy but I don't know what it is, and after witnessing his worst fear too many times he couldn't take it any longer and he ended up killing himself."

Adrien's voice was shaky as he replied, "I-is that what's going t-to happen to me?"

"If you choose to," the cat kwami said with a sigh. "You can either choose to keep yourself from sleeping and become physically and mentally ill, or sleep and have the dreams, and you'll probably go insane."

He was lost for words. Adrien almost couldn't believe what he was hearing, but judging from how Plagg was acting he knew this was the truth. He had a fatal, incurable curse, and soon in the future his condition was going to get much worse.

He collapsed to the floor of his bedroom in a dazed and upset heap, his golden locks getting ruffled. All his could do was quietly beg to Plagg, "I don't want to watch her die over and over. Please... please tell me if there's some way to fix this! I'll do anything!"

Plagg huffed at the sight of the miraculous-wielder as he levitated over his head. "I already told you kid, there's no way to stop it. Just choose if you'd rather stay awake or sleep."

Adrien glared up at his friend, annoyed. "Is that it? Do you even care that I'm going to suffer because of this?!"

"Of course I do!" Plagg retaliated before turning away somberly. "I just... I just hate having to watch another Chat Noir go through this."

As the kwami floated away, Adrien was left alone in the silver moonlight shining through his window. He lowered his head and stifled a quiet sob.

What am I going to do?