It was a situation all too familiar—like prey cornered by its predator, Ladybug had found herself at yet another dead end while Chat closed in on her during an Akuma attack. Ladybug couldn't understand why she always ended up like this, but she did know that once again, he was far too close to her for comfort. Chat pushed her against the wall, his hand gripping her shoulder tightly and holding her firmly in in place.

But unlike all those other times, Chat did something that was very much out of the ordinary. With his other hand, he then proceeded to grab her neck. He smirked at the fear that was evident on Ladybug's face. She was shocked—horrified, even, that her enemy was resorting to such techniques.

Then she noticed that his grip on her neck wasn't very tight. In fact, it barely even hurt, and it felt more like he was simply keeping her in place than anything else.

"Give me your miraculous or I'll strangle you," he demanded. His expression was cold yet determined, and a satisfied smirk flitted across his face. If it weren't for the magic of her earrings, Chat would have been able to simply pull her earrings out himself, but they both knew that a miraculous could only be given up willingly by the person who was in possession of it.

Ladybug laughed shakily, trying to suppress the fear that was slowly beginning to overwhelm her. Then she reminded herself to look at the situation rationally rather than give into Chat's obvious fear tactics. After all, she wasn't an idiot. She had known Chat Noir long enough to know that everything he did was just an act. "Go ahead, strangle me. You've never killed before. Might as well start now," she challenged.

Chat tightened his grip a little, still refusing to give up. "You don't think I'll do it? Because I will, unless you give me what I want," he continued threateningly.

"We both know that's not true, kitty-cat," Ladybug responded condescendingly, narrowing her eyes. Her life was on the line but she continued to challenge him, testing his limits. Deep down, however, she knew that he didn't have the guts to kill her. If Chat wanted her dead, he would have done it ages ago.

His grip on her neck continued to grow tighter, but Ladybug didn't fight back. She wasn't gasping for air yet, but any longer and Ladybug knew she would. How long until her survival instincts kicked in?

And then he let go.

Chat's hands finally released her from his hold. He had a sour expression on his face, looking angry at either Ladybug or perhaps even himself.

"Thanks for not killing me. You're such a gentleman," Ladybug smirked, then proceeded to punch him squarely in the face before running away to fight the Akuma.

Marinette was exhausted. After painstakingly defeating the Akuma and avoiding another difficult confrontation with Chat Noir, she had gone to Alya's house to study for her history test tomorrow. They had been studying for a couple of hours, and Marinette had been completely out of it the entire time. She hadn't even realized that it was almost night time, and the last remaining minutes of the evening were quickly slipping away.

"Marinette, are you alright? I know you don't get enough sleep but you look totally worn down. I think that's enough studying for today," Alya said, closing her book and looking at her friend with deep concern. Marinette jumped at the noise.

"Go home, get some rest. You need it."

Marinette got up, feeling physically and mentally miserable. She collected her books and stuffed them carelessly into her bag, hoping she hadn't accidentally hurt Tikki in the process.

"Do you want to wait until my mom comes home? She could drive you, it would be safer. You shouldn't go out alone this late," Alya suggested.

Marinette just chuckled, walking towards the door of Alya's room, her legs aching and her neck still sore from her encounter with Chat Noir. "I'll be fine," she said, promising to text Alya as soon as she got home as she stepped out her friend's house.

The streets were dark and generally empty, except for the few cars that drove past. Marinette knew that walking home alone was reckless. She was a sixteen year old girl, alone on the streets of a big city at night. This was a recipe for disaster.

However, Marinette figured that her home was only two blocks away. She would be able to make it with no problem, and if worst came to worst, she could always transform into Ladybug. Nobody would mess with a super hero, especially one who dealt with the worst of all the criminals on a weekly basis.

Marinette kept walking, and was almost halfway home. She wondered if she was simply imagining the sound of footsteps coming from behind her.

Cautiously, Marinette turned her head to glance behind her. Sure enough, there was a hooded man walking in the same direction as her. He wasn't close, but he wasn't far either.

Marinette's heart began beating faster in fear. She was never even this scared when fighting Chat, but with him there was at least an element of familiarity.

She kept walking, quickening her pace to keep a distance between her and the hooded man. Marinette clutched her bag tightly, opening the pouch with Tikki in it just in case. She had always been cautious about her identity, and decided not to do anything unless the man did something out of the ordinary. Perhaps she was just being paranoid.

She glanced behind her again, and was alarmed to see that the distance between her and the man was closing in. His footsteps became quicker just as her's had, and it was now that Marinette knew that this was not some innocent pedestrian.

Marinette began running, and she panickedly surveyed her surroundings as she did. She was running along a narrow street with a few small shops on either side, but all of them were closed. Even if she screamed, there would be no one around to hear her.

She had used this small street as a shortcut, but now deeply regretted this decision. If she had taken the longer route, Marinette would at least have been at a busier street where her cries for help might have attracted attention.

Marinette tripped on an uneven portion of the road, falling hard and scraping her hands and chin. She lost hold of her bag, which was lying a few feet away as a result of her fall, just barely out of reach.

She needed to get to her bag. She needed to transform now.

But it was too late. The man approached her, and Marinette saw something shiny glinting in his hand. She tried screaming when she realized that it was a knife, but he put his hand on top of her mouth before she could even make a sound.

The man shoved her onto the ground, hovering beside her as he held the knife close to her neck. His hood cast a shadow across his face.

"Shhh beautiful...don't struggle," the man said in his raspy voice, sounding pleased at Marinette's helplessness.

She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, hoping for some sort of miracle. Marinette closed her eyes, never feeling more pathetic and helpless in her entire life. Was this the fate of Paris' most beloved superhero? How could Ladybug let this happen to her?

Suddenly, she heard something—someone? fall from above. A tall male with blond hair, clad in what appeared to be leather shoved the hooded man forcefully against the brick wall.

The hooded man tried crawling away, but the blond grabbed him by the waist and threw him against the ground. This time, the hooded man did not stir. He lay motionless on the street, while Marinette watched the entire scene unfold.

"Is he—?" she managed to ask, her voice hoarse, but the blond answered her without turning around.

"Nope. Just unconscious. Let's just leave this scumbag here until the police arrive, I've already got it covered."

Marinette had never felt so relieved. But something in her tired brain was still panicking even after she had been saved by her blond-haired hero.

Hang on...that voice was familiar. The only source of light was the moon and some distant streetlights, but even then she could make out some peculiar features. Was that...a tail? Cat ears?

The blond turned around, and Marinette's eyes widened with fear. She could have ran away, but he had her bag. And quite frankly, she was too shocked and afraid to move anyway.

Chat Noir had just saved her life.

"Right, anyway, this is yours," he said, holding out her bag for her to retrieve it. Marinette knew that she needed to take it. Her bag had Tikki in it. There was no way she could leave without her.

Marinette didn't move. She was still trying to recover from the fear of the hooded man, but finding Chat Noir in his place did absolutely nothing to calm her nerves. This was simply too much to take in.

"So...are you going to take it or not?" he repeated, looking at her expectantly.

Marinette gathered up the little bit of courage she had left, then inched forward to retrieve her bag from him. Chat made no threatening movements.

"You don't have to be scared of me, Mar—I mean, girl who I've never met before," Chat said with a chuckle. "Considering I just saved your life and everything."

She just blinked at him and continued on her way, wanting nothing more in the world than to be home. Except now, Chat Noir was walking along beside her.

"What are you doing?" she snapped.

"Walking you home, obviously. Can't have anyone else attacking you now can we, Princess?" Chat said this is as if his reasoning was obvious.

"Don't call me that," Marinette retorted. She was trying to hide her disgust at being so helpless a few moments ago to the point where Chat Noir of all people had to swoop in to save her.

"Well, you didn't tell me your name. And considering that I'm your knight in leather armor—" he began, but Marinette cut him off before his ego inflated any further.

"I don't tell criminals my name," she answered curtly. Marinette hated that he kept reminding her of the fact that he had just rescued her, especially since he had considered strangling her earlier today.

Chat Noir thought she was some weak, defenseless young girl. Marinette smirked.

"Oh, so now you're so big and strong, huh?" Marinette mocked. "What about all those times Ladybug has kicked your ass?" She wasn't one to use language, typically, but Marinette still had some lingering anger towards Chat for trying to strangle her earlier today and for just making her life difficult in general.

Chat looked at her with a curious expression on his face. "You know, you're being pretty rude to me even though I literally just saved your life. a simple thank you would have been nice."

"Thanks for committing one measly act of good among your endless list of crimes," she retorted bitterly.

"Not exactly the kind of gratitude I hoped for, but at least it's something," Chat sighed. The were both walking side by side, and Marinette hated every second of it. She knew she was getting closer to home, and was suddenly dreading the idea of Chat Noir knowing where she lived.

Still, he had proven thus far that he had no intention of hurting Marinette. If she were transformed, however, that was another story. If Chat Noir only knew that he was currently escorting Ladybug home...Marinette could only imagine how that would play out.

After a brief, somewhat awkward silence, Chat spoke again. "What were you even doing walking out alone this late? Are you out of your mind?" He looked at her carefully. If Marinette didn't know any better, she would have registered that expression as concern. Except Chat didn't care about anyone. He was incapable of concern.

"None of your business," she answered simply. "And by the way, my house is nearly in sight. You can leave now. Go hide out in a creepy corner or something like you seemed to have been doing earlier."

Chat stopped in his tracks. Marinette suddenly felt afraid again, wondering why he had stopped walking so abruptly. Had she been a little bit too mean? Was he going to attack her now, realizing his mistake of helping someone for the first time in his life?

Chat put both hands on Marinette's shoulders. Every instinct in her body was telling her to run, and his touch brought chills up her spine. She looked up into his glowing green eyes, and was surprised to see that they were not displaying any kind of hatred like she was using to seeing.

He looked at her with a mix of sincerity and desperation, two emotions that Marinette thought Chat Noir was incapable of. "Do you really think I would have just sat by and watched an innocent girl be attacked like that when I could have done something to help?" He inquired, searching her eyes for some sort of response. "Do you really think I'm that cold-hearted and evil?" She just stared back at him blankly, not wanting him to read her emotions.

Marinette merely blinked and didn't answer, turning her head away from him. She defiantly continued walking, leaving Chat behind her. Problem was, he was persistent and quickly caught up to her.

"Look, I get it. I understand why you hate me—I mean, everyone does. But what I do is just between me and Ladybug. I know you probably won't believe me when I say this, but I have reasons for everything. I don't enjoy creating chaos with Akuma attacks. In fact, I don't really have a choice," he continued.

Marinette couldn't believe that Chat Noir 'didn't have a choice.' Everyone had a choice. And was he really trying to defend his actions to her? After all that he had done? She was also amazed at the fact that he seemed so desperate to tell her this. After all, why would Chat Noir care what some random civilian thought of him?

Once again she didn't respond. Marinette figured that he would have left her by now, but he still walked dutifully by her side, giving off the vibe of a protective guardian.

Marinette approached the side entrance to her home, taking out her keys from her bag. She turned to face Chat Noir once more, noticing that her anger towards him had been slowly subsiding throughout the duration of their walk together. She looked at him with a searching expression, still trying to process everything that had just happened.

"Thank you," she finally said, as if in defeat.

He responded with a large grin, as if this is exactly what he wanted to hear. Chat turned around, pulling out his baton to get ready to leave. He glanced back at her, uttering one last phrase.

"Anytime, Princess."