AN: As stated earlier, the author has made some intuitive assumptions about the MLB universe based on how it stood at the end of Season Two, and wrote the entirety of the Sweethearts Ball adventure before seeing any information about Season Three. It has since come to their attention that those insights are close to plot lines that will air in Season Three (and, for that matter, consumer goods that are now on sale in Europe).
If you fear that you might ruin your enjoyment of Season Three, the author suggests pausing in Chapter 7 and returning once those episodes are available. (Don't worry, we'll wait.)
Otherwise, you have been warned...
I'm not certain how long I sat next to Marinette.
I was fuming at my failure to protect her, tempered somewhat by my growing fear that I might not be able to save her or my friends and classmates. I was well aware of what Marinette had referred to earlier, and concurred that the lack of appearance of our nemesis was designed to get under my collar. I had to admit, it already had, but I felt like I was ahead of the game by realizing that; the alone time I was experiencing was supposed to get into my head and I was stubbornly determined not to let it throw me off my game.
Whatever that might be, I thought morosely.
I'd be foolish to ignore the effect it was having on me, but working with Ladybug had taught me how to deal with these sorts of curveballs, and in most cases, how to turn them to our advantage. So, given that I apparently had the time, I started working with the old whiteboard of the mind, trying to diagram out where to go from here.
My first priority was to try and smoke out the akuma. Until I knew what I was dealing with, there was no point in trying to come up with a plan to disable it and release everyone from its effects. I had some thoughts about how to do that, which brought a crafty smile to my face for the first time that morning - definitely a plus one for the cat column.
My second priority was to somehow prevent myself from coming under the influence of the akuma; I figured there wasn't much I could do there, other than to lean into the fact that they needed Chat Noir as Chat Noir and not a sugary kitty. I also had to assume they would try to use me to get to Ladybug, and since they had no way to know that they already had her, I could use that to my potential advantage. That added another plus to my column.
My third priority was to change the playing field. I had to assume the ballroom was a home court, conferring its advantage to the akuma and not me. That was going to prove trickier, since short of using Cataclysm, I was just as trapped as everyone else in the ballroom. And the hero in me was also unwilling to leave them at risk, something I also knew the akuma would be counting on. So, if I couldn't change the playing field, maybe there was a way to tilt it more in my favor...?
I scanned the space again, my mind running various options, and was temporarily blinded – again – by one of the annoying party lights.
Ah-hah, I thought, the first tendrils of a plan starting to emerge.
I looked back at the main doors to the ballroom and something else clicked as well, causing me to look back at Marinette (I had to still think it was her beneath all of those empty calories) and smile with that Cheshire grin I reserved only for milady. "Purrfect as always, bugaboo." I looked up at the lights again, murmuring. "As always..."
Grabbing my baton, I rose up to the lighting rig and grabbed onto the latticework holding it, pulling myself on top of it. Making some mental calculations, I pivoted one of the bigger lights to shine on the main entrance, but not before ripping the cover off the control compartment and inelegantly squeezing the life out of the computer-controlled alignment motor. There was something wonderful about hearing the plastic snap and fall to the floor below; I had to have been channeling Plagg and his more aggressive destruction tendencies at that moment.
"'Definitely feeling aggressive tendencies,'" I quietly quoted to myself.
What a geek, I could hear Ladybug saying in my mind.
"I wear it proudly," I replied to the air, as I swung around the first part of the light rigging, smashing each of the LED emitters with my baton as I went, then leapt to the each of the remaining rigs in turn and repeated the process. My anger made short work of it, and I finished by dropping to the side of the main doors to verify I'd aligned the one remaining, functioning spot, where I wanted it.
"Purrfect," I hummed.
Save for that one bright white light, the rest of the room had been plunged into darkness. I dove into a tuck-and-roll and leapt back to the stage area, my now-useful night vision searching for the main control panel for the space. It was hiding behind a small foldable partition, which I tore apart with another growl; I slammed my claws into the metal cover and ripped it away from the wall, exposing the breakers that controlled the normal electrical aspects of the room.
I scanned the settings and with the help of my baton (safety first!) carefully shorted out anything connected to the lights, chandeliers or wall sconces in the room. Then, just for good measure, I took out anything that appeared to be part of the sound system, finally killing off the horrific electronica track that had been getting on my last nerve.
Beautiful silence, I thought.
Stealthily I returned to the side of Marinette. In night-vision mode, it was almost possible to convince myself she was normal. "All right, Princess," I said quietly. "I think I know what to do."
I felt movement from my pocket and jumped, having totally forgotten about TIkki. "You're on the right track, Chat," I heard a muffled voice say approvingly. I decided I was going to need to talk to Ladybug about how much sharing she apparently did with her kwami, possibly in an effort to get some pointers. Aside from conferring on cheese, Plagg hardly ever wanted to chit-chat with me.
"Thanks," I whispered as I snapped open the phone on the baton. It was close to three now; that meant I'd been on ice (or was that icing?) for ninety minutes. I wasn't entirely sure what was in the evildoer's handbook but figured we were possibly reaching the definitive moment when my nemesis finally appeared. I settled back into cat stance and waited patiently for a few swishes of my tail before implementing my plan for Priority One.
"I'm not sure why you are so upset," I said, falling into my butter-would-melt-smoothly Chat voice. "You've obviously heard the rumors about me." I scanned the room again. "And it's all true," I acknowledged, grinning my best don't-you-wish-you-were-me smile. "I have, as they say, a girl in every port."
I stood up, and started to casually swing my tail in one hand. That always seemed to drive villains wild, but in truth it felt vaguely uncomfortable to do. I kept smiling as I started across the dance floor. "Yep, been there," I said, pointing to one female classmate, "done that," I continued by pointing to another. "And that, and that, and that," I said, pointing to more classmates as I rounded the floor and returned to Marinette.
"This one," I said, framing her with both hands, "was just the latest in a long line of conquests for this Catsanova." I smiled and forced a purr as I rubbed my head against her crystalized hair. "Amazing, isn't she? I couldn't believe my luck that fool Adrien had dropped the ball."
Tikki poked me. Oops, bridge too far?
I circled back to my main point. "Anyway, the important thing is that none of these mean anything to me. There is only one woman for this Chat, and it's Ladybug. You can do what you want with Marinette-"
"Liar!" a voice boomed through the space, flattening my ears in the process. "I saw the two of you, with my own eyes!"
There it is, I thought, swallowing back my anxiety to maintain my act. "Appearances can be deceiving," I offered to the air, still twirling the tail and trying not to grimace as I did so, "and I am pretty good at deception." I bowed slightly. "Black cat, after all. It's one of our specialties."
"LIAR!" came the voice again, louder and harsher. "You're all bluster, trying to hide that compassion you so cavalierly show with all of these people – especially Marinette!"
Progress. "I'm flattered that you think so -"
"It's your greatest weakness," the voice continued unabated. "And I am about to use it against you."
He's right about that, I thought, gaining another insight into what was about to happen next. Another plus to the Chat for seeing it.
I turned expectantly to the double doors and was not surprised to see them flung open. "Tikki," I said quietly, "now would be a good time to tell me you can call the Lucky Charm on your own."
"I can," came the muffled voice, "but I can't de-evilize the akuma. Only a fully transformed Miraculous Ladybug holder can do that."
"You're not saying what I think you are saying, are you?" I whispered, eyes still firmly planted on the doorway. A spectral apparition had started to form from waves of sugar that had strangely started flowing in from parts unknown.
"I am," Tikki replied.
"I'm already transformed!" I hissed.
"Yes," she said. "Think of it like aqua or ice mode," she continued. "It'll layer on top of your current abilities."
"Ladybug and I are going to have a long, long discussion when this is over," I sighed.
"Don't worry," she said cheerfully (though muffled). "Plagg and I have done this before."
"Long discussion," I repeated, turning my attention fully to the door.
Something close to Michael had appeared, but he was clearly covered in the same crystal-like substance. It was far more realistic looking, though, and he remained more humanesque than his victims despite the shimmering layers moving as he did; he looked almost as if he weren't really substantive - just swirling bands of colored sugar carefully held together for the moment. I decided to test my theory and retrieved my baton, broke it into catamarangs and deftly threw them at Michael in one swift motion.
The sugar bands simply parted to let them pass through and back again to my waiting hands.
I couldn't help but smile. "Not all there, are you?" I said snarkily as I started to crouch into my battle stance. "Not surprising, really," I added, waving to the crowd. "Fur what it's worth, this amount of sugar could lead to serious health issues, like diabetes. You really ought to have that checked out."
He paused at the doorway, what passed for a scary smile on his face. "You're not that funny, you know."
"I've been told that," I replied, carefully circling away from Marinette as he started toward me, trying to keep what might be a safe distance and knowing full well that those streams of sugar could cross the room in a flash. "You might as well tell me what you're calling yourself, Michael," I sighed loudly. "Hawkmoth's victims always do." I looked up at the ceiling, shrugging with one arm. "It's like a rite of passage now."
Michael smiled again, a very scary prospect. "Not as smart as you think, are you? I'm somewhat surprised – I thought it would be obvious, even to a mangy alley cat like you."
Name calling. Check. "My apologies," I said, continuing to circle the dance floor as he passed along the far axis. He was no longer in the spotlight, but that didn't matter; my night vision wasn't having any trouble following him. "You've kept me up way past my bedtime, so I'm nearly catatonic..." I paused again, smile growing wider. "...Sweetheart."
I was rewarded with a mirthless cackle. "Very good, cat." Sweetheart waved his arms at the space expansively. "Welcome to my Ball."
"Not to put too fine a point on it, but there's no apostrophe in 'Sweethearts,''" I said, putting a clawed finger to my chin. "It's a common grammatical mistake -"
"Grammar is the least of your worries, cat," he interrupted loudly as he thrust his arms back toward me.
I'd expected something like that and shot up to the light rigging I'd carefully positioned myself beneath, but I was almost a split second too late despite my feline reflexes. A massive stream of sugar piled up where I'd been a fraction of a moment earlier, then twisted up and nearly nailed me on the rigging.
I rolled over the edge and used it to fling myself toward the massive chandelier in the center of the room, catching it one handed and looping up to the highest portion. "What?" I said. "No witty response?" I leapt from the chandelier toward the far light rigging. "Chat got your – oof!"
Halfway across the space, a lucky shot nailed me and I crashed to the floor, sputtering sugar. Within a few seconds, I'd become partially buried in the sticky stuff, the weight of which made it nearly impossible to push through. With a loud roar, I managed to spring out from beneath it and onto the wall of the ballroom, using my claws to scrabble sideways and away from the spray.
"You don't even know enough to stay down when you're beaten, cat," Sweetheart said. "Suit yourself."
He trained the sugar firehose on me again, knocking me off the wall and into the buffet table I'd been hovering over. I rolled beneath the table, hearing it groan as the sugar piled up and over it, wondering if it would hold long enough for me to consider my next move – assuming I had one. I carefully lifted the tablecloth on the opposite side of the table, and saw what I was hoping to see.
Next phase, I thought. Here goes nothing.
The stream of sugar subsided. I lifted up the tablecloth and came out, holding my paws in the air. "All right, all right," I said somewhat testily. "I get it, you're going to keep chasing me around this room until you wind up succeeding in burying me," I said, warily keeping an eye on Sweetheart.
"Look, I'm feline reasonable today," I continued, hands still up. "No one else needs to get hurt. Tell me what it's going to take to return all of these people to normal." I made a show of yawning. "Then we can all crawl back into bed and get some rest."
"I don't agree at all, Chat Noir," Sweetheart said darkly. "I think I need to hurt just one more person before we discuss terms." He paused. "Hurt just as badly as I was."
I didn't like the sound of that and held my hand out in a stop motion. "Now, wait just a minute -"
He blasted me up against the wall I'd been keeping to my back, dumping what felt like tons of sugar on me. I tried to move out of the onslaught, but the force of the blast pinned me back until the physical weight of the pile did the same. When the stream subsided for the final time, I was buried up to my neck in the stuff and feeling just a little bit compressed. The sickly sweet smell of sugar was everywhere and made me just a tad nauseated. It had been my ring hand that I'd been trying to wave him off with, and it was now conveniently peeking out from the pile of sugar, exposed from the wrist up.
Whoops, I thought, trying not to smile and instead donning a panicked expression, darting my eyes toward the now very attractive prize on my finger.
Tikki made a movement in my pocket, and though I couldn't get to her, I took it as a sign that she was okay, at least for the moment. "All right," I said, somewhat haltingly as I struggled to breath under the crushing weight of the sugar. "You've gotten my... attention. I'm... all ears."
Sweetheart smiled that terribly cruel smile again, and turned toward the doorway. The spotlight was still on, and it glittered across the red-and-black polka dotted costume of Ladybug, who was standing there with a gigawatt smile. "Come closer, darling," Sweetheart said.
It didn't take any acting on my part for my eyes to snap wide when I saw her. "Lady...bug?" I breathed.
Ladybug moved through the room and came to his side, smiling the entire time; from my position, it was hard to tell exactly, but she looked almost as human as Sweetheart did when the sugar bands weren't vacillating. "My love," I heard her say, with all of the emotion I knew she could use in such a sentence.
"What... did you do... to her!" I growled, making an effort to try and claw my way through the sugar. It was fruitless – there was too much on me to move through sheer physical means.
"Everything that you didn't," he replied coldly. "Respect. Dignity. The love she deserves, not some childish fantasy of desire." Sweetheart ran a finger along Ladybug's cheek, and she snuggled into his movement. "Most of all, a partner who will be there for her." He turned back to me, eyes haunting. "Unlike you, Chat Noir."
"Ladybug!" I cried out. "It's some... kind... of mind... control! Snap out... of it...!"
"You don't exist for her anymore, cat. And soon, you won't exist at all."
He moved toward me, Ladybug close on his heels. "You asked what price I wanted to save all of these students?" Sweetheart expansively waved. "You've paid part of it already, having failed in your mission to protect your classmates." He smiled thinly. "At last, I can't be ignored any longer, shoved in the corner to be forgotten about." He looked back at me. "You needed to know that I did this. Without any help."
"Not... exactly... true," I said, trying for Chat Noir snark despite being unable to breath. "Hawkmoth..."
"All he did was unlock the power I already had within!" he thundered as he stepped closer and bent down to my ring finger.
Wow. Delusional now, too.
"Renounce your Miraculous, and let me show the world the actual weakling hiding beneath that mask who was too afraid to tell Ladybug how he really felt. Once I've exposed you for the fraud you are, then, and only then, will I restore everyone to their normal form."
"Ladybug would never... agree... to..." I rasped. It was getting really difficult to breath. What was it with that this week? Three times now.
"Ah, but she already has," he crowed as he turned back to Ladybug. As he did so, she started to reach up toward her earrings, preparatory toward removing them. "She wants to be with me, Chat Noir, no matter what guise she wears," he smiled smugly.
I doubt that very much, I thought.
"You should thank me, actually," Sweetheart continued, the smug smile getting larger. "She never loved you anyway; she tried to tell you, multiple times. 'My true love is elsewhere,' I think was what she told you."
I tried not to betray my surprise, for that was one tidbit I hadn't expected to come across. Since that particular conversation was seared into my memory, I knew there could be only one source for the information Sweetheart seemed to have come into possession of.
There were but two possibilities.
Father had somehow shared the recordings with Hawkmoth.
Father was Hawkmoth.
I was predisposed to presume the second option was not possible, especially since we'd witnessed Gabriel Agreste become akumatized (and subsequently saved him). But having successfully managed to convince people that I was not Chat Noir proved that a little bit of misdirection could go a long way.
The first option was almost as bad. That would mean, somehow, Father or someone on his team had been or currently was working with Hawkmoth. I supposed there was an outside chance that Hawkmoth had somehow hacked into the IT systems at the mansion, but why he'd be spying on the Agrestes was a bit of a mystery to me.
I'd have to deal with that thorny issue later.
"Okay... okay... damn you..." I said with as much anger as I could muster, which was turning out to be pretty easy, actually. "You... win."
Sweetheart smiled, turned and planted a searing kiss on Ladybug; she reciprocated, and I tried very hard not to vomit on the spot.
"On second thought," he said. "I don't want her!" He turned on his heel and pulverized Ladybug with a massive burst of sugar, her screams echoing in the space as she was blasted out of existence.
It was a suitably rattling experience that I roared in protest, as much as I was able, while trying to pull myself out of the grasp of the pile I was in. When he was finished and had turned around to gloat, I was already hanging my head despondently. I might have even managed to get a tear to roll out of one of my green eyes.
"'You bastard,'" I quoted. "'You've... killed my... dessert!'"
Okay, technically I was paraphrasing. But he didn't need to know that and it sounded pretty good to me given the circumstances.
Sweetheart blinked. "Not the response I was expecting," he said in what was perhaps the first truthful moment between us.
"I'm... full... of... surprises," I said, finally having wriggled the baton into position. "I don't... believe in the... 'no win' scenario. And… now, Tikki...!"
There was a muffled voice and then the room was filled with the red blast of light denoting the arrival of the Lucky Charm. It dropped just in front of me and was exactly what I expected to see: a massive wind machine, similar to what was used on movie sets to simulate hurricanes and other bad weather (save for the neat polka-dot motif). As the massive fan started to whirr, I finally triggered the baton and it smashed its way through the sugar, obliterating the air conditioning thermostat directly behind me in a shower of sparks and shorting the system into action.
Sweetheart stared at me, unable to register what was happening. That was all the time I needed: I shifted the baton slightly against the wall and triggered vault mode, allowing me to push myself out of the pile of sugar in a single burst. I rolled into a tuck and took off for the far side of the room, trailing sugar as it cascaded out of the strangest places of my costume. I heard the mechanics of the air conditioning crank up as I jumped to a wall and scampered vertically around the perimeter of the room, trying to stay a step ahead of the blasts of sugar heading my way. I had a fifty/fifty shot of either getting the lowest temperature or highest after shorting. Immediately I knew I'd gotten frigid as the room precipitously started to quickly drop into the Antarctic zone.
Sweetheart had started to follow me, but as I had also anticipated, the swirling wind coming from the Ladybug wind machine was making it hard for him to stay in form. As he started to turn back to the fan in an attempt to disable it, I came around from behind and lopped off the bottom half of his "body" with an extended baton swing, causing him to drop to the floor.
"Feeling let down?" I asked as I backed away.
I knew it was temporary, and could see him pulling sugar back to reform himself. But it gave me time to determine where the akuma might be hiding.
"Save your questions until the end," I said as I whacked at his raised arm, and it atomized into sugar, blown away by the fan he'd been trying to reach.
Nothing seemed obvious; what would have been in his possession at the time Hawkmoth found him? Twirling the baton, I shortened him again, and as I'd hoped, the simple chemistry of cooling the space was making it harder and harder for him to repair the damage. I thanked the gods backing Chat Noir that I was something of a science nerd.
I bounced around to the front of Sweetheart, whose face writhed in anger as he forcefully tried to pull himself out of the wind tunnel I'd created. That was when I finally saw it: clutched in his hand, two small, now purple, five by three cards. Each person in our class had received two copies of the official invitation, one for us and one for our potential date. He appeared to still have his set and must have been obsessing over them when he'd heard about Chat Noir and Marinette and had been transformed by Hawkmoth.
I extended the baton again, reared back, and swung as hard as I could: "He swings…!"
I connected and unlike the rest of Sweetheart, the cards felt very real. In fact, the baton bent slightly in the effort to dislodge them from his hand, but my feline-enhanced swing came through and they popped out.
"He connects!" I cried as I followed through and sent the cards flying to the far end of the ballroom. "Can they get it before it leaves the field?!" I hollered as I shrunk the baton and bounded into the air, hit the buffet table with both feet, paused only to grab the punch bowl and leapt again, diving to hold the bowl just below the falling cards. They hit what little liquid I'd not spilled carrying it over and stayed put.
Sweetheart was still stuck in front of the fan, and now was seriously pissed. I watched in fascination as he managed to wrestle himself in my direction, albeit slowly, redirecting the billowing clouds of sugar back into restoring him. I had maybe a minute before he'd reach me and potentially be back to full strength.
I looked down at the soggy invitations, considering what to do next. Cataclysm would release the akuma, but I needed Ladybug Magic to clear the room.
"Tikki," I started. "Are you strong enough to move to the next part of my devious plan?"
She unzipped the pocket and fluttered out. "Barely," she said. "I can keep you transformed for a few minutes, but that's it."
"I'll take it," I said.
The kwami smiled and for a moment looked just like Marinette to me. "All you have to say is -"
Despite the situation, I found myself smiling. "I know," I said gently. "Tikki - spots on!"
We'd used our sub-transformations a few times now, so I wasn't unfamiliar with the process of transforming-while-transformed. But this felt very different as Ladybug's familiar red flash enveloped me and washed over my body; when it faded, I was pleasantly surprised that my costume had maintained its fashion sense. I now had stylized red dots tastefully placed here and there, all ringed in white, standing out brilliantly against the black fabric I was used to seeing. I wriggled my ears, saw claws at the end of my fingers and felt my tail was still in place, confirming I'd melded the two Miraculouses into one.
More importantly, I was now also holding the magical yo-yo in my other hand.
Now that's more like it.
I raised my hand, and shouted: "Cataclysm!" The power rushed to my fingers as it always had, and I quickly dragged my spotted claws across the two cards in the punch bowl. They quickly turned brown, then black, and as they dissolved into nothingness the little purple akuma fluttered out and tried to make a break for it.
"Oh no you don't," I said, flipping up the yo-yo and sliding it open to expose the brilliant white light as Ladybug had done a million times before. "Time to de-evilize!" I cried, spinning up the yo-yo and nabbing the little butterfly before it could get away. I'm not sure it was as elegant as Ladybug, but it was my first time in the part, after all. The yo-yo popped shut and the light faded.
I tapped the shell of the yo-yo and it cracked back open, allowing the pure white butterfly to escape. "Bye, bye, butterfly," I murmured as it floated away.
Sweetheart was a few feet from me when the spell broke; a wave of purple energy rolled over him, and returned him back to form as Michael. He was on all fours and looking very nonplussed. "Where am I?" he asked as I kneeled down beside him.
"You're safe," I said. "It's over."
"Chat... Noir?" he said, eyes wide as he took in the subtly different costume. "What happened?"
"One second," I said as I stood back up.
One last thing to do. I tossed the yo-yo in the air and closed out the magic: "Miraculous Ladybug!"
The red swarm of helpers burst out of the sky and swarmed the room. The ballroom was completely reset in preparation for the real Ball that would be taking place later, replete fully decorated tables, dance lights and set of buffet tables waiting for food. All traces of the sugar we'd been slogging through were swept up and disappeared into thin air; even the normal elevator music that played in the background of the space popped back into existence.
As the swarm continued, they swirled around my classmates and magically transported them back to wherever they had been when Sweetheart had nabbed them, hopefully with little to no memory of the experience. That had the added benefit of ensuring they hadn't witnessed my double transformation.
But my eyes immediately went to the stage, and I watched the bugs complete the magic by swirling themselves around Marinette, from her head to her toes. By the time I'd bounded to her side, she was breathing once more and about to miss her step as she came off the stage.
"Whoa-" she said as I caught her. "Chat?" she said, eyeing me closely, and stopping on a stylized dot on my chest. That smile quirked at me. "It worked, didn't it?"
"Yes, milady," I said as I hugged her as close as I could without squeezing the life out of her. "Yes, yes it did."
"So... you do love Marinette..." came a choked voice from behind me.
My eyes popped open and I gently released her, and turned back to Michael who was looking dangerously like he'd take another akuma if asked. I moved toward him.
"No," I lied as best as I could. "What I said on the Ladyblog is true: Ladybug is my partner and soulmate." I inclined my head back toward Marinette. "I obviously know Marinette, and we've become very close friends, but she has someone else in her life, and it's not Chat Noir."
I can't believe I said that.
"Adrien." It was an observation.
"Yes," Marinette said as she stepped off the stage and down to Michael. As only she could do, she placed a compassionate hand on his shoulder and used the other to turn his face up toward hers. "I am in love with Adrien," she said gently, "but that doesn't mean I can't have others in my life." She looked to me. "Just like Chat Noir, I'd be happy to have you as one of my friends." She turned back to him again. "If you'll let me."
The earrings started to beep, and were joined by my ring. I glanced to Marinette with a can-we-wrap-this-up-faster look. She nodded fractionally.
"Look," she said, "there are more people than you know who care about you, Chat and Ladybug included. They never were your enemy," she added, "and neither was I."
He looked at her.
"I'm sorry I hurt you," she continued. "The waters of love can be..." she flicked her eyes to mine for a moment, "...hard to navigate and cruel at times. All I can tell you is, you rebound, and you keep trying." She caressed his face again and I stamped back the green-eyed monster. "There is someone out there for you, Michael. It's just not me."
This time, my ring chirped first, followed by the earrings. I nudged Marinette.
"Can I call your parents for you?" she asked as we all stood back up.
"No," Michael said. "I live close by and can walk." He looked like he was on more solid ground – not entirely healed, exactly, but with that spark of hope we all get when we realize the trail is still in front of us. "Thank you, Marinette," he said, and then he turned to me. "And you, Chat Noir. I'm sorry; I've misjudged you terribly."
"It happens a lot," I said magnanimously, though I was in truth feeling anything but. "Goes with the whole black cat thing. And it proves you can't believe everything you see on the internet," I added with a Chat wink.
I turned back to Marinette. "Might I run you back home, Princess?" I inquired.
"Thank you Chat, yes." She faced Michael one last time. "You're okay now?"
"Better," he said. "See you tonight?"
"Yes," Marinette said. "I think Chat might even allow you a dance with me."
"One," I said shorter than I'd intended, and then tried to soften it by chuckling. I could tell from Marinette's dour expression I'd failed miserably in that attempt. "Princess?" I held my hand meaningfully and she took it; together we moved quickly out of the ballroom and made for the lobby.
Past experience in this space reminded me that there was a supply closet just the side of the reception desk, and I headed in that direction with Marinette in tow. The door was unlocked and I scooted into the space; Marinette followed and pulled the door shut behind us
"Tikki, spots off!" I said, and the red glow enveloped me, restoring my normal Chat Noir outfit. As Tikki floated close by, Marinette reached up and removed each earring, replacing them in their rightful positions on her own ears.
My ring chirped the emergency chirps, and then I felt my own transformation reversing in a glow of green energy. Moments later, a very tired Plagg was huddled with Tikki, and I repeated the move with Marinette, drawing her into a snug embrace and burying my head in her hair.
"That was very uncomfortable for me," I whispered, feeling all of the emotions I'd been holding in check cascading out unabated. "I wasn't sure I could do it without you. And the chance I might lose you forever if I failed..." My voice caught and I swallowed. "I-"
She leaned up and kissed me. "I had faith," she said when she pulled back. "And I have always known you had my back." She kissed me again, helping to push away the crushing agony of despair I'd been feeling. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get a few hours of sleep."
"Of course, milady," I said as I fished some Camembert out of one pocket and handed it Plagg. In an uncharacteristic move, I watched as he split it in half and gave the other portion to Tikki, who grimaced but nonetheless downed the smelly cheese. I raised an eyebrow at Plagg, who steadfastly refused to meet my gaze.
We'll talk about that later, my kwami friend.
I started to hold up my ring when Marinette put a hand on my arm. "You need some rest, too, kitty. I need you to be bright eyed and bushy tailed tonight."
My eyes narrowed, then opened wide. "I'm still going with you? As Chat?"
"A promise is a promise," she said, eyes twinkling.
"Plagg - claws out!" I cried, voice cracking in joy.
AN: That was a very long chapter - sorry! - but I hope it still felt tightly paced. There is a lot to unpack in there and fallout our heroes will have to deal with in the future (oh yes, while this adventure is winding down, more are in the pipeline...).
If you are curious about the movie references Adrien keeps making, sources will be revealed in the next chapter so stay tuned.
