a/n: I know I'm late again. Thank you all for being such patient and loyal readers uwu


I grit my teeth, arms strained to keep a hold on the akuma. I managed to wind my yoyo around it, pinned to a street lamp. Tremblement de Terre struggled further, his bushy eyebrows pulling together above the cracked gray of his mask as he growled from the exertion. The cement around his boots split and the pole groaned under the stress.

He'll be here. My hand burned from my grip on the wire. I can count on him. He's never let me down before. But I couldn't help the pang of doubt that sprang up, knowing Chat Noir hadn't shown yet because he was busy having tea with his mom. The woman who disappeared years ago. And he didn't think it mattered enough to tell me?

"Tell me," Tremblement de Terre said in arrogance, as if I didn't have him bound. "Where is the cat?"

"Obviously not here," I bit. For now, I'd let the anger boil, and channel it into making sure this akuma didn't hurt anyone.

"Then I will have your Miraculous." He pushed his shoulders forward, to strain against the cord that held him. "And find the cat later."

As if the street became the sea, a great wave rose up, and the ground parted around me. The street lamp's support caved, and Tremblement jumped free. He swept his arm in a motion, and the building behind me roared in reply. The brick snapped, and a mass of the building tumbled down.

I might have made it, had my balance been right. But the sidewalk still trembled under my feet, disorienting me. The dust choked me, and its shadow swallowed me up.

A dark shape flitted past, and I had just enough awareness to catch it from the corner of my eye. It was coming for me. Arms, familiar, caught me up and carried me out of danger. The building crashed forward and spilled into the street, mangling abandoned vehicles. A cloud of dust swelled, a cough wracked me and my eyes stung, but when it passed, I was left curled in his arms.

"That was a close one." Chat Noir peered down at me. "Are you alright?"

I blinked, fuming and weak with relief all at once. "Where have you been?" He set me on my feet, but left a hand cradled around my elbow. "Didn't you realize there was an akuma wrecking the city?!"

"Of course." His acid eyes turned sharp. "I just wanted to make sure she was safe before. . ." His grip on my arm tightened ever so slightly. "I know you're probably mad at me for–"

"Later."

His hand fell away. The street turned deathly quiet, my snap at my partner ringing in my ears. I bit at my lip, regret a bitter thing to taste. My kitty must have had his reasons too keep it from me. I had passed judgment without even giving him a chance to explain.

"Ah," the akuma crooned. "I see the stray finally decided to show up." Through the haze of dust, even in the confines of this narrow street, it was impossible to place him. "That was a mistake, young cat."

I braced myself for the quip Chat would shoot back. Undoubtedly packed with puns. But there was simply silence. I whipped around, only to find the space beside me empty. It was then I caught a flash of black along the rooftops.

The familiar weight of my yoyo helped to ground me. My fingers curled around the shell, as I swung back and whipped it toward the gutter of an obliging home. I found Chat crouched behind a chimney stack, peering down at Tremblement as he crossed the pavement below. I crept close to my partner, and while my hand found a perch on his shoulder, he still refused to look at me.

"Hey." I swallowed at the grit that had found its way into my throat. "I should never have spoken to you like that. You're here now, and that's what matters."

He went rigid under my touch, as if every muscle had tensed. "Ladybug–"

"I'm trying to apologize."

"No, look." He lurched forward to roost on the edge of the roof. "I saw it!"

"Saw what?"

His tail curled at his feet as he stretched out a clawed finger to point at a cluster of brick apartments. "I saw the shadow. Did you see it? I knew it was real!"

"Chat, what are you talking about? What's going on?"

"I don't know. But I need to find out." His voice dropped, along with my heart. "I'm sorry."

"Wait, don't!" I tried to reach out for him, but he evaded me, slipping away like whatever phantom he saw. "I can't do this alone," I shouted.

There was no way to know if he heard my last plea to stay. I simply knew that now he was gone.

Get your head in the game, Ladybug.

"I can rock this," I whispered to myself. "We're just shaking things up a little this time."

The puns were a weak reach for a form of comfort, to grasp what little ghost of my kitten I could. It did little to stir my courage. I was alone.

A hulking shadow swallowed me, cast by the akuma looming behind. I realized too late, and he swung his fist, strength striking me with enough force to send me hurtling from the roof toward the sidewalk below.

The fall was too short, too sudden for me to try and stop it with my yoyo. I landed knees and arms curled in, and my shoulder drove into concrete, sending a shattering jolt through my suit from my toes to my jaw. My ears rang, the pain loud enough to drown my surroundings out for a good few seconds. By then, Tremblement had made his way back to the ground.

A moan battled its way from my chest as I pushed past the pain and unfurled my limbs. "You. . . you can't win, you know."

"You of all people should know how easy it is to crush an insect." As I found my feet, he began a circular motion, as if his hands traced some unseen sphere. It was the most graceful I'd seen him, and yet it didn't seem to be yielding any results. I took it as my chance to close in on him. It was time to pounce.

"Lucky Charm!"

Something fragile in comparison to the brick and stone I faced dropped into my hands. A rose tinted, lidded glass jar. I spun a full circle, desperate to find the other pieces to this puzzle Tiki concocted, though my Ladybug vision didn't seem to be working. I took a step back, away from the akuma. Just as my foot touched down on the ground, I felt something swell around it in response. I looked down, as the pavement swirled around me, devouring me up. Tremblement now moved to stirring the motion with the full length of his arm. There wasn't much use in fighting it, as it remained as resistant as rock.

Cement swallowed me, and I was helpless to stop it. Helpless to figure out how to use the lucky charm even as the stone prison closed over my shoulders. Only my head stayed free of its grip, so I was able to breath, but move little more than my neck. My muscles screamed as I tried to fight the cocoon. But it was no use.

Tremblement de Terre pressed toward me, the cracked surface of his gray suit dusted further with debris. "Look what I've caught." His eyes gleamed and the violet mask appeared, glowing, and cast neon over his face. "A little bug, all alone."

My breathing grew erratic. No amount of panic would break through the cement. A chill made my spine quiver against my concrete prison, knowing he could have buried me alive if he wanted. But it wasn't. He wanted my earrings in easy grasp.

"No." I tried desperately to hope Chat would come back. That he would appear any moment. "You really believe you're going to win this, Hawkmoth?" I spat. "I think we all know who's truly alone. As long as I'm alive, I will never stop fighting you."

Tremblement paused, his silence more frightening than the tantrum I'd braced myself for. Hawkmoth was rarely at a loss for words. Finally, he leveled his chin, the mask still aglow. "Perhaps it's time for this to end."

His hand, tremoring, from fear, or from Hawkmoth's will, reached out to me, to the side of my face. His filthy hand caught me by the ear. I pressed my teeth together, as furious tears slipped over my mask, and left trails behind on my dust covered skin.

And then, the sound of something sharp in the air grew close and closer, and before I had time to process what it was, or where it was coming from, it sliced into the akuma, through his back, and drove him against the pillar of cement. I tilted my head down as far as I could manage, to catch sight of the sun glint off something metal and iridescent, before blood began to pool over the surface, obscuring it from view.

It had hit straight through the man's heart. I held frozen by more than stone, lungs bursting, as the realization that he was no longer breathing filtered in. My hearing dulled, and a part of my brain recognized that I was slipping into shock.

The presence of others brought me out of it. Lights of emergency vehicles and the sound of machinery blurred through my senses. Then there was a voice that spoke to me, asking if I was alright.

I don't care how long it takes. I will find who did this, and I will make them pay.

Tremblement de Terre hadn't been a real name any more than Lady Wifi or the Puppeteer. This man had family and friends. People that loved him. And he had done nothing do deserve Hawkmoth's wrath. To deserve this death.

"Ladybug?" My eyes focused on a young man, perhaps in his mid twenties, in a medic's uniform. The greenness of his eyes sent another shock through me, though it seemed to bring me more awake. "Can you hear me? Everything's alright, we'll have you free soon." Tears pricked at my eyes, maybe from the gentleness in his voice. "Just stay with me."

"No."

He gave me a look of concern. "No?"

My voice was dry, choked by dust. "No." I swallowed. "Everything's not alright."

The machine they used to chip away at the concrete whirred to life again, loud enough that the man couldn't reply. My eyes dropped toward the ground. Others had come to remove the body, and set it in a stretcher, draped with a sheet.

"I'm Nic," the nurse said, as the machine lulled. "I. . . already know your name. Well, what everyone calls you, at least."

The workers broke away the rock restricting my shoulders. Some strength came back to my arms, and I helped a bit, able to break my own left arm free. The hand that still held the unused jar.

"Careful there." Nic put a hand on my shoulder. "Stay still until we get you checked out."

"I'm fine," I said, voice low.

For the first time pain flickered in his eyes. He glanced at the crowd of people around us, then looked back at me, as if I were the only one present. "Hey, Miss. . . Ladybug. You need to promise me something."

"A promise?"

"Promise me," he said, "you won't blame yourself for this."

"GET BACK." The workers, and medics, and officers all snapped to attention, and some more shouts rang out. "IT'S FREE."

Nic whipped around, and I craned my neck to see around him, and caught sight of some dark creature shooting from under the corpse's sheet. The people carrying the stretcher scattered, and police began shoveling out orders. My eyes glazed as I watched the freed akuma stutter in the wind, its wings tattered. It was different than any akuma I'd seen before, gray and dripping some dark magic like pixie dust turned evil. It drifted closer, dropping further and further to the ground, unable to bare the burden of its own weight.

"Nic," I breathed. "Run."

He was the only one that remained unmoved. The one that stayed. He turned back to me and immediately went to clawing at the concrete that still held me back. "I have to get you out."

"No, what you have to do is get out of here. It's coming for us, and I can't get to my yoyo." My hand tightened around it, still held captive by rock. "I won't lose anyone else."

His eyes pinned me better than any stone prison could. For a split moment, the only thing I could see when I looked at him was Chat, was Adrien. "Sorry, Ladybug. I can't do that. I won't leave you."

And then, as I still stood recovering from his statement, he wrenched the glass jar from my hand and whipped to face the akuma, just as it flew right for him. I was helpless to do anything but watch. To watch as Nic ran toward the wicked thing, without super powers, without a miraculous, but simply a breakable jar and far more courage than I could manage in that moment. He swiftly scooped the butterfly out of the air into the glass container, and snapped the lid into place.

In the following stillness, my heart beat so fast it could have jumped out and run a marathon all on its own. "You. . . You did it."

Nic looked unbelieving down at the trapped creature. Already weakened, it bat uselessly at the magical jar. "I did it?"

The place quickly flooded with those that had fled. Soon enough I was freed. Nic was quick to offer me the jar. "Thank you, Nic. You're a hero."

He shrugged, a bit of blush warming his face. "I think we both know who the real hero is. Or really, heroine."

My heart dropped. I didn't deserve the admiration in his eyes, aimed right at me. Nic thought I was a heroine. But I was just a regular girl. I was scared, scared out of my mind, and so clumsy, and I made mistakes. Big ones sometimes. Like today.

I transferred the tattered akuma to the compartment in my yoyo. There had to be a way to fix this. I traced a finger over the surface of glass. Maybe my powers of restoration could do more than mend a few broken buildings and smashed cars. Maybe. . .

I bolted after the stretcher, with my yoyo hooked around my waist and the jar clutched tight under my arm. "Wait."

They slowed their pace, giving me looks that ranged from frightened to skeptical. "Ladybug?"

"I. . . I have to try and fix this." I swallowed back at the tears that crept into my eyes. With a trembling hand, I pulled the sheet back to reveal the body of the former akuma. I hefted the jar in hand, and gave the sky above a pleading look.

Footsteps came behind me, and Nic stilled at my side. "Ladybug? What are you doing?"

I tore my eyes away from the body. "I. . . I don't know if I can keep your promise." I met his painfully green eyes and braced myself like I'd stepped onto a battlefield. "But maybe I don't have to. Maybe I can fix this."

Wide eyes and silent lips surrounded me. Waiting to see what would come. Waiting to see something miraculous. Perhaps even, a miracle.

"MIRACULOUS LADYBUG."

The jar went up, and the swirling of magic ignited in the air. It carried bricks back into place and smoothed the asphalt under our feet. All over Paris, pieces were being put back together. But when the swarm flitted over the corpse, I knew something was very wrong.

A sharp pain squeezed my heart. I cried out, and sank to my knees, uselessly grabbing at the sleeve of Nic's uniform as I went down. Something hot festered in my body, eating me, pulling me apart. The magic swelled around us, the magenta light growing bright to blinding.

And when it died, I had to wonder if I'd ever be able to stand again. Everything was weak, nothing was working. Nic grappled for my arms to pull me to my feet, but I just stumbled forward. "Did it work?" I rasped.

"Ladybug. . ." The paramedic eased my balance again. "You shouldn't have done that. Your. . . your suit."

I looked down at my arms and slowly turned my hands over to take in the dulled red and faded spots. "What. . .?"

"Are you okay?"

The repair that had been done to the street faltered before my very eyes. While it remained improved from the state that Tremblement de Terre had rendered it, it looked worn, scuffed somehow.

"Ladybug!"

I glanced across the police tape and spotted the source of the voice. Alya was there, camera at the ready, probably recording this whole thing gone terribly, terribly wrong. She was here and ready to get all the facts, as usual. All the painful facts.

I managed to give Nic a weary smile, and despite his protests, I parted ways with him. I stepped over the fractured surface of the road, splintered like glass, and drew within a few feet of the young reporter.

"Ladybug, what's going on?" she asked. "What went wrong with your super power? Why is your suit gray?" Her eyes flicked from the screen of her phone to me, worried but sharp with discernment. Alya was never one to sugarcoat things. "And where is Chat Noir?"

In hindsight, perhaps I should have expected it. But that last question was the last thing pressing on me. When it hit me, when it finally registered that he wasn't here, when he should have been, it felt like the weight of the city on my shoulders.

Where were you, Adrien?

"Well? Where did he go? Are you two still partners?"

"O-of course! He just, um, had to. . ."

Even coming up with a lie seemed to daunting a task to handle.

Alya pressed closer, and with her a million prying eyes. "Well?"

"He just had to. . . there was something else he had to do." My voice sounded hollow, even to my own ears. "Something he had to do. . . to protect someone." Someone that he loves.

It was then that my communicator went off. A moment passed before I registered that it was him calling. But who else would it be? I could count those able to reach Ladybug on one hand. It shouldn't have been so hard to wrap my head around it. "H-hello?"

"Are you alone?"

My eyes widened, and I glanced up at Alya. "One moment."

Alya had stopped recording at that point, her phone lowered to her side. She put her hand to the rise of her jeans at her hip and gave me a look heated to a glower. "I'll let you two work this out. But whatever is going on, I hope it was worth all this." There was a chill to her words to balance her expression. It was only then I remembered she had perfect cause to hate me. In her eyes, I hurt her friend. Had hurt me. "Until next time, Ladybug."

Shaken and dizzy, I tossed my yoyo, unable to face her a moment more. My takeoff was slurred, my landing a stumble. Whatever was going on, whatever magical explanation there was for this drain on my miraculous, I knew one thing. This was not good.

"Bug?"

I lifted my communicator to face Chat Noir, feeling short of breath even as I went on to reply. "Okay. I'm listening."

"Was that Alya I heard? What did she mean–"

"Just tell me what you found." I bit down, to stop myself from doing any further damage. I didn't want to yell at him. I didn't want to fight. I didn't have it in me to.

He blinked, quiet for a beat before he moved on. "I followed the shadow for blocks before I lost sight of it."

"Did you figure out what it was?" My mind went to the mystery murderer. I hadn't been able to shake this drive to track them down. "Or who it was?"

"It wouldn't let me get close enough to get a good look. I think they knew I was following. . . But Mari." His voice grew softer. "I followed it all the way to my house."

"What?" I lost my footing trying to cross rooftops, and barely managed to catch myself from a two story drop. "Where are you? Are you safe?"

"On my roof." He glanced around. "I'm scared to transform. What if it's still watching?"

My earrings chirped, with only two spots remaining. I was just a couple streets from my parent's bakery now, and Adrien's house wasn't much farther. "Give me a couple minutes." But a couple minutes was all that I had. "I'm on my way, but I need to stop and recharge my batteries. Call my cell if you need anything before then. Okay?"

He gave a short nod. "Okay." Then his eyes narrowed, ever so slightly. "There hasn't been an earthquake in a while. Did you take care of the akuma, then?"

"It's. . . been taken care of."

A gentle smile overtook his face, his voice sugared with admiration I didn't deserve. "I knew you could."

"Gotta go." I knew it was rude to hang up on him the way I did, but I was wrestling with fresh tears that I didn't want him to see. To see how angry I was. Why did everyone have so much faith in me? In Ladybug? Maybe after today, that would change. Everyone would see how big of a disaster, how terrible a savior I really was.

My miraculous blipped with a hasty warning. I was still a block away and didn't have much more Ladybug to give. Every lurch over the rooftops felt like skydiving without a parachute. The exertion made my body ache, as if it was all I could do to keep from letting the dizziness take over and the buzz in my bones drive my shaking hands to slip up and go splat.

"Stay with me, Tiki," I begged, breathless as I ran along the eaves of a row of shops.

The bakery was never a more welcome sight. I dropped through the hatch to my bedroom and went straight to my wardrobe. Without ceremony, I yanked my sock drawer open, and pawed around for the ziploc of emergency cookies stashed near the back.

My transformation rolled away, leaving me to bare the full brunt of my injuries from the fight. Normally my powers did well at repairing any damage, but this battle had been anything but normal. Tiki withered into the palm of my hand, her bright eyes shut tight against the ache she must be baring for herself. I bit my lip at the dulled red and grayed spots she bore. Just like my suit.

"Oh, Tiki. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, M-marinette. S'not your fault. . ." Her drained form quivered in my hands, and she let out the daintiest of coughs. "I need. . ."

"I'll get you whatever you need, I swear. But Chat needs us first." I tugged the bag open and offered her a chocolate chip treat. "Here. Hopefully this will get you started."

"Marinette?" My Mama's voice carried from the kitchen. "Is that you up there?"

I closed my eyes, almost willing myself invisible, as if I could pretend I wasn't in fact here. Whatever it was she wanted, no matter how well she meant, was something I didn't have the time or energy for. Finally I willed myself to inch toward the trapdoor that led to the floor below. "Yes, Mama?"

"Come help me with supper," she called.

I groaned, and felt the bite in my side as I bent to swing the door open and shuffled down the stairway. The curtain was drawn back to let the sunlight in, and it warmed the room as much as the goodies baking in the oven. Something scrumptious simmered on the stovetop, with steam willowing from the covered pan. Mama had her back to me, her attention on the dough she folded along the countertop.

"I'm making your favorite! Dumplings." She brushed at the hair that had fallen in her face. "I didn't see you come in, hon."

"Oh. . . well I guess you must have missed me. I just got back."

The moment she turned I felt the whole of time slow. Her bubbly smile shattered when her eyes landed on me. ". . . Marinette?"

What a sight I must have been. I didn't need a mirror to tell my hair was mangled and full of cement dust, and my face covered in sweat and grime. "Mama, I–"

She lurched forward her arms around me in an instant. Her tight grip on me made me wince, but my own arms clutched tighter to her, because bruises or not, I would pay the price for a hug. "It was the akuma attack, wasn't it?"

"Yes, Mama."

Her nose buried into my shoulder as she gave me another squeeze. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

"I just. . . got caught in the middle. But I'm safe now."

She cupped my face with her hands, still covered in flour. "You shouldn't have gone anywhere near them. It's dangerous. Look at me, Marinette." Mama's eyes were furious but watery and I knew she was only scared for me. "I know having a super hero around to protect you might make you feel invincible–"

"Mama, please. I'm OK."

"I know." She held me tight again, as if afraid to let go. "But they may not always be able to look after you, dear. And it doesn't matter if you're close to them, you can still get hurt. All the more reason for you to stay far, far away from any akuma."

"C-close?"

"Alya told me you've been seeing him."

"WHAT?"

"Your Papa and I are worried, hon."

"Wait, what?"

"The footage that just went on the Ladyblog, when Ladybug said Chat Noir left to protect someone, she meant you, didn't she? Did he. . . ask you to keep it from us?" Mama squeezed my hands. "How long did you think you could hide from us, mon chou?"

A text alert chimed from my back pocket. Chat Noir's timing certainly reflected his association with bad luck. Mama must have seen it in my eyes.

"Is that him?"

"Mama, please."

"I'm worried about you. Have you heard what they're saying about him in the news?"

"It doesn't matter." I pulled away, in spite of her death grip on my wrist. And when I opened the unread message, I paled. It wasn't from Chat Noir, or Adrien. "I have to go."

"Marinette, don't, if it's dangerous, please stay–"

"I'll be fine. I'll be safe," I promised. "You don't need to understand, you just have to trust me."

As I retreated up to my bedroom, I glanced down at the screen of my phone.

[Master Fu: It is time the three of us met for tea.]

However casual, however pleasant it might have sounded, I knew better. This was urgent. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.


Wind chimes and steam curled and shimmered in the sunlit bamboo parlor. Chat Noir mirrored my posture with crossed legs neatly and a chin up stance as we faced opposite Master Fu. His wrinkled hands gently poured hot liquid from an ancient tea pot, scrolled with dragons and flecked with gold. Wayzz hovered anxiously at his shoulder, not daring to break the silence but obviously dying to share his many, many worries with his old companion.

"We have lost a great battle today." At this, the man gave both of us a look that whispered of despair. It nearly broke down the wall I erected to keep everything in, to keep strong. But my eyes were dry. I'd cried all I could, and now there was only numbness. I hung my head as he went on. "And do not mistake me, for I don't mean an escaped shadow, or Hawkmoth's latest pawn, tragedy though it is." I felt Chat's eyes fall heavy on me, but I couldn't bring myself to meet his gaze. If I did, then I'd surely shatter. "You have each failed one another, in some way, I think," Master Fu said, his words steeped in wisdom. "You gave up that which makes you strongest."

"What's wrong with me?" I whispered, voice hoarse, roughed from a treatment of dust and raw from my crying. "Why didn't my powers work? And why is Tiki sick, and my suit. . . it's gray?"

"Indeed, Ladybug."

Chat's gloved hand fluttered to my knee. "Will she be okay?"

Master Fu was silent as he poured a third cup, one for himself. "You attempted to revive the man overcome by the akuma, after his life was taken from him?"

My hands shook, and to stop them I anchored them to my knees, only to find that my partner's grip still remained. Our hands knocked together in a clumsy way, but slowly, our fingers wound together. "I tried. . . but I. I couldn't."

He stroked at the silver on his chin. "In doing so you used a great amount of the Ladybug miraculous' energy. And in being separated from Chat Noir and his miraculous, your power was tipped out of balance."

"And I do believe," Wayzz interjected, "that this was caused only in part by your physical distance. The souls of these two miraculous are miraculously tied together, and emotional distance can be dangerous, even crippling, in this case, resulting in a very dreadful–"

"Wayzz, my old friend." Master Fu set the tea pot down, his mouth a thin line. "Let us not overwhelm our guests. They have both had a difficult day."

"Apologies, Master." Wayzz bowed his little green head. "Forgive me, Ladybug, Chat Noir."

Weathered hands offered out the tea cups, and the warmth and scent seemed to help with the numbness and the trembling I couldn't seem to shake. "Perhaps this will help us to begin mending things. I hope you like tea. This brew," he said, a bit of twinkle in his wrinkled eyes, "is one of my own concoctions. I call it, the tea of unity."

The fragile cups clattered in our hands as we took our first, polite sips. Chat Noir took a deep sniff of the amber liquid. "Xièxiè, thank you, Master Fu." After another long drink, he lowered it to the bamboo mat between us. "So. . . this happened because we were distance to each other?"

"It is hardly a coincidence that your powers have strengthened since you shared the knowledge of your identities with one another," he replied. "Your relationship has brought Ladybug and Chat Noir closer together, in more beautiful harmony."

The room fell quiet once more, incense whispering along the walls, and the midday sun creeping through the screened windows. It would have been peaceful, if not for the war ripping at my insides. The warm, golden drink slipped past my tongue and warmed in my belly, but I still felt sick from ghosts of memories, of nightmares from earlier. I felt far from any semblance of harmony, beautiful or not.

My grip tightened dangerously on the glazed porcelain, so fragile. It would be easy to break. "Why. . . why did you leave me?" The words barely escaped my trembling lips, but if Chat Noir's hearing still worked, if we weren't too "emotionally distanced" for his super ears to function, than he had heard me just fine. But he didn't answer. Or say anything. I whipped to face him, feeling like a storm roiling beneath the suit. Our tranquil surroundings did little to placate me, instead riding me with guilt because I was not in control. I was burning. "Well? Don't just sit there." He watched me, green eyes truly like acid. "Say something, stupid cat." I clapped my hands over my mouth, filled with instant regret at the sharp words that had clawed their way out.

Wayzz zipped out of view, as if startled, or too horrified to watch.

No, no, no. "I. I'm sorry, I didn't. . . I'm not. . ." Just like any storm, I could not hold back my tears. They came again, fresh and biting as the last bout.

Master Fu was surprisingly calm. He didn't seem angry at my outburst. In fact, I saw a glisten in his own eyes before my sight blurred. "Forgive me. I should have allowed you both privacy before we discussed these matters." He retrieved his cane from the floor at his side, and slowly rose to his feet. "Take all the time you need." As he made his way beyond the barrier of Chinese screens, Wayzz came out of his hiding spot from an antique table and was quick to make an exit.

Chat Noir was unmoving, until he abruptly pushed his tea aside, enough that some sloshed from the cup into its saucer. He rose to a crouch, inching closer. Hands, gentle in spite of their strength cupped my face. His eyes burned into mine, and while I was quick to assume it was anger directed at me, he quickly showed me what he truly felt. "I shoulder never have left you."

I found myself lost between a need to run and a need for him to hold me. In the end, my hands grappled for him, desperate to prove that he was here and safe. What mattered more than anything, was that he was here now. My fingers brushed at his sensitive ears, and combed through his wild hair.

"Mari?" he whispered. "Tell me about the fight." His words were gentle, almost pleading. It broke me more than some bruising ever could. The truth was so painful, but I couldn't lie. Not to him. Tears poured over my face, as I sat, desperate to gather the strength to speak.

The story spilled out between terrible sobs, and I was so sick with the ache inside that I couldn't care less what I looked like, how afraid I sounded. My partner pulled me into his arms and just held me. I cried until my eyes grew swollen and sensitive to the light.

His claws brushed through my tangled pigtail before his arms wound tighter around me, to press close. "You're going to be okay, bugaboo."

I clung to his promise as tightly as I did him. It's going to be okay. We're going to be okay.

He startled back, hands tracing my sides and pupils blown wide. "Mari, look."

We both watched in awed silence as my suit glimmered, scarlet growing brighter and brighter. I offered a watery smile, my eyes red and nose blotchy. It was more than that. I felt strength flutter through my bones, like a thousand little ladybug dancing.

"Looks like Master Fu's tea really does work," my kitty mused.

I beamed at him, my fingers hungry to touch him, to prove once more that he was really here. While I may have doubted I ever could again, I giggled, and it felt like the sun coming out. "It's tearrific."