Chapter 21

"It started many years ago, long before I was born, at a college where my mother attended. My mother… she was young but also pretty naïve. She was offered to join a sorority-"

"A what?"

Chat shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. They're some of club or something made up of other girls I guess."

Marinette nodded. "Go on."

"She was offered to join a sorority but she had to complete an initiation."

He paused and began to grimace. "On Halloween night, the other members performed a demonic ritual to 'initiate' her. According to my Dad, they believed that if she was worthy to join them, a demon would appear and give them its blessing."

"Does that actually happen though?"

He shook his head. "Normally when mortals perform rituals like these, demons will terrify those who summoned it so it prevents them from performing anymore. Sometimes… blood is shed to achieve that."

"That's horrible!" she gasped. A thought suddenly flashed into her mind which caused concern to form. "You haven't…?"

Chat shook his head and smiled. "Nope! Don't worry! Everyone in Hell has their own roles to play. I'm a demon who conducts business, as you know already. Usually they aren't summoned through rituals, unless the intent was to sell a soul."

"And this sorority wasn't trying to sell your mother's soul?"

"Nope. They easily could've if they wanted to but they weren't those type of people… I don't think at least."

"Anyways, they were successful in summoning a demon but they got more than they bargained for. They summoned the Devil himself. They summoned… my Dad.

Normally he wouldn't appear, but that night our forces were stretched so thin that he was left with no other option. Obviously he was annoyed, so he made himself visible to the women and threatened to slaughter them all."

"Did he?"

Chat shook his head again. "He was on the verge of it but my Mother stopped him."

"She stopped him?"

"Yup." Chat answered as he nodded. "While all of the other women screamed and ran away, she stood still and refused to back down. She piqued my Father's curiosity and his rage was quelled momentarily. He tried to scare her, and get her to run away like the others, but still stood firm in her position and barked back at him. Normally he would've torn her head from her neck right then and there, but he actually found humour in her attitude towards him. She began laughing too and at that moment, the two began to talk and bond."

"Awe! That's so cute!"

Chat began to chuckle slightly. "Yeah, I guess it was cute."

"The two of them… spent the night with each other." Chat coughed, feeling awkward from the words he said. Marinette felt the same way and urged Chat to skip forward. "Realizing her mistake in the morning, my mother fled. When my father woke up, she was gone. He was left with a broken heart too."

"Aww!"

Chat nodded. "Even though they only knew each other for one night, my Dad got attached quickly. A lot faster than I did with you my lady."

"Like father like son." she commented, rolling her eyes.

"She didn't mean to hurt him, but she panicked. A couple of weeks later, she realized she was pregnant…"

"I see where this is going." Marinette jumped down from the counter and wrapped her arms around her demon friend. "You weren't a mistake Chat, no matter what she said."

The sentiment from Marinette's act really got to Chat. He could feel tears well up in his eyes, but he fought through them and pushed her away. "You have the wrong idea Marinette; she never told me I was a mistake."

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Marinette felt her face heat up from embarrassment. "I'm so so sorry."

"It's all cool princess!" Chat's tail was waving about and he was smiling, which indicated to Marinette that his words were true and that he wasn't trying to spare her feeling. "I mean, it makes sense in context but there's more to the story."

"I'll wait and listen then before responding now."

"She actually raised me much like any mother would raise their child. When I started showing signs of my demonic side, she actually embraced them but only in private. She taught me how to control them and use them in secret. She was a good mother."

Marinette nodded. "It really sounds like she was."

"But then… one fateful Christmas Eve when I was 15, she was an unfortunate victim of a shooting at a mall. She was caught in the crossfire and died."

"Chat…"

"So needless to say, the Christmas holidays take quite a toll on me, both physically and emotionally."

Chat tried to laugh off his pain, but Marinette noticed that his tail wasn't wagging anymore, just remaining dormant on the floor. Even without the tail, the way he spoke felt… broken. She knew he was suffering internally. She leaned in and hugged him again, hoping that the action would help alleviate some of the pain. "I'm sorry you went through all that Chat."

She suddenly felt warm drops of liquid fell on her back, but she didn't mind. She knew exactly where they were coming from and would let her entire outfit get soaked if it meant that Chat would feel better afterwards.

When he was able to, he returned the embrace and finished his story, never letting go of Marinette while he spoke. "I didn't have any other family or anywhere else to go. Child services were going to put me into a foster home until I became an adult but my Father came and got me before they could."

He despised my mother entirely. Any mention of her made him disgusted and I was a reminder of her. Despite that, I was still his son and he wanted to raise me so that's what he did. He raised me as his own and only his own. He tried to make me forget everything my mother taught me, he made me deny my human side and tried raising me as a full-fledged demon. For a while there, I believed that's all I was. I lost my humanity thanks to him and I hated what I had become.

It wasn't until I was left to do my job on my own when everything came out. Up until that point I had been hesitant to my job and let my Father finish it for me. The most I ever did was help the humans get the most out of their deal. But then… that day… it was left up to me completely. I wasn't prepared for it but my father forced me into it. I still remember his words clearly. 'Go, be the demon you were born to be and make me proud.'

I burst into tears and began yelling at him. Part of it was from fear, the other part from frustration. I said some things I shouldn't have but it never fazed him. It wasn't until that I mentioned that I wanted to go see Mom that I got a response. He said to me 'You were a mistake' and stormed off, leaving me alone. Then I just- I just-…"

Chat's breathing became erratic and his body began shaking, his emotions finally getting the better of him. Marinette began patting his back to try and get him to calm down. "Shh, you're not a mistake Chat. I still believe that."

"It just hurt to hear him say that Marinette." He tugged at her clothes tightly, needing something in his hands to hold onto to help him through everything. "So I vowed to prove to him I wasn't a mistake. But then I met you; the only other person I knew who knew I was a demon but didn't treat me like one. You reminded me of my humanity… you reminded me of her. That's why I got so attached to you."

"I see."

"He knows about you too… he knows how you've been treating me. He doesn't trust you at all; he's convinced you'll run away like my Mother did to him. He keeps reminding me that I'm a demon too and that we won't work out at all."

"Not that there's anything to work out." Marinette quickly piped in. "I'd say he's just being an overprotective father but he also sounds like he's abusing you emotionally. I've never met him so I can't exactly say one way or the other."

"At this point, I don't know either…"

All of a sudden, Marinette loosened her grip on the demon and pulled him away. However, she placed both of her hands on his shoulders and looked him deep into his eyes, smiling at him. "There's one thing I do know Chat Noir, and that's you're not a mistake. I'm glad you were born, because if you weren't then we wouldn't be friends!"

"Princess…"

"I have to get back to work on something right now but if you want to talk some more, you know where to find me. I'm always here for you Chat."

Chat wiped away a few tears and smiled. "Thank you princess!"

She rose up and made her way to the bathroom exit. She paused momentarily and looked back at Chat. "One other thing Chat: Despite what I said earlier, if you feel like you were born to be a Magical Girl, I support that. Just save all the energy for the bad guys, got it?"

"Got it!" he beamed as he chuckled.

"Just remember, you were born to be whoever you want to be. Never forget that."

Author's Note: Hey there everyone~
Hope I didn't kill you with Chat's backstory |D
Just wanted to let y'all know that there won't be an update next week. Things for me have been hectic and tiring so I need a week off ^^; Sorry ^^; Holiday craziness and all that XD;;

To make it up to all y'all, I will say that there's going to be a bunch of fluff coming very very soon~ For both Marichat and Adrienette ouo
Hope you all will like what I have in store~

See you all in 2017! ^o^