Oopsie daisy. I really didn't mean to make you guys wait over two weeks for an update. If you keep up with my blog then you know exactly what happened last week. And this week, I've been having a few technical problems with my laptop and the software on it, which prevented me from finishing this chapter for Monday like I had originally planned. Oy vey. But luckily, despite being tired, being ill, and the temperature of my house being below freezing, I finally managed to get it done. Thank you so much for being patient with me, and thank you for all of your awesome reviews! They always really help me out!

Chapter 26: A Big Mess

Marinette gasped as her eyes shot open, causing her to be instantly blinded by the sun shining brightly in her face. She quickly shut her eyes again and groaned, bringing her hands up to cover her face. Her whole body was covered in a layer of sweat as the sun began to bake her inside her blankets. It was too hot. It was way too hot. She was burning again!

Yelping in panic, Marinette suddenly sat bolt upright, desperate to try and get away from the intense heat and away from the fire. However, Marinette didn't manage to sit up very far when her forehead instantly, and painfully, collided with something hard.

"GAH!"

"OUCH!" another familiar voice cried out as Marinette allowed her head to fall back against the pillow, rubbing her now sore forehead with her fingers.

"Chat?" Marinette questioned, worried and confused as she brought her hand away from her forehead so that she could try and see what was going on.

She felt completely disorientated, but it wasn't long before her eyes rested on Chat Noir sat at the other end of her bed. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut, and he was still groaning to himself as he nursed his head by rubbing it like Marinette had been doing. He was hunched over in the tight space, and Marinette looked around the rest of her room, confused as to what was going on. Her dream, her nightmare, her memory blurred her reality, and she had no idea what she was doing, what time it was, or even what day it was.

Her heart continued to pound in her chest as she tried to force herself to sit upright once again, much more slowly this time just in case she accidentally headbutted Chat Noir again. At the thought of Chat, memories from the previous night finally came back to her. He had been so kind to her, he had taken her to watch the sun set from the top of the Eiffel Tower. It contrasted so much with the Chat Noir she had grown to hate over the years. He really was acting like his old self lately.

Her dream only served to reinforce the fact that something had gone terribly wrong somewhere with Chat Noir. She knew for a while that he had been acting strange. If only she had done something about it. She could have saved them from all of this. However, she couldn't focus on that fact until she knew for sure. Chat Noir seemed more comfortable and normal around her than he ever had before. Last night was like she had stepped directly back into the past. She thought it would have her running scared. That it would repulse her. But it didn't.

Instead it felt…nice.

It reminded Marinette that she could be happy and that she could have fun. Chat Noir seemed to be bringing her out of the shell she had long been hiding inside. Ironically, Chat Noir had been one of the main causes of her breakdown, but now, he also seemed to be the cure.

Normally, Marinette would have awoken screaming from such a dream. She hated it when she closed her eyes and her brain sent her back to what happened before…to what happened that night. It mocked and tortured her. Marinette could never escape from it. Every morning she would wake up terrified, feeling the fear she had felt that night. And while she still did experience all of those things, Marinette almost felt like she could face it. That she could stare that fear in the face and ride it out.

These past few weeks, she had been feeling much worse than normal, but now, it was like Marinette could almost see a light at the end of the tunnel. And all of this had happened since Chat Noir had come back into her life…

Shocked and still slightly confused, Marinette once again turned back to gaze at Chat Noir who was still busy groaning in pain, completely oblivious to the strange realisation that Marinette had just had. A split second had past, yet Marinette had realised so much. She didn't quite understand what was going on, but at the moment she was just elated to be awake and away from those dreadful memories. That's all they were: memories. They didn't have to define her. She didn't have to re-live them day by day and let them control her. She would have to face them. Especially on today of all days.

Without thinking, Marinette launched herself forward and wrapped her arms around Chat Noir as tightly as she could. He stumbled back slightly in surprise before he slowly wrapped his arms around her in return. Pressing her ear against his heart, Marinette squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as possible, just focusing on that one soothing sound to remind her that she was in the here and now. She wasn't back there. She was in the present, and she knew so much more now than she did before. She knew there was more to Chat Noir's actions than met the eye. She was grateful that he had woken her up and rescued her. She would figure things out. Then she could hopefully get on with her life.

"Of all the strange greetings I've ever had, yours is definitely the weirdest." Chat Noir chuckled as Marinette quickly pulled away in slight embarrassment. "First you assault me, then you hug me out of nowhere. I must say I'm getting very mixed messages here, princess."

Her cheeks turned pink and she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "S-sorry…I…I was having…"

Chat Noir's expression softened as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, sending a pleasant electrical tingle down her spine. Marinette forced herself to repress a shudder, but she still couldn't help leaning into his touch slightly, enjoying the feelings of warmth it brought her. She had pushed people away for too long that she had almost forgotten what a comforting touch felt like, not paying attention when people did offer it to her, her body completely shutting down, refusing to register it.

"It's okay, I know," Chat Noir said quietly. "That's why I was trying to wake you up."

"Have you been here all night?" Marinette questioned, the last thing she remembered last night being Chat Noir carrying her through the city and back into her room.

Chat suddenly looked slightly uncomfortable for some reason. "Errr, yeah."

"You didn't have to stay with me all night," Marinette commented, feeling a little awkward about the whole thing. She was touched, but at the same time, it was still a little weird. Did he sleep? Where had he slept? Did he hang out outside on her balcony? Or did he just watch her sleep all night? His appearance did look a little more dishevelled than normal, so any of the options she thought of could be possible.

"Sorry. I just mainly hung out on your balcony all night," Chat explained, looking away from her. "But it was getting late, and I noticed that you were tossing and turning and figured that you were, y'know. So I thought you would probably want to be woken up. Plus you looked really uncomfortable and like you were overheating or something, and no wonder if you sleep in those sweatshirts," Chat pointed out, frowning at her attire. "Seriously, why don't you sleep in something, I dunno, a bit more revealing?"

Marinette's face flushed bright red and she aggressively threw one of her pillows over at him. "You pervert!"

"What?!" Chat shrieked as he dodged the pillow. "No! T-that's not what I meant!" His face also turned bright red. "I just meant if you didn't wear clothes that were as thick and showed off a bit more skin – eeeek!" He immediately shrunk and covered his face defensively as Marinette threatened to throw another pillow at him.

"Keep talking, Kitty, I'm sure there's holes even you can't claw your way out of," Marinette joked, still holding the pillow in the air, ready to throw at him if he said one more wrong thing. Her face was still warm though, and her whole body still felt incredibly hot from having the sun beaming down directly onto her which wasn't helping.

"You know what I mean!" Chat Noir begged, still hiding himself.

Marinette chuckled, finally lowering the pillow, leading to Chat Noir straightening up and sighing with relief. Marinette didn't think she had ever seen Chat Noir's face look so red. He tried to hide it beneath his hair though, but it wasn't enough. However, it was beginning to gradually turn into a lighter shade of pink, and his awkward expression began to morph into one of concern as he continued to stare at her sweatshirt.

"Seriously though, how can you even sleep in those things?" Chat asked.

Marinette frowned, looking away from him. "Don't diss my sweatshirts."

"Oh come on, even you can't deny that they're uncomfortable to sleep in. You were burning up when I got back," Chat commented.

"Got back?" Marinette turned to look back at him with a confused expression. "I thought you said you never left?"

Chat Noir's eyes widened for a split second before he rubbed the back of his head, glancing up to his left. "I did – I didn't! I just meant when I came back into your room from being on your balcony all night, that's all."

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows, shuffling herself further towards him. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah!" Chat answered a little too quickly. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Just checking." Marinette narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "Wait…you said earlier that it was getting late…" Marinette then gasped in horror. "What time is it?!"

"I dunno, like midday or something?" Chat shrugged.

Marinette shrieked and immediately pushed past Chat Noir, grabbing her phone off her shelf as she left. As she climbed down her ladder, she switched her phone on to see that Chat Noir's guess had indeed been correct. It was nearly one in the afternoon. She couldn't believe she had slept in so late. Granted she had been up late with Chat Noir, but still! She was so doomed!

Still squealing to herself, Marinette ran over to her sink and immediately began brushing her teeth, staring at the blank wall where her mirror used to be in horror. She brushed her teeth at lightning speed, panicking over how far behind schedule she was. Once she had finished doing that, she ran back into the middle of her room, grabbing the hem of her sweatshirt as she did so, ready to pull it over her head and put some fresh clothes on.

However, she quickly gasped and stopped herself, turning back to wordlessly face a puzzled Chat Noir, suddenly remembering that he was there. She had been so panicked that she had almost forgotten that he was present. She had almost stupidly…

Shaking her head, Marinette quickly grabbed some clean clothes from her drawers and ran downstairs to get changed in the bathroom. She would just have to do her best to try and ignore the mirror that was in there. Upon finishing that, she ran into the kitchen, nearly slamming into the counter as she skidded across the tiles, clumsily dropping a pile of baking trays as she hurriedly pulled them out from the drawer underneath the oven.

"Have you finally cracked?" Chat Noir joked while also sounding slightly serious and worried at the same time.

"No, but I will do if I don't manage to get all of this finished!" Marinette yelled in panic before wincing as she banged her head as the edge of the cupboard that she had been rummaging through.

Growling to herself, Marinette slammed the door shut before looking in the one next to it, sighing with relief when she finally spotted the flour. She was worried that she would have had to dash down into the bakery to get some. She really didn't want to face anyone right now, let alone her parents. Weirdly, Chat Noir was the only person she could bring herself to be around today. She knew what day it was. She had known that it was coming for weeks. But that didn't mean that she wanted to think about it. Despite being incredibly stressed, Marinette was grateful for the distraction.

"Why, what's going on? Why are you suddenly raiding your kitchen?" Chat asked, still looking at her like she was crazy as he leaned over the breakfast bar and watched her.

"It's Kim's birthday party tomorrow and Alya nominated me to bake the cake," Marinette sighed out as she began rummaging through the fridge, pulling out all of the ingredients she thought she was going to need.

She wasn't really sure what kind of cake she was going to make him yet. She had honestly completely forgotten about it until this point. She cursed Alya for making her do this. She knew her best friend was only trying to help, of course it would make sense that Marinette should be the one to make the cake, but still. She was only forcing herself to do this for Kim's sake. As much as it pained her to be doing this, she still didn't want to let Kim down. Marinette hated baking now. She hated anything creative. For these past few years, she had no motivation to do anything like this. But now she was being forced to. But Marinette supposed, just like she had thought a few moments ago, it would provide her with a good distraction today.

Marinette turned around to place the armful of ingredients she now had on the counter before looking up and pausing upon catching sight of Chat Noir. He was staring straight ahead with a completely blank expression on his face. Marinette continued to watch him, slightly worried that he had turned into a statue while she had had her back turned or something.

Finally, Chat Noir blinked, and Marinette let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding when he glanced down to look at her. He furrowed his eyebrows at her worried expression before leaning on his elbows and slouching forward.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Marinette asked, leaning further forward herself to get a better look at his facial expression.

"Yes, I'm fine," Chat insisted, plastering on a smile that seemed fake to Marinette.

She narrowed her eyes at him, watching and waiting to see if maybe he would finally possibly reveal what was bugging him. Something was wrong, Marinette could easily tell. She knew Chat Noir too well. She always knew when something was upsetting him or when something was on his mind. Though Marinette wasn't too sure what it could be if he hadn't left her apartment the entire night.

Chat Noir didn't appear to be budging though, so finally, Marinette sighed and was about to turn around and get back on with her work when she gasped as Chat Noir suddenly tightly grabbed hold of her hand, clinging onto it almost as if it was like a lifeline. Eyes wide, Marinette turned back around to face him, and her heart broke at his facial expression. He once again looked like the Chat Noir she used to know, only this time with the added look of a lost and scared young boy. His eyes were silently pleading with her, and Marinette could just about see the horror and emptiness in them that she felt on a regular basis. It was almost as if her own eyes were staring back at her, eyes that had seen the same things she had. It spooked her, and Marinette couldn't help but stumble backwards slightly, but luckily, Chat Noir's grip kept her from falling far.

"It's just…" Chat Noir began, the words seemingly becoming stuck in his throat. "Do you mind if I stay with you today? I really really don't want to be left on my own today."

Marinette smiled softly at him and took and step towards him again, placing her other free hand on top of the one that was squeezing hers so tightly. He seemed to relax slightly under her touch, and Marinette forced herself to look back into his eyes again, despite how much they were beginning to remind her of everything again.

She should have known. She should have thought. It wouldn't just be her that would be suffering today, Chat Noir would be too. Whatever had happened to him that day, it was the anniversary of that too. Whatever had forced him to change sides, it had happened today. So today would be a tough day for him too. That's why he hadn't left her. That's why he was lingering around her now. He wanted a distraction too.

"You don't even have to ask," Marinette reassured him, before letting go of his hands and organising all of the items in front of her.

She noticed Chat visibly relax even more in front of her, and she could suddenly feel her heart rate begin to pick up. Could she really do this? Could she hang out with the very person who had caused all of this? Who had caused this very day to be one filled with terrifying memories? But…it didn't seem like he had meant for it to be this way. It seemed like Hawkmoth had gotten to him somehow. If regretting everything that happened was all just an act, then it was a very good one. And Marinette remembered how hard it had been for Chat Noir to act like everything was okay before he had turned on her. He was a lousy actor, Marinette knew that.

Marinette just wished that she knew what had really happened that night. She wished that Chat Noir had opened up to her beforehand. She wished that he would open up to her now. But she knew that was going to take time, if not be down right near impossible. She had her own secrets. Her own secrets that she wasn't prepared to give up. Maybe Chat Noir felt exactly the same. Maybe Marinette would never find out the truth.

So what was the point in allowing him to stick around? She had promised herself that once she found out the truth from him, she would make sure that he was out of her life forever and that she would move on. So why wasn't she kicking Chat Noir out right now? He should be the last person that Marinette wanted around her, today of all days.

Yet she couldn't bring herself to do it. At the thought of yelling at him and demanding that he leave, her heart felt like it skipped a beat in her chest, causing her to gasp for air and recoil slightly as if she had just been punched in the chest. The thought of doing such a thing had her shattered and withered heart screaming at her with its last ounce of strength. It was like an elastic band had been tied around her chest, and the further Chat Noir was away from her, the more the band pulled and strained, trying to force her to be near him again to ease that strain. The thought of him not being near sent a wave of fear that came crashing over her, causing her insides to flip and make her feel like she was drowning. It was like she needed him to breathe all of a sudden. Like he was the only person who could save her from everything she was feeling. She needed him. Just like he had said he needed her at the very beginning of all of this. Was this what he had been talking about?

"Whoa! Marinette, be careful!" Chat Noir's cries suddenly snapped Marinette out of her daydreaming.

Her hand suddenly felt incredibly wet and slimy, and she looked down to see that she had squeezed the egg she didn't realise she was holding so tightly that it had begun to crack and leak all over her hand. She yelped and quickly dropped it onto the counter, staring at her now egg covered hand in annoyance.

"Question is, are you okay?" Chat Noir asked as he rushed around to help her clean up.

"Y-yeah, sorry, I was just trying to come up with a cake idea," Marinette lied, dashing over to the sink to rinse her hand. Chat Noir grabbed some tissues and began cleaning up the mess she had made on the counter. He kept shooting her concerned glances that Marinette did her best to ignore. She needed to be careful. If she acted too weird today, there might be a chance that Chat Noir would catch on.

"Do you need any help?" Chat offered as he threw the used tissue away.

"Huh?"

"With the cake?"

"After what happened the last time I let you loose in my kitchen?" Marinette chuckled. "No way."

"Aww, please," Chat begged, dropping onto his knees next to her and clasping his hands together. He pouted at her, trying to look as cute as possible.

Marinette stared at him, completely taken aback by his playful behaviour. He stared at her intensely, and Marinette couldn't help but become lost in his eyes for a few seconds. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears, and she could feel her palms becoming sweaty as she gripped the edge of the sink. A strange, feather light feeling overpowered her, and she almost felt like she was floating through a warm sky, surrounded by beautiful fluffy clouds.

She quickly shook her head though before she smirked and chuckled, reaching down to playfully ruffle Chat Noir's hair and scratch the back of one of his leather ears as if he was an actual cat. He purposefully let out a loud purr as a response, which only made Marinette giggle even more. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, moving his head against her hand like a real cat would.

"Silly kitty," Marinette laughed before loudly sighing. "Fiiiine! You can help. But don't do anything without my permission," she warned, grabbing a wooden spoon to point it at him.

"Yes, chef!" He jumped to his feet and saluted, causing Marinette to laugh again.

"Oh, but wait, what if your parents come up?" Chat Noir glanced towards the front door.

"They won't," Marinette reassured. "They would have already had their lunch, and they've been pretty busy with the bakery lately. It's why they couldn't help me with this cake." Marinette then sighed in frustration before collapsing onto one of the stools. "A cake that I've yet to think of an idea for and probably won't even be made at this rate."

"Oh come on, that doesn't sound like you," Chat hopped onto the stool next to her. "Normally you're great at coming up with ideas. You were always so creative."

"Yeah, well I have no creativity left." Marinette slammed her head down against the counter.

She could feel Chat Noir silently staring at her for a few seconds before he spoke up again. "Didn't that hurt?"

"Yes," Marinette moaned, raising her head so she could rub the spot she had stupidly slammed against a tiled counter.

Chat Noir sighed and shook his head. "The last thing you need right now is less braincells. Then how would you come up with an idea? Maybe you should just think about what Kim likes and –"

"That's it! Chat you're a genius!" Marinette yelled as she immediately hopped down from her stool.

"I am?" Chat questioned. "I mean, of course I am! I am the amazing Chat Noir after all!"

However, Marinette ignored him as she raced back up to her bedroom. The question was, where had she hidden it after all these years? She didn't remember throwing it away like she had a lot of her old stuff. Despite wanting to, for some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to part with it. It was way too special to her and held so many memories. And she always told herself that she might need it again one day, despite things looking so bleak and hopeless at the time.

Frowning to herself in concentration, Marinette began rummaging through every corner of her room, throwing things in random directions in the hopes of finding what she was looking for. She vaguely noticed Chat Noir's head popping up from outside the door that led to her room, and she could feel his eyes on her as she continued to search her room.

"What are you doing?" Chat asked, looking completely bewildered as he pulled one of Marinette's old shirts off his face that she had accidentally thrown onto him. He placed it down on the floor before he went back to watching her.

"Searching for something," Marinette tried to explain while she was busy concentrating on a pile of old fashion projects that she had never gotten around to throwing away at the back of her closet. "Ah ha!" Marinette then yelled as her hands finally collided with something hard that was right at the bottom of the pile.

She grabbed onto the edge of it and pulled it out, smiling at her old friend happily. Her old sketchbook had certainly seen better days, but it would do. She then grabbed a pencil from her desk and dashed back towards her bedroom door, and Chat quickly jumped out of the way, allowing her to climb down. She then sat back down on the same stool as before with Chat Noir following her every move, still confused over what was going on.

Marinette began flicking through the book, making sure to avoid looking at any of her old designs in case it set her off or something. Luckily, she quickly found a blank page and began sketching some rough outlines. Chat Noir watched over her shoulder as the cake design began to flow from Marinette's mind, through her pencil and then onto the page. Marinette didn't feel like it was up to her old, usual standard, but she guessed it would have to do due to the small space of time she was working with.

"Finished," Marinette proclaimed as she brushed the page off one final time to remove any eraser pieces that were still there. She then held the book closer towards the light, just to double check that she hadn't missed anything or to see if there was anything else that needed adding or taking away.

The design was pretty simple, knowing that Kim probably wouldn't want anything fancy. She stuck with a sport theme since that was Kim's main passion. The whole cake was covered in green icing with little footballs decorating the edge with the middle decorated like a football pitch. Two little nets were on either side, and in the middle was a figure that looked like Kim, wearing the uniform and everything. He had been obsessed with the World Cup that year, bragging that the French national team were desperate to sign him up, so she figured this would be appropriate for him.

"Hey, that looks pretty good," Chat Noir complimented as he smiled at her design.

"Thanks." Marinette turned serious as she hopped down and headed back into the kitchen. "But the hard part is actually trying to make it."

"Nothing worth doing is easy." Chat Noir smirked, raising one foot to place it on the stool and strike a heroic pose.

Thinking back to Chat Noir's previous kitchen antics, his words didn't make Marinette feel any better. But she guessed that Chat Noir was right. She needed to stop wallowing and actually put some effort into something for once. Because life isn't easy, it was never designed to be. And neither was making a cake, especially since Marinette was so out of practice, but she had to try. It was hard, but it would be worth doing. It was for one of her oldest friends after all, and he was counting on her to make something special for his birthday.

"Okay, first, we're going to need to measure out some flour," Marinette announced as she grabbed hold of the scales and pulled them towards her.

Chat Noir hovered over her, waiting to be given something to do. Marinette began carefully pouring some flour onto the scales while Chat seemed almost transfixed as he watched the whole thing. Had Chat Noir never baked a cake before or something? Though that thought shouldn't surprise her. The silly cat didn't even know how to heat soup up in a microwave. He was like a little kid as he leaned over to catch a glimpse of everything that she was doing. It was weirdly adorable, but at the same time, annoying.

"What are you doing?" Chat Noir asked for the millionth time.

"I'm whisking some eggs," Marinette sighed out before smiling and shaking her head incredulously.

"Oooo, can I do that?" Chat Noir begged as he reached over to take the bowl from her before she could even protest. He took the whisk off her before starting to look a little bit unsure over what exactly it was that he should do, but it appeared he wasn't going to let that stop him as he began whisking the eggs a lot more enthusiastically than he should.

"Just be care –" Marinette was immediately cut off by some of the eggs flying out of the bowl and onto her sweatshirt. She froze in shock as the cold eggs began to seep through the fabric slightly and also drip down onto the floor.

Chat Noir stared at her like a deer caught in headlights, having also frozen as well. "M-Marinette, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!"

Marinette merely frowned and stormed over towards the bowl full of flour and stared down at it wordlessly. Chat Noir shrank back slightly in fear, still cradling the bowl of eggs in his hand. He looked around the room like he was desperately trying to think of something to save the situation. But it was too late. He was in for it now.

Letting out a battle cry, Marinette scooped up a hand-full of flour before launching it at Chat Noir's face. It instantly stained his whole face completely white, making him look like some sort of ghost. He opened his eyes and blinked in shock, which only made the scene look even more comical. Marinette burst out laughing, clutching her stomach as she stared at Chat Noir's face through eyes blurred with tears of laughter. She didn't think she had ever seen Chat Noir look so shocked in all her life. His face was priceless, and it only made her laugh even harder.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be, is it?" Chat Noir playfully growled at her.

Marinette then screamed as Chat Noir launched himself towards her, but then she laughed as she managed to jump out of the way just in time, using the counter as a barrier between them. Chat Noir grabbed a handful of flour like she had done, smirking evilly at her as he did so. Marinette gulped and backed away slightly.

"Don't you – GAH!" she yelped as she ducked out of the way just in time, the flour landing in a messy pile on the floor. Marinette stared at it before she laughed and taunted Chat Noir, "missed me!"

"That was just a warm up." Chat Noir frowned.

"Yeah yeah." Marinette laughed, backing away again as Chat grabbed another handful of flour, however this time, he had a more calculating look on his face.

Marinette knew that she was completely exposed just standing here as he would easily be able to throw it at her. She didn't want to run the risk of getting flour all over the furniture in the living room, so she knew that she would have to move if she wanted to make sure her parents wouldn't string her up. However, she had completely trapped herself behind the counter. Whichever way she moved, Chat Noir would be able to easily intercept her.

Lurching her body to the left, Chat Noir darted that way also, falling for her rouse. Marinette then laughed as she ran in the opposite direction, but it looked like Chat had been prepared for exactly that. Marinette screamed again as she felt one of Chat Noir's arms snake around her waist, pinning her against him. He then pressed his flour filled hand against her face, making sure to rub as much flour onto her as possible, and Marinette instantly stopped screaming as she squirmed around, trying to break free. A little bit of flour had gotten into her mouth which didn't taste particularly nice, and she knew that she must look as bad as Chat Noir now. She could feel his chest vibrating beneath her as he laughed before dropping her back down and letting go.

"Serves you right." Chat chuckled as Marinette wiped as much flour away from her eyes as she could before she opened them to see Chat grinning down at her smugly.

She giggled as well, feeling more light and elated than she had done in a long time. This was the most fun that she could remember having in years, and the feeling was almost overwhelming. She could almost feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes at all of the strange mixed feelings she was experiencing. It was like she was a boiling, overflowing pot of water, but yet, it seemed like for the first time in forever, it was positive feelings that were consuming her rather than negative ones.

Her chest rose and fell as she was slightly out of breath from laughing and running around. Both her and Chat Noir had been staring at each other for a while without realising, and Marinette's cheeks soon flushed as she looked away, realising what she was doing.

Marinette chuckled as she sat back down to compose herself. "We sure made a mess."

"What's this 'we'? You started all of this!" Chat playfully argued as he sat down next to her.

"Hey, you can talk!" Marinette lightly shoved him. "You were the one who got egg all over me!"

"You can talk," Chat mocked her comment, shoving her back, smirking.

"No, you can talk!" Marinette shoved him again, only much harder this time – too hard.

Chat Noir yelped as he lost his balance and fell off the stool, landing in a heap on the floor next to him. Marinette burst out laughing again as Chat Noir shook his head before playfully growling at her again.

"Okay, that's it!" he yelled, and Marinette gasped before laughing again as he tackled her off the stool, trying to pin her to the floor.

Marinette managed to squirm out from underneath him though, and soon, both of them were rolling around on the living room floor, each other of them trying to one up the other person and pin them down to win the little fight they were having. Soon enough, Marinette triumphantly sat on top of Chat Noir, folding her arms proudly across her chest as Chat Noir lay defeated on the floor.

"I win!" Marinette announced.

"I wouldn't be too sure, princess." Chat Noir smirked up at her.

Marinette stared down at him in confusion before Chat Noir abruptly reached up and began tickling her. Marinette screamed and tried to recoil away, all without sacrificing her victory over him. However, there was only so much she could take, and she continued to laugh and scream as Chat Noir refused to let up.

"C-Chat…s-stop!" Marinette begged through fits of giggles as she tried to push his hands off her.

"Never!" Chat Noir yelled as he continued to tickle her.

Finally, Marinette couldn't help but collapse and roll over onto the ground in an attempt to get away from him, and that was all Chat Noir needed to seize his chance. Now he had her pinned down onto the ground and finally stopped tickling her. Marinette gasped and fought to catch her breath, staring up in horror as she realised she had lost her victory, and that Chat Noir had managed to best her. That sneaky cat.

"I think you'll find that I win." Chat Noir smirked down at her.

Marinette rolled her eyes as Chat hovered above her, still out of breath from laughing so much, their chests almost touching as she inhaled. Both of them were a mess. Their hair was sticking up all over the place, and they were both covered in flour and other baking ingredients. There was a sparkle in Chat Noir's eyes that she hadn't seen in a long time as he stared down at her. He made no move to get up, and Marinette made no move to get up either. They both stayed there, simply staring at each other in silence.

Once again, Marinette's heart started beating very erratically, and a strange tingling sensation began to travel all the way around her body. A sudden and mysterious need that she had never felt before began to consume her, and it was like something had suddenly ignited inside her, begging her to find something, anything that would sooth the aching need that she was now feeling.

Marinette found her eyes automatically drawn to Chat Noir's lips as he stared down at her with an expression she had never really seen before. Before Marinette could even register what was happening, Chat Noir began slowly leaning down…

However, they both froze when they heard a frantic knock at the door.

They stared at each other with wide eyes, both of them startled and confused. Marinette felt like her heart had just stopped in her chest, and her stomach had dropped all the way down to her feet. Who was knocking on her front door? Surely if it was her parents then they would have just walked in…and then this would have been hard to explain…

"Who is it?" Marinette yelled as Chat Noir climbed off her, allowing her to sit up and stare at the door.

"I-it's Alya," came a broken sounding voice from behind the door. It didn't sound like how Alya normally sounded at all. Alya was always so loud and confident sounding. Now she sounded almost timid and like she was struggling to speak.

Something must seriously be wrong…

"Quick, Chat, hide," Marinette hissed at Chat as quietly as she could.

"Do you have to let her in?" Chat Noir whined as Marinette pushed him towards the stairs that led to her bedroom.

"It sounds like something's wrong." She glared at him, not liking how dismissive he was being of her friend. Marinette didn't really feel like seeing her either, but she could tell from Alya's voice immediately that something was very wrong. And no matter what, Marinette was going to try and be there for her. Her best friend needed her, and she wasn't going to let her down.

"Okay, okay," Chat Noir sighed out as he finally leapt up into Marinette's room.

Taking a deep breath, Marinette tried to brush as much of the flour off herself as possible as she marched towards the front door, honestly surprised that Alya hadn't just entered and made herself at home like she normally would do. Biting her lip in worry, Marinette opened the front door, only for Alya to immediately leap into her arms and begin sobbing.

Staggering under Alya's weight, Marinette managed to kick the door shut before wrapping her arms around her obviously distressed friend. Alya clung onto her tightly, burying her face into her shoulder, staining her sweatshirt with tears, not seeming to care that Marinette was covered in flour. Marinette frowned worriedly as she rubbed Alya's back, trying to help her calm down enough to speak.

"Alya, what is it?" Marinette asked, not being able to handle the worrying anymore.

"It…it's Nino," Alya managed to gasp out between sobs.

"What?" Marinette gasped. "What happened?! Is he hurt?!"

"No," Alya continued to cry, pulling back enough so that Marinette could now see her face which was stained with tears. "Oh, Marinette…i-it's all s-such a big mess! We…we…we've split up."

Oh dear. Things just keep getting more complicated. And things are about to get even more complicated, as I have something very special planned very soon. You guys have been asking since pretty much the beginning of the story, and I've never responded to the question. Can you guess what might be coming up? Mwah ha ha! I love teasing you guys. Thank you so much for reading, I hope my lack of sleep and illness didn't ruin this chapter too much. I really need to learn to stop doing this.

Also, IMPORTANT NEWS! Madness Within was always supposed to be just one story, which was always frustrating because I had so many ideas that I had to scrap because there just simply wasn't enough room for them. However, that did get me wondering about possibly creating a sequel for this story. I have the idea for it, but I can't decide whether a sequel would be a good idea, or if I should just stick to it being one story and that's it. And I need to hurry and decide so that I can alter the ending accordingly to suit what I have planned. I figured you guys could help me be the judge of that. So it would really help me out if you guys could vote in the poll that I now have up at the top of my profile. Do you think Madness Within should have a sequel? And of course, if you have any questions, you can ask me in a review or PM, or you can get in touch with me on Twitter or Tumblr.