Ever since Ladybug had defeated Chat Noir's akumatized form Chat Blanc, in a very near future, she wasn't as casual and carefree with him as she was before. Although Chat Blanc had never become her present, the mere thought of that happening scared her immensely.

She didn't even want to come close to imagining that.

She started being overprotective of him and took special care to always keep him happy. She had started laughing at his puns, which still seemed horrible to her. She made some jokes of her own, which were absolutely genius to her but lame for him. She tried her best to never let him patrol alone at night, no matter how much he insisted. During akuma attacks she kept a close eye on him, making sure he was safe, and after every victory, instead of hurrying away, she made sure to stay a bit longer, as long as her miraculous allowed her to.

He was more than just her partner in battling crime. He was her best friend.

She saw a happier Chat Noir everytime they met and it put her at ease, calming the storm of her memories of Chat Blanc. She hadn't told him about what she had seen that day and how much that bothered her.

But no matter how much she looked after Chat, she couldn't do anything to be there with him when he was his civilian self. She felt helpless, not knowing anything about her partner's alter ego's life and not being able to be there with him always. She couldn't protect him when he was lost in the crowd of Paris. No matter how much she wanted to keep close to him, she could not risk revealing their identities to each other or anyone.

The sudden attention that she started giving Chat Noir made him ask her about it during one of their daily night patrols. They were sitting on top of the Eiffel Tower, their favourite place in all of Paris, when he asked her in a rather flirtatious manner. She rolled her eyes and, as always, took it as a joke. But when it came to answering him, she was rendered silent. Memories of the awful mess, that she was so close to creating, flooded her mind and if it hadn't been for Bunnyx's timely arrival—

she didn't want to imagine an alternate ending.

"I just care for you Chat," she said, her voice laced with sadness and guilt.

He looked at her and sensing the sudden flip in her mood, he scooted a bit closer to his lady and hugged her. His hug comforted her and she rested her head on his shoulder as a small tear rolled down her cheek.

"I am fine as long as you are with me, m'Lady."

But those words were left as a mere sentence today.

Marinette stared at the poster that had been put up on the wall where once Gabriel's product line's advertisements, that featured Adrien Agreste, were displayed. She curled her fingers into a fist and gave a slight punch to the wall, breaking into a sob. She leaned against it and slid down onto the pavement as she cried.

"I-I am so sorry Chat!"

Fifty seven days had passed since Ladybug had her last night patrol with Chat.

Fifty seven days, since he had hugged her and comforted her.

Fifty seven days, since Adrien Agreste had disappeared.

And fifty seven days had passed since Paris lost its alley Chat.

It had been a long and tiring day at school even though it was the same as always— four regular classes, one PE class and one lab class. Besides that there were a lot of lies by Lila and many more 'utterly ridiculous' by Chloe. School, particularly our class, was lifeless now after what had happened. Somehow Lila and Chloe always managed to distract us from our constant despair. But it was visible that they were only venting out their emotions and were as gloom-ridden as we were.

Everyone was suffering and blaming themselves on the inside. Only Alya, Nino and I were able to compose ourselves because we knew something that the others didn't. And as guilty as we felt for keeping a secret, we couldn't reveal what we had because that would endanger everyone.

Alya and Nino had offered to walk me to the bakery everyday and I was glad that they did. When we reached my place I waved at them, bidding them a temporary farewell and entered the bakery. I saw my parents tending to some customers and smiled at them softly before making my way up to our apartment. I opened the trap door to my room and entered quietly, not wanting to wake him from his slumber.

"Hey."

I looked at the source of the mumble and sighed softly. I had failed at trying to go unnoticed.

"I thought you were sleeping," I said, closing the trap door behind me and keeping my bag on the side.

"I was," he said drowsily and yawned.

"I am sorry for waking you up," I added and smiled as he rubbed his head.

"It's alright purrincess."

I sighed softly and chuckled, "never stopping with the puns, are we?"

"Never." He grinned his cheshire grin and sat up, cross legged. I could notice a few more strands of his hair fading out and turning grey. In a few more days, they would completely turn white.

I decided to ignore that thought for the time-being and moved towards him, sitting down next to him. "How are you feeling?"

"A bit sleepy, but rest I am fine."

"And— Plagg?" I asked further, looking around for the said name.

"He is sleeping in one of your designs," he said, pointing towards my table and I smiled.

"Sounds good."

He nodded and stretched, "how was your day?"

"It was the usual."

He hummed in response and lay back down. I looked at my table and frowned.

"You didn't finish," I got up and went over to my table. Before going to school, I had placed a complete breakfast tray for him. There was a glass of milk, some cinnamon croissants, a toast with jam and a roll of camembert for Plagg. But none of it had been touched.

"I wasn't hungry," I heard him say nonchalantly, "and I guess Plagg wasn't either". I whipped around, frustrated at how he seemed to be completely unaffected by this.

"How can you be so irresponsible?" I fumed. I could feel some tears welling up as I looked at him. "You know how I have been doing my absolute best to help you and— and Ladybug get out of this mess. And you are not even trying to do the very least by listening to me! I told you to eat and here I come back after six hours of school only to see that everything I kept for you hasn't even been touched by you!" My throat was running dry but that didn't stop me from lashing out at him. I no longer had control over my tears and my sniffles turned into sobs.

"I don't know what to do," I wailed and sat down. I buried my face in my hands and kept crying but that didn't ease the pain even the tiniest bit. I heard him shuffling and making his way towards me. He sat down in front of me and pulled my hands away from my face.

"I-I am sorry. I wasn't hungry really." He admitted as he wiped my tears with his thumb.

I looked at him, my vision blurry from the crying. But that didn't let it go unnoticed. There was a new development— this time in his eyes. It was enough to shock me and send chills down my spine. I forgot my previous outburst and held his face with my hands as I looked into his eyes.

His eyes looked so unfamiliar but they showed the same genuine concern that he always had for me. "What's wrong?"

"Y-your eyes," I stammered, blinking multiple times and wishing that my eyes were betraying me.

"What about them?" He muttered, his voice fading down into a whisper laced with fear.

"T-They a-are—" I wasn't able to form coherent words. And I didn't know how to tell him.

"They are what Mari?!" He yelled in frustration and impatience. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently, breathing heavily.

His sudden jolt knocked my senses back into me and I knew that this was becoming real. I brought my hands to my face and took a deep breath, shaking at the new change.

"T-They are turning— b-blue."