There is a tower in the center of the kingdom where even the King may not go.
It stands taller than any of the castle peaks.
There is a barrier around the kingdom.
It shines more brightly than any star.
There is a girl inside the tower.
She is the most powerful girl alive.
She is very lonely.
Once in a generation the Priestess ventures out to find a successor, the next girl in the kingdom who has the power to protect them all. This generation's girl is named Marinette.
The kingdom has a prince.
He is said to be more handsome than anyone else in the land.
(He has a secret.)
At night the prince sneaks into the streets as a masked vigilante to protect his people and learn of their lives. (Even later he sneaks to the tower to woo his lady.)
"Oh, Chat, not again," she laughed, leaning over her balcony to see him hanging there, grinning at her.
"You know you're delighted to see me, M'Lady!" Chat Noir said, climbing onto her small balcony and seating himself on the railing.
"Am I?" She asked, a sly smile gracing her lips. She leaned against the banister beside him, gazing up through her eyelashes.
"You are! Otherwise you'd put one of your fancy barriers up on this balcony and you'd never have to deal with me again! You like hearing my daring tales of action and adventure!"
"Well then what are you waiting for, Kitty," she tilted her head, leaning her temple on her knuckles, "tell me a story."
"Of course, M'Lady! Tonight I stopped not one but two purse snatchings! The women of the Capital City are so lucky to have me!"
"Oh I'm sure they're singing your praises on the street. I can practically hear the ballads from here."
"They do! And I continue to elude the King's Guards with my dashing wit and charming good looks! Your kitty is far too smart for those bumbling guards!"
"The king should hire better men," Marinette said, trying and failing to hold back her smile.
"Indeed he should, but then there would be no use for Kitties like me, and what would I do with my free time?"
"I'm sure you'd think of something."
"Like visiting my lady, perhaps?" He murmured, leaning in close.
Marinette's smile flickered wider, then faded altogether. She looked down, then pulled away.
"Mistress says I'm improving quickly," she stated, turning around and striding several steps into her room, "I should be powerful enough to carry the Burden on my own soon. It's fortunate, because Mistress's health continues to fail."
Chat Noir, no more than an outline against the barrier's light from her point of view, stiffened.
"How soon?" He asked, but what she heard was how much time do we have?
"A year, maybe."
Not enough, is what he heard.
Desperation crawled up from the pit of his gut, where he normally kept it so carefully in check.
"You know the king never speaks on what is outside the barrier, it could be nothing, he could be lying. It's impossible to see through, he could just be keeping us here, under his control like prisoners!"
"What is he isn't?"
Chat Noir fell silent. But what if he is?
"Do the priestesses… always… enter total seclusion after shouldering the Burden by herself?"
"Always," Marinette answered, not meeting his eyes.
"You're more powerful! Your Mistress is always saying so. Maybe you'll be so powerful you can maintain it without all the hassle. You might be able to leave the Tower, have a life."
"It's never happened before."
"You deserve to have a life, princess," he insisted.
"I'm no princess," she said, shaking her head ruefully.
"But you could be!" He blurted. The two of them froze, and for one long moment no one moved, then Marinette softened, turning, finally, to face him.
"While I appreciate your offer, Your Highness, I don't think your father would bless our union."
Chat Noir sighed, a rueful smile playing across his lips as his gaze fell to his shoes, then back to her. "I guess I was never good at hiding things from you."
"Not particularly," she said, huffing gently.
The corner of the Prince's mouth twitched to see the light rekindle in her eyes.
"A year is a long time, you know, a lot can happen," he said, with more confidence than he felt.
"A lot can happen."
Her agreement sounded like sorrow.
The two of them continued on like that night had never happened. Chat Noir would climb to her tower every other night and regale her with all his exploits with drama and humor, leaving her clutching at her aching sides, tears streaming down her face. And if their conversations were occasionally silenced by the weight of their impending (possibly permanent) separation, then they pretended that never happened as well.
"So the Bandit is standing there, pantsless, and this girl whose purse he tried to snatch aimed this vicious kick for his groin and he goes down!"
"Ah! A knew you needed an assistant!"
"And she didn't stop!" Chat Noir continued, leaning in with a gleeful look. "She just kept kicking and screaming and I had to drag her off him! And of course that's when the guards arrive!"
"Oh no!"
"Oh, yes! They show up and I've got this girl around the waist, holding her in the air so she can't kill this dude, a pantless man at my feet, and I'm surrounded by guards! They start shouting for my surrender like I'm not actively preventing a homicide and she's still screaming 'Lemme at 'em, Lemme at 'em!' And people are starting to open their windows and were pointing and laughing and all I can think is This vigilante thing might be more than I bargained for."
Marinette cackled. "Out of all the trouble you have gotten into and that is what makes you reconsider?"
"Yes!" He cried, clapping his hands on the banister for effect. "She was crazy! Scarier than anyone I've ever dealt with!"
"Even those drug smugglers?"
"Especially those drug smugglers! They at least knew when to admit defeat! This girl was trying to kill a man in front of half of the Kings Guards!"
Marinette was bent double, wheezing with laughter, hand resting on the banister to support her weight.
"So how did you escape?"
"Her fiance showed up and started begging her to calm down like 'Alya please, we all know you could kick Chat Noir's ass in a fair fight, but you can't get arrested the week before our wedding!' and I ran away while everyone was distracted with their argument."
Marinette clapped a hand over her mouth to choke off the shrieking sound of her laughter, lest she wake her ailing Mistress. Chat Noir sighed fondly, resting his cheek on his hand as he watched her laugh.
"Sorry-aha-sorry I- I'm just- hahaha- picturing you standing there, holding this scary woman, haha- while her fiance insults you to your face!"
"Right to my face! Where were his manners?"
Marinette laughed harder, looking horrified when she started snorting. Chat Noir clapped a hand over his mouth the conceal his surprised bark of laughter.
"Shut up!" She said, her words cut off by another snort.
Now it was Chat Noir's turn to try and rein in his laughter as Marinette got more and more indignant, shoving him roughly on the shoulder when he didn't stop laughing at her. He slipped on unsteady feet and reeled backwards. Marinette realized what was going to happen a second too late and reached out to help, only to end up being dragged down with him.
They crashed to the ground, the impact knocking the wind out of them.
"Ow," Chat Noir groaned, rubbing the back of his head.
"Are you okay?" Marinette pushed herself up to look him in the eye, then froze.
They realized all at once the position they'd fallen into, Marinette stretched out on top of him, chest to chest and nose to nose.
It was impossible to miss Chat Noir's eyes flicking down to her lips, or her small intake of breath. Chat Noir's lips parted and he closed the distance between them. He slid a hand down her back and pressed her closer, nipping at her bottom lip as she tangled her fingers in his hair.
Several long moments passed between their lips, but the ones that passed after they broke apart were much shorter.
Marinette sprang back, fleeing into her room with a flaming face. Chat Noir followed with equal haste.
"We shouldn't have done that."
She paced back and forth, tearing at her hair. Chat Noir leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, feeling his heart sink further the more frantic she became.
"M'Lady-"
"That can't happen again."
"We did nothing wrong."
"We can't do this, Chat!"
"Because our time is almost up," he replied flatly.
Marinette halted. "Mistress gets worse by the day," she whispered, eyes on the rug, arms wrapped around her middle. "I'm shouldering most of the Burden myself now."
Chat Noir gaped. "You didn't say anything." He pushed away from the wall and took several steps forward, stopping when she flinched away.
"Telling you made it real," she said, voice small.
"But Marinette," He started. She looked up at his tone, "you were able to maintain the barrier while we talk, while we were- Marinette!"
"That doesn't mean-"
"It might! You're the most powerful Priestess that's ever been, and you're not even fully trained yet! Princess, I know you can do it! We may not have to say goodbye after all!"
"You don't know that! What happens if-"
"If what?"
"If we get our hopes up, and start imagining a future, and then it's all for nothing?"
"All for nothing?" He asked, voice low. He crossed the room and Marinette tensed, expecting another kiss, but Adrien merely pressed their foreheads together, resting his hands on her shoulders. "Marinette, I refuse to believe the time I spend with you would be all for nothing, if it all comes to an end. Every moment I have with you is precious, and I will treasure them in my heart forever. Marinette, if you truly don't want to be together then I'll never mention it again; but if you ask me, it would be worth it just to get to love you fully, without holding back, even if only for one night."
"...Adrien," she whispered.
He closed his eyes at the sound of his name on her lips for the first time.
"Marinette," he replied.
She took a deep breath in, looked up at the face of the man she loved, then leaped.
Adrien was moving the second their lips met, wrapping his arms around her and pressing her close. He didn't do the disservice of asking if she was sure, she wasn't the type to make decisions without being sure. He tilted her head back and responded in kind, deepening their kiss.
Adrien was much later getting home than usual.
Adrien hadn't been home for more than fifteen minutes- barely long enough to change out of his vigliante clothes and into his formal Crown Prince Regalia when a guard knocked on his door. He did a quick check to verify he had no visible hickeys before calling for the guard to enter.
"Your Highness, His Majesty the king has summoned you to the council chambers."
"Very well."
Adrien brushed out of the room without complaint and followed the long and winding halls to the council chamber where his father stood waiting, his most trusted council members already seated at the table.
His father sat at the head of the table while Adrien stood, straight-backed and the picture of perfection at the other end.
"In the early hours of the morning the Priestess-in-Training lit the Light of Mourning in the highest window of the tower." Silence fell heavily.
"The Priestess died last night?" Adrien blurted, speaking out of turn for the first time in years.
His father furrowed his brow, but nodded.
"...Yes. The Priestess died last night. As you know our country is now to enter a mandatory mourning period to grieve the late Priestess and welcome the new one. May She Protect us All."
"May She Protect Us All," the council echoed.
"May She Protect Us All," Adrien muttered, a beat too late.
Adrien walked back to his chambers, deep in thought. Marinette's Mistress dies last night, maybe even while they were… had Marinette felt the last of the burden shift to her while they were together and said nothing? Or had her Mistress died with her hand wrapped in both of Marinette's? Had Marinette had to watch as the only parent she'd ever known died with no one to comfort her while Adrien snuck about the castle, applauding his own wit and daring?
She must be devastating, and scared, and Adrien hated himself for not being with her, for not being able to be with her tonight either, as his mandatory public meditations were to last for twenty-four hours.
Would he ever comfort her again? Would he ever feel the touch of her hand? Or would they be forever separated by a locked door?
Adrien closed himself in his chambers and allowed himself to spiral a little bit, collapsing against the stone wall and burying his face in his hands.
What if he really didn't see her again? What if all he ever got was one night?
It doesn't matter, he told himself. She was his soul mate, the love of his life, and he would love her fully until the end of his days.
It was the most difficult climb he ever made, made all the more difficult by the subtle shaking in his hands and the ludicrous amount of roses tucked between his teeth. If Marinette were there, waiting for him, she wouldn't mind a bit of slobber on her roses. Probably.
His mind tormented him with images of a life without her as he scaled the tower, each run through beginning with the room above him being cold and empty, with a note for him to hold on to, at most.
Stop it, he told himself as he placed a first hand on the balcony, pushing himself up.
Beyond the doorway he saw a room lit by one hundred candles on every surface imaginable, all of the drapes tucked carefully away from the flames, and in the center of it…
"Marinette," he sighed, roses falling, forgotten, from his mouth.
"Hello, Kitty," she sighed, lips splitting in a blinding smile. Adrien tumbled forward into her outstretched arms.