Hey everyone, hope you're all doing well-or as well as anyone can be during these scary times. Here is the next chapter and I really enjoyed writing this chapter especially the second half of this chapter and I hope you'll enjoy reading it. But enough talks for now: enjoy...

Disclaimer: I totally do not own Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir


Chapter 3: Consolation

He'd landed on the rooftop and put his staff away. Everything was so quiet around him, not even a gentle breeze to sweep up anything. He looked up at the brilliant full moon that seemed to take up so much of the sky and just radiate its beautiful shimmery light. Cat Noir walked over to edge and sat where he usually did when he and Ladybug decided to watch sunsets together. Feet dangling over the edge and swaying them slightly to the tune of a song he was humming, he was lost in thought.

The distinct sound of wire whizzing through the air and wrapping around a structure caught his attention. He stood up and turned around and to his surprise there she stood, Ladybug had just landed. They looked at each other for the longest time without saying a word. The full moon behind him outlined his silhouette and cast a shadow right at her feet. He'd jumped down and walked closer to her but stayed a reasonable distance away.

"Ladybug, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question, Kitty and why the distance?" she took a step closer but he took a step back

"I...had a nightmare and needed to clear my head so here I am"

"That's a coincidence because that's the same reason I'm here. But I don't really remember what happened in mine, well except..." she trailed off and looked down and put her hand over her stomach. She saw his shoulders slump slightly. "And when I woke up I had this feeling that I had to come back here, seems I was right to"

"I think I can guess what happened in your nightmare."

"You wanna tell me about it?" she walked over to him

Cat Noir took a deep sigh before taking a seat, Ladybug followed suit.

He told her the whole story but couldn't find it in him to tell her how it ended but she could tell he was holding something back.

"What happened next? After this evil Cat Noir struck me down?" the words felt foreign on her lips. He was her partner and far from evil.

"I begged him to stop but he just seemed to enjoy watching me in pain. H e told me to pay attention and that the next blow was for keeps, and then he, I-I..." his voice was trembling

She put her hand on his shoulder. She'd heard enough. "You don't have to say it" tears were forming in her eyes he'd been through so much in such a short amount of time.

"Do you ever wish things had turned out differently? That you had a different partner, a perfect Cat Noir?"

"No, never. I'm certainly not perfect, not at all. And there's no such thing as a perfect Cat Noir, my partner right now, I wouldn't change a thing about him"

"Even though I-

"We both know what happened yesterday but for some reason I'm the only one of us who believes it wasn't your fault. I definitely couldn't do all this without you and I would never want to or change partners. We're a team, we've done so much together, we've both made mistakes and you've always been there for me and I'm here for you now" she closed the distance between them

"Milady I just can't" his fingers were twirling his ring

"Cat, what are you-

"It's better if I don't have it anymore, safer for you" he was about to rip off his ring without warning but Ladybug immediately rushed in and put her hand over his.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" she looked up at him, her hands still in his

"All I wanted was to fight along side the girl I love and keep her safe. I can't do that anymore."

"What does that mean? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, I'm not Cat Noir"

She felt a sharp pain in her chest. She knew there was nothing more she could say to him and she could hear the pain in his voice as well. As much as he was hurting, his mind was made up.

The two heroes got ready to go, the last time they'd be travelling together. A sad realisation for them both. They zoomed through the air and from building to building until they got to their usual break-off point. They landed on the roof and looked at each other. Cat Noir walked over to her, his eyes glistening and full of sadness, her hopeful stunning blue eyes stated back at him.

"Goodbye Ladybug" he kissed her cheek

"This isn't our last time together so I wont say goodbye but see you soon Cat Noir"

"Milady…" he was surprised when she put her arms around him in a warm hug before returning the gesture

"You'll always be Cat Noir to me" she kissed him back on the cheek "See you soon, Kitty" she smiled before taking off

He stood still and watched her until he couldn't see her anymore before taking off and heading home.

Marinette climbed down from her balcony and sat on her bed staring out into nothing, her mind racing. She put her hand on her chest and felt tears welling up in her eyes. She buried her face in her pillow as tears left her eyes. She didn't expect it to hurt so bad, but the realisation that she may never see her partner again hit her like a ton of bricks. Their relationship had changed into something much more than just a hero team: they'd watched sunsets together, shared ice cream, had deep late night conversations after missions. They'd become very close friends, and more recently even more than that, though they weren't ones for labels.

"I'm sure you'll see him again"

"I hope so, Tikki" she said wiping her tears and climbing into bed

"I've never had a Cat Noir like you, y'know kid?"

"So you've said" Adrien looked at his ring "I just feel like I've let you down"

"You're making me sound like a saint, Adrien. I don't blame you at all"

"Even so I'm still responsible. The damage may have been fixed by Ladybug but I'm sure the fear hasn't. People put their trust in us to keep them safe, that no matter how many villains there are, they can trust Ladybug and Cat Noir to save the day. A lot of people trusted Cat Noir especially Ladybug, my partner, my..." he wasn't quite sure what he'd call them now "And now all it took was one slip up and all that work gone"

"Are you sure you're not just giving up on yourself too fast? What about all the freedom you got as Cat Noir? Can you really give it up so easily?"

"This isn't easy at all but if giving it up means people are safer then I'm going back to life as Adrien full time" he said with finality before climbing into bed and turning off his lamp

Plagg heaved a heavy sigh before settling on the pillow next to him.

The following morning was dull and overcast, a fitting type of weather for how both teens were feeling. It was during lunchtime that Marinette was sitting on her own on the staircase drawing in her sketchbook, trying to distract her mind, when Adrien came by.

"Hey Marinette, are you alright?" he asked taking a seat next to her

"Adrien, yeah I'm fine. Why do you ask?" she closed her book and set it aside

"Well I noticed you looked pretty down when you came in this morning so I thought I'd check in"

"Was it that obvious?" she sighed heavily "It's just..." she paused before carrying on, she couldn't tell him exactly what was going on but a good talk from a concerned and caring friend would definitely help her at the moment.

"Someone really close to me is going through an incredibly hard time. Something happened and he wasn't exactly...himself and he did some terrible things as a result. In the end he got back to his normal self and the incident was solved but he can't seem to move on from it, I tried talking to him but he has his mind made up that he doesn't deserve forgiveness, he's given up on himself in a way" she slouched her shoulders

Adrien looked at her for a while thinking over her words, they were so familiar, but surely it didn't mean...no of course not…right?

"Sounds like quite a situation. Maybe he's just afraid of hurting the people he loves, if he really did do those terrible things while he wasn't himself. Could be that he wants to protect them all, keep what happened from ever happening again" he quickly snapped out of it realising he may have said a little too much and hoping she hadn't heard that last part. Judging by her non reaction, she might not have. "Sounds like you care about him a great deal" he gave her a small smile

"I do" she smiled as she responded and an image of him popped in her head

"Do you love him?" Adrien asked, a little more curious to know the answer than he'd care to admit

"Yeah I do" the answer came so naturally to her as if her heart answered before her mouth and brain could decide

"Did you tell him that?"

"No, it just didn't seem like the right time to do it considering what had happened"

"I think the next time you see him you should. It still may not be the right time but at least he'll know. And who knows, it might just change everything."

It was the end of the day and the sun almost completely set, Adrien was in his room. He stood in front of his window staring out at the buildings in sight. He could see some of the ones he'd jumped across while travelling across the city. He knew the time and definitely knew she was out there most probably with one of the other heroes. How are you Milady? I hope you're safe on patrol. I can't even describe how difficult it is being on the sidelines while you're out there. Are you better off without me? Did I make the right choice? Are you thinking about me at all, the way I'm thinking of you right now?

Ladybug had gone on patrol with Rena Rouge. The city was quiet, thank goodness, Ladybug didn't know if she had it in her to deal with a villain this soon after losing her partner. The two heroines stopped atop the Eiffel Tower and looked to the lit up city below. Ladybug was lost in thought. The sun had just set; the darkening sky above just reminded her of him more and more. Seeing how small everything was from so high up made her wonder what he was up to. What was he doing at that very moment? Was he missing the life he gave up? Was he missing her as much as she was missing him? Could he be one of the civilians down there looking up at the metal structure she was currently on? She was pulled from her thoughts by Rena waving her hand in front of her face.

"You alright?" Rena asked and offered a concerned smile

"Yeah, sorry I'm—I'm good" Ladybug was resting her arms on the rails before she'd looked up and answered

"Thinking about the Kitty? How is he?" she asked and leaned her back against the railing looking at Ladybug

"I wish I could say better. Being Akumatised struck a huge blow on him"

"I completely know how that feels, I don't judge him at all." she sighed remembering her own experience "You know the wax museum just added in a hall of villains, I went there recently with some friends and seeing the statue of myself, of Lady Wi-Fi, it was hard to face. It was hard to accept that that was a part of me, that I'd also done some bad things, like trying to take your Miraculous..."

"How did you move on from it?" Ladybug remembered that day when Puppeteer had returned but she had no idea that Alya had this experience because she'd had her own experience with Adrien that day

"My boyfriend gave me a new perspective, he told me not to see it as room full of bad people but rather a room full of people that you and Cat Noir saved"

"And now look at you, an amazing hero ready to protect the city. That's some great advice" she smiled and put her arm around her. Rena put her arm around Ladybug to complete the side hug

"If you get the chance I think you should give him that perspective too. Being Akumatised is like a cry for help, it happens because you're going through something that you couldn't face on your own that Hawk Moth preys on and you need Ladybug and Cat Noir to help you overcome it."

"Wow that's...I've never thought of it that way-" just as Ladybug was about to continue the familiar beeping indicating that their time was almost up beat her to it.

The two of them headed for lower ground and eventually to the spot where she'd given Rena her Miraculous.

"Thank you for the advice by the way. I'll definitely let Cat know if I see him again"

"Uh uh, when you see him again" she shook her head and smiled before embracing Ladybug in a hug "I'll always be here if you need me but I think the city needs their top duo back" she said as she removed the Fox pendant and gave it back to her, no longer Rena Rouge standing in front of her but Alya "See you later, Trixx. Goodbye Ladybug."

Feeling a lot lighter after that much needed conversation with Rena she was determined once more. She had hope again, she could help him through this. She would see her partner again and tell him everything and she was excited about it.


And that's chapter three totally done! What did you think, let me know with a comment and like and follow if you wanna see how it'll end eventually. Also side note, that conversation between Rena and Ladybug was completely unplanned, like I was planning for them to go on patrol together and that's it but as soon as I got to that paragraph the words just flowed out of me and now it's my fave part of this chapter. Anyways...

Until the next chapter-

Ketsui Tasogare :-)