Written by: Rosehealer02

Betas: Mystic_Raven20

Cover art credit: (me) Rosehealer02 on Deviantart. Rose-Minou on Tumblr.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc; TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended

46 B.C…

Over the course of a month, they encountered a couple more groups of roman soldiers much to their dismay; more kills added to their already haunted memories. They had buried many bodies, the total becoming more than they could count. They continued to travel despite the delays which the roman soldiers had caused. However, eventually they arrived at the border of Rome's conquered country.

"Not again." Marinette sighed, spotting roman soldiers waiting for them at the border. They dismounted and transformed into Ladybug and Chat Noir once again. Ladybug sending Noire away for her safety, the pair had grown fond of their beloved horse.

To their surprise, Julius Caesar stepped forward, his body encrusted with different armors than what they had previously seen him wear. Yet the armors he wore seem to be giving off a familiar radiant. The symbol on his black armors, a hint of black ears on the both sides of his leaf crown, and, most of all, they were shocked to see him wear a black ring with a neon green paw print.

"He was a black cat holder?!" Ladybug was completely stunned.

A growl rippled from Chat Noir's throat, "Then we cannot hold back against him."

"Remember, we absolutely cannot kill him. Otherwise the future would be affected." Ladybug warned her partner.

Chat Noir nodded, acknowledging her warnings, and roared when roman soldiers attacked. They fought with everything they had, but the battle dragged on, both heroes exhausted after killing so many soldiers. Caesar, the black cat, joined in battle when saw it was time, attacking both of them with his cataclysm, one after another, after another.

Chat Noir dodging his cataclysm repeatedly, "He can use them as many times as he wants without timing out?!"

Ladybug grit her teeth as she continuously dodged them, not allowing Caesar to get his chance to touch them. "Remember 'Timetagger'? Bunnyx mentioned something about growing up and being an adult having limitless powers."

Chat Noir cussed, "Talk about disadvantage!"

The remaining roman soldiers continued to attack, the heroes completely unaware that Caesar always came prepared, he was not known for being a powerful strategist conqueror for nothing. He already had his sniper archers team surrounding the battlefield hidden from view.

Without warning, an arrow flew past Chat Noir's face, missing him by a few inches. He was startled, "My Lady! They've got archers!"

Ladybug spun the yoyo into a shield, guarding herself as best as she could. She heard the income sound of a whistle, and, quickly on reflex, she blocked the next arrow. It was growing more and more difficult for Ladybug to simulate blocking arrows and dodging Caesar's cataclysms, the constant actions taking their toll on her energy levels. Chat Noir's case was no better, even with a baton on his foreleg, he lacked opposable thumbs. His thick hide made up the defense, but it wasn't invincible; therefore he could not block, only rely on Ladybug.

"I will take care of Caesar, please shield me." Chat Noir quickly asked her.

Ladybug firmly nodded, "I've got your back, Minou!" She blocked yet another flying arrow, her eyes darting around attempting to locate where the archers were perched.

Chat Noir continued to avoid Caesar's Cataclysm and kill all soldiers that dared to advance on to the pair. This battle dragged on until one arrow managed to hit Ladybug in the back right by shoulder. She let out a piercing scream, causing Chat Noir to snarl angrily. 'We can't beat them like this. He is way too formidable!'

"Sorry M'lady, retreat is in order! CATACLYSM!" He slammed cataclysm to the ground and caused so much dirt dust cloud it blinded all their foes.

Ladybug protested but quickly fell on Chat Noir's back as he carried her away fast against her will. He ran directly into the forest, killing the archer that perched in that place in the process. The archer however managed to shoot an arrow at the giant leopard, hitting him straight in the hind leg.

Chat Noir grit his teeth, refusing to let it slow him down; he knew full well that if he stopped or slowed down, Caesar and his army would kill them. His leg throb painfully as he continued to run and carry Ladybug on his back.

Ladybug held on to him and spun a yoyo shield to protect against income arrows. She could see a calvary of roman soldiers on horseback in pursuit of them. "Merde! At this rate, they will catch up!"

Chat Noir growled, "I see the river up ahead!"

Ladybug looked ahead, seeing the river he mentioned. It was rather large and wide, the water breaking on waves of white, a clear sign that it was very dangerous and rough, "The gap is too large for you to make a jump!"

Chat Noir sped up, "Then we will take a swim! I am not going to let you die in a place like this!"

Ladybug did not like the idea, but at the moment they didn't have a lot of choices, "I am not letting you die either!"

Chat Noir made a giant leap, "Together?"

"Together." Ladybug spoke as they fell into the river, water splashing high upon their impact.

Roman soldiers on horseback stopped at the river edge before following them along the river downstream, trying to keep track of their targets.

Ladybug and Chat Noir tried to keep their heads above the water, but with the river being so rough and many rocks along the way it made it all the more difficult. Ladybug shouted to Chat Noir with every moment her head bobbed out the water, the constant current taking her in and out of its depths. She spit the water out of her mouth each time "T-they ar— follo— us!"

It didn't take long for the roman soldiers to stop following, an equal amount of time for Chat Noir and Ladybug to see why. There was a huge waterfall ahead. They couldn't swim out in time as they reached the end and fell over the edge of the waterfall.

The roman soldiers went to the bottom of the cliff, stopping where the waterfall ended in search for their prey's bodies. After a couple hours of searching, to no avail, they left knowing full well Caesar was not going to be pleased.

Present…

It had been a long several months for Gabriel, he had given up all hope of seeing his son again, let alone the Miraculous jewelry of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Without the Miraculous cure, there was no way to restore all victims that were hit by Wild Card. Guilty was eating him alive, his emotions filled with remorse that he decided that he would find a way to create a perfect akuma that would cure all victims of Wild Card's powers. At least he could do this for his son, who fought against his wrongs.

He waited and waited for the right person with the right emotion he needed. And finally the day came, he had finally found the perfect target. He transformed into Papillon and sent away a not-corrupted butterfly akuma to akumatized this person.

"Carte Blanche, your deep desire to help restore your husband to what he once had been, I too, understand. I have a special mission for you. I have granted you a power that will undo the power that Wild Card had influenced. Permanently curing them. You must do this with extreme discretion. We must not let the world know about this."

"Don't be bemused, it's just the news! I am here at the quarantine area where all Wild Card victims were placed in special care. It appears that all victims were cured at some time last night. Had Ladybug come back and used the Miraculous Cure? Or had the spell faded? Will we ever find out?" The screen changed to show all the victims, each speaking of their strange experiences and lack of answers. A couple of interviews later, Nadja returned to the screen, "If all victims had been cured, where are Ladybug and Chat Noir? Have they come back from wherever they were? Are they still lost? Will we ever learn of their fate?"

Watching the news, Gabriel was satisfied that his effort in curing all victims had been successful, however it was unfortunate that he didn't have his akuma attempt to bring back the heroes. There was nothing to touch to reach both missing heroes. He stood in front of his family portfolio, all alone as he spoke to no one in particular, "Emilie, Adrien… Forgive me. I exhausted all resources to bring both Adrien and Ladybug back." He sighed depressively. "I don't know what to do anymore."

Alya and Nino visited Tom and Sabine after seeing the news. In the living room, they were having a meeting.

"This smells fishy! There is no way an akuma power would fade easily, if it was, they would have been back already," Alya exclaimed.

Nino looked at his girlfriend, "If it is not the Miraculous cure, or the spell wearing out, what could it be?"

Alya answered, "I don't know for sure, there's no evidence but I think it was Papillon who did this. I'm guessing he used one of his akumas to cure them."

Sabine exchanged a look with Tom with wonder. "Could it be that Papillon is feeling guilty?" she said.

Alya shrugged in answer, "We don't know him well enough to know whether he is capable of feelings, only that he seeks the miraculous jewelry."

"Honey, do you think there are reasons why he seeks the Miraculous?" Sabine asked the young lady.

"He never says, not that we know of. We always assumed he might want them to rule the world." Alya answered, crossed her arms, a frown upon her face.

Tom realized what Sabine was thinking, "Perhaps that is not what he wanted, if he was seeking that reason, with Ladybug and Chat Noir gone, he would have already made his move with nothing stopping him."

Nino widened his eyes, "Dude! Could it be for a much more personal reason?"

Alya stayed quiet, in deep thought before saying, "You might have a point there. Except we don't know who he is, or what his intention is."

Sabine nodded, "Regardless of his intention, he still has still terrorized Paris for his own cause. That does not make it any better."

"Will we ever find out?" Nino wondered out loudly, only for none of them have an answer.

46 B.C…

Somewhere far down the stream of the river, the water surface broke as the black head of the leopard popped out and gasped in relief.

'Dieu merci pour le power up!'

He literally looked different, a black leopard with neon green fins and gills on the both sides of the neck, on top of his head and all spines lined as fins. His paws had turned into webbed paws, his tail had a long fin. He swam to the shore, with Ladybug in tow. Ladybug had held on to him with one arm, whilst the other hand was holding her yoyo to her mouth for oxygen. She was one that shoved a blue macaron into his mouth during the fall over the waterfall without getting a chance to power up herself.

As soon as her head was out of the water's surface, she dropped the yoyo. The two dropping down with exhaustion as soon as they had made the dry soil of the shore. With a heavy breath, Chat Noir asked her, "Are you alright, M'lady?"

"I think so, at least we are ali—," she winced in response, holding on her shoulder where there was a broken arrow stuck in the back. It throb painfully.

Chat Noir panicked, "You got shot! Let me help you!"

Ladybug put her hands up, right in front of his face, "Stop, we need to do something about your leg too. You can't pull either of our arrows out with your clumsy paws or mouth for that matter." To her amusement, she had earned glare from her partner. "You wouldn't want to transform back with that stuck in your leg either."

Chat Noir grumbled with annoyance, "Fine, hurry up so I can help you!"

Ladybug sat up and winced. She inspected the impaled arrow in his hind leg, and frowned. "I can't pull it out, I need something sharp like a knife."

Chat Noir scowled, knowing it meant the same about her back shoulder. "What should we do?"

Ladybug sighed, "We need to find Noire, she's got all the supplies we need."

Chat Noir stood up, "But she might have been caught by roman soldiers for all we know."

Ladybug sighed and stood up along with him. "We can only hope." She began to walk, with her good arm over his back for support.

"Claws off." He transformed back into a regular giant black leopard. Chat Noir limped as they walked through the forest.

An hour into their walk, a couple of times Ladybug whistled to summon Noire but there was still no sign of her anywhere. Eventually Noire had found them and neighed in joy. "Noire! You found us! Good girl!" She petted their beloved horse on a muzzle.

Chat Noir was relieved to see their horse in one piece, "She is very loyal. We are lucky to have her."

Ladybug smiled, "Yeah, do you want apples?" she cooed to Noire, receiving a happy bobble head and neighs in response. Ladybug laughed, walking to the saddlebag to take out two apples to give them to Noire. "There you go, double reward for being a good girl." Noire happily devoured her favorite treats.

Chat Noir playful jealous pouted at her partner, "Come on, where's the reward for this kitty? I protected you!"

Ladybug giggled as she took the tools and first aid supplies out of the saddlebag. "You will get your reward, but first we need to get our wounds treated." She walked over to him, "Now lay down on your side, Chaton." Chat Noir whined as he lay down on his side. Ladybug kneeling down and using her tools to remove the arrow without further damaging him.

She successfully removed the arrow from his leg, "There you go, now you can change back." As soon as she said it, Chat Noir quickly said the phrase to de-transform back to Adrien, she saw there were many cuts all over his body. "Oh Minou, you're hurt."

Adrien knew she would be stubborn and insist on fixing him up. "My Lady, let's not worry about me. Please let me take care of you."

Ladybug wanted to protest but saw the look on his face and shut her mouth. "Fine," she whispered as she turned face away from him.

Adrien was happy that she always looked out for him, putting him first before herself. Her actions showed how much she was devoted to him, and it made him love her all the more. He moved behind Ladybug, using tools to attempt to remove an arrow from her back. Ladybug grit her teeth, realizing it is going to be much more painful and hard than she could have imagined. She took one of the rag cloths to her mouth for herself to bite when pain became unbearable.

"It's too deep, almost all the way." Adrien told her.

Ladybug groaned, removing the rag cloth so she could speak "You can't get it out?"

Adrien sighed, "No, I remember reading somewhere in books. Because the arrowhead is jagged, the only way to get it out in the old days was to push it forward; providing no organs are in the way."

Ladybug nodded, "Do it." She placed rag cloth back in mouth to bite.

Adrien didn't like this, not one bit. He was lucky that the arrow in his leg was easier to pull out because it wasn't too deep in. He reluctantly nodded, "Alright, hold on. This will be painful."

Ladybug obeyed, holding onto something to make her firmly stilled. "Here goes nothing." Soon as he said it, he pushed the broken arrow forward to break out of her skin at the front.

Ladybug muffled a scream in pain. Adrien could tell she was in so much pain, and it upset him that he couldn't make it more painless for her. He got the arrow out and got rid of it, checking her wound and seeing the bleed was intense.

Plagg hissed at Adrien, "You need to burn her wound closed!"

Adrien cussed at himself for not having the campfire ready beforehand, quickly grabbing the flint and stone he created a makeshift campfire. Ladybug removed the rag cloth and whispered, "Spots Off." De-transforming back to Marinette.

Tikki saw the state Marinette was in, and began to worry, "Marinette! Are you going to be okay?"

Marinette moved her hand to put pressure on her fresh wound, keeping it from bleeding too much. "I will live," She told Tikki with a wince.

Tikki looked doubtful, and saw that Marinette looked paler, "You don't look good."

Plagg flew around Adrien, pressuring him with a hint of panic "Hurry up kid!"

Adrien got a campfire going and quickly placed an iron knife directly in the fire to get it hot enough. Mentally he begged the knife to hurry up to become white hot so he could use it and help his Lady. Minutes seemed like forever, until finally the knife glowed in a hot white, he quickly took it out of fire.

"Ow ow ow, hot hot!" He exclaimed, the knife handle may not have been burned directly, but it was already hot from the fire heat. He quickly moved the knife edge to press on Marinette's wound.

Without a rag cloth to bite, she did not muffle her scream in pain. Adrien felt like shit making her suffer so much, he knew he had no choice but to stop her bleeding by sealing her wound with a burned knife.

"Forgive me M'lady." He finished sealing her wound closed, then discarded the knife aside.

"There's—" Marinette stopped screaming and now whispered. "Nothing to—" Her head swayed, as though she had a dizzy spell. "Forgive for, Minou." She could barely stay upright.

Adrien panicked, quickly hugging her to prevent her from collapsing. "Let's get you some rest. But we can't stay here. Not with Roman possibly close by."

Marinette could barely nod, collapsing in the safety of his arms. Adrien bandaged her up, along with himself as Tikki and Plagg helped clean stuff up. When Adrien and kwamis got everything ready, he put Marinette onto Noire and then mounted himself right behind her, holding her tightly against his body. "Hang on, my Lady." Noire began tolting deeper into the forest.

Author's Note: Many thanks to Mystic_Raven20 for Beta.