12:55PM
Chat still isn't quite sure how to address Ladybug after he asks her whether she's okay or not. He still has no actual prepared response. It's only dead air between them. It comes out more of an exclamation rather than a question.
It was a need to know whether Marinette requires further assistance or not. Or if Gabriel is free to direct his attention back to Stoneheart who was barreling towards the Eiffel tower.
For a moment, Chat isn't sure whether he can speak properly or not. His nose is streaming blood and a throbbing pain inside of his head is enough to make his eyes water. "Please, don't lie to me, Marinette Dupain Cheng." he says, gruffly. "It's a waste of time pretending."
"You aren't the same Gabriel," Plagg says, handing back the notes Gabriel wrote after his post trauma. "It was you. But it's not you. You're standing here as Gabriel. But those also weren't your decisions or your life. For all I know the universe got some lines mixed up and you found out about the miraculous too soon."
"Too soon?" Gabriel says, slamming a fist on his desk.
"It was probably just a glitch in the universe." Plagg says, floating just above the rims of Gabriel's eye glasses. "No biggie. Glitches are perfectly harmless."
"That's somehow supposed to make me feel better?" Gabriel asked, and the uncertainty. The uncharacteristic emotion of his voice edging near the hysterical forces Plagg to look back at Gabriel in surprise.
"As I said before, glitches aren't a big deal." Plagg says. It bears repetition. "But you sure are making a deal out of it when it doesn't have to be. Just go with the flow. Vibe. You know, chill out for once in your life. MELLOW OUT, MAN!"
Gabriel remembers a cognizant thought that somehow bled into his mind's eye.
Marinette's voice remains soft and gentle. Her voice descends over Gabriel like a fog and rolls over this memory as he desperately clings to it as though it were a very lifeline that grounds him back into reality.
"These aren't dreams, Marinette," Chat says, using reason a situation like this could only permit. "These are not glitches, or malfunctions. Neither my mind or yours are fracturing. We're human! We probably don't have much time left before Stoneheart accomplishes his goal."
"This can't be!" Ladybug says, raising her voice. Although it sounds a lot more like a sob. "Since when have super villains ever existed? Fiction! THESE THINGS AREN'T REAL! THESE THINGS WERE NEVER REAL!" She still doesn't have the belief within herself to trust Gabriel's word nor Tikki entirely.
Before Chat could think of anything else to say he soon felt another wave of dizziness hit him.
Only this time it was much stronger.
He groaned as he braced himself against a nearby wall.
"They're not real," Chat says, softly. "Superhero fiction is not real but we are. I guess when you think about it. We have to take most things including the notion that other conscious beings exist within our universe, on faith alone."
And he asks Ladybug again if she's okay even after he's aware of her answer. "Are you sure? Are you really sure about that? Are you sure you're feeling okay or are you lying to me again?"
"No, I'm not…" Ladybug mutters.
"Come again?"
"..."
"I still can't hear you. C'mere, Marinette, look at me," Chat cups her face in his large square hands. Forcing her to tilt her head upwards. He made sure neither of them were able to break eye contact with one another. "You're going to be okay. It's going to be okay-"
"No, it won't be."
"Trust the process. We're not only Chloe's last hope but your classmate Ivan."
"I don't know…" Ladybug says, with hopeless indecision. "I dunno, you know? Destiny? Or is it fate? Why us, you know?"
There's another long drawn out pause, and then. "Who knows."
He wouldn't outright tell Marinette after he was released from the hospital. How nightmares robbed him of a restful night's sleep either.
"We do the best we can with what we're given."
"Do you ever think this will be over soon? So things will get back to normal again?" Ladybug says,
"Will find the way." Chat says, with an encouraging smile.
1:33PM
Agreste Mansion
Gabriel's studio
Adrien felt his smartphone buzz in his pocket.
"Adrien, where is your father?" Nathalie asks her son. Looking around the atelier for any signs of her husband. "He really hasn't been himself lately." she added, concerned for his whereabouts.
Nino - Turn on the television.
Adrien - What are you talking about?
1:45PM
Eiffel Tower
Unable to suppress an alarmed yelp as Stoneheart's hand clenched tighter. "Ivan," Chloe wheezed out. "Don't do this! SOMEONE HELP ME!"
"Don't worry everything is going to be alright!" Ladybug screams back at Chloe as she watches Stoneheart climb up the Eiffel tower nearly reaching its summit.
Chat was doing his best to stand upright after he touched down on the second floor of the Eiffel tower. Only his body was tiring much too quickly and so it was becoming increasingly difficult to summon more strength to keep up with his partner Ladybug.
"Chat Noir, are you okay?" Marinette says, resting a hand on her partner's back. "Maybe you should let me take care of the rest."
Ladybug could feel Chat's erratic heartbeats.
"I'll be fine." Chat says, inhaling lungfuls of air to try and steady himself.
"Chat Noir this isn't time to exert yourself!" Ladybug warned.
"When this is over I'll worry." Chat tells her.
"You'll stop being so stubborn?" Ladybug says, warily. She sounds more shy than fearful.
Chat gives Ladybug a bewildered and questioning look in response. "Trust me," Chat rasps. "My wife Nathalie isn't going to be happy about this either."
Chat's jaw clenched tightly as he rose up to stand with Ladybug. But as he did his body protested. He moaned softly from discomfort. His muscles were still pretty sore after yesterday.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Ladybug asks him, but it only manages to ignite Chat's bright green cat-like eyes.
Chat quietly hesitated for a moment, but then forced himself to push his fears aside.
He ran past Ladybug and leapt off the guardrail.
"Nathalie definitely isn't going to like this one bit." Ladybug says, in a whisper.