Full discloser, I had to break my 'less than 2,000 words' rule for each chapter on this one. But I don't care (it's only slightly over 2,000) because this was just too much fun to write. I've been wanting to write about Chat Blanc returning for a while now.

Day 26: Chat Blanc

"The Sand Boy just checked in. Now nightmares can begin."

That was the voice that woke Marinette up from her pleasant sleep.

At first, she was panicked, thinking she was just having a bad dream. But after pinching herself, she realized that she was wide awake.

Sand Boy had returned. And just like last time, she got hit with his sand, and she knew what came after that.

She hurried down her loft stairs, then her other stairs to the living room, then out the door and down the stairs that lead to the bakery. Her parents were still up and she just wanted to check on them before she transformed.

"Hey there, princess," a hauntingly familiar voice said from back up the stairs. Marinette stood at the very bottom of the stairs. The front door that lead to the streets was in front of her, the door to the bakery was to her left. Slowly, she turned around to see a feline figure, clad in white, standing at the top of the stairs, staring intensely down at her with icy blue eyes. "You miss me? 'Cause I missed you," he said, grinning like a Cheshire.

Marinette was petrified. Her breathing became labored like she couldn't catch her breathe.

"N-No, no. It-It can't be," she stuttered, unable to look away. Last time she got hit with Sand Boy's sand as Marinette, she got a creepy zombie Adrien who kept professing his love for Chloe to her. While that was terrifying, this was so much worse. Not to mention dangerous. "You're not real. You don't exist anymore!" she yelled, shaking her head, trying to will him out of existence like any other bad dream.

"I exist in you, Marinette," Chat Blanc said, starting to walk down the steps slowly. "In your memories, and in your nightmares." By the time he reached the bottom, Marinette had backed up a bit, almost all the way to the front door. "Why so scared, my precious little lotus?" he asked curiously, stepping even closer to her. "Chat Blanc, loves you. And all he wants is to be with you forever," he whispered before reaching up to her face. But Marinette grabbed the door knob behind her, opened it, and bolted into the streets. Left alone in the stair well, Chat Blanc sighed. "You break my heart, Marinette. But I'll forgive you," he lamented.

No matter. He'll catch up to her in a bit.

He loved the thrill of the hunt anyway.

Unlike the last time this happened, Adrien hadn't been in his room when Sand Boy started sprinkling his sand all over Paris residences.

Chat Noir was out for a late-night run along the rooftops. Lucky for him, not to have been in his room to be potentially hit with the sand and sealed away behind bars like last time.

When he first noticed the people in the streets, running in fear from dinosaurs, giant spiders, ghosts, monsters, and other such terrifying things, the feline hero knew right away what was going on.

"Not this again," he muttered under his breath.

Chat immediately started looking around to find the akuma responsible or see if Ladybug had transformed yet and was on her way into battle. He'd rather find her first so they could both charge in and face Sand Boy together.

As his eyes scanned the skies and streets for either his lady or the akuma, he spotted a familiar figure with bluenette pigtails and light pink pajamas running down the road.

"Marinette?" he wondered out loud. What was she running from? Did her worst nightmare come to life and was chasing her too? Concerned, Chat leapt off in her direction. He scanned the streets for anything following her but he didn't see anything. Still concerned, he jumped off the building and landed right in front of her. "Marinette?" he called as he stood before her. She screamed, clearly very startled already as she came to a stop in front of him.

Marinette just stood there, trying to catch her breath for a moment, until it dawned on her that Chat Noir was right there with her. And her worst nightmare could be closing in on her right now.

"Oh no," she whispered before starting to run down another street to her right.

"Wait, Marinette!" Chat shouted after her, even more confused. Why was she running from him now? "What are you-" he called out to her before actually running after her. "What's wrong?" he asked, running just behind her.

"Don't follow me!" she yelled over her shoulder.

Tears stung Marinette's eyes; from the wind blowing in her face as she ran and also from the thought of being caught.

She couldn't let Chat Noir see him. He was going to catch up to her eventually and Chat couldn't be around her when he did. He couldn't know he existed. Or even used to exist.

"Why not?" he asked. "Marinette!" She didn't reply. Just turned her head forward and kept running. She was clearly terrified and upset. More than he'd ever seen her. He just wanted to help her. If she had a nightmare after her, he'd protect her. Determined, Chat jumped high into the air and landed right in front of his distressed princess again, but this time, he grabbed her wrists to make her stay put. "Marinette!" he hollered to her desperately when she started to struggle.

"No! Let go! You can't-" she cried, still trying to break free. Her tears finally started to fall. She had to get away. Before he showed up.

"I can't what?"

"I think she didn't want you to see me."

Marinette gasped as she and Chat Noir turned their heads up to the top of a lamp post.

Chat Noir was shocked to say the least. It was like looking in a mirror shape-wise, but color-wise, they were exact opposites. White suit, even white hair, and eyes as blue as the clear sky, but stared down at them like frozen daggers.

"What the-" Chat said as he studied this 'person.' "Who the heck are you?"

The new-comer just grinned. "I'm you," he replied. Chat Noir's eyes widened. "Or, I used to be. Now though, I go by Chat Blanc." The white cat leapt off the lamp post and landed on the road with the two. Blanc's eyes turned to the girl. "My precious princess, you have no idea how much it hurts me when you run away like that," he said sadly as he stepped closer to her. Marinette instantly took a step back from him. At the same time, Chat Noir stepped in front of her, putting himself between her and this strange doppelganger. He did not like the way he was eyeing Marinette, and she was clearly scared of him. "Why are you always hurting me, Mari?" Blanc placed one hand on his heart and reached out to her with the other. "Please come back to me so I'll stop hurting," he begged.

"Marinette…is he your nightmare?" Chat Noir asked Marinette without taking his eyes off Blanc. Marinette didn't respond verbally, so he took her frightened silence as a yes.

Chat Blanc looked around their surroundings. The starry night sky above them, the light of the Eiffel Tower just off in the distance. It all made him smile happily. "I had almost forgotten how beautiful Paris used to be before I destroyed it. Especially at night." Chat Noir looked stunned for a moment. What did he mean 'destroyed Paris'? When did he…? He stopped wondering on that subject when he started talking to Marinette again. "Come on, princess. Let's go for a stroll in the moonlight."

Chat Blanc gestured out to Marinette and tried to take another step closer to her, but Chat took out his baton, extended it into a bo staff, and took a fighting stance.

"She's not going anywhere with you," he practically hissed.

Chat Blanc stopped in his tracks and started at the black cat bitterly. "I know you're her little hero buddy in this world, Noir. But while I'm here, she's MINE," he growled, taking out his own baton—which was also completely white—and extended it into a bo staff.

Chat Noir growled himself. "She doesn't belong to anyone!" he cried before charging forward to attack.

Blanc easily blocked his attack. Noir swung again and again. The two batons clashed several times before they were locked together, Noir and Blanc pushing against the other while staring each other down.

"You don't know this, but I'm from a place where we were in love. Until Hawkmoth akumatized me and ruined everything," Blanc sneered in Noir's face. Noir faulted a bit. Was he talking about him and Marinette? They were in love? This guy was a dream. Were they in love in this dream but he got akumatized and went mad? "I ended up destroying him, Paris, and the rest of the world. Including her. The love of my life," he added solemnly, like he was still mourning.

"What about Ladybug?" Noir asked curiously.

If Marinette was the love of his life and she was apparently destroyed with the rest of Paris, was Ladybug as well?

Chat Blanc paused and gave him a knowing grin. "She was gone too," he said. Noir could sort of sense that there was more information around the subject but Blanc was keeping it to himself. Then his blue eyes darted back to the bluenette behind his opponent. "But Marinette's right here," he smirked before reaching down and grabbing Noir's baton, then pulled him over his shoulder, and threw him right at the lamp post that was behind him. But he wasn't done yet. "Mega-Cataclysm!" Blanc held out one hand, summoning a small sphere of blue energy and hurled it up at a billboard on top of the building behind Noir. The intense power exploded, sending the giant ad crashing down where Chat Noir stood.

"CHAT!" Marinette screamed. She wanted to run to him. Dig him out of the rubble and get him somewhere safe, but her path was suddenly blocked by Chat Blanc.

"Now, where were we?" he said to her charmingly before grabbing her and jumping off to the rooftops.

He ran for a minute, clutching his beloved in his arms. Until he finally stopped at the Garden of the Trocadero.

He let Marinette down and allowed her to admire the view. The garden was lit up with street lights, then across the Pont d'lena bridge, to the fully lit up Eiffel Tower.

"We used to come here together all the time," Blanc said as he admired everything before them. "We'd get ice cream from Andre and then I'd watch you sketch in your book for hours. It's even more beautiful than I remember." Blanc then looked back at her. "And so are you, princess," he added.

Marinette was trembling a bit. She had forgotten her tiny purse and Tikki at home so she couldn't transform. Even though she technically could in front of him if her kwami was present. She had been so scared, she wasn't thinking when she ran off. All she could think about was getting as far away from Chat Blanc as possible.

It would take a while before her kwami found her again.

"Why didn't you tell Chat Noir who I really am?" she asked timidly. She heard him talking to her Chat. He mentioned being akumatized, their love, and destroying everything, but not that she was Ladybug.

Chat Blanc frowned. "Because if he knew, with Hawkmoth still out there, the same thing would just happen again. He'd be akumatized like me and I'd lose you all over again," he explained. This made sense to Marinette, and she was grateful he thought that way so he didn't reveal her identity to her Chat. Blanc stepped in closer to her, wrapped an arm around to her back and pulled her flush against his chest. "You know why I can't let you go. You'll run off somewhere private, transform, then defeat Sand Boy—again, and I'll disappear. And I'm not ready to go yet. I like it out here," he whispered in her ear. Blanc pulled his head slightly back and kissed her cheek. Marinette flinched a bit at the quick peck. "I can actually touch you." He tried to caress her face with his other hand but Marinette kept turning away, her eyes closed as tightly as possible. "Don't be scared. I love you, Marinette. Stay with me," he cooed.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

From out of nowhere, Chat Noir came vaulting down to them.

"Chat?!" Marinette yelled, surprised to see him still up and about.

Finally, she seized the opportunity and pushed herself away from Blanc just as Chat Noir landed between them, his baton drawn to fight.

"Marinette, RUN!" Chat Noir yelled to Marinette.

As much as she didn't want to leave these two alone together, she needed to find Tikki, and she definetly couldn't transform with Chat Noir around. So she ran.

Then she could defeat Sand Boy and this whole nightmare would be over.

Sorry the ending is a bit abrupt. I was already exceeding the word limit. Maybe I'll expand on this someday.

Just so u guys know; Chat Blanc didn't talk more about everything that actually happened that lead to his akumatization because he's a being born from Marinette's memory of him from her nightmares, and she didn't know everything that happened from that time line.

See u tomorrow =^.^=