Chapter 9

Mais pourquoi si mon cœur est ailleurs

Je sens dans mon âme une chaleur

Un frisson que me porte bonheur

"This is all your fault!" Ladybug snapped at Chat Noir.

"My fault? How is this my fault?" Chat, who had been kneeling next to the body of the unnamed Akuma victim, stood up abruptly.

"You're always boasting of being the fastest of the two, you should have caught her!"

"Well, you're the one that has a yo-yo, you could have caught her even faster than me!"

"I was busy trying to clean up a mess!"

"Well, now we have a bigger mess to clean!" Chat growled

"And whose fault is that?!"

"Children, you need to calm down and do what needs to be done," Master Fu intervened, "call an ambulance and explain what happened."

But it turned out it wasn't necessary because an ambulance was already on its way, as was the news helicopter. Apparently, everyone had seen her fall. In a matter of seconds, a crowd of reporters had gathered around them, away from the body as the paramedic took her away.

"What happened to her, Ladybug?" One reporter asked

"Why did she fall?" Growled another.

"What do you have to say to her family?"

Overwhelmed by the amount of questioning reporters, Ladybug was left speechless.

Noticing Ladybug's despair, Chat Noir grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the mob of reporters. But she was still furious at him, so as soon as they got to a secluded place, she snatched her hand from his grasp and fled in the other direction

o0o

They were trending on the news and social media for the next couple of days, the fall of the Akuma victim had become viral and the news channels were talking about them as Paris' greatest failure.

"Are we all really safe in this city?" Nadja Chamack reported that night, "Not even Ladybug and Chat Noir can solve any problem! Don't be bemused It's just the news!"

Even the Ladyblog was talking about it. Thankfully Alya wasn't as severe as the other media. Her post was more of an apology to the Family of the victim who was apparently called Adelynn Mason, a skydiver diagnosed with vertigo.

"So that's what she meant when she said Hawk Moth healed her," Adrien told himself as he kept watching the news.

That day he pretended to have a cold to skip school. It wasn't like him to deliberately skip school, but today he felt so absolutely terrible that he'd rather stay at his cold empty house than having to face another human being. He didn't sleep the previous night either, because every time he closed his eyes all he could see was Adelynn's lifeless face.

Marinette was in no better shape, the memory of the bloodstained face made her insides turn. She didn't have to pretend to be sick that day because she actually threw up several times.

Every time the news popped up she felt helpless and frustrated, after all, it was her duty to heal and fix everything and everyone after a fight, but she had just learned that she couldn't bring a dead person back to life, how was she supposed to deal with that? How many times did she put Chat's life in danger? How many other lives have been in danger in the past? How careless had she been? This had been the first time she saw someone die in her watch, but the thought of there ever being more... she didn't know how to cope with that.

Nothing seemed to cheer her up, not even when Alya and her friends came to check on her. She simply told them that she was sick with food potioning. To make her lie more believable, when the girls started gossiping about Adelynn, her stomach churned and she had to run to the bathroom, not being able to control her nausea.

That was the way their lives went for the next couple of days, except, that Adrien, not being able to pretend being sick for much longer, was forced to go to school the third day after the tragic accident.

When people stared and asked about his eyebags he would only answer, "I couldn't sleep much," though of course, that was an understatement, he didn't sleep at all!

But as these two were suffering miserably, Alba's life continued. We needed to find Hawk Moth, now more than ever. I decided to continue my searches, and today, my beloved list brought me to the Agreste mansion. My target was Gabriel Agreste, who had been Akumatised just a few months ago.

I reached a house near the mansion and pulled out the little note pad I had, with the names of the akumatized victims.

"Alright, Mr. Agreste-" I checked his name on the list, "-let's see what you've been up to this past year," I said to myself, taking the middle prong of my trident to use it as a telescope.

He wasn't in the living room, or the dining room, or the kitchen, that's for sure. Ah, there he was, in his office...

"Boo!" I screamed as somebody came at me from behind.

"Oh my God, Chat?! what on earth do you think you're doing?!" he laughed at my reaction.

"I could ask you the same question, Sirena. I saw you from my bedroom's window and decided to pay you a little visit," He smiled, though the smile didn't reach his eyes, "So, now's your turn, what are you doing here out in the open?"

"My job?" I told him matter-of-factly.

"Looking for Hawk Moth? You already know I'm not him,"

"Yeah, but your dad's on the list of the akumatized victims, so I needed to check that out," He nodded, but I could see that something was bugging him, no pun intended. "I can see her face in your head,"

"I haven't seen her since Cloudjumper," he hid his face in his arms, "I wonder how she's coping."

"You haven't been yourself lately either, you even missed a couple of days at school, and it's really not like you,"

"I'm not feeling like myself," Thoughts of desolation and desperation flooded his mind.

"You're not alone kitty, you have me," I chimed

"Not to be rude or anything, but you're not exactly the company I had in mind," He shrugged.

"Well, you were the one who came up and scared me!"

"I thought you can predict when someone is coming your way," he said with a crooked smile

"Hardly, I just pay attention to my surroundings, but today you found me in a vulnerable position," He elbowed me smiling, but I could still see him hurting. "Give her time, Chaton,"

"Of course, it's just... I need her more than anything right now, we're a team, we share our victories as much as we should share our defeats, and this, was our first real defeat," He lamented.

"I get it Chat, I really do, but teams are formed by individuals, and sometimes they need to deal with stuff on their own before they can come together..." I was cut out by the sound of an explosion coming from behind us, followed by car alarms and screams, many screams.

We looked at each other, knowing exactly what the other one was thinking.

"I guess you will get to see your lady today after all," I smiled at him.

"Alright, I have work to do, you, find a place to hide and detransform,"

"I know my place Chaton, now go, Paris needs it's heroes," I smiled warmly at him and he returned the gesture, disappearing in the night.

Looking back at this exact moment I wonder, how different would things be if Chat hadn't appeared? Or if I hadn't checked Gabriel Agreste's name before checking his thoughts? But I guess we'll never know.

o0o

Back to the story. The Akuma turned out to be a guy named Pyro, with the power to control and throw balls of fire. Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived just in time to prevent him from burning a building with people inside it. They dodged his attacks but Chat, glad to be able to see his Lady again tried to start a conversation,

"Is it hot in here, or is it just me?" As if a punishment for his bad joke, Pyro threw a ball of fire his direction, and Chat, being distracted by Ladybug, wasn't fast enough to dodge it. The ball hit him on the face, the only part of his body that wasn't protected by the suit.

"Chat Noir!" Ladybug yelled as she saw him crutch in pain,

"I'm fine," he assured her, although an ugly burn was visible all through his cheek.

Ladybug, unsatisfied with his answer called her lucky charm, which was a life jacket. Looking around she understood what they needed to do.

They were close to a bridge, so Ladybug convinced Chat to lure Pyro to it and destroy it when he reached the middle. Once he did, the three of them fell into the river. He was still able to manipulate fire being wet, but Ladybug and Chat Noir were safe from his attacks. They sawm to where he was and pushed him underwater.

Chat Noir's injuries started to sting, and even though he tried not to complain, Ladybug noticed that he flinched every time a wave of water washed over his face. She hurried and slid the bracelet on Pyro's hand, then used her yo-yo to take herself out of the water, break the bracelet, releasing the Akuma and purifying it, all this while Chat dragged the detransformed Akuma victim out of the water. Then, when Ladybug used her healing power, all the fires around the city were put out, the bridge was fixed and Chat's burnt cheek was restored to its original glory.

He gleamed noticing that the stinging was gone and that they had won another they made sure that there were no casualties, Chat said

"Pound it?" Expecting a fist bump, but closed her eyes and pinched her nose,

"What were you thinking?" She hissed.

"What?" he asked genuinely confused.

"You're reckless Chat Noir! You're always the one getting us in trouble! You're always getting hurt! Why can you be more careful?!" She snapped at him,

"My lady, I..." He tried to say something, but the beeping of their miraculouses prevented them from doing so. Ladybug huffed and left with an angry frown hidden under her mask.

Chat, on the other hand, stood there, looking at her go, wondering what was going through her mind, she'd never said anything like that to him. True, he got a couple bruises, but nothing that her miraculous couldn't fix, right?

"Give her time," Chat was startled by the voice of an old man coming from behind him.

"Master Fu? You're here again?" Chat Noir let out.

"I'm always around, you'll see me if you pay enough attention,"

"That's... not true," he huffed.

"Perhaps it is, perhaps it's not. Anyways my house is nearby," Master Fu pointed the direction of his residence, chat nodded, but his face fell as he sighed.

"Imagine having the power to heal and to repair anything you can ever think of-" Master started, Chat nodded trying to follow his train of thought, "-and suddenly you discover that you were wrong, that you can't heal everything, and that your power is useless when it's needed the most," Chat scratched his head beginning to understand. "That is how Ladybug is feeling right now, I know it's still hard for you, but she carries a great weight on her shoulders,"

"I know it's a heavy responsibility, but I wish she'd let me share the burden with her."

"For everything, there's a season, give time to time, patience is always rewarded," Chat sighed and nodded, just when his ring started to beep.

"One minute! Thank you for the advice, Master Fu, but I gotta run," he blurted out, master Fu nodded in response. Chat pulled out his baton and started jumping from building to building, until, while he was in the middle of a leap, his transformation wore off completely, making him lose balance crashing disastrously against a chimney, then roll several feet on the roof tiles. He moaned as pain crawled all over his arm, his right arm, as well as on his knee.

"Kid, kid are you okay?" Came Plagg's breathless voice.

"Yeah, I just..." He flinched holding his right hand, "I'm just glad I didn't fall off the building." Plagg sighed in relief and then collapsed in Adrien's lap. "I'm sorry Plagg, I shouldn't have pushed you that hard."

"It's alright, just give me my cheese," Plagg growled. Adrien checked on the pocket where he usually kept the cheese but it was empty, much to Adrien's despair.

"Oh no!" He exclaimed checking desperately in every other pocket he had, "I... I'm sorry Plagg, I think I forgot to restock." But Plagg didn't say anything, instead, he just curled into a ball, rubbing his belly. "Plagg?" Still no response, "Oh no, I'm so sorry Plagg, don't worry, I'll find a way out of here," He looked around to see if he could find a way off the building, but he couldn't see any. What he did see was something else, a familiar place, a bakery, right next to where he landed. The only thing separating him from it was a small street, but now he didn't have his staff with him.

"This is gonna hurt," he whispered to himself. "Hold on tight, Plagg, I'll get your cheese." Adrien stood up, but a wave of pain washed over him as he tried to stand on his left foot. Fighting the tears he bit his lips, took a deep breath and taking some impulse jumped straight into Marinette's balcony. He was about to make it, until he didn't make it, at least not entirely, he was barely able to grab on to the railing... with his bad hand. Adrien couldn't help an agonized groan escape him, yet the Adrenaline in his system was all he needed. He gathered all the strength he could manage and thrusted himself into the balcony.

Now the pain was stronger than ever, but he managed to crawl on the balcony collapsing against the wall. His breath was coming in short and quick gasps. He shut his eyes tight, but he knew he had to get the cheese for Plagg if he ever wanted to get better, so he knocked on Marinette's bedroom trapdoor, making sure to stay hidden behind some plants. When he saw the door flung open he yelled:

"Stop, don't come close!"

"Chat Noir? What is it, what's wrong?" Marinette asked with a worried expression.

"I'm... not presentable?" She fell silent for a moment before continuing,

"What do you mean? Are you not transformed?" She said sarcastically,

"Well..."

"Oh my God, you're not transformed? Are you nuts? What are you doing here?"

"Marinette," he moaned making her fall silent again, "I can... explain everything, but I need you to... do me... a favor," he said breathing rapidly.

"Wha... are you... are you hurt?"

"Mari, that's not important right now, but can you please help me?" He said more sternly now.

"All... alright, what do you need?" She whispered after a pause.

"I need you to feed my kwami, he likes cheese," He said simply trying to prevent another moan from escaping his lips.

"Aaaah... sure, I'll be right back," Those minutes waiting for her felt like an eternity, for both Adrien and Plagg, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes until Marinette came back, though she didn't come out this time, instead she just pushed a tray with a variety of cheeses onto the floor, "I didn't know which one he liked, so I brought all of them," came her muffled voice from under the trapdoor.

Adrien grabbed Plagg out of his jacket and placed him on top of the cheese. Plagg gasped at the majestic sight, he spun in the air and looked ad Adrien with dreamy eyes, exclaiming, "Marry her!" in a tiny voice before diving into the tray. This made Adrien giggle but the effort made his abdomen hurt, so he just sat still, waiting for the kwami to finish his meal. It didn't take him long, and soon Plagg was ready to transform Adrien.

Once the transformation was complete, he felt a little better, but his hand, foot, and abdomen still hurt. However, he still knocked on the trapdoor and went into Marinette's room.

"Chat Noir! You're bleeding!" was her greeting. Adrien touched his forehead, and it felt sticky.

"Just a scratch," but then he touched a particularly sore spot, and flinched. She flinched with him and motioned for him to sit on her bed.

"What happened to you? Didn't Ladybug's miraculous heal you?" She examined his forehead and went down the stairs of her bed.

"It did, trust me, this kitty has seen tougher days, but this happened after she fixed everything," he said. When Marinette didn't say anything he continued, "I was on my way home but I couldn't hold the transformation for long, so basically I detransformed mid-air while jumping over a building," Marinette came back to her bed holding a first aid kit, "Why do you have a first aid kit in your bedroom?"

"I'm clumsy," She answered nonchalantly, in such a cold tone that Chat didn't say anything else, "where does it hurt?" She asked opening the small white box.

"My hand and my ankle," he held them up as much as he could, "my abs hurt a little but you don't want to deal with those," He flashed a grin, but if she noticed she chose to ignore his attempt at gallantry as she was too busy preparing the bandages. Chat, noticing what she was about to do, he took off his glove to show a swollen red hand, but he was still able to move it, which meant it wasn't broken. It was great news to Chat but not to Marinette, instead, at the sight of the hand, she closed her eyes shut and bit her lip.

"Why do you do this kind of thing?" She fumed without looking at him.

"What?"

"Why do you put yourself in this kind of situation? You're always putting yourself in danger, Ladybug is not always able to save you! Why do you keep doing things like this?!"

"You say it as if I did it on purpose. Mari, you're forgetting, I'm a superhero, bruises and stuff like this happen, they're just occupational hazards,"

"Yeah, as long as Ladybug can heal you! And as long as you're transformed! What were you thinking?!"

"Gee, you sound like Ladybug" he mumbled, "Princesss, I'm not a china doll without the transformation, I can take care of myself..."

"Oh sure, I can see that!" She pointed at him, "And then you keep putting yourself in danger to protect Ladybug, and you keep getting hurt and you... you.. you could die Chat, what if something terrible happens to you? What if it's something that Ladybug can't fix!" She barked as a tear rolled from her cheek turning her face away to hide it.

"Don't worry about that, remember I have 9 lives! Besides, it's my job to protect Ladybug as much as it's hers to protect me, it just so happens that she gets in tighter spots than I do. Sometimes I have to risk a lot just to save her," he explained lightheartedly, but this only worked to infuriate her even more,

"Well don't! I'd much rather that she dies before you do!" She cried,

"What? Marinette, you don't mean that. Ladybug is much too precious, and she's the only one able to purify akumas, Paris would be lost without her, nobody cares what happens to me..."

"I care!" She yelled, "I freaking care!" she punched him on his chest not being able to hold the tears any longer, "how dare you do this kind of thing?" She hit him again, leaving Chat in shock, "How could I live without your stupid puns! You stupid cat! Why are you like this? why?!" She kept yelling and hitting him until Chat couldn't take it anymore and caught her between his arms, resting his chin on her head, at first she resisted, but she settled into the hug slowly, letting her tears roll. "Stupid cat," she repeated in a sob,

"I know," He soothed her stroking her hair, while he let her cry in silence.

"Don't say that Chat," she added after several minutes of sobbing and crying,

"Mh? Don't say what?" She broke the embrace and faced him,

"Don't say that nobody would care if something happened to you, cause I would care." She looked at him dead in the eye. Her gaze was so strong that Chat couldn't even make a sarcastic comeback, he just stared at her, just then noticing how close together they were.

He noticed that her cheeks were covered in tears, so he used his naked hand to wash away a tear, which only brought back more, so Chat got her closer to his chest again, this time lying down on the bed,

"Do you hear that?" He whispered hoarsely,

"What?" She asked in a broken sigh

"My heart is beating, it's telling you I'm alive, nothing terrible happened to me, I'm here." He felt and heard her sigh. She placed her hand around his waist and hugged him tightly, causing him to grunt in pain, so Marinette loosened her hold on him. When she did, he felt a void in his heart so he took her hand to put it back on its place.

He couldn't understand why, but being around her made him feel complete, and being away from her hurt him more than the bruises he had gotten. Yet he mentally slapped himself erasing the complacent smile from his face. He couldn't think like that, he loved Ladybug, and it didn't matter if she wasn't talking to him anymore, he still loved her!

But then, why did Marinette's company feel so warm, it felt as if she was meant to be there, between his arms.

"Chat..." Marinette whispered in a tiny voice.

"Mh?" He looked down at her.

"Let me tend to your bruises," He let out a long sigh and loosened his grip around her, but it took Marinette a minute to let go. In fact, it seemed to Chat that she held on tighter before fully releasing him.

She sat up wiping a few tears with her hand and straightening herself, Chat on the other hand sat up with a little more effort.

"Give me your hand," she held her hand for him, and he placed his naked palm on hers, "How did you manage to take off the glove without taking off your ring?"

"Magic," He sang matter-of-factly making Marinette smile, though her smile didn't reach her eyes. She examined the hand and then applied an icy cream before wrapping the wrist with a bandage.

"Done!" She proclaimed when she was satisfied with her job. "Now give me your foot." She held out her hand for his foot, but when he took off his boot she immediately put her hand on her nose, "oh my gosh, Chat! Your feet smell like cheese!"

"Don't look at me, that's Plagg's fault!" He defended himself, "He's the one that eats that smelly cheese all the time!" She looked at him in disbelief but resigned to her fate. She took a deep breath and held it in, then took his foot and got to work. Chat squinted at her, "It can't be that bad!"

"Well then, you wrap it up!" She told him letting go of the foot and letting out her breath. Chat tried to finish up the wrapping, but his bruised hand wouldn't let him, so Marinette had to finish it up anyway. She then stood on her knees and started to remove the hair from Chat's forehead using a wet cloth to clean the blood.

"Well, you were right about something," She sat and started to look for something in the first aid kit, "It's just a scratch, let me just put some ointment and a Band-Aid. You should be good as new," She smiled still not looking at him, so when she motioned to apply the ointment on his forehead he held her wrist forcing her to look at him,

"I promise nothing bad is going to happen." He started smiling at her, to which she just nodded and continued working on the bandage.

"You can't promise that..."

"Marinette, do you trust me?" She stopped working and looked at him,

"You know I do."

"Then believe me when I tell you, I can take care of myself, and I know that whenever I can't I'll have you to watch my back,"

"Just as long as you keep your shoes on," She stared at him with a smile on her eyes.

"You mean this shoe?" He picked his boot from the floor and shoved it at Marinette, who started screaming for him to stop, but she was laughing, finally!

"You did it Chat," She said while holding her belly from laughing, "You made me laugh."

"No, you made me laugh, I... I've had a rough couple of days and it's nice just to hang out with you," She smiled at him, honestly this time, but then she noticed that the wound on his forehead was starting to bleed again,

"Let me finish with that," she pointed to his forehead and stood on her knees to put the Band-Aid in place. When she was still working, Chat winced in pain and looked up to her, only to find out how close together they were again, but this time it was different, it was as if something was pulling them closer together, and a part of him wanted to close the space between them. A part of him wanted to taste her rosy lips, but another part of him knew that he shouldn't. So he didn't.

o0o

That night, for the first time for what felt like ages, instead of seeing the lifeless face of the Akuma victim, all he could think about was Marinette's rosy cheeks and the way her lips matched with them. Her lips, he probably stared at them for longer than he should have, because now, Adelynn Mason was no longer the reason why he couldn't sleep.

But why if my heart is elsewhere

I feel warmth in my soul?

A thrill that brings me happiness.

[Happy new year everyone! Luz here!

I know, I've been lost these past few weeks, but I blame it on the holidays!

Anyways during my break, I went back to my old chapters and noticed there were several mistakes, so I've been revisiting and fixing them.

If you don't want to go back and see what I've changed, it's mostly paragraph breaks and grammatical errors. There's one more thing though, and it's about the timing. I did some digging and it turns out Marinette is in the last year of the lycée at the beginning of the series, which means it's only been a year since the beginning of the series and my fic. Sorry for that ya'll.

Also if you see any updates from me any day other than a Thursday, disregard them, that'll be just me polishing my previous chapters.

SDG

Peace.]