A/N Thank you for all your comments, favourites, follows and support! And once again thank you to RoninReverie for all their help! Hope you guys enjoy! Xxxxxxxxx

….

At first Nathalie thought it was her eyes straining without her glasses until she heard the cries of confusion from her kidnappers.

"It must be another of those damn akuma attack." John said as the world around them turned to one of black and white. "At least it will keep the cops and those superheroes off our backs."

Nathalie allowed herself a secret smile. Her kidnappers were so screwed.

"I would let me go if I were you. You don't want to get on the wrong side my boss. He is a very powerful man."

John hmphed.

"I know that sweetheart. Why do you think we kidnapped you?"

Nathalie was careful to hide her emotions. Oh, they had no idea how powerful her boss could be.

….

Eventually Chat Noir and Ladybug arrived at where the suspected akuma villain was last seen. This area of the city was a lot more derelict with abandoned houses that had smashed windows and were covered in cardboard. Again, Chat Noir thought this was strange for Hawk Moth. Usually he targeted Paris' most well-known locations to attract their attention.

"Maybe he's planning a sneak attack?" He suggested.

"Maybe." Ladybug said although she didn't seem convinced either. Not that they had any other ideas. "Come on let's keep looking, Alya's blog spotted him here only a few minutes ago. He's got to be around here somewhere."

Chat tried to concentrate as they searched the area, but his thoughts kept circling back to Nathalie. He still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad had happened to her. It had crossed his mind that maybe she was the akuma victim. But he doubted that since she had been missing all day while the villain had only shown up now and besides his appearance didn't appear to match Nathalie's. Every minute they spent searching for this villain that apparently didn't want to be found was time they could have spent finding her. He hoped that by the time they did defeat this man it wouldn't be too late.

"There!" Ladybug shouted waking him out of his thoughts. His eyes followed where her finger was pointed to spot a square shaped shadow walking along the sunlit street below. The pair jumped in front of him.

"It's over ….err …. whatever your name is!" Chat Noir cried.

"The name is Cœur l'fantôme. And I don't have time for this." He said, his voice sounding like he'd smoked an entire pack of cigars or that he hadn't used it in a long time. Instead of fighting them he moved to the side of the street where it was in darkness. As soon as he touched the shadow, his body seemed to melt into it as though he was becoming part of it until he disappeared.

"Well that was odd." Chat Noir stated. Hawk Moth himself might be a coward, always hiding… wherever he was hiding. But he had no issues sending out his minions to do his dirty work. Why would he have them run away?

"Maybe whoever Cœur l'fantôme really is, isn't following Hawk Moth's orders and is instead doing what he wants." Ladybug suggested, although people weren't usually able to resist Hawk Moth's orders for that long. Eventually they all tried to assist him in getting their Miraculous. So why wasn't he? Unless…

"Maybe he wants something other than our Miraculous?" Ladybug said. Chat smiled. He loved it when she finished his thoughts.

"Like what?"

"I don't know." Ladybug sighed before closing her fist in determination. "But we have to stop him before he gets it."

…..

"I'm telling you Alya it's too dangerous. And besides Ladybug and Chat Noir are here now." Nino said, pointing at the superheroes leaping across the nearby rooftops.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah but they didn't defeat him, and I think they've lost track of him again."

Nino stared back up at the two heroes to realise that their directions did seem to be random.

"Come on." Alya said "let's try to help them find him. And if I do get into trouble I know that you'll be there to protect me."

"But what if I can't'!" Nino cried the frustration he'd felt since her sister had been akumatized tumbling out. He turned away unable to look at her, afraid that he would see her disappointment. "The only reason I was able to save you that day was because of my Miraculous. Without it I'm useless. I can't protect you."

"Hey." Alya said gently. She walked around to his front then cupped his chin to make him look her in the eye. "You are not useless. You are an incredible friend, DJ and boyfriend. And I know that Miraculous or not, you would do everything you could to help me. Just as I would do anything to help you."

Nino placed his hand over hers.

"Thanks. I needed to hear that."

He then brought his forehead closer until it was pressed against hers.

"I love you." He said out loud for the first time.

Her eyes widened briefly before she nuzzled her nose against his.

"I love you too."

The pair shared a kiss that made the world feel like it was in colour again.

"Come on." Alya said. "The sooner we track this guy down, the sooner we can get can back to our date."

Nino smiled. He liked that plan.

….

They had been searching from the surrounding rooftops for a while when Chat Noir suggested they checked the Ladyblog again.

Ladybug opened it up on her yo-yo. The blog's last update was from a few seconds ago of a blurred picture of what looked like Cœur l'fantôme. Chat recognised the building behind the man from the street they'd just passed.

The pair raced back there to find him staring at something on the floor of the street. Chat smiled. Finally, they had him.

"It's over Cœur l'fantôme. Whatever game you're playing we're not interested in being players. So we will stop you before you reach your endgame." Ladybug cried.

….

Gabriel growled. Ladybug and Chat Noir would never understand that the end outweighs the means. They were too stubbornly stuck in their own world of black and white to realise that all he was trying to do was save the people he cared about.

For a moment the thought materialised in his mind that he could ask the pair for help but he quickly dissipated it. Using them would only attract more attention which could put Nathalie in danger. Not that he trusted them or their competence for a second. And besides asking them for help to rescue Gabriel Agrestte's assistant would be an unmissable clue to her secret identity.

He concluded that he wouldn't be able to save Nathalie with these two brats in the way. This left him no choice but to take them out of the picture. He smiled to himself. That wasn't a bad price to pay.

….

Chat was worried Cœur l'fantôme was going to run away again when he looked up the reveal the pasty white face hidden beneath his wide rimmed hat who's painted lips peeled back into a challenging snarl. He then charged towards them.

Chat Noir and Ladybug got into their battle stances b=prepared for the oncoming attack. However, when he was only a few feet away Cœur l'fantôme jumped into the shadow next to them and disappeared.

"Where did he go?" Ladybug exclaimed.

Chat was about to answer when someone punched his cheek from the side. It felt like the full force of the building next to him had crashed into him. He flew across the street into the house opposite. If it wasn't for his superpowers he'd be dead. He stood up on shaking feet and briefly saw the arm of Cœur l'fantôme standing near to where he'd been before he disappeared back into the shadows.

"Are you alright?" Ladybug asked rushing over to him. She brought her hand up as though to cup his injured cheek before she seemed to realise what she was doing and hastily pulled it back to her side.

"Just a lucky hit m'lady." He said, smiling regardless of the stinging pain it caused him. He tried to not think about what almost happened and instead focus on how to defeat this villain.

Before he could suggest anything Cœur l'fantôme reappeared from shadows and sprinted across the path of light. He swiped the bottom of his coat across ladybug's legs causing her to fall. Chat caught her before she could hit the ground. He missed the man disappear as he stared into Ladybug's beautiful blue eyes.

"What's the matter kitty cat? Cat got your tongue?" Ladybug asked. It was only then that he realised that he had been staring at her in his arms for several minutes.

"Sorry. I guess that punch hit me harder than I thought." He lied as he helped set her upright.

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'll feel a lot better once we beat this guy."

"Then let's- look out!"

Ladybug pushed him to the side as Cœur l'fantôme appeared from the shadows again. He managed to catch her arm sending her spinning. He helped her to stand on shaking legs as she clutched her arm.

"M'lady, are you-"

"I'm fine. Let's go back to back so he there's less chance of him landing a hit."

Chat Noir nodded and stood behind his lady' back. He wasn't going to let anything get part him.

Suddenly Cœur l'fantôme leap out of the shadows in front of him. As he dodged he felt ladybug feel him moving and dodged too. The man missed them and hit the sunlit house behind them. The impact sent cracks fissuring up the already weak building.

Realising that he was out of the shadows they charged towards him. But at the last second the man jumped out of the way sending them straight into the house. It was too much for the wall to take and they had to leap out of the way to avoid the falling bricks. Once the dust had settled they looked for Cœur l'fantôme but in that time he had already disappeared.

…..

To Rose Tiger: Thanks for your comment! Hopefully this answers your question! Xxxxxxxx

To mihael kuro usagi: I'm honoured that you have taken the time to read my story even though English isn't your first language! I'm glad that you liked the name of the villain! My friend RoninReverie helped me create it. It means 'Shadow Heart' in French which I thought was fitting, especially since Nathalie's last name is 'Sancoeur' which means 'without heart' or 'heartless'. (Me siento honrado de que haya tomado el tiempo para leer mi historia, ¡aunque el inglés no es su primer idioma!Me alegro de que te haya gustado el nombre del villano!Mi amigo RoninReverie me ayudó a crearlo.Significa 'Shadow Heart' en francés, lo cual me pareció apropiado, especialmente porque el apellido de Nathalie es 'Sancoeur' que significa 'sin corazón' o 'sin corazón'.) xxxxxxxx