A/N: The bac is short for the baccalauréat. It's a French uni exam, much like China's GaoKao, an exam you take once to get into uni. If you live in the US, think of it like the SAT and the SAT subjects rolled into one, with a dash of history and language.

Enjoy!

Ladybug leaped into action, twirling her yo-yo. She ran a finger over the smooth surface, retracting its shell and revealing the bright, purifying light that glowed within. She swung her weapon, capturing both akumas in one swoop. Seconds later, two bright butterflies flew into the night sky.

"That was rather anti-climatic," Chat commented, staring at the butterflies. He'd been so preoccupied with devising a battle plan that he'd nearly missed the purification.

"Told you," Ladybug sighed. "I can take care of myself."

"I know," he replied. "Guess I was wrong after all, huh?" He shook his head. "All that flawed logic for nothing."

"A noble purpose, perhaps," Ladybug commented. "But talking it out next time would save the heartbreak."

Chat was silent for a while.

"Forgive me?"

"Always." She held out her hand, expecting the usual fist bump, which usually occurred after akuma battles or apologies. Instead, he ran into her arms, squeezing her in a hug so tight she couldn't breathe.

"Thank you," he whispered. "For coming after me and trying to change my mind."

Ladybug leaned into him. His warmth wrapped around her, pulling her his body. She could smell the crisp snow on his shoulder, his usual cologne wafting in the air. She rested her head onto his shoulder.

"Don't ever make me do that again," she threatened. "Chasing you, running after you, all to make sure you won't leave me because you didn't think things through."

"I won't," he promised. "Never again." She could tell he meant it.

"Good," She replied. "Because I don't feel like running through snowy streets at 3 in the morning ever again."

He shifted. "It's 3?"

"Probably 4. We did spend some time arguing."

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are. And I'm sorry for not going after you sooner."

They stayed like that for a while, comfort in each other's warmth. But when Chat's miraculous beeped, they broke apart.

"I've got to go." He lifted his hand. The paw pads were disappearing quickly. "Plagg needs a break, and so do I. See you at school?"

She lifted her lips into a smile. "School."

She leaped her way back into her room, releasing her transformation as she fell onto her bed, falling asleep before her head hit the covers.

They met at school the next day. Awkward glances led to bursts of laughter, both of them talking to each other in sync as Adrien and Marinette. Alya's jaw hit the floor.

Tikki and Plagg prompted them to visit Master Fu, saying that the akumas had come to them for a reason. Ladybug and Chat Noir had agreed. Master Fu explained that akumas only came in pairs when soulmates were conflicting. He further elaborated, saying that soulmates were souls made for each other, complementing one another without losing their individual personalities. Marinette had fainted.

The first time Adrien kissed Marinette in their civilian forms, they were standing in the park. It was their first year of lycée, and they had decided to start things with a clean slate. The leaves were gradually turning into hues of orange and yellow, but the feeling of summer was still in the air. Manon had cheered.

The first time Chat Noir took a fatal hit for Ladybug, it was just after the bac. An enraged classmate who didn't do well on the test had transformed into Failuret, slinging deadly weapons of books and stationary at innocent passerby. Chat had leaped in front of Ladybug, a sword embedded through his chest, the tip scratching Ladybug's suit. Ladybug had rushed Chat to Master Fu, crying and begging him to be saved. He was 18, she had pleaded, ready to graduate in a few weeks. He was too young. His life was ahead of him.

The first time Chat Noir awoke from the fatal hit, he didn't see Ladybug. He didn't see anyone at all.

The first time Ladybug saw Chat Noir after the fatal hit, she saw his eyes, once so green and vibrant, cloudy and unfocused. She sat down and wept, explaining that he might never get his sight back. The soul transfer, a piece of her own soul she gave to Chat to keep him alive, came with a certain price that no one could predict.

The first time Chat could make out Ladybug's face, two years had passed since that fatal day. He could make out a fuzzy outline, black hair and blue eyes filling his vision. Plagg would deny crying during that moment, but where else could have the tears in his shirt pocket come from?

The first time akuma attacks didn't come, Chat Noir and Ladybug didn't know what to do. They sat around, waiting for an attack to occur. They were lost without Hawkmoth, and the revelation was jarring.

Adrien could say that was the day he started to live, creating a life for himself outside of being Chat Noir and the perfect son of Gabriel Agreste.

Firsts began to blend in with other occasions. The first speech at Nino's wedding. The first jeweler for an engagement ring. The first practice of many, many ill-fated proposal speeches.

Their first child. Their second. Their loves and their wants and their careers and their lives as heroes and their kwamis. Their children.

When Adrien heard the stuttering, weak breaths of his wife, he knew the time had come. Soulmates, Master Fu had once told them, lived because of each other. When one was ready to pass on, the other would follow. Adrien didn't mind. He'd lived a long life, married to his wife of 80 years. He'd seen countries fall and rise, cities destroyed and rebuilt, lives born and set free.

He was ready.

It was the first of the last breaths he would take on this earth when he saw Plagg and Tikki hovering by their sides. Marinette's gray hair swept across her temples, and as he saw her whisper to Tikki, he lifted his eyes to Plagg. The black kwami had tears welling in his large green eyes, and he flew to nestle under Adrien's chin.

"How were we?" Adrien croaked, no longer strong enough to raise his voice.

"The best," Plagg whispered. "You were the best kitten I ever had."

Adrien had smiled and rasped, "And you were the best friend I had."

He turned to Marinette, the match for him in every way. They lifted their fists, ready to engage in the tradition that had become a hallmark through the years.

"It was a battle well fought, my love," he rasped.

"A life well lived," she agreed.

"Bien joué," they murmured together, bumping their hands in a pale imitation of their glory days.

They died, surrounded by family and friends.

It is said that during the first snowfall in Paris each year, a black cat and a ladybug kwami can be seen hovering over a two graves intertwined by vines. Golden mist forms into a couple looking suspiciously similar to Chat Noir and Ladybug in their prime, hundreds of years after their death.

A/N: And cut! Thank you all for being with me on this trip through a story I thought I'd never write. I appreciate all of you, whether you just read it or you left a review.

I ended the story this way because it would've been dragged out if Chat was akumatized. Also, that would've meant a probable end to Marichat, and as a hardcore Marichat shipper, well, you can imagine my reaction.

If you do want an alternative ending, I have some notes for a chapter I never wrote. Just pm me, and I'll send them to you.

Thoughts, anyone?