He dropped her. Marinette rolled onto her side, gasping for air. In her peripheral, his boots retreating two steps, unsteady. Dirt smeared the fresh leather. Turning her head as he swayed, he fell to his knees, planting his weight on his hands, one furled into a fist. Marinette's earrings. Breath searing against her ribs, she whipped the Lucky Charm from beneath her top- a giant, Ladybug-spotted blanket.

It billowed over him; he looked up as the shadow passed over him. Marinette jumped on his back as he began to rise, trapping the blanket over his head, arms around his neck, legs clamping his arms to his sides. Her weight threw him off balance entirely, tripping over his own feet, blinded. Marinette hung on tight, eyes squeezed shut as the world see-sawed around her, the agony in her arm blasting white-hot sparks of light across her vision. They ended up in a heap on the floor, battling against each other, him trying to throw her and the blanket off, her trying to keep him contained.

"Get off!" He fumed, voice muffled slightly. He was wiggling his arms, pushing against her legs.

"I'm trying to help you!" Marinette retorted fiercely. "Keep still!" His feet smacked against the floor and he threw them backwards. Marinette squeaked and tipped her weight to the right, forcing him to spin. Another crash-landing. He got his right hand free, a burst of white as his arm scrabbled round to reach her. She reacted quickly, dropping, swinging and latching her leg around his elbow. Keeping her left arm firmly around his neck, she batted at his hand with her right, fingers clawing at his for the ring. Focus on the ring, she told herself, just focus on the ring, block out the pain, focus on the ring, block out the pain...

"Can't-breathe..." He gasped.

"It's for your own good!" She shot back, pressing her forefinger against the cold metal. He stopped struggling as much, bowing forward and choking for air. "Go, ring, go... go, go, go, go- YES!" The ring slipped from his finger, tinkling as it bounced across the floor. Marinette shoved Chat away and snatched the ring up. Chat flourished the blanket from him, taking deep, gulping breaths. "My earrings for your ring." Marinette bribed. Chat glowered. His akuma still had power, Marinette realised, and he wouldn't be himself until that power had been eradicated.

"I'm not an idiot." He snarled, rubbing at his throat. His voice was hoarse. She hadn't meant to strangle him- admittedly, she had been more focused on obtaining the ring, so it wasn't like she had been trying to kill him or anything.

"Chat, give me the earrings." She ordered, hand out impatiently.

"No."

"Give." Marinette took a step forward. He hissed, positioning himself, ready to pounce. She was no Ladybug, she couldn't fight him as Ladybug so what chance did she have as Marinette?

No, she told herself, Paris needs Chat Noir. I need Chat Noir. The realisation struck her like a bolt of lightning, crashing through her being, a tingle wriggling to the tips of her fingers, to her toes, to every fibre of her being. "I need Chat Noir." She mumbled dazedly. His cat ears twitched, trying to determine what she had said. Her eyes found his. "I need Chat Noir."

"Well, you've Chat Blanc, so deal with it."

"Oh no, kitty. Give me my earrings and I can make everything right. I promise."

"Right? You can make everything right? HA! Now if that isn't the biggest pile of bull I've ever heard, I don't know what is!" He dropped, padding towards her, squaring his shoulders. "What are you going to do, huh? What's going to make things right, mm?" Yellow bore into blue, earlier fury reignited. His left hand remained a fist, her Miraculous trapped in his iron grip. "I could destroy these."

"You've already used-"

"My Catacylsm, yes, yes. You see, Chat Noir could only use that once and then he had five minutes before he changed back, yada yada yada. But Chat Blanc doesn't rely on some stupid kwami. No, no." He chuckled darkly, fingers curling beneath her chin. "Sweet Marinette, Ladybug, whatever your name is. Don't you understand? Chat Blanc has the true power of destruction, unbridled mayhem at his fingertips. And you want to take it away? That's not going to make things right, princess." His claws brushed along her cheeks, thin scarlet lines materialising. "You want to make me weak and unnoticed, put me back in your shadow." He spat.

"That's not true!"

"Isn't it?" He shoved her away, taking a seat on a particularly large rock, crossing his arms over his knees. "Prove me wrong, Ladybug." Marinette said nothing, a simple smile teasing the delicate scrapes around her mouth. The akumatised ring fell between her fingers and just so happened to land beneath her foot. "No!" Chat raged, springing to his feet. He lunged, shoulder-slammed her, turning so quickly he almost gave himself whiplash. His efforts, in vain, the ring, destroyed. The black butterfly fluttered from the ruins. He tried to catch it in his free hand, but without the ring, it couldn't reattach itself. "You-" He started, rounding on her.

"Sorry, Chat." Marinette drew back her fist. Knocked Chat flat on his back. The earrings slipped from his grasp as his hands tended to his second bloody nose in as many days. Marinette snatched her Miraculous up, transforming quickly. The akuma was heading towards the exit far up above. "Oh no you don't." Ladybug smiled, back in the game. She leapt from rubble to stone slab to chunk of rock, twirling her yoyo above her head. "Time to de-evilise!" She chorused, loosing the akuma-catcher and snaring it. The yoyo whizzed back into her hand and she released the purified creature. With a sigh of relief, she watched it flutter away, the days' events finally catching up with her. She returned, pleasantly numb, to retrieve the blanket, tossing it in the air with a, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

There, she thought to herself, back to normal.