Running into Chloe had been a mistake; she had looked very upset, and all he wanted to do was make her day a bit better. It had gone too far, especially now that Chat was seeing her frequently. He should've stopped it when he had a chance. He shouldn't have ever spoken to her. Now she was obsessed, with him and with Marinette. He had no doubt it was her who sent him that letter. Hawkmoth had no idea what he was doing in his personal life; as far as he knew, Hawkmoth could only view his akuma victims.

Chat Noir,

I feel it. Deep in my chest. My soul. Hateful and dark. No, this is the true definition of hate. I'm an entity in the form of a human; the devil disguised like an angel. In your eyes I see the darkness. Pitch black. Eyes that could strike fear into the devil himself. Your eyes pierce my chest and feed off of my sins. Your eyes, where I can see what no human should never hope to see. In your eyes, I see a mirror; a reflection of my broken self. I see suffering and hurt. I see everything and nothing in your eyes.

To the city, you are justice and a hero. I realize, though, that you are just like me. You are something darker, lonelier… You don't feel properly. You don't have any boundaries. Which is why being a hero is perfect for you; you get to pretend to be one of the good guys, when you know that deep down you are something much darker. My white wings are dirty, my halo is cracked… the more people attack me or hate me, the more evil and hating I become.

No. I didn't wish to become like this. I'm just a shell of who I want to be and who I could be. But I have seen too much to become the person everyone wants me to be. You see, my dear Chat, when you look long into the abyss of darkness, the abyss looks into you. It changes you and twists you. The abyss represents the darkness in my life. I believe that you can save me from myself. You can save me from the feelings I feel.

The letter went on to more morbid things. Things that struck fear into his heart. That's why he had to say goodbye to Marinette. He needed to help Chloe before she could really do something to herself or to Marinette. Chat and Adrien. Both of them… and god how he wanted to be with Marinette instead. He couldn't take a chance with Chloe. Not until he knew that she was mentally stable… Unless… she was akumatized?

"Are you okay, Marinette? You've been in a funk all day." Alya questioned, sounding concerned.

"I'm okay," Marinette nodded, a smile plastered across her face. It's what she'd been saying to her parents and Alya all weekend. It was a lot easier, rather than explaining how painful it was for her already. To tell them would be to give away her secret.

Chat showed up once to meet Ladybug while patrolling, speaking of how there was too much history in the streets of Paris. He showed up and talked about Chloe, about the letter he received, and about how he had met someone. And what was she supposed to say, that she had fallen for her best friend? She was confused; things were going so great for them, but then he had to disappear for Chloe. And Adrien wouldn't even look at her. He only had eyes for Chloe. Marinette didn't quite understand how she managed to mess up literally everything good in her life so fast that it seemed like it happened in the blink of an eye. She had been in the sun for so long, that she wasn't surprised that it had begun to rain.

"Right," Alya rolled her eyes, gathering the leftovers from her lunch and placing it in a bag. She put the bag in her backpack, and focused on Marinette.

"What?" Marinette raised an eyebrow.

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that Adrien isn't talking to you today? Girl, I know you better than you think I do. You're my best friend. I know when something's going on. What's the situation?"

"I don't know what's going on with Adrien. I'm just tired." She answered truthfully. Tired of not knowing what was going on, tired of missing Chat and missing Adrien… She was tired of it all.

Alya sighed. "If you don't want to talk, then fine. I'm going to talk to Adrien and see what's going on. Maybe he won't lie to me." She snapped, standing up from the lunch table. Alya made her way to Adrien, a bit hurt. Why wasn't Marinette telling her things anymore? What was going on? Maybe Adrien held the key…

"Alya, hey!" Nino smiled up at her, before nudging Adrien. Adrien looked exhausted. He gave Alya a smile, before glancing at the blonde princess next to him.

"Adrien, can I talk to you?" She glanced at Chloe. "Alone."

Adrien nodded, untangling himself from Chloe. Alya led him a few steps away from the lunch tables, where no one would overhear them. She placed a hand on her hip and gave him one of her best intimidating stares.

"What's going on with Marinette?"

A guilty look flashed across his face, so fast that Alya barely caught it. "I don't know. Is she okay?"

"No. There's something going on with her. She's acting really weird and she's not telling me anything. Adrien, she tells me everything."

"I don't know what to tell you, Alya. I don't know her that well." Liar.

"She's like a zombie. She's just walking around, doesn't seem to be thinking about anything… she's so blank. If you ask her what's wrong, she responds with 'I'm alright, nothing's wrong'. It's depressing. I'm sure seeing you with Chloe isn't helping," Alya rambled. Her eyes widened when she realized what she was saying. She had almost told Adrien that Mari liked him. She basically did. Oh god, Marinette was going to murder her.

Adrien stared at the ground, chewing his lip. He sighed deeply, before glancing at Marinette. "I could… talk to her…"

"I don't know. I mean… Chloe would be mad. You two are dating now, right?"

"W-what? Us?" Adrien shook his head. "No! No, I just… Erm…"

"You're just dating and trying to keep it a secret?" Alya raised an eyebrow.

"No. It's more complicated than that. Things are complicated right now. I think… Chloe had a mental breakdown or something, and I'm just trying to be there for her. Don't tell her I told you that…"

"Whatever, Adrien. I'm just worried about Marinette. Could you just talk to her? Maybe she'll tell you something."

Adrien nodded. "Sure. Could you sit with Nino and Chloe and tell them I'll be right back?" Alya nodded, walking off.

Adrien looked at Marinette for a minute before beginning to walk to her. He caused this. This was his fault. This was also Chloe's fault. She would never go through with hurting Marinette. She wouldn't. And he knew that. He wouldn't hide from her anymore. He would protect her. He was done with Chloe… all he was doing was hurting himself and hurting Mari.

"Mari?" Adrien said gently, sitting down across from her.

She barely glanced at him. "What?"

"Are you okay? You look really upset…"

Marinette shrugged. "I don't know."

"What's wrong? What's going on with you?"

"I lost my best friend…" She mumbled running a hand through her bangs.

"Alya? She's still your friend…" His eyebrows furrowed. Who did she mean?

"I'm not talking about her. I'm talking about someone else. Someone Alya doesn't know about…" Marinette shook her head. "Forget it, Adrien. You wouldn't understand."

"I understand…" he sighed. "I'm sorry I haven't been talking to you much. I just… I went to the bakery to talk to you, not order any sweets. I just wanted to see you. Since then, I haven't been a very good friend. I'm really sorry."

Marinette shrugged. "It's fine. You're not who I was talking about, so if that's what you think…"

Actually it is me. Or rather, my alter ego… "Can I help in any way?"

"No. I'm fine." She smiled. "Nothing's wrong."

"Well… Um… I actually did need to talk to you about something…" He cleared his throat. "So, my dad is having a masquerade ball to promote his new fashion line, and I was told I could invite my class… I already told everyone about it, but I was waiting to invite you alone."

"Why did you want to invite me alone?" She said, a bit stunned.

"Because I wanted to invite you to come to the ball with me… as my date."