Across the African grassland they arrived in the middle of the night, yet the sky was alive with stars. They shone so vividly it was as if they had stepped right into space among them.

"Where are we?" asked Chat Noir.

"Kruger National Park, South Africa," Ember spoke in a hushed tone, looking over the grassland, illuminated in vivid moonlight. "It's name means 'the place where lions came down from the stars."

They looked up, and Chat Noir picked out the constellation right away. "There is Leo, just there," he pointed. "I've read the Persians earlier than 4000BC called it Shir, the Turks called it Artan, the Syrians called it Aryo, those who were Jewish called it Arye, and those in India called it Simha...surprisingly all of them mean the exact same thing...Lion!"

"You are right," their phoenix guide confirmed. "The Lion revealed himself to many over the generations and has a complex past with humans. There are Elders who told stories of how the sun took the form of a white lion to walk among the people of the earth, but it was not our sun...his star is called Regulus (the little king), or by its Arabic name, Qalb al-Asad, the heart of the lion."

Just above the horizon in the North, the Leo constellation rested on his belly with his paws gracefully stretched out in front of him like the Sphinx they had visited in Egypt. Messier galaxies swirled around him. He wore the brightest stars in the sky. The beaming star at his heart flickered in their presence, as they stared reverently up at the sky.

It was then that a shooting star leaped across the sky; the king in white fire. With a burst of light the flame seemed to consume itself. The kingly presence of the white lion kwami in his wild form was unmistakable.

They could see him a long way off, and judging by the turn of his head, and the intensity of his stare, he was watching them too. His great head was framed with a shaggy mane, dark against his ivory muscular body.

As they approach Ladybug saw a trail of delicate red wild flowers sprinkled among the lush grass. The regal predator followed their gaze with his translucent green eyes.

"Sawubona!" the ivory lion greeted them with a rocky voice that rolled with power.

They bowed their heads, and then stood up straight in his presence. More than any other wild kwami they had encountered, Ladybug and Chat Noir wanted to make a good first impression on him. He instantly inspried a feeling of reverence. All kwamis had been around for ages, but this one's ancient strength radiated out from him.

"Phoenix, it has been way too long since your fire illuminated the realm," the lion nodded his head to Ember sincerely. "It is well that you have chosen to once more blaze a path for those selected as the chosen of the miraculous'.

"Here in South Africa you will face challenges that test your courage," Ember turned back around to Chat Noir and Ladybug.

"I'm not always the bravest," Ladybug admitted digging her toe into the soft dirt.

"Can one be tested in courage in the absence of fear? No, until metal is melted in the ferocious heat of the fire, it cannot be tested and molded," the lion spoke firmly.

A dense mist appeared to roll out beneath the feet of the lion, and it softly flooded out towards them. It clouded their vision, and they stumbled back blindly."The time has come!" he announced. "Face your fear!" the lion roared out, and the wall of mist shot up like a thick curtain of cloud separating them.

"Chat Noir?!" Ladybug called uncertainly at first, then she reached her hand through the fog, but she could not feel him. Her hands grasped at emptiness, and no one responded to her repeated calls.

"Kitty? Where are you?" Ladybug cried more and more urgently. She waded through it, and grappled for something to grab hold of, but she was utterly alone.

She sunk down to the damp grass, and held her arms around her knees. She realized that her nightmares during the Sandboy akuma (of Adrien loving someone else...Chloe of all people) were nothing compared to her fear of being separated from Chat Noir. She wondered how long she would have to endure it.

Then she heard a something.

"Chat?" she looked up hopefully

A form started to emerge through the fog

"Ember? Leo?" She questioned, but as the forms solidified before her she knew they were not her companions. They were hyenas...more and more of them started to gather.

She looked down and realized that within her vision she had taken the form of a clay colored lioness, alone surrounded by the pack of hyenas. The closer they closed in, the more alone she felt.

ooo

Chat Noir had also found himself left in a haze of cool mist. It felt heavy around him, as it blurred his surroundings. Only he was not alone. Chat Noir was face to face with 'Adrien.'

"But...y...you're me!" Chat Noir pointed.

"Am I?" the Adrien before him responded aloofly. "We're really quite different. No wonder Ladybug can't figure out who we are."

"Its not her fault, I've been keeping it from her. She'll know soon!" Chat Noir defended.

"Hmmm..." the Adrien hummed critically. "And once she finds out...finds out how you failed her...finds out that you're this broken...then what? You think she could really love all of this?!" The doppelganger motioned to himself. "Didn't she just reject Adrien for Chat Noir?"

"She's been rejecting Chat Noir for Adrien for years!" Chat Noir pointed out.

"True...then suddenly a change of heart was it?!" the copy taunted.

"I will not question her feelings for me!" Chat Noir shot back defensively.

"Of course you are, because if you weren't ...for one...you would have already told her, and for the second, I wouldn't be here right now," the clone put his arm loosely around Chat Noir's shoulders. "You just don't deserve her," he fanned pity.

Chat Noir shoved the phantom away from him, and stepped back. "If she loves me the way that I love her, we are meant to be together. All of me loves all of her...not just because she is Ladybug, but because she is Marinette!"

"I guess we'll see," the Adrien shrugged.

"I know she loves me! If I told her she'd still love me!" Chat Noir said with clenched fists.

"Why stand here arguing with yourself?!" The Adrien narrowed his eyes. "I'm not the one you need to convince."

Then the mirrored image of himself faded away into the mist, dissolving into nothing.

Chat Noir found himself transported to a vision of himself as a black lion caged in a circus. The ring master was Gabriel Agreste in a top hat and suit. In his hand he held a flaming ring, and in the other a bull whip. The whip made a sharp crack in the air as he snapped it back. Over and over his father demanded That the black lion jump through each hoop. He crouched, sitting back on his haunches and growled lowly.

"When I say jump you jump," the steely eyed ringmaster threatened brandishing his whip.

"I've been part of your sideshow long enough," the Chat Noir lion snarled. "If you won't free me, I will free myself!"

"I broke you long ago. You can't escape the bars I've built up!" his father jeered.

"You can't hold me any longer!" the Chat Noir lion roared. "Cataclysm," and the bars surrounding the circus ring disintegrated into ash.

Suddenly the stillness was jarred by another unnerving roar. They would not help but tremble as the fierce sound permeated the air. The mist parted, and Chat Noir found himself being tackled by Ladybug.

Chat Noir skidded a few feet back on the ground, with Ladybug on top of him.

"Miss me?" Chat Noir groaned under her, as she hugged his chest tightly.

"Kitty that was the worst! I was all on my own, and I didn't know when I would get back to you! It felt like forever!" Ladybug pushed herself up on her arms looking down at him.

"Your fear is being separated from me?!" Chat Noir asked in surprise.

"I guess so," Ladybug smiled at him, then crossed her arms over him, and teased, "not that I didn't mind a little piece and quiet from your goofy puns!"

"You really don't want to loose me!" Chat Noir smiled ignoring her teasing, and happily wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Uh...I shouldn't have told you! You're already a clingy Kitty!" Ladybug tried to break is grip, but Chat Noir smiled mirthfully at her, and held on tighter.

Finally she gave up pretending to break away, and rested her chin on his chest, looking into his emerald green eyes with a happy sigh. "What about you? Where you all alone?"

"Unfortunately not!" Chat Noir responded abruptly.

"Humph!" Ladybug huffed.

"No, no," Chat Noir laughed trying to pull her back in towards himself. "It's just that I kindda ended up having this fight with like my evil twin."

Ladybug eyed him warily, "and do you have a evil twin I should know about?!"

"Well no...well I guess there is my cousin...people say we look alike..and he's kindda...well...He is complicated...but that wasn't it. It was just more of like confronting a version of myself on something that I've been afraid of," he finished weakly.

Ladybug surprised him by kissing him firmly on the lips, and then jumped up, and pulled him up with her. "Whatever it is I know that you'll be able to face it when the time comes!" she encouraged passionately.

"How do you know?!" Chat Noir asked her searchingly.

"Because I know you, and my Kitty has the heart of a lion!" she smiled, kissing him again, but slower and more softly.

"Tonight you were confronted by your fear, but these fears were not defeated forever. Some things must be faced over and over again...and others must be overcome at the right time," the Lion locked eyes with Chat Noir a moment, before looking over to Ladybug. "...and sometimes..." the Lion paused, "...you are not ready to face what is ahead, but you are called to confront the darkness anyway."

ooo

Thank you for reading my story! There will be more Ladybug and Chat Noir adventures in South Africa soon!

After a death in my family last month, it has been hard to put words together. It is hard to have someone you love taken away all too soon. Each moment is a blessing.