Plagg came out panting as his suit disappeared. He knew the kwami would have something to say soon.

"Sorry," Adrien said. "I—"

"That was three cataclysms in a row!" Plagg complained.

"I know, I know, I'm really sorry."

He pulled out a piece of camembert cheese from his jacket and handed it to the little cat. Naturally Plagg took it and began scarfing it down.

"Why couldn't you have just done the snake like you did it last time? Stick in the eye, cataclysm akuma, and done! And there would've been less destruction," Plagg started.

"I… I just…"

"You just 'Ladybug' is what happened. Why didn't you use common sense this time, huh?"

"I tried to—"

"Ladybug is dying!" Plagg said. "It's time to use your plans, not hers! It's time to listen to you, not her!"

"She was trying to protect a child, Plagg!"

"Well, that's a relief, I'm so glad one kid is safe at the expense of how many others?!"

"We don't know the casualties yet."

"And personally, I don't want to know!"

"It was Marinette's kid."

"So what?! What if you also put Nino's kids in danger? What if Marcel was there all over again?! This storm was way worse than the last one, I bet this took down twice as many people!"

He wanted to call that an exaggeration but Plagg had a good point.

"I…I-I know I took too long."

Plagg crossed his little arms after swallowing the last bite of cheese.

"Yeah, you did, for the second time."

"I just didn't want to risk hurting Erek."

"You didn't know it was Erek. Ladybug suspected the snake might've had him."

"She just didn't want me to end up using my cataclysm on a little kid."

"So you sacrifice the rest of Paris at her request?!"

"Don't worry," Adrien said. "Ladybug can just fix everything with her lucky charm."

"Can she fix all the injuries and trauma these people have been put through?"

"Well…probably not but…"

"But what? What's the excuse to defend her this time? What's the excuse to justify your decisions?"

"I don't have any excuses."

"What happens if you end up regretting ever listening to her?"

"I don't know…"

He groaned but then remembered that Ladybug had used her power. She had probably detransformed by now, right in front of Erek. And nothing had been fixed so she hadn't used her lucky charm to make everything okay again. What if…she…

"Plagg, claws out!"

He came out from hiding just in time to feel something grab his leg. He jumped, a reflex by now, and whipped his head around. No akuma, just a little boy with blueish hair and greenish eyes.

"Oh, uh…Erek," he said. "Are you okay? Where's Ladybug?"

"Ladybug said I need to come to you."

"For what…?"

He shrugged. "She just said so, so I did."

She must've sent him out knowing she would detransform. Or maybe this was her way of asking him for help. She'd had a difficult time breathing, maybe it was hard for her to move around or yell, so she sent a little messenger.

He took the boy's hand and walked with him to the hole he had tucked them both away in.

No Ladybug…

Had she already left? Did she leave Erek alone? Maybe she didn't have much of a choice with her transformation coming to an end. And her lucky charm had still been in the snake. She wouldn't have even been able to use it. Didn't she realize this earlier…?

He walked through the hallway with Erek by his side, following the only adult in the area except his father, who he evidently didn't know had been there and who had at some point wandered away. He assumed Erek just wanted protection. He was so young, he probably didn't understand what was happening or why.

"I like you," Erek said.

"Oh…I like you too," Chat responded.

"Can I be a Chat Noir one day too?"

"Maybe, when you're big and strong."

"Are you looking for Ladybug?"

"Yes."

"Oh, she's gone."

He snapped his head towards Erek.

"What do you mean?"

"She was coughing a lot. I think it made her really tired," he answered.

He swallowed but tried to keep his cool in front of a little one.

"I get tired when I'm sick too," Erek added.

He felt the small hand yank on his to catch his attention.

"Hey, hey…do you get tired when you're sick?" Erek asked.

"I sure do," Chat answered. "I don't get sick a lot though. You want to know my secret?"

Erek gasped in anticipation.

"I eat all my vegetables and get plenty of sleep."

The boy frowned, obviously disappointed by this magical solution.

"So if Mama eats all her vegetables, she'll get better?"

He bit his lip.

"Uh…she's eating healthy and that's good. Maybe it'll help her feel better."

"When?"

"When…uhhh…"

"Will she feel better soon?"

"I…we can hope so."

"How soon?"

"I…I, um, I-I don't know…"

"I hope it's super soon. Mama's been sick for a long time."

"Yeah…super soon…"

He tried to stay silent but Erek wouldn't shut up. The conversation moved from people getting sick to what it was like being a superhero. It wasn't hard to answer most of those questions, at least.

Was this what Marinette had to deal with every day? Nonstop questions for no reason? Uncomfortable ones he didn't feel authorized to answer? Random comments on random topics? Would Adrien have to deal with this too? Probably…

He stopped in his tracks and paled when he noticed the tile floors in the hallways. He couldn't even hear Erek anymore. He couldn't focus on anything except a trail of red specks leading farther down the hall.

"Don't worry, Chat Noir," Erek said, yanking on his hand again to snap him back to reality. "Ladybug said she was just clumsy. It's only paint. She said it comes from her magic yo-yo."

"Yeah…thanks…"

How far had he followed her to know this? And why did she let him? He understood why she'd lied. This whole ordeal was frightening enough to a child this young, she probably thought it was best if he felt he was being protected by a strong adult who knew what to do at all times.

Maybe she knew what to do, but nobody coughing up blood was a strong adult.

He followed the trail to see a larger puddle. It was way too small to be blood that she may have thrown up, but he could envision her forced to lean against the wall and rest for a bit. Blood dripping little by little from her mouth. Facing away from Erek and telling him to go to Chat Noir.

He shouldn't have let her fight. He shouldn't have tossed her back into a monsoon. He should've saved Erek on his own, by himself. Then she wouldn't have had to come to the rescue.

"Ladybug said you can help me find Mama," Erek said.

The trail of blood ended beyond that little puddle. She must've detransformed after Erek left and ran off somewhere else…assuming she could run at all.

"Let's go find your mother…" Chat murmured. "What is her name?"

He already knew, of course, but he wasn't sure how much Marinette told him. He didn't know if Erek was even aware his mother knew the famous Chat Noir.

"Mama," Erek answered.

"No, I mean, what do other people call her?"

"Everyone else calls her Marinette."

"That's good. I think I've heard of a Marinette before."

He picked Erek up and retraced his steps through the halls, coming back out at what had essentially become an arena. Erek's father was no longer around. Marinette definitely wouldn't be anywhere around here. She probably wasn't at home either, not if Erek was separated from her.

Where was she then? The square? The park? One of the many random buildings a multitude of people had taken shelter in? He just hoped she hadn't stayed out searching for Erek… Last time this happened, she was on the ground, totally unresponsive and freezing to the touch.

At least the rain went from hail to a light sprinkle. He could see and hear just fine again. Finding Marinette would be easier this time, mainly because Erek was also on the lookout for her but if she was also looking for Erek, he would hear her voice and locate her by sound.

"Hey, Erek, have you ever been up high before?" he asked the little boy.

"No."

"Do you want to come with me up high?"

"No…I just want Mama…" Erek mumbled.

"Okay…that's fine," he replied. "Um… Just uh…just stay right where you are. I'll be right back."

He put the boy down and held out his stick vertically in front of him. He jumped on the tip as it shot skyward, using years of experience to balance on it. He didn't overdo it though. If he went too high up he wouldn't be able to pick out individual bodies. Smaller details, such as hair color, would be lost or easily overlooked. He went up just high enough to expand his range of sight. An aerial view paired with his sharp eyesight as Chat Noir allowed a more in-depth view of alleys, corners, major and minor roads, and even let him see—

There were still so many people… A few brave souls started coming out of the buildings, checking to see if the end of the storm meant the end of the akuma. But there was so much debris caused by the storm that he saw people on the street looking quite similar to what he saw with Marinette the first time around. Perhaps not in the exact same condition but to him, it hardly mattered. Any one of these people could be another Marinette. He was already hearing sirens in the distance.

At least this time he knew exactly what to expect…

He continued searching for Marinette. Not that he didn't feel an incredible amount of guilt bearing down on him, but a little boy was depending on him to find his mother. The first thing he looked for was her blue hair. People with blue hair were seen so few and far between that finding one woman with long, blue hair would be easy…assuming she was outside at all. She may have had no choice but to stay inside when the storm got bad enough.

Now that it was going away, though, maybe she came back out to search for her son.

Wait, no, there. He couldn't tell if it was a man or woman half hidden under a tree, but they definitely had blue ha—

His pole wobbled at random and he came back down in a slight panic.

Erek looked up at him. The little culprit.

"Did you find Mama yet?" he asked nervously.

"Maybe," Chat answered. "She might be under a tree in the park, let's go see. And…no more shaking my stick."

He held Erek's hand again as they headed towards the park. It was the same place Ladybug led him to last time. The same place she said she would never return to…not as Ladybug, at least.

Erek almost threw off his balance again when he started walking up against his leg. It wasn't that he was going too fast for a child to keep up, but on their way to the park, they passed by multiple bodies. It would probably scare any child.

He decided he would have to just deal with it until he reached the person who hopefully was Marinette. If it was her, he hoped she hadn't spent that entire time under a tree. He would say it was better than nothing but in a storm like that, the one little park tree might as well have been nothing. Maybe she had been looking for Erek but needed a quick break.

The closer they got, the more he was able to block out the limp bodies and gurneys being brought out of newly arrived ambulances. It was soon clear that this was in fact Marinette, or at least a small woman. She was curled up against two roots splitting from the tree trunk. She had her eyes closed and she was completely soaked. He hurried over to her in case this would be a repeat of last time.

Erek wasn't too far behind him as Chat knelt down to eye level with her. Her skin was very pale, but it wasn't as pale as last time and her lips weren't turning blue. He didn't see any bleeding or bruising, no cuts or scrapes, no signs of injury.

He reached out a hand to open one of her eyes, planning to check her pupils for a response to light, but the moment he touched her eyelid, she jerked awake and slapped a hand over her eye.

"Chat," she said flatly.

Her voice was still soft. He wasn't sure if that was something he needed to be concerned about or if she was just tired or maybe stressed from the whole conversation with her ex earlier and then all this with the akuma attack and Erek.

"I'm here," he said. "I brought Erek."

On cue, the boy rushed into her arms.

"Mama, where did you go?" he asked.

Marinette took a breath and answered, "I was looking all over for you."

"Did you get sleepy again?"

"Yeah, sorry. Mama just hasn't been sleeping very well."

"Chat Noir says if you eat your vegetables, you won't be sick anymore."

She looked at him and cracked a smile, almost as if she was thanking him for something. She probably hadn't told Erek that she wasn't ever going to get better, and maybe she appreciated him giving the boy hope. False hope but…still hope.

"He's your biggest fan, Chat," she told him. "I can't even get him to wear a belt properly. It always has to be like Chat Noir's tail."

He took her arm to help her onto her feet. Erek was practically attaching himself to her leg but this time the boy was staring at him in adoration. Now that he had his mother back, he had time to focus on other things, like meeting his hero.

"Mama makes clothes," Erek told him.

Apparently Marinette hadn't told him she knew Chat Noir. Probably didn't want to be hammered with constant questions about him.

"Oh, really? What kind of clothes does she make?"

"She makes fancy clothes. Sometimes you can see them in magazines," Erek answered.

"Magazines, huh? She must be famous."

Marinette chuckled and said, "Well, I don't know about famous but personally, I think my clothes are top notch."

"Mama has a whole book of them!"

Marinette bit her lip and rubbed her arm. It brought him back to what she'd said yesterday about Adrien blowing off her designs after one look. Which…subsequently led to her believing Agreste was trying to drop her.

"Why…why don't we just go home now?" she suggested. "It's wet and cold out here…"

He nodded silently and let Marinette set the pace back to her house. He imagined she would want to get home quickly if it was so uncomfortable outside, but she was moving so slowly. She hadn't looked so bad before the snake popped up but he could tell this was hard on her. Keeping her head up and standing straight wasn't fooling anyone.

He already knew where she lived so…maybe he could help her.

"Erek," he said, causing mother and son to stop and turn to him. "Have you ever gotten a piggyback ride?"

"Papa gives them to me a lot," he answered.

He suddenly felt fury radiate off Marinette despite her smile. He couldn't even blame her.

"When was the last time your mama had a piggyback ride?"

Marinette looked both confused and surprised at that and glanced at Erek for the answer.

"I don't know. I never saw her get one."

Chat smiled too, more for Erek, and looked her straight in the eyes. She immediately looked away.

"Well then, princess," he started. "Looks like you get one free piggyback ride."

He turned around and knelt.

"All aboard!" he joked.

"Oh…oh, wow, I-I don't know about this. I can just walk—"

"Mama!" Erek gasped. "You can't say no to Chat Noir!"

"I don't—"

"He's a superhero, Mama! He won't drop you!"

"I know he won't dr—"

"Are you scared?"

Her mouth hung open for a moment, followed by a sigh of defeat.

She climbed onto his back and he secured her legs with his arms. He stood up and heard a small grunt of discomfort.

"Sorry. I'll be more gentle," he whispered to her.

"It's not you," she breathily whispered back. "Don't worry about it."

"See?" Erek said. "It's fun, right?"

He felt Marinette nod her head. It was probably better to just take them both home quickly. On paper, it was an easy task. In practice, it was a delicate balance. Bodies were still everywhere. He had to block them out—which he couldn't do no matter how hard he tried—and keep up a conversation with Erek and Marinette to distract them from how much damage the three had to trek through. His path was frequently blocked with holes in the ground, debris, and puddles that may or may not have been deep. He honestly didn't know how to gauge the water's depth. The holes were filled up with water from the storm so even small puddles could cause him to fall, taking Marinette down with him after he promised to be gentle.

At some point Erek had grabbed his tail and begun playing with it, making a quick comment about how he had a belt too but it wasn't a superhero belt.

Without Ladybug to fix the damage with her lucky charm, he certainly didn't feel like a superhero right now. He hadn't felt like any kind of hero in a long time—a very long time. Too many black butterflies turned to brown dust. Too many innocent civilians in the crosshairs of his battles. Too many buildings destroyed. Businesses forced to shut down or board up. Families left homeless.

Never him though. He just detransformed, went to photoshoots, made a ton of money he felt he didn't deserve, and went to sleep for the night. His job and home were never jeopardized by akumas and his family was a man he hardly cared about anymore. The good people of Paris would offer up their support if he were ever to request it, risking something of theirs, while he risked nothing of his by comparison.

And it always resulted in devastation, sometimes on a small scale but other times—such as these past couple of times with the snake—on an immeasurable scale. If Ladybug fought alongside him and fixed this damage, he would accept the praise. Parisians weren't as concerned with this kind of thing when Ladybug was still around, but now that she was gone, the entire city focused on how quickly and efficiently he could stop akuma attacks because it so directly affected them in ways it once didn't.

Some hero…

He pretended to bask in Erek's praise and compliments. He told Erek his side of the story whenever any specific battle was brought up, leaving any overly violent details out to make the story tame and more child-friendly. Television basically glorified him, so Erek was inspired and awestruck by the special behind-the-scenes tales of Chat Noir. The intense battle between good and evil told through the eyes of his hero, stories nobody else had much access to.

Thankfully the snake was never brought up but he did get the rare chance to delve deep into his much older fights. Erek saw Ladybug once, but aside from old news clips and pictures, the younger generation didn't actually know her. He relived his glory days through the stories he told Erek. Her special powers, her cunning, her agility, their dynamic, and their tandem. Like yin and yang.

He loved answering the little boy's many questions about Ladybug. Her personality. Her fighting style. Her flaws. Her favorite places. Erek was more interested in the fights than any smaller details that had become more dear to Chat than the side-by-side duels themselves, and of course the villains were just sooooo epic that they nearly overshadowed the famous Chat Noir. He did his best to convince Erek that he paled in comparison to Ladybug, but Erek simply couldn't believe that given the condition Ladybug had been in the one and only time he saw her in person.

Nevertheless, discussing Ladybug was warming. He had a chance to momentarily forget the current Ladybug and remember her old self. Beginning to end, back when she rolled her eyes at his puns and rejected his every advance on her…to when she playfully rolled her eyes at him for merely existing and teased him by letting him lean in for a kiss that wouldn't come. It wasn't even annoying, somehow it just made him fall for her harder. He enjoyed the chase, he supposed. He didn't want a girl who would throw herself at him.

He wanted a girl that would make him prove himself worthy of her. A girl that would boop him on the nose if he didn't earn the kiss. A girl who would stay just out of reach but wanted him to catch up to her, so that when he did, he would know for a fact that she was comfortable with him. Comfortable enough to put her trust in him, comfortable enough with him around…comfortable enough to make an honest connection. But also a girl who wouldn't let him get too comfortable. He liked that Ladybug kept him on his toes. It kept their relationship fresh and fun.

Naturally, Erek didn't care about any of that mushy stuff, so he wasn't able to get into their relationship much. Most of it was all action and fighting.

Somewhere along the way, he came to the realization that Marinette hadn't taken part in the conversation for…a while now. Normally they would've been home but he had to move at a snail's pace so he wouldn't jostle her. He was probably a little over halfway to her house when he noticed her silence, too absorbed in his stories of Ladybug to be aware of her lack of interaction.

He stopped and asked her, "Do you remember the Evillustrator? I said you had to be my Ladybug that day."

He didn't actually care if she remembered or not, it was just meant to get a response out of her. Erek was filled with a renewed admiration for him and was desperate to hear the story of the time his mother took the place of a superhero to help Chat Noir. But he only paid attention to Marinette's failure to reply.

"Marinette?" he said nervously.

He bounced her just a little bit, just enough to catch her attention if she had fallen asleep.

She didn't so much as twitch a muscle.

"Marinette?" he said one more time.

"Mama?" Erek added, peeking around him to see her head hanging over his shoulder.

He uncomfortably adjusted his head and craned his neck to see her face, expecting closed eyes and total exhaustion from illness, the storm, worry, and a hunt for her child.

He still didn't have the clearest view of her face, but he had a pretty clear view of his chest. It was difficult to see against his black suit, but something dark and shiny dripped from her barely parted lips onto his chest. He was pretty certain his heart skipped a beat when he suddenly became aware that she had also stopped breathing, her chest no longer rhythmically pressing against his back.

He squatted and shrugged her off his back as quickly as he could. It startled Erek and the boy began shaking her shoulder to wake her up, not understanding what was taking place.

Chat dropped to the ground beside her limp body. He put his head against her chest. Not only had her breathing come to a complete stop, but her heart wasn't beating anymore either.

His blood ran cold and his body kicked itself into action before his brain registered what he was doing. He interlocked his fingers around one hand and mashed the heel of the other down onto her chest. He wasn't ready to give her up yet. He wasn't going to accept that Marinette had just died on his back, literally in his arms, without him knowing it.

She should never have been out in the storm.

He should never have listened to Ladybug.

He should've kept her safe.

He kept his eyes trained on her and hopelessly called out for help as loudly as he could, to anybody who could hear him. Anyone close enough, anyone who had the time, anyone able to come over here, anyone who could help silence a crying child scared out of his mind.

He called for help again, this time uncertain if anyone could hear him over Erek's terrified screaming.

"You have a son," he reminded Marinette.

He stopped compressions and slightly lifted her chin, taking a deep breath. Pinching her nostrils shut, he leaned down and covered her mouth with his. He watched her chest rise and lower as he delivered two rescue breaths, each about one second apart. It rose but for some reason he couldn't get a full breath in her. It was like there was already some kind of pressure inside that resisted him.

He returned to chest compressions and called out yet again for help that he prayed would come soon. Preferably a paramedic but he wasn't too choosy right now.

He tried to calm Erek down by telling him he could help his mother wake up by talking softly to her. It took a few seconds for the boy to stop crying, but when he did, he was no longer a screaming child. Still terrified, but at least Chat wasn't having to deal with the extra stress of hearing a little kid that distraught about his mother dying on the ground in front of him.

"Wake up, Marinette," Chat said to her on the last compression. "Wake up!"

He lifted her chin again and as he bent over her face, she suddenly coughed out a huge amount of blood on him, hitting his cheek and eye. He realized now what the pressure had been and understood that the situation had just become much more dire.

Erek lost his composure again and he had to block the boy out.

Marinette still wasn't breathing and her heart wasn't beating. Hopefully the blood she'd coughed out cleared up a little room. He noticed slightly less resistance when he gave her the next two rescue breaths. He wanted to believe that to be a good thing but if she didn't respond to CPR…

Back to compressions.

He called out for help again. How long had Marinette been this way? Maybe there was hope. She had coughed. That was good, right? No heart beat, no breathing, but…but her body had some reaction.

Or had he caused that? What if that cough wasn't what he thought it was? What if that cough only happened because he was putting so much pressure on her body?

He heard footsteps quickly approaching him from a distance. He didn't take his eyes off Marinette to see who it was, but he was mentally thanking them anyway.

He went back to her mouth just in time to hear a horrified shriek.

He began chest compressions again and took that time to look up and see Alya with her hands covering her mouth and tears streaming down her face.

"Help me!" he desperately cried. "Please help me!"

Alya dropped to her knees in front of Marinette and nodded her head.

He looked at Erek, still bawling and unsure of what to do but unable to speak to Marinette anymore.

Alya followed his gaze and held a hand out to Erek, which he thankfully didn't hesitate to take. Alya pulled him close to her and he instinctively nuzzled his face into her chest, his hands gripping her shirt like his life depended on it. She put a calming hand on his head and started stroking his hair. Maybe this kind of motherly gesture could be enough to settle the boy down.

"I…I'll take him to his parents for you," she said shakily, clearly struggling to stay collected in the presence of a small child. "Do you know where they are?"

His throat constricted and all he could do was let out a pathetic, high-pitched whine as he stared down at Marinette. His eyes became misty but he couldn't cry…not here, not yet, not Chat.

"No…n-no, she doesn't have kids, she…"

Alya trailed off as the shock washed over her. It wasn't as if Erek didn't have any resemblance to Marinette.

Chat returned to her mouth. On the second breath, Marinette coughed several more times. He reflexively jerked his head back and spat out some of the blood as her lungs finally sputtered back to life. He would've smiled in relief had she not sounded like she was choking with each miniature breath she managed to suck in.

"Alya—"

"Go," Alya interrupted.

He scooped the unconscious woman up and hoisted himself—and her—into the air with his staff, directing them towards the nearest hospital, leaving Erek in Alya's care. He could worry about the kid later, after Marinette was in the hospital. Alya was perfectly capable of babysitting anyway, Erek was in safe hands.

He burst into the emergency wing of the hospital and carried Marinette to the front desk. The gargling, strangled sounds she made summoned a doctor immediately and he didn't have to explain the situation.

It all happened so fast. There wasn't even time for a gurney or anything. He had to carry her to the trauma bay and set her down on a bed with a doctor helping to position her. Nurses and doctors alike were yelling out commands to each other in a language he could barely comprehend—so much medical jargon he couldn't even try to keep up with.

He slowly backed out of the doctors' way. It was all starting to blur together. Everyone was doing everything to save her life. Diagnosing her, treating her, helping her. And him…he just let her die. He was right there the whole time, carrying her on his back. How did he not realize she was unresponsive earlier? How did he not know she couldn't breathe? Or that her breathing had stopped? Anyone else could argue that he revived her with CPR in the nick of time, but all he did was traumatize her young son, carry around a dead woman, and get lucky when Alya came—because if someone hadn't come, he wouldn't have known what to do with Erek. He couldn't carry them both and get to a hospital quickly. Marinette would've died and stayed dead if he tried that. Alternatively he couldn't leave one or the other behind—he couldn't leave Erek to take Marinette to the hospital and he couldn't leave Marinette to find a babysitter for Erek.

A nurse approached him, seemingly out of nowhere, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Do you need to sit down?"

He gently brushed her hand off and evened out his breathing as much as he could, given how many machines started screaming in the hospital—he wasn't entirely sure how many of these machines, if any at all, were monitoring Marinette. He was on the brink of sensory overload and felt the anxiety increase by the second. But Chat Noir was composed under any circumstance and didn't favor this one victim over any other victim in Paris.

"I'm alright," he answered.

"Were you injured during the fight?" she continued.

He absently brushed a hand over his face. The rain itself had been gone but the heavy moisture that remained in the air kept the blood on his face and suit damp and loose.

"No," he answered.

"The blood—"

"Hers," he said with a nod towards Marinette.

The nurse looked back at Marinette only so she could turn back around to him and give him this strange, skeptical look, as if she was unconvinced.

"I was performing CPR and she started coughing up blood while I was giving her mouth-to-mouth," he explained.

He became vaguely aware of the taste of copper in his mouth. His mind replayed the scene in slow motion and detail he hadn't been able to pay attention to when he was trying to resuscitate Marinette. The first cough had been a powerful one, blood practically exploding from her mouth. The several that came later hadn't been as strong but it almost looked like her body was trying to pump blood out of her lungs only for the blood to pool back into her airway.

He wondered if she had planned to go to the hospital herself if she was having trouble breathing before. Or was this sudden? What kind of disease was capable of doing this to a human body? And this had been going on for so many years now, how many times had she been in for whatever was happening to her now?

The whole team of doctors and nurses pulled Marinette's bed out of the bay and ran down a hallway in a rush.

Seeing her hypothermic was one thing, and he thought it couldn't possibly get worse than that, but this took the cake for any of the people who had been hurt in the past akuma attacks, without or without Ladybug present through all those years. He had never seen that much blood coming from a real life person before. This was the day Adrien was supposed to take Erek. She wasn't supposed to die yet. She was supposed to live a little longer. She said she would remain in Erek's life as long as possible.

There was no way this was as long as she could last.

"We have a cold blue!" one of the team members yelled out.

The bed was stopped for just a quick moment to allow someone to climb into it with Marinette. The team waited for their colleague to situate themselves on top of Marinette and begin chest compressions before pushing the bed again. He watched in horror until they disappeared around a corner.

"I saved her though…" he breathed.

The nurse frowned and said, "They're an amazing crew, they'll do everything they can to—"

"No, no, I saved her," he interrupted. "She…she was dead, I-I brought her back, she was breathing again."

The nurse pulled him towards the exit.

"Some people just…can't make it. Marinette was already so sick for so long, whatever happens now isn't your fault. You did everything you could."

"You know her?"

"Marinette is in and out of this hospital all the time," the nurse answered. "We'll take care of her from now on, okay? You just go home to your family now."

With that, she gave him one final push out of the hospital, probably sensing his distress despite how much he was trying to mask it, and he stumbled forward as his legs turned to gelatin.

He was forced to get out of the way as another ambulance came in with a wounded victim of his latest failure. The person was groaning in pain but seemed conscious, so hopefully there wouldn't be another emergency code. How many others were there though? How many Marinettes did he abandon back there? What if Ladybug was one of them?

He wobbled over to the nearest bush and heaved the contents of his stomach up the moment the coast seemed clear. The blood in his mouth, around his lips, and on his face was too much. It wasn't like before. It wasn't a series of small cuts and scrapes. It wasn't just a weak heart beat and a cold body. There was so much red this time. Cold, wet, miserable, and he immersed himself in the past so deeply that he had let Marinette drown in her own blood.

He slowly managed to pull himself back together long enough to travel back to his apartment—just long enough.

The most responsible thing to do as a grown man would've been to call Alya knowing she had Erek. Instead he detransformed as he tumbled to his knees and completely fell apart. He could still taste the blood. He felt it on his face. He saw the dark stain on his white shirt, a reminder that transcended any transformation. Proof of what he'd done to Marinette twice. The suffering she'd gone through twice.

Plagg remained silent, watching him unravel.

A/N

Story will get a little graphic at times...just, in case you don't know by now. Read, review, and enjoy~