As Time Goes By Chapter 7: Kiss Me As If It Were The Last Time, a miraculous: tales of ladybug & cat noir fanfic

Kiss Me As If It Were The Last Time

Chapter Summary

The words echoed around in his head. Adrien hadn't known it at the time, but during this conversation, Gabriel was wearing the wedding band that contained Adrien's amok. Perhaps his father had not even intended it as a command, but he'd given it all the same. And from that moment on, Adrien didn't love Ladybug.

He couldn't.

Still lost in his memories, Adrien remembers the day Ladybug left Paris.

Note:

This is a continuation of the flashback from the last chapter.

Cat Noir chases Ladybug north through Paris, vaulting over roadways and diving though tiny alleys. It's the kind of chase they are both very familiar with, but today Cat can tell that Ladybug is tiring out. Using four miraculous simultaneously must be taking an immense amount of energy and focus, and now she is lagging behind her usual speed. Ladybug must have noticed this as well, because when she gets far enough ahead of him to duck out of sight, she pops up wearing only her red suit with black spots, having dropped the other three transformations.

Cat Noir notices the glint of the sun off of her hand, and realizes she must still be wearing the tiger gauntlet, just with it inactive. She is probably also still wearing the others too. Maybe she is letting the kwami's rest? She shouldn't need to, given that she had already demonstrated her full adult powers for years, casting lucky charm multiple times in one battle without detransforming. Although, now that he thinks about it, he hasn't seen her do that since she fought by Viperion's side.

Cat Noir arrives at the Champ de Mars only moments after Ladybug, but of course she has already jumped into action in his absence. Cat sees Mayura's sentimonster for the first time. It looks like a giant humanoid tree, with trunks for legs and arms, and branches and leaves sprouting from its head. On its head, there are wooden knots and limbs that twist into grim facial features. The creature towers over Paris, almost reaching the height of the Eiffel tower, which is surprisingly still standing.

Cat watches as Rena Rouge and Carapace try to distract the monster, while Ladybug tosses her yo-you across the park, forming a makeshift clothesline clearly intended to trip the huge creature as it lumbers down the greenway.

"Mayura, are you seeing this?" Cat Noir calls over the comms, unsure of her exact position.

"Yes, I have eyes-on," Mayura confirmed. "Don't worry, he can handle it."

Impressively, the sentimonster does not trip on the yo-yo's cord, instead digging the roots coming out of its feet deep into the ground to keep itself stable. It quickly rights itself, standing again at full height, as Ladybug is forced to retract her yo-yo.

"Cat Noir, are you planning on contributing to the fight today?" Hawkmoth asks, his voice dripping with sarcasm. It's not really a question.

Cat Noir sighs dramatically, extending his staff to vault closer to the fight.

"Nathalie, I'm coming in from the south, don't let your guy hit me," Cat warns.

"Don't worry, he won't," Mayura assures him, sounding a bit annoyed. "I have him under complete control, he won't do anything unexpected."

As Cat Noir approaches, he sees the flash of pink light that indicates Ladybug has called on a lucky charm. Cat Noir drops in from above, trying to grab the red rubber ball attached to a rope that has just appeared in her hands, but is forced back by Ladybug's spinning yo-yo. They spar briefly, before separating to both dodge out of the way of falling shrubbery. The tree sentimonster has started ripping up anything it can find in the park and hurling it at the heros.

Jumping up, Cat Noir sees Ladybug dodge an airborne park bench, and takes the opportunity to lunge for her lucky charm. Just as his hands close in around the red rope, Ladybug, the charm, and the bench dissolve into mist. It was an illusion! Cat turns, too late, as the real Ladybug throws the spinning lucky charm at him, which tightly wraps itself around him, restraining his arms at his side and immobilizing him as he hits the ground.

All three heros are now behind the tree monster, trying to lure it toward the river, but it throws more uprooted vegetation at them, revealing them to be illusions.

"Cat Noir, I need your help!" Mayura calls. He can hear her in both ears, meaning she is probably nearby, but he can't reorient himself to find her.

"Do you see any of them?" Mayura shouts.

"I'm a little tied up right now!" Cat Noir spits back. "I can't reach the rope to cataclysm my way out!"

Suddenly, Cat Noir catches sight of a tiny green orb, floating above the tree-man's head. Carapace's Shield! But why cast it up there, what is he protecting? Surely if Rena is hiding something with her illusion, she would have hidden the shield as well?

"Mayura, do you see that up there?" Cat shouts loudly. "I think it might be... oh shit."

And suddenly the lucky charm makes perfect sense, as Cat watches Ladybug latch her yo-yo onto the floating shield and uses it as an anchor point to launch herself clockwise around the giant sentimonster, quickly wrapping her yo-yo's cord all the way down it in circles like the monster was a tether-ball pole.

"Mayura!" Cat screams, starting to panic. "They're doing the thing!"

Cat is sure that this is a modification on a new technique they have already seen, one that Ladybug had developed only weeks ago to defeat sentimonsters when Mayura keeps the Amok out of reach. Sure enough, as soon Ladybug's feet hit the ground, she tugs on the yo-yo, tightening it around the wooden creature, and the cord begins to glow. A sickly red energy emanates from it as it slowly sucks the magic that had created the sentimonster away from its body and into Ladybug's yo-yo.

Cat Noir watches in horror as the creature creaks and moans, its wilting leaves falling to the ground in droves. The wood that is directly touching the magical cord turns black, looking charred and cracked. Branches snap, and its torso bends unnaturally, causing the wood to cry out in a way that sounds almost human. Cat suddenly remembers that he is currently laying on the ground wrapped in a very similar red cord, and this thought alone gives him the adrenaline to force his hand up just far enough to cataclysm his bonds.

Because the rope he had been tied up with is technically a magical object, the black energy does not turn it completely to ash, instead only aging it rapidly and turning it a reddish-gray color. It's enough for Cat to muscle his way out of the weakened trap, and he jumps up, immediately directing his attention back to Ladybug.

He knows he should attack Ladybug now, while she's focused on the larger threat, but he hesitates. Seeing her like this, with her face basked in the glow of a dying sentimonster, an expression of hard determination on her face - she looks almost bloodthirsty. Before he can act, Mayura suddenly appears and jumps in front of him, catching Ladybug by surprise and twisting the hero around, pushing her chest onto the red hot cord.

Ladybug's scream rings across Paris. It drowns out the final sounds of the dissolving sentimonster, but before Mayura can take advantage of the pain she's inflicted, Carapace generates an expanding shield around Ladybug, tossing the peacock holder back. Cat Noir finally moves, trying to help Mayura, but he is struck on the back of the head with Rena's flute, and falls down again as the fox snatches the damaged lucky charm from under his feet.

Carapace steadies Ladybug on his shoulder, and in a flash of color, their opponents disappear.

Cat Noir, still laying in the dirt, covers his face and curses in frustration. They had failed again. All that and not a single new miraculous to show for it. He knows his father will be upset. If only he hadn't frozen, if only Mayura hadn't jumped in, acting like a psycho…

"You should probably get up," Mayura says, standing over him.

"I'm waiting for the miraculous ladybugs," Cat Noir grumbles, pulling his hands down to glare up at Mayura.

"I don't think they're coming," she said matter-of-factly. "You cataclysmed the lucky charm."

"So?" he replied, not hiding the contempt in his voice. "I've done that plenty of times. She can just call for a new one."

"It doesn't look like she'll be able to today," Mayura countered. Was she… smirking?

Cat Noir does not have the energy to argue with his father's assistant today, so he swallows the retort he has on the tip of his tongue and slowly gets off the ground, wincing a little as he feels his injuries that apparently aren't going to be magically healed.

"I need to get back to my place then," Cat Noir says once he's back on his feet. "I'll need to clean up before my girlfriend gets back."

Mayura nods, turning to go.

"I'll be in touch with your father's notes from today," she tells him, before bounding off out of sight to detransform.

Cat Noir shakes his head in frustration, heading the opposite direction toward his apartment. When he's a couple blocks away, he finds a secluded place to drop his transformation and feed Plagg.

Usually after a battle, Plagg shares his less-than-fond opinion of Gabriel Agreste, and complains about having to work more than Kaalki, but today, the tiny kwami is quiet, munching on the cheese from Adrien's pocket without comment.

"Hey buddy, you doing alright?" Adrien asks, cupping Plagg in his hands in concern.

"Yeah, just a tough fight," Plagg mumbles, not looking up from his cheese.

"Are you going to be okay?" Adrien questions worriedly.

"I will be fine," Plagg shoots back, putting an angry emphasis on the first word.

Adrien bites his lip, unsure how to respond.

"Do you– do you think Ladybug will be fine?" Adrien finally ventures.

"Hard to say," Plagg grumbles, still not making eye contact. "Let's just go home."

Adrien gently slides Plagg into his shirt pocket, hurrying out of his hiding place and making his way to his apartment. He would need to hurry to get back in time to fully shower and look presentable before Marinette came back from breakfast. He hadn't anticipated not having the miraculous cure today. Now that he's back in his regular clothes he doesn't look too shaken up, and no bruises have started showing, but Marinette is observant, and he doesn't want to give her anything to worry about.

Adrien fumbles with the keys, his hands still shaking from the intense physical activity of this morning. He opens the door, quickly sliding in and locking it behind him. As he rounds the corner to the living room, he is stopped in his tracks.

The window is ajar. A lamp nearby has been knocked over. And on the floor, leaning against his couch… was Ladybug.

He has never seen her so defenseless before. Her body is limp with fatigue. A dark burn stretches across the front of her suit from where she was held against her own weapon. Her face has no color, and her eyes are fluttering, like she can barely keep them open.

Adrien is frozen, speechless. Why is she here? How has she found him? Why would she come like this? Is this some kind of trap…

"Adrien–" Ladybug croaks out, her voice hoarse.

It was strange, hearing her say his true name. There's a beeping noise coming from her earrings, one he hasn't heard in years…

"-I'm sorry," she finishes

And then, in a flash of pink light, Ladybug is gone, and in her place, lying on his floor, is Marinette.

The gears in Adrien's brain grind against each other as the revelation works its way into his mind. It didn't make sense. What was happening? Not this, this couldn't be happening.

He is overwhelmed at the sight of seeing his loving girlfriend, broken and crying. Marinette is crying, and all he wants is to embrace her and tell her he loves her and that everything will be alright. But something holds him back.

Suddenly, Adrien is thrust into a memory from when he first started being Cat Noir.

He was fourteen, and scared, but determined to help his family. Viperion was a force to be reckoned with in battle, strong and fast, and with an uncanny knowledge of the near future. But Ladybug… she was a true hero. She was kind and clever and caring. She seemed to sincerely believe that she was on the right side of the fight, the side of Good. And every time they fought, Adrien had become more and more enchanted with her.

Adrien had confronted his father, and had told him what he thought. Maybe Ladybug had a point… maybe they should listen to her…

"Why are you defending her?" his father shouted. "Where did this come from?"

"It came from me seeing her with my own eyes!" Adrien shouted back. "I'm out there every fight, in person, and I see her. She's amazing, and she never gives up. All she cares about is keeping people safe, about helping others. She's not evil!"

"If she cared about helping others, she would have already given us her miraculous!" Gabriel ranted. "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts. Do you not care about saving our family, do you not love your mother enough to do this for her?"

"Of course I love mother!" Adrien shot back, almost in tears. "But I love Ladybug too… I think, I think I'm in love with her."

Gabriel was taken aback by this revelation, but took a deep breath and adjusted his volume back to conversation level.

"You don't love Ladybug," he scoffed.

You don't love Ladybug

And now, Adrien is standing in his apartment, with Marinette, the love of his life. Marinette who is Ladybug. Ladybug who he does not love, who he cannot love.

But he still loves Marinette. The revelation that the two identities were one person does not stop him from loving Marinette. She is his whole world… and right now that world is dying on his carpet.

Adrien rushes to her side. Marinette is crying now, but Adrien maintains his composure. She's heaving her chest, trying to catch her breath, and Adrien helps her to sit upright with her back against the couch.

"Shhh, shhh, it's okay," Adrien comforts her. "You're okay, I'm here, and I still love you, and you're going to be okay."

"I– I didn't want you to– to find out like this," Marinette sobbed, hiccupping between her already labored breaths.

"It's alright," Adrien assures her. "We're going to get some help. You need to see a doctor."

"She can't go to a hospital, Adrien" a tiny voice cuts in. Adrien looks up to see a tiny red kwami with black spots floating near his head. Ladybug's kwami.

"I'm Tikki," the magical bug introduces herself. "Marinette's injuries are magical, so regular medicine won't help her. She'll need—"

The kwami cuts herself off in a fit of coughing.

"I think you're hurt too, Tikki," Marinette breathes out.

"Ohhhh, not as bad as you are," Tikki cries, flying over to embrace Marinette's flushed cheeks. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you."

"You did protect me, and you protected Roaar and Pollen and Barkk as well." Marinette assures her Kwami.

Adrien helps Marinette off the floor and onto the couch so that she can lay down and rest. Tikki tells him Marinette will need a magical potion to heal her injuries… and lots of time to recover.

"I have some paper in the kitchen, tell me what I need to get and I'll write it down to go find it," Adrien tells the red kwami. He holds out his hand to carry her, and she gladly lowers herself into it, clearly fatigued.

In the kitchen, Adrien dutifully writes down every ingredient Tikki tells him. She looks more tired now, like maybe she was trying to be strong just for Marinette. When she finishes the list, she pauses to sniffle and suppress a sob.

"Don't worry Tikki," Adrien tells her. "I can get all these ingredients today, it will only take me a couple hours.

"It's not that," Tikki cries quietly. "I'm just so upset. Marinette is badly hurt. She won't be able to use any miraculous for a while. And I'm broken, so even if she gave her miraculous to someone else, I couldn't even transform them, let alone fix all the damage from the battle today!"

Adrien holds his breath at the implications of this. He had been focused on Ladybug during the fight, but the akuma and Mayura's sentimonster had caused plenty of damage. People were definitely hurt. Some people may have died. And this time, there would be no magical ladybugs to save the day.

But at the same time, Adrien is relieved that Tikki could not transform anyone. How terrible would it be, if Marinette had asked him to save the day for her? Had put the earrings in his hands? Adrien doesn't want to think about that. The idea of betraying Marinette makes him physically nauseous.

He takes Tikki back to Marinette to rest while he gathers the required components for the potion. Tikki promises she'll call him if Marinette gets worse, but for right now she is stable. Adrien kisses Marinette's forehead and whispers I love you in her ear. Marinette is only half awake, but still smiles and whispers back, I love you too.

In the stairwell, when they are far out of Marinette's and Tikki's earshot, Plagg finally makes his appearance.

"We're really in it now, huh kid?" Plagg comments.

"You're telling me," Adrien agrees.

"Are you really going to help them?" Plagg asks. His eyes are wide and hopeful.

"Of course," Adrien says automatically. "I love her. I could never hurt her. I can't betray her, my heart couldn't take it."

"But if your father finds out–"

"He's not going to find out," Adrien cuts Plagg off. "I realized today, that perhaps my father does not have as strong of an influence on me as he thinks. There are clearly loopholes in his… instructions."

Plagg's tiny mouth extends into a wide grin, as if he had been waiting forever for this day.

"I'm proud of you, kid,"' Plagg tells him. "Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it, up to and including cataclysming the old man myself."

"I think we'll need to be a bit more subtle than that if we want to get Marinette to safety," Adrien warns, "but I do have a plan, and I'm going to need your help."

When Adrien returns to the apartment, Marinette is awake. She's sitting up on the couch, sipping a cup of tea. She looks pale, with no color on her face except a dark bruise that is forming on her left cheek. Adrien's stomach churns as he realizes he was the one who put it there.

"You made tea?" Adrien asks.

"No, I–" Marinette looks sadly down at her cup and then back at him. "I hope you don't mind, I called someone to come by while you were gone. She made tea… and took the other three miraculous to a safe place."

"Right, of course, that's fine!" Adrien quickly assured her. "You don't need to tell me more! I understand how that kind of stuff needs to be kept secret… I don't need to know more."

He notices that the only piece of jewelry she was now wearing was her earrings. Someone had come to keep the others safe… safe from him and his father. Marinette looked at him with sad eyes, but a hardened expression.

"I never wanted to lie to you, Adrien, '' she tells him. "Please believe me because it's the truth. I only ever wanted to keep you safe."

"I don't blame you for it," Adrien assures her. How could he, when he had lied the same and worse? "But now it's my turn to keep you safe."

He begins laying the ingredients he bought out on the table, and gathering the necessary items for the potion Tikki described. He works silently for a minute, but finally, Marinette speaks.

"Adrien, I can't stay in Paris."

"We can't stay in Paris," Adrien corrects.

Marinette looks at him apprehensively.

"Tikki explained everything while you were resting," Adrien continues. "This potion, it will help you both feel better today, but it will take a while for you both to recover. Until then, it's not safe for either of you to be in Paris, or anywhere in France, for that matter."

Marinette continues to stare at him, so he continues talking, worried that if he stops he will lose his nerve.

"I booked us two tickets on the TGV to Marseilles this evening. From there they have a night plane to Oran, which should put us far enough off Hawkmoth's radar that we'll at least have a leg up on avoiding him."

"You did all this, for me?" Marinette asks, her voice barely a whisper.

"It's the least I could do, Marinette," Adrien says. "I can't even explain to you how much you've saved me."

"Ladybug couldn't save anyone today," Marinette mutters, covering her face as she holds back tears.

"No, you misunderstand," Adrien tells her. "Ladybug is Paris's Hero. Marinette is my hero. Marinette is who saves me every day by showing me the love and kindness in the world. By helping me to be who I want to be, regardless of what my father wants. I did all this for Marinette, not for Ladybug."

Silent tears stream down Marinette's face. She wipes them away with her sleeve, trying to compose herself.

"And you want to leave straight from here?" she asks.

"Once we finish the potion, I have a few other things to take care of in the city before we go," Adrien answers. "But I talked to Nino, he's going to come by to take you to the train station, and I'll meet you there at a quarter to five. Don't worry, I didn't tell him anything about the miraculous. He didn't ask any questions, but I think he thinks we're eloping."

Marinette giggles at that. She finally gives him a true Marinette smile.

"It's not a bad idea, you know," Adrien grins, sliding onto the couch with Marinette and embracing her gently from the side. "Why don't we get married in Marseilles?"

"Oh, that's far too ahead to plan," Marinette answers evasively, playfully putting her hand on his chest.

"Yes, you're right, that's too far ahead," Adrien agrees, unable to hide his excitement at the thought of running away with Marinette. "What about the engineer? Why can't he marry us on the train?"

"Oh, Adrien," Marinette laughs.

"Why not?" Adrien asks. "The Captain on a ship can. It doesn't seem fair that—"

Marinette starts crying.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Adrien asks her, moving in closer to hug her as she cries into his shoulder.

Marinette takes a deep breath to steady herself before answering,

"I love you so much, and I hate this war so much," she tells him, looking up into his eyes. "Oh, Adrien, it's such a crazy world, anything can happen – if we don't get away – if – if something keeps us apart – wherever they put you – wherever I'll be – I want you to know that I–"

She can't continue, instead burying her head in Adrien's chest as she quietly cries. Adrien lifts her face to his and gently kisses her forehead.

"Kiss me," she tells him. "Kiss me as though – as though it were the last time."

And Adrien does. He knows just as well as she does how dangerous the journey they are about to go on is, but it won't matter, as long as he's with her. He kisses her with more passion than ever before, as if it truly were the last time.

Adrien is pacing. He's in an empty office, in a building nearby the train station. This is it. This is the moment. He has gone over the plan with Plagg a dozen times now. It was carefully crafted to leverage any wiggle room he had when it came to his father's restrictions.

It was common that when Mayura created sentimonsters, she would give them the ability to communicate directly with the peacock miraculous holder in their own mind. This ensured she could always control them, even if she was not physically near them. But Adrien and Felix had not been created this way. For all intents and purposes, he and his cousin are fully human, with no special abilities, except for what the black cat miraculous gives him. Because of this, they can only receive commands from their amok holders verbally or in writing, which provides an optimal escape route for Adrien today.

As long as he makes it out of Paris without receiving any instructions from his father or Nathalie, he can turn off his phone, go off the grid and prevent them from giving him any new commands. His father has never explicitly told him he couldn't elope with his girlfriend, after all.

It's risky, and Adrien knows it, which is why he has one last contingency in place to make sure Gabriel can't use him or Plagg to hurt Marinette. He looks at Plagg, who nods.

"It's time, kid," Plagg assures him.

Adrien slides the miraculous ring off his finger, but does not renounce it. One of his father's rules. Instead, he hands the now black ring to Plagg.

"Take it far away from here," he instructs the kwami. "Somewhere safe, somewhere me and my family can never find it."

Plagg's green eyes gaze at him fondly.

"I'll miss ya, kid," Plagg tells him. "And I'm proud of you."

Adrien watches as his kwami zips away for the last time.

Adrien is pacing again. He's on the train platform now. It's raining, but he hardly notices. The train is leaving in a few minutes, and Marinette is still not here. He knows she has a habit of being chronically late, but that was why he sent Nino to help her get to the station on time. His mind races through all the terrible possibilities that could have happened.

Maybe the potion didn't work, and she took a turn for the worse? Maybe Nathalie has somehow tracked her down after the fight and has gone to his apartment to capture her? No, he certainly would have heard from his father by now if that were the case.

Adrien's catastrophizing is interrupted when he finally see's Nino's cap through the crowd, and he breathes a sigh of release. They were here!

But as the crowd clears, Adrien sees that there is no one with Nino. He makes eye contact, and Nino gives him a sad and defeated look. He's holding an envelope in his hand.

"Where is she?" Adrien rushes up to him. The conductors are calling for passengers to finish boarding, but Adrien ignores them.

"She had already left the apartment when I got there," Nino tells him somberly. "But she left this note."

Adrien takes the envelope from Nino, fumbling trying to extract the letter from inside. The note is short, written in Marinette's neat penmanship,

Adrien,

I cannot go with you, or ever see you again. Just believe that I love you.

- Marinette

All at once, Adrien's world starts crashing around him. The train is pulling out of the station, but it doesn't matter. Why would he get on it now? The platform starts to spin, and Adrien collapses to his knees, reading the letter over and over again, as the ink starts to run in the rain.

Nino is beside him, trying to get him up off the ground, with no luck. He's saying something, but Adrien can't hear it. All he can hear is his own blood pounding in his ears. And then, through the sound of the rain and the drumming of his heart and the busy train station, he hears a ding.

Of course, she wouldn't leave him with just a note. She wouldn't leave him like this, without an explanation. It was a misunderstanding, that's all. She must be texting him to explain it, to tell him where she was, where to meet her…

Adrien looks at his phone without thinking. It's a text from Nathalie.

Adrien stands up, thanking Nino for bringing him the note.

"Bro, this is big, let's go back to my place," Nino tells him. "We can talk it out, you can rest until you feel better."

"No, I can't right now, I have to go," Adrien tells his friend. "My father needs me at home."

Adrien woke up with a start. He was slumped over on a table, his drink and bourbon bottle next to him. He rubbed his eyes as he glanced around, and saw the piano put away in the corner. Nino had gone home. Despite the cold air in the empty club, Adrien still felt warm from the alcohol. In his hazed state, he barely reacted to the sound of movement by the front door. He drearily looked up, seeing the silhouette of a woman haloed by the city lights outside the door.

Adrien stared at the doorway, convinced his mind was playing tricks on him, but a passing car's headlights briefly illuminated the woman's face. It was Marinette. She was really there. Adrien sat up, his expression hardening.

Marinette looked back at Adrien, slowly making her way across the empty dance floor to the table where Adrien sat. Her face looked sad… or was it guilty?

Adrien tried to stand, but quickly realized he did not have the balance at the moment to complete such a task, and stumbled back down into his seat.

"Adrien," Marinette's quiet and tentative voice pierced the silence of the empty club. "I have to talk to you." Her face looked uncertain, but still held some of her trademark determination that Adrien had always admired.

"Oh, I saved my first drink to have with you," Adrien fibbed, clearly already drunk and slurring his words. He reached for the bottle.

"No Adrien, not tonight," Marinette said decisively. She sat down across from him, continuing to stare at him with her wide bluebell eyes.

Adrien put the bottle down and instead palmed his still half-full drink.

"Especially tonight," Adrien mumbled. He tilted back his glass and drained its contents down his throat, before picking up the bottle again and refilling it. Marinette looked at him in a way that Adrien knew she was disappointed in him, but at this point, he was too plastered to care.

"Please don't," Marinette pleaded as Adrien raised the glass to his lips.

"Why would you come back to Paris?" Adrien asked angrily, putting the glass back on the table.

"I wouldn't have come to the club tonight if I knew you were still here," Marinette said, avoiding his true question.

"You're wearing the earrings," Adrien pointed out. "And you're back in Paris, and of all the places you could have gone you came to my club—"

"I had to, Adrien, believe me. If I could have done it any other way I would have, and that's the truth."

"Your voice…" Adrien mumbled.

"My voice?" Marinette asked, not following.

"It still sounds the same," Adrien explained. "I can hear it now, 'Adrien dear, I'll go with you anyplace. We'll get on a train together and we'll never stop'."

Marinette frowned at his poor imitation of her voice. Adrien took another sip of his drink.

"I can understand how you feel," Marinette said empathetically.

Her hands were folded neatly in front of her on the table, and for a moment all Adrien wanted was for her to reach out a hand to comfort him, if only so he could hold her hand one more time. But Marinette stayed still, her posture reserved and formal.

"Oh! You understand how I feel!" Adrien said a little too loudly. "How long was it we had, princess?"

"I didn't count the days," Marinette replied curtly.

"Well I did," Adrien shot back, taking another drink. "Every one of them. Mostly I remember the last one. And damn, it was a WOW finish. A guy standing on a station platform in the rain with a comical look on his face, because his insides had been kicked out!"

There was a long pause where neither of them spoke as Adrien's words hung in the air.

"Can I tell you a story, Adrien?"

"Has it got a WOW finish?"

"I don't know the finish yet."

"Well, tell it anyway. Maybe one will come to you as you go along."

"It's about a girl who was working in her parent's bakery in Paris. She was so sad, and so alone, when a boy she'd once gone to school with, and who she'd looked up to her whole life, came into that bakery to buy a pastry. But he was not a boy anymore, he was a man. A very great and courageous man. He opened up for her a whole beautiful world of knowledge and thoughts and ideals. Everything she ever became was because of him. And she looked up to him, and worshiped him with a feeling she supposed was love–"

"Yes, that's very pretty," Adrien interrupted. "I heard a story once too. In fact, I've heard a lot of stories. They went along with the sound of a tiny violin, 'Once upon a time, I met this charming prince,' they'd always begin."

Marinette shuddered at Adrien's harsh words and stood up to leave.

"Huh," Adrien continued. "I guess neither one of our stories was very funny."

Marinette ignored him and continued walking to the door.

"Tell me!" he called after her. "Who was it you left me for? Was it Luka, or were there others in between? Or you aren't the kind that tells…"

Marinette stopped and turned back to face him. Even in the dim light, he could see the tears brimming in her eyes. She took a shaky breath, but did not speak. She turned away again and continued out the door.

Adrien slumped back onto the table, spilling his glass and falling back into unconsciousness.

Author's Note:

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