This took a lot longer than expected. I'm sorry I just disappeared for five months, I did not plan it at all. Honestly, I just fell out of the fandom and didn't want to force myself to write when my heart wasn't into it.

Enjoy the chapter ;)

Marinette's lungs burned, and she clutched a stitch in her side as she ran. A rushing sound filled her ears as her heart desperately tried to keep up with her movements. This was it. This would be her downfall. I'm sorry Maman. I'm sorry Papa. I'm sorry Adrien…

"One more lap! You're doing great!" Nino called as she passed. She flipped him off.

They were running around the perimeter of the entire training ground, including the tents. The cheers of encouragement from the lounging soldiers did nothing but tempt her to drop down next to them and succumb to the exhaustion. She was among the slowest of her troop members—no surprise there—but what really pissed her off was that her asshole roommate was one of the fastest. She'd managed to pick up that his name was Rhino, which was surprisingly fitting considering his large forehead and stocky frame.

Marinette desperately wanted to remove the cloth plastered to her face by her sweat, but she wouldn't let herself. She wasn't about to do anything that could endanger her identity, so she limited herself to pulling it up occasionally to take a few short breaths before pulling it down again.

Her legs started to feel numb and disconnected from her body, so she rubbed her hands on her thighs in an attempt to regain feeling in them. Up ahead she noticed Rhino had finished first, and he was standing with Nino by the tall posts, laughing at the stragglers coming in behind him.

"Why are you all out of breath? It was just a jog!"

It most certainly was not just a jog. They had probably just run about three miles. Marinette slowed down next to the rest of the panting soldiers. She was one of the last to arrive. She placed her hands on her knees and tried to suck in air through her mask, but her lungs continued to burn.

"Keep moving guys, or you'll be stiff later," Nino advised as he walked through the group, patting a guy on the shoulder as he retched slightly. "If you feel like you're gonna puke, go over to the trees." Five guys ran over to the area behind the posts.

Nino approached her. "You alright, Ladybug?"

She took another gulp of air and gave a weak thumbs up.

He lowered his voice. "Don't worry. The first week is always the hardest for everybody, so you won't fall behind. Once you adjust, you'll do great." He gave her a pat on the back and moved to check on the other soldiers.

Marinette wasn't convinced. Sure, they were all struggling so far, except maybe a very pompous rhinoceros, but Marinette was still among the soldiers struggling the most. She was afraid that in a week or two, everybody else would adjust and she would be left behind.

After about ten minutes, Nino deemed them alive enough to continue. "Now, our next bit of training involves less cardio." He motioned to the posts beside them, and it was then that Marinette realized they were actually trees still rooted to the ground, except the branches and bark had been cut off. "Now, your objective," he pointed up at the top of the post nearest to him, "is to retrieve that arrow."

The troop collectively relaxed, glad that the running was over. They all seemed to share one thought: how hard could it be?

Nino continued on. "You have two options to go about this." He held up two weight disks with loops of rope attached to them. "You can either wear these, or you can go without them. It's your choice."

Marinette was slightly confused. Wasn't it obvious it would be easier without them? Was this some kind of bravery test? Something to see who was willing to take the harder path?

Nino only had five or so pairs of the weights, but not all of them were used. Rhino and one other soldier took the weights while the rest decided to go without them. They all spread out so everyone had their own post, an arrow stuck at the top of each one. Marinette felt a little on the spot; the posts were the most visible part of the training ground, and some of the other troops were glancing their way.

"Alright, go for it. Remember, if you want some weights or you want to return them, I'll be around." Nino walked up and down the line of posts, watching as the soldiers began their climbing attempts.

Marinette watched as those around her started their attempts and slowly became more and more frustrated. The wood of the post had no ledges or any places to grip onto, so they continually slid back down over and over again. She faced her own post and reached out to feel the smooth wood. Her brows furrowed and she glanced up at the arrow some twenty feet above her.

How on earth were they supposed to do this?

She figured with enough brute strength and speed one might be able to reach the top, but it would still take incredible amounts of coordination and accuracy. Was this what was expected of them?

Marinette tried to wrap her arms around the tree, but her arms barely circled all the way around it. She tried inching her way up, but she only remained off the ground for a few seconds before she slid back down again. She tried running and jumping, hopefully using the traction from her shoes on the post to keep herself upright, but again, friction and gravity weren't on her side.

Nearby, Rhino cried out in frustration. He looked like he blamed the weights for his lack of progress, but he was too prideful to take them off. The other soldier who had taken the weights quickly returned them to Nino only a minute or so after they began.

Nino approached Marinette where she lay on her back, having just ungracefully fallen off the post. "How are we doing over here?"

Marinette frowned up at him and took the hand he offered, hoisting herself up. "Are we expected to be able to do this?"

Nino shrugged. "If you ever want to go to the East and West Training Grounds, but right now? Not at all."

Fifteen minutes later, Nino finally called it. None of the soldiers had managed to get farther than six feet off the ground for longer than three seconds, let alone to the top of the post where the arrow was. As Nino led them towards the open space in the center of the field, Marinette heard some of her troop members blaming their failure on sore legs from running.

They passed a few other troops doing pushups and jumping jacks and other various exercises, and Marinette had a feeling they'd be joining them. Nino spread them out and explained the routine of daily exercises they would do, with him calling out when to switch to what exercise.

Pushups, burpees, side shuffles, jumping jacks, lunges, jumping squats, it didn't matter. Marinette felt like she was going to die. She nearly fell over when her knees buckled underneath her, and she wasn't the only one. Everyone around her was red faced and struggling to stand. When Nino finally called for them to stop the last exercise, several recruits fell in heaps on the grass.

Nino shook his head, slightly amused. "We're only warming up! You can't be done yet." A round of groans was the only response. Even Rhino's nonchalant facade was cracking, as the run probably took more out of him than he initially let on.

Afterwards, they did combat training, which wasn't as physically demanding as their warmups were. The training was more of an introductory lesson: fighting stances, holding a sword correctly, basic punch moves and sword swings, nothing too difficult. Marinette figured the combat portion of her training would be the easiest, while the cardio portions would kill her.

When the sun was high in the sky, Nino dismissed them for lunch. Marinette, not knowing how meals worked just yet, followed her troop back to the tents. Marinette noticed some troops headed in different directions and figured there were multiple places to get lunch from. They came into an open area where a few long tables were set up with various fruits and vegetables spread out on them. A few older women, who Marinette presumed were family members, distributed the food, making sure to ration them equally.

Marinette waited in line until she received a plate of beans and rice, along with a slice of bread and a fruit of her choosing. She hesitated, eyeing the basket of apples, before grabbing an orange. Most of her troop was heading back to the firepit by their tents, so Marinette followed. There weren't enough tree stumps for all of them, so she found a seat next to the single tree in the communal area. Some of her troop members talked together, while others kept to themselves. Marinette didn't mind being alone; this way she had less paranoia about someone finding out she wasn't a guy.

Rhino was among those by the firepit, and he appeared to have drawn the attention of a few gullible recruits as he raved about how famous he was in his hometown. When Nino passed by the area, Rhino called for him to come over. Marinette could tell Nino wanted to dash in the opposite direction, but he came anyway.

"What's up?"

"You've met Chat Noir, right?" Rhino asked. "Wait, are you even high up enough to have met him? I mean, you are training new recruits and not the experienced soldiers, so-"

"I have met him, yes," Nino interrupted, looking slightly irritated. "Why?"

One of Rhino's admirers piped up. "What's he like?"

Marinette froze in her chewing, listening intently to the conversation.

Nino crossed his arms over his chest. "What do you think he's like?"

"He's probably tough like me." Rhino puffed up his chest proudly. "Guys like us don't mess around."

"I bet he's pretty intimidating," another soldier pitched in. "He's like in his forties, right? And he's the guy brave enough to defy the monarchy, so he's probably seen some shit. Is he scary?"

Nino covered his mouth and coughed before giving them a serious expression. "Oh yeah. Very scary." The soldiers all mumbled in admiration and a bit of fear. Nino pressed his lips together, trying not to smile.

Marinette mulled over this new information. Their speculations weren't far from her own. She imagined Chat Noir to be a middle-aged man, and she wouldn't be surprised if he was similar to the royal soldiers. Maybe not abusive, but well-trained and intimidating. In the first five years of the tyrant's reign, nobody in France openly criticized or resisted the monarchy's power. It must have taken a lot for Chat Noir to single handedly break into the prison and retrieve all those prisoners, and even after that, he continued to make headlines as he rebelled against the soldiers. Nobody in the country was on his side, and he must have known that, but he continued to persevere.

Although Marinette had her reservations, she couldn't deny that he was really quite incredible, and she was a bit intimidated by him.

After lunch, they headed back to the field for a couple more hours of training. Again, they were mainly learning the basics of different areas of combat. They were also introduced to different battle formations and practiced a bit of marching. Marinette, being her clumsy self, struggled a bit with the coordination required for the synchronized steps. She wasn't the only one struggling, but she was afraid that soon she would be as everyone else improved.

Nino gave them the rest of the afternoon and evening off as it was their first day and they were pretty exhausted from the morning's workouts. Marinette spent her time wandering around the tents, observing the soldiers as they chatted together. She was surprised at how many wrestling matches she came across, but it made sense that they were trying to use their new fighting skills on each other.

One common theme among the soldiers was how carefree they were, something that Marinette hadn't seen in anybody outside of the revolution. Most of them seemed drained from the day's work, but they all joked and complained about it together. They talked freely, without worry of someone overhearing them and reporting their family to the royal guard, possibly getting them killed.

Despite the responsibilities she had, Marinette couldn't help but feel lighter as she strolled. This atmosphere was refreshing, freeing. She felt renewed in strength and motivation. Everyone was here to better themselves, just like her. Everyone here wanted the royal guard gone, and they were willing to fight for it.

Today was only her first day. Tomorrow, she would work even harder and become even stronger. She would not let herself fall behind.

Marinette was falling behind.

She brought herself to her feet again after losing her balance for the nth time. They were currently wielding real swords for the first time rather than the sticks they were practicing with before, and Marinette had underestimated the new weight distribution and was having trouble performing some of the swings. They had wrapped cloth over the blades so nobody would hurt themselves, which she was extremely thankful for.

It had been a week or so since she started training. Long story short, she was sore. Very sore. The second and third day of training had been much harder than the first as her muscles were stiff and still reeling from the previous day's workout. Even Rhino seemed to start slacking as the training became continuous. However, as Marinette feared, everyone was starting to learn and adjust, while she was still struggling.

Her forearm muscles were pretty much nonexistent prior to their sword wielding, so her swings were graceless and awkward. Nino had been helpful in giving her some tips, but ultimately it all came down to practice.

"You just need to work on your coordination a bit, that's your main issue."

Marinette rubbed a hand over her forehead. "I've always been clumsy. I don't know how I can fix that in a few weeks."

Nino considered her for a moment. "You could try coming out here at night. Part of the problem is that you're paying attention to what everyone else is doing and not enough on yourself. I think you just need some extra time, and then you'll start to get the hang of it. I'll let the night guards know."

So, that's what she did. Starting that night, she waited until she could hear Rhino's obnoxious snoring and crept out of her tent. Nino left a sword out for her by the posts, and she began her practicing. She hadn't learned many moves or strategies, so she focused on becoming more comfortable holding the sword. She also worked on some of the hand-to-hand combat moves she'd learned, mainly those involving her legs, which always caused her to lose her balance.

She continued this for another week. Every morning, she ran a few miles with her troop, and afterwards Nino would bring them over to attempt climbing the posts, which, even two weeks later, nobody had managed to do. Then, they would do their round of warm up exercises before proceeding with combat training.

Marinette had to admit, all of this was draining. She was only getting a few hours of sleep every night, and every moment she spent awake she was physically exhausting herself. She'd taken to sleeping during their evening break before going out for her nightly training. Although the extra sleep helped, it wasn't ideal.

A loud snort from Rhino woke her from a deep sleep. She blearily looked around her tent; everyone was asleep around her. Shit. She'd slept too long. She rolled onto her back and stared up at the canvas above her, considering closing her eyes and skipping her extra training tonight.

No, just get up.

Marinette rubbed her eyes and sighed loudly. She sat up and stumbled towards the split in the canvas and out into the darkness. She made her way across the field and retrieved her sword from behind one of the posts. She stared down at it in her hands.

Were these nights even doing anything?

Half the time she questioned if her form was correct, but there was no way for her to tell. Nino could help her during the day, but they weren't always working with swords. Even when they were, she felt embarrassed about her lack of progress and needing frequent help from their troop leader. Despite her best efforts, Rhino's nasty comments were starting to get to her.

She dropped the sword next to the post again, feeling hopeless. Just as she was about to turn away, her eyes found two shiny objects on the ground nearby. They were the weights Nino always offered while they were trying to climb the posts. Marinette had never really considered them, thinking they were just another add on to make climbing more difficult after you had managed it on your own.

Marinette bent down and picked them up, observing them for the first time. They seemed like they'd only be an obstacle… but maybe that was the point.

A grin slowly formed on her face as she realized what she was supposed to do. She tied the two weights together and approached the post, wrapping them around it so she had one hand in each rope loop on either side of the wood. She pulled, testing the knot and satisfied when it didn't budge. She lifted the knot higher up and leaned back, pulling her whole weight on it. Again, it didn't budge.

Marinette's heart pounded as she raised a foot up on the wood, a laugh escaping her when she was able to lift herself off the ground and stand for a few seconds. She walked her other foot up. Now was the tricky part. With all her strength and speed, she hoisted the weights up higher on the post. She pushed her legs horizontally as much as she could to hold the knot in place. She stepped up again. She hoisted the weights.

She repeated this process over and over until she reached the top of the post, putting both loops of the rope in one hand and grabbing the arrow with the other. She placed the arrow in her teeth and slowly slid her way down, controlling the speed with her force on the rope. When she reached the grass again, her muscles were burning from the strain, but she didn't care.

Her cheeks hurt from grinning so much. I did it. Oh my god, I did it.

She couldn't believe it. All this time she thought the weights would be a hindrance, but they were actually there to help her. It was quite the interesting lesson. She was supposed to use her obstacles to her advantage. With renewed determination, she picked up her sword, staring down at it again but feeling much more hopeful.

"I'm impressed."

Marinette jumped and whipped around, raising the sword towards the owner of the voice behind her. They quickly leaned back, the tip of the blade narrowly avoiding their neck.

"Woah, there!" He raised two gloved hands in a placating gesture, eyes slightly wide behind the veil covering them.

Marinette's heart stuttered as she realized who was standing before her. It was dark, but the moon and torchlight from the tents provided enough light for her to see he was wearing all black. She'd seen enough wanted posters of this man to recognize him in an instant.

Chat Noir.

Chat Noir, the absolute last person she expected to see, was right in front of her.

And she was pointing her sword at him.

With a start she dropped it, and he bounced backward as the tip narrowly avoided his feet.

"Whoops!" he exclaimed. He bent down to retrieve the blade. She stood frozen as he approached her and placed it back in her numb fingers. "There you go, M'Lady. Purr-haps work on your grip a little more, then I think you'll be on point." He winked.

Marinette's mind was in panic mode as she stared up at his grinning face. She didn't know what part of this interaction freaked her out more: the fact that he called her M'Lady, hence, knowing she's female, the fact that he just made not one, but two puns in the same sentence, or the fact that he's not at all what she imagined him to be.

She expected a big, burly man with an aura that screamed intimidating, not the young and lean guy in front of her with an easygoing smile plastered on his face.

He seemed oblivious to her inner turmoil. "Oh! My apologies, I haven't introduced myself." He surprised her again by bending down and reaching for her hand, lightly kissing the back and peeking up at her. "I'm Chat Noir."

Marinette felt a sudden rush of déjà vu, but she was too distracted to acknowledge it. He straightened up again and looked at her expectantly.

She cleared her throat to speak, and although she knew he was expecting her name, that wasn't the first thing to come out of her mouth. "How did you know?"

He tilted his head to the side. "Know what?"

Marinette took a moment to compose herself. She could freak out later. For now, she needed to focus on sorting her thoughts enough to have a conversation. "That I'm not a guy."

Chat shrugged. "I know things."

Marinette blinked a couple of times. "So Nino told you."

Chat held up a finger. "Ah, ah, Carapace. Carapace told me."

Of course he did. Marinette stood for a long moment before she realized she still hadn't given him her name.

She stuck out her hand. "I'm Ladybug."

He reached out and shook it. "Ladybug," he tested the name with a curious expression. "I haven't heard that one before."

She let go of his hand. "I can't say the same about you."

He laughed. "Really? So you've heard of me?" he joked.

Marinette played along, shrugging nonchalantly. "Eh. Maybe a whisper here and there, nothing too big."

He dramatically placed a hand over his heart. "Wow, I guess I've been away from civilization too long. Here I was thinking I was some kind of household name or something."

Marinette shook her head, a small smile starting to creep onto her face. "Sorry, that's not the case."

He shook his head in mock disbelief. "What a disappointment." His eyes scanned over the training ground before he turned back to her again. "Anyway, if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing out here? I was under the impression the soldiers trained during the day."

Marinette suddenly felt embarrassed. Chat Noir was the leader of the entire revolution, and here she was, a rookie who needed extra training to catch up with the rest of her troop. "Oh, um…" She searched for words to explain her situation without sounding too pathetic. "I just wanted to give the post another try. I finally got it so," she shrugged her shoulders, "mission accomplished."

Chat grinned at her. "Yeah, you did. Like I said, I'm impressed." He looked at the post next to them. "Usually it takes a lot longer for people to figure it out, and even then it takes a lot of skill to climb with the weights." He turned back to her. "You're gonna be a good soldier, Ladybug."

Marinette smiled. His words made her feel better, more confident, but she was conflicted. She had been trying to convince herself that Chat Noir was a horrible and selfish person, but so far he's been nothing but friendly and polite to her. Right now he was looking at her earnestly, trying to encourage one of his soldiers. He didn't have to be talking to her, she was a new recruit, practically at the bottom of the food chain, but here he was anyway.

Speaking of… "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing out here?" she asked.

He crossed his arms. "I take walks," he stated simply.

Marinette quirked an eyebrow. "Walks? In the middle of the night?"

Chat shrugged. "They help me clear my head, and I've been busy the last few weeks, so I've only gotten around to them after dark."

That peaked Marinette's interest. It was well into the night, and he only now had the opportunity to take a walk? She was curious, but she didn't say anything about it.

She felt a yawn coming on. She did her best to hide it behind the cloth over her mouth, but Chat noticed anyway.

"Here," he took the sword from her, "I'll take this back. Go get some rest."

Marinette opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. It felt wrong to part with Chat Noir without trying to get some information from him. What were the chances she'd run into him again? As much as she wanted to ask him about the break in, she had to wait. She couldn't risk looking too suspicious too fast. Besides, she'd just met Chat Noir. That was enough progress for one night.

He walked her back to the tents. Under the torchlight, she was able to get a better look at him. From what she could see of his face, he was pretty handsome. He was tall and had messy blonde hair, and his entire outfit was black: black pants, black boots, black gloves, black t-shirt. He had black paint under the black veil over his eyes. She found the veil slightly strange; if it was meant to hide his upper face, it wasn't working. All it really did was tint his eyes gray.

They went their separate ways, and once Marinette was laying back in her bed, she allowed herself to take a few deep breaths and process what had just happened.

That was Chat Noir. She had just spoken with Chat Noir, no, she had joked with him. What the hell? The confusion that was clouding her mind started to clear away, and the logical part of her took over.

Don't be fooled, Marinette.

She rubbed at her eyes. Sure, he seemed friendly and easygoing, but there's a reason why the royal guard wanted to catch this man. There's a reason why he's the face of the revolutionary army, why everyone in the nation knew his name, why she didn't trust him in the first place. She needed to remember that.

He was charming, but that only made him more dangerous.

"Rise and shine!" The voice pierced through Marinette's dream and she flinched. She covered her face with her blanket.

Just as she was about to drift off, it came again, except this time it was right outside her tent. "Good morning! Let's get up now, shall we?"

Marinette cracked an eye open and sighed loudly. She threw the blanket off and got up. She made sure the rest of her roommates were still asleep before she took off her face paint in the wash basin in the corner. She applied a new layer over her eyes, got changed, and fixed her hair. By the time she was done, Rhino was starting to stir, so she ducked outside.

She stood in the common area until the rest of her troop was up. Everybody waited around for about ten minutes, but there was no sign of Nino. Marinette was growing more and more confused by the second. She was sure someone had called to wake them up, but there was no one in sight. Had she imagined it? She remembered she had the strangest dream last night—she had run into Chat Noir, ha!—but since everybody else had gotten up too, it must not have been part of it.

Suddenly, a wave of commotion came through her troop members, and she looked around. Her gaze landed on a figure walking down the pathway towards them, and her eyes widened. Dark clothes, blonde hair-

"Sorry I'm late everyone." He lowered his hands from where they were resting behind his head. "I'm Chat Noir, and I'll be your substitute Carapace for today."