His reality played out in slow motion before his eyes, his mind working harder than it ever had before to process a dead girl revived. He'd always thought that if he was ever blessed enough to see her one more time, his joy would be unbridled, endless, boundless. No. He was numb. Paralyzed, even. Like this couldn't be happening. Like he was just having wishful visions again, so used to fighting beside a masked girl cloaked in red mystery that he would actually see her in his peripheral vision, only to whip his head around and see she wasn't there anymore. As if reality wanted to smack him in the face one last time before nightfall. Reminding him that he was all alone now. Reminding him of his loss. Reminding him that life could be so, so ugly sometimes. So cruel. So brutal. So frustrating.

He didn't even notice the torrent's blades anymore. Every drop of water that was supposed to burn his eyes and sting his face and freeze his skin suddenly didn't exist. It was just her. Just…this figure. Leaping from in between the buildings, reaching heights only he…and only Ladybug…could reach. He with an extended baton and she with a yo-yo. Both of them flinging themselves into the air, flying for that one moment. Side by side facing the danger of gravity and defying it each time, mocking the laws of physics together. The two of them reaching for the sky. Feeling the wind in their hair. Helicoptering down only when they were ready.

And he could watch his blur of red soar again as she pulled herself away from him, sometimes with a kiss and other times with a tease.

As the light faded again, his catlike eyes provided new depths for him. He couldn't make out colors very well and the water still obscured the majority of his surroundings, but he saw her so clearly. He saw each spot. He saw her long hair flow gracefully as she reached the peak of her height and began her descent, just like it used to. And her eyes were…

He blinked.

Her eyes weren't supposed to look that dark…were they…? And she wasn't supposed to have her eyebrows furrowed that far down. She wasn't supposed to clench her teeth. She wasn't supposed to scrunch her nose.

This wasn't a normal fight. Fury drove her this time. But not the usual fury, not the kind of anger that would only compel a person to lash out for a bit, more so verbally. She was…consumed. He'd been there, enough to annihilate entire buildings. He didn't need perfect vision to see that in her.

What had this thing done to invoke such wrath…?

Before she could reach a point below the skyline again, back between the buildings she'd jumped from, she threw her yo-yo around two metal poles sticking up from the roofs, forming a tight elastic string, and the yo-yo itself grappled to one of the poles. It was quite similar to the border of a wrestling arena.

She leaned forward and curled up, appearing as if she was going to land face-down on concrete from that high up.

His heart skipped a beat at the thought of it and he was quick to rush to her aid—until he felt a gust of wind so powerful it would've sent him flying if he hadn't smashed his baton into the roof as an anchor for himself. He kept an eye cracked open while he struggled to keep himself vertically grounded, watching Ladybug's every movement.

He made the mistake of underestimating her. Shamefully, he didn't remember just how smart this woman really was. She knew the wind was coming. She'd timed her jump. She'd anticipated this move and was preparing to counter it with the string of her yo-yo—a bowstring, he thought.

Once the wind came it hit her just as hard, but she was firmly held in place by that string. The position she'd moved herself into allowed her feet to be planted on it while her curled form help protect her from the sting of it all, which, at that last thought, he started to feel again. And it was painful. The stinging now was best described as an icy fire.

There was a moment he thought the poles were going to break, sending her with them, but then he understood what she was doing. These weren't random poles to save her from falling, they were bending just enough…to shoot her at the ground like an arrow. Even Ladybug would sustain some amount of damage if she actually took a hit that hard, headfirst no less.

The moment the wind relented in the slightest was the moment her makeshift bow released all its tension, and she sped through the air too fast for him to see, disappearing—always disappearing—below the skyline. He barely pulled his staff out when he heard a shrill cry even over the howling and whistling of the remaining winds and the roar of this cloud waterfall hitting every surface.

Some kind of snake reared its head above every building, directly in his line of sight, and he fully intended to get to it to assist Ladybug, but it seemed to spot him first and blew a huge breath in his direction. He had to stop and ground himself with the staff again, unable to continue towards Ladybug. Not helping her. Again.

The snake chuckled as the winds still blew into his body, attempting to knock him down at the very least. So this thing's breaths were the commands to shift the winds. It could whip up a hurricane if it chose. But he knew it wouldn't do such a thing. It needed the miraculous first. Blowing either Ladybug or him completely away would be to lose both the miraculous at once. How disappointing that would be. Then, as an added bonus for the loss, it would have to track them both down again.

And he got a creeping feeling Ladybug wasn't coming back after this. Truly his last battle with her, a chance to make one last memory with her, and he couldn't do a thing.

The snake chuckled as if to add insult to injury and turned its scaly head downward. His tail lifted Ladybug to eye level with it.

"And you! Little pesssst!" it growled. "I'll make you pay for thissss! You hear!"

Although he couldn't hear her, he could see the snake's tail wrapped tightly around her, squeezing her as she grunted in pain.

"Or…" Its eyes drifted from Ladybug to Chat. "Should I make him pay firsssst…?"

The snake twisted its tail to turn Ladybug towards him. How pathetic he must've looked…using all his strength to not flap around in the wind like a flag on a pole…

The look on her face went from pain to horror in a snap and she bucked to free herself.

"It took sssssso long to draw you out…lucky little beetle…" the snake said, its eyes on her as it twisted her back around to face it.

"TRY TO KEEP IT DISTRACTED!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

She didn't seem to hear him. His voice carried with the wind. He wouldn't be able to reach her through normal methods.

"Hiding like a coward…" the snake continued. "Alwaysss making Chat Noir fight your battlesss… Never offering to help… Abandoning your partner, your dutiesss, your city… Giving up when Parisss needsss you mossst! Look at what you've become, Ladybug… Ussselesss…ssselfish… You're sssuch a tragedy… An embarrassssment… How mussst your former admirersss feel about you now…?"

"DON'T LISTEN TO THAT THING!"

"They usssed to think you dead. Wasssn't it better that way? The whole world wasss on the verge of forgetting you… Isssn't that what you wanted…?"

He nearly lost his grip—Ladybug wasn't like that. She couldn't have wanted anyone to think she was dead. She had to have a better reason for going into hiding for so long. She had to have a better reason for finally coming back out in the open, even if it was just this once.

"Poor Chat Noir… You've been torturing him all thesssse yearsss…I can sssee it…hisss pain…it'sss unbearable sssome daysss… You made him sssuffer for yearsss and never cared…"

"LADYBUG! HE'S JUST TRYING TO GET TO YOU!" Chat spat out some water that had accumulated in his mouth simply by opening it long enough. "DON'T LET IT!"

He understood now—the snake wasn't able to get something out of Ladybug. It needed something else from her, it needed her to feel horrible. He didn't know why but…he had an idea of how this thing could manipulate her feelings like this—its power wasn't just storms, it had the ability to look deep inside a person's conscience with eye contact. Maybe Ladybug already knew about this power and wouldn't look into its eyes. Maybe that was why it was saying all these things to her.

"Chat Noir ssstill lovesss you…why do you keep hurting him? He triesss ssso hard to move on…won't you let him…? Maybe you jussst don't want him to be happy…?"

He saw the snake's pupils widen as Ladybug finally succumbed to its emotional manipulation and turned her eyes to it. Very vague pictures played like a fast slideshow. He couldn't make out any one image but he saw quick glimpses of a few distinct ones, one of them being the last time he saw her…through her eyes. Just him smiling as she turned around. He caught Marinette in there once or twice. In one of them she was covering up her cheek and frowning. In another…he pretty sure he saw the inside of a hospital room with "get well" balloons and flower bouquets. But those were all he could really make out, of the dozens of pictures that appeared in those predatory eyes.

Suddenly it blinked. The pupils stopped showing any pictures and returned into normal slits.

"Oh my…" it said. "Thisss isss why Hawk Moth wantsss you ssso much… Ssso many demonsss… How much doesss your former lover know about you? About your…changesss…? How many more ssskeletonsss are you hiding, little moussse…? You could've been ssso great… A great hero… A great perssson… Yet thisss is the tragic life you chossse… What a pitiful thing you've become…"

The snake looked at him again.

"There'sss sssomeone elssse now," it said to him. "You're no longer important to her. She'sss moved on. I feel sssorry for you, Chat Noir. After everything you've done for her…everything you've sssacrificed…you ssstill lossst."

By now Ladybug had stopped squirming. She didn't even try to turn her head to look at him, to tell him it was lying, it was living up to every expectation of a villain.

What the snake said did hurt, a lot, but did this serpent ever consider that he'd wanted Ladybug to be happy all these years, whether it included him or not?

"Perhapsss you want to go home and get rid of the ring…?" it suggested. "It wasss too beautiful for her anyway. Sssomeone elssse would be more dessserving of your loyalty and generosssity... More dessserving of the family you wanted… The life you sssecretly desssire… The love you have to give…"

She snake moved its head a frustrating five feet from him, strong winds still not allowing him to let go of his baton.

"I know your heart, Chat Noir," it said. "Time won't heal it… You loathe the anniversssary of your losss yet, for the benefit of othersss, you agree to be interviewed when all you want isss to essscape that day… But nobody letsss you… You're alwaysss reminded of your preciousss Ladybug… You try not to think of her becaussse it opensss the wound again… You want to move on but you're ssstuck… You were right to give up on Ladybug…she gave up on you a long time ago…"

He tried to concentrate on keeping a good footing on the roof rather than the snake's words…true though they were.

"I take great pity on you, and all like you," it continued. "All thossse who do good and are rewarded with heartache from true sssnakesss... I can calm thisss ssstorm. I will let you go to do asss you pleassse knowing Ladybug would never have you. I only asssk your miraculousss in return."

The winds that had him stuck to his baton for so long finally allowed him a little movement, balance at last, although the storm itself was still not a force to be reckoned with.

"What happens to Ladybug?" he asked the snake.

"I have…ssspecial plansss for her."

"Will she be safe?"

"I make no promisssesss."

He looked down at what could be seen of Ladybug behind both the snake's head and through the violent downpour. From what he could see, her head was hung and she didn't bother moving…didn't bother to look at him even as the snake spoke very clearly and very audibly through the maelstrom it caused.

"But there's a chance she'll be safe, right?"

"Yesss, a good one."

"Alright," he conceded. "Let me go home…but first…before I give you my miraculous…can I ask a favor?"

The storm began to calm and the winds slowed to a near stop.

"If you want Ladybug back—"

"No, that's not it," Chat interrupted. "Like you said, she broke my heart. She doesn't want me. It'll just hurt worse to ask for her back. I think I've had enough of that. Besides…she'll just run off again…we both know that…"

Ladybug slowly lifted her head back up and looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Then what isss your requessst?"

"I still love her. I hate seeing her being squeezed like that." He pointed to the snake's tail. "Could you put her down?"

"I would, gladly, but like you sssaid, she would only run off again. I would have to sssearch all over for her," it replied. "Do you have any idea how hard it isss to drag her out into the open?"

"You're right, you're right, but just look at her." He gestured to Ladybug's shy form. "She's so defeated. She must be wondering what the point of running away is. You saw what's in her heart. All those secrets she hid, even from me… All these years… It hurts just thinking about it… Imagine how small she feels now. I doubt she feels like going anywhere, and it's really just so I can give you my miraculous in peace…it's…hard to part with, you know… You can scoop her back up as soon as you have it."

"Don't let my form deceive you, Chat Noir," it said. "I am not the sssnake here."

Nevertheless, it placed some amount of trust in him—or at least put stock in his words—and lowered its tail to the ground, relinquishing its grip on Ladybug as its tail became slack. She slid out with ease and, while its eyes were focused on her to make sure she really wouldn't run, he winked at her and quickly looked to the side, giving her a signal to go.

She would take the hint and go but…her retreating form would probably be the last thing he saw. He momentarily wondered if she took what the snake said seriously, if she really did care about how he felt all this time. She would only go back into hiding after this. Proof enough that the snake could've been right about her.

She played along, realizing what he was doing, and despairingly fell to her knees, holding herself and hanging her head in utter defeat.

He cleared his throat to attract the snake's attention and it leaned its head even closer to him.

"Now, the miraculousss if you will," it said, opening its mouth and extending a long, forked tongue.

Ladybug did get up, but she didn't run. At first he thought she'd understood his plan but…maybe not. All she did was stand there shaking her head, silently telling him not to give up his miraculous. Perhaps she'd just been out of the game so long she forgot what it was like to come up with these plans, to work together as two halves serving the same purpose. On the upside, he was used to working alone now, and could give himself the credit Ladybug obviously wasn't. Or did she still think he needed her to win anything?

Of course…destroying corrupted akumas didn't quite feel like winning anyway.

If he was lucky enough he could talk with her later. In the mean time, he tried to calculate as quickly as he could where the object could be. It was all scales and a tongue, there was nothing abnormal or out of place…except the eyes. The pictures had played in its eyes. It had to make eye contact to do that. The eyes were the key to its powers. Maybe it was a piece of jewelry he couldn't see.

He put a hand over his miraculous to buy him slightly more time to figure it out, pretending to sadly slide it off.

He scanned the eyes for a glint or a dark spot on either of its eyes. Something to suggest an item behind them.

"Chat Noir…" the snake growled. "Your miraculousss now!"

It pushed its tongue out farther and flicked it upwards, the fork reaching out to him like two fingers waiting for a ring.

"Right, right, sorry! It's…just really hard."

It sighed in annoyance.

"Thank you for being so patient," he said.

"I pride myssself in it."

"So, uh, if I may ask, who broke your heart?"

"That doesssn't matter."

"How did she do it?"

"Ssstop thisss and give me the miraculousss, Chat Noir."

"Is she why you're so patient with me?"

"Ssstop ssstalling."

He paused when his ring was halfway up his finger and fiddled with it.

"I bet she was really pretty."

The snake closed its mouth and glared at him.

"Beautiful. But it'sss none of your concern."

"Did she leave you?" he asked. "No warning, no goodbye, nothing?"

"I don't know where she isss."

"Do you hate her now?"

Even in a reptile, its human side revealed itself and he saw the shine of tears in its…eye. The right eye was starting to water. The left eye barely so.

A glass eye.

He hesitated for a moment. Despite being made of glass, it looked so real, and the thought of stabbing his baton into it made him shudder. He imagined this sickening pop with eye stuff, juices and all, spurting out. And then he would be covered in it… He knew the eye would break but…how disturbing…

He swiftly used a foot to knock his baton out of the ground and into his hand and used it to jump above the snake's head. Before it could release another gust of wind on him, he positioned his baton and threw it at the snake's glass eye. The rod speared it dead on—a bullseye, one could say—and the horrible screech from earlier sounded out again. At least it wasn't Ladybug who had sounded like that…

The snake was quick to draw its head back as the akuma fluttered out of a large crack in the eye.

He rushed to grab it but didn't fail to notice that Ladybug's yo-yo didn't sail by him to get it first. It unfortunately ended up in his clutches. He didn't want to wait any longer.

"Cataclysm!" he shouted.

Destructive power accumulated into his hand and channeled itself into the only thing there was to touch. This time he didn't bother to see the akuma crumble. He dropped it and used his baton to get off the roof. He hadn't seen Ladybug above any rooftops. Lingering rain didn't help much but…at least it was better than before.

Never before had he been so happy to have a cat's hearing—there were footsteps just around one of the buildings.

He broke into a full run to follow them.

"Ladybug!" he called after her.

The footsteps stopped. He imagined her to be happy, at least a little bit, when he found her, or maybe a little sad. Maybe ashamed. Maybe hurt. Akumatized or not, that snake struck a serious nerve in her. He could feel it cutting through even the grating wind and daggers of water that threatened to slice him up. More worrisome was that it said Hawk Moth wanted her. That thing had Ladybug right in its grasp. It never took the ladybug miraculous.

It only meant Hawk Moth wanted her for an entirely different reason. Perhaps that was why she disappeared like she did. Was it possible that Ladybug already knew whatever Hawk Moth had planned? That somehow she would have to play a role in it? Was she hiding…because she was scared…?

"Ladybug," he said when he caught up to her.

He noticed she was walking towards the park. A lot of trees there had been blown over. Some smaller ones uprooted. Whole branches had been tossed to the ground like they were little sticks. But the statue remained completely in tact. Covered in leaves, mud, and other debris, but still in tact.

"Ladybug, hold on, please. Don't run off yet. I just have some ques—"

"Was the snake lying?" she interrupted.

He felt a blush creep over his face.

"Let's talk," she said.

He quietly followed her to a park bench where she wiped off several twigs and leaves to sit down. He chose to sit right next to her. Close enough to at least hang a casual arm around her. Feel her one more time. But he didn't.

"It's been a long time, kitty," she started. "You were so close to finally thinking I died. I bet one more year would've done it."

"Why did you want the world to think you were dead?" he asked. "Are you hiding from something?"

She shrugged. "I never planned to make people think I died. One day they all decided that for themselves and from then on, Ladybug was dead. I figured it was for the best. I thought it would be better for you too. I thought that maybe fighting without me wouldn't be so hard if you knew I didn't abandon you."

"You could've called me…let me know you were okay this whole time…"

"I wanted to. But…you were getting better. You were moving on. You got really good at fighting alone and your powers grew. You could still stop akumas. You didn't need me anymore."

"That's not true—"

"If you needed me you wouldn't have lasted eleven years without me."

"That's different, I had to adapt," he argued. "I had no choice."

"You were always like that though. When push comes to shove you'll accomplish anything, no matter what it takes. And that's exactly what you did here."

If only he could remember the last time he'd received praise from this woman…

He opened his mouth to speak but paused when she frowned and looked at her lap, hands neatly folded in the middle.

"Was the snake right about you? With the ring, I mean… Were you…actually…" Her timid voice trailed off as though she was wondering if she even wanted to finish that question.

Chat gulped, recalling the snake's whole spiel about his personal life.

He would've asked her. From partners to friends to dating to sealing the deal, by that point, he hadn't seen any reason why they couldn't share a life together. They would've had to reveal their identities to one another and that was something Ladybug had never been very keen on doing, but wouldn't marriage be a big exception? In his mind she would've said yes, they would've gotten married, settled down, started a family, and grown old with grandchildren. As excited as he was, carrying around that stupid ring waiting for a perfect opportunity, it was nerve-wracking. So when she got sick he immediately had every reason to put his plans on hold. But then she left and he was stuck with little more than a rock on a circle. He should've gotten rid of it a long time ago but for reasons unknown, he still kept it stashed in a desk drawer.

"I was planning to, yeah…" he admitted.

She dropped her head into her hands with a groan.

"I'm so sorry, Chat."

He sighed. "It's not your fault, you did what had to be done."

"I didn't know."

He smiled and winked at her.

"That was the point, my lady."

She kept her eyes down and held herself as she had earlier. He wasn't sure if she was seeking warmth or comfort at this point. She wasn't shivering but at the same time she didn't seem disturbed by anything. Even the rain was fading to sprinkles.

And the sun was coming back out…

She was so beautiful…

"It…that wouldn't have worked anyway…" she mumbled. "Chat, if we had gotten married, we would've had to reveal our civilian identities and you know we can't do that."

He held his tongue but he could've easily argued that point. The only thing they had been missing was the ceremony. Secret identities hadn't been necessary at the time, not between the two of them.

"I'm not going to ask you to marry me, Ladybug," he assured her. "I just want to talk. It's…been so many years since I last heard your voice and you'll disappear again the second this conversation ends."

"I have to."

"And this time I won't ever see you again."

"Probably not."

"Why did you come back after all this time? What happened to force you out of hiding?"

She took a deep breath.

"It's a long story but when the snake attacked, he almost hurt someone very important to me. You weren't there yet so Ladybug came to the rescue."

"You didn't fight much…"

"I guess you could say I'm a little rusty."

"You didn't run when I gave you the chance…"

It only took a few seconds for him to realize that she had no excuse for that. He deduced from her silence that said "important person" was in fact the person she had moved on to…which meant the snake hadn't been lying about any of it. An honest snake…who'd have thought it. So then, what did the snake mean when it suggested Ladybug was the real snake? Normally that meant a liar, or thief, or cheater…someone like that. Someone bad. And the snake had seen all her secrets. It mentioned she had "so many demons." What was Ladybug hiding? What were her bad deeds? Was her capture part of a bigger plan? There was an akuma attack, of course Chat Noir would eventually show up for that…so…was she meant to lure him and keep him?

Or was he totally overthinking this? He was probably overthinking it… Either way, he was willing to gamble on her innocence if it meant he could be with her one last time.

"And you didn't forget me when I gave you the chance..." she replied.

"After everything we've been through together, you expect me to forget you?" he chuckled.

But there were times when he had tried to forget her, he couldn't deny that much.

"I've missed this," she said. "The two of us, together, just talking about whatever. It used to be on the Eiffel Tower though." She giggled at her own reminiscing. "It was the only place we could ever get any privacy. Remember how reporters would pop out of nowhere?"

"We would sit on beams under the viewing platforms just to hide from them."

Those half-starved vultures always tried to keep track of the love life of the miraculous duo, which was only revealed—or rather, confirmed—a few years after Ladybug's disappearance, when he was finally able to talk about it. But they never actually got solid proof beyond a hug. He and Ladybug would stifle laughter until the swarm left and then cuddle on said beams watching the city lights glow. The view was amazing but the way her eyes reflected them was even more so. And he'd told her that but she dismissed it in her usual Ladybug fashion—she was a pro at rejection, even of compliments. More specifically his compliments. He never knew for sure why but he assumed it was because she loved teasing him and did so whenever she got the chance. Apparently she would get a lot of chances. He allowed it because that was what Chat Noir seemed to do best—suck it up, take it like a man, let her have her sass fix.

He would've given anything, and still would, to have that back. To have her back.

"I know there's someone else now and I'm happy you moved on, really, but is there any chance we'll cross paths again? One day? Even if we're not Chat Noir and Ladybug? Or do you think maybe one day, Ladybug will come back? And there's a chance we'll fight together again—"

"I'm running out of chances, kitty," she said softly.

He felt his stomach drop to depths he never knew he had. His body had already been cold from the storm but now it was like her words were pressing him against a glacier. He could feel every last ounce of pigment drain from his skin.

Flashbacks of how exhausted she looked last time he saw her played in his head, slowing down to a near stop for mental analysis. Every movement had been slower and slower. She slouched more and more. Her reflexes were slightly shot. She could hardly maintain focus. Yet, somehow, she managed to downplay it all to fool him. It was the one thing he wished she'd never succeeded at. Trusting her then was the one thing he'd regretted most. He always thought that, if he'd just gotten her help, she would've been fine.

"I…I-I can get you the best care," he said. "I can afford it—"

"Chat…"

"—I have plenty of money—"

"Chat."

"—and whoever's after you, I can protect you myself!"

"Chat."

"Let me help you!" he cried. "I swear I'll do anything!"

"Even leave?"

"What…" he breathed.

"Leave," she repeated.

"I-I can take care of you."

"Go home, Chat."

If he thought he couldn't be more crushed than he already was, he was dead wrong. He felt his insides begin to gnarl at her request. For once he found himself completely unable to look at her, beautiful as she was…

"I…can't, my lady," he choked.

She stood and took a deep breath, extending her hand to him. He refused to take it and stood up on his own. He watched her feet shuffle to his front and waited for the repetitive command he wouldn't be able to obey.

"Chat Noir," she said, much more firmly than he would've ever expected. "I told you to leave. Go home. Don't look for me. Pretend I never existed. You said you'd do anything for me."

"I didn't know I was lying," he replied.