CHAT'S P.O.V
Have you ever been in a situation, where it seems that the very core of Earth herself is working against you?
No matter how you try to escape it, catastrophe is inevitable. There's little you can do to grasp the string of fate, and much less can be done once you yourself unravel.
Time is a cruel entity, one that allows karma to operate in the most cunning of ways.
Ha, karma. You don't really accept that she's after you, that is, till she catches up with you. And she's cruel. She's heartless.
However, she is fair, just, and precise in her conduct. She knows just where to hit. The most vulnerable parts of you. She's studied you, and the fact is, even if you change, one day, somehow, one way or another, she always pays you back for your sins. What goes around comes around.
The cars were much too loud. The sky was much too bright. My breathing was much to ragged, and perhaps my thoughts were too pessimistic but as pessimistic as it sounded, it didn't eradicate the truth, it amplified it.
And the truth was that she had won. She did it. She won the game of chess, and somewhere, my queen was about to be assassinated.
One would think that I'm possibly the daftest man in the universe to have been thinking such things, especially seeing that it was very possible that Marinette was about to die. Yet, how could I not?
How do you stop yourself from thinking these thoughts?
Is it possible?
I'm weak.
I'm not as strong as I'd like to appear.
I never have been.
I know that, but at the one moment where strength was needed the most, I felt the weakest I had ever been.
I felt the familiar burn behind my eyelids because somehow, I knew, I knew that something would happen. Something would happen, and as always, I would be powerless.
And a thousand memories flashed back, in such a short time, to have the world given to you, and to have it stripped away…
"No ." Nino cussed. He was out of breath.
I was out of breath.
Where was I even running to?
It began to strike me as humorous.
All the people I attacked…Did their families feel this vulnerable?
Did I do this to people? Did I make them feel like this?
I hadn't attacked for a while… I had before that though.
I truly wanted them to suffer… but this…This pain…
"We have to think like a criminal. If you were to kill someone, where would you do it? CHAT NOIR, Where would you do it?!"
I couldn't respond to her.
I had no clue. I haven't had a clue for a while.
A small thought flickered through my mind as I thought about previous murders in Paris, and as if sense hit me like a truck, I zoned in on the one place none of us thought of.
It seemed that being out of commission had affected my thinking. Slow to crack the code. Slow to find Marinette's location. So damned slow.
"The Seine." I whispered. It hadn't occurred to me that Marinette would actually get on a ship, seeing that she could hardly swim.
It was worth a shot… But the river ran throughout Paris. The number of ships on it…
Before I knew what I was doing, I found myself running faster than a speed-train over the rooftops, leaping over the bridge, falling straight onto one of the ships.
I would check them all. I needed to… I leaped, I somersaulted, I checked every boat that I could, thanking God that the boats were small and had few passengers. I kept jumping until my feet hit the wood of a rather lavish looking cruise boat. I dropped down into the cavity below…
My eyes widened, then hardened. I actually felt them harden.
Betrayal can only be described as an ice-cold, yet burning feeling that's spreads through you and encompasses every fiber and essence of your being. The suffocation is palpable. Nothing could prepare you for it, regardless of how many times it happens. It never hurts any less…but it can hurt more depending on how much you loved the person who betrayed you.
Part of me screamed NO.
This is a misunderstanding.
NO.
She wouldn't do this. No. She wasn't like that.
She would never.
But here she was, in front of me.
A growl erupted from my throat.
NARRATOR P.O.V
Marinette sat completely frozen.
What the hell was happening. She was oblivious to the presence of Chat who stood there, wide-eyed, stunned, eyes shooting between the two, trying to understand. Trying to rationalize with himself that this was a misunderstanding.
A growl erupted from his throat, interrupting the seemingly timeless, tragic moment.
Marcus turned to look at the man who had infiltrated his ship, and his face visibly paled, a look of utmost horror plastered his now bloodless face.
He had never anticipated this, although it was the single-handedly most idiotic mistake he could have ever made.
Marinette looked at Chat with eyes the size of golf balls.
She didn't even have the time to say, 'It's not what you think'. All she knew was that in a flurry of black, he was towering above them, she was grabbed by the arm and unceremoniously shoved into the large bathroom. The door had blinds covering a glass window, and if moved, she could see what was happening outside the cabin, so she shoved it aside.
Marinette gasped and tried to open the door, it was locked. She looked up and the next thing she saw was Marcus up in the air and she was trapped in the bathroom.
Chat gritted his teeth.
"You damned bastard!" He shouted, throwing Marcus across the room, at the table. Marinette gasped.
He didn't hear her, he didn't hear anything.
Marcus groaned, coughing.
Chat stalked over to him, yanking him up by the front of his shirt, and then flinging him back onto the floor. He crouched over him, grabbed his head, and repeatedly slammed it with bone-crushing force into the floor of the cabin.
Marcus struggled.
"How dare you." Chat snarled at him.
Marcus, dizzied by the force of impact, couldn't do much to defend himself.
"Chat stop it!" Marinette tried. He wasn't listening.
Marcus gasped when he felt Chat's fist connect with his jaw, and a sickening snap and crunch sounded through the air.
He looked back at Chat and with whatever strength he had left, kneed him in the stomach. That did little to faze the villain, instead, it seemed to make him angrier.
"You disgusting piece of filth, I showed you mercy, and this is what you do?" Chat said, punctuating each word with a deft blow to the skull.
"Chat stop it, please!" Marinette pleaded.
Marcus had long since fallen unconscious.
"Screw that." Chat laughed humourlessly, and let his claws come out, Marinette's eyes widened. She hadn't seen them in a while.
In a flash, Marcus was thrown upward, onto the ceiling, and he ricocheted back to the ground, falling on an array of china set out on a table.
Chat kicked him onto his back.
"Let's mess up this pretty little face of yours, shall we?" He laughed cynically.
Marinette didn't understand what was happening as she watched her boyfriend act out as the monster that everyone believed him to be.
Marcus looked like he had broken more than half of the bones in his body, and before Marinette could even cry out for him to stop, Chat had begun to slash at Marcus' face. He slashed in a way unlike any of his other slashes. It no longer looked professional, or out of boredom.
It looked like the scratches of an animal desperate to annihilate it's opponent.
And his laugh....
He was laughing. He was laughing loudly as he did it.
Her tears spilled over.
"Chat please stop, please I'm begging you!"
He didn't stop though.
"I wonder how his guts feel." He said, talking to himself.
In an instant, his entire hand was plunged into Marcus' gut.
He chuckled and Marinette let out a scream, holding her head.
"Chat what have you done!" She screamed.
Chat looked at the blood spilling past Marcus' lips and focused on the shallow breaths.
"You're a tough one." He said to him softly. He moved his hand within the man's guts and blood and intestines squelched around his fingers, and he reveled in it.
Marcus' legs began to shake and then the rest of him, he began to have a convulsion.
Chat felt an odd sensation in his arm, and as if a force hit him, his arm was pulled out, Marcus' tummy wound closed in a flash of bright green, but he continued to convulse.
Chat's eyes widened.
"Why won't you die?!"He growled, bringing his hand down to slash at Marcus again but as if he was possessed, his arm was forced back to his side after a jolt of green static around it.
"Wha-?"He stared at his hand in confusion. Plagg said he had the power to stop him from killing someone. He growled.
"Plagg, stop it!" He hissed, throwing his fist at Marcus' face and instead, his fist lit up in green sparks and landed next to the man's head.
Chat growled in anger.
'Enough boy.' He heard Plagg say. Plagg never ever called him boy…
With gritted teeth, he stood up and walked toward the bathroom, breaking the door open and stepping inside.
Marinette was pressed against the wall.
"Did you know that man was hired to kill you?" Chat asked, his voice devoid of emotion.
Marinette couldn't bear to look at him. She had finally seen it. She had seen the behavior that he was notorious for.
"What relationship did he have with you?"
She looked up at his impassive face. For the first time in her life, she was frightened of him.
Not that he would hurt her, but frightened that she had not seen that this was what he was like. This was who he was. She had been trying to fix him, but this man, he was truly cruel… Would the devil even want him?
The glint in his eyes as he attacked Marcus. It was anything but human.
He had seen Marcus kiss her, and that may have been the cause of his outburst…but if that is how he reacted to situations without even asking her what was going on…then she was afraid.
He pursed his lips.
"Do you not have anything to say?" He asked.
"How could you do that?" She croaked out, her throat raw from screaming.
Chat tilted his head.
"You kissed him. You're mine, and you kissed him." He said simply.
"Even if I did…What right did you have to act like that? How does that justify behaving like an absolute monster?" She asked with eyes filled with anger.
His eyes flashed at the word monster.
"Monster? I'm the monster? Was I the one who pretended to love you and then go on dates with some person behind your back? Was I the one who built up your trust and promised to tell you everything and not hold back secrets? Was I the one who lied that I loved you or pretended to be your friend? Was that me? No, no it wasn't me. While I was here trying to change myself for you, here you were, fooling around, like it was all a game. You didn't know he was trying to kill you, but you actually got so close to him that you gave him the opportunity to. Who does that? Who goes around lying about their feelings and the future? What the hell were you trying to gain, huh? Did you think I was a challenge and you wanted to conquer me? Be the one to bring down Chat Noir and save the city? Tell me, what the hell did you want?"
Marinette was too stunned to even deny anything.
"You're not even denying it." He laughed. "You're not even trying to deny it. Don't call me the monster, if anything, you're just as bad as her."
Her heart stung with those words. She stared at him. How could he have such little faith in her… Is this what he thought of her? As sick as the woman who used him, who molested him?
He exhaled through his nose, trying to rationalize his thoughts. "We have to go." He said, grabbing her wrist. Regardless of the foolish things she did, he knew she was not telling him the full truth, and his gut told him that things were not what they seemed to be. She hadn't explained herself. At the end of the day, he could have been overreacting. He sincerely hoped that it was the case, if it was, he would have a lot of apologizing to do…
"Let go of me!" She shouted at him, yanking her wrist away. If he could be cruel…Then so could she.
He looked at her coldly.
"I'm not going anywhere with you." She spat through gritted teeth.
Chat raised a brow.
"Really now?" He asked, almost as if he were amused.
Marinette pressed herself against the wall.
"I may be a lot of things Chat Noir, but I'm not cruel. I don't find pleasure in others demise. I don't like hurting people…But you, you attack without question, you're despicable." She said through gritted teeth.
"We all make mistakes. I have made mine, but don't act like you're so perfect." She said.
Chat pursed his lips and stepped closer to her. Did she not understand? He knew he was not perfect, he had always known that.
"Stay away from me. I mean it. Stay away from me." She hissed, backing further away from him.
He chuckled." Stay away from you? How could I do that now? I don't think that I can." He looked at her.
"You see princess, I don't give a damn whether you want to see me or not, the fact of the matter is that you belong to me." He said with a frightening grin, leaning ever closer.
"Love me, love me not…You're still MINE." He said. "And just so you understand, Princess," he paused, his claw dragging along her jaw, stopping under her chin, "I don't share."
Marinette looked at him with hard eyes.
"You can't share something that never belonged to you in the first place." She said, pulling her head away.
"You never owned any part of me Chat. None of me. Not my body, not my soul, and not my heart." She said. "I can't love you Chat. I never can. NOT because I'm heartless, but because you have nothing for me to love, you have no heart."
Her heart winced at the lie. It was a lie. She loved him with everything she had. Absolutely everything that she had. But she was in pain.
His accusations brought her pain.
Chat stared at her, his face looked shocked, he was pale.
"And you never, ever will."
All he could do was stare as everything inside him crumbled to pieces.
He knew it. He knew nobody could love him. Not Marinette, not his father, not anyone. He was not love material. He was sick, he knew that, but hearing the one person who he had given every bit of what was left of him to, deny loving him, physically hurt. He felt his vocal cords constrict. He closed his eyes.
So that was how it would be.
He grabbed her around the waist and before she could struggle, he took off in the direction of her home, silently, and once there, he dropped her on her terrace.
He didn't pause. He didn't take the cliché look back at her.
No. He just vanished.
Marinette blinked.
What had just happened?
The reality of what she had just done set in and her eyes widened.
However, he was gone.
Her eyes began to fill with tears. Did she just tell him that? Did she just overlook and undermine everything he had ever done for her, all the care he took of her, and the protection and love and kindness he had shown her?
Did she just take every vulnerable side of him that she had seen of him, disregard it, and deny that he could ever be loved by anyone?
"Chat…I didn't mean it." She said, bringing her hands up to her mouth.
She didn't mean any of it. "Oh my God." She whispered.
"I lied!" She screamed over her balcony, she had no idea where he had gone.
"I lied! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" She screamed hoping he hadn't gone far, that he could hear her. A few of the people down below looked up at her in confusion. She held her head.
How could she say that to him?
He was under the impression that she had cheated, she hadn't even given him any consolation that she didn't. She should have said something or cleared his doubts, but she was so angry at what she had seen and everything that he had said that she hadn't even tried to ease his mind.
He was so broken already, and he had been trying so hard to be better, and what did she do? She denied that he even had a heart.
"Chat…Don't leave me." She sobbed.
He, however, was long gone.
******************************
Nino and Alya had heard everything through the small device and had called for an ambulance to get Marcus from the ship to the hospital.
Marcus was now in a coma and it was all over the news.
"Alya…"Nino started.
"We should go check on Marinette." She said to him.
Nino's lips twisted.
"She can't know that we know." He said.
"She won't," Alya said.
Nino sighed, he wanted to check up on Adrien who had probably reached home by now. He knew, however, that Adrien did not like breaking down in front of others. He wanted to go home and support his friend, but that wasn't how Adrien worked. The only one who could console Adrien was Plagg from what he had seen.
Adrien stared at the ceiling, his back was against the floor. He wasn't having an anxiety or panic attack.
He was just in a state of shock.
Plagg had been furious, but now he looked more worried than he ever had in his entire duration with the model.
He couldn't find the words to say. He doubted that his words would do much for the boy's sanity.
Adrien continued to stare at the ceiling.
Plagg lay on his chest.
Adrien's heartbeats were slow. He was blank.
Plagg looked at Adrien's impassive face. He had not seen it look like this in a long, long time.
"Adrien…"He started. He still felt unwell, but his chosen was suffering another sort of sickness: heartbreak.
Adrien stayed silent.
"I don't believe that she meant any of that," Plagg said.
After a moment, Adrien scoffed.
"I know you're hurting Adrien, and I know this is just about the last thing that you want to hear, but she does love you."
Adrien clenched his eyes shut.
"Plagg, just don't."He said, his voice was strained.
"You need to hear it…Adrien, I haven't told you some things about the Miraculous, all you know is that you have one, and I hinted that Nino may get one too…But so will Marinette."
Adrien didn't react.
"The Black Cat…and the Ladybug Miraculous…They're basically the yin and yang. We're Yin…Even though it's supposedly the feminine one…And Marinette and Tikki are…Well, they're yang." Plagg said.
Adrien raised a brow.
"Look, what I'm trying to say is that If Tikki and I are together because that's how it's destined to be then our chosen's will be together too," Plagg said, Adrien still hadn't said anything.
Plagg sneezed. "Fine, if you want it in mushy terms, here it is. You and Marinette are destined to be together."
Adrien snorted.
"That has to be the dumbest thing that I've ever heard."Adrien said as he laughed. Plagg frowned. "It's the truth. From the first time you tried to attack her, I felt it, I felt that she would have the Ladybug Miraculous, and that could only mean-"
"I hate to break it to you buddy, but little miss sunshine over there made her feelings perfectly clear." Adrien said, standing up.
"Adrien you questioned her feelings for you, you didn't even give her the chance to explain."
"And what was there to explain Plagg?"
"Many things kid, he could have kissed her, did you think about that?"
"How would you explain her deciding to go on a date with him?"
"She's Marinette, she probably thought it was a friendly date." Plagg reasoned.
Adrien's nose twitched.
"She's not entitled to telling you every single thing she does Adrien, just like how you kept your identity from her, and to be honest, to me the only logical explanation for Marinette going onto that ship with him is that she's trying to figure out who you are." Adrien frowned.
"If that were true, then why did she not say so?"
"Because! You were accusing her of infidelity before she even had the chance."
Adrien chewed on the inside of his cheek.
"Then why did she say all those things?"
At that, Plagg looked at him dead in the eye.
"The reason she said all those things kid, and denied you had a heart, is because of all the things she knows about you, she is most certain that you have a heart big enough to feel pain when you heard her words."
Adrien looked down.
"...Plagg, I just need to think, okay?"
With that, he walked up to the bedroom.
Plagg floated weakly behind him. Being sick was even affecting his flying, he stopped to rest, but fell weakly on the table.
Adrien flopped down onto the bed and looked at his plushies.
With a sigh he picked up the Marinette plushie, he talked to her a lot since he couldn't always talk to the real one.
"I should have asked you to tell me everything before jumping to conclusions. That was a particularly moronic move of me to say those things about you.I'm sorry for acting like a monster, and attacking Marcus even though I knew you were right there," he said, feeling dumber by the second.
"And I'm sorry for being a creep, and the whole 'I own you' thing and…"His eyes flashed. "And I compared you to her…but you're nothing like her at all." He said.
"But did you mean all those things that you said? Do you really think that of me now? I suppose I've given you ample reason to think so." He mumbled.
"If you do, I understand, but I'll still love you all the same." He said, hugging the plushie to his chest.
"I'm sorry for everything Marinette. I wish I wasn't like this. I really do. Things could have been much easier…But…In the end, my foolishness somehow got me to meet you…So as selfish as it sounds…I regret nothing, Princess."
**********************************
'-and the police say that this has had to be by far the most gruesome attack by Chat Noir thus far, but the question is, why did he attack during the day? Our records show that every one of Chat Noir's previous attacks had been after crime time, and never during the day. Could this be part of the big reveal that he's been talking about in the live broadcasts? Needless to say, the damage inflicted on the man has deemed him unrecognizable, but forensics have proved him to be none other than Nationally Famous Runway model, Marcus Monroe. His face had been marred and he suffered internal and external trauma, and trauma to the brain, several of his limbs have been broken and the question of whether or not they would have to be amputated still remains. Many citizens have claimed to have seen Chat Noir frantically jumping over rooftops, looking for something, but it seemed that upon realizing that people were seeing him, he became more discreet and went unseen after that. The fact that Chat Noir is out before crime time is a worrying factor to many of the Parisians, does this mean that we can expect attacks in future during the day? A-"
Chloe turned the T.V off. Exhaling forcefully.
She took out her laptop, after a few moments, camera footage from the hidden cameras in the cabin appeared. For a while, she watched Marcus and Marinette, and then the proceeding events. She had to admit, this was a bit too gruesome, even for her. She paused the video and tuned into the voice recorders hidden in the apartment too, she was no fool, she had properly prepared the ship before letting Marcus use it. At first, she skipped and skipped till she got to a part where Marcus could be heard groaning. She kept listening until she heard what seemed like the door breaking.
The conversation between Marinette and Chat was not what she had expected. Not at all, but…it seemed that they were now on bad terms. She blinked several times. Who was the 'Her' that he mentioned?
Marinette had said some pretty cruel things, but she couldn't count on the assumption that they were fighting. She needed to make sure…
*******************************
Alya and Nino knocked on Marinette's door. Her apartment was much like her old home, so it was as if they were waiting at the door of the bakery, instead of the place being filled with treats, however, it was filled with lots of fabric and tables and designs.
Marinette didn't move for a moment as she heard them downstairs. She had been crying for two hours straight.
"Marinette, its Alya and I, Alya just got back!" Nino said cheerily.
Marinette sniffed, she didn't want her friends to see her like this, especially not Alya who had been gone for so long. She rubbed her eyes.
"Coming!" She called.
She walked down the stairs and towards the door.
She had decided to put the house under lockdown early because she didn't suspect that she would be going out any time soon.
"Marinette!"Alya said leaping onto her.
"Alya!"Marinette said with a laugh.
"In the flesh, girl." Alya winked.
Marinette smiled and hugged Nino.
"You didn't tell me you were visiting today," Marinette said.
Alya laughed. "It was more of an unplanned visit, but I'll have to go back pretty soon."
"Oh," Marinette said, becoming a bit sad.
"Buuuut, until then, I'm thinking you and I can catch up?" Alya asked.
Marinette nodded with a big smile.
"Good, Nino, shoo." Alya waved a hand.
"Wha-? Hey, she's my friend too!"He said, affronted.
"Yeah, well sisters before misters." Alya rolled her eyes, and shoved her boyfriend out.
"Oh geez, I love you too babe." He called back when he turned around, only to have the lockdown door slide shut in front of him. He sighed. "Right." He pouted and began to walk home.
*************************************
"I don't see why you're so worked up, just barge in there like you always do and plead guilty," Plagg said from the cheese plate.
Adrien paced.
"Yes, but I can't just barge in like normal when everything is not normal in the slightest. I mean she could still be very much pissed off and could be waiting to hit me with that pot of hers. And you know how she gets when she's bleeding, according to my calculations, if I'm correct she may get her period in two days if not tomorrow, and that means if she's PMS-ing I'm gonna be in deeper shit than I am in already."He said.
Plagg smacked his head.
"Come on, grow some ba-"
"What if she doesn't ever want to see me again, what if by going there I completely undermine her feelings, I mean she did tell me to stay away from her."
"You moron, she also said she didn't love you which everyone, even Nino, knows is not true." Plagg said.
"What about Nino?" Nino asked as he walked in.
"Tell this kid that Marinette was lying."
Nino nodded.
"Oh she was, her voice does this weird thing when she lies, and Alya and I have just been there, she looked like crap bro."
Adrien ran a hand down his face.
"What if she wasn't though?"
Plagg and Nino both face-palmed.
"Okay, I get that you have these insecurity issues dude, but seriously, how can you not tell that the girl loves you more than anything?" Nino exclaimed.
"She was very convincing…And I was very cynical on the ship." Adrien mumbled.
Plagg and Nino looked at each other.
"So wait, let me get this straight, did you think Marinette didn't already know that you were a cynical creep that attacked people when she got into a relationship with you?"
"Yeah but this time it was in front of her…and she said I was a monster."
"She said you were behaving like a monster." Plagg and Nino said at the same time.
"But then I went all crazy on her."
"Which you've done many times before." Plagg rolled his eyes.
"And I said I don't care if she loves me or not."
"Which everyone knows is a lie." Nino rolled his eyes.
"And I like spoke of her like she was some kind of toy that was mine."
"Which is a complement seeing that you protect and love everything that you feel belongs to you." Plagg said and Nino nodded along.
"Would you two at least let me feel ashamed?" Adrien asked with an eye twitch.
"Adrien, you were jealous. Remember how Alya reacted today when she thought I was cheating on her? You reacted basically the same way. It's a human response." Nino reasoned.
"Yeah but I should have trusted her." Adrien sighed.
"Kid, relax." Plagg said.
Adrien's eyes darted between the two.
"Then there's also the possibility that both of you are wrong and she hates me with every fiber of her being and truly feels that I'm a horrible heartless human being with no possible way of redemption whatsoever." Adrien said, looking panicky.
Nino walked toward Adrien and placed his hands on his shoulders.
"You won't know till you see her yourself." He said.
Adrien's lips formed a grim line.
"Okay." He said finally.
Nino smiled.
"Also, Nino…"Adrien started.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for covering for me today. You were not going to tell her." Adrien said.
Nino grinned but said nothing, and Adrien was thankful.
******************************************
It was starting to rain. Alya yawned.
Marinette acted as naturally as she possibly could, but she always had that quiver in her voice when she lied. Still, she couldn't push her friend for information at the moment. She glanced out the heavily barred windows at the greying sky.
"I think it's time for me to go." She said to Marinette who pouted. "Already?"
Alya pouted too. "Crime time is in half an hour, Maman expects me back before then, cooked up a storm, feel like coming, babe?" She asked Marinette who shook her head.
"I have some serious sewing to do if I want to pass the Module."
Alya giggled.
"Nimble as a thimble." She booped her friend's nose.
Marinette laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
"You better," Alya said as they walked downstairs.
"Are you sure you don't want to wait? It's going to rain…"Marinette said, looking at the sky worriedly.
"You know how she is, if I don't go home now then I'm screwed, you're screwed, we're all screwed." Alya said.
Marinette saw Alya out. "Text me when you arrive home, okay?" She said when her friend got into the cab.
"Will do, girl, I love you!"
"Love you too!" Marinette said, and watched as the cab drove off. She sighed and walked back inside, pressed the button and let the gates close. As if she were cold, she wrapped her arms around herself.
For a few moments she was truly composed, that is until she thought of the awful things that she'd said once more.
She fell to her knees, guilty to the core.
Chat was right.
She did belong to him.
She was his.
She didn't want to belong to anybody else but him.
He wasn't heartless. He had the most beautiful heart she had ever seen, it was just so very damaged and tattered and abused, but he was trying, so so hard. He did whatever she asked him to, never said or did anything to upset her, and yes today he was angry, but never once did he deny loving her.
Yet she did.
She denied it so easily. Like he meant nothing to her, like he was just some random charity project and she had gotten bored. Like he was an abomination, she spoke to him in the language he had heard for so many years, the language of cruelty. She was sure he had gotten the message, and even after those feline eyes of his slid shut upon hearing her words, she could tell that he hadn't expected to hear something like that from her, ever.
She rubbed her eyes and walked upstairs. She hadn't actually taken a good look around her room when she'd gotten back, if she did she would have noticed that someone had looked at her shoebox and other items. Chat hadn't replaced the objects when he was done inspecting.
Another thing she should have noticed was that the trapdoor guards were missing. It seemed that in her disorientated state she didn't realize that this wasn't her old home and this one should have had guards. She crawled up to her bed, pulling her panda towards her.
She cried, and cried till she could barely see, till the sky was dark and her till throat felt hoarse.
She never noticed the man looking down at her from the trapdoor, taking in her alone, crying form.
Quietly, his head disappeared.
Marinette began to fall asleep, taking into her dreams the depressing thoughts of having hurt the most important person in her life.
The man outside stepped away from the trapdoor.
His lips were pursed and his eyes were pained.
Hesitantly, he dialled a number.
"Good afternoon, Madame. She seems very distraught, and is almost asleep." He said.
"Perfect, have you scouted the Area for any signs of Chat Noir?"
"None Madame."
"I don't know why I didn't think of this before."
The man stayed silent.
"Well, get her."
The man pursed his lips and looked back at the trapdoor with no guards. On any normal home, the trapdoor along with every opening would be locked. This young woman really had the worst luck. It was almost too easy. Trapdoors were fairly simple to pick, but guards were not.
He quietly picked the lock and lowered the sleeping gas grenade in. It wasn't much and would only cover the proximity of her room. Soon enough, it went off and was inhaled by the already sleeping woman.
The man put on his mask. The woman looked so fragile and for a moment, he cussed himself for going through with this, but also, he cussed Chat Noir for not being there to stop him. This girl didn't deserve any pain, not at all.
He lowered himself through the trapdoor and leaned over her.
With a sigh, he picked her up and put her in the body bag and climbed back onto the balcony. He tied a rope around the bag and lowered it slowly to the man waiting anxiously below before sliding down the rope himself.
Both men grimly got into their White SUV and handcuffed Marinette's unconscious form, one tied her legs together and the other put a gag in her mouth.
They stood back and looked down at her feeble, obliviously innocent form.
"Don't you think it's dumb that we were able to do something like this and nobody even bothered to stop us?" One asked the other.
"It makes you wonder what other sick things the Mayor and his daughter are letting happen behind our backs. Makes you realize just how dangerous things could really be…"
"By the way, did you figure out the person blackmailing us?"
The man shook his head.
"Not a clue. But we'll get our kids back unharmed if we collaborate."
The other man swallowed and started the car.
"I never thought they would be taken from school. Never. We do our best to keep our kids out of the loop about what kind of city they live in…They're supposed to be safe at school… After this, I'm homeschooling my kid."
The other man sighed.
"Same." He took a calming breath and wiped his eyes. "There's nothing I wouldn't do for my kids…But…I…I'm so disgusted with myself right now." He cussed afterwards.
The driver swallowed.
"All we can do is pray for forgiveness."
The other man scoffed.
"Forgiveness? We're handing a child over to some lunatic. We can forget about redemption. We don't deserve it, we're monsters too."
************************************
Chat walked delicately over the rooftops. His footsteps were light, his breaths slow and composed. The air was cold, and with every breath he took, a puff of mist was exhaled. The young villain looked up at the sky as he walked, letting the cold seep into him, for once, letting the cold feeling wash over his body in a blanket of trembling shivers that he dared not to let affect him. It was a rare moment for him to actually be outside and actually be conscious of his surroundings.
He didn't understand why he was suddenly feeling so sentimental, remembering the times when he walked freely in the city, hand in hand with his mother, fighting the chilled evenings as they explored, shopped and adventured before meeting up with his father for a toasty evening around the fire.
His footsteps ceased for a moment, and he pursed his lips.
No. He wouldn't let these memories crawl to the surface of his mind.
They didn't deserve to be there. They only brought pain and a sting of emptiness and loss.
Tramp it down.
Shut it down.
Forget it.
He took a deep breath, insecurity began to claw its way up his spine.
She could have been serious…
Maybe she was truly speaking her mind…
Or maybe she was just upset…
Either way, he couldn't be a coward, he needed to address the issue. He walked slowly. Upon approaching Marinette's apartment, his jitters were at a full force, it was quite late in the evening and he half expected Marinette to throw a shoe at him. He took a leap and straightened up on Marinette's rooftop balcony.
It was eerily dark inside… Maybe Marinette was sleeping? With a curious look he crouched down by the trapdoor.
Suddenly, his eyes widened at the familiar smell that wafted through the keyhole of the trapdoor.
"Shit." He hissed, pulling out his baton, and pressing a button. He lifted up the trapdoor, realising that it wasn't even locked, panic began to set in as he tossed his baton into the room. It quickly worked to remove all the sleeping gas and Chat wasted no time in jumping into the room.
It was empty.
His breathing became laboured as he ran downstairs, searching for any sign of Marinette.
"Marinette?" He called out loudly, but there wasn't a response.
His ears began to ring and his palms began to get sweaty.
Where was she?
Why wasn't she in the apartment?
It was late, she knew it was dangerous outside, he told her that it was dangerous outside, and she said she wouldn't go outside.
His body began to sweat. He ran back upstairs.
The trapdoor was opened and there was sleeping gas in her room. It was obvious what had just happened.
Chat refused to believe it. She couldn't have gotten kidnapped, she just couldn't have.
A song began to play in the room and his head whipped in the direction of the source, only to find it coming from Marinette's phone.
An unknown number was calling.
He had a nagging suspicion that the person who took Marinette knew he would be coming here, and he had a hunch that the person was none other the spawn of the mayor.
He gritted his teeth, swiping to answer the call. He stayed silent, waiting for her to speak.
"Chat Noir, it's a pleasure to finally be speaking to you, one on one."
"You disgusting excuse for a human being, where the hell have you taken her?" He hissed.
"Oh, is that any way to speak to a lady?"
"Lady? Is that what you think you are?"
A high pitched laugh rung through the speakers.
"You're so feisty Kitty, I like it."
Chat forced down the bile that had made its way up to his throat.
"Do not call me that ,you miscreant. Where. Is. My. Girlfriend?" He asked through clenched teeth.
Chloe clucked her tongue.
"Rude much. Hmm, your girlfriend…Ohhh, you mean the one who said she can't love you?"
"Yes, that's her." Chat said.
Chloe began to laugh.
"Oh she's here."
"What do you want?" Chat asked.
"I want a lot of things." She purred.
Chat growled.
It was his move now…
But he was in check.