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Jubilation

Overwhelmed by despair, Ladybug couldn't move. All she could do was cry as she kneeled there on the street.

After a moment, she felt arms wrap around her and heard a voice speak to her.

"I'm sorry, M'lady." Chat Noir hugged her, but a few seconds later had to pull away slightly. "You have to go, you're about to detransform."

Too overwhelmed, she shook her head.

"You can't stay here."

More head shaking as she continued crying.

Then when Chat Noir tried to move away, she pulled him back in for a hug and wouldn't let him go.

"I just need to pick you up, M'lady. I need to get you out of here. I won't leave you, okay?"

With a faint nod, she let him pull away. Then she put her arms around his neck as he scooped her up. Her grip tightened when she felt them moving through the air and she felt him stop quickly thereafter.

"I'll leave you right here," Chat Noir explained, kneeling down and trying to place her on the rooftop. "No one will see you. You can detransform and then wait until you're ready to go back home."

Ladybug still wouldn't release her grasp on him.

"You need to let me go," he continued. "You're almost out of time, and I need to leave before you detransform."

"No," she cried. "Don't leave me. Please."

"But I..."

"Please Kitty."

That did him in. Knowing that she genuinely needed him to stay, he finally relented. "Alright M'lady. I'll keep my eyes shut until you're ready for me to leave."

She responded by holding him tighter. And they both listened as her earrings gave their final warning.

"It's okay," he whispered, sitting back on his heels and clamping his eyes shut. "Everything will be okay. I won't look."

After a flash of light that he couldn't see, Chat Noir heard the sobbing continue. They stayed holding onto each other but not speaking, the sounds of busy Paris being speckled with sobs.

But after a minute, a new sound erupted. Marinette's cries only intensified as she listened to the beeping now coming from Chat Noir's ring.

"I'm sorry M'lady," he said softly. "I have to go now."

"No, please don't," she whimpered.

Chat Noir didn't respond, not immediately. He was too busy thinking about the words she just said. But it wasn't so much the actual words, it was the voice.

It was Ladybug's real voice. He only had the pleasure of hearing her real voice a few precious times before. It was beautiful, and surprisingly, sounded exactly the same as her 'Ladybug' voice. For some reason he always expected that it would be different.

So preoccupied with his thoughts, he didn't reply until the beeping sounded again. "You know I don't want to leave you, but I'm about to detransform."

"Don't leave, don't leave, don't leave," she begged, the sobs overtaking her again.

A pause, and then he made a decision. "Keep your eyes closed."

Marinette nodded into his chest.

"Okay, here we go. Claws in," he said, detransforming into Adrien. Then he waited a moment until he spoke again. "It's okay, I'm still here."

"Thank you," she said with a whimper.

From beside them, a new voice spoke. "I'm wasting away!" the voice whined. "Need Camembert!"