Partners in Crime (Miraculous Ladybug)

• C h a p t e r E l e v e n •

It was like the Agreste mansion had been transformed from then on. To Chat Blanc, it was no longer a cold place of isolation he couldn't bring himself to call home, but rather the happiest home of all. Emilie was back, and she'd brought the family's happiness with her.

Most of Paris had tentatively returned to a normal life, since Miss Fortune and Chat Blanc appeared to be gone, or if anything, no longer a threat. No one had seen or heard from Rena Rouge, Carapace, or Queen Bee since they'd last tried to confront their old guardian angels.

The only problem: Chat couldn't help noticing how . . . off he'd been feeling ever since his mother had awakened. Sometimes he would wake up feeling too dizzy to stand, and other times he'd break into coughing fits so severe that he collapsed. He did his best to hide it from Miss Fortune and his parents, but it was growing harder by the day. It probably wasn't a big deal, anyway. Maybe it was just . . . a bad fever of some kind?

One night, he and Miss Fortune were relaxing on the roof star-gazing. He had never really taken the time to enjoy the heavens before, but his girlfriend's company made the experience even more magical.

"It's so beautiful," she whispered happily, breaking the silence. "And for once, no one's around to ruin it."

Chat Blanc grinned. "Remember the last time we were star-gazing together?"

She smiled. "Yeah. When I was depressed because you didn't join me and my friends to get ice cream, and you were depressed because I didn't join you on that rooftop date you planned. Back when we were too blind to recognize each other."

"I should've seen it long before I did," he purred. "Those eyes. That hair. That voice. Only one girl in the world."

Her smiling eyes grew distant.

"What is it?" he asked softly.

"Just thinking . . ." she murmured. "I got distracted. When we last star-gazed . . . I was Marinette and you were Chat Noir. We had no akumas. We knew nothing."

"That was our old life," he sighed. "Our old, tortured lives. It's all better now . . ."

Miss Fortune looked uncertain. Deep down, he felt the same way.

Slowly, she took out her yo-yo, which had all the information from her phone. She pulled up her gallery and studied the old pictures she'd taken before her akumatization. There were a lot of silly selfies with Alya, some group pictures with her group of girls, and some of him.

"Alya," she exhaled, tears forming in her eyes. "I can't believe I . . ."

A deep feeling of regret rose within him as he too thought about his old life. He'd had friends. Nino. Chloe, despite her attitude. Alya. The whole class. And yet . . .

"We were wrong," he mumbled, then sighed heavily. "We were angry. We kept dwelling on our anger, and in result we were deceived into thinking that revenge was the right answer."

"But it wasn't!" she sobbed. "It's never the right answer. Oh gosh, I remember now. What have we done?"

"Carapace." Chat Blanc suddenly tensed. "Nino. Carapace is Nino. And I . . . !" In shock he stood up. "We have to tell Father to release us! Otherwise . . ."

His sentence didn't need an ending. His friend could be dead for all he knew.

Miss Fortune joined him in a rush as he hurried to the edge, but abruptly slowed and swayed on his feet as he neared the edge. The world was spinning around him, and a sharp pain was stabbing through his chest. With a cry he lost his balance and slipped off the roof.

He vaguely heard Miss Fortune's yelp of shock, and the feeling of her arms wrapping around his waist. He opened his eyes to a slit as he was laid gently and limply on the ground. "Chat," she exclaimed, "can you hear me?"

"Here," he groaned, clutching his chest. "I'm okay . . . It's just a little fever or somethin'. I'll be f-f-fine . . ." His own stammered words were the last thing he remembered before losing consciousness.