The day had been an absolute nightmare. Chloe hadn't been the least bit understanding and his hangover only felt worse the more she yelled and cried. Every little thing seemed to put her in a bad mood and whenever he was involved her voice would suddenly sound like a bird –sharp and loud.
He was just glad it was over.
Walking back up the steps to his father's old home, nostalgia seemed to set in. Four storeys tall, the cream walls had turned a shade darker and in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint. The courtyard had become unruly and overgrown, with weeds sprouting beneath the pavement and tangled ivy running over his old bedroom window.
But he was grateful, at least, that the interior had been taken care of. The grey marble had been freshly polished and the large cylindrical lights still worked, with all the wiring maintained and cared for in the hands of the mayor.
His stuff had been placed in the middle of the foyer, looking sad and pathetic in comparison to the upkeep of the mansion. The worn little duffel bag looked like a stray dog in a king's palace.
"Sure brings back memories, doesn't it Kid?"
The kwami's voice bounced off the walls around the house, echoing in the darkness of the rest of the house. Devoid of furniture, the large building felt solitary and alone. Exactly how he was feeling. Maybe he should've stayed back with Chloe in her hotel.
Plagg flew freely, exploring the house the way he hadn't while his had been locked inside. His feet moved on their own, guiding him through the foyer and various rooms until he came upon his father's study.
A portrait of his mother still sat on the far wall, surrounded by abstract shapes of various colours and sizes. He stopped in front of it and stared. Her rosy lips and pale skin made her look bathed in white light. Her eyes were the feature he loved best –the feature he'd inherited from her. Bright and sparkling, they always used to eliminate the darkness in the house and bring to life the love in his father's heart.
Without her the house had grown cold and miserable. She'd made it a haven and her death had made it a cage –trapped his father in the abyss of his own dark thoughts.
He placed his hands out in front of him and slid his fingers over the shapes his father had used to access the lair. Taking a deep breath, his heart thundering in his chest, he pressed them and stepped back as a small circle drew itself in the floor.
It lasted only a second and when Adrien opened his eyes again everything was dark. He couldn't see the room around him, but he could see it clearly in his mind, the large dome ceiling and the incredibly large window directly in front of him.
He took a step forward and something shifted beneath his foot. All at once white light filled the empty space. The metal blocking the front of them window peeled away and between Adrien and the Parisian sky was the evidence of his father's crime.
The window was broken, shattered through the center from where Ladybug and Chat Noir had broken into the room. The metal beams forming the moth-like figure were bent inward, distorting the image.
The room was covered in dust with cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, but that wasn't the reason his eyes were welling with tears.
It'd been so easy to push aside the truth, to forget how many times his father had endangered the lives of the people of Paris, threatened Ladybug and turned him against her. There'd been so much fear, doubt and anger in Paris because of him –because he wanted it.
Dropping to his knees, a sob broke through Adrien's throat and his chest squeezes painfully. The worst part wasn't the akumas, or the way his father actively sought out injustice in other people's lives, but the reason behind it all.
Adrien fisted his hands and looked down at the ring on his fingers. The kwami of destruction, a piece of the puzzle that could've brought his mother back, had been given to him to guard and protect. It was cruel to expect him to choose the world over his own mother and yet, somehow he had and it pained him, tore his heart in two whenever he thought back to how his father had felt the day she died.
But she wouldn't have wanted the consequence of her life. She wouldn't have wanted to live the way his father had expected to. She'd always been a free spirit, selfless and charming. And she would've been miserable if she'd known the truth behind her resurrection.
Adrien looked back at the window and thought back to the days before Hawk Moth's defeat, the progression of his relationship with Ladybug and the weakness in her that'd taken them both by surprise. He'd been there for her, supported her when she'd had the strength to confide in him.
He hadn't been able to do the same and with the reveal of his father's identity he'd not only lost his mother all over again, but the only woman in the world he'd ever love.
And now she was gone forever.
Seven years ago...
"So that's it then. Hawk Moth's lair," said Chat Noir. He could barely stand to look at it –the home he'd spent his life in. The small hole he'd seen the cleansed akuma fly through was gone now, swallowed by a mass of metal covering the observatory on the highest point of the Agreste Manor.
There was no denying it now. Not like last time. His father was Hawk Moth.
He grabbed the baton out from behind him, clenching his fingers tightly around the weapon to keep him steadied in his thoughts. Chat Noir wouldn't ask questions. He was superhero and superheroes did what they had to. He had to put an end to this. He couldn't falter now when they were so close to the end of it all.
Chat Noir took a step closer to the edge of the building they hid on. "Come on Milady, let's go and --" At first he wasn't sure he'd heard right. The sound was so soft and muted, but Adrien had cried like that all his life. The sound was all too familiar for him to ignore.
His leathery ears flattened against his wild, blonde hair and he turned to find Ladybug's silhouette leaning against the chimney. Her body was draped in shadows, but her bluebell eyes mirrored the stars above them and shimmered with tears.
He couldn't see much of her face, but he could tell by her hunched shoulders and the quivering of her limbs that she was crying. A part of him didn't want to believe it, but the other part couldn't just sit by and do nothing. He was a hero, but he was her partner first.
"Milady?" he whispered. He moved towards her slowly and stretched his hand out to touch her. She turned her body away from him and, uncertain, he froze.
"I –I'm sorry, Chat," she whimpered, "You shouldn't have to see me like this."
His eyes narrowed, watching the tremble of her soft lips and the tears welling in her eyes. He wanted to reach out and hold her, to kiss her lips to they'd stop sobbing and dry her tears with his bare fingers. But he controlled himself. He stayed where he was.
"What are you talking about? We're partners, we're in this together, remember?"
She was quiet, but Chat could hear with Plagg's powers how she sniffled and see her furious wipe at her eyes. He couldn't watch this, consequences be damned.
"Chat –,"
He reached over and enfolded his arms around her. Her back pressed against his chest, he pressed his forehead to her hair and the fragrance of strawberries filled in senses. She was so warm and small. Sometimes he forgot Ladybug was just a girl –just a civilian with life troubles and the same human weakness that made her just vulnerable beneath the mask as anybody else.
But she wasn't just anyone. She'd done amazing things, was capable of so much more and he saw it whenever he was with her. Just like the day she challenged Hawk Moth.
He thought back to all the times his father reprimanded him, scolded him and neglected him the care of one of his staff members. He'd thought once about the possibility of his father being Hawk Moth and it'd been unbearable, but bearing the weight of the possibility all over again was almost too much for him.
Warm tears slid down the corners of his eyes, tears of torment and frustration, fresh with pain.
"What if this is it?" she whispered, still tense in his embrace, "What if this is our last fight?"
"It'll be my honor to fight alongside you," he replied. She'd always been his source of strengthen and inspiration, but right now she needed that favor returned and Chat tried desperately to be the partner she needed. He wouldn't let her know how broken this discovery left him, not now when she needed him to be the strong one.
"I –I'm scared, Chat. What if –What if we –,"
"Don't think about it," he said. He clutched her tighter in his arms and willed his body to shelter her from all the doubt in her mind and the severity of what they'd be walking into. "Don't ever think about that."
"I'm serious, Chat!" She broke away from him and turned around to face him. He could see her face clearly now, the blush in her pale face, the unusual pink in the white of her eyes and the hysteria she was trying so hard to control. "What if things go wrong? We could die and then what? What would happen to the people we love, our friends, our homes, our –,"
"Isn't this why we were chosen?" he asked, "To stop Hawk Moth and defend Paris no matter the cost?"
He moved towards her slowly and cupped her face in his hands. Wiping her tears with his gloved fingers, the tears of the girl he'd grown to love more than his own life, he said, "You're brave, Milady, so remarkably brave."
"I'm a coward," she whimpered, "I don't deserve to be called a hero, your partner or anything. I –I don't want to do this --"
"And you think I want to?" He couldn't keep the bitterness from his tone and he saw the surprise filter through her eyes. He was supposed to encourage her, to help her, not –
She reached up to his face and Chat Noir froze. Her delicate, little fingers were gentle as they brushed his jaw. Hesitant at first, they moved more assuredly as he relaxed against her. Moving higher, she brushed her fingers around the edges of his mask and stared.
"We've been fighting alongside each other for years. Every akuma, every attack and every battle you've been beside me and thrown yourself in harm's way for my sake and the sake of Paris. But I don't even know your name."
Her voice broke and Chat couldn't control the urge that filled his soul. If this was the final battle, their last chance to be together then he had to let her know how he felt, that his feelings for her hadn't changed and that he'd always be what she needed him to.
"Of course you do, Bugaboo," He grinned down at her, "You've been saying it the entire time." He touched her nose with his finger and she smiled weakly. Even though it was broken, it was still a smile, and he was going to miss it, miss her, so much.
He trailed his finger beneath her chin and raised it up slightly, watching for any reaction on her part that told him to stop. She was surprised at first, but she wasn't stupid. She knew exactly what he was planning and when she closed her eyes, it was all the permission he needed.
Chat Noir pressed his lips to hers and it was as if fireworks had gone off in the night sky. She was everything in that moment, every touch, every sound and every sight he'd ever want to experience. She was freedom and the taste of her on his tongue sent his body on fire.
"I don't want to lose you," she whispered, breaking down once again. He wrapped his arms around her and turned her body so she was pressed against the chimney. Burying his nose against the crook of her neck, he breathed in her scent and committed it to memory, running his claws through her midnight hair.
"You'll never lose me, Ladybug," he murmured, "I'll always be with you, no matter what the danger or the cost, only you. Je t'aime Ladybug. Je t'aime."
And then her lips were pressed against his, devouring him and savoring him all at once. He pressed his body further against her, his mouth and body hungry for more of her.
If this was the last time with Ladybug then he wouldn't hold anything back. If this was his one and only chance to show her how much he loved and wanted her then he'd do everything in his power to do it, no questions asked.
Because she was everything to him and in that one night he would show her that, tell her that and kiss her until his lips were numb from the feel of her. He would memorize the shape of her, the look in her eyes when she was consumed by him and the smile on her lips as he made her feel like the queen she was to him.
If only he'd known that loving her as deeply as he had, had been the first step to losing her.
There it is! One of my favorite pieces and longest chapters, so I really hoped you enjoyed that! I thought it would be really moving to see from Chat's point of view how things happened and see what he was feeling that night. Please don't forget to vote or comment if you liked it and I'll upload the next piece on Wednesday! Love you guys❤️