Our Tale As Old As Time

Chapter 14

            Marinette watched as her partner's body went limp in her arms. Chat Noir was gone.

"Chat!?....Chat!? No! Please don't go!" Marinette couldn't believe it. She actually lost her partner! Sure, she had lost him when they surprised each other in New York, but he was still alive in that scenario. Here he was lifeless! Her tears burst forward and flooded her vision as she pushed her palms into his chest. "Please wake up! I can't do this without you!" The teenage girl felt her body weaken, she was alone and her partner, her best friend, was truly gone. The reality of it smashed into her like the front end of a bus. A pill that was too difficult to swallow. She collapsed over him, her fists clenching the excess of his leather suit, which was little. "Chat please." Her voice was muffled in his suit as she balled her eyes out. The raindrops hitting her back at a steady pace. Why did this have to happen!? Why had she been so foolish, brushing him off and sometimes treating him as nothing more than her sidekick!? Why did it take his death, for her to realize this!? How would she be Ladybug without him beside her for every battle!? What was she going to do!? The thoughts raced through her mind. Then she recalled the last thing he had said to her.

"At least I got to fall in love with you all over again M'lady." The words squeezed her heart as she replayed them repeatedly in her brain. He knew! He knew she was Ladybug! He had called her Bugaboo, and M'lady. He knew! Chat Noir knew her identity! On top of that, he loved her! She lost someone that loved her so much he consistently laid his life on the line for her and she had let him slip through her fingers. How had she been so blind to see it!? Her feelings from earlier in the night resurfaced. Was she in love with him? Or was she just grief stricken because he was her partner? Her heart ached more and more, now she wanted nothing more than to be with him. To feel his arms wrapped around her tightly, to sit on Paris rooftops and watch the sunset, etc. Things she had once pictured doing with Adrien, now replaced with Chat Noir. He wasn't just her superhero partner he was her partner. The true yin to her yang.

"Please Chaton. Please come back." Marinette sniffled as she sat up on her heels and lifting her partner into her lap. "Let me have the chance to tell you that I love you." With her hand she brushed his bangs from his eyes. How she longed to see his beautiful green eyes again. She pulled him up to her chest, clutching him tightly as she rocked back and forth. Her left hand tangling itself in his hair, her chest tightening while another wave of tears streaked down her face. Mari gripped tighter to the boy the more and more she felt the loss. Had she admitted her feelings too late? The world around her was quiet excluding the wind, rain, and her heavy tearful breathing. Unannounced to her, the last petal of the enchanted green rose fell as she said a silent goodbye to her partner, laying him back down in her lap. The fight was over in all meanings of the end. She was too late. "I'm sorry I couldn't reciprocate your feelings sooner Chaton. A mistake I shall carry with me until we meet again." Placing a kiss on his forehead, she pulled her legs out from under him and laid his hands over his chest. A sob arising from her throat as she did so. The ultimate goodbye to her partner evident. Marinette contemplated taking Chat's miraculous, but foolishly decided against it, knowing she wouldn't be able to bring herself to find a new Chat Noir or to even look upon the face of his civilian identity. It would hurt all the more if she looked upon a second familiar face and Chat had said they knew each other in his civilian form. She'd probably find out regardless when he wasn't there if she ever returned to reality. One final brush of his bangs, Marinette stood up to leave. Striking up the courage to walk away, she turned on her heels with a depressed sigh. With a deep breath of composure, her eyes landed on the rose. Every single petal wilted on the table; the magic gone. "Come on Plagg. We should find a way back to reality." The kwami didn't respond. Instead, opting to approach his deceased miraculous holder. That was right, Plagg hadn't had the chance to say goodbye yet. She wasn't sure how the kwami was feeling, but she was sure he had to be hurting just as much as she was. "I'll wait for you downstairs." Marinette listened to Plagg's feet pat along the floor as she turned around again. The sadness that washed over her getting to the point where it was almost too much to bear. That was when Marinette remembered, Plagg was still a lavender panda teddy bear! How would he function now? She thought through it again. It was a stupid thought, Plagg would turn back into a cat when they were back in reality, or would he even join them at all? She was planning to leave the miraculous here. No, that would be irresponsible, she was the guardian, she needed to look after all the kwamis and their respective miraculous. "Plagg...." Mari began. She didn't want to see who it was behind the mask, but since Plagg already knew he would be able to pull off the ring on his own. "Can you grab the rin.....g..?" Before she could turn back around and leave, a gust of wind blasted through the skies causing Marinette's red cape and dark hair to fold over on themselves into her face. What was happening!? Was this!? Lights began to fall from the sky around Chat Noir as Plagg back peddled away. Perhaps she hadn't been too late? The colors began to drop faster and faster, the wind becoming a bit more aggressive and the rain dissipating. Marinette watched in awe as her partner's lifeless body was raised into the air surrounded by a bright green light. This was it! This was the transformation! The lights swirled elegantly as the black leather of Chat's suit began to disappear. His boots were exchanged for a pair of orange sneakers and light blue jeans. The belt that made of his tail shrinking back down into a regular brown pelt, tightly pulled around his waist. Everyone continued to stare as the magic turned Chat's back to them. A white jacket came into view as the transformation glitter traveled up his back and along his arms up to his shoulders. Marinette couldn't believe it. She had been sure she was too late! Now here she was, mere moments from seeing the person behind the mask of her superhero counterpart. For sure, not the transformation she thought she'd see when they revealed their identity's, but a transformation, nonetheless. The sparkles trailed up the back of the boy's neck, the motion causing his hair to fly wildly. The wind finally died down as the lime colored light lowered her partner back down to the ground gently, laying him down in the position it had picked him up in. The colors vanished into the sky. Marinette was so in shock she was unable to process what all had just happened. She was so broken, that she couldn't even put together the identity that laid on the ground a few feet from her. Everything was still, until the boy began to stir with a groan as he sat up. He brought one of his hands to his head and hummed as if he had just awoken from a nap. It didn't last long however, as he realized his hand and slowly lowered it in front of his face to examine it. Marinette cupped her hands over her mouth as even more tears escaped the lump they had formed in her throat. Chat Noir was alive! Her partner was alive! The boy that she had finally learned to love was alive!