"Sometimes I forget how much people look at you as their hero. I forget that."

❅ ❅ ❅

That night, Paris heard the cry of a fallen hero.

Ladybug didn't say a word; she was overwhelmed by his answer. It wasn't a necessarily bad overwhelmed or a good overwhelmed... She just was. His response wasn't quite what she was expecting. Ladybug's thoughts were jumbled; since she's never exactly had the thought of changing her power before, or lost someone she loved so dearly for a long period of time, she wasn't entirely sure on how to comfort him.

Biting her lip as she thought, she reached out a comforting hand and looped her fingers with his. She felt him flinch at her touch but relaxed himself soon after. They stayed quiet with only the song of the wind whistling by their ears, singing a cold lullaby that chilled her skin. Ladybug heard Chat Noir sniffle, but she couldn't tell if it was from him being cold or if he was holding back his tears.

"...You know," She began to say and squeezed his gloved hand tightly. "It's okay to cry."

Chat remained silent but shook his head no. Ladybug felt the grip in his hand slack and now she was the only one holding on. "I've already cried so much," His voice came out as a small whisper. "Crying won't bring her back, no matter how much I would." He slid his hand out of her grasp and stood up, readying his baton. "Don't worry about it, Bugaboo," The tone of his voice suddenly transformed to a more playful and flirty one, catching her completely off guard. It felt confident and proud... But fake and easy to shatter. "I only need you to focus on the me now, not the me in the past."

He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth and pointed finger guns at him, but Ladybug's serious demeanor didn't change by Chat's new attitude. He could feel her eyes bore into him; into his soul. She could see through his lies and his smiling mask. A wave of emotions overcame him.

She spoke and her voice was like a calm, soothing melody to his ears. It washed over him like a wave hugging the sand. Cold, but comforting. "You can't trick me Chat Noir," Ladybug whispered, without removing her gaze from his. "Your bad luck prohibits that."

He broke their connection by looking at his hands. The ring on his finger seemed to burn straight through his glove, as if etching its mark into his skin. Cataclysm; the power to destroy. The power of bad luck. Even before meeting Plagg, its curse followed him wherever it went. "Why?" Chat covered his face in shame. "The farce worked before. Why today? Why on her anniversary..?"

For one of the first times in her life, Ladybug had no idea what to do. She was lost in uncharted territory with a torn up map in her hands. She tried to piece the puzzle together, but ended up with a result that confused her even more. She wanted to help, she truly and honestly did, but one wrong move and everything could spiral into a whirlpool of disaster.

What could she possibly do to make him feel better?

Hesitantly, with the fear that he could break like glass, she reached out her gloved hand and held the side of his face. With her other hand, she reached down and took off her yo-yo and placed it in his hand. "For now, this is for you," She said, wrapping his fingers against her weapon. "I'm not entirely sure it will work, with our kwamis' powers and all, but I'll give you Lucky Charm to counter your bad luck. Just for today." She brought her eyes back up at his own. "Don't feel alone. You're my partner, right?"

He opened his mouth but no words came out. He was overwhelmed with a feeling that warmed him from his head to his toes.

Love.

That's what he felt.

The most absolute and most genuine love one could offer, radiating from Ladybug to the gift she lent him. Her love blanketed him with warmth on that cold, Paris night and he could feel the weight immediately being lifted off of his shoulders. He could only hope that she could feel the love that he was radiating in return. "Thank you," Chat swallowed back the choking feeling in his throat. "Really."

She smiled the most beautiful smile that he's ever seen and his heart leapt in his chest. He could feel his face heat up and he had a wobbly feeling in his legs. If he was standing he would've fallen and plummeted to his death because that was how much of an affect she had on him.

Chat Noir's green eyes lowered to her heart-shaped lips. He mentally chided himself for thinking such thoughts, but the urge to kiss her was simply growing stronger and stronger. Unconsciously, he tilted and bent his head, leaning himself towards her ever so slightly. She didn't move away, only so staring at him with her absolute full attention on him. Time seemed to freeze by the cold weather's touch.

And in that moment, the two were unaware of everyone and everything around them.

That's when it happened.

SLAM. Ladybug was shoved away from his grasp and flew over the side of the tower. The attack caught both heroes completely off guard. The light glow of purple followed right after with an evil cackle resounding in the air.

"CHAT!" Ladybug screamed as she tumbled to the ground.

Her arms flailed wildly, but there was nothing she could've grabbed onto.

Down and down and down she went.

There would've been no possible way he could have grabbed her in time. Chat Noir could only watch helplessly as her head hit into the ground and her blue eyes, the ones that he always fell in love with, rolled to the back of her head as she lost consciousness.

Red, bright, bright red that was the same color of her suit, trickled from behind her hair and pooled in front of his eyes. His vision was drenched in its heavy color. His name rung in his ears like the clanging of loud bells, chiming and pounding against his skull with shots of pain. Fear filled his veins for her; is she breathing? Is she alive?

Is she going to leave him too?

He clenched his fists and grit his teeth, anger fueling his ambition for revenge. Without hesitation, he leapt off the Eiffel Tower with both his baton and yo-yo in hand after the man who hurt her, and after the hero who fell.

---
i honestly really, really like this book.

there are some things i want to improve on, but overall, i feel like the storyline is really coming along.

sufferrrrrr.

(smiles at kitty)