Chapter Text
It was a peaceful night in Paris, with the lights of the city glowing brightly and a slight breeze lazily making its way over the rooftops. The breeze happened to come across the blue black bangs of Ladybug, who stood silently on patrol on the roof of an abandoned building. The wind tussled and played with her hair as she closed her eyes and let out a troubled sigh. A few seconds later she heard a soft thud to her right, so she looked over and watched as Chat Noir strutted his way over to her.
“Good evening, my Lady,” he said as he reached for her hand then proceeded to give her a gentle kiss on her knuckles.
Ladybug pulled her hand away, rolling her eyes with an amused look on her face. “Hello Chat.”
“How is my beautiful Buginette tonight?” He asked with a grin.
“I was just thinking about how we haven’t had an Akuma attack for a week now, so I’m kind of worried that Hawkmoth is up to something,” she said furrowing her brow and turning her head to look at the city once more.
“No need to worry! Maybe he’s just taking a break,” Chat said shrugging his shoulders.
“Villains never rest until they get what they want,” Ladybug replied crossing her arms over her chest.
“Well until something bad happens, we will be there to stop it like we always do,” he stated trying to reassure her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
Ladybug stared out across the city for a few more seconds then turned to look at him with her deep blue eyes, shining with determination. Chat felt as though her eyes pierced his soul and nearly collapsed under her radiant gaze.
“Thanks Chat,” she said as a small smile appeared on her face. She knew she could rely on her partner to make her feel a little more at ease. It’s been almost a year now since they had first met. She trusted him with her life.
“No problem, my Lady! I’m glad I was able to purr-k you up a bit,” he replied smirking while leaning in close to her face.
“You silly cat,” she teased as she shoved his face away.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash that sounded not too far from their position. It was then followed by a strange whipping and creaking noise.
The two heroes glanced at each other then quickly made their way across multiple rooftops toward the sound. When they got to the source, it was in a park full of various kinds of plants and trees, which were growing distortedly. In the center stood a middle-aged woman with long brown hair and a short golden colored dress. The dress was made of giant heart shaped leaves decorated with splotches of green on them, with two vines curling all around her body. She looked over at them, blue eyes squinting as her rose colored lips twitched up into a malicious smile. Then the outline of a purple butterfly appeared on her face…
“There they are Golden Pothos,” Hawkmoth whispered in her ear, “Bring me their miraculouses and no one will disturb your precious park again!!”
“No problem,” she sneered.
The woman raised her arms then extended her fingers towards the two, shooting out two long strands of vines from her dress. The heroes jumped opposite of each other and continued to dodge the strikes of the deadly vines. Ladybug jumped a second too late as one of the seemingly harmless leaves sliced into her left arm. She shrieked and clutched her arm, then rolled out of the way of the thrashing vine. Chat Noir glanced up for a brief moment and his gut clenched seeing her face contorted in pain. He whipped out his baton and swung ferociously at the long strand that lunged towards him, cutting through it.
Golden Pothos yelped in pain as the two strands of vine recoiled back into her dress.
“It looks like this battle has begun to look pretty l-ivy-ly,” Chat commented as he ran over to Ladybug, who was still holding onto her injured arm. He looked at her with concern in his eyes, reaching his hand out to the wound.
Ladybug winced slightly as he gently ran his fingers along her arm and lifted the damaged suit to further inspect the cut. The gash wasn’t too deep; however, there were little golden threads that started to spread from the wound outwards like small branches.
Chat gulped down the lump that appeared in his throat. “The leaves are poisonous,” he said in a strained voice. She looked at him with her big blue eyes full of pain, and then she shot a glance over at the Akuma victim who was also hurting, holding on tightly to the broken vine with her body trembling.
“I’ll...be fine,” Ladybug answered through clenched teeth. Her arm throbbed, with the pain creeping leisurely throughout her veins. “We need to end this quickly.”
The black cat watched her wearily with his green eyes full of worry and distress. Ladybug scanned the woman for any signs of where the Akuma could be and noticed she wore a golden necklace, the emerald stone shaped in the form of a leaf on the end of it.
“Chat, the necklace,” she pointed out.
At that moment, Golden Pothos finally gained her composure and glared at Chat, her eyes burning with hatred. “You WILL pay for that,” the woman stated icily. Then she got an idea and smiled wickedly.
In the blink of an eye, she raised her right arm shooting the uninjured vine towards the unaware Ladybug, who was hastily shoved out of the way by Chat. He was engulfed quickly in the thick vine, which wrapped around him tightly then threw him against the trunk of one of the trees in the park. He felt the wind get knocked out of him and saw stars dance across his vision. The grip of the vine tightened as he struggled to catch his breath, the leaves steadily cutting into his suit sending small, hot needlelike pangs into his skin. He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, struggling to no avail against the deadly ivy.
Meanwhile, Ladybug had recovered from the slight shock and continued to try whipping her yoyo at the Akuma victim, darting back and forth sluggishly, narrowly missing the poisonous leaves that were being aimed her way. She was in immense pain but she stopped to look briefly over at Chat, who was appearing to wrestle with the vine less and less with each passing second. His eyes full of fear and agony were beginning to gradually close, and his open mouth tried in vain to capture the slightest bit of oxygen with no success.
Golden Pothos laughed wickedly, her eyes directed over to Ladybug who was desperately trying to stop her. “Once I’m finished with him,” she snickered, “you will be next Ladybug.”
“Not a chance!” She yelled panting, and then she watched with horror as Chat struggled one last time to breathe then closed his eyes, his body going limp. The Akuma victim tossed him to the side, his cut up form rolling to a stop along a building where he laid very still.
It felt as though her heart stopped, and time seemed to stand still. “Chat…,” she managed to choke out. Then suddenly, she couldn’t feel the pain in her veins anymore as it was replaced with a burning fire of anger. She turned towards the woman who was too busy laughing maliciously and cried out, “LUCKY CHARM!” A pair of red garden shears with black polka dots fell into her hands and without hesitation she leapt towards the unprepared woman, chopping the vine that held Chat in half, causing the victim to unleash a bloodcurdling scream. Ladybug reached her in seconds, ripping off the necklace with ease then throwing it on the ground to smash it into pieces with a vicious stomp of her foot. A black butterfly with purple speckled wings flew out, but didn’t get very far as it was captured by her yoyo and soon purified. The now white butterfly silently fluttered away into the night.
Ladybug didn’t waste any time as she threw the shears into the air shouting, “Miraculous Ladybug!”
Soon after, a pink light with tiny ladybugs appeared and enveloped everything that was damaged, fixing them back to normal. Even the heroine was momentarily cocooned in the light, where the searing pain that had reached throughout her entire body, vanished instantly. She sighed with relief, and then froze when she remembered her partner. Whipping around, she saw him still laying there and sprinted over to his side.
She dropped down onto her knees and glanced over his now repaired suit. Carefully, she touched his right cheek with her fingers while looking at his closed eyes and whispered, “Chat…?”
He didn’t respond. The only thing moving was his messy blond hair being played by the wind that only an hour before, was tussling her hair around.
Her earring beeped suddenly, now only on two dots. Ladybug ignored it as she pressed her head to his chest. No sound came to her ears and she bolted upright with tears threatening to break free from her eyes. She attempted to calm her heart that was stinging with grief by inhaling and exhaling small, shaky breaths. Then with sudden determination, she began giving compressions, her face set like stone and her arms pumping in a now steady rhythm. She kept going even after her transformation wore off.
Her kwami Tikki stayed suspended in the air for a moment, her giant blue eyes welling up with tears. She then gradually flew down to set a tiny hand on Chat’s forehead. The small, red kwami looked back at her charge, whose face was now streaked with wet tears. But she continued to work, her eyes glossy yet unwavering in the goal of bringing her friend back.
“Breathe you stupid cat…” she sputtered, her compressions becoming more forceful and slow. Even though it’s only been a couple minutes, she was getting tired quickly.
Tikki then got an idea and rushed over to Marinette’s purse to hurriedly munch on a chocolate chip cookie. When she finished, she rushed over to her charge.
“Marinette!” Tikki shrieked, hovering by her face. “Hurry and transform back! I might be able to help.”
Marinette paused then yelled, “Tikki! Transform me!” turning into Ladybug once again and continued giving CPR. She felt rejuvenated, with more confidence and strength, she kept up her constant pace.
Chat could feel himself being pulled out of the murky darkness and towards a soft light. He didn’t understand what was going on, but for some reason he wasn’t able to move his body or call out to anyone. It seemed like he was underwater, hard to breathe and his ears muffled to any sound. He fought to open his eyes, yet it was as though all the strength had been sucked out of him. However, as soon as he reached the warm light, there was a sudden jolt through his chest then he gasped, feeling his lungs burn.
Ladybug flinched back as Chat inhaled sharply and began coughing, trying to breathe. She watched him stunned, while he continued to regain his breathing, his chest rising and falling rapidly. A minute passed, and he was finally able to regulate his breathing somewhat back to normal. He opened his eyes to see Ladybug watching him, her eyes red and puffy with her face covered with trails of tears.
“Lady…,” he began his voice hoarse, but felt his chest tighten and he went into a small coughing fit, each one like little balls of fire exploding in his lungs. He finally stopped, then sensed his upper body being lifted into the air, with tense arms wrapping around his torso gingerly. His eyes opened and he looked down to see his lady hugging him, her ear pressed up against his chest.
She closed her eyes and listened his swift heartbeat and ragged breathing for a few moments to let it soak in that he was alive again. Fresh tears began to fall from her eyes once more.
“I thought you were gone forever,” she whispered into his suit, “it was a miracle I was able to bring you back.”
Chat swallowed, feeling touched with how much she cared for him and wanted to hug her too, but he was completely drained of energy so he rested his cheek on top of her head instead.
“Well,” he started, his voice sounding rough, “you are pretty miraculous, Ladybug.”
She tentatively pulled away from him to look up into his tired green eyes and see the slight grin he had on his face.
“I never knew how much I would miss your silly puns kitty,” she said smiling through the tears.
“Thanks to you, I’m luckily able to continue doing so. Your beauty and intelligence literally takes my breath away, Buginette,” with that he winked then began coughing again, but it wasn’t as bad as before.
After his remark she rolled her eyes and shook her head. Well, at least she knew her cat was definitely alive and himself again.
“Now I only have seven lives left,” Chat mumbled, letting out a shaky sigh.
Ladybug looked at him questioningly. “What do you mean?” she asked.
He gazed into her eyes. “Well...dying from this incident. Then with the Timebreaker akuma, which Plagg had told me about." she nodded her head solemnly as Chat continued. "Every time you are the one to bring me back. It seems you hold the key to my soul Ladybug.”
Her blue eyes widened a little, and she could feel the beginning of a faint blush appear on her cheeks. She turned her head and said quickly, “Now you’re getting all sappy Chat Noir. Come on, it’s time to go home.” With that she got up and held out her hand to him.
Chat gladly took it, but got up slowly since his legs were as stable as jell-o. He would have fell face first into the pavement if Ladybug wasn’t there to hold him steady. Leaning on her for support with his arm around her shoulder and her arm around his waist, he was already out of breath and could feel some sweat start to break through on his forehead. Then he remembered she was hurt.
“My Lady!” he exclaimed, his voice cracking slightly. Her eyes examined him filled with worry.
“What's wrong?” she asked concern heavy in her voice.
“Your injury!” he stated inspecting her arm.
Relief flooded her face and she chuckled. “It’s okay Chat; the lucky charm took away all the poison and cuts. I’m fine and so are you.”
Confusion swept over him. “Is that how I came back then?”
Ladybug paused then answered, “Well no; for some reason my miraculous cure didn't revive you, so I had to do it,” she said glancing down. “I was so scared. You were quiet and lifeless; it took every ounce of courage not to break down right there. But I was able to overcome it, thank goodness.” She then shuffled them over to a nearby bench where they both sat down.
Together they sat on the bench quietly, taking in the sounds of Paris for a few moments, filling them with a sense of tranquility. Ladybug just then realized the Akuma victim must have come back to her senses and left a while ago since she was nowhere in sight. She was so focused on her partner the entire time she didn’t even notice her leave. Then Chat broke the silence, getting her attention.
“Thank you for saving my life,” he said softly. “I am forever in your debt.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek, then rose stiffly from the bench and stood with what little strength he had left.
Her startled expression swiftly came and went as she got up too. “Will you be okay getting to your house?” She questioned, even though she didn't want to find out who he was just yet.
He grinned. “I’m feline good enough to get there on my own now. Why would you like to join me?” he finished with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
“On second thought, it looks like you’ll be fine. Goodnight Chat,” she said turning away from him bringing out her yoyo, only to stop and put it away again.
“One more thing,” she added, then turned back around to give him a hug.
He was surprised for a second, his eyes widening and heart filling with joy. Then he carefully returned her hug, wrapping his arms around her small frame and resting his chin on her head. She stayed there for a moment longer then pulled away.
Ladybug took out her yoyo again, whipping it at a nearby streetlamp. She flew up and over onto a nearby rooftop and disappeared into the night, leaving Chat with a smile on his face and feeling better already.