Marinette cried out as the piece of the ledge broke off. She had barely managed to catch it when she took her tumble. When it started to crack, her hand fought purchase in a nearby cable, no sturdier than the building side she had been clinging to like a lifeline. She looked down, seeing the piece she had been standing on fall onto the ground and smash to a thousand or more pieces. Falling from this height wouldn't kill her. However, she would certainly be hurt. She swallowed hard once she realized that could have been her on that rock.

"Quite the performance…"

Marinette looked up. Chat Noir stood over her. She gasped as the cord she was holding onto started to fray. It wouldn't hold much longer. She tried to subtly reach out for something else to hold onto but there was nothing within arms reach, nothing she could grab without alerting Chat for sure. She couldn't get a hold of anything unless she wanted to jump and possibly miss, thus falling to her doom even faster than just hanging there and hoping by some odd chance she'd survive long enough for someone other than Chat to help her out.

"I don't have time for this…" Chat sighed.

He gave her an odd look and pressed his foot down on the cord, her only anchor to the side of the ship. The rope began to fray even faster. She hated feeling helpless and that she could do nothing. Her yo-yo had long since fallen and she was left weaponless. Even if she did have it, that would take away from her grip on the cord. Chat smirked when he saw a flash of fear in her eyes. He seemed to take joy that he was the one to finally bring the all might Ladybug to her knees. The fear that jolted through her was very much unlike her persona as the heroine.

"It's not that far…" She said with a shaky voice

She cursed herself. She sounded uncertain and afraid, like a small child. She sounded like Marinette. The stupid, timid girl, unable to talk to anyone properly but they both knew she was masquerading as Ladybug. She was supposed to be stronger than this. Braver than this. Better than this. She knew he had picked it up from the sound of her voice. She yelped when the chord snapped a little and she dropped a little further down. It caught her before she got too far down but it still scared her nonetheless. There was nothing below protecting her from the drop and she didn't want to die this way.

"Is that so?" Chat asked.

She winced at the amusement he seemed to draw from her predicament. She would have reached out, taken his hand, told him to help her. She could not bring herself to do it. No matter how sweaty her palms seemed to be getting or how far down the city street really was below. Chat had the upper hand. He had taken her by surprise, overthrowing her with near ease because she had let her guard down. Who would expect their partner to attempt to kill them after all? Ladybug had not. Chat had been with her for so long this was the furthest thing from her mind.

"Ah, glad to here it…"

"Sorry, looks like you don't get to play the prince this time," Marinette told him.

A dark smirk crossed his lips. Pearly white teeth peeked out behind his blackened lips. A twisted sadism seemed to glitter in his eyes. She watched in horror as he drew his staff from behind him. He pressed a button and a blade appeared at the tip. She tried not to let it show but she knew, just as a blood hound could smell blood he could smell her fear. She gripped the rope tighter, as if it would keep it from snapping but it was fruitless. She let go of the chord with one hand and reached for something else to hold.

"I suppose you better hang on then, my Lady…" He threatened.

Marinette's eyes widened when he cut the cord. She reached out, trying to find something else to grab but her hands found nothing to break her fall.

Marinette jolted out of bed. Her heart was racing and she had broken out in a cold sweat. Shivers wracked her body. Another nightmare. They had been occurring more and more after Chat had been struck with the arrow by Dislocoeur. The look on his face, the way he had adamantly insisted how much he hated her, they stuck with her. Chat had insisted that he did not feel that way but the doubts still lingered.

She glanced over at the alarm clock. It was an ungodly hour at night. This was not going to bode well for her tomorrow but she would not be going to sleep again tonight. Not when she could just as easily fall back into a nightmare like that. She sighed. It appeared that Tikki was still asleep so there were small blessings it seemed.