A/N: My first Ladybug fic, and what better way to kickstart my foray into this fandom and to celebrate the eve of the release of the English dub than to angst it up.

WARNING: blood, major character death, and foul language.

He can tell she doesn't think he means it, that first time he says it.

They're looking over Paris just before midnight, the city lit with thousands of lights from thousands of homes and thousands of lives. Lives they protect, together.

He's sitting on the edge of a roof, one leg dangling over the ledge while the other is bent to prop up his arm. (Even as Chat Noir it seems Adrien can't stop his unconscious posing.) Ladybug stands beside him, hands on her hips and pigtails dancing in the slight breeze.

She's looking over their city with a fond, protective smile, and he can't help but smile up at her, feeling his heart swell with all the admiration and love he holds for her. It's in this postcard moment that he feels compelled to say it.

"My Lady," he says softly, drawing her attention. When she looks, he grins and continues, "You know I'd follow you anywhere, right?"

She huffs a little laugh through her adorable little nose and gives him an amused smirk. "Yeah? There's nothing I could do to make you leave?"

He reads the disbelief in her eyes and decides to play along. He smirks easily and purrs, "Well, maybe a kiss could—"

She snorts and turns her eyes back to Paris as she shakes her head. He hears the small murmur of "silly cat" but his eyes never leave her.

The second time he says it, she's helping to patch up a small wound on his shoulder, something he got by taking a blow for her. Even though she sits behind him, he knows she's frowning, upset and a little mad at him, but her hands are still painfully gentle.

He knows by now that she'll never actually return his feelings but that sure as hell doesn't stop him from having them.

She finishes by putting a little bandage over the cut, and he hears her sigh. He glances at her from over his shoulder, his Lady's eyebrows drawn together as her lips curve down steeply.

"Ladybug," he says softly. She looks up from his shoulder to his face, and he's about to thank her when she interrupts him.

"Why do you do this, Chat?"

He blinks owlishly at her for a moment. "This?"

Ladybug huffs angrily and gestures to his shoulder. "This! This—the throwing yourself in front of me! Why? All you ever do is get hurt, do you think I can't take a hit?"

Her anger surprises him and he turns around on the little crate he's using as a makeshift stool in the abandoned warehouse they've taken as a safe house. She's scowling but her bottom lip trembles just the smallest and oh, that a glisten in the corner of her eyes, shit.

"Ah, my Lady, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry!" he exclaims, reaching for her hands even as she hastily pulls them back into her own lap. "I-I didn't think you'd be so upset—"

"Why would I not be upset!?" she blurts, aghast. "Chat, you're my partner, why would I not be upset, you got hurt! Because of me!"

He pauses for a moment before trying to reach for her hands again. This time she lets him take hold of them in his much larger ones. "My Lady, I…It's not that I think you can't take the hits, or that you can't handles yourself—I know you can, you're the strongest person I've ever met. I just—I don't like seeing you get hurt." He stares down at their clasped hands and tries not to let his own shake. "I'd do anything to keep you safe. I'll follow you wherever you go."

Her hands clench around his and he forces himself to meet her gaze, her beautifully blue but very watery gaze. "You dumb cat," she murmurs thickly before pulling him into her arms for a tight hug. "You stupid fucking feline."

He snorts a little, but wraps his arms tightly around her in return.

"Just don't go where I can't follow," he whispers after a moment.

She sniffles and he almost regrets saying it before she says, "Like I'd ever be able to get you off my…tail."

The heaviness is lost when he chuffs and grins, full of pride for her terrible pun. They stay sitting there for a while though, his face tucked into the crook of her neck as she pets his hair. He ignores his complaining back to revel in her warmth. She's far too good for him, but he's so lucky to have her. He'll do anything to keep her by his side for the rest of their lives.

There's too much blood, far, far too much. Her whole side was gushing red and despite his best, he can't stem the flow.

"Ladybug," he says, lip quivering as her breathing starts to slow. "Please, stay with me, keep your eyes open."

She smiles, and even with blood smeared on her face and tear leaking out to roll silently down her face, she's still the most beautiful person he's ever seen.

"We did it," she breaths. "We got Hawk Moth. It's OK, Chat. It's OK."

Her eyes start to close and he shakes her slightly.

"No, nononononono, Ladybug, stay awake, stay with me!" He can hear the wailing of sirens coming closer. "Help's almost here, just—"

She sighs and goes still. He holds his breath, waiting for her chest to move again, for her to inhale and open her eyes and keep living.

"No!" he yells, cupping her cheek to tilt her head towards him. "Ladybug, open your eyes! Ladybug!"

He barely registers that he's started to cry, he lays her on the ground and starts to do compressions, hoping to keep her heart going.

"Wake up, Ladybug, wake up, wake up, wake up." He sobs and chokes on his breath, tears blurring all the red in front of him into one giant puddle. "You said you wouldn't go where I couldn't follow! Don't go where I can't be with you!"

Light wraps around her, almost distracting him from his CPR, but he keeps going, keeps trying not to choke on his sobs, even as Ladybug falls away to reveal a blood-stained Marinette—beautiful, kind, brave, good Marinette—and a weeping red Kwami.

There's too much red, he feels so sick but he can't stop, he can't let go, he can't.

There's a national day of mourning he's assured will become an annual day of remembrance. It's not exactly comforting, but at least it's something. His Lady, his Princess, his Love won't pass on silently. Ladybug will be remembered for years, while Chat Noir can live and slip silently into the shadows where he belongs. The Kwamis leave to rest and await the next generation.

Adrien Agreste doesn't have this luxury. With the revelation of his super hero alter ego, and that his father was none other than Hawk Moth himself, he finds himself thrust into the limelight for at least the next year as the French justice system decides whether the once-famous-now-infamous Gabriel Agreste should be put on trial for what he did do Paris' citizens.

In the end his father has the easy way out, a sudden heart attack while in his cell, awaiting justice that can never be served.

And after all the fuss, all the media circus, he's pardoned on the grounds that he was not in control of himself, that he was just as much a victim as the people possessed by akumas. But this doesn't save the Agreste name, the company is ruined. At least Adrien can say his father was a careful man, he's left with a sizable fortune he can live off rather comfortably without ever having to work again.

Instead, he goes to university, earns a degree in psychology, and becomes a counselor. He thinks that maybe if his father had found help after his mother's passing, he might not have become Hawk Moth. He thinks that if Hawk Moth had never appeared, Ladybug and Chat Noir wouldn't have been needed, and Ladybug wouldn't have died. He thinks that if his father had been helped, he could have gone to public school sooner, have met Marinette sooner, have loved her sooner.

He might not have lost her.

He doesn't want another Hawk Moth to happen.

He doesn't want any more Ladybugs or Marinettes to die.

He leaves bunches of flowers on her grave—gladiolous, stephanotis, and forget-me-not. After all is said and done, he never loves another like her.

He said he would follow her anywhere, and his heart follows her into death.

It only takes 27 years for the rest of him to follow too.

Gladiolus strength of character, faithfulness, honour, and remembrance, stephanotis means good luck, and forget-me-nots are rather obvious, no?