Hey there everyone and welcome to a secondary story that I'm working on~ I just randomly came up with this idea one day and my friend Yumi-chan-Hamano helped me flesh it out into a full length story :D I really hope you guys like it~ Please forgive the dirty pun in this chapter too ^^; I promise it won't be a normal occurance~

The next Connected Streams chapter will be next week so don't worry~ It's coming :D

Anyways, enjoy! :D

Chapter 1

"Where… where am I?" Marinette stammered awake, only to find herself surrounded by nothing but complete darkness. It was pitch black as far as her eyes could see. She tried to remember how she got to this place, but nothing came to mind.

"Greetings my lady." an eerie voice rang through the darkness. She turned to investigate the source of the voice and found someone standing before her, being surrounded by a source of light. He was dressed entirely in black leather from his neck all the way down to his feet. He donned a mask that surrounded his closed eyes that appeared to be the same material as his suit. On top of his messy-haired blond head rested a set of black cat-like ears, as well as long red horns that were positioned just in front of the ears.

Marinette was taken aback by the sudden appearance of this stranger. His appearance stirred worry inside of her. She tried backing up, to distance herself from him, but it didn't appear as if "Who… who are you?"

His eyes opened up, to reveal blood-red colour that they possessed. He flashed a toothy grin at her and replied, "The name's Chat Noir, and I welcome you to the Crossroads of Life."

Marinette's eyes widened at the name of the location. She had heard about it a few times before in school. The Crossroads of Life is where people go when they die, just before they pass on to the afterlife.

The realization quickly crept up on her. Her mind went into a panic. She looked around to see if there was any sign of this being a prank, but there was nothing. Only darkness and the mysterious man.

"Oh such a pity that a lovely young life came to such an abrupt end." He retracted his staff into a handsized mode and placed it on his belt. He began making his way towards the distressed girl, keeping his toothy grin plastered on his face. She tried backing up once again to get away from him, but it was a fruitless effort like before. He was upon her in no time flat. He grabbed the sides of her cheek from her chin and shook her head a little bit. "But this is good news for me because that means I have a lovely young soul to claim as my own."

"Get your hands off of me!" She slapped his hand away, which took him by surprise. His eyebrows began to wiggle up and down as he was impressed that she did such a thing. Normally souls were submissive thanks to fear but not this one. To Chat, she was feisty, which was new and refreshing to him.

He bowed to her and backed off a few paces to give her some space. He brought his staff back out, extending it so that he can lean on it once more. "If you'll allow me, I'd like to elaborate on your current situation a little further."

Marinette's lips curled into a frown. She knew that there was no way out of this, she was trapped.

She took another good look at the man before her. Seeing those piercing red eyes stare at her felt like that a thousand chills were running down her spine. She glanced at the horns atop of his head. Her worry increased when she thought about what he was. "You're some kind of demon, aren't you?"

"Beautiful and smart." Chat chuckled, much to Marinette's dismay. "Why yes. Do tell, was it the horns or the eyes that gave it away?"

"Uhh, both actually."

Chat shook his head, making a "tsk" noise with each turn. "You know, I told him that it would be obvious and that it would make our guests more comfortable if we didn't have them but no, we have to do things his way. Oh well, I guess they do make me feel rather horny."

"So what does this have to do with my situation?" she asked, completely ignoring his ramblings and the disgusting pun that he made that she didn't much care for.

"Oh, right. Do forgive me." He retracted his staff once more and clicked his fingers. At the sound of the snap, the darkness completely vanished was replaced by what looked like the streets of Paris. To the side of them was what appeared to be Marinette, holding the arm of an older gentleman who wore a Hawaiian shirt. She was escorting him across the street.

"What is this?" she asked, confused as to why she was seeing herself and the scene before her.

"This is the moment where you perished."

The two watched as the imitation Marinette continued to help the man. All of a sudden, loud honks caught the attention of the two watching. They saw that a large truck was coming at the two on the street, and appearing as if it wasn't slowing down.

"Move!" Marinette shouted at herself, forgetting that this was a replay of events already unfolded. "Move out of the way!"

The two watched as Marinette shoved the old man out of harm's way, but failed to get herself away in time. Just as the truck was about to hit Marinette, Chat snapped his fingers and caused the scene to disappear, being replaced by the darkness that first was there.

"Wow, such a noble sacrifice." Chat commented. He turned to Marinette, expecting her to be crying like most souls he's seen do when they view their death. However, much to his surprise, she was staring at him with her eyes full of worry instead of tears. She asked, "Is the man alright?"

"I uhh…" He was at a loss for words. This was the first he'd seen someone worry about safety of someone else rather than be concerned for themselves. He scratched the side of his cheek and tried to collect himself. "He's fine. You saved his life."

"Oh thank goodness." she pressed her hand against her heart and sighed. As she did, Chat looked at her curiously. She was different than other souls that came to the Crossroads, which sparked his curiosity.

"Now, onto business." He pushed his curiosity aside and continued about with the task he was sent to do. "My whole reason for coming here was to strike a deal with you."

"A deal? … What… kind of deal?"

Another toothy grin formed on his face. "I will grant you any wish you desire, in exchange for your soul."

"Wait, what!" Her panic set in once more, her thoughts going wild with the possibilities of what he meant.

"You heard me, your soul in exchange for a wish." He reached behind him and grabbed what appeared to be a belt that he was using as a tail to go along with his ensemble. He began spinning it around as he talked. "But I'll cut you some slack. Since I like you, I'll give you the wish you intend for rather than put some crazy loophole on your wish like most demons are supposed to do."

"Excuse me?"

"You know. Usually people wish that they could live again so we reincarnate them as something like a mayfly who live for a short time and wait for them to come crawling back where we collect on our debt."

"That's horrible!"

"I know, I know but it's the way demons do things. But I won't do that to you Marinette. I will fulfill any wish you desire." He began approaching her once more and leaned into her face, until their heads were just inches away from each other. "Anything."

She pushed him away and was about to yell at him, feeling insulted that he thought she would even consider the deal. But before she could, an image of two people flashed into her mind, which filled her up with a sense of dread inside. She could feel tears build up inside her eyes the more she thought about them.

She bit her lower lip, contemplating what to do. Chat raised an eyebrow as he watched her struggle with this decision.

"Chat- I… I-"

Before she could continue, she felt herself being dragged away from her current location. She began to scream and panic as she floated away from Chat. She looked behind her to see what was doing it, but couldn't see anything. Before she knew it, Chat was completely out of sight and all she could see was darkness.

Groans escaped from her throat as she opened her eyes, being woken up by the sounds of mechanical beeps to the right side of her. She looked around as much as her neck would allow her and noticed she was lying on a bed inside a white room full of machines. And to each side of her were her parents.

"Mom… Dad…" she weakly said, her throat burning in pain with each word spoke. The two adults leaned in and gently wrapped their arms around Marinette and cried, happy seeing their daughter alive. Marinette felt like she could cry too, feeling relieved that she was able to see her parents again.

"Don't you ever scare us like that again pumpkin!"

"S-sor-"

"Don't speak." Her mother placed her finger on her lips to stop her. "Save your strength. We don't want to lose you a second time."

"I'll prepare a feast for you when you come home. The doctors said you might be here a while."

Marinette leaned up slightly to inspect her body, curious of the condition after hearing her Dad's words. She saw that her left leg and arm were in a cast. She felt that something was around her neck also, which she guessed was a neck brace. She thought too that her torso was wrapped up with bandages but couldn't confirm. She was still apparently wearing her casual clothing, which confused her but she didn't have the strength to argue.

"The doctors said it was touch and go there for a while, but they were able to bring you back thankfully."

Marinette smiled at her mother's news, happy and thankful that the doctors were able to achieve that.

"Get some rest Marinette, you'll need it."

Marinette nodded as best as she could and leaned back into the bed. She closed her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep. She began wondering about her encounter with Chat Noir. Was it all a dream or did it actually happen? She didn't know, but for the moment, she didn't care. She was alive, she got to see her parents again, and the old man was safe too, and that's all that mattered to her.

It was about a month and a half before Marinette was discharged from the hospital and able to return home. The doctors had to ensure that she was stable before they could release her. Plus, they had to give her physiotherapy to teach her how to walk again once her leg was well enough, since it hadn't been used in a while. She was currently on crutches but aside from that, she was fine.

She raced up the stairs as fast as she could, excited to see her bedroom once again. It was exactly how she left it… except for one large noticeable difference. She went wide-eyed seeing that someone was sitting on her bed. She recognized immediately who it was. It was the demon known as Chat Noir.