A/N: Okay, it took me a while to get round to it but here you go! The sequel to Rippling Dreams! People have been asking for it and I also felt particularly inspired by a song so I might as well. Enjoy~

Mirage

"Chat! Chat!"

His body feels ice cold as he awakens to the familiar voice of his partner. He registers the zip sound of her signature yo-yo as he sees a red figure hop down to his rooftop.

"Hey, Bugaboo." he says, lifting a hand for a feeble wave.

"Don't 'Bugaboo' me!" Her words are chiding but the hands that cradle his head in her lap are gentle, almost hesitant. "Stupid kitty. Stupid- stupid- Why… why did you do that?"

"Well, you know me. Gotta be the knight for my lady." He feels her fingers tighten in his hair. He smiles. "It's okay. I'm okay."

There's water dripping on his face and it's not the rain pattering from the sky. But it might as well be. Her eyes are beautiful, although obscured by tears. It causes him pain but he stretches his hand up to stroke her cheek. "Ladybug..."

Her arms wrap around his shoulders as she pulls him in for an embrace and he can feel her tiny body shaking against his. It's cold but her body feels so warm. "You scared me," Her voice trembles. "Don't do that again! Y-you're important to me, Chat, unbelievably so and I don't want to lose you. Not ever… again..."

Chat leans in, kissing the loosened silky hair of his lady, throat rumbling as he hums in agreement.

"Hey… right back at you..."

"...rien… Adrien… Adrien...!"

The rainy scene in his mind's eye is torn away like a black hole sucked it in and he blinks blearily at the morning rays streaming through his blinds. He sits up and stretches his arms leisurely with a large yawn.

His vision is taken over by blue invading his face. "Rise and shine, my sleepy kitty!" He feels soft lips on his forehead briefly before the presence backs away. "About time you got up!"

Adrien smiles languidly at Marinette. "I had a dream."

She smiles back. "What kind of dream?"

He gazes off into space. "I dreamt of the time I was seriously hurt by an akuma. The Moralizer, wasn't it? You were worried about me and made me promise not to sacrifice myself for you again. I told you that it was the same for you…" he trails off.

"Oh, I remember that." She sits on the edge of his bed and ruffles his hair. "But what's got you frowning like that, sunshine?"

He lets her mess up his already messy head. "I really don't want to lose you either, Marinette..." he confesses.

Marinette takes his hand and presses it against her cheek, blue eyes looking into his adoringly. "I'm not going anywhere, Adrien."

He leans forward and places his free hand on her other cheek. "I know."

Giggling, she removes his hands from her face. "C'mon, get up. It's too early in the morning to be getting all mushy about things."

"Yeah." he agrees, chuckling as he gets out of bed to face the grey, grey world ahead of him.

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

It's at times like these that Adrien feels that his world is truly right for once. Families playing catch on a Sunday afternoon, birds chirping to spread their joy across the world, and sitting in happy tranquillity with Marinette on a park bench in the Place des Vosges.

Marinette is sketching out a skirt design based on the water fountain while Adrien has his nose buried in her hair, enjoying the scent of vanilla that he has come to associate with his girlfriend. Sweet and addicting, like chocolate-chip cookies, much like Marinette.

Quite simply, it is utter bliss. He could never dream of anything better.

"What's that you're humming?"

"Hmm?" Adrien opens his eyes at Marinette's question, descending down from la-la land for a bit. "What?"

"Adrien, you've been humming that song for a while now. Don't tell me you haven't noticed?" she giggles, flicking his nose harmlessly.

Adrien wrinkles his nose as he thinks. He doesn't know what she's talking about at first but it occurs to him that she's right. "Ah, that. It's my mother's song. It was something she used to sing to me when I was little..."

Pretty blue eyes widen like a galaxy of stars. "Really? The song of your childhood, huh..." A hand raises up from her drawing to tap her chin in thought. "How does it go? I want to hear it, Adrien."

He smiles as he remembers it like it was only yesterday his mother last sang it to him. He remembers every word of that song, every note and he could even play it on the piano.

The world stops when he sings it to the imploring Marinette who closes her eyes to listen to the song. His mother made it up on a family trip to the mountains, he was told, and they were written for him and for the good times they had together. Sometimes, Adrien sang it to himself when he missed her. But now, with Marinette, he feels his mother's emotions, her love, being conveyed to her, from Adrien to Marinette, from Chat Noir to Ladybug.

Love. The feeling fills his heart to the brim as he sings, lighter than ever before.

Marinette opens her eyes when he finishes singing. She faces him brightly, dazzling Adrien for a second. "That was absolutely beautiful! Your mother must have loved you very much."

"She was a very loving mother..." He stretches his arm towards the sky for a moment before letting it drop down, limp.

Understanding, Marinette reaches a hand up to brush against his eyelids. It was wet. Had he been crying? "It's okay, Adrien. I'm here for you."

So he lets himself relax again.

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

"And so she tells Madame Aiguille that she couldn't sew because-because her dog bit her finger. And everyone in the room could just smell the lie in her voice and I'm positive Madame Aiguille did too."

Marinette speaks with a mouth full of cheesecake as Adrien sits across from her, daintily eating his strawberry gateau piece by piece. He has an arm propped up against the table to rest his head on as he patiently listens to his girlfriend complain about a colleague in fashion school.

Even in moments when she was about as unladylike as a chimpanzee, he still finds himself no less smitten than before. She is his lady after all.

After taking a gulp of her sweetened latte, she goes on. "But you know what she does? She lets her off. Just like that. Completely scot-free." She violently stabs her cheesecake with her fork. "Honestly, what has our society become? Where is the justice?"

Adrien chuckles. "I believe that's us."

The heroine across from him pouts adorably. "Well, it's not like Ladybug can just pop in randomly to put people in their place. She won't be there to guide everyone around by their tails like she is for you."

She pauses curiously as her partner reaches towards her to touch her cheek. He leans back in his chair with cream on his finger. "Are you sure it's not the other way round?" he quips, eyeing her intently as he licks the cream off.

At first, she blinks in disbelief, once, twice, before bursting out in laughter. "Oh, I'm sure, silly kitty!" she manages between giggles.

She digs into her cheesecake, with a little more care and attention now, and Adrien watches her, completely entranced, his own fork pressing uselessly against his lips. He watches her face morph into one of utter bliss as she properly savours the cake he bought for her. She rolls the strawberry playfully around on her plate before consuming that too. The sunlight streaming through the café window creates a soft halo around her, he swears, making her look like an angel.

The hazy background is nothing now as Marinette is the colourful existence who steals all of his attention away and Adrien smiles foolishly, strawberry gateau long forgotten.

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

Adrien watches a monochrome Paris through the cold window while listening to the music of the rain pitter-patter against the glass. He had neglected to switch the light on, leaving the room enveloped in gloomy darkness.

Earlier, he was called by Nino to meet up because 'they had something to talk about' and Adrien was getting rather listless without Marinette's company, waiting for Nino to arrive.

And when he does, he is snapping fire, storming in like an executioner from hell. He doesn't even bother with a greeting as he points an angry finger at his best friend. "You! What game do you think you're playing at?!"

"Me?" Adrien opens his palms like did nothing wrong. "What are you talking about?"

"Yes, you!" Nino fumes closer and fists Adrien's designer t-shirt, glaring up at the taller model. "What the hell have you been doing?! Why is it that I've been hearing that 'Adrien Agreste made an imaginary friend' these past few weeks? Have you gone nuts?!"

He feels his shirt beginning to tear, but he finds himself paying more attention to Nino's words.

"And why is it that you've been talking about Marinette all of a sudden after you've been pretending she didn't exist for a whole year?" Thunder cracks against the clouds outside. Adrien keeps silent. Nino breaks. "Don't you fucking dare screw around! Why is it that you choose to care about her after we've healed and put ourselves back together after so long?! Why now?!"

Adrien stares blankly in Nino's grey, grey eyes. Nino eventually boils over and his hands loosen. "Look, man. You're deluding yourself and you should stop it. It's not helping me, or Alya or your pa, let alone yourself! Just- stop it, please. We're all hurting, you should know that! But Marinette is gone and we should move on." A flash of lightning illuminates the trail of water streaking down Nino's face. "I-it's best if you moved on, for you and everyone around you. That's what she would have wanted, Adrien."

The fire in Nino's grey eyes is all but a fizzled flame as he lets go of his shirt. "Adrien, you have to face it. She's gone."

But Adrien feels like a stranger. Nino's a stranger, with his grey eyes, grey cap and grey armbands where there should have been colour.

"I know."

And he leaves Nino slumping on the floor as he closes the room behind him.

He doesn't look back.

As he starts to walk away from the room, he hears a voice behind him. "Hey, kitty."

It's Marinette, smiling and brightening Adrien's world as always. "How are you doing?" she asks.

He smiles back. "Great."

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

Days pass peacefully and Adrien has never been happier.

His father has forbidden him from going to school or doing any photo shoots or going outside, ever. He remembers his cold, cold expression as he called him an utter disgrace to the Agreste name. And Adrien finds that he couldn't care less.

He's perfectly happy, sitting with his arms around Marinette and watching some trite action movie on his massive computer screen. He doesn't remember what the movie is about exactly but he enjoys watching Marinette's ever expressive faces at certain scenes.

"You're getting awfully light these days." he notes, tugging her waist gently. But it was true, she was getting extremely light and he could hardly feel her sitting on his knees.

Not only that but her scent was getting weaker. He noses the back of her neck, looking for his favourite scent of vanilla, of her, barely finding it and stroking her hair feels like running his hands through mist rather than smooth silk.

She turns around, smiling easily. "Well, you're forgetting me, aren't you?"

All of a sudden, his arms phase right through her body. She hops off his lap and steps away cheerfully, taking no heed of Adrien's panic and desperate attempts to grab hold of her body. He needed to feel her. Something. Anything to prove that she's there. Existing. Living.

She's still smiling. And it tortures him.

"Marinette! Stay! I beg of you. Don't go... Please!"

Her image stills and fuzzes like a channel he's losing connection to. "Goodbye, Adrien."

He tries to take her shoulders, to bring her down, to no avail. He swipes through thin air. "I-is it something I've done? I can fix it, just tell me! I-I didn't forget you! I've always been thinking about you!"

And like a dream from so long ago, she's disappearing. Again. "Goodbye, Adrien."

But he couldn't give up. "No, goddammit, stop saying that!" Not just yet. "Why?! I just- there's still so many things I want to do with you, to say to you and- and-"

"Goodbye, Adrien."

Adrien collapses, destroyed, as if he used Cataclysm on his own heart. He gazes hopelessly at the empty air.

"… I just wanted to be with you…"

The movie on his computer plays on obliviously. Adrien faintly hears the protagonist scream and scream an

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

The sun is shining graciously on Adrien's world today, cheering the verdant green plants in his path and making the golden marigolds in his bouquet smile. The man himself is relaxed, dressed in casual clothing and walking at a moderate pace, simply on his way to meet a friend.

Yes, a friend. The thought lightens his step just a little bit more.

He reaches his destination and crouches down to place the flowers on top of a stone grave.

"Hi, Marinette." he says.

There is no response.

Only, the sweet, sweet songbirds tweet from the trees nearby.

He smiles. "I figured I should come bid you a proper farewell. I'm sorry it took so long."

"I should have known how much you loved Paris. You always did. And you were only trying to protect our city. And me. But instead, I became selfish and for that I was an idiot."

When he sighs, he feels like he's breathing out pieces of his heart.

"You must have been so angry with me. But if only you knew how important you are to me. To the whole of Paris. Because Paris hasn't been the same since then. Ladybug and Chat Noir are revered as great heroes now but they're still being missed every day."

He strokes the engraved name on the grave. Marinette. "I miss you."

"But it's alright. I've realised now you're here. You've always been here. And that isn't something I'll be forgetting. Ever. And it's time that I stand on my own two feet and stopped worrying you."

And he stands up, beaming like the sun.

"Because... Chat Noir's a hero too, isn't that right?"

A tiny ladybug flies over to kiss the marigolds.

"Goodbye, Marinette."