The Akuma was gigantic. Ladybug had never seen one this large or vicious. She wondered if perhaps Gabriel was better at controlling them than his wife, who was surely a novice at this.

That is one messed up family...Ladybug thought with exasperation.

She raced across the ballroom, reveling in the freedom of her stretchable suit in contrast with her uncomfortable heels and her tightly-fitted dress.

Chat Noir followed, and Ladybug found this very irritating. He was just going to slow her down. As if Chat had any idea how to work as a team.

The Akuma roared, spotting its two opponents. It was entirely made out of car parts, leading Ladybug to believe that the victim might be a worker at an auto repair shop or someone stuck in traffic. Akumas were usually ridiculously petty, so she wouldn't be surprised if it were the latter.

"I am Carinator!" it roared, ready for battle. Momentarily dumbfounded at its ridiculous name, and ignoring Chat's laughs at its declaration because now was certainly not the time to be amused, she pulled out her yo-yo and latched onto Carinator's shoulder.

She swung herself onto the beast while it tried to shake her off. Ladybug saw Chat ready his baton. Carinator seemed to be confused about which opponent to fight off first, so instead it decided to throw tires at Chat.

He easily deflected the tires with his baton, spinning it around effortlessly in a sort of rhythmic movement. It was almost like he was trying to show off, and Ladybug repressed the urge to roll her eyes.

"Don't you get tired of this?" Chat shouted at the monster, smirking as he did.

"Shut UP!" Ladybug yelled back, becoming increasingly annoyed. Now was not the time for car puns.

She focused her attention on Carinator while it was focused on Chat, trying to figure out where the Akumatized object could be. She searched and she searched, wracking her brains to come up with a plan, until Carinator made a sudden movement that threw her off of its vast body.

And she fell 15 feet off the beast, but it happened so quickly that she couldn't even scream. Expecting to fall hard onto the ground, Ladybug braced herself for the worst and hoped that her suit would prevent her from getting too injured to complete the task at hand.

But she didn't land on the cold, hard marble beneath her—instead she fell into the warm, soft arms of Chat Noir.

"I see you're falling for me, my Lady," he grinned.

She was so shocked at everything that had happened so quickly, Ladybug merely blinked in confusion, muttered a hurried " thanks" and pretended like it never happened, once again on her feet and preparing herself to take on the Akuma once again.

Perhaps Chat wasn't so useless after all...but that certainly did nothing to ease her mortification of needing him to come to her rescue. Again .

Suddenly, Carinator paused, as if in a trance. It began to speak again, but the robotic voice was more high-pitched this time.

"Adrien, Marinette…give up. I don't want to hurt you, but I have little control over this beast. Give my people your miraculouses and you will be safe."

At this message, Ladybug noticed that the ballroom was filling up with more people. Men and women wearing what seemed to be black police gear and armed with weapons—not guns, by the look of it, Ladybug couldn't quite tell from this distance—approached the battle scene, but they were clearly not police.

"You're the worst mother EVER!" Chat shouted, charging towards Carinator with his baton poised to attack it. But the beast simply swatted him away, and Chat fell onto his back a few feet away.

"Being impulsive won't help!" Ladybug shouted, trying to think hard while the number of opponents just seemed to keep increasing. Now was the time.

"Lucky charm!" she said, but was shocked at what happened next. Ladybug had expected some sort of object to materialize in her hands like always, but instead a large, steel barrier emerged from the ground and surrounded them.

The people in black watched in astonishment as the barrier closed in the Akuma, herself, and Chat in the center of the ballroom, directly underneath the large, glittering chandelier.

"They can't get to us now!" Chat said, watching with surprise. Her lucky charm gave her the power of creation, but never to this extent. Perhaps Tikki had sensed the direness of her situation.

"No!" Carinator shouted, but whether it was the monster or Adrien's mother expressing rage, Ladybug couldn't tell. They didn't even need to worry about the other people now, they could focus solely on the Akuma.

The beast roared, while Ladybug quickly realized she was at the center of battle. This was a tough fight—the akuma was strong, she had already used her lucky charm, and she still didn't know where the source of the Akuma's power was.

"Where is it?" Ladybug said to herself, finally looking towards Chat for help. He scrutinized the Akuma, trying to focus. If he managed to figure this out, Ladybug would finally admit that he wasn't such a bad partner after all.

Partner...she thought to herself. The idea was so strange, so foreign in the context of Chat Noir that it gave her this uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. Was it really so bad that he was helping? A part of her really liked having someone watching her back. It was just so weird that that someone happened to be the person who was usually on the opposing side.

"It's in the fuzzy dice!" Chat suddenly said, grabbing her arm in realization. "You know, one of those things people hang on their rearview mirror? It's dangling from it's left arm, do you see it?"

Ladybug looked towards where he was pointing, immensely relieved that she was one step closer to defeating it. She was very, very grateful towards Chat in this moment.

"I need to get to it somehow," Ladybug told him, as she and Chat tried to circle around the monster while avoiding its increasingly less subtle attacks.

"You distract it, I'll climb onto its arm," Chat said.

"Why do I get the easier job?" Ladybug demanded, somewhat touched at his offer to do the riskier of the two tasks. She wasn't so keen on climbing back onto the vicious Akuma again.

"Because I don't want to see you get hurt," Chat admitted rather quickly, and headed off without another word. Ladybug didn't even have time to process this, but it was like every ounce of hatred she had for Chat Noir had dissipated completely in that very moment.

Chat hadn't yet managed to get close enough to Carinator to climb on. It was as if the beast knew exactly what they were trying to do. It roared and began making increasingly threatening movements, swinging its arms around and aiming to knock them off their feet.

This time, however, Carinator swung its arms high up into the air with great force, hitting the chandelier above them. After that, everything happened horrifically, dizzyingly fast.

Ladybug was standing directly underneath the chandelier, and for a split second she knew that she was done for. But then she heard Chat Noir scream "Marinette!", and the next moment she was pushed away with great force.

She face planted onto the ground, sliding away from where she was pushed. It felt like she had broken her nose. Ladybug heard a loud crash and the shattering of a thousand shards of glass. She dared not move for those few seconds as she desperately tried to act, to process everything that had happened.

And then she screamed: "Chat!"

Feeling absolutely sick to her stomach, Ladybug pushed herself feebly off of the ground, the pain healing relatively quickly but not fast enough—she slowly got to her feet, turning around and seeing a complete absence of Adrien's mother's henchmen, who seemed to have retreated, and lots and lots of glass.

And then she saw him lying there. Chat Noir—her savior—was laying on his side, not quite at the center of the ballroom but somewhat off to the side, barely missing a direct hit from the chandelier.

She approached him, fear engulfing every cell in her body, having completely forgotten about the beast who also seemed to have stopped just like time itself had gone still around her.

Ladybug didn't care about the glass she stepped on to approach him—she could feel it, but her suit protected her for the most part—and she cleared off a small area next to him and kneeled down beside him.

And when she saw Chat up close, she wanted to scream in shock. It was a horrific sight. A large chunk of glass was lodged into his exposed throat, in the small area where their suits didn't cover them. There was a pool of blood forming around his neck, but he stared back at her nonetheless.

"Princess…" he whispered, his breaths loud and unsteady. "I'm...s-sorry…" he struggled to say these words.

"Adrien," she was sobbing now, placing a hand softly on his arm. "N-no, I'm sorry. I d-didn't give you a chance, I was so stupid and selfish...you didn't want to be a part of all this and I couldn't stop b-blaming you…"

Chat smiled weakly, letting out a shuddering breath. "I love you," he said, the sound of his voice barely audible.

"No!" she choked out, on the verge of hysterical sobs. "D-don't talk like you're not going to make it, I can get help! I need—" Ladybug stammered, pulling out her yo-yo to call for help.

Chat was just staring at her, his eyes becoming increasingly unfocused. It was like someone had stabbed her heart, because she knew, she just knew there was nothing she could do.

Ladybug brushed away a strand of Chat— Adrien's hair from his eyes, and leaned in to give him a soft kiss on his forehead. She was moments away from breaking down screaming and crying, but she couldn't ruin this.

"I love you too," she whispered, fighting back the tears. It was like half of her soul was being ripped apart, like every cell in her body was screaming, crying . How could she live after her soulmate was gone? Why had it taken her so long to forgive, so long to realize ?

And those eyes—those beautiful, kind green eyes—stared back at her, but Adrien wasn't there. They were lifeless.

"NO!" Ladybug screamed, "No! No!" She clutched his body in desperation, wondering how everything had gone so wrong, why she had let this happen .

Chat was gone and it was all her fault, she loved him but it was too late. There was nobody here to hear her screams, her cries, except for the menacing beast which seemed to have frozen on the spot.

She glared at the monster, hoping that the dead boy's mother knew what she had done.

"YOU KILLED HIM!" Ladybug screamed. "YOU DID THIS! YOU KILLED YOUR SON AND HE WILL NEVER COME BACK!"

The anger, the grief, the shock and the sadness was overwhelming her. Ladybug wished the ground were suck her in, take her away from here. What petty pursuits had she been focused on just an hour ago? How could that have been from the same reality?

And then it occurred to her…was all hope truly lost?

Ladybug refused to believe that she would never hear Adrien's voice again. She refused to believe that she would never get a chance to truly forgive him. The idea of Adrien being dead...it was impossible. It just couldn't be. She denied his death while clutching his corpse. But was it so unreasonable?

Magic…

She had magic.

Ladybug's head turned towards the frozen beast, the fuzzy dice still dangling from its arm. She could reach it with no problem. She could cleanse the Akuma and maybe, just maybe...her Miraculous Ladybug could set things right.

Her Miraculous Ladybug could set centuries old buildings upright, repair devastating damage, and reverse Akuma-induced natural disasters. Could it possibly bring Adrien back to life? Surely that was the reason why nobody had actually been killed in even the most devastating Akuma attacks?

She held Chat's lifeless form in her arms, and Ladybug wondered if it was a longshot. She had to try. She couldn't give up hope.

Ladybug ran to the Akuma, which was still unmoving. Adrien's mother must still have some sort of control over it. She must have realized what she had done. There was no other explanation for why it was simply standing still.

She easily climbed onto the beast and grabbed the fuzzy dice, purifying it within minutes. Jumping off of the now defeated Akuma, it was now the moment of truth.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" she said, circling the yo-yo above her and hoping desperately that the miracle she needed would happen.

The glass on the floor disappeared, as well as the steel walls closing her in. The chandelier returned to its normal state, showing no evidence of falling off and crushing her soulmate to death.

A man sat in place of the beast, looking extremely confused. He stared at Ladybug for a moment, then paled at the sight of Chat Noir's body. With a panicked expression on his face, the man ran away from the ballroom without a single word and she let him.

Ladybug rushed towards Chat, who de-transformed the moment she approached his body. She held Adrien in her arms, waiting desperately for something to happen.

She noticed that his wound had completely disappeared. All the blood was gone, his neck was completely normal. That had to be a good sign…

Ladybug nearly screamed in surprise when Adrien let out a sudden gasp for breath and his eyes fluttered open. He clutched her arm tightly and he looked at her face before anything else.

"Ladybug?" he gasped, coughing slightly. Adrien touched his neck, as if it was still sore. His kwami, who Ladybug remembered was called Plagg, floated above him with tears in his eyes.

"I can't believe it, kid! How could you do that to me? Just—just dying like that? I thought I was gonna lose another kitten, how rude of you!" Plagg ranted.

"So you do care about me," Adrien said, smiling weakly.

Ladybug couldn't contain herself anymore. She felt her transformation fall as she hugged Adrien tightly, sobbing into his shoulder as if he had died all over again.

"I thought I lost you," she cried, squeezing him with all of her might. Her hands reached up to his hair. It was so soft.

"I would never leave you…" Adrien whispered, hugging her back. It was the greatest feeling in the world. She loved him. She loved him. Marinette couldn't imagine hating this boy. This wonderful, amazing human being who was ready to give up his life to save her. He wasn't a threat to her. In fact, he never had been.

They were interrupted by hurried footsteps approaching. Marinette spotted Nino and Alya, looking frightened and miserable. They both looked like they had been crying.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" Alya screamed in shock. "HE'S ALIVE!" she repeated, facing Nino in wonderment.

"Oh my god…" Nino exhaled in relief, cupping his face in his hands to console himself.

Marinette stared at them, wiping away the tears from her eyes. "You...you saw what happened?"

Alya nodded, sniffing loudly and wiping her nose, gesturing to the phone in her hand. "When you two left to transform...I—I thought it would be a good way to help Adrien clear Chat Noir's name by showing the world how he was helping Ladybug."

"So we went upstairs and found one of these little balconies overlooking the ballroom," Nino said, pointing to said balcony which was indeed in clear sight of the massive room. Marinette must not have realized they were there amid all the chaos, but it was too high up for her to have noticed anyway.

Alya was sobbing lightly again. "It was all going fine, but then...but then the chandelier fell and that's when I had to stop recording. I felt like I was going to throw up…I couldn't believe what was happening...I can't believe what you did , Adrien!"

"We thought you were gone," Nino said gravely. "That's why we came down here…"

"It was my Miraculous Ladybug," Marinette said, still in somewhat of a daze. "It saved him."

The sound of chatter and footsteps interrupted them, and Marinette quickly realized that her entire school was returning to the dance. The ballroom was back to normal, but her classmates still looked uneasy. It had been longer than usual since the last Akuma attack, so everyone must have been shocked that it would happen at their long-planned school dance of all places.

Adrien managed to sit up, apparently trying to act normal now that he was surrounded by so many people. Or however normal one might be after dying.

"Any sign of Ladybug?" Principal Damocles asked, noticing the four of them.

"She just left," Marinette answered.

"Thank goodness for her...guess the party is back on!" Principal Damocles proclaimed. "You kids should get some food, it's been long enough."

Pretty soon, the ballroom was full again while Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino watched, not speaking but clearly collectively disinterested.

"I guess food doesn't sound so bad," Nino sighed. They lined up at the long buffet table, where caterers were bringing trays and utensils.

Marinette wasn't particularly hungry, especially after what had happened. But she still needed to find something sweet to give to Tikki, who was most likely starving and exhausted after that particularly rough Akuma battle.

As she waited, Marinette couldn't help but stare at Adrien, who still looked paler than usual but otherwise unshaken. She dared not imagine a world where her powers hadn't worked...

Adrien held a small plateful of food (most of it cheese,) as he waited for Marinette to leave the line. He didn't know exactly why he was waiting for her. They were supposed to be heading towards the same table anyway.

The prospect of returning to where all of his classmates were packed together seemed daunting, since he just wanted to be alone. It was his second near-death experience in just a matter of weeks. Maybe that was why he was handling it surprisingly well...Adrien also had a difficult time remembering it.

His heart skipped a beat as Marinette approached him. The way she looked at Adrien was softer now. The defiant anger she had been directing toward him for weeks was gone. This was enough to send his heart into overdrive.

"Let's get out of here," she whispered close to his ear. It was like she had read his mind.

Marinette led the way towards one of the smaller doors that led out of the ballroom. They made sure none of their teachers saw them as they left, plates of food for their kwamis in hand.

They made their way down a small hallway lined with mirrors and flowers. It led to another door, which opened to reveal a beautiful, circular indoor garden.

There were skylights up above, revealing an almost full moon and vaguely visible stars. An abundance of plants surrounded them, and in the middle was a beautiful fountain. It was so calm, so quiet in here except for the sound of water trickling down the fountain.

Compared to the noise of the ballroom and all the chaos that had ensued over there, it was like Adrien has stepped into another dimension.

"How did you know this was here?" Adrien asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My parents catered a wedding here a few years back. I remember exploring the hotel because I had nothing else to do," she responded, handing a cookie to her kwami. Adrien was getting used to the sight of her kwami, so red and polite and completely unlike Plagg.

He didn't even need to give anything to Plagg, who was already munching on the variety of cheeses that had been available.

Adrien sat down on the small stone bench next to her, staring at the fountain and the water's steady movement. There were a thousand thoughts swirling around in his head, he had no clue where to start.

"I'm sorry," he said. The words seemed weak and meaningless coming out of his mouth. How could he possibly express his regret of hurting the person he loved most in the entire world?

"No, I'm sorry," Marinette insisted. "I'm sorry for being so selfish. I never even bothered thinking about all of this from your point of view. I mean, what choice did you have? Your father practically forced you into all of this. You just wanted your mother back. I just got in your way."

Adrien was taken aback by her counter-apology. He wondered if the Akuma attack was the reason for her sudden change of mind. His memory after pushing Marinette out of the way from the chandelier was foggy, but he could somewhat remember her crying and saying things that brought him peace while at the brink of death.

Marinette continued. "I was wrong. You were just a pawn in your father's crazy scheme."

"No, no…" Adrien shook his head. "Stop making me seem so helpless in the situation. I knew that everything I was doing was wrong. It just felt so good not having to be this...this perfect, cultured, rich boy for once. I liked being bad, I liked scaring people. And most of all, I enjoyed doing stupid stuff like robbing banks just to get your attention. My mother was the motive, sure, but I got carried away."

Marinette stared at him. "You robbed banks to get my attention?"

Adrien chuckled regretfully. "Yeah. It was the only way I could see you without having to deal with a stupid Akuma at the same time. It made father so mad."

"So...what did you do with the money? You kept it?"

"Oh no," Adrien said. "I couldn't care less about the money. No, I donated it all. Made sure the people I took it from were already filthy rich, so it wouldn't make much of a difference to them anyway…"

"It's still wrong," Marinette frowned.

"I know," Adrien sighed, staring at the flowers in front of him. He didn't dare look at her in the eye. "Like I said, I was stupid. But don't you see? I didn't think anything through because all I cared about was getting to see you. I...I had a crush on Ladybug since the day I met you!" Adrien turned slightly red as he admitted the last part.

He finally looked up and saw the shocked look on her face.

"Since the very beginning?" Marinette said, dumbfounded.

Adrien nodded.

"That doesn't make sense," Marinette said, her nose scrunched up in confusion. "You hated me. We hated each other. I thought you wanted me dead!"

At this, Adrien burst out laughing. He didn't know if it was the stress, the tiredness, or his general self-loathing that prolonged his laughter, but Marinette was staring at him as tears formed in his eyes.

"Oh—oh, sorry about that," Adrien laughed, taking a second to gasp for air. "Marinette, if you had known from the very start, that I would have rather killed myself than watch you get seriously hurt, every battle we ever had would have been a lot less scary for you."

"You're not just making this up because now you know I'm Ladybug?" she said, looking unconvinced.

"I'm not," Adrien said firmly, lightly grasping her hand and looking directly in her eyes to prove his honesty. "Every second, every moment, I was just putting on an act. I just had to make you think I was going to hurt you. And I know that doesn't make me any less of a terrible person, but I just really need you to know that I never wanted to hurt you. And I know there were times where I kind of did, but I always knew when to stop."

She looked away for a few moments, contemplating his words. Adrien stared at her, transfixed by her beauty in the moonlight. If she forgave him despite...well, everything, he would be the luckiest person in the whole world.

"The fights, the danger, that wasn't even the worst of it," Ladybug said. "We were so manipulative to each other. Like that one time I talked to you in the park when you were just Adrien and I was Ladybug. You tried to get me to tell you my identity by flirting with me, remember?"

Adrien nodded, suddenly filled with shame at the memory. He had been desperate. Stupid father and his stupid deadlines…

"Well, I can't completely blame you for that because I manipulated you too. You just wanted to get to know me as Marinette while you were Chat and I was taking advantage of your friendship."

"Not one of your best moments," Adrien muttered, remembering how hurt he had been when he found out that his suspicions about Marinette had been true. "But you were getting sympathetic towards Chat near the end, after you saved me from drowning. You told me about it." Adrien thought back to the last conversation they ever had before knowing each other's identities at Marinette's sleepover.

"Oh, the irony," Marinette mused, also reflecting on that conversation. "I was talking to you about Chat Noir…"

Adrien laughed. "Oh, I remember...I had to act all surprised about you telling me about that. And then I accidentally called you Princess."

Marinette shook her head. "I can't believe I didn't realize it right then. Or when I started dating you and then you showed up as Chat Noir and started asking me all of those personal relationship questions. Or that time you seemed to get all mad at me in class for walking home alone...you knew I was lying!"

"Yeah well, I should have known it was you when I fell in love with the same girl twice," Adrien said, not realizing the gravity of his words until after they had left his mouth.

Marinette stared at him with her mouth slightly agape.

Adrien loved her.

" I fell in love with the same girl twice." The words resonated in her mind, in her heart, her soul...at first, they were difficult to process. But at the same time...everything was clear.

"Marinette, please say something…" Adrien said, a worried expression on his face.

"I…" Marinette began, not knowing what she could possibly say to this.

Love. Hate.

The boy sitting beside her was the target of both of these emotions, the extremes of both. She had loved him more than anyone else in the world. She had hated him more than anyone else in the world.

"You don't have to say anything," Adrien said quickly, looking as if he had regretted saying this. "Look, we can forget I ever said it. I just don't want to lie to you anymore. We've had enough of that."

"Do you want the truth?" Marinette said quietly. Her heart was going to do the talking now. She had no clue what words were about to come out of her mouth, or even if they would make any sense.

"When you...when you died...I felt like a piece of my soul was being ripped away from me. I didn't think I could ever continue living without you. I refused to accept that you were gone," Marinette began. Adrien looked solemn as she spoke.

"I couldn't believe that you had literally given up your life for me. But see, that extreme sacrifice wasn't necessary for me to forgive you. It's when you tried your best to help me during that battle. When you took those crazy risks while fighting the Akuma. It felt so good having a partner. It felt so... right, like we had been doing things wrong from the very start. And that's when I knew...Tikki was right."

Adrien stared at her. "About what?"

Marinette took a deep breath, knowing that what she was about to say was stupid, cliche, but something she knew deep in her heart to be true.

"That you're my soulmate," she said.

Now it was Adrien's turn to be speechless. He blinked in confusion, opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. Then he seemed to finally gather the courage to respond.

"You would say that despite everything that happened between us?"

"It's crazy, isn't it?" Marinette laughed lightly. "A week ago I was so angry at you. You were being so rude, so unkind, I thought I was right about you being a horrible person…"

"I'm sorry," Adrien said quickly, looking genuinely concerned at these words. "I'm sorry I was acting like such a jerk. I was...I was upset that you weren't giving me a chance. You kept blaming me for everything and I reacted badly."

"I understand," Marinette said calmly. "But don't you see? You used to insult me all the time as Chat Noir, and I didn't care. But when you did that as Adrien it killed me every time. And the only reason I can think of for that difference is because I cared about you, so I cared about what you said."

"Ha! I was right!" Plagg suddenly interjected. Tikki glared at him and silently scolded him for butting in.

"I'm so sorry, Marinette…" Adrien said, visible tears forming in his eyes.

Marinette squeezed his hand. "Look, I'll say this once very, very clearly. After that you're not allowed to apologize anymore."

Adrien stared at her, then opened his mouth to object. Marinette simply held a finger to his mouth to keep him quiet.

"Adrien, I forgive you. On one condition…" she said slyly, feeling a blush rising on her cheeks. Marinette couldn't believe she was about to say this.

"Anything," Adrien whispered.

"Kiss me," she breathed back.

Marinette didn't need to ask twice. Her heart fluttered wildly in her chest as her lips met his. The kiss was soft, gentle, yet desperate at the same time. Nothing had ever felt so perfect, so right in her entire life. There was no more hatred, no more regrets.

Her first kiss on the rooftop had been with Adrien after all, just as she had hoped. But this kiss; right here, right now, was bliss. The moonlight surrounded them, illuminated their faces.

And when they separated, they smiled.

"You're not going to start crying again, are you?" Adrien teased lightly.

"I might...just because it was so amazing," Marinette said, resting her head on his shoulder.

And so they spent the rest of the dance alone together, laughing and talking, lamenting their mistakes and discussing the irony of all their shared moments before their identities had been revealed.

Marinette thought it was bizarre, completely absurd, that just a month or two ago she would have done anything to get rid of Chat Noir from her life for good.

Now she wanted him to stay forever.

A/N:Credit to Dr. Doofenshmirtz for the Akuma name inspiration lol because I couldn't think of anything and my sister was watching Phineas and Ferb in the other room! Anyway this chapter took forever cause I wanted it to be SO PERFECT because this final conversation was basically what this entire story was leading up to. Oh and sorry for temporary killing off Adrien but come on did anyone think I would actually do that? Anyway just one more chapter left which will mostly deal with tying up loose ends especially regarding Adrien's parents and Chat Noir's lifestyle /

Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to leave comments! I really want to hear what you guys think!

-Y