Adrien realized just how deep in trouble he was, when he was fighting the Evillustrator. He realized that he was in love with two magnificent women. He loved his lady; his fierce partner, and Paris' other favorite super hero, the Miraculous Ladybug. However, he was also in love with his beloved princess; the shy, gentle, compassionate baker's daughter, his classmate with the fierce eye for fashion design and doing what's right that turned into a small, delicate flower who could barely manage sentences around his secret identity, his lovely Marinette.

He, at the time Chat Noir, was trapped in a glass box, watching the Evillustrator as he cornered Marinette, his pad and pen in hand. Chat Noir beat helplessly on his glass prison, shouting Marinette's name, and shouting for the Evillustrator to come after him instead; he was the only one who could really stop him, so why keep him around? It was all to no avail; the Evillustrator paid no mind to Chat Noir; instead, he eyed Marinette hungrily. If he so much as laid one finger on a single delicate hair on Marinette's head, he was going to be dead. Chat Noir didn't care who it really was under the akuma, they would be dead for wanting to hurt his Marinette.

"My darling..." the Evillustrator said threateningly. "You have betrayed my love, and for that the price will be great indeed… I don't see why I should make only Chloe pay the price, when your heart is just as cruel as hers."

Marinette pushed back against the Evillustrator, confidence filling her features, but only for a moment. "I am nothing like Chloe! I am trying to keep you from hurting others! You manipulate me by saying you won't hurt anyone as long as I am dating you, and you say that I am the one treating others wrongly!"

The Evillustrator shoved Marinette back against the wall with a hard thud; Chat Noir heard Marinette cry out in pain, and it killed him. He had to find a way out of this damn box; he couldn't let his princess be hurt by this monster. He shot up glances every once in a while to see the Evillustrator continuing to knock Marinette around. He could see tears falling from her eyes, despite her efforts to stay strong.

Just hold on Marinette... Chat thought to himself. I'm coming to save you.

Chat Noir tried many ways to shatter the glass or break out of it somehow, and all of them failed. Marinette's struggling was becoming weaker; she was being severely injured. Chat Noir took his gaze away, focusing on what he had to do.

He shouldn't have looked that final time, because he was definitely going to be killing this villain as soon as he got out of that box; the Evillustrator's filthy lips invaded Marinette's. He shoved her up against the wall; no matter how much Marinette struggled, she couldn't get him off. He was too strong, and she was in too much pain to be able to properly fight back. And the more she tried to fight, the rougher the Evillustrator was with her. He continuously shoved her into the wall, her backside scraping across the bricks, leaving her covered in scratches and bruises. His body burning with anger, he squeezed his hand tightly around his baton in his hand, pressing the button by accident. The baton extended upward, lifting the glass box up and off of him. He let the baton tip sideways, and the box shattered on the concrete a few feet away from him. The Evillustrator turned to see Chat Noir running towards him, baton back to its original size. Marinette took the opportunity to shove the Evillustrator away from her, which threw him off balance, and knocked his pen and pad out of his hands. Chat Noir pounced on the Evillustrator, holding him down.

"Marinette, run! Get as far away as you can!" Chat shouted at her, desperate to get her to safety.

Marinette stood still for a moment, not saying anything. She'd never seen Chat Noir look so angry before. It was a little terrifying. She didn't linger for long though, because she had to transform into Ladybug so she could break the Evillustrator's pen and destroy the akuma.

"Please, Marinette! Go!"

Without any more hesitation, Marinette turned and ran; she stopped to pick up the pen, so Chat should hopefully have an easier time holding the Evillustrator down. Once Marinette had rounded the corner, she popped her purse open, and her kwami, Tikki, flew out.

"Tikki, quick! Spots on!"

Within seconds, Marinette became Ladybug. She ran back around the corner to find Chat Noir struggling to keep the Evillustrator down. Without a moment to spare, Ladybug snapped the Evillustrator's pen in her fingers, and dropped it to the ground. The akuma fled from the pen, and she captured it in her yoyo, cleansing it. Then, Ladybug's erasing light flashed through the town, erasing all of the damage done by the Evillustrator. A dazed Nathanael was left sitting on the ground, rubbing his head. Ladybug picked up the notepad and pen, and handed them back to Nathanael, and helped him stand.

"Are you okay?" Ladybug asked gently. Nathanael nodded his head. He looked up, eyes growing wide.

"Wow, Ladybug? You saved me?" he asked excitedly.

Ladybug gave a small laugh. After hearing a displeased scoff from Chat, she said "Not this time. It was all thanks to Chat Noir. All I did was cleanse the akuma this time around."

Nathanael gave a weak laugh in Chat's direction, earning a growl from him. Nathanael looked down at his watch, and saw that it was getting late.

"Thank you Ladybug. Thank you Chat Noir."

With that, he took off in the direction of what must be his home.

Ladybug turned to face Chat Noir who only stared angrily after Nathanael.

"Chat, are you alright?" Ladybug asked. Chat Noir turned to her and saw that her face was full of concern.

"When he was akumatized, he hurt one of my friends really badly..."

Ladybug was proud of how clueless she acted. "Oh no, Chat," Ladybug said softly, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Why couldn't you be here to help?!" Chat suddenly snapped, causing Ladybug to flinch. Chat immediately dialed down his anger. He knew it wasn't her fault. He turned away and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I know you had something important to do... I just, if you'd been here... Marinette wouldn't have gotten hurt so badly..."

Chat stopped for a moment. He noticed that Ladybug was breathing heavily, and, though he could tell she was trying to hide it, her face showed that she was in a good amount of pain.

"Are you okay, Ladybug?" Chat asked, his voice concerned.

"Me? Oh yeah, no worries. Just got a little more beat up on my own. But don't worry, kitty; I handled myself pretty well. I think you would have been proud. And Marinette; she's a tough girl. You don't need to worry about her." Ladybug said, trying to help Chat feel better. She thought she'd seen at least a small smile. She knew she had assured him that Ladybug was fine, but she wasn't so sure about Marinette.

"You know her?" Chat Noir asked.

"Yeah, we go way back. She's always been pretty soft-spoken, but she can take a few hits. You don't need to be so worried."

"I can't help it..." Chat Noir said, whatever smile he showed disappearing now. Ladybug didn't know what to do; but then she did.

"If you're so worried, why don't you go check on her?"

"Am I... allowed to do that?"

"Oh, sure!" Ladybug said happily. "Just tell her that Ladybug sent you, and it'll be fine. On the roof of the bakery, there is a deck with a trapdoor that leads to her bedroom. Just be careful, it can be kind of hard to find your footing."

Ladybug's earrings beeped their first warning, which meant that she would be detransforming soon. She placed her hand on Chat's shoulder again.

"I hope you feel better, Chat Noir. I have to get going, my transformation is going to be wearing off. I hope Marinette feels better too!"

With that, Ladybug threw her yo-yo in the direction of her home and sped off. Chat Noir's eyes followed her until she was out of sight, and he could tell that she was in a lot pain. Her movements were slower and more careful. But she was too far for him to properly ask her if she was really okay. So, he started in the direction of Paris' most famous bakery. But, he detransformed first and gave Plagg, his kwami, some camembert cheese to snack on while he walked. If he transformed right as he got to Marinette's, he'd have more time to stay with her. It was rather late in the evening, so he wasn't too especially worried about being recognized.