"Little kitty on a rooftop, all alone, without his Lady…"

How long had it been?

How long since he had seen his Lady?

How long since…

His mind flashed back. He and Ladybug were battling Hawk Moth until everything went wrong.

They were winning. They had him on the ropes. The floor collapsed out from underneath them, and they found themselves in some sort of lair. Hawk Moth had lost his weapon. They were winning and this nightmare was about to be over.

He should have known it was too easy.

Hawk Moth played him like a fool. It was all a ruse to get him to his mother, so Hawk Moth could spring his ultimate trap.

His mother...

Cat Blanc had tried to see her again. After... everything. He leaped over the ruined buildings and over the flooded streets back to Hawk Moth's lair. He took a deep breath and dove down into the water, through the hole in the ground, to where his mother lay in her sarcophagus.

The floods had damaged whatever it was that had been keeping her alive. Her body floated in the bluish-green water; her bloated pale skin pressed up against the glass of the coffin.

He put his hand on the glass and slowly caressed it while forcing a "Hi, Mommy" out of his mouth. Bubbles passed in front of his eyes and he blinked, but he couldn't tell if it was from the bubbles or from the tears that surely would have come if he wasn't underwater.

Cat Blanc's heart hitched in his throat, and he lurched. Even akumas couldn't hold their breath forever - they learned that against Queen Wasp. He quickly removed his staff from the clip on his back and stuck it in his mouth. He tried to take a deep breath but was met with nothing. Great. Father gave me a weapon without replicating all of its functionality. He was running out of time.

He couldn't just leave his mother. Not yet. Not without saying goodbye.

His eyes scanned the coffin structure. There, near the top, was a small tube with bubbles coming out of it. Bubbles meant air and air meant more time with his mother. He swam over and forced the tube between his closed lips. Thankfully, air filled his mouth, and he took a few deep breaths.

Not that it mattered to him if he couldn't.

He lost track of how long he had spent down there. Hours? Days? He didn't care. Like a loyal house cat, he curled up as best as he could next to the person who had loved him most.

There was a constant buzzing in the back of his mind. The remnants of the control that Hawk Moth had over all akumas sang a constant drone: get Ladybug, get her Miraculous, save your mother.

Get Ladybug.

He had had Ladybug. Not just Ladybug, but her heart.

"My Prince."

But Ladybug was gone now; her Miraculous gone with her. She was the first person he had checked on after his Cataclysm had gone awry. Even before the tides took Paris, he had rushed back to the base of the Eiffel Tower, to the spot where Hawk Moth had closed the trap. To the spot where Cat Noir lost the internal struggle between him and the butterfly. To the spot where Cat Blanc had been created. To the spot where the world lost the battle between Hawk Moth and Ladybug. To the spot where Ladybug and Hawk Moth stood as statues of Cataclysmic ash, frozen in time. The former reaching out to him; the latter recoiling.

Both of their Miraculous had been destroyed. There was no freeing him from being Cat Blanc. No resetting Paris and the world to how it was. No making things right.

As the water overtook Paris, Cat Blanc retreated to the top of Tour Montparnasse. The drone in his head wouldn't shut up even though everything it demanded of him was impossible.

He had taken to purring to comfort himself and drive the drone away. When purring didn't work, he would sing.

Those were the only options he had left to him. It turned out that akumas had a survival instinct as part of their programming. The hours he had spent on top of Tour Montparnasse retching and coughing water out of his lungs proved that. Out of everything that he had done, he couldn't even do that right either.

So he purred and sang. Sometimes he purred and sang at the same time, giving his voice a warbly tone that would have made him chuckle any other time.

He didn't know how it came to be that Ladybug had shown up. At first, he thought it was a dream. It must have been! Ladybug was a pile of ash somewhere in the waters below him. He knew that because he did it. But she was here now? He talked to her and rubbed on her and pranced around, tail in the air, happy to see his Lady. Whatever this illusion was, it smelled like her. It sounded like her.

The droning voice returned, louder and more insistent than ever. Get Ladybug, get her Miraculous, save your mother! He stood still, waiting for the pounding in his head to go away so the world would right itself.

Ladybug was here. That was what was important.

She would fix everything or he could take her Miraculous and fix it himself. The love of his life, his Lady, his Marinette, betraying him and fighting him and not giving him her Miraculous. He loved her and she didn't even want to know what had happened. She didn't even seem to know who he was! Did she even love him anymore?

He was torn. He couldn't hurt his Lady again. He definitely couldn't destroy her and her Miraculous again. But the drone in his head - get Ladybug, get her Miraculous, save your mother - was too loud. He tried to drown it out, but in the end Ladybug had to outsmart him to free the akuma. He had fought with all his heart, and it took all he had to not just grab her and shake her and scream don't you understand this is my mother we are trying to save here why won't you just listen to me and help me?

But he didn't. Ladybug had tried his staff, his belt, and then finally his bell. The akuma was freed and maybe things would go back to normal.

...Whatever that was these days.

Cat Noir woke up to see his Lady standing in front of him, a red-and-black spotted eraser in her hand. She said that she would make it right before stepping through Bunnyx's portal. Why did she have to go through the portal? The last thing he remembered was being at the base of the Eiffel Tower with Ladybug and his fa- Hawk Moth - as a butterfly sped towards him.

From chaos and fear to silence. Everything was motionless around him except for the sound of waves lapping at the sides of the building. But that's impossible... I'm in the middle of Paris. What's the ocean doing *here*? He looked out at the city. What happened?

Magical ladybugs washed over him and the rest of the world. His tail, bell, and staff were restored. The Eiffel Tower was righted. The water had vanished and the deafening silence of the world he knew was replaced by the chatter of people. Birds chirped. Car horns honked.

Ladybug had saved the day again, as he knew she would. She'd tell him how he got there.

At the base of the Eiffel Tower, two people looked at each other, eyes wide.

"Ladybug." Hawk Moth's voice was a growl. "How did you win?"

Ladybug slung her yo-yo at him in response.