Flashback Cutscene: Midnight

9 years and 7 months ago...

"We've really got to stop meeting like this." Adrien walked towards Ladybug, his hands buried deep in his pockets.

"Thank you for coming," she said somberly, arms resting on the bridge as she looked out over the Seine. It was late and she wasn't sure someone in Adrien's position would feel safe with her request, but she needed to talk to him, and the middle of the night seemed the quietest time.

He came beside her, removing his hands from his pockets and mirroring her pose on the bridge.

"It's peaceful in the city at this time of night, don't you think?"

She heard the scuff of his foot, followed by the descent of a stone dropping into the calm water; the ripples expanded out and disfigured the reflection of the moon. The peaceful silence was suddenly erased by the roaring crowd fumbling out of a bar and heading down the river.

Looking at each other, Ladybug and Adrien started to laugh, both finding the comparison to his words humourous.

"So, seriously, why the late night call? I had to lie to my girlfriend for this."

"Sorry," she sighed. "I know this isn't ideal, but Adrien, I need to talk to you about your father."

Adrien moved backwards away from the edge of the bridge and looked at her, his arms crossing over his chest in defence as he leaned one hip into the wall. She watched him gulp, his tongue flitting out to lick, what she was guessing were dry lips.

"Why?" he asked, his face void of any emotion. "I thought we agreed to not talk about him. You said he helped bring my mother back. That's all I need to know, right?"

She closed her eyes before dropping her head and shaking it. She couldn't hold this lie in anymore. It was killing her.

"Right?" he said again, a hitch in his voice from where emotion was kicking him hard.

"There's things... there's something I haven't —"

"Please, don't! I don't want to hear it, okay?"

"Adrien, I can't keep this to myself. It's killing me!" She opened her eyes and knew she was almost begging with them. "I need to tell you what really happened."

Adrien began to shake his head and move away. Ladybug needed him to listen. The more powerful Lila got the greater this threat became and she was sure it would kill everything they'd built. Not just for herself as Ladybug, but for Marinette too. The guilt was eating her alive. She just couldn't do this anymore.

"Can you remember the night you came to see me? The night you called him a hero. That was enough, Ladybug. I don't need to know anything else. I don't want to know anything else."

Ladybug sniffed, her emotions finding it hard to keep at bay when everything was telling her she needed to be honest, to tell him.

"Adrien –"

"Ladybug, I am begging you! I don't want to hear it. I'm happy, I don't want anything to ruin it, and knowing that my father actually was a fully fledged asshole is not going to help me." He placed his hands back in his pockets. "I've got to go."

"Please, Adrien, I need to —" The look in his eyes told her to stop talking. So, she did. "Don't walk home by yourself, it's late. It's dangerous."

He smiled at her, and her heart flipped at the lopsided smile she adored more than life itself.

"I'll be fine. I promise."

Without another word, Adrien turned on his heel and made his way back towards his home, leaving her alone with nothing but her gut churning thoughts. "He's going to hate me," she said, her head coming down to rest on the cool stone of the bridge.

Before she could pity herself any further, the sound of crashing in the distance stopped her spiral into self pity. Pulling the yo-yo from her pocket, she flipped the device open and spotted her partner already in pursuit.

"I'm coming, Kitty Cat." She launched herself over the city in the direction of the akuma, making sure to trail Adrien's route home in hope of seeing him to safety, her heart plummeting when the streets were clear and his room was pitch black.

*****

Level 10: Searching
Present Day...

Finally reaching the apartment, Chat Noir placed an unsteady Ladybug back onto her feet and knocked against Max's balcony window. The apartment was one of Paris' most modern and expensive; Max's first couple of games being successful beyond expectation and sending the guy sky rocketing into Europe's top 100 earners.

"You okay?" Keeping the wording short, Chat Noir stepped away and looked at his partner. She looked small, and if he was being honest... ill.

"I will be," she said, looking away and in through the sliding door of Max's condo.

"Sure?"

Once again, his words were straight to the point and he hated that he couldn't push past what had happened and move on. He was trapped in this prison of hate, one that he just couldn't pull himself out of. It had been 9 years, she was as angry at him as he was at her, yet neither were willing to budge... it probably didn't help that he'd never spoken to her face to face about all this. Not as Chat Noir at least.

Everything she told him when she'd come to see Adrien had made sense, he believed her... he'd gotten over it. But for some reason he couldn't get over once again being left in the dark as her partner. It had been one too many times and the final straw that broke him — literally and metaphorically. Every time the suit took over his body, he was back there again — being hurt and betrayed.

A light suddenly switched on from a closed off room in the back of the apartment; light blasted out from under the doorway, illuminating the hallway and spreading shadows into the kitchen.

"I can handle this alone if you need to go," Chat Noir said, arms folded and eyes firmly focusing on the door in front of them. She'd think he was looking for Max when really he just didn't want to look at her; caught up in his grudge of a decade.

A door suddenly flung open in the hallway, spreading light further afield and giving the heroes a glimpse of the sparsely decorated apartment Max lived in. He remembered when Max had first moved in and had a guys night, everyone wondering why he'd purchased such a big space when he owned so little. But it seemed it was more about the security than the actual room size.

A shadow appeared in the doorway before Max, himself, stepped out into the hallway and froze in shock at seeing the two of them. A moment or two later, Max was moving forward at speed to let them inside.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but why are Paris' heroes at my balcony door?"

He moved to the side to let them both step into the room, Chat Noir doing his best to look around the place as though he had never been there before and mirroring Ladybug's gasps and awes, especially when it came to the expanse of the flat screen tv on the wall.

"So," Max said, closing the door behind them and walking forward. "What can I do for you both?"

Chat Noir looked over at Ladybug, indicating for her to speak. After all, it was her theory that the murders were linked to the game. Not that he hadn't considered this option himself.

"I was – we were just wondering if there's any chance we can see your new game?"

Max crossed his arms in defence, his face void of emotion and a questioning look in his eyes. "Why?"

"I don't know if you've heard yet, but Nino Lahiffe has been attacked and we believe there might be information in your game to help us."

Max looked between them both, Chat Noir understanding Max's confusion as he studied their faces. If his friend was guilty, he was damn good at acting like he wasn't, and from their final year performance of 'West Side Story' one thing Chat Noir knew was that Max could not act for shit.

"What would it have to do with my game? It hasn't been released publically yet."

"We believe that whoever is committing these murders knows something about the levels you've already completed." Ladybug moved towards Max, lifting a hand up to place on his shoulder only for it to be batted off.

"Are you saying I'm a suspect?"

Chat Noir shook his head. "No, but we need to see it to confirm or deny this lead. We have information that the outfit Nino was found in is the one you've had commissioned."

"You mean his akumatised outfit?"

Ladybug nodded, Max looking at her and flaring his nostrils.

"I don't understand, no one apart from the creators and a couple of others have seen the outfit. There's no way someone could have made it in time... we only received final sketches this morning. This doesn't make sense."

"I know this is hard to believe," Chat Noir said, stepping into Max's eyeline. "But, please, just let us see the game and then we can either confirm or deny."

Max stared for a couple of moments, before nodding his head and leading them both down the corridor and into the room he'd just appeared from. Stopping just outside the doorway, Max turned to look at Ladybug. "Before we do this, I just want to check if I need a lawyer?"

"Not unless something comes up which could put you on the suspect list. At the moment, this is going off a random idea of mine —"

"Ours," Chat Noir interrupted.

"Ours, nothing else." Ladybug said, looking at her partner.

They stood in silence for a couple of moments. "I promise, we will do everything in our power to keep you safe. But we need to check this. Please."

Finally understanding the meaning behind the request, Max continued his way into his office — Ladybug and Chat Noir following behind.

A vast array of monitors were positioned on the walls as a rather large desk was placed below. Keyboards, mice and other equipment lay on top of the wooden object; along with pieces of paper, whiteboards with algorithms and, what seemed like, a crime scene map.

"The only people at the moment who've seen all elements of the game are the designers and my primary betas."

"And how many people does that add up to?" Chat Noir asked, working his way over to the intricate spider web of information on the wall.

"About 100 in total. I have my secondary betas starting in two days time, so I'm just going through some of the details now." Shaking the mouse, the screen came alive, the pixelated words of 'A Masked Game' forming on the main monitor in the centre of the room.

Chat Noir looked back at the board, studying the different crime scenes, stopping as he got to Aurore's. His eyes zoned in on the detailed sketches as Ladybug gasped from behind. Turning around, he came face to face with something he'd seen before. Something they'd dealt with mere hours ago.

Moving to stand alongside Ladybug, Chat Noir placed one hand on her shoulder as she cupped her mouth.

"I'm going to be sick," she said, moving out of the room and away from the boys.

"Second door on the right," Max shouted after her, before turning back to the feline hero. "How much trouble am I in?"

Instead of answering, Chat Noir studied the pictures in front of him on the monitor before turning back to the game map. Yes, The Bubbler was there and yes it was the exact same crime scene and outfit, but the body shape, the hair, the build... that wasn't Nino. Suddenly, he realised he'd thought the same thing the night before, when he saw the ad displaying the game.

"Son of a bitch!" Chat Noir hissed out, a hand coming to his head and rubbing harshly against his frown lines. Whoever this was, was purposefully going after the originals.

His eyes trailed the map of Paris and fell back on the photo of the park, exactly where the statue of himself and Ladybug sat pretty. It was an AI image of a girl, her body draped over his back just like Aurore, but something was different again. The girl was younger, dark skinned with curly black hair. The outfit was the same, obviously this was modelled after 'Stormy Weather', including the dress and the butterfly motif soaking through. But it wasn't Aurore!

Chat Noir pulled the photograph from the board and looked more closely. Everything seemed the same from the position of the deceased, the outfit and even the hairstyles. He felt the blood race to his face, before leaving his body stone cold, complete with a pale complexion and erratic heartbeat.

"Of people you know personally, who would have seen these?"

"Oh! Um —" Max stood up beside him and looked at the photograph he was holding. "So you do think the game has something to do with the murders?"

Chat Noir reached up and took The Bubbler's picture from the board. "Who?" he asked again, a slight harshness lacing his tone.

"Myself, Nathaniel, Félix, Luka and Marinette."

"Plus, what? A hundred betas? Do you have the registrations for them all?"

Max nodded in response, heading back to the computer and typing quickly a thread of letters and numbers — names and email addresses appeared on the screen, hundreds of them.

"We'll need to check through those who have used real email addresses and those with fake accounts, or deleted ones." Chat Noir had seen enough. Just the thought of what might yet be coming stirred his stomach and gave him a deep desire to join Ladybug in the bathroom.

Instead, he reached into one of his many zip pockets and pulled out a card, handing it to Max.

"This is Detective Raincomprix's number. She's dealing with the case and she needs to know about all this Max. For all our sake." The superhero looked down at the photographs once more, something plaguing him as he examined them. He picked up Nino's and held it closer to his eyes.

"Is this the full crime scene?"

Max nodded, standing and walking over to look at the photograph, just as Ladybug reentered the office — her face a strange grey with a slight green tinge.

"If you look, there's white circles around all the clues to help me code them into the correct places."

"There's no umbrella there," Ladybug whispered. She was right. Everything else was present and correct, even the foggy mist around the base of the statue matched... but there was no umbrella, it seemed that was some sort of add on.

"Umbrella?" Max questioned. "Of course not. The body had to be exposed to the elements so if it rained it would wash away any lingering evidence."

Chat Noir began to think. If there was an added umbrella to the first murder, then could they have missed something at the second?

Pulling his baton from behind his back, he quickly took a snapshot of The Bubbler's crime scene. The pictures were a perfect match. The position of Nino's body, the clothing, the pictures on the walls were all accounted for... but there had to be something! There just had to be.

If the first murder scene had the umbrella and lucky charms, if the murderer was the same one (which seemed most likely) then wouldn't they have left a clue at the second scene too.

"Who else are you sending this game to?" Chat Noir said, pinning the pictures back in place on the notice board.

"I was going to ask a couple of my friends to beta it. They're both strong gamers so they'd give me a good overall assessment."

"Who are they and we'll check in with them?" Chat Noir asked, knowing full well that Max meant him and Marinette.

"Oh, um, Adrien and Marinette A–"

"We're familiar. Carry on and send it to them," Ladybug cut Max off. "Listen, I'm not feeling too great. If we're done here I think I'm going to head home."

"Sure."

Ladybug smiled, yet it didn't meet her eyes. Instead she just looked tired and drained. She turned, heading to the patio doors as Chat Noir followed her down the corridor. They couldn't leave it like this. They needed to work together because whether he liked it or not, whoever was the murderer knew who he was and maybe even her which made them both vulnerable... his heart lurched at the thought of if they knew him, they would know his wife too.

He didn't know Ladybug's situation, he hadn't even asked. Did she have someone to look after too? A husband, a partner, a child? This wasn't about just him anymore, and if he wanted to protect his love, he needed to help protect hers too.

"LB?" For the first time since they were back together, he'd used one of her many nicknames, and in a way it felt... good. Normal, almost. "Tomorrow night?"

He watched her face morph through different emotions before settling on a small smile. "Our rooftop?"

"Sure."

He knew the words of 'I'm sorry' hadn't escaped either of their mouths, but for now he'd accept this as their apology and a step in the right direction.

They stared at each for a moment before she nodded, walking out onto the balcony and heading off into the distance. As he watched her red dot shrink and finally disappear, Chat Noir turned to look back at Max.

"Call Sabrina, please. If this is the way the murders are going, you might be able to help us find the next victim before it's too late."

Max agreed, freeing Chat Noir to leave the apartment building, however, he didn't want to go home just yet. There was something playing in the back of his mind, something was missing... but he didn't know what.

Heading back to the crime scene, he greeted a couple of forensics before lifting and ducking under the yellow crime scene tape, entering into the building. Making his way through the room, now lit with many generated floodlights, he noticed the scorch marks on the walls in small circular holes – similar to the burns left on Nino.

The faint hum of the lights was unsettling, creating an eerie backdrop to his examination of the area.

Chat Noir stepped through into the backroom, flashbacks of his friend mangled and helpless on the floor stirring his stomach and sending him light headed. Even though the smell of burnt skin was slowly evaporating, there was still a lingering stench in the air, only adding to the abnormal feeling in his gut.

He wandered around the room, checking out the nooks and crannies as he went. Everything seemed like the image he'd seen at Max's.

Grabbing his baton once more, he flicked open the screen and pulled up the image. Flickering his attention from the image to the room, he checked every area for something that wasn't a match.

It seemed hopeless. There was nothing different, just the exact replica of the game scene. Turning around ready to leave and finally head home, Chat Noir stopped when he noticed something tied on the back of the door handle. Something blue... and very familiar. Stretching out with a tremble in his hand, he felt the blood drain from his face as his fingers touched the soft fabric of a blue scarf... his blue scarf.

"Shit!"

It looked as though they were trapped in this game. He just hoped the ending didn't see the fall of them.

After gathering his thoughts and feelings together, Chat Noir called the find into Sabrina and left to head home. It was 9pm and he was exhausted. Mentally. Physically. Emotionally. Not only was he struggling with everything happening around them, he'd also forgotten how draining it was to transform — even without using his cataclysm.

Dropping into an alleyway near his home, Adrien suddenly appeared in the place of Chat Noir. He pulled out a piece of camembert from his jacket pocket and held it out towards Plagg, the kwami taking it before disappearing into the same pocket to feast on his snack.

After everything that had happened that day, Adrien just wanted to get into bed and curl up with his wife, and hopefully be able to express how much she meant to him. He needed to feel her, to embed himself in her love to know she was there and she was safe.

Pulling the key from his pocket, he made his way into the apartment building and up towards their floor, settling his back against the mirrors in the elevator and closing his eyes.

His mind ran to Nino. What a shit friend he was not contacting Alya since earlier in the day and asking her how his best friend was. He did care, of course he did, but he needed to do this for them... for them all.

As the elevator slowed down, Adrien reopened his eyes and prepared to exit. He stumbled out, not too dissimilar to a drunk and made his way to their apartment, opening the door — happy to be greeted by their wedding photograph. Knowing she was inside this apartment suddenly made everything better. She always made everything better.

The lights were off. Just the faint glow of their kitchen appliances leading him through the rooms and to their bedroom, and there she was – fast asleep and cuddling a pillow. She was adorable and he swore he would do anything to protect her... even if it came to putting his life on the line. She was wonderful in every sense of the word.

He grabbed his pyjama bottoms and moved into the ensuite, slipping them on before making his way back into their bed and beside his wife.

A smile took pride of place on his lips as he settled in behind her. She loved this bed so much, to the point where he was starting to believe she loved it more than him. Cuddling up to her, Adrien slid a hand around her waist and pulled her into his body, his face nuzzling into her neck.

"Welcome home," she whispered, wiggling herself backwards and unbelievably closer. He buried his nose into her hair, pressing a small, delicate kiss just under her ear. Neither were big on displays of affection, especially in public. Where they weren't opposed to a heated make out, and more, they both adored the soft sensual kisses. As soft and fluttering as a butterfly's wings.

"I've missed you." His breath fanned over her neck as she rotated in his arms and rested her head and hand on his heart.

She giggled softly before nuzzling into his chest. "It's only been a couple of days since we returned from our honeymoon."

"Exactly, it's been too long."

Stroking her hand down his bare chest, her breathing began to even out. "I need to tell you something, but it can wait for tomorrow."

Pressing a quick kiss to her head, he smiled in the darkness. "I'll look forward to it."

As the soft snores of his love sounded around the room, he stared up at the ceiling. Where sleep had come so easily for her, in their usual opposite way, he'd spend the night awake and lost in his own thoughts.