Marinette's POV

"W-Wait, huh?" I stutter, feeling my stomach drop.

Chat Noir glares at me with anger in his eyes.

I gently climb down from my bunk bed and look at him, eye to eye. "Chat, I'm confused. I don't know what you mean."

"Is that what you thought of me?! Just some alley cat?" He yells with pain in his voice.

"Don't do this here, Chat Noir..." I brace.

He stands in a tight stance looking at me with fear in his eyes. He heard everything I told Alya, and it hurt him. Badly. I shouldn't have said anything. He's my partner. Partners shouldn't talk about each other like that.

"I should have expected that answer from you," He scoffs. "I'm just emotional baggage after all, right?"

"N-No!" I nervously shout.

"Marinette, honey? Is everything okay up there?" I hear Mama call from below the floors.

I look at Alya with a panic look. Alya nods, and slides down my bed onto the wooden floor.

"I'll distract her. You two... go sort this out," Alya mumbles like shes walking on thin ice.

I turn back to Chat Noir as Alya heads down stairs to keep my parents occupied. I get a good look at him and my heart pounds in my chest from regret. His ears are pressed flat against his head and pointed back, showing that he's angry but hurt. His hair is sopping wet from the pouring rain outside. His eyes are swirling with emotions.

I reach my hand out to brush his cheek. "Chat, I-"

Chat Noir slaps my hand away from him and I gasp.

His green eyes pierce into my skull with fury. "I heard everything you said, Marinette."

I look at him and feel my eyes open wide with fear. I try and say something, but his face of pain quickly stops me.

He continues. "I heard you tell Alya that I was just some pesky alley cat. That I had no emotions. That I would 'come around eventually', acting as if I was the one in the wrong, acting as if I was just your toy."

I grab his hand as he starts to walk away. "No, Chat, I didn't mean it like that!"

He snaps his hand out of my grasp and whips around to face me.

"What did you mean then, huh?!"

Lightning strikes right by my window outside and sends the house shaking. A bright light flashes in my bedroom for a millisecond. I gasp and fall into Chat's arms as I lose balance. He instinctively grabs me and pulls me close to him, pressing my head against his chest. I quietly gasp and open my eyes from the shock. We stay there for a second, until he shoves me off his body like he didn't just pull me close to him in the first place.

"You know I didn't mean any of that!" I whisper, longing for his warmth and comfort for just one second longer.

He takes a step towards me with anger flowing through his veins.

"How could you be so sure?"

"Because I know you!"

"That's the thing, Marinette!" He yells with his voice cracking. "You don't! You have no idea who I am, do you?!"

I freeze and hold my hands to my chest. My shoulders rise up and I back away slowly. Chat sneers at me and looks down on me, glaring. I fall onto the ground and try and hold myself. Tears slip down my cheeks.

"Chat, please! I want to be with you!" I whisper from fear. "We can get to know each other, I promise!"

Chat takes a step towards me and looks down on me. "Here's lesson number one: nobody wants me. Not my father, not you, not even myself."

"Marinette, what's going on?!" I hear my mom ask. I realize Alya can't distract her forever.

"But I do want you!" I furiously cry, holding my hands in tight fists.

"So what?!" He shouts, shutting his eyes from the tears falling down his cheeks. "I don't!"

I freeze and drop my arms. "W-What...?"

He stares at me with tears streaming down his cheeks. His face looks angry, but his cat ears are pressed flat against his hair, showing his true emotion: sadness. His breaths are quick and sparse. His arms and hands shake. I try and take a step towards him, but he shakes his head and backs away from me.

"I don't want to be with someone who only thinks of me as a lonely, annoying alley cat," he mumbles, sorrowfully.

I try to get up, but I slip and collapse on the ground. A sob slips my lips and I shut my eyes tight. Everything is slipping out of my hands. I push of my thighs again and weakly stand up, holding my arm and looking towards the ground.

"I don't think of you as an annoying alley cat," I gently whisper.

"Obviously you do, you told Alya yourself!" He shouts.

I grab his hand and lace our fingers together. I look at him in the eyes. I slowly brush a spare stand of hair behind his ear and rub my thumb on his cheek, and drag it down to his lips.

"Your my alley cat, Chat Noir," I gently murmur. "I love you, and you only. No one could take your place."

He growls and looks away from me. I grab his face with both hands and gently place them on both of his cheeks.

"Please look at me..." I quietly whisper.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, answer me now young lady! What is going on up there?" My mama snaps. We both ignore her.

"Give me one good reason why I should stay," he replies coldly through his teeth. "because right now all I see is someone who thinks I'm just a toy."

I stare at him with fear in my eyes. I open my mouth but then close it, afraid I'll give him the wrong answer and he'll walk away. The rain pounds against my roof, leaving streak marks on my windows. The wind howls from outside causing the trees to dance.

"I promise you..." I begin, keeping my voice hushed, "... I'll be with you forever."

He snarls.

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"Chat!" I cry, reaching out to him.

He swiftly dodges my hand and whips his head around, planning to head out my balcony. I run after him with tears in my eyes.

"Chat Noir! Please!" I yell, shaking from the fear of being alone. "Please don't do this!"

"Why, then?! Why? You broke my trust!" He shouts. "You expected me to come back to you as soon as you want! You said it yourself!" He takes a deep breath, and his face drops. "I'm just some alley cat to you, and that's all I'll ever be."

Mama bangs on my bedroom door. "That's it Marinette, you're in huge trouble! I'm coming up right now."

I whip my head away from Chat Noir and look at the door. "Mama, wait-"

She opens the door and climbs into my room. "What was all that noise about?!"

I look back to Chat Noir, but find he's not there. The only thing that's left is my open door leading to my balcony. He's gone.

I run past my mom and lock my bathroom door falling to me knees, and the familiar feeling of rose petals choking my throat. Tears stream down my face as I cough up blood covered petals into the toilet.

And just like that, we're strangers again. Chat Noir does not love his lady anymore.

Adrien's POV

I lay flat on my bed. I feel absolutely awful. I can't believe all of the mean things I said to Marinette, no, to my princess. A part of me feels so hurt with what I said. A part of me wants to apologize and run back to her, sweep her up in my arms, and kiss her. But another part of me wants to never see her again.

"How many times am I going to have to be your counselor, kid?" Plagg whines, flying around my room.

I roll over on my side and growl under my breath, clenching the bed sheets tight in my fists. The rain is still pounding against my windows, making my room a dark gray.

"If I go back and apologize to her, I know I'll fall in love with her all over again, and that's exactly what she wants!" I shout. "She told Alya that herself. She thinks that I'm just her toy. She thinks she can treat me however she wants and I'll still be in love with her."

"She isn't treating you like her toy, idiot!" Plagg snaps.

I sit up and in my bed, surprised by Plagg's sudden change in tone. "You heard her yourself, she thinks I'm just some alley cat who loves attention. She thinks I have no emotions."

"Well, to be fair, you did treat her pretty harshly at that battle with Frosta."

"She was mad and taking it out on Frosta. That wasn't okay."

Plagg rolls his eyes. "Why do you think she was mad in the first place?"

I sit for a second, but then guilt hits me like a ton of bricks. My eyes slowly open wide and I look at Plagg with pure regret.

"I tried to kiss her," I mumble, ashamed.

"There you go kid, use those two brain cells of yours!" Plagg mocks. "She was interested in Chat Noir when you tried to kiss her. If she kissed you back, that would be cheating. She doesn't know you two are the same person. If she really was treating you like her toy, don't you think she would have kissed you both?"

"Oh my god, you're right."

"Of course I'm right! Don't ever doubt me again," Plagg teases.

I stand up out of my bed, stressfully running my hands through my hair. "Chat Noir was the one she was with. Even if she really does love me as Adrien, in her eyes, that would be cheating if she kissed me."

"That's literally what I just said, but okay."

"But now I just broke up with her as Chat Noir," I mutter under my breath. "Now she has no one. Oh my god, Plagg, I'm such an idiot. I shouldn't have lashed out at her!"

Plagg just snickers. "Teenagers and their hormones."

"I have to go apologize to her," I mutter. "Plagg claws-"

"Ah ah ah, kid," Plagg interrupts. "You don't need to apologize as Chat Noir quiet yet. First, apologize as Adrien. Or, you know, reveal your identity?!"

I sigh. "I can't. She would hate me. I'm so different from Chat Noir, how could she possibly like me?"

"Don't talk about yourself like that. Chat Noir is your true personality. You can hide behind a mask and act exactly how you want with no one to stop you. If anything, she would be happy to find out you're the same person," Plagg warmly explains.

"Aw, are you actually being nice and giving helpful advice for once?" I tease, while sarcastically holding my hands together and pressing them against my cheek.

Plagg rolls his eyes. "Ugh. You're cheesier than my camembert. Go away."

I dash out of my room, slide down the stairs, and open my umbrella as I head outside. I don't care if my Natalie or my father see me. I need to get to Marinette's house. This is important and she should know exactly how I feel.

Maybe I will even tell her who I truly am.

I hold my umbrella tight to my chest and above my head as the wind pounds against me. Rain pours down and hits me like a ton of bricks. I just clench my teeth and continue on my way, fighting against the forces of nature. They will not win. Marinette is probably heartbroken right now. I'm just glad I could get out of my house without Natalie or my father saying anything.

I wonder what my father is doing that kept him so busy from hearing the front door open?

Thunder booms in the sky, shaking the ground as the noise blasts through the streets. Lightning strikes soon after, scattering birds throughout Paris. I clench tight to my umbrella, and continue to trudge along the streets to reach Marinette's house. The winds push agaisnt my open umbrella, trying to slow me down, but I ignore the violent weather.

I eventually reach Marinettes' house soaking wet despite my umbrella. I sigh and shake my head like a dog, scattering water droplets across their porch. I knock on their door and wait, but I'm greeted with nothing. I knock and wait some more. Again, nothing. Feeling impatient, I turn the knob and barge in, ignoring the idea that I should probably turn back now.

"Marinette?" I call out into the shadows. Nothing.

I shut the door behind me and the house is quickly swallowed up in darkness. I carefully peer around every corner, but no sign of life is to be seen. All the lights are off. It seems like her parents aren't home either.

"Marinette?" I call out again, cupping my hands around my mouth so my voice is louder.

No reply.

I slide my wet shoes off and step onto the dark wooden floor with only my warm socks for protection.

"Kid, we need to turn back now," Plagg whispers. "Like, right now. I'm getting some serious bad vibes about this place."

I shake my head and ignore my kwami. I quietly roam around their house, waiting for something, anything, to come greet me. Again, I hear nothing.

"No Adrien, let's go. Now. There's some type of bad energy here," Plagg commands.

I gather up all of my courage and continue to explore the house. I slowly take careful steps up the stairs to go to the second floor. My hand drags against the wall as I ascended upwards. The second floor is even more scary. It's completely dark except for some light pouring through one window at the opposite end of the hall. I continue to look around, but see nothing.

I step down the hallway. My feet sink into the blue carpeted rug as I cautiously explore their second floor. I flinch from a noise behind me. It was the wood squeaking, like someone is behind me. I freeze, paralyzed from fear. I feel hot breathing down my back.

I whip my head around, but no one is there. I stare at my shadow against the wall in silence.

"Marinette?" I ask, quieter this time, as if I'm talking to myself.

"Adrien," Plagg whispers.

I look at the floating kwami above my shoulder. His scared expression on his face mirrors mine.

"The energy I'm feeling..." he whispers, but stops as if he's terrified at what he's about to say.

He pauses to take a deep breath.

"...Is dark energy."

"W-What?! I stutter.

I feel goosebumps down my back as Plagg's words register in my mind. I open my mouth to reply to him, but he quickly dashes into my jacket, like he's hiding from someone. I freeze.

I hear footsteps slowly walk up behind me. The wooden floor aches and groans as pressure is applied to it. My eyes widen. The feeling of warm breath on my shoulder returns. I feel fear in my heart. I whip my head around and gasp, falling onto my hands.

"Hello, Adrien."

"M-Marinette!" I stutter, shaking from fear.

"Oh, I'm not Marinette anymore," she murmurs, leaning close to my face.

She kisses my forehead and gently smirks, looking down on me. She backs away, brushing her long hair, no loner in pigtails, behind her shoulders. A flash of bright violet appears in front of her eyes in the outline of a butterfly, lighting up the dark hallway in an eerie purple color.

"I am Shadow Princess."

Fan art: s0t1._ on instagram!

I hope this chapter was worth the wait! I had writers block and lots of people helped me overcome that!

Many people suggested me to include a argument. After all, no relationship is perfect, and MariChat is no exemption :)

and as always, upvote the chapter bb!!