[Adrien's POV]

I extend my staff far above the city and perch on top. In the distance I can see an outburst of vines, flowers and trees wrestling with the manmade buildings. I allow my staff to fall forward, landing myself on a rooftop. I run mindlessly in the direction of the vibrant patch of green, my mind drifting elsewhere. Marinette clouds my thoughts. The image of her scarlet lips flashes in my head, haunting me.

"It was nothing." I tell myself. "Focus on the task at hand."

I leap off of the last rooftop and do a flip in the air before landing in front of a large factory building. Thick vines wrap the structure, squeezing it until the cement cracks. Perched on top of a tall tree is a woman with brown dreadlocks wearing a green dress and holding a black protest sign that says 'Hail Mother Nature'.

"All will bow down to the Goddess of Green." The woman declares. "Perhaps now that you are at the Earth's mercy, you will consider it a living organism worth protecting!"

"As much as I admire your passion for this cause, there are plenty of living organisms that I need to protect in that building you're about to destroy." Says a strong voice.

I turn to see Ladybug swinging her yoyo rapidly as she approaches the scene. I feel a pang in my chest and quickly turn away. I...I can't even face her after I talked so highly about my undying love for her and then got so easily led astray. I feel like I've cheated on her.

"Cat Noir, what's your assessment of the situation?" Asks Ladybug.

"I only just got here but I'm thinking the akuma is in that protest sign." I answer without so much as looking in her direction.

"I need to stop that building from collapsing on the employees inside. You keep her busy and get that protest sign away from her." Ladybug directs.

She leaps up and starts slinging her yoyo swiftly at the vines, slicing them up and tearing them from the building. I quickly charge forward into action, trying to distract myself with the task at hand. I quickly climb up the tree that the Goddess of Green is standing on and engage her in battle. I swipe, kick and punch but she has a home ground advantage. Every attack I fire at her, some branch or vine is there to deflect it.

The Goddess of Green fakes a yawn to mock me. I growl in frustration and swing my fist once more but a plant wraps its stem around my arm tightly and pulls it back. Soon there are vines curling around my entire body, holding my limbs down in place.

"I've grown tired of this fight. Now you're just starting to annoy me." The Goddess of Green flicks her hand and the plants constricting me throw me to the ground.

I go plummeting onto the hard cement below, landing with a painful thud. My elbows shake as I lift myself up. Just as I try to stand, the ground below me rumbles. I hear loud scream but then all sound is cut off with a sharp snap and suddenly I am shrouded by hushed darkness.

[Marinette's POV]

I've torn a part all the vines but the building is still unstable. I lift up one of the thick vines blocking the door so that the employees inside can escape. They all smile gratefully as they rush from the building.

I turn my gaze to see how Cat Noir is doing and my eyes widen in horror. Cat Noir is wrapped tightly in tree vines, his teeth bared in pain. My heart pounds against my ribcage. Anxiety surges through my every nerve. I have to help him but...but the civilians.

I look back down at the many employees scurrying out of the factory exit.

"Hurry." I say urgently.

Cat Noir is in trouble. He can't last long on his own. Every fibre of my being is itching to move—begging me to run to his aid. But I force myself to stay. The lives of the innocents come first...no matter what.

I turn back to the task at hand. There aren't many employees left now. Just a little longer, Chat...hang in there.

I hear a sickening thud and snap my attention back to Cat Noir. He's lying on the ground. Is he down for good? Get up Chat. Get up!

"Please..." I whisper, my voice quivering.

Sorrow clenches down on my heart. I want so desperately to sprint to his side and help him up.

I see Cat Noir shift slightly and slowly begin to lift himself up.

"Oh thank god." I breath.

My arms begin to shake from holding up this heavy vine. Luckily, the number of evacuating employees has thinned down to one. He tips his hat at me as he leaves the building.

"That's the last of them, Ms Ladybug."

A wave of relief washes over me as I allow my arms to collapse and drop the large vine. The earth begins to tremor. I spin around to see a large Venus flytrap emerging from the ground around Cat Noir.

"Cat Noir!" I scream.

Snap!

The vicious plant had clamped its teeth down around Cat Noir, engulfing him whole.

The agony is excruciating. I feel as though one of my own limbs has just been severed. Tears brim my horror-struck eyes.

"NOOO!" I cry, rushing forward. "Chat! CHAT!"

I fire my yoyo repeatedly at the monstrous plant but it just bounces off the hard exterior. Tears stream down my cheeks as I desperately punch and kick the indestructible beast.

"Come back!" I beg. "It's too soon—I want to spend more time with you! I'll show you my secret identity. I'll never disregard you again! I'll—I'll even laugh at your stupid jokes! PLEASE—I'll give anything for you to come back to me!"

"Give me your miraculous." Says a cold voice.

I turn to face the Goddess of Green, who is being gently let down by one of her tree branches.

"N-No..." I say, stumbling back a bit.

The Goddess of Green smiles and pats her Venus flytrap. "I can make it go away, but you better hurry. We only have so long before your beloved partner gets dissolved into nothing."

My breath hitches. I look over at the Venus flytrap and slowly raise my trembling hands to my ears.

"Yes...that's it." Hisses the Goddess.

I hesitate to take my earrings when a squishing sound protrudes from the large plant. The villain and I both stop to look at it when all of a sudden the Venus flytrap explodes in a burst of green gunk. Cat Noir steps out of the pile of plant sludge, covered in slime.

The Goddess of Green wipes the green glop from her eyes and squeals in disgust. "You-You vile little brat! How dare you!"

"Chat!" I throw my arms around Cat Noir, causing a squelching sound from the slime between us. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah." Cat Noir answers awkwardly. "It was weird. I couldn't see or hear anything in there. Nothing but darkness. For a second I thought I might be dead but then when you started banging on the outside, I realised I was in some kind of container. So I used my cataclysm, reached out blindly and pop!"

I suddenly push myself off of Cat Noir out of embarrassment. "S-So, you didn't hear all the stuff I said. Right?"

"Er...no, why?" Asks Cat Noir.

I let out a breath of relief and wave my hand as if dismissing the subject. "N-No reason. It was nothing interesting."

"Hey!" The Goddess stomps her foot on the ground angrily. "Listen to me and fear my wrath! You're going to pay for this!"

"Get the sign!" I yell, remembering that we are currently on a mission.

Cat Noir swings his staff and I throw my yoyo but even with the two of us together, none of our attacks land. Trees, plants, vines, branches—every time we get blocked by something.

"We can't hit her with her powers!" Cat Noir says.

"Let's try something else." I sling my yoyo into the air and call out, "Lucky charm!" A spotted bottle of herbicide falls into my hands. "Yes! For once I know exactly what to do with this."

Cat Noir and I charge forward together but I cover his attacks by drenching our path with herbicide, splashing every plant I see. The Goddess of Green shrieks as her plants dissolve away. Cat Noir whacks the protest sign out of her hands with his staff and I fly kick it in the air, smashing it in two.

"No more evil doing for you, little akuma." I say as I open up my yoyo.

The akuma seeps out of the broken protest sign and tries to quickly fly away but I'm faster.

"Time to de-evilize!" I shout as I sling round my yoyo and capture the akuma. I open up my yoyo and out flies a little white butterfly. "Bye bye butterfly." Then, finally, I can throw up the herbicide bottle to fix everything and shout my catchphrase, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

Sparkles of red magic swirl around me, restoring all the destroyed buildings and pavement and making the unnatural plants disappear. The Goddess of Green turns into a normal lady in jeans. I pick up her now fixed protest sign and hand it back to her.

"Here you go." I say kindly. "You know, if you really want to help the environment you should do it the right way. Like donating or volunteering."

"You're right, Ladybug." She replies, standing up strongly. "Someday I'm gonna save this earth from humanity's evil grasp but I want people to thank me for it."

Out of nowhere, Alya comes running up to me. "Ladybug! We have to get a photo together in our matching costumes." Alya slings her arm around my shoulder and grins as she snaps a pic. "That fight was awesome! When Cat Noir got chomped by that big plant thingy—Wow! It was so heart wrenching. My blog's gonna get massive hits on this one."

"Y-You recorded that, did you?" I say.

"Of course!" Alya replies proudly.

My life is over.

"Cat Noir, how are you feeling?" Alya asks, shoving her camera in Cat Noir's face.

"No comment." Cat Noir answers coldly. "I'm not really in the mood for an interview today, sorry."

I frown as Cat Noir turns his back and walks away.

"You should hurry back to that friend of yours. You know, the Bubbler boy?" I say to Alya. "He really loves you a lot. It must worry him that you're always out here in the field for your blog."

"Woah, woah, woah. Nino? Love?" Alya stammers, her face turning red. "I-It's a bit rash to say love, isn't it?"

I've never seen the cool and collected Alya get so flustered, let alone over a boy. It's cute and a little humorous but I contain myself from giggling because I don't think she would appreciate her superhero idol laughing at her.

"Would you like me to drop you home?" I offer.

"Nah, it's cool. You're gonna time out soon so I'll see ya next time." Alya says.

She waves goodbye before jogging away. I turn to see Cat Noir is still here brooding. I feel so distant and...weird. He didn't make any puns, he didn't call me by any pet names...could it be that I liked that attention and possibly even miss it?

I shake my head as if trying to get rid of the thought and approach Cat Noir.

"Hey, Chat. You seem kind of distracted. Is everything alright?"

I stop dead in my tracks as Cat Noir turns to face me. His eyes are shining with tears. His expression is pained. I've never seen him look so downhearted.

Cat Noir's ring beeps, startling me.

"Cat Noir, your ring." I say. "You need to get out of here."

I point down at Cat Noir's miraculous but he just reaches out and takes my hand.

"I don't care. Let's change in front of each other." He says.

My heartbeat quickens as I watch another of the pads on his ring disappear. His secret identity...his true self...it's so close. Temptation leaches my thoughts. I look into his eyes, filled with an aching desperation.

"I...I know that I said I wouldn't ask for it anymore." Cat Noir says, remorse croaking in his voice. "But...I'm losing faith, Ladybug. I need something—anything! To reassure me that I'm not crazy for chasing you."

My heart is pounding with anticipation. What scares me most is not that my weakness is minutes from being exposed...it is that a small part of me wants it to be.

My earrings beep, snapping me back to reality. I quickly pull my hand from Cat Noir's grip.

"We can't." I say firmly. "It's not safe. It would be irresponsible to expose our personal lives to the dangers of this one."

Cat Noir looks broken and disoriented, as if he is lost and no longer knows what to do. Guilt weighs down my chest.

"I-I'm sorry Chat." I say sorrowfully. "It's not that I don't trust you. As much as this might feel unjust in our hearts, a superhero must always think smart and follow their head."

Cat Noir nods dolefully, keeping his head down. I sling my yoyo onto a nearby building and fly away, keeping my eyes locked forward because I know it will only hurt more to look back.