Marinette couldn't make sense of it all. One second she was falling off the Eiffel Tower. And then the next she wasn't.

While falling something had abruptly latched onto her ankle and jerked her back. She caught a flash of white through her blurry tears and fell against something hard and warm. They jerked again and Marinette tightened her hold on Chat Blanc, his arm firmly pressed against her lower back.

Her ears rang and her skin was burning, scorching from the blood pumping through her veins. Carefully, Marinette peeled back her eyes and gazed up into inhumanly familiar emerald eyes. He stared back at her, seeming alarmed and desperately afraid.

His one hand was clenched tightly around his baton, having extended it and wedging it between a few of the beams left standing. He swung them forward, never loosening his grip around her and when they were airborne his baton shrunk again.

Chat Blanc landed easily on the metal platform and gently set her down with her back pressed against the railing. She peered down beneath them, her body too shaken and her mind too fogged to come up with any words to say.

A large crowd of people had gathered beneath them, with helicopters circling around them too afraid to come any closer. Everyone was watching, everyone had seen.

"I couldn't do it." Marinette snapped her head back in front of her and found Chat Blanc on his knees with his back to her. His palms were pressed firmly against his head and his voice came out rough and strained. "I couldn't do it!"

He spun around to her and clawed at the rose around his neck. "Take it!" he cried, "Please, Marinette!" He crouched down in front of her and the purple butterfly outline appeared again. His face contorted with pain and Marinette grabbed it.

The thorns bit violently into her flesh, but she didn't care. She desperately tore at the bud, throwing the petals across the platform and sobbing quietly. Slowly, Chat Noir's suit turned black again with colour running back up his suit.

His head bobbed back as the petals flew towards one another and Chat Noir reached forward. His hand encased the newly formed akuma and Chat sighed, fatigued and defeated. Marinette warily leaned into him.

Her hand brushed his arm and Chat's eyes snapped back to hers, no longer a sinister lilac, but the familiar green she'd fallen in love with. Unable to help herself, Marinette launched herself into his chest and cried, breathing in the scent of mint and leather.

She hugged him tighter and fresh tears fell from her eyes. "I knew it." she whispered, "I knew you wouldn't leave me."

Chat's free hand found itself in her hair and he stroked it fondly. "Of course, Mari." he replied, "I could never leave my Princess behind."

There was a moment of silence between them and then she felt Chat stiffen against her. But she kept her eyes closed. "Did –Did I do all this?" he asked. He grabbed her chin with his hand and pushed her back, staring down at her face with pity and sorrow.

His clawed thumb brushed lightly against her burning eye and Marinette frowned up at him. "You...You don't remember...anything?"

He tilted his head to the side worriedly and Marinette moved back, suddenly shy and insecure. He didn't know. He didn't know she loved him.

She averted her gaze to his clenched fist and gritted her teeth determinedly. "You need to find Ladybug. She has to purify the akuma."

Chat Noir glared at his hand and sighed, "I know, but I can't just leave you up here." He tugged her against his chest and Marinette's arms instinctively wrapped around his broad shoulders. "Hold on tight."

He extended the baton and vaulted them forward towards the nearest building away from the gasping crowd. Ladybug would have to explain, she'd have to show them he was still someone they could trust. But she wasn't sure how.

Chat dropped Marinette off on her balcony seat and sighed, kneeling in front of her. "I –," he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. "I want to know what I did when I get back. You have to tell me everything, Mari."

Marinette wordlessly nodded and Chat Noir vaulted away without another word. Marinette absentmindedly opened her purse and peered inside. Tikki slept curled up between the stack of gym and notepad, her colour much more vibrant than before.

"Tikki," Her voice cracked, "Ladybug needs to purify the akuma." Tikki's eyes slowly fluttered open and she yawned. A familiar pink glow came from her skin and she offered Marinette a small, tired smile.

"I knew you could do it," she said, "You were destined to be Ladybug."

The words warmed Marinette's heart, but they did little to comfort her from the growing fear in her chest. She had a job to do, things to set right. But the fear was all consuming.

"Tikki, spots on!"

Chat Noir waited patiently for Ladybug to appear, all the while trying to remember what Hawk Moth had made him do.

The akuma burned against his gloved hand, but it was nothing compared to the pain he'd felt before he was akumatised. And then he couldn't remember anything after that. All that had played in his mind were memories of Ladybug and Marinette merging with his fantasies.

And then of her kissing Nathaniel.

The images had played over in his mind like an encore from the horror show over and over again. Hawkmoth's voice numbed out the pain and during that time it was all that mattered –to stop feeling. Everything else was blank.

He closed his eyes tightly and pressed his warm head against the frigid metal, drowning out the sound of the crowd and purr of the helicopter engines. He saw Marinette sobbing in the middle of Central park, crying out for him and then again pinned against the beams around him.

Chat Noir couldn't have done that to her, he wouldn't. And then he vividly saw the defeat in her eyes as she fell off the edge to her death. His heart faltered and his eyes widened with realisation.

He'd hurt her, he'd scared her and he'd almost killed her.

Ladybug landed softly behind him and Chat Noir snapped his head to her. Beneath the glow of the pale moonlight he thought of the love and admiration he used to hold for her. But all he could feel now was rage, like ice pumping through his veins.

"Where were you?" he sneered. Ladybug took a step backward at his tone and he didn't blame her. His chest heaved with the effort of his erratic breathing and he imagined his eyes as wild as his thoughts.

"What do you mean?" she asked evenly. Chat held out his hand in front of them and slowly opened his palm for the akuma inside. It flew out into the cold air, fluttering helpless with a broken wing from where Chat Noir had tightened his hold on it.

Ladybug caught it easily and sent it back into the air, healed and cleansed. The cold breeze was welcome against his heated leather.

He felt her gaze piercing into him, but Chat didn't want to look at her. He couldn't. Not after everything he'd just done. "I –," he tore at his unruly hair, "I could've killed her. I could've killed, Marinette." He stalked towards her and grabbed her arms roughly, "She could've died if I hadn't woken up when I did! Where were you?"

Ladybug pried herself away and her shoulders slumped, "My kwami couldn't move, Chat. I couldn't transform."

Chat froze. "What?"

"Our kwamis," she explained, "they're both part of the same whole. When one grows weak so does the other and when you were..." she crossed her arms over her chest and breathed in deeply, "My kwami was too sick to move. I couldn't do anything."

Chat stared down at the ring on his right hand and brushed it absentmindedly. How weak would Plagg be then? Was his kwami sick as well?

He couldn't believe he'd been so selfish, so out of control over his emotions. "She could've died." he muttered, "And it would've been all my fault."

Ladybug's hand fell on his shoulder and she squeezed it reassuringly, "She doesn't blame you, Chat. She's just grateful you're back."

Chat Noir wanted answers, but if she was right then Marinette would be better off with some space and Plagg needed time to recover. He'd ask Marinette after school tomorrow and maybe afterward Plagg would feel well enough for him to apologize properly.

He tilted his head to Ladybug and frowned, "Please, check on her for me tonight. I think Plagg deserves the night off and I don't want to push her tonight. She's been through so much because of me. Of my weakness."

Ladybug smiled, "Sure thing, Chat. But first –," she grabbed his hand in hers and jumped from beam to beam until they headed further down the tower. She stopped on the pavement beneath them, under the metal cage and surrounded by a number of scared Parisians.

They flinched back when his boots hit the ground, but the fact that his suit was no longer white gave them some sense of security, especially with Ladybug nearby.

"I understand your fears people of Paris, but Chat Noir is back. He is no longer the menace he once was and you are all safe. Hawk Moth took one of us down in a moment of weakness, but I can assure you that this will never happen again."

She grabbed his arm before he could protest and entwined their fingers. "Next time we'll be ready for him and as long as one of us still stands then Paris and its citizens will never have to fear. We will always be here to serve and protect!"

Her voice was confident and calm, but Chat could see in her eyes something no one else could. She was afraid. Staring at their entwined fingers Chat Noir thought back to Marinette –the girl he loved.

Hawk Moth now knew what he felt for her. He knew he loved her and after tonight Chat knew that Hawkmoth would stop at nothing to get their miraculous. And questions tugged at his heart harder than any he'd had before.

What if hadn't woken up?

What if he couldn't save her again?

Ta Da! She lives! And Chat still has absolutely no idea that Marinette is madly in love with him. But Hawk Moth does ;) P.S. I love this AMV! The way it shows the villains in awesome!

Please don't forget to vote or comment if you enjoyed this chapter. Stick around for Hawk Moth's master plan and the fluffy reveal I have planned. Hope you enjoy!