"M'lady!" Chat screamed from below. His feet still glued to the ground.

"On it chat!" Ladybug threw the little girl's staff at Chat Noir.

"Cataclysm!" He summoned his power and perfectly caught the baton. It was destroyed at his touch.

"Bye bye little butterfly." Ladybug waved the now purified akuma off. "Pound it?" She landed next to Chat Noir.

"Pound it." He gave her a fist bump.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" She threw her lucky charm in the air and all the damage that had been done was purified and returned to its normal state. Chat fell over, his feet now free of the floor. He hit the ground with a loud thud and groan.

"I hate being stuck on the ground." He grumbled.

"You have no idea." Ladybug said to herself, but Chat had caught her words. He decided not to ask her about it. "Anyways, it's your turn for patrol tonight. See you later kitty." She smiled with her beautiful lips, making Chat Noir blush slightly.

"U-u-um y-yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Would you join me on this fine night?" He switched from anxious to coy in an instant.

"Not tonight Chat Noir." She poked his nose away as he was leaning close to her. "I'll take this little girl home." Ladybug patted the top of the girl's head. The girl smiled broadly.

"To bad." Chat smirked. "Au revoir m'lady." He saluted her and fly away with majestic wings of a hawk.

"Guess it's you and me now huh?" Ladybug vent down to the girls level. The girl started giggling.

"I want to be a super hero to!" She said with lisp. Ladybug chuckled.

"Well you'll have to earn it. Super hero's are always good, and obey their parents." Ladybug scooped the girl up in her arms. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Tulip!" She answered.

"Well Tulip, Im sure you will be the best super hero of them all. But I believe you owe an apologie to your mom and dad."

"You mean my dad's?" Tulip corrected. Ladybug's eyes widened.

"Oh! Um, yeah. Apologize to your dads, I'm sure they ment the best."

"I hate being grounded!" Tulip folded her arms and stretched out her tiny wings. Her wings were quite a specimen. They were shiny blue with a variety of colors like a peacock. But that was impossible, only men could have peacock wings like that.

"They are trying to protect you, just like I am. Now where are your parents?"

"At home. Over there." She pointed across the city.

"Ok, let's get you home then."

———

After getting Tulip home safely, Marinette had returned to her own house. She landed on her balcony and went inside to detransform. She stretched her arms and yawned.

"That was quite the akuma." She giggled to Tikki. Tikki however, looked deeply worried. Marinette's happy expression changed when she saw the look on her kwami's face. "What's wrong Tikki?"

"Chat Noir..." she trailed off.

"What about him!" Worry fillef her tone, and her heart slipped a beat. Was he hurt? Lost? Injured? What happened?!

"It's nothing. He should be fine." Tikki waved it off.

"No! Tell me what's happening to my kitty- I mean, Chat Noir!" She paced the room frantically.

"He got stabbed, right?" Tikki asked.

"Yeah but the miraculous healed him! What happened?!" Marinette grew more distraught.

"Well that shouldn't have happened. The miraculous shouldn't have healed him because he shouldn't have gotten stabbed in the first place! Those suits are impenetrable!" Tikki exclaimed.

"Wait, so he IS in danger?!" Marinette said with agitation.

"Hopefully it was just a mistake made by his kwami. Plagg is lazy some times. But I fear..." Tikki looked out the window.

"Fear what?" Marinette asked.

"It's nothing. Just a mistake from his kwami. He'll be fine." Tikki miles weakly. It wasn't very convincing but it still relieved marinette greatly. "Now, what are you gonna do about that gift?" Tikki changed the subject and pointed to the tarnished wrappers present on Marinette's desk. Marinette looked at it sadly.

"Forget about it. I'll use the coat for something else." She walked over to unwrap it.

"Marinette, don't give up yet!" Tikki uplifted.

"Every one keeps saying that!" Marinette suddenly broke. Her face was hot with anger, and tears steamed in her eyes. "But no one understands! Don't give up yet! There's still hope! Well where is that hope?! I've been waiting for it my whole life!" Marinette stomped her foot.

"Marinette please be reasonable!" Tikki pleaded.

"Tikki you have no idea! Even you can fly! Every one can! They see me on the ground and don't think of anything! Even Alya! No one really cares, they just pity me! If some one was out there who actually cared deeply about me, they would try and make my life somewhat better!" Marinette grabbed the gift and tossed it off the table. She took a deep breath. "I'm going outside. I need to be alone for a while." She said calmly.

Tikki nodded in response. Marinette quickly ran up the ladder to the hatch door on the roof of her bedroom, and disappeared onto the balcony.

The night seemed to calm Marinette. But still she cried. She hated her life, the world was against her. And she couldn't do anything. She hugged her dove wings closely around herself for comfort. Tears streamed silently down her cheeks as she looked down at the few passing cars below. The wind twirled through her hair, which were still in her usual pigtails.

Meanwhile Chat Noir was on the Eiffel Tower, filles with boredom. He thought of Chloe, probably I raged he hadn't showed up at her.. well his birthday party. He'd always dreamed of having a birthday party with some one other than friends. Even when his mother had been around, birthday parties stayed in the mansion and was more of a thing between Adrien and his mom. His father rarely joined the scene.

Now things were different. His mom was dead for all he knew, and his only friends were Chloe and that boy who sat next to him in class, Nino.

Being over flooded with the passing boredom on his 15th birthday, Chat Noir decided to go on a stroll. And by stroll I mean he was going to fly like a maniac around Paris pretending to be a ninja.

A couple minutes had passed of him doing this and he was bored again. He checked the time. Only one more hour of patrol, then he could go home. Akumas rarely happened at night. He landed on the roof of the Collège Françoise Dupont, aka the school he went to.

Something, or rather some one, caught his eye. It was unmistakably Marinette, the girl in his class. But he didn't know her that well. Other than the fact that her and Chloe were rivals, she couldn't fly, and she was an artist. He felt bad for never hanging out with her or his other classmates at school. Chloe wouldn't let him, and they seemed to dislike him.

Marinette really seemed to hate him, but most likely from him being within an arms reach of Chloe 24/7. He was about to continue on his journey when he saw something about her. She may have been far away, but she was unmistakably crying. Sadness swirled within his heart.

He found himself getting closer to her. He jumped upon the building behind her bakery and sorta watched her. Yep. She was crying. It was so silent though, and sorrowful at the same time. He jumped on her balcony, landing a yard behind her.

"GAH!" Marinette spun around with a jump and almost fell over the railing of her balcony. Chat caught her just in time. "W-w-what a-a-re yo-you doing here?!" She pulled herself away from him and backed herself against the rails. Her eyes were wide with surprise.

"Be careful! And um.. I saw you crying and Uh... just making sure you don't attract an akuma or something." He said sheepishly.

"O-oh." She quickly wipes her tears. "N-no Im fine. I can't get rid of an akuma if I need to.

"So your telling me to leave basically? If you want to be alone that's totally fine. I'll leave. But that doesn't mean I won't come back." Chat said slyly.

"N-no. You can stay if you want." Marinette looked up at the stars.

"So tell me, why is a girl like you crying on a night like this?" Chat Noir stood beside her on the railing.

"I just..." she pondered whether or not it'd be wise to tell him. To Marinette, he was a stranger. But to ladybug, he was closer to her then just a friend. She looked down at the street.

"Hmm?" Chat smirked. She couldn't tell him! He'd be just like every body else, pity her, and go on with his life. She took a deep breath.

"I uh..."

"Is it your parents?" Chat interrupted.

"What? No!"

"Your sister?"

"I don't even have a sister!"

"Brother?"

"I don't have any siblings ok?" Marinette stated.

"Is it a school bully?"

"Well..."

"A boy you like?"

"Kind of?"

"Well what happened?" Chat looked at her with a goofy grin. Marinette frowned at him.

"So I guess... erm... I USED to like this boy in my uh.. class." She blushed in embarrassment.

"Yes go on?" Chat looked at her with begging eyes. Marinette took a sharp breath. Man he was eager.

"I used to like this boy, today was his birthday, I made him gift, but this girl flew him away so I couldn't give it to him. And.. then I got uh... some one else to fly up there and she completely flat out said no. So um.. yeah. He likes her so it was pointless to give it to him anyways." Marinette was surprised she had even spoken at all. Chat hesitated to speak.

"Well, why didn't you fly up their yourself?" He knew fully well why she didn't, but Chat Noir wasn't supposed to know.

"Oh uh..." she looked at her wings still wrapped around her shoulders. "I can't. Fly."

"Oh I'm sorry." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Have you ever flown?" The answer was yes, but that was as Ladybug. This was her civilian form however, and Marinette had not flown by any means.

"N-no."

"Well then I'll take you!"

"A what?" Marinette raised an eyebrow with questioning eyes.

"I'll fly with you! I can carry you and you can pretend to fly!" He expressed. This defiantly wasn't the reaction Marinette was expecting.

"Wait how?"

"Like this." He pulled her into his arms making her blush madly. "Hold on tight!" He ordered and spread his wings.

"Chat I don't really think this is a good idea-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She screamed in terror has he swooped into the air. His mighty wings carrying them higher and higher, gracefully. She hid her face in his chest, closing her eyes tightly.

"Relax, I've got you." He said but she did not relax at all.

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god!" She squeezes his sides. He went above the clouds causing Marinette to scream even louder. "Chat what are you doing?!"

"Just look." He stop flying upwards and stayed in one placing, bobbing up a down slowly and soothingly. It took all of Marinette's will power to pry herself helm Chat Noirs chest, but from experience being Ladybug, she had faith in him.

Her jaw dropped. She could see dozens of stars, and the light from the Eiffel Tower poking from the sky. The clouds were low and thick, but the sky up their was clearer than anything she had imagined.

Something inside her stirred. She finally felt free.

"What do you think?" He asked.

"It's beautiful." She said in awe.