Till the End of the Line ~ A Miraculous Short Story

Marinette

It had been a week since my conversation with Chat Noir. I had to admit, I was feeling a lot better. Sure, I was still not sleeping much because of all the time spent looking for Shadowmoth, but I could at least sit down while doing that. I had even managed to turn in a few assignments on time!

Right now, I was practically banging my head against the desk in frustration. I had no leads. All we knew was that he was a guy who had access to a lot of butterflies and liked wearing suits. Not much to go on.

I glanced at my phone to check the time. Oh. 2 in the morning. Wonderful. I grabbed some pjs out of my dresser drawer and ducked behind my curtain to change. It wasn't likely that my parents would come up to my room at this hour, but it made me feel better just in case.

Once I had finished changing, I tried to fall asleep, but it didn't seem like that would be an option tonight, My thoughts were everywhere and there was no quieting them. After about an hour of tossing and turning, I gave up and climbed the ladder to my balcony.

I had been so excited when my dad said that it could be mine. It made sense, because it was right above my room, but little 6 year old me had thought it would be magical to have a rooftop to look out on the city from. All of a sudden, as I gazed at the moon, a silver stick landed on the roof, slowly followed by Chat Noir.

"Chat!" I said, startled. He gave me a tired grin.

"Hello Princess. Can't sleep?"

"I just have a lot on my mind," I sighed. He moved closer, wrapping an arm around me. Chat had started showing up more and more often on my balcony to talk and hang out. Sometimes we'd go down into my room and play video games, or he'd look at my designs. It was weird talking to him when I wasn't Ladybug, but I really liked it. I didn't have to hide as much, and Chat had become one of my best friends.

"Me too. Ladybug and I are trying to figure out who Shadowmoth is, end this once and for all. Unfortunately, we don't have many leads. I've been up late almost every night."

"Well maybe I can help!" Sure, I hadn't had any leads yet on my own, but now I'd have some time with Chat to really talk things over. And sometimes changing identities helped me think differently, look at things from a different angle.

"Alright. You happen to know anyone who randomly disappears all the time and orders a concerningly large number of butterflies?"

"Sorry, but no. You know, you might be going at this from the wrong angle. Before you look for someone who fits the characteristics of Shadowmoth, maybe you should try to figure out more of those characteristics. If you have more clues about him, it'll be easier to narrow it down." I said, realizing I should have been trying this from the beginning.

"How are we going to do that? It's not like he asks me and Ladybug out to tea."

"Think about past akumatizations! We might be able to glean some details about him from those, or at least rule people out!"

"That's... not a bad idea. Thanks Princess." he smiled at me again, but this time it seemed more genuine and less exhausted.

"Of course. It might also help to get your mind off of it for a while, then look at things fresh. If you want we can play video games or something." The second I mentioned video games, Chat's ears poked up. "Okay then, video games it is," I laughed and opened the hatch to my room.

We played for a few hours, until Chat realized whoever he lived with would be waking up soon, and he didn't want to be missing.I waved as he catapulted off my balcony, then went back down to bed.

It was funny. I liked Adrien, I knew that, but recently, Chat had been wedging his way into my heart. It was probably just friendship though. How could I ever like someone other than Adrien?