"the moth's apprentice" chat noir x y/n

Falling

TW:  jumping off high building 

"Y/N, why would you think I'm Ladybug?" Marinette's eyes flash with confusion. But there it is, painted unmistakable across her face. The panicked eye darts from one side of the room to the other, as if she's looking for a way out.

Marinette is Ladybug.

Good girl. 

"Lots of reasons," I supply. 

"But — but no one is supposed to know who Ladybug is?" The way she splutters those words comes out as a question. 

"I do." 

Marinette chokes on her words. 

"But — how?" 

I look at her carefully. Dark hair, always tied back in two pigtails. The slight, but deceptively strong build of a gymnast. Her clumsy exterior that disguises the truth of who she is. 

"Mari, you know specific details about Hawkmoth that I've never heard anyone say before," I recall different conversations we've had about the villain. "Also, you never let me say Chat Noir and Ladybug, you always correct it to —" 

"Ladybug and Chat Noir!" 

Mari curses under her breath. I see the sweat collecting on her brow. "Okay, okay, so I'm a bit of a fan of Ladybug, but that doesn't mean that I am her. I just happen to have some extra...knowledge." 

"You figured out that Lila was Vixen," I point out. "You know about Hawkmoth's apprentices. You know about the Miraculous being jewlery." 

"Wait, how do you know about that?" Marinette looks up at me in surprise. Where she was concerned before, now she was even more aggravated. "Is there like a Wikipedia page or something? Are we living on a TV show?" 

Truth be told, I don't know how I know that the Miraculous are jewellery. I shouldn't have been able to guess any of this, having only been here for just over a week.

"Birdy," Marinette's nickname for me seems to have stuck. Satisfied that she's got my attention, she continues, "no one should be able to figure out Ladybug's identity." 

"I helped you guess Vixen's identity, how come I'm not allowed to figure out that you're Ladybug?"

"That's different," Mari argues. "Vixen is a villain, and discovering her identity just brings Ladybug and Chat Noir closer to defeating Hawkmoth. Meanwhile, you figuring out the identity of Ladybug would — listen to my words — it would expose her to the world." 

"You think I'm going to tell anyone?" I lean back with my arm crossed. "I never said I'd tell your secret, Marinette." 

As those words left my mouth, an explosion rattled the world outside. Mari's room shook and she tripped, falling backwards onto the floor. 

"Hawkmoth," I point outside at the newly akumatized villain. "Duty calls?" 

Mari huffs. Her entire head looks like it might burst into flames with anger, confusion and a bit of fear. But she relaxes, brushing herself off after her fall. 

Mari stands up to walk over to me, her eyes beseeching. "Fine. You got me, Birdy. But you can't tell anyone, okay? I'll have to kill you." 

She says those words so casually, but I know that though Marinette probably wouldn't hurt a fly, Ladybug would kill me without another thought if it meant protecting Paris. 

"I won't tell." 

Satisfied, Mari steps back. "Spots on!" 

Outside, Paris has once again erupted into chaos. The new villain, who appears to be sucking people into some kind of void, is stomping around wreaking havoc on the city. 

Jump. Now. 

The voice in my head whisper, and I can feel its soft voice just behind my ear. I whirl around. There's no one there. 

Jump. 

I glance over at the tall window that leads to Marinette's balcony. 

Trust me. 

Trust you? Who are you? 

I told you that I'd always catch you, Birdy. Now jump. 

You know that saying that goes something like, once you hear the voices, it's all over? Anyways, that was the last thought going through my head as I stepped outside. 

The wind whips through my hair, screaming in my ears and scratching my face with ferocity. I can still hear the voice, yet it's quieter now. It sounds like it's coming from everywhere at once. If I jump, maybe it will fill the void. If I jump, maybe I can remember everything I know I've lost. 

The thoughts are attacking me relentlessly, and it reaches a fever pitch as rain starts to sprinkle from the sky, first lightly and then in buckets. 

The sky is crying. The sky has lots to cry about, but I have nothing to bemoan, or fear. 

One foot slides over the now slippery exterior of the railing. Appalled citizens look up at me from the ground below, probably wondering if I've also been Akumatized. 

The edge of my shoe slips on the railing and I grab onto it, tightly clinging to the one thing holding me back. Sanity. 

There's a sound behind me, and I turn slowly, my eyes half closed from rain. I brush water out of my eyes with one hand. 

"Y/N L/N," he says. He moves closer now, coming clearer into focus. His cold, ominous eyes. The heartbroken rage that I recall so well, but can't place. "I always knew you would return." 

"Are you the voice?" I ask. "Have you been...talking to me in my head?" 

Hawkmoth's face changes and his eyes narrow. The sharp cuts of his cheekbones look like knives, pointing towards his chin. The creases are evident in his forehead, and his dark eyebrows shade his eyes. 

"No." He says nothing more, reaching into his pocket. The rain increases now, bucketing around me like an endless torrent of sadness and regret. He pulls something out. A small package, wrapped in twine. "Find me when you're ready." 

With a grim sigh, he tosses me the package. I catch it one handedly, shoving whatever it is, deep into my pocket. Hawkmoth stares at me, impertinently assuming that I have any idea what he's talking about. 

"My dear Raven, I'm sorry about what I have to do." 

"What?" 

He pushes me, and as I look back up at Marinette's balcony, he's gone. Faded into nothing. The villain who spoke to me like he knew me, like he thought I was Raven, disappeared into nothingness. 

The wind is crying now along with the rain. It's in my ears, it's in my head, and it's consumed me. I plummet towards the ground below and I remember nothing. It was all for nothing. 

All I know is that I was falling 

                                                                  falling 

                                                                                                falling