Miraculous Ladybug: Destiny [UNDER SERIOUS EDITING]

40 • Marinette (UNEDITED)

I glanced around me, searching for any sign, any sign at all for that black-clad cat. Chatnoir was nowhere to be seen, and through the mass of butterflies that seemed to be crowding around me, I couldn't see a thing, I could barely see my own hands in front of me as I wandered, almost blind through the butterflies, though trying to capture as many akumas in my net as possible, it wasn't working very well.
I had already found Vixen earlier and told her about my plan. She agreed and went to try and keep the rest of the akumas at bay from destroying Paris while I tried to find my partner and cook up an idea or take action in trying to stop Hawkmoth.
Suddenly, a earth-quaking shudder shook the ground beneath me, and like a new leaf bomb went off, the butterflies all fell, dead to the ground, all the life suddenly stolen from them. They floated to the ground like ash after a wild bushfire, littering the concrete with wings and bodies, covering it like a carpet.
I let out a small gasp as it happened, my vision restored. Only a couple metres away, I saw Chatnoir. Volpina was standing, leaning over him and in her hand, i saw the silver glint.
I was about to run over and shout, but then I saw him get upfront his position on the ground. He spun his baton in his hand, and stood up confidently in front of Volpina, who was now taking frightened steps back. Then I realised what was in her hand and connected it up to him.
He was still Chatnoir!
"Chat!" I yelled after him, and he glanced my way.
"Ladybug!" He replied, but then I saw Volpina use that moment of distraction to her advantage, and flew off into a cloud of orange smoke. "So long losers!" She cackled, then disappeared.
I ran over quickly, wrapping him in a relieved hug. I glanced at chat. "Are you okay?
He smiled and ran a hand down my cheek, squeezing me comfortably around the shoulder. "Of course I'm okay! Aren't I always?" He answered, giving me an honest smile.
I looked him up and down quizzically. "How come you're—"
"—Still the amazingly purr-fect chat?" He cut me off, finishing my question for me.
I nodded.
"Well,think about that riddle that Cassandra gave us. Remember? 'If a hero at the heart, the test will bring the part'? Well, I figured that, maybe, my 'test' was that illusion that Volpina put me through. And what it means is that once we have proven ourselves true heroes, we're always a hero, so there's some weird magic thing that probably makes it so that we can stay as our transformed selves, although our miraculous are taken away from us. Which reminds me, why don't we try and go catch our sly little friend and defeat that big bad villain?" He explained then started to head in a random direction.
I thought about his words, then my train of thoughts stopped. I grasped his should to halt him.
"What illusion?" I asked, staring him in the eye.
He shrugged, and shook his head. "It was nothing."
But I could tell it wasn't. "Spill."
He sighed. "Volpina set up an ambush for me with an illusion of hers. Then she trapped me in this... I don't know, inner conscious of mine and set me up against... Well, my worst fears."
There was a pang of guilt and empathy for him in my heart. The guilt was because I couldn't get to him in time to help him, and the empathy was for when akumatised Chloe number 2 had trapped me in that world with that striking black serpent.
"Your... What was... Your worst fears?" I prodded gently, my curiosity getting the better of me.
He shook his head a dismissive way. "We need to hurry and get to Hawkmoth before Volpina gives him my miraculous."
I narrowed my eyes at him and set my jaw in the way that he knew that I was not going to let him go until I received my answer.
He sighed, then lifted his head to look at me. "I... I was afraid, that... I would loose my freedom and that my mother would be disappointed in me. In being her son. And..." He trailed off swallowed and seemed to search my eyes for something. Our eyes connected, blue mingling against green and he took a breath. "That you... Didn't approve of me; that you would leave me alone, hate me."
My head turned into mush as I heard his honest words.
"Chat... I would never..."
He nodded at me. "I know." He said, and embraced my lips with a soft kiss.
I grasped his hand with my right hand and held his shoulder with my left. He broke off the kiss, even when I wanted more from him. The connection between us felt interrupted as he pulled away from me with a warming smile. "Let's go and catch that butterfly."
I smiled back, but I was still worried. "Hey... Um... Chat?"
"Yeah?"
"Just, you know... If one of us doesn't make it out of this a—" he stopped me with another kiss.
"Don't even think about it m'lady. We will get out of this together. I won't let you go either way."
"Promise?" I asked, feeling like the girl who never knew who her partner was all over again. I was nervous, and feeling vulnerable.
"I can't promise you that Marinette, but I'll try my best." His voice soothed me, and his words built back the confidence in me.
"You know, It's funny how it all started off at the ball... when we found out about each other." I said, not meeting his gaze.
He lifted an eyebrow,
"Then a long lost friends goes been missing for eight years suddenly shows up to take your miraculous." He added, absently twirling his baton in his hand.
"Then I get cursed by our worst enemy." I let out a quiet, humourless laugh.
"And then, to top it all off, a prophecy." He said, sighing.
Then I got serious, and paused at the edge of the tall building that was covered with black wings.
I turned my head around to look at him.
"Do you believe in destiny?"
He looked back at me with equal intensity.
"You tell me."
The silence lengthened between us, as I pondered his words.
"It's a hard thing you know." I said instead.
He gave me a bright, lopsided smile.
"Well, how hard can it be to achieve our destiny when we've already conquered our love?"
I grinned. "Can't argue with that. Can I?"
He nodded, seeming pretty proud of himself. "Well then, are you ready?"
I took a deep breath and focused my mind onto the task at hand.
"Ready as can be."