Stray ~ A MariChat Love Story (Complete)

Chapter 36: Chat Noir

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."