Until Next Time, My Lady

Don't Ever Apologize

The autumn air was finally taking over the Paris breeze. Red, orange and yellow leaves were falling everywhere, leaving a beautiful blanket behind them. Marinette sat alone inside her greenhouse, watching all the leaves dance with the wind. This was the only place in the world that she could go and not have a care. Except at this moment, she could feel the stress starting to make its way in. Scattered around her chaise were hundreds of pieces of crumpled papers with incomplete designs. The ideas of each failure weighing on her mind making it hard to focus.

She had finally convinced her senior supervisor and Monsieur Agreste into letting her design the winter line for Gabriel. It had taken her years of suggesting, coffee runs, late nights, long hours and two years of fashion classes to be upgraded from paid intern to full-time employee. This was her one and possibly only opportunity to make a name for herself in the industry. The winter line needed to be drawn, created and finalized in six weeks. Her fears would soon get the better of her if she didn't think of something fast.

"Oh, Tikki, I wish you were still here! I could really use your encouragement right about now," she sighed to herself.

Nearly seven years had come and gone now since the kwami and her parted ways. With Hawkmoth being defeated, there was no longer a need for the heroes to protect Paris. Chat Noir and Ladybug had agreed to give Master Fu their miraculous back for safe keeping until the next time they would be needed. Marinette remembered that day all too well. She lost her two best friends and her partner in one day. The last memory she had of Chat Noir was right after they had decided to give up their miraculous:

They both wanted to watch one last sunset from the Eiffel Tower before they would part their own ways. The pair settled down on the top tier. Neither of them looked at each other or said a word as the sun slowly started descending.

Chat eventually looked over to her breaking the silence. "You know the sunset is almost as beautiful as you, my lady."

Playfully, she punched his arm and rolled her eyes. "You sure know how to charm a woman, kitty," she laughed.

The silence swiftly came back between the two of them. In all honesty, they didn't know how this could be goodbye. She didn't want him to leave. Who would she go to now when she needed advice or comfort? She trusted him with her life and he'd definitely saved it many times. She wished that she could love him the way she knew he loved her. Every time she thought about loving him like that though, Adrien's face would come into her mind. Granted, they weren't anything more than friends; but she always felt it would be like cheating on him. The sad thing was she knew in her heart that if Adrien had never been in the picture; she would've fallen in love with Chat.

Unconsciously, while she was deep in thought, she rested her cheek against Chat's shoulder. She felt him stiffen suddenly, and almost immediately relax. His movement brought her back to reality. She sighed and relaxed as she stared off into the sun.

He was the one to break the silence between them again. "How will I know it's you when we meet finally meet without the masks, my lady?" Chat asked.

She could hear the pain in his voice. His breath was ragged as if he was going through something torturous. Her heart fell as she realized he had to be breaking right now. The love of his life, as he put it, would be leaving him soon. There was no way she could relieve that pain unless she revealed her identity, and she wasn't ready to just yet.

Looking down, she answered softly, "Why don't we meet at the Black Cat Cafe down the street from here at this exact time and day seven years from now?"

She felt him look over to the clock tower, just barely moving his head. The time and date were already etched into her mind: A quarter past six on the 17th of October.