Her eyes feel thick and enlarged; eyesight blurry and she can’t quit excessively blinking. What is happening to her? Mister Bug’s voice is now muffled in the distance compared to her not so silent mind. All of a sudden, there’s no belief she can help defeat the akuma. She doesn’t believe that she can accomplish anything. Not as a hero, a friend, a daughter- she is just a burden walking around everyone’s lives. Mister Bug has the cleansing powers now, he can save Paris by himself. Does he really need her to flail around like some idiot?

No. They’re a team. Lady Noir and Mister Bug are no different than LadyBug and Chat Noir. They are the same people and depend on one another.

But what is she without the Ladybug Miraculous? Lady Noir shuts her jaw abruptly, preventing her lips from trembling as her mind continues to mutilate itself. It doesn’t matter whether or not she has it, either way she is now an unnecessary addition to her partner’s problems.

Mister bug hears a chant in the distance echoing off of the building’s rooftops, and turns himself to face the still raging Akuma.

They perch themselves about a block away, and stand up-

He gasps as the Akuma is immediately stripped away from the civilian. The silhouette falls onto their knees in the distance and he flicks his attention over to Lady Noir to see her reaction.

Except she wasn’t paying attention at all. Her back was to him, and he can see the sharp claws extending off her fingers dig into her forearms.

“My Lady?” He asks, cautiously walking towards his distressed partner. She doesn’t respond and his chest tightens with worry.

He’s a step away, hand perched outward to gingerly rest upon her shoulder, when he sees it. Flying strait for them. His eyes widen, heart quickens and he hurriedly tries to close the gap between them- “No- wait NO!”

Everything is silent as he watches her back straighten slowly. Mechanically; as if it were moving on its own accord.

“Dame Blanc…” she hears behind the mask.

Her body is consumed with countless shades of blacks and purples, and when she’s completely covered the veil drops revealing her newly whitened suit.

She rotates herself and faces Mister Bug, eyes putrid with emotion as they shine vibrant hues of pinks, purples and blues. Normally, he would’ve been flattered by the attention, but something was horribly wrong in the way she positioned herself.

She lurches forward, arms reaching out to grab him, and he ungracefully screeches while jumping back. His reaction time wasn’t fast enough and Dame Blanc grazes his right arm with her claws.

The pain is immediate, and his entire arm begins to throb. But he doesn’t have time to dwell. Picking up pace, he sprints away from his raging parter and makes way for the rooftops of Paris. The sun had been setting prior to their original Akuma, so as Mister Bug hops between buildings, the shadows outstretch into deeper, darker shades causing him to eye is footing more carefully. He needs to gain distance so he can process what the hell is happening, and how he is going to fix it. He just started using the LadyBug miraculous.

As soon as Mister bug believes he’s clear, Dame Blanc is directly on his tail. He continues to run on the rooftops until finally deciding to jump down below and through the alleyways. His heart pulses in his chest and out his ears the more he ran, the more he began to panic because he did not want to fight his partner. He needed to find a safe space to collect his thoughts.

Taking a sharp corner, unnoticed, Dame Blanc leaps forward and grabs onto one of his legs, causing them both to tumble onto the cobblestone. He can feel her claws seep their way into the skin of his calf  and he barks out a cry in response. Her actions are reckless and impulsive. She was quick to catch up and she was quick to attack. She crawls off her back and tangles herself with him. Mister Bug grasps onto her wrists, chest heaving as he exerts the little remaining energy into keeping her attacks to a minimum. He knew how strong his Lady was, but at the moment he could just barely constrain her. His back is flush against the cold flooring beneath them, and each time she jerks her arms in his hold his head bumps roughly on the stone. The next blow causes his eyes to shut closed as he fights sight spots. A hand breaks lose and Dame Blanc swipes her claws savagely cross his face and he cries, body trembling from exhaustion, adrenaline, terror;  he didn’t know what to do. His eyes water from the acid stinging radiating off his cheeks.

Opening his only good eye, Mister Bug can see the dim lighting illuminating from his partner’s eyes in the dark alleyway. The pink hues reveal tears of her own; sloppy and untamed. His heart wrenches inside itself.

“My Lady-” He croaks, arms colliding as they both struggle. She whines with a rugged inhale and takes her free hand to promptly crush his windpipes. She continues to pull and tug against his hold on the arm still intact, and huffs in frustration.

Raising the hand upwards, she growls, “Cataclysm!”

He’s gripping her wrist with such ferocity she’s unable to press downward. He can’t call Lucky Charm. He can’t get out of her trap. He’s stuck and he could have never prepared for this.

As she squeezes his neck, he takes a brief moment to inspect the hand targeting him. His mind falls silent. The ring was on that hand. If the Akuma was going to be anywhere it would most likely be inside the ring. He needed to break it.

Spots flicker in his sight as he struggles to breathe, and without another second of thought releases his grip on her wrist and clutches her hand. He sharply inhales, the cataclysm working its way under the skin to break his bones. Working quickly, he finds the ring, and jerks his arm backwards, sliding it off her finger.

She wails at the action but it’s muted to Mister Bug’s shrill scream. He grits his teeth and clenches his broken hand into a fist, shattering the ring. The remains cascade down his palm and onto the floor, revealing the Akuma. He rolls off his back to grab his to-yo which causes Dame Blanc to fall into the cobblestone. Swinging his arm upward he calls “Miraculous Ladybug!”, the pink swarm reverting everything back to normal. His scratches, bruised neck, mild concussion, and broken hand heal, and Dame Blanc is changed to Lady Noir.

Putting the yo-yo back on his waist, he crawls over to his partner who is still crying. He rests a hand on her back.

“Are you okay?” He asks, voice hoarse.

She shakes her head, eyes tilted to his and she leaps forward to engulf him in a hug. Her hands find themselves in his hair, straddling his head into the crook of her shoulder. Mister Bug’s arms slide around her frame to return the embrace;  chest aching.

“Minou, how can you save Paris feeling as if you are the smallest, most undesirable person in the world.” She chokes, pulling back to face him.

He frowns , “I don’t feel like that when I’m Chat Noir. I feel free to be myself and to save Paris with you.”

Her eyes widen, and she opens her mouth to say something but closes it with trembling lips. She drops her head into her hands.

“My Lady-!”

“That means you feel worse outside of the suit.” She says. Lady Noir lifts her head once more and rubs the tears off her flushed cheeks. Mister Bug stays silent, eyes focusing on the cobblestone underneath them. He did. Though if he knew that the suit would distress his partner enough to get them akumatized, he would have never agreed to swapping. How is he going to feel in the future when he’s potentially happier? Will the suit burden his heart as well? Maybe it reflects his current mental state- and it simply carried on to LadyBug.

“I wouldn’t have- I didn’t-“ he stutters, brows creasing as he forms his words.

Lady Noir places her hands on his, catching his attention. He shifts his eyes upward and locks with her gorgeous blue ones. She smiles, “I know.”

Propping herself on one knee, she drags his arm up with her and they stand up. The alleyway was completely blackened by the set sun; the moon now hanging above the two brightly. She doesn’t let go of his hands as she walks them deeper between the buildings. Once out of sight, they turn their backs toward one another, de-transform and transform back again into their original selves.

Ladybug takes Chat Noir’s hands, “We’re going to talk about this. You can’t avoid it. And I’m sorry for anything I did while akumatized. You looked pretty shaken up.”

He chuckles, cheeks reddening from embarrassment and guilt. “I’ll tell you later when we have our unavoidable chat but for now, My Lady, it is getting late and we both need a nice long cat-nap.”

He’s about to pull away but to his surprise she goes in for another hug. Her arms rest under his gently and he lowers his head into the crease of her shoulder. Maybe he needed those hugs more than he realized.

“Until next time, Minou.” She says after stepping back, spins her yo-yo, and flies up onto the rooftops of Paris and out of sight.