#mdcreatrice

           Still, he did his job. He bit back on his tongue, and wore the mask he was so used to wearing as Adrien. With his heart pounding in his ears and adrenaline coursing through his veins, he managed. Once it was all over, he watched silently as they pulled Hawkmoth - His Father - into the back of a police car. He couldn’t hear Ladybug talking to the police; or the police attempting to question him. Only the muffled sounds of sirens, and the static of the overwhelming stimuli drowning out what was left of his auditory awareness. Not even the heightened feline senses that came with his transformation could pull him back to reality. The only thing that pulled him from his trance was when it began to rain.

          It felt as though everything came crashing down on Chat all at once, trapping him in what seemed like an endless nightmare that not even using Cataclysm could free him from. Droplet after droplet that hit his leather suit, it took more and more of himself not to break down. He stayed by Ladybug’s side as she debriefed the officers, and as they took them to the mansion’s basement. He bit his tongue as he watched his Mother’s life-support pod taken from the property and to a hospital. He squeezed his eyes shut and stole his strength when Ladybug and the officers asked where Adrien was, knowing that once his transformation broke, he would need to endure a different kind of struggle in his civilian form.

           Committing to keeping his identity safe, he continued to play the game. Like a good and loyal house cat, he promised to meet up with Ladybug later that night, but told her that he had to take care of something first. Once he disappeared, Adrien emerged. By the time he had, the press had arrived on the scene and the police wanted to question him. He could only catch a glimpse of his partner before he was taken to the station for interrogation.

          Despite being a child who effectively lost both of his Parents in the same day, the police refused to go easy on the questioning. It wasn’t as if the young model blamed them for doing so. Hawkmoth was essentially a terrorist, and they were just trying to piece together what exactly had happened behind closed doors. Still, a little empathy would have done wonders for the currently overstimulated teen. Like them, he truly hadn’t known his Father’s identity until today. After multiple hours of grueling interrogation, he had finally convinced them that he was innocent and was released into the temporary care of Nathalie.

          Nathalie had escaped being discovered as Mayura, Gabriel also choosing to keep her identity a secret as well ( feigning that he worked alone ). After she was done being interrogated, she began to contact Adrien’s remaining family members to inform them of the current situation. Unfortunately, only Amelie was willing to get involved. Gabriel had burned his bridges with their other remaining family long ago, and now none were interested in helping to clean up his mess.

          They stayed at Le Grand Paris for the night, seeing as the Agreste mansion and Nathalie’s apartment were swarmed by both the press and police. Somehow, Adrien was able to sneak away from his Father’s assistant to meet up with Ladybug atop the Eiffel Tower, their usual meeting place. Once he was there, his facade began to brake. Still, he kept it mostly in tact, even as his lip quivered.

          He thought that he could find solace in her. He thought that now that Hawkmoth was defeated, he could lift his transformation and confide in her. He knew that Ladybug took keeping their identities a secret very seriously, and he always respected that about her. But he thought that maybe now, things would be different. That he could trust her to fall back on, as his partner and other half. He was wrong.

          In hindsight, it was probably selfish of him to place this burden on her. It had been a long day, and he understood that she was likely tired out and stressed from handling the police on her own. Still, he had trusted her to catch him when he was falling. And she hadn’t.

          At first when she told him no, he had begged. There was a sense of urgency in his voice as he pleaded with her, saying that there was something she needed to see. Though whether she was just scared or stubborn, Chat couldn’t tell. He was too worked up to properly read her social cues, something which he already struggled with regularly. He only needed to be told no a second time to drop the subject.

          He had been rejected. Looking back on it, he wasn’t sure why he had thought that this would go any differently. He had been rejected before, but this was different. In the past, Ladybug had only rejected his romantic advances... This time? She had rejected him. She had rejected his civilian half, and so she had rejected him as a person. To reject a plea for help likely meant that their relationship was strictly professional, and any “friendly” moments between them were for the sake of their partnership. Not because they were close friends as well as partners. This time hurt far more than any other time before.

          It was at that point that Chat put his modeling experience to work, putting on a mask on top of his hero identity. A chilling fake smile crossed his face as he turned to leave, his eyes sad. He left Ladybug with a kiss to her hand, saying that he would see her later the next day at their address to the city. But this was the last time Ladybug as well as the whole of Paris would see him, because he never showed up.

          It was only a matter of time before word of mouth and rumors traveled across the city, and the news of where Adrien and Nathalie were staying reached the public. The press was relentless in this way, as they always were. Gabriel was unavailable to make a statement while incarcerated; so his son would be the next best bet. André was only willing to put up with so much negative attention on his hotel, and so the decision was made that Adrien would move to London with his Aunt and cousin for the time being, and that Nathalie would stay behind in Paris to clean up Gabriel’s mess.

          Along with the press, the Parisians very quickly turned on the Agreste brand. What was once a fashion capitol for the city, was now a symbol of bad reminders and pain. While a lot of people were rational and quick to realize that Adrien’s Father’s actions weren’t his own, there were also a lot of people who were caught up in their anger and refused to see the difference between Gabriel and his son. It didn’t take long for Adrien to need to worry about more than just the press.

          And so Adrien Agreste was driven from Paris, taking his alter ego with him. What a cruel fate it was to be driven from your home by the very people that you had risked your life to protect. His departure was quick and sudden ( intentionally so in order to throw people off of his trail ). After the decision was made by Amelie to take Emilie off of life support, they quietly had a private funeral and left directly after.

          And while things had moved fairly quickly, Adrien did still get to say goodbye to his friends. Most of the interactions were melancholy at best. Nino’s goodbye was just full of reassurance and support, as were most of the other goodbyes. Their words hadn’t fallen on deaf ears, but Adrien was just too tired to really put any of his remaining energy into putting on a brave face for them.

          He was so exhausted that he had nearly missed when Marinette had confessed her feelings to him. He hadn’t meant to blow her off, and he wasn’t sure how he had come across to her. He had always seen the shy girl as a friend or acquaintance, and hadn’t really suspected that she had a crush on him. Perhaps he had been too blind to her cues, which he was now sure was the case.

          He felt bad, but he just emotionally wasn’t in a place to take her confession with stride. Before he had the time to react, his bodyguard was already pulling him away to their car, separating him from Marinette and the rest of his friends. He had wished that they had ended off things on better terms, and it was something that continued to haunt him for years to come. Marinette was a nice girl, and he had wished that he had gotten to get to know her better. Perhaps if he had, he could return the feelings she had for him. But that also made him think... Was she actually in love with him, or just the facade that she knew? He felt as if he owed her an opportunity to find out; though that may never be possible.

          Thankfully, London wasn’t as up to date with the evil doings of Hawkmoth, and so once there, the threat of press and angry citizens nearly diminished. There was still the occasional phone call to the house, but the Graham de Vanily security system was effective. Gorilla had also moved with the young model to London, his large stature usually being enough to scare off anyone who dared torment the boy with their persistence.

          And as it usually did, time changed things and people moved on. While the scars that Hawkmoth left ran deep, Paris began to heal. The Agreste company was forced by a court ruling to give compensation to anyone who had been effected by an Akuma attack, and after several long legal battles, Amelie gained legal custody over Adrien. Gabriel’s future was still uncertain, though the hope was that he would receive a life sentence.

         Adrien did his best to keep in contact with his friends, Marinette included. And while he wasn’t honest with them about how things were going, he did try to stay in the loop. Most of their conversations stayed casual and surface level, not deviating from the usual “hey, how are things?” structure. The only exceptions being Nino and Chloe, both whom had managed to visit him in person on multiple occasions.

          And through all of this, Chat Noir stayed silent. He never picked up his communicator, he never showed up to press meetings, responded to invitations, let people know that he was okay... Nothing. As far as Paris was concerned, Chat Noir was a thing of the past. It had only been a year after his disappearance that they decided that he was no longer worth talking about. But that would all change tonight.

         Tonight marked exactly three years since Hawkmoth’s defeat. To celebrate, there would be a Paris wide festivities, kicked off with the unveiling of a few new statues in Place des Vosges. These statues had been in the works for around two years now, and today marked the day of the big reveal. Not only were statues of Ladybug and Chat Noir featured, but there were statues of Carapace, Rena Rouge and Queen Bee as well. All of the heroes that aided in the final fight(s) against Hawkmoth.

          It was a nice gesture made by the city, and one that all of the heroes were invited and encouraged to attend. Even Chat was invited, though most of Paris knew that he would likely be a no show. After all, it had been three years since anyone last saw or heard from him.

        And while Adrien paid close attention to the Ladyblog and knew of the invitation, that wasn’t the reason he had decided to take a trip back to Paris. Mayura was back on the prowl, and had somehow gotten her hands on the Fox Miraculous. This was news that was out in the open, though the citizens of Paris didn’t seem all too concerned about it. That same sentiment could not be extended to Chat Noir. While he had purposely distanced himself from Ladybug and Paris, it didn’t mean that he lacked empathy or concern for his once-partner.

        As soon as he could come up with an excuse, he had booked the first flight to Paris, and had arrived just in time for the unveiling. People at the airport thankfully seemed not to recognize him, though this was most likely due to his change in appearance. While upon closer inspection it was easy to recognize the once-boy as Adrien Agreste, he was becoming a man. At 18, he no longer had the soft-baby look that made his face so marketable for billboards and perfume bottles. He was still a heartthrob for sure, just no longer automatically recognizable as his former self.

        Though Adrien was thankful for this, as he could bypass any potential problems and find a adequate place to transform. While no one had seen him in years, it didn’t mean that he hadn’t been out and about as Chat Noir. He had just gotten very good at sneaking around London at night. Which came in handy here, considering he needed to be very careful not to ruin the surprise until he was actually present. He always did like to make an entrance.

      Once the words of transformation were spoken, that familiar green wave of magic passed over his body and transformed him into the forgotten feline hero. His appearance was different, green stripes now adjourning his otherwise pitch-black uniform. Still, much of him was the same apart from a few minor details. He crept and stalked along the streets of Paris, keeping out of sight from its citizens. Once he was close enough to the park and could see the gathering, he decided he would make his grand entrance.

        Waiting for the cloth to drop from the statues and for the ceremony to begin, Chat crouched down on all fours and readied himself to run and leap onto his target. It had been a while since he was last seen, and he wanted to make a good first impression on the citizens who had long since given up hope on him returning. And as Adrien had learned from his Father; the least you could do is give people something to look at.

        Once André said the magic words and the cloths were pulled from the statues, Chat’s sprint from the shadows began. Just as quickly as the statues were revealed, Chat was already landing on the top his his marble carved head. As he ran through the crowd in a streak of black and green, there were gasps and cheers of glee from the citizens of Paris. This caused confusion from others who had yet to realize what was happening, until everyone was made aware of the hero who was now sitting atop the head of his own statue.

                      ❝ Looks like I’m purrty late to the party. ❞

            He says loudly with confidence, twirling his shortened staff effortlessly in one hand in an attempt to look cool.

                              ❝ I heard this party was going to be the cats meow, so of course I couldn’t pass up on the opurrtunity to drop in and see how everyone in my favorite city was doing. ❞

           Of course his returning words would be puns. If anyone thought differently, they didn’t know Chat Noir. That didn’t seem to bother the audience though, as his reappearance alone had gotten them to go wild. The positive reception to him made him smile softly, though that obviously wasn’t the main reason why he was here.

           He continued to feel his gaze drifting over to where Ladybug was on the stage next to the mayor, but he couldn’t find it in himself to fully look at her. Whether it was from shame or pain, he still couldn’t tell yet. His feelings about Ladybug were complicated. He would still take a bullet for her and be by her side, but he couldn’t help but feel disconnected from her. Ever since that night, their relationship had become strained.