"All in all… I think you were quite miraculous."

Chat couldn't believe his ears. A pun? Now?

He didn't think he'd ever loved anyone as much as he loved Ladybug in that moment. And it showed in the way he gathered her up in his arms, pressing his face into her hair and letting a few chuckles out, along with all of his fear and tension from the fight.

Ladybug giggled back, weakly. She pressed her face into his shoulder, stroking her hand through his hair. They remained in the embrace for a second, until the busy noises of the city and nearby civilians brought them back down to earth.

"Still got work to do, though." She added, and he glanced over his shoulder to where the akuma was still trapped in a vase, sighing.

It was a little awkward, as Chat had to basically hold her up the whole time, but Ladybug managed to purify the akuma and they watched it flutter away into the sunny sky with a huge amount of relief.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir!" Called a familiar voice, and the two spotted a figure racing across the square towards them.

Both were relieved to see Alya whole again, but Ladybug didn't want her to see her leg- she might make the connection once she saw Marinette at school tomorrow.

"Chat?" She whispered, her earrings adding a helpful edge to her request. "We kinda need to get out of here. But… and this is a one time thing, okay… I may need you to, um, carry me."

Chat's eyes lit up with understanding (and glee) and scooped her up just as Alya whipped her phone out, now close enough for a photo. He leapt up to the rooves above, and gave a smirk as he saw Ladybug give his trademark two-finger salute to the awe-struck brunette below. With her still secure in his arms, he dashed over rooftops until they were a safe distance from the bustling square. He dropped to ground level and carefully set Ladybug down. She propped herself against the wall of the alleyway, a whimper of pain exiting her mouth.

"Oh god…" She groaned, and he could see how much pain she was in. His insides twisted. He ignored it, and he tried to lighten the mood.

"You're going to have some fun explaining this away to your folks, huh?" He said, ignoring the beeping from his ring.

Ladybug gave a weak chuckle, her face screwed up and clutching her leg. She slid down the wall until she was sitting on the ground.

"Not as much as you might expect."

"Really?" Chat crouched down in front of her, holding her gaze. He didn't want to leave her, despite his impending de-transformation.

"Yeah… they're kind of used to this sort of thing. Believe it or not, outside the suit, I'm a bit of a klutz." Her earrings beeped their penultimate warning and she frowned. "Crap."

"You should tell them you fell down the stairs." Chat suggested, secretly buying himself time so she would de-transform and he'd have no excuse to leave her. The ruse didn't work.

"I might take you up on that, kitty. But for now, you've got to go. We're both about to change back, and it's not going to be pretty, believe me."

"I'm not leaving you like this! You can't even walk, Ladybug." Chat protested. Ladybug shook her head.

"Please, Chat. I'll be fine, I'll call an ambulance okay? I've got my phone on my civilian self, everything will be fine." She dropped her eyes down to her lap. Chat put his paw under her chin and raised it back up. He tried to convey his concern, his love for her, silently. She seemed to understand, as she threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you for saving me, Chat. But… I need you to leave, okay?" She whispered, her earrings giving their final beeps. Chat pulled back reluctantly, not able to disobey her pleads.

Giving one last look at where she sat, crumpled on the ground, Chat swallowed his regret and unwillingness. He extended his staff, pushed himself to the top of the building in front of him and ran.

He heard ambulances blaring past him a few minutes later, and had to stop himself from turning to follow them. He hated leaving her, it was one of the hardest things he'd had to do in a long time. But he could never not do as she asked.

He paused on top of one of the buildings overlooking the Louvre. The destruction had been fixed by his/Ladybug's Lucky Charm, and the shaken civilians were dissipating. His gaze fell on one figure in the centre who seemed to be either lost or frozen. He dropped silently to the ground behind them, and realised it was Xavier. The poor boy seemed thoroughly confused and more than a little scared. Chat thought for a moment, then realised there'd only been one akuma attack since the boy had moved to Paris, and it had been a fairly small, no-nonsense one that they're managed to subdue in about ten minutes. The boy must have had no idea what had happened or how he'd gotten to the centre of Paris from school with no recollection of it.

Chat placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and he turned around, his expression lost and fearful.

"H-how did I get here? Wait, a-aren't you that superhero guy? What's going on?! I n-need to get back to school…"

A small, compassionate smile curved the corners of Chat's mouth upwards.

"It's okay, don't worry. I'm Chat Noir. I'll explain everything on the way."

oOo

Marinette grimaced as she rolled off the living room sofa, her alarm blaring. As it turned out, she couldn't make it up the stairs to her room with her leg broken and in a cast, so she was sleeping in the living room for a while. Her parents had been nearly back home after their trip to Toulouse had ended a day early, and had rushed to the hospital when they'd received the call that she was there, still with all their suitcases in the back of the car. They'd initially been understandably alarmed but had been calmed when they saw her sheepish smile. They'd tutted, and had driven her home with minimal questioning.

Honestly, Marinette was less worried about her leg, and more concerned about what Chloe would say about her lack of homework. Considering she'd either spent yesterday fighting, in the hospital or being fussed over by her mother-hen parents, she'd had little time for physics. Of course, her parents wrote the school a note which would explain her homework-less-ness, but Chloe (being fully functional in both legs) would have no such note.

Marinette wasn't looking forwards to school.

Propping herself up on her crutches, she hobbled into the bathroom to get changed and ready to school. The majority of her every-day things had been moved downstairs, so her clothes were in a corner of the living room, her pillows and duvet lying over the sofa. The rest of her things were strewn across a couple of rooms. It wasn't ideal, but it was the best she could manage considering she could barely walk.

She stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, pausing in her lacklustre hair-brushing attempt. Her face was pale and drawn, both from tiredness and pain. The bags under her eyes were no longer coverable by makeup, and she'd never known how prominent her cheekbones could be. She had to admit- she didn't look good. Her clothes hung loosely off her, and she knew she was practically working herself to death.

But what could she do?

She couldn't risk revealing herself to the world. Her dream from the other night had only reinforced her fear of being found out. Everyone would be so disappointed, they wouldn't trust her or Chat ever again once they knew who she really was.

Thinking of Chat sent flutters of something she didn't want to identify into her stomach. She didn't have time to go into her current feelings for Chat right now, so she shook him out of her head.

Her arms were too tired and heavy to bother putting her hair into ponytails, so she left it down for the first time in years. She hoped the dark curtains would shadow her face enough to hide how haggard it was- at least from her parents.

Marinette left the bathroom with a sigh, still struggling to adjust to the awkwardness of her crutches.

Her school bag sat on one of the kitchen stools, with her lunch bag next to it. She'd have to give her lunch to Chloe to try and appease her over the homework problem.

Sabine arrived to guide her downstairs and through the bakery and Marinette plastered a smile on her face. Tom held the door open for her as she hobbled outside, having persuaded her parents that she didn't need them to walk her to school. She didn't want to risk Chloe saying something incriminating in front of them, and plus- it was about a thirty second walk away.

oOo

Adrien stepped out of his limo into the bright sunlight and stared up at the College Francois-Dupont. After dropping Xavier back at school for the remainder of the day, he'd chosen not to go back himself. He'd de-transformed somewhere secluded, and spent the day wandering around the city, too much on his mind to have focussed on school work. He hadn't slept much either, concerns over Ladybug and Marinette too prominent in his mind.

Adrien sighed. Life wasn't easy and he wasn't looking forwards to another day not knowing the answers he needed. Little did he know, he was going to get more answers in the next hour than he could have imagined.

Nino saw him coming and waved him over. They fist bumped, and strolled into the school together.

"How was Xavier after yesterday?" Adrien asked as they reached Alya, who was near the wall and looking intently at her phone. "My dad didn't let me come back in afterwards, so I never got the chance to find out what happened."

Nino shrugged.

"The usual. Ladybug and Chat Noir saved everyone, yadda yadda yadda. Course, Xavier was pretty shaken up- his first akuma attack and he was the akuma! But everyone sorta banded together to keep Chloe away from him afterwards, and I reckon he's gonna be okay. 'Sup, Alya?"

Alya jumped at her name, dragging her eyes away from her phone.

"Are you okay, Alya? You look, off." Adrien was concerned, but he had a feeling he knew what was coming.

"What does this photo look like, to you?" She demanded shoving her phone in the boys' faces. They squinted to see the blurred image of Paris' two superheroes after the akuma attack yesterday and Adrien groaned inwardly.

"Dunno…" muttered Nino. "It's just Chat carrying Ladybug, right? No biggie, Alya."

Alya shook her head.

"It is a biggie, Nino! Why would Chat be carrying Ladybug? She's perfectly capable of handling herself- we know that! I got absorbed by the Scholar yesterday, so I was there when everything went back to normal. Except it wasn't normal. Ladybug could barely stand, and Chat had to hold her up the whole time she was sorting out the butterfly. Then he carried her away before their transformations ran out. I think she got injured."

"Alya, come on." Adrien's mind was too tired for this. "She was probably just tired, and I reckon Chat would take any excuse to get that close to her. I bet it was nothing." I wish it were nothing.

Alya sighed.

"You're probably right. I'm… just so desperate, y'know? I've been trailing them for ages, and any new information seems like a goldmine. I just want to know anything ab- what the hell happened to Marinette?"Suddenly she dashed across to the doors of the school, where a limping figure was hobbling into view.

Adrien and Nino caught up with her as she stopped in front of Marinette, whose leg was encased in plaster. Her face was even paler than Adrien remembered, her eyes drooping and her cheeks drawn with pain.

Her eyes widened as the three skidded to a halt in front of her. He half-expected her to run out of fear of being caught talking to them by Chloe, but apparently she knew it would be futile. No way were they going to not know what had happened.

"What- Mari- you… what happened?" Spluttered Alya.

"It's not as bad as it looks." Muttered Mari weakly. It was the longest sentence she'd said to any of them in weeks.

"Not as bad as it looks? You're in a cast, Marinette!" Cried Nino incredulously. By this time, most of the class had gathered around her and she looked flustered. Adrien was relieved Chloe hadn't arrived at school yet. She would not have made the situation better.

"What happened, Mari?" Asked Adrien. Something akin to panic flashed through her eyes, and it looked like she was thinking hard.

"I… uh… I fell down the stairs."

Adrien frowned. His heart sped up as he remembered something that seemed a million years ago.

"You're going to have some fun explaining this away to your folks, huh?"

"Not as much as you might expect."

"You should tell them you fell down the stairs."

"I might take you up on that, kitty."

Realisation thundered it's way through his body.

Those cerulean eyes, so pretty in and out of the mask…

Her hair, even out of her trademark bunches…

Ladybug's fear and anger after Alya, her best friend, had been taken…

Adrien swallowed and was glad there were enough other people around him to stop Marinette from paying too much attention to him and his shock. He allowed himself to be jostled to the outside of the little crowd, too taken up in his thoughts to push back.

He wondered how he hadn't seen it before. They shared the kindness, the selflessness that had made him fall in love with both of the girls before he'd known they were one and the same. Her strength and power, despite her shyness. The way she always disappeared during akuma fights, the same way he did.

A frown creased his forehead.

The way they'd both gotten thinner, more ill and tired over the last few weeks. The way they'd both been blackmailed over a huge secret, and they'd lost their joie de vivre and happiness because of it.

Adrien's head snapped up as yet another realisation hit him. Anger coursed through him, and he clenched his fists, his jaw clenching in his fury.

Because of Chloe Bourgeois.