Chat Noir X Reader: The Muse

Chapter 65: Liberty Leading the People

A/N: Many things tried to stop me from posting this new chapter, including myself and an annoying case of covid, but here we are!!! Wooo!!

I probably have more than 20 different word documents open on my pc with all the brainstorming sessions I did to bring the ending of The Muse together. I decided to refrain from posting the chapters as I finished them because I wanted everything to flow nicely, and honestly, it turned out to be the best decision I could've made. I tried to end the story on chapter 69 but it wasn't meant to be, so 70 it is. Five more chapters, my darlings, and then it's the end.

The final countdown begins now, enjoy!

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Thick white mist surrounded you in all directions. You could barely see the palm of your hand in front of your face.

"Where am I?" You asked.

As if in answer, a faint sound came from your right. You followed it. The air got colder as you went and your breath came out in white puffs of air. You sensed a wall in front of you. As you got closer, you noticed it was thawing, white smoke rolling off it in beautiful curls. You put your palm against it and cold nipped at your skin, but you refused to pull back. The sound reached you again, coming from behind the wall, and you leaned in before putting your ear against the icy barrier.

"...too close..." The voice was muffled and distant.

"Plagg?" You asked.

"...negative emotions consumed ... can't tell right from wrong."

Before you could make sense of those words, a door opened and the vision vanished.

"Lunch is ready," a man said as he put a tray on top of a box and quickly closed the door.

You stayed still as you stared at the closed door with wide eyes, your heart pounding in your chest. Part of you still seemed to be inside that dream, as if it didn't want to let go of you. Maybe it was a message from Plagg. You forced yourself to commit the details you still remembered to memory, but the smell of food made you lose concentration, and you clicked your tongue as you forced yourself to get up. Your whole body felt heavy and lethargic as you moved across the room. The lack of sleep and the constant worrying had taken a bigger toll on you than you had expected.

You had tried to sleep. Your body had begged for it. But whenever you managed to doze off, rumbles came from above and jolted you awake, leaving you on edge, clutching a pillow against your chest. At some point, the noises had stopped, but you still couldn't relax. Blanc was still out there, doing god knows what. You had asked the woman that had brought your breakfast about him, but her eyes went wide and she quickly gave you the tray before running out of the room. Blanc had done something, but it seemed that you'd only find out the extent of his destruction when he came back.

If he came back.

Maybe you had fucked up so badly he had given up on you. Heaving a sigh, you got the tray from the ground and brought it back to the bed.

"Oh, those bones are horrible."

The sudden high pitched voice made the wooden tray fly from your hands.

"Careful!"

A yellow blur zoomed towards you from one of the boxes and a second later the tray and all its contents were being laid safely on the bed.

"Whew! That was close. I apologize for startling you."

You stared at the small black and yellow creature in front of your eyes. "Pollen?"

"At your service, milady!" The bee kwami beamed at you. "I've missed you terribly." She hugged your cheek before hovering in front of your eyes.

You just stared at her as you brushed your fingers over where she had touched you. Is she really real? Or have I gone completely mad?