I'm Right Here!

Chapter 7 Empty

            Both Marinette and chat were blushing, finally Marinette broke eye contact and asked Tikki which way to go. She gave them a few directions to find master Fu and then hid in Marinettes bag. "Are you ready chat?" He nodded "whenever you are M'lady." He smirked because he was able to call her that. He extended one arm towards her and the other was holding his staff. Marinette held on to him tight and he lowered them down. When they hit the ground neither let go for a second. She looked up at him, "We better move before my parents see I left." Chat agreed they followed the directions Tikki gave. It led them to a very small house right outside of town. Marinette shivered, they had only been outside about 20 minutes and she was already so cold. The thought of chat sleeping outside in weather like this was absolutely awful. It's no wonder he got so sick. He seemed okay when we left the house but chat was growing more and more drowsy and weak by the minute. He tried to keep up an act of being strong for Marinette but she noticed and began to worry for him. They approached the house and Marinette knocked rapidly. She wanted to get chat noir out of the cold as soon as possible. Nobody answered so Marinette let herself in. "Marinette!" Chat exclaimed "you can't just break in!" Marinette took a look around before she walked in. "Kitty your freezing you need to warm up a little." She took his hand and pulled him in. Stepping through the door she noticed is was hardly warmer inside than it was outside. "The heat is off.." chat mumbled looking at the thermostat on the wall. "Should we look around?" Marinette wondered out loud, catiously stepping into the living room. "No, Marinette, we shouldn't. This is someone else's house. And by the looks of it he hasn't been here in days." 

"How can you tell?" She asked. "The thermostat was turned off recently. It's still warm inside but the temperature dropped a lot." 

"I guess we should go then" Marinette was confused by this but didn't dwell on the subject because her attention was quickly focused on chat's health again. "Can you parkour us home chat? I realize it might not be the easiest but it will be the fastest way to get you out of this cold rather than walking again." He nodded and grabbed her with one arm and his staff with the other. Of course M'lady" he grinned once again happy to call her this. The name that was exclusive for ladybug. Marinette smiled back. "Let's go kitty." Calling him the name that only ladybug knew for chat noir. She kept herself from calling him this earlier so he wouldn't find out her identity. She was glad she couldn't now.

                They parkoured up and down buildings across Paris. Jumping around the buildings with chat made her realize how much she really missed fighting with him. They were nearly to Marinette's balcony and chat landed on a rooftop nearby. He fell to his knees on impact. The poor cat leaned was hunched over and breathing heavily. Marinette squatted down next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, you can rest for a moment. We're almost there." She gently rubbed his back with her hand and he got up again. They leaped onto one more building and the next was her's. When they landed on that building chat almost fell again. "You can make it." Marinette said trying to hold him up. He somehow got them to the neighboring building and onto Marinette's balcony. He fell on his knees again and Marinette rushed to open the trapdoor and help chat inside. He sat on her bed leaning back against the wall and closed his eyes. She had grabbed his hand to help chat inside and he still didn't let go. After a few minutes Marinette watched his breathing slow down. "I'm so sorry Kitty. I should never have suggested we leave when you still needed to recover. That was an awful idea." But no response came. "Chat noir?" Still nothing, he must be sleeping now. 

        Marinette slowly slipped her hand out of his and sat by her desk. She continued sketching and stayed there for hours. She continued the clothes line she made for chat and wondered if she bwould ever see any of these designs. One of the  items was a very warm winter  coat. The coat was sleek and fit tigtly. It wouldn't make much noise or get in the way when he was fighting. It even matched the rest of his suit. Finally Marinette got tired and fell asleep sitting at her desk.