The Lady in Red

Prologue

"Chat Noir! Chat!"

Chat Noir lay on the ground, his head swaying with echoes and heavy words. His ears seemed to be wary, the air sounded thick and tiring. It sounded as though humidity had cut between her voice and him, but he could hear her. Ladybug.

He blinked his eyes as he brought his shoulders up for support, his gaze felt as though he was looking through a glass bottle. But she was there. Her bright red suit, her night-sky blue hair, the confidence she held in her voice, all there.

"What happened?" he groaned as he felt the searing pain in his ribs, a sharp and distinctive injury.

"Chat you got hit, be careful." she bit her lip as she moved her hands up and down his side, "Are you ok?" she asked with her voice breaking, her throat sounding full of tears. Chat had never seen her so vulnerable, the last time maybe being when she thought she was responsible for Fu's disappearance.

"Everything's fine with you here, M'lady."

"That's a... new nickname," she said, almost baffled by the statement. She released her worried hands and looked him in his bright green eyes.

"What do you mean?" Chat sat up, moaning as his side departed from the ground. "I've called you that since-"

"Chat."

He then watched as the fog cleared, and he could see clearly. He saw it was not his Ladybug, just the girl who thinks she is. The young and inexperienced girl who thought she could take her place. But he knew she couldn't, deep down. No one could replace his lady.

It was Dame Rouge, not Ladybug.

How could he have known? Her hair appealed the way Ladybug's did, the first glance it's black and on the double-take, it's a gorgeous shade of indigo. Her suit appeared similar, especially in his hazy state. It did have a few differences, though. The dots on the suit were octagons, and the legs had strips of black across them. Her hair held the same bouncy ribbons, but Dame Rouge never favored them, as she would constantly remove them in the midst of a battle.

Her voice wasn't as sweet and airy, but it had the same demanding tone to it. Enough similarities for him to make that mistake.

"How about we get back to that mission, Kitty?" she spoke, breaking the thin silence in the air. She placed her hand on his shoulder and rose from her position, taking off in between buildings.

He hated her calling him that. He never told her, of course. She was a sweet girl, but nothing about the name made him happy anymore.

"Yeah... let's do it," he muttered as he stood, the leather on his suit rubbing against itself as he gripped his side.

He missed his lady. The day she made him the guardian of the miracle box, the day he gained all of the miraculouses, was the day he lost everything.

And her making Dame Rouge his new partner was the worst of all.