AN: Hello! So originally A Surprise Visit was just going to be a one-shot, but after just four reviews and a couple of follows and favorites I decided I would make it into a story full of semi-related one-shots that center around the concept of Chat dropping in to check on Marinette unannounced. Just a touch of a button or simple review can make such an impact on my mood, so thank you to everyone who has followed, favorited and/or reviewed so far! You really make my day :)

Anyway, enjoy part two!

Icy wind stung my face, midnight hair lashing at my skin like whips as I squinted to see past the ragging wind and flying debris. My hands came up to shield my eyes, feet slipping on the crystalline ice beginning to take over the Parisian cobbled streets as I tried to move forward against the storm. My eyes were trained on a single blotch of black and ruby colour in front of me, so close yet completely out of reach as I shouted over the wind.

"Chat Noir! Hang in there, I'm coming! I promise," I cried as tears began to build in my eyes – from the raging winds or consuming despair creeping into my heart I didn't know. I flung my yo-yo out blindly, hoping to latch on to something to propel myself to my partner's side, but to no avail.

"Chat!" I called again, feet slipping on the frost-covered stones as snow cut into my skin like bullets and I was pushed further and further back from my fallen comrade.

"I can't reach you!" I chocked as the tears finally slipped free, crystalline droplets slicing my skin as they frozen into icy shards upon my cheeks. Every step I took only seemed to take me further and further away from my partner – covered in blood and life fading from his eyes. A sudden shadow cast over my dying friend, and my desperate sobs died in my throat as my eyes cut to shadowy beast looming above my precious Chat, red eyes gleaming as they stared at him - maw full of too-big teeth curling into a hideous smile at the sight.

My blood ran cold. "CHAT!" I screamed, tripping over my feet and clawing at the ground as I tried desperately to reach him, panic and despair seizing my heart in its icy grip.

Those deadly eyes cut to me, piecing me with its gaze as an un-earthly snarl rippled and echoed from the beast before exploding into an all-out roar. I screamed as I was knocked off my feet, the power of that thunderous roar throwing me back into the frozen stones with a sickening crunch.

My vision blackened with pain, fading in and out of consciousness as I tried and failed to get back up, fingers slipping on the ice and blood coating the cobbled streets.

"No…" I whispered, straining to lift my head towards that hideous beast – and my partner now gripped between its talons. Tears again pricked at my eyes.

"Chat… no… I-I can't… move…" I whimpered, tears streaming as I stared helplessly at my beloved partner gripped in the hands of death itself.

"Ladybug…"

My breath caught in my throat as those words left his blue lips, whisper inexplicably loud amongst the silence that began to fill my head.

"Run…" Chat whispered, the last of the life slipped from his eyes as that colossal beast of ice and talons and raging shadows tossed his lifeless form into its mouth of razor-sharp fangs, blood splaying as the sounds of his bones cracking and splintering filled my ears as it –

"NOOO!" I screamed, shooting up in my bed as I panted, breath heavy and labored as sweat dripped from my body. I stared wide eyed at my tussled sheets draped across my thighs, the sound of my gasping breaths filling the deafening silence ringing in my ears.

'A dream,' I reassured myself. 'It had been a dream. It was ok – Chat was ok. It was only a dream, and yet…'

My body began to shake, shivering despite feeling incredibly hot, as tears slid down my cheeks, dripping onto my hands and staining the sheets. I sniffed, wrapping my arms around myself as my eyes darted my room, scanning the shadows dancing on the walls and lurking in the corners. The walls suddenly seemed much too close – the air too thin, chocking. The moonlight and darkness turned the usually cheerful room eerie and chilling, tricking my mind into seeing that monster everywhere I looked – mistaking its claws for tree branches; its gleaming red eyes for street lights. Everything was suddenly all too bright, like someone had turned up the saturation on the world's colour. The silence became deafening, drowning out all sound till all I could hear was a constant stoical ringing drowning out all sense of right and reason. The air began to suffocate me, stifling hot yet icy cold as panic seized my mind till all I could see was those gleaming blood-red eyes.

I exactly wasn't sure at which point I had curled into a ball, but after a time that could equally have been an hour or a minute I found myself being shaken, the sound of my name muffled against the static ringing in my ears. Slowly, the oppressing silence echoing in my mind faded and my vision came back to me – eyes previously unable to see despite being wide open. For a long moment, I couldn't comprehend what I was seeing – flashes of panicked green and gold amongst the glittering black. Then, like my brain had rebooted, everything came rushing back to me. Chat. That was Chat shaking at me, calling my name, holding me. When he gotten here and how he had known to come I didn't know, and that… that sound – that was me, sobbing and panting and whimpering.

"Chat?" I whispered, voice raw and hoarse over my laboured breaths.

"Mari!" he cried, ceasing his shaking to cup my face in his hands, willing me to look at him. Slowly – so painstakingly slowly my eyes shifted from those taunting red eyes and whispering shadows that crossed from my mind and into reality to meet his. Panic and concern shone in those eyes of endless green – panic and concern and fear. So much fear – but not for those haunting eyes or daunting images or even for himself. No, that fear was for me – my wellbeing.

"Mari, what's wrong! What happened?" he asked desperately, searching and scanning my face for any answer or explanation. I doubted he saw much more than tears and snot.

"Chat, I… you're ok?" I asked weakly. Those images flashed clear and daunting in my mind, and while that small collected, rational part of me new that it was simply a dream, I couldn't help but fear otherwise.

"I'm fine Marinette, but you… what's wrong?" he asked again. And the look on his face when he said that, the care and concern in his voice that I had never heard even as Ladybug… I lunged for him, gripping the leather of his suit like a lifeline as I sobbed into his shoulder.

"It was horrible Chat, it hurt you and I couldn't do anything, and I just…" I broke off into more undignified wailing. The fact that my parents hadn't heard me yet was astounding.

"Shhh… its ok Mari, you don't have to tell me. Just breathe," he whispered, arms wrapping around me as he brought up a hand to stroke my hair, rocking me gently back and forth. I continued to cry there in his arms, savouring in his warmth as he continued to murmur comforting words and sweet nothings into my ear, coaxing my heart-rate to slow and tears to dry.

Slowly, he laid us down onto the mattress, arms never leaving from their hold around me as he ran his fingers through my hair, simply holding me when words held no meaning. Slowly I felt my heart slow to join his slow, rhythmic pace, breath evening out as my sobs quietened and only a few stray tears still fell.

Chat pulled away from me just far enough to look at my face, puffy-eyed and crusted with still-drying tear streaks. I lifted heavy blue-bell eyes to meet his, and through the slight blurriness of exhaustion and tears I saw his face soften. His breath fanned my face as he leaned down, kissing away every falling tear that still slipped from my eyes till his lips were wet and salty. Once he'd laid at least a dozen kissed upon my flushed cheeks, he leaned his forehead on mine, staring with half-lidded eyes into my own, emotion swimming within his emerald orbs. I opened my mouth to say something – anything – that would convey what I felt at that moment, but quickly realised there was no way I could explain it. So, I showed him.

Moving slowly, tentatively, I tipped my head back to press my lips against his, soft and gentle. My eyes slid closed as I felt his lips push back against my own – wet, salty and all as I poured my heart into that single, heart-melting kiss. We held each other tightly, kissing soft and sweetly as if we had all the time in the world as tears of a different emotion burned behind me closed eyes. And when our lips drew apart my heart did not pound like the last time we'd kissed, nor did I pant for breath after the heated contact. No, this time I simply laid there, wrapped in his arms and warm in his embrace – heart as slow and steady as the gloved fingers running through my hair as I let my mind fade away into darkness on a night kissed breeze.

AN: Thank you again for reading, and keep an eye out for (possible) more chapters to come!

Follows, favorites and reviews are appreciated :)

❤ Sky Princess