Marinette had never been one to make mistakes in battle. That just wasn't Ladybug's thing. She had the freaking power of luck on her side for Pete's sake. Chat was the unlucky one. He was the one always being hit by the akuma's attack, not Ladybug.

But here she was, cocooned by a blinding whiteness that danced and flashed, ever pulsating as it bended and refracted into a myriad of seemingly sporadic splotches of colors.

The light spun around her, totally encompassing everything within her vision, her mind rummaging through all the possibilities of the effects of this akuma. First step. What did she know? Sure she had seen a few other people get hit, but what had really happened? Usually the effects of an akuma's powers were quite obvious, but these people had simply vanished, leaving Marinette with only questions.

Where did they go?

Where was she going?

Having just arrived at the scene of attack, she hadn't had time to figure out what exactly the akuma was doing. In fact, now that she thought about it, Marinette didn't even know the akuma's name - that, in itself, was usually a big hint to the results of the akuma's powers.

She rubbed her eyes, her surroundings slowly coming back into focus. Readying her stance, Marinette prepared to jump back into action. She took a deep breath.

One.

The dim outline of the Eiffel Tower became slightly recognizable in the distance.

Good, at least I know I'm still in Paris. She exhaled, her shoulders relaxing at the sight of familiarity.

Two.

She could now make out the rooftop entrance to her left. So... she hadn't changed positions.

Three.

Everything came rushing back into focus, and Marinette was ready, ready to end this and get on with her day. All she had to do was formulate a plan and…

Where is the akuma? She hesitated, not seeing the villain in any direction.

It had been close enough to hit her. Surely not enough time had passed for it to get away.

Wait… where is Chat?

He had just been right next to her. Where had he gone?

Checking herself out, relief spread through the heroine's body. Nothing seemed to be wrong or out of the ordinary: she wasn't a zombie, a toddler, or even frozen in time.

Time.

The word exploded throughout Marinette's head as the realization of its reality bloomed within her mind. Maybe she had been encompassed in that light longer than she thought. It was entirely possible that the fight had simply moved somewhere else while she had been stunned by that blinding light. Scanning the Parisian skyline from the rooftop on which she stood, Marinette looked for signs of the battle. Screams could usually be heard for miles from an akuma attack, but Marinette heard nothing. In fact, the civilians which she saw below didn't seemed panicked one bit.

Hmm. Marinette scratched the top of her head while continuing to look around. Maybe Chat beat the akuma while I was surrounded. All that would be left for me to do is to find that silly cat and cleanse the akuma.

She scanned the city once more, but saw no clues as to the direction she should go.

Marinette pulled out her yoyo. If she couldn't find Chat by looking, she would just give him a call. Surely he would know what the heck is going on.

With the button pressed and the line ringing, Marinette looked towards the Eiffel Tower.

Odd. Hadn't the sun been on the other side? Based on the position of the sun, it should currently be around six o'clock in the evening. But hadn't it just been around eleven in the morning?

"Evening, m'Lady," Chat's melodious voice sung from her yoyo. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you tonight."

Marinette turned her attention to the little screen.

"What do you mean, tonight?" she panicked. "What is going on, Chat? How long has it been since I was hit?"

This must have been the akuma's power; she must have been sent forward in time.

Marinette watched the screen in frustration as Chat's brows scrunched together and his head tilted slightly to the side.

Why didn't he seem to know what she was talking about? Shouldn't he be freaking out that she had disappeared for such a long time? He had been standing right next to Ladybug when she had been hit. Surely he had seen it happen. So why wasn't he more excited to see that she was fine? It wasn't like him to be…

"I'm not sure what you mean," he slowly responded, tilting his head even further to the side. "Is everything okay, Marinette?"

Marinette froze, her heart seemingly stopping within her chest.
W-what?

The yoyo fell from her trembling hands.
This is not right...

Nothing about this situation was right at all.

Chat Noir didn't know her identity.

Just the day before he had turned Marinette down because of his love for Ladybug. He couldn't have figured it out in that short amount of time.

"Marinette," Chat's worried voice rose from the forgotten call, "what is going on? Are you in some sort of trouble?"

The dazed superhero could barely catch her breath, her vision becoming spotted. Why was he saying her name as if it was some kind of common thing between them? How could he just throw this on her like this.

Chat continued to plead with her to respond - the longer she kept silent, the more and more panicked he began to sound. She knew she should say something to ease his mind, but she couldn't will her body to do it. She felt as if she was in one of those dreams where her limbs would not move and her voice could not make a sound no matter how much she tried.

"I don't care how long it takes me to get there," Chat's muffled voice went on. "I'm coming to get you. Just give me a second to pull up your loca…"

He suddenly stopped mid sentence, leaving only the sound of Marinette's now racing heart pounding in her eardrums. How long had he been silent? Marinette couldn't tell. Every second felt like a minute, causing her to feel more and more numb.

"Oh no," Chat slowly stated, clearly having discovered something that he didn't like. "Ladybug," his speech quickened, "I know that I have royally screwed up, but there is an explanation for all of this. Just please wait where you are at."

Strange, rustling sounds pierced through the call alerting Marinette to the fact that Chat was on the move.

He was coming to her location.

She had to get out of here. She couldn't let Chat find her like this.

But her body just would not move.

"I know you must be freaking out that I know your name," his voice gently continued. "I'm sorry for scaring you like that, and," he faltered, "I'm sorry for what you are about to witness."

*Thud*

Chat Noir landed a few feet behind the still frozen Marinette, her heartbeat accelerating at his presence.

She couldn't turn to look at him.

She couldn't do anything.

"You must be so confused," Chat softly broke the silence. "Please let me help you understand the situation."

Marinette's muscles tensed at the sound of Chat's voice.

Something was wrong.

It sounded like Chat speaking, yet at the same time, he sounded entirely different.

"I know you think we were just in the middle of an akuma attack," his strange voice added.

Had his voice gotten lower? Was he he sick or something?

"And that's true," he continued. "For you at least. But that akuma didn't just have you trapped for a few minutes or even hours like you must be thinking."

He paused, clearly trying to think of how to phrase the next part of his explanation. Marinette knew it must be something bad if he was trying this hard to come up with a way to delicately say it. She thought it sweet how he seemed to care about her reaction, but sugarcoating the words wouldn't change anything. It would be better if he was just straightforward and just came out with it.

"How long was it then?" she blurted, surprised that her lips had actually spoken.

Chat stepped forward, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Before I answer that," he breathed, "I want you to know that eventually you will return to the day you left. You haven't been missing, so you don't need to worry about your friends or your parents."

Marinette unwittingly shuddered beneath his touch, not liking where this answer was headed.

"How long?" her voice boldly demanded an answer.

Chat took in a deep breath, slowly exhaling.

"Eight years."