Patrol came later on that same day, the night air crisp and clean. Ladybug smiled as she landed at her and Chat Noir's organized meeting spot, glad to be away from the hectic day at school.

She was finally free.

Chat Noir stood a few feet away from her, looking at something in his hand, ears flattened tightly against his head. They twitched as she neared, but no other sign showed that he knew about her presence.

She approached, curiously looking over his shoulder.

"Look what I found." He whispered softly once she was only a few inches away. In his hands lay a brand new Eiffel Tower Keychain, rid of any dirt.

"Oh…Bug-uette." Ladybug guessed, staring at the charm.

"I…I looked for it after the battle. After you left. I was hoping maybe, just maybe, you actually had brought her back, and we had just not seen her. But…guess I was wrong. Again." He cracked a smile, fake, tired, and all too sarcastic.

"Oh, Chat…" Ladybug murmured, sympathy rising up in her chest.

Chat's slumped figured straightened suddenly, a frown appearing on his lips.

"She's gone now, I suppose. Nothing we can do about it." Chat Noir lamented, flipping over his hand so that the keychain fell to the ground.

Ladybug, surprised, bent down, catching it before it hit the cold surface. "Chat! Why'd you do that?"

"She's dead, Ladybug. Bug-uette's dead. What are we supposed to do with it? Keep it as a 'souvenir'? What for, even? No sense remembering the dead."

"Why so cold?" Ladybug snapped, cradling it to her chest. "You're never like this!"

"Like this?" Chat Noir inquired, gesturing to his entire self. "You mean what? Unfeeling? Angry? Frustrated?"

She mumbled her agreement to every adjective.

"Let's just say I witnessed a lot of people being horrifyingly wicked today, and I got fed up with it. So, in return, I threatened them."

Ladybug's blood ran cold, her face paling several shades. It wasn't from his expression, chilling and dark, but from the implication behind his words.

He had become cold and calculating to defeat someone of similar skill, or he had out schemed the schemer, or out lied the lier, or…

Chat Noir had done something which he had sworn he would never do.

Ladybug gazed up at him, and though his eyes were emeralds instead of jade stones, and his onyx pupil was but a sliver instead of an orb, she saw a familiar face staring back.

The same expression schooled by Adrien when he had told her he had gotten Lila to lift Marinette's sentence, the same glare he had watched Lila leave with.

Chat Noir was every bit as menacing as Adrien Agreste had been in that moment, and Ladybug shivered, gazing at the haunting face she knew she could never forget.