This chapter is a collaboration with sethadler !!

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Marinette stretched her limbs, pushing herself up into a seated position from the couch where she had accidentally fallen asleep with Chat Noir in her arms. After the official fall of Gabriel Agreste, Chat Noir had cried in both agony and in relief—and perhaps his tears were well-needed. He regained his composure shortly afterwards though, and they decided to leave the scene and take a breather in the next room, leaving Nino to tie up all the loose ends of Gabriel's capture. As soon as the jewel was brought back into their possession, and the gang all quietly returned to their new base, Chat Noir collapsed into Marinette's arms and had pinned her into the couch, burying his face into the crook of her neck as he quietly sobbed.

She never did get him to talk, but maybe now, now that everything was over, she could get him to open up to her. But as her sleepy eyes slowly adjusted to her surroundings, Marinette quickly realized that she was alone on the couch. Chat Noir was nowhere to be found. The spot where he'd been lying beside her was already cold, indicating that he had woken up a while ago.

She quickly stood, gathering the attention of both Nino and Felix who happened to be in the room. She hadn't even noticed them at first, but they had been sitting in the corner, quietly talking with one another as if to not disturb her sleep.

"Where's Chat?" She asked in alarm. In an instant, Felix averted his gaze and looked away, whether his actions were filed by guilt or embarrassment, she wasn't sure.

Nino, however, chuckled, and pointed over to where a letter was tacked to the wall. As she neared it and unpinned it, she could clearly make out her name written out in cursive with black ink. She slowly opened the seal of the envelope and pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper. As she straightened, it only took her a couple of seconds to register the two words that were scribbled there hastily.

I'm sorry.

Marinette gasped, the paper falling from her grasp as she covered her mouth with her hands.

No. No. No! No no no no n—

"What's wrong?" Nino asked, standing up, immediately noticing her distress. His own features were stricken with concern, no longer holding the amusement he'd been expressing prior.

"Where is he?" She begged, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. He never intended to walk away from that fight. He never said that nothing would happen to him. Her mind snapped back to something that he had said when he revealed himself.

It doesn't matter anymore.

"I...I don't know." Nino stuttered out, his voice sounding genuinely confused. He was worried though, she could tell, but so was she.

Marinette looked up, her eyes instantly connecting with Adrien's brother. As soon as their eyes met, Felix looked away. And that was all it took for Marinette's residing anger for his very existence to resurface.

"He knows." Marinette said darkly, pointing at the blonde dressed in white leather. Marinette shouldered past Nino and towards the other blonde. She didn't even give him the opportunity to civilly explain as she shoved him backwards. "Where is he?!" She shouted angrily. Felix grunted with the force and stumbled backwards, but even as he regained his balance, he didn't bother to try and stop her. In fact, he seemed to embrace the violence. It was almost as if he figured he deserved it. That only made Marinette angrier as she shoved him even harder a second time. "Where did Adrien go?!"

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With the source of Felix's confession, the entire building went abuzz as a quick search led to the revelation that the jewel was also missing, no longer locked away in the vault that they had left it in after reclaiming it from Gabriel, but instead being replaced by a silver ring sitting within. She slowly picked up the ring, examining it carefully as she gently caressed it with light touches. This ring belonged to Adrien... and it wasn't just any ring... it was the ring that made him Chat Noir. Her head was spinning as she quickly stuffed the piece of jewelry into her pocket, and despite the many protests from Nino and even Felix himself, Marinette transformed and rushed down the streets alone, which were coated in early morning fog.

She didn't know where she was going, but her gut feeling gave her the directions.

To the jewel's original home. The museum.

She arrived there just in time to spot the red and blue lights flashing and bouncing off the Louvre's glass walls. Marinette remained hidden on a nearby rooftop where she could look down at the scene, and it took all of her willpower not to jump down and reveal herself, all the while trying to save him.

Because she found him, but what she found wasn't the Chat Noir she had gown to know. What she saw utterly broke her heart. Adrien Agreste, eyes empty and utterly broken, was bound in handcuffs and unnecessarily gagged. She watched as he was roughly thrown into the back of an armored van, the area remaining swarmed with police even after the van drove off.

She waited for hours until they were all finally gone. And then she infiltrated the museum herself.

Only to find that the jewel was finally back in its rightful place.

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Hours later, Marinette arrived at the all-too-familiar police station. The lobby that she was currently pacing back and forth in was the same one they had so desperately pushed through less than a day before. The floors, still littered with papers and shards of glass, were the biggest sole reminder of it all. Gabriel's position as chief had been temporarily replaced, and the man who had taken the responsibility was more cold than ever. It was obvious that no one there was fixing to slack on their jobs. Not with Chat Noir finally in their custody.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng? He's ready to see you now."

Marinette rushed down the hall without a second thought, completely bypassing the guard that was meant to lead her to where he was. But she didn't need anyone to take her. She knew exactly where he was, and knowing that only brought more pain to her heart.

She was met with a glass window. Her eyes pooled with tears the moment she met Adrien's. His face bruised and pale, his once shining eyes now a dull green. His once lively irises were sad and empty, even as he offered her a crooked smile. He looked weak, sickly even.

She slowly sat down in the metal chair that was offered to her. With shaking hands, she reached for the corded and telephone and raised it to her ear.

"A-Adrien?"

He smiled weakly, his skin washed pale in the light of the orange jumpsuit he was now dressed in. "Hey, Marinette."

"Adrien." Marinette tried her best to suppress the sob that was threatening to escape her lips. Just hearing his voice again made her feel both relieved and devastated. "What happened? Or actually, how did this happen? Are you okay? I don't understand—"

"Marinette—"

"Did you turn yourself in—?"

"Yes." Adrien interrupted before she could spiral down another list of questions for him. But his answered was determined, no doubt or uncertainty laced behind it. It had been a decision he had made without hesitation... and without telling her about it first.

She let out a shuddered breath, unsure of how she felt about that revelation. "But... why? Why would you do that? You knew the consequences—"

"Marinette, it had to be done." Adrien insisted softly. "I needed to do the right thing."

"But you're not the one who stole that jewel." She stated.

He chuckled a bit darkly at that, and she knew it was because he was thinking about the real culprit to that crime. His father, who although would pay the price for his crimes, was the real thief. And simply hauling him off to jail just didn't seem like enough... especially when his son was now partially paying the price like Gabriel had wanted from the beginning.

"No, no I'm not. But I'm not exactly innocent either." Adrien said sadly, "You and I both know that I once conspired with my father to steal it. And even though I chose to back out, I still helped at one point or another. And that's not even all I've done. My list of crimes is endless, Marinette. I have to pay the consequences for those somehow."

"We could've done that a different way." She insisted hoarsely. Her grip around the corded phone tightened, frustration clouding her judgement. "We could've gone together. I could've been there to speak on your behalf; to defend you; to prove to them that you were the one who put an end to the real criminal."

But Adrien shook his head, his gaze downcast as he seemed to ultimately process her words. "Your intentions will always be appreciated, bug. But that's not how it works. Why would they bother to listen to anything I have to say? Or to someone who is on my side? They don't trust me. No one trusts Chat Noir."

"But they know who I am! They know I'm an officer; I would never side with the wrong side. They might've if I—"

"Look," Adrien interrupted her again, and this time, she met his tear-filled eyes. But he didn't dare shed a tear—especially when the guard was watching him. Despite his predicament, Chat Noir was not known to cry, and he wouldn't dare let the people who had arrested him see him as something weak. That side of him was only meant to be seen by the people he trusted... and for Marinette. "I don't have much time, okay? So just listen to what I have to say. I love you with all of my heart. I consider you as my girlfriend, as silly as that might sound. And as much as I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I can't. I've hurt too many people... I've killed too many people. I've failed you. This is where a person like me belongs."

Marinette found herself chuckling, despite the many tears that began to cascade down her cheeks. She watched as Adrien leaned forward, only so that he could rest his open palm against the glass. The ravenette leaned forward as well, placing her hand over his.

Adrien smiled sadly, his eyes lingering over their almost touching hands. It was almost as if he were longing to feel her skin again, and Marinette could testify that the feeling was mutual. "I want you to know that I'll always love you, but I don't want you to wait for something you will never get back. I want you to be happy, Marinette. I want you to get a happy ending even if I don't. I know that there is someone out there who will make you happy—"

"No." Marinette shook her head, sniffing as she tried to keep herself composed. "There is no one else out there, do you understand me? You are that person that makes me happy."

But despite his smile, she could see that sadness overall seemed to consume him, and that her words did nothing to make things seem brighter. He let out a shuddered breath of his own which echoed through the phone like gist of wind, and slowly shook his head, his body language overall insinuating that he had given up. "Marinette—"

"No." She shook her head again. "No. There has to be something we can do. This can't be it. Y-You brought the jewel back. You did. You brought it back, right? Right? I mean, that has to count for something! It just has to!"

But his smile remained sad as his eyes studied hers. He seemed to be taking her in entirely, as if he were painting a picture of her in his mind. Remembering her. So that he would never be able to forget her. Because this would be the last time he would get to see her...

He then closed his eyes, and with a heavy sigh, he leaned his forehead against the glass. "Marinette, my beautiful ladybug..." he murmured, his voice sounding completely devastated. "This is the end for me. I'm never getting out here. I'll die here as a consequence for all the lives I've taken. And I suppose that's something I deserve. I'm... I'm sorry."

Marinette wiped her eyes, looking up for one last time before she leaned her head against the glass as well. Their foreheads were merely inches apart, separated only by a barrier neither of them could break this time. When he lifted his head again and his eyes met hers once more, the color in his eye was nothing but a dull grey, almost looking blue in the harsh prison light. It was as if the color, or rather, the trickle of hope he might've still had, had vanished entirely. His eyes were now devoid of any tears, void of any emotion, as if any glint of hope he'd had for his life had just died. A smile still pulled at his lips despite of that, but it wasn't comforting. It was merely a false sense of happiness. It was fake.

And seeing him like that was all it took.

That was all it took for Marinette to completely breakdown; to shatter whatever was left of her slowly crumbling composure.

Marinette shattered. She cried. She cried as he stood from his seat, sending her one last sad smile over his shoulder before he was harshly shoved towards the exit of the room by the guard that had escorted him there. She cried as they dragged away what they assumed to be not only an emotionally abused criminal, but a criminal who had chosen to be that way. They dragged away a man who had been abused and abandoned by his father, who had learned to take care of his mother through a life of thieving. They took away someone who had tried to get help once, who needed it now. But instead, all they would grant him now was death.

She cried as the guard dragged her away, and she cried as Adrien's fake smile remained frozen on his face. His placid expression left an unsettling feeling in her stomach, but she knew it was simply because he was a man too broken to emote. She cried as he disappeared out the door on his end, completely gone from her view. She cried as she was pulled away and wrapped in a trauma blanket... as if that would soothe the ache in her heart.

She cried until she stood alone outside of the station.

She cried until she no longer had any tears left to cry.

As hours passed, Marinette remained trapped in her thoughts. She was numb from head to toe, yet her brain had yet to fail her. She thought through every plan, every idea she might've had to set him free, every moment they spent together. And then she decided. She decided to make a plea. Every day for the rest of her life she would make a plea if she had to; she would try to reduce his sentence.

She would try to give him another chance at life.

All she would have to do was wait until his trial. But even when that trail came, it didn't matter. The doors were closed. She never even got a chance. And she remembered falling on her hands and knees at the courthouse, anguishedly crying into her hands as Nino tried to console her.

She'd thought she'd lost her chance. She thought he was gone.

Until they received news of his sentence. And although it wasn't what they had all anticipated, the shock was still numbing once she heard the devastating news.

Due to the criminal, Adrien Agreste, Alias "Chat Noir" efforts to return the priceless, stolen jeweled artifact of the Louvre, he has been given a reduced sentence. In place of execution, the sentence shall be as follows:

Lifetime imprisonment.

No.

What was the point of getting a second chance if he couldn't live it with her? She knew, that despite his clearing of being executed, Adrien would forever be miserable. At least with death, he would've had some sort of certainty... and that is what she was certain he had convinced himself to believe. But she wouldn't accept this. This couldn't be it.

"At least he's still alive." Nino had said, though despite his attempts to remain hopeful, to keep everyone positive, it did nothing to soothe anyone's anger... or sadness. What was the point of being alive if he couldn't truly live?

"No. I will win." Marinette whispered underneath her breath (though she knew Nino could hear her every word) as she read the notice over again for the third time. "I will fix this. I'll free him... no matter the cost."

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Heyy long time no see. Buckle in those seatbelts because the next chapter will be the FINAL chapter to Cops and Robbers! Hope to see you there!

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