Ah, what a day that he longed for not to come. The day that marked an extra digit added to his number; a number of wisdom, experience, growth, but at the same time, deterioration.
It was the day of his hundredth birthday, though he felt as if he were only turning twenty one, only the slightest bit less physically stable though more sagacious. Master Fu is the great guardian of the Miraculous, but only sends them out when needed perilously. This was one of those times, according to his companion, otherwise called kwami, named Wayzz. The very box that sheltered the precious jewels was left untouched, unscathed, still full - with the exception of Master Fu's bracelet - with all of its glories.
"Master, we have a problem." Wayzz interrupted his moments of tranquility and silence as he gestured to a television, showing how policemen are overwhelmed with their jobs, how their defense is failing.
"I see, but you must know, Paris can be a wreck some times, Wayzz." Master Fu replied, taking another sip of his tea, not moving a muscle of his upper body to view the moving images on the screen Wayzz was indicating.
"Master, this is serious. This is almost to the point of terrorism, we need to offer help to Paris before it really breaks apart, this has been for weeks now and I think it is time." The kwami had been referring to the sudden rise of criminal activity after the times of the economic depression. It was nearly impossible for store owners to manage a stable income with the threats of burglars, murderers, and arsonists taunting the city. It was to the point of demolition and Wayzz believed that magic would save the city from the reign that the street villains have above the civilians.
"I do see your point. After all, you are thousands of years more knowledgable than I." Master Fu rose from his seat and walked to the record player on his table. He punched in a few buttons in the side, in some kind of code he only knew, and the top of it seemingly popped off, revealing seven colored spaces, designated for their specific jewels, the remaining six all laying on top neatly, untouched for ages.
"I suppose we should send out a weaker miraculous, Master. For mere street crimes, we shouldn't have to send out the Ladybug and Black Cat again, and I believe only one hero is needed at this situation." Master Fu nodded in agreement and his eyes were drawn to a dark colored brooch with four wings emerging from the sides. He gently picked it up and placed it in the palm of his hand before transferring it ever so gently into a black box with red markings. He held it firmly in his hand and closed the box with his free hand, then grabbing his cane and heading outside.
"Son? What do you think you're doing? It's only seven in the morning and you're leaving for school?" The father of Daniel Tournier inquired as his child attempted to sneak out the door and to the streets on his own.
"Don't mind me, father, I am just going out for a walk before I reach school grounds. And I'm fourteen, I don't think I still need an escort," Daniel replied, swinging his black backpack over his left shoulder and continuing out the door. "I'll be fine." He closed the door behind him, leaving his father to sigh and wonder of his whereabouts: clearly anywhere other than school.
Daniel is quite the adventurer, although he does bend the rules time to time to seek what he desires. This was one of those times, leaving his family's apartment nearly an hour early just to explore. "Daniel, please reconsider this, it's dangerous out there by yourself. You're still young and can't be alone looking around like this." His mother interrupted as he stopped in his tracks. "Come back to your room, now." She demanded, raising her voice.
Daniel turned to come back, disrupted by a man struggling to get up the last step on the staircase, busy people walking right past him drinking coffees. He ran back to the old man, gently helping him get on his feet and adjusting his cane for him before walking back to his apartment.
Time had passed by, Daniel bored with school as always. Collège Françoise Dupont didn't have as much to offer as he would have wanted at this rate. Throughout all of his years up to now, being fourteen and in the eighth grade, he had exhibited academic excellence throughout his years, education was the least of his worries. He had always known most of what his teachers taught him, and usually picked up subjects easily if they hadn't been taught to him yet. Alas, it was time for his lunch break where he would go back home, greet his parents, eat, and take a quick nap before returning back to the campus. It wasn't far away, just down the street for two blocks, passing by a plot of land, still not claimed, never claimed. Rumor has it that someone died in it, he had always longed to investigate, but would be verbally attacked by his parents if he had gone near it.
After sitting on his bed and taking off his round glasses, he peers at a black box, the top marked with red symbols. In shock, Daniel opened the box to be embraced with a purple light taking form in a sphere, eventually fading into an unusual creature. "Hello, Daniel." The creature spoke in its somewhat high voice, making a friendly impression.
"Argh! What are you?" Daniel was somewhat frightened, contrary to his usually calm appearance. "And how did you get in here? How do you know my name?"
"I am Nooroo, a kwami. I am not here to hurt you, Master." Nooroo gently flew up and looked at Daniel in his eyes.
"Don't get closer to me, I-I have a weapon!" He trembles as he reaches into his backpack to reveal a wrench, towering over Nooroo. "Stay away from me!"
"I am not here to hurt you, I am here to be your friend, to help you." Nooroo drifted back on to his bed and looked up to him.
"I am skeptical. How can you help me, Nooroo?" He extended one of his fingers towards the figure, which just flew gracefully onto it, smiling.
"I grant you the power to create super heroes using Tianshis, which are butterflies that grant those people the powers you choose to give them to save the greater good! They will also become your devoted follower until the time is over. You will be able to help Paris through the trouble it is going through!" Nooroo picked up the brooch that was still in the box and presented it to him. "You were chosen for this, you cannot turn it down!"
Daniel picked up the brooch and put it on the top button of his collared shirt, rather formal for school attire. "So how do I create heroes?" Daniel asked, studying the brooch on him that suddenly transformed to become merely a jewel, the four protruding wings retracted in.
"Come with me." Nooroo looked around, then hovered to the unused closet in the room, since everything was in Daniel's drawers. It only held a couple old dress jackets for formal occasions, a window on the wall facing the outside. It had a sufficient amount of room, being relatively spacious for a closet of its time. Nooroo held out his arms and his eyes began to glow a deadly white, nearly frightening. The shelves began to dissipate, leaving the room completely empty until about a hundred butterflies rose from the ground miraculously, flying around the confined space. Daniel smiled at the sight.
"This is beautiful, what is happening, though?" Daniel reached out a finger once again, a butterfly landing on it gently.
"You will have the power to see when someone is triumphing in great glory, then you can award them powers when Paris is in need. You release a Tianshi, one of these butterflies, and it flies into an item of importance, such as a paintbrush if they drew a masterpiece, or a pencil if they completed a test with a perfect score. Once they are compete with their task, you ask them to let go of what the Tianshi is in, then it will be released and return here, pure in its power. You will feel the magic within you. Do you think you are ready?"
"Tianshi." Daniel contemplated.
"Yes, what about it?"
"Means angel in Chinese, I see. You must have come from those origins, have you not?"
"I have, indeed. You shall find out more about my origins as time progresses. The fate of Paris lies within you. Can you take the responsibility?"
Daniel blinked twice, looked at the clock in his main bedroom to make sure there was time -and he had another forty five minutes until having to return to the school- and looked at his kwami. "I am."
"Just say 'Transform me.'" Nooroo nodded in reassurance, Daniel looked down at his miraculous and then out the window.
"Nooroo, transform me." His slick, usually gelled back, dark hair began to flow upwards as a purple light embraced him, a thin grey mask formed on his face, his dress shirt morphing into a matching suit, with purple gloves and matching dress pants. He carefully inspected his new self, as he felt odd and realized his round glasses had disappeared into the thin air. "Nooroo? What just happened to me?" Daniel looked around hopelessly, turning to the mirror at the end of his closet seeing his full appearance.
He could feel a positive aura, lurking inside of him. It was indescribable, the amount of positivity it brought to his own persona had already improved his rather gloomy mood from only ten minutes before. His vision suddenly turned white, leaving him viewing a certain triumphant girl, he knew her from his school somehow, her gingery hair's lose curls making their ways down to below her shoulders, a large wave unmasking her face.
"I cannot believe it! My Paul Poiret evening gown has finally arrived! It's a miracle that it came it right on time, delivered just as I was home for lunch!" Celestine Moreau mentioned to the group followers gathered around her table. She was sitting on top of it, legs crossed elegantly, her ginger waves away from her face, her makeup done to perfection as always; it was inevitable for it to be unrecognized. She was well kept, wearing a mid-sleeved white collared shirt under a smooth baby pink dress ruffled on the bottom, shaping her torso well and flowing down to her upper knee.
"Very nice, Celestine! You're only fifteen but I see it as if you are already a grown up celebrity." Celestine never had - or desired, for that matter - any very close companions, but did have some friends that would support her now and then, such as Aline, who was always asking for advice. Being generous as always, she offered it out, trying to be as opposite as possible from Genevieve Petit, who was quite a different story.
She would be sitting on another table adjacent to hers, discretely creating competition between the largest groups during lunch break, defining popularity in their eyes. Her fashion choice was oddly similar, with her full-sleeve orange turtle neck shirt under a beige dress similar to Celestine. Their mental feud had been raging for years, Celestine beginning her counters by trying to bring it to a stop, slowly fading her into fighting back. Nonetheless, she still tries her best to remain at the top, usually avoiding fights with Genevieve, but not backing out of one that was starting. Genevieve had a short black bob and light porcelain skin. Her hairdo was brought back on the left with a pin as well.
Sitting with her was Vincent Bourgeois, noted for his incredibly large ego shown by the way he brags constantly on his uncle running for Mayor this year. He had blonde hair, hazel eyes, and wore basically what any other boy would wear at his time: a thin tan coat and shorts, matching hat and long white socks. He and Genevieve both stared at their opponent, listening into their conversation.
"Celestine, can you tell me how you do your makeup so flawlessly?" Aline was in awe, though Celestine tried not to embrace it so much, she wasn't one to be full of herself. In detail, she described her routine; the arched and thin shaped eyebrows colored in with pencil, black eyeshadow brushed on the lash line, rose red circles on her cheeks, and the matte lipstick overdrawn to accentuate the cupids bow.
"You can even have the lipstick I use, I have a few more at home and this shade would suit your skin well." Celestine dug through her bag and handed the thin tube to Aline, who was far beyond satisfied.
"Thank you! I couldn't be more appreciative!" Aline skipped off, and Celestine left the lunch table, saying goodbye to all of her loyal followers, and heading to the women's locker room. Lucky to have another forty minutes of break, she put her items in her locker and went outside for fresh air before smelling something unusual.
Smoke.
Not just smoke from a lit cigar, but it was potent, concentrated. Following her senses, she made her way to the source of the fire, a local centime store down the corner, along with the apartment on the upper floor. "Way to swap my mood out, criminals." She muttered before looking around. The streets were empty, only one or two unfazed people to be seen a few blocks down. More nervous, she ran in search for help, only to find a boy hiding behind a dumpster between two buildings, shielding himself from the danger.
"Aren't you going to help?" She asked him, urgency clear through her tone.
"I, uh, well, there's not much you could do when there's no fire department here at the moment." The boy, being the timid Victor Durand. He had chocolate brown hair, the style undefined due to it being tossed and turned in the wind, and enchanting blue eyes. Either way, his lids were always half closed for anyone to really tell, but he was fine without the attention.
The only person he'd usually talk to is his one close friend, Nicolas Gautier. If it weren't for him having a fever, he would be doing all the talking for him, considering how that was the normal routine for the two.
Not to mention that he is madly in love with Celestine Moreau but never had any opportunity to talk to her, just his luck.
Sure it was the crisp spring of Paris, 1929, birds chirping, wind whistling, but he never gathered up the courage to say a word to her, already mesmerized silent by her voice. Victor, on the other hand, never actually even made eye contact with the girl until this moment. "Maybe you should go look on that side of town, I look down the block to see if any officials are here, we need to stop this before it worsens." Victor nodded and followed her instructions, meanwhile Celestine turns to encounter a light blue butterfly fluttering her way. She instinctively lifted her right index finger, one that held what was once her mother's engagement ring but now represented the only string her parents could hold together, but we won't get into that just now.
The butterfly seemed to have infused with the ring, her attention swapping to a light purple frame that hovered in front of her eyes. "Hello, Celestine." She heard a voice inside of her head, but it seemed so real to her, not even her thoughts could create a distinct voice within itself. "I am Mite Sauveuse, and I am bestowing you with the power of Immunity. With this, you will be Liberté. Rescue the citizens in the burning building, you will come out unscathed. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Mite Sauveuse." She smiled as light blue lights enveloped her body, she came out with a white suit and wings, being able to fly a few feet high. With this new found strength, Liberté ran into the burning building, finding two people on the first floor and bringing them out to safety. She used the flapping of her wings to help extinguish the fires, and continued up on to the top floor, where one more citizen was kneeling under a coffee table.
"Sir, come with me, I can save you." She gently spoke locating him under said table.
"Bu-but, the stairs are blocked." He shivered in fear.
"Don't worry, I promise, you will be safe with me. What is your name?" She began a conversation while walking right through the debris, in his direction."
"Ni-Nicolas, Nicolas Gautier. A-and you?" He looked up at the girl, thinking she was an angel.
"Liberté, and I am here to protect you." She extended a hand and he took it, then she flapped her wings to blow out a path of safety towards a window. She saw the slightest bit of worry in his black eyes, but she reassured him. "Trust me here. I won't hurt you." She carried him in her arms and flew down the open window, landing in front of a journalist and photographer.
The voice in her head returned. "I need you to take off the ring now, once you de-transform, you may put it back on." She did as he wished and turned back into Celestine after her few minutes of glory. The butterfly had flown out of the diamond ring and into the distance, now being a pure white rather than blue. She felt rather replenished even though her invincibility was gone.
"Celestine saved my life... Celestine saved my life!?" Nicolas chanted in excitement.
"I guess I did, Nicolas." She extended a hand to him to shake, though got distracted by many butterflies fluttering in the sky to create the form of a face. By then, a crowd had formed and many people were questioning about Liberté and how a civil teenager formed to become her.
"As you have witnessed," The face made of butterflies spoke, "There was a super hero that rescued three people from a burning building. Do not fear, for her powers come from me. I am Mite Sauveuse, here to grant powers to those in great triumph in order to assist the greater good in incidents such as this one. This will not be the last time you see one of the heroes of my creation." The butterflies separated and all flew back to where the came from in a clutter. Everyone, including Celestine, was in shock of the events that had just occurred, the journalist scribbling down the story of a lifetime.
The first short, yet moving, job of a super hero in Paris had been complete, because of a savior granting a teenager the power of immunity to a teenager who was satisfied with a new evening gown. Even though Paris was facing a period of depression, it is certain to fade into a face of positivity and rebirth.
A/N: Hey guys! As you can see, I started a new Miraculous fan fiction, but I feel like this is a topic never really touched, so I wanted to create a story of the past Ladybugs and Chat Noirs, but as accurate and fitting as possible to the plot of the actual show. I have done so much research on both French culture (since I am American) and culture there in the 1920's since this does take place in that time period. This is definitely my best work so far, and I really can't wait to see it flourish. I nearly have the whole story mentally planned, I just need to write it down in a form you will all enjoy on this platform. This chapter was 3,200 words long, but I felt like we needed a full exposition with all of the main characters and a Tianshiized hero involved.
I did some research with a friend and we realized that "Akuma" meant devil/demon. If bootleg Hawkie is depicted as a good guy, why don't we find the chinese form of Angel! I am really confident in this story and I am putting lots of thought, time, and effort in to this. I hope you all enjoy it as it progresses!