Yin and Yang
Chapter 1
It was a warm April afternoon when Ladybug, the heroine of Paris, was seen leisurely leaping from building to building. Well, the citizens thought it was leisurely, since there was no Akuma villain in sight, nor was her faithful companion, Chat Noir, any where to be seen. Despite the lack of danger, Ladybug had a very serious matter to attend to.
She had recently found an ancient book of great importance. She didn't quite understand it herself, but she knew whatever information lay hidden in its pages was crucial to the secrets of the Miraculouses.
As she continued to swing herself between chimneys and high roofs, she sighed. Ladybug had only obtained the book because she stole the book from Adrien Agreste, the boy she had a dizzying crush on. Well, Lila stole it, then threw it in a trash can, but Ladybug was the one to scavenge it. The point was, she hadn't given it back to him and that made her as good as a thief. She reminded herself that her mission was more important than Adrien fretting about a lost book. This was about keeping Paris safe. At least, that's what Tikki said and Ladybug was inclined to trust Tikki no matter what.
Ladybug stopped on a nearby roof and then looked down at the GPS on her yo-yo. Tikki had marked a blinking red dot on the map near the south end of Paris. The destination was just a few swings away now. She lunged forward and let her yo-yo wrap around another chimney. In a matter of seconds, she landed in front of an old building. It looked like an abandoned apartment building, but Ladybug sensed a strange energy coming from it. She scanned the building for an entrance and found a broken window on the north wall she good jump through. She used her yo-yo to knock down the remaining shards of broken glass and then jumped in.
The inside was just as wrecked as the outside. Ladybug assumed she was in an old hotel now that she got a proper look inside. There were rusted bellhops and a dusty front counter that had stacks of molted, forgotten books behind it. Ladybug wondered if they were customer logs. The room, the lobby most likely, was probably really grand at one point. There was evidence of huge chandeliers decorating the ceiling and the floor was covered by a moth eaten carpet that was surely lush in its first life time. It seemed like the hotel had a Chinese theme as there were certain accents scattered around the room that reminded her of her mother's own knick knacks and charms. There were once gold lions and punctured lanterns with Chinese characters on them. There was furniture every where, but they were covered by greying sheets with moth holes in them and the entire interior seemed to have a thick coat of dust over it. Streaks of sunlight came in through boarded up windows and from certain angles, Ladybug saw dust particles gently drifting in and out of the beams of light.
It was an eerie place and she wouldn't have been surprised if it was haunted, but she also felt an odd calm feeling. Time seemed to stop here. It was quiet. Peaceful.
After taking another look around the old room, Ladybug released her transformation and became Marinette once again.
"Ah-choo!"
"Tikki?" Marinette asked and her little Kwami flew over to cuddle her cheek.
"Marinette, there's so much dust" Tikki said, wiping a paw across her nose.
"This is where the Great Guardian lives?" Marinette asked.
"Yes! I can feel his presence. I sure hope his room is cleaner though" Tikki said with a giggle. She flew in front of Marinette and beckoned her to follow. Marinette obeyed and was led to a grand staircase that started wide at the bottom and narrowed at the top. It angled in a spiral shape and Marinette marveled at what a beautiful hotel it must have been before.
Marinette followed Tikki down a hall way that looked like it was brand new with expensive wallpaper and lights lining the walls. Tikki stopped in front of a door on the right.
"This is it" she said and Marinette felt her stomach drop. She'd never met someone tied to the Miraculous before. Well, she knew Chat Noir, but she only knew his miraculous-self. It was different meeting someone as Ladybug, but as Marinette. She'd been fighting supervillains for about a year now, but now she was shaking over introducing herself. She shook her head. She was being ridiculous. She took a deep breath and opened the door.
An elder Chinese man sat on a futon in front of her. He looked up and smiled.
"Hello, Ladybug" he said with a glint in his eyes. Marinette felt herself relax. So he already knew, huh? Well, that made things a little easier. Marinette came into his small room and closed the door behind her.
"Monsieur, we've met before haven't we? You healed Tikki that one time" she said. She looked around the room and recognized it from when she brought her in, but she had never entered through an abandoned hotel.
"Yes, there's a more formal entrance on the other side. You went up a flight of stairs and landed right in this hallway before. I prefer the long route myself" He said, reading Marinette's mind. She stared at him with wide eyes. Who was this man?
"Monsieur, Tikki said that you knew how to decode this book. Is that true?" she asked, holding out the ancient book she had borrowed from Adrien. The old man's eyes grew wide as they found the book. He looked at Marinette to Tikki.
"Tikki, where did you find this?" He asked and gesturing to the book. Marinette gave it to him and he stared at it like it might disappear at any moment.
Tikki and Marinette relayed the whole story to him. How a model named Adrien Agreste had been holding it, how Lila, or Volpina, took it, and how they took it from her. The old man listened while stroking his beard, absorbing every word with careful consideration.
"Do you know how this Adrien Agreste came to be in possession of the book?" he asked.
"No. He just had it one day at school. I've never seen him with it before" Marinette said.
"Would you have noticed?" the man asked. Marinette felt herself blush and look away, because of course the answer was "yes". The man chuckled.
"No matter. We have it now, and it is in the right hands" he said as he slid his fingers over the symbols on the front cover.
"Monsieur, please, but who are you?" Marinette asked. The old man chuckled again.
"Some call me the 'Great Guardian', others call me 'Master Fu', but you my little Ladybug can call me 'Grandpa'" he said with a laugh. Marinette gave a polite smile, but took note that he certainly was an eccentric old man.
"Grandpa, what can you tell me about the book? The miraculous?! Do you know how to stop the Papillion?!" Marinette said, quickly getting herself into a tizzy.
"All in good time, Ladybug, but first I think we better wait for your partner to get here. Shouldn't be much longer…" the old man said.
"Huh?! Chat Noir's coming here?! He'll know who I am!" Marinette said, panic setting in.
"Oh, you still don't know who he is?" The old man asked with a giggle. Marinette paid him no mind as she looked to Tikki.
"Tikki, transform me!" Marinette said and Tikki did as asked. Marinette felt her clothes disintegrate and then regenerate as her Ladybug suit. It felt wrong to transform in front of someone else, but she had to keep her identity secret from Chat Noir.
"Ah, there are few sites as lovely as the Ladybug transformation" mused the old man. Not a second later, there was a knock on the door.
"Chat Noir!" Ladybug gasped.
"Come in!" The old man said and the door quickly creaked open. Sure enough, Chat Noir came sauntering in. His eyes landed on the old man, but then scanned the room. When his eyes landed on Ladybug the widened.
"Ladybug?!" he asked.
"Hello, minou" she said with a smile.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I could ask you the same thing" she said.
"Well, er, some business about a book," as he said it, his eyes landed on the book in question, "Wha! Where did you get that?!"
"Ladybug found it" The old man said with a warm smile.
"Ah, my Lady, you always come through" he said with his signature flirtatious tone. Ladybug felt a twinge of guilt. She didn't feel very noble stealing her friend's book, even if it was for the greater good.
"Don't worry about it, Chat Noir" she said, looking down. Chat Noir found her eyes and gave her a kind smile. She returned it and felt her mood lighten slightly.
"So, my Lady, who's your friend?" he asked.
"I don't know myself…" she said as they both looked at the old man.
"Ah, I guess I can't keep myself a secret much longer. Ladybug, Chat Noir? I am the Great Guardian. I keep and protect all Miraculouses, and I am the one who gave you yours" He said lightly.
Ladybug felt her stomach bottom out and she didn't have to look at Chat Noir to know he was feeling the same. Ladybug unconsciously put a hand to her ear.
"You…brought Tikki to me?" she asked, a rush of emotion coming over her. The man nodded.
"So, it's all thanks to you?" Chat Noir asked. Ladybug looked at him and felt her chest tighten as she watched a single tear roll down his cheek. Before she realized what was happening, Chat Noir had crossed the room and wrapped his arms around the Great Guardian. At first, the man was surprised, but his face quickly melted into a sentimental smile as he returned the hug.
"Thank you…so much" Chat Noir said and Ladybug felt her eyes sting with threatening tears. She couldn't help but smile.
"There, there my boy. It's all to your own credit. You both had to pass my test" the man said and Chat Noir released him. He wiped his eyes and smiled.
"Monsieur, Plagg was telling me you know the secret to that book and I assume you know a great deal about the Miraculous. Would you please tell us what you know?" Chat Noir asked. The man sighed.
"Yes, yes of course. Please, sit. I'll get us tea"
Master Fu explained that he had been guarding the Miraculouses for over 170 years and that he was the one who decided who was deserving enough to hold them. There were a total of seven Miraculous ("That I know of"), but the Ladybug earrings and Chat Noir ring were the most powerful. He had chosen them because they both had strong hearts.
Chat Noir smiled at Ladybug when heard this.
"See, my Lady? We're purr-fect for each other" he said and Ladybug groaned.
"Master Fu, what about the other five Miraculous?" she asked, changing the subject. At this, Master Fu seemed to have a dark cloud come over him.
"Turtle, Peacock, Bee, Fox, and the Butterfly. I am the Turtle and Wayzz is my Kwami. I am not much of a fighter, but my Miraculous gives me the gift of long life and intuition," Wayzz, who had stayed fairly silent up until this point appeared and made the two teens gasp, "I have the Bee and the Fox with me, but I have yet to find suitable hosts for them. The Peacock…she-she made a noble sacrifice, but I fear her Miraculous fell into the wrong hands. Then, the Butterfly, Le Papillion…"
Ladybug gasped. Le Papillion was a Miraculous?
"But Master Fu! I thought that the Miraculous were to be used for good! Le Papillion is evil" Chat Noir said. Master Fu looked at the ground and then at Chat Noir. He shook his head.
"Ah, Chat Noir, yes, in a perfect world, yes, but I made a terrible mistake. I gave the Miraculous to the wrong person, and now he terrorizes Paris with his powers"
"Well, who is he?! You must know if you gave him the Miraculous! If we know who he is, we can defeat him. You said yourself we're the strongest of the Miraculous" Chat Noir said passionately. Master Fu looked as if his heart might break.
"I can't tell you. Not now" Master Fu said. The ears on Chat Noir's head drooped.
"But why?" he asked.
"I'm afraid, if I tell you, one of you will become known to the other. Le Papillion is someone that one of you is close to. Once I tell you, your partner won't take long in figuring out who you are" Master Fu said.
Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other. One of them was intimately connected to Le Papillion, but who? Ladybug quickly ran through her loved ones and none of them seemed likely to be Le Papillion.
"What do we do?" she asked.
"He must be stopped, that much is certain, but I am aware that you have kept your identities secret from each other for safety purposes. Tikki and Flagg probably cautioned you against telling each other, which I normally fully support, but in this instance…I think you may want to decide to reveal yourselves to each other. You'll need each other. It gets much harder from here-on-out, I'm sorry to say"
"We-we have to reveal our identities?" Ladybug asked as she felt a lump form in her throat.
"Not right now, if you don't want to, but I'm sorry to say that your knowing each other eventually is inevitable at this point" Master Fu said, his head hung low.
Ladybug found herself looking at Chat Noir again and he returned her gaze. Reveal her identity? To Chat Noir? She promised herself that she'd keep it secret, but that was starting to look like a promise she couldn't keep. Chat Noir looked like he was having his own internal struggle, when his face suddenly broke into a grin.
"Well, my Lady, it seems that soon, the cat will be out of the bag"
AN: Yay! My first fic for Miraculous Ladybug is here! I totally planned on being a casual ML fan, but then it took over my life woops.
Every time I start typing "Chat Noir" I accidently type "Chair" and I'm over it.
Where the hell am I going with this? No idea, but I promise a reveal, angst, and a kiss. Maybe like 3-4 chapters? I also by no means promise steady updates. I'm a grad student working two jobs and an internship. Be kind haha.
I also have an unfinished FMA fic and an unfinished Brooklyn 99 fic so… (I'm so eclectic!)
Thanks so much for reading! Please leave a comment! I want to know what you think!
