'Where am I now? Why do I feel like I'm floating?' Michelle looked around at her surroundings, trying to get her bearings. She was in a large room, with tall windows and whiter than white walls; something caught her attention from the corner of her eye, when she turned around she was met with a large portrait of herself, and then she looked to a mirror off to her side. "Oh, so that's what happened", everything seemingly clicking into place, "I died".

The last thing she remembered was going out for a patrol over the city after she had tucked her son in. Oh god what had happened to her son!? What had happened to her husband!? In a panic she flew right to the door and tried to grab the handle, only for her hand to pass right through it. She tried a few more times to no success. Finally she just became frustrated and floated through the door. She flew down the empty halls of the house, could she call it that? It really did seem too large to be a normal house. It wasn't long before she came to what she could only assume was the main hall; and at the very end of the hall was a single massive portrait of two men. It was her husband Gabriel and her son Adrien. 'Gabe, what happened to your smile?' She wasn't sure how long she floated there in front of the stoic portrait, it could have been a few minutes or even a few hours. She looked outside to see that the sun had nearly set, time seemed to be a much looser concept after death.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sounds of clinking silverware below her. It was Adrien, sitting alone at one end of a long dining room table. At the other end was another meal. Before she could really think about it her husband appeared from the top of the stairs on his way to the table. It was almost nice, that they still had meals together; but they almost seemed forced. It was a little surprising to see that the meal itself only lasted about five minutes before Gabriel had gotten up to leave, having finished all of his supper. They had hardly spoken a word to each other; and what little they did speak was all about business. It would seem that Gabriel was having Adrien model for the company. She would admit, it was rather impressive how far her family had come while she had been gone. She looked toward Adrien to see he was looking right at her, and for a moment Michelle thought that for some reason he could see her. But one good look at his eyes said otherwise. In truth he was looking through her, or rather behind her at the somber portrait. "It didn't used to be like this", Adrien spoke as though it were the saddest truth in the world; and for him it really might have been. Michelle could feel her chest tightening. For all her family's success, was it really worth the increasingly distant relationship between them now?

Adrien got up too and headed off toward a separate end of the house. Even though she couldn't do anything Michelle followed after him anyway. She followed him into a room, his bedroom she supposed. He started talking, this time she was sure he still couldn't see her. So, who was he talking to? She didn't have to wait long to find out; soon a small black creature flew out from his beneath his over shirt. It was a kwami! But why did her son have a kwami? In a brilliant flash of green stood her answer. In the middle of the room stood her son no longer in his normal shirt and jeans, now he was covered neck to toe in leather, with a tail and ears to match. He had a miraculous, the Black Cat Miraculous even. But why did he have it; and what were the chances that her one and only son would have miraculous just like had so many years ago.

She was so consumed in her own state of shock that she nearly missed him when he leaped out the window; Michelle pondered at the back of her mind if getting lost in thought was a side effect of being a ghost. It wasn't difficult for her to follow Adrien, after all she could fly and phase through walls. She followed him all the way to the top of the Eifel Tower, where he sat down with his feet swinging back and forth over the edge. She watched him sit there for a little while, gazing out over Paris. She didn't have to wait long to find out what he was wait for, as a girl in skin tight red spandex swung herself up next to him.

'So he has a ladybug too', this came as little to no surprise, her kwami had mentioned to her before that there was almost never a time in history when the black cat or the ladybug were active without the other. She floated closer to listen in on their conversation.

"Bonsoir Mon Chaton", the Ladybug girl spoke. At the sound of her voice Chat seemed to perk right up, like someone had remembered his birthday; "Bonsoir My Lady, how goes your patrol?" he said with a flourish.

"Always with the nicknames, you can never just call me Ladybug can you?" she said her voice echoing with the light amusement she clearly felt in response to Chat Noir's antics. 'So their names were just Black Cat and Ladybug? I suppose it was just easier on them to have straightforward names.'

"Everything seems to be pretty quiet on my end, how about you?" said Ladybug.

"It's been the same for me, kind of nice to be honest it kind of nice; Papillon has been pretty heavy on the offensive lately and every new akuma seems to more powerful than the last, no matter how ridiculous their powers are." Chat said with a bit of exasperation showing through his calm facade.

Ladybug gave him an understanding look, "I know what you mean Minou, and it's starting to be a real proble…"

"AAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!…" whatever ladybug was saying was suddenly cut off by the fearful screams coming from below them.

Michelle watched as Chat Noir and Ladybug shared a look that said the same thing, "Break time's over", and without a moment of hesitation they both leapt off of the tower toward the source of the panic, and naturally she followed them.

She had been surprised to see what her son and his crime fighting partner were up against, an akuma was what they had called it. It seemed like it was a man except he was completely black and white, almost like he was straight out of an old photograph, and he had a small rain cloud that floated above his head, he called himself Apathetic. He had been going around taking parts of his own rain cloud and throwing it at people, whenever it hit all the color would drain out of them and they would take on this dejected look that easily said, 'Everything is meaningless, what's the point of going any further', as they just shuffled around completely ignorant of their surroundings.

The fight seemed to go on forever, whenever either of the two heroes tried to get close to Apathetic his cloud would grow dark and shoot lightning at them! After both of them seemed to have taken quite a few lightning bolts Ladybug had used her power to conjure up an electric fan to blow away Apathetic's rain cloud. Once she did that Chat ran up to Apathetic and used his power to destroy Apathetic's trench coat. What came out of the coat was what surprised her the most, it was a butterfly… a purple butterfly. It only got worse when Ladybug captured the butterfly with her yo-yo only to release it, only now it was a pure and innocent white.

It just didn't seem possible. She remembered that her son and Ladybug had said that these 'Akuma' were the cause of someone calling themselves Papillon. From what she had seen it was clear to her that whoever this Papillon person was they were in the possession of the Butterfly

Miraculous. The butterfly was not supposed to be used like this, much like the Turtle the Butterfly was supposed to be a teacher and mentor to both Miraculous holders and the common people alike. The last time she remembered the Butterfly being active was a man who went by Roi Alexandre, who as fate would have it also happened to be her father. But he had passed away a long time ago, before Adrien was even born. To think that someone had gotten ahold of her father's Miraculous and was using it like this; she was only a ghost now, but she could feel a cloak of sadness over her. What's more this person was using her father's Miraculous to hurt her son, whether they knew it or not. Her mind was made up, even though she was a ghost now she couldn't just float around and do nothing.

—-

Michelle decided to take her miraculous out for one last run in search of the guardian. Just as she was nearing Fu's shop she caught a glimpse of a girl. The girl was sitting alone in the park with a longing expression on her face; as she flew closer she could see the text conversation that was on the girl's phone. It seemed like it was a friend of hers, and that the friend would be out of town for a while with their family. She watched the girl longer still, she may not be able to feel emotions like the butterfly chosen could but it was rather easy to see how the girl was feeling. At first glance most wouldn't be able to see there was anything wrong, but if one were to truly look, they would see a girl trying so desperately to endure their quiet desperation. She followed the girl when she got up from her spot on the park bench, and floated behind her all the way to an apartment complex. She was still there when the girl walked inside and immediately headed to a kitchen area. The girl stood in front of the fridge for a brief moment before breathing out a dejected sigh, and then turned back around to head to another room before slamming the door behind her.

Michelle then looked to the fridge to see that there was a note held up by two heart and "u" shaped magnets. The note seemed to be from her mother, saying that he would be out of town for a few extra days on an emergency business trip. It would seem the girl's mother was the type to work around the clock with little time for those around them, it was a personality trait she was all too familiar with. She moved on toward the room Juleka a disappeared into and ghosted through the door. Inside she saw the girl was looking at a small collection of photos of her and a group of other kids, she noticed immediately that her son was in the picture. It seemed like an eternity before Michelle saw Juleka doze off, the pictures still sprawled around her. There was a reason she noticed the girl when she did; after all she was so close to her master's home, and yet she was stopped just in front of the threshold. She felt a small pulse of energy from her miraculous, and even now she could still feel the faint thrum of nervous energy. She wasn't quite sure why the miraculous was drawn to this girl, but her curiosity was beginning to peak as well.

—-

Michelle was awoken to the sound of an alarm clock going off, she was unaware that ghosts could still sleep. She heard a small groan come from the girl who had worked her way into a bundle of limbs and bed sheets as she reached out to try and find the offending device to silence it. She watched as Juleka went about a morning routine. She watched her through the morning, and then lunch, and then the rest of the school day. She followed Juleka as she walked home. The girl had barely spoken to anyone the whole day. She watched as Juleka stopped in front of a store window. The store was displaying Halloween decorations for the coming holiday. The display was dominated with B-movie zombies and motion activated grim reaper props; but Juleka was stopped staring at a display of a sheet ghost. The display itself was so crowded with the typical cheesy Halloween decorations that she almost hadn't seen the sheet ghosts, it was almost like they blended in with the background.

"I can relate, tiny ghost."

Michelle was surprised, she quickly turned her attention back to Juleka. She had thought that perhaps she had seen her. But Juleka's attention was still set on the small sheet ghosts in the window. Everything seemed rather clear to her now. Juleka was indeed lonely, but Juleka's real problem was that she felt invisible to the world. She felt that just like the small sheet ghost in the window, she seemed to fade into the background. Michelle had felt the miraculous respond to her earlier, but now it was pulsing with a fast and exited energy that matched what felt like her own heartbeat. This was her, she would be the next person to take up the mantle of the Peacock.

Michelle floated down so that she was just behind Juleka. She knew that Adrien wasn't able to see her earlier, but at the time she wasn't even trying to be seen. She let her form become visible for Juleka and whispered her name, "…Juleka…" Her voice was ethereal and other worldly as it floated in the air. Juleka seemed to have broken out of a deep thought. Michelle turned invisible again as Juleka turned around.

Juleka looked around, she had thought she had heard someone call her name, wishful thinking she supposed.

As Juleka began to turn back to the window, Michelle turn visible again. As Juleka turned her gaze back to the window her eyes widened when she saw the reflection of a woman dressed like a peacock. She quickly turned around to see the woman was now across the street and was even floating and appeared almost transparent, just like a ghost. Juleka heard her name again, "…Juleka…" she could see the ghostly woman's mouth move, but the words sounded almost as if they were whispered into her ear. The ghost then floated backwards around a corner. Juleka chased after her, but every time she rounded a corner the ghost would disappear behind another.

Michelle knew she could have just waited to give Juleka the miraculous until she was home; but as the previous peacock chosen she felt that something like this needed to be done in a dynamic and dramatic fashion.

Juleka felt like her current situation had made a cliché turn as she followed the ghost into an old church and up into the bell tower. When she got to the top she was almost speechless. The church was actually on a hill just outside of Paris, she could practically see all of Paris from that bell tower.

"…Quite the bird's eye view, isn't it?…"

Juleka was startled as she looked up to see the ghostly woman sitting on top of the bell.

"Yeah…um, do- do I know you?" Juleka asked.

"I would be rather surprised if you did; I was Paris' hero before Ladybug and Chat Noir came, and it has been almost 20 years since 'La Fureur Azur' last flew through the city."

"The Azure Fury?" Juleka thought out loud almost like she was trying but failing to remember the name.

The ghost, seeing that Juleka was clearly still confused, spoke up to break the silence. "There was no Papillon 20 years ago, I mostly fought common criminals and small time crime syndicates. That's why Paris needs a Peacock now more than ever."

"So then, why am I here?" Juleka asked still unsure of where she fit in all of this.

The ghost looked at Juleka with a soft smile and a bright twinkle in her eyes, "Because Paris needs a Peacock." Juleka was speechless. Juleka had barely even begun to process why any of this was happening, when in a second the ghost had leapt from the top of the bell to land directly in front of Juleka. "The current theme for super hero names lately seems to short and to the point, how does, 'Paon D'azur sound'?" Michelle asked, but it was rather easy to see that Juleka was having a difficult time processing everything that was happening; she would have slowed down to give the poor girl some time to think, but she was out time.

"Take good care of Duusu for me please", the ghost said as she grasped Juleka's hand, "The same goes for Paris too"; and with a light and hopeful smile her body fell away into a cloud of teal and purple feathers on the wind.

Juleka just stood there, still stunned with Miraculous in hand, all while watching ethereal feathers float on the wind.

—-

Michelle was floating again, but this time she couldn't see anything. Maybe she had just used too much of her strength to hold a transformation without her physical body. She could remember back when she was still learning about her powers as the Peacock holder. The Peacock Miraculous had deep ties to the living and nonliving energies of the universe, and that included spiritual energies. Duusu had even told her that in many different religions the peacock was a symbol of immortality. Maybe being immortal meant being a ghost. She was only just starting to figure out what she was capable of as a ghost. It would have been great if she would have known how to become visible to people when she was shadowing Adrien. Well, Duusu had a new chosen now, maybe she would be lucky enough that Duusu would teach his new charge how to summon her back. Either way, one way or another she would see her son again, she wouldn't truly rest until she did.

"I love you Adrien, just wait a bit longer, your Maman is still here."

Author Notes:

Honestly I have no idea how proper writing works, and I have always had trouble writing consistently from a single tense (I used to switch constantly, probs still do). I would be lying if I said this was a completely original idea so I'll be the first to say that it was inspired by 'poppicock's, "Miracles Aren't Free" story; its great read so I would recommend reading it as well, I bet you $5 that their story flows better than mine ;) But this has been in my head too long and I just want it out here. So here's the kinda One-Shot I wrote for… I guess this qualifies as an AU, Idk, here's the story.