Trigger Warnings: Character deaths, violence, mild gore

The Tales of Peacock and Butterfly: Protectors of Paris

Chapter 1: The Origins of Peacock and Butterfly


He was late. How could he be late to his own show? It was Gabriel's first one, and the last thing he wanted was to make a name for himself as the designer who was late to his own show. He ran down the street, his messenger bag banging against his hip as his feet collided with the ground. Shoulders and arms rammed into him as he shoved through the busy Paris streets, but he didn't bother apologizing to the people he ran into.

As he pushed his way through the streets, he came tumbling into an older gentleman, causing the man to fall onto the hard concrete payment. At first, he wasn't planning on stopping to help, but after sending a quick glance over his shoulder and realizing that he had probably injured the man, he hopped to a stop. He turned swiftly, helping the stranger up onto his feet. "I'm so sorry. I'm in a hurry." He explained, his words muddled by how quickly he was speaking.

The man looked up at Gabriel almost curiously. "You're a swift one, aren't you?"

Gabriel blinked, confused by the rather elusive comment. "Uh, yeah…" He was cut off by the sound of his phone beeping. He looked at the clock and paled slightly, feeling his heart jump. He had five minutes. He looked between his phone and the man, only half paying attention. "Sorry, I'm in a hurry." He waved, turning on his heels and taking off into a run again, leaving a trail of dust behind him.

Gabriel arrived on the set of his runway panting, glistening sweat dotting his forehead. He was a mess, but at least he had made it there on time- by some miracle. Besides, he could always fix up his look before the show. He made his way backstage and set down his bag, when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

Gabriel turned, expecting to see the producer, but instead, his eyes fell upon a young woman with long, wavy blond hair and emerald eyes. A smile tugged on the corners of her soft, red lips. "You're Gabriel Agreste, right?" She asked, rocking back on her heals a little as she put her arms behind her back.

Gabriel blinked for a moment, almost not processing that she was talking to him. Of course, it wasn't like there was another Gabriel Agreste sitting around, but he couldn't understand why she was talking to him. Gabriel blinked rapidly a few more times, resisting the urge to shake his head and run his fingers through his hair nervously. "Uh, yes. That's me. Gabriel Agreste. The one and only…" He added a nervous chuckle at the end, almost kicking himself over how stupid he sounded.

To his surprise, her smile only brightened, her eyes glistening like gem stones as her excitement grew. "I'm Adalyn, one of the models who will be walking in your show." She introduced herself, holding out one of her hands.

Gabriel stared at it for a moment, wondering if he should shake it. Of course, it would be rude not to, but he was all sweaty- and as a model, she might not appreciate that. As the seconds ticked on, he watched her expression slowly dull, and he finally realized that it would probably be better if he shook her hand. He reached out, trying to return her happy expression. "Yes, uh, well, thank you for representing my work." He said awkwardly, taking his hand away. Since she didn't seem bothered by his rather clammy hands, he didn't say anything about it.

Adalyn giggled, her shoulders bouncing lightly. "Well, it is an honor." She responded, a light joking nature to her tone. Gabriel wasn't sure if he should be offended, but since he didn't want to be that guy he simply did not respond. "I wanted to introduce myself before things start to get really crazy back here. I didn't get to speak to you much during my go see." She explained, and Gabriel found himself struggling to remember back that far.

The process of interviewing people for his show had been a long, grueling process. Beyond it being just incredibly dull, most of the models – he found – showed up with absolutely no idea who he was or what his work represented. Actually, he had remembered several of them showing up without even knowing his name- which he found to be utterly ridiculous. If you are going to go walk for a designer, you should at least have the common sense to look up their name.

After a few solid moments of trying to remember Adalyn from all that time ago, he decided it best he simply pretend. "Ah, yes. It was unfortunate. I would have liked to talk to the potential models more myself, but as this show was put together on quite a time constraint, it was really…" He trailed off as she started giggling again, his mouth pressing into a firm line. "I'm sorry, did I say something funny?"

She covered her smile with her hand, clearly attempting to hide the fact that she was laughing. "N-No, I'm sorry I just… You don't have to be so formal with me, you know."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I'm sorry? This is just how I talk."

Adalyn stopped giggling suddenly, a deep pink flooding her cheeks. She bit her lip, her eyes darting to the wall as if she was debating taking the opportunity to bolt out of the room. "O-Oh… I guess I just assumed that—"

"Gabriel! There you are!" A voice from behind cut her off, distracting Gabriel. They both looked over at the producer of the show, who was running over to Gabriel with a slightly panicked expression. "We need you in the back. There might be an issue with the Spring Dress."

Gabriel frowned deeply, glancing back at Adalyn. "I should go deal with this. It was nice meeting you." He didn't wait around long enough to let her respond as he rushed off to deal with whatever it was that was going wrong.

Gabriel had never been so happy to fell the gentle hug of his fleece covers as he collapsed on his bed. It was pretty late, since he had to stay for tear down. It was only his first fashion show, but it seemed like everything that could have gone wrong did. His Spring Dress somehow got a rip in it that he had to patch up a half an hour before the show, there were broken shoes, late models, falling lights- seriously, a spotlight fell during the show. Thankfully no one was hurt, but it did give everyone a fright.

Still, Gabriel couldn't help but be thankful. He had been interning for years- ever since his last year of college- and it had started to seem like he would never get his name out there. Sure, he was only 25, but for some reason, he felt as though he was moving too slowly in life. He had always imagined that his name would be up in lights before he was 20, but it wasn't until he got to college that he realized how ridiculous that was.

Gabriel let out a long sigh and turned over onto his back, staring up at the drab, white ceiling of his apparent for a few moments before willing himself to get up and finish actually getting ready for bed. He stripped off his clothes and slipped on some nice, comfortable sweat pants before moving over to his bag to grab his notebook. He always carried a sketchbook around with him.

He dumped out his bag, jumping a little when something tumbled onto the floor. He frowned, leaning down to pick up whatever it was that had fallen, his hand brushing against the thing that had fallen, only then realizing that he didn't recognize it. "What the…?" He straightened up, inspecting the object in his hands over and over again.

It was a little black box, almost like a jewelry box, with a rather strange red design on the top. It certainly wasn't anything he owned. Perhaps someone had put it in his bag as a mistake? He opened the lid, curious about whether or not he would recognize whatever was inside, when he was suddenly blinded by a bright, blue light.


A/N: Hi guys! So this is my first fanfic in several years, so please excuse- well, everything. This has been something I've been thinking about for a while,and I decided to put it into writing to attempt to get back into the writing scene. This is probably going to be a very long fic so just be prepared. If you like the story, please leave a little review or message me, I love hearing from readers 3

Also, for the purpose of this fic I named Mama Agreste Adalyn.

Love,

Quinn

Note: I have seen Master Fu's kwami written as both Weiji and Wayzz. The sub I watched used Weiji, so that's the spelling I am choosing to use.

Bonus: "Are you sure you made the right choice, master? What if they are not ready for what is to come." The old man stood, stroking his gray beard as he watched the young man who helped him up off of the sidewalk. Such a lively young man.

Master Fu dusted off his red shirt, tucking his cane underneath his arm as he continued walking. "He has a good heart, Weiji. He is the one I am looking for." Master Fu continued walking as his little green kwami followed.

"I'm not sure if "good heart" are the words I would use..." The little Kwami began, but Master Fu held up his hand.

"He stopped to help a clearly defenseless old man up off the sidewalk. I think that's proof enough."

"After knocking you over." The Kwami replied flatly, but Master Fu simply shook his head, electing to ignore the remark as he continued in his search. A great evil was about to fall upon Paris, and Master Fu was going to do everything in his power to stop it.