Chapter 2

Marinette had no luck finding Westley in the last week. She had caught him just a day after he gave up the miraculous and tried to convince him to at least talk to the Guardian. He hadn't said a word, nor taken off the helmet. After that, no luck. Her patrols with Cat Noir hadn't shown any signs of the loud motorcycle, either. Marinette was beginning to fear he had skipped town.

Until the following Monday morning.

Marinette couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Adrien hopping off the back of the motorcycle she had been looking for. He handed the helmet back to Westley and walked with Nino into the school.

...

Earlier that week...

Master Fu was meditating peacefully between clients. Wayzz was enjoying a tiny cup of tea. It was a quiet afternoon; no akuma attacks for the day, even. Until he heard his door close with more force than usual.

He opened an eye to see a leather jacket and a familiar black helmet with a silver scribble barely big enough to notice on it's side. He gave a smile.

"Westley Rheys," he greeted. "I had hoped to see you and your sister again. Please sit. What brings you to Paris?"

Westley reached small hands clad in fingerless gloves up to the helmet. Blonde hair fell to the left shoulder and green eyes peered through long lashes. Ardyn Rheys gave a forced half-smile, "Westley couldn't make it."

Master Fu's smile dropped as her meaning hit him.

...

Ardyn Rheys road through the streets, zipping through cars just as she would've in San Diego. Parisians were equally as happy about it as San Diegans had been, but she'd long since stopped caring about what others had thought. It brought nothing but trouble. That's why she was in Paris in the first place: caring about people had let her down. More specifically, her big brother, Westley.

Westley was only a few minutes older than she was, but he was an old soul. He took after their mother, Amelia. His heart was big enough to love those that didn't deserve it, and it lead to his ruin.

Master Fu had bestowed the Gargoyle Miraculous upon him at age ten, but Ardyn didn't know why. The old man knew nothing about them. They were raggedy twins who'd lost everything and were cast out from society for the stipulations surrounding their parents' deaths. Their older sister escaped mental health facilities so often, it was becoming tiring to hear. By the time they were twelve, she was gone; she stole their dad's old Chevy and disappeared into the night.

When they turned eighteen, they disappeared too. But Westley became a superhero, and Ardyn clung to him entirely too tight. Three years ago, her grip slipped, and she never got him back. Now she was in Paris, seeking out an uncle that was related by marriage and returning a curse back to the old bastard that stuck her brother with it.

It was chance that she had happened to rescue Cat Noir that day. He looked so young. Not too much older than her dear Westley when he received Rocc. Fury had driven her to help stop the Giant. Ladybug didn't look any older than Cat Noir. She wasn't sure which infuriated her more.

The address came up faster than expected, but the looming building was hardly welcoming. Everything she'd read about her allusive uncle was less than comforting. She took a deep breath of the evening air and pushed the intercom button.

...

Cat Noir landed in his window, his ring beeping one last time before giving up. Plagg flew out and flopped on the couch, an exasperated groan coming from him.

"So weak... need... Camembert!" he whined.

Adrien rolled his eyes and turned to the mini fridge, "Are all kwamis this dramatic?"

"You're the lucky one, my friend. I'm one-of-a-kind," Plagg responded before rolling to his back.

Adrien grabbed a piece of cheese and turned to toss it when he heard a thud from the other side of the room.

His head snapped over to the desk, where a blonde woman in a leather jacket had dropped her phone... and her jaw.

Adrien's eyes went wide as saucers. Plagg peaked over the sofa's back.

The woman looked back and forth between the two of them, making small noises as if she was trying to speak but couldn't push the words all the way out.

Plagg offered a guilty grin, "Uh, mee...ow?"

...

Adrien sat on the couch across from Ardyn Rheys, his cousin from the States. Her hair and eyes matched his, and his mother's, but her skin was darkened with years of harsh sun, unlike the fair complexion he wore. Her hair was tightly pulled back on one side with three little braids, the rest flipping over to tangling waves that barely touched the shoulder of a well-worn leather jacket. He stood only to her shoulder, at least with her clunky motorcycle boots, and her dark jeans sported knee stress that his father would never have allowed on Adrien's clothes.

"So, we've never really formally met," Ardyn continued her explanation. "My pop kept pictures of your mom and dad on the wall, but I was too young to remember meeting them. Your mom was barely a month into her pregnancy when I met her. And even my sister was knee-high to a cricket back then."

Adrien enjoyed her accent and foreign sayings, yet didn't always know what she meant. He tilted his head and let her continue anyway, hoping to get back to the whole kwami situation.

"I finally made it here. You guys were easier to get in touch with than my mom'a side of the family. My Uncle David's assistant isn't nearly as nice as your dad's." She threw her elbow over the back of the couch. "He's in New York, but after living in San Diego the last few years, i needed a change from busy American cities."

"Why didn't Natalie tell me you would be coming?" Adrien asked. "I would've been excited to hear about a cousin. It's not often that I get visitors."

"It wasn't planned. Getting around town is hard enough on your own. Getting across the country, then across the Atlantic is a whole other ball game. It took me six months just to get to Europe. Any appointment I'da made would've been missed."

Adrien gawked. "Six months? Did you swim?"

Ardyn laughed, "I rode most of the way. The plane ride was tricky, but I was able to call in a favor from a friend with a cargo plane. We landed in Portugal somewhere, I think. I don't really know. I didn't bother to study anything other than French."

Adrien was awestruck. His cousin had traveled all through the United States, then halfway across Europe on a motorcycle without a care in the world. then had managed to swoop in and save Cat Noir's life before aiding in the capture of an akuma.

"That's amazing! You did all that just to get to Paris?" Adrien was leaning forward, intrigued.

"Pretty much. It's not as glamorous as it sounds, though," Ardyn laughed. Her smile toned down and her eyes met his directly. "So are we going to talk about the sassy little cheese-hound?"

Adrien furrowed a brow, "The what?"

Plagg belched loudly, "She means me."

"Oh, that." Adrien scratched the back of his head. "That's Plagg. He's a kwami. That's how I... become Cat Noir."

Ardyn nodded, "How long have you had him?"

"Only a few months now. I got mine right about the same time as Ladybug," Adrien answered. "And all he eats is Camembert." He sent an annoyed look to the tiny black cat that was raiding the mini fridge.

Ardyn wrinkled her nose, "I had hoped it wasn't dirty socks that I was smelling."

Adrien shook his head, frowning. "I wish."

Ardyn let out a laugh. "What about Ladybug?"

"What about her?"

"Do you know who she is? Her kwami's name?"

Adrien shook his head in dismay, "She doesn't want to reveal our identities to anyone." He lowered his head, and his voice. "Not even each other."

Ardyn pinched her brows in thought, "So you trust each other with your lives, but not with your faces?"

Adrien sighed, "I guess."

Ardyn read his expression a little longer than was polite. "That must be hard," she suppressed a smirk, "considering how much you adore her."

"Yeah." Adrien's eyes went wide, "I mean- she... we just... darn it."

"Aw, sunshine, do you love your bugaboo?" Ardyn scooted closer and nudged a very red Adrien, who was still stammering.

"You should see her," he finally sighed. "So sure of herself, so willing to help others. She's... amazing."

Ardyn smiled, "Does she know you feel this way?"

Adrien's smile fell, "Yes. She's in love with someone else."

Adryn put her arm around Adrien's shoulders, pulling his head under her chin. "I'm sorry, sunshine. Do you know who it is?"

Adrien made a negative hum under her chin, "She won't tell me anything about herself."

"But obviously, she thinks very highly of you," Ardyn comforted. "Maybe she's torn?"

Adrien sat up, her arm falling from his shoulders, "Torn?"

"Maybe her feelings for this other person are her logical way of keeping herself safe. I mean, if she allowed herself to fall for you, it would be a difficult relationship, with secrets. It's possible she's trying to protect both of you."

Adrien forced a smile, "Are all cousins like you?"

Ardyn raised a brow, "Nosy?"

He laughed, "No. Helpful."

Ardyn shrugged, "I never met any other cousins. My brother was pretty helpful. Most of the time he just irritated me, though. It kind of depends on which way the wind blows."

...

Every chance Cat Noir got that week, he would ride into battle on the back of Ardyn's motorcycle. Adrien would never be allowed the luxury, but the ears and tail meant a new life. So, he surfed on the back of the seat, arms wide in the wind as the bike wove through the alleys to find a good spot to power down.

"That was a close one," Adrien huffed as Ardyn tossed him his school bag.

"Try and be careful, sunshine. I don't have powers like you. Any further away and You would've been pigeon food."

Adrien shuddered, "Noted."

"Hurry up, before you're late," she ruffled his hair.

Adrien waved and took off toward the school.

Ardyn set her jaw. There was a reason she had been on this side of the city today. She had an errand to run.