Near the center of the city of Paris a daycare resided near a cute public park. Pigeons settled on every available roost, and young children anywhere from the ages of five to ten were playing games in the sunshine.

However there were three boys who were intent on playing a darker game, snickering to each other as they ganged up on a seven year old boy who looked close to tears.

"What a baby!" one of the boys laughed, walking forward a step to watch the little boy flinch, all three of the bullies laughing. The leader of the small group was a pudgy beady eyed brat with more cruel intentions then he had teeth.

The young boy couldn't have been older than seven but he was still trying to be brave, clenching his fists and saying in a wavering voice "Shut up!"

"Hey don't talk to me like that!" the leader barked, pushing him again, snarly cruelly before saying "Don't you know to be nice to your elders little baby? What a little wuss! Still scared of the dark!"

The two henchman he had backing him up laughed, picking the little boy up just so they could push him again but the boy wriggled away, running towards the gate at the end of the park and sprinting for the daycare building.

He was crying as he shot up the steps, ignoring any adults that shouted after them in favor of running. He knew they were following, all three of them and he just wanted to hide. The bullies were shouting his name, running up the stairs in pursuit.

"Where you gonna hide Cheney? Where you gonna hide that won't make you cry like a baby?!"

Cheney barreled forward, sobbing as he fell to his knees and ignoring the sting in them as he dug through his backpack. It was a Ninja Turtles backpack, but the older boys picked on him for that too so he left it behind, grabbing only a small flashlight and shouting behind him, "Leave me alone!"

Stopping to rummage through his bag only gave the older boys time to catch up to him, and the two cronies picked him up, laughing as the little boy cried.

"Put him in the closet!" the leader laughed, pointing towards a closet for the kids' jackets. To the little boy though it looked horrible, like a dark gaping mouth meant to swallow him whole.

"Stop it!" the little boy cried, clinging to his flashlight as he sobbed, "Please don't please, please!"

"Time out will make you toughen up," the leader sneered, laughing as his friends threw the seven year old roughly onto a fallen pile of coats.

When the door slammed shut and was locked from the outside the little boy's entire world was plunged into darkness, and he screamed. He wailed and cried and cowered, hyperventilating as he saw thousands of horrible monsters coming for him in the darkness around him.

He fumbled for his little flashlight, sobbing as he flipped it on and cowered around the light desperately.

He hated being afraid, he hated it. The boys had found out when they found his flashlight, digging through his stuff to tease him some more. It had been given to Cheney by his mother, so that he would never be afraid of being caught out in the darkness.

It was so awful… so dark and horrible. To Cheney darkness was the more terrifying thing, and those boys were walking shadows, monsters who needed cruelty to survive in the light.

The beam of light shook with his hands as he cried, terrified still even as the boys ran away to play another game of theirs. It was when those monsters left that the boy spotted another, a black squirming insect squeezing under the door.

It didn't matter how loud Cheney screamed or how much he cried, monsters came with darkness It was just a fact, and he was trapped. Thrown into darkness by those boys he hated so much…

NightLight… I want to let you out, back into the light. I will give you the power to shun all shadows, and I will let you back into the sun. But first, you have to promise me that you will carry out a small task of mine. What do you say child? There is no more reason to cry.

"I'll do it please just let me out," he sobbed, chest heaving as he pleaded, "Let me out, let me out!"

As you wish.


Nino reached out ahead of him, gently touching the bottom of the Seine River and pulling himself forward, looking above him through his goggles in awe.

'Wayzz…' he thought to himself, though he knew Wayzz could hear while he was transformed. 'This is epic.'

'I thought you might enjoy it," Wayzz chuckled, mostly leaving Nino to explore on his own.

Through the protective view of his goggles Nino could see the shimmer of sunlight far about him off the ripples in the river water, far down the way he could feel the disturbance of a boat slowly cutting through. He didn't feel out of breath, he didn't even feel like he was holding it, he was just under the water as if it were as easy as standing on the sidewalk.

'How long can I stay down here?' he asked, kicking with his feet and gently touching the river floor to guide him. He was amazed at how effortless it was to swim, the shell on his back creating no drag like he had expected.

'Depends,' Wayzz answered. 'If you are moving around a lot you would need to go up for air every ten minutes or so, but if you just laid down here to relax you could stay beneath the surface for several hours.'

'That's crazy!' Nino thought as he experimented, swimming faster now and effortlessly flowing through the water. 'This feels so good too. I've always liked swimming but this is completely different… it's weird.'

'I'm glad you like it,' was all Wayzz offered.

Nino turned upside down, his shield only an inch away from the bottom as he coasted along, watching the sunlight seep through the water and the blurry distance images of people and buildings passing by.

'Can people see me?' he asked, looking around him and noticing how clear it was for himself. He never remembered the river water being this clean.

'Probably not. Your goggles enhance your vision in several ways, they ensure that you can see clearly in most circumstances. The water would look much more clouded then it does for you. At night you'd be utterly invisible.'

'Cool,' Nino thought, kicking a little harder and enjoying the surreal feeling of the water. His super suit had the same effect he imagined a wet suit would have, his hood having essentially vacuum sealed itself around his hair as soon as he went below the water. He couldn't breathe underwater but he didn't really need too, it was the weirdest feeling. He really did feel like he could just stay down there for hours.

Nino watched as a large boat passed above him, sitting on the river floor to watch through the watery filter as the city continued to live. It was silent down there, or at least quiet, every sound that came through was muddled and distant.

Nino found the wall of the canal to lean against, sitting as normally as he would on a park bench a good thirty feet underwater. His buoyancy was perfectly controlled as well, it was completely effortless.

'This is nuts…' he thought to himself, and to Wayzz. 'I love it.'

Wayzz chuckled, and Nino glanced down at his activated miraculous with a smile.

'I thought you might. It can be peaceful and secluded, but it also has its uses in the field. It depends on your intentions.'

Nino's thoughts mulled and poured over themselves, eventually quieting and leaving him to enjoy the river. He closed his eyes behind his goggles, resting his head against the wall.

'Are you alright?' Wayzz eventually asked after several minutes of silence, his voice gentle and earnest.

'Yeah, surprisingly. I'm… surprisingly alright.' Nino hesitated, trying to explain before settling on, 'I think I'm okay with this. More on my feet now you know? When an akuma comes I'm going to do my best.'

'I'm very happy to hear that,' Wayzz said warmly. 'And very proud. You would make a good Guardian, if that is something you chose.'

Nino's eyes opened, staring at the sunshine as it was broken up by the water and feeling a little restless, so he started swimming again.

'Guardian,' he thought. 'You've mentioned that, when I first met you. Jade Turtles are usually Guardians yeah?'

'Correct,' Wayzz confirmed, tone subdued.

'Is that something you want me to do?'

Wayzz was quiet for a little, Nino navigating up river with no trouble at all as he waited for a response.

'It is a heavy title,' Wayzz eventually said. 'And there are things about accepting that position that you should be aware of. For one, it is a life appointment. You would be expected to carry out your duties well into your old age.'

'Explains why the other Jade was so old,' he thought simply, focusing more on where he was swimming.

'There is something else,' Wayzz said eventually, his tone heavy enough that Nino stopped, drifting with the gentle current as he looked towards his bracelet.

Finally, after a long stretch of time, Wayzz said, 'The miraculous stones affect their wielders to grant them powers. My stone is attached to you now that you have accepted the role of Jade Turtle, as it is attached to your friends now that they have accepted the roles of Ladybug and Cat Noir. The role of Guardian is an important one, and it has fallen to my Jade's t uphold because of one of the effects of their stone.'

Wayzz stopped and Nino watched his bracelet, wondering what about it was so heavy on Wayzz's mind.

'The miraculous of the turtle elongates the wielders lifespan and allows them to live almost triple the lifetime of a normal human. The other Jade you met, my previous master, will be turning 187 in December.'

For the first time since being below water Nino felt out of breath, kicking up towards the surface to come up underneath a bridge, startled and saying aloud, "What?! Are you serious he's almost two hundred!?"

'Yes,' Wayzz answered, tone wary as Nino was spotted by a few citizens and quickly dove beneath the water again. 'His name is Fu, though most of the kwamis refer to him as master.'

Nino dove, circling beneath the bridge aimlessly as he thought through what that meant.

'Wait you're just ratting on his identity? I guess I still don't know who that is so it doesn't really matter but like… Wayzz,' he thought, staring at his bracelet again. 'It just lets you live longer? Just like that?'

'Yes. It does not change the aging process drastically, you will still mature and grow into adulthood as anyone else would. It is in the life stage you would refer to as 'elderly' that is the most affected. You remain more functional and stronger than many other old people would be, and can persist for many many years past any other citizen. It is only because of that fact that I didn't mention it to you right away. It is not affecting you now, it would be another hundred years before it came into play but…' Wayzz hesitated. 'It is something to bear in mind.'

'So, I- … I would just live another hundred or hundred and fifty years longer?' Nino thought almost incoherently, feeling a really… disorienting mix of emotions. 'I- that's crazy! That's insane! I-it's cool I guess but… wow.' He stopped swimming, feeling like how he imagined a turtle would feel before it pulled its head into its shell. Something settled in, cold and dense.

'What about everybody I know?' he asked. 'I would just outlive them?'

'If you decided to take on the role of guardian,' Wayzz answered slowly. 'Then yes. You would.'

Nino didn't respond, he didn't know how. What do you even say in response to that?

'Wayzz. Wayzz I-'

'It's okay,' Wayzz said quickly, 'it's overwhelming I know, that's why I didn't tell you. You are so young Nino, I don't expect you to make that choice now. Like Plagg and I said before, this is a choice years down the line. Fu was well into his thirties before he accepted training to be the guardian.'

'I- … so I don't have to give an answer now?' Nino clarified, his heart pounding in his chest.

'You don't, you have time. I'm sorry to have startled you but… I wanted to tell you. It felt dishonest not to.'

'No… you're alright dude. That's just… crazy is all. I need to think about that… for like awhile.'

'Of course young master,' Wayzz answered genuinely, and Nino fought to urge to take a deep breath, since all it would get him is a lung full of water.

Nino was drifting slowly in the current near the river floor, lost in deep and twisted thought. Thoughts too big for a fifteen year old kid. He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut as he did and trying to clear his head. That was way too intense to deal with now, no way. Wayzz said he could wait so…

He opened his eyes, looking up again and hoping to catch sight of the calming sunlight, where instead he saw the blurry indistinct image of several people at the river's edge, wildly waving their arms.

'What?' Nino thought, Wayzz expressing similar confusion as he headed closer to the surface. As he got farther away from the bottom he became aware of their shouting and pushed himself faster, his head breaking the water and letting him hear clearly.

They were shouting for him.

"Woah woah!" Nino said, startled, kicking towards the edge and jumping out. There were four citizens, two of them the ones who had seen him before, and all of them look scared. "What's up?"

"Jade!" a woman pleaded, pointing down the street. "Please you're a hero too! There's an attack, at a daycare! All those kids are in danger, please you have to do something!"

Nino froze, eyes going wide as he was faced with these four people who looked at him like he would have answers, like he would protect them. And he became more and more aware of the mask that made them think that, and who he was supposed to be right then.

Jade Turtle looked down the street, heart hammering in his chest as the citizens pleaded again, wondering why he hadn't moved. Even from so far he could see something like… light. Huge giant flashes of white light and people running away shouting. Then he saw a mother, crying and calling for police.

All those kids are in danger. That's what she had said.

You're a hero too.

"U- I-" Jade faltered, shaking his head and gritting his teeth, before suddenly he reached back and grabbed his shield. "Okay. I-I'm on it."

The four citizens cheered, jumping to the side as he threw his shield down and jumped forward, instantly rocketing through the now vacant streets and weaving between abandoned cars. And every foot closer he got to the screams and flashes of light the more afraid he got and the tighter he clenched his teeth, forcing himself to continue.

His hood had loosened back up to its usual form as soon as he had left the water, fallen to his shoulders now as he headed forward.

'I can do this,' he thought, hands shaking as he balanced himself, turning another corner. 'I-I'm a hero too. I can…'

He could see the white light twisting shadows even from where he was, and now he could hear the sounds of fighting, the others already there.

What was he doing… who was he kidding? How could he do this? How the hell was he expected to do this!?

He was just a nobody.

'No,' Wayzz corrected him, his voice deep and gentle. 'You're wrong. You're a hero. Look at them,' he said, referencing the people he passed. 'Look at how they see you. You have power they do not. It is heroes who use that power, and even through your fear you head forward.' They turn a corner, one more turn away from an area that was permanently glowing almost too bright to look at. 'You have greatness in you, and the power to protect. Now fight for these people, and protect your friends.'

And Jade turned the final corner, drifting the turn on his shield and absorbing a hundred different things at once as fear tried to paralyze him.

The fight was taking place in the street, the high bank of the buildings all around them making like a box that was absolutely saturated with light. It was blinding and powerful, like a supernova in the middle of the road. Ladybug and Cat Noir were there, shielding their eyes and trying to move, but forced to dodge barely able to see as pure white beings lunged forward. They came from the center of the light, riding out from the pure white spot in the middle no one could even look at. All of them were different, complex imagined things all ready to fight. Some were wolves, others were knights on horseback. Two more still looked like… strange pure white glowing copies of Ladybug and Cat Noir, sprinting forward and ready to fight their blinded counterparts. It was a weird collection of things chosen to defend whoever had been possessed, which Jade could only assume was the person responsible for the source of the light.

He jumped forward, reaching out and feeling his shield attach to his arm as he shielded his eyes, trying to see. Cat Noir noticed him first, turning around and shouting out over the sounds of wolves howling and knights taunting, "Jade!"

Ladybug turned too, her eyes watering as she squinted to see her friend, fighting to see just like she was before she was forced to roll, and dodging the great sword of a pompous knight.

Jade Turtle held up his shield, providing at least partial shade for himself as he blinked, shaking his head. Then Wayzz spoke to him.

'Your goggles,' he reminded him, 'they'll adjust at your command! Use them to see!'

"Wh- oh, my- yeah!" he said aloud, focusing for a moment in a way he wasn't totally sure would work. How did one… magic. How did someone perform magic? But it worked, the lenses of his goggles shifting and tinting until even when he looked out from his shield, he could see clearly.

Just in time to see a pure white knight swing it's sword at him.

"Woah!" Jade shouted out, twisting the shield on instinct and flinching at the grating noise of the white steel skidding off the side, creating sparks when it bounced off the asphalt. The knight was jarred, staggering and Nino tensed, staring at it in fear as it prepared to attack again, and once more on instinct Jade poured all of his strength into his arm and slammed the shield into its chest.

The close range impact was so sudden and intense, that the apparently hollow suit of armor not only collapsed but practically exploded, pieces of armor flying out as the sword skittered across the floor. And Jade stood there blinking, confused.

"Holy crap!" Cat Noir shouted, whooping enthusiastically as he batted away a small pack of wolves attempting to dismember him. "Nice hit dude!"

"Uh," he hesitated, looking around him. "Thank you?"

His vision was clear, everything slowed down as adrenaline pumped through him. Anything outside of the supernova center of light was pitch black, his vision adjusted so he could see through the glaring light. He could only see his friends because they were lit up, forced to turn their backs to the brightness so they could even somewhat see their enemies. And Jade tensed as he saw a dragon like creature barrel towards him, running away from the center of the light. Away from the Akuma.

Jade looked up, looking over the shoulder of a horrific reptilian monster…

To see a little boy. Dressed in white, holding a flashlight.

Jade was thrown backwards as the dragon slashed at his shield, the force sending him into a harsh roll that left him gasping for breath. His arm bracing the shield ached and he scrambled to sit up, the beast already on top of him and slamming down on the shield, pinning him to the ground.

"Jade!" he heard Ladybug call out, getting thrown back herself as soon as she was distracted, but Nino focused on himself, fighting to remain calm, to think of anything.

"Make it grow!" he suddenly heard, the familiarity of the voice sending a spike of panic through him that had nothing to do with the dragon. "Throw it off!"

Jade didn't have to look up to know who it was, to know who the idiot willingly loitering in an attack zone was. He just follow her advice, and threw the damn dragon through a store front window.

He gripped his shield, so pumped and freaked out he was instantly pissed, turning and catching sight of exactly who he knew would be there, hiding behind a car.

"Alya!" he shouted, angry. "Why the hell are you sitting in the middle of a fight!?"

She was shielding her eyes, having given up trying to film the akuma directly since it was just a plain white screen and focusing on him. She even had the nerve to smile.

"This is where the heroes are," she called, "obviously!"

"You are-" he started to say, stopping as the dragon clawed out and charged him with a roar, taking his absolute terror, irritation, and pure instinctual action into slamming it into the ground as he said, "unbelievable!"

Jade stumbled back, the dragon still mobile but extremely dazed, so he took the chance to look around.

Cat was on the ground, kicking up with his legs to throw off the wolf and bo-staffed it into a poof of dust and light. Ladybug was trying to get to higher ground to try and see but was stalled by a few sword wielding soup cans, and Cat Noir was getting irritated.

"I can't even see this guy!" he shouted, readying his staff. "I'm just gonna hit him!"

Jade froze, eyes widening as he looked again towards the center of the light.

There was a little boy, probably only about seven years old, crouching on the street. He was dressed in pure white, not so much as a mask or anything, just him and his little yellow flashlight. He was playing with it, it looked like, making a shadow puppet of a dog against the ground somehow even though the light seemed to be emitting from the boy himself. As soon as he crafted the shadow another wolf formed, sprinting forward to harass Ladybug.

But he was just a little boy.

"Wait!' Jade shouted, sprinting away from the dragon that was slowly regaining its senses, "Cat! Stop!"

Cat hesitated, eyes shut they were so irritated and ears swiveling in Jade's direction. "What!?" he replied.

"It's just a little kid! He's like a little elementary school kid you can't attack him!"

Cat Noir froze, shielding his eyes so he could at least somewhat look at the hero who stopped next to him, peering over his shoulder and turning to defend against the dragon. "What?!" Cat asked again, following Jade's lead and turning to brace for an enemy he couldn't even see yet. "How can you see him!? How do you know!?"

"My goggles!" he rushed to explain, backing up towards the blinding center of light. "I can see him, he can't be more than six or seven dude!"

"Well how are we going to get to him!?" Cat shouted back, squinting at the lizard creature as it charged, ready to dodge. He and Jade rolled to either side of it, forcing it to choose. It chose Jade, it seemed to hold a grudge. "Ladybug and I can't see we can't even get close! The light pushes us back or the minions drive us off!"

Jade focused on the dragon, bringing up his shield and trying to think, heart pounding in his chest as he was suddenly away of the sound of metal crashing to the ground and Ladybug was at his side, a heap of armor in her wake.

"Cat's right!" she shouted over the racket of the enemies, "We can't get close! Jade I'm sorry, but you've got to get to them! Me and Cat will watch your back as you go for the object, just get it and throw it to me!"

"I- by myself!?" he stammered, swallowing and shaking his head again, fighting to be brave. "I- okay. Okay I'll try!"

"You can do this!" Cat called as Jade turned towards the supernova. "I know you can man we're counting on you!"

Jade hefted his shield, gritting his teeth as fear coursed through him, but he looked again at his enemy.

And the little boy was watching him.

Jade Turtle approached slowly, shield raised and ready but still looking at the little boy, matching his eyes. He got within fifteen feet of him before he reacted, standing up and brandishing his flashlight.

"Stop!' the small voice shouted, "Go away! You're a monster monsters aren't supposed to be able to stay in the light! Leave me alone!"

"I'm not a monster!" Jade called out, his heart aching as he saw how very young this kid was, holding a flashlight like it could protect him from the dark. With the power he had now… maybe it could. "Listen little man," he tried, speaking in a soft voice as he kept walking forward, the little boy taking a step back so he stopped. "I'm not a monster, I'm your friend. I'm trying to save you from the monster, it got in your flashlight right? I need you to give it to me."

"No!" the little boy immediately shouted, crouching to make another shadow puppet. "You're a bully! I won't let you put me in the dark again I won't! If I get the miraculous then I won't have to go back to the dark, he promised!"

"He's lying to you!" Nino shouted desperately as something started to form. "Hawkmoth is the bad guy not us! He's the one whose hiding, we are standing right here in the middle of the light and we're okay! We aren't monsters!"

"Shut up!" the little boy screamed, making a claw like hand shape facing down, the fingers twitching like spider legs. "You're a monster!"

Out of the air, a collecting of beams of light and dust pulled together, until sudden the air was filled with a horrible and disgusting hissing and a rhino sized tarantula appeared to defend its creator.

"Oh god," Jade muttered to himself, taking a step back. "Oh man I really hate spiders. Can you make another knight little guy?"

The spider lunged, Jade rolling to the side and brandishing his shield, trying to think. It was massive, its fangs dripping with pure white venom as it skittered towards him, trying to grab at him. It was fast as hell, barreling towards him like a nightmare, a monster in the dark.

He raised his shield to defend, getting pushed back a few feet as its fangs hooked around the edge, trying to pry it away with its legs. He started to make it grow, causing it to shriek in anger and claw at him even faster. But still Jade looked over, even as he was pinned to the ground to see the little boy waiting, watching to see what would happen.

"I know you're scared!" Jade called out on impulse, bracing his feet against his shield and pushing out so the spider stumbled back. "You were scared of the dark right? Is that what happened? The only monster in the dark is Hawkmoth, and with heroes around you don't have to be afraid of him! But you can't listen to him! You have to tell the monster to go away little guy!"

"They threw me in the dark!" he cried, getting emotion and the spider twitched in response, getting more aggressive. "Even when I said please! They knew I was scared and they laughed at me! Hawkmoth let me out, and I promised to get him what he wants!"

"He's using you!" Jade tried to futilely explain, something about seeing a little kid in this spot just… it was indescribably. He wanted to fight, he wanted to win because he wanted this kid to be okay. He didn't want him to be afraid of the dark anymore. "He's tricking you, pushing you around telling you what to do! That's what bully's do, he's a bully and he'll hurt you. Give me the flashlight little guy, I want to help you!"

"No!" he shouted again, crouching down and Jade cursed under his breath, lashing out with his shield and causing the spider to stumble. He slammed down on one of its legs, slowing it down a little, but not before a new and different hiss sounded.

Jade risked a glance away and huffed, looking at the massive towering white viper and saying, "Really?" before dodging, sprinting around but boxed out by the boy's guards.

He couldn't just wait, the kid would keep making these things forever until he got overwhelmed. He needed to make a play for the object but he didn't have enough time!

Wait.

Oh.

Oh that's good.

"Wayzz!" he asked, strafing his enemies and trying to stay calm. "How do I use the thing!? The power!"

'You have to say Time Crawl! Then whatever you hit with your shield will be slowed down to the point they are almost frozen for one minute!'

"I've got to try that!" he said, sounding a tad desperate as he readied his shield, figuring whatever the hell happened at this point happen.

And then he shouted, "Time Crawl!" and sprinted.

Even amid the huge wash of white light he could see the dark green magic gather in his shield, feel it rush through his arms and pour into it as he ran forward. It was a weird, draining feeling, but what he focused on most was sliding between the two enemies, baiting them to stack so he could slam both of them in the face at the exact same time. And both slowed to a crawl in a flash of green light.

"Haha!" Jade laughed as he slid on the ground, looking up at the slow-mo monsters. "That totally worked!"

'The flashlight!' Wayzz reminded him, Jade looking away from his victory and towards the startled and confused boy.

"Right!" he said, scrambling to his feet and running forward, the boy shouting in fear and falling to the floor.

"It's okay!" Jade tried to assure him, dropping his shield to the floor with a clatter and wrapping his arms around the struggling boy, restraining him. "It's gonna be okay in just a sec!"

"Stop it!" the little boy was shouting as Jade ripped the flashlight from his grasp, reeling back and hurling it towards where Ladybug still stood shielding her eyes. "Give it back! Stop it, please!"

"It's gonna be okay," Jade said again, holding him tight and watching as Ladybug fumbled for the item, running towards safer ground before smashing it to the ground. "I've got you little dude, it's okay."

The little boy was still struggling when Jade heard Ladybug call out, a flash of red light washing over the object, and then shooting out towards the boy in his arms. Just like that, the blinding light died and Jade was momentarily plunged into unsettling darkness before his goggles readjusted, returning to normal just as the boy did.

He was little, wearing an orange shirt with blue sleeves that was smudged with dirt from playing games. His jeans were scuffed like his knees had been scraped, but any wound that had been there was fixed up along with everything else.

Jade relaxed his arms, not immediately moving away from the kid as the adrenaline started to wash out of his system, his hands admittedly shaking as he tried to pull together everything that had just gone down. He only snapped out of it when he heard a small voice say, "I- I'm not in the dark?"

Jade Turtle looked down at the little boy sitting before him on the street, his arms close to his chest as he peered up at the stranger surrounding him.

"Who are you?" he asked a little fearfully, looking him over and relaxing a little as wonder settled in his eyes. "Are you a hero?"

"Um," he hesitated to answer, looking at the little kid who… he had just saved. "I guess… I am. Yeah, I'm a hero."

That was weird to say, even after all that.

"And a turtle?" the little boy asked, staring at his shield nearby, his expression lighting up. "A hero turtle? Are you a Ninja Turtle?"

Jade blinked, staring at him for a full second before laughing heartily, all of his tension and fear pouring into the sound and making him laugh extra hard. "A Ninja Turtle? Sure. I'm down for that, you like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles huh?"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed, forgetting about his strange predicament in favor of his favorite subject. "I love all of them! Leonardo is my favorite though, he's so cool!"

"He's a good leader," Jade agreed, smiling at the little boy. "I like Michelangelo the best."

To his surprise the little boy scrunched up his nose, laughing as he said, "I like him too, but he talks really funny."

Despite everything, all the insanity, Jade raised an eyebrow and smiled, saying, "Oh what cause he says… let's see. Cause he says, Cowabunga dude!"

The boy smiled so wide it looked like someone had just told him he was going to Disneyland, the little kid clapping his hands and laughing along with the hero.

After a moment and with his permission, Jade stood, picking the boy up and settling him into his arms with the little dude helpfully attaching his shield to his back again. It was only then that he looked around, and saw his friends staring at him.

Ladybug and Cat Noir stood side by side, totally flabbergasted to see him standing there with the little boy in his arms. The sheer pride in their eyes was so… insanely embarrassing that he found himself really wanting to go back to the river again. Cat Noir looked like a father whose son just got the winning goal, and Ladybug looked like she was going to cry. It made the back of his neck feel hot. However looking away wasn't easier, because his eyes settled on Alya who was filming him with shining eyes.

Her mouth was slightly open, staring at him in awe, and also something like… it was hard to put a name to. It was a look like 'I knew it.' That made him feel embarrassed too.

Jade stood in the middle of the street awkwardly, attempting to listen to the little kid in his arms chatter about turtles until he jolted at a beep coming from his wrist.

"Oops," he said aloud, noticing the shading difference of the spaces of the turtle shell, now three out of five. "Forgot about that part."

"You used your power!?" Cat Noir exclaimed, hands in the air. "I didn't even get to see!"

"Get out of here Jade," Ladybug said, stepping forward to grab the kid and smiling at him. "We'll meet up later to talk more about this but seriously… you did amazing. We couldn't have done it without you."

Jade hesitated, looking away and grabbing his hood as if to hide himself, pulling it up as he said, "Well… you guys would have figured something out."

"We owe that win to you," Cat Noir insisted, Ladybug nodding but Jade's attention was caught by the little boy she was holding.

"What's your name?" he asked, leaning forward so that Ladybug had to struggle to adjust. "You saved me right? From the dark?"

Jade stood there for a moment, looking at his friends in turn, including Alya, before he looked back at the little boy and smiled.

"Jade Turtle little man. And you were really brave. You don't have to be afraid of the dark anymore, nothing can get somebody as tough as you. You've got the heroes in Paris watching your back, so don't be afraid all right?"

Jade ignored his friend's proud smiles and just focused on the boy, whose eyes watered slightly as he beamed at him, saying "Okay! I'll be brave, I'll do my best not to be scared anymore. I want to be brave, like you Jade!"

He stood there for another second, stunned as the little boy looked at him like… well.

Like he was a superhero.

His bracelet beamed again and his eyes widened, laughing awkwardly as he backed up. "Oops, sorry little dude I've got to go. Uh," he looked back at the super duo, "I'll meet up with you guys later."

He backed away, grabbing his shield and tossing it down, now a little rushed to get out of sight and zooming forward without any more words. He heard the little boy calling out goodbye, and he couldn't help the smile that found its way onto his face as he passed Alya, the reporter still staring at him in awe as he turned the corner and vanished from sight, darting between buildings a few blocks away before dropping his transformation with a stumble.

Nino stopped in the alleyway, lunging to catch Wayzz as he reappeared in a flash of light and started to fall in exhaustion.

"I'm sorry!" Nino immediately apologized, looking concerned, "I knew it would wear you out but are you cool?"

"I'm alright Nino," he responded, a little out of breath but pushing himself to sit up, smiling happily at his charge. "You did it young master, you were amazing. You were the hero I knew you could be, and I'm very proud."

Nino gaped, floundering for words before he just laughed almost in shock, dropping his head a little and laughing towards the ground.

"I did it," he finally said. "I actually… I fought a giant spider and fifteen foot tall viper."

"I know," Wayzz chuckled tiredly, waving a little fin. "I was there."

"I used a superpower," Nino said, like it was only just now really settling it. "Like an actual one. And I saved a little kid and… helped. I was helpful like, they needed me."

"And they will need you still," Wayzz added, passively letting Nino place him in his hat where he could snooze on his head.

Wayzz fell asleep almost instantly, quietly snoring as Nino just meandered in the alleyway for a moment, heart still racing as he said it again.

"I did it," he whispered, starting to laugh. "I actually did it!"