Chapter Eight

A/N: Like I said in Double-Jinx, things are about to deteriorate from Miraculous canon at alarming speeds. Hold onto your hat. The actual Volpina part might take a while to get to but we'll get to it. And I'll address some of the changes I made in an A/N at the end, promise. And! Mixed Signals has a tumblr page! Just search up mixed signals official if you're interested!

Volpina

Her father was dead.

It had all happened so fast. She decided that she wasn't going to be put down by Helen anymore, loudly announced said decision to Helen, and then waited until her father came back to tell him about Helen hitting her.

He was dead when she found him.

The autopsy said poison, and Annabeth knew it was Helen. She knew it. She had no proof, but her gut told her that was too much of a coincidence to be ignored. Today was his funeral, and Annabeth wasn't ready in the slightest. She hadn't told any of her friends, dropping off the radar and ignoring messages from them. She went out of her room for akuma attacks, food, and to purchase a new lock for her door. That was it. Now, she leans against the frame as Malcolm pleads with her.

"Annabeth, please," he says to her as if she's a petulant child.

"I'm not going anywhere near that woman," she says stubbornly. Malcolm sighs.

"Fine. Be like that. But you know Helen will do something bad if you don't," he tells her. He's right. Helen will do something horrible. But she's not going to say goodbye to her father with Helen loudly sobbing next to her. She's not going to let Helen see her cry. She'll do it in her own way, on her own time. But she'll do this way, too. She unlocks the door and stares up at Malcolm angrily.

"If you know that she'll do something, why do you let her do it? You're the damn adult in this relationship and you'll just sit by and watch her hurt a child?!" Her words end on a shout and the Gorilla comes pounding in to make sure everything's okay. He might actually be loyal to her..."Everything's fine, G. We're just chatting about how Malcolm knows I'm being abused and does nothing," she says sweetly. His eyes widen and she knows that she has an ally who just might be able to protect her. She takes his arm and strolls down the hallway, heading downstairs to get into the car that will take her to this sham of a funeral.

It is such a sham. When she looks around, she doesn't see any family friends. All she sees are stone-faced business partners who, after the funeral, immediately suck up to Helen. It's revolting. She, like she resolved to do, doesn't shed a tear. Doesn't speak to anyone. She sits upright in her chair and when it's over allows the Gorilla to lead her back to the car. When they reach the Chase mansion, instead of heading to her room, she takes a slight detour. She heads to the kitchens and sneaking stealthily past the cooks, grabs a bottle of wine from the shelf. She'll be drinking to her father tonight. Then, concealing the bottle beneath her jacket, she heads to her room and lies on her bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about what she could have done. Night falls soon and Plagg, who hasn't spoken much either, instead preferring to nestle into Annabeth's pocket, flies up and pops a cheese in his mouth.

"Ready when you are, kid," he tells her. She nods.

"Plagg, claws out," she mumbles. In a flash, she's not Annabeth, bound-to-earth-and-Helen Annabeth, she's Lady Jinx. A confident, bad-ass super-heroine who never gives up. Jinx grabs the wine, pushes open her window, and jumps out, flipping through the air and landing neatly on the wall. She takes off running, leaping across roofs when she needs to. She flies by Thalia's house, Apollo's house, and finally pauses at Percy's house. His lights are on and she thinks he's drawing something. She doesn't go in. She runs past them all, Paris flashing by in a blur of lights and people, until, finally, she's there. The graveyard. She leaps down from the roof she's been standing on and approaches the gate, pulling her staff as she goes. There are no akuma's but it comforts Jinx to have protection, perhaps from the memories. She wanders among the graves, taking her time as she goes. Finally, she's there. The ground's a bit moist from a rain-shower earlier in the afternoon but she sits anyways. Taking a deep breath, she uncorks the bottle with a bit of struggle and takes her first sip. It's not bad, she decides, but a bit sour. She takes another, and another, and finally she feels strong enough to start talking.

"You are an idiot," she says to the headstone. "I was being hit by Helen under your nose and you knew nothing! Nothing! Even before Helen, you never paid attention to me. You never wanted to see my buildings, you were always working. I think you loved your work more than me. And your stupid toy planes-" Her voice catches and she downs few more swallows. "You never let anyone near them, never let me so much as touch them, and you let someone break your daughter? A human being, who's not perfect, not anywhere close, but your daughter. I'M YOUR DAMN DAUGHTER!" she shouts at the tomb stone. She starts drinking more and now nearly half the bottle is gone. "You left me alone with her. You left meee," she says, tears starting to come. "I trussted you." She starts rocking on the ground and crying, bottle clutched in fist. She doesn't say anything else, only stopping to take a few more sips before angrily throwing it at the tombstone. It shatters and a few shards imbed themselves in her arms. She loses track of time, sitting there and crying. She doesn't notice a stealthy form creeping up behind her. He moves in front of her and crouches. Luckybug.

"Jinx. What the hell are you doing?" he asks, more confused and worried than angry. She swipes the back of her hand across her face, covering it in mucous and tears.

"My dad's deaad. He left meeee!" she wails. He moves closer to her, trying to make out her features. He pulls out his yoyo out and turns it into a flashlight, shining it over her face. It glints off the shards sticking out of her arm and he sucks in a breath. Turning the flashlights to the ground, he catches the form of half a bottle, ends broken off.

"Jinx, are you drunk?" he asks her, although honestly, there's no need to question it. She pauses crying for a few moments to peer blearily up at him.

"Nooo. Are you mad at me?" She starts crying again and he sighs. Making a decision, he scoops her into his arms and takes off. She stops struggling after a bit and relaxes, still crying. As he gets closer to his house, her sobs start to slow and her breath evens out. He lands neatly on his balcony and opens the trapdoor, climbing inside and putting her carefully on his bed. She startles awake and sits up. Her eyes seem more clear, but he still doesn't think that she's fully in control yet.

"Where am I?" she asks slowly, peering around the room.

"My place," he replies, grabbing first aid supplies and climbing up to sit next to her on his bed. She shakes her head.

"You know I can't know where you live, LB. Are you kidnapping me? Trying to get me to reveal my identity? You with Kronas?" she shouts, pointing a finger at him. He sighs.

"No. You made the stupid decision to get drunk so now I'm patching you up. You're lucky it's a Saturday, I don't think you'll have a fun morning." She quiets down and allows him to inspect her arm. Only two pieces of glass are in, but it's still gonna hurt. He takes the plunges and pulls them out at the same time. She curses loudly and he stops surprised. "I thought you didn't curse? Never mind," he says, cutting off his train of thought. Obviously she wasn't in the right state of mind. He dabs antiseptic on the cuts and wraps them in a bandage. She stands up, hitting her head on the ceiling, and jumps off the bed, landing with a heavy thunk.

"I'm going before you hand me in," she tells him, swaying slightly. He grins slightly.

"You do that. But, Jinx, if I catch you doing that again, I'm gonna march you straight to a therapist. Clear?"

"As gold," she replies. She climbs up the trapdoor and he hears her staff hitting the roof as she vaults off. He peers out his window, still worried. He has a feeling that things are only going to get worse.

Annabeth wakes up the next morning with a raging headache. She groans and stumbles to the bathroom to puke. When she flops back into bed, Plagg's waiting for her with an unimpressed look on his face.

"Not cool, kid," he says. She burrows under the covers to escape his reproachful stare, failing as expected.

"My dad just died, Plagg. Give me a break. It's bad enough that I have to go to school tomorrow," she mumbles.

"Every single holder I've ever had has died. You're not special," he says bluntly. Her eyebrows shoot up in shock.

"Plagg!"

"It's true. Listen, I get what you're feeling. I do. And I think you should see a therapist. It's not healthy to drink away your feelings and make Luckybug pick up your mess. You don't have to, just consider it. Clean yourself up and go eat breakfast," he says. She sighs, but nods. She pulls herself up, puts on a clean shirt and jeans, pulling a jacket over it. She stares at herself in the mirror. This Annabeth looks just like Annabeth from a few weeks ago. That's not right. An idea hits her and she unlocks her door and opens it, tapping Gorilla on the shoulder. He's been camping outside her door since the funeral and bringing her food, and she's really grateful for him.

"G, can you take me to a hair salon?" she asks. He nods and she pats him on the shoulder, pacing along the hallways. She passes Helen's big office and pauses, peering around the corner. She's...tapping on the picture? It swings open and Annabeth stuffs her fist in her mouth to avoid Helen hearing her gasp. Helen puts a book she's holding into the vault and stalks away, probably to another business meeting. It's all she's been doing after Frederick's death. It's not a very healthy way to cope with any grief she may have, but Annabeth can't exactly talk after the stunt she pulled last night. Doesn't remember anything past maybe the fifth swig, but apparently Luckybug took her back. They'll have to talk, eventually, but right now she needs to get that book. She skids into the office and stops in front of the portrait of herself, Fredrick, and Helen. It was painted before Helen started hitting her, but she still looks uneasy, her father clueless, and Helen with a cold gleam in her eye. Accurate, she thinks. Plagg pops out of her jacket pocket.

"Let's have a look-see, shall we?" he says, snickering, and phases through the canvas. Something clicks and the door swings open. A lot of stuff is in the safe but two things catch Annabeth's eye: a hardcover book and a broken pin shaped like a peacock. She reaches towards the pin but snatches her hand away as it twinges. She doesn't like the feel around it and all her senses are telling her to leave it, so she picks up the book. Flipping through it, she immediately notices that it's written in a language she doesn't understand. Hearing footsteps, she hastily shoves it in a satchel she swung around her shoulder before leaving her room. Slamming the portrait shut, she grins nervously at the Gorilla, who stares at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's go!" she says brightly, and skips towards the car.

The hairdresser spins her chair around to give Annabeth a glance of herself in the mirror.

"All done! How do you like it?" she asks cheerfully. Annabeth touches the bristles left on the shaved part of her head.

"It's really cool," she replies, jumping out of the chair and tipping the woman, leaving the Gorilla to pay. She slides into the front seat and inspects herself more in the mirror. Originally, Annabeth had asked to shave her whole head. She felt like being rebellious. But the hairdresser had talked her into just a third and Annabeth did realize how mad Helen would be if she saw Annabeth without hair, so she agreed to just a third, with little waves etched in it. The bonus of this style is that if Annabeth parts her hair differently, leaving a bit to cover her scalp, she could look almost exactly the same. She decides that when she turned into Jinx, she'd expose the shaved part. It makes her look a bit bad-ass. The Gorilla opens the door and plops himself in the driver's seat. "How do I look?" she asks, grinning. He looks at her through the rearview mirror and smiles, a slight twinkle in his eye. He starts driving the car but before they turn onto the usual street that takes them home, he stops in front of a bakery. The bakery. The Triton-Jackson bakery. Hurriedly, she parts her hair to conceal the shaved part and ties it back into a ponytail. The Gorilla ushers her out of the car and into the bakery, practically shoving her through the door. Annabeth puts on her best American accent, a sneer, and whispers quietly to the Gorilla, "I'll kill you." He smirks and steps behind her. And, lucky her, Percy Triton-Jackson is at the cashier.

"Hey, Annabeth! You look different, did you cut your hair or something?" he says kindly. She gapes at him like an idiot and hurriedly rearranges her face.

"You're something! I mean I'm something! No, wait- or something? Can I have a croissant?" she mumbles at the end, beet red. He laughs gently.

"Sure. Coming right up." The Gorilla writes something on a tablet and passes it over to Percy, who nods and smiles. He follows Annabeth to where she's sitting glumly at a window-side table.

"Life would be easier if I just kept my mouth shut," she groans. The Gorilla shakes his head solemnly and her eyes go wide. "Oh, I'm sorry...can you speak? God, I'm an idiot for not asking sooner," she says, stumbling over her words. He smiles at her kindly and pulls out the tablet again. He scribbles on it and hands it over to her. It's not your fault. People hire me for my muscle, not my conversation skills. I'm mute. And my name is Teddy :) She cackles and claps a hand over her mouth, mortified. "Oh, my God, this is not my day is it? I'm not laughing at you, just-look at you! You should have a name like Ajax or Mike or something more tough sounding, not Teddy!" She snorts again and he grins. He's a really nice guy, she thinks. She should have gotten to know him sooner. She resolves to start a sign-language course, she's good at languages, having already mastered English, Italian, and almost Chinese. For now, she'll have to settle for trading half her croissant for half his crepe. They awkwardly toast each other and laugh again, enjoying the company and small break from the Chase mansion and Helen.

Plagg pokes her in the face and she moans, flipping over and trying to suffocate in pillows. "Lemme sleep," she mumbles. He chuckles and shakes his head.

"It's been a week. You need to face your friends. C'mon, get up." She rolls over and accidentally falls off her bed. While not ideal, it gets her up. She picks herself off the ground and limps towards her closet, flipping through her clothes. While she usually wears a black shirt with multi-colored stripes and a white button down shirt as a sort of jacket, plus jeans, she figures she should change it up a bit. She pulls on jeans, because they're pretty comfortable, and grabs a soft grey hoodie to go with it. It's comfortable, and should do a pretty good job of camouflaging her attempt to conceal her new hairstyle. She grabs her backpack and stuffs the mysterious book in it. She was up moat of last night trying to read it and finally she found a little shop that deals in books and other old items. Chiron's Mythos. An odd name, for certain, but she's going to stop by after school and get it looked at. She unlatches the door and high fives Teddy.

"Ready to go?" she asks. He nods and signs something. She stares curiously at his hands and puts the gesture into her memory. Yes. She walks down the hallways, stopping briefly at the kitchen to get a croissant, and walks out of the mansion into the car waiting for her. She sits in the backseat, as Helen's new assistant, Jane, is already in shotgun. She doesn't really like Jane, but then again she's never really liked any of Helen's assistant. They're cold, but competent. Malcolm was the only one she could tolerate; she learned that he quit after the funeral. She has mixed feelings about that, as she's glad he made a statement but she hasn't seen anything like Child Protective Services around her house so he must still be keeping silent. She wants to tell someone, wants to get rescued, or better yet rescue herself, but she's seen what Helen will do. Any of her friends could be next and she won't let that happen. Teddy climbs into the driver's seat and starts the car. They drive in silence until they reach the school. She jumps out, gathering her things, and opens Teddy's door. She hugs him and walks away, leaving him very surprised. Annabeth squares her shoulders as she walks in, expecting to get mobbed or attacked by her friends, and they do rush up to her.

"Annabeth!" Thalia shouts. "Where the hell have you been?!" she asks, hugging Annabeth tightly. Annabeth smiles falsely and her mind races. Tell her or not tell her? She blurts out the first thing that comes to mind.

"I've been sick," she says, smiling apologetically. Thalia hugs her again and drags her over to Percy and Apollo, who are leaning against a post.

"Hey Annabeth!" Apollo says. Thalia stumbles over something and falls, flailing into Apollo's arms. He props her up and she smiles at him. He gives her a quick kiss and Annabeth's officially malfunctioned.

"Wait- when did this happen? Huh?" Thalia and Apollo look like deer in headlights.

"I told you but you must not have been looking at your phone. So after Animan when Luckybug shoved us into a cage we got to know each other and we've been meeting up a bit and last week-well," Thalia pauses and looks at Apollo for help. He smirks and wraps an arm around her shoulder.

"I kissed her," he says, shrugging. Annabeth's mouth is still open. Percy laughs.

"Honestly, you're lucky that you weren't there. They've been sickeningly sweet," he says. Annabeth laughs then, but she wonders for a second how it would be for she and Percy to be like that-casual touches, quick kisses, maybe walking to each other's houses after school. She shakes her head quickly.

"Good for you guys! Thalia, we'll have to talk, but anything else happen while I was out?"

"Actually, yes. New girl, Kelli. She's amazing. Been to all sorts of places and knows all kinds of people! She's even met the Muses, in person! They've written a song for her! Oh, and get this- she knows Lady Jinx! Best friends!" Thalia squeals. Annabeth chokes on air.

"Excuse me?" she coughs.

"That was my reaction as well," Apollo says. "Still, she seems pretty legit. I haven't been able to ask Jinx about it but I'm planning to."

"Good idea," she murmurs. She takes a seat next to Percy and stares into her hands, thinking over this girl's claims. Kelli may just be trying to gain more friends. She may be lonely; Annabeth also didn't know what her home life was like. She would take this with a grain of salt, she decided. Listen to the girl, judge her intentions, and make judgments based on that. Everyone knew to judge a book not by its cover, but the summary on its back. Annabeth would look past this cover to the summary. She got her chance soon enough, as the girl strutted up. Dark skinned, flawless makeup, bright, innocent eyes. Black jacket and low-cut pink shirt with shorts, pink fishnets, and almost impossibly tall heels. Annabeth was instantly suspicious but let it slide. It wasn't fair to judge a girl by her clothes or make-up, as they might be forced upon her. Annabeth should know well enough, having modeled her fair share of times.

"Omg!" Kellie squeals. "You're Annabeth, right?"

"Yeah," she answered, warily, but kindly enough. Kelli opened her mouth to say something else but her gaze drifted over to Percy and Annabeth could've sworn that she malfunctioned. Annabeth should know, she almost did the same thing.

"Oh, hey? Who're you?" she asked with a pleasant tone.

"Percy!" he said cheerfully, smiling at her. That was when Annabeth suspected that this Kelli, she was trouble.

"Oh, you like superheroes? I know Lady Jinx, you know." Annabeth, looking for one last reference book, perks up as she hears Kelli's voice. She peeks behind a bookshelf, hair coming a bit loose from her ponytail, to see Kelli sitting very close to Percy, who is leaning out of her space, looking uncomfortable. Still, he brightens as he processes her words.

"You do? That's so cool!" he all but squeals, almost...fanboying over Jinx. Annabeth feels a slight twinge of jealousy then dismisses it as ridiculous. She is Jinx, after all.

"Uh-huh. And, I-but wait. I can't tell you here. Meet me in the park after school, and I'll tell you more," Kelli tells him. She stands up, grabbing her bag, and walks out, making a poor attempt at swaying her hips as she goes. Percy is left staring dreamily at nothing in particular. Annabeth decides to stage an intervention.

"Percy?" she says, moving closer to him, cautiously. He snaps out of whatever he's thinking and smiles.

"Annabeth! Hey! How are you?" he asks. Sad, frustrated, angry, hopeful.

"Good," she tells him. He scoots Kelli's seat over to her and she sits, steepling her fingers to steady her. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Kelli...you do realize that she's probably lying, right?" He frowns and Annabeth shrinks inwardly. This could go south, very fast, and she doesn't know Spanish.

"What do you mean?" he asks, looking confused.

"Well...Jinx, she seems very job oriented, right? I doubt she'd enter any sort of relationship with a civilian, to protect them. Maybe Kelli's friends with Lady Jinx's other persona, but she'd never know, would she? Not to mention that Jinx only transforms to fight akumas, presumably," Annabeth says to him, speaking slowly and trying to sound like she didn't know for sure. With every idea she presented, Percy's face fell a bit more.

"You're right. Stupid of me," he says, looking crushed.

"You should still go, see what she has to say. But take it with a grain of salt, okay?" she says, hoping that he's not angry with her.

"Okay." He stands, grabbing his bag, and hugs her. "You're a good friend, you know that Annabeth?" He walks out, leaving her wide-eyed and flushed. He hugged her. Hugged her. And, disregarding the fact that he called her a friend, maybe everything will turn out okay.

Annabeth is crouched in an alley, back bent and hurting, which isn't made better by Plagg poking her.

"Gimme cheese. And you should really take that book to the shop. Cheese. Shop. Gimme cheese. Cheese," he repeats.

"Can you shut up for one moment?" Annabeth hisses at him. He crosses his arms and frowns. Annabeth cocks her ear again. Her regular senses are sharpened by Jinx's powers, and she can just barely make out Kelli's words.

"Hey Percy...friends...Jinx...necklace...superhero...Volpina," is the gist of it, with Percy inserting low mutters every so often. She thinks she knows what Kelli was talking about. Kelli a superhero? With a supposedly power-granting necklace? She's gone too far, and maybe part of Annabeth's decision is the star-struck look on Percy's face, and maybe it's not.

"Plagg, claws out!" she calls, and Lady jInx races out of the alley, skidding to a stop in front of Kelli and Percy.

"Hello, random civilians! I'm looking for my best friend, Kelli. Is she here?" Jinx says, fake smile plastered on her face. Kelli's mouth drops open like she can't believe what she's hearing.

"That's me! Hi, Jinx!" she squeals. Percy is looking between them like he can't believe his eyes. He shouldn't.

"Err-err. Wrong! Congratulations, you've won a one-way ticket to being targeted by Kronas. Girl, I've never seen you before in my life. But I saw an interview by you on the Lucky-blog?" she says sweetly. Kelli flushes. Technically, it's true; Jinx never has seen Kelli. "That's what I've thought. I bet you're not even a hero. So, do yourself a favor, and scram, before you embarrass yourself more." Kelli flees, face in hands, and Jinx stares after her proudly. She jerks as Percy lightly coughs, turning to him.

"That was kind of harsh, Lady Jinx," he said tentatively. He's right; it was harsh. but Jinx hates liars, and Kelli could have hurt someone with her lies.

"Listen, Percy. Say I didn't show up and she tricked you. You go home, and next day- whooppsie-doo! you wake up to news that Kelli has tragically died at the hands of Kronas while being used to lure out me and Luckybug. Or she's been akumatized just because she knows us. Or tortured. Or kidnapped. But that's not for sure, so how about this scenario? You go home, believing that she's a superhero, and a little while later an akuma attack happens, kidnapping her. You're the only one who knows, but you don't say anything because you believe that since she's a hero, she can get out easily. Wrong! Akuma hurts her, she dies, game over. There are tons of different scenarios that come out of this and none of them are good. So do yourself a favor and listen to me," she ends, slightly out of breath. His eyes are wide.

"Okay...but, Jinx, next time, be kinder, okay? She might be having a rough time." He stands and walks out. Little does she know, he's turned the corner just to keeping looking at her, his lady, and to have a mild panic attack about whether he came on too strong. Jinx mulls over his words, a bit annoyed, as she doesn't know anyone else who's having a worse time than her, with a dead father, stressful activities, and being a superhero on top of it all. She has it pretty bad, but what she's annoyed about most of all is that he's actually right. She doesn't know Kelli's situation, doesn't know why she spins such fabulous lies. So, frustrated and angry, she takes off, jumping across the rooftops and vaulting to her bedroom through the window she always keeps open to de-transform. A green flash surrounds her and when it fades Annabeth stands, taking to pacing across her room while Plagg rifles through the fridge in search of Camembert.

"What if he thinks I'm a lousy superhero, Plagg?" she groans, holding her head with her hands. The kwami shrugs.

"He'd be right, wouldn't he?" He snickers as she turns and glares at him.

"Not helping!"

"I dunno kid," he shrugs, popping a bite of cheese into his mouth. Her TV flickers on and she races to the couch, alarmed. That only happens when something dreadful is happening, like a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or…a meteor headed straight for them? The TV is filled with images of a fiery rock hurtling towards them and Annabeth wastes no time transforming.

"Plagg, claws out!" she calls for the second time that day. She remembers her hair, still in it's ponytail to hide her shaved head, and lets it loose for the first time that day, something she forgot to do when she transformed hurriedly to yell at Kelli, and she parts it like it was meant to be with her fingers, shaved side exposed to the world and the other side a waterfall of curls. She checks it in the mirror and smirks as she notices Plagg added a few designs in black of his own to the shaved part. Finally ready, Jinx jumps out her window, catching herself with her staff.

Percy walks down the street, hands in pockets, heading towards his house. He has a butt-load of homework to do and he'd better get it done soon if he wants to have enough time to finish the design he's working on. He's thinking about this particular design, themed after Jinx's hero suit, when a hand grabs the front of his shirt and yanks him through the doorway. Trying to stand, but ultimately losing to his clumsiness and falling to the ground, he glares up at the owner of the hand, an older man seated in a wheelchair peering at him.

"What the hell?" he hisses. The man hauls him to his feet, with surprising strength for a guy his age, and points to his television set.

"Look," is all he says. Percy gapes at the screen. A meteor falling to Paris? He scrambles out of the shop, running into an alley.

"Tikki, spots on!" he says quickly, and Luckybug throws his yoyo straight up, attaching it to a hook coming off the building next to him, and yanks it. It thrusts him into the air and he quickly detaches it, going through the familiar motions of throw, yank, loosen. A figure is standing on a roof and he aims for her, thinking it to be Jinx. He quickly realizes that it is not, in fact, Jinx, but a tall, dark skinned girl with her hair in many braids, gathered into a high ponytail and tipped in white. She has a rusty orange catsuit on with a white belly covered partially by a black sash that extended into a fox tail behind her. Long ears sprout from her scalp and black gloves go up to her elbows, black boots to her thighs. She has a flute looking weapon slung around her waist and she looks quite calmly at the meteor aiming straight for her. Luckybug lands right next to her, appraising her. She makes no acknowledgement that he is even there, so he angles himself in front of her, waving. A black streak flashes in the corner of his eye and as he turned to focus on it, a body slams into him, cupping the back of his head with their smaller arms. He hits the ground, them underneath him, and he opens his eyes to see Lady Jinx looking at him with an unimpressed stare. He realizes that he's kind of pinning her underneath him and yelps, scrambling up. He pulls her to her feet, and they watch as the orange girl leaps into the air, flying directly towards the meteor. She unslings her flute-staff and holds it steadily in front of her. The meteor gets closer and closer and finally it collides with her staff. He doesn't know what he expects to see, but he never gets the chance as for the second time today Jinx flattens him to the ground, lying on top of him like a shield. Her eyes are scrunched shut and it's kind of cute, but he still looks past her to orange girl, who's batting the meteor away like it's a baseball. She flies to the ground, image flickering as another one replaces her old image quickly. A news camera angles into her face as she shouts loud enough for him to hear.

"Citizens of Paris, I am your new superhero! The only one you'll ever need, Volpina!" Citizens come out of their houses and start chanting her name. She smiles, taking it all in. His attention is drawn back to Jinx, who squeaks.

"Are we dead?" she asks. He grins.

"Nope. But hey, if it's worth it to you, this is my idea of heaven," he says, winking for good measure. She groans, getting off of him.

"We must be dead, because this is my idea of hell," she teases back.

"Ah, you're an angel, m'lady," he tells her, bowing low and taking her hand, kissing her leather-covered knuckles. He looks her over and almost falls over in shook. Jinx got a haircut. She shaved part of her head, black swirls running through it, with the rest of her hair combed over ot the other side. She looks sleek, hot, and dare he say, bad ass. It reminds him of when she was a complete mess, crying at a gravesite. He didn't see the name, but he does need to talk to her. She extracts her hand, bopping him playfully on the nose.

"Depends on the day. What do you think about this new girl, what's-her-face? Angel or demon?"

"Volpina? Apparent angel, but I don't know. She introduced herself as the only hero we'll ever need, and we all know that's you, m'lady," he says, scrutinizing Volpina from afar.

"Let's find out, shall we?" Jinx says, jumping off the roof and landing easily. He follows, swinging behind her and landing with an extended hand.

"Hullo, foxy," he says. Volpina laughs and takes his hand, shaking it. She's got a warm grip but there's something in her eyes that unnerves him, so he politely withdraws and steps back, leaving Jinx to assess her. Jinx looks the other superhero up and down, taking in her outfit. Volpina leaps forward and hugs her and Jinx twists her arm around, sending her flying into the air. Volpina flips a few times and rights herself shakily, hovering.

"I don't like being touched. Reflex," Jinx says coolly. That doesn't seem right to Luckybug, who's used to casual touches from her, but he doesn't say anything.

"Oh, of course! Glad you can drop in, we've got Kronas at two o'clack," Volpina says, gesturing to a woman dressed in a dark gold tunic and black catsuit underneath, a bronze crown upon brown hair and a curled golden mask matching golden gloves holding a gold scythe. She's standing on a rooftop, back to them, and Luckybug's mouth falls open.

"That's…odd," Jinx says, a trifle suspicious. She usually is, putting their safety first. "Say, what's your Miraculous?"

"Miraculous?" Volpina says, with a raised eyebrow. Jinx rolls her eyes.

"Y'know. Jewelry that gives us our powers. Mine's my ring, Luckybug's are his cuff-links because he's too chicken to get his ears pierced." Luckybug rolls his eyes.

"You've never met my mother, or you wouldn't laugh. Noticed your new haircut, looking great," he tells her. She blushes uncharacteristically and coughs.

"It was time for a change."

"My Miraculous, my necklace, grants me the power of flight and of super strength," Volpina butts in, breaking the moment. Jinx looks skeptical but accepts it. "So, Jinx, you go right, I'll go left, and Luckybug can take center," she tells them gesturing to Kronas, who is surveying the land. Luckybug laughs.

"Well, Volpina, let me tell you something about the hero business: we like to do things the easy way." He winds up his yoyo, like he's about to pitch a ball, and lets it fly, aiming it for the man. Before it hits, Kronas somehow sees it coming and takes off, running across rooftops to avoid it. Luckybug snarls and takes off, jumping from roof to roof in pursuit. Jinx takes off after him, but she accidentally extends her staff mid jump, catching it on the corner of the roof and tripping. She lands flat on her face and groans. Propping herself up on her elbow, she moves to get up and stops quickly as she looks up. Dozens of brightly colored missiles are aimed right at her, laser pin pointed directly on her extended leg. Such close contact wouldn't just blow off her leg, it would blow up her entire body. So she stays very, very still, while wondering how someone managed to pull all these out in the seconds that she turned her gaze away from the rooftop. Volpina stepped up behind them, smirking.

"Well, Lady Jinx, at least you wouldn't be able to say that you've never seen me before. You see me, right? And I look pretty damn good." Jinx gasps.

"Kelli?" Kelli, or Volpina rather, claps slowly.

"Ten points to Gryffindor! I wouldn't move an inch if I were you," she says, moving closer to Jinx and patting her head. Jinx tries to bite her with her teeth. "Naughty naughty!" Volpina taunts. The purple light comes over her face and she cocks her head, listening. "Welp, Kronas says I need to get your Miraculous, so hand it over," she tells Jinx. She snorts.

"Like hell."

"You think you have a choice?" Volpina snaps. She jabs Jinx's neck, hard, and Jinx bites down a whimper. "Give it or the building comes down!" she threatens.

"You wouldn't do that," Jinx rasps. Volpina cocks a brow.

"Wouldn't I?" She blows into her flute and the building starts crumbling. Jinx gasps and starts fumbling with her ring, watching the building still. A bird flies under the crumbling pieces and just as it's hit- one more senseless death- the smoke and ash in the air disappear. The building re-appears, sturdy as ever, and Jinx jumps to her feet.

"It's an illusion! just like the meteor, Kronas, and probably these bombs too. Smoke and mirrors, that's all you're good at, huh? Not even," Jinx says. She pulls her staff and swipes them through, leaving nothing but Volpina. Her staff extends into Volpina's chest and she, too, disappears. Jinx shrinks her staff and uses the call function, pressing on Luckybug's contact. He answers hurriedly, atop a roof.

"Yo," he says. "Where are you?"

"Doesn't matter. Luckybug, Volpina's a liar. And akumatized. Her power is illusions. Don't trust her!" she says. "Hold on, I'm heading for you. Where you at?"

"Atop Triton-Jackson Bakery," he says. She ends the call abruptly, heading there. When she lands on the roof, he's pacing nervously.

"Tell me something only you would know," he demands. He's swinging his yoyo aggressively and she holds her hands up.

"You first," she says. He gives her a pointed stare but relents.

"Your dad's dead," he says, looking for a reaction. She scowls at him.

"Had to use that one? Fine, you found me drunk in a graveyard," she tells him. He nods, satisfied.

"Alright, last thing to do is find out where Volpina is," he says. She points at a figure approaching them across rooftops. Volpina. She stops near them, but not too near. Luckybug lashes out with his yoyo and she dodges.

"I am not the real Volpina," she tells them. Luckybug snorts.

"No shit Sherlock, I figured, seeing as you're a coward." The fake Volpina looks unruffled by his comments.

"The real Volpina has someone I think you'll want to rescue," she says, showing them an image of Annabeth, dangling off of the Eiffel Tower. "Paris' golden girl. Come and get her," she says cooly. Jinx laughs, knowing that Volpina is lying.

"That's obviously an illusion," she says. Volpina smiles.

"You have five minutes." A yoyo slashes through her and Jinx looks over at Luckybug, who looks panicked.

"It's an illusion," she repeats. He shakes his head.

"And if it's not? Her house is near here, let's check." He swings off towards the Chase mansion and jinx chases after him. She finds him ransacking her room.

"She's not here!" he shouts. "And, the window was open when I got here! We have to go!" He flings himself out of the window again and Jinx sighs.

"I'm not even gonna try and get out of this," she mutters. Running after Luckybug, she finds him atop the Eiffel Tower, standing on a ledge. Volpina stands above them, dangling Annabeth by her wrist. It's a good illusion of her, wide, scared grey eyes and trembling lips. But, an illusion none the less.

"Come any closer and the girl drops," she calls, wicked tone in her voice. Annabeth whimpers and Luckybug's eyes widen in panic.

"Don't drop her," he shouts.

"Your Miraculous!" she calls. Luckybug hesitates. Jinx shakes her head at him.

"Please, Luckybug! I thought we were friends!" Annabeth screams. Tears start slipping out of her eyes and Jinx wants to murder Volpina, a twisted puppet master, for making her watch herself beg for her life and for making Luckybug watch too. Volpina lifts a finger and Annabeth screams.

"NO!" Luckybug yells. "No," he says again, voice breaking. "Just don't let her go."

"It's not her!" Jinx says to him, shaking his shoulders. Volpina shrugs and lets Annabeth go.

"We''ll see,"

"NO!" Luckybug howls. He's about to jump off the Eiffel Tower after a girl who doesn't exist. Jinx knows he is, and she wouldn't put it past Volpina to create a mangled body on the ground, so she does the only thing she can think of to stop him: she kisses him. Their lips meet and she cups his face close to hers. She can taste a few salty tears on his lips and he's shaking, but slowly his arms encircle her waist and finally they break apart. He looks so lost and she covers his eyes gently, checking the ground for her own body. Nothing's there, and she supposes that Volpina wasn't thinking ahead, so she takes Luckybug's face in her hands.

"Lucky. She's not down there. She's safe, wherever she is," she says gently. He checks the ground for himself.

"Safe?" he repeats. He leans his forehead against hers and she strokes his hair.

"Let's finish this," she says. He nods. They look up carefully, spotting a hint of orange behind a beam, and scale the tower. They land on a deck and Luckybug wastes no time, lassoing Volpina out of her hiding spot. She lands in a heap at his feet and he kicks her side, eliciting a grunt.

"You want to explain?" he growls and she manages a smirk.

"Was she your girlfriend?" she taunts. He laughs darkly.

"M'lady's the only one for me, but no one- no one should have to watch or endure that. Except maybe you." He snaps her flute in half and grabs her wrist in a smooth move, dangling her over the Eiffel Tower's side.

"I can fly, dumb-ass," she says cockily. He whips her feet together with his yoyo without a word and she starts to look scared.

"Tell me why I shouldn't drop you," he snarls at her. She remains silent.

"TELL ME WHY!" he shouts. Jinx flinches away from him but forces herself closer.

"Luckybug, stop!" she says. He turns to her and she's terrified by the sheer ferocity in his eyes. He softens and hauls her over the side, jerking her necklace off. He catches and purifies the akuma silently.

"That was completely out of order, Luckybug," she reprimands him.

"Lucky charm!" he calls. A ladybug falls into his hands and he tosses it quickly. "Miraculous ladybug! And that kiss wasn't?" he retorts. Kelli snickers and Luckybug turns on her. "Get out!" he shouts. She scrambles for the elevators and closes the doors quickly, leaving them alone. "What about getting drunk in a graveyard, leaving me to clean you up?" he continues. She flinches away, hugging her sides.

"My father just died!" she says defensively. Luckybug snorts.

"Yeah, I heard. Get yourself some help, Jinx. I don't want to have to stay awake at night worrying about whether or not you've been attacked by someone or kidnapped or worse while drunk," he says, a tad harsh.

"Then don't!" she screams at him, tears of anger pricking the corners of her eyes. He steps closer to her.

"I can't, don't you see? I can't! You were there, you knew how right that kiss felt! How can I let that go? How will I ever let you go?" he asks her, voice lowered, as he hugs her to him. She puts her staff between them and presses the extension button, hanging on as it carries her above him.

"Like that," she calls down. Letting it fall a bit, she jumps away, to the safety of her bedroom, leaving Luckybug alone in the City of Love.

Annabeth steps into the little pawn shop, Chiron's Mythos. A sign points her to a back room, where piles of random things like a phonograph sit on shelves. The door closes behind her and she jumps. A man surrounded by light from the only window turns around, framed perfectly.

"Hello, Lady Jinx."

A/N: So. Here you go? I apologize for the unrealistic scenes. I suck at writing angst. Listen, killing off Fredrick wasn't an easy decision. I've rewritten this about 3 times. Ultimately, though, I decided that Helen has to start to descend into psychopathy/insanity and Frederick has to be dead for various things I want to happen in the future. I'm sort of sorry but not really. Plus, healthy dose of LadyNoir/ LuckyJinx. But! On the plus side! If ya'll are still here after the 50+ mistakes made in Origins One, you guys rock. Seriously. This is a crappy fic. It's honestly just a first time kinda thing, the fic I have planned for after this one should be much better, much more original. Expect it in late December/early January? Depends on how soon I finish this. We're about half-way through, guys. Hang in there. Thanks for reading!