Between Light and Dark

"How does it feel being back, Plagg?" Adrien asked as the black cat Kwami floated over to his little alcove.

"Don't ever do anything like that again, kid." the Kwami growled as he tossed one wedge of cheese up, and caught it, a second in his other paw even as he caught the first and chewed loudly. "That was uncomfortable!"

"Come on, Plagg, it couldn't have been that..." Adrien started to say, only for the Kwami to interrupt.

"Kagami also knows you're Black Cat, so... that's a thing."

"What?!" Adrien asked in shock.

"It's not like she doesn't have a Kwami of her own." Plagg then looked at him seeing the shocked expression. "What? You knew she had Longg, right?"

Adrien rubbed at the back of his neck and head. "Yeah, I knew she had a Miraculous, but I didn't know what her Kwami's name was, and I definitely didn't expect you to reveal our identities to her either."

"Like I told both of them... I hate this secrecy crap." Plagg floated over to his holder, narrowing his glittering green eyes at the male. "I prefer to be up front, and honest. Tikki's the one that's all 'We must safeguard our Chosen's identities' and all that garbage." the creature remarked, making a rough approximation of the spirit of creation's voice. "Seriously, I can't stand it... that's why I always chose my own wielders rather than dealing with those stuffy..." he suddenly shook his head.

"Who?" Adrien asked.

"Nobody." Plagg's ears laid back, his tail swishing side-to-side in obvious annoyance. "Just forget I ever said anything, because, and you have to trust me on this kid, those guys are trouble."

Looking at the ten centimeter tall creature, Adrien wondered silently 'Just how bad could these people be?' Clearly he was letting his thoughts show because Plagg crossed his arms.

"I can hear you thinking, kid." Plagg remarked. "You'll hurt yourself that way."

"You can't just leave it at that, Plagg." Adrien stated evenly. "Giving a warning to stay away from someone, and then not telling me who they are? Who are you talking about? What do they want? How..."

"Stop, kid." Plagg warned. "I told you, those guys are trouble, and you don't want to deal with them."

"At least give me a name." Both seemed to glare at each other for the span of a few minutes before Plagg turned to float to his stash again. "No. I'm feeding you no more cheese until you either tell me who you were talking about, or at least give me some sort of information."

Plagg turned toward Adrien, his eyes glittering maliciously. "Kid," the Kwami growled, "you don't want to go there."

Reaching up, Adrien gripped the ring on his right hand. "I will do it, Plagg." he warned, "I'll take off the ring and never put it back on again."

Floating in front of Adrien, Plagg snarled before turning his face to the side with a sigh. "Fine, but don't blame me if you hate what you hear." Moving over to the bedpost, the cat Kwami landed on it and sat with his tail curling around his little legs. "The ones I was telling you about are known as the Guardians, but prison wardens would be more appropriate." Even with those two words he could hear the little creature growl. "They scour the world searching for anything magical, and holds them captive in magical boxes that keep us from this" he patted the post, "world."

"Wait." Adrien shook his head. "How do they do that?"

Shaking his head, the black cat Kwami shrugged. "I don't know. Tikki and I were never caught by the Guardians. Ever since Atlantis we've been choosing our own wielders, and we've done pretty well so far." Adrien cocked an eyebrow at the little creature. "Okay, so I've had a few hiccups, but each time I have it's never really been that detrimental to history." He then motioned to his Chosen. "I mean, you're still here, right?"

"I guess by that logic you've done really well for yourself, Plagg." Adrien scoffed.

The little Kwami nodded. "That's what I keep telling Tikki."

"Okay, so tell me more about these Guardians. What are they like?"

All joking stopped, and Plagg's eyes grew deadly serious. "Trouble, kid. Big trouble." Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly. "A fully trained Guardian doesn't require a Miraculous to fight a wielder of one. They just have to hit you, and can dissipate your battle suit. I've even seen one knock a wielder unconscious for hours." Adrien watched as the black cat's eyes narrowed. "That's how they took Longg and Trixx. I was there when one took down their wielders, and removed their Miraculous."

"Wait. They're out now, though, right?" Adrien asked.

"Longg may be free of their influence, but Trixx is... I don't know. That girl, Lila, may be a Guardian in training."

Rubbing at his chin, Adrien shook his head. "Would they really take someone like Lila for training?"

"A person who cares nothing about others, but instead has a single-minded determination to focus all their energy and time?" Plagg smirked. "Kid, you just described the Guardians in general. Not one has ever impressed me with their heart, and that's the reason why I stay away from them."

"What about Tikki?" Adrien asked.

Plagg's ear flickered. "What about Tikki?"

"I'm just wondering if she would describe them in the same way?" Adrien rubbed at his chin.

"Maybe," Plagg wondered aloud, "maybe not. All that I do know is that Tikki and I have stayed away from them for thousands upon thousands of years."

"How long have you and Tikki been here, Plagg?" Adrien asked. "I know I've asked how old you are, and you gave me a vague answer, but you never told me how long you've been physically on the planet."

"Prepare to get your mind blown, kid." Plagg said with a smirk. "All of the Kwami, and other creatures like us, have been physically on this planet for more than twenty million years." Adrien's eyes boggled at the number, "Unfortunately we have to have a physical focus," he patted Adrien's ring, "or we will disappear from existence, but we can never truly die."

Looking down at his ring, Adrien's mind reeled at the information. "How did you get bound to the ring?"

"There was a race," Plagg waved his arm around, "much taller than you humans now by about two times, reptilian in appearance with slit pupils, scaled skin, and they used dinosaurs as cattle. One of our abilities is that we can understand any language, so we were able to converse with them easily. When I appeared, bound to the ring, I found out that Tikki and I were the first, and we were summoned together." He shook his head. "They had dozens of priests and priestesses summoning Kwami into jewels, forcing the gems to take their shapes."

"Wait, so... this is really a gem?" Adrien asked.

Plagg nodded. "A crystal from the land of Lemuria that, with magical focus, took the shape of a ring. Tikki's took the shape of earrings, and so on until there were dozens of us." He glowered at the young man in front of him. "Then we found out why we were summoned, and they had no intentions of ever letting us go."

Adrien looked at the little creature, stunned. "What?"

Narrowing his eyes, Plagg growled. "They summoned us for gladiatorial sport." He could remember his times facing off against transformed Lemurian slaves, being forced to use his Cataclysm ability to hurt his fellow Kwami. "Although we can't die, we can still feel pain... and I felt more than enough in the million years that we were enslaved by those bastards!"

"I'm sorry, Plagg." Adrien breathed. "How did you ever get out of that situation?"

Shrugging, the little creature shook his head. "I still don't know. All I know is that my wielder took off the ring, and when next I woke up, I was looking at a Lemurian slave. He told me I was free, and handed me the ring. Afterward, we freed as many as we could, and took the Miraculous. After that, we flew away while they were destroyed by volcanic activity." Adrien couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw a smirk on the black cat's face.

"Either way, I'm glad you're back Plagg."

"That makes two of us."

Over the course of the next few days, Adrien focused on his meditation when he wasn't at his lessons, or visiting with his lady love. In each instance, he sat on the edge of his bed, breathing, his mind empty save for the focus on his breath. At first, Plagg felt boredom when his chosen started, but by the next day he felt a warmth encompass his body, while green fire rippled and licked around the Kwami. It wasn't nearly as much as Longg and Kagami, but it was a start.

oOo

It was night, and a light rain washed over Paris as Anarka's wagons rolled up to her home. They were still offloading the cargo into her personal storehouse when Kim walked up to her. "Good to have you back, Lady Couffaine." he called out to the older woman.

Anarka smiled at him as she helped push a barrel of salted meats off of the wagon. "It's good to be back, Kim. How has everything been in Paris while I was off getting supplies?"

"Quiet, actually." Kim answered. "We've been looking for Vixen, but we're starting to think that she's left Paris for good." He watched as Anarka stopped to look straight at him.

"Who knows?" she offered before he reached up and took one of the large sacks from the woman.

"Here. Let me help."

Smiling at him, she nodded. "Thank you, Kim." By the time they were halfway through filling the storehouse with the various goods a runner arrived at the front door.

"Lady Couffaine," the young man called out, at which point she walked over to receive the message, "a letter from Baron Agreste."

Nodding, she handed the lad a coin. "Thank you." Opening the letter, she read the contents. "Let him know that I will be there within the hour."

"Of course, Lady Couffaine." With that said, the boy ran off toward the Agreste manor.

Turning to regard Kim, she smiled. "Thank you for your help. My men can finish up the rest, and I need to get cleaned up if I'm going to be visiting the baron."

"I understand, Lady Couffaine. Have a good evening." Kim waved to the older woman before heading off to the bridge, then across. Standing next to a crate, she placed her hand on it before drumming her fingers against the wood twice, then three more times a few seconds later. Stepping away from the crate, she thanked her men and urged them to finish in the other section of the warehouse before she headed upstairs to wash herself down, and change clothes.

Only twenty minutes later the doors to the warehouse closed. In the corner, the lid of that lone crate pushed itself up, showing that the lid hadn't been nailed down. Slender fingers clad in black slid out, lifting the lid, only for Vixen to slip out. Returning the lid where it needed to go, the young woman looked at the double doors of the main entrance. In her memories she remembered the night she finally revealed the truth to Anarka Couffaine.

Lila sat up with a scream, the tears pouring down her cheeks as a pair of strong, comforting arms wrapped around her. "Was it the nightmares again?" Anarka asked, only for her to wrap the older woman up in a hug, letting herself cry.

"I'm a monster!" she wailed, trembling in that motherly grip.

"You're not a monster, Lila." Anarka tried to soothe, only for the girl to shake her head and pull away a little.

"I've murdered people! I can see their faces! I know their names..." she was held a little tighter by the captain.

"Shh, you're confused sweetheart. There's no way you could..."

Lila finally pushed her away, only for the older woman to stagger a little. "Trixx, let's pounce!" she cried out. Once the flash of her transformation ended, she sat there looking at Anarka. "I'm Vixen."

In a split second she saw it, the horror in the woman's face was hard to miss before Anarka sat down on the bed beside her and wrapped her up in a hug. "Lila," the older woman spoke softly, "I don't care what you've done. You've been controlled and manipulated all your life, and never given the true affection that you need." The older woman's grip tightened on her as the young woman muttered the words to transform back into her civilian self. "I know that doesn't excuse what you've done, but in the past two weeks, I have gotten to know the real you, the young woman that would make any mother proud."

Pulling away a little, she wiped her tears away with her thumbs. "I'm a..."

"You're not a monster, but you have hurt people." Anarka placed her forehead against Lila's. "I can't tell you what you should do to quiet these demons that are after you, sweetheart, but I can be here to help when you do make the decision."

Lila clutched onto her. "If I had stayed... I would be dead..." she wept, holding Anarka close.

"I know." Anarka felt tears fall from her eyes as she held the young woman to herself.

"Why couldn't I have had a mother like you?" Lila mumbled, taking a shuddering breath and letting it out.

Anarka sighed sadly, "I don't know, sweetie."

Lila sat there for a long time before admitting, "When I first came to you, my only thought was to leave Paris to save myself, but now..." she looked out the rear windows of the ship at the brightening sky behind the vessel, "I think I should go back to accept my punishment." Reaching up, she caressed the fox pendant. "Perhaps if I surrender my necklace to Black Cat they'll show me mercy."

"If they do, you will always have a place in my crew, Lila." Anarka said with a smile.

Lila came out of the memory with her eyes looking out a storehouse window. Opening the portal, she slipped out, and leaped up onto the roof. Crouching down, she took in the night for several seconds, inhaling and exhaling with a shuddering breath. It took nearly a minute for her to start moving again. Leaping from roof to roof, she happened to land on a two story structure just a block away from the Agreste manor when she heard a sound of a cord wrapping around something. Crouching down, she watched as Ladybird Beetle landed on the opposite side of the roof, facing away from her.

Sliding behind a chimney, she watched as Black Cat landed on the same roof. The pair closed the distance, and he wrapped her up in a hug, before pressing a kiss to her lips. 'Adrien is cheating on Marinette with Ladybird...' her eyes went wide, 'No! He would never do that... which means... that's...'

Her hand went to her mouth as she gasped audibly. The two broke apart at the sound, and turned toward where she tried to remain hidden, only to see her ears. "Vixen!" she heard that sound of a cord again, and leaped back, only to be caught by the weapon in her side. Falling over the ledge, she managed to kick off of the wall behind her, only to slide down the other one with her fingers and toes. At the last second, she leaped off that wall and flipped backward, landing in a crouch.

Looking up, she had a brief moment to see the butt of a pole heading straight for her head, prompting her to leap to the side. Going into a roll, she slid a meter before Black Cat lunged at her, his foot going straight for her head. Bringing up her arm, she felt the kick connect, sending her into the wall of the building before a second impacted her chin, causing her to fly backward. Landing on her back, she curled up and went into a roll. "W-Wait! I don't..." she tried to say, but a red fist impacted her face, sending her crashing into a wall.

"Don't let up!" Ladybird Beetle called out. "She'll say anything to save her skin!" The sight of Black Cat rushing at her caused Lila's eyes to widen in shock and horror. She barely had a second to register the hate within Black Cat's green eyes before he slammed his staff into her abdomen, sending her into the wall hard enough for it to crack.

"Please... stop..." she breathed, her legs shaking as she wrapped her arms around herself, "A-Adrien... Marinette... please..." Dropping onto her knees, she looked up pleadingly while they closed in with their weapons twirling.

"She knows who we both are now..." Black Cat muttered.

Ladybird Beetle shook her head. "It doesn't matter anymore." Wrapping her yo-yo cable around the young woman, she growled, "Drop your transformation, Lila."

Coughing, she nodded. "T-Trixx... let's rest..." Lila stayed there with tears falling down her cheeks. "Please... I... I was coming..." she clutched her abdomen hard as she coughed up some blood, "I was... coming to hand over... my Miraculous."

"Why?" Ladybird Beetle asked as she stepped forward, her cable going taut around the young woman.

"I..." she wanted to tell them everything, tell them about how she had spent weeks with Anarka, and seen the error of her ways, of how she initially planned on running from her crimes and spending the rest of her life hiding from her past, but even to her the words sounded hollow. "I know... who gave me the Miraculous. He has more... dozens..."

"Dozens?" Marinette breathed. "Who? Who is he?"

'I need to stay alive long enough to get away.' Lila initially thought as she coughed again, a trickle of red flowing down to her chin from her lip. "Please..." she begged.

"Marinette," Black Cat looked at his beloved, "do you have a way to heal her?"

Pulling her weapon back, she threw it up to the sky "Lucky Charm!" A small octagonal box landed in her hand, but before she could look at it fully, she tossed it up into the sky. "Miraculous Ladybugs!" The magical ladybugs flew around Lila, healing her damage as she stayed there on her knees.

"Now, tell us who he is, and where we can find him." Black Cat ordered, pointing at her with his staff.

"His name... is Raptor." Lila said softly. "He's... I don't know what he is, but he has powers like I have never seen. When he was training me to use Trixx, he was able to fight me without a Miraculous and could knock me out of my transformation with a single hit."

"A Guardian..." Black Cat breathed.

That caused Ladybird Beetle to look at him. "A what?!"

"Plagg told me about them." he answered. "They contain the Miraculous, but have been trained to fight a wielder without the use of one."

"He wields two." Lila announced to the shock of the teens. "If you go up against him, you will both die." Staggering to her feet, she held onto her abdomen. "You will need my help."

"I'm sure we can handle him by ourselves." Beetle remarked coldly.

"You can't." Lila stated but continued. "I tried, and he used me. Each time I tried to fight against him, he used one of the Miraculous powers against me. He can order you to do anything, and you will do it, even if it goes against your nature." She then leaned against the wall. "Unlike us that need to feed our Kwami to get them to recharge after one use, he doesn't. Raptor gets multiple uses, so you could have an entire army against him, and he would still win."

"What would you recommend?" Black Cat asked.

Lila smiled. "We give him an army he can't convince." she then rubbed at her necklace. "You can't compel illusions."

Hearing the beep of her Miraculous, the pair nodded before she dropped her transformation. "I agree, but I want to have one other join us." Marinette said, crossing her arms under her bosom. "Cat, can you go get her?"

Black Cat nodded, and took one last look at Lila. "If I find out you've tricked us, or that you have hurt my lady in any way when I've returned, there is nowhere on this planet you will be able to hide from me."

The growl she heard from him caused Lila to shiver. "I understand." With that said, Black Cat was off, running for the Tsurugi compound.