Definitions
Nicnevin = a beautiful fairy queen in a malevolent guise as the leader of the Wild Hunt that steals people from their homes to become entertainments for the fae
Ly Erg = A dangerous kind of Fae, known for their reddish hands, through which they absorb the blood of those they kill in order to feed
Finnbheara = a fae king that is known to frequently kidnap human women among other things
each-uisce = fey water horses, similar to kelpies, but they don't have the sticky skin and they dwell in the sea
Cú Sidhe = large fae dog and an omen of death
Ainsel = "own self" | My Own Self originally written as Me Aan Sel and shortened to "Ainsel" is a commonly used name-like term to refer to oneself as, without it being a lie the fae could condemn (also a good way to trick them if they ask who you are)


Ladybug, after spending at least ten seconds standing on top of a national monument to stare, wondered in absolute exasperation if Hawkmoth didn't have anything better to do today or if he was running out of ideas. Because, this was low, even for him. She had half a mind to holler that exact train of thought at the Akuma in the hopes the Miraculous wielder behind it would hear her, but then thought better of it. No reason to attract the giant baby's attention.

All things considered, this hadn't been what she had expected when her phone had chimed with an Akuma alert. She had been in the middle of studying too!

Rude!

"Lollipop!" The Akuma cried and she had to suppress a facepalm.

Based on her previous Akuma fight, she had expected something equally, if not even more, challenging. What was now in front of her, however, didn't at all live up to her desperate wish for a challenging fight. What made it downright embarrassing was that Hawkmoth, according to Tikki, could recall an Akuma butterfly, so if he hadn't akumatised a baby on purpose, he could have reversed it easily. As it was though, he seemed to think that a clumsy infant the size of a building had enough finesse to steal magic jewellery. It was laughable at best, but the only word that came to her mind to describe it was pathetic.

At least Chat Noir was already there and currently in the process of luring the Akuma into open space. She wasn't sure what his plan was, if he even had one, but open space was good for now.

A grin spread on her face as she stretched her arms in a way that would have made her joints crack out of the suit.

"Very well then, here we go," she said to herself and swung down from her high perch to get closer to the action.

She had fought in a war, survived serving under Nicnevin, bested a Ly Erg in a duel, killed Finnbheara with an iron dagger—which had been a nicety, the bastard had deserved a much more painful death—and had ridden an each-uisce bareback along a beach. In comparison to all these things, her current fight was an absolute joke and a worse blow to her dignity than even gardening had been. That was exactly why she decided to not elongate this needlessly and to instead deal with it as precisely and simply as such a weak opponent deserved. And while it would have been even easier to use her wings, it was barely a challenge even without them.

Before the giant baby could react, Ladybug had wound her bandalore around one of its arms—the one with what looked like a bracelet and therefore probably the akumatised object. A quick flick of her wrist and she was on it. The baby tried to clumsily grab for her, but it was no match for her bug-like reflexes that had already saved her multiple times in the past from much more precise aim.

"Get the bracelet, Chaton!" she yelled at the same time as she punched a button on said bracelet, making it fall down.

Another grab for her was dodged easily with a backflip, leaving a bewildered baby behind that looked around to find her. Ladybug's feet hit the ground at the same time as Chat Noir broke the bracelet with a stomp. And just like that, the Akuma was enveloped in purple-black and down fell the baby. Ladybug managed to catch it just in time.

Phew, that was close! Speaking of child endangerment!

"No Cataclysm, huh?" She asked once she saw they were in the clear.

Chat Noir shrugged. "Seemed like a waste of power."

She nodded, fully agreeing with that sentiment, and then held the baby towards him. Just one more thing and she could go back to studying.

"Hold him, I still need to catch the Akuma and cast the Cure."

Chat Noir looked at the baby as if it was about to explode and then hesitantly took it, holding it awkwardly. Ladybug gently corrected his hold.

"Never held a baby before?" She asked, slightly amused, but then concentrated on the fleeing butterfly.

With a throw of her bandalore, the nasty magical insect was caught and purified in no time. She watched as the white being fluttered up in the air and then called the Cure to repair the little damage that had been caused. The statues at the Trocadero returned to their rightful places, as well as cars and food stands and dents in the road were fixed. Sheesh, and there she had thought that she was done with seeing the results of a supernatural temper tantrum. Then again, the damage fae children did was more often than not psychological, not physical.

"Can't say that I have, no," Chat Noir said. "Can you take him again please?"

She snorted at his pleading look.

"Oh, come on, it's just a baby. Do you expect it to bite your face off or something? The worst thing it can do is drool on you." His scowl made her laugh. "Don't worry, I'm sure his mother will come looking for him soon enough, so you'll just have to hand him back. Alas, this was enough of a study break for me. See you around, Chaton!"

There was a small feeling telling her to linger and to keep helping and she briefly stopped to consider. Chat Noir, despite his complaints, was fine though, as was everything else. People emerged from their hiding places unhurt and continued their day as if nothing had happened. Everything was fine. Writing it off as her old instincts to give an arm when she was supposed to give a hand, she eventually shook her head and threw out her bandalore.

What a waste of time, Ladybug thought as she swung home.

One would think that by living through and redefining the definition of crazy, she wouldn't call things that anymore unless they truly deserved it. And one would think correctly. Paris was so far removed from what she had lived and what she knew, that she felt like a fish out of water. It wasn't exactly crazy, more stifling. Akumas might attack on a weekly basis, but it was in no way comparable to the coasts of Ireland. She had fought off the feared each-uisce—fey water horses and vicious predators of the sea—dispelled the dangerous magic that had rolled across the land in a never-ending flow—so very different to the gentle tickle of it she felt nowadays—saved harvests from destruction, chased away Cú Sidhe and so on and so forth. She had been in her element and it had been home, truly and wholly. The day she had surrendered her Miraculous had been the day she had left her home behind and never found a new one ever since. Maybe because she hadn't been free ever since, or that day plus seven years minus one day since. Or was it a hundred years instead of seven? Who knew? Who cared?

Ladybug landed on Marinette's rooftop balcony and gripped the banister's railing so hard that she could bend the metal if she so pleased.

"Pathetic," she said, just to have spoken the word out loud.

The people of Paris didn't know what true horrors looked like. Ironically, not even the person who they called a terrorist seemed to know it, based on the sorry excuses he called Akumas. To think he could gain Creation and Destruction with his current attempts was ludicrous to say the least. The Court could do so much worse than him and it made her hope that they hadn't set their eyes on Danu too closely this time. Being tricked and held captive as Danu's chosen once was more than enough!

She let out a deep sigh before finally letting go of the banister and straightening up again.

"Spots off."

The warm hum of magic left her…for the most part. There always was some magic left inside her, alive and fluttering like a little bird. Creation was warm and beautiful, a comfort, but still like a curse, if her past and also her currently glamoured, deformed body was anything to go by. She'd never be able to call herself human again and mean it.

"Bri, are you alright?" Tikki immediately asked with obvious worry.

Bri smiled grimly. "Just reminiscing about old times and how all this," she motioned at Paris beyond, "isn't living up to it."

"It's certainly different, that's for sure," the kwami commented soberly.

"Try worlds apart. I even felt more at home in Faerie than I do here! It's just…safe and despite that still crawling with chaos in every corner. I don't like it."

She shuddered a little at the sensation of the ever-busy and never quiet city, before vehemently shaking her head to rid herself of the thought. What was she even doing? She hadn't thought of home or about being human for a long time and now she suddenly couldn't stop comparing this foreign place to her life from long ago. There was no time left for forlorn thoughts like that though while she had a job to do!

A job that currently consisted of studying French history. Well, at least it was interesting to catch up on historical events she had missed.

Bri had just sat back down at the desk when her phone vibrated with a text. It was a sound that made her sigh once more, but at least she hadn't been immersed in her studies already. Curiously, she pressed the button that woke up the device and saw, to her immense surprise, that it was a text from Félix—he rarely texted her, especially since she had changed his contact name to something he didn't approve of. The preview already showed the one line it consisted of.

Grumpy Cat: We have a problem.

How wonderfully specific of him. With an irritated huff, she swiped the screen to tell him as much. She had typed half a sentence when another text of his came in.

Grumpy Cat: Look at the news.

And so, she did. Abandoning her history research, she, like Tikki had taught her, opened a new tab and clicked on a shortcut for a news site to see what Félix meant. Lots of news articles popped up, most including the word Akuma, which wasn't surprising. The newest one, posted just minutes ago, was the problem.

Man Found Dead After Akuma Attack!

The headline read, followed by the little information the police had gathered already.

A man was found dead at 04:14 PM in Jardins du Trocadéro near Aquarium de Paris, the site of the Akuma attack on May 8 th 2017. According to the police, the 26-year-old suffered a fatal blow to the head, most likely caused by a large object thrown by the Akuma. Eyewitness reports state that while the attack was brief, the Akuma threw several cars, statues, food stands and other similarly large objects into the vicinity where the body was found. Neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir have made a statement on the possible cause for this first fatality by the hands of an Akuma yet.

Well…shit.

"Tikki, did the Cure fail this time?" Bri asked and was frustrated that the article didn't include a picture.

"An injury like this should have been accounted for," the kwami said and floated closer to the computer screen to scan over the article once more. "If it was a blow to the head by one of the statues or other things that were thrown, then the Cure would have healed internal bleeding and the broken skull, probably leaving a bad concussion in its place. The man wouldn't be dead by any means. Your power might not be as strong as it has once been, but it would only have been a fatality if that man had been crushed beyond recognition."

"Which means it was a regular murder after the Cure was cast or even before the attack. By a human or the Folk?"

"That's the question," Tikki said grimly.

"Let's see what our local grumpy cat has to say about it."

Ainsel: I think it's murder. The Cure would have fixed it

Grumpy Cat: Are you certain?

Ainsel: 100%

Grumpy Cat: It still paints Ladybug and Chat Noir in a bad light since it occurred during an Akuma attack.

Ainsel: Gee I wonder who'd want to tarnish their reputation, especially at a time like this

Grumpy Cat: The Court

Ainsel: Exactly! Though we can't be absolutely sure until we talk to someone who knows more

Grumpy Cat: I very much hope this isn't a suggestion concerning my involvement. The Court and I are on bad terms currently, as you're very well aware of.

Ainsel: Just ask Juleka a curious question and I'll go straight to Chloé if that doesn't work

you're freaked out over a death by the way?

Grumpy Cat: Of course I am! Aren't you?

Ainsel: Not really. I'm used to it

Grumpy Cat: You are insane.

Ainsel: I am the very definition of "insane" kitty cat. It's a good survival mechanism when you move among the Folk ;)