Hey all! Sorry for the long wait. You know the deal by now, I'm sure.

So, some housekeeping to get out of the way before we start: as mentioned in the last chapter, this is the start of the fic's scope broadening beyond being a pretty exclusively ML-themed work; that doesn't mean we're moving away from the overall conflict between Hawk Moth and the other Miraculous Holders, much less that we're not focusing on Chloé's personal journey anymore, but you'll see a lot more overt references to other sides of the Kryptonverse. This chapter has a couple of good examples - references to the various superheroes and events of other fics in the series, and a character explicitly tied to the lore of another fandom. I'll try to make these references as unobtrusive as possible, but I can't promise they won't stick out for some of you, especially if you only really signed up for the Miraculous side of things.

Anyway, onto the chapter! And happy holidays! This is my x-mas/non-denominational season's gift to you :D hope you enjoy!

"Oh, wow." -Mlle. Bustier mutters, after everyone's left the classroom for lunch and Chloé's the only one left. "You know, don't you?"

Chloé blushes, taken aback - her prediction to Marinette, it would seem, was spot on. "Fuck. It's that obvious, huh?"

Caline hums. "I mean, I figured there was a 50/50 chance when you left to meet them last week, but…yes, it's kind of written all over your face. You've been alternating between grinning and frowning all morning."

The blonde sighs. "It was a hell of a night, alright."

"I don't want want you to say their names." -Caline cautions her. "And you know I already believe they are, but…the Ladybug and the Black Cat, would you say they're in good hands? Do you think they're the ones to defeat Hawk Moth?"

Chloé snorts. "I can't imagine them being in better hands, to be honest." -she says, trying to keep it vague. "I don't know when, or how, but I'm confident that asshole is going down."

Relief visibly permeates her mentor's expression. "Good. Good. And you?" -she prods. "I saw the pictures of your…injury - all of Paris saw. How are you doing?"

Her hand goes to her chest, as it has on reflex over the entire weekend. The wound no longer hurts, of course, but the mere mention of the stabbing sends her momentarily back to that moment. "I'm okay. Pollen healed me up."

"I figured, but…it was still a shock. For all of us." -Caline admits. "I think the whole city just now realized that you guys actually are teenagers risking your lives to protect us - and how fragile this whole system really is."

"Maybe." -Chloé shrugs, uncomfortable. "But they should've also realized that Hawk Moth isn't as invincible as he obviously loves to present himself. Even without that weird sputtering thing that happened to his powers, the bastard has an ego, and this snafu's already cost his image a lot."

Mlle. Bustier raises an eyebrow, impressed. "That's…true."

Chloé smirks. "I have my moments."

"Also true."

The young Bee Holder rolls her shoulder. "At any rate, I talked with the others about our plan a little; tracking down the Guardians, potentially even visiting their old HQ in Tibet. Ladybug thinks we have a real chance to figure out Hawk Moth's secret identity too, now that we can stay in touch outside our costumes."

Caline frowns. "They…know about me?"

Chloé winces. No point in lying. "...yeah. I'm sorry, it slipped out when I was freaking out about discovering their identities. I know it wasn't my secret to tell."

"It really wasn't." -Caline agrees. "But beyond that…I'm not proud of the part I've played in this city's suffering, no matter how unwilling it might've been; it's partly my fault that the Butterfly Miraculous is being used to harm people now, Chloé. If I'd been more vigilant, more attentive…maybe we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with."

"I get that. But y'know, considering Hawk Moth's whole supervillain schtick, maybe you wouldn't be alive to regret it if you had been more vigilant."

The teacher raises an eyebrow. "Somehow, that's not very comforting."

"I'm sorry." -Chloé sighs. "If it helps at all, neither of them blame you. And they're just as committed as I am to reuniting you with Nooroo one day."

"That does help, a little." -the redhead admits. "It's okay, Chloé. Considering what you'd just learned and experienced, facing Hawk Moth himself…I imagine it was an intensely emotional moment."

Chloé pinches the bridge of her nose. "Yeah. And we both know how well I handle those."

The teacher nods at her. "Go on, then, enjoy your break. We'll figure out a good time to meet and…I guess you'd better bring Ladybug and Cat Noir, too. You guys are right; we have a really good chance to make some progress in figuring out Hawk Moth's identity and plans, and if we can find out what happened to the Guardians…maybe even get their help, if any are still alive…?"

The teen heroine nods. "That'd be a game changer."

—

Chloé spends her lunch period staring at her phone, trying to avoid any of the various pictures of her stabbing, ironically enough, by looking up American superheroes. There's so many now, just a couple months after aliens rained down the skies of New York and the Avengers assembled to stop them - added with the more well known vigilantes such as Daredevil and Spider-Man, and new, ongoing reports of strange individuals wielding strange, glowing swords and other such anachronistic weapons against what some are calling real life monsters, there must be dozens of superheroes active at the moment.

Of course, no one includes them.

Searching for 'Ladybug', 'Cat Noir', 'Queen Bee', and 'Hawk Moth' yields tens of thousands of results from exclusively French people and websites, but zero results from international pages. Nothing from Facebook, Twitter, Youtube…even those boutique subreddits dedicated to blurry images of may-or-may-not-exist superheroes have nothing on any of the Miraculous warriors or the Akumas they fight every couple of days or so.

It's kind of wild that glamour magic can affect the Internet itself in that way, let alone the perception of the rest of planet Earth.

She narrows her eyes, an idea forming in her mind; she downloads one of the best shots of Ladybug from the Ladyblog (she still hates the name), creates a dummy account, and uploads the shot to r/superheroes.

Before she can congratulate herself on her genius, though, the post is rejected, and not because she's broken any community rules - her web browser merely crashes, no matter how many times she tries to upload to shot, or how many other communities she attempts to put the photo up on. She shakes her head, baffled by the results of her little experiment. The bell rings, and she gets on with her day as best she can.

That is, until the end of the school day.

It's almost a jump scare; she waves good-bye to Adrien and Marinette, she shoots a text reminder to Mlle. Bustier so they can figure out a time for the meeting, and she walks off, intending to find a nice, secluded space to turn into Queen Bee and fly around the city for a while and clear her head before heading home. She sneaks up to the roof of the school's main building, opens the door…and Juleka Couffaine yanks her arm like she's trying to pull her out of the way of a sniper shot.

She nearly decks her, just on instinct, even though the goth girl is taller than her almost by a head, as much as she typically shrinks into herself. To her credit, Juleka doesn't seem all that surprised by her nearly violent reaction. "What the fuck? What the hell is your damage, Juleka?" -she demands, baffled.

Juleka ignores her. "I need to talk to you." -she mutters, quiet as a mouse. Chloé almost teases her for it, as usual, but a) she's not that person anymore, and b) Juleka looks uncharacteristically serious.

…not that Juleka has ever made a habit of looking silly, of course, but as far as Chloé knew before this, Juleka had exactly two expressions: totally blank, and making heart eyes at Rose.

She grumbles. "Well, out with it! What do you want?"

Juleka takes a deep breath. "O-okay." -she says, like she's hyping herself up. "I…I know you're Queen Bee."

Chloé feels like she's been stabbed in the gut - and, well, not in the gut, but she now knows exactly what it feels like to be stabbed. But Juleka, relentless, keeps going.

"I know Mlle. Bustier knows about you."

Her eyes widen, as Juleka continues with her goddamn bombshell of an announcement. "And…I know who Cat Noir and Ladybug are under their masks, too."

The blonde pales; in a mere three sentences, Juleka has made herself one of the most dangerous people in Paris - if Hawk Moth were to discover that Juleka has this information, somehow (and Chloé has no doubt that Juleka's telling the truth), he'd be able to target them as civilians.

Or worse, their families.

Chloé grabs Juleka's arms - perhaps a bit too tightly, as the goth girl winces a bit. "How?"

"I-I…it's a long story." -she mutters, trying to extricate herself from Chloé's overly harsh grip.

She scoffs, but chooses to let go. The other girl rubs her arms, both in relief and as a measure of her growing anxiety. "So start telling it, already!"

Juleka sighs. "Not here." -she says, more firmly than Chloé would've ever expected from her. "Can you come to my apartment after the club meeting is done?"

—

She's not happy about it, but Chloé waits a full half hour outside the arts room, which Monsieur Monlataing happily lends to Marinette's LGBT club. Chloé tries not to pay attention to the goings-on inside the room, instead thinking about how wild it is that this club even exists - François Dupont is supposed to be a secular school, but many of its donors wouldn't exactly be caught dead attending Paris' Pride parade. It's a testament to Marinette's determination and willpower - and the courageous participation of her fellow club members, of course - that they've been regularly holding weekly meetings and putting together events in support of pro-LGBT charities and workshops dedicated to informing anyone willing to learn about the history of the various movements surrounding it, and the scientific evidence that backs the community up.

Not like it'll ever convince some people, she thinks cynically to herself. Still, she respects the effort. They might not always win hearts and minds, but at least they're doing something about it, unlike her closeted ass.

Even as she tries her best to avoid actually listening to the discussion, she does end up catching a few details, courtesy of Rose's outrageously high-pitched voice. The girl confides with the group that her parents - devout Catholics, from the sound of it - haven't quite managed to get her relationship with Juleka yet; that they're able to understand that Juleka is openly a lesbian (they're not a fan of that), and that she's in love with their daughter, but that Rose has always had male crushes before this. They don't understand what changed - what bisexual even means, really - and though they aren't outright kicking Rose to the curb, Juleka hasn't exactly been welcome in the Lavillant household while they figure the whole thing out.

Chloé has to shake her head. She doesn't know too much about Rose and Juleka's relationship since they got together, but everyone at school knows that Juleka practically lived at Rose's house, growing up.

The meeting ends, and the club members file out of the room, all of them wearing those little pins with the various flags to identify their genders and orientations - she's ashamed to admit to herself that she only really knows the ones for gay men, lesbians, and bisexual people, as she spots other ones she can't identify: Alix has one that goes from green to white, gray, and black, for example, and Marc (Nath's new-ish partner) has one with blues, pinks, black, and white. Chloé keeps out of sight until only Juleka, Rose, and Marinette remain, the latter closing up the room. Juleka looks around, so Chloé grits her teeth and walks out to meet them.

She hates to think about it, but she's a tiny bit jealous about her lesbian flag pin, proudly displayed on her chest. Totally clashes with her outfit, but…

…yeah.

"Chloé." -Marinette greets, clearly confused. "I thought you'd left already."

"I almost did." -she says, chagrined. "Juleka grabbed me at the last second."

Rose gasps. "Chloé!? Are you here to join the club!?"

Chloé immediately regrets her life choices. "No, nope, not in a million years." -she says, hoping to stave off any discussion on the matter before it even begins. Rose very clearly doesn't buy it. "You might ask your girlfriend what the hell she needed me for."

"I discovered that Chloé is a really big fan of Queen Bee." -Juleka lies, far too smoothly not to be rather practiced at it. "I…wanted to show her my mural."

The short-stack blonde gasps, shocked beyond reason. Chloé wonders how she doesn't pass out on a regular basis. "Chloé, it's so cool! Juleka lives alone, so she gets to decorate the house however she wants, and she's got this wall…" -she trails off, then shakes her head. "Nevermind, you'll see it super soon!"

Juleka blushes at the praise. "Sounds really cool." -Marinette notes. "Do you think I could see it, too?"

Chloé snorts. "Trust me, you're gonna want to." -she says, giving her fellow hero a meaningful look. Marinette narrows her eyes - she doesn't quite get the message, but she trusts her, so she nods and decides to come along, just like that.

Ain't that a trip.

Rose apologizes for not being able to join them - something about praying the rosary with her parents - giving Juleka a quick peck on the lips and bouncing away. Chloé's hit with another pang of jealousy - not for either girl in particular, but for the ease with which they show their love for each other. Marinette, meanwhile, only looks fondly at the pair.

Chloé wants to fly the girls over, but she figures Marinette wouldn't appreciate the shock of her transforming in front of the goth, so she lets Juleka drive them both over on her brother's Fiat 500. It's not technically legal for her to do so - she has a license, but being fifteen, she's only supposed to drive with an adult in the car - but Chloé doesn't really give a shit, and when Marinette points it out, Juleka shrugs and says that nobody ever really notices anyway.

Soon enough, they make it to the apartment complex where Juleka presumably lives. Chloé frowns - it seems vaguely familiar, for some reason she can't place, but she doesn't frequent this part of town. Juleka leads them up six flights of stairs, and into an apartment that…well, it's not quite what Chloé would've pictured for Juleka.

"Don't touch anything." -Juleka advises, squeezing past a cramped living room filled with the weirdest fucking knick-knacks Chloé's ever seen. There's all sorts of crystals, relics, and even some bronze or copper devices whose purpose Chloé can't tell at a glance. "My mom only visits twice a year, and she just…piles up stuff from her job on every surface she can find." -she explains.

"Is your mom some kind of archeologist?" -Marinette wonders. Chloé scoffs; to her, this seems more like the home of some kind of quack astrology nut, or something.

Juleka shakes her head. "She's a teacher."

Chloé leans close to a sort of old, radio-looking device whose stations have been replaced by some sort of runes she can't identify, with a bronze pointer needle. As she approaches, the needle shoots to its maximum setting, buzzing with an uncomfortable hum that makes her teeth hurt, and stinking of ozone.

"It's gonna explode if you stand there much longer." -she cautions. "Your little, um…friends, they're too powerful."

Marinette's eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?"

To her credit, Marinette has a good poker face. Apparently, it doesn't matter with Juleka. "She knows, somehow." -Chloé pointedly says, stepping back from the now slightly smoking device. "About the Miraculouses, the Kwamis. Everything. And for once, it's not my fault."

"Actually, it kinda is." -Juleka says, mildly amused. "Just, not in the way you're probably thinking. Come on, I'll explain."

Marinette seems more concerned than Chloé's seen her in ages - Hawk Moth encounter and all - but she follows nonetheless. Juleka leads them into her room, which is…a lot more like Chloé imagined her living space to be like. There's a cozy purple rug, a really nice bass guitar on a stand, a queen-sized bed with black covers and lilac sheets, several posters for metal and hard rock bands on the ceiling, and oddly enough, a mannequin with roughly Juleka's proportions. Chloé idly wonders what it's for, since she's pretty sure Juleka's not a seamstress.

Of course, the room is dominated by the mural.

All of the room's walls are black, though the paint is not standard - the words are covered in chalkboard paint, and Juleka's very much taken advantage of it. There's an ongoing mural all around the room, a work in progress filled with heroes from every corner of the world - Chloé stares in awe as Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Queen Bee triumphantly lead the charge, followed by all currently known members of the Avengers, several well-known vigilantes such as Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Daredevil, historical figures like the Red Guardian, the Crimson Dynamo, and Captain Britain, and even a work-in-progress representation of that new, shape-shifting hero with the various alien-like forms and the hourglass symbol that popped up during that recent alien invasion over on the US West Coast. It's a celebration of the world's many champions - and judging by how much more space Juleka's allocated for further drawings, she's clearly expecting more to pop up.

"...wow. It's beautiful." -Marinette gasps, genuinely awestruck.

It really is; Juleka's style trends a little more realistic than Nathaniel's more stylized, almost anime-inspired drawings, but she's very clearly a master of both posing and proportions - all the heights look right, and Chloé's pretty damn sure that even though none of the bold, adventurous poses are directly lifted from existing photographs, they all look accurate to the various heroes' attitudes and ways of moving around. Supergirl soars, Captain America charges, and Ladybug and Spider-Man swing, as the bug-themed heroes that they are.

Come to think of it, it's kinda weird that Ladybug swings like that. Shouldn't she fly, like an actual ladybug? Maybe Marinette is secretly a Spidey fan, too.

Juleka offers them a small smile. "...thanks."

Chloé shakes her head, baffled by the art on display. "Never would've pegged you for a superhero stan."

The taller girl tilts her head. "'Stan'?"

The blonde waves her off. "It's American slang, forget about it." -she says. "You've never mentioned you had a thing for superheroes, is what I'm getting at."

"Comes with being Nath's best friend, I guess." -she shrugs. "He used to be obsessed with them as a kid. He's only really into Ladybug these days, but…I guess the love for superheroes was contagious. Stuck with me all the way till we had our own superheroes swinging around Paris."

Chloé crosses her arms. "So, spill it: how the hell do you know our identities?"

Juleka sighs. "Like I said, it's a long story. My family - on my mother's side, at least - has a long history with magic; my mom used to tell Luka and I that the Couffaine witches were as old as France itself." -she explains, fondly recalling some childhood memory. "My mom's a witch, my grandma's a witch, and her mother was one, too. On and on, going back over a thousand years."

"What about you? Are you a witch?" -Marinette asks, nonchalant, like she's talking about the weather.

Juleka winces. "Technically, but…I'm what's called a banale; a witch born without any magical powers." -she says, glum, rubbing her forearm. "I know all about the magical world, but I can't really…interact with it. No wand, no spells, no place at Beauxbatons Academy…I might as well be a regular mortal."

"Isn't…everyone mortal?" -Chloé blinks.

"Not those little gods you carry in your bags." -Juleka says, sardonic. "But, not what I meant. There's different names in different cultures for people who have no connection to the magical world - muggles, no-majs, pas magies, and so on - but…'mortals' is pretty universal."

Marinette purses her lips. "If you're not magical…how come you know about the Kwamis?"

"I don't actually know that much about them." -Juleka admits. "I've been doing research on Kwamis and the Miraculouses, but my side of the magical world doesn't seem to have interacted with yours all that much. All I really know is that you have these magic gems inhabited by divine beings that predate pretty much every known god on Earth, and that they somehow give you superpowers."

"One of them being a glamour that conceals our identities." -Chloé nods. "So how did you see through it?"

"I couldn't, at first." -Juleka shrugs. "This glamour magic…it's so powerful that even my gift of Clear Sight couldn't see through it the first couple of weeks since you first appeared." -she says, nodding at Marinette, who winces once more at the fact that her identity's been compromised.

Chloé narrows her eyes, exhausted by all the magic bullshit she's had to learn in a single conversation already. "What the hell is 'Clear Sight'?"

Juleka points at her crimson eyes. "I can see through the veil that conceals most magical stuff from mortals. I wasn't born able to wield magic, but by some quirk of destiny, I was able to see it from the start. It's a very, very rare gift." -she elaborates. "All of that stuff downstairs? If not for your contact with the Miraculous, you wouldn't be able to see it for what it actually is. You'd just see a bunch of regular clutter, not…y'know, magic clutter. A person born with Clear Sight would see it for what it is, regardless."

"Is that why your eyes are red?" -Chloé asks, mildly accusatory.

The goth rubs the back of her head. "No, no, that's just genetics. Maybe I had a vampire for an ancestor? I dunno, but, um…it's not related to the gift, at least not that I know of."

"So what changed? How were you suddenly able to see through the glamour?" -Marinette asks.

Juleka timidly nods at the blonde. "Back when Stormy Weather attacked, I kinda…died. I don't remember much, for obvious reasons, but I do remember waking up and staring at Chloé's face for just a split second before I couldn't quite recognize her again."

"She was impaled by a piece of rebar. Lost a fuck-ton of blood before I managed to stabilize her." -Chloé supplies, for Marinette's benefit - or detriment, considering how much Paris' premier heroine pales. "She didn't quite die, but it was real fucking close."

"Close enough that the glamour probably stopped working on me for just a moment, if I were to guess." -Juleka agrees. "But that was enough; I followed you every chance I got, until I actually caught you transforming - in front of Mlle. Bustier, no less. And once I'd seen that, the magic just…stopped working on me altogether. I saw Adrien when I looked at Cat Noir, and…well, you, when I looked at Ladybug." -she tells Marinette.

The ravenette sits on Juleka's bed, cupping her chin and frowning, deep in thought. "This isn't good." -she says. "If Hawk Moth ever Akumatizes you…well, I'm not entirely sure how the possession works, but it could reveal our identities to him."

Juleka purses her lips. "That's why I wanted to tell you." -she agrees, then turns to Chloé. "...and also because you're being followed. By, uh…someone who isn't me, I mean."

Chloé scowls. "Goddamn it, why is it always me?" -she laments. "Who is it? Volpina?"

"The Fox one?" -Juleka wonders. She shakes her head. "No, not her. A man, and an older one at that. I drew a sketch of him, but…it's not the greatest - he's very fast, and very good at staying hidden. If I hadn't been following you around, I would never have noticed him."

The goth grabs a sketch pad from her bedside table. She flips through a couple dozen drawings - and Chloé's pretty sure she spots a couple of lewd looking women in there - before settling on one of a short-ish old man in what seems to be ancient Chinese armor, paired with a solid-looking conical hat that hides most of his face, except for a lengthy goatee.

Chloé blinks, her brain making the connection for her. The sketch was made with a pencil, but she has an inkling about what it'd look like in color. "Is the armor green?"

Juleka raises an eyebrow. "Y-yeah." -she says. "Do you know who it is?"

The blonde shakes her head. "No, but…I think I've seen him out of the corner of my eye a couple times. I thought it was just my stressed-out ass, but…I guess not."

Marinette looks at her. "What are we gonna do about this?"

Chloé snorts. "What can we do?" -she asks, rhetorically. "I'll try to track down this asshole stalker, but otherwise, it's business as usual. So the quietest girl in school knows we're superheroes, so what?" -she turns to Juleka. "You just better not get Akumatized, Juleka."

"It's not that simple, Chloé." -Marinette says. "The more people know, the more people can find out. How many people know about you and Mlle. Bustier now, huh? What if Rose looks into her sketchbook? What if Mrs. Couffaine finds out, or Luka?"

"Then we deal with it." -Chloé retorts. "We figure out our contingencies, just like before. Be as careful as possible with everyone else that doesn't know yet."

Marinette seems unconvinced, while Juleka stares at the floor, clearly downcast. "I-I'm sorry. This is all my fault. If I hadn't been so obsessed with proving my suspicions right, I'd be none the wiser." -she says. "I just…couldn't believe what I'd seen." -she admits. "Couldn't believe it was you, saving my life."

Chloé shakes her head. It stings like a bitch, but if she hadn't lived through the whole fucking thing herself - if she hadn't altogether become a completely different person since she found the Miraculous - she probably wouldn't believe it either. "It's fine, Juleka. If I were in your place, I'd have done the same damn thing. And I probably wouldn't have been as subtle about it as you were."

Juleka nods, somewhat mollified. "Maybe I can help." -she suggests, seeing as Marinette is still frowning. "It doesn't work over video or images, but…if I were to see Hawk Moth in person, I should be able to know what he looks like under the mask."

The blonde's eyes widen. "...holy shit. You really think so?" -she breathes.

Marinette rises. "Out of the question." -she declares. "Even with the Miracle Cure, I'm not gonna risk you getting hurt or killed just to give us a shortcut."

Chloé crosses her arms. "You sure about that? That'd be a hell of a fucking shortcut, Marinette."

"No." -she says firmly. "We do this the way we planned." -she turns to Juleka. "I really appreciate your bravery, Juleka, but I wouldn't feel comfortable letting you help without some kind of added protection, like the Miraculous gives us. We barely survived an encounter with Hawk Moth as it is, and he wasn't even trying to kill us."

Chloé snorts. "Speak for yourself."

Marinette shrugs. "I mean, case in point - even with the power of the Bee, Chloé could've died that night. The moment Hawk Moth figures out you have something to do with us, you'd have a target on your back, and I somehow doubt he'd show any mercy just because you don't have powers."

Juleka visibly deflates, but she nods. "This would be so much easier if I was a real witch; I could actually help, then." -she sighs. Or if you had a Miraculous, Chloé thinks to herself. "Anyway; my offer stands, but I, um…I get where you're coming from."

Ladybug's expression softens - and it is Ladybug reaching out and comforting Juleka, as she would any depowered Akumatized victim. "Powers or no, you're still my friend. And I'm glad that, if anyone had to find out, it was you. Having someone trustworthy to confide in is a really big help." -she reassures her. "You don't need to be a superhero to have our back."

She doesn't, of course - Chloé agrees with the sentiment wholeheartedly. But she has to wonder…what if she were? What if there were a way for Juleka to take to the field alongside them - maybe even catch a glimpse at the bald capped bastard himself?

It's an idea to consider, she supposes. One for later, though - apparently, she has bigger, greener priorities…

That last line makes it sound like Chloé's gonna face down the Hulk, hahaha. Not the case, I assure you!

So, yeah, Juleka's technically a witch! A "banale", to be precise, which is the French name for squibs, so don't go expecting her to cast spells or anything like that. Maybe brew some potions that don't need a wand or something? Her mother Anarka, on the other hand, is not only a fully capable witch, but the Défense Contre les Arts Sombres (y'know, Defense Against the Dark Arts) teacher at Beauxbatons Academy. Luka is a bit of an oddball; he has magic, but he chose not to train with it - Beauxbatons isn't explicitly women-only, but there's definitely a bit of a stigma to male wizards in France, and Luka'd really rather play his guitar than lead a gender norms revolution.

I don't plan for the characters to visit the French witchcraft school, or really touch too much on the magical world of France (this just isn't the fic for that), but this seemed like the perfect opportunity for a tie-in to the larger Kryptonverse. I hope you agree! It also gave me an opportunity to pay homage to my favorite fanfic of all time, Powers of Invisibility - you'll notice that Juleka obviously doesn't live on a houseboat, but in an apartment building, all by herself. This and the chalkboard paint all over her walls are both featured on that fic, which I dearly recommend you read.

Stuff I picked up on the final pass:
-I actually didn't plan to have Ms Bustier react much at all to the knowledge that Chloé spilled on her being a former Miraculous Holder; a mistake on my part, to be honest, and one my friend ZR pointed out for me.
-To be honest, I think Ms Bustier has an inkling about who Ladybug and Cat Noir is. Partly because their absences are really obvious, especially to a teacher who's also been a Miraculous holder, but also because of Chloé's reaction to finding out.
-r/superheroes is a real subreddit, of course, but this in-universe version of it is, as Chloé says, to share the love for the actual superheroes that exist on this world.
-There really isn't a relation between Juleka's dark red irises and her gift of Clear Sight. I also don't think she has a vampire in her ancestry, though perhaps someone in her past was a child of Iris? I'll let your imagination fill in that blank.
-Alix's pin is the one for aromantic people, and Marc's is the one for genderfluidity!
-Tweaking MCU canon a bit (further, of course) in that Red Guardian was a public superhero, at least for a time. Same (kinda) goes for the Crimson Dynamo, as designed by Anton Vanko - this version of it wouldn't have been a bulky Iron Man clone, but rather a man with cybernetically enhanced limbs.

Anyway, I'm sure most of you know who the old guy in green armor is, if you've watched the show. Excited to write them! If you have any comments, shoot me a review or an ask over on Tumblr (darthkvznblogs). Until next time!