Guest; Purr-haps…
XD Way late.
She just sorta…walked away? Wasn't actually listening to them? Basically, she walked in then left.

(:)
I've been under quite a bit of stress lately. I recently got a runny nose and my exhaustion levels tripled in the last few weeks. My head hurts a lot, school is getting less and less manageable, and I'm falling behind in personal goals. Not to mention I'm extremely worried for a sick family member, and let me tell ya, it's difficult to make meals for eight boys, half of which eat more then anyone ever should. It sometimes takes hours to prepare. Haha, I'm not sure how Mom managed for twenty-two years.
I don't usually tell people my problems or ask for help or prayers or anything unless if they're very close, but right now I'm asking for mercy. I'm doing my best to stay positive, but as these past two or four weeks have been some of my worst, I just need some time not to be bashed by people and just feel loved. Please. Everyone needs a breather.
(:)
It'd be easier to stay happy all the time if everyone focused on the good in life. A smile, a cheerful word, can really make a difference. If you want people to be kind to you, try to be kind. It's not that hard.
(:)

Last thing before the biggest note; CHAT BLAAAAAANC TRAILER! WATCH IT NOW! IT'S AMAZING!

(:)
Important; This book is an AU. Just wanted to reaffirm that really quickly.
For the sake of this book, Akuma death counts will go down, especially in the case of Syren, which is a fan favorite, to the point where only…maybe…one thousand have been killed in a single akuma attack. Thus, this makes Chat Blanc the worst by a LOT.

(:)

Try Everything

-Shakira

Ah, Mr. Pigeon. The most common akuma…the most annoying…and the first one after the Chat Blanc accident, exactly a week after he struck.

The perfect time to show Adrien the ropes.

Luckily, it wasn't during school; right after it, actually. It was almost as if Hawkmoth was just as sick of it as they were and was giving them an akuma that they didn't have to go through great lengths to catch.

It was almost as if he was going easy on them, but, no, that couldn't be it. Hawkmoth would never, ever go easy on them. Maybe he was just still hopeful in the man, even if Mr. Ramier failed every time.

Mr. Ramier – due to Chat Noir's suggestion – changed his favorite animal, and that had stopped him being akumatized…until today. Ladybug was suspicious that the only reason he was akumatized was because he switched his favorite animal back in angry retaliation.

Ladybug landed on the west side of the building bordering the Louvre, grunting to herself when she spotted Mr. Pidgeon standing on top of his hundreds of birds in front of his usual haunt.

'Great; we have to face him again. Purr-sonally, I prefer having a long fight then having a short fight with my allergies plaguing me for days later.' Ladybug had heard here and there that people who missed someone close to them would sometimes think things like ''if they were here they'd say 'fill-in-the-blank'.''

For Ladybug, it was just an occasional voice in her head that said the strangest things. Things that sounded vaguely Chat Noir-like. Sometimes it seemed to be so loud she actually looked around for her blonde partner and was always met with disappointment. But, anyway, why should she be surprised?

He had told her – well, Marinette her – that he would very possibly never return, and she should have accepted that. She shouldn't keep her hopes up.

But she still did. She still wanted to talk to him, to playfully criticize celebrities – usually Gabriel Agreste, who, for some reason, Chat Noir especially enjoyed ridiculing – and to complain about how easy akumas were.

But she couldn't without him. Maybe one day Aspik and her would learn to be as close as her and Chat Noir had been, and while she looked forward to that day, she also didn't want him to replace her feline partner.

She supposed, at this point in time there was really no choice.

Seemingly as if he had been summoned by her, Aspik landed behind her, staring down at Mr. Pigeon as he copied her pose.

'Speak of the devil.' The Chat-voice playfully grumbled.

Shut up. Ladybug mentally snarled, shaking her head.

Aspik didn't notice the distraught look on her face, too occupied with focusing on Mr. Pigeon, probably plotting a plan of attack.

"Mr. Pigeon is a pretty simple akuma, so we can use him for training." Ladybug instructed, waving her hand busily toward the akuma.

She missed the annoyed look crossing Aspik's face for half a second, his gaze flickering over to her. In his mind, he didn't need practice. He had been a hero for a year and a half, even if she was not aware of it.

"Let's practice the art of the surprise attack." Ladybug decided, tilting her head to where Mr. Pigeon was strutting to and fro, cooing more then was probably necessary.

'You know what would be a sur-purr-ise , dear Bugaboo? Is if you fell for me suddenly!' Chat's voice in her head was so strong that she, once again, nearly believe him to be crouched beside her in Aspik's spot.

She turned to Aspik, almost trusting him to say what Chat Noir would normally say, but, of course, he only gave a curt nod.

"You go from the left; I go from the right." The original duo always went in the same direction; Ladybug going right and Chat Noir going left. It was almost tradition.

Aspik obeyed almost instantly, cutting sharply to the left, traveling easily across the rooftops almost as if he was used to it, contrary to what Ladybug expected him to do; she still assumed him to act just like Chat Noir, guessing that he would stall while making flirtatious comments.

But, off course, he was not Chat Noir. He was Aspik, more focused on the job on hand then flirting. Of course, Chat Noir could focus on the job when he wanted to; and he was always prepared to work quickly and easily if need be, but he preferred teasing her to missions.

She could once again hear Chat's voice, right on time, whispered in her mind. 'Oh, why am I always the one to go left? I know you're usually in the right, but this is a tad ridiculous, M'lady.'

Focus Kitty, the sooner we do this, the sooner we get to go on with our personal lives. She must be crazy, having an internal conversation with herself.

'Yeah, I guess you're right…we'd better do the mission' Disappointment. 'And get it over with.'

Are you okay?

"Are you okay?" Her thoughts were voiced aloud, causing her to jump. After a minute of needing to focus on the teen hero before her, Ladybug had to wonder when Aspik circled back around to face her. "

Ladybug stared up at him for a second, blinking a few times. "Oh, yeah. Sorry." Ladybug assured him, trying to smile as cheerfully as Chat Noir always did. She wondered if his playful grins were as fake as hers was. Probably not. It was near impossible to stay that fake happy as much as he did. Ladybug shook off the haunting thought, nodding at Aspik. "Let's do this."

The suspicious look Aspik regarded her with was probably deserved, sent to her seconds before he pivoted and bounded for a second time to the left.

Ladybug did the same toward the right, stopping by a chimney.

Ladybug and Aspik – from where he sat perched beside a gargoyle – exchanged a look, knowingly nodding.

Aspik produced his harp, and Ladybug wondered when he learned to read minds.

…she wondered if it was a snake power.

She remembered, once, from a previous lesson from Master Fu, that the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous had three bonus powers to creation and destruction, and while Ladybug knew hers – purifying akumas and the Miraculous Cure – she had no clue what Chat Noir's was. She once questioned him on the topic, and he instantly drew a blank, staring into nothing. After ten seconds of dully gazing into the abyss, he responded with 'We have what?!' After asking Master Fu why Chat didn't know his own powers, Master Fu responded that no cat holder knew the powers. They were too dangerous, and…well, frankly, it was Plagg's decision to tell people them, and he never told any of his chosen holder, except for one who had accidentally destroyed most potato planets in Ireland until Tikki's chosen was able to get it under control.

Plagg and Master Fu both refused to tell Marinette what these powers were. Mysterious.

The next five down, consisting of the Butterfly, Turtle, Fox, Peacock, and Bee Miraculous only were gifted with an additional single power, the Butterfly's being mind-linking, the Peacock being able to fulfill three wishes – bordered with the traditional rules about no falling in love or bringing people to life – Bee was able to trigger a shock wave that paralyzed all in its path, Fox's was that they could create a tangible copy of themselves, and Turtle's was to heal injuries.

All bonus powers were for the more experienced – seeing as how they required more energy and could be exceedingly dangerous in the wrong hands – but their use was unlimited. Ladybug's was one of the few that did not require energy to keep them running or experience; she could simply do them in one go.

At least, that's how it was with two of hers. The third, the one she never needed to use because she always had help, had the power to create an immanent person, living and moving.

The Zodiac Miraculouses lacked extra powers, so, of course, snake, which was in the third category – did not have such powers.

So, of course, Aspik was unable to read her mind, but he seemed to be able to guess her intents rather easily.

'Bugaboo! I'm offended; you're saying that like he's the only person with such a unique ability.'

Right. Chat Noir had also been able to guess, but that had been taken from months of them familiarizing themselves with each other, trusting each other, learning how the other worked. Such a mental connection should not be formed so quickly, so Ladybug just supposed that Aspik's sudden key-into her plan was simply luck.

Or Soulmates.

Ladybug shook the thought from her mind, raising her head to stare at Aspik once again.

Seeing that he was awaiting some form of response from her, mask twisted as he tried to make his raised eyebrow obvious, but pretty much failed, fingers poised over the correct cords.

Ladybug nodded at him, silently prompting him to transform as she smirked inwardly at the persistent Chat-voice in her head. HE doesn't stall. He gets things done. You could learn from him.

'Forgive me for trying to make our job easier and trying to make you relaxed!' Chat's voice complained, and Ladybug could practically see his pout, the huge eyes he would be giving her if he was sentient and not some fragment of her mind. She wished he was here, now. Helping her train every hero. He had with every single one before, until now. For crying out loud, he had been the one to mostly take charge of Queen Bee, insisting that it would be good training for them both.

She wished he was here now; even hiding out of sight but still there would be better then being completely gone. She wished she could actually talk to him, and…oh. Aspik was a pigeon now.

Sometime during her inner-monologuing, Aspik had played the tune and transformed into one of the pesky birds, the only way to tell the difference between he and the other two-thousand pigeons was the Snake Miraculous clutched tightly between his tiny little claws, and his cooing sounded…off. Other then those tell-tale signs, Ladybug was sure she would have mistaken him for the others.

Aspik turned his head to stare at her sideways, tilting his head a bit to properly look at her, due to his eyes being centered on either side of his head.

Ladybug smiled at him, inwardly pondering how he looked so cute even as a bird. She wondered if his allergies had traveled with him into this form. It'd be interesting if they did…and they'd know never to use this tactic again.

Ladybug rapidly signed to him, waving her arms around in an effort to make him understand. Fly down, shift back, attack. She hoped he understood.

Chat Noir had never understood her wild gestures during Silencer – admittedly she had always sucked at charades – and so she realized if he didn't understand, perhaps nobody would. After all, they were best friends and if he hadn't gotten it, perhaps nobody did. Then again, that was a few months ago, so perhaps she had improved with signing.

Because Aspik immediately obeyed, diving for the crowd and disappearing into the masses with ease.

Ladybug circled around to a better vantage point, keeping her gaze glued to Mr. Pigeon, who was now singing for her to show herself at the top of his lungs, waving his hands around with pizzazz. She walked along the rooftops, edging as close as she could get to the pigeon-overlord without being seen.

"Ladybug, my dear! Hand over your Miraculous to my dear pigeons or face my wrath!" He cooed, walking up and down the platform his pigeons formed, humming a tune to himself.

Mr. Ramier should have listened to Chat Noir and just kept the stupid rat as his new favorite. Then he wouldn't be akumatized again. She had heard that being akumatized hurt the victim, that for a moment everything is covered in pain and darkness, and then it was if they fell asleep for a time, feeling nothing, until they woke up as light and happy as could be. That's what she had heard, anyway. From Alya. From Nino. From her father. From Kim. From Rose. From…the entire class, really. All had complained and mentioned the pain they had felt before the akumatization, and how they had all accepted it, because, surely, it was only mild pain to what they would feel if they were left to wallow in their misery.

Did Chat Noir feel that pain? Did Chat accept because he guessed the suffering he had felt previously was more significant compared to having your mind controlled, of having it twisted?

Everyone she knew had complained about the momentary pain they had felt; even Chloe, even Rena and Carapace. All had admitted that it ached to be akumatized.

All except Chat Noir. Did he feel pain? Did he not mention it because, in words he had used before after a particularly terrible fight, 'it's nothing compared to other amounts of pain others have felt'?

Or perhaps it never came up.

Chat Blanc had hesitated before attacking her when she first showed up, freezing before taking a step back. Then the purple mask had appeared, and he bent over for a half second before wildly attacking her.

Perhaps he was hurt during it. Perhaps he had just ignored the signs of pain and had just muscled through it.

Stupid cat.

And stupid Pigeon. He should really just tell Hawkmoth 'no' or something. This was the twenty-sixth time; which meant he had gone through the temporary-agony twenty-six times. She really hoped he didn't; maybe it was just the first time that it happened.

She didn't know.

Ladybug scolded herself tiredly, forcing herself to pay attention to Mr. Pigeon. He was still strutting back and forth, flapping his wings like an obvious dork. Ladybug almost wanted to slap him just by watching it.

'Aspik should have attacked by now…' Chat's voice divulged, clicking his tongue in annoyance. 'Incompetent.'

He is not! Just give him a minute, and—

As if her words had summoned it to be so, Aspik appeared out of nowhere – nowhere actually being one of the group of pigeons flying above Mr. Pigeon – and tackled him, frantically trying to grab the whistle off of the man's neck; which was always the object that was akumatized.

That's my cue. Ladybug jumped down beside them, trying to ignore the sudden sneezing fit that overtook Aspik's body – so much like Chat, it was so cute! – or the gathering herd of pigeons, all cooing their heads off as they nosily flapped around her, threatening to attack the two heroes.

"What's this?" Mr. Pigeon wondered aloud, coughing as Aspik accidently pulled too hard on the whistle's string for a minute. "Ladybug, have you gotten yourself a new friend?"

Ladybug grunted in response punching a pigeon as it dive-bombed towards her. "Down, Jacques!"

At her obviously-superior-yet-stupid naming skills, Aspik sent her a miffed-look that practically radiated with the word "Chat", yet he still managed to get a foot pressed against Mr. Pigeon's free hand.

At last, Aspik was able to push Mr. Pigeon's slender fingers off of the necklace, grunting in effort as he pulled it off. A quick flick of the wrist, and the akumatized object was suddenly in Ladybug's hand, on the ground in the next second, and crushed by her foot just a millisecond later.

A black butterfly pulled itself from the broken whistle, frantically flying up to get away, but Ladybug was quick enough to lash out her yo-yo and easily catch it before it got too far.

Sometime during her catching it, Aspik had stopped wrestling with the frozen Mr. Pigeon, hurriedly climbing to his feet as he wiped off the dirt that had become attached to his suit sometime during his struggle.

He's so cute! Ladybug inwardly cheered, forcing herself to push the button that would release the butterfly.

Once, when she had forgotten to release the akuma before transforming back, she had received a near-heart attack when opening her purse and finding a half-purified-half-corrupted butterfly burst from it.

Cue transforming to properly purify it.

Cue her chasing it through the streets, because butterflies fly a lot faster than one might think.

Cue Chat Noir, who had stuck around to tend to those traumatized by the akuma – as he often did – taking a video of her chasing the akuma as she shouted threats after it and demanding it come to her right away without lifting a paw to help, because where was the fun in that?

Cue him later showing her the video and laughing as she ordered him to delete it.

Cue him telling her he only would if she gave him a kiss.

Cue her refusing.

Cue it showing up on the internet five minutes later by an anonymous YouTuber.

Cue it being deleted almost instantly and the YouTuber suddenly appearing on Tumblr and posting a picture of Chat Noir trying to flee Ladybug's fury.

Cue Chat Noir with a sprained pretty-much-everything. (The next day Adrien appeared in school with the same bruises Chat Noir had gotten. Cue Marinette asking him repeatedly if he was okay and being plain confused how he got so hurt.)

Cue Ladybug swearing to remember to always – always – release an akuma before transforming back.

Cue her being thankful she had remembered this time; she did not want a repeat of what had happened that day to happen again.

Ladybug watched the white butterfly soar into the sky, before turning her attention to Aspik, who was, by now, helping Mr. Ramier to his feet, nodding to the older man.

She hadn't called upon her Lucky Charm, because she knew she never needed it with Mr. Pigeon, except with the flocks of Pigeons still clustered together in large flocks awaiting their master's orders, but those would break up in time. (Until nightfall at most.)

Mr. Ramier stared at Aspik for a moment, then switched his gaze over to Ladybug. Then back to Aspik. "Are you Chat Noir's replacement?"

"Wow." Aspik tossed his hands up in the air, casting Ladybug an exasperated look. "People are really wanting him to be replaced, that that's literally their first guess."

"But it's true, right?" Ladybug shrugged, turning back to Mr. Ramier. "Yes, but only a temporary one. This is Aspik."

"Welcome, Aspik, to the hero leagues!" Mr. Ramier greeted him, shaking his hand fervently. "You are a fine one to replace the former hero; I'll bet you like Pigeons don't you?"

A desperate look was sent from Aspik to Ladybug but was only returned by an amused grin.

"Now, how about some more Ice Cream? You know, Aspik, it was a tradition between Ladybug, Chat Noir, and I! But now that the White-Plague is now removed, it can be between the new duo and I!"

Aspik's mouth moved, but no sound came out. Ladybug wondered why on earth he seemed so uncomfortable; it was just ice-cream. And she knew for a fact that he didn't have any of the normal strict-diets most models had, given freedom to eat whatever he pleased. However, he was still trusted to maintain a mostly healthy diet.

Maybe it had to do with Chat Noir/Blanc being shunned. Being accused. She doubted it; he seemed pretty neutral about the whole thing and didn't like provoking others. But when given the chance, he would defend Chat.

So, she doubted it was Chat Noir being mentioned.

He was probably acting so flabbergasted about the ice-cream.

Now that Ladybug thought about it, his reaction mirrored Chat's; both hesitated, looking for all the world doubtful of taking the treat. Sometimes Chat Noir even made an excuse why he had to go; even when he had plenty of time left. Once in a while, when he stayed around, he would refuse the treat and just sit in talk. While Ladybug was curious, she never questioned him on the matter, believing it to be family business or such.

Aspik even checked his bracelet in the same fashion that Chat Noir used to check. He sighed a bit, nodding. "Yeah, we've got a few minutes."

Just like Chat.

'What's like me?'

You're literally part of my mind! How are you so oblivious to what's going on around me?

'…'

"Excellent! Follow me!" Mr. Ramier strutted away, just like a Pigeon, a happy, content expression plastered on his face.

Aspik sent her a desperate look, arching an eyebrow curiously.

She shrugged helplessly, admiring how similarly his pleading expression was to Chat's. "There's no escape to this. Com'n, let's go get that ice cream."