Apologies for the delay. I had to take out some parts and rewrite some scenes and dialogues until I was satisfied the tone of this chapter fit with previous ones. But hey, here's an extra long chapter to make up for it.
Airin: ¡Espero que estés bien después del sismo! Y ya estamos viendo más detalles sobre el trama. ¡Espero que disfrutes este capítulo! :)
Chapter 7
Sometime in the evening, Nino realized that Duusu had no idea who Hawkmoth was. He'd only been active a year, but Hawkmoth become a staple of Parisian life in the same way a very inconvenient traffic jam on the way to work was. Duusu had become silent and had gone to her fern to think about how a Miraculous Wielder had gone so wrong. Nino offered her a carrot piece that she nibbled on for an hour straight.
That, at least, gave him time to do homework and procrastinate on their plans for that night. Sometime after ten, Nino closed his French textbook, and that was Duusu's cue to fly up.
"Actually," he opened it up again to his completed homework, "I could elaborate more on those questions."
"You already know French," Duusu griped from her spot on the fern. She peeked over the leaves, tail feathers fanning out in irritation. "It's time to go."
Nino closed the book but stayed at his desk. He bounced his knee, avoiding the window and the very real world outside. There was no harm playing superhero in the comfort of his own room. Jumping from his bed was a lot less demanding on his knees than jumping from the Eiffel Tower.
He was also alone without the scrutinizing eyes of the public. No one to judge him. No one to point out that he had no idea what he was doing. In his room, he could drop his transformation at a moment's notice when it felt too weird.
Nino shrugged despite the bundle of nerves. "It is my second language. My parents did not come to this country so I could skimp out on French."
"Now you're just being ridiculous." Duusu floated down to his desk. She stopped in front of his nose, the light of his desk lamp throwing shadows across her face. "Do you want to see another news report about how the akuma still hasn't been caught and all the nefarious things he must be planning?"
"Dude, of course I don't." Nino pushed his rolling chair away from her. "I'm just nervous. Can't a guy be nervous once in a while?"
"You'll be fine." Duusu's concern was there, if minimal. She pursed her lips. "Aren't you even a little bit excited about trying out your powers?"
Nino tilted his head back. There was a spark of excitement needling through his veins, sharp and potent enough to put him on his feet. Duusu followed and pulled up the window sill to let in a rush of cool air. The goosebumps rolled in and settled on his arms.
"Not really," he lied. Nino chewed the inside of his cheek, then finally asked the question he'd been ruminating on for the best part of the evening. "How do you think the Miraculous ended up in the moving truck?"
The subject change was definitely not as subtle as he could have made it, but Duusu still graced him with her time. "I don't know. Like I said, we Kwamis have no recollection of time outside our Miraculous. The last thing I recall, I was in the Guardian's possession."
A startling though came to Nino's mind. "Is the Guardian Gabriel Agreste?" Another thought, just as uncomfortable as the last one. "Or was Gabriel Agreste a Peacock?"
Duusu shook her head, frowning. "I don't recall anyone by that name. I know the identity of the Guardian and of my last Wielder, and they are not this man you speak of."
Nino didn't know exactly why it was a relief that Gabriel Agreste hadn't once yielded so much power. He was barely a father to Adrien, let alone the hero or guardian of anything.
Duusu searched his face for more questions. "How about this? Let's get the hard part out of the way. Just say Wings Up and transform. Later on, we can meet the Guardian so we can find out how the Miraculous ended up where it did."
Nino inhaled the crisp night air. He fisted his hands against his thighs and called out with the steadiest voice he could muster, "Duusu, Wings Up!"
Duusu phased into his Miraculous in a flash of blue light. The warmth sprang up and seeped into his bones. Fabric ran up his hands, down his legs and arms, and solidified as mask on his face. Nino shut his eyes, prepared to ride out the wave of magic for another, long minute, but the transformation tapered off when his tail feathers fluttered down to the floor.
Nino peeked. His blue boots stared back, just as gaudy as he remembered. When he fully opened his eyes, Nino inspected the rest of his outfit. All of it was the same. Flowy. Teeming with magic. Nino went up to his reflection on the window pane and tugged at his mask. He half-expected to have Duusu's red irises and black scleras, but no, they were his regular hazel.
"So weird," he muttered as he backed up and the whole outfit coalesced in the reflection. It was a lot different than seeing his past self on that black and white CCTV footage. There he was, simply dressed differently, but it was a whole other person looking back at him. No wonder he'd never guessed Chat Noir's identity.
Duusu's presence pressed on his mind, insistent even without words. Nino rubbed his ear, even if what he felt wasn't audible. "I'm going, I'm going."
Nino walked up to his backpack, his footsteps eerily silent. He dug out his school tablet and went to his list of superhero names. Nino's eyes fell on the last name he'd come up with. There was a swell of excitement because it was the only one that felt right.
He worked the strength to say it aloud and get it over with. Even Duusu, deep in his mind, stilled so she could hear.
Nino then shook his head. There was still time to decide.
Nino climbed out, closed the window behind him, and balanced on the fire escape's railing. This time he was aware of his tail feathers flaring out slightly behind him to keep him balanced. His spine tingled in response, but he pushed the thought away before he sucked into the how of it all. Nino leaned forward, eying the balcony on the other side.
His family's apartment, being on the seventh floor, was already pretty high. Nino knew he had already made this jump the previous day when he was running for his life. He could do this. He had done this. It was just a matter of not glancing down at the alleyways way, way below his feet.
Nino leaped before he could overthink it.
Even with the darkness, his boots found purchase easily. Nino grabbed the rail with both hands and scaled up to the roof's edge. He shot up past the building and hovered above the rooftop. Nino swallowed his heart back into his chest as Paris spread out before him in a way he had never seen before.
The street lamps lit up the city like a grid, highlighting buildings and monuments he'd passed by on foot hundreds of times. From here, they beckoned him to their rooftops. By the light of the city, Nino caught sight of the Seine winding around the dark canal. Farther ahead, the Eiffel Tower stood like a beacon.
Gravity brought him back on both feet, lighter and slower than what physics should have dictated. A heartbeat later, he straightened.
Nino turned on his heel and took in the city. It was home, but at the same it wasn't. Up here, it was a whole other world. Forgetting his fear, Nino asked the air, "Man, Duusu, do you see this?"
A rush of warmth let Nino know that, yes, Paris was beautiful like this.
Nino took one last look at his bedroom window before continuing north, aiming for a spot somewhere in the eight arrondissement. He followed along the edge of the Seine, passing stores and cafés with their general buzz of people. Nino stuck to the shadows— a sighting of the Blue Akuma would not end well— but still felt the hubbub of emotions, a general sense of lightheartedness that seeped into his own chest. Nino found himself smiling along with the strangers. Paris's darkness became enticing, rather than foreboding. Nino continued running across the sloped roofs with a lighter heart.
Long after the cafés were left behind for office buildings closed for the evening, the rush of adrenaline kept him going. Every turn, every minute adjustment of his tail feathers, was a spark of magic to the heart, a steady bu-thump! that separated him from the Nino pre-transformation. In her own little way, Duusu cheered him on from inside the Miraculous. She guided his feet when the jumps seemed too far or high, just enough to prevent him from careening into the street.
Nino stopped on the edge of a roof overlooking a busy street. He shirked back from the passing cars and the late night wanderers too cool for the metro. He had hit the east of the eight arrondissement and smack dab where most of the high-end hotels were located. While Parisians wandered back home, tourists took to the night with raucous laughs and joyful commentary about their plans. This time, the overall emotions were much more jovial, downright electrifying.
Duusu sensed how overwhelming it was becoming. Take a deep breath and take a mental step back. Focus on the area rather than the people.
He couldn't take a mental step back without physically taking it, but it did dampen the ball of emotions coming from so many people at once. Now, Nino could tell he was overextending the reach of his powers, like trying to make a split when he wasn't that flexible yet. The overextension was harder to correct. Nino spent a good minute trying to dial it back before he figured he would have to continue to work on it after tonight.
Another training session…
Standing still, with a part of the city thriving in front of him, Nino could feel every inch of the Miraculous over his skin, along with the responsibility it carried. If he agreed to this whole superhero thing, he wouldn't only be in charged of his fellow Parisians but anybody who was in the city, like the tourists currently below him.
That was a lot of people that could get hurt if he screwed up, even if he only kept this superhero thing up for a short time.
Leaving the area, Nino circumvented the busier streets and buildings. It was eerie how comfortable he felt three or four stories above the ground after only two transformations. He knew birds liked the sky and heights, but he didn't particularly liked how easily normal Nino had been shoved to the back of his mind.
Finally Nino alighted on the edge of a business building right across the Petit Palais. He doubted anyone would be going to an art museum in the middle of the night. The roof was spacious with enough buildings nearby for him to test out his powers without accidentally alerting any wandering citizens.
Nino took a deep breath. The adrenaline simmered down into a manageable stirring in his stomach. He got here in one piece, just like he knew he would, deep down in his bundle of nerves. He flexed his gloves and tapped the toe of his boot against the shingles to orient himself.
No Iron Lung.
No tourists waiting for the city's newest hero, or akuma.
Just him.
He couldn't do his ultimate attack of Seeing Eye— his version of Cataclysm or Lucky Charm— without other Wielders around, so Nino reached behind him and opened his fan to practice his aim. Five feathers, each with the same red-eye pattern as his tail feathers. Nino turned the fan under the moonlight, catching the fatal shine of the feathers' edges. When he plucked one out of the metal rivet, he studied its sharpened point.
These were his weapons. Ladybug had her yo-yo, Chat Noir his baton.
"I have freaking throwing knifes." Nino still wasn't used to it.
He brought the dagger up to eye-level and aimed it at a darkened hotel across the street. There was a gentle nudging in the back of his mind, not quite Duusu, not quite Nino. It was a simple feeling that if he placed his foot this way and flicked his wrist like that then—
The dagger went flying, taking his vision along for the ride. The city lights tumbled and turned. Buildings turns on their heads.
— sunk into the bricks like a hot knife through butter. Nino straightened, dragging his right foot back and curling his fingers. He blinked the world back into place, and the view from the dagger's eyes faded away until he only saw through his own eyes behind his mask. Nino measured the distance between him and the dagger across the street— easily fifty feet— then let out a whoop of joy that echoed along the empty rooftops.
Nino shut his mouth. He couldn't celebrate if he didn't know what was going on— or if got carted off for disturbing the peace.
He crouched on his haunches to come as close to eye-level as he could with the dagger. Thinking back to Duusu's advice of concentrating, Nino projected his attention to only the dagger embedded on the side of the building. He blinked, and saw what must have been the view as seen from the etched eye on the end of the dagger. It settled right beside his normal vision like the split-screen of a video game. Vertigo tipped him sideways until he blinked the second screen away.
"Duusu, like what the Hell?" When no response came, Nino was left to ogle the dagger across the street. That had to be normal if Duusu didn't say anything.
Nino unhooked another feather and took up the same position as before without any prompting. Could he see from both daggers at the same time? As nauseating as it sounded, he still smiled wide enough to hurt his cheeks. Who cares if he got dizzy? If he could do it, that meant that he would master it.
He flowed into his next step like water in a container, simply finding the shape and holding it. Nino took careful aim, tongue stuck out in concentration. "Come on, let's make this baby fly."
Without the mind-bending acid trip this time, he said.
And he did, sticking it right above the first one.
Nino nodded at his handiwork. He would stick to just his own vision for now, thank you very much, but maybe later on he could use the eyes on the daggers for something useful, like sneaking up on someone.
A car honked somewhere behind him. The wind picked up and tugged at the tips of his tail feathers. Nino paced with a third dagger balanced between his forefinger and thumb. He'd hold off from adding player three until he mastered throwing.
Throwing daggers.
As a superhero.
"I'm up a five-story building throwing knives in a very colorful, very obvious costume." He nodded to himself to confirm that yes, this was his life right now. "I'm a superhero that can leap buildings." There was a lull in his monologue. Nino waited with bated breath for something, anything to wake him up from this surreal dream. He ran the palm of his hand against the remaining three feathers in his fan, but their sharpened edges point didn't puncture his glove. "Okay, just wanted to make sure."
Duusu nudged his mind, willing him to take a look through the daggers again. Nino blinked back the view, and with invisible hands, Duusu guided him until he could take in the details without the urge to throw up. It all had to do with not turning his head back in the real world. Something to do with his inner ear? At least that's what Duusu somehow communicated through the supernatural connection they shared.
When the presence faded, Nino tried doing it with the second dagger. He stared and stared trying to keep his head straight, until he huffed. "Really? You're only going to help me once? Once?"
There was no answer, as expected. Just like Ms. Bustier, he only got the lecture once, and if he hadn't taken notes he was out of luck.
Pocketing his fan, Nino leaped over to the other building's roof. He entertained a thought, or an instinct, then dropped down to the dagger closest to him.
Amazingly it held his weight. Nino slid his right foot to lean in for the second dagger and found his balance totally in check, not a single stumble. He plucked the second dagger from below him and gave it a satisfied twirl. Grasping the hilt of the dagger he stood on, Nino jumped, slid the dagger free, and managed to land on the gravel rooftop with his weapons and limbs intact.
Duusu's joyous energy surfaced from the Miraculous. She was happy that he was enjoying himself so much. Instead of patting himself on the back, Nino stared down at his fan and daggers. They had a perfect weight, never too heavy or too light. They fitted perfectly against his palms despite his new gloves.
His costume and weapons were perfect, made just for him, and it was everything being the Bubbler wasn't. Hawkmoth had transformed his bubble wand and his powers into something grotesque. Everything had been too much, like his favorite song blasted on top volume with no off switch. Nothing about being the Bubbler had been positive, and any glee from it had come at the expense of others.
Tonight, Nino had spent who knows how long just being. Duusu guided him, but not as a master but as close to a friend as a god could probably be. He liked flipping through the air when he knew he could land on both feet. He enjoyed learning new tricks with his weapons when he was the one at the helm.
Even now, totally still, the magic from the Miraculous wasn't too bad. It stuck to his skin, but it shifted along with him when he rolled his shoulders, or stretched his legs. The magic didn't contain him, and he knew that if he muttered the words Wings Down Nino could strip himself of that.
Nino buried his fingers in his hair. Not everything about tonight had been terrifying, and that's what scared him the most.
Nino's head snapped up when he sensed Chat Noir and what had to be Ladybug. They were separated across the city but close enough where Nino saw their strings in front of him, almost invisible under the limited light of the night. Was that because they were too far?
He first took of Chat Noir's string in his right hand. The now, familiar trumpets resonated in his chest in a frustrated beat. Adrien had been frustrated all day, but now transformed it was stronger, like blood rushing in his ears. Nino twined it around his thumb and forefinger, pensive. Nino couldn't lie; the talk in the tent still sucked. But with everything that had happened since he'd picked up the Peacock Miraculous, there had been too much going on to think about how disappointed he still felt about the discussion he'd had with Adrien.
For Adrien, it was probably still fresh, and Nino wondered if he should have talked to Adrien before going out here and playing superhero.
Nino slackened his hold on Chat Noir's string, deafening the sound of trumpets enough for him to think. He took Ladybug's string with his left hand. He felt, rather than heard, a flute aggressively hitting the upper register. Ladybug was mad, and he felt it in every note shaking her string.
She was looking for him, the "Blue Akuma".
Duusu pushed towards the magic of the other two Wielders. Meet them, she urged in her own voiceless way.
Nino pulled on the strings. The vibrations traveled across the strings, seeming to travel through Nino's mental map of Paris. Chat Noir was somewhere near the border of the 8th and the 17th arrondissements to the west while Ladybug seemed to patrol the border of the 8th and 9th. He could easily catch up with them if he held on to their strings and used them to guide him.
He stood up, pocketed his weapons, yet hesitated.
Once he met them, that was it. He couldn't walk away with the faint hope that maybe there was a better Peacock out there. He was either all in, or all out.
Duusu pushed again, but Nino dug in his heels. He wasn't ready. That was the whole reason he'd chosen his name but refused to say it aloud. There was so much more to practice and learn. Compared to their one year of experience, there was very little Nino could bring to the table. He didn't deserve the name, not yet.
Duusu backed off but not without the distinct feeling of disappointment and you'll regret this.
Nino left the rooftop, though he still kept a firm hold of both strings in case Ladybug and Chat Noir decided to take down a certain blue akuma if the opportunity arose.
He felt the change from frustration to guilt first, then something on his belt beeped. Nino stopped on the rooftop shingles off the Petit Palais and pulled out his fan. Along the black guard of the fan, a green light blinked above a button he hadn't noticed before. Nino pressed it and nearly jumped off the rooftop when Chat Noir's voice burst from a speaker he couldn't see.
"Hey, Nino, did I wake you?"
Nino, slack-jawed and two breaths away from a public freakout, could only stare down. How was Chat Noir talking to him? When did he find out he was the blue akuma? Why was Chat Noir so freaking nonchalant about it?
It's your cellphone, Duusu clarified, pronouncing the word cellphone oddly. It seemed integral to you, so I implemented it into your weapon.
Oh. That was a lot less terrifying than the idea of Chat Noir stalking him and choosing the ripe time of midnight to call him out on his secret. Which meant it wasn't really Chat Noir on the other end but Adrien.
"Adrien?" He still had to make sure, though.
"I'm sorry if I woke you," Adrien repeated through the speaker.
Nino took a seat on the shingles and sat with his back against the centermost spire. He placed his closed fan against his ear like an actual phone. "I was up anyway. Just… doing some homework."
Adrien laughed awkwardly. In the background, Nino heard the whistle of wind. From his string still wrapped around Nino's fingers, the guilt stung against his palm, despite the glove.
"I wasn't sure if I was going to get the silent treatment tomorrow, so I decided to just call?" Adrien ended it as an uncertain question.
Paranoia bubbled, irrational but still there. Maybe Adrien did suspect somehow that Nino had a Miraculous now and was jumping his way to Nino as they were talking. Still, Adrien was his best friend, and there was a certain amount of trust between them that made the idea just that— paranoia.
"I'm not going to apologize for offering to help you." Nino sighed. "I was— am— worried for you, bro."
"And I'm not asking you to apologize. This is more of me asking if we're okay. That this hero thing… is okay?"
It wasn't, even more now that he knew what it was like being chased by an akuma for a piece of jewelry.
As Nino weighed his words, Adrien went from guilty to worried, the trumpets sounding sadly slow and out of tune. Nino looked over to where Chat Noir's string came from, probably from a rooftop like his. So Adrien stopped his patrol just to give him a call?
Nino figured not to directly answer. "You're my best friend, dude. I mean, if you want to unload some of this superhero crap on me, I'm cool with that."
"I would love to, Nino. Like, a lot." The emotional string thrummed with the stirrings of frustration. "But the person who gave us the Miraculous advised us not to tell anyone."
Was this the Guardian? So Adrien didn't just come across his Miraculous?
Nino hummed in agreement even as Duusu trilled excitedly at the mention of the Guardian.
"I should have probably said this in person, but school is not exactly private."
Nino shrugged. "You could have kidnapped me as Chat Noir for a private chat."
Adrien chuckled. "You realize you just made a pun, right? In English, but a pun nonetheless."
Nino let his head fall back against the brick in abject failure. Maybe his English wasn't as fluent as Adrien's, but he still should have seen it from a mile away. Adrien deflecting with humor was nothing new. "Come on, dude, spare me at least that part of your hero life."
Adrien outright laughed, the happiest Nino had heard him in days. Then he sobered. "Don't think I didn't think of kidnapping you. I just didn't think you would appreciate talking to me as… you know. It seemed you were kinda uncomfortable last time."
So apparently Nino wasn't as subtle as he though about his aversion to all things magical.
"Hey, dude, it's not you. It's just, the magic. I just rather not be near it, you know?"
"Yeah, that's what I figured. You don't have to be a part of that if you don't want to, Nino. I actually don't want you to."
Nino looked up to trace Chat Noir's string out into the distance. That stung, despite Adrien being unaware of exactly what Nino had been doing that night. It was his choice, but he already knew what choice he had to make.
If only he could get up and do it already.
Talking with Adrien suddenly became too painful to continue. "Hey, man, I gotta go to sleep before my parents find out I'm awake."
"Yeah, no, gotcha. See you at school."
"Course, dude, same."
Nino hung up first. He let go of both of Chat Noir and Ladybug's strings and left.
For someone so smart, Duusu sure had a knack of being too visible when they were supposed to be keeping a secret.
"Why are you eating in a tree?" Nino whispered through clenched teeth. He sighed through the frustration and reached deep inside himself for some patience. He glanced over his shoulder for any park passerby that would see him arguing with an oak tree, before glancing again above him.
Duusu poked her head from a clump of leaves, a carrot piece between her paws. Her head feathers craned forward in interest before she settled back on the branch. "I'm a peacock," she said bluntly, as though that would explain all the problems in the world. Duusu took a bite out of her carrot and continued staring down.
Nino opened his mouth, ready to say something. Then he let out the breath and sat on the ground next to his own lunch. Nino opened his bag for his sandwich and settled for what would be another silent lunch.
He and Adrien were cool after the impromptu phone call— it even seemed that his training last night managed to tone down the incessant power of the string during class. Instead of the most annoying tinnitus of the world, Nino had managed to bring the mental noise down to a low hum with a bit of concentration. He could actually sit next to Adrien without the urge to stab him with his stylus.
But Nino needed some time to think over the whole superhero commitment thing. He even lied to Alya about having to finish Ms. Bustier's essay during lunch time so he could moodily eat his lunch by himself— and the Kwami he had accepted he wouldn't shake off anytime soon. Ten minutes into lunch, and his mind beat around the same what ifs.
More silence, then, "I thought Alya was your girlfriend," Duusu spoke up with her mouthful of carrot. Guess the Guardian didn't teacher manners.
"She is," Nino insisted, more to himself. He leaned back against the tree, taking refuge in its shade. Even untransformed he found he loved being around trees. They had to be tall and sturdy, strong enough to support his weight if he chose to roost up there. "You know that."
"Then you should finish your lunch with her. The love between two people is a strong thing."
"I should, but I'm a mess right now. She doesn't wouldn't want to deal with me."
"Alya will assume you are cold-hearted. You don't want to become that. My past Wielder was very cold towards their new partners at first, and it affected their teamwork."
Nino sat up straighter. There was Lady Curiosity, raising its head. "Who was your past Wielder?"
Duusu shot him a glare, head feathers lying flat. "I can't tell you that. That's very sensitive information."
"What is this, a secret mission?" he tried to joke, but it did not lighten the glare.
"A Wielder's past is their own." Duusu picked at her feathers, glaring at a spot on the floor. "You should leave it be."
Nino found the mouthful of sandwich hard to swallow. He looked up at Duusu with a dozen questions whirling in his head, all of them threatening to cross boundaries Duusu had just laid out. Maybe if he could meet one of the last Wielders and pick their brain on this whole Peacock protector thing, then he wouldn't feel like he was going into this blindfolded. If there was someone who already did this who didn't think he was making the worst mistake of his life then that would be a lot more comforting than the words of a talking plushie.
Duusu flitted down to his shoulder, one last carrot piece in her paws. "You need to confront Ladybug and Chat Noir soon since you blew your shot last night with your stalling."
"I wasn't stalling," Nino snapped with a ferocious bite of his sandwich. He swallowed, then stared down at the crumbs on his pants. "I want to protect Adrien, I really do." Duusu huffed, but Nino continued. "It's just this whole magic and powers thing—uggh!"
Nino bit into his sandwich to stop himself from spiraling further. He looked out over the hill's crest to the sidewalk below. Really, he was only a couple of blocks from the school and could go and eat with Alya for the last twenty minutes of lunch. Nino would scoot close to her, enjoy the warmth of her touch, hear her rattle on about Ladyblog stuff in that excited, absolutely cute way she always did.
Sometimes lunch was the best meal of the day. Without Alya, though, it was just another block of time.
"You're scared, but magic is truly a wonderful thing. Besides," she chuckled, and Nino blinked, the sound like bells, "you've only had two days with your Miraculous. It's far too early to be scared of it."
Nino glanced at his palms, then to the back of his hands. Nothing felt different. The magic from the Miraculous kept his skin warm despite the lingering chill of a waning winter. Park goers tickled the edge of his magical peripheral with glee. Duusu squirmed on his shoulder when he didn't speak, and that small action was enough for her own magic to join his in an almost palpable amalgamation of warmth.
"A year ago," Nino found himself saying, his voice coming out even as his mind tried to stop him, "I was akumatized by Hawkmoth. I don't remember much about what happened, but I remember that I liked hurting the adults that I thought were the reason Adrien couldn't be happy on his own freaking birthday." Duusu said nothing, so Nino continued with the story he had only told Alya. "Even after I went back to normal, I remember enjoying capturing the adults of Paris."
"That was not you," Duusu told him after a moment of the wind passing through the park.
Nino found his throat suspiciously clogged with something. He swallowed hard. "Last night, I know that was all me. I remember everything so clearly. What if I hurt someone and I don't end up feeling that bad about it? What if I end up liking it all over again?"
And he knew that wielding a Miraculous was a lot more than simply being puppeteered by Hawkmoth's powers from afar.
They wallowed in silence. Nino stared up into the canopy of the tree. His fingers drummed on what was left of his sandwich, an erratic rhythm made even shakier by the tremble in his hands.
"Nino." Duusu flew up to his face with the softest expression he had seen on her yet. "I can't foresee what you will feel later on as you grow into your powers. Magic affects everybody differently. But from what I can see and feel from you now is not what I would expect from someone who would willingly inflict pain. Would you willingly hurt Chat Noir? Or your parents?"
Of course not. Nino's throat was too tight again to say the words aloud, but Duusu smiled all the same. It wasn't a big smile, but it was sincere.
She placed both orange-stained paws on his cheeks to look him in the eye. Their magics hummed in unison. "The fact that you're scared is a good thing. It means you respect the magic bestowed upon you."
Nino nodded, dislodging Duusu and sending her to her forgotten bag of carrots somewhere behind him. He wiped a wayward tear from behind his glasses and took a big sip of his water bottle before he could sob in public.
"Nino, did you bring any more carrots?" Duusu piped up from over his head. A light rain of carrot shavings rained down upon him.
"You ate them all," Nino murmured, still not trusting his voice. He glared down at his sandwich as thought it was the reason he couldn't decide on one of the biggest decisions of his life, then opened it up to rifle through the ingredients. "But this sandwich has a lot of lettuce. Nice and juicy, crispy around the edges."
Duusu hummed, the air thrumming with curious energy. Without even turning around, Nino could tell Duusu had flown closer, just out of reach. "That's your food, though. Don't you need to eat a nutritious meal so you can finish that homework you mentioned to Alya?"
Nino craned his head around, and sure enough there was Duusu with a playful smirk. "Wow, dude, rude to eavesdrop on someone else's conversation."
Duusu's eyes flicked between the piece of lettuce laid out on the sandwich and Nino's waiting face. "So I can have it?"
The hesitant, almost pleading tone was nothing short of adorable. Nino fought off a smile and picked at his sandwich, wiggling out the lettuce to hold it out for Duusu. After a minute of contemplation, Duusu snatched it up quickly and flew down to him in a whirlwind of blue and red feathers.
Duusu, on his lap, ate it in small, delicate bites. Her train of tail feathers were carefully out of the way of what was left of his lunch. "Thanks, Nino."
Nino smiled and took a bite of his significantly-lighter sandwich. He chewed through his thoughts and allowed himself to smile down at his newest, most confusing… friend? He suddenly felt bad about all the times he mentally referred to her as "bird" and "plushie". That was a low blow to someone literally stuck with him and his angsty problems. "No problem, man. I know you like them more than I do."
This time, the silence was comfortable, two maybe-friends finishing their lunch before heading back to school.
Nino's stomach lurched. He glared at his sandwich until it happened again. Anger. Blind determination. Nino mentally reached out with his magic, trying to extend it beyond the park and into the streets of Paris. The magic bit him back, catapulting him to his feet.
"Nino?"
Pushing back the cramping in his stomach that was no doubt magic induced, Nino looked out over the section of Paris they overlooked. The emotion— Hawkmoth's string— weaved through the buildings, then took a sharp right where the shopping districts cropped up. Nino braced himself against the tree. He craned his head for a better look while still sending a lasso of his power further, further, until his arms physically shook in exertion.
"I think there's an akuma," Nino said, his reach dwindling as he forced himself to relax. He was no help passed out on the ground.
"You know there's an akuma." Duusu perched on his shoulder. "You encountered an akuma before, and they share the same magic he does. You're just tuning into Hawkmoth's emotional string through them."
Nino slackened his hold on the string enough to speak. "So I'm like a metal detector for akumas?"
"Sure, let's go with that. Just really concentrate on just that string. You still haven't had much practice with your powers."
Nino stared at what was left of his lunch, then at where he felt Hawkmoth's string beginning to stir with the movements of the akuma. He knew Adrien would abandon whatever food he was eating at the moment to rush off and face this brand new akuma. Ladybug, too, whoever she was.
If he went there, he would meet them, and Nino would have to make his choice.
Duusu patted the side of his neck. "You're the one in control here, Nino, not me."
Taking a deep breath, Nino grabbed his backpack and shrugged it on, putting the lunch trash in the outer pocket. "Guess I'll have to have this on with me when I transform if I don't want it stolen."
He knew if he went back to school, fully knowing there was an akuma facing off with his best friend, he would feel miserable.
Duusu leaped into the air in glee. She grabbed his cheeks again, raced around his head, and gave a merry jig of celebration. "Oh, Nino, you'll love it. Remember, don't think too hard about your jumping and leaps, or you'll lose touch with the innate knowledge of your magic and fall."
"Geez, one time. Duusu. One time." Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Nino called out, "Duusu, Wings Up!"
The rush of power hit him all at once, a familiar blanket that he let envelope him. Nino shook off the last bits of blue sparks and immediately jumped into the tree's branches. Without any conscious thought, he climbed up and perched on the tree's canopy, scanning the area.
In costume, the string was fully visible. It wrapped around his stomach and pulled insistently. Nino twined the string around his hand and leaped to the next tree, and the next, until he reached the park's entrance. He landed on the arched, metal sign with a clatter and drew the attention of a group of civilians. Gasps rang out, and then the chatter began.
"What in the world?"
"Who is that?"
"Is that the blue akuma?"
Nino smiled through his sudden rush of nerves (and the accusation). When the first group of people drew closer, phones out, eyes wide and full of questions, his nerves soared up to heat his face under the mask. He shuffled on his perch, suddenly forgetting his route. Should he say something to try and clear his name?
A spark of anger vibrated through the string in a rush of drums only he could hear. Nino tensed and followed it with a jump that cleared the crowd and propped him on a lamppost. He leaped up onto a nearby roof, driving himself up with a few calculated steps on the windowsills, and immediately felt better. High up with the Parisians' chatter three stories down. This is where his thoughts were the clearest.
"You gotta get used to that, Nino," he told himself as he followed his twisting gut to the source of the anger. "People record. They ask questions." Akuma or not, people would continue to stare.
Nino repeated that chosen name from his list under his breath, to the warm bubble of energy in his mind that was Duusu, as he cleared rooftops and streets. If Chat Noir and Ladybug could face the crowds and make a name for themselves then so could he. He was an inspiring DJ, after all, and those had to be in front of people, too.
A DJing superhero. The joke fluttered his heart and brought a grin to his face.
Even on autopilot Nino made out the score of people looking up at the rooftops. Every clatter of a shingle, every flash of blue and red, the people directed their eyes and cellphones his way. Nino tried to hold that grin on his face to show that he wasn't an akuma, even if that was yet to be cleared. When he passed a traffic light, he lingered. Drivers rolled down their windows to point at him.
After a while of feeling his smile slip, however, he decided that the people shouldn't be his main focus right now. Making a good impression with them came later. First he actually had to make a good impression on Ladybug and Chat Noir.
He continued with a pensive frown. Nino picked up a dagger from his fan and held it between two fingers. The string was getting shorter, the anger potent and clutching his stomach. Soldiers, Spiders. Anything could be waiting for him just around the bend.
Then as he cleared a street, a screech rent the air. Nino slid to a halt and clapped his hands to his ears. He peeked, relying more on the string of anger just out of reach. It was more powerful than ever, thrumming with a chaotic beating of drums that rustled his tail feathers. Nino picked his way through two more blocks and stopped on a roof overlooking a shopping plaza.
On the ground were Ladybug and Chat Noir, faces screwed in pain but their hands on their weapons. Nino let his own fall, and he gripped his dagger tightly in his hand. Chat Noir looked healed from his injuries, or he was at least dodging and jumping without any sort of noticeable limp. Whatever was in that Chinese medicine he'd taken, it sure was working.
In front of them stood a tall and elegant woman with the most beautiful dress he'd ever seen. The silk shimmered a dazzling purple, and below a delicate, beaded belt was a gown of cascading diamonds. With every twist of her hips, they captured the light and threw the buildings around them in a dazzling brilliance of rainbows. She leaned forward, a delicate heel of crystal leading her.
"Can't handle the magnificence of my gems?" she cooed, voice unbelievably sugar sweet.
"Oh please, Diamantte," Chat Noir purred, ears still laid flat, the metal clasp of his tail snapping against the cement. "I've seen better stones at the bottom of the Seine."
Nino grinned as Ladybug said, "Ouch! That's harsh." She threw Diamantte a scandalous expression. "Are you really going to take that? I mean, I'd pay a pretty euro for your dress. Like, three, perhaps."
Diamantte's growl reverberated against the buildings like the screeching of nails against glass. "You, children! You have no appreciation for the finer things in life." She leveled her glare at Ladybug. "And you! Diamonds are a girl's best friend. You should be in awe."
Ladybug gave her yo-yo a lazy twist. "I'm at awe at how gaudy it is."
Their banter worked. Diamantte reared up, plucked a string of diamonds from her dress, and aimed it like a lasso. Chat Noir brought his staff up in front of them, and the whip snapped around it, pulling him forward a couple of steps.
"Whoa there, fashionista!" Chat Noir pulled back, biceps straining, and Nino inched himself closer to the roof's edge. He handled the dagger in his hand, took out a second one just in case, and wondered what kind of cue he should be waiting for. Or had it already passed?
Ladybug twisted around Chat Noir and launched her yo-yo, hitting Diamantte in the fingers. Diamantte stumbled back, her whip slacking, and Ladybug continued her attack with quick successions of recalling and throwing her yo-yo. Diamantte reached for her dress with her spare hand, and just as Ladybug came for another hit she let loose another whip of diamonds.
Ladybug blocked the tip with her yo-yo, but Diamantte hit her in the knee a flash later. She stumbled back.
"Ladybug!" Chat Noir twisted his staff sideways, dislodging the whip from Diamantte's hand, and raised his staff.
Diamantte reeled back her whip.
Now!
Without any of the special-vision tricks he still hadn't mastered, Nino let the dagger fly. It passed by Ladybug and Chat Noir's shocked faces and cut Diamantte's whip in half. The diamonds clattered to the ground, leaving her with only her crystal handle. She whirled around and shouted, "Who did that?!"
Ladybug and Chat Noir whipped their heads up in unison. "The Blue Akuma," Chat Noir acknowledged, shock flattening his words and stilling his tail. He crouched, then hesitated, looking between the actual akuma and Nino. Ladybug twirled her yo-yo but otherwise made no move to attack.
Nino jumped down onto the nearest lamppost, second dagger already in position, and watched in apprehension as Diamantte regarded him with a tilt of her glitter-dusted face. "New blood, huh?" She raised her eyebrows behind her mask. "Another hero who doesn't appreciate the beauty of my gems?"
Chat Noir opened his mouth to protest, but shut it when Diamantte, with a smooth twist of her wrist, swept her handle in the air. Diamonds clattered and flew to recreate her whip just like before. "Hope you know how to play, pretty bird."
Another flash, and the whip was inches from his face. Nino landed on the ground and rolled when her second whip cracked, splitting the cement. He fumbled for his dagger and reared onto his knees.
He saw the mutual agreement on the heroes' faces when they glanced at each other: attack the akuma that was actively attacking them.
Chat Noir's staff came flying and batted a distracted Diamantte into a shop window. She rolled to her feet, only to receive a yo-yo to her face. With a crunch she raised her whip and twirled it around the yo-yo's string. Ladybug pulled, bracing herself against a bench.
Nino threw his second dagger, but Diamantte batted it away with her left whip. The distinct, hollow clatter of it landing somewhere inside the store was crystal clear. Nino darted to pick up his first dagger, managing to get his third from his fan without fumbling. Chat Noir made a grab for his arm, but a quick turn of his foot and Nino rolled out of the way. He grabbed his first dagger, holding two in his right hand, and prepared to throw.
Ladybug suddenly slackened her yo-yo string, sending Diamantte head over heels into the store's display window. As her yo-yo came back to her Ladybug threw him a look over her shoulder, freezing him in his tracks. There was a renewed gleam in her eye. The flutes in her string reached a frantic pace.
Nino put up his hands as both of them approached him. "Wait, wait, I'm not an akuma! I have a Miraculous!"
Chat Noir simply raised a brow at his audacity for claiming his innocence while Ladybug shot her yo-yo at him at full speed. Nino jumped back, but Ladybug sent her weapon again and again, eventually grounding out between her teeth with each, missed hit, "I'm. Sick. Of. Imposters!"
Right, Volpina. Nino glanced at where Diamantte was digging her way out of the store. He didn't like how her dress was slowly pulling itself back together with the extra jewelry gathered from the mannequins. Chat Noir followed his stare and aimed his staff at her, though his eyes were still on him. Slitted and glowing green, Nino couldn't see his best friend in there.
"I have a Kwami," he yelled when he avoided another hit from the yo-yo. "Duusu!"
A moment later, both Ladybug and Chat Noir froze, their eyes locking on the middle distance Nino stared into when he talked to Duusu in her Miraculous. When they came back to, Chat Noir's expression filled with doubt, while Ladybug's anger still simmered. But didn't she hear from her kwami that he was the real deal?
"Never heard of a Peacock Miraculous. Now, what are you doing here?" she asked with gritted teeth.
He waved his hand full of daggers. "Helping you dudes out, of course! My name's— "
Diamantte's screeching broke the air again, and this time Nino gritted his teeth through it, refusing to bow his head in front of his teammates. Along Diamantte came, the screeching intensifying as she added her second whip to the ground, each diamond cutting into the cement and leaving deep grooves. Gone was her sugary-sweet smile. Her white hair bristled, and the gem-encrusted tiara flared with power.
"That's it!" She snapped one of her whips and shattered a nearby bench. "No one disrespects me like that!"
She let loose her whip. Ladybug and Nino jumped back, Ladybug deflecting the tip with her yo-yo. Nino put up one of his daggers only to miss his mark and get his wrist grazed by the diamonds. He hissed through clenched teeth, dropping the dagger. Through the tears that sprung up Nino reached for his fan. He wouldn't let a bit of pain keep his aim from being steady.
Nino rolled backwards, took one last look at his dagger, and followed Ladybug and Chat Noir up to the roofs of the plaza's stores. Diamantte's whips reached for them. Nino left a lamppost just as it was sliced in half. When he touched the roof's edge he let out his breath in one, hot wave of relief.
Crap, his daggers.
Facing the plaza again, Nino thought back to them and felt them deep in his bones. They rattled, struggling to take flight. Duusu should have mentioned this was possible—
A sharp stomp on his tail feathers shattered his concentration and had him skipping around. "What the Hell?" Nino swept his tail feathers aside and glared at Chat Noir.
"I said, you should leave. You're just going to end up getting hurt." He ran a hand through his hair, and Nino briefly wondered if that's how he messed it up when he transformed from neat and tidy Adrien. Then Chat Noir glared, and Adrien was banished behind those feline eyes.
"But now do you believe that I'm not an akuma?" he shot back.
"If you're actually a hero, you wouldn't have left us fighting that akuma alone." Ladybug scanned him from head to the tip of his feathers.
Nino tried to bite back the shame washing over his face. "Look, that's my bad. I—I should have stayed."
Chat Noir hissed at his words. "You didn't even acknowledge us! If you're a hero, heroes at least check if they're needed before saving their own skin. And you? Not even a wave? Kinda sus, isn't it?"
The shame on Nino's face burned just as much as the Miraculous at his waist. He had been looking out for himself. He'd just wanted to go home when not even an hour before he was swearing to Adrien that he would help him out in his own way.
Ladybug groaned. "Maybe you should have stuck around, but for now, stay here. It's obvious you haven't battled before and we don't feel like teaching right now."
Nino growled, and that was the last bit of determination he needed for his abandoned daggers to fly up to him. He caught them in the air, too angry to realize he hadn't needed to look. He brandished one at them, and both of them took a hesitant step back. So what if it looked like he was threatening them? They weren't even giving him a chance!
"I'm here to help." He punctuated each word with a flash of his dagger, despite the pain in his wrist. Then, catching sight of their raised weapons, Nino stepped back and raised his hands so that his daggers dangled loosely from his fingers. "Look, give me a chance."
Chat Noir bashed the roof with the butt of his staff. Exasperation wasn't a common look on Adrien but it seemed right at home on Chat Noir's face. "Look, want to actually help this time? Don't get hurt and don't get in our way."
Was that concern? Nino tried to catch whatever emotion Chat Noir's string was telling him, but the overwhelming protectiveness was the only thing he could feel. Made sense. A dude with throwing knives shows up next to the girl he likes— because he'd definitely seen all those Ladybug action figures in Adrien's room.
Nino nodded along, even as Ladybug looked liked she wanted to protest. "And hey, you guys can even take me to meet the Guardian after this. That will prove to you I'm the real deal."
Ladybug and Chat Noir shared another glance, hesitant. "Fine," Ladybug relinquished, "keep up, bird boy."
Nino mumbled the name he'd decided on, the best name on his list, just as the heroes turned their back on him. When they actually faced him, he said, more confidently, "It's Régalien."
He expected some kind of pun from Chat Noir— he was, after all, dressed as some kind of royal guard— but they just nodded and jumped back into the fray.
Diamantte took to destroying the shop's windows for more diamonds to add to her collection. The string between her and Nino— Régalien, he reminded himself— threatened to choke him, freezing him in place, until Chat Noir in front of her twisted around on his staff and delivered a kick to her chest.
Here was his chance. There was no going back. Replacing his daggers back into his fan, Régalien readied himself for his first, official battle as a superhero.
Dropping back into the plaza, Régalien put himself between the incoming attack and Ladybug and used his open fan in time to deflect the point of her whip. He slashed with his fan to break the whip in half, and for good measure he kicked the diamonds into the bushes.
"Why you!" Diamantte flicked her second whip, and he jumped back and swiped with his fan to shatter it in half. Diamonds rained down at his feet, and he kicked those away, even as Diamantte screeched in protest.
Ladybug jumped over him and aimed a hand for her tiara. Diamantte twisted in the air and batted her away with one of the handles of her broken weapons. Ladybug blocked a second hit with a kick, avoiding cuts but falling away from the tiara.
Chat Noir came in with his staff, aiming to knock off the tiara himself, but the diamonds Régalien had sent to the side surged up to create her whips again. Régalien ran forward, coming shoulder to shoulder with Chat Noir, and went left as his best friend went right. Diamantte turned from one hero to the other and cracked both of her whips into action.
One wrapped around Chat Noir's incoming staff and pulled him forward. Régalien deflected the other with his fan. Diamond against feathers, loud enough for it to echo in the deserted shopping plaza.
Right. Left. Régalien reacted to each flash of diamond, feeling himself being pushed back bit by bit. His wrist burned like wildfire.
"Guys!" Ladybug shouted over to them. "Stand back!"
"We almost got her!" Régalien answered back. They had gotten closer, Chat Noir balancing on the balls of his feet, him close enough to make out the amethysts embedded in her tiara.
"No, get back!"
A flash of white surged, brighter than her dress, brighter than her tiara, and the heat that came with it was enough to choke the air in his lungs. Régalien jumped back as the diamonds surged from Diamantte's gown like a wave, before crashing down on them.
They jumped back as the concrete ripped apart beneath them. Régalien let his feet take him to the fountain at the center as diamonds rained down, hot as coals and sharper than glass. Gravel dusted their suits. Even when the trickle of diamonds faded, he kept on running, following Chat Noir and Ladybug up onto the rooftops once again.
"What was that?" Régalien turned on his heel to track Diamantte, fan still up, tail feathers flared out in case he had to make another dash to safety.
Diamantte had retreated into the streets, her trail of diamonds trickling down the sides of the buildings to trail after her like loyal hounds.
Ladybug paced the edge. She tracked Diamantte as civilians started to take notice that the battle had shifted out into the open. "So now we know those diamonds can burn. A lot." She showed them a burn on her thigh, mottled black and red fabric glistening in the sun. When Chat Noir jerked, she waved him off. "I'm fine. It stings, but it's fine."
Régalien swallowed down the wave of nausea that sprung up and looked over the edge. Diamantte took the streets with unnatural ferocity, her whips tearing car doors in search of something. Her diamonds crawled up the windows and cars as they reformed after every lash, the noise enough to put his nerves on edge. "What is she trying to do?"
"Something about her fiancé pawning her engagement ring after they broke up. She told us she pretty much wants to collect every other piece of jewelry instead."
As the hiss of concrete and glass joined the screeching of her dress, Régalien cringed. "By destroying everything else?"
There was a silence where he could only feel their emotions shift from frustration at Diamantte to uncertainty that was probably about him. Régalien refused to turn around, afraid to see their expressions, so he studied Diamantte as much as he could. The item was her tiara, as strange as that was— who wore a tiara in their daily lives? Every piece of her dress was a gem or crystal, with the diamonds the deadliest piece of her costume by far.
Was she melting everything, or were her diamonds? Diamantte didn't seem very interested in the destruction, not like before. One final attack could be enough to take her down.
"You should go." Ladybug put one foot on the edge and leaned in to catch his eye. While she wasn't glaring, her gaze was stern, calculated, and everything she exuded in front of the enemy. "You don't know how to fight. You're going to get killed."
"I know the Cure isn't working like it should," he blurted out, "but I can handle it. This," Régalien held out his wrist, "this isn't anything! Barely a scratch."
"And how do you know about what's happening with the Cure?" Chat Noir cut in, folding his arms.
Régalien blanched and tried to dig up some excuse. Their talk at the tent came to the forefront of his mind, and he tried to deflect, hesitant. "I read the Ladyblog. Your bruises and cuts aren't disappearing." He looked at Chat Noir and hoped his face didn't betray anything.
Ladybug pressed her yo-yo against her forehead and reigned in a calming breath. Her gaze did not soften. Régalien had the distinct feeling he was being scolded. "Better reason to get out of here and let us handle it. Who knows if any of our injuries will heal after this battle. For the most part they do, but…"
"I didn't come here to hide," he explained, reigning in Duusu's cool calmness. But Ladybug had jumped down onto the sidewalk with her yo-yo at the ready. So Régalien turned to Chat Noir and finished with, "I came here to help, and I can. Three is better than two."
Chat Noir's gaze didn't hold any more warmth than Ladybug's. He walked over, and Régalien swept his train of feathers aside to avoid another tail stomp. Chat Noir glanced over the edge, took stock of Ladybug, and finally glanced back. "It sounds like you might be the real deal, but we thought the same of Volpina. Right now, I trust you as much as any random person off the street."
"I trust you." Régalien bit his lip, not sure if that had been the best thing to say. Yet it was true. How could he not trust his best friend, mask and all?
Chat Noir blinked, caught off guard, then finally leveled a clawed finger at his chest. "Don't try anything funny."
Chat Noir jumped off, leaving him contemplating how he could turn this battle in their favor and earn some brownie points with them. Régalien ran a thumb up and down the feather edges of his fan and didn't immediately follow. He leaned over, watching Chat Noir starting to taunt with a quick jig of his staff and Ladybug moving to a better spot to get the lay of the new battle area. She toyed with her yo-yo, watching as Diamantte tried to keep both of them in her sights.
Régalien readied himself, then stopped when he caught sight of a camera weaving between the destroyed displays of the stores. "Chamack," he said. Régalien threw his head back and groaned. Didn't Paris have other news reporters?
He crouched, trying to ignore the bob of her red hair, the flash of the camera when it jerked from Ladybug and Chat Noir and finally to him.
"It's not nice to take away a girl's diamonds!" Diamantte cracked her whip to split the ground at her feet.
Diamantte sent both whips flying and grasped Chat Noir's staff once again. He pulled, but Diamantte swept his legs with her second whip. She gave the staff one, hardy yank and pulled it from his hands. He gaped in complete disbelief while Ladybug jumped to try and catch it. Another yank. The staff did a u-turn and slammed into Ladybug's stomach.
"Sorry!" Chat Noir yelled as she flipped back, winded.
"Fine," she assured him, before throwing her yo-yo above her head and calling out, "Lucky Charm!"
Régalien made up his mind and jumped down onto the street, sneaking two daggers into his hand. Duusu, sensing that he was gearing up for his final attack, urged him onward. They might have not have practiced it last night, but there was no time like the present to learn a new trick. He needed Ladybug and Chat Noir for it work.
"Diamantte!" he yelled, and when she turned, diamonds bristling, he swallowed his nervousness away. Behind her Lucky Charm— a bundle of tarp—Ladybug shot him a warning look. He ignored it and strode forward, shaky arms spread out. "Why don't you take a shot at the greenhorn? I don't bite."
"Just like a man." She narrowed her eyes. "Always asking to be the center of attention."
Diamantte twisted the handles of her whips and let Chat Noir's staff clatter at her feet. Régalien eyed it, entertaining the idea of somehow kicking it to Chat Noir, when Diamantte approached him. Régalien spread his stance and decided that going for the staff was far too risky for his first battle. He had to do what he knew he could do.
He hurled a dagger. Diamantte ducked and sneered. "Work on your aim."
When the daggers hit, one in front of Ladybug, the other in front of Chat Noir, he responded with, "Work on your common sense."
Seeing Eye was all about taking the negative emotions from his team members and throwing it back as an offensive move. There was definitely enough negativity under Ladybug and Chat Noir's masks to really give his final attack a kick.
Régalien was no dancer, but the same instinct that allowed him to jump ten stories above the streets of Paris guided his feet in an impromptu, interpretive dance. He used his fan to point first at Ladybug, then Chat Noir, before using the toe of his right boot to outline a half circle in front of him. The eyes of the dagger he'd placed glowed in response. Régalien swept his right foot back beside him to seal the attack.
Anger and distrust slid off Ladybug and Chat Noir like muck, thick and foreboding, and seeped into his daggers. Régalien breathed in, drawing out every speck of negativity. Like wading through water, each stroke was hard, and his arm ached as he held his fan out in front of him, a conduit for his focus. Diamantte lashed out at him with her whip, but he slid back, fan rock steady.
His heart felt heavier. The world threatened to crush him.
No, not the world. All of these emotions pooling into his daggers, into him.
Régalien let Duusu guide his feet for the perfect placement. He plucked a third and final dagger and sen it out. It sunk into the cement at Diamantte's feet.
When the tightness in his chest magnified, threatening to split him in half, he cried out from the bottom of the ocean, "Seeing Eye!"
The hold broke, spilling forth and sweeping Diamantte and her diamonds off her feet in a rush of blue light from the dagger in front of her. The whips broke apart yet again, but her handles flew from her hands. The lower half of her dress fell apart, leaving her with only a sheer, silk cover. Diamantte, nothing but a gown-less ragdoll, slammed against two parked cars.
Régalien stumbled back and bent over to rest his hands on his knees. He forced his head up when Ladybug swept her tarp over the scattered diamonds to prevent her weapons and dress from reforming. He looked down at his feet, however, by the time Chat Noir went over and snatched the tiara off Diamantte's unconscious form.
"Holy…. Crap…" Régalien breathed through his nose, through his mouth, and still struggled for air. The ground came up, and he let himself sit down on the curb. Inside his Miraculous, Duusu let out a flutter of warmth, comforting his achy chest. Régalien laid a hand over his heart until the street stopped spinning.
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
Another flash of red light. A handful of ladybugs crawled up his suit and fluttered away, leaving his aches but taking away the burning of his wrist. Régalien probed the wound and hissed. Now that he had a Miraculous, he guessed the ladybugs were less liberal with their healing power, for whatever reason. He ruminated on that as the first beep of his Miraculous sounded in his ears.
"Hey." Ladybug. Tired. Confused. But definitely less angry than before.
A pair of polka-dotted feet crossed his line of sight. Régalien nodded in acknowledgment, too tired to lift his head. "Do you guys always get this tired. Like, man." Mustering up some strength, he lifted his head to shoot them an exhausted smile.
Ladybug rubbed her arm and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Her brow scrunched up, and she scrutinized her feet before asking with some confusion, "Are you alright?"
Régalien showed her his cut wrist. "I'll live. You?"
She rubbed a hand on her thigh where the suit had been repaired. "Merely a scratch."
They shared a grin.
"Hey!" Chat Noir finally approached. He stopped a few feet away, and a flush of frustration rushed up his neck. His lips parted for words, and they reworked their shape until he finally settled on, "Did your attack somehow make us… happier?"
"Um." Régalien glanced down at his Miraculous and the four remaining feathers Duusu squirmed, wanting to speak up but unable to. Régalien faced Ladybug and Chat Noir with a shrug. "My Kwami explained it, but honestly I only got like a quarter of what she was saying. She's pretty smart. Something about taking the bad emotions and using them as an attack."
"I think all Kwami are like that." Chat Noir smiled, then caught himself. He shook his head and willed himself to regain his bearings. He turned to Ladybug. "This is weird. I'm not sure if I like it. It's like going into our minds and taking out our… feelings?" He addressed the last word to Régalien.
Again Régalien shrugged and laid out his hands to show just how empty-handed he was in the magic department. "Basically. That's what my powers are based off."
Chat Noir hummed until both Ladybug and Régalien's Miraculouses beeped. Coming to a decision, he tapped his staff on the sidewalk. "Let's take this up to with Mas—," he cut himself off. His ears swiveled back to identify the pair of running feet coming their way. "Oh no."
Nadja caught up to them, one hand on her microphone, the other dragging a disoriented woman by the wrist, a small tiara keeping her hair from face as she struggled to keep up. Ladybug fisted her hands. "Oh Hell no." She paced a tight circle, glancing at the roofs above their heads, then snapping her head back to the woman they had freed. Ladybug's knees locked. "That witch."
Nadja closed the gap with a scurry of her flats and turned their back to them to face the camera. "Dear viewers of Paris. Another akuma has drawn to a close and three fighters, instead of two, are left standing. One of those is none other than the Blue Akuma caught on camera earlier this week."
Ladybug muttered something dark under her breath. Régalien could only stand shakily on his feet to watch the carnage that was sure about to unfold.
"But before we interview our heroes let's take a gander at Hawmoth's latest akuma victim. Miss," she addressed the woman frozen beside her, "can you elaborate on what exactly caused this latest battle?"
The woman flushed a deep red and clasped her hands in front of her, eyes fixated to the reflection in the camera. The cameraman gave her a thumbs up to continue. She shied back, but eventually managed to say, "I, umm, my fiancé planned to get married— "
"I'm sorry," Ladybug cut in, stepping in front of the woman and giving Nadja a glare, "but it's rather rude to put someone whose just been through a horrible experience in the spotlight when they clearly don't want to."
The woman shot Ladybug a timid smile. Nadja brought back her microphone and gave the three of them a raised eyebrow. "If the young woman does not want to interview then surely one of you would like to take her spot and," she shot the camera a dazzling smile, "give the people a Paris a first hand account of what happened."
"Gladly," Ladybug said. The woman took that as her cue to scurry away before the camera fixated back on her.
The camera swung to them. Régalien resisted the urge to pluck a feather and fiddle with it. Nadja's eyes swept over him, no doubt writing her own mental notes, and stuck the camera between Ladybug and Chat Noir.
"I think the people of Paris would love to know why we haven't heard a first-hand experience from either of you recently."
Chat Noir pursed his lips. "We don't always have time to stick around after battles." A beep from both Ladybug and Régalien's Miraculouses sounded. Nadja merely frowned.
"Then we should get right to the point, then. We would all love to know about our newest newcomer, who seems may not be the akuma we have originally thought, if that final attack was any indication." Nadja shoved the microphone under Régalien's nose, eliciting a squeak from him. "And what's your name?"
Régalien swallowed, leaving his mouth dry. He looked to the camera that had already put him in hot water once before. Nausea bubbled in his stomach. "Ré—Régalien."
"A truly regal name for a regal peacock. Is this your first time meeting with Ladybug and Chat Noir? From a civilian's perspective, it seemed you weren't wanted in the battle."
"We, uhh…" Heat spread to his cheeks. Knowing his parents would undoubtedly watch the interview choked out the remaining air from his lungs. Nadja tilted her head expectantly. "We hadn't…" Régalien ran out of courage.
Nadja hummed, turning back to the camera. "It looks like our heroes were not able to make contact with the suspected akuma before this."
"He's not an akuma," Ladybug offered. "Our first meeting with him was not orchestrated by Hawkmoth, and we have confirmed his Miraculous is genuine."
Their first meeting? Ladybug was definitely better at this impromptu lying than him. But did that mean that she actually believed he was an actual Miraculous Wielder?
"And why didn't the people of Paris hear about this first meeting? The threat of a loose akuma is not to be taken lightly, especially after the Stoneheart incident."
"We were still working out the situation," Ladybug ground out between clenched teeth. Chat Noir's tail was deathly still next to him.
"Did you initiate such meeting with the akuma known as Volpina before? Or is this set of procedures something new that has been implemented?" She glanced at Régalien.
A fair question, but Ladybug's anger continued to climb until Régalien heard the trembling wailing of flutes in his ears. This was one meddling instance too many.
"Look," Chat Noir stepped in front of Ladybug to face Nadja, "it might be your job to report on attacks, but it's our job to do what's best for Paris. So I suggest you do that instead of dragging akuma victims to trap us into interviews."
Nadja gaped. Ladybug took that as her cue to fly up to the roofs. Régalien recalled his daggers to him and followed her, nearly tripping on his tail feathers in his rush to escape the camera. He followed her a couple of blocks until she leaned against a chimney, fisting her fists and muttering what she could not say to Nadja in the face. Régalien stopped on the opposite side of the roof. He didn't need his powers to tell him that she needed some space.
Chat Noir vaulted between them a moment later. Régalien came up, but Chat Noir strode over to Ladybug. He was gentle as he laid his hands on her shoulders to quell their slight shaking, claws hovering just above her suit to avoid pricking her. "Meeting with the Guardian to settle this once and for all?"
The effect was instantaneous. Ladybug relaxed against the brick, her jaw losing its tension. She leaned closer to Chat Noir, side grazing his chest.
"That would be best." Ladybug tapped her earring as the second to the last beep ran. She turned to an awkward Régalien. Meeting his eye, her soft expression hardened. She glanced at his fan still open at his side. "Meet up at the Arc de Triomphe in ten minutes."
Chat Noir glanced over at Régalien and frowned. He was more wary around him than before Seeing Eye. His ears were pricked, and his shoulders were tense. "I'll follow you. I'll keep watch."
"Chat, it's fine." Still Ladybug did not move away from his side. Instead she nodded at Régalien not in solidarity but as mere confirmation. "Arc de Triomphe. Ten minutes."
They left him there wondering exactly what he did wrong.
And here's Nino in his first battle! His superhero name, Régalien, is an adjective in French that means "royal". Maybe there are better names out there for Nino, but after four years writing him with this name it just suits him now. We'll get into how he picked that name over others later.
Also, arrondissements are the subdivisions Paris is divided into. In this fic, Marinette, Adrien, and Nino live and go to school in the seventh arrondissement.
My personal song for Nino in this fic is Roi by Bilal Hassani. It's made even cooler by the fact that the singer is of Moroccan descent.
Next chapter, Nino finally gets to meet Master Fu and we'll get to know more about what Nino's role will be as the Peacock Wielder. Next chapter will be up this weekend! I want to increase the amount of chapters of buffer I have before moving this month. Wish me luck!