le verglas - french word for "black ice" meaning a transparent coating of ice, found especially on a road or other paved surface.
Chapter 10
"I can't believe you let me bring it."
Duusu patted his cheek, something that she had been doing a lot more lately. It wasn't as startling as the first time she did it, and he had felt the static of dormant magic so near him. Now it just meant her touch was warm enough to settle his nerves. "The Grimoire is yours. You need to practice reading it, and you do spend a lot of time at school."
Nino glanced at her over the pages of the Grimoire. Duusu perched on his bag, munching her morning carrot. She was back to being her aloof, know-it-all self, though he remembered the soft smile she gave him in the midst of his panic the night before.
Yet there was still that small part of him— the part that remembered how unbridled Hawkmoth's magic made him— that wondered if Duusu was just doing all this so he would follow her directions. Did she care so much about him that she let him bring the Grimoire to a building full of teenagers, just so he could feel a bit safer?
Was a goddess of emotion capable of faking them?
Nino held his tongue, guilty. Duusu was strict, and he was paranoid. It didn't prove anything.
On the rooftop of Collège Françoise Dupont, the wind picked up and tugged at the pages of the Grimoire. After last night's patrol gone awry, Nino hadn't gotten much sleep. His walk with Alya had been mostly him giving one-word replies. He could see the mounting annoyance with his less than stellar performance as a boyfriend. Nino knew he couldn't tell her about his new, after school— and weekend— job, so he opted for buying her a pastry at a café and promising their date that weekend would be great.
It was just enough for Alya to allow him to "ask his French teacher about his homework" while she finished off her interviewing project at the library.
Nino couldn't imagine being cooped up in a classroom after the night he had. Up on the roof, gravity tugged at him, but it only made the peacock in him chuckle. Up high he was safe, away from the prying eyes of students and teachers alike. The sky spread out before him and provided a clear escape route, should he need it.
(It was also a beautiful backdrop to work on the lab report he'd abandoned last night. Surely Miss Mendeleiev would accept one good page and two hastily-written ones if he groveled a bit.)
Nino engrossed himself in a page detailing a Black Cat Wielder from the 1800s in New York. He got two sentences down when paranoia made him scan the area. With the roof sloped inwards towards the school's courtyard, no one could see him from the ground.
But the man attacked from the roofs.
He wasn't going to attack in broad daylight, yet the goosebumps refused to leave his skin. They crawled up his arms and settled along the nape of his neck. Nino spread his magic out in a vain attempt to detect something out of the ordinary. Then he remembered using his magic was pretty much pointless.
Whoever this man was, he was invisible to him, to Duusu.
Nino scooted more towards the incline. If push came to shove, he could transform and leap into the school courtyard. No matter how powerful this stranger was, he didn't know who Nino was outside the mask.
Nino was in the midst of reading about this American businessman-turned-superhero when an electric jolt of emotion snapped inside him. He jumped to his feet, the Grimoire tumbling to his feet.
"Hey, careful with that!" Duusu cried.
Nino straightened. Adrenaline rushed up his throat like acid reflux. His transformation phrase was on the tip of his tongue, until the jolt came again, closer to his Miraculous. Nino tentatively reached out with his magic. "Dude, can you feel that?"
Flying from her seat on his backpack, Duusu gently closed the Grimoire and glared up at him. "I feel many things. You're going to have to be a little more specific."
Nino plucked the string once to make sure. And yes, there were flutes. "Ladybug." Nino paced in a tight circle, the string wavering in and out of his mind's eye. He twined a finger around it and held it still against the morning light. It was faint but strong enough for him to trace. "She's not transformed. She's coming closer."
Duusu floated up and sat on his shoulder. She didn't nuzzle or pet his cheek. All business, she surveyed the area with a mental sweep of her magic. "You're right." She flashed him a proud smile. "Very good, Nino. Your connection to her is getting stronger."
Ladybug was close. Her magic buzzed low in his stomach and curled his toes— but it was definitely her. Relief washed over him like a wave. No cloaked man.
Still… "Why, though?"
Duusu, as small as she was, easily hefted the Grimoire back into Nino's opened backpack. As she packed up her carrots back in the outer pocket, she explained, "Emotional connections work both ways. Even though Chat Noir has only started to accept you last night, his bond with you as Adrien allowed you to sense him the moment you got your powers." Duusu came over and patted his shoulder. "It was the first thing that told me you were going to be a fine Peacock, with his heart in the right place."
There rose the comfort again. Try as he might to see the ugly side, Nino only sensed genuine affection.
Nino returned her smile, then glanced over the roof's edge. He saw students crossing the street and crosswalks as class time neared. "And Ladybug? I knew she was in the school yesterday, but now it's like she's just out of my reach."
"Last night was the first time Ladybug forged a connection with you. She cared for your safety and emotionally reached out to comfort you. Because you were receptive to her feelings, you are now able to access her string out of costume better."
Nino rocked back on his heels. The tiles of the roof creaked. He laughed. "Dude, that's freaking awesome."
His smile spread until it hurt his cheeks. Ladybug accepted him.
The students were enough for their chatter to overcome the previous silence of the morning. Nino zipped up his backpack and scuttled for somewhere to transform and hop off. In the brief minute he was Régalien, Ladybug's string caught on fire, blaring at him that she was approaching the school.
Régalien hopped down to the third floor of the school. Hiding behind a column, he stewed in the blooming emotions he felt heavy in his stomach. The guilt he could understand. Ladybug seemed to be the type of person who would worry both in and out of costume; she wouldn't want him to know who she was out of the mask. Yet with her string sparking like a downed powerline, Régalien had little say in the matter. He would find out sooner or later.
When the way was clear of teachers and students, he let go of the transformation and scurried down the stairs to the courtyard.
Students filtered in, and Ladybug's string weaved through the bodies like a current. Nino followed at a jog. He bumped into shoulders and arms, and Nino waved off their protests. Their emotions swam above his head. Unimportant.
He got to the entrance of the school, eyes wide and searching. Ladybug's string bobbed just out of reach. Nino walked down the steps and looked out to the sidewalks that intersected with the school. Whoever Ladybug was, she hadn't arrived yet.
The first person he saw was Alya, fresh out of the library and no doubt waiting for Marinette. His hands intertwined with hers. Ladybug was coming closer and closer. His bones sang to seek her out. Nino gripped Alya tighter to stop himself from running out into the street.
Alya leaned in closer. Her shoulder rubbed against his, and his skin prickled in delight. There was nothing complicated about this magic. Simple and raw, it stopped his breath.
"Finished with your work?" he asked as he scanned the students coming in. Not the most romantic topic, but they hadn't had a chance to catch up.
Alya hummed and snuck a glance to his face. When his eyes didn't leave hers, she said, "Done, and I've started an article for the Ladyblog about our newest hero."
Nino's heart skipped a beat. "Sounds exciting."
"I'll show it to you at lunch." Alya beamed, a clear sign she was proud of how it was coming along.
The crowd of students dwindled as the time for class drew nearer. Alix came crashing up the stairs at full-throttle on her roller blades, leaving Nino with only the faint impression of not Ladybug. Next came in Rose and Juleka, but they weren't it. When Nino saw Sabrina and Chloé, he held his breath and almost jumped for joy when neither of them were it.
Maybe he missed Ladybug somehow?
Nino gave Alya a peck on the cheek. "Hey, babe, I'm going to get going. See you in class?"
She nodded, and he turned around to give the students that had arrived one last glance. He was just considering whether Mylène could pull off Ladybug's pigtails when Alya piped up behind him, "Ahh, there comes the second love of my life."
A light chuckle answered her. "I'm not going to kiss you, if that's what you're going for."
He turned around, and Marinette joined Alya's other side, all smiles and and laughs. Alya elbowed her in the side. "And who said I wanted to taste your morning breath? Nothing but sugar and sweets."
Marinette laughed again, and Nino's stomach clenched. His magic stirred in recognition. Ladybug's string wrapped around him and squeezed the remaining breath from his lungs. Her voice pitched and lowered as she began to tell Alya about her rushed morning, and there was something familiar about how she put her hand on Alya's shoulder.
Nino followed at their heels all the way to their classroom. To clear all doubt, Nino pulled on Ladybug's string still twined around his fingers.
Marinette stopped at the classroom's threshold. She looked around until Alya pushed her in with a, "You're actually on time today, so don't jinx it." Marinete took her seat with the beginnings of a perturbed frown.
"Oh my God," Nino breathed in, following them in with the sensation of walking on air.
"Nino?"
Eyes transfixed on Marinette, Nino blindly reached out for Alya's hand. He held on, the roller coaster of realization hurtling him down, down—
"Marinette," he began, stopping at the foot of the steps. "Has she been okay?"
Did Marinette sleep okay after the ordeal last night? Had she ranted to Alya about a particularly frustrating night with her "homework," aka the bird-brained hero who got attacked on his first patrol?
Alya led him to their desks and fell into her seat, pulling a still-uneasy Marinette into a one-armed hug while Nino tried to keep his face passive. "Actually she's been more than okay. She called me last night and pitched the idea of my latest blogpost.
Marinette glanced at Alya, then at Nino. "Yes, I did…?"
Nino couldn't help but stare. The freckles. The pigtails. The expressive, kind blue eyes. He could see the Ladybug in her as clearly as the earrings she wore.
"Why?" he managed to ask.
"I mean," Marinette started, and her guilt shot up, tightening the string around his hand. Marinette rested her cheek on the palm of her hand and looked at a particularly interesting indent on her desk. "We don't know much about Régalien, but I bet he's feeling kind of overwhelmed right now. I think some encouraging words from the Ladyblog reporter herself could boost him up."
"And maybe that could convince him to stay for an actual interview later on with me," Alya added.
But Nino continued to stare at Marinette, at Ladybug, his Leader. His heart swelled until the sting of tears hit his eyes. Of all the potential Ladybugs, he was glad it was out-spoken, selfless Marinette who never failed to stand up for others.
Nino sat down and wiped his eyes before he made a fool of himself. Adrien looked up, concerned, but Nino waved him off with the throwaway excuse of lingering allergies.
Marinette tapped her pencil against the desk. Her gaze drifted back to Nino, eyes slightly narrowed in suspicion. "Why did you think I wasn't okay?"
Nino stared down at the woodgrain of the desk. Act cool. "Nothing in particular."
Class was excruciating. With both Chat Noir and Ladybug's strings around him, Nino wondered if he would go mad before the period ended. More than once, he found his eyes trailing to Adrien beside him. Like the perfect student he was, his notes were written, bullet-points added, and his eyes were decidedly not on Ladybug right behind him.
Adrien didn't know Marinette was Ladybug, and she didn't know he was Chat Noir. He'd suspected after seeing them head off in the same direction after the meeting with Master Fu that they knew each other under the mask, but it hadn't matched up with Chat Noir's flirts and Marinette's nervousness around her crush. They didn't know, if the pleasant greetings they exchanged at school were any indication.
How could they not know? Nino stared holes into his tablet in a feeble attempt to block out the singing of trumpets and flutes. Ladybug and Chat Noir. Adrien and Marinette. An entire year of battling alongside one another, of taking the same tests, and they didn't know it had been them all along.
Nino sorted the obvious in his mind. Marinette's secret was hers to share. As much as Chat Noir adored Ladybug, it was not his secret to tell.
But should he tell her that he knew? He'd done it with Adrien, and things were fine on that front.
He rolled his tablet pen in his hand. Marinette's festering guilt put him on edge. Telling her Régalien was here, alive and well and absolutely not holding anything against her for making him patrol alone would improve her worry over him.
Or it would increase it tenfold. Nino, her friend, fighting akumas? It was the main reason he'd kept it a secret from Adrien, after all.
Did Ladybug, as the Leader, have the power to take away a Miraculous?
Class emptied for the next period. Nino stood up with none of his issues resolved. Sensing both sets of strings at once started a headache behind his eyes. It was definitely easier to manage when he was Régalien and had the full power of the Miraculous and Duusu to muffle the worst of it. Guess he would just have to get used to it.
"Nino, what happened to your wrist?"
The words registered, but the voice was lost in the myriad of thoughts. Nino expected to come face to face with Adrien but saw Marinette's wide, blue eyes.
"Cooking accident," he replied automatically.
Marinette's worry creased her eyes. It was like looking at Ladybug. Gentle yet firm. Nino rubbed his bandaged wrist to double check nothing showed. Even with Master Fu's salve, the cuts were still inflamed and a faint purple. Nino briefly wondered if it had been sprained.
Marinette sighed and smiled warmly. "You gotta be careful."
Adrien chuckled beside him. "That's what I told him when he almost stabbed himself with his stylus yesterday."
Ladybug and Chat Noir shared a smile. In that moment, despite their secrets, they agreed on one thing: Nino had to be kept safe. Whatever barriers prevented them from seeing past the masks couldn't stop their silent agreement.
When Marinette and Alya went up ahead, Adrien leaned in closer. "It was just a cooking accident, right?"
His worry mingled with Marinette's, and the two strings knotted. The headache tapped against his temples.
"No need to send the calvary." Especially when the calvary attended the same class as him.
Adrien didn't take his joke lightly and held him back from the rest of the crowd of students to take their conversation to the side. "You weren't at the Diamantte fight, were you?" he asked in a low voice.
"Chill, bro, I wasn't," Nino lied. "I know how much you don't want me to go into those akuma fights."
Adrien glanced away, probably running through the mental footage of the fight to see if he remembered seeing his best friend risking his neck. Nino sighed, feeling Duusu settle on his head. He would tell him the truth one day.
Though he could still do one thing today.
"Hey, Marinette," Ninio called out when he saw her descending the stairs for her next class. He pulled up beside her with a confused Adrien pulling up behind him. "I think that's really nice. You know, what you said about Régalien."
Marinette blushed. She fiddled with the strap of her handbag. Marinette glanced at the rooftops, as though Régalien would pop up right then and there. "He needs support, too. He's just starting out, and I bet it's pretty scary for him."
"But," Nino began and stepped back to encompass both Marinette and Adrien in his sights, "I think he shouldn't hog up all the limelight. Ladybug and Chat Noir need a good pep talk, too. Like, I can't imagine everything their dealing with. Akuma attacks? Showing a newbie the ropes? Seriously, kudos to them."
Marinette stared down at her feet. Her blush spread to her cheeks and down her neck. Adrien rubbed the back of his neck with a small smile of his own. They were two blind, modest dorks.
Marinette cleared her throat and nodded. "Yeah, I bet it's hard for her— them."
Telling her— them— could wait. That didn't mean he couldn't encourage his team from the sidelines.
As promised, Alya showed him the draft of her article about Régalien, tentatively titled Blue Wonder Régalien Joins the Fight! The pictures alone were enough to make him blush. Somehow the pictures— taken as stills from Chamack's recording— made him look regal. Caught in the midst of Seeing Eye, or midair with his fan shielding half his face, it was a lot better than what he thought he'd look that day.
Then he read the actual article. Alya's infectious excitement oozed in every sentence, but it was the last part that stole his breath.
Is he new and inexperienced? Of course, but this is only the start of great things. Régalien fought valiantly and with heart, even when he wasn't received with open arms. He is proof that one must fight even when the odds are stacked against them. That is why, I believe, Régalien will be essential in the fight against Hawkmoth.
"It's wonderful," he told Alya at lunch. He promised to comment later that day when she published it.
"It's wonderful," he told his mom over dinner as he was still ruminating over the praise Alya had sung. It was a lot to live up to.
Saliha smiled as she served him another helping. "Eat up because you look dead on your feet."
"I do?"
"Were you up late doing homework?" Faziel asked, not accusing but firm, leaving Nino no room to weasel out of an answer.
"Kinda." Nino shrugged. He'd been up late. He'd been doing homework. Not technically a lie.
When Nino was in the midst of mixing his potatoes with his salad, he felt his mother's eyes upon him. He turned to meet Saliha's concerned expression. Immediately Nino averted his gaze back to his plate. With an expression that earnest on her face, half of him wanted to spill his secrets then and there.
"Was it another nightmare?" she eventually asked.
Nino shook his head, the most honest he'd been in a while. It had been a couple of months since his last Bubbler-related nightmare, even if Duusu's first appearance stirred up old worries. Curiously enough, the aura of magic that resonated from both Duusu and the Grimoire made him feel safer than those four walls of his bedroom ever could.
"I've just had a lot of schoolwork and not enough time." Again, not a lie.
Like a jolt to the heart, Nino felt the akuma rise to fruition somewhere in Paris. The spoon toppled from his hand and clattered onto his plate. His parents stopped eating. Nino swallowed past the nervousness and smiled.
"I remembered I had a study date with Alya. About Biology."
He rushed to his room for his backpack, the Grimoire back under his mattress. He would have to see how the two spells he'd been practicing work first before he could even think about learning new ones on the fly. Nino caught his parents' shocked looks before he closed the door. He'd never straight up run out on them, and he could already hear the lecture about it when he came back.
Jumping the last couple of steps, Nino made a hard left and ducked into the alleyway next to the apartment complex. Duusu burst free from his cap before she could be swept away in his rush. "Wings Up!" he yelled.
Régalien jumped up to the nearest roof. The akuma cried out inside of him, crawling over the city of Paris. Régalien unhooked his fan and called up Ladybug and Chat Noir. Their calls went to voicemail, but he was sure their Kwamis would alert them.
He followed the akuma's string. Unlike Ladybug and Chat Noir's, the string was thin and brittle. Régalien held it between two of his fingers. There was nothing there, but he felt it running across his glove and twining around his wrist. Too much pressure and it eroded. Too little and it broke away out of his reach. If only Hawkmoth could show his ugly face for once. Then maybe the string would be easier to track.
Régalien stopped on a roof overlooking the Arc de Triomphe; traffic slowed to a crawl at the giant roundabout down below as people sensed the nearby akuma. Ladybug and Chat Noir grew closer, nearing the edge of the Seine. His left hand formed a fist, and he tugged at them both, pinpointing his exact location without them looking at their communicators.
His grip slackened, but the paranoid side of him continued to hold the strings near him. People ran down the sidewalks as the word of the upcoming battle reached them. Their emotions ebbed and flowed like the air up high, mixed but detectable.
Yet the Cloaked Man was invisible. And quick.
Régalien jumped onto the Arc de Triomphe. All along the main street that led to the roundabout around the monument, he saw a billow of smoke. White and thick, it curled upwards and blanketed the rooftops and the top floors of the nearby buildings. A strange chatter echoed within the supernatural fog.
He stepped closer to the edge, reaching out with his enchanted senses. The air coming from the akuma was cold and dug under the collar of his suit. Lured by the sense of anger, Régalien cleared the Arc de Triomphe and landed on the smoke-filled roof of a tourist shop. Immediately the cold intensified, seeping through his trousers.
Scout, Duusu reminded him with a spark of power to the daggers in his fan. You'll be focusing on a strong defense today, which means we'll need to find out more about the akuma without giving ourselves away.
Squinting through the fog, Régalien made out the billowing figure of the akuma pacing down the length of the street four stories below. Aiming for the silhouette of a store sign to his left, Régalien threw the dagger. It sunk into the wood with a jolt that rebooted his vision into split screen. With the magical eye of the Peacock embedded on its hilt, Régalien saw everything as clear as day.
There was fog everywhere, and though it didn't impede his vision he still saw the swirling tendrils around everything. The akuma passed by with slow, methodical steps. Pale blue skin glowed in preparation for an attack, ice-encrusted fingers brushing the abandoned cars at the curb. Régalien made out an apron stained rainbow, a white hat askew on his head, and a flowing coat that fluttered in a non-existent breeze.
"Just the hero we wanted to see!"
Startled Régalien pulled his mind back to reality. The world tilted and twisted, sound and color coming back in a nauseating rush. Once his knees stopped shaking, Régalien looked down and saw Nadja and her cameraman. Régalien jumped down on the lowest ledge of the building. The camera followed his every move. He wanted nothing more than to throw a dagger straight into its lens.
Régalien frowned and tried to keep his words civil. "There's an akuma very close by. You should go."
Nadja lowered her microphone. Instead of her usual smirk, she worried her bottom lip. It was like she was picking away at a mask. "We get off on the wrong foot last time. I didn't do a very good job respecting the privacy of some of Paris' most vulnerable civilians."
As far as he could tell, when he focused his powers on her, she was sincere, though not as guilty as he thought someone like her should be. Régalien bit back a retort. She might be recording right now, and he didn't want Paris to hear the unfiltered thoughts of one Nino Lahiffe.
"So what do you know about the akuma?" she asked.
Régalien 'uhhed' for a while until he got a hold of himself. He was officially, more or less, the newest hero of Paris, and he couldn't clam up like how he did at school, when he had to read in English class.
"Not much," he admitted. "From what I can tell, his powers are ice-based, and he seems to currently be looking for something, or someone."
Nadja hummed and nodded without the sarcastic note she had used on them after the battle at the Jardin des Plantes.
Ladybug was the first to touch down behind him, one foot braced against the building's wall, yo-yo string holding her up. "If you must film," she bit out to Nadja, "then you cannot get in our way."
Before Nadja could answer, Ladybug grabbed Régalien by the elbow and guided him back to the roof. "Don't pay attention to her. The less we interact with the media, the better."
Marinette. Ladybug. Both of their faces collided to leave him with the headstrong yet kind person in front of him. She let him go and twined the string of her yo-yo between her fingers the same way a studious Marinette balanced her pencil between her fingers.
"You know, I think you got through to her last time," he told her. "She kinda apologized before you got here."
Ladybug's fingers stopped the impromptu cat's cradle. "Oh, really?" She pursed her lips and glanced at where Nadja had been. "Hopefully she stops trying to drag the akuma victims into her interviews. The last thing they need is a reminder of what they just did."
Régalien snorted. How right she was.
Chat Noir landed next to them with a roll and a finishing bow that had Ladybug rolling her eyes heavenward. "One can hope," he said, cat ears twitching to show just how well he had been eavesdropping. He pointed the end of his baton to the street below. "Maybe she can actually film us in a good light for once. Our new Peacock can strut his stuff and give a performance she won't forget."
Régalien raised an eyebrow. The things dorky Adrien in costume said. "Dude, as long as I don't have to talk to her, I'm good."
They all chuckled, a team basking in the lightheartedness of dumb banter.
"So did you find anything out about the akuma?" Ladybug squinted at the smoke. "I can't see anything in this fog."
"Actually, I'm pretty sure it's dry ice." Régalien reached out to the dagger embedded in the building across from them. He caught it, but almost dropped it when his fingers stung through his gloves. "Yep, definitely dry ice, and the supernatural kind to boot."
Chat Noir groaned. "Glad you broke the ice. I like keeping my fingers and toes."
"Wow, that was an actual, good to honest pun from the great Chat Noir." Régalien grinned at him. "I'm glad you're not giving me the cold shoulder anymore."
Chat Noir's jaw dropped. His ears perked up, and his eyes lit up. "Did you just pun?"
Ladybug groaned. "Anything else you found out?"
Saving the puns for later, he elaborated, "The akuma looks like an irate ice cream man. With ice for fingers." Régalien spread his hands out for emphasis. "He's not really doing anything right now, just stalking the street like some kind of roaming enemy in a video game."
"Great." Ladybug spun her yo-yo at her side. With a nod, Chat Noir extended his baton into a staff and spun it. "Stick close guys. Régalien, use those daggers to see when you need to."
Ladybug and Chat Noir jumped into the fray, spinning their weapons in front of them to part the mist for their landing. Régalien leaped down a little ways off. The cold intensified, settling into his bones as a permanent chill. He tensed his jaw, unconsciously drawing his arms closer to himself. The heat of his Miraculous, once overwhelming, was just enough to keep his teeth from chattering.
Landing on the street, Ladybug and Chat Noir continued to spin their yo-yo and staff. Régalien landed a way's off, among the camouflage of frozen cars. He dug the soles of his boots into the sheet of sleet that covered the ground as far as the eye could see.
"Such a great reception," the akuma spoke around them.
A hand reached out from the fog, and Régalien threw his dagger. Metal on ice scraped the air. The akuma bellowed, the mist rushing to cover him once more. Régalien edged onto the street beside Ladybug and Chat Noir and got a better view of what kind of damage the akuma had wrought.
Foot-deep crevices littered the street. Ice snaked over frozen cars, climbed up the deserted sidewalks, and covered the buildings' windows and signs. Blocks of ice populated the expanse with no apparent rhyme nor reason to them. Were they columns meant to trap them in? Conduits for his powers? They smoked with the sheer coldness of dry ice.
Régalien tapped into the eye of the dagger he'd thrown. He saw the akuma pacing the length of the street on silent feet. He didn't need to hide behind cars when the mist coming off his coat and claws continuously shifted around him, almost alive.
As the akuma pivoted to attack, Régalien warned from where he crouched, "To the left!"
Ladybug struck first with a sharp flick of her yo-yo. The akuma parried with the metal scoop in his right hand, only to be pushed back as Chat Noir followed it up with a hit of his staff. The akuma stepped to the side, half shrouded in the ever-moving mist. Frost bloomed from his feet to cover the area in a fresh layer of black ice.
"Yet another person that doesn't appreciate the time and patience of Verglas. Don't you just see how beautiful this is?" He waved frozen fingers to the city block, allowing the mist to part just enough for the waning sunlight of the evening to light up his handiwork. Régalien followed and spotted the first column of ice— no, civilian.
Under the ice, her skin was deathly-pale. Hands stuck to the doorknob, her fingers twitched while the rest of her refused to budge. Her expression, stuck between horror and surprise, refracted under the light and panes of ice.
Then the light shifted and lit up a man frozen to a car door feet from her.
Verglas laughed, the sound like glass on glass. "Everything frozen, waiting. Isn't it wonderful? This is what I can accomplish when people wait for their ice cream to be made."
Régalien whirled back to him. Anger surged to grind his teeth and fist his hands. He didn't know them, but he didn't need to. He knew what it felt to be unable to move, to yell, to break free of a magic no one asked for.
Chat Noir growled low in his throat. "I think you just need to cool off."
He stabbed his staff into street and propelled himself upwards, above the dry ice. Ladybug hooked her yo-yo to the nearest lamppost and swung up for a better vantage point. Régalien grabbed a perch on a window ledge just above the street, another dagger between his fingers.
The battle started in a blur of ice and smoke. Ladybug avoided a swipe of his ice fingers. She perched on the frozen awning of a store and sent her yo-yo flying. Her yo-yo twined around Verglas's wrist, freezing him long enough for Chat Noir to kick the scoop from his hands. He made a hasty grab for it, only to dodge a swipe of ice claws.
Verglas grabbed his scoop in one hand and gathered a chunk of dry ice smoke in it. "Try this on for size!"
Smoke solidified into ice, and he hurled to the ground with a tremendous swing. It exploded in a column of ice, frost spreading up the sidewalk and buildings like a spider web. Régalien leaped down from the ledge. As he rolled back onto his feet, the portion of the building he'd been on cracked and fell in a block of ice, creating yet another crater in the sidewalk.
Stay away from the ice. He could remember that.
The smoke thickened around Verglas, leaving the street to swirl around him. More victims were uncovered, entombed in ice, their expressions twisted under the facets of light. Régalien caught himself staring more than once. Automatically his powers reached out for something, anything that told him they were still alive. He expected fear, but got nothing, not a sliver.
They couldn't be dead, could they? Surely Hawkmoth wouldn't go to those lengths for some jewelry?
Despite his reasoning, Régalien felt his anger climbing. The Cure wasn't working correctly. What if they didn't recover?
A spike of anger not his own gave him enough warning to turn around. Régalien managed to hold off Verglas's scoop with his open fan. Verglas bared down with inhuman strength. He grinned, showing off sharpened canines.
"Aren't they so patient now?" he crooned. His breath was a burst of winter air.
"You have a sick way of thinking," Régalien snapped back. He bent his knees to support the increasing weight bearing down on him.
Régalien could feel the akumatized item, somewhere on Verglas's body. The anger pulsed like a heart, giving birth to the string twined around Varglas and Régalien's hearts. Régalien pushed Verglas back and jumped away from the rake of his ice fingers. Verglas, faster than his girth should have allowed, followed it up with a lunge Régalien couldn't dodge.
Burning. Cold. Régalien clamped his hand on his neck, and the sluggish trickle of blood warmed his fingers.
Régalien stumbled back to the sidewalk as Verglas retreated back into the mist. The victims' faces slid in and out of view as the dry ice shifted. Régalien occasionally sent out a wave of his magic to try and sense something from them, only to be met with disappointment.
He dropped next to Ladybug and Chat Noir. They were back to back, eyes on the fog and weapons drawn. Régalien sent out a second dagger in there to keep a better eye on things.
"His item somewhere on him," he told them. "It's not his scoop or hat. I don't feel Hawkmoth's string through them."
Régalien expected disbelief or a curt dismissal. Instead Chat Noir hummed. "Make sense. You're the one with the weird, voodoo magic."
"It's not voodoo magic," he grumbled with a fake glare.
Verglas appeared to their left. Chat Noir took a running swing at Verglas with his staff. A ball of ice soared his way. Ladybug knocked it away with a yo-yo shot as Chat Noir used his momentum to tumble forward and knock him off his feet with a sweep of his staff.
Régalien found himself running forward, too, even as Duusu cried out, Stay on the sidelines! You're meant to be defense!
But how could he just wait there for a chance when either Marinette or Adrien could wind up as blocks of ice? There was no telling what the Cure could heal after something so drastic.
Chat Noir lunged for the fluttering apron tied to Verglas's waist. Verglas rolled away, and as Chat Noir landed in a crouch he smashed the metal scoop on the cement. Ice bloomed and spread up Chat Noir's ankle with a sickening series of cracks.
Chat Noir strained against the ice and yelled over his shoulder, "The apron! On the apron!"
Ladybug swept down in a swing. Verglas whirled to her, smoke coalescing inside his scoop.
That was Marinette behind the mask, sweet, caring Marinette. He would be damned if she got hurt when he could have done something.
Régalien held a dagger between his fingers and dashed into the open. As Ladybug swooped in with an arm outstretched hand, Verglas pulled back his arm to swing. When his anger spiked and he bared his teeth in the tell-tale smirk of an akuma in the throes of rage, Régalien threw the dagger.
The scoop flew in the air, the ice ball shooting up above their heads in a shower of harmless frost. Ladybug swerved away from the worst of it, twisted, and snatched Verglas's apron from behind.
She landed on an awning across the street. "Okay, akuma you're going— " Ladybug spread the apron and turned it every which way, before tearing it in half. No butterfly appeared. "Where is it?"
Verglas laughed, his entire body quaking. "Patience, patience," he chided. Verglas gave them a showcase of his costume. Red, blue, and gold glittered on his person. Régalien tried to pinpoint which were ice-cream stains and which was the item, but the string twisted and turned around Verglas's frame, making it hard to pinpoint the spot that contained the butterfly.
Chat Noir growled and hacked at the ice with his staff. Verglas turned an eye on him. His smile stretched, his hand blindly looking for his scoop. "You would be a perfect little treat for later."
Chat Noir hesitated, and his string grew taut with fear. Ice still encased him up to his shin. Ladybug was too far away.
Régalien reacted, ignoring Duusu's warning of staying on the sidelines. Using the sleek ice of the street, he slid towards them and grabbed the scoop from Verglas's hand, the ice dropping uselessly to the ground. Régalien twisted back and saw Hawkmoth's mask lighting up Verglas's face. Hawkmoth was getting desperate. Régalien flung a dagger towards Chat Noir.
He caught it with a smile. "Time to blow this popsicle stand!" Chat Noir embedded both weapons through the ice and slashed, breaking the ice into pieces with a resounding crack!
Verglas lunged for him, but Chat Noir danced away, hopping from car to lamppost until he landed on the awning next to Ladybug.
"Lucky Charm!"
Bright red threw the whole area in light. Then Verglas brought back the dry ice smoke with an enraged roar. Régalien's world whited, and the cold wove up his sleeves and down the collar of his suit. Trusting his instincts, he leaped to a lamppost hidden in the smoke and up to the roof of the building. He joined a very confused Ladybug and Chat Noir.
"Tongs." She clicked them in all of their polka-dotted glory. "What is this supposed to be?"
Chat Noir shrugged. Régalien juggled the enchanted scoop from one hand to the other, the cold burning through his gloves. "Ahh, screw this!" He stuck the scoop into roof and nailed a dagger through it with his foot. The scoop wiggled, but his dagger held.
"Whoa, chill out there." Chat Noir held out the dagger he'd used to him, ignoring Ladybug's exasperated sigh. "Thanks, by the way."
Chat Noir was the whole reason he was here in the first place. Régalien shrugged. "No problem."
"Got it." Ladybug got between them, the tongs firmly in her grip. "Listen up, boys. It's going to get hairy."
Her explanation was quick and short, but even Régalien could imagine all the mental calculations that had gone to it. Was that a Marinette thing? She was a pretty good designer, from what Alya had told him, and weren't designers supposed to be good at picking and figuring out details? Or was it a Ladybug thing, like his emotion-based powers?
"Got it?"
They nodded and dropped down to the window ledges of the buildings, the mist lapping their feet but not quite reaching. Chat Noir shortened his staff, twirled it to clear up some of the mist, and threw it across the street like a plane propeller. The smoke flowed up in clouds. With his cover gone, Verglas glanced up, shocked. On cue he reared up for another ice attack, and Régalien threw his dagger at his target. The smoke rolled over, but an outraged yell was enough to tell him he had hit his mark.
As the staff returned, a boomerang at his command, Chat Noir leaped into the smoke. Régalien dove into his dagger to do some reconnaissance. His vision split into two: one where he was still on the ledge, Ladybug waiting for her cue, and the other one of the frozen world down below.
Through the dagger stuck in the cuff of Verglas's hat, he saw him rear up with his hands outstretched. The ice on his fingers lengthened into dangerous points that glinted in the scant light that made it through the mist. With no scoop, he'd have to resort to close-combat instead.
Régalien reached back to his body to yell down at Chat Noir, "Icicles coming your way!"
Metal and ice crashed in a cacophony of noise. The smoke parted at the clash, giving enough room for Chat Noir to burst through the wisps. He used the hang time to taunt Verglas with a cheeky, "Ice see that your aim is pretty off!"
With Verglas sufficiently distracted and pissed off, Ladybug jumped into the mist-covered battle with the tongs held in her hand. Through his dagger, Régalien saw her land and dash left, into Verglas's blind spot and away from the distractions Chat Noir was dishing up. Régalien threw in one more dagger to spy from— it lodged into a bistro sign covered in frost.
Régalien continued to give instructions on how and what to dodge. Even though what he could see was from a rather weird angle, no matter which dagger he switched to, he could see just how much of a well-oiled machine Ladybug and Chat Noir were.
Chat Noir weaved and ducked Verglas's claw swipes while steering clear of Ladybug's attempts to pick off the akumatized item off the costume. They danced and twisted around each attack— even each other's— without having to verbally communicate. It would have been beautiful, if they weren't in the midst of battle. Whenever Régalien warned them of an incoming attack, he felt he was intruding on something private.
When Ladybug gave the signal, Régalien threw out additional daggers from his fan to perform Seeing Eye. Each step hit their marks. The sole dagger in his hand effortlessly arced over his head. Verglas was blown away by the attack, allowing Ladybug to usher out civilians trapped inside a department store.
Nino, hidden in a fire escape within the mist, had beamed as Duusu recharged. Even the burning cut on his neck couldn't foul his mood.
Everything was going to plan.
Until Ladybug slipped on some dark ice.
She stumbled forward in her attempt to regain balance, but that was enough for Verglas to grab her wrist. He twisted Ladybug to face him, the hand with the tongs wrenched upwards and out of reach. She put one foot against his broad chest to propel herself back while her free hand reached for her yo-yo.
Chat Noir hesitated. This hadn't been part of the plan. Still in the fire escape, Régalien grew tense.
"Let's take a look at those pretty earrings. They really are the perfect sprinkles on this otherwise gloomy sundae," Verglas croaked. He leaned in with ice claws nearing her ear lobe, and while Régalien was unable to see her face he sensed Ladybug's rising fear.
She kicked off and swung her yo-yo as Verglas reached for her earrings. There was a horrible yell as Ladybug gave another, desperate swing of her yo-yo. It caught his chin and gave her enough time to throw herself backwards, out of reach.
Régalien hastily tapped into a dagger to try and see her. When the image came into view he recoiled, back hitting the metal railing.
Ladybug's ear was nothing but a mess of blood running down the side of her face and neck. Though her face was frozen in shock, her fear skyrocketed, frantic and galloping, pulling at Régalien's string in distress. His anger— the same one he'd felt after Diamantte's attack, the same he'd taken from Ladybug just a minute ago— surged like a heatwave. All he saw was Marinette holding up a hand to her torn ear while Verglas wiped her blood off on the side of his trousers.
Screw the plan.
Régalien wiped away the double vision and jumped over the fire escape's railing. He didn't have the same, clear vision as his daggers, but it was enough to pinpoint the hulking form of Verglas approaching a wounded Ladybug. She still held her yo-yo in one hand while the hand with the tongs continued to cradle her ear. A faint whimper escaped her lips.
Régalien spread his fan, recalling all his daggers to it, and jumped on Varglas's back. The cold soaked his hands, but he was too angry to care. He hugged Verglas's neck and pressed the sharpened edge of his fan against his Adam's apple. Instead of freezing, Verglas began to turn in place, reaching with his hands and ice claws to rip him off.
"I might as well," he grunted in between reaches, "get your Miraculous as a nice topping."
When Iron Lung had demanded his Miraculous, he'd been terrified. Now Régalien was just angry, the power dancing on his skin like wild fire. "I'd like to see you try, you overgrown—!"
That was when Chat Noir entered the fray with his staff fully extended. He ended up whacking Régalien on the shoulder, and that was enough for his grip to loosen. Verglas effortlessly thew him at Chat Noir. Both went rolling on the floor in a tangled mess of limbs.
Régalien ended up flat on his back with Chat Noir on his chest.
Chat Noir gaped, then abruptly said, "Sorry, I didn't see you!"
They shot up when Verglas bared down on them, with Régalien going left and Chat Noir dashing to the right. Their eyes briefly met before they had to move again to avoid a slash of claws.
"This isn't part of the plan!" Chat Noir yelled as he tried to get close.
Or at least, that's what Chat Noir appeared to do. There was so much weaving and dodging that Régalien could only guess where Chat Noir would be next. Régalien went in for another attack, only to dodge as Chat Noir crossed his path.
"I've got this!" Régalien told Chat Noir over the furious swipes of Verglas, who was getting bolder with his attacks, using big steps to close the gap between himself and the heroes.
"Just stay back!" Ladybug yelled from somewhere behind them, or around them. The tell-tale hiss of her yo-yo string screeched, but its trajectory was lost in the lingering dry ice.
The mist seemed to be getting thicker, the temperature seemingly dropping to hypothermic levels. Régalien whirled around as he sensed a wave of panic through Ladybug's string and an almost euphoric glee in Verglas as he gripped her yo-yo string around his fist and yanked her hard enough for her feet to lift off the ground.
Régalien reacted at the surge of anger in him and not to Chat Noir's shifting shape in the mist. He focused on Verglas's claws and not the flash of black and green he saw at his peripheral.
Chat Noir went left.
Régalien went right.
Only for Chat Noir to feint.
Régalien retracted his fan to avoid slashing Chat Noir in the face, who aborted his attack at the last second to twist around, his face close enough to catch the frustration he shot at Régalien.
Then Régalien felt it, the sharp twang of horror, so much like Ladybug's, only for the emotion to drop to nothing. Régalien recoiled. Chat Noir's yell rose in the background of the static noise.
"CHAT!" Ladybug's shout rang over the thump of a body hitting the ground.
Régalien gasped back into the present to look down at his feet. Red, too close to his face to be hidden by the mist, stained his boots. Chat Noir curled into himself. There was a keening whimper, almost too soft to hear above the blood rushing in his ears.
Even Verglas paused. He stared down at Chat Noir, the constant anger in his string halting enough for what could have been the civilian trapped inside to show through. Blood-stained claws were frozen in the air in a macabre display of what Hawkmoth was capable of, all in the pursuit of some earrings and a ring.
It was enough for Régalien to zero in on the akumatized item— a decorative pin covered under a layer of frozen chocolate and the strongest source of the remaining anger.
Ladybug barreled past him to get to Chat Noir. Régalien moved, mind blank of everything except the pull of Hawkmoth's string in the pin. Verglas moved again when that familiar butterfly mask appeared over his face. By then, though, Régalien had ripped the pin off his costume.
He wanted to crush it. He wanted to smash it until the very concrete crumpled. Instead he threw it with a hoarse cry of, "Ladybug!"
Broken. Purified, and her call of, "Miraculous Ladybug!" echoed down the street despite the oppressing mist. Ladybugs scattered in a flurry of brilliant red. The temperature rose and took away the suffocating chill. Even as the world cleared, Régalien ran back to his team in his own fog.
He inhaled, and the world blackened at the edges. At some point he dropped to his knees in front of Chat Noir and Ladybug— her ear repaired, face and neck free of blood. Chat Noir was still curled up, now half on Ladybug's lap, and he was still making that sound that reminded Régalien too much of a beaten dog.
"It didn't do anything," she whispered. Chat Noir groaned low in his throat. Ladybug's fingers hovered over the mess of torn fabric and blood on Chat Noir's side, and she cried, voice breaking, "He's still hurt!"
Chat Noir craned his head up. A tremor racked his body and locked his jaw in place. Ladybug patted his hair down as she muttered comforting words to him, and Régalien could now see Adrien, his best friend, bloodied and digging his claws into Ladybug's suit in an attempt to keep himself from crying out.
The shock fell like glass around him. Régalien covered his mouth with both hands to muffle the anguished sob tearing his throat. Régalien breathed just how Duusu taught him to, but the world kept spinning, tilting until the colors of the street meshed into a nauseating mess. Chat Noir's face blurred with the tears.
"Ad… I…"
The tears kept flowing. His mind stuttered over secrets not yet told and the leaden weight in his gut that told him it was all his fault. He didn't stick to the plan. He got in Chat Noir's way.
He… He…
A smile broke across Régalien's face, and he wondered just how broken it looked. "Hey, dude, you're still here. You're safe, okay? A-okay. No akumas banging at your door."
Chat Noir turned to him, eyes half-lidded and mouth working with no sound.
Ladybug scooped Chat Noir into her arms in one swoop. Régalien made to take him from her when her own sob finally broke free, but she backed away from him, tightening her hold on Chat Noir with trembling arms.
Régalien dropped his arms, and his fingers fell into the pool of blood Chat Noir had left behind. Nausea clenched his stomach. Régalien shut his eyes to stem a fresh deluge of tears.
"The Guardian."
By the time he opened his eyes, she was off, a red and black spot among the rooftops.
Somehow Régalien followed. He passed the forgotten civilian freed from his akuma, flew over Nadja Chamack and her ashen face. Salty tears stained his lips.
He.. He…
Oh God.
What did he do?
There was quite a bit for me to edit this chapter, so that's where most of my time went.
It's not looking good for our heroes, especially Chat Noir. D= Next chapter we'll get some well-deserved answers about what's up with the Cure. Hold on tight until next weekend!