Chapter 14

Nino was not a man of research if it didn't involve the latest DJ equipment or the up and coming rappers in France. After all, he had turned in the essay on the Jardin de Plantes with only the information he managed to retain during the field trip from Hell.

AV information lookup? He couldn't slack off on this one without it blowing up in his face in some undetermined time in the future. Duusu would slap him upside the head, and Master Fu… he didn't want to dwell on that potential lecture.

Despite the Ladyblog's existence, Nino's first instinct was to talk to Alya about all she knew about the akumas that had popped up in Paris so far. Alya lived and breathed akumas and heroes. There would be no escape once he brought the subject up, even if he couldn't tell her the reason why he was suddenly dying to know about the magical going ons in the city.

Yet the moment he saw Alya struggling to write her notes on her tablet, squinting at the light even when it was on the lowest light setting, Nino decided he would shelf that idea for later. Instead Nino bought her a hot chocolate from the school's canteen. If she took the opportunity to make him cart her school bag around for the rest of the day, well, he was too polite to point it out.

"You should have still asked her," Duusu said when they finished their first official meditation. She immediately settled in one of her favorite branches on her fern. Carrots were only an arm's reach away. Duusu dug into them with the intensity she reserved for correcting Nino's feet position.

Nino stretched from his cross-legged position on the floor. Despite how cramped it was between his bed and his computer chair he felt refreshed. He didn't feel his mind was any clearer, but perhaps a bit less hectic? All the usual worries of school and Miraculous business was still knocking around inside his noggin. After the breathing patterns Duusu had taught him— plus the instructions on how to harness that Miraculous magic inside him to soothe— those worries felt better compartmentalized.

He fixed Duusu with an incredulous eyebrow. "Dude, she couldn't even see straight until sixth period. She has other things to worry about."

Nino dusted off his pants, took a seat at his computer chair, and turned on his laptop. The Ladyblog loaded up in all of its red and polka-dot glory. Nino grabbed the nearest notebook and pen he hadn't lost and started to make a T chart.

Duusu wandered closer. "We'll have to start with— "

"Me, I know." He wrote it down before he could think twice about it.

Duusu stopped mid-bite. "There's no guarantee it'll work, but we can try."

Nino stopped scrolling through the Ladyblog to deal with the sudden tightening in his chest. He massaged his bandaged wrist and breathed. In. Out. Until he managed to regain his voice. He didn't know whether he was talking to Duusu or that seed of worry nestled in his heart. "Ever since I was akumatized, getting turned into that thing again has been one of my recurring nightmares. If I could get rid of that part of Hawkmoth forever, well, let's just say we can throw a little party to celebrate."

Duusu patted his hand. "I hope it works, Nino. You've grown a lot as a Peacock. You're stronger than before."

There was Duusu with her rare compliments. Still Nino found it hard to take in a deep breath, so it was easier to ramble and reflect on just how much becoming the Bubbler had messed him up. "The whole I didn't want to become the Peacock in the first place was because that would mean more magic. Like, really, more magic? Magic is the reason I almost killed Adrien and the rest of the adults in Paris."

(And he had fought against Ladybug and Chat Noir. Just another ironic moment.)

The ramble had felt cathartic, almost liberating, and Nino stared down at his name on the list. This could be the thing he'd been looking for.

Duusu came to his shoulder, carrot and all. "We've gone over this. Within you, I see the potential for greatness. All your actions so far have shown me that your intentions are pure."

Those ugly thoughts still lived rent free in his mind, but with his rant and Duusu's unbridled trust in him they weren't so bad anymore.

His name went first and foremost on the list. Then he filled the second column with the types of emotions he experienced, and the moment. Nino's writing slowed as the memories resurfaced.

Anger.

Inadequacy.

Gabriel Agreste humiliating him in front of his closest friend.

Duusu patted his cheek. "We can go to the next person. Let's look at the Ladyblog."

Right. Of course.

It was truly amazing— and hot, Nino admitted with a blush— how awesome of a reporter Alya Césaire was. Nino would bet his laptop that every akuma that had ever graced Paris, including himself, was documented by her. Names. Abilities. The location where they appeared, if possible.

Alya had standards, however, and there was no mention of the AV's names. If there was a reason they went rogue, it was vague enough where they couldn't be identified. Duusu sighed at the lack of information, but Nino promised to ask Marinette and Adrien when they met up, then Alya to fill in the blanks when she was back to normal.

Nino jotted the available information on the second column of his T chart. Whenever he knew the AVs' names, he annotated them in the first. They were usually classmates or prominent figures in the community that no amount of vague blogging could erase.

Nino got to AV victim number fifty-three and had to take a break. There were at least fifty-three people in Paris that Hawkmoth could control, had controlled. That was at least fifty-three ways the Cure was divided into. That was at least fifty-three spells he had to do, and he doubted he could use the same one again and again, based off all the different reasons so far that people had been akumatized.

Duusu's chewing grew silent. Her power blanketed the room like storm clouds. "Hawkmoth has corrupted all those people," she realized.

Corrupted was such a strong word, but Nino couldn't argue. That's certainly how it felt like. He nodded. "And we're not done yet. I haven't included the ones that I helped fight against."

Duusu studied the list. "It does look like we'll have to ask Alya. I seriously doubt she doesn't know their identities. She's done her research, even if she's too kind to reveal it all. Marks of a good reporter."

Nino tilted his head to pin Duusu with a smirk. "Wow, dude, two compliments in a day? Did you have a quota to reach or something?"

"Maybe I'm just feeling generous."

Nino worked on his list well into dinner time. At the table, he had to pretend that he was more invested in the latest ant problem in the apartment than he really was. Faziel wanted to know more about Nino's upcoming exams while Saliha wanted an update on how his relationship with Alya was going. Both were disappointing topics he rather not dwell on— though saving his girlfriend from a Hawkmoth-induced meltdown had to count for something, right? Nino answered with vague responses and hoped they satisfied.

Then he was at the list again, until he ran out of akuma posts on the Ladyblog and he exhausted any memory of other akumas, both pre and post-Régalien. Pen streaks ran up his arm and wrist. The list was wrinkled in more than one place, and there was an orange carrot stain that Duusu vehemently denied was her doing.

Nino glanced at his cellphone. "Looks like we're right on time for patrol."

Duusu landed on the list, then nodded in approval. "Who's going to be our lucky target tonight?"

Nino tapped a finger. One of the toughest akumas Ladybug and Chat Noir had faced, so they might as well take care of that one before Hawkmoth decided he wanted to play with that puppet again. "This person, right here."

"And did you look for a spell?"

"I, uhh…" Nino let his head fall on his desk. "No," he muttered to his shoes.

"That's okay. Just take the Grimoire with you. You'll figure it out." Duusu hummed in thought. "Oh, and don't pick up the list until after you transform."

Nino picked his head up, said list stuck to his forehead. "Why?"

"It might disappear when you transform. Magic is fickle like that. We'll have to figure out an easier way to keep it safe."

After the list was pointedly back on the desk, he said, "Wings Up!"

After some patting down, he finally found an inner pocket in the vest part of his costume. That took care of that problem.

Régalien fished out his communicator as he was climbing up the fire escape outside his bedroom. The Parisian air was humid with the scent of an approaching rain shower. It was miles better than the air in cramped classrooms. If the wind picked up, he could probably make some sick jumps across the rooftops.

No one picked up until he was on the rooftop. Ladybug's face flickered on the screen.

Régalien raised his list in the air. "Got the list. But uhh, where's Chat?"

"He already started on patrol. He figured since we're the only ones needed for this whole," she waved her hand off-screen, and Régalien made a mental note to give this whole thing a name before the night was out, "that he should start early and cover some ground."

"Chat's doing it by himself?" he found himself asking.

Ladybug sighed because, he guessed, it was something she had argued with Chat Noir about before he called. "I know, I know, but he insisted he feels a bit better. He's also sticking to one arrondissement this time, then joining us."

Régalien paused on a stoplight to take a look at the street signs. "Oh yeah, no, that's cool." It wouldn't be the first time he and Ladybug were alone, but knowing now that it was Marinette might make things a bit awkward. How, he wasn't sure, but Régalien figured he would put his foot in his mouth sometime during the night.

Ladybug cleared her throat. "So, oh wise leader, where are we going first?"

"Let's meet up by the Museé du Louvre. Our first AV lives near there."

Ladybug sighed. "Isn't it sad that I've already started calling them AVs in my head?"

Régalien gave her a thousand watt smile. "It's just that good."

The eye roll was obvious and well-deserved. "Whatever, I'll meet you there. Don't go flying off somewhere else."

She hung up just as her quip caught up with him. Those two really were made for each other, even if they were taking their sweet time about it.

When he would normally breeze through the route, head down and fan at the ready, he decided to enjoy the traipse through the arrondissement. There was still that inkling of worry that the cloaked man would appear, but there was also that possibility that he had skipped town, hung up his whip, and decided that three Miraculous heroes was too big of a fight to take on.

Régalien balanced on the roof of a bakery. It was at least a twenty foot drop to the ground. Pre-Miraculous Nino would have balked at how much it would hurt if he overbalanced. Now, Régalien stood and briefly practiced some of his footwork on the roof's narrow ledge. His tail feathers flared to keep his balance.

Duusu's presence twittered in confusion. What are you doing?

"Chill, dude," he muttered, then continued to the next building with the same flare.

So sue him, he was in a happy mood. Yeah, if the cloaked man showed up that would suck, but he had Ladybug and Chat Noir now.

He reached the Museé du Louvre, home to some of the most iconic akuma fights Ladybug and Chat Noir had to face. Régalien, just because he could and no one was around to see it, perched on the pyramid's vertex. Destroyed so many times long before the Peacock Miraculous came into his life, and now here he was, viewing one of France's most famous sights from one of the most privileged views.

Régalien caught a streak of red. He pushed off, had to drop down to get a running start, and made it on the roof where a pacing Ladybug was waiting. Nervousness made her vibrate, her hands fiddling with her yo-yo. Strands of dark hair escaped her pigtails; some curled to the point they twisted back near her ears.

Régalien took her hands in his before she broke a finger on her indestructible weapon. "Yo, a bit jittery, huh?"

Ladybug huffed, stopping in place. "That obvious?"

"As obvious as Chloé's makeup."

Ladybug laughed. The tension in her body relaxed in time with her emotional string. "Tikki explained it all today, and I kinda practiced at home. But still…" she trailed off. "So, who's our first AV?"

"Kim."

It seemed having a plan helped her relax somewhat. Her yo-yo stopped tumbling from hand to hand. "And he lives around here?"

"Yeah, a couple of blocks, at the most. Went to his house a couple of times for one of Ms. Mendeleiev's projects."

Ladybug nodded, but there was a faint sense of apprehension that pulled at Régalien. He decided not to mention it and just led the way with a bound to the next building. Ladybug kept up, though her fiddling with her yo-yo resumed.

Kim's apartment building was nothing grand, just what they expected for another student attending their school. Fire escapes. Dying plants lining the window sills. There was the faint chatter of TVs, some the only light in an otherwise dark room.

Ladybug kept her distance as though it was the mayor's place. She hesitated on the roof even as Régalien waited on the steps of the apartment's fire escape. Kim lived on the third floor. A bit too close to the ground for comfort, so Régalien kept to the shadows the stairs provided.

After he reached out with his magic, Régalien turned, only to see Ladybug now perched on the window of the building right over. He shook his head and held out his hand as invitation. "Kim's not going to bite. He's sound asleep."

"How do you know?" She eyed the window he crouched in front of.

He'd never seen Marinette nor Ladybug this skittish before. "I can feel it in my bones." At her incredulous look, Régalien chuckled. "Nah, just in the strings. He still has Hawkmoth's magic in him, so, faintly, we're connected."

Ladybug tentatively grabbed his hand, then inched her way to the fire escape. They dawdled outside the window until she asked, "So now what?"

Régalien took a seat on one of the rusted steps and opened the Grimoire to its full size. Magic filled the space between them, comforting. Régalien began to go through the aged pages for the right spell. "We know Kim became Dark Cupid because Chloé rejected him. So his anger is not like Alya's. Instead of being angry at an injustice to himself, his anger focuses on feeling unloved or unworthy."

"So you can't use the same spell that you used on Alya?"

Régalien held his place with a gloved finger. "I could, technically, but Duusu thinks that's a seriously bad idea. Hawkmoth's evil mojo is the same with everybody, but the emotions he manipulates are different. She thinks I could accidentally akumatize them myself with the wrong spell."

Ladybug shuddered. The feeling was mutual.

Eventually he stumbled on a Fox Wielder who was, as the Peacock of the time put it, the justice warrior for all. Much of their anger had stemmed from seeing how families rejected their own, either from failed expectations or things outside of their control. It was the only spell that had rejection and love in it. Régalien hoped it was good enough.

Duusu glowed with pride near his magical core. Just remember that it will be harder to get negative emotions when they are not actively experiencing them. I assume it will be the same with Hawkmoth's magic.

"So harder than what I did with Alya?" he asked aloud.

More than likely. Her anger was right on the surface and easier to grasp.

Placing the Grimoire propped on the steps— and warning Ladybug to stand back— Régalien took out three daggers and practiced the movements, first the hands, then the feet. Then he did it from the top, adding his fan. His left hand remained stiff with his bandages, and a sharp pain every now and then warned him whenever he overextended.

Ladybug avoided a particularly expressive arc of his arm. She took a seat on the railing. "You're learning it for the first time?"

Régalien stopped with one foot pointing outward and his fan crossed over his heart. He awkwardly craned his head and shrugged in her general direction. "Sorry, didn't have time to look for a spell. I was making the list, then had dinner— "

She shook her head. "No, no, it's fine. It's just… impressive. Like, that's like me having to figure out to how to do Lucky Charm every time there's a battle. But like harder. "

Régalien's ears burned at the praise. He finished his choreography practice despite his achy wrist, read it one more time, then took his spot in front of Kim's window. He couldn't see much through the drawn blinds, just the flickering of what could have been a night light on the wall.

Régalien ran it from the top, mentally keeping time by humming one of his fast-paced mixes. As Duusu put it, the mixes really did help. Even with an unfamiliar spell, the beat-boxing under his breath helped time his steps with his fan and daggers.

He finished it off with placing one dagger at his feet— precariously, one might add, with the rickety platform that made up the fire escape— and another one above Kim's window. With his remaining dagger in his hand, Régalien coaxed the hidden piece of anger he felt on the other side of the string.

And damn, was it hidden. With Alya, it had been so easy with her anger boiling over, like water escaping a pot. This time around, it was like pulling a very stubborn tooth, meeting resistance every time he so much as wiggled it. Régalien ground his foot to give himself more traction and physically reared back.

There, that anger he had sensed in Alya and most of his classmates. Slimy, viscous, Régalien shuddered as Hawkmoth's magic graced his. He grasped the magic— the string— tighter even as every alarm bell in his head rang that it was not safe it was not safe.

Rejection. Régalien couldn't see the scene play out in his head, but he felt it like bile rising in the back of his throat. It stung like a cigarette burn, and the shame burned his insides. Whatever Chloé had told him when he'd confessed left a lasting scar.

From the peripheral of his awareness, he felt Kim stir. Régalien eased up on the mental pulling. For a heart-stopping moment, he feared he would be sucked in.

"Régalien, you okay?" Ladybug's voice was an ocean away.

He could handle a nod but no words. So Régalien focused on teasing out the foul magic bit by agonizing bit until—

"Okay, Ladybug, go for it." It was right on the edge of completely leaving Kim.

Ladybug tugged free the string of her yo-yo and began to spin it counterclockwise in front of her. Her eyes flickered from the yo-yo, to the dagger lodged in the concrete, to Régalien.

He waited for her to do something, but she kept glancing from one thing to another without meeting his eye. He didn't know whether she was conversing with Tikki or just nervous.

"Focus on the Cure, not on your surroundings," he barked, then immediately bit the inside of his cheek. That was Kim's anger talking. Régalien trained his eyes on the skittish Ladybug, twining Hawkmoth's string around his right wrist to keep it in place. "Sorry, not my words, kinda. Do you feel the Cure? Focus on that. Try to call it to you."

Ladybug nodded and turned to the window. Her brow furrowed. Her feet shifted to keep her balance.

Bright magic, feather light swirled around the string Régalien held: the Cure. In his mind's eyes, the magic was just as bright as Ladybug's smile, as carefree as Marinette when she shared her latest sewing project. Régalien curled the fingers of his free hand to avoid touching it.

Ladybug struggled to keep her focus. The Cure flickered and strained to go back to Kim or outwards, into the night sky. Ladybug's hold wavered, her invisible fingers grasping for the tail-end of the Cure every so often. Régalien could do nothing but keep a hold of Hawkmoth's magic; letting go would risk what little bit of the Cure Ladybug was pulling against to fly away for sure.

Suddenly, Hawkmoth's magic lost its hold on Kim and completely left him. Régalien stumbled and hit the rail back first. Ladybug sagged to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

"That was wild…" Ladybug murmured.

But Régalien was on the verge of dry heaving over the rail. Every nerve in his body was on end. His magic burned under his skin like molten lead.

You have to dispel the Seeing Eye before it gets loose! Duusu warned, the only clear thing that penetrated his tumultuous thoughts.

He could feel the Seeing Eye trying to get out, but this time there was no akuma to aim at. Régalien glanced around him, completing ignoring Ladybug's faraway question, and set his eyes on a stretch of street two blocks away. He called upon a dagger, and the moment it flew to his hand he threw it to the desolate street. It struck cement, and with a finishing arc of his fan in front of him the Seeing Eye burst free and obliterated the nearest lamppost. The tremor traveled back to them and shook the fire escape.

A light turned on in Kim's room.

Régalien scrambled to his feet. Just getting his legs under him was torture. Everything ached, and his limbs felt disconnected from his body. His right wrist burned under his bandages.

Ladybug helped him with a hissed, "We gotta go!"

They used the fire escape railing to climb up in a mad dash for cover. They heard the window sill slide open. Kim's sleep-added voice called outside. Régalien climbed for all he was worth until he hauled himself over the roof's ledge like a sack of potatoes. Ladybug collapsed beside him, all pants and wide eyes.

"Did we do it?" she asked him and the sky above them.

Régalien tried to reach for Hawkmoth's string that led to Kim and found nothing. He let his hand fall heavily to his side. "I think so. Hawkmoth's string is gone. How do you feel?"

"Lighter? A bit more… powerful?" He could hear the frown in her words. It wasn't quite the right word, but it would have to do.

Both of them laid there long after the shuffling two floors down settled. They both let go of their transformations to feed their Kwamis. As Duusu and Tikki ate to their heart's content, Nino glanced at the list he'd made earlier, mentally crossing Kim's name out. At least fifty-two to go. That was at least fifty-two more times he would have to feel like he swam the length of the Atlantic.

Marinette hummed in thought beside him. "We should tell Alya to take down the akuma posts on the Ladyblog."

Nino sat up because he needed to be sitting for this. No one told Alya what to do with the Ladyblog. That was the equivalent of shoving Ms. Mendeleiev aside mid-lecture. "Why?"

"What if Hawkmoth finds out what we're doing? What if he can hear the AVs somehow, or even guess where we're going to be? I'm sure Alya will understand once we tell her why."

She would. Alya, above all, was reasonable.

They laid there, Marinnete calling Chat Noir that he could end his patrol and to come meet them to celebrate, Nino reading his name on the list. Having his insecurities written out, now in the open and not in the privacy of his room, was like being naked on the rooftop. It didn't help that Kim's feelings of inadequacy and hurt pride still stung in the same spot he released Seeing Eye.

Memorizing the emotions he wrote down for himself, Nino enlarged the Grimoire with the residual magic he always had in civilian form. He flipped the pages until he— with some help from Duusu— found a spell that would be right for him.

"Hey, Marinette," he called out when she ended the call. "Do you mind if we try it again tonight, but with me?"

Still lying on the floor, she angled her head towards him. "No offense, but you look exhausted. You want to do it tomorrow?"

Nino felt his Adam's apple bob as he struggled with the words. Marinette was his friend, now teammate, but he rather jump off the roof than explain why he felt like he'd been dipped in slime. "I rather do it right now… it… it sucks feeling what Hawkmoth did to me just sitting there."

"Nino, doing only one cleansing tonight would be wiser," Duusu told him. "It took a lot out of you. Your magic has to drawn in something foreign, unlike Ladybug and her Cure. Maybe on your next one you can do two."

"Duusu, I have to try," he said and hoped she understood after all their talks.

Something in his face must have tipped Marinette off that this was more than a itch he couldn't scratch. She fully turned to him and offered him a hand to stand up. "Spots On," Marinette announced in sync with his nervous, "Wings Up."

Now standing, Régalien reached into himself for that piece of anger that was not his own. After some struggling, he managed to grasp it with the mental fingers of his left hand. He nodded at Ladybug and set up his daggers.

Régalien tried to go through the spell by using the same meditation technique Duusu had taught him with his magic, but every time he had to do something with his left hand he lost his grip. Again and again he started over, and again and again he couldn't keep a hold of Hawkmoth's string within him.

Suddenly Ladybug got a hold of his hands, stopping him mid fan-sweep. Unlike the last time she intervened, her touch was gentle, just enough to make him pause. Fingers ghosted the bandages.

"Nino," and that was enough for him to lose composure.

Because it wasn't Régalien with the problem but Nino. Nino had been the one who got a bit angry one day and ended up hurting every adult in Paris and liking it. And no matter what he did or how many people he saved as Régalien, Hawkmoth's reminder of what he could be still laid dormant within him.

He dropped to the floor again, more exhausted than ever before. He let go of that wretched magic within him. It sunk back behind the buzz of magic of his Miraculous.

"I just want it out." Régalien didn't care to elaborate. Ladybug sat back down without a word.

He felt Chat Noir before he heard him. He exuded happiness, like the sun was shining just for him. Régalien found himself smiling despite himself. He turned around, question on the tip of his tongue, when he saw the gift tucked under one arm. All shiny, crinkly wrapping paper, even a messily done bow that had come untied sometime during Chat Noir's dash through the rooftops.

Régalien tried to put some genuine humor into his words. "Gift from a fan? Ladybug might not like it."

Chat Noir gently eased himself in front of them. His smile faltered when he caught the doom and gloom in the air. "It did work, right?"

"Pretty sure it did," Ladybug said as Régalien nodded.

"I just…" Régalien began when Chat Noir looked to Ladybug for clarification, "I tried to get rid of the magic Hawkmoth still has in me and it didn't work. Duusu told me it might not, but…"

Maybe he was too tired. Maybe it was the wrong spell.

Kim's lingering emotions bubbled over, and Régalien stabbed the roof's concrete with his dagger. Then again, and again, until the anger ebbed away to exhaustion that weighed on his bones. He leaned forward, hand still on the hilt, and tears leaking from his eyes. Screw meditation. He deserved his own tantrum sometimes.

He was well aware of the silence. It was, after all, the first time they saw him freak out after Seeing Eye.

First he felt Ladybug hug him from his right, his own personal sun. Then Chat Noir came in from the left, gift laid aside in favor of a light hug that still comforted. When Régalien straightened they remained close, their strings radiating nothing but well-meaning concern.

"That's the Seeing Eye talking again?" Chat Noir asked.

Régalien nodded, rubbing his bandaged wrist to distract himself from the reality that his friends now knew Nino Lahiffe could be slightly unhinged sometimes.

"Did you know I hate getting wet after being Chat Noir for so long?" He chuckled at Régalien's raised eyebrows. "I still shower and everything, but it's definitely a get in, get out affair now."

Ladybug offered a small smile and patted the hand still on his dagger. "And I can't stand the cold, and I'm totally useless if it's anything below five degrees. Definitely a bug thing." She shrugged. "I guess we all have our quirks from our Miraculouses."

Régalien matched her smile and found that he meant it. "Guess so."

"Hey, Tikki," Ladybug asked, tilting her head and looking off to the distance, "is there anything the past Ladybug and Chat Noir did to help their Peacock?" Her hopeful expression fell as she, presumably, listened to what her Kwami was saying. Ladybug turned back to them. "Apparently, the last time the Ladybug or the Black Miraculous were active was back during World War I, and well, they weren't really close with their Peacock then."

Régalien shrugged. Dead end there.

We'll keep working on your meditation, Duusu consoled, but the message was loud and clear. Until he got this piece of Hawkmoth from out of him, he would have to watch his anger, unless he wanted the Bubbler to lay waste on Paris once again.

Chat Noir shuffled closer. No bigger than his hand, he reverently held the gift in his palms. "Hey, this is from a fan, or fans, you may say, because this one over here helped me pick it."

Ladybug sat up. "Come on, Chat, I can't take all the credit."

Between the turmoil in him and the fatigue making him feel like jelly, Régalien managed a very eloquent, "What?"

Chat Noir pushed the gift into his chest. "It's for you, birdbrain. A welcome to the team gift, coupled with a sorry we didn't trust you at the beginning. We really should have, secret identify or not."

Ladybug drew him closer with a one-armed hug. "And we'll figure out a way to get rid of Hawkmoth's magic in you, too. Three heads are better than one, right?"

Régalien stared, slack-jawed at the messily wrapped gift in his hands. This was not the perfectly-wrapped present Adrien had during his birthday party. The bow was silk but hanging on by its last, loose knot, and the paper had more than one piece of tape stuck to it. He didn't know who wrapped it, but Régalien could see both of them fighting for the honor.

His mind was slow on the uptake. "For me?"

Ladybug rolled her eyes and shoved his arm. "Open it before we return it and get ourselves something nice."

"Fine, fine." Régalien undid the bow and carefully ripped the tape that held it all together. He didn't remember opening the unassuming box, just the rise of anticipation from both of his friends.

Inside was a silver chain. Régalien picked it up gently with both hands. He'd never been a jewelry person, but this just felt right. He turned it around in his hands and bumped into three charms hooked near the clasp: a paw, a ladybug, and a peacock feather.

When did they have time to do this?

Ladybug carefully took the chain and placed it around his neck. A perfect fit, right above the collarbone. "We thought it would be better if it was something that wouldn't reveal our identities accidentally."

"But also something that would look cool when you're DJing," Chat Noir added.

Régalien touched the chain. "Thanks, guys."

He didn't need any magic to feel just how much those words meant for them, or how much his own heart swelled in joy.

Régalien felt Kim's leftover emotions like lead in his gut. It was less potent than the white-hot rage he had coaxed out of Alya. That one had knocked him off kilter. Kim's, though, was a bad stomach ache. It would fade quicker than Alya's, for sure.

You have a great team, Duusu commented when she caught him humming.

There was no arguing there.

Régalien toyed with the feather charm on his chain. It said a lot on how much he'd improved this past month if he could admire his gift and traverse the Parisian rooftops at the same time. Boots found shingles with ease. His tail feathers kept his balance without so much as a conscious thought.

Then he missed the upcoming ledge of a building. Régalien faltered, intentionally flaring out his tail feathers. He canted his head, trying to pinpoint what had tickled his peripheral senses enough to make him falter. Ladybug and Chat Noir's strings continued to lengthen as they took different routes home. So not them.

We're being watched, Régalien thought and hoped Duusu understood just how much that bothered him.

There was something in the air. A shift in the wind that wasn't the incoming rain. Someone's breathing too close to the rooftops. While his emotion-based powers couldn't detect exactly what it was, every other heightened sense detected another presence near him. If he'd had actual feathers, he was sure they would have been puffed up in a show of intimidation.

Régalien's hand traveled from the chain to his fan. It had to be the cloaked man. Who else would be so invisible to him?

Deep breath. In. Out. He had training. He was not the same scared peacock on his first patrol.

He had his team, as far away as they were.

And he could not lead anyone back to his parents.

With his ears strained for the slightest sound, Régalien walked to the east side of the rooftop. Just a couple of blocks away was the sixth arrondissement with the Jardin du Luxembourg. A huge open space free of sleeping civilians where he could hide. Or fight if need be.

He picked up the pace again, decision made. Duusu clamored for attention. Something about sticking to the populated areas for visibility? Régalien ignored her. He was not going to be the reason civilians got hurt.

Régalien reached a shopping center in the sixth arrondissement when he felt it again: an itch at the back of his neck. He resisted the temptation to look around and give away the element of surprise, but he did slide two daggers free from his fan. Régalien hopped to the shoe store on the right. The slight crunch of sole against gravel was enough to quicken his steps. Sticking underneath the shadowed canopies of the plaza's trees, he aimed for the department store on the corner.

Thwack!

The whip wrapped around his left leg and slammed him to his knees, just shy of the ledge. A rustle was his next warning. Régalien swung his dagger in a side arc and deflected the cloaked man's hand. (Cloak, he named him because this no-name thing was getting ridiculous.) With his second dagger, Régalien wedged it between his leg and the whip. The dagger nicked his calf. A small price to pay.

A pull of the whip slammed Régalien down face first. Spitting the gravel from his mouth, he twisted enough to loosen the whip free from his leg. Régalien rolled out of the way of a boot to the hand. He jumped to his feet.

There was Cloak, a wraith in the shadows cast by the lamps in the center's square. He wrapped the whip around his hand. Waiting. Régalien tried to meet his eyes through the darkness.

"Hey, man, one time is a coincidence. Second time's called stalking." When he didn't respond, Régalien growled. He was the one being chased, so why was he doing the talking? He stepped forward, completely pushing aside the concern for a fight. That last Seeing Eye, plus the ache in his leg, left him too angry to care. "You trying to prove something?"

"I just did."

One second he was there. The next, Cloak had Régalien held up by the front of his suit. Through his panic he got a glimpse under the hood: a sleek, gray mask, a gaunt face.

Régalien arched his back and kicked him in the chest. He got as far as the ledge before that damned whip wrapped around his waist. It was too close to his Miraculous.

That surge of fear twisted him around. Régalien wrapped the remaining length of the whip around his arm and tipped himself head over heels over the edge.

They landed in the trimmed bushes of the plaza, limbs tangled and Régalien spouting a stream of curses. He tried to get his footing, only to find his tail feathers tangled in the brambles. It hurt, and he made a mental note to ask Duusu about that.

"You insolent brat," Cloak grumbled somewhere near his ear. "I don't intend to skin you alive!"

That could have been anger, but Régalien's senses just faintly registered it before that spark of emotion faded away into the wind.

Cloak grabbed Régalien by the back of his suit and pulled him out into the light of the lampposts with surprising strength. Régalien struggled free from his grasp and growled, putting his fan up. Now he was just mocking him! Like he was some kid playing pretend!

"What is wrong with you?" Régalien bit out.

Cloak cracked his whip and drove him out into the light. The back of Régalien's knees hit a bench. A second wind stirred within him, but Cloak shoved him in the chest, sitting him down and effectively making him swallow whatever curses he had brewing on his tongue.

"I know you may not be used to sitting still for longer than a minute," Cloak started, sounding on the verge of plucking Régalien's tail feathers if it got him from running away, "but if you want to learn more than just what old man Fu has been spouting then sit. Still."

Cloak was all doom, gloom, and sharp edges that, apparently, couldn't hold on to any emotion. At least not enough for Régalien to pick up for more than a second. Still Régalien gripped his daggers in his lap and forced himself to sit there. "Fine, then tell me."

Cloak crouched in front of him. He rested his whip on his knees, one hand always on the hilt, so casual and so… not. It was the same crouch Régalien used on the edge of the rooftop when he patrolled, dagger instead of whip. His heels were lifted high enough for a quick leap should the need arise. Régalien made out coiled muscles beneath the dark fabric of his trousers.

"Kid, I'm sure all that anger isn't yours. Most of it's from that kid, right?"

Kim. Exactly how long had he been watching him for?

Régalien narrowed his eyes. He shifted from sitting to having one knee on the bench and a foot on the edge. Easier to run away. Cloak stilled but otherwise continued to observe him like a bug under a magnifying glass.

"I don't see how any of that is your business."

If Cloak took offense to his rudeness, he didn't show it; he continued to watch him with that impassive air around him. "Does it matter? Those emotions are not going to go away, no matter what Fu says. They're going to fester for as long as you have that Miraculous on you."

Régalien bit back the protest on his lips. Something about Master Fu being so self-assured, guilt-tripping him to do the right thing and be a good little Peacock kept him on the bench instead of calling for backup from the safety of the rooftops. Master Fu was the Guardian, but whether that extended to the Wielders as well as the Miraculouses was up to the jury.

Régalien pointed a dagger for emphasis. His aim would be true, if he chose to take the risk of attacking. "Well guess what? I don't feel it anymore. Now I'm just annoyed."

Cloak got to his feet, and there was the faint pop of muscles becoming mobile again. How old was this guy? "This is what, the third time you've done Seeing Eye? Fourth time? You'll be noticing the changes soon. The mood swings. The words you didn't mean to say but still did."

Régalien jumped to his feet. Instantly he felt safer, just that much closer to the sky. He shifted his stance in case he had to dance his way out of this one. His fingers curled near where the miniaturized Grimoire lay against his hip.

"I know how to use Seeing Eye," he countered, grasping what Duusu had explained so long ago. Get the negative emotion. Do the attack. Expel the negative emotions. Régalien waved his hands as frustration overtook him, unable to finish his thought but knowing that this strange man would understand. He knew too much not to.

Cloak tilted his chin, revealing part of his mask. "Is that what he told you? He's done that before. Emotions are fickle things. You'll always have some of that anger, or the frustration, or the jealousy within you, and it will only become more obvious as time passes. Seeing Eye will not get rid of it all."

Duusu rioted in Régalien's head, banging her presence against his mind. Régalien wanted to reach inside of himself and ask— no, demand— if this was true.

None of my Peacocks suffered from this, she told him, almost pleading.

Instead of answering, he said aloud, voice as strong as he could make it, "Okay, so take away my Miraculous. That's why you're here, right?"

Cloak tilted his head but offered no reply. His whip was loose in his grip. "Do you wish to continue being the Peacock, even after learning this?"

Tail feathers bristled. This wasn't a mood swing— it couldn't be because he was rightfully pissed— but Régalien couldn't deny the righteous fire burning near where his transformation began whenever he uttered those infamous words. "Dude, I didn't risk my neck with a demented ice cream man just so I could give my Miraculous up to some strange guy in a cloak."

Even if the possibility that Master Fu lied to his face existed.

If Cloak was insulted, angry, or any other emotion he didn't show it. He simply put his whip in its holster and inclined his head. "Suit yourself, but don't use those powers willy-nilly, boy. They're not a toy."

There it was again. The mocking. Régalien grit his teeth until his jaw smarted.

"Now, I've decided to assist you and the other heroes during battle."

"What?" It was so absurd that Régalien forgot to sound angry.

Cloak came closer, and Régalien backed up, still ready to leave but decidedly nervous doing it where that whip could wrap around his throat. Cloak stopped a foot from the bench as casual as a party goer observing the scene. Régalien ended up with his back against the bench and two daggers instead of one in his hands.

"I may not be able to take your Miraculous, so the next best thing is actually help you put it to good use. Expect me in your fights from time to time. I will not work against you."

Cloak took his leave via an impressive leap over him and to a store's hanging sign, then a one-armed climb to the ledge. Régalien twisted around to follow, but only caught the sound of fading boot steps before the figure melded into the shadows of Paris. If he wasn't a previous Wielder, then Régalien's money was on former Olympic gymnast.

He crouched there on the bench in the middle of Paris until his senses didn't detect anything but the roosting pigeons in the trees. Duusu banged on his awareness, and he anticipated a heated discussion about talking with the enemy and informing Ladybug at once.

Régalien remained there, his grip on his daggers eventually loosening.

Cloak helping them?

Did that man really care that much about Paris?

He ended up leaving for home. His communicator remained dark.

Thank you for your patience! NaNoWriMo is going along nicely, and I've written some awesome, upcoming scenes. I also passed 160K, so uhh, I don't know what my new estimate for this fic's length is. I did say it was going to be a long ride.

Next chapter will be the official Midpoint of this fic! Date for that will be December 4th.

As always, feel free to comment and thanks a bunch to everyone who's commented so far! It's such a joy reading your comements! =D