Le signet = (m) the bookmark
Le filetage =(m) the thread
Chapter 17
Alya's list was gold, an oasis in the mad hellscape that was Paris. Her binder of research managed to fill in every name for every akuma they had thought of, which was equal parts impressive and scary.
During the next patrol, Ladybug had gushed about Alya's skills while Chat Noir went into a hero-esque rant about how Hawkmoth was going to be "obliterated by their mad skills." Régalien smiled along, keeping those laughs he had shared with Alya close to his chest.
They managed to knock down two people from the list that night. Ladybug was getting more confident, and the humming she used to keep the beat sounded more genuine. Régalien still got a nasty headache from doing his part with Seeing Eye. No matter how often he performed the spells, no matter which one he used, Hawkmoth's magic remained as stubborn as ever.
And so the weeks past on a tenuous schedule. The damage to the Louvre grounds was fixed enough to welcome back tourists, but every battle after that left destroyed streets or crushed cars. The city fixed it all— eventually. As streets became too destroyed to drive through and office buildings were closed for repairs, Parisians began their vocal disapproval.
("What are those heroes even doing to fix the Cure?" Nino had heard a man remark on the metro.)
("I stayed in Paris 'cause I thought all of this akuma thing was under control," one woman muttered when he went to the store with his mom.)
No mention of how their biggest cuts and bruises disappeared with the pieces of the Cure they managed to get back; Nino would take scrapes over broken hands any day. Still, the comments stung.
After one particular battle, as Régalien wrote on the List the necessary, identifying akuma information, Nadja got a hold of them for an interview— one that Cloak joined and officially introduced himself to the city at large. He gave scant details, but actions spoke louder than words. He appeared at practically every akuma battle, giving the heroes much-needed backup, despite the fact that his powers only consisted of handling a whip better than Indiana Jones.
("Sounds like you're just the silver lining we needed," Nadja crowed, then led into a segue about the progress towards the Cure and the details of the latest, unconventional battle.)
Hawkmoth's MO had recently become one new akumatized victim and AV, much like the battle at the Louvre— or even just a brand new akuma if they were having a lucky day. It seemed that even though it was easier for Hawkmoth to bring an AV back into his power than a brand new civilian, it was only enough for one new akumatized victim to be controlled at a time. It was manageable.
Things were going according to plan. Nino was content.
Until sleep came.
Nino never remembered his nightmares in exact detail, but the dread of being pulled along by puppet strings lingered as a constant vice around his chest.
He managed with his meditation, and his necklace kept him grounded when he couldn't catch his breath no matter how many times he told himself that he wasn't going to be akumatized right then and there. "Panic attacks," Nino told himself when his racing thoughts stopped making sense.
Duusu offered, more than once, to relieve the worst of it, but she was ignored. It would just happen again the next night. Plus, the ache of wrongness reminded Nino to keep his emotions in check.
Tonight, after another round of patrolling and cleansing, the heroes decided to forgo home to take a break near the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont: one of Paris' most famous parks, yet one Régalien had never visited, neither in nor out of the mask. At this time of night, the paths and benches were free, but later night joggers and dog owners frequented the paths. The heroes stuck to the trees and made their way to the Temple de la Sybille.
A small temple set on the top of a craggy cliff, it was the perfect time to recharge and take in the view. Tikki and Plagg soon shot into the air with their snacks in tow, rotating between eating and admiring the intricate carvings at the top of the columns. When Régalien dropped his transformation, Duusu floated out with much less fanfare. She picked up her bag of carrots without a word.
"Hey, Duusu," Marinette greeted because the silence between Nino and his Kwami had been getting awkward.
Duusu's smile was anything but casual. Under the darkness of night, her feathers were dull.
"It's been a long night," she summarized. She nibbled on a carrot piece, joining Plagg and Tikki in the air rather than sitting on Nino's shoulder like she once did. Roman-style architecture was, apparently infinitely more interesting than whatever expression Nino wore.
"You're doing good?" Adrien asked her after a mouthful of granola; even out of his father's reach, Adrien elected to stay healthy.
Duusu nodded and continued eating. Nino glanced at her a couple of times between bites of his chips. He wished Cloak would sweep through and chill with them, if it meant he could focus on something besides Duusu's drooping head feathers or the squelching feeling of Hawkmoth's magic running through his veins like mud.
Nino missed joking with Duusu like before. Their conversations were back on again, but their words were stiff, that of coworkers rather than friends. Whenever he tried to go beyond that it always fell flat.
He hadn't forgiven her, and she knew that as well as he did.
"Do you think we should tell the Cloak about the List?" Marinette asked. "He could always keep an eye on an AV and warn us if Hawkmoth tries anything."
"We should really think of a different name for him," Adrien mused. "Like, Count, or Mysterio."
"Pretty sure that last name is taken," Marinette offhandedly told him, and regret immediately lit up in her string when Adrien turned fast enough to hurt himself. He touched his injured side, but opening his stitches wasn't enough to dispel his jubilant grin.
"You watch that show, too?" he asked.
"I don't think so," Nino told them, effectively cutting off the tangent. He was all for letting his friends flirt, but Cloak was too much of an important subject to drop. "Look, he's helped out a lot, but the fact that I can't sense anything from him most of the time is just freaking unnerving. Plus, Alya trusted me with this information, so I'm not going to give it to some random dude who can't even come up with his own name."
"Alya trusted you? Just you?" Marinette asked.
"Us," he corrected even as Adrien rolled his eyes.
Marinette's lips thinned. "Just be careful you don't get too close to her. When you're Régalien, you're not her boyfriend. You're just another superhero."
"It's fine, it's fine," he said with a wave of his chips bag. There was nothing but crumbs left. Nino stuffed the bag in his backpack and figured that with everyone well rested, bellies full, and his headache mostly gone, it was time to try again. Even now his fingers itched in eagerness and some desperation.
"Hey, Marinette, could we try doing Seeing Eye on me again?" Hawkmoth's magic curled inside of him, as though trying to escape at the mere mention of being booted out of him.
Marinette dusted her hands of what was left of her macaroons. He could feel her hesitancy, even as she called Tikki towards her. Marinette transformed in a flurry of shimmering red, and the string that connected him to her brightened like a beacon. "I'm ready when you are."
"Duusu?" Nino called. She flew over, and instinct made him cup his hands for her. Duusu lingered in the air, then eventually alighted on his fingers. "You feeling good enough to try again?"
Duusu nodded without a word. She drooped sadness, and the beginnings of tears lined her eyes.
Nino petted her head feathers to stave off the worst of it. She was trying. They both were. Nino just didn't know whether he could trust her the same way as before.
Those three wishes that Alya made him think about came to mind. Those were Régalien-specific wishes, and his and Duusu's relationship was, ultimately, a Régalien thing before anything else.
Wish #1: Learn when something is just too big for himself to handle by himself
"Thanks for looking out for me," he managed to say. "I… can you help me try and keep a hold on Hawkmoth's magic inside when while I try Seeing Eye? If I can concentrate a bit more without fighting against it, maybe we have a shot this time."
It was hard getting the words out because there was still that piece of betrayal floating around his mind, but he had promised Alya that he would be more positive, after all. He didn't expect to break a promise when she was basically the backbone of their plan against Hawkmoth.
Duusu sniffled and nodded, perking up by that little piece of affirmation. "Your wellbeing is always my concern, even if it didn't seem like it in the beginning. I will try my best."
He transformed, her hopefulness lingering near his Miraculous like the sun's rays. Régalien flared his fan and picked out the number of daggers he needed. There was no need to open the Grimoire when he had practiced the spell too many times to count.
Reaching inside himself, he grabbed Hawkmoth's string. He wound it around his wrist, even as his skin prickled in disgust. Then when the dark magic began to painfully tug back, he handed as much as its length as he could to Duusu. Though he still feel Hawkmoth's presence like a thorn in his side, the relief was immediate.
Mostly unburdened, Régalien sunk his daggers in front of him and proceeded to go through the movements. Once again, it was like walking against a coming wave. Régalien moved his fan against the strain of dark magic as Duusu held the worst at bay.
Ladybug stood at his peripheral and waited for her cue. Duusu reached out to remind him that she was still there and holding on as best as she could. Régalien smiled, but it was brief.
He wanted this thing, this encroaching presence in his body, out. Régalien loathed the lingering sense of embarrassment and anger that clouded his judgment at his most vulnerable. That was the old Nino, the one who cowered at the mere hint of magic, the one who thought the biggest danger was his parents finding a failing grade among his assignments.
He was Régalien now, and he had bigger things to worry about.
He fisted his hand on his dagger and felt Hawkmoth's string digging into the skin of his wrist like a piano wire. Even though Duusu was handling the brunt of it, the small bit he still held was enough for his mind to wander to less than pleasant thoughts.
It wasn't fair that Marinette and Adrien didn't have to deal with this. They got angry and embarrassed, too, but he was the one who carried a reminder of it wherever he went.
God, they were so happy now. They didn't have to lie to each other just so they could be together.
And why did they deserve to have it all, after how they treated him when he got his Miraculous? Froze him out of the team and refusing to—
"Régalien!"
He startled back to the world beyond the anger and bitterness. A hand grabbed him by his still-tender wrist, and that sent enough fire up his arm to realize he was one step away from falling over the edge of the craggy hill.
Ladybug hauled him back to solid ground. She worried over his wrist while he glanced at his dagger still embedded in the ground five feet away. Régalien walked over to it with Ladybug still trailing and let himself fall like a puppet with its strings cut.
"Did it work?" Ladybug asked.
I'm sorry, Nino, Duusu told him, as sincere as always.
Régalien dislodged the dagger, then threw it to the side. Lot of good it did him.
"Nino?" Adrien, voice pitched in concern.
Régalien buried his face in his hands, but no tears came to stain his gloves.
He was less heartbroken than he thought he would be. Perhaps because a small part of him always knew it wasn't going to be as easy as just reaching inside him and ripping Hawkmoth's string away like a band aid. Even with enough power to level a city block, he still couldn't escape Hawkmoth's reach.
Régalien kept his transformation up. With the Miraculous active, he could feel Hawkmoth's magic in him more potently, but he still felt more in control of his emotions than when he was Nino Lahiffe.
His senses told him Marinette sat across from him, with Adrien scooting up to them with the help of his cane. No words were exchanged. Even Plagg kept his mouth shut.
Régalien eventually lifted his head. "Guess I just have to continue watch my temper, right?" he said at length and tried for a smile that had no heart behind it.
"Maybe Master Fu has an idea on what to do," Ladybug said reluctantly, but Régalien shook his head.
"He would have said something by now," Régalien mumbled.
They had kept Fu in the loop about how how many AVs they cleansed and how many new akumas were popping up. Other than that, the heroes had kept their distance.
Fu had… respected it, he guessed. The massages parlor was still open to them, if needed. Fu continued to care, in his own way.
Régalien picked up the discarded dagger and juggled it from one hand to the other. He uttered wings down, and the dagger fell apart in rays of light, leaving his bare hand out with nothing to show for it. Duusu alighted on his shoulder, looking far more disappointed than him.
"What if someone else gets the Peacock Miraculous?" Adrien asked when the silence became too much "Like Alya? She already knows what we're doing. We can totally trust her."
"It's not that easy," Duusu said. "Nino has been my Chosen for two months now. Our connection is strong, and a new Wielder would take just as long to train to do this effectively. Even Alya, who is an extraordinary individual who can handle the weight of a Miraculous, might take even longer because of her lack of musical background." She turned to Nino, equal measures heartbroken and proud. "I don't think you're aware of the precision it takes to do this correctly. One wrong move in these cleansing spells, and you would effectively be doing Hawkmoth's job for him."
That was far from a comforting thought, but Nino could take the compliment.
Again silence. Duusu worried the edge of a new bag of carrots.
"We don't have two months," Nino said to the group. Two months of Alya fighting his battles and getting hurt. Not in a million years.
Duusu snacked on half of the packaged carrots after the failed ordeal. The conversation turned to idle talk until it was time to pack it up for the night. When he got home, Nino went straight to meditation to quell the unruly magic and emotions within him.
Two days later there was another akuma— brand new, which was rather disappointing. Another name to add to the List and another AV to visit after school hours.
Régalien dashed towards the part of Paris he was magically being pulled towards. He'd already let Ladybug and Chat Noir know, and he was exerting a constant tug on their strings to lead them his way.
When he got to the street of restaurants and cafés, Régalien saw the unlucky civilian of the day taking flight two stories into the air. His tweed jacket and pants fluttered in the artificial breeze he'd created. Leather moccasins took him from café to café to swipe any menus left behind. His fingerless gloves and the domino mask were definitely not part of the usual, librarian getup, but Régalien figured Hawkmoth had to present his akuma motif somehow.
The screams and yells of civilians mixed in with the swirling chaos of umbrellas and tables scraping the cobblestone. Passing cars either tried to make desperate u-turns or were abandoned midway up the street.
Régalien skidded to a halt on the shingles of a bakery. A couple of buildings down there was Cloak, surveying the damage from the edge of a rooftop. It was still odd seeing him in the day, like seeing a teacher out in public.
At least it was lucky he'd seemed to be in the neighborhood to beat even him.
Régalien opened his mouth to say something— probably an awkward greeting— when the man dove to the streets with a snap of his whip.
Régalien rushed over and saw Cloak grabbing careening café furniture and flicking them to the side before they hit some unsuspecting citizen.
"Focus on finding the akumatized item!" Cloak yelled as Régalien just stood there, ogling.
Still as warm as ever, it seemed.
After dodging an encyclopedia and the biggest copy of Guinness World Records he'd ever seen, Régalien stood still long enough to focus his power outward.
The lapiz lazuli lapel on his suit jacket.
Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived moments later. They spared a glance at Cloak still ushering the last of the café and restaurant goers indoors. Books and pamphlets were flying now, as sharp as any knife and likely to give more than just paper cuts.
"You know," Chat Noir shouted up, leaping to the akuma's peripheral and effectively leading his gaze away from Cloak and the civilians, "I don't want to be all tome and gloom, but no one's going to read your stuff if you throw it at them."
The librarian paused in the middle of his hailstorm of knowledge. His gaze was pure contempt. "Signet had better things to do than interact with these uneducated fools, but how can one have a reading break during lunch with all this chatter?"
Against a still-standing chimney, Chat Noir leaned against his staff, totally at ease and taking the attention away from Régalien meeting up with Ladybug. Chat Noir drawled, signaling to Signet's drab costume, "So I'm guessing this third-person-talking shtick is from the books, right?"
Régalien got as far as telling Ladybug what the akumatized item was before Signet noticed and attacked.
They dodged books and anything else that had a paragraph written. When the café furniture was thoroughly subdued and was nothing but piles of wood and metal on the sidewalk, Cloak joined them on the offensive.
Cloak seemed to read their every move, staying out of the way of direct attacks while deflecting any potential threats coming their way with quick whip-work.
He stayed especially close to Chat Noir, which Régalien sent a silent thank you to. Chat Noir was still quicker than a normal civilian, though stiff, but there were times a hit left him doubled-over too long for it to be safe.
The battle continued in the same vein: the heroes trying to get the lapel, dodging, and relying on Cloak to watch their backs.
So Régalien had a lot of time to think about how, with enough use, Seeing Eye could make him lose his control and lead to Hawkmoth getting his grubby hands on him again.
Or how he'd once been that akuma and maybe if he'd worked a little faster, been a little stronger against Hawkmoth two months ago, this poor man wouldn't have this battle on his conscience.
By the time Duusu reminded Régalien he had a battle to focus on, the restaurants and cafés had their doors and windows blown out. Walls of the nearby buildings and apartments had crumbled. Property damage was racking up in record time.
Signet continued to hover before them, slightly winded but otherwise unyielding. "The kids don't know what a good book does to someone's mind," he said, chin held high and eyes shining behind his mask. He licked his thumb and turned the page of the latest book in his hand— a recipe book about the best delicacies in Lyon.
The pages came apart from the binding. They fluttered into the air and trained their sharpened edges at the heroes.
Régalien sighed. Wonderful.
Minutes later, their suits were peppered with razor-thin cuts. Cloak and Chat Noir batted away as many pages as their weapons could reach while Régalien and Ladybug used daggers and yo-yo to try and knock the lapel free.
The pages tore the street and sidewalk like knives through butter. Street signs lay in pieces.
Signet led them away from the destroyed street and through a mad chase through Paris. Whatever signs with writing he touched transformed into new books he collected under his arm. Leftover pages trailed after him as paper airplanes and were dispatched like missiles whenever a hero got too close.
Ladybug and Régalien fell back to the same rooftop after avoiding an exploding stoplight. "You work on taking those books before they get a chance to leave his hands," she advised, wiping away the shattered glass that peppered her hair. A thin trail of blood trickled down her forehead.
It sounded like a good enough plan. Régalien took out three daggers, put away his fan, and followed after Signet and his path of chaos. More buildings had their walls torn apart by tomes and wayward pages.
After a harrowing journey through the streets, they cornered Signet at a local playground. Ladybug knelt on a slide with her Lucky Charm— a giant push-pin of all things— while Chat Noir and Cloak kept batting book after book to the side.
The wooden playhouse castle was destroyed to bits. A crater then formed after two books collided, sending wood chips and what had been the sandbox into the air.
After a moment of analyzing, Ladybug nodded to herself. She dodged the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe with a well-timed front flip and joined Régalien on the top of the playground's climbing wall to share her plan. Before he could question his role, Ladybug left him to relay the plan to the rest of the team.
Régalien chewed his bottom lip as his stomach tightened.
Well, if Ladybug's magical vision told her he was supposed to use Seeing Eye, then who was he to argue? He'd been doing it for two months already. What was one more time?
Daggers flew to embed themselves in front of Ladybug and Chat Noir. At his first fan arc, Régalien didn't miss Cloak's stare lingering on him. His warning on that night rang like an alarm bell in his head, later joined by Fu's cryptic explanation of how Hawkmoth came to be. Régalien paused, left foot poised behind him, fan hiding his expression, as indecision warred inside him.
Possibly continue losing control of his emotions.
Possibly letting his friends get hurt because he couldn't take a risk.
At his waist, his Miraculous burned, as if urging him to choose.
Régalien completed his sweep, and found Ladybug's frustration trickling through his fingers. He shifted his footing and tugged again, managing to grab Chat Nour's irritation around his fingers and add it to the growing stash.
He released Seeing Eye, successfully blowing Signet from the air and giving Ladybug the opening to pin him against a tree by his tweed coat with the push pin. Unable to turn the page of his book, Signet could do nothing but struggle until the akumatized lapel was shattered with Chat Noir's Cataclysm.
Régalien contemplated his fingers, swallowing the lump in his throat and only succeeding in making himself lightheaded. It happened every time after he used Seeing Eye, but every time he was still left with pins and needles along his fingertips.
He always made the same decision.
He doubted it would ever change.
(Chat Noir, favoring one side as he rested against a tree trunk, watched him in mild worry.)
"Miraculous Ladybug!" broke his rumination.
Walls were repaired. Yet the playground remained in disarray, and the street's cracked asphalt still remained as chunks across the area.
Their paper cuts continued to burn as their bruises ached beneath their suits.
"Oh no." Ladybug tightened her hold on her yo-yo. The recently cleansed Signet, now lying on a pile of wood chips, stirred. "Guys, take notes of what hasn't been fixed while I deal with him."
With the immediate danger down, Cloak simply inclined his head in farewell and left through the rooftops.
So it was up to Chat Noir and Régalien to survey the area, just like they had done after every battle since Hawkmoth showed his ugly face in person. Document. Summarize. Send to the mayor.
Civilians began to trickle back into the area. They lingered on the fringes of the mess. Some shouted over their wrecked cars while kids wailed over the destroyed playground.
"Not so good, LB," Chat Noir reported back as they rejoined her on the playground. He rubbed his aching side. "There's a lot of debris and totaled cars."
The man that was Signet glanced around the area in paling horror. His original book lay forgotten at his feet. "I.. I did this?"
Since the battle at the Louvre, with property damage now overstaying its welcome, he was yet another victim that was able to see the destruction he had wrought.
The man picked up his book and hugged it to his chest. Confusion stuttered into fear as the voices of people became louder and angrier.
Ladybug steadied him, leading him away from the shattered playground and onto the mostly-fixed sidewalk. There were cars still standing on that side, so no one would see the man currently on his knees and swallowing his panic. Ladybug patted his shoulder. "It's alright, no one was hurt."
"But your cuts…" he started with a look at their suits and Ladybug's blood-streaked forehead.
Ladybug patted his hand to try and stave off his rising shakes. "Sir, please, we're okay. Nothing time won't heal."
"And, uhh, before you go," Régalien interrupted, coming closer and crouching to the man's eye level. He took out the List out of his pocket. "Sir, may we have your full name?"
The man blanked, eyes on the creased paper in Régalien's hands, until he said, hesitantly, "It's Valéry Dufort. May I ask why?" Again he glanced around him.
"No, no, it's not going to the news or anything. We're just gathering information on past A— uhh, akuma victims. It's helping us with regaining the Cure."
"Oh, of course," the man eventually said. Without his book, he settled for clenching and unclenching his hands in nervous habit.
Régalien wished that was the end of the awkward exchange, but since his sleuthing skills were nonexistent: "And your address?"
After another awkward exchange, Valéry Dufort took the metro home while the heroes retraced the war path after a quick recharge of their Kwamis. It was a slog, their notes soon filling up the screen of their communicators.
Régalien's fingers kept shaking too much to write anything coherent. Leftover frustration had him rewriting the same sentence again and again. He was a word away from either throwing his communicator or his gloves aside when Duusu's power reached his harried thoughts.
Nino, I can note down what I observe.
Régalien glared down at the screen. He was faintly aware of his teeth grinding against each other.
Nino—
"Fine, do it," he snapped aloud, shoving his communicator away into his belt.
In. Out. Perched on an intact streetlight, Régalien closed his eyes and breathed until his jaw wasn't griding his teeth into dust.
An hour later, they huddled on a rooftop and made a summary of the chaos that Signet had brought down upon the city. (Régalien read whatever Duusu had written in his communicator.)
All along the path Signet had taken, the streets remained destroyed or had been only partially repaired. Restaurants, stores, and cafés remained in ruin while residential buildings had been repaired to the point of being livable.
All the while, civilians circled their destroyed cars or buildings of employment with a rising anger that Régalien felt deep inside the core of his magic. The people were seething, With Signet disappearing and Hawkmoth holed up in whatever section of the catacombs he called home, there was no mistake who their complains were directed to.
"No one was hurt," Chat Noir comforted, but his cat ears were still pinned back in disappointment.
Régalien observed people gathering the remnants of café furniture. Then the people caught them resting on the rooftop. Their anger turned sharp, and their voices carried, even if their words were muffled by the distance.
"They're yelling that we shouldn't have followed Signet on that chase," Chat Noir added helpfully, cat ears twitching as he caught whatever blasphemies they were throwing their way. "Oh, and that lady in purple says we owe her a new car."
Terrific.
"This is fucked up," Régalien hissed, glaring as more civilians gathered at the disaster. He didn't care whether his black mask hid his displeasure or not. "We're the ones with the cuts, but they're blaming us? Fucking unbelievable."
And it wasn't like he even decided to wear the Peacock Miraculous for them. He didn't even know them!
Régalien turned to gathering crowd, ready to spew more choice words, then caught his friends' expressions. He deflated.
"Sorry, that's Seeing Eye talking. But it is frustrating," he mumbled the last part.
A sharp twang of anger reverberated in Régalien's chest, and the string that always linked him to Hawkmoth's tightened around his ribcage.
"Dudes, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we have another akuma coming our way."
Ladybug and Chat Noir groaned as one.
"He must be working his Kwami to the bone." Chat Noir straightened with the help of his staff. There was no use telling him to take it easy.
There was more street destruction after the second akuma— a seamstress with a knack for playing cat's cradle with their weapons. (Chat Noir's puns had been endless.) Cloak showed up at the tail end of the battle, only to leave again the moment the enchanted thimble was shattered.
Ladybug's dissatisfaction pooled into the air when she saw how much of the city Miraculous Ladybug actually fixed. She rubbed a forming bruise on her neck and hardly seemed to notice her team leading her away from the angry store owners marching up to them, thankfully unaware of the mortified woman jogging to the nearest bus stop.
"We can't leave yet," Ladybug argued with them, even as their Miraculouses beeped.
"But we can't fix this," Régalien pointed out with a general wave at the battle zone below.
Ladybug took out her compact, already documenting what still remained in shambles. She glanced from her screen to the very displeased civilians, then decided that it wasn't the worth the risk detransforming in the middle of the street. She offered a placating wave to the crowd before joining her team.
It took them another hour to gather the necessary information, and by then all of their communicators had at least one missed call or text from their parents. ("It's Nathalie checking up on me," Chat Noir had told them, but his disappointment was not missed.)
They went home, Ladybug sending their compiled reports to the mayor through her compact. The damage would be fixed.
Eventually.
When Hawkmotth sent one last akuma sometime after midnight, they decided that Hawkmoth knew exactly what he was doing. On a Monday morning, destroyed cars and roads pulled people from their beds to their balconies, all so they could demand Miraculous Ladybug be cast now before they went to work.
Régalien, whisked away from his bed with too much sand in his eyes, heard and felt it all, even as exhausted as he was. After a day of akuma attacks and two Seeing Eyes, Ladybug and Chat Noir had to drag Régalien off the rooftop before he got in someone's face about how ungrateful they were being.
Duusu had a breakdown about how they were failing Paris, so that was another half an hour of consoling.
Much too soon, Nino and Alya walked to school together, shoulder to shoulder, and watching a live feed of Mayor Bourgeois. Nino envied the sheer energy the man seemed to have, gesticulating with multiple papers in his hand and beaming at the camera trained on him with a hundred watt smile.
Nino would have that energy, too, if someone for a penchant for raising akumas didn't have him running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
I extend my gratitude to Ladybug and the rest of the heroes for compiling a report of the structural damage caused by the akuma attacks these past few weeks. Bourgeois waved the pile of papers around.
"That's a lot of damage," Alya mused.
It's worse up close, Nino wanted to add.
The city of Paris has been doing its best to attend to these structural damages as they come in, but of course, there's only so much we can do with the resources we have.
Nino chewed on his bottom lip. It was true, from what he could see. He doubted any city in France was prepared for daily terrorist attacks.
Mayor Bourgeois piled his reports and fixed the camera with a heavy stare, his smile straining at the edges. This morning, I received news that the French government has sent additional teams of disaster relief to help the city with its backlog of destruction. These relief efforts are organizing as we speak and will be at the remaining, affected sites by evening today. We advise any civilians living or working in these areas to avoid debris and rubble, if at all possible. Mayor Bourgeois sighed with rising exhaustion. Nino couldn't tell whether it was fake or not. We ask for any volunteers that are willing to lend their support. Let Parisians step up where our heroes have fallen short.
Even Duusu scoffed at that last statement, which was thankfully hidden behind Alya's own exclamation of, "Did he just say that?"
Nino could only nod, struck numb with the line. He couldn't say he was surprised. They were doing their best. Nino knew he was doing his best. But there was only so much three teenagers could do.
"Wonder if his attitude will ever change? He's been less than supportive after the Louvre battle," she murmured as Mayor Bourgeois addressed other, Miraculous-related concerns, like overriding car insurance to replace those cars totaled by the akuma attacks.
Nino had other choice words but figured that was still the Seeing Eye rearing its ugly head. "Yeah, and I hope the French government knows the heroes have a plan for Hawkmoth. Not their fault the Cure can't fix everything right now."
"And I'm sure it's a good plan, too," Alya added with a knowing smirk.
Nino could prod but knew that wouldn't be fair to Alya, keeper of the grand, miraculous plan. "They're cool heroes. Pretty sure all their plans are good."
They were at the school's steps, where other students were engrossed in their cellphones. Rather than get sucked into chatter about theories on how these relief efforts were going to turn out— because he had enough of his own— Nino climbed the steps with homeroom directly in his mind. With the broadcast over, Alya scrolled through the Ladyblog.
Inside the class, Nino could tell by Ms. Bustier's nervous air that the period was going to be a laborious one. Nino briefly wondered how many points she would deduct if he curled up in a corner and slept like there was no tomorrow. After one complain that was much too loud, the answer was all, and he wasn't going to risk it. Nino just made sure his backpack was fluffed up enough in case his head got too heavy.
He was contemplating asking Alya for some notes to shove into his backpack for added fluffiness when his magic alerted him that Marinette and Adrien coming in. The pair was already chatting it up about this latest relief effort that the mayor was organizing, Nino caught when he lifted his head.
That's when he saw just how Marinette and Adrien decided to stroll in.
There was an almost physical shift in the classroom's attention to them, a hush that caused Ms. Bustier to pause in her prep work. Marinette and Adrien were oblivious until Alya glanced up from her phone, saw the scene before her, and promptly ran down the stairs like a hound escaped from Hell.
"So when did this happen?" she asked them with all the energy of a firecracker bursting at its seams.
"Uum," Marinette looked to Adrien for help, as Adrien looked to her. His cane— which Adrien now only used on the days following a particularly-tough fight— wobbled dangerously at his side. Then, as the clueless duo they were, they followed Alya's pointed stare to their interlaced fingers.
Meanwhile Nino pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off the I told you so burning his tongue. It had been almost a month and a half since their flirting turned into something else, but the two dimwits had avoided showcasing any display of PDA at school.
And now Nino could see why. They were both too awkward to actually put into words what "this" was to anyone that wasn't a Miraculous holder.
They both looked over Alya's shoulder to Nino for help. He shrugged because if Alya found out he had been hiding this new development from her his ass would be grass.
"It just sort of happened," Marinette squeaked out.
"We were going to tell you eventually," Adrien offered, like a dying soldier offering an olive branch.
"Eventually?" Alya's eyebrows climbed up higher.
Marinette and Adrien finally noticed multiple students openly-staring their way. Their hands unglued themselves; Marinette now swung her arms awkwardly at her sides while Adrien fiddled with the strap of his book bag.
"I helped Adrien out a lot when he first got hurt, and we ended up spending a lot of time together," Marinette added, voice pitched loud enough for any eavesdroppers to hear loud and clear.
Guess her growing confidence wasn't just with the mask on, Nino realized, then thought of just how casually she had acted around Adrien since that reveal between them.
He figured that discovering her superhero partner, her biggest supporter, was also her friend had made everything else so insignificant in comparison. School gossip had nothing on Ladybug and Chat Noir's partnership.
Adrien cleared his throat and started, "It was kinda hard to put a name to this whole hanging out thing, but now Marinette doesn't need to help me out so much anymore. And we found out that we wanted to hang out more, but not exactly just hang out…" He trailed off when Alya's gaze softened.
Thankfully she didn't pry further and switched to asking Adrien about how he was doing. Nino let his backpack fall to his desk. Just as promised, he laid his head on it and watched the rest of his classmates trickle in.
Chloé strutted in with Alix trailing after her. Alix's face was scrunched up, nostrils flared, and she ignored how her backpack was partway to the floor. "I don't know why your dad is being such an ass about all this," she said.
Chloé spared her not a glance but replied, "Please, my dad is only saying the truth. Maybe your heroes are not as perfect as you thought they were."
Alix kept on marching after Chloé. Each combat boot announced her rising frustration. Nino lifted his head. Even without concentrating his power on her, he knew that this confrontation wasn't going to end well. If she reached Chloé's desk she might punch her pretty face in.
Unless Hawkmoth stepped in first.
Nino started to rise, but it was Max of all people who stepped in front of Alix. She stopped short, frustration tapering off.
Max took a step back as a safety precaution, and when he brought up his tablet he angled it so it could be used as a shield in case things got ugly. Alix only waited for him to say something, so Max relaxed and said, "Actually, it has been statistically proven that Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Régalien, with such frequent attacks, have not been performing up to par lately."
Nino stood quick enough to bang his knee against his desk. Performing? He wasn't a freaking circus act!
Taking advantage of Alix's pause, Max swiped to a set of notes that, from what Nino could see, were filled with overly detailed tables and graphs.
"According to the data compiled since the battle at the Louvre, lasting structural damage around Paris has risen 56% with 3% of Parisians reporting they've lost their place of employment due to the unsafe work conditions or closure of buildings." Max glanced up from the screen. "It does seem that the local heroes have been increasingly unable to prevent much of this damage."
"And many people have been affected so far," Chloé added from her throne a safe distance away. She waited a beat, then elbowed Sabrina in the ribs.
Sabrina jumped and added, "My dad had to use his home car for a month now, and it was totaled yesterday by one of the akumas. He's not sure if he's being compensated for it yet."
"See?" Chloé sneered down at Alix.
Ms. Bustier clapped her hands for their attention, and the rest of the argument fizzled out. Nino heavily sat back down and directly went into the breathing exercises he used for meditation. Max hadn't been wrong, but the truth stung and poked at the nesting frustration in his chest.
Passing periods lit up with chatter, and it seemed that Sabrina wasn't the only student affected by the lingering damage of the akuma attacks. Kim mentioned that his little sister was distraught over her daycare being destroyed. Aurore Beauréal bemoaned how her father's accounting firm was closed for repairs.
Max was writing it all down for his stats while Chloé told everyone how her dad was going to fix this and "now you know who to put your trust in."
By the time school was over, Nino had tried to meditate over five times. Yet no matter what he did, the frustration still pricked his skin like goosebumps whenever someone pointed out how much their efforts had fallen short.
"Hey," Marinette stopped him at the foot of the school's stairs. She waited until the last of the students let out to speak again. "We're going to join the relief efforts going on today. Meet at Notre Dame in half an hour?"
An excuse to angrily fly over rooftops? Nino saw no reason to decline.
Marinette went right to her parents' bakery. Adrien's limo arrived at the front of the school. Nino bid Alya farewell and let his feet guide him.
Duusu popped out of his hat when people thinned out to nothing. "Don't let those people get to you. You and your team are doing your best."
Nino knew he shouldn't let it get to him. Hell, he had a much easier time ignoring people back when they thought he was an akuma. Chloé's jabs hadn't bothered him. Even Adrien's cool dismissal hadn't fazed him in the long run.
So why now, when he considered himself competent in all things Peacock Miraculous, did it feel like the frustration wouldn't roll off his back?
"The meditation didn't help," he complained when the answer to why it bothered him threatened to become clear.
Because it had been two months. Why now?
Duusu patted his cheek. "We'll try it at home."
Nino hoped that would be better.
After sending a text to his mom that he was going to a café to study, he transformed behind a cluster of trees. Régalien made his way to Notre Dame ahead of schedule and spent his time pacing out his frustration until Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived.
They traveled with Ladybug leading the way, using the city's website to locate the areas where the closest relief efforts were being held.
The damage that remained was spread along the fourteenth, thirteenth, and twelfth arrondissements. Signet had hit hard, with his damage concentrated to along the streets. Filetage— the out of control seamstress— had left a wider-range of chaos, thanks to her wide-reaching threads and selection of needles.
That's where they arrived first: the outdoor shopping mall where Filetage had raged over a discontinued pattern at a shop. With no apartments nearby, Miraculous Ladybug had left most of the debris for them to find the next day.
People sent from the disaster relief efforts, identifiable by their uniforms, were spread out along the ruined plaza, leading construction equipment through the area. Civilians decked out in gloves, hats, and their own trash bags moved around the heavier equipment, picking up what they could. Parisian firemen and policemen coordinated the combined efforts with sharp instructions.
When the sound of Ladybug's retreating yo-yo string announced their presence, many heads glanced up. A palpable sense of relief trickled into the air, but Régalien could only focus on the anger and distrust sprinkled among the crowd.
"Oh wow, they showed up," someone remarked loudly from the crushed fountain at the center. The man wiped the sweat from his brow to properly glare at them. He was no older than forty and dressed casually in a shirt, jeans, and worn boots. Régalien zeroed in on him and caught the muttered, "What happened to that so called plan they were working on?"
"It's been three weeks!" someone else added. This man leaned on a shovel. Dressed in the red-orange gear of a firefighter, even he looked ready to drag the heroes through the dirt for all this damage.
"Lay off, they're trying their best," someone hissed to the man, but by that point Régalien was already biting the inside of his cheek hard enough to drown out the rushing blood in his ears and Ladybug's, no doubt, rousing speech.
Get it together, he told himself because he could still recognize the scattered cheers coming their way. A lot of them are happy that we're here.
As the crowd began to point out what could only be cleared away with powers and super strength, Chat Noir placed a comforting hand on Régalien's shoulder, startling him out of his mind. Chat Noir's ears were pricked, and his face was pulled into a pained grimace Régalien was probably mirroring himself.
"They're kinda right," Régalien muttered as the emotions rolled over him like smog. His jaw started to ache, but he couldn't relax..
Chat Noir's grip tightened. Once those claws had turned Nino's stomach, made of volatile and unexplained magic. Now, high above the heads of civilians, they held him steady enough to finally allow him to take a calming breath.
"Come on," Chat Noir whispered to him with a toothy grin befitting of his Miraculous, "strut those tail feathers and show them we're no slouches."
Various people began to direct them to the worst of it. Ladybug and Chat Noir went off together with the plan to use his baton to leverage and her yo-yo to transport pieces of store signs into the available trucks. As the people cleared a path for them, Ladybug began to lecture Chat Noir to let her do all the heavy lifting.
Régalien wandered to a different area of the plaza, where volunteers were sweeping away the debris around multiple pieces of rubble that broke apart from the nearby department store. There were pieces too big to be loaded all in one ago or by those without powers.
They gave him the side-eye as he got out his fan. Régalien reached out with his magic to identify just exactly what they thought of him, but the remarks from earlier broke his concentration again and again, until the volunteers returned back to work.
Just ignore them, Nino, Duusu advised. The current situation is clouding their judgment. Hawkmoth's devastation has impacted them, too.
Yeah, but it's not my fault the place is in ruin, he thought back.
Régalien tested the edges of his feather daggers, tilting his head to see what was the best way to go about this. The worst of the debris stuck out in sharp relief, each piece vying for his attention.
His sprained wrist was still tender, even after all this time. Régalien figured the daily use of his daggers was not helping matters, but there had been no let up on the akuma attacks.
And Seeing Eye had to be done if they wanted the Cure back.
With a shaky plan in his mind, Régalien positioned himself squarely in front of a large section of torn wall, then swiped once with his fan. A clean piece slid off and landed at his feet with a heavy thump! The volunteers paused to gape, and Régalien took great pleasure in swiping again— this time with a little bit of footwork— to dislodge another section that could be carted off.
It was a monotonous process of hacking and slicing with his magic fan that never dulled nor broke. Pieces became small enough to be carried off in wheelbarrows by volunteers and fire fighters. Régalien cleared the area off bit by bit as people worked around him to pick up after him.
Despite the growing ache in his arms and the mounting approval of the civilians around him, that lingering frustration never lifted. Régalien didn't have Chat Noir's hearing, but his magic picked up the continued frustration of a select number of people.
Why were they getting to him? So what if some people were complaining? They weren't the reason he became Régalien, and even if they had been, he was still doing his part.
Yet that frustration and anger that stemmed from all those Seeing Eye attacks from the past week— and perhaps before?— continued to broil and churned. As he continued to work, Duusu offered no insight other than to keep doing what he was doing and ignore the naysayers.
It was hard, and after Régalien cleared most of the center plaza from anything too big, he announced to the scene at large he was going to go help out at another arrondissement. Chat Noir only spared him a thumbs up, though his string gave off a low, concerned trumpeting.
Régalien dawdled somewhere between the fourteenth and thirteenth arrondissements. Instead of sticking to the rooftops and out of the public eye, he took a meandering path through some parks, sticking to the trees' canopies whenever possible.
It calmed him somewhat. There was something about the inner peacock that enjoyed the feel of bark against skin and the smell of leaves fresh from a light rain.
Régalien arrived at the street where they had first found Signet hurtling books at anyone who looked at him wrong. That quaint atmosphere of spending brunch alongside some live music was no more. Most of the cafés' signs now lay on the rampaged street in a myriad of letters and shattered lights. Volunteers took to sweeping the glass from the blown-out windows.
Instead of announcing himself, Régalien got right to work on removing the heavy signs and overly-large letters. They were beyond repair, so after a quick chat with the leading disaster crew on the scene he began to hack the mangled metal into manageable pieces.
Régalien directed some of the volunteers to help with the first pile of manageable debris, and that's when people took notice that one of Paris' heroes was in their presence. Some outright stared while others surreptitiously came closer.
That same annoyance settled over the area, even though no one outright told him he wasn't welcomed. When he hand-waved a man and his wheelbarrow to take what he could, there were a couple of scoffs directed his way.
Like a paper cut, the hurt was small, but it still stung.
"Thanks for helping out," the man with the wheelbarrow said.
Régalien's focus went on him, and the man's genuine gratitude was like a glass of cold water on a hot day. Régalien's smile came unbidden, until the man wandered off and Régalien was left with the same unease as before.
"I need a break," he said aloud after he felt like punching the woman who snuck a glare his way.
Wanting to punch a stranger he'd never met was not normal. Wanting to punch Chloé or anybody else that wasn't hurting someone was not normal.
Yet still the urge remained like an infernal itch, curling the grip on his fan enough for his knuckles to strain his against his glove.
Abandoning a piece of mangled sign, he fled to the rooftops, to the next block, and finally stopped behind a church a couple of blocks away and far from the woman that did not deserve his ire.
He let the transformation fall and hoped that was enough to make the urge go away. Instead the frustration and anger spread out from his now-unactivated Miraculous and over his skin like a hot rash.
Duusu reached out with a concerned, "Nino, are you— ?"
Nino whipped away from her touch. Three stories up and far away from anybody else, Duusu was the only person he could lash out to.
He rounded on her with all his pent-up anger spilling over. Nino's glasses slid down the bridge of his nose, but he could only set his eyes on Duusu.
"Don't you start!" he yelled loud enough for her to cringe.
She'd lied to him about something as big as Hawkmoth having once possessed the very power he now had. She'd talked to Fu instead of the one person she was responsible for protecting, for teaching, for guiding.
Nino stepped closer, and Duusu froze, making his words easier to rip and tear.
"You know what? Don't tell me to meditate or take deep breaths because it's. Not. Helping. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm doing a lot more shit than any of your past Peacocks. Day in and day out. Your stupid meditation is just another, fucking thing I have to fit into my schedule which, newsflash! Doesn't exist!"
He'd never cursed that much, nor felt his words so hotly on his tongue. His cheeks burned with some unnamed emotion. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes but refused to fall.
When Duusu said nothing, that was enough to send Nino pacing on the shingles. Long ago, at the Jardin des Plantes, he'd clung to the shingles with his nails and prayed he didn't slide too close to the edge. Now, in the midst of a heat wave of anger, Nino knew he couldn't fall, even as his sneakers turned him this way and that in tight circles, his biting fury blinding him to any real path.
Duusu floated after him, keeping an eye on the distance between him and the edge. "You've been under a lot of stress lately. It's perfectly understandable that you're feeling more frustrated than usual."
He paused, shingles shifting under his feet until he adjusted his weight just so to keep his balance. Even without the Miraculous, it was second nature. His fingers wormed through his short, cropped hair. The pain at his scalp pulled at the haze clouding his mind.
Nino was trembling. Shaking and unable to focus on anything beyond the heat in his heart. He dug his nails into his scalp and slowly pulled himself away from the edge, just enough to find the normal Nino Lahiffe buried underneath.
"Duusu," he said, taking his hat in his hands to worry that instead. "This anger… it's not mine. This isn't stress from having too much homework or staying up late at night fighting akumas."
Nino gripped the brim of his hat with the full intention of hurtling it across the street. But that wasn't going to stop his downward spiral.
Duusu remained silent, which allowed him to continue reeling ups his words, slow enough for them to scrape against his throat on the way out.
"This isn't going away, and I don't know what to do. I know Fu didn't say too much last time— " Anger rose again at the name, and Nino physically ducked his head to avoid it. "I know this is how Hawkmoth started to become Hawkmoth."
He looked up at Duusu, wordlessly begging her not to lie to his face. To her credit, Duusu's expression was just as pained as his.
"It is," were her hollow words of confirmation.
Nino went down until he was crouched on the rooftop, his hat straining in his grip and his heart pounding against his rib cage. He wanted to reach for his necklace, but his fingers were locked in place. He inhaled and exhaled, pressing down on this anger with weak hands.
Duusu kept her distance. "Let's take a break before going back to volunteer. You still have an hour before your mom wants you home."
Nino sighed and felt it push against the anger over his skin. He couldn't stay here forever. Duusu wasn't going to give him a solution.
He mumbled wings up, and the worst of the anger evened out to a more, manageable level. Régalien took the rooftops again, searching for another park for some brief respite.
His plan took him further away from the sites the akumas had ravaged. Régalien dared to come closer to the street, if only to read the street signs and see if they pointed to somewhere more pleasant. Eventually, the destruction faded away to streets and buildings untouched by Hawkmoth's destruction.
He ended up at an outdoor wedding, right as the reception began. There was neither debris nor torn streets, just people dressed in their Sunday best. Children played under the tables and got their dress pants and dresses streaked with grass stains and whatever pastries they managed to snag. Guests lined up at the buffet with eager eyes.
Régalien saw a DJ at the helm of the music and realized he himself hadn't been DJing for quite a while, ever since Hawkmoth revealed he had more in common with Nino than he thought.
The whole venue oozed happiness, made even better by the DJ's sick beats. It was a ray of sunshine after a depressing week of trying to keep up with akumas. It was a cool compress against the giant ache on his body.
Hidden behind a billboard, Régalien swayed to the music in much the same way he started one of his Seeing Eyes. He took out his fan on a whim and simply used it as an extension of his movement, arcing it over his head, then down along his side like a cascade of feathers.
His eyes landed on the wedding couple dancing center stage. The bride's laughter rose into the air like chimes while the groom steadied her, a hand on her waist, the other guiding her in a well-versed dance.
Suddenly Régalien felt happier. Just the simple act of dancing along with them elavated his heart to new heights.
Nino… Duusu's voice was lost in the whirlwind of music and fan movements.
(He should apologize for lashing out earlier. Duusu was trying her best, after all, and he had already said his piece to her back at Fu's. There was no need for more hate.)
He began to hum something between one of the remixes he used for Ladybug and Chat Noir's Seeing Eye and an abandoned remix on his computer he hadn't worked on in ages.
(With the knot of frustration easing inside his chest, Régalien figured that some DJing before patrol couldn't hurt. They had a game plan. The List was as complete and up to date as they could get it. No need to stress too much.)
His foot and fan movements began to repeat, muscle memory kicking in and leading him through each action with the ease of a practiced spell.
The newly-wedded couple paused in their dance, their movements just a touch out of sync. Régalien felt their happiness stutter.
Nino! Stop!
Régalien tripped over his own feet and had to twist on his heel so he could hit the billboard instead of falling onto the street. Duusu's presence radiated behind his eyes, but that still wasn't enough to erase the lingering smile on his face.
"Come on, dude, what's wrong? You're the one who told me to take a breather." He tilted his head, and the sun hit his face in just the right place. "I'll get back to the relief efforts soon."
Nino, and her unsteady tone was enough to give him pause. You were taking away their happiness.
The smile completely melted off his face. Régalien lowered his fan, and the leftover jitters in his legs disappeared and left him unsteady, forcing him to lean against the billboard to keep himself up.
"I was… what?"
Take a look at the couple.
Suddenly nervous that he had, in fact, been seen, Régalien peeked around the billboard.
The danced ended prematurely, the DJ looking over his mixing station as the selection still played. Bride and groom stepped apart, hands still latched but their smiles relaxed, rather than jubilant. They parted ways as another song kicked up and others took the floor.
The couple was still happy just… less so.
He imagined Duusu wringing her paws, and her voice was pitched low enough where if it wasn't through a mental link he wouldn't have heard her at all. Nino, you can't do this. Seeing Eye is not for civilians and it's especially not to take their happy emotions. It… it stopped with Hawkmoth. It has to stop with Hawkmoth.
Régalien ran a hand through his hair, but it wasn't the same, desperate action as before. Despite Duusu's words, the toxic fog around his mind started to lift and allowed him to look forward to help the volunteers, even if some of them weren't too happy to see him.
In fact, he was downright excited to get back to working and showing Paris he was just as dedicated to this as they were.
Duusu sensed his change of mood. Her power strained against the confines of his active Miraculous. Nino, you can't start down this path. I can't lose another Peacock to this.
This was how Hawkmoth's change began, but Régalien felt too relieved on finally scratching his itch that he just stared down at his boots to block his view of the wedding.
"It won't happen again. I just got… distracted." Although this had worked better than any meditation session he'd had on the floor of his bedroom.
Besides, Fu had said Hawkmoth took positive emotions away from the Wielders he'd worked with, not civilians. Their wedding wasn't ruined just because they ended their dance early.
Régalien left he venue behind.
Nino, please, you can't do this again. We'll try different meditation methods. We can space out your usage of Seeing Eye. Promise me you won't do this again.
He couldn't promise, not when his mind felt lighter than it had in days. Even Hawkmoth's magic inside him had quieted to mild discomfort in his gut.
"I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier," he said to try to ease the anxiety coming off of her.
Nino, promise me.
He couldn't.
Hey ya'll! Job hunting and other real-life things have kept me busy, but I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Apologies if I haven't responded to your comments yet, but I've read all of them and appreciate every single one! Thanks for sticking around!