To Armadas: To be fair, the American Miraculous Team doesn't really have secret identities to protect! And yeah, just a Tarasque to defeat now. No biggie.
"Are you sure this will work?" Bri looked up at Igisigukiza, squeezing Felix's hand tightly in both of hers. Huddled against her neck, Barkk's tail thumped agitatedly, a high-pitched whine emanating from her throat. Felix lay absolutely still on his hospital cot, his chest rising and falling slowly, eyes shut. All of the scars on his face from the Dark Acolytes' ambush had disappeared… but otherwise his condition was exactly the same as it had been. Bri pressed a kiss to his knuckles before placing her hand on his cheek, fighting back sniffles. The medical tent was silent around them – no one else was inside. She swallowed anxiously. The battle with the Dark Acolytes had ended a little over an hour earlier, and she had rushed back the moment the last of their prisoners had been hauled out of the demolished camp, dropping her final rocket on the camp for good measure, right before Bandruí filled the clearing with trees.
On her arrival back at the medical tent, Mão Curadora had simply shaken her head, giving her a sympathetic look. That was when Igisigukiza had arrived.
Igisigukiza sighed heavily. "I cannot give you any guarantees," he responded. "Every time I activate this ability, I am again amazed by what it can accomplish. I think it may wake him, and I absolutely hope that it will work, but I never make any promises." He smiled nervously. "But you and the others rescued me; I would repay that kindness, if I can."
Bri looked down at Felix. "I hope–" From outside the tent came the sound of her suit's servos whirring, followed by the beeping of one of her bracelets. Bri turned toward the sound, just as the tent flap was thrown back and Ladybug and Cat Noir stepped inside. "Can I help you?" Bri asked, eyeing them in confusion.
Ladybug swallowed nervously. "I'm sorry. I–I wish I could help him." Her shoulders slumped, and she turned to Cat Noir, who stared at Felix with a worried expression on his face.
"What are you doing here?" Bri demanded, tightening her grip on Felix's hand. Her eyes widened. "Are–are you going to take his miraculous back?"
"What?" Ladybug stared at her in bewilderment.
"Why would we want to do that?" wondered Cat Noir.
Barkk rose off of Bri's shoulder to hover closer to her face. She patted Bri's cheek sympathetically. "It's okay, Maiden," the Kwami squeaked. "You can trust them."
Bri frowned. "I do," she began hesitantly. "In most things. But this–"
Barkk nodded. "I know – but even with this."
Ladybug sighed heavily. "I – I tried to Cure him… but it didn't do anything."
Bri sniffled. "I just–"
Ladybug stepped closer and pulled Bri into a hug. "I know – believe me," she whispered. "I wish I could say it gets easier to see your partner like this… but it really doesn't."
Bri's shoulders slumped, and she turned toward Igisigukiza. "Can you help him?"
He gave her a sympathetic look. "I am afraid that I cannot guarantee any more success than Ladybug experienced," he apologized. "I still do not know what miracles this power is truly capable of performing." He crouched next to Felix's cot. "Do you wish me to attempt it?"
Ladybug cleared her throat. "Shouldn't his family make that call?" she wondered, glancing at Cat Noir.
Bri cocked her head in confusion, pushing Ladybug away. What business was it of theirs whether she told Igisigukiza to try healing Felix? "Why should we wait until his mother can make the decision?" she demanded, glaring heatedly at Ladybug. "She's not here right now, but I know that she would make the same call I would make!"
"No–that's not–I didn't–" Ladybug stammered, only for Cat Noir to take her hand. She fell silent, leaning into his arms.
Cat Noir shook his head. "No – it's okay," he told Ladybug. He swallowed anxiously, looking down at Felix sadly. "With everything they've been through together, I know Felix trusts her. So she should be the one to decide it." He nodded to Bri, raising an eyebrow expectantly.
Ladybug nodded, squeezing his hand.
"Y–yes," Bri told Igisigukiza, nodding fervently, Felix's hand clutched tightly. "Do it. We've got to try."
Igisigukiza knelt beside the cot, placing his hands on Felix's chest, directly over his heart, in the same spot where the Dark Acolyte had touched him in the woods. Closing his eyes, his brows knotted in concentration, he whispered, "Healing Hands…"
Bri held her breath, hardly daring to hope, as Igisigukiza held contact with Felix. Felix's hand remained preternaturally still in Bri's. Barkk's head drooped, the whine growing in volume. Igisigukiza pressed his hands into Felix's chest, and slowly the white light transfused through Felix's body, starting from Igisigukiza's hands. White exuded from his pores, creating flecks of light that danced on the tent's canvas ceiling. Bri blinked back spots in her vision at the strange brightness, and Barkk perked up, staring at Felix with her mouth hanging open.
Suddenly, Felix let out a gasp and shot straight up in the bed, almost hitting Igisigukiza with his forehead. Igisigukiza leaned out of the way just in time and pushed Felix back down with a firm hand. At the same moment, Bri lunged forward, throwing her arms around Felix's neck and pulling him into a tight hug, peppering his face with kisses. "He–hey!" he rasped, his voice hoarse. Bri pulled back instantly, and he let out a weak cough. She pressed a glass of water into his hands, and he took several long sips before letting out a breath. "Whoa…" He eyed Bri carefully. "Although I could think of a lot of worse ways to wake up than that…"
"Don't do that to me!" Bri chastised him, smacking his shoulder and fuming. "I thought you were dead, you dumb Dog!"
Felix let out a breath, his shoulders slumping back against the cot, looking up into Bri's eyes, an apology in his expression. "Honestly, I thought I was dead when she touched me…" He coughed again to clear his throat. "What happened?"
"I mean, other than you scaring the shih tzu-t of us…" Cat Noir began, shrugging, "not a whole lot. Your femme practically blew a hole through the continent to get back at the Dark Acolytes, and we reclaimed a couple miraculous holders they'd abducted. No biggie."
"Oh, you're here, cuz?" Felix mused, finally glancing past Bri at Cat Noir. He hummed. "I take it there weren't any miraculous-devouring hell-beasts this time, then?"
"Not this time," Cat Noir answered. "Although next time we face one of those, you'll be the first one I call!"
Bri cocked her head in confusion, staring back and forth between Felix and Cat Noir. "Wait…"
Cat Noir grinned. "I suppose you cat who I am, then?"
Ladybug rubbed her temples and let out a sigh. "Adrien…"
"Oh, come on," he complained, wagging his eyebrows at her. "You married me…"
"A decision I may be starting to regret," she retorted, though the corners of her lips twitched upward in an amused smile.
Bri blinked and stared at Felix. "Of course he's your cousin," she deadpanned. "Because your family wasn't already complicated enough."
Felix shrugged. "Is it really so re-pug-nant for my cousin to be Cat Noir?"
Bri sighed, helping Felix up into a sitting position. "No, it really isn't," she told him. "But it does explain why he was about ready to murder the Dark Acolytes when I said they'd hurt you."
Cat Noir chuckled, draping an arm over Ladybug's shoulders. "Good thing you did it for me."
Felix cocked his head, staring at Cat Noir in surprise. "Huh. I didn't realize you cared."
Cat Noir shrugged. "Family's got to stick together, right?" he asked rhetorically, his eyes drifting from Felix to Bri and then to Ladybug. He gave a nervous smile. "It's – it's nice to have family."
"It sure us," Ladybug agreed, giving him a quick kiss him on the lips. She shook her head, glancing at Bri, and grimaced nervously. "I'm sorry about before," she apologized. "I just–I was worried. Adrien and Felix are pretty close now – but I suppose you probably knew that, right?"
Bri nodded. "Felix talks about him a lot – I can see why." Her eyes widened, and she stared back and forth between Ladybug and Cat Noir. "You–you–oh, my god. And you didn't know?"
"About the fact that I was fighting my own father?" Cat Noir finished, his mouth setting in a thin line. His arm around Ladybug tightened. "Not until the very end."
"When he revealed his identity to save my life," Ladybug supplied, leaning in closer to Cat Noir and resting her head on his shoulder. "I've never forgotten about that."
Felix smirked. "I told you you'd get along well with Cat Noir," he told Bri.
She hummed. "I can see what you meant."
Ladybug sighed fondly. "I'm glad to see you back with us, Felix."
"Glad to be back," he agreed, meeting Bri's gaze.
Slowly the anxiety in her chest dissipated. Finally, Felix was okay. He was alive. He was still with her. She pressed a kiss to the corner of Felix's mouth before looking up at Igisigukiza. "Thank you."
He smiled back kindly. "I am happy to help."
Ladybug gave him an evaluating look. "I'm glad to hear that," she told him. "Because we're absolutely going to put that to the test." Her mouth set in a thin line. "It's time to go home."
AN: This is the end of "The Miraculous and the Mundane." The next story up will be "The Return to the Ruins," following 1 or 2 "Dispatches."
