4 She (2171)
They called her Miu. She never learned if that was her real name or it was just because she always played with their cat. They told her she learned to walk by holding onto their house cat. It was a big black cat. She loved that cat and the cat never used his claws on her.
Her father wore a uniform. He spoke a different language than her grandmother. And her mother spoke both. They had a house. Her father would let her mother reads some letters to him. Then he would walk up and down the room and dictate letters back while her mother was writing.
Other kids followed their mothers into the rice fields and played in the mud. But she sat on a floor and was trying to leave marks on it. Just like her mother was leaving marks on paper when she was writing. Grandma was not happy. So her mother produced a pen and a paper and taught her to write.
Grandma was always busy. She was in the kitchen, she was talking to other neighbours about important stuff and she never had the time for trivial things like reading and writing. But Miu's mother said that reading and writing meant she would not have to go to the rice fields.
But all kids went to the rice fields and Miu sometimes felt lonely. Her father was cleaning his weapons and she was helping. So the man decided he might as well teach his daughter how to use those weapons. It was not like he had a son. Perhaps one day in the future, but not yet.
Then a letter came that the king of the country form where her father came was waging a new war and her father had to go. That is why her uncle moved in. They had to have a man in the house. It was a must. Her mother did not want her brother there, but grandma said it had to be so it had to be.
She did not like her uncle. They had books in her home that her parents used to read to her, but now her mother was writing for someone else outside of the house and her uncle did not read so she had to read them herself. Quickly, she had no problems reading really long books.
"You are old enough to go and work in the rice fields." The uncle told her one day. The next morning she went to the rice fields. She had no idea what to do. The other kids made fun of her. She was not a god worker. She tried, but she was slow and her body was not used to the mud and work.
The next day she stayed at home and was reading some book when her grandma told her it was time to learn how to take care of a house. She did what she was told, but her curious self suddenly remembered something she read in a book and she wanted to try. Her grandma was not happy.
Then grandma said that uncle should get a wife to clean and wait on his hand and food because she was old and could not wait on his hand and foot any more while Miu was obviously not cut out for the job, she was going to have a desk job like her mother.
Some time after that, grandma and uncle had great news for her mother. But her mother was furious, she was crying and screaming and protested the idea. The mother took Miu to her office the next morning. It was actually a post office where Miu had to be really quiet and hide below her mother's desk.
She got a pen and a piece of paper to write and was able to read a book down there, but she did not like it. She wanted to roam around and see the world that she was reading about in her books. Her mother tried to take a different route to and from work each day to make it more interesting.
"You uncle found a girl to marry, but in exchange, you would have to marry her father." Her mother explained one day. Miu had no idea how bad was that, but her mother cared to explain all the horrors of the situation. The story was so gore that the girl did not notice where they were going.
They walked the whole day and late in the evening they reached one large building. "This is a temple. You will be able to study here and be safe and away from your uncle." Her mother kissed her forehead. There were girls and boys in that temple, her age and older, they were all dressed the same.
Miu and her mother spent the night in the temple. Her mother told her that she would stay there until her father returned, told her to write and promised to write back. The next morning, her mother left and Miu changed her clothes, she was dressed the same way as other girls and boys.
Once a week she would send and receive a letter, it was safe because her mother worked in the post office. She was the only one in the temple whose parent knew how to read and write. So it was always a spectacle. One day her mother wrote her that the cat had died. Miu was sad.
Miu learned ancient texts, she learned how to write them nicely, not just the way her parents did, with clean and efficient letters, but really pretty, each letter was a painting, and she did all the exercises that looked much light fighting. She had friends. There were plenty of kids and they exercised and played together.
One day a letter came. It was much thicker that before. Her mother wrote that she had received a note. Her father had died. He was not coming back. She was not going back home from the temple. Her mother promised to write more because she intended to keep her job in the post office and not marry like uncle and grandma wanted.
Miu was sad about her father, but she did not want to go back home, she missed her mother, but grandma not so much and definitely not uncle. She had friends here and she learned many new things and if she came back home she would have to sit under her mother's desk at work all day.
The young monks from the temple were going for some sort of pilgrimage. They got up early and walked. They walked and walked a muddy road. And then they walked some more. They slept somewhere, Miu was too tired to understand where it was and then they walked the whole day again.
Then they reached their destination, it was a large city with huge temples overlooking its streets. There was a procession. Everyone was solemn and quiet. Some kind of a ruler had died. They had to be quiet. They had to be sad. She was sad because a man had died. She remembered her father and cried after her father.
Then the celebrations started. Suddenly there was food, everywhere. And someone start to sing, someone else started to play an instrument and other people started to dance. It was wild and colourful and noisy. She ate and after many days of walking fell asleep by a wall.
Someone yelled fire. Someone else yelled soldiers. Another voice screamed about some dark forces. It was the middle of the night and she smelled smoke and saw nothing. It was hard to breathe and she coughed on her way. She roamed between other people who roamed around in the dark and in panic.
She had no idea where the rest of her group was. She had no idea where she was. She could sense something lurked in the darkness. She heard it breathe. She smelled the smoke. She felt the draft of wind it produced as it moved. She felt the threat it produced to everything and anyone around.
Then the being spat fire and she finally saw it. The being was a dragon. Just like they taught her. This one was black and red. It looked mighty and dangerous. It spat fire and several rooftops started to burn. But then it turned around and looked at her, and in its eyes, Miu saw fear.
Then she heard voices, they were in the language her father spoke, they were quiet and she would not be able to hear them if the two people talking were not seated on a wall just above her. She could not see them, but she concentrated to hear each word.
"What do I do with a mouse trap?" A voice that definitely belonged to a girl or young woman groaned.
"Maybe you need Mullo?" A voice that belonged to a boy replied, but she could recognize a glint of teasing in his voice.
"Chat." She warned.
"You know, if I detransform, I might have a piece of Camembert stashed to use as a bait on that mousetrap." The boy teased.
"And I know exactly who would get caught in there if we used that as a bait." She retorted.
"Plagg can phase through objects." Chat replied calmly.
"Yeah, no use for that I guess, he would just steal the cheese." The girl replied again.
"Hey Bug, do you have any idea which object hides an amok or an akuma?" The boy asked next.
"I have no idea what this is, Bunnix just brought us here and I hoped for a clue from my lucky charm." The girl protested. "Besides, it is dark and I don't see a thing. Why didn't I get a flask light?"
"Well, you're lucky that I can see in the dark, then. Do dragons normally have something like a bracelet on a front limb?" The boy asked.
"Is there anything else on its body?" She asked in return.
"None that I can see, and as we have both noticed, the body is firm, it should not be an object hidden inside." He replied.
"That is probably it then." The girl answered.
Then the two jumped from the building and flew through the night sky. Miu did not understand how exactly they were moving but in the darkness it was not much different than flying through the air. Miu followed them with all her speed, she ran through the dark and empty streets and tried to follow.
When she caught up with them, they were already fighting the dragon. It was frightening, but Miu did not run away. She had no idea where to run, everything around her was the darkness save the fire that was right in front of her. But at least that was something she could see.
Then she ran to the side to evade the next spit of fire from the dragon. And that was the moment when the dragon saw her again. It followed her and grabbed her with its claws. Miu knew she was being crushed, but she did not feel the pain just yet, the adrenaline set out and did its business.
Then she noticed that there was indeed something like a bracelet on one of the claws that were holding her. She tried to grab it and take it off. If those two beings that were fighting the dragon had any clue, this was its weak point, this was what she should be doing to save herself.
Those two funny dressed persons, because now she could see them in the light of the fire, continued to attack the dragon. Finally, the one in the black got very close and grabbed her. There was a fight but she held onto that bracelet. She was too scared to fall.
A mouse trap attached to its tail and then the dragon opened its claws to grab onto the black clad human and Miu fell. It did not help that she was holding the bracelet, because now it was in her hands. But she was going to hit the ground and she was going to hit it hard.
But she never did. A string wrapped around her and a girl dressed in red with black spots with a mask on her face caught her. They both landed gently. Miu gave her the bracelet.
"Oh, you got it!" The girl in red exclaimed and stomped on it. A dark violet feather appeared. "An amok" She shouted. She caught it into some red circular instrument and released a white feather. "Bye bye little feather." The older girl spoke gently.
A boy in black landed beside them. He was holding a really strangely dressed man.
"Bunnix will pick him up if he needs it." The girl said.
"What about her?" The boy asked and motioned towards Miu. She could not see him well in his black suit although she saw the girl and the other man because of all the fire around them. But she saw how his green eyes almost glowed in the dark.
"Wait, let me take care of this first." The girl said and threw that mouse trap thing in the air while she shouted "Miraculous Ladybug." A swirl of ladybugs washed all around them and all the fires disappeared and the houses were restored. Miu admired the swirl and all the magic it did.
"Where and to whom do we need to return you?" The boy muttered to himself while he was looking at Miu. He was a teenager and that was a girl of about eight or nine, or perhaps even older if her growth was slowed down.
"I don't know." She had no idea.
"Wait, you speak French?" The boy was surprised.
"The order of the Guardians also has a crew here, they would know what to do with her." The older girl wearing red with the black spots replied.
"Of course, I can take her and find them." The boy replied.
"I'll go with you after I recharge. By the way, I'm Ladybug." The girl added as she introduced herself to the girl.
"And I'm Chat Noir." The boy took the girl in his arms and carried her away.
They found a tent and entered.
The boy spoke with them in a language that Miu did not understand. She looked at Ladybug, the heroine explained that she barely understands the language too, but they were just talking about what just happened during the battle with the dragon.
"I told them what you did during the battle with that monster. I saw how you ran after us in the darkness." The boy told Miu. "They want to take you with them to a temple in the mountains where you will learn the secrets of miraculous."
"Are there going to be other children?" Miu asked. The letters from her mother became scarce, short and far less regular than before and she mentioned that her family was forcing her to feed them all and provide for each and every need because the uncle did not marry yet.
"Yes, there are other children, just like you." Ladybug answered.
Miu nodded. She had no idea how she would return to her old friends, she had no idea where they were nor if they were still alive or if they wanted her back.
Then one of the monks spoke to Chat Noir and they had some discussion. Ladybug said they were not sure where to return her and it was too dangerous for a girl her age to be just left alone to fend for herself. They were trying to find a solution on what to do.
"My name is … " Miu began to speak. If she gave her name, then they might help her find fellow monks from the same temple she arrived from.
"The name you used until now is not important." Chat Noir replied with a huge grin. "Because they told me that from now on you shall be known by the name of Pema."