Chapter 2: Heroes Are Born, Not Chosen

"I'm glad you had a fun first day!" Damian said happily, kicking the snow as he walked with Azure.

Azure looked over at the loud happy boy. "I didn't say that."

Damian shrugged. "I could just tell."

"Uh… okay then." Neither of them spoke for several minutes, the snow making walking a difficulty. They were almost to the orphanage when Damian stopped Azure, pointing at a girl sitting alone. "Ya see the girl?"

Azure sized her up. He recognized her from school. He was fairly positive her name was Nara, or something of the sort. She was very petite, her brown hair shoulder length, and she hide her face in it as she looked at her phone. "Yeah what about her?"

"Her twin bro owes me and Bates some money, you wanna help me shake her down." He asked, rubbing his hands together. An evil grin set in place. Azure noticed he patted his pocket to make sure something was there. A knife perhaps?

Azure clenched his jaw tightly. He wouldn't stand for that. "Excuse me?"

"A whole bunch of us run this betting system off of video games and what not. And last week Neal made a bad bet. So he owes some money." Damian told Azure. Who's temper was raising quickly the more Damian spoke.

"And you're going to 'shake her down'?"

"Yes!" Damian responded gleefully. Azure took a moment, then pulled back and slugged Damian across the face. Damian thudded hard against a fence, and fell in the snow. He scrambled to his feet, eyes wet but furious. "Why'd you do that? You bastard!"

"You don't get to do that anymore." Azure told him, standing firm.

Damian shook his head and stepped towards him. "We do what we want."

"I'll punch you again." Azure warned. Damian backed up slightly, looking at Azure's bald up fist. Seemingly thinking better of provoking the violent boy anymore Damian settled for a snarl and stormed off.

Now alone Azure took a slow breath, calming himself back down. Violence wasn't a solution he was found of, but it was effective. He should tell the girl he decided after several moments.

He carefully approached her, waving, attempting at a welcoming smile. "Hello, I'm Azure."

The girl looked up from her phone and smiled sweetly. Azure felt warm inside. She seemed nice. "Hi, nice to meet you! You're new in class right?"

Azure nodded slowly, uncertain about, well just about everything. "Yes I am."

"First days can be hard," Nara said wisely. "I'm lucky though I've never had to be alone, since I have my twin brother."

"Right." Azure said, scratching the back of his neck. He rarely approached people, so maybe there needed to be more conversation before he changed topics. Deciding that maybe he could piggyback off what she said he pressed forward. "That's why I wanted to talk to you."

"My brother?" She asked.

"Right." Azure repeated. "I think he got caught up in something bad. A few students seem to want to hurt him."

Nara tilted her head slightly, then smiled again. "Oh I know what you're talking about."

"You do?" Azure asked surprised. Even more surprised by her smile.

"Oh yeah! Everyone does."

"But… Damian said he was going to mess you up."

"Yeah, in the game! All disputes about money are handled through that!"

"What game is this?" Azure asked, his curiosity growing.

"That new Super Smash Brothers. Well any of them really." Nara told him. Azure shook his head.

"Oh crap." He felt like an idiot.

"What?" Nara asked.

"Well," Azure started looking guilty. "I thought he was going to hurt you, so I sort of, punched him."

Nara gasped and covered her mouth. Then giggled slightly. "You remind me of my brother. Acting without thinking. It's why he owes so much to Damian and Bates."

"Yes well, I guess I should apologize to him."

Nara shook her head. "Nah, Damian and Bates are jerks. He deserved it."

Azure nodded awkwardly. "Right… good."

Nara checks her phone and gasps. "I need to get home! You should stop by, we run a bakery!"

Then she ran off. Azure stood there watching her go. He was silently beating himself for hitting the kid. He turned and bumped into an old man. "Sorry." Azure grunted, catching the man so he wouldn't fall.

"Don't apologize my child." The old man said kindly. He patted Azure's arm and stumped away through the snow. Without giving the old man a second glance Azure finished his lone trek to the orphanage.

Silvia had finally walked home from school, anxious to start the school work she had been assigned. As she rushed to her room, she closed the door behind her. The last thing she needed was for her brother to come barging in and yelling at her for her shenanigans with that mysterious Miraculous book.

What was up with that, anyway? It definitely wasn't a book that Silvia had ever seen. And that's saying something, considering that she had been to almost every library in the city. Out of all the books she had every researched, there has never been a single result about the mysterious powers of the Miraculous. It's something that still avoided her, despite her countless hours of research. Why couldn't things be easier to find?

With an aggravated groan, she threw her backpack on her bed. Just as she was about to walk to her desk, she heard a small thud on her bedroom floor. Silvia turned around with a jump. She found that her backpack was unzipped slightly. On the floor beneath her bed was a hexagon shaped box with thin crimson writing that appeared Chinese on the top.

With a raised eyebrow, she slowly walked over and picked up the box. Silvia definitely hadn't carried this to school when she had left earlier that day. Heck, she had never seen it in her life. Whatever it was, it was in her backpack and someone must have placed it there. As she picked up the box, she realized how light the box was. Whatever it held would be something really small. No wonder she hadn't noticed it earlier. The more she studied the brown box, the more her curiosity grew. What was so good that someone felt the need to give this to her? Preparing herself for the worse, Silvia opened the box slowly.

The young girl could barely catch a glimpse of what the box held inside as a bright red ball of light emerged. She gasped and dropped the box. The light swirled around her and she held up her arms in defense. Suddenly, the red orb had stopped in front of her. The light dematerialized to reveal a weird looking pixie. It was completely red with a large red circle on its forehead. Thin antennas sprung from its head like a bug, almost mimicking a ladybug. It had a smaller body with a tri-pointed tail.

"W-What are you?" She shouted, almost stumbling back into her desk.

"Don't be afraid!" It exclaimed in a light, friendly voice. "My name is Tikki, and I am your kwami."

"A kwami?" She blinked.

"Yes! I am the guardian of the Ladybug miraculous, and you were chosen to be its wielder!"

"Wait wait wait." Silvia said slowly. "This can't be real."

"I'm sorry, Silvia, but this is as real as it can be."

She took a deep breathe as she she started to connect the dots. She glanced at the box and picked it up. It was a simple pair of circular earrings. "So if I wear these… will you grant me powers?"

"Yes." Tikki paused for a moment, which immediately unsettled Silvia. "How do you know about that? Most people aren't aware of the powers of the miraculous and their kwamis."

Her heart raced in panic. She couldn't rat out her brother like that. "I read a lot of news feeds, and something came across about a superhero that heavily relied on something called a miraculous," she thought of quickly.

"You seem like a smart girl, Silvia." Tikki gleamed with a smile. "No wonder you were chosen to hold this miraculous."

"You have me all wrong, Tikki." She placed the open box on her desk. "I'm not fit to be a hero. Heroes are courageous and willing to do anything to save people. In case you haven't noticed, I'm really the definition of a hero." She sighed and sat down at the desk. "I'm just a nerd who cares too much about information that no one cares about."

Tikki watched her for a moment before floating over to Silvia. "You're wrong, Silvia. You stood up for your friends when no one else would. That's something that a truly honest and caring person would do. If you are just as quick-footed to stand up for your friends, you will be just as willing for those of the city. There is potential in you that I haven't seen in many years. You can help us to recover what has been lost."

Silvia's head perked up at that. "What do you mean?"

"There are many different kinds of miraculous. I'm not the only kwami that is out there. Someone has managed to steal one of the available miraculous and it can pose a threat to the city."

Her eyes widened in shock. "The miraculous can be dangerous?"

"Only if they are used in the wrong hands."

Silvia paused in thought. The city was in danger, but would she be too cowardly to refuse to stand up for the evil that could plague her home. No one else knew about this but her. She could either save the city from this threat, or she could let it go and let destruction ring about.

"Alright," she finally decided. "I'll help return the lost miraculous."

"Round tones!" The vocale teacher cried loudly. Viridian rolled his green eyes. But recited the line anyway.

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

"Good, but be more careful in your enunciation." The teacher reminded him. Viridian turned his bored gaze at the clock. He had three more minutes of this hell.

"There is nothin' either good or bad, but thinkin' makes it so." He drawls, not caring about the outcome. The teacher's face turned red, and they were about to bust when Viridian's mother charged into the room.

"Out!" she barked at the the teacher. Who quickly gathered their things and left. Now Viridian sat alone with his seething mother.

Despite the sinking feeling in his stomach Viridian decided he should speak up. "Yes mother dear?"

"Is it true the school has allowed another ill behaved orphan in?" she demanded of him.

Viridian knew he should've been upset by his mother's insulting tone, yet he was rather used to it. "I believe there's a new student from the orphanage yes. Seems like a dear."

"I'm going to have to speak to the Danvers, see if we can do something about the brat."

Viridian licks his lips slowly, considering his options. "Mother I think it'd be better if we left the boy alone. He just got here and everything."

"He's a detriment to your education!" His mother trilled.

"No, no, mother dear," Viridian said, sitting a little straighter. "The only thing that's a detriment to my education is me."

His mother turned roughly to him. "That is another thing mister. Your grades better pick up, or else."

Viridan held his tongue. Instead, he simply nodded. "Then I should go study."

"Yes, you should."

Viridian excused himself from his mother's presence and into the long hallway. One of the many in Viridian's over large house. Viridian hated his house, because that's what it was. He didn't have a home. Brushing aside his negative thoughts, he makes his way to his room.

His room was a two story mess of thing. Much to large for two people to live in, let alone one person to sleep in. However he was thankful for his card table, the only thing in his room he liked. Right now though he was in the mood for something else. That something else was annoying Simon, whom he knew was actually studying.

He grabbed his phone off of his nightstand and dialed up Simon. The phone rang a few times before Simon answered. "Hello Viridian."

"Hi dearie, how're you doing?"

"I'm studying." He responds in his constant monotone.

Viridian groaned loudly. "I knew that you dolt, I meant how are you feeling."

"Normal." Simon responded. Viridian rubs his forehead, used to this kind of conversation, but still annoyed.

"Simon what have we talked about?"

There was a pause where Simon appeared to be thinking. "That I should converse more."

"Good. Now tell me how you are." Viridian said happily.

"Well I'm currently reading about the rise and fall of different major nation states in the Eurasia area and-"

"Stop!" Viridian shouted, he was struggling to hold in his laughter. "Dude, you suck at this."

"I agree, you should let me be." Simon said, he tone not shifting.

Viridian shook his head, letting out his laughter. "Someday I'll make you laugh."

"Fine."

"I hate you."

"I know."

Damian tilted his head back, and frowned slightly. "You want me to do what?"

The tall unfamiliar man smiled slightly and held out a box with Chinese lettering on it. "Take this, and take revenge."

Damian took the box from the man, examining it. He'd ran into the man after Azure had punched him. The man was dressed in a very fancy suit. Clothing similar to clothes that Viridian wore. But whoever he was, he didn't care. Till now... maybe.

"Revenge?" Damian asked.

"Of course." The man said as he opened the box, and revealed a bracelet. Damian scoffed.

"How will this give me revenge?" A flash of black stopped him short. And a small horse like figure appeared. Damian's look of disbelief slowly morphed to one of greed. "This can give me revenge?"

"Yes!" The creature however tried to protest, but the man grabbed it before it could listen. "Mind not this pointless creature, you're it's master."

Damian carefully took the box, a dark grin stretching his face. "Damn right I'm it's master."

"It was my first day of school today…. yeah I met some people. This one girl named Silvia said hi. She reminded me of mom." Azure stopped, taking a slow breath and continued talking to the picture in his hand. It was a picture of his dad. The only one he had. "I'll try and talk to her more tomorrow. I'll try and talk to people more all together." He stopped again and set the picture down. Looking over the city through his window. The tower looked so pretty. He'd only recently moved to Paris, and he hadn't been. But he had every intention of going soon.

He laid down, looking at the ceiling. School was boring sure, but maybe it could be made better with friends. He hadn't had friends in so-

He sat up quickly. Something just blew up in the middle of the city. He dropped down from his hiding spot, just as his house mother rounded the corner. "Stay inside Požar!"

"What's happening?" Azure asked quickly.

"I don't know, go to your room!" She screamed, her face purple. Azure decided that now was not the time to push her buttons. Instead he went to his room like she'd said.

Once inside he grabbed the phone he'd stolen from the hiding spot where he kept it. Without hesitation Azure looked up the news websites to see if they'd updated. He was in luck, the local news had a live stream of the events.

They showed a boy in a skin tight costume reeking havoc. The costume was a black bodysuit, with brown gauntlets and shin guards. He moved faster than anyone Azure had seen move before. Including in the Olympics. And every time the person smashed one of the gauntleted hands into something it blew apart. The police didn't seem capable of doing anything. Azure dropped the phone and started tearing the closet apart, looking for something, anything.

Silvia was scared. She swung carefully through the city towards the explosions. Despite every bone in her body telling her to go in the opposite direction. But Tikki had told her that this was one of the miraculous that had been stolen, and she needed to go recover it.

Silvia landed on a rooftop, slightly out of breath. That's when she noticed her reflection. She wore a red skin tight costume with black polka dots. She also had elbow length black gloves, and matching boots. Definitely not her style. At least her brown hair was pulled back how she liked it still.

The rooftop she was on suddenly started to quake, throwing her off balance. Silvia carefully moved to the edge and looked over, spotting the masked boy from before. She was about to swing down when another voice spoke from behind her.

"Who're you?" It said in a Batman voice. Silvia turned around and came face to face with another boy, dressed in an all black outfit. It appeared to consist of sweatpants and long sleeve shirt. He had sheer black material covering his face, and carried a long stick.

"I could ask you the same." Silvia countered. "You look like you came from a Walmart."

The boy jerked his masked head. "You look like you came from Comic-con."

Silvia frowned and stepped forward, ready to fight. "Are you with that other masked bad guy?"

"No." the boy growled, in a overly gruff voice.

"Then who are you?"

The boy stood from his crouch and examined her. "Someone who knows what they're doing."

"I'm supposed to be here. My kwami told me about this guy."

"Uh, your what?" He asked, clearly confused. Silvia shook her head. This was literally just a guy in hockey pants.

Below the sound of screaming got louder and a small explosion rocked the block. Silvia spun around, looking for a way to stop them. The boy walked next to her. "Stop them, Ladybug."

"Don't call me that." Silvia hissed, then she ran to the edge and jumped off, swinging at the figure. Mid swing, she kicked out both feet and made contact with the masked figure. He went flying and crashed into a building.

The boy stood up grinning. "I've been waiting for you, Ladybug!"

Silvia threw her hands into the sky. "Why does everyone keep calling me that?"

"You look like one." It was the guy with a fake Batman voice. He was back.

The horse guy (Silvia shook her head, she needed names for these people) turned in surprise. "Who are you? You don't have a Miraculous! Where is the cat!"

Fake Batman steps forward. "I'm... the Dragon, and you're going down."

Silvia stifled a laugh, the horse guy wasn't so kind, bursting out in laughter. "Right, well if that's what we're going with," The man crouched slightly, a smirk growing on his face. "Call me Stallion!" Then in a blink of an eye he'd rammed into the boy, sending him flying. Before Silvia could react though, the "Dragon" and righted himself and landed safely. He was an acrobat.

"Hey!" She shouted and then threw her yo-yo at Stallion. It hit him across the face and she jumped towards him. She jumped much farther than she would normally and over shot him by a lot. Silvia spun around just as Stallion rushed up and punched her in the face. She went sliding back. She threw her yo-yo up, wrapping it around a light post and used it to swing up away from his next attack.

Silvia scoped out the battle field and noticed the Dragon helping a few bystanders. She almost fell from her perch when she noticed that one of her classmates, Nara, was one of them. She looked fine, but Silvia knew she needed to end this fight and get the Miraculous away from this guy.

Silvia jumped down in front of the Stallion as he turned to face her. Stallion was right, Tikki had said there was a counterpart to her, a cat, that was supposed to be here. So where were they?

Stallion seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he was strutting forward, a big smirk on his face. "No help for you, Ladybug."

"Stop calling me that!" Silvia shouted, flinging her yo-yo at him, this time he caught it and yanked, pulling her in close. She managed to avoid the punch, and got behind him. She kicked his back and he fell forward, but caught himself, swinging blindly back at her. Silvia jumped out of the way, pulling her yo-yo in towards her and then spinning it around herself rapidly. Stallion fell back, trying to avoid the onslaught from the speeding yo-yo, but getting caught a few times all the same.

Stallion shouted out in anger, and thrust his fist into the ground, causing a small tremor that knocked Silvia onto her butt. His smirk returning, he stepped forward. "Lights out, buggy."

Azure liked his name. The Dragon. Sure it was the bad guys name on Arrow. But That guy was lame and didn't deserve it. Though Azure may be a little out of his weight class. He peeked out from behind the building he was currently hiding behind. He'd just gotten all of the pedestrians out of harm's way and was looking for a way in. Ladybug was doing a good job though, spinning her yo-yo around herself rapidly, hitting Stallion repeatedly.

These guys were fast, strong, and definitely had super powers. He had taekwondo, boxing, judo, gymnastics, and fencing training. None of which were helpful against something who could move faster than the blink of an eye. Maybe he could back flip him into submission.

Azure groaned, knowing that he couldn't do anything. As usual. He was about to leave when a huge tremor almost knocked him over. He spun around just in time to see Ladybug fall, and get cornered. Looked like he was going to do something after all.

He ran forward, heard Stallion deliver some villain one liner as he was raising his fists. Azure skidded to a stop and took aim with his staff, and chucked it. It slammed into Stallion's side, where it broke in half. Stallion jerked his head around, eyes red. He made a huffing noise and started stalking towards Azure. Azure held his ground, hoping that Ladybug would get up.

"You pesky ant!" Stallion shouted.

Azure kept silent, but raised his fists, ready to fight. Knowing that any resistance would be rather pointless. But just before Stallion reached him a blur of red hit him from behind, Stallion rolled over and received a boot to the face, knocking him out cold. Ladybug let out a sigh and looked up at Azure, who nodded once. He carefully spoke in his deep raspy voice.

"Good job, Ladybug."

"Why do you insist on calling me that?"

Azure refrained from laughing, which was a first in a long time. Instead he pointed at everyone surrounding them. They were all chanting her name.

Wang Fu was having a calming cup of tea. He'd just heard the news that the holder of the Horse Miraculous had been defeated by Ladybug. Though someone else had helped her, he went by the name Dragon, and showed no powers. The boy who'd helped Silvia hadn't had any. Very odd. And the boy he'd chosen, that Azure boy, hadn't shown up at all.

Tikki flew in through his open window and dropped the box next to Fu, he smiled up at her. "Thank you Tikki. Now hurry back to your girl. She has much to learn about her powers."

"Yes master!" Tiki squealed happily but hesitated slightly.

"What bothers you, Tikki?"

"Master, where was Plagg's boy?"

Fu shook his head darkly. "I'm not sure Tikki, but I'm worried I chose poorly."

Tikki flew in close and rubbed his shoulder. "Maybe the boy just didn't find it! Maybe the boy who helped Ladybug was the boy you trusted."

"I certainly hope so Tiki." Fu said, looking at his record player, the place he secretly kept the remaining Miraculous. "Because the Butterfly and Snake Miraculous are still gone, I can't afford for another to go missing. Esspecally not one of the main two."

"My girl and I can handle it till Plagg shows up!"

"I know Tikki." Fu said warmly. "Now hurry back."

Tiki nods and zips out the window, leaving Fu to his musings in silence. He couldn't fight them himself. He was surprised the Organization had taken so long to strike. He just hoped the children had it in the ti fight such a powerful group.

Silvia was pacing in her room when Tikki had come back from her trip to return the stolen Miraculous.

"The Horse Miraculous is back in safe hands," she said.

Silvia sighed in relief. "Good. The destruction that boy caused… do the miraculous really have that much power?"

Tikki nodded. "Yes. They're unlike anything else on Earth. That's why giving them to the wrong person can lead to destruction."

"Right. Now that the miraculous is returned, I guess I'm done here." She moved to remove the earrings.

"Silvia, wait!" The kwami rushed over to her and pulled her hand back. "You can't take off the miraculous!"

She shot her a confused look. "What do you mean I can't?"

"There are still more people out there with stolen miraculous that can cause more damage to the city. The people need a hero."

Silvia winced at the word. "I thought this was a once and done thing."

"I'm sorry, Silvia, but it's not."

She frowned and sat on her bed. "The way they called my name when I had saved them… it was weird."

"How so?"

"Well, they chanted my name, or more like superhero name, like I was a legend. At first, it was weird. No one has really cheered me on like that before. Yeah, I have my friends, but my parents usually are too busy pushing me to run the family business to care about other stuff. Then… their cheers were invigorating, like it gave me a happiness I haven't felt before."

"It's because you're doing good for both the people and the city! And people recognize that. Not many people have the courage to stand up to those that hurt others, but you do, Silvia. It's why you were chosen, and you deserve that praise."

Silvia glanced up at Tikki with a smile. Maybe Tikki was right. She knew that she could make a difference in the world, and she, for once, could be noticed. She could bring peace to their city for once, one small act at a time.

She reached out her hands and pulled Tikki to her cheek. "Thank you, Tikki. It means a lot."

"Of course, Silvia."

Silvia paused for a moment before releasing Tikki. "You know, that boy that was there was interesting."

"You mean the Stallion?"

"No, the one in all black that helped save me from the Stallion. He called himself the Dragon. He didn't look like a hero to me, well at first glance."

Tikki almost smirked. "Well maybe he's that kind of person who is the hero you strive to be. After all, heroes come in all shapes and sizes."

She paused for a moment before a small smile tugged in her lips. "Yeah… something tells me we'll run into him again."

Azure was hiding in the tower again, listening to his house mother scream herself horse at Damian. Damian had been dropped off at the orphanage by the police, after deeming he'd been forced into doing this by darker means. But the look Damian gave Azure didn't bring him comfort. Damian couldn't know he was the Dragon, no one could.

Azure had wanted to keep that Miraculous Damian had had. He tried to convince Ladybug to let him keep it. But she wouldn't budge, insisting that she must return it to it's rightful owner. He'd given up, but he could've done so much good with one of those. He let out a growl and kicked his school bag, it flew into the wall and everything spilled out. Along with a small box. Azure blinked, it was just like box Ladybug had put the Miraculous into. Azure scrambled quickly over the small area and scooped it up. He opened it and looked inside, but before he could get a good look at it, a small black thing wizzed out.

"Oh god! About time!" a nasally voice said. It seemed to be coming from a three inch floating cat.

Azure rubbed his eyes and backed away, now warry. "What are you?"

It yawned loudly. "You got any cheese?"

"Uh, no."

"No?" It groaned loudly and floated to the floor. It sighed dramatically.

"I could find some, maybe." Azure said quickly, noting the interest levels change immediately. "But you'll have to tell me what you are first."

The small cat floated backup to Azure's eye level and nodded. "Fine. I'm Plagg, the Kwami of the Cat Miraculous. When you put on this ring and say 'Plagg claws out' you'll be transformed into a superhero. Got it?"

Azure picked up the ring and examined it, his heart beating so fast he could feel it. "You can give me superpowers?"

"You're a quick one." Plagg muttered, Azure picked up on the sarcasm but let it slide. He was too excited. He would finally be worth something. He'd finally matter.

"I'm the Dragon." Azure muttered to himself, slipping the ring on his finger.

"No."

Azure snapped his head up, looking at Plagg. "No?"

"No, I'm a cat, not a dragon."

"Right, but can't that be my name?"

"No." Plagg said fiercely. "There's a dragon Kwami. If Longg hears that my boy calls himself the Dragon, I'll never hear the end of it."

"But… but that's my superhero name."

Plagg shook his head. "No."

"Please?"

"No."

Azure huffed, crossing his arms. "Then what do you suggest?"

Plagg shrugged "I dunno, I'm a black cat. Black Cat?"

"She's a girl." Azure mused, thinking. It wasn't bad though. The it hit him and he smiled. "Chat Noir."

"Sure kid, whatever. Can I have that cheese now?"

Authors Note: This is a group effort. And way more dramatic than I was expecting it to be. So I wish I could add another Genre tag. But I definitely want to focus on the romance and humor. Now like I said this is a team effort. That team being Stitches04! They have work all their own on AO3 so definitely go check that out. They're the OG OG creator of Silvia and they're helping me out with her in this.