AN: "The Scales of a Spartan" and "Commonwealth's Genesis" are NOT abandoned! Just merely on a hiatus as my schedule and interests changing. I'm still working on a chapter for The Scales of a Spartan, and I've already gone through several drafts for Commonwealth's Genesis, so bear with me!

And I've been reading up on the lore on the fandom wiki, since I only have access to the episodes available on Netflix (I'm broke, alright?). I found out that there are WAY more Miraculous, including a tiger one. But fuck it. I'm making my own sort of AU with this story, I guess. To sum it up…

Original strain of Miraculous created containing the Cat, Ladybug, Peacock, Butterfly, Turtle, and Bee.

Second strain of Miraculous planned, containing the Tiger, Wolf, Dolphin, and Eagle.

Only the Tiger Miraculous is able to be achieved.

0-0-0

Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug

Friday, 19:15

Her mouth was opening and closing, but no words came out. She must've looked like a dying fish. And judging by the look that the boy was giving her, she most likely did. "Er… hi?" he asked, calming down slightly from his abrupt awakening due to Marinette's clumsiness. She was internally freaking out. She was in a boy's room. He was shirtless. And they were both alone. Her face was so red she thought she must look like a tomato.

The boy, Augusto, Marinette remembered, seemed completely fine. He didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that he was shirtless. "Uhm… Hi! Marinette, I am! No, mean I Marinette! Ugh! No-" Marinette started stuttering, her mind becoming nothing but faint vapor as the result of the complete awkwardness and sexual tension that only she seemed to be picking up on.

Before she could finish her messed up sentence, Augusto started laughing uncontrollably. Not the sort of 'your stupid' laugh that Marinette usually experienced from Chloé, but the sort of harmless 'you're hilarious' laugh. Marinette awkwardly chuckled along, unknowing of what to do. After a couple of seconds, Augusto composed himself, still with the occasional snicker. He hopped out of his bed, walking over to what Marinette guessed was his closet. She was extremely thankful that he wasn't the guy to sleep in his underwear, as that would've made all of this much, much more awkward. "Sorry, just can't I seem to ta-" Marinette started to talk again, but Augusto made a quieting motion, and Marinette was all too happy to oblige.

"I get it, you're the incarnation of Yoda," Augusto chuckled jokingly, flipping through a couple of shirts. Marinette finally managed to get her blush under control, and started to form more articulate sentences. "Sorry about barging in! Your uncle told me to come get you, and I assumed you would be… doing… stuff…" Marinette trailed off, rubbing her arm nervously, not wanting Augusto to think she was some sort of perverted voyeur. "No problem; totally understandable," he shrugged, sliding on a black tee, and then a long-sleeved red plaid button-up shirt over that, not bothering to button it.

"I underst- I mean, you understand?" Marinette caught herself. "Yeah," replied Augusto, sliding on his shoes, "I'm usually a night-owl and like staying up late, so it's not unreasonable to assume that my uncle guessed that I was still awake working on my schoolwork or something like that, especially on a Friday."

"Oh, dieu merci… so you don't think I'm a perverted voyeur?" she asked before she could even think straight. Her brain then processed what she said, and her face became ten times as red, and she clamped her hands over her mouth as if she could pull what she had said out of the air. Augusto didn't seem very bothered though, only stopping after he finished tying the laces of his shoes, chuckling a little. "And why would I think that?" he grinned, standing up and rolling his shoulders.

Marinette caught sight of a wince that flashed across his face before being swapped out for his previous grin. "Something wrong?" Marinette asked, her instincts telling her that something was wrong with him. "Ah, nothing," Augusto seemed panicked a bit, and that 'nothing' came a bit too quickly than Marinette would like. "Something's wrong. Show me," Marinette narrowed her eyes, trying t see anything odd about his posture. She hadn't really known him well until now, so she didn't know why she was doing this. Augusto groaned. "I, uh, got a bunch of scratches from, er, a jog I had gone on. Somebody ran into me, spinning my around and to fall on my back. Since it was on a slope, I slid for a second before I stopped," Augusto quickly fibbed, subconsciously rubbing his lower back. Marinette's care-taking instincts were shining through as she got up and pulled the back of his torso attire up, spotting the red and angry skin that seemed lightly scratched. "It's not that bad. Just a bit of ointment and it should be fine," Marinette said, trying to dial Augusto's expression, "Do you have any ointments in your bathroom?"

"Um, yeah, they're in the far-right cabinet. The bathroom is the last door down the hall, on the left," Augusto's face was starting to turn a bit red as he gestured to where Marinette should go. She nodded, off to get the ointment.

0-0-0

Augusto Vega/Bengal Tiger

Friday, 19:21

As soon as Marinette had applied the unspecified ointment to his lower back, she lowered the shirts, then said they should get back down to the party before Alya suggested they were doing something beyond appropriate.

"So, this is Augusto Vega?" Alya asked as she saw the teen, putting on a comical Italian accent for his name. "It's Argentinian, actually," Augusto corrected, clasping his hands behind his back. He had acquired this habit from his uncle, who tended to do that. "Ah. Crud. I can't do a Spanish accent," Alya screwed up her face in a joking manner, taking a sip from her cup. "'Sup, dude!" greeted Nino, who, as far as Augusto had been able to tell, was helping himself to the absolutely ludicrous amount of food his uncle had cooked.

Alya stared at them both, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Nino, could you please get me a refill with some ice?" she asked innocently to her boyfriend, who nodded, grinning, and ran off to go do as he had been asked to. "Anyways, what's up with both your faces? You're both blushing. Anything happen that I wasn't there to witness?" Alya waggled her eyebrows suggestively. "No!" Marinette squawked indignantly, her face becoming even redder. "She only put some ointment onto some of my scrapes," Augusto shrugged, covering for Marinette. "And it's pretty hot," he commented, gesturing his head towards the thermometer on the kitchen wall, "It's 26 degrees." (This is Celsius! Not Fahrenheit. In F, it's around 80 something degrees!)

Alya glanced back and saw Nino coming back with the cup and ice cubes, so she shot Marinette a glance that told her they would be talking about this at a later date. "Here you go, dudette!" grinned Nino goofily, handing her the cup. "Thanks, Nino," she took a sip from the cup, seeming relieved at the coolness it brought her. Augusto slid his hand inside his pocket.

Nino glanced at the side, seeing something that Augusto couldn't. "Alya, I'm still hungry. Let's go get something to eat. Again," Nino said, sounding urgent. Alya looked unsure, but seeing how urgent her boyfriend looked, she shot Marinette and Augusto an apologetic glance and turned to follow Nino. "Ah… Marinette Dupain-Cheng," a voice said.

Augusto turned to see a very unwelcome guest. Chloé Bourgeois. Marinette groaned in exasperation, looking at the source of the voice. Augusto inwardly kicked himself. Of course, his zio would invite Chloé to the party. He was one of those adults who thought kids these days needed to "forgive and forget" and just be friends. Augusto would love to just grab her and kick her out the door, but he was much too timid for that. And he didn't feel like having his grade ruined a second time. "Hi, Chloé," Augusto's voice was laced with malice as he clenched his fist inside his pocket.

"I see you aren't half-way to Mexico by now," Chloé remarked loftily. "I said I come from Argentina," Augusto enunciated the word very clearly, talking to the snarky girl as if she was a two-year-old. "And isn't Argentina in Mexico?" Chloé tried to recover from her obvious fail. Augusto couldn't help but to slap his palm onto his face in an exasperated facepalm. "No. It is not. It is in Southern America. Not Central," he reiterated, his voice barely above a growl. "Whatever," Chloé said snarkily, "Small party you got here. Don't you have servants?"

That was it. Augusto wouldn't deal with this anymore. He growled throatily, then stomped off towards the door, opening it, then walking off into night-time Paris... Chloé could possibly just have created an akuma!

0-0-0

Augusto Vega/Bengal Tiger

He had transformed, wishing to run around on the rooftops as the Bengal Tiger again. Hopefully, he wouldn't run into Ladybug or Rena Rouge again. He was not in the mood to sustain more injuries, and possibly be discovered by his uncle.

He hopped up onto a shingled rooftop, looking around, dazed by the beauty of Paris. It had been beautiful at night from the streets, but it was completely different from the rooftops. The wind was free to move, unhindered, and the honking and noises of the busy streets seemed to echo through the city. "Hey, Aug," Rybbo zipped out of his armband, holding what looked like multiple folded papers. His eyes were shining brightly, as if anticipating something. "'Aug'?" Augusto raised an eyebrow at what his kwami had called him.

"Yeah, your nickname," the kwami dismissed hastily, gesturing towards the papers in his hands. "We need to talk," Rybbo told him. This peaked Augusto's interest. "Have I done something?" he asked, feeling a slight fear of having his Miraculous taken from him. "No, no," the kwami reassured him, "Nothing to do with you, actually."

"Oh, thank god," Augusto breathed a sigh of relief. "It has to do with the other Miraculous," Rybbo started, gesturing towards the pages. "We're gonna take Ladybug's and Cat Noir's Miraculous?" Augusto exclaimed in surprise. Rybbo facepawed as best he could with his stubby little arms. "If you could simply let me finish the sentence, you would find out," sighed Rybbo in exasperation. "Oh, right, sorry," the tiger-themed hero apologized.

"Let me explain. The original Miraculous, cat, ladybug, fox, whatever, are the first strain of Miraculous to be forged. The gods within them, known as kwamis – me – are created every time a new concept is formed. Love, math, hatred, all that lovely stuff. I was created when the concept of hunting formed a couple million years back. Me. Not my Miraculous. Well, all was good for a thousand years or so. Until a particularly bad case popped up in 843 BC; a rogue Miraculous holder. He had used its power to impose total control over a large portion of Greece," the little kwami started to ramble a bit, still holding Augusto's interest, "And the Miraculous, the Cat Miraculous, was invulnerable to practically any other Miraculous except for Ladybug, and she refused to turn her partner in to the Guardians."

"They then realized that they would need a Miraculous that would be equal to any of the originals, even the Ladybug and Cat ones. They planned a whole new strain of Miraculous, my only knowledge of the others being a wolf Miraculous. They were never done, though, as the Ladybug wearer turned her partner in before they could find a good person to use me," the small tiger seemed to hold the papers he had closer to him. "Eventually, I was just put in a storage unit, the rest of the line abandoned due to the massive amounts of material and expertise required, even more so than the original. The rest is irrelevant to the topic I'm trying to convey," the small kwami finished.

"So, what are you trying to convey?" Augusto was still digesting the knowledge. "That there are other Miraculous that were meant to come with me, but they were never made," the little kwami responded, starting to seem a bit impatient. "And why are you telling me?" Augusto asked, gesturing toward himself, his tail flicking to emphasize his statement. "Think about it; your uncle is a couple hundred bucks shy of being a millionaire, you could get the required materials to make the rest!" Rybbo grinned, his ears perking up from their previously drooped state. "Hold up; you just said that they were abandoned due to the excessive materials and expertise needed… what makes you think that if a whole group of collaborators, from the sound of it, couldn't afford to make them, a single teen could?" Augusto pointed out.

"Because it was hard since they were a new strain!" the tiger kwami didn't seem even remotely annoyed; he was grinning widely, as if a breakthrough just occurred. "I'm not following…" Augusto stated, feeling a bit ignorant. "The first Miraculous in the first bunch was incredibly hard, but once it was done, the rest were much easier, needing less materials and magical experience due to the fact that there was a kwami to help out. The reason they couldn't do this with me was because the Miraculous are created in strains, two or three being created in a burst of mastery," Rybbo started gesturing wildly with his arm-nubs.

"Then if your Miraculous was finished, why didn't the creators do the rest?" Augusto asked, confused. "Because the threat that my Miraculous was created to solve dissipated before I could've been used, so they didn't see any need to continue the strain after me," shrugged Rybbo. "I'll try…" started Augusto, thinking on what to do. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rybbo purred in happiness, shouting those words like a little child that got one of the best toys as a present. "So, which one should we focus on first?" asked Augusto, realizing he didn't even know what the other Miraculous were supposed to be. "The wolf," Rybbo replied, unfolding one of the papers he held. It was incredibly weathered, darker stains splotching the yellow-ish page.

On it, there was a necklace with what appeared to be a metal circular design in front of the neck, with a metal wolf tooth dangling from it. On the metal circle, a tooth design was visible. "This looks fairly simple…" Augusto murmured, noting that the Miraculous appeared to be the circle and the tooth, the sort of very thin rope keeping it attached to the wearer's neck only being a means to keep it on.

"What materials will we have to get?" asked Augusto, staring at the small kwami. Before he could respond, he heard a gasp from behind him. The tiger kwami instinctively zipped into his armband and Augusto shoved the paper into one of his many pockets.

Whipping around, he saw Ladybug. "Come to fight me again?" Augusto growled, falling into a defensive position. Ladybug winced, but Augusto couldn't tell if it was from the memory of fighting him, or the bruises she had most likely received from that encounter. "Listen; that was my kwami's emotions being passed onto me; fear. I won't attack you – I swear," Ladybug practically begged, her eyes dull with remorse.

To some degree, Augusto believed her. It was incredibly hard to resist the impulses of your kwami when they were in the jewelry. Many of the decisions he had made while being in Tiger form was with the added influence of Rybbo and his past wielders, along with the faster reflexes and better instincts. Something inside him told him it was the truth, and he had learned to trust his gut since he was little. "Alright. I forgive you… but if you try anything again, I will not hesitate to do whatever I need to do to survive; even if it means fighting dirty," Augusto told her honestly, quickly glancing over the roof and noting at least three different ways to escape.

"Glad that it's forgiven," Ladybug seemed to sigh I relief. She then seemed to stare at him for a couple of seconds, lost in thought. "Er… hey?" Augusto alerted her, trying to bring her back to the present. "Oh, sorry," she shook her head, as if ridding herself of thoughts.

Abruptly, they both heard moaning. Ladybug's face flushed red as she realized what they were hearing, and Augusto's turned a bit pink. His cat-like ears swiveled, trying to find the source of the sound. After a few seconds, they found it. He turned, cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting "Hey, if you wanted all of Paris to hear you, why not put it on a megaphone!"

The moaning stopped, and he heard several disheveled noises. He started laughing, putting his hands over his stomach and doubling over, his tail flicking every time he breathed in. Ladybug just stood there awkwardly, her face red as a tomato.

"Anyways…" Ladybug started, "What were you talking to your kwami about?"

Augusto instantly turned serious, turning around to face the red-clad heroine, "You don't need to know."

0-0-0

Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir

The injuries he had sustained as Cat Noir lessened with him reverting back to his civilian form, but still were enough for his father to clear his schedule for the next two weeks and command he be confined to his room. He would usually have no problem with this, but the injuries were even worse with Cat Noir form. Adrien guessed he would have to wait to recuperate in his regular form, and then becoming the black-clad hero would become bearable.

He felt useless. Ladybug wouldn't have anybody but Rena by her side, and she didn't have as much experience as he did. He would never admit it, though, but he felt a bit like a sidekick to Ladybug. Usually whenever anybody talked about the pair, Ladybug always came up in conversation, and he was cast to the side. Merch was focused on Ladybug and not Cat Noir. And everyone always credited Ladybug for saving the day. Technically, she did capture the akuma and all, but she wouldn't be able to do much without him. He took so many hits for her, and had sacrificed himself more than once so she had a fighting chance.

It stung a bit that his façade was always the famous one, and that his true self was more or so pushed aside in favor of Ladybug.

He had always guessed this was a sort of darker side he had; not dark like murder dark, but a more cynical version of him, most likely awakened by Plagg's conjoining with him during the Miraculous transformation. If he was being completely honest with himself, he felt replaceable. The only importance he had was the Miraculous. The story would've gone on the same if some other random guy had received the black cat Miraculous.

He shook his head, trying to relieve himself of the negative energy that had started to accumulate around him.

He was currently in his bed, Natalie sitting in a chair next to the bed, watching over him. Ever since yesterday, his father's assistant had acted a bit… less professional, if Adrien had to guess. She had become a bit more affable and open to physical contact. His dad, while still holding on to that professional and busy aura he had always had, interacted with Adrien a bit more now, having even joined him for dinner last night. Right now, Natalie was reviewing his grades in school, judging if he would be able to be excuse due to the injury he had sustained.

Adrien stared at the clock, still groggy from his abrupt waking. 6 AM. Time to get up, this was a routine for his body. See six on the clock, get up, get ready for the day. Before he could hop out of his bed, and no doubt be welcomed by stinging pain all around his torso and neck, Natalia placed a hand on his torso to keep him in bed. "Your father said that you have no responsibilities for as long as you are injured. If you're still tired, you can go back to sleep," she said, a small smile gracing her features.

"Yes!" Adrien whispered, pumping his arm in bed. He quickly covered himself and fell back asleep, Natalie still sitting beside his bed doing whatever on her tablet.