Hello again. Thank you so much for the reviews on the last chapter. I'm so glad that people are enjoying this story. Yeah, this story was partly inspired by the chibi shorts, I've seen a few people comparing this story to those, which means I'm hopefully doing a good job. Thank you so much to everyone who has followed this story and added it to their favourites. Your support is amazing!

Three French Hens

"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug called out, throwing her lucky charm object into the air, causing waves of miraculous magic to surround them, fixing all of the damage that had been caused by the akuma victim. The cages were all fixed and the faverolles chickens were back in place. The whole house was back to way it had been looking before, as if a huge battle had not just occurred within its grounds.

Chat Noir stared down at his hand that was still glowing with his black, cataclysm magic. He hadn't even gotten to use it. He had been so useless during this fight. In fact, when wasn't there a fight he wasn't useless in? Ladybug could handle any akuma attack with her eyes closed. Sometimes Chat Noir wondered why she put up with him. Was it pity?

He sighed to himself, trying to push those thoughts out of his mind. The fact that he was still disappointed over not having found a gift for Ladybug yet probably wasn't helping his overall mood. All he felt like doing now was sulking because nothing seemed to be going right for him lately.

He had been awake almost all night trying to come up with another idea for a Christmas present. Then, just as he felt like he was about to think of something, a new akuma villain struck, instantly drawing him away from his thoughts and ideas. Of course, that meant Ladybug's gift had to take a back seat, meaning he now had nothing to give to her today.

Chat Noir almost couldn't look Ladybug in the eye during their fight with Liberator, an akumatized animal rights activist, determined to free all of the caged hens from a house on the outskirts of Paris. After what had happened two days ago with his statue gift, she must think he was incredibly pathetic. But she had acted pretty normal with him.

"This feels…wrong…" Ladybug's voice brought Chat Noir out of his deep thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Using my lucky charm to fix this awful place. I mean, look at these poor chickens, I can understand where this man is coming from," Ladybug explained, gazing sadly around at all of the chickens that were confined in small cages. Most of them looked pretty sickly. A lot of them had lost a lot of feathers, and some had cuts on their wings from where they had gotten caught in the bars of the cages. The poor creatures had no room to move at all.

Chat Noir stared down at Ladybug with a small smile on his face. He had no idea that Ladybug was such an animal lover. But then again, he shouldn't be surprised. Ladybug was such an amazing, caring person that it was natural that she would feel sorry for these poor chickens. She had such a pure heart. He felt unworthy to even desire to possess it, but he knew that he would cherish it for as long as he lived.

With a dispirited sigh, Ladybug slowly walked towards the animal rights activist who was beginning to come around from his ordeal. He was crouched on the ground on his hands and knees, shaking his head before looking around in confusion. The man froze at the sight of Ladybug, who crouched down to his level.

"Are you okay?" Ladybug asked.

The man looked away, frowning. "No. I know I should feel bad for what just happened, but honestly, I don't. I don't want anyone to get hurt, but it's not fair for these chickens to be kept like this. It's abuse, plain and simple. It's not fair that they spend most of their lives in cages. This farm is illegal. It's not run by proper farmers. These people just bought these chickens and shoved them in cages. This place is even worse than a proper battery farm. But no one will listen to me. The police and the council don't seem to want to deal with it."

Chat Noir turned to look at the chickens again. They all looked so miserable in their tiny, dirty cages. In a way, Chat Noir could almost relate. He knew what it was like to be locked away from the world. To not be able to see or touch many people. To not have any friends. To not see the outside world, breathe the fresh air, stare up at the wide, open sky and stretch his arms and legs out. Chat Noir knew what it was like to be prisoner. Only these chickens suffered much worse.

"I know, but violence isn't the answer," Ladybug spoke to him patiently. "It is a shame about the chickens, but I'm sure there are other ways you can help rather than attacking and getting aggressive with people."

Chat Noir looked down at his hand again before looking back up at Ladybug. He had never seen Ladybug struggle so much to comfort an akuma victim before. It looked like the situation pained Ladybug almost as much as it did the man she was trying to comfort. It now seemed she was unable to bring herself to look up at the suffering chickens. They kept clucking and crying out, and the sound was becoming more and more unbearable with each passing second.

It tugged at Chat Noir's heart, and seeing his lady's pained expression caused his chest to constrict even more.

"Maybe you could set up a petition and finally get the police to investigate this place?" Ladybug suggested.

Chat Noir chuckled, causing them both to look up at him in confusion.

"Oh come on, my lady, I thought you were more proactive than that," Chat Noir teased, winking at her. "Why bother with all of that when you have a chicken liberator right here?" He held up his hand which continued to glow with cataclysm magic.

Smirking, Chat Noir ran towards the cages and began to drag his hand along the edges of them, making sure not to lose his grip before all of the chickens had been freed. Luckily, the cages were so tightly compacted together in the small, dark room that he didn't have to worry too much about that.

Soon enough, all of the metal cages had completely disintegrated, allowing the chickens to fall to the floor, freeing them forever. Ladybug and the man both watched in a state of complete shock as the chickens began to roam freely around the room, seeming as if they almost didn't know what to do with themselves.

Chat Noir folded his arms across his chest, smiling down at his handy work.

"Dude, thank you so much!" The activist cried out, running towards Chat Noir and enveloping him in a tight hug. Chat Noir smiled awkwardly and patted him on the back, having done this more for Ladybug and the chickens than this guy, but he was glad he could make someone else happy as well.

"I'm pretty sure you can give them decent homes," Chat Noir suggested, "because after what happened earlier, I'm pretty sure you scared the guy who runs this place away for good." Chat Noir laughed. "Besides, this place was illegal, so I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about him going to the police over you taking his chickens."

"I will, don't worry!" The man yelled excitedly. "I'll just go and get some back-up to help me evacuate the chickens. You're amazing Chat Noir!" He continued to yell as he ran back upstairs and out of the basement of the Parisian suburban house.

Chat Noir smiled at his retreating form before freezing as he felt a warm arm snake around his own. He looked down and instantly blushed at the sight of Ladybug beaming up at him.

"That was a very nice thing you did," Ladybug praised.

"Yeah, well, I don't like to see innocent creatures suffering." Chat Noir puffed out his chest, placing his free hand on his hip in the hopes of looking impressive.

Maybe this was the perfect gift for Ladybug? Freeing these chickens obviously made her really happy, so maybe doing a good deed for Ladybug was the perfect gift? Maybe he had been thinking about this all wrong. Ladybug was a superhero who took her job seriously. So maybe, Chat Noir finally proving himself useful, and that he could do something good was a gift that Ladybug could really appreciate. A simple gesture of good will could be his gift for her.

As if agreeing with his thoughts, one of the chickens clucked happily at his feet before laying an egg on the ground. Smiling happily, Chat Noir bent down to pick it up before holding it towards Ladybug who stared at it in confusion.

"Here you go, my lady. The first free range egg from these chickens."

It seemed silly, but maybe it could be a beautiful, romantic symbol.

Ladybug laughed. "I don't think that's quite how that works, silly kitty."

However, Ladybug still smiled warmly at him and looked like she was about to take the egg off him when three of the hens began to surround Chat Noir, flapping their wings as they tried to jump up at him. Instinctively, Chat Noir tried to lean away from them before losing his balance and dropping the egg on the ground, watching in horror as the shell smashed, causing the egg to leak everywhere. This only seemed to make the three hens that were jumping up at him even madder.

"Hey! Get off!" Chat Noir yelled, beginning to panic, getting startled every time one of the chickens tried to jump up at him, flapping their wings rapidly and clucking loudly.

Chat Noir continued to back away, but the chickens continued to chase him.

"Hey, I freed you! I'm your friend, your saviour!" Chat Noir cried out as he began running around the room, trying to get away from them. The hens were determined though, and whatever Chat Noir had done to offend them, they certainly weren't going to leave him alone.

Chat Noir then screamed, throwing his hands in the air as he began sprinting up the stairs, all the while, Ladybug clutched her stomach, laughing hysterically at the sight of her partner being chased out of the room by a group of angry chickens.

Oh dear. Chat Noir still isn't having much luck, is he? But that poor boy sure can persevere, and he's not about to give up yet! See you guys in the next chapter, and feel free to let me know your thoughts and opinions in the meantime. It helps me out a lot.