The next morning Nath had to spend a good half hour convincing himself to go and buy some milk. His mother was lost in a deep sleep sprawled on the couch, and his brother had come home around five a.m. to keep working on his project, so although he could, he didn't dare ask him to walk him to the store. He didn't have the heart, plus he couldn't stand the idea of being a coward. His growling stomach eventually brought him to reason logically, he'd have to pass through the dang warehouse alone eventually, anyway. What better moment than under broad daylight?
His sneakers crunched under the loose pebbles that wore off the old pavement, a sound he tried to focus on to counter the knot in his stomach as he passed through the mural. To his surprise, the dog from last night was sunbathing right next to it and wiggled his tail at the sight of Nath.
"Ugh, no… go away, go away, don't follow me…"
The dog hurried to catch up with him. He carried Nath's bag on his snout and deposited it right at his feet. Nath looked incredulously at the canine, who breathed with his mouth open, again "smiling" at him. There was a note inside the bag. "Friends are good company, keep going."
"Because that's not creepy at all," Nath said. "I suppose you didn't write this, did you?"
The dog whimpered.
"Thought so."
He let him walk with him all the way to the store and hoped that he'd get distracted or find something more interesting than walking by Nath's side. But the dog dutifully waited for him on the sidewalk and stopped following him when they reached Nathanaël's building. He barked twice, did a little turn and then laid down in the garden.
Nath wasn't especially gullible when it came to omens and magical things, but let hell freeze over if that wasn't one of the weirdest things he had ever seen in his life. After having breakfast, showering, and texting a little with Max and Marinette, he decided to give the mural another go. It was Saturday and hardly any people took the warehouse's shortcut. Plus the dog was still outside.
"Went to the library," he wrote on the little whiteboard on the fridge, and was on his way.
Nathanaël worked on the mural the rest of the weekend and Monday night, the dog making him company at all times, except when he found a cat to chase around or some even of the sort. He brought an old wooden ladder he found lying on the basement to work on the upper parts of the piece. It felt like climbing onto death itself, but he was glad to see the final result was worth it.
He sat with a sigh next to the dog to share a sandwich with him. "What do you think, Graffiti? Looks good, huh? I just need to put some shades around the top over there."
Graffiti barked.
"Well," Nath said dusting his pants off and stuffing the rest of the ham-and-cheese sandwich on his mouth. "Let's finish up, it's getting late."
He just had turned on his flashlight and hadn't reached the spray can yet when the sound of rusty metal struggling to move roared above his head, closely chased by a deep rumble and a tremor on the ground. Graffiti growled. The demon, whatever it was, was large enough to make the structure of the warehouse shake violently. Nathanaël was hurrying to pick up his things when the akuma veered to the right, emerging from the back of the warehouse: Ten stories worth of wire, cables, and spare metal pieces. Its body resembled a skeleton, its hands were crooked like demonic claws. Nath gulped and paced back cautiously, so as to not give away the fact he was right underneath the akuma but Graffiti, sensing the danger barked at him and snarled, promising a bite.
The bloodshot eyes and sinister grimace of the akuma met Nathanaël. It was one of the worst he had ever seen.
"Oh no," he whispered.
The akuma growled when Graffiti attempted to bite off its toe.
"Graffiti, no!" Nathanaël tackled the dog just in time to evade the akuma's swat at it. He tumbled over the floor a couple of times, scattering spray paint everywhere. Startled, and finally aware of his place in the food chain, Graffiti took a run for it favoring self-preservation instead of the stubborn little red-hair who for some reason thought it was a good idea to stand petrified out in the open.
Nathanaël trembled, knowing it was too late to run. So much for man's best friend.
"Le-leave me a-alone!" He demanded in a mousy voice, pointing the flashlight at him.
"NO LIGHT ALLOWED!" The akuma snarled baring the nails and screws he had for teeth. It roared, extending its arms and absorbing every wave of energy around him, depleting the factories surrounding them them and submerging the area in a void of darkness. The only source of light were his eyes, which glowed with an electric blue, and the occasional lightning sparks that flashed around his head.
It only took a fraction of a second before the akuma fired at Nathanaël, and he sprinted around the warehouse. He panted, desperate to find shelter as the akuma followed him. He remembered one of these old warehouses had a broken window, now if he could just find it before he got himself killed. But the light wasn't enough, and so long as there was darkness, he was doomed.
"Help!" he shouted. "Someone please, help me! LADYBUG, CHAT NOIR!"
"NO LIGHT!" the akuma roared, discharging the energy he had collected onto the ground right behind Nath and momentarily igniting the night with blinding white.
"Yeah? Well then, stop firing!" Nathanaël growled, only earning himself a more vicious attack.
He yelped and threw all obstacles he found in his way, boxes, ladders, wood, anything was valid so long as it slowed down the akuma long enough for him to devise a plan or have Ladybug and Chat Noir come to the rescue, preferably the latter.
Not very smart, Nath. Not very smart at all.
"Help, someone!"
Two slim shadows passed atop him, momentarily blocking the moonlight. One propelled itself with an extendable stick and ran on all fours when it landed on the roofs and the other gracefully swung from building to building.
"My lady, down there! I see them! The akuma is attacking someone!"
The akuma had just fired again, managing to set a lone wooden beam on fire. Nathanaël saw the shadows of Ladybug and Chat Noir perched on the building behind the akuma and knew they would need more space to fight him.
He was cornered against a dead-ended alley, with the akuma slowly approaching as he now held the beam on fire.
It growled again, ready to fire, and that's when he saw it. The distraction. One of his spray cans laid on the floor.
"Get away from me!" Nathanaël screamed, earning the pair time as they stealthily sneaked closer to the akuma.
"Or what?" the akuma said in its low, demonic voice, kneeling to have a better look at Nath. "You'll fight me, Nathanaël Lefebvre?" He laughed.
Nathanaël widened his eyes, knowing this wasn't the akuma talking, but Hawkmoth himself.
"No. But they will." With an agility that could only be result of the pounding adrenaline in his bloodstream, he snatched the spray can and sprayed it at the fire, and onto the akuma's face.
The akuma cried in pain and fell onto his back, giving leeway for Nathanaël to sprint away from the scene and Ladybug and Chat Noir to charge at him.
He remained hidden under a truck throughout the whole ordeal, only daring to poke his head out when the akuma shot electricity at the pair.
There was a lot of shouting and rumbling. The sound that chilled his blood however, was the high-pitched scream of Ladybug that followed shortly after the thunder of the akuma's lightening.
"Cataclysm!"
"Chat Noir!"
From under his refuge, Nathanaël saw Chat Noir fall with a dry thud against the floor, unconscious. Moments later, the akuma followed, as Chat managed to destroy the structure of the akuma's feet.
"No more evildoing for you," Ladybug said darkly as she cleansed the butterfly. "Miraculous Ladybug!" she screamed with haste, desperate to have the sea of tiny ladybugs wash away all the harm. The light came back and the fire was dissipated. The akuma was then engulfed in dark bubbles that revealed the form of the victim as they disappeared.
Nathanaël gasped, horrified. It was his brother.
"Rèmy!" he exclaimed, and scrambled out of his hiding spot to meet with him.
"Nathanaël?" he said, evidently disoriented. "Where am I? What are you doing here?"
"Chat?... " Ladybug said, trying not to sob as she cradled her partner's still unconscious body. "Chat Noir… kitty?"
Nathanaël averted his eyes when Rèmy tried to find answers with him. "I… I did that?"
Nathanaël simply nodded.
"Mmm… m'lady?" Chat Noir said finally, with a raspy voice, as he incorporated back into consciousness. "What happened?"
"You stupid cat!" She said, her voice muffled against his neck. "How many times have I told you? You have to be careful!"
Chat sighed, simply relaxing into the hug. "It was either you or me, Ladybug."
"I don't care!"
Nathanaël felt uncomfortable being there. It wasn't his place to witness Ladybug and Chat Noir's exchange, he felt like he was crossing a line, invading a very delicate kind of privacy. He nudged at his brother, who didn't seem to have the same idea.
"Come on, we have to go."
The boys stood up, dusted themselves off, and it was then when Ladybug finally acknowledged their presence.
"Sorry for all the trouble," Rèmy said. "I feel terrible. You've had to deal with both of us now."
She shook her head. "It's nothing. I'm glad you're safe."
"It's our job," Chat Noir said, giving them a smile.
"Is there anything we can do for you?" said Rèmy.
"No," Ladybug answered. "We're-"
Beep beep. Chat Noir's ring flashed.
"I have to go now." He grunted as he struggled to get up.
"You need to rest for a moment, Chat."
"My house is too far away from here," he explained. "I need to go before I'm detransformed."
"You can hide in that warehouse until you recover," Nathanaël pointed at the one where he was working on. "It's safe, I come by here every night."
"Thank you." He bit his lip and scratched the back of his neck for a second. "Is there a chance you might have some Camembert with you?"
"Camembert?" Nathanaël chimed, unable to hide his confusion.
He nodded. "I…uh, I need it to recharge my powers."
"Yeah, totally. Don't worry, Mr. Chat Noir. We'll find you Camembert!" Rèmy said.
"And if you could find some cookies, too, please," Ladybug said. "I'd appreciate it."
"Cookies too, Miss Ladybug."
"We don't have Camembert at home," Nath hissed at him as Rèmy pulled him away from the pair. "And it's crazy expensive! Where are we gonna find Camembert at this time of the night?"
"Hey. When Chat Noir saves your sorry ass and asks for some Camembert in return the only thing you say is, 'Yes Mr. Noir. In a platter or a plate?' Come on, there's a convenience store by the bus stop."
Rèmy dragged Nathanaël to the store and bought three packs of Camembert cheese, both were silent through the oddly mundane activity because the alternative was to small talk about how their day had been. And apparently, the day had gone so terribly wrong that Rèmy's only conversation topic would be explaining why he got akumatized. That was a talk they'd have inevitably so Nathanaël didn't see the need to hurry it.
The walk back was brisk but quiet. Quiet enough that they could hear it even though they were still a good kilometer away from the warehouse. A voice, a laughter that echoed across the night. And a figure, a girl, floating around the area looking for something. Nathanaël gasped, feeling how his stomach sunk.
"Quick, hide!" he hissed and pulled his brother behind a truck.
"What's going on?" Rèmy asked, poking his head out of the car.
"An akuma. That can't be! Hawkmoth just released one…"
"What? That doesn't look like an akuma. She's like, one of them. Come on, she can't be that dangerous-."
"Rèmy, no. Stop! I know her. That's Lila Rossi, she got akumatized into an evil superhero. She's in my class." At his brother's completely clueless and slightly irritated expression, he added deadpan, "Volpina."
"Oh!"
Nathanaël rolled his eyes.
They hunched down against the truck as Volpina flew over them.
"Come out, come out from wherever you are!" She sing sang. "I promise I'll be nice. I know you're not transformed. You're useless."
Nathanaël and Rèmy looked wide-eyed at each other, both smart enough to reach the same conclusion. Volpina was right. They needed to recharge in order to fight her.
"We need to give this to them," Nath muttered.
"Yeah, but how?"
"Well, don't look at me, you're the engineer. Aren't you supposed to be ingenious?"
"Not the best time to bring that up."
Nath cursed under his breath. There had to be something they could do. But it had to be fast. It had to be fast, and it had to work. Confronting Volpina was obviously out of the question, but if anything, despite her powers, there still was a human element within her.
Nathanaël spotted a full trash container to their left. "We're going to trick her."
They slithered out of their hiding place and grabbed as much garbage as they could. Trying to be silent, they modeled a figure of Ladybug and Chat Noir to the best of their abilities. Pulling his hoodie over his head, Nath handed his flashlight to Rèmy.
"Flash it against that wall and make it look like it's them. I'll go give them the cheese."
"What if she spots you?"
"She won't. At least not if you do it right."
Rèmy turned on the light and did quite a terrible impression of Chat Noir.
"Uh… I'm Chat Noir!"
Nathanaël waited for Volpina to see the diversion. Hearing his brother's poor attempt, he turned around with a grimace and slapped his forehead. Well, that was one plan under the bridge.
"He doesn't sound like that!" Nath hissed. "Make a pun, something!"
"I'm doing the best I can!"
Nath sighed and cleared his throat. "Hey you! Mongrel!"
That did the trick. Volpina instantly whipped her head around, and immediately spotted the shadow of Chat Noir against the wall.
"You can't be!" Volpina gasped, but flew to check nonetheless.
Making the most out of her distraction, he sprinted to the warehouse and slipped in through a service door that was thankfully unlocked. In contrast to Volpina's ugly shouting outside, the inside of this place was eerily quiet.
His footsteps echoed, bouncing off the corners and merging with the light dripping of faulty pipes.
Faint amber light from the night outside filtered in, casting a weak shadow of his person and the abandoned machinery on the cracked concrete.
"It's Nath," he announced to the nothingness, pretending he didn't see the shadow standing on a staircase to the second level, nor the other one, on the opposite side of the factory. He gulped as intimidation turned his feet into lead. These were the two heroes of Paris, utterly and completely defenseless before him. Yet, there was a certain power, even in their normal selves, that made him a bit afraid.
"I, uh… I brought your cheese and your cookies. I'm gonna leave them here. It's cheap cheese but I hope it does the trick… My brother is out there so, uh, not to rush you or anything but it'd be great if Volpina doesn't kill him."
He set the bag on the floor and turned around. "Yeah."
"Nathanaël," he heard the voice of Chat Noir, which was weirdly familiar without his transformation. "Thank you."
"We owe you," Ladybug said, also with a voice Nathanaël could swear had heard before.
Nathanaël shrugged, pushing away the whirlwind of emotions that ebbed in him. Ladybug and Chat Noir thanked him! He actually helped Ladybug and Chat Noir and he did not get killed in the process!
"It's nothing. You do it all the time for us."
He heard footsteps approaching him but he did not dare turn around to see. He knew it was them. His heart beat thunderously, threatening to make him hyperventilate.
"This isn't my normal Camembert," a tiny, screechy voice complained.
"Just eat Plagg," Chat Noir scolded him.
Plagg? Who's Plagg? Nath didn't recall Ladybug and Chat Noir having sidekicks. Maybe he never noticed, maybe they were always were there.
"Plagg" munched his way through the packs of cheese while a second, silent being crunched cookies. There were so many questions Nathanaël wanted to ask. Who was Plagg? Did Ladybug and Chat Noir knew each other behind the mask? Why did Plagg eat cheese? Why did the other one eat cookies? Had they ever met Nathanaël before by any chance? Because holy damn, they sounded exactly like two of his classmates now that he paid attention. How come Hawkmoth released a second akuma? Why did Lila get akumatized again? Was that even possible? Did that mean no one was safe from him? Did that mean he wasn't safe?
His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden flash of green right behind him and a second flash, a red one, further back on the stairs.
"You should probably stay here until we take care of Volpina," Ladybug said. "We'll bring your brother back, don't worry."
Nathanaël held his breath as he heard their voices muffled by the factory's structure, menacing Volpina to give up. There was a lot of shouting, their fighting resonated on the roof. Nathanaël could make out the difference between Chat Noir's baton slamming against the metal versus Ladybug's yoyo bouncing against it.
"Lucky Charm!"
"Nath you there?"
He gasped. Rèmy had entered the factory without him noticing.
"Yeah. I'm here." He emerged from his hiding spot under the stairs of a machine's structure. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Chat Noir escorted me here."
Nath nodded. "How are they doing up there?"
"Frankly I was too scared to stop and ask them."
"Right."
Silence.
"So, uh, what happened?" Nath finally brought himself to ask. They were stuck in there for an indefinite time. Might as well tackle the elephant in the room while he could.
Rèmy sighed, knowing what his brother referred to. "I don't think I want to talk about it, Nath. I'm really sorry."
"It happens to the best of us."
"That sucks, though. I hate it."
"What?"
"Being so… helpless. It's not fair. What does this mean, like, do I have to watch what I feel from now on simply because of stupid Hawkmoth?"
Remembering Ladybug and Chat Noir were currently fighting a victim that had been akumatized twice, he simply sighed. "I used to think not. But now… I mean, she's been through it twice."
Rèmy fell silent for a moment and then finally muttered, "I failed, Nath. I failed this course twice and now.. Now they might expel me out of the program." He sighed. "I worked so hard…"
"Is that why you got akumatized?"
"Yeah… I just felt so angry at myself. So frustrated. I think about it now and it still makes my blood boil."
"Then don't. Don't think about it if you can't control it. That's what I do."
"You think I could get akumatized again?" Rèmy asked, his voice quivering with fear. "I don't want to be a monster."
"I don't think you are. You're just human. Everyone has a monster inside, I think. It's just up to you whether or not it comes out."
He chuckled. "Are you sure you're sixteen? You sound like Mister Miyagi."
Nathanaël laughed. "That's just what I think. Do you think they don't get angry?" He nodded at the roof. "There must be something they do different, right? Not to get akumatized."
"Nah bro, they're different. They're Ladybug and Chat Noir."
"But not all the time. They have to get sad and angry, too. Everyone does."
"Time to de-evilize! Bye-bye little butterfly, Miraculous Ladybug!"
Nath and Rèmy smiled at each other, confident that the worse had passed. Perfectly timed, they bumped each other's fists, synchronizing with Ladybug and Chat Noir's victorious "Pound it!"
Nath and Rèmy emerged from the factory to see a grinning Ladybug and Chat Noir, and a disoriented but angry Lila.
Nath saw it happen. The akuma, a new akuma, settling on Lila's neck.
"Watch out!" Nath screamed before Lila pushed Ladybug and Chat from the roof.
Gladly, Chat had reacted fast enough to grab Ladybug and buffer the fall for both. Nathanaël had never seen fear on Paris' heroes, which only gave leeway for him to invite his own terror in. His faith, his hope, crumbled as he saw how Lila stood on the roof unfazed .
"I will destroy you, Ladybug," she menaced. "I don't care how long it takes. I will steal your Miraculous and I will finish you!"
She flew away before Chat or Ladybug could stop her. It wasn't the wisest thing to do, anyway. Their jewels had begun beeping and the sky roared with thunder, menacing with heavy rain.
Nath and Rèmy approached the heroes shyly.
"Are you okay?" Rèmy asked as Chat Noir got up and lent his lady a hand.
"What are you two still doing here?" Ladybug said gently, but with a touch of reprimand.
"We waited out the battle," Rèmy explained. "That had never happened before, right? Three akumas in a row?"
Ladybug sneaked a worried glance at her cat. "No."
"Does that mean we can get akumatized again?" Nathanaël asked them.
Adrien felt compassion towards the utter fear in Nathanaël's voice. Perhaps he was a dick to Adrien, but to Chat and Ladybug, he proved himself as one of the bravest citizens he had ever seen. And he'd be the first to admit that perhaps he had been pegging Nathanaël wrong this whole time.
"We don't know, but don't be scared," Chat said. "Ladybug and I will protect you."
Ladybug gasped when she noticed the mural. Gaping at it, she approached and gently pressed her hand against it. It was a beautiful thing Nath had created. The strokes had a softness to them and the portraits were cartoonish but possessed an unexplainable humanity about them. It was their eyes, Ladybug decided. Nathanaël captured their eyes well. The kindness, the innocence. It had never occurred to her, that the akumas she fought on a daily basis had a life. Of course, they were citizens, but as Ladybug she had to defend her anonymity and that also meant not delving too much into the victim's life. But Nath had that luxury and had used it well. It was a very gentle, beautiful expression of compassion.
"You made this?" she asked him, noticing the stains on his hands and his clothes.
"I.. Uh, well. Uh… It's supposed to be a secret."
She gave him a warm smile. "We know how to keep secrets, right mon minou?"
Chat Noir nodded. "We do, my lady. But uh… a little advice, maybe you should sign it."
"I don't want people to know I made it."
Chat and Lady grinned at each other, enjoying the irony. "Well, make up a name! An alter ego," Ladybug encouraged. "We won't tell."
Nath tapped his chin thinking for a good name and he smiled, remembering his companion from the last few days.
He kneeled to the bottom of the piece and shook a can of black paint. He drew the profile of a dog and underneath scribbled "Graffiti Dog."
"What does that mean?" Chat Noir asked, a bit irked at the fact he used dog as a pseudonym as opposed to a cat.
"An inside joke."
The Miraculouses beeped for the third time. "We have to go now," Ladybug said. "Thank you for your help. You were our heroes tonight."
She threw her yoyo and Chat Noir extended his baton, both to be swallowed by the night.
They were welcomed home by a frantic, extremely exasperated version of their mom, who demanded to know where they were. Still hyped and stupidly courageous, Nath confessed about the mural and told his mom Rèmy had been with him to check he wouldn't hurt himself.
Glad for the cover, Rèmy boasted about how beautiful it was and the fact Nath had really outdone himself.
"You can't just sneak out of the house like that!" Sylvie scolded them. "There's a reason you have phones! Something could have happened to you, for god's sake!"
"We were safe, ma," said Rèmy. "Besides Ladybug and Chat Noir keep Paris-"
"Oh don't give me that! Not even Ladybug and Chat Noir can keep everyone safe. You have to be more careful, and responsible! The both of you have school tomorrow and it's two a.m." She sighed. "You're grounded. You'll come home directly from school this week. Now go to bed, it's late."
Knowing better than to argue back, Rèmy and Nath marched quietly to their rooms, but not without sneaking a complicit smile to each other. Paris' heroes had heroes of their own. And they were two of them!
"Thank you, tomato," Rèmy said. "I owe you big time."
Nath sighed, feeling lightheaded and enormously awed as he spun around in his desk chair. This was probably one of the scariest, yet most amazing nights of his life. Chat Noir and Ladybug liked his mural! And even though no one in Paris would know it was his creation, they did. They were in in the secret with him. That made him smile.
He didn't know how, but the next day everybody knew Nathanaël had been involved in last night's akuma. All thanks to Alya, apparently. The girl had eyes and ears in all of Paris. So much so that not only she knew he had been in the attack, but she also knew of the mystery artist Graffiti Dog, who had done a beautiful tribute to all that is good and worthwhile in Paris. The mural had struck such a sensible chord that it was making it into local news.
More than flattered about the attention for his involvement in the akuma attack, he felt a bit restless. He really didn't want people to know he was the creator of the mural, but yeah, he'd be the first to admit it was nice to have people recognize his work. And what better way than anonymously? To have the art speak by itself.
"So what happened? Did you see Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Alya nagged him.
"The usual," Nath said. "Akuma, they came, they saved the day. I just happened to be in the middle of it."
"Volpina was there, you know why?"
Nath shrugged. "Do I look like Hawkmoth to you? No, of course not."
"Did you see Graffiti Dog?"
Nath tried hard to keep his face straight. In retrospect, his curtly, "No," sounded more suspicious.
Throughout the day, and the following to come, Nath went to school to be swarmed by all the avid fans and Alya, who waited with new batches of questions every day.
He didn't like to be at the center of things, he liked his anonymity. He didn't know what to do to get rid of his harassers. He'd try having lunch in the bathroom, hiding in the library, in empty cupboards, but nothing made them sway.
"Guys, can't you see that bothers him?" Agreste finally said after the third day of constant inquisition, as they were all in study hall.
He didn't know what he hated the most: The fact that just because Agreste said so they stopped bothering him, that he now owed him a favor, or that ever since the questions and attention stopped he always caught two people inconspicuously staring at him: Marinette, and Agreste himself.
Those two knew something.
It went against his better judgement to find exactly what it was, but they didn't fool him. They knew something.