The new cover image was drawn by cBotan, which I am using with their permission. :)
Chapter Seventeen
"Meh. At least it isn't the Blogger-girl this time."
"Not helping, Plagg," Marinette said, eyes scanning the article, which she wasn't even sure why she was reading. It wasn't from the BeetleBlog, so it wasn't like she wanted to just support her friend. But yet a part of her seemed to be drawn to her computer, scrolling through articles to see what had been written about Lady Noire.
This current one she was reading was about the akuma attack that Crimson had dubbed 'Copycat', which seemed to have sent ripples through the media. The general consensus was that yes, it wasn't Lady Noire who had attacked– but what if it had been?
"Why are you reading this?" Plagg asked, landing on top of her computer screen, crossing his paws.
"It's... it's important to know what people think of the heroes," Marinette replied, eyes scanning the article.
The article definitely seemed to be on the side of criticizing the mayor's most recent announcements– including passing a law that in so many words exempted her and Crimson from being considered vigilantes in the eyes of the law, which was probably the one good thing that had happened for her hero persona as of late. It hadn't been just designed for her and Crimson though, but it also clearly stated that they were not officially sanctioned by the government– leaving a nice little loophole for the mayor in case she and Crimson (she was guessing it was more aimed at her) became a liability.
She had read through the law when it had first been passed, but honestly she didn't understand most of the legal jargon. From what she understood, it basically allowed magical threats to be handled by magical individuals– though it had avoided directly using the word 'magic'. And if she had understood it correctly, it also excused them from being charged for damages they caused 'so long as it was down with the intention of protecting those in direct danger, halting or stopping the threats as described above, and the property damage done is able to be fully reversed when the "Miraculous Ladybug" light is released'.
Most seemed to think that this had been written as a means for the government not to be held responsible if the heroes failed to be just that, but the most prominent issue being discussed was the fact that she and Crimson were unknown individuals with unknown motives. There had been theories proposed when they had first appeared that they were somehow connected to the government, but those seemed to be fading with the way officials had so far approached them, but there still seemed to be individuals that remained adamant on the theory.
Overall, people seemed to be heavily split on everything, as usual.
Some people didn't like the idea of there being no regulations on the power they held, with them not even reporting to any known organization, while others seemed to like there existing a form of power outside of the government's hands, while yet others just called for letting the heroes be heroes so they could fight the true threat– Monarch. Marinette just wasn't comfortable with such a political debate being focused around her.
And despite having defeated Copycat, it seemed like that akuma had been a win for Monarch in the end– because now some people were pointing to what had happened as a model of what could occur if she were to turn against the city, and why more needed to be done. It made Marinette's stomach churn, people pointing to an event that had not been her doing– yet still acting as if it were now a possibility.
She jumped as her screen suddenly went black, and she looked down to find that Plagg had unplugged her monitor.
"Hey," she snapped, while he let the cord fall to the desk.
"That's enough," Plagg replied. "You keep reading all this stupid junk, and it's not helping anyone."
"We need to know–"
"We already 'know'," Plagg growled. "We do our jobs, people say things, then we come back here and eat cheese– if they want to bicker, they can, but that's their problem."
"They're talking about us, Plagg," she said, moving to plug her screen back in. "This is things we should be keeping up on–"
"You don't need to read every possible version of what they're saying about you or what happened with Copycat!" Plagg cried. "It's the same junk, just written with different words!"
She gritted her teeth. "It's important to stay informed!" She snapped, the article flickering back onto the screen. "We just need to–"
Plagg was over at the mouse, moving it over to click off of the article. "...Grab a coat."
"What?"
"I'm bored!" He whined, flopping over the mouse. "I've just been sitting in your room all day! This place smells too much like the stupid bakery– I wanna go to a cheese shop!"
"I already bought you some cheese for this week."
"Grocery stores don't have variety," he groaned. "You're starving me! We need to stock up!"
"Stock up? You mean you'll just pig out on even more cheese."
"Too bad, I want cheese," Plagg huffed. "We could go get stuff for your projects too, I guess, if that will get you to go out."
"Fine, but only because I need more material for some Christmas gifts."
"And I need my precious cheese. Also wear something with a hood, I'm not sitting in a purse all day."
She wasn't quite sure when Plagg had taken the time to learn where various fromageries were throughout Paris, but as they headed out, he hadn't hesitated when giving her directions. It was a small little shop he led her too, though Plagg had claimed it was the best one in the area.
Talking to Plagg in public was something she hadn't been able to do before, but Plagg telling her to wear a coat with a hood turned out to be just the answer to that. Even if she didn't have it up over her head it provided him the perfect place to hide, where he could still whisper to her– and all she needed to do to talk back was to hold up her phone and pretend the conversation was with someone on the other line.
Marinette had ended up buying a generous amount of gorgonzola cheese at Plagg's insistence, along with an extra wheel of camembert, the kwami muttering how beautiful it was as she stood in line behind a man who was so short that she could easily see over his head. In Marinette's opinion the gorgonzola didn't look the most appetizing, a webbing of blue spread throughout it, but if it would make the kwami happy...
"Give me, give me, give me!" Plagg chittered next to her ear, having wormed her way into her hair as they exited the shop.
"I'm not sticking cheese in my hair," she hissed back at him.
"Nooo," he cried, though thankfully quietly enough that no one besides her heard him. "I need it, kid, you can't keep me from my cheese!"
"I bought it, you can wait."
"This is kwami abuse!"
She finally broke off a piece of the cheese, only to find how crumbly it was in the process. She crinkled her nose as she wrapped it back up to put it in her purse, wondering if this was going to be her fate, all of her things smelling of cheese. She slipped one of the crumbs to Plagg, before letting out a long sigh.
"Oh, my sweet beautiful cheese!" Plagg purred. "It's been so long since I've tasted of your deliciousness!"
"You literally had some cheese before we left."
"It wasn't gorgonzola," he huffed.
"I FOUND THE BUTTERFLY!"
The silence in Marinette's room was shattered by Alya's shout, the girl leaping off of the pink chaise, a stack of papers clutched in her hands. Marinette couldn't help but flinch slightly, Adrien and Nino looking up as Alya practically danced towards them, a huge grin spread across her face, and excitement was rolling from her in waves.
"...Huh?" Adrien asked, blinking.
They were all taking the afternoon to put their presentations together, Marinette's house having been chosen as the prime spot– probably thanks to the endless supplies of snacks her parents were happy to provide. It had forced Marinette to hide away all of the Christmas gifts she had been working on for her friends, but since this get together was for a school assignment, Adrien had been granted permission to come over without even needing to put up a fight, and they weren't going to let it go to waste.
Alya had just gotten her translated transcript from Ms. Mendeleiev, having taken a long time to decide which German document she would think would be the most helpful towards her research, and she had been poring over it from the moment school had ended, including on the walk over to the bakery.
"Right here!" Alya said in excitement, holding out the papers towards them. "Right here, it talks about butterflies! 'The Butterfly is too dangerous, but the Peacock has been successful.' I have no idea what that's supposed to mean, but if it means akumas that means my theory could be right!"
"Peacock?" Adrien said slowly.
"Yeah, I have no idea," Alya said, plopping down next to Nino, joining their little group on the floor. "But it's animals, right? The heroes and villains are all about animals–" She paused. "What if there's more of them? What if they're all animals?"
"But what does that even mean?" Nino asked. "I mean all of this took place like... seventy years ago?"
"Closer to seventy-five," Alya said, voice almost a squeal, leaning up against Nino as she continued to pore over the papers.
"So if there is a... 'dangerous butterfly', then how old does that make Monarch then?" Nino asked, blinking. "I mean judging by what we saw from Cameraman's attack, she didn't seem like an old lady."
"I... I don't know," Alya said, sitting up slightly as she considered this. "If the powers are genetic... then maybe this was Monarch's mother or grandma?"
"This is a German document though, right?" Adrien asked. "So why would they be saying 'the Butterfly' is dangerous if the French documents were talking about so-called 'monsters' from the German side? Where does that put this... Butterfly villain then?"
"I... I don't know..." Alya muttered. "Maybe Monarch's ancestor wasn't on anyone's side of the war...? But then why...? Gah... and then there's the Peacock mentioned, and it sounds like the Peacock was on the German side...? Maybe the Butterfly villain went rogue or something? Or, um... maybe this doesn't have anything to do with the heroes and these are just code words for something else...?"
"Don't give up too easily," Nino said. "You know there's something strange going on, and if anyone can figure it out, you can."
"Was there anything about peacocks mentioned in the French documents you looked at?" Marinette asked.
"No..." Alya muttered, before pausing, fumbling for her phone. "Wait– Siri– what's German for peacock?"
"Pfau," the robotic voice replied– resulting in another squeal from Alya.
"Marinette– you're a genius!" She cried, lunging for the chaise, grabbing her laptop off from it. She flipped it open, immediately hunching over as she began searching through the computer. "I just thought that was a German name so I didn't bother translating it, but I know I've seen 'Pfau' in here– got it!"
She spun the screen around for them to see, showing a photograph of one of the newspapers from the French Resistance. Marinette's eyes scanned the headlines, though the rest was much too small for them to see, which Alya seemed to realize after a minute. She turned it back around, reading it aloud for them instead.
"'New warnings of Pfau in reports from Húlí,'" Alya quoted with a wide grin. "The name appears several times– but it's not a name! Warnings of the Peacock in French documents, and praise of it in German. Could just be a code name, but the Butterfly was mentioned in the same context... Eee! I actually think I'm really onto something!"
"So is this what your presentation is going to be about?" Marinette asked.
"Girl, I so want to, but I'm just going to stick with the papers published by the Resistance– pretty sure Miss Bustier wants facts and not theories," a grin crept onto her face. "Besides, this needs a bit more research– and then it's going straight onto the BeetleBlog."
"Where else do you plan on looking?" Marinette asked, slightly hesitant. She was just as invested as Alya– okay, maybe not as much as Alya– but she wasn't sure how much Alya should be researching. But if everything Alya was finding was within public documents, it wasn't exactly like she could do much to keep it hidden. Eventually someone would piece something together...
"...How hard do you think it would be for me to find a veteran that would be willing to do an interview?" Alya asked after a moment. "Someone that was in the Resistance," she looked down at her laptop. "I mean there's just a lot of names I've come across that are mentioned often in articles, like 'Pfau', and I've noticed an 'Amber' brought up a lot, but I actually can't find any information on who they were. Maybe if I could talk to someone who was there..."
"Probably won't be too easy," Adrien said. "You'd need someone alive, someone who was in the Resistance, who is comfortable about talking about what happened in the war, and who has the answers to the questions you have."
"Well, I'm not going to get anywhere unless I try," Alya said, determination etched on her face. She then stared down at her screen for a moment, before peering up at them. "So... um... any of your guys' grandparents happen to serve for France in the war...? Or know anyone who did...?"
"Mine are too young," Nino said.
"My nonna's Italian and my Mom's side of the family all live in China," Marinette replied, a slight frown on her face. "Nonna travels a lot, so I could ask her if she knows anyone...?"
"No," Adrien said, shifting.
Alya turned her attention towards her computer. "Well, in that case I'll see if any of my followers do."
"How about we finish our presentations first?" Marinette said with a smile. "They're due next week."
"That's what all-nighters are for."
"Alya, no."
"Sooo..."
"What?" Plagg asked, biting into a hunk of provolone, watching as Marinette was cleaning up after her friends.
"Alya found mention of butterflies," Marinette said. "And this whole peacock-thing seems pretty interesting too..."
He rolled his eyes. "I already told you, I wasn't active then, I don't know what you want me to tell you."
"Is there a Peacock Miraculous?" Marinette asked.
"Duusu," Plagg said, crinkling his nose. "Kwami of Psyche; she's something alright. Was what Blogger-girl talking about her, though? I can't tell you– and I wasn't there. Besides, this would all be assuming that the Blogger-girl is actually right about something."
"But there is both a Butterfly and a Peacock," Marinette said, ignoring the jab at Alya. "And both of those animals were mentioned in German records, so Alya could be right about all of this, there could be Miraculouses involved in the war. And the fog... is there a Miraculous that can control the weather?"
Plagg grinned. "That can be tricky to answer."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean was it even weather?" The Black Cat asked with a snicker, and as tempted as she was to probe further, she had a feeling that the kwami would only become even more vague.
At this point she was pretty much convinced that Alya was correct– well, almost correct, as Alya didn't know how their powers worked or were passed down. But Marinette was convinced that there were Miraculouses involved somehow in World War II. Plagg was clearly amused about something, cracking up at a joke she didn't understand, but she sat down at her desk to jot down what Miraculouses she did know of in her journal.
Black cat - Plag - destruction
Ladybug - Tiky - creation
Peacock - Dewsue - psyche
Butterfly - ? - transformation? grants powers?
Rabbit - ? - time travel
Monkey - ? - disabling things?
? - Pastel - somehow related to time?
? - Sass? Cass? - opportunity
Possible weather Miraculous? Fog?
Lady Noire, Crimson Beetle, Monarch, Apex, Cottontail, Citrine?, Pfau?, possible WWII Butterfly? Shakespeare?
She honestly didn't know if Plagg had been serious about the last one, and she tapped her pen against the desk, realizing that it was honestly a lot less than she thought. It was funny how people thought she and Crimson were being all secretive about their powers and magic– but honestly they knew next to nothing themselves.
If the German records called the Butterfly Miraculous dangerous, then what side had the Butterfly been on, then? France? But then what 'monsters' had the papers been talking about? Perhaps that had nothing to do with the Miraculouses and had just been wording, then? Or maybe the Butterfly had been a wild card, not on a single side of the war and had just been a danger across Europe?
But if so, then why weren't there more records of what it could do? Surely there had to be some mention of people with powers attacking if it had been so... or perhaps it had been considered a technology of the war– or maybe the akumas had been more stealthy, like Multiman and Copycat had been...
Whatever was creating the fog, though, had to be with the French Resistance though, as it matched up with the Resistance's movements too well. A part of her wished that she could share more information with Alya, like how the powers were all based on the jewelry; she was sure it would help her be able to piece together more in her research... but of course that wasn't an option.
Maybe Alya would be more welcoming to the idea of Lady Noire though if she knew the powers weren't innately hers; perhaps her alter ego would seem less intimidating to everyone if they knew anyone could wield their magic...
Things had been... different, since Copycat's attack. She didn't know how else to word it– things weren't necessarily better when it came to the public's view on Lady Noire, but it wasn't worse, yet they weren't the same either?
People still weren't keen on her destructive powers, and honestly at this point Marinette could live with that. It was like a wrecking ball– it was something dangerous and no one wanted to get in its way, but hey, it had its uses, and someone had to control it– and in this case all of that responsibility fell squarely on her shoulders. They were keenly aware of what her Destruction was capable of doing, though– but for the most part they did at least acknowledge that she was saving them, even if the wariness remained.
"Plagg, was Shakespeare really one of your holders?" Marinette asked, frowning as she looked at her list again, because Shakespeare did seem to be someone who was overall respected...
"Yeah, why?"
"What did people think of his powers?"
No reply.
"Plagg?"
"Meh, Will wasn't front stage like you and the Beetle are," Plagg said with a snort. "Worked in the shadows for the most part, sometimes we went years without anything interesting happening."
"Oh," Marinette said, frowning. "Was the Ladybug Miraculous active then too?"
"If there's a Black Cat, then there's a Ladybug. That's how it always is and always will be."
"Who had the Ladybug Miraculous then?"
The cat's gaze was usually lazy, or smug, or held an excited gleam when she got out some cheese. Yet, Marinette couldn't help but shiver as she made eye contact with the little cat– those acid green eyes looking like they were burning. Plagg was something most would probably call 'adorable': he looked almost like a kitten, yet for a moment he looked dangerous.
And just as quickly, the burning look was gone, his expression was unreadable– which was something else she wasn't used to from the cat.
"His wife," his voice was as empty as his gaze.
"...Oh," she didn't know how else to respond to those flat green eyes. "Is that, um... normal?"
"Why, you're hoping for the same with your Ladybug?" Plagg asked, a familiar mischievous grin spreading across his face, yet it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I wouldn't get your hopes up, kid. I've seen all sorts of pairings over the years. Sure there's the occasional romantic, but they can also be parent and child, brothers, cousins, best friends, some never even meet outside of the mask– there's no limits on what could happen."
"Any other names that I would know of?" She asked.
The kwami's tail flicked. "For the most part? No. Most holders usually stay out of the spotlight, both in and out of the mask, but there's still plenty that left their mark. Um, let's see... I've had a few French holders over the centuries. Olympe was probably the last one before you... Gah, there's too many of you to keep track of now."
"That's kinda strange to think about, actually," Marinette said softly. "To know that you've just seen history unfold, and that you've been with a lot of other people."
"What? You think you're special or something?" Plagg asked with a snort. "Compared to how long I've been with other holders I've only been with you for like a half a second, probably something I won't remember in a few centuries."
"...Oh," Marinette muttered, heart feeling heavy at these words. She looked away from the cat for a moment, her mind wanting to say something... but she had nothing to say. If he had been alive for billions upon billions of years... a few months was probably nothing to remember for him.
She closed her journal, silence in her room as she tucked it back into the box she kept it in. Maybe figuring out the Miraculouses and the war wasn't the biggest mystery ever; it seemed that Miraculous were probably casually dotted throughout history. Still, it did sound interesting... but she didn't feel like asking any more questions.
"Kid?"
"...Yeah?"
"...That was a lie."
She looked up, and was startled to find Plagg hovering not far from her. His ears were back, voice quiet– and she could only blink in surprise. He looked away, tail curling, before letting out a sigh.
"I don't forget," Plagg muttered. "I remember every moment I've had on this earth. I remember every holder. Every kitt... kid I've ever had. Even the ones I don't want to."
"Plagg?"
"I'm not going to forget you," he muttered, swallowing, before meeting her gaze once more.
For a moment he looked just as old as he claimed.
Marinette smiled softly. "I hope I'm someone you'll want to remember."
Was it too much to ask for a place to sunbathe?
Sure, it was December, meaning the sun was low in the sky and there wasn't nearly enough time in the daylight hours to stretch out and absorb the rays, but that didn't mean it was nonexistent! For just about an hour a day, the sun would be in just the right spot, spread out across Marinette's work desk, the perfect place for him to lounge about. It may have been cold outside, but it was warm in the attic of the bakery, and that, combined with the sun on his fur was perfect.
And the hour had come– except his sunbathing spot was littered with scraps of material!
The kwami let out a low growl as he drifted above the many strips of cloth, barely a visible piece of desk for him to rest on. He zipped above them all, resisting the urge to claw at them. She had her entire room to lay her projects out, so why did she have to put them here? What even was she planning on making? A quilt? There were so many squares of cloth just scattered on her desk...
Well, if she was going to leave them out then that was her own fault. He started poking at each one of them with his paw, trying to get a feel for them. Some weren't anything special, just plain cloth; there was a velvety one, though he wasn't a fan of the texture. He finally settled on the deep red cloth, which was soft and fluffy. Deep red, and warm from being left in the sun. He flopped down onto the material, letting out a low purr as he got settled. This was much better than the desk, and since Marinette had left it here, she had no right to complain if he got his fur all over it.
It wasn't long until Plagg started snoring, and that was when Marinette looked up from her 'homework' on her chaise. She pushed herself to her feet, but the kwami didn't wake up, even as she started gathering up all the sample fabric she had collected over the years. She wasn't surprised that he had settled on the minky, definitely a more expensive cloth, but she was fine with that.
Marinette sat down at her desk, quickly making a brief sketch of Plagg all curled up. She would have taken a picture, but she had already learned that the little creature didn't seem to show up in photos, for some strange reason. She had wondered what would happen if the same were true for her when she was transformed– she was sure Alya would have a heyday on theories.
She closed her sketchbook as she finished, pushing herself to her feet so she could actually get started on her homework.
