Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or DC Comics.

International Relationships III

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Marinette?"

The question was full of surprise, curiosity, and hope. And it was directed to Cassandra Cain. Not something she expected in the middle of Gotham's shopping district.

She turned around and saw a teenager staring at her. There was hope in his green eyes. It was the same hope that tugged his lips into a little smile. He was clearly well-fed and athletic. His legs knew how to run in hard conditions while his hands knew how to grab hold of any kind of ledge. The French accent told her he was from Paris. So he would know parkour, hence the legs and hands.

His hope died once he properly looked at her. "Oh, sorry," he apologized. "I thought you were someone I knew." Cass tilted her head as she stared. The boy blinked and started to look unsure. "So, um…"

Another boy ran over to them. "Yo, Adrien, whatta standing around for?" he asked, throwing his arm around his shoulder. "We've already found a place to…" He trailed off as he saw who the now-named Adrien was talking to.

A presence came to Cass's side. It was Damian, and he was glaring at the blonde. "Agreste," he said with the barest degree of manners. Considering a few years ago he would've spat out the name like it was filth, it was an improvement.

While the second boy's eyes widen in surprise, and possibly horror, Adrien smiled. It was a nice smile, and Cass also saw that it was sincere. "Hey, Damian. How have you been?"

"Dude, that's Damian Wayne," the second boy said, his surprise definitely turning into horror. "How the hell do you know Damian Wayne?"

"We're in the same club." His eyes flicked over to the boy, then at them. "Sorry, this is Robbie Brant," he introduced. "He's a friend."

Cass saw that he was an athlete, football if his build was any indicator. He was a good one but didn't let it go to his head. Perhaps that's why he didn't stop staring with fear. Cass smiled briefly, but Damian kept scowling. "Hello." It was the only thing he said to the boy before returning to his target. "Why are you talking to my sister, Agreste?"

Adrien blinked, then looked at her again. "Sister?"

She knew what he was seeing. But a part of his confusion was the recognition, or what he thought of as recognition. Curious. "Adopted," she told him.

"Oh, okay." But there was still that confusion. It was making her curious.

"Agreste, answer the question," Damian demanded, taking a step forward. Most people would've stepped back, frightened by the murderous aura he gave.

Adrien Agreste just smiled. "Sorry, I thought she was someone I knew." He wasn't lying. He considered her again. "Actually, you do look kinda like her."

"Marinette?" she asked, getting a nod again.

"Well, sorry for bothering you," said Robbie. "But we gotta get back to the rest of our group." He was rather intent on leaving.

But where he was intent, Adrien was welcoming. "Why don't you join us?" he offered Damian and Cass. "You could meet our friends?"

Both Damian and Robbie shared the same expression: wondering if he was out of his mind. But Cass nodded. That was the only answer she gave. As they followed the two, she eyed Damian. "Club?"

He scowled. "We're in the same fencing class. Agreste has proven…a challenge."

Which meant he was the only one who was able to beat Damian, perhaps more than once. And from what she saw of Adrian, he didn't lord it over the younger boy. Something that would infuriate Damian. But it would also mean something else. "Friend?"

"He is not my friend!" he snapped. "He is an irritation that cannot go away when he should."

Yeah, that was all the answer she needed. "Friend." Damian kept scowling but didn't protest. That was another reason why. Damian could scare and/or drive people away with his attitude and manners. The ones who withstood it, those were the ones he held onto, even if he didn't want to admit it.

They wound up sitting by a small deli with at two others, Robbie's girlfriend Kelly, and his best friend, Martin. They were civilians and went to a school close to the East End. They tried seeing if the newcomers were threats, but it wasn't enough, not to Cass. Besides, once they realized who she and Damian were, they shared the same reaction Robbie had.

It also meant they looked at Adrien the same way. But the French boy saw nothing wrong with what was happening. In fact, his smile showed how glad he was that his friends were meeting each other. "So, what are you and your sister doing here?" he asked Damian.

"Tt, we are shopping, Agreste."

"But what for?"

"Music sheets." He glanced at his sister. "She likes ballet."

Kelly was impressed. Her boyfriend shared a look with his friend. "Like, to listen?" Martin asked.

The look Damian gave him spoke volumes, especially about his brain capacity. "And to dance, which should be obvious." Martin opened his mouth, only to snap it close. He tried focusing on his meal, but no one bought it. "What? What were you going to say?"

Robbie was wondering the same thing. "Martin?"

"Not saying a thing," he said.

"Why not?" Adrien asked, confused by the silence.

"Because right now, the question I've got could get me into trouble from at least two people at this table, more if it spreads." He didn't quite look at Kelly when he said that, but there was a pointed look directed her way.

Danian rolled his eyes at that. "If you have a question, ask it," he all but ordered the older boy.

He wilted before Damian's icy glare. "Alright." He looked at Cass. "Why ballet? Seems…kinda old-fashioned." That got him two glares, one from Cass's brother and the other from Kelly. Instead of flinching, he pointed an accusing finger at Kelly. "See? This is why I didn't want to ask. You're getting judgy."

"Well, when you say it like that…"

"Like what?" he demanded.

"Like she does it because she has to do it, like it's the only option."

That made him scowl. "I did not say that!" He was getting indignant and the way his shoulders tensed up announced how he was also angry.

"Guys?" Adrien's French accent floated the word across the table, cutting through the mood. "Why don't we let Cass answer the question?"

She saw how the realization settled their anger, before coating it with embarrassment. They looked her way, waiting. Her answer was simple. "Freedom. Art."

It only satisfied Adrien, since Damian already knew and didn't care. The rest were curious. Martin started to speak, only to stop again. "…I should watch ballet before I say anything else, shouldn't I?"

"Hmph, so you can learn," Damian said.

Cass nudged him. "Behave." He scowled, announcing that he was behaving. And in a sense, he was.

Someone else came running up to their table. It was a girl, about Kelly's height. Her body told Cass she was a cheerleader, a good one. "Hey, guys," she said as she came to a stop, her blonde hair bouncing back and forth in its tail. "You're not gonna believe this. There's a scouting agent for a modeling company a block over. She's looking for teenagers."

They didn't get excited. After all, this was Gotham. The only way it possibly could've been more suspicious was if they had been in an actual mall. "Alison," Robbie started, "you weren't suspicious, at all?" He wasn't trying to show it, but he had opinions about her intelligence.

She rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Robbie. I'm not stupid. If it had been a guy, I wouldn't have given him the time of day. But it was a woman, so there was no danger." The fact she believed that should've caused groans. The people who knew her just took it in stride. "Besides, she mentioned how her company is working with one of the hottest fashion designers coming out of Paris. She even gave me a sample shirt to try out." She dug through her bag and pulled out the shirt. "Ta-da! An authentic MDC!"

Cass didn't have an eye for fashion. To her, it was a shirt like any other. It was a very nice shirt, with colors that gradually changed in a way that could catch the eye with subtle designs across the neck and sleeves, but it was still a shirt. Nothing she would think twice about. The others, however, were a little interest.

"Do you mind if I look at it?" Adrien asked, standing up. Alison surrendered the shirt without a second thought. As he looked it over, Cass was intrigued. His smile was gone, and his eyes had a focused quality to them. He knew what he was looking for, whatever it was. His hands moved in precise movements, turning the shirt around and over so he could look at everything.

When he was done, he lowered the shirt and said, "It's a fake."

Alison was surprised. "What? No. It can't be," she protested.

"It is."

"But—"

"Ali," Kelly said, stopping her, "Remember what we all agreed on after the debacle with the pants?" Strange words but they seemed to make sense to everyone else. Adrien lost his focused expression and turned shyly embarrassed.

Alison wanted to argue but she couldn't find the words. Finally, she sighed. "When it comes to fashion, Adrien is king." She recited rather than spoke the words, something that only came from experience.

"Guys, come on," Adrien protested. "I don't know that much about fashion. I was a model." Robbie shared a look with Martin at that protest. Clearly, they had heard that before.

So did Kelly. "But you know enough to know the shirt's a fake."

He shrugged. "That's because an MDC original will have the name signed somewhere on the piece. To prevent something like this from happening." He glanced at Cass again when he finished. It was strange. How did she connect with MDC?

Alison had gotten past her protest and settled for anger. "Oh, I'm gonna have words with that scout," she promised. "She's gonna regret trying to con me!" And just like that, her anger was gone. "So, what should we talk about?" she asked, plopping down in the spare seat. "Ooh, I know. Gotham's latest hero!"

That got around of groans from everyone else. Adrien's was faked, Cass noticed. "Ali, please," Martin begged. "We already know that you sing praises about the guy. We don't need another rendition about the night he took you home."

"He did not take me home," she declared. "He made sure I got there. He was always out of sight, but I knew that he was there."

"Ali, we don't even know if he is a vigilante."

"He's doing a better job than the Bats!"

And now Cass knew who they were talking about. There had been rumors of a new vigilante in Gotham in the past two months. Someone that had been seen running alongside Catwoman, yet wasn't involved in her jobs. The rumors focused more on how he took out criminals and then leaving before he could be properly spotted. Which made Alison's story circumspect.

"Sorry about this," Adrien apologized to Cass and Damian. "This new hero has the East End's attention. Whenever he appears, it's all people can talk about the next day."

"Half the reason we talk about him is because of how he operates," Kelly explained. "He only attacks muggers and thieves. Strictly low-level stuff. Any time something heavier comes around, he runs."

Robbie nodded in agreement. "There's a story about how the Penguin and Two-Face tried ambushing him. Apparently, he was actively avoiding them and once the Bats struck, he turned tail and got out of there."

Cass knew about that, just like she knew Damian knew about it. That was the first time any of their family encountered the new hero. Robin had cornered the hero, demanding answers, only to be caught by Catwoman. The new hero had left with some vague words for Robin before somehow rusting his sword away.

Since then, Damian had kept an eye out for the new hero, with an intensity that matched Batman when came to Catwoman. That caused a few jokes about history repeating itself from the others (Jason and Stephanie in particular), but Damian didn't pay any attention to them. His focus stayed on his target.

But this was the first time they heard about the incident from another's perspective. It could reveal something they didn't know. "Why run?"

"Maybe he realized he was out of his depth?" Adrien offered. "If he was just going after thugs, he might've been leery of something bigger."

"Then why hasn't he teamed up with the Bats?" Robbie asked him.

He started to speak, only to overwhelmed by Alison. "He shouldn't! He does that, he loses everything that makes him who he is!" she declared.

"We don't even know what that, Ali," Kelly told her. "All we know is some vague rumors about how he's like the black cat, or something, and he doesn't stick around. Besides, everyone has already agreed that he's hiding from the Bats."

"Why would he be hiding from Batman?" Damian asked. "If he's a hero like you believe, then he wouldn't have to hide." Cass nodded in agreement. It made sense to her.

"I thought it was a sense of manners," Adrien offered, earning him a few looks. He quickly explained. "Well, maybe this guy is from out of town. He knows that this is Batman's city, so he's just keeping to himself, trying not to make any waves."

The others stared at him for a moment. "Manners?" Robbie repeated. "In Gotham?" That made them start to snigger, then laugh. Cass found it funny and chuckled along too. Adrien took the laughter with a smile, even when he saw Damian smirking at him. Yet when he looked at Cass, that hope lingered, smothered by disappointed.

Why did he look at her like that?

And who was Marinette?

The question dogged Cass, more than she liked. So, she put the skills Bruce had taught her to use and started looking for answers. Her only connection was though Adrien, so she would start there.

It was enough to find his social media. He seemed to like taking pictures of his friends, school, and his neighborhood. Yet Cass that her answers wouldn't be found in anything he took in Gotham. She would have dig further.

So she did. She dug deep into Adrien's life, tracking him back from before he lived in Gotham. He had lived in Paris, attended school at Collège Françoise Dupont. His pictures of that time showed plenty of events with him and his classmates. One of them stood out, along with her name.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Now she understood why Adrien had asked the question. But how was this possible?

Cass dug further. She searched through the girl's history, her family, looking for answers. The drive consumed her nights. How many hours did she spend in front of the Batcomputer searching? The question was meaningless. What was important was the answer.

She found it in the end, confirming that nagging suspicion lurking in the back of her mind. But it wasn't enough, not for her. She needed to hear the answer, to see it for herself.

Hence why she and Stephanie were now standing outside the Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. It was near to closing time, so it would be empty, mostly. All they would have to do was walk in. It was an easy process.

So why did Cass feel as if her legs were stone, unable to move? If her stomach clenched any tighter, she would lose what little food she ate. A hand touched her shoulder with a reassuring feel. Stephanie's smile was just as smile. She didn't say whatever Cass decided, she would be there as her friend.

She didn't have to. The smile was enough.

Cass started walking, the stone vanishing from her legs. The patisserie door opened, and she was inside, standing before the counter.

Her target was there, waiting with a smile. "Hello," she said. "Welcome. What would you like to order?"

Cass looked at her for a long moment as Stephanie translated. The pictures didn't do her justice. She radiated kindness and love. And yet, she could see the similarities. "Sabine Cheng."

"Yes," she replied, switching to English, "that's me."

She pulled out the photo from her pocket and put it on the counter, pushing it across to her. For a moment after she picked it up, Sabine's eyes widened in surprise. Then they narrowed into a familiar focus. That much had stayed the same. Those eyes found Cass again, making her spine straighten briefly. Then they soften. "Please, come in."

The house attached to the patisserie was nothing like the mansion. It was smaller, stretching upwards instead of out. It was also had the clutter one could expect from a family living together without a butler handling the cleaning. But above all else, it was filled with love. Cass took it all in and shared a look with Stephanie. They both understood what they saw. Whoever lived here was a lucky person.

Sabine's husband and daughter were in the living room when they walked in. "Tom, Marinette, we have guests," she announced before gesturing at said guest.

Stephanie took the lead, stepping up with a wide smile. "Hey there," she said. "I'm Stephanie Brown and this is Cassandra Cain. You can call her Cass."

"Hello," Cass said in English.

Marinette came forward first while her father stayed in the background. "Hello, I'm Marinette," she said with a welcoming smile.

"Cassandra is your cousin, Marinette," Sabine told her.

She froze and looked at the newcomer again. Her face was familiar. It had the same features she did, but leaner. The more she looked, the more she just knew that if her cousin's hair was a couple of shades lighter and if her eyes were blue, they would look like twins. Cass smiled and nodded. It was a little smaller, but it was Marinette's smile all the same.

Any thoughts about who Cass's mother was didn't seem important at the moment. "Hi, Cass. Where are you from? What do you like to do?" Those were good questions to start with. Yet her new cousin didn't say anything.

"Ah, sorry," Stephanie said. "But Cass was effectively raised a mute when she was a kid. She's still learning English. So I'm here as a translator." That earned her a look from Cass. She just grinned. "What? I thought me being your friend was a given."

The whole thing made Marinette and her family laugh. She was right, of course. It was a given. "Marinette, why don't you take your cousin and her friend up to your room?" Sabine suggested. "You can get to know each other better." Her niece flashed her a thankful look, to which she simply smiled.

"Okay. C'mon, this way." She led the two guests up the stairs. "So, how did you guys find out about us?" she asked on the way.

"Adrien." Cass had seen many things in her life. Someone managing to slip going up a staircase was a new one. Steph's smile threatened to break her face in half, especially with the laughter she was fighting down.

Marinette glanced back. "O-Oh, Adrien? You met him?" She was trying to act nonchalant but the blush on her cheeks gave it away.

"Yes."

Sabine waited until the children were in Marinette's room before looking at her husband. "Tom, can you take care of dinner?" she asked.

"Of course, honey," he said. "I believe it's my turn, anyway." They both knew that wasn't true. "What will you be doing?"

"Making a phone call."

After pulling the burner phone out from its hiding place, Sabine sat on her bed. She dialed the number she memorized and waited. The dial tone only lasted two seconds. "Xia Bing?"

"Hello, Shiva," she said. It took an effort to keep her voice pleasant.

The concerned panic in her voice disappeared. "I told you to only call this number in a dire emergency," Lady Shiva told her.

"I would say that I am in an emergency." Her eyes narrowed even though she was alone. "When exactly were you going to tell me that I am an aunt?"

The silence through the phone was nothing but shocked. "…She found you."

"Yes, Cassandra did. She's currently upstairs getting to know her cousin. Thankfully her friend is there too, to help things alone. But more importantly: what did you do to that poor girl?" she all but demanded.

"I didn't do anything."

"I haven't forgotten where we came from, sister. Raised a mute, having trouble speaking a proper language, yet able to read a person's body language? Does that remind you of anything?" When she first saw her niece, Sabine was amazed at just how well Cass could read a person's body and react appropriately. Then it turned into anger because she realized just how that happened.

"I did not do that to her. That was all her father."

"And where were you?" Again, silence greeted her. It was all the answer she needed. Her sister wasn't there during Cassandra's childhood. "Have you ever met your daughter?"

"Of course, I have. I had to test her potential. So far, she has disappointed me."

She might've said that but there was a hint of pride in her voice. She probably didn't hear it but Sabine did. "And just what was her potential?"

"To see if she could take my place. You know there's only one way that can happen, sister."

Of course. It was the same method from their childhood, the only thing Lady Shiva would accept as proof. And she knew what her sister was famous for. The implications were disgusting. And it told her just how her sister saw her own daughter.

She refused to allow that to happen.

"You're coming to Paris," she ordered Lady Shiva.

Her sister scoffed at that. "Xia Bing, I am a busy woman. I can't drop everything just to indulge—"

"Sandra Wu-San." There were only a few people in the world who knew Lady Shiva's actual name. Sabine Cheng was the only one who could, and would, use it as a threat. "You are coming to Paris, you are going to meet your niece, you are going to spend time with us, and you are going to show your daughter the love of a mother she deserves. Am I clear?" She never raised her voice. That didn't stop the iron and frost from showing itself.

"…I'll be there within two days."

"Good, I'll let Cassandra know so she doesn't panic." There was only one thing left to mention. "Her father, are you still involved with him?"

"No," she all but spat out in disgust. "And he already knows to stay away from her."

"Good. I will see you in two days, sister." She smiled and her mood brightened, considerably. "It'll be nice to show you and Cass around Paris."

"Perhaps." And with that, the call ended.

Sabine put the phone back. She would have to toss it out soon and get a new one. Some things from her old life didn't go away because she wanted them to. But that would be later. For now, she had to get back to her family and finding out more about her new niece. She walked out of her bedroom, back to the life she had made and the people she made it with.

End

Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.

I found Her Mirror by BleuFleur on AO3 and was inspired. We've all read stories where Marinette turns out to be Bruce's daughter, but the idea that she's Cass's cousin stood out to me. Hopefully in the future we'll find more stories like that.

When it comes to Adrien and Damian, it pretty much goes like this: Damian doesn't like him at first and tries to scare him off, but Adrien's willingness to make friends (with a dash of obliviousness) keeps him around. He doesn't quite understand why people are so afraid of Damian.

Not sure if I could write a chapter about Shiva and Cass being in Paris, mostly because I've never been there myself and the descriptions might be lacking. But the general idea goes like this: Marinette is a tour guide to her cousin and aunt while trying to get to know them better, mother and daughter are doing their best not to fight each other because Sabine is watching from behind, with a baker's paddle at the ready.

I'll see you all next chapter!