January is here, and so is a new year - and a newly determined Team Miraculous.
"Once again, the day is saved by Ladybug and Cat Noir!" The news anchor proclaimed, the camera focusing on the two nonplussed heroes. Ladybug was helping a boy up, saying something quietly to him, while her partner stared down the cameras.
A reporter continued, "Jean Duparc, a local middle-schooler, was akumatized into the very menacing Magician of Misfortune, threatening to make the Eiffel Tower vanish in a puff of smoke. We-"
"Don't just say his full name for the cameras," Cat interrupted sternly, as both his partner and the akuma victim looked up - one in surprise, the other mortified. "Akuma victims get treated badly enough as it is without their identities being broadcast for the entire city to hear."
The reporter was physically taken aback, stepping away from the shorter hero with a gaping mouth. "I- u- uh..."
"We're done here," the cat informed the crowd. Turning to Jean, he bobbed his head towards the direction of the school. "Lunch break is nearly over. You should head back."
"Uh... y- yeah," the kid responded a little shakily. "Thanks, Ladybug, Cat Noir. I'm... really sorry."
"Don't," Ladybug earnestly reassured him, and Cat looked away as she cupped her hands over his shoulders. "It's not your fault. Jean, being angry that Chloe messed with your cards is not your fault."
"But I..."
"The only one to blame here is Hawkmoth," she spoke up louder, casting her blazing blue gaze right at the reporters. "He is the one we deserve to unmask! He has terrorized Paris for four months too long, and as long as I'm able, I won't rest until I reveal him myself! Hawkmoth, wherever you are... we were chosen as the ones who will take you down. This is our home! This is our city! And this is not your playground!"
The crowd seemed to pause for but a moment. Then a cheer rose, louder and louder. Someone in the front row pumped his fist. "DOWN WITH HAWKMOTH!"
"DOWN WITH HAWKMOTH!" The rest of the crowd echoed, until the street was ringing with a cacophany of voices, all angry and determined.
"You heard it here, folks," one of the reporters shakily spoke up again, gesturing to the crowd. "The people of Paris are angry. They deserve answers and they deserve an answer: who is Hawkmoth?"
The TV switched off. Silence hung heavily in the air, only broken by the soft ticking of a wall clock.
Master Fu stroked his beard thoughtfully while Wayzz sipped delicately at his tea.
January was cold and bitter as it always was, and yet the old master's heart was warm. The determined scowl on Ladybug's face, not aimed at the people, but at the place that monster was hiding, filled him with pride for the teenager.
Even Cat seemed more determined these days - in the beginning, he had been rather straitlaced, intent on doing his job as fast as possible. But as the months wore on, he unwound, relaxing enough to lightly joke around with his hero partner. Even now, though, that stony facade simmered beneath the surface, the boy wizened from hardships unknown. Well, unknown to all but Fu himself.
To this day, he wasn't quite sure why he had picked the boy for the Cat Miraculous. At first glance, his cousin Adrien had been a stellar choice (however sheltered and placid he was). But Plagg and Tikki had insisted (quite strongly) that Felix was the better pick, and thus, he had no choice but to follow their wishes. Now, though, he was glad he had listened to them. Felix was a good foil to Ladybug's idealistic cheer, fitting of the dark mystery surrounding the ring of the Cat.
Yet despite his assurance that he picked right... why was there still a nagging little voice in the back of his mind...?
Wayzz looked up from his tea, brow furrowed. "Master?"
Fu blinked slowly, turning to look at the little Kwami with a soft smile. "Yes, my friend?"
"Well..." the being trailed off for a moment, attempting to find the right words. Fu waited patiently for him to start speaking again, running a thumb across the tip of his walking staff. "I am still... uneasy about the Cat."
"As am I." He took a slow, mindful sip of his drink. "But we do what we can with what we have. Ladybug has not come to me yet, but when she needs help, we will listen."
"Of course, Master." The drink swirled lazily in the cup from movement. Its delicate, earthy aroma and pleasant hue always seemed to calm the worrisome kwami. Yet even now, as he closed his eyes and breathed in the fragrance, his mind remained troubled.
Fu studied his longtime kwami for a few moments, before he hummed in thought. "Wayzz."
"Yes?" Eyes snapping open, the turtle kwami gazed up at his user beseechingly.
"Tell me something. You don't have to tell me everything, but..." after a considerable pause, the old guardian inquired, "... this time. Tell me, at least, that this time, we will restore order to the Miraculous."
Wayzz searched his user's face, but he could not answer.
"I suppose our little club is getting bigger again," Nathanael sighed, slumping further in his chair. Nearby, another student shrugged with a grimace.
"When we started the support group, we knew that it would be a big thing." Aurore responded, looking around the group. There was about fifteen students now, much larger than the three they had began with. With Jean's recent akumatization, sixteen students would soon grow far too big for the crowded nurse's office.
Nurse Sissi had long since suggested they find a different spot to meet at, but the principal had been reluctant to find one. The library was soundly out, as meetings would have been too loud for the quiet. Yet there weren't very many unoccupied rooms, given students were in and out of the arts and music rooms all day, and classrooms for obvious reasons.
Heaving another sigh, Nathanael looked back over to where the interview was playing on Alya's phone. She was huddled over it with Sabrina leaning on her shoulder, both girls transfixed by Ladybug's passionate speech. Next to them, Colette was knitting a row in a scarf, though the way her eyes twitched (as if wanting to look at the screen) belied her interest.
Several students from other classes shifted in their seats. Nurse Sissi was sitting at her desk, brow knit in frustration, as she attempted to negotiate with Damocles.
"What are we doing here?" Ange finally spoke up, catching the attention of the few who were paying attention. The blonde clenched her hands together, mindful of her pointed nails digging gently into her skin. "We're just sitting here, commiserating about our shared trauma, while the guy responsible for it is out there adding to our number weekly. We're doing nothing."
"What can we do?" A student from the other class asked, exasperated. "None of us can do what Ladybug and Cat Noir can. We can't fight. We can't even defend. All we can do is run away!"
"That's not true at all," Alya argued, looking up from her phone with a frown. "How do you think I keep getting footage of akumas? It's not because I fight them. Sure, Ladybug and Cat Noir help me by keeping the akuma away from my position, but most of the time it's because I evade and distract. I've thrown rocks before!"
"I remember that," Aurore suddenly recalled with a huff of a laugh. "Remember when the pigeon guy got reakumatized?"
"Oh yeah," another kid recalled, a smile growing across their face. "You hit him straight in the face! I laughed so hard I accidentally gave myself away and I got crapped on."
"We don't have to fight akumas to help out," Alya persuaded, looking around the circle of interested teenagers. "The reason I keep going to akuma fights isn't because I want to get attention or risk my own safety. It's because I want to document everything I can so that I can help take Hawkmoth down a peg. If people know where to avoid akuma attacks, and if people know where and when they originated, I can feel like I'm also a hero."
"Like Majestia," Colette quietly chimed in, a shy smile on her face.
"Exactly like Majestia!" Alya beamed at her, squeezing her shoulder for a moment. "I may not have a Miraculous, but I at least want to help! I'm sure all of us have wanted to at some point, right?"
There was a hesitant pause. Then, slowly, the group murmured their agreements.
"I've always felt embarrassed and humiliated because of my akumatization," Aurore confessed with a frown at the floor. "I've always wondered if there was anything I could do to change people's opinion of me as 'That Weather Monster'."
"Yeah," Ange agreed. "I had to keep my nails short because people were giving me so much grief for wearing them long. They just would not stop treating me like I was about to snap."
A few in the group shifted guiltily in their seats at that.
"So what, you want us to be out there in the danger zone?" Someone else scoffed. "I dunno about you, but I at least feel safer here than out there."
"No, that's not what I'm talking about," Alya sighed. "We're Parisians! When things get tough, we raise hell! What have we accomplished by staying safe while heroes fight so tirelessly to keep more of us from being victimized?"
For a brief few moments, the nurse glanced up at her, expression inscrutable, before returning to her emailing.
"I'm not saying we need to get in the way while they're taking care of business. What I'm saying is, when the going gets tough..." Leaning forward, the brunette's eyes gleamed, "... we get going."