Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Alix’s aro-aceness was accepted by few,

Her classmates and teacher were fine with it, true,

Her brother, Jalil, he loved her despite it,

But some saw her as wrong, and told her to right it!

For example, things happened during the school’s big dance,

When some jerk named Earl tried to get in her pants,

His friends made sure that she didn’t get away,

They took no chances that she’d escape okay.

Earl said some rude things that made her worry and fret.

“You don’t want sex? Well, you haven’t tried me yet!”

But he didn’t have his way, he didn’t get to keep her;

In hindsight, he should have realized Kim would be a sleeper!

Kim was very strong, and faster than the girl,

So he was brought without thought by the lust-filled churl!

The days before, Kim made sure Alix would still be smiling,

He teamed with Max (for the brains), and for the brawn? Ivan.

Kim realized too late that he’d made a mistake.

He could have warned Alix! This was for her sake.

So with a snap of his fingers, the guy guarding the door

Was mobbed by him, Ivan and others - totaling four.

Kim was surprised to be helped by a superhero,

With Chat’s help, the chance of Earl escaping was zero!

One opened door later, they found Earl unconscious,

Likely knocked out by Alix for being obnoxious.

She was comforted by allies - superpowered and not,

With the help of her father, in juvie Earl ought to rot.

So don’t mess with dear Alix; romance she repels,

Mess with her, and friends aren’t needed; she will stop you herself.

Chapter Text

Given how everyone but Rose, Marinette, and Adrien have been akumatized in this class, Alix thought to herself, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

The perfume cloud that had been covering the sky like a giant pink eclipse was new, sure, but Alix was used to the unexpected. She and her father had been around the area when the news broke out about Princess Fragrance. Alix was naturally saddened when she’d figured out that the newest akuma victim was Rose - Rose and her friends had helped the young Kubdel after the trauma that was Timebreaker, and her class’s female ball of sunshine had done it merely because it was the right thing to do.

She’d been so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice the purple butterfly headed her way.

Alix, however, had nothing to fear from this butterfly; it wasn’t charged with dark energy, after all. After Ladybug and Chat Noir had first appeared to fight Stoneheart, a 3rd hero had made themselves known just in time to save the two. He called himself Papilio, and his known powers worked almost exactly like Hawkmoth’s - he just chose to use them for good instead of evil.

The comes chose her skates for a place to hide. Alix paled for a second - she felt a daze similar to the one she’d felt when Hawkmoth had sent his akuma her way for that second - but it was less cloudy.

She was in control of her choices, after all. Papilio knew that his evil counterpart hypnotized his victims, and the Butterfly had made his own oath that he wouldn’t do the same when he found out.

Hi there, Ms. Alix, a voice in her head spoke. Papilio sounded distinctly American, and he appeared to be peaceful and friendly given his tone; then again, Hawkmoth had been the exact same way. There were differences, however; while both were decidedly male, Papilio seemed to be much younger; she guessed Hawkmoth was in his late 30s or anywhere in the 40s in comparison to Papilio, who was likely in his mid-to-high 20s; plus, the Butterfly wielder’s previous actions made him more trustable (even if he’d hurt Alix with the comes used to fight her as Timebreaker - Marinette’s uncle had become Archimagirus that day, and while not fast, he was very versatile and strong). For the Moth, the same could not be said.

Just call me Alix, she thought to herself, hoping he could hear her that way.

I’m able to hear you, no need to worry. As you know, I am Papilio, and I have sensed your discomfort at the pain and suffering Hawkmoth caused you. I also remember you were akumatized by him at some point. Rose, if I have caught on correctly on who she is, will go through the pain you experienced from Hawkmoth - ‘worst thing is, I can’t stop that from happening.

Before he could continue, Alix replied with a question.

Then why do anything?

Papilio gave a soft laugh, and a picture of an easygoing and somewhat sad smile graced her mind.

Because if you will help me, I can lessen the blow, so if you won’t help me, allow me to help you help Rose. Will you accept my offer?

Alix felt her need to do something increases in power. It was different from Hawkmoth, who had essentially hypnotized her - the supervillain made her WANT to do it, while Papilio made her feel as if she NEEDED to.

Convinced, she gave Papilio her verdict:

I’m in. How can I help save everyone?

The Butterfly wielder lit up like a candle factory on its 30th birthday.

Ladybug had finally cornered Princess Fragrance after making sure that the unconscious Chat Noir was somewhere he could hide and recharge. The redolent robber of real royalty had been about to zip off with Prince Ali when a pink-green blur zipped by, spinning the akuma victim in place and taking her oh-so-beloved prince from her.

Right in front of Ladybug, a young female figure on skates slammed on the ground, spinning around and doing a perfect stop to face the disoriented akuma victim.

She looked very similar to Timebreaker ( Papilio clearly comitized Alix, Ladybug noted), but there were clear differences in their design; for starters, the black on Timebreaker’s helmet was replaced with pink, and the spikes on the back were longer, and the once-red “hair” was now full of pink and green stripes. The hourglass symbol that was “supposed to be” on her chest were replaced by four arrows going in all cardinal directions, and a lot of the black parts of Timebreaker’s suit were replaced with whites, greys, and purples. Ladybug absentmindedly wondered if Alix was asexual.

The newcomer introduced themselves with a chill peace sign as “Celerrime,” and given that Ladybug had chosen to take a Latin class for her secondary language requirement, she was able to figure out that it was Alix, as she recognized the word celerrime as a superlative of celer , a word that meant fast, therefore meaning Celerrime could mean either fastest or very fast . Latin was an incredibly context-based language, making it a bit difficult to learn.

Princess Fragrance, now reoriented, aimed at the newcomer and fired some precise shots of her persuasive perfume, creating rapid-fire clouds instead of smokescreens. Celerrime dodged each one, and with each one she dodged, the bright purple suit became brighter and faster, dodging each shot more easily as she skated around the roof of Le Grand Paris. Ladybug deduced that she got faster the more she moved. Was there a way to slow her down? Ladybug wondered to herself, but she decided to dwell on it later as Celerrime jumped towards Princess Fragrance, her feet stretched out in preparation for her to pin the akuma victim down. Princess Fragrance was ready, however; grabbing the skating comes and throwing her to the side. The second Celerrime hit the floor, the glow around her died down.

The more she doesn’t get hit, the more powerful she becomes! Ladybug finally understood. Her attention was turned back to Princess Fragrance, who had switched back to firing a spray of perfume at Ladybug. Having still kept the clip around her nose, she was immune. Celerrime had been thrown to the side, so she wasn’t in the trajectory. Getting up, the rollerblader took off at full speed towards the smell-powered scoundrel. The villainess faked a yawn, and then whipped around, pointing it at Papilio’s newest comes , forcing her to stop in her tracks.

Ladybug was ready this time, however; with a perfect throw, her yo-yo flew through the air; reaching its destination, the spotted equivalent to a grappling hook wrapped around the distracted teenager’s weapon, and with a pull, she snatched the akumatized object out of Princess Fragrance’s hands.

One akuma-cleansing and city purification later, Ladybug gave Rose and Alix a ride home. After dropping Rose off first, Ladybug noticed Alix was still in the form of Celerrime. Papilio answered the question through his comes for her:

“Things will get harder soon - Hawkmoth and the akumas are gonna up their game, bugsy. You and Leatherhead are going to have to get better too, or you won’t be able to keep up. Here’s the plan for now - race Celerrime back to her house, and you might find something nice at school.”

“Wait, how do you know I go to school?!” Ladybug responded, shocked.

“You did just confirm that for me, Spots; that, and I figured both you and your partner out after Day 1. You ain’t as slick as you think you are...”

Ladybug was going to ask another few hundred questions, but Papilio gave a cry of “AND… GO!”

Knowing Papilio, Ladybug caught that as him saying she would have to ask him that night.

Chapter Text

The old man known as Tenace Renard had challenged Paris enough with his otherworldly daemonia. Arnab Sarie loved the rush of being the superheroine she was, but she also was ready to end the terror he caused. Naturally, it was no wonder the second she learned he was made an appearance in person instead of hiding behind his daemonia , her mouth contorted into the smirk that could make even her allies quiver.

Chó Mạnh , while a bit of your average meathead at first, had toned it down and become her best buddy. While he’d made semi-polite advances at first, he respectfully backed off the second he learned she was aromantic and asexual, and there had been instances where he’d saved her - whether from admirers (like that artist Theo) or from Renard’s minions.

If Chó was the brawn of the team and Arnab the speedy one, Taureau Brillant was the brains by far (which made him the butt of a few jokes due to the Miraculous chosen for him). There had been a trivia-themed daemonium, and Taureau still held the record for their fastest victory because of that one.

Lastly, their flexible member was Verrat Polyvalent . She was the all-around leader of the group, and her job was to help out in all areas, and she mostly helped in rescuing people more then others. Despite this, Chó, Taureau & Arnab still did their best to make her part of their team and get her included in the fight if she wanted to.

The other three had used their powers (Taureau and Chó were both “Earth-elemented,” and their powers were called Bulldozer and Mud Bath, while the “Wood-elemented” Arnab’s power was called Hop Hop (Hop was a kind of plant, apparently), and Verrat’s “Water-elemented” Miraculous gave her the power named Sow-Her), so they had to temporarily retreat. By the time Arnab realized she was alone, she had been pinned by the felonious Fox Wielder. With a swipe of his hands, Arnab was transformed back into Alix, now missing her Miraculous.

For whatever reason, Renard paled. Did the old man recognize Alix? Collecting himself, he raised the spike on his flute in preparation to stab her. Pausing before he did, he leaned in and whispered something.

“You always were a rebel, Alix. That ends now.”

That was enough to give it away - Alix knew it was her dad now. Todd Kubdel had been acting oddly since her and Jalil’s mother divorced him for unknown reasons.

Alix had her skates on pre-transformation, thankfully, and zipped away from the attack. She was instinctively going to jump to the next building, but she caught herself, knowing that she couldn’t make it as the powerless Alix.

Now she was actually cornered. She’d been against a chimney extension before, but now she was down to two options:

Fall off the building, or get punctured.

Renard turned to her, and started putting on the rabbit brooch; unfortunately for him, it didn’t so much as touch him before Taureau rammed into him, swiping the Rabbit Miraculous and Hasse from him. Chó and Verrat went after the stunned Fox, while Taureau took the thankfully-unharmed brooch and gave it to Alix. Before he left, he hastily turned back and added,

“It’s okay. We will talk about it tonight.”

Now on the run, Renard had been planning to escape with this information and snatch Alix’s Miraculous that night (he didn’t realize she figured it out). He was so caught up in his “victory” that he ran smack-dab into something.

“Sorry. I couldn’t boar to see you leave so soon!”

Scratch that, he thought, someone. Wait, what’s with the boar pun?

Todd Kubdel didn’t know that he was done with the supervillainy until Verrat, Chó & Taureau had furiously knocked him senseless, taken his Miraculous and handed him to authorities. He hurt their friend (amongst many others), and this was the least they could do.

When they got back to Alix, she was crying - something seldom seen by her or Arnab. Everyone else had experienced emotional days (Verrat most of all, mostly before dating some boys from her college ), but Arnab hadn’t cried in front of them once .

Three detransformations and a great revelation later, Alix was walked home with Kim, Max & Ondine to meet with Jalil. The three of them figured out no one but them and Mr. Kubdel had found out Alix was Arnab, so she was safe.

Alix and Jalil, now without a parent or a home, eventually moved in with Kim, Max and Ondine when the four heroes graduated. The old man who gave them Miraculouses allowed them to keep them for as long as they liked, so long as they returned the fox Miraculous and didn’t misuse Hasse and the other three (they were called Canni, Aperr and Bovvi).

A lot of good and bad things happened. Most of the bad events were inflicted upon Todd Kubdel (his sorry behind got jailed hard), and most of the remaining pain went to Alix (with Jalil in a close third). Things would be hard; Alix and Jalil had to leave an old way of life behind, after all. That doesn’t mean that the new path is bad, then again.

Just because you buy the rabbit doesn’t mean you won’t end up without its foot.

Chapter Text

Alix jumped off the trapeze, flying up into the sky. The feeling would be thrilling for the lioness if she hadn’t taken the French animal control officer known as Nathalie Sancoeur (her business was called Le Paon Exterminators; she would distract her targets with fear of her, any of the few survivors recalled, and then struck quick as a peregrine falcon at full speed) being taken with her.

He pulled out her close-range weapon of choice - a fusion between a saw and a saber; this was most likely used to taxidermize her “prey.” It had always been her dream to take down a lion (stories her allies researched told her that she had a plaque reserved for one’s head), but if she couldn’t find one, a lioness would have to do.

Her friends from the circus and from the zoo watched in horror. Her closest friend, a ngua noi named Kim that could fly from cannons with grace, started trotting in place, unable to keep still. Alya the okapi and Nino the hippopotamus, two lovers who danced on the tightrope and some of Alix’s closest friends other than Kim, held each other tight. A sifaka named Juleka helped her slightly poisoned brother Luka climb upon Nino to get a better look at the horror unfolding before them. Four crafty penguins also from Alix’s old home at the zoo (leader Chloe, cutie Sabrina, brainy Max & demo Jagged) were loading their cannons, as if Alix was already dead and they needed to fire someone else to take out Sancoeur.

A gorilla named Ivan and his gibbon girlfriend Mylene (accompanied by a seal named Andre) watched in terror as Alix began to finish the ascent the trapeze had allowed her to reach. The youngest members of the circus were also preparing themselves, however - Manon and August’s rocket skates were ready to fly under Alix’s order.

As lioness and human alike began to descend, Nathalie seemed to finally lose her sanity. Breaking her emotionless stare, she wildly swung and kicked at Alix, attempting to make sure she landed into the pool of snakes and other predatory reptiles below.

Nathalie screamed, “I will have your head!” as her saw-saber thingy slid by Alix’s head. Alix just smirked, and with a yell of “I don’t think so!” she whistled as loud as she could.

Hearing that, Manon cried to August, “Alright, let’s go!” and with the help of their rocket skates, the dogs took off towards the human and lioness.

The two pups latched onto Alix’s back and veered her (with Nathalie in tow) away from the former penguin pool that now held the dangerous reptiles. Sancoeur was unceremoniously dropped off in the pen formerly belonging to Alix.

The deranged huntress roared for the crowd, lost in her insanity, earning cheers and applause for whatever reason.

“This is where animals like you belong!” Alix shouted, pointing a finger at the almost-defeated nutcase. Nathalie just growled and prepared to jump at the lioness, planning to tackle her down and kill her by bare hands.

It didn’t last.

Alix calmly snarked three commands. “Now, sit down….”

One sleeping dart, courtesy of Juleka & her lemur girlfriend Rose, hit Nathalie where the sun doesn’t shine; she slumped to the floor as if gravity had given her the middle finger.

“Roll over…”

Nathalie Sancoeur, the great Le Paon, stone-cold and feared by all species of living animal (humans included), obeyed the request and promptly fell off the perch made for Alix so long ago.

“Good. Now stay!”

And with that, Alix flew off to join her new home and new family.

Chapter Text

If you didn’t know much about how life was at College Francoise-Dupont, you’d call it nice and quiet. Those that did would say it was far too quiet for the end of the year, if at any time of the year. The reason was that there hadn’t been a competition for 6 weeks.

Kim and Alix had been friendly with each other, as usual, but there weren’t any bets going around like they had for the last few years of school. Many students (and most of the staff) were a bit scared. Some of them were relieved, albeit a little suspicious.

Adrien, on the other hand, was happy for them.

After all, he was in on their little secret - the final competition between the two.

As their bets went, it was tame - could Alix sneak her skates into graduation and skate her way on stage? Adrien had his not-oft rebellious tendencies, so when he overheard the duo discussing the bet, he told them he would tell not a soul about it.

After all, he had his own secrets to keep: being Chat Noir was very important to hide, and not even his father should find out about Nino being his boyfriend.

As Adrien recollected all this, the sound of a fireball colliding with the sidewalk rocked the air, near the school. Adrien immediately started looking for places to transform. He was already worried, as the fireball was a lot stronger than your average fire akuma (not that they’d come across many of those, thankfully).

As he was searching, he couldn’t help but notice Alix perk up and rush off as well, as if she was in the same position as him; looking for a place to hide and transform.

Is Ms. Kubdel a Miraculous wielder? He couldn’t help but consider the thought. It wouldn’t surprise him. Which one she was, however, was another question to consider.

He crossed his lady off the list first; while both her and Alix had pigtails, Alix’s were pink and more frizzy on the ends. He knew that Carapace was Nino; he’d found him out the hard way (that had been a doozy of a night). Queen Bee was off the list too; Chloe had accidentally told him before finding out she wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. He’d never actually asked Rena Rouge if she was Alya, but he figured the two of them had done too much mooning over Ladybug for the Fox wielder to not be her. Other than that, there were no other Miraculi being used.

Being used. Right now. Oh.

The Zodiac! he realized, and one transformation later, made preparations to head off and fight whatever new threat was around.

He met up with Alix, or Alkalb Sarie, as the Dog wielder called herself.

He ran out to go join the fight; the first thing he thought upon reaching the site was that it’s too quiet . Sure, Carapace probably couldn’t make it due to being the Guardian, Queen Bee was out on a summer vacation, and Rena (if it was Alya) had an internship, but it was still too quiet. Other than him, it was Ladybug and his ally there. At least she was there.

Running up to her with the semi-newbie (Alix and others had come and helped on occasion, and this wasn’t Ms. Kubdel’s first time), he called out “My Lady, what happened? Where’s the threat?”

The Ladybug wielder, noticing him, whipped around and responded “I don’t know, he caused the explosion and disappeared into a swarm of moths!”

Moths? What a perfectly odd power for Hawkmoth to…

OH.

He heard the akuma reforming behind him before he saw them. Whipping around, he clashed with the supervillain that plagued his city for so long; baton gripped with sword, and it seemed neither would give any time soon. Everyone seemed to be in shock of the sheer level of anger between the two.

Alkalb snapped out of the shock first (Chat would later remark how unprofessional of you, My Lady ); charging towards him with her paw-themed gauntlets, she swooped in and punched Hawkmoth in his stomach, sending him to faceplant against one of the school’s walls.

“Well done, Alkalb!” Ladybug cheered her on, all the while taking a battle stance. Recovering from the blow, Hawkmoth summoned wings made purely out of his akuma, and pushed off the wall like a swimmer doing laps. The supervillain slammed into Chat before he could react, and before he knew it, he was pinned against another wall, with Hawkmoth standing before him. He could have stabbed the Black Cat, and that would have been it, but with the Black Cat unable to fight, he decided to just take the ring.

A bandalore wrapped around his waist faster than you could say “Ladybug.” Immediately, the villain was bound around his hands and torso, which kept his grubby mitts away from the ring and made him drop his saber. Now that Hawkmoth was unable to do anything but fight against his restraints, Alkalb swooped over and snatched his pin.

When he was revealed to be Gabriel Agreste, everyone that saw it gasped. A few students that had been unable to hide in far away distances made themselves known, but Ladybug paid them no attention for once.

Once again, it was Alkalb who reacted first. Stomping over to the former supervillain, it seemed it took all her power to not punch him with her gauntlets at full power, instead choosing to merely slap him hard.

“WHY?” Alkalb growled out, barely holding it together. Most of the time she’d ever spent with Adrien as Alix was either during parties with their fathers or at school, but the two got along very well due to their want to get away from the leashes that were their dads. When Gabriel refused to answer, he received another slap to the face, accompanied by Ladybug tightening her hold slightly (the spotted heroine had immediately lost all respect for the fashion mogul). Eventually, the incredibly tense silence was finally broken by Gabriel. Five simple words were uttered from the mastermind’s mouth.

“It was for my family.”

Alkalb was now furious . She decked him, and harder . It looked like she was going to crush the Moth Miraculous if she clenched it any harder; realizing this, she tossed it to the shocked and tearful Chat Noir and patiently told him to take it somewhere safe. Chat mournfully caught it and jumped off to take it to Master Fu, where it would (hopefully) be safe for a long time, if not forever.

“LIES AND LIBEL!” she roared at the top of her lungs. “I KNOW YOUR SON; HOW COULD YOU TREAT HIM - YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD - THE WAY YOU TREAT HIM AND SAY IT WAS FOR YOUR FAMILY?”

A quite-bruised Gabriel calmly answered “In order to throw him off my scent. I figured he had the qualities of a Black Cat user, and it appears I was right.”

Ladybug paled, and in her moment of distraction, she loosened the grip on her bandalore. Gabriel immediately took the opportunity to break out of his bonds and get away. Alkalb didn’t miss a beat, however - she threw a magical bone at Gabriel with a shriek of “FETCH!”

It soared over his head and landed in front of him. Gabriel turned around for a second while running to sneer at her for missing, and Alkalb took her chance - snapping her fingers, she was teleported to the bone’s position. One tackling of the evil designer later, the now ex-Hawkmoth was arrested, and the Moth Miraculous, alongside its compatriots, were returned to the new Guardian, who turned out to be Nino.

Alix would miss her kwami Canni, sure, but she found the memories of being Alkalb Sarie to be enough for her. The real shame, however, was that Canni would not see her deciding to give up the bet. She now owed Kim approximately 17 euros.

Chapter Text

Alix’s house had been very quiet the night after Jalil was akumatized. Jalil had holed himself in his room and would not leave for any reason but to get food and go back. Alix was worried.

Mr. Kubdel wasn’t. He thought of it as something the young historian would get over, treating it as yet another phase instead of the trauma it truly was. Todd Kubdel was the reason Alix bonded with Adrien so easily; both of them had their dad as the only parent left, and each of the aforementioned fathers didn’t interact with his own children as much as was healthily necessary.

The duo’s scenarios were different, however - Adrien saw his strict father somewhat often, but seldom was it for pleasantries, while Alix seldom saw her more easygoing (but not by much) father due to his work, but he seemed to care for her and Jalil. The similarities were there - both definitely prioritized their jobs over their remaining families. The deaths of Emilie Agreste and Amelia Kubdel had rocked both families; they were both the ones inspiring their significant others to open up, so when they couldn’t, the two rich men closed up on everyone, looking and licking at their wounds only without bothering to even think of the wounds they were supposed to look at as well.

Eventually, Jalil came out of his room for dinner a few nights later. One of the first things Alix thought when she saw him was “He’s not ready yet.” The second his father saw him, on the other hand, he frowned at his son and jeered, “Well, look who finally came out of his tomb!” and it was there and then where something inside of Alix broke . Standing up from the table, she took Jalil’s hand and angrily dragged him to her room, leaving a confused and unhappy dad behind.

One slammed door later, Alix told him to pack his things. While Jalil was hesitant at first, he did understand why it would be good to at least leave for a while. There was a problem, however - where?

Jalil suggested his boyfriend Theo’s house. Alix agreed immediately, as long as Theo was okay with it. Anywhere but here or the Agrestes’ house, really, was fine with her.

Unknown to the two now sliding down the window and away from their (possibly) old home, Mr. Kubdel, who’d heard enough to understand their plan, just raised an unimpressed eyebrow. Pulling out his phone, he quickly got to his contact of choice and sharply snarled at them:

“Hello, old friend. I could use that favor repaid right now.”

A tired yet somehow impressively composed voice replied.

“I’m doing my special job right now, Monsieur Kubdel. Could you wait until Ladybug and Chat Noir are done?”

Todd’s face twisted into a sneer.

“Just stop by the house of one Theo Barbot and destroy it, please. My children are rebelling against me, and I could use your help.”

On the other end, Hawkmoth groaned into his phone. “I think I already told you this, Monsieur Kubdel. I only allow my akuma to destroy my enemies or their enemies, not for side jobs. Anything else is a misuse of my powers.”

“And what you do isn’t already one? Come to your senses, Mr. Agreste.”

“...I won’t destroy the house or Mr. Barbot, but I’ll get your kids back home.”

“Deal. Just don’t break anything.” Hanging up, Mr. Kubdel sat back into his chair and waited.

Meanwhile, Alix and Jalil had dodged the akuma until Lady Honey and Vespertilio (a new hero with the power to pick up sounds from far away) had distracted and stopped Aviateur. Pavus had paled for a second during that and quickly whispered something to Ladybug and Chat Noir when they’d got there and were checking for injuries on the two young Kubdels. Ladybug lit up in a relieved manner, while Chat Noir just pumped his fist. Lady Honey and Vespertilio told them they’d be there soon, but they didn’t say where “there” was. Seemingly placated with this, Ladybug and Chat Noir took off.

When the doorbell rang, Todd walked to the door, preparing the worst tough-love scolding he’d ever given.

He didn’t expect two angry superheroes at his door instead of the akumatized veteran pilot he’d seen on his TV.

Chat Noir confidently smirked and declared “Found you, Mothman.”

Todd paled, but he was fast to recompose himself and tell them “I’m not Hawkmoth, I can tell you that. I found out his location on accident, and I think I know his identity as well, but I’m not him.”

Ladybug, now curious, pointed out that he would be arrested for obstruction of justice if he wasn’t Hawkmoth and for whatever crimes Hawkmoth would face if he was. However, she further elucidated, she would advise being honest with them. Todd paled further but decided it would be better to squeal. “Hawkmoth’s location is in a secret room in the Agreste mansion.”

An unimpressed Ladybug replied immediately:

“Nice try, Mr. Kubdel. Gabriel, Nathalie, and the Gorilla have all been akumatized, and Adrien is too sweet to be Hawkmoth.”

Ignoring the statement about Adrien, Todd responded nonchalantly.

“Hawkmoth could have akumatized himself, you know.”

Ladybug would have replied, but Chat Noir took off for the Agreste mansion before any of them could react. A shocked superheroine decided to go after him, but before she left, she gave him the “I’m watching you” look.

It started with Alix, didn’t it? he groaned to himself…

And the funny thing was that it ended without her.

Chapter Text

After all the events that had passed, Alix hoped Timebreaker would be the only nightmare for the day. Laying in bed, the last thing she wondered was is there was a counseling thing for akuma victims? She fell asleep before she could further ponder this.

That night, she dreamed of Rose. Not romantically, mind you - that’s how aro-ace people work, I guess - but she dreamed of her in a furious mood. She dreamed of an ever-familiar butterfly, a pistol that shot out hypnotizing perfume, and Prince Ali, some rich dude who Rose had a celebrity crush on. She somehow managed to wake up calmly and in a cold sweat at the same time that morning, and the dream plagued her all through that day. She didn’t have a dream that night, however, nor did she dream of anything close on the next.

The following day, however, as Prince Ali arrived in France, Princess Fragrance attacked Hotel Grand Paris. Alix wasn’t in the area, but she heard about it. She felt a sense of deja vu as she watched the akumatized Rose command Chat Noir and others to attack Ladybug. Remembering the dream, another question came to mind:

Are these dreams going to be a recurring thing?

And sure enough, she had a dream of Sabrina that night. Well, it was hard to say - she was just a silhouette. Something told Alix, however, that the almost-invisible girl was Sabrina. Waking up in the same calm and on-edge manner as before, she knew what she had to do.

Her education came first, however. She did care about her education, whether you expected it or not.

That evening, she caught sight of Ladybug zipping through the air, and she started chasing after her. Numerous calls of her name later, Ladybug (in a seemingly begrudging manner) turned around and dropped into her path. She looked like she’d been having a bad day.

“WHAT.” she all but growled.

Alix had been rehearsing her words in her head, so she was ready.

“The night after I became Timebreaker, I had a weird dream of my classmate Rose being akumatized. Do you remember Princess Fragrance? That was Rose. I had another dream-”

Interest piqued, Ladybug decided to keep the conversation.

“Did you have another dream?”

“Yeah. I think it was another classmate of mine - her name is Sabrina. I think it was her, at least - she was almost invisible. Like, it was a silhouette of her. I think she‘ll have invisibility powers or something.”

Ladybug asked her more questions about the odd dreams plaguing the young skater. At the end, Alix asked her one question before the spotted superheroine left to do… whatever she was going to do.

“I don’t think these dreams are going to leave. You think you or Chat Noir could visit me after every akuma or something so I can tell you anything I learn?”

Immediately, Ladybug’s look grew stern. Alix shrank a little.

“If this Sabrina is the next akuma, I might. If not, I won’t be happy with you. You know I hate liars, right?”

Alix nodded, more fearfully than she would have liked. Ladybug must have caught that, so she apologized for scaring her, and awkwardly swung away on her bandalore.

Lo and behold, the next akuma was Sabrina, turned into Vanisher three days after the two dual-pigtailed girls’ conversation. Every detail Alix informed Marinette of was on the mark. Ladybug hadn’t been informed about Chloe, however. She didn’t know whether to trust Alix or not.

That night, she swung out to Alix’s house and asked her about it with as much patience as she could muster. As it turned out, however, Alix had indeed dreamt about Chloe’s akumatization, but had been unable to access Ladybug about it. It was then that Ladybug decided to make a risky decision.

“Chat Noir and I probably won’t be able to meet up with you every night, but I have a better idea. If you need to get me informed about an akuma… ooh! You know Marinette, right? She can access me easily - ask her! That said, please don’t ask her questions about me, and don’t say a word about this thing in general. Hawkmoth could hear you - he might have butterfly spies all around the city, for all we know.”

“I can deal. I’m just glad to help.”

And so it went that Alix sent information through Marinette to Ladybug - not that she knew the grapevine was also the informee. She was always right on the person, though she missed some details here and there.

One night, a week before their graduation, Alix had what is better described as a nightmare. One of a rainy day, of bloodshed (but no apparent death), of the three new heroes Alya had seldom seen, but most importantly, of a masked figure in purple swiping at Ladybug and Chat Noir with a sword hidden inside his cane.

Alix did not wake up calmly this time. She could not wait - there wasn’t time. She got her skates on, left the house, and took off for the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

She was about to scale the freaking house when she saw Chat freaking Noir land on the balcony first. Now even more curious, she started scaling it. When she hit the top, Marinette and Chat Noir almost screamed at the mess that was Alix Kubdel.

“I have… another… message… for you…”

Chat Noir was, to say it nicely, discomforted by this. Marinette decided to be honest with him in comparison to Alix. The two had a nice reveal talk while Alix was out cold; really, Marinette revealed herself and Chat agreed to show her tomorrow. Marinette would have questioned him, but Alix woke up then, interrupting them. Once she’d regained her senses, Marinette asked her:

“Alix, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Oh, right. I have very important news!”

One talk later, Chat Noir was further informed on everything as well. The two could only prepare for what was ahead.

Multiple good and bad things came out of that talk in particular.

Good things: They were ready for Hawkmoth, of course, and with the help of Rena Rouge, Queen Bee and Carapace, they wiped the floor with him and his minion La Paonne. Paris was safe, and Alix was able to help.

Bad things: She couldn’t say anything, plus that was the last weird dream Alix had, though, so there went something exciting.

Chapter Text

Really, Alix was stupefied. How almost the whole class had fallen for Lila’s trickery escaped her. At least Marinette seemed to be aware, and that was but a small mercy. Knowing something had to be done, she tracked Marinette down… 

…one day and explained herself. “I haven’t fallen for the demoness’ ploys,” she whispered to the fashionista, “and I want to take her down.”

Laughing almost maniacally due to the fact that someone knew the truth (well, Adrien did as well, but his choice of inaction caused the two to have arguments over whether to confront the moth Miraculous-obsessed menace that -

…lasted surprisingly long for Marinette’s crush), Marinette may or may not have cried. The girl was coming out of her shell for this cause, Alix smiled to herself, Alya would be proud. It took only a little while to convince Adrien after Alix joined their arguments, and he had apologized profoundly when he realized the -

…effects of Lila’s lies. With Adrien joining the “Wrecking -

…Rossi Club,” and more on the way (Marinette recruited Chloe somehow, the aid of Kagami and

…by some weird extension, Marc came by Adrien, and Alix had convinced Ondine before Kim),

…Lila was in trouble if they did things right. It wasn’t long before Lila was informed of the rebellion, however -

…and thanks to not-so-good old Hawkmoth, The Empress sought to squash it. It could be expected that Lila’s powers made others obey her; however, she had nearly the whole school -

…doing her bidding without Hawkmoth’s aid - why would she need those? Instead, he armed her with any sort of stabbing weapon she could think of. When Ladybug, Chat Noir and their new ally Tigresse Tenace arrived, Lila smiled sadistically. “See through my trickery, will they?” grumbled Lila as a humongous knife made its way through a desk. “I’ll see my blades through them!”

Empress only realized what had been uttered when her eyes laid upon Alix with a video camera. Enraged, Ladybug had to restrain her from turning the rollerblader girl into pieces. With her yoyo. And a good few punches to the face. Despite the popularity her lies had landed her, everyone was getting tired of Lila being akumatized all the time, 

…so it naturally followed that her fourth akumatization (plus the truth being outed) was the nail in her figurative coffin. Things didn’t go well for Empress or Lila after, but despite all that had transpired, Marinette offered her mercy, as long as the girl fixed her compulsive lying problem. With that, this poem is almost finished - it just needs to be told that while this prompt may seem like it has nothing to do with rollerblades, it does; all that must be done is that the reader must look over the first word of every paragraph. 

Chapter Text

It was worrisome when Red Admiral was sucked into another universe. It was more problematic when she learned the Moth Miraculous was being misused here. Even when the heroes of this universe (not to mention others) were getting defeated with ease by multiple of these “akumas,” she gritted her teeth and pushed forward.

But when Tenace Renard (who was supposed to be in jail for life) showed up with the other heroes’ villains, the stress became too much.

Unable to access her abtal , Red Admiral stuck to joining the other heroes in close-up combat. Daggers did good work.

As soon as Hawkmoth had learned of the other villains’ arrival, he surprisingly joined Ladybug and Chat Noir’s side.

“I know the villain behind this group,” he had growled, “and its goal is to destroy all of the Miraculouses and all of the universes that contain them. That monster is why I needed yours, Ladybug and Chat Noir. For now, however, we will have to team up to survive.”

With a young ravenette named Mariposa, a cowboy-sounding young adult named Papilio (who claimed to wield a butterfly-themed Miraculous instead of a moth), a somewhat-bratty blonde named Phalène, and even a humanoid-dinosaur creature with a cannonlike mouth named Swallowtail, Red Admiral joined Hawkmoth to fight these evils while Ladybug and her universe’s allies kept the home turf safe.

After the “Flying Hearts” (as nicknamed by Chat Noir) defeated their first villain as a team - a scientist who put more focus into her powers of light and dark than making other people villains (aside from hypnotizing people to be her test subjects) nicknamed Leamhan - she dissolved into pure dark energy. Hawkmoth confirmed that this was the work of Wàngjìle - the monster who he’d mentioned earlier. According to him, Hawkmoth’s wife had been afflicted by Wàngjìle’s power when she put on a cursed peafowl Miraculous (Red sensed Chat Noir still over the intercom), and he desired Ladybug and Chat NOir’s Miraculouses to cure her.

“Yeah, that’s nice, but does that excuse you hurting others?” grumbled Red Admiral, having had enough of the elder’s sympathy-raising speech.

Astounded, the current universe’s Moth wielder turned to her.

“Sorry, bucko,” added Papilio, “I don’t know about your wife, but if you brought me back from the dead because you loved me that much, I’d be more freaked out than flattered!”

Phalène quietly snarked something about how she’d probably end up divorcing his (insert word not to be said around children here) if he wasn’t so scary.

Hawkmoth remained mostly silent throughout their time fighting the next few fake versions of their villains - Papilio’s enemies Tortue Cerveau, Miss Fortune & Chat Blanc were the second group to battle them, and Tenace Renard followed after. Even the traitorous Mayura could not defeat the Flying Hearts.

She might have been possessed, actually, but the curse had claimed Mme. Sancoeur before the Flying Hearts could figure that out.

Eventually, with the help of the Guardian, Red Admiral and company were able to access the world containing Wàngjìle. The tradeoff was that only one of them could face the creature of universes if the rest of them wanted to go home. Thankfully, Fu and his trainee Carapace created multiversal communicators to make sure everyone got home. As Red Admiral walked through the portal home, she couldn’t help but wonder what would become of the others.

Years went by, and Alix eventually yielded her Miraculous to a young man she trained herself. She had almost finished training the hero and musician when some young Moth wielders named Greyling, Rabbler, Brick, Gothic, Foxglove and Firetip showed up in her Paris with their enemies in pursuit. This time, however, she knew what she needed to do.

It was time to enter the Mothverse once more, and as Alix (armed with a bat and something akin to armor) and Death’s Head plunged down toward battle, Alix could not help but shout…  

“What’s up, danger?"