Chapter Text
Whispers of scorn filled the air as a crowd had gathered in the Central Plaza. Their watery eyes drawn up to the big screen as it displayed a smooth marble monument with names engraved upon the surface. A woman with short red hair and amber eyes held a sorrowful expression as the tension that filled the city of Paris was thick. In her delicate hands was a small packet as Nadja scanned the contents once more, and yet it felt like the world was weighing down on her shoulders. With quivering lips, Nadja began to commence the report after a moment of silence.
“Today officially marks one year since the tragedy of Silverleaf Haven that claimed many lives including some of our aspiring heroes. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families and loved ones. The authorities are still searching for the fugitive responsible for the Silverleaf Haven attack,” A photo appeared next to Nadja on the screen that showed a male with short dark hair and a black feathered mask. A face that many people had come to know as none other than one of the legends of United Nations’ protectors.
“Former hero and member of the Virtuous Seven; Shadow is still at large and has since been spotted creating more destruction and death wherever he goes. Though it has been months since his last incident, we believe that Shadow is still biding his time for his next attack. If you have seen this man or have information about this villain, do not engage and contact the authorities as soon as possible.” Words fell heavy upon the minds that listened to the news lady. Hazel eyes slightly narrowed at the screen as standing amongst the crowd was a young man with short ash blonde hair. Black studs decorated both of his earlobes as the chilling wind clawed against the navy blue hoodie. The familiar pressure from the necklace that sported the head of a crow with nine eyes had grown comfortable as it was hidden underneath the hoodie. The moisture was heavy in the air, but unlike everyone else all the world around him seemed to be devoid of color. Just an endless sea of gray, and the cold was about the only thing that Lucien could feel.
The weight of the world turned against him seemingly overnight was heavy upon his shoulders, and no amount of time could ever heal the pit of despair that Lucien found himself in. ‘This is bullshit…’ Lucien thought bitterly to himself. His hands balled into tight fists within his hoodie pockets as a vein began to pop from his forehead. His cheeks became flustered with fury as the teen gazed at the photo of himself. Once, Lucien took pride to become one of the youngest heroes to ever make it to the top amongst the Virtuous Six, and essentially changed the name to Virtuous Seven. Once Lucien had looked up to the Virtuous Six as they inspired him to achieve greatness through good. Merlin, Phoenix, Moonstar, Vortex, and Scarlet were the heroes’ names that came to the front of Lucien’s mind.
“What are heroes doing? They should just kill him already! Make him pay for those who died!” One hot-headed man shouted, and like so the mass had begun to erupt in an uproar. All of them angry for the tragedy that befallen upon the innocent, and their ire of justice was directed at Shadow. Yet unbeknownst to them, they were also directing their hatred towards Lucien. Their threats cut deep into Lucien’s already stitched heart. Unfortunately, during their heated chants, a certain black butterfly fluttered in the air just below the crowd’s perspective as everyone was looking up except for Lucien. His hazel eyes followed the akuma as it merged with the ringleader’s sign that read “RIP Hawk”.
Much like how it happened a couple of times that Lucien had observed prior, the affected suddenly became quiet and stiff as a board much like the one the man carried. Gasps filled the air as everyone took a generous step back, their eyes widened in fear when just moments ago they were filled with righteous hatred. Lucien sighed as his breath could be seen rolling from his parted lips. ‘If this was any other time, I’d just break the akuma before it started, but now…’ Lucien thought to himself. His eyes briefly shimmered with a white light as an image of some young lady in a red one piece suit with black dots. Standing next to her in a crouching position was the young male with blonde hair and green eyes. Clad in black leather with a twirling baton dancing around his fingers. The image was clear as day, and a hint that someone else would take care of the situation.
The akumatized villain started to shout all kinds of obscenities about what he’ll do once he finds Shadow, but Lucien had more or less tuned him out as he turned on his heel and began walking away from the scene altogether. It reminded Lucien like how a river parted ways around a stone as the sea of people rushed past him in a torrent of fear. The akumatized villain had somehow grown up to seven feet tall with red hair that stood up and had a pair of milky white eyes. His face was permanently etched into a scowl as the villain released some kind of psionic command that infiltrated the minds of those who listened to the red head. Lucien himself felt the akumatized villain’s presence that attempted to overcome his mental defenses. The teen stopped mid stride for a moment before he peered over his shoulder towards the angry mob. His piercing eyes offered little to no warmth as Lucien uttered a cold statement.
“Piss off.” The villain’s expression shifted as the wrinkled skin softened, the tension was thick like a wool blanket, yet the heat remained as blazing as ever. “You dare to resist my righteous crusade?! Then you must be an accomplice of Shadow! Quick everyone! He knows where Shadow is hiding!” The red head commanded the angry mob that had fallen prey to the psionic assault. Eyes of malice turned towards Lucien as they each grabbed random objects that consisted of pens, laptops, and even an umbrella.
“Uh… Lucien, you should probably go ahead and transform so we can deal with this guy!” A crow-like kwami whispered with urgency as they remained hidden with Lucien’s hoodie. However, without showing much care from his stoic expression, Lucien had started to nonchalantly walk away. “There’s no point to it.” He whispered bitterly. The crow was bewildered as their beak parted with their beady eyes remained fixed upon their holder’s jawline. It was hard to believe that it had been a year since the tragedy that forced Lucien down this path, yet it was also heartbreaking to see someone who wouldn’t spare a second thought to help someone or to take down a villain opted to not do anything at all.
‘Besides, I can’t show my face around here either or else I’ll have a big target on my back, and more people will die because of me.’ Lucien thought, his eyes were downcast as the teen could hear the sounds of rushing feet from behind. Sure enough, as Lucien had pulled the hood up over his head to beat back the numbing chill, the young lady with raven hair and garbed in a red-black suit alongside the cat-like young man dropped from the sky to land between the mob and Lucien.
“What’s gotten into you people?! This isn’t a witch hunt!” The lady in red called out with an edge to her voice. Barely contained frustration swelled with her chest. “Step aside Ladybug and Cat Noir! We’re here to get justice on the fallen heroes by apprehending Shadow once and for all!” The akumatized villain shouted angrily in unison with the mob. As if inquiring about an unseen advisor, the villain pointed their sign at the pair before a purple beam leapt from the tip of the sign towards Ladybug.
“But first you will give me your Miraculous!” Fortunately Ladybug had nimbly rolled out of the way while Cat Noir dashed towards the villain in question and leapt over the mass. By then Lucien had already turned around a corner at an intersection and walked away from the plaza. It was only after he had walked roughly two kilometers away from the scene as the streets had largely been abandoned now with an akuma attack at large.
“Okay, hold on master, we have to talk! What was that back there?! Since when did we ever turn our backs on a villain?!” The kwami squawked rather angrily as they placed their feathered hands on their hips.
“Since the good people decided they no longer want me around. In case you didn’t hear all of that, the people are not going to hear my side of the story. We’ve tried that already for half a year and it did nothing except bring more misery upon others.” Lucien snapped back. It was becoming a trend that while Lucien got to live, the people around him suffered in the aftermath because the Virtuous Seven and their volunteers spared no one and nothing. No matter who started the fight, somehow Lucien always found himself getting blamed for the incidents which shattered his already tarnished reputation. Still the hate that was emitting from Lucien felt like it was a slap on the face to the kwami. For the teen had never raised that kind of tone around Starr before.
“Look, I’m sorry Starr, but our days of being a hero are over. For now we just have to keep our heads down and hopefully an opportunity will spring up to redeem ourselves.” Although it was certainly difficult to do that when people had died either by Shadow’s supposed hand or the blame was shifted upon Shadow to further create more hate towards the former hero. The crow kwami lowered their eyes as it understood the unfortunate circumstance they found themselves in.
“I know… It’s just that I don’t understand how this could happen. Like why did Vortex attack us? And why is everyone hellbent against us?” Starr asked, and frankly those were the very questions that Lucien found himself asking over and over. Yet he was no closer to finding out the truth behind it. Lucien sighed as a lit up sign of a store came into view. “That’s a question whose answer continued to elude us for a year.”
“I still don’t think it was a good idea to forge a pact with that creature though. There’s a good reason why Yinlong was sealed away into the spirit realm! His very presence corrupts anything he touches.” Starr exclaimed. Their feathered arms raised over their head as the chilling air felt like it had gotten colder. The mere mention of that entity was something that no Veil dared to forge a pact with let alone consider it a patron.
“With how things are going, Yinlong is our trump card in case we reach the point of no return. For if I’m going down for real, I’m going down swinging. But…” Lucien paused as he peered over to the crow kwami that hid in his hood. “If it comes down to that point, you’ll have to return to the Guardian of your box or else Yinlong might corrupt you as well.”
Before Starr could protest against it, Lucien had entered the store where the glass doors automatically parted open. Only then did Lucien notice that the store was unusually packed with people cowering away from the windows and doors. Their wide eyes settled upon Lucien as he lowered his hood and casually went about purchasing some drinks. “W-wait, are you seriously going back out there?!” One lady questioned after Lucien had finished his shopping. The teen shrugged his shoulders as he picked up the brown bag from the counter.
“Yeah?” Lucien answered, a hint of uncertainty as to why she was asking such a question. As if to credit the woman’s concern however, sirens broke through the silence, but it did not ease the tension as the cars with flashing blue lights zoomed past the store towards the Central Plaza. A large man with broad shoulders stepped in front of the door. His suit was surprisingly tailored for his large frame, yet the man’s face reminded Lucien of a gorilla.
“You can’t go out there! What if you get akumatized?” Another person had questioned. It was a valid point, but Lucien simply stepped around the gorilla man. To the large man’s credit, he did try to grab Lucien by the hood to keep him from leaving, but an unseen barrier of purple scales shimmered around Lucien’s body that prevented contact just inches from the teen’s hoodie.
The moment the doors had parted open and Lucien felt the chilly air rolled in. The teen spared a glance over towards the Central Plaza, only to find that the roads had been completely blocked off and the hastily erected barricades could barely keep the angry mob from pushing past the blockade. Ladybug and Cat Noir were still struggling against the rally leader as the villain unleashed one psionic blast after another towards the pair. Those who didn’t have a Miraculous fell prone to be under the akumatized villain’s command. In short, things weren’t looking too good as the mob around Ladybug and Cat Noir were starting to attack their heroes by throwing all kinds of objects at them.
Lucien could feel his kwami staring at him with their beady eyes, full of expectation for Lucien to jump into action. The teen sighed as he turned on his heel and walked away. “This is just one time, Starr. Don’t expect me to make this into a habit again.” Lucien muttered before he produced a purple metallic shard from his empty palm. Without him doing any kind of motion, the shard flew into the air and homed onto the villain’s sign. Hardly anyone knew what happened before the sign was split in half that confused everyone. The akuma butterfly slipped out of the destroyed object, and Ladybug didn’t hesitate to swipe the akuma with her yo-yo.
It was a slight gesture in comparison to what Lucien used to do, but it was a step that made Starr feel giddy with joy. Albeit the kwami was disappointed that Lucien used a power that nobody should be using to begin with. “I still don’t trust Yinlong giving you powers though. No good can come of it, I can promise you that.” Starr doubted with crossed arms.
Eventually, Lucien could see the red glittering magic roll through Paris as it fixed the damages done to the buildings and whatnot. However, he noticed that the magic parted around Lucien much like a rock protruding above the river’s surface. A side effect from forging a pact with Yinlong was that Lucien couldn’t be affected by any beneficial properties that came from a Miraculous. Fortunately, Starr’s power appeared to be exempt to this factor due to Premonition.
It did little to ease the heavy weight upon Lucien’s heart or the guilt that continued to rattle his core. Eventually, Lucien walked until he came upon a somewhat rundown apartment complex that had three stories with metal balconies. Some of them had a lounge chair, some of them had nice decorative curtains on the windows, but the main reason why he’s here was because of the one person that took him in with little questions asked.
Room number 104, those were the numbers engraved in brass upon the dark wooden door as Lucien knocked a few times. When there was no response after a couple of minutes, Lucien sighed as he fished his pockets for the key. With a mechanical click, Lucien tried to push the door open, but the sounds of clattering empty cans filled the air as it felt like something was blocking it. The teen clenched his jaw as this was a common occurrence now. As Lucien braced himself for the pain, the teenager slammed his shoulder into the door and pushed away a mountain sized pile of cans that had blocked the front door. The problem wasn’t the fact that the person who lived in this dump was an alcoholic, the problem was his ability to create whatever he wanted. That unfortunately included being able to magically create beers and other sorts of alcohol.
“Uncle Rowan? You in here?” Lucien called out as he kicked away the cans to free up some room so he can actually close the front door. The air felt like it was stagnant between beer and urine. The latter alone was enough to make Lucien make a face. ‘I really wish that I could have the ability to just destroy all of these cans. At least it’ll be easier to clean up.’ Lucien thought to himself, but unfortunately such a power was outside of his abilities.
Laid on the couch in the living room was a middle aged man with dark curly hair that was unbelievably matted. His beard was unkempt and scraggly as he started to show streaks of gray. Rowan’s loud snoring was about the only clue that he was alive. Lucien shook his head as he reached over to flip the light switch to illuminate the kitchen. The light alone seemed to have been the winner as Rowan immediately grimaced once the light hit his face and rolled onto his side. Or he tried to before the man fell off and landed into leftover beer cans and cardboard boxes that had pizza in it at some point.
“You know, we had this apartment cleaned like two days ago right?” Lucien inquired as he set down the bag upon the counter. “Eh, I might have had a beer or two since you were gone.” Rowan grumbled as he stumbled onto his feet. He was still garbed in his graphic t-shirt of Jagged Stone that had beer stains and a pair of jeans. With a click of his tongue, Lucien started to put away the groceries.
“Well, I’m thinking that I could find a job somewhere and help with the bills at least.” Lucien said as he was trying to keep an upbeat attitude about it. The drunk stumbled over to the kitchen as he scratched the back of his head. “You have to be in school first before you can worry about a job, kid. When was the last time you’ve been in a class?” He inquired as the man was slowly trying to sober up. Rowan raised a hand as he plucked one of the clean glass cups from the cupboard. Filled up in the cup was a dark brown liquid that eventually changed color to a lighter variation. The smell of coffee filled the air as the steam rolled off from the top as if it was just brewed.
“I’ve already graduated, more or less.” Lucien said as he put the milk away in the fridge. Being homeschooled had its perks, but nobody told Lucien that he had a minimum 2 years of school before he could graduate effectively. “Oh yeah, that’s right you were on that stupid homeschooling shit. Well, homeschool or not you still need to attend class. I don’t care where, and I don’t care how you do it. You’re fifteen now, and you need to go to school. Make some friends, kick some ass, fall in love, or hell just get into trouble.” Rowan said as he nursed on his coffee like it was the last drink he’ll have. The thought of going back to school however irked Lucien as he knew that he could never go back to living a normal life. Not after everything that had happened while he was Shadow.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Besides, I just have to wait for next year before my graduation is official.” Lucien explained. However, when the man shook his head with a sigh, Lucien knew that Rowan was trying to help the kid live a normal life.
“Look kid, I know that you’re smart as hell, and you’re a Veil. We’re special in some sense, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t go and live your life.” Rowan started as his eyes settled upon the steaming cup of coffee. Lucien had just finished putting everything away when Rowan lifted his eyes to fixate upon his nephew. “I’ll give you one week because the next term starts in a month from now. By then I will be enrolling you in a good school just down the block from here. And whatever you do, keep your powers under wraps. Not many people are so kind to us when they see we can do more things than their tiny brains can comprehend.” Lucien smirked at that, but he knew that there was no getting around it. After a moment of silence as Lucien feigned a contemplation over his uncle’s decision.
“Alright, fine. But if I’m going then you have to do better too. Starting with all of this mess here.” Rowan chuckled before he downed his coffee. The teen had grabbed a whole roll of trash bags, and frankly Lucien had a feeling that one roll wasn’t enough to pack up the cans. “Fair enough, let’s get this shit out of here and maybe catch a bite or something.” The uncle said with a wide grin on his face. Together, the duo got to work on cleaning out the apartment of the beer cans and other trash.