Chapter Text
It was a foggy spring morning , and it was freezing outside. Of course it was almost always cold in the early months of Maryland. You pulled your coat tighter around you, silently cursing as you went out the door to face the piercing wind.
“Maybe you should just ask Rachel to give you a ride,” Yuki, your kwami, piped up, staring at you from beneath your coat. You huffed and crossed your arms, making your way over to the bus stop.
“She has enough to deal with taking care of her own kids, without having to deal with her cousin’s daughter ,” You responded, grumbling under your breath. After the death of your mother, when you were just a kid, you had originally gone to live with your grandmother, but she had passed away several months ago, leaving you with your mother’s cousin. Since Rachel was the only one willing to take you in that wasn’t estranged or halfway across the globe.
“But it’s so cold ,” Yuki whined, burrowing further into your fur-lined coat. You huffed and shook your head, sitting down on the curb to wait for your bus. You pulled out your phone to read while you waited, one or two other kids joining you to wait for the bus after several moments.
The bus arrived soon after and you went to sit in the back, where you could talk with Yuki without any problems. Since you lived pretty far from the school, the bus ended up being mostly empty.
“Isn’t there a French school visiting D.C. or something today?” Yuki asked, sitting by the heater as she peered up at you. You thought for a moment.
“Maybe? I don’t know about that foreign exchange thing or whatever, D.C. isn’t even that interesting,” You grumbled, crossing your arms and staring out the window.
“Yes it is! You’re only saying that because you’ve been there so many times with Rachel, and even then you still end up wanting to go to the Science center, or check out the museums, or go to the reflecting pool, and hang out in the botanical gardens a-” You cut off the talkative kwami.
“Okay, you’ve made your point. You can stop talking now,” You rushed, narrowing your eyes at Yuki in a silent threat. The kwami gave a big sigh and flew into your lap.
“I just wanna go back to sleep ,” Yuki cried dramatically, you rolled your eyes at her theatrics.
“Then sleep, I’m the only one that’s gotta be awake, little bird.” You moved Yuki to sit in the large pocket on the inside of your jacket as she settled down.
“I’m older than you,” Yuki grumbled half-heartedly, snuggling into the faux-fur of your jacket. You sighed and shook your head, but smiled fondly at the kwami.
The school day went by quickly, only since you were let out after first period and soon found yourself on the lightrail to D.C, because apparently someone decided they would send the french students a guide that didn’t speak french . So the teachers decided they would send a student they knew to be fluent and french, and knew their way around D.C. That student happened to be you. You were originally supposed to have a teacher escort, but someone decided that since you were a good student, you would be fine going on your own. Bullshit, obviously, but whatever saved the school two fricken bucks .
“ Zinnia ..” Yuki whined from your pocket, pulling on your hair that had fallen over your shoulder.
“Shush, Yuki, public place, remember? And stop pulling on my hair, geez,” You whisper-shouted to the feathered kwami. Yuki complained but relinquished your hair.
“I’m bored, and there’s like nobody in here anyway!” Yuki argued, flying out of your pocket and trying to take your phone. You swatted her away at first, but after the tenth or so time it became annoying.
“Fine! You can use my phone, but I’m listening to music and if you change it like last time, you lost privileges for two weeks,” You grumpily explained, pulling out your headphones and setting a playlist. You felt like you shouldn’t be treating a few hundred year old magical.. thing like a child, but she didn’t really give you much of a choice, if you were honest. Yuki didn’t really respond to anything else.
"Why are we going to D.C, again?" Yuki asked a few minutes later as the light rail slowed down at your stop.
"The School board had each of 5hw schools in the district in charge of something for the French class that's visiting, our school was in charge of finding a guide for them. Then since they're cheap they decided to choose one of their students but the student they chose doesn't know any French, so here we are," You explained,stretching out your arms and putting your phone- along with Yuki, in your pocket.
"Well that was stupid of them," Yuki commented, as she flew out of your pocket and into your jacket to talk to you easier.
"No one ever said that the school board was smart, doll face," You snarked, earning a laugh from Yuki.
"That's true! So, where is this class of Frenchman?"
"Frenchmen and French women, kiddo. And they're supposedly by the reflecting pool, our first stop is the Lincoln Memorial," You explained, humming as you made your way across the busy streets.
"I wish we could've drove, its cold," Yuki complained after a moment. You laughed.
"Well, then we would've had to find a parking spot, and that's hell, and it would've taken a lot longer. Also, you have no right to complain, all tucked under my coat, leeching off of my body heat." Yuki snorted but returned to silence as you made your way to the reflecting pull, having to pull out your phone for directions more than once.
You found the French students pretty easily, a blonde girl was loudly complaining- in French, that a bird had pooped on her pants. You sighed wistfully, remembering when that had happened to you. You had gone into the gardens afterwards and scrubbed your pants for twenty minutes with a napkin. Ah, memories.
" Excuse me, are you Miss Prince ?" A dark haired older woman asked in French, approaching you. You immediately smiled politely, allowing your professional face to fall into place.
" Yes, I am Zinnia Prince, would this be the class I am to show around? " You asked, clasping your hands behind your back. The woman smiled in relief.
" Yes, we are them! It's good you arrived when you did, I'm pretty sure Chloe was about to throw a tantrum, since she is unable to threaten nobody with her father here, " A blue-haired girl responded instead of the teacher, smiling tentatively as she approached. You raised an eyebrow at that, Draco Malfoy immediately coming to mind.
" Well, we can get right on with the tour after introductions, " You assured, ignoring the quiet muttering of Yuki beneath your jacket.
" Well, I'm Ms. Bustier, their teacher, " the woman introduced herself.
" I'm Marionette, and the red head sneaking up behind me is my best friend Alya, " the blue-haired girl, cheerfully informed. You nodded and waved at Alya before moving on to the rest of the students.
" Hello, I'm Zinnia, I'll be showing you around the capitol today, could you introduce yourselves to me so I know your names? " You requested, smiling as politely as possible.
"Business you is way more like-" Yuki started, but you cut her off with a quick tug forward on the sides of your coat.
" I'm Nino, and this is my best friend Adrien, though you probably already know him, " A boy with a hat and headphones introduced himself and the blonde next to him, you wondered about the 'probably already know him' part, but ignored it to find out the names of the rest of the students.
You turned to the blonde, ready to be polite.
" You don't need to know my name, making me wait this long, it's probably your fault that stupid bird pooped on me! I'll have my dad get you fired for this you- "
Oh hell no. Needless to say, you were not planning on being polite anymore.
"I'm not an employee, kiddo. Though, if your dad did try and fire me, he'd have quite a bit more trouble going his way then anything even you could manage to cook up for him, Barbie. So, I'd suggest shutting up, and telling me your stupid little name so we can move on, alright? " You growled, making sure to keep your tone low so no one else would hear.
" C-Chloe, my name is Chloe. " the blonde sputtered, then proceeded to get as far away from you as possible, neglecting to introduce the ginger beside her. You shrugged it off then continued to meet and greet with the rest of the students. It only took a few minutes, and then you were leading the small procession towards the first landmark on your stop, the Lincoln Memorial. Then you made sure to take your time in the gardens, cause is was warm and Chloe needed to scrub bird scat off her pants.
You spent about an hour or so in the gardens, spouting off random facts or translating the names of plants and information on said plants. Most of them knew some English, but not enough to translate every so single word.
You thought it was going relatively well when lunch came around and you all went to one of the little Hut things to get some food. You went to McDonald's first, but then proceeded around to make sure everything got something to eat, or in Chloe's case, something to tolerate . Then of course, halfway through your meal, everything just had to fall apart.
One minute you were idly sipping on your soda next to the teacher while waiting for the French students to finish their lunches, the next you were sprawled out on the ground while somebody cackled and proclaimed themselves to be ‘The Custodian’, who was going to clean up the streets of ‘the filth of the twenty-first century’. You were very annoyed, very tired, very cold, and very pissed that you didn’t get to finish your soda.
Needless to say, ‘The Custodian’, was going down.
You ran behind a building and placed a hand over your choker for a moment, to ensure it was still on.
“Yuki, wings up!” Everything flashed white as you transformed, brushing your hands across your face and running your fingers through your hair. It was over in seconds, and you were suddenly a lot colder than you were. “Holy shit, it is cold as balls,” You cried, wrapping your wings around you to heat yourself up. A shout from one of the students reminded you why you had transformed in the first place.
With a groan you unwrapped your wings and tucked them behind your back. You ran towards the commotion and jumped in front of the students just in time to stop a spray of water, that happened to ‘wash away’ whoever it touched. Safe to say, you didn't like the sound of that, with good reason.
A moment later you blocked the spray with your wings so The Custodian turned his attention to the pedestrian on their smart phone across the street, and when the water hit, they were quite literally washed away, like you're pretty sure they just turned into water.
"That was some shit," You laughed nervously, turning to the French class.
" Who are you?! " Adlya asked, practically jumping up and down, you were not expecting that. You expected them to be confused and maybe even scared, but excited and looking as if people in strange outfits were completely normal is what they were.
" Raven..? " You answered, extremely confused, and wondering where Marinette and Adrien disappeared to.
" This is so cool! Just like Ladybug and Chat Noir! Oh this is going on the Ladyblog! " Aya exclaimed, pulling out her smartphone.
" Alright.. Well I'm just gonna go deal with 'The Custodian', sit uh, you guys just sit tight.. " You mumbled, leaving the group to themselves. Goodness French people are a lot weirder than you remembered.
" This age will be cleansed!! " You groaned as you followed The Custodian from the roof, you could not take this guy seriously, and honestly, you couldn't figure out why he was speaking French when he was obviously American. He was literally wearing a custodians suit and hitting people with a mop. You didn't know what problem this guy had with 'this age', but he was going a bit overboard with it.
" Who pissed in your honey nut cheerios ?" You called, pulling your collapsed bow from your back and hitting the switch to un-collapse it.
" You must all be cleansed of the filth of this age of technology! " The Custodian shouted, a torrent of water heading towards you.
" I took my shower last night actually, " You shouted down, pulling back your bow string as an arrow materialized.
" Don't you mean your birdbath, little birdie ?" A boy snarked, grinning as he jumped in front of you, twisting around a black staff thing and blocking the water. You immediately took note of his ears and tail. You released your arrow letting it disappear in the air.
" Oh great, a punny kitty, you must be Chat Noir. " For some reason you weren't too surprised that he spoke French, and if you had to guess, Ladybug probably did too. Chat turned on his heel and bowed with a flourish of his arm.
" The one and only, and who might you be, birdie? " Chat asked, leaning against his staff.
" We can save introductions for later, Chat. We need to purify that Akuma before 'The Custodian' can 'purify' more people, " A girl called, as she swung in with a polka-dot yo-yo thing.
" Aw, my Lady, I missed you! " Chat cooed as he went to join the lady's side. You assumed this to be ladybug, though the red polka-dot jumpsuit kind of gave it away.
" I'm super duper confused, but whatever floats your boat. Gotta plan? " you asked, jumping down beside the two miraculouses.
" Well, he's on about modern technology, so maybe we could someone get his attention with a smartphone or- A- that redheaded girl ," Ladybug turned to you, " She was on her phone wasn't she? " Ladybug asked.
" Yupp, along with that blonde, and the ginger, and the adult that was with them.. Oh, I see what your getting at now. Everyone else would probably be inside anyway, but they don't really have anywhere to go. Since they're students.. " You thought aloud, nodding your head.
" Let's go then, try to keep up, " Ladybug called, swinging away. You huffed, but followed after anyway, with a flap of your wings you were running along the roof beside Ladybug and Chat Noir.
It took you several minutes to find Alya and them. Alya was on her phone, recording The Custodian with a gleeful smile.
" She should not be smiling like that, " You pointed out, pulling back your bow string and firing at The Custodian to get his attention. " Over here buddy! Our tech is a lot more advanced than hers! " You called, swinging around your bow .
"That's one way to get his attention, better than using A- the redhead, as bait, anyway. " Ladybug commented. " Keep him distracted and we'll take out the Akuma. " You nodded, gripping your bow as you shot arrows in quick succession and tried to keep away from the torrents of water.
" My lady, I think it's in the mop! " Chat called, getting a nod from Ladybug in response.
" Lucky Charm !" Ladybug exclaimed, throwing up her yo-yo thing. You didn't see what it was as you narrowly missed another spout of water. " What am I supposed to do with this? " Ladybug whined.
" Well cats don't like water so maybe it's for me? " Chat called, you rose an eyebrow, wondering what the hell Ladybug got when she said 'lucky charm'. You were very confused, and frankly, still cold, so your weren't having a super grand time.
" Oh, I know! Chat, knock over that to cut him off, and you, draw him over here! " Ladybug ordered, you really wanted to know what Chat was about to knock over, but began drawing The Custodian towards where Ladybug's voice had come from. You turned around to run and froze. They weren't.
"Cataclysm! " Hoe don't do it.
Chat struck The Monument and you watched in stunned horror as it crumbled to the ground, successfully cutting off The Custodian as Ladybug rushed him with an umbrella to protect herself from the water.
Oh. My. God.
You turned to Ladybug with wide eyes as she swung around her yo-yo, having broken the mop and releasing the Akuma.
" Bye-bye little butterfly ," Ladybug called with a smile, throwing up her umbrella. " Miraculous Ladybug! " You shut your mouth and held back your screaming as the umbrella turning into a bunch of ladybugs and they went around fixing everything.
" So, birdie, before we go, what's your name? " Chat asked, moving next to Ladybug.
"Uh.. Raven.. " You dumbly responded, still a bit in shock from what just happened.
" Well, Raven, it was nice to meet you! Gotta go now, though!"
"Uh, bye.. " You waved as they ran in two separate directions. Only moving after remembering about that French class you were supposed to be watching. You ran behind a building and untransformed and making your way to the French students.
"That was.. Weird," Yuki mumbled immediately settling into your pocket.
"Yeah that was-" You paused, a thought coming to mind, "-Don't I have an uncle who lives in France!" You wondered.
"Ye- Zinnia no, we are not-"
"Oh we so totally are, I didn't want to bother my cousin for much longer anyway.."
"Ugh, I hate moving!" Yuki whined, you laughed.
“ Miss Zinnia! ” Ms. Bustier called, rushing over to you. “ We were unable to find you, then Raven arrived- ” You held up a hand to gently cut the teacher off.
“ Don’t worry, ma’am, Everything’s fine, we should probably get you guys back to your hotel though, it’s been a long day, I can show you around more of D.C. tomorrow, there’s a few museums I think will be interesting for your students. ” Ms. Bustier breathed a sigh of relief, as she agreed.
“ I didn’t know there were miraculous in America! That was great, I’m going to make a post as soon as we get back to the hotel! Oh Mariannette, you missed it, I got a great video of it though! ” Alya chattered nearby as Ms. Bustier gathered everyone up. You stifled a laugh, shaking your head as you walked with the group to their bus.
“ It was nice to meet you, Zinnia. Thank you for being our tour guide for this trip, ” Adrien politely thanked you.
“ Oh yeah! Thank you, Zinnia! It was really nice of you, on such short notice and everything! ” Marianette added from beside Adlya, smiling up at you.
“ Uh, yeah. You’re all welcome, it wasn’t a bother.. hah ,” You responded, awkwardly rubbing the back of your head. Fuck they’re both so cute . You waved goodbye as they boarded the bus, slumping as the bus pulled away and out of sight.
“I can’t believe you, at all. Honestly,” Yuki complained, popping her head out of your pocket. You huffed and turned on your heel.
“Shut up and let’s head home, you little shit,” You responded.