Chapter Text
The stares were the worst part of coming back to school this year, Marinette thought as she walked down the central hallway of College Francois Dupont's new Lycee campus.They'd always been one of the worst parts of coming back after summer break, with everyone watching to see how the clumsy outcast would make a fool of herself this year. Or waiting to see what new and creative ways Chloe planned to humiliate and torment her.
Last year it hadn't been as bad, but then, last year she'd had Alya with her. Brave, strong, take no nonsense Alya. She'd literally glared down anyone who dared to look at Marinette longer than a few minutes. Even Chloe hadn't been able to stand against the wannabe journalists blazing glare and scathing tongue. Every one of Alya's insults visibly stung as they hit the stuck up blonde's ears, whereas her return fire always rolled off Alya like water off a duck's back.
Marinette had been in awe of her newest, and only, friend. She'd been so strong and unyielding where Marinette was shy and meek. In her shining, naive eyes, Alya had been able to shrug off anything the world chucked at her. Almost like she was bullet proof.
“But in the end,” Marinette's traitorous mind whispered, unbidden, “she hadn't been bullet proof at all.”
At that thought, Marinette found herself back at the bakery in her mind. Her ears still ringing from the crack of the gun shot. Warm blood trickling down her cheeks as she stared blankly forward. Her nose filled with the smell of blood and flour mixing into a slurry on the floor.
She snapped out of it in moments, fast enough that even her many onlookers didn't seem to notice. She shook her head vigorously to clear it, and to help fully push back the tears that threatened to pour from her eyes.
She continued down the hallway uninterrupted after that. She forced her mind to switch back to thoughts of the staring. About how much worse it was now without Alya, and with all that had happened hanging over her like a dark cloud.
That was why the staring was the worst part of coming back, this time, because it was no longer mocking eyes waiting to see their favorite fool fall on her face or trip over her words. No, now those eyes that had once held the cruel amusement only teenagers are capable of only held equal parts pity, and fear.
The closer she got to her classroom, the more whispers she heard mixed in with the staring. It was never loud enough for her to make out exactly what was being said, but she caught a few words here and there.
“-her mom two years ago. Yeah, drunk driver.”
“I'm serious! With a fucking rolling pin-”
“-Bakery is still open, somehow. Don't know how-”
“-her dad, yeah. And her best friend. Same night.”
“-heard Sabrina say that she didn't leave a single part of the bastards head intact-”
“-Is she safe to even be here?”
Marinette finally reached the door to her classroom and shoved it open so hard the door handle slammed against the wall, quickly rushing in and letting it slam closed behind her.
“Hey! You can't-” Madame Bustier began to say, half rising from her desk before she saw who had just slammed it open “-oh! Marinette! You’re back!”
Her teacher since she literally started kindergarten rushed over to her, bombarding Marinette with a flurry of words about how happy she was to see her. How proud of her she was for managing to come back so soon. Plus a whole lot of fussing and half questions that danced around the ones Madame Bustier really wanted to ask.
The whole thing should've been annoying, possibly even demeaning, but Marinette couldn't help but grudgingly appreciate having an adult care enough about her to fuss over her again. Hell, having anyone worry about her at all felt like such a novel concept now that she'd probably accept kindness from anyone. That's how few people were left who actually cared about her.
“We care about you, Marinette” Nooroo whispered softly in her mind, his voice full of concern and warmth.
At the Kwami of Emotion and Connections words, Marinette's bag rocked comfortingly against her side twice. No doubt pushed from the inside by the other half of the Emotion duo: Dusuu, Kwami of Emotion and Life.
For the first time that morning, Marinette felt her shoulders raise from their near perpetual slump as her lips began to quirk up in a smile.
“Thanks, Nooroo” she thought back, “”I care about you too. Both of you.”
She patted her bag at those thoughts, letting the god-like magical entity currently hiding inside know that she appreciated her help.
“Fuck, Kwamis are so much better than people.” she muttered under her breath as she surveyed the students trickling into the room.
Marinette's seat was at the back corner of the room, furthest from the door and closest to the window. It gave her a perfect view of everyone as they came in and began picking their seats for the year, showing her faces both familiar and new as she kept a sharp eye on each one and what they were doing. Most people were finding their little cliques and friend groups to sit with, some even taking whole table rows together. A few duos and loners were picking through the odd empty chairs, all trying to find a halfway decent spot between all the already established social circles. One or two of those looked up at the long table with two free chairs in Marinette's corner, but none of them dared to come near.
That is, until a boy she didn't recognize, but who looked very familiar, walked into the room. His piercing emerald eyes rapidly flicker through all of the rows, clearly looking for someone or something specific. Nothing seemed to be quite what he was after though, at least, until those gemstone eyes finally passed over Marinette. It was like she'd caught the blonde haired teen in a tractor beam with how fast he made a direct beeline to her table, eyes locked on her the whole time. He didn't hesitate to drop his small, mostly empty bag on the desk, and quickly squeezed himself into a seat next to her.
“Hi!” He beamed, sticking out his hand for her to shake “I'm Adrien, it's nice to meet you!”
Marinette stared at the naive, human ray of sunshine for a moment, her lips pulled back to bare her teeth almost like a wild animal.
‘What are you doing?” She snapped at him, putting her best murderous glare directly into those stupid, mesmerizing green eyes.
“Um…sitting down? I'm pretty sure that's what most people do at a school desk?” he asked, his face completely innocent and confused.
She stared at him for a long moment.
And then a very classic Marinette word babble, with very few classic Marinette words, began to tumble out of her mouth.
“Are you trying to be cute with me, or something? I mean, why the fuck would you come sit up here when no one else is? Are you dense? Stupid? Doing some kind of dumb prank?” Her eyes widened slightly and she poked his chest hard with a single finger, making him wince.
“That's fucking it, isn't it? You're trying to pull some stupid prank. Who put you up to this? Kim? No, no Kim takes pride in doing his own dirty work…..
“Aha! I got it! I bet it was the queen bitch herself right? Chloe? That has to be it. Chloe put you up to this. Why, though? Does she just think I'm the same little girl she used to push around? Well, you can fucking tell her-”
Adrien interrupted her by waving his hands quickly, stopping her voice from getting any louder and attracting unwanted looks.
“Nothing like that I swear!” He rubs the back of his head chuckling nervously “The opposite, actually. I'd heard… well I had heard you could do the impossible.”
“The impossible.” She said slowly, staring at him incomprehensibly, voice cracking slightly “That…th-that means what, exactly?”
She stomped mentally kicking herself at her old nerves and stammer slipping in as Adrien answered her by pointing to the front of the room.
“Well mainly, I was referring to that.”
She looked in the direction he pointed, quickly finding her eyes landing on one Chloe Bourgeois and Sabrina Raincomprix. Both girls were scanning the room much like Adrien had minutes before. Pretty quickly, their eyes also alighted on the back table, with Chloe first noticing Adrien and lighting up in a way that made Marinette want to gag. She'd just taken a single step towards him when her eyes landed on Marinette and she froze.
Without a word being said, Chloe almost immediately grabbed Sabrina and hauled her to the end of the room that was closest to the front and simultaneously furthest from Marinette. She very purposefully and obviously didn't look anywhere near her direction the moment she sat down.
“Huh. Would you look at that? I would've killed to have been able to scare her that bad in collège.”
Adrien cocked his head to the side slightly in confusion, his face devoid of anything other than pure curiosity as he opened his mouth.
“Didn’t you actually, though?”
Her gaze locked back onto him like a cat noticing a particularly plump bird.
“‘Didn't I actually’ what, Sunshine?” She said, nearly spitting what she meant to be a mocking nickname for the annoying blonde.
For some reason, the damn fool blushed. He looked down at his desk as he answered, pulling his gaze away from her for the first time since he’d noticed her.
“Um-you know…. Didn't you actually kill for it? That's why she's scared of you, right? Because you bashed a guy's head in with a hammer?” He glanced back up, caught sight of the death glare she was giving him, and immediately looked away again.
“That's um…that's what everybody's been saying, at least. I don't know if it's true or not, I just know they'd said Chloe wouldn't bother you or go anywhere near you anymore. So I figured… Why not see if that's true? Couldn't hurt to check.”
The idiot actually smiled at that and looked back up at her, grin literally reaching from ear to ear.
“And it did! So thank you! You're like, a lucky charm, or something!”
Marinette stared at him for a long moment before snorting.
“Maybe an unlucky charm, Sunshine.” She started to let her hackles down slightly, but still sent a thought Nooroo’s way.
“Hey Nooroo, can I get a trickle of power? No transformation needed or anything, just enough for close range empathy?”
The plucky Kwami responded immediately.
“Sure thing! Anything for you, Mari!”
“Thank’s, Nooroo! You’re always so sweet! Macarons for everyone when we have lunch break!”
Nooroo cheered, and she felt a thin line of power connect her mind to the subtle web of emotion floating all around them.
Outside of her head, her conversation continued.
“Wait, so you just sat here to keep Chloe away from you? No other reason?” she asked incredulously, skillfully directing her new but familiar sense at Adrien's surface emotions, skimming the things he was feeling as they came in.
She felt a flash of nerves, a flash of excitement… and there it was, guilt. Liars were so easy to detect with the power of the Butterfly, because whether it was guilt, pride, or satisfaction, their emotions always gave them away.
Quicker than Adrian’s eyes could track, the intimidating, and admittedly very attractive black haired girl reached out and snatched his wrist in an unyielding grip. A single motion of her arm was all it took to yank him uncomfortably close to her, staring directly into her piercing, blazing blue eyes. Never before had deep blue eyes been so terrifying to Adrien, or so appealing.
Marinette was luckily taller than Adrien while sitting, so she was able to glare down into his eyes instead of up. Like this, she was practically looming over him, caging him in from above and holding him tight by his wrist.
“You’re lying.” she snarled, voice soft so that there still gathering classmates wouldn’t have any reason to look behind them “Why else did you come up here, Sunshine? Wanted to poke the bear, hmmm? Maybe wanted to see if you could get a reaction out of the scary murderer, huh? Is that what you think of me? Is that why you came up here? So you could have a story to tell your little friends?”
She’d been expecting him to feel defiant, or angry, or even just plain scared. She hadn’t expected Adrien’s emotions to wilt like a flower in the desert at her snarled challenge, even as his face remained locked in a mask of emotionless calm. Behind that blank mask that looked more natural than any poker face she’d ever seen, the poor guy was falling apart.
“I-I didn’t think you murdered anybody? Everything I’d heard made it sound like self defense…” The light in his eyes actually dimmed slightly as he continued, and the loss of their light left a strange pain in Marinette's gut that she didn’t understand “And I wouldn’t have anyone to tell the story too, anyways. I don’t have any friends. Besides Chloe, I guess, but I don’t count her after last year…”
Her emotions confirmed he was telling the truth, and suddenly Marinette went from righteous, feral anger, to awkward guilt and at least a little shame at manhandling this actual stranger all because she’d been jumping to conclusions. Her face flushed, both out of shame, and because she just noticed how close to her she had dragged him.
“Oh- Um- I didn’t mean to- that is to say that I was just- Ok so wait, wait, wait.” Marinette took a deep breath, finally letting go of Adrien’s wrist “Ok. Adrien, right? Listen I-”
“Alright class, books out! I want to go over our syllabus for the year and talk about the basic schedule we’ll have going forward. Then we'll dive into what we’ll be looking at this year. And I must say, it is so good to see you all again after such a long break!” Madame Bustier’s voice cut Marinette off, and she and Adrien had to turn away from each other to actually sit through their class.
“Oh my god Nooroo I fucked up!!!” Marinette squealed in her mind.
“I don’t think it’s as bad as you’re worried it is? He doesn’t feel angry, or scared, at least?”
“Nooroo, I think I literally growled at him! Like, back of my throat rumbling, animalistic snarl! And I grabbed him so hard I must have bruised his skin. Oh goodness, I got right up in his face! He could probably smell my breath, and I didn’t even brush my teeth this morning! What If I had food stuck in my teeth?
“Gah! What if his other motivation was just wanting to sit in the back of the class so he could zone out??? He didn’t deserve that!”
“Marinette!” Nooroo finally interrupted her spiral, pulsing a burst of calm into her mind to soothe his panicking wielder.
“Hey, hey it's ok. Even if any of that actually happened, it isn’t the end of the world, yeah? You don’t ever have to talk to him again if you don’t want to, and what do we care if he spreads rumors? You’ve already spread worse about yourself on purpose.”
Marinette calmed enough under her Kwami and best friends soothing words to respond without spiraling
“You’re right, ok. No, you’re right. If I upset him, what does it matter? If I’d been right, I could’ve been hurt if I had been all open and friendly first. Better to hurt his feelings than leave myself vulnerable.”
“That’s um…not exactly what I was saying?” Nooroo said, concern creeping into his voice “But if that helps you not worry about it, then I guess you're welcome?”
Marinette nodded to herself, finally letting her attention slide to Madame Bustier, shooting one final thought at Nooroo as she did so.
“Thanks, Nooroo. For everything. You can cut off the empathy now.”
“Already done, Mari. Already done.”
*************************************************************************************
Shortly after Ivan was escorted out of the room after whatever note Kim had given him had sent him into a blind rage, Marinette had raised her hand and asked if she could be excused to use the bathroom. Maybe if it had been anyone else, and perhaps not on the first day back, Madame Boustier would have said no. But it was Marinette, and she likely didn’t have the heart to deny the girl anything right now, let alone a quick bathroom break even though another student was already out of the room.
Which is how Marinette found herself locked in a bathroom stall, shaking with giddiness, about to take a step she had been waiting months for.
“Nooroo, did you see how angry Ivan was at Kim? He was practically ready to kill him already. I guess it doesn’t take much to get our gentle giant riled up after all. Still, I know first hand what it’s like to be on the other end of Kim’s so-called ‘sense of humor’. I think it’s perhaps time the little asshole got to see that causing people emotional pain as a ‘joke’ can have permanent consequences.”
The butterfly brooch that Nooroo currently inhabited rumbled anxiously at Marinette’s words and the dark, vindictive emotions pouring off of her.
“Um… Mari? Are you sure that’s a good idea? I know he’s been awful to you your whole life, and what he did to you last year after everything you’d just gone through was borderline evil, but surely there are better ways to deal with him? And everyone else? I know me and Dusuu said we’d help you… and we will! I swear we will. It’s just…using the Miraculous to goad another classmate into trying to kill him? That just feels too far. Like a misuse of power.”
Marinette stood in the empty bathroom stall alone, her eyes slowly screwing up tight, as her hands curled into fists so tight that both were now bone white. Anger and hatred rolled off of the girl in waves, so much that the force of it almost caused Nooroo to flee his Miraculous. He only stayed through the storm of emotion because he could feel that not an ounce of that anger was being directed at himself or Dusuu, and he knew it never would be. Still, the force of the young girl's rage while possessing a complete pair of Miraculous from the Mother Miracle Box was a terrifying thing to comprehend.
He practically told everyone I pulled her in front of me, Nooroo! The little bastard told the whole class that I could have grabbed my best friend, my only friend, and pulled her in front of a bullet meant for me! It’s not enough that Alya gave her life to save mine, but that piece of shit sullied the last thing my friend ever did for me with his stupid ‘jokes’! Everyone already knew who should’ve really died in the bakery that night, how much of a tragedy Alya’s life being cut short before she could change the world was, but at least she died being a hero! At least she died proving she was everything she ever wanted to be! And that bastard tried to take that away from her memory, for what? A cruel ‘joke’? To appease and impress that blonde bitch that will never love him? To pile just a little more suspicion and hatred on the heaping pile of shit I’d already been given?
“I have had to deal with people wrecking lives, destroying dreams, and ruining this world for everyone around them all for their own sick amusement my entire fucking life. And they never suffer any consequences, either because they’re rich, they’re powerful, they’re charismatic and popular, or they just got fucking lucky! Both in this trash heap of a school and in Paris as a whole, little fucking monsters like Kim and Chloe get to treat the world as their playground with absolutely no consequences or lessons learned. All because no one is willing to step up and give them those lessons that they desperately need.
Marinette’s face broke out into a feral smile.
“Well, I’m more than happy to step in and give all of these fucking bullies, weasels, liars, cheats, and assholes the lessons that school and their cushy fucking lives never deigned to teach.”
“Mari-” Nooroo started, trying to craft an argument that would convince this angry, hurting girl not to lash out at those that had repeatedly wronged her in her pain and grief. At least, not like this.
He was interrupted by a tiny blue body flying out of Marinette's purse and enthusiastically butting into their mental link.
“I’m with Mari on this one, Nooroo!” Dusuu said vehemently “This Kim kid has had it coming for a long time. He’s causing pain solely for his amusement and the amusement of others. Weren’t the guardians all about using our Miraculous to stop people like that? I think this is exactly something we should be doing.”
Dusuu paused, and looked up at Marinette with wide, innocent eyes.
“I mean, so long as you only scare him, Mari! I know you’d never really hurt anybody, but Nooroo’s right. Some things are too far. But giving a victim the power to give his bully some of the fear that he’s given others? That’s poetic justice. So long as it doesn’t go beyond the fear.”
Marinette’s body relaxed slightly at the little kwami’s words, her response carrying a bit of the nerves and anxiety that they’d come to associate with her before that awful night.
“Y-yeah, Dusuu. Just the fear. Promise. N-no permanent damage, you know? Just some fear. Some scrapes and bruises. That’s fine, right Nooroo? We can just show them the emotions they force onto others, right? That isn’t misuse. We’d just be picking a champion to right a wrong. You know, like it showed you doing in the Grimoire’s history section.”
Nooroo did the metaphysical entity equivalent of a sigh. He knew Dusuu was being assumptive and optimistic about what Mari actually wanted. He felt her emotions and her mind near constantly nowadays, and while he knew their wielder wasn’t lying to them in the moment, he also knew that Marinette was desperately struggling to tamp down on the part of herself that absolutely would take things too far the moment she was pushed just a little too much.
What could he do though, really? Marinette was his and Dusuu’s wielder, if she wanted to, she could force them to help her.
The fact that she was asking, that she not only cared about their opinions but that Nooroo knew she’d never want to override their wills with commands, meant that he was more inclined to humor her than not. Right now, they were Mari’s only friends, and she theirs. So long as Nooroo maintained that relationship, even if Mari barreled over the line of morality on occasion, she’d always let them reel back her worst desires and ideas.
She was a sweet girl, really. Just hurting and alone, with access to powers beyond mortal kin. Fighting her over this, actively opposing her beyond concerned warnings, could alienate the poor thing and push her over the brink into a truly shattered psyche. Marinette currently had a lot of rage and nothing to lose, her going off the deep end while holding not just one but two fully complimentary Miraculous would be nothing short of disastrous. Everything was better, not good but better, if Nooroo and Dusuu were her confidants and accomplices. It was paramount that she had people (Kwami really) in her life that she knew loved her and would not leave her.
It was a risk, sure. And it could backfire miserably. Still, it had the best odds of keeping the people of Paris safe. Hopefully, it also had the best chance of holding the poor teen back long enough for her to actually get the help she needed.
“Fine. We’re with you Mari. Just be careful, yes? No permanent damage.”
Marinette nodded.
“Right, no permanent damage.” she agreed “Now, let’s get this show on the road!”
She shifted her feat into a more solid stance, and raised one hand, touching the Butterfly brooch braided into her hair, hidden under her beret. Her face spent into a wide grin, and she couldn’t help but let loose an excited giggle.
“Alright, let's do this!” She practically shouted, pumping her arm in the air “Nooroo! Dark Wings Rise!”
*************************************************************************************
“Well that’s… a lot to take in all at once.” Nathalie said, tugging on the edges of her charcoal black suit to straighten it out after her moment of panic had crumpled it slightly “And your saying that this…unknown stranger that has your friend? Colleague? Fellow god? Is using their powers right now to terrorize Paris? How do you know that? And why do you need me?”
Tikki seemed taken back a bit by the no nonsense and shockingly calm response from the stern looking woman, but quickly got her wits about her and flitted nervously around her newest wielder's head.
“Kwami whose Miraculous share a point of origin can feel when the others miraculous are activated and used at full power. I and the other Kwami felt Nooroo’s Miraculous, the Butterfly, activate about eight to twelve months ago. It lasted maybe a few hours, and we think it must’ve been some kind of test run of Nooroo’s abilities.. From that activation we were able to determine that Nooroo and his newest wielder were somewhere in Paris. Which is why the Guardian, the man in charge of protecting our Miraculous and who chose you as my newest wielder, traveled here mere days after the activation.
“But whoever has the Butterfly hasn’t activated a full transformation since that day. We were worried at the time that the user of our missing Miraculous had somehow made us and had gone to ground. That was before today though, when we felt another full activation, still in Paris. And this time, we don’t think they’re doing a trial run.”
“And what makes you think that?” Nathalie’s face draws itself into a thin line, her arms crossed disapprovingly as she levels her best unimpressed and annoyed stare at Tikki.
The little Kwami had said a whole lot of words without actually answering a single one of Nathalie’s questions, and she was starting to get annoyed. First this thing popped out of nowhere on her lunchbreak, which had already been cut shorter than normal because she’d insisted on giving that old man who’d fallen in the street a ride home, and then it started trying to give Nathalie some kind of ‘important mission’.
Nathalie had enough of people with ‘important missions’ that refused to give her any actual, actionable information from her time in the service. And she’d promised herself she wouldn’t put up with something like that again if she could help it. So either this red-ladybug-mouse-thing could start actually explaining things, or she was tossing it and it’s magic earrings out the nearest window.
Tikki sighed whole body sagging as she looked downwards. Nathalie frowned and leaned forward in mild concern. Was the poor thing disappointed, or concerned?
“Just… check your phone. Any news channel should be reporting on whatever they’ve had Nooroo do. I don’t actually know what it is yet, but I guarantee you it will be breaking news everywhere. Nooroo’s wielders have been many things over the millenia, but none of them have ever been subtle.”
Nathalie stared deadpan at the little red creature for a moment, before slowly drawing her phone from her pocket and pulling up a news app. At no point did she ever break eye contact with Tikki as she did so.
Sounds of stone and concrete being crushed pour from the phones speakers, alongside screams and an inhuman roar. Nathalie looks down at the sound, catching an eye full of some giant rock monster as it smashes through walls and wreaks havoc through a parking lot, beelining towards a sports field, a screaming young man clutched in one stony fist.
Nathalie was taken aback, at first, by the nonsensical sight, but then her eyes narrowed as she realized she recognized those walls and that parking lot.
“Wait is that… that's Adrien's school! I just dropped him off there a few hours ago!” Her head snapped back to Tikki, eyes wide and blazing with emotion “You. Tikki, right? This thing… will it stop on its own? Does it just have some mission to complete and then it will stop, maybe a battery or energy store to deplete? Or does it just… keep going until someone else stops it.”
Tikki looked up at her with pleading eyes.
“If it would stop on its own so easily, we wouldn't need you. Please Miss Nathalie, time is of the essence, every second we waste is more children we put at risk. More time your son is at risk. I need to stop this, I'm the only one whose power can fix the damage that's already been done, but I can't do it without a wielder to channel it. Will you help me, Miss Nathalie, even if just this once?”
Nathalie stared at her for a moment, then calmly took the earings and quickly placed one in each ear.
“For the record, Adrien is my boss's son. Not mine. I'm just… responsible for him when Gabri-I mean, Mr. Agreste is busy. But… I do care about him. More to the point, I cannot and will not let him get hurt. They've both already lost too much…
“So, tell me again how this magic doohickey works?”
Tikki spun around her head once in glee, clapping rapidly.
“Oh, thank you Nathalie, thank you! We'll protect him together, don't you worry! To get us started, all you'll need to say is “Tikki, Spots on.”
Nathalie touched one hand to her earrings, and nodded.
“Alright. I'm ready.”
Nathalie took a deep breath and then let it out. She squared her shoulders and stood ram road straight, the way she had many times before every battle she had ever fought in. For her first battle against a magical enemy while wielding magical powers of her own, it just felt right to keep some things the same.
Though, unlike the old days of bullets, mud, and blood, this time, Nathalie allowed a small smile to grow across her lips as she opened them to speak the words that would change her life forever.
“Tikki! Spots on!”
*************************************************************************************
“Hold on, slow down there. Are you telling me that if I put on this little ring, it will give me magic powers? Like… like some kind of superhero? From comic books? That's preposterous!” Gabriel said with a suspicious glare at the ring he held betwixt two fingers, staring at it as if it held the secrets of the universe.
Plagg snorted from where he was hovering by Gabriel’s head, his paws clutching a hunk of cheese he had managed to bully the fashion designer into fetching from the mini fridge behind his desk.
“What, and a tiny, floating, talking cat popping out of a ring that magically appeared on your desk is totally normal? Don’t cling to your logic when it’s clearly being overturned, Gabey boy. Stay loose and liquid, flow like a cat.”
“Its- It’s Gabriel, please.” He said firmly but not impolitely, before letting out a weary sigh “And you're right. I shouldn’t refute anything the impossible talking cat tells me without proof you’re lying.
“So, what then, is this one of those moments where power comes with responsibility? I’m assuming you don't just go handing these out to anyone whenever you feel like it?”
“Correctamundo, Big Cheese.” Plagg said with a loud burp “See we’ve got a small problem. A while back our untrained mess of a guardian lost two of the Miraculous from our Miracle Box while fleeing a small kerfuffle. We didn’t think that we’d ever see our friends again, but recently, we felt their Miraculous activate. Well, one of them, at least.”
Plagg slowly rotated himself until he was floating upside down, still keeping eye contact with Gabe as he talked.
“This should’ve been a reason to throw a party, you know, break out the good aged cheese, that kinda thing. But there was an issue, see, these Kwami and their Miraculous are, among other things, the twin Kwami of Emotion. Their powers are scary good for crowd control and force multiplication, and those powers are directly fueled and affected by emotions. If the wielder who has the Miraculous uses good, positive emotions to power their abilities, everything is fine. Negative emotions though…well, let's just say their abilities get a lot more powerful, a lot more dangerous, and a lot less predictable or controllable. For us, I mean. Not the wielder.”
Gabriel frowned and slumped into the large leather chair behind his desk.
“Let me guess, when you felt them activate, they were being powered by negative emotions?”
Plagg, now right side up again, nodded.
“Righto, Fashion Boy, got it in one. They only had it up for a few hours, and we’re pretty sure it was just a test run. Now, that was almost a year ago, so we thought we had time to find this new mystery wielder. Problem is, they’ve used one of the Miraculous again: Nooroo’s, the Butterfly. That one lets the wielder take the strong emotions of another individual and use it to give them a superpower. It’s basically a super-minion creating machine. And well, this time we don’t think they’re taking him for a test run.”
Gabriel leaned forward and steepled his fingers.
“And why not?”
“Just turn on the news, buddy. Any channel.”
Gabriel frowned, but grabbed the remote for the small TV hanging over his office door and turned it on. Rapidly flicking through channels until he caught one with an urgent news broadcast.
Gabriel froze as he saw what the current headline was.
“That’s Francoise Dupont-” Gabriel said under his breath, before whirling around at a speed Plagg had not expected, seizing the Kwami, surprisingly gently, with both hands.
“I will carry your burden, carry out your mission and use your powers, so long as you answer a question, no, two questions for me. As quickly as you can.”
Gabriel's eyes were a touch wild and his voice equal parts manic and desperate as he stared the Kwami of Destruction dead in the eyes, their noses nearly touching.
“Woah! Ok, ok, calm down! Ask your questions, you crazy human!” Plagg exclaimed as he suddenly found himself mere inches from Gabriel's face.
“This…power you will grant me, it will let me destroy that monster?”
“With ease, yes.”
Gabriel's tongue darted across his suddenly dry lips nervously. He released Plagg, his hands shaking slightly as he brought them down to his sides and clenched them into painfully tight fists.
“Second question then” he said, his voice pained and filled with an emotion that Plagg couldn’t place “How do I use your power, oh great Kwami of Destruction?”
There was no mockery in the normally taciturn man's question, and Plagg straightened himself up to his full height from where he slouched in the air.
“Hey, kit you ok?” He asked, accidentally slipping into the affectionate term he used for wielders he’d had time to form an actual rapport with. “Because we can-”
“Plagg, please.” He whispered, eyes serious as the dead “How?”
“You-You just put on the ring and say “Plagg, Claws Out!”” Plagg said, before holding up both paws in a ‘wait’ hand motion “But hold on a-”
But Gabriel wasn’t paying attention.
The moment that Plagg had said the activation phrase, he had slipped the ring onto his finger with a firm purpose. His eyes blazed with a fire and determination that hadn’t been there since Emilie’s death, the kind of passion and fervor only stoked in one kind of man. The kind of manic, yet steadfast and reliable energy that comes from a father whose child is in danger.
“Plagg,” He growled, planting his feet firmly into the wooden floor boards, clenching the hand the ring was on tightly “Claws Out!”
A flash of green light filled Gabriel Agreste’s Office, and in that moment, the second of Paris’s two greatest heroes was born.