Chapter Text
The first day of school was never a big deal for Alix. Hell, it was just another day, the only thing that changed was the start of a new year of being bored in class. Big deal. If she wanted to be bored, she’d ask her older brother Jalil about one of those gods he knew so much about. Sure, she knew about them too, but he was awful at explaining things.
Getting up and ready for school was never an issue when you live with Jalil Kubdel. That man woke with the sun each morning, and had Alix up a whole two hours before she needed to be in class. She was late to class exactly once last year, and ever since he had insisted on seeing her out the door extra early.
“Good morning, Alix!” Jalil chimed from the stove, struggling to control the eggs in his pan. Good grief, he was cooking again. “Excited to start school?”
No, she thought, resting her head on her arms as she watched her brother cook with weary eyes. She didn’t want to get a lecture, so she minced her words. “I guess.”
Jalil tsked slightly, before letting out a little scream as some bits of scrambled egg hopped out of the pan onto his arm. “You’re allowed to be excited about this, Alix. You do know that, right?”
“I know, Jalil.” Alix rolled her eyes, getting up to grab some eggs before her brother flung them all over the kitchen. “I just don’t see the big deal, it’s just another dumb day at school.”
“New beginnings are always a big deal!” Alix heard a quiet “yip”, followed by a clang. Yep, there went the eggs. “Change can bring about so many new and exciting things, Alix. You just have to be open to them.”
Yeah, she was not in the mood for cryptic life advice from her brother as he scraped his breakfast off of the kitchen floor, which meant it was time for Alix to be leaving. “Save it for any museum tours you do, I’ve gotta go.”
It was calming for Alix to skate to school. The grooves and dips in the sidewalk under her wheels just helped soothe her mind, helped her keep her cool. If the day ahead was wearing down on her too much, like when a big test was scheduled, Alix would take a few extra turns to feel that peacefulness for just a minute longer. Paris was a beautiful city to skate through in the mornings, and luckily for Alix, she was early enough that there was still a light fog slowly lifting from the streets.
Alix turned a corner, about to skate by the set of stairs leading up to some random building, when something caught her eye. At the top of the stairs was a short old man in a hawaiian shirt, struggling to watch his step around his comically large grocery bags. Alix watched him struggle for a second longer, before tugging her skates off quickly and rushing up to help him.
“Here, sir, let me give you a hand.” Alix reached out to take one of the bags, biting back a frown at the realization that she was only just taller than the man. Curse her stupid short genes.
The little man smiled, watching her in a way that made Alix shudder. It wasn’t bad, per se, but it felt weird, as if he was looking right through her. “Oh, thank you so much, young miss. You’re too kind.”
Alix saw the man off, before backtracking to her skates. With that little stop, she’d have to actually race to school if she wanted first crack at the seats. Well, so much for her relaxing skate to school.
Kim was so psyched for school to be back on. Sure, he loved summer vacation, who didn’t? But Kim just can’t deny how much he enjoys seeing all his friends every day. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t just about seeing them. He spent the entire summer showing his cousins around Paris, and while he loved his cousins, none of them took part in his little competitions. Like, c’mon, couldn’t they at least have done it just once for him?
While his cousins couldn’t be bothered to humour him, Kim knew he could get his classmates to join in for one every now and then. How could they resist? If Kim taunted them just right, they’d be willing to do almost anything. He had his exceptions, of course. He’d been friends with Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Nino Lahiffe long enough to consider them outside his competition zone.
Kim didn’t live very far from the school. Hell, he lived like a street over, so he never had any reason to rush in the mornings. Well, Marinette was constantly late, but she had told him about how late she typically stayed up, so Kim could count her as an exception here, too.
Both of his parents worked rather early, so Kim ate his breakfast sandwich alone before locking up. A quick detour had Kim passing by the Dupain-Cheng bakery to catch a whiff of their decadent pastries, and then his school was in sight.
While he waited for the lights to change so he could cross the street, Kim spied an incredibly short old man beside him about to step off the curb while his bags blocked his eyes. Kim shot an arm out, jostling the man back onto the safe part of the street. “You’ll wanna watch your feet there, mister. Wouldn’t be cool to watch a truck make you drop all your stuff.”
“Oh, thank you, young man.” Kim smiled back awkwardly, eying the light for the change. The little man was watching him too closely for his comfort. “So thoughtful.”
As soon as the light changed, Kim dashed across the street. One of his cousins was an investigator in America, and had told him too many stories about guys his age being taken off the streets for human trading or something. Kim didn’t wanna risk it, and sprinted up the school steps.
Most of the students were milling around the courtyard or their lockers, but Kim wanted to get the best seat in the house. The third row of the class was the perfect place; it was an equal distance from Nino’s favoured back row and Marinette’s spot in the second. He didn’t want to sit beside his friends, even Kim knew that he would only distract him, and he needed someone new to dare and challenge all year.
Nino was already sitting in his seat at the back, Alix and Mylene were all set up in the second row, and Nathaniel was sitting in the back on the other side of the isle. Kim grinned at Nino as he took the seat in front of him, excited to be spending another year leaning back to distract the boy with the hat.
On the other side of Paris, in a small shop, Master Fu was carefully removing two black and red boxes from their secret hiding places.
“Are you absolutely sure that you’ve chosen right, Master?” Wayzz flitted about anxiously.
Fu took a moment to think. The two didn’t appear to match the powers he was about to give them, but he felt it himself. “Yes, they are the ones we need.”
Ivan stumbled out of his desk, ready to finally leave class for break. Maybe he could use this time to brainstorm ways to confess his feelings to Mylene? Just the thought of the girl had his face growing hot, his heart racing, and kicked the butterflies in his stomach into high gear.
Before he could make it to the door, he ran into one of his classmates in his daze. “Oh, I’m so sorry, excuse me.”
“Ugh, what, you can’t even watch where you’re going?” Oh dear Lord, he’d walked right into Chloe! The little heiress glared up at him, stomping her foot and huffing and puffing. He was done for. “I could have you ended for this, Igor.”
“Yeah, ended.” Oh no, Sabrina was there too!
Ivan backed away slowly, nervously glancing between the two girls. “I’m- I’m sorry, Chloe, it will never happen again, I promise?”
Chloe hummed as she thought it over, before she suddenly reached out and ripped a scrap of paper out of his backpack. Oh shit. “Now, what do we have here?”
Sabrina leaned over the blonde’s shoulder, one hand reaching up to adjust her glasses. “Ooh, it looks like a love note, Chlo!”
“My oh my, is big strong Igor in love?” Chloe taunted, snickering and speaking in a baby voice. “I think the big guy’s afraid to ask out his crush, Sabrina!”
Ivan had enough. He grabbed the paper back from Chloe, and pushed through the girls to run off to his locker. Yeah, Ivan was afraid to ask out Mylene, the prettiest girl he knew. And now? Now Chloe knew, and there was no way that she was going to keep that to herself! She’d tell everyone and then they’d all laugh at him, at how he thought he could ever have a chance with Mylene!
Ivan barely felt it as the black butterfly merged with his note, but he felt the purple haze grow over his eyes, and he definitely heard the voice that spoke to him from seemingly nowhere. “Stoneheart, I am Hawk Moth, and I come to you with an offer. If you wish to keep the secrets of your heart, Stoneheart, all I ask in return for my aide is your unwavering loyalty. Do we have a deal?”
“You got it, Hawk Moth.”
Over at the sports stadium, things had quickly divulged into another of Kim’s dumb challenges. Alix was usually all for his bets, but damn it, she’d been looking forward to just getting to run around and kick things with no consequence all morning! But of course where Kim was involved, a bet was soon to follow.
This time, Kim had been bragging about being able to score more goals from the centre line than anyone present, and Max had kindly informed him that the chances were slim, considering Mr D’Argencourt was present, which had led to all of them taking turns scoring in order to prove Kim wrong. Alix was not a fan.
Just as Kim was about to step up and take the next shot, one of the custodians came running out of the storage room, shouting about a monster attacking the school. Mr D’Argencourt started rushing them out of the field, insisting they head home to be with their families until it was safe to return to school once more.
Great, Alix thought as she tugged her rollerskates back on for her skate home. Both her dad and Jalil were likely still back at the Louvre, and the chances were that the museum was under lockdown. That meant Alix was skating back to an empty house once more. Luckily her place was closer to the sports centre than the school, so she’d be home quick.
As soon as Alix stepped through the door, she slumped against it, dropping her bag with a huff. She looked over in confusion at the clatter that came from it, before spotting a red and black box peeking out of her bag that she definitely didn’t put in there. She reached for the box slowly, turning it in her hands.
She carefully pulled back the lid, and immediately dropped the box when a black blur zipped free. She definitely didn’t scream, and totally didn’t fall back and hit her head on the door either.
The black blur took the form of a small, floating black cat, who opened its little mouth in a yawn. “Man, it feels good to be out of there again! Oh, hey, Alix!”
Holy fuck, the little cat thing could talk. It knew her name! “How the fuck do you know my name?!”
“We don’t have time for that now.” It waved her off, reaching into the box to pull out the ring that Alix had somehow missed. “You gotta put this on, then you’re gonna go fight that akuma!”
“You mean the monster at the school?” Alix gingerly took the ring from the floating cat, turning it over in her hands. It looked like a rather expensive ring, all smooth edges and cool, shiny metal. “Wait, you want me to fight that thing? Me?!”
The small cat rolled its eyes, nudging the ring onto Alix’s finger. “That’s what I just said. Jeez, did you humans get stupider since I’ve been gone? Okay, look. This ring is a Miraculous, and I’m you kwami, Plagg! While you’re wearing that, I can grant you the cat’s power of destruction so you can help the holder of the ladybug Miraculous defeat the akuma. Got it?”
Maybe Alix hit her head on the door too hard, yeah, that would explain this weird fever dream she was having. She stared back at Plagg with wide eyes, trying to blink hard enough that he’d disappear.
Plagg sighed, flying closer to her again, holding one of her fingers in his little nub hands. “Look kid, I know it’s a lot to take in, but you were chosen for a reason! If you just give yourself a chance, you’ll end up proving that to yourself, okay?”
Alix remembered what Jalil had said that morning, about opening up to new experiences. Hell, if this was a dream, there was no harm in it, was there? Her mind made up, Alix pulled herself to her feet and met Plagg’s eyes. “Alright, fine, let’s do this. What do I have to do?”
“Oh, we’re in business now, Kitten!” Plagg cheered, flying in a little loop. “To use your power, just say Cataclysm, and anything you touch will be destroyed! But you can only use it once, and your transformation will drop soon afterwards. Now, to activate your transformation, just say Plagg, claws out!”
Welp, Alix thought, there was no going back now. “Plagg, claws out!”
At that same moment, Kim was cowering, uhm, standing bravely in the corner of his kitchen, wielding a knife against a little red and black fairy. “Stay back! I, I know how to use this!”
The little creature laughed at him, flying right through his knife. “I’m not going to hurt you, Kim! My name is Tikki, I’m your kwami!”
“Nuh uh, I’ve heard the stories, get the hell away from me!” Dropping the knife in fright, Kim ducked under the kwami and dashed into the living room. He leaped over the couch to grab one of the slippers his dad left lying around.
“You know that monster out there, Kim?” Tikki asked him, pointing in the direction of the school. “That’s an akuma, and if we work together, I can grant you the power to defeat it!”
“Powers?” Okay, if he was being honest, Kim was a bit of a superhero nerd. I mean, who isn’t? He spent his younger years staring wide eyed at the TV as cartoons of men and women in spandex fought the bad guys and saved the day, so sue him if his interest was suddenly apparent. “You mean you can turn me into a superhero?”
Tikki giggled, and carried over the box she’d flown out of earlier. The earrings inside glinted up at Kim. “Exactly! When you put on these earrings and say Tikki, spots on, I can grant you the ladybug’s power of creation in the form of your Lucky Charm!”
Kim reached out, and quickly put on the earrings. He sure was lucky his older sister had convinced him to get them pierced at the beginning of summer. “Alright, then, Tikki, spots on!”
“Wait, Kim-” Tikki started, before she was sucked into the earrings. Light danced around Kim as he transformed, and he could feel the power flowing through him.
When the light faded, Kim raced to the mirror at the end of the hall to get a good look at himself. He was covered in a primarily red, shiny material covered in black spots, including a little domino mask. His upper chest, lower arms, and lower legs were covered in an extra layer of padding that was primarily black with red spots. Trailing down from his shoulders were two long, nearly clear capes that kinda looked like wings, and the blond tips his sister had dyed into his hair were now red. Attached to his hip was a little red and black yo-yo.
“I look so fucking cool!” Kim exclaimed, spinning in front of the mirror before sticking a cool hero pose. This was every one of his childhood dreams come true, and it was so much cooler than he ever imagined! Now all he needed was the cool hero name for people to cheer as he saved the day!
What had Tikki said, he had the power of the ladybug? Ladybug was too plain of a name, he couldn’t just call himself Ladybug! Oh, they were beetles, weren’t they? Okay, so something Beetle, that would be cool. Wasn’t there some other name for red or something?
“I got it! Crimson Beetle!” Yeah, that was a kick ass name, perfect for Kim! Now, he had a city to save! Kim ran over to one of the windows that lead out to the alley behind his house, and climbed out carefully onto the ledge. He took the yo-yo into his hand, and threw it in the direction of the school. It was hero time!
It took a few swings for Kim- no, Crimson Beetle- to get the hang of it, but soon he was swinging into the school through one of the holes busted in the side. He ran through the door of the classroom he’d landed in, and looked over the ledge of the courtyard.
Below, a giant stone creature that was vaguely human shaped was swinging at a small girl dressed in black and green as she jumped about the courtyard. She swung out with a small silver pole, and as she hit the monster, it grew larger.
Crimson Beetle cursed. Someone was here to steal his spotlight! Ugh, he’d forgotten about the chances of someone else getting cool awesome superpowers at the same time! He jumped down, using his yo-yo to launch him into the girl and send both of them flying down the hallway.
“Hey, what the fuck was that?!” The girl shouted, trying to grapple herself free from his arms. Now that he was closer, Beetle could get a better look at her. Her costume was cat themed, from the green and black ears on top of the hood of her jacket, to the little silver bell resting at her neck, to the high top sneakers that looked like cat feet. The fluff of brown hair that stuck out of her hood had green streaks painted into it, and it fell in front of her solid black mask and her eyes; one icer blue, one bright green. Green accents arched over her jacket and black pants, and covered the back of her otherwise black gloves. “If you hadn’t noticed, I was fighting the thing attacking the school, dumbass!”
“Oh I saw you alright.” Beetle growled, dusting himself off. Now that they were both standing, it struck him how short she was. “And I’m not gonna stand by while you steal my thunder. I can take this one on my own, so you better run home, you stray.”
“What did you just call me?!” The girl growled at him, and as she scowled, she revealed that her teeth were sharpened like a cat’s fangs. He thought she was working too hard to maintain her punk furry aesthetic.
Crimson Beetle leered over her, using one hand to push down on her hood. “I called you a stray cat, stray. Now run along so I, Crimson Beetle, can tear that rock bitch a new one!”
Cat-girl rolled her eyes, scoffing. “Fat chance, Beetle Boy. I’m supposed to be your partner, or did your kwami skip that part of the speech? And stop calling me a stray, my name is Chartruex Noire!”
“Your name is green black?” That was a lame ass name. Fitting for some dumb cat-girl, the ladybug hero mused. “Wait, you have a kwami too?”
Chartreux groaned loudly, throwing her head back. “Chartreux, not chartreuse. It’s a damn cat breed. Did your kwami tell you anything?!”
The stone monster, the akuma, he remembered, shook the building, and Crimson Beetle shielded his head. “It’s still a stupid name, you should’ve kept it simple and went with, like, Chat Noire. Now scram, I’ve got an akuma to fight!”
He raced back out to the courtyard, where the rock beast was looming over his new classmate, Alya, who was recording it on her phone while slowly being pulled away by Marinette. Alright, time to take his powers for a test run! “Lucky charm!”
A red and black package dropped into his hands, and it took him a second to recognize it as a large piece of those bandages that stick extra well when they get wet. What the hell was he supposed to do with this?
“Good going, moron!” Chartreux punched him in the arm as she dashed out in front of him to crouch, revealing the green paw print spray painted on the back of her jacket and the tail that extended from the back of her belt. “When you use your power, you only have a few minutes left to your transformation! Now we’re on a time crunch, thanks to you!”
She bounced off at the creature, using it as a boost to flip up onto the railing above it. Crimson Beetle cursed, trying to figure out how to use his dumb raft while that damn cat got to fight the stone creature. As he looked around, items in the room began to appear red, covered in black spots. The bandage, the akuma’s fist, the fire sprinklers on the roof. In a second, a plan had formed in his mind, and unfortunately, it included Chartreux Noire.
“Hey! Cat girl!” Crimson Beetle called, waving at her from the ground. “I think that thing’s holding something! Can you activate the sprinklers somehow?”
The thing whirled on him at the sound of his voice, and started stomping towards him. “My name is Stoneheart, and nothing can stop me from keeping what’s in my heart a secret!”
While he was distracted, Chartreux Noire leaped up at the ceiling, reaching one clawed hand towards the sprinklers. “Cataclysm!”
The pipes rusted and turned to dust at her touch, and soon a torrent of water was raining down from the ceiling. Crimson Beetle used his yo-yo to fling himself at Stoneheart, slamming the bandage over the akuma’s eyes. As he predicted, the stone creature lurched backwards, flinging both fists at his face to pry off the bandage, dropping what he was holding in the process.
Crimson Beetle dropped down next to it, and ripped the piece of paper in half, releasing a dark butterfly. As if fluttered away, Stoneheart faded until only Ivan was sitting in his place, looking awfully confused. Chartreux landed safely beside him, patting the big guy’s shoulder as she brought the sopping bandage back to its owner.
“Nice thinking there, partner.” She said sarcastically, pressing the wet fabric into his chest. “Now clean up this mess so we can get out of here, I’m already sick of you.”
Crimson Beetle stared at the bandage for a moment, before deciding to throw it up. It dissolved into a flurry of little ladybugs, and in seconds the school was back to normal. He blinked around at the newly fixed building, before his earrings and Chartreux’s ring started beeping at them. “Well, I hope I never see you again.”
And like that, Crimson Beetle bolted after the end of his first fight, swinging back to his house to drop his transformation.
Alix landed back in her room with a huff, practically growling out her claws in. Plagg appeared in front of her as she returned to normal, hovering lazily. “You got any cheese in this place?”
“Oh, you’ve got some questions to answer, mister!” Alix grabbed the little cat, narrowing her eyes at him. “What was the deal with that Beetle guy? You said I was supposed to help him, but he was acting like a big asshole!”
Plagg phased through her hand, flying over to nestle into her open sock drawer. “I’m just as boggled as you are, Kitten. I’ve never seen a Ladybug act like that guy before. Hopefully next time he’ll be better. So, about that cheese?”
Alix grunted, slipping out into the hallway to walk to the kitchen to search the fridge. Plagg followed behind her, and settled on the couch after turning the TV on by bouncing on the remote. Alix sifted through the deli drawer, pushing through lunch meats and different blocks of her dad’s gourmet cheeses that Jalil was banned from using. “You want anything in particular?”
“Do you have any camembert?” Of course the little cat wanted that damn stinky cheese. Alix dug out a block of the stuff from the back of the drawer, breaking off a decent chunk to feed to the kwami. “You’re the best, Kitten.”
She grabbed a Caprisun for herself, and settled down next to Plagg. She only relaxed for a second before she was bolting back up again.
On the news, they were reporting people all over Paris getting hit by those dark butterflies like the one that Crimson Beetle released, and turning into stone statue versions of Stoneheart.
“Plagg, is that supposed to happen?”
The little cat watched the screen carefully, before looking up at her slowly. “He didn’t cleanse the akuma?”
“No?” Alix shook her head, trying to recall if Crimson Beetle had done anything like that. She couldn’t come up with anything. “He used the lucky charm and then fixed everything at the end.”
Plagg stared at the TV in worry, before slumping against the couch. “Well, fuck.”