Later that evening, Hugo was sitting with Emma and Louis at the kitchen table, doing homework while Tom and Sabine made dinner. The TV was still on, the people on the news having a heated discussion about Paris's new heroes.
"They're no Ladybug and Cat Noir," one woman said. "But they do the job."
"Don't hate me for this," said a man. "But I think that these two could be even better. They're new, fresh. They can learn from the predecessors, and it can make them better."
"No," snapped the woman from before. "It's impossible to be better than Ladybug and Cat Noir."
Then the pair began to argue heatedly about nothing in particular. Hugo reached up and made sure that his hair was still over his ears, hiding his earrings. That would trigger too many questions that he didn't have an answer to.
"I wonder who they really are," Emma said, looking up from her work. "Cat Midnight and Crimson Bug."
"I bet we know them," Louis said.
"I bet we don't," said Emma. "There are thousands of people in Paris. They could be anyone."
"What do you think, Hugo?" Louis asked.
Hugo just shrugged and tried to refocus on his particle physics homework.
"We interrupt this broadcast to bring you breaking news," the news anchor, the woman who replaced Nadja Chamock when she retired, said.
Everyone in the kitchen looked up.
"Pink werewolf beings much like the one that attacked us earlier today have begun to appear all around Paris," the anchor continued. Images began to appear on screen, of people being turned into the pink werewolves and standing there, completely still. "They appear to be frozen, leaving us all to wonder if, or when, they will ever come to life. We believe that it might have something to do with Crimson Bug's failure to capture the akuma."
The blood drained from Hugo's face, and his heart sunk. He resisted the urge to scream a string of curse words in frustration, mostly at himself. He couldn't believe that he'd forgotten something as important as capturing the akuma.
"Oh no," Emma said. "This can't be good."
"It's almost exactly like Stoneheart," Sabine said, clinging to her husband. Tom nodded.
Hugo stood up from the table and ran up the stairs to the bedroom. He climbed through the trapdoor and slammed it shut behind him.
Hugo's breaths quickened, and tangled his fingers in his hair.
He'd failed.
"Hugo, what's wrong?" Tikki asked, emerging from her hiding spot.
"I forgot to capture the akuma," he said.
"Oh no," Tikki said.
"I'm not cut out for this, Tikki," Hugo said. "I can't be a hero. I'm not my parents."
Hugo reached for his earrings.
"No, please!" Tikki exclaimed, flying closer to him. "You just made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. You can be a hero. You were born to be a hero."
"No I wasn't! I was born to be a normal kid, to live a normal life, and I had that for a while, until Hawkmoth screwed everything up!" Hugo yelled, frustrated tears welling in his eyes.
"I know, Hugo, I know," Tikki said.
"No you don't know! You have no idea what it was like!"
"Yes, I do!" Tikki yelled. "I lost someone too, that day. Your mom was my best friend."
Hugo looked up at Tikki, green eyes filled with sadness.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do this," Hugo said. He reached for his earrings again. "I thought I could, but I was wrong. Goodbye, Tikki."
"No, wai-"
Hugo took out one earring, then the other, and Tikki disappeared.
"I'm sorry," Hugo said softly, putting the earrings back in the box and closing the lid.
---
"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap," Iris said, pacing furiously around her bedroom. "I can't believe we forgot."
"Technically he forgot," Plagg said.
"I should have remembered, so I could have reminded him," Iris said. "Ugh. This sucks."
"You know, the same thing happened the first time Ladybug and Cat Noir fought a villain," Plagg said.
"Oh right," said Iris. "Stoneheart."
Plagg nodded. "You and Bug Man will figure something out."
"It's Crimson Bug."
"Same difference," said Plagg.
Iris sat down on the end of her bed and massaged her temples. "This is probably destroying him. Crimson Bug."
"Probably," Plagg said.
"I really hope he doesn't quit."
"Me too," Plagg said. "Those werewolf things are super ugly."
Iris glared up at her kwami. "You're horrible, you know that?"
"Oh yeah," Plagg said with a smirk.
"Ugh," Iris groaned, falling back onto her bed and looking up at her ceiling. "This superhero thing is stressful."
"Tell me about it," said Plagg, yawning.
Iris shot him a look, and the cat grinned.