November was finally here and Amira hated it.
"Is it really that cold?" Selina asked, watching Amira put on a jacket before boarding off the jet, wondering how she was able to change so quickly out of her costume from last night.
Her father insisted for the two of them to use the jet, much to Amira's annoyance. She didn't want to be seen using Wayne tech and even less be seen with his...lady. Throughout the entire flight, Amira had to sit in uncomfortable silence.
She felt as Selina judged her every movement.
"Sadly, something causes me to become weak towards the cold." Amira muttered, pulling her suitcase behind her. "So where will you be staying?"
"With you." Selina joked, earning a glare. "Unless you have a better idea."
Amira looked out into the distance as they awaited their cab, thinking of a decent place for Selina to stay but also a place where she can keep an eye on the Gotham thief.
"I might just know a place."
-----
"Dupain-Cheng. What are you doing here?" Chloe remarked, one hand on her hip while the other just hung by her side.
Out of all the people to entire her father's hotel, Marinette was the last person she'd thought would ever step foot into it. After all, she was just a commoner. "And who's this?"
Chloe watched as the woman standing next to Marinette simply looked at her, her head tilting a bit to the side.
"Why hello to you as well Chloe." Marinette spoke, Selina watching the two girls converse. "As for why I'm here, my father's...friend needs a place to stay while in Paris."
Chloe checked Selina from head to toe, scoffing at the slightly sheer black top with white leather jacket and white pants combo.
"Sure she can afford this hotel? After all, this is the best hotel-"
"I know Chloe. Don't doubt it and hence why I referred Selina to this hotel." Marinette said, wanting to roll her eyes. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have brought her here." Chloe huffed as she watched Marinette lead the woman to the front desk.
She watched as Marinette helped the lady fill out a few papers when the lady pulled out a black card from her wallet.
A black card...
Rushing to the desk, Chloe slammed her hands next to Marinette.
"Dupain-Cheng. Who is she?" Chloe asked, watching as the woman signed a paper.
"Oh? You don't recognize her?" Marinette let a grin grace her face as she watched Chloe turn pink. "She's Bruce Wayne's fiancé, Miss Selina Kyle."
"What?!"
-----
"Amira, what did you do downstairs?" Selina asked, wondering what exactly happened between Amira and the other girl downstairs. She didn't understand a word, but she knew something juicy happened. After all, the blonde girl quickly tried to converse with her, even when her English was heavily accented with French.
"That girl is in my class; she's also the mayor's daughter. She just asked me how I know Gotham's wealthiest man's fiancé. I simply told her you were a family friend. Nothing more, nothing less."
"How did you know I was engaged to your father?"
"Happened two nights ago while I was gathering a few more intel around a case of mine." Amira confessed. "Amazed me to see how much trivial info my father had on you."
"You're a detective here then?"
"No comment." Amira said, taking out a phone and handing it to Selina. "Take this."
"What's it for?" Selina asked, turning up the phone and seeing an odd app on it. The app icon was a ladybug, Selina not recognizing it. Perhaps a Parisian thing?
"Your other phone doesn't work here and this phone is especially programmed to help you go to safety whenever-"
Screams in the streets interrupted the two, Selina watching Amira drag her hands down her face.
Amira quickly went to the television and turned on the news, sighing when she saw Jagged Stone on the news. Selina watched as she huffed and cursed under her breath.
"How the hell did he, of all people, get akumatized?"
"Akumatized? Amira-"
"Selina. Whatever you do, don't leave this room. And before you ask, yes my father knows about this and no, I don't need help. Tikki, Spots On!"
Selina watched as Amira was engulfed in red and was now in the same outfit she had when they first met, the only difference being that her jumpsuit was covered in black polka dots.
Selina watched as Amira sprinted for the window, noticing how Amira's hair was longer.
"Stay safe out there." She decided to say, not missing the way Amira stiffened when she was on top of the railing, ready to jump off.
Amira turned around to look at Selina before fleeing, using her yo-yo to get away.
-----
"LB! Welcome back!" Chat grinned, Ladybird giving him a nod in acknowledgement once she arrived at the scene of the attack.
The two parted from each other when Guitar Villain sent a sound wave towards them, Ladybird thanking Tikki for allowing her to see the magic. If it weren't for the miraculous, who knows if she was going to be able to dodge the attacks.
"What caused him to get akumatized?" Ladybird rolled away from the next attack, cursing as another one followed shortly after the first.
"Dunno! Something relating to his guitar I'm guessing!" Chat shouted from across the street, using his staff to propel himself away from another wave.
Ladybird sighed as she pulled herself up a building, gasping when she saw- "A dragon! You've got to be kidding me!" Chat pouted.
"Chat! We don't have- fire straight ahead!" Ladybird shouted, quickly hiding behind a car, feeling the heat fly past her.
"LB! Please tell me you have a plan here! I don't exactly want to become that dragon's dinner! I'm too young to die!" Chat shouted, dramatically placing his hand over his forehead.
Ladybird groaned, looking at the akumatized Fang and rock star on the Eiffel Tower. She watched as Guitar Villain landed, Ladybird noticing a set up there.
"I might just have one."
-----
Throwing her lucky charm into the air, Ladybird watched as the ladybugs returned everything to before the akuma attack, Chat trying to catch one of them. Despite knowing he could never grab one, he just adored challenging the idea.
"Missed you LB! Glad to have you back!" Chat said with a grin, Ladybird huffing when she saw his fist directed towards her. She fist bumped it back, knowing that if she didn't, he'd complain about it.
"Not glad to be back, but I'll be lying if I said I didn't miss being here." Ladybird looked at the darken skyline, not believing that it took hours to take down Guitar Villain. One of their longest fights yet.
"Think you're up for some training? And how was your trip?" Chat asked shyly, wondering if she would ignore his question and would want to train. To his surprise, he found LB yawning.
"Let's call it a night. I started to feel the jet lag and then had to fight a Victim as soon as I arrived. Not exactly the best state to spar. However, we will spar tomorrow if there isn't an akuma."
Ladybird looked over at Chat. "I hope that just because I wasn't here to see you, you still kept up with our regular training sessions." She noticed the way he jumped at that. "We're going to be doing double the work if it turns out you skipped."
"But LB!"
"No buts!" Ladybird stifled another yawn, a growl from her stomach following up. "Seems like that's my cue. See you tomorrow at the usual."
"Fine." Chat huffed. "Rest well!" Chat yelled out as he watched Ladybird disappear into the skyline, hoping she got home safe.
Little did he know that he wasn't going to see her until a few days later.
------
Adrien couldn't help but notice something was off with Marinette that morning, catching her dozing off during class various times.
He watched as Alya tried to wake her up but then stopped when her efforts were in vain. She had tried to wake up the girl all throughout the morning, but only successfully got her to open her eyes during chemistry. But shortly after that class was done, Marinette went straight back to sleep.
Soon, lunch came, Alya quickly leaving the room to go somewhere with some of the other girls in the classroom. Seeing an opportunity, Adrien quickly went to her, wondering how he should wake her up.
"Marinette. Psst! Marinette."
When she didn't budge, Adrien decided to sit next to her, feeling eyes on him.
Despite it already being three months into the school year, Adrien and Marinette have yet to make any other friends besides themselves. Everyone in the class was too cautious about them; Adrien was friends with Chloe while Marinette shut herself from everyone else.
"Adrikins, what are you doing?" Chloe asked, then noticing Marinette dozing off next to him. "Is she alright?" Chloe asked, whipping-
"Did you...did you cut your hair?" Adrien pointed out, surprised to see Chloe's hair not only out of the ponytail she usually wore it in, but also a few inches shorter. Not only that, she wasn't in her usual outfit, now wearing a yellow wool sweater and black trousers.
"What? Don't like it? Pay for my next hair appointment!" Chloe pouted a bit, looking over at Marinette. "She never sleeps during class. Is she sick?" Seeing Chloe concerned was new to Adrien, but he didn't let that bother him. Something was wrong with Marinette and they needed to know what it was.
The girl was always punctual and seemed immune to getting sick, even when everyone was getting sick due to the change in temperatures.
"Dunno. Just saw her dozing off during class, so I came to check her."
"Let me see." Chloe said, going over to Marinette and feeling her head, quickly retracting her hand and looking at Adrien with worried eyes.
"We have to take her to the nurse. She's burning up."
-----
Her chest...it hurt. But the coldness enveloping her body felt even worse.
Amira woke up to find herself in her room, feeling colder than usual. She curled into herself, pulling the covers closer to her.
Why was it so damn cold?
"Amira. Amira, can you hear me?" She heard Selina call out to her.
"It's... cold." Amira barely managed to say. "It's...too cold."
"Amira, it's 21 Celsius today."
"So why does it feel so damn cold?" Amira let out a whine as she turned over to face Selina, noticing the red corners of Selina's eyes.
"Amira, we already took you to a doctor, but they couldn't find anything wrong with you. I called your father-" Amira sat up.
"Why did you-" Amira felt off-balanced, quickly tumbling back to her side, feeling her chest compress before letting out a raspy cough. That cough then launched her into a coughing fit.
"Amira! Amira!" Selina began to panic, wondering what to do. What can she even do? She continued to watch Amira cough, desperately gasping at her chest.
Just last night, Selina saw Amira just fine, healthy. The next thing she knew, she was getting a phone call that afternoon from a panicking Sabine, rambling how she was about to take Amira to the ER.
Two of her classmates found it odd that she had fallen asleep during her morning classes and didn't suspect much until they had to wake her up. That's when they felt the fever, her body hot to the touch, causing the two teens to take her to the nurse's office. The nurse found nothing off, not even feeling the warmness on Amira's skin, although she did say it felt a bit cold to the touch.
Everything was alright, they told Sabine.
But Sabine knew better than that and took Amira straight to another doctor, who also found nothing wrong.
Sabine then reached out to Selina if she knew anything about Amira's health, in which Selina said no. That ended up in Selina calling Bruce as the two women took Amira to a private doctor, where they too, found nothing wrong with Amira.
Lucky for Amira, Bruce wouldn't pick up, Selina suspecting he was either at WE or doing something else.
But she wished he did because as soon as she hung up, Amira started to burn up. Selina panicked, not knowing what to do.
She's taken care of a few sick children before, but that's because the doctor knew what to do, so it was a matter of following directions. But this? No one knew what was going on with her...no one knew what was causing her to burn and violently cough...
Or at least she didn't think anyone knew.
A knock came from the bedroom door, Selina quickly going over to open up the hatch.
There, emerging from the hatch was an elder man.
"Hello there Miss. My name is Fu, Wang Fu. A friend of mine told me about your daughter's illness and asked me to see what I can do about it."
While Selina didn't exactly like the idea of this man barging into the situation, something told her to trust him.
"Please. Please, help her."
-----
Tikki circled around Master Fu's room, wondering if she did the right thing. Of course she did. After all, no one else would have been able to cure Amira's sickness. After all, it's all Tikki's fault.
She should've known better to have kept letting Amira use the miraculous aside from akuma fights.
She knew the dangers of using a miraculous and yet...
Tikki let out a sob, wondering why she didn't warn Amira, why she couldn't muster the courage to tell Amira how a Miraculous corrupts a person who wasn't a true wielder. Especially if the user was the complete opposite of the miraculous given to them.
Just as Tikki had enough of waiting and wanting to go and apologize to her, she felt the room shake, Tikki quickly flying towards the nearest window, only to hear screams coming from the streets. She watched as people were blasted with pixelated beams, disappearing before her eyes.
An akuma?!
"No, no, no!" Why now? Why now when Amira wasn't here? When she was suffering and on the brim of the worst.
Tikki began to fly around, circling the room, each lap getting quicker when she came to halt and eyed the gramophone across from her.
The gramophone was right there...in her reach...
Master Fu would forgive her, wouldn't he?
After all, someone needed to defend Paris alongside Chat.
-----
"I just had to get blasted after pushing Chloe away, didn't I?" Adrien huffed. "Come on LB. Where are you?" Adrien muttered, walking in the white abyss he was casted off to.
"About that." Plagg decides to speak, seeing Adrien look at him worriedly. "Spots might not be coming to the fight." Plagg gulped when Adrien grabbed him.
"What do you mean by that? What do you mean she won't be coming? There's-"
"Before the akuma, Tikki -that's LB's Kwami- came to warn me about LB." Plagg started. "How she might have to sit out for a few akumas."
"Sit out?" Adrien whispered. "What happened to her? What's wrong with Ladybird?!"
"That's the thing kid. We don't know what's wrong with her. Only Master Fu would know, which is probably what he's doing now."
"Master Fu?"
"Right, you don't know him. Didn't think you'd have to know about him." Plagg confessed. "He's the one who guards the Miraculous, the one who chose you for the Cat Miraculous. He's the one who's trying to figure out what's wrong with LB."
"But if LB is out, who-"
"Don't know kid. I honestly don't know." Plagg provided, knowing it wasn't the thing to tell Adrien.
They needed to get away from here to help take down the Victim, but to do that, they needed someone from the outside.
But just as the two wondered what was to become of them, they were released from their photo prison, seeing another Miraculous Holder.
They watched as a yellow and black uniformed holder stood proudly against the latest Victim.
"My name is Queen Bee and I'm going to make sure you're going down, Pixelator!"
-----
"I told you, I was fine. I didn't need you to save me." Queen Bee told Chat as she looked at the akuma she held delicately in her hands. The thing was paralyzed and as long as she didn't let it land on her, she should be fine. Or at least, that's what Pollen told her.
As soon as she was pushed away from harm's way, Chloe dashed back to the hotel and ran to her room, sliding against the door, wondering what she could. She had to help Adrien, to keep the akuma distracted until Ladybird or Chat to arrive. She needs help in some way.
As Chloe wandered around her room, her eyes landed on her bed, where a tiny hexagon chapped box laid alone. Taking it and cautiously opening it, Chloe dropped it when a yellow orb came out of it.
The orb turned into a creature that resembled a large bee, something Chloe wanted to squish but didn't when it introduced itself and told her about having to help Ladybird and Chat.
Pollen explained to Chloe how to transform and how to use her weapon, giving her the run down before Chloe yelled "Pollen! Buzz on!" Chloe watched as she was soon in a skintight suit, a yellow jacket with black fur on it. Can she say that she fell in love with the high heel boots Pollen blessed her with?
Once transformed, she headed towards Pixelator, attempting to take him down, only resulting in her losing the sensation in her leg and her left arm.
She eventually had to make a deal with Pixelator, telling him that she'll give him her miraculous if he freed half of the people then and there, which he did.
Seems like Chat was among those people, seeing as he gave Queen Bee a chance to scoot away when he started to attack him.
The fight lasted a few minutes before Chat destroyed the visor around Pixelator's head, the akuma flying out before Queen Bee immobilized it. Despite having it frozen, Queen Been couldn't exactly purify it, having to keep it with her until Ladybird made an appearance.
Only she can purify an akuma after all.
"A 'thank you' would've been nice." Chat mumbled, watching as Queen Bee placed the akuma into a special container that was alongside the box that held the miraculous given to her.
"By the way, where's Ladybird? I can't exactly-"
"She's sick." Chat admitted.
"Sick? Is that even-"
"Something happened to her and her miraculous that caused her to become sick." Chat filled in, watching Queen Bee gape.
"Her miraculous?" Queen Bee looked at the akuma in her hand.
"I don't know what's going on nor how to search for her. All we can do now is keep fighting these akumas until she returns. Until she gets better, we can't allow Paris to keep getting destroyed as it did today."
"But!"
"Bee. I wish I knew what was going on. Really, I do. But all we can do is wait. Now, come on. I'll drop you off somewhere close to where you live. After all, I can't know your identity as you can't learn mine."
-
"She should stay in bed for the next two days. Don't you dare let her get out of it." Selina listened as Fu warned her.
After two hours, Fu was able to diagnose Amira's illness, creating a concoction of some sorts to help reduce her fever and raging cough. "If she exerts herself too much, she will get worse. Continue to give her the medicine every six hours. It will help with her fever and coughing. With that said, I wish for a speedy recovery."
"Thank you very much." Selina said, giving Amira's hand a squeeze. The entire time Fu analyzed Amira's condition, Selina couldn't let go of her hand. Something made her believe that if she did, something bad might happen to the girl.
"No need to thank me. I'm only doing my duty."
Selina watched as Fu left, looking over to Amira, watching as sweat slid down her face. Her breaths were a bit longer than earlier, but definitely an improvement.
Just who was he? How did he know what was wrong with her despite no one else knowing? Not like it mattered.
"You're going to be okay." Selina said, pressing her head against Amira's. "You're going to be fine."
-----
Marinette didn't come to school the next day, Adrien worried.
"You're ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous!" Chloe exclaimed, Adrien snapping away from his thoughts as he turned to look at his friend. He frowned upon seeing her arm wrapped in bandages.
During yesterday's attack, it seems like Chloe still ended up injured, her arm and leg bruised. While Chloe said it didn't hurt, Adrien knew better than to ignore the redness in Chloe's eyes.
She was in pain.
"Chloe, what exactly are you talking about?"
"She's talking about how you can't stop worrying over Marinette." Sabrina elaborated, glad to see Chloe was pleased with her timing. All day yesterday, Sabrina hated the screams that came from Chloe's room when she was getting her injuries checked over. Sabrina hated that her friend was in pain and she couldn't do anything about it. "You kept staring at her seat throughout the entire morning."
At that, Adrien found himself trying to come up with an answer, but none came out. Was he really staring?
"If you're that worried about her, just come with me to her home later." Chloe stated, looking at her nails, hating that her hand was shaking. Yesterday's attack really did a number on her.
"I thought you weren't her friend?" Adrien asked, Chloe letting out a scoff.
"As class president, I have to go over and drop off any assignments she missed. Of course, I usually like to-"
"I'll go with you then!" Adrien chirped, giving Chloe his signature smile. "You will let me go with you, right?"
Chloe tried to avert her gaze, but she knew better than to ignore Adrien's puppy eyes.
"Ugh, fine! But you better find a way for-"
"Thank you Chloé!"
-----
"How are you doing Amira?" Selina asked her, Amira looking at her with clouded eyes. Following her line of sight, Selina watched as Amira looked at her monitors from her makeshift bed.
Yes, Amira has an actual bed, but Selina wasn't on board with having Amira climb stairs every time she needed to go back to bed. So after doing a bit of hunting, Selina got Amira a new bed to have on the main level of her bedroom.
"Not as cold as yesterday if you're wondering." Amira started. "But I can feel my body tremble and I hate it. I also hate that you're acting as if I can't look after myself."
"Well, you are sick." Selina pointed out, turning off the news about yesterday's incident.
"I used to get sick before too. At first, Grandpere and Bruce used to look after me. Then just Grandpere because Bruce would be too busy to check on me...and then myself. I didn't want to continue to be a burden to Grandpere. He already did so much for us and I didn't want him to get sick, so I told him to stop looking after me."
Selina watched as Amira stared at the ceiling. "To be honest with you, I don't like you Selina. Or maybe that's just my uneasiness speaking. Or perhaps...jealousy. "
"Uneasiness? Jealousy? Amira, there's nothing-"
"There is." Amira looked at Selina, her finger pointing at her. "You know more of my father than I will ever know. You know him both in and out of that damned cowl. I only know of Father, not Bruce Wayne nor Batman.
The media and cameras could only inform me so much." Amira looked back at her ceiling, feeling her chest tighten. "You're always there with him while I'm just kept behind locked do-"
"Dupain-Cheng! You should know better than to not inform the school- Mlle Kyle!" Chloe squeaked when she noticed Selina, quickly changing from French to English. Chloe quickly entered the room, Adrien following her shortly after. "I didn't know you were here."
"It's alright. I was going to leave anyways" Selina said, seeing Amira scowl upon seeing the other teens in her room. "I'll be right downstairs if anything happens." She told Amira.
Selina fought against the tug that demanded her to stay. But Selina knew better than that. She knew better than to stay and listen to whatever it was the teens had to say to themselves. But then again, she had no right to stay in the room.
She wasn't her mother after all, nor a parental figure for that matter.
So, she left.
Marinette watched as Selina left her side, now looking at the two rich kids in front of her.
Who was she kidding? She was one herself too.
"What are two doing here?" Marinette asked, sitting up, feeling her body protest to lay back down. She noticed the tiny bruises covering Adrien's arms and the bandages around Chloe's arm.
Guilt began to gnaw at her mind.
"As class president, I came to drop by school work you missed. It's ridiculous how you managed to-"
"Chloe." Adrien growled.
"We came by to see how you're doing." Chloe admitted.
"You came to see me?" Marinette asked, surprised to see Chloe starting to change after their conversation from days ago...or has it been a few weeks?
"Of course!" Adrien chirped. "Isn't that what friends do?"
"Friends?"
"See? She doesn't even-" Chloe started.
"When did we ever become friends?" Marinette asked. "As far as I know, I simply find the two of you tolerable. Better than those other kids in the class."
She guessed those were the wrong choice of words since Adrien grinned and Chloe huffed, turning her head to the side while her cheeks were tinted pink.
"Well, I think the same applies to you, Dupain-Cheng. You're very tolerable and easy to work with. Although I have to ask, where's my thanks?"
"Excuse-"
"Me and Adrien were the ones to take you to the school nurse despite Cesaire first knowing about you not being in your right mind. The idiot didn't realize you were burning up." Chloe decided to say, looking at Marinette with worry.
"I guess I do owe you my gratitude." Marinette said, giving Chloe a small smile. "Thank you."
"As you should. You're lucky I helped to grace you with my kindness even though your closet could use a few colors." Chloe said, internally smiling.
"As if that blue eyeshadow did you any favors." Chloe gasped at Marinette's statement.
"I'll have you know-"
Adrien watched as the two girls bickered, as if they were two old friends catching up.
He looked out towards the Parisian skyline wondering the whereabouts of Ladybird and if she was alright.
-----
After an hour or two, Amira bid Chloe and Adrien goodbye, Amira now staring at her phone, Adrien and Chloe's names looking right back at her.
Two more names to her small list of names.
"Amira! You're alright!" Tikki cried, Amira feeling her crash into her cheek.
"And where were you?" She felt Tikki tense, watching as the tiny god moved away from her. "I get not wanting to be seen, but not watching me from afar-"
"I'm sorry. This is all my fault." Tikki sat in front of Amira, looking at her with her watery eyes. "I should have warned you about the Miraculous and it's dangers-"
"I already knew." Amira confessed, Tikki looking up at her in horror. "I already knew I wasn't fit for the Ladybug Miraculous. During my first transformation, it felt like it was rejecting me." Tikki looked away in shame. "Even when I knew I wasn't meant for it, I kept pushing myself and trained with the miraculous on. I wanted it to accept me. For you to accept me."
"But I do accept you Amira. I trust-"
"Yet you're afraid of me." Amira cut off. "That's why you hesitated to tell me. You trusted me enough to talk about the miraculous, of bringing the Guardian to me to heal me, but you were afraid of what I might do if you told me I wasn't your best option, weren't you?"
That's right.
Master Fu had told Tikki that Amira wasn't her true holder. She was just the better one between his last two options.
"Did you really figure that out on your own?" Tikki asked. "So why? Why do you still-"
"Because I made a promise to you. To everyone in Paris. I vowed to protect them, no matter what. If it costs me my life, so be it." Amira looked at her hands, watching as her hands morphed to her smaller ones. Small hands that held a blank name tag that laughed at her. "I rather die as the vigilante who protected Paris than the hidden Wayne child."
Tikki's frown warbled, quickly throwing herself to Amira, not bothering to tell her about the person who stood right below the hatch that led to the room.
"I'm sorry Amira. I'm so sorry!"
"It's alright Tikki. It's alright."
-----
Another akuma showed up that night, taking Amira by surprise when she awoke from the trembling outside her room.
She watched as hundreds of tiny gremlin-looking...gremlins took over the streets of Pari. Sapoti -if Amira remembered correctly- they were called.
There was never an akuma during the night. So why now, of all-
"He knows I can't fight right now, Tikki. He knows I'm down and he's taking advantage of that. I have to go help." Amira firmly announced, getting out her bed and started to change into something more comfortable than her sweaty pajamas before calling on the transformation.
"Amira, you can't. Master Fu-"
"He's trying to make us play all of our cards. If Chat and Bee can't take this akuma down -although hopefully they do- then we'll be forced to-wait! Bee's still injured! I have to-"
"Amira. Trust them. Just like you trust me." Tikki softly said, putting her paw on Amira's cheek. "They can do this. You can't, even if you wanted to. If you ran to try and defeat this akuma, then you'll be falling right into his plan. You're going to give him an opportunity to get the Ladybug in this condition you're in if you go now. So listen to me and believe in them. They'll defeat this Victim. Just watch."
-----
And they did...
"But why did they have to bring another miraculous out! That's exactly what Hawkmoth wanted!"
"Amira, they-"
"They gave him the information he wanted about the miraculouses and-"
"Rena Rouge's siblings were the victims this time around." Tikki cut off, watching as Amira turned quiet. "She begged Chat Noir and Queen Bee to let her help in any way possible, especially when she saw Bee still heavily injured from the last attack... but she wanted to save her family."
Tikki watched as Amira dazed out, the girl looking out the window next to the stair that led to her bed and skylight. Tikki noticed Amira staring at the daisies that she had found growing in the cracks of the outer walls of the apartment.
Daisies that Amira always tended to despite not having any plants of her own, daisies that Amira decided to plant into a pot and care for.
Tikki watched as Amira cradled a flower between her fingers, Amira carefully caressing the petals.
She watched as Amira grabbed an old looking device, dialing a number.
"Chat, I want you to meet me at the rendezvous. Bring Queen Bee with you."
-----
Chat watched as Queen Bee twirled one of her hair strands, Bee biting her cheek as she did so.
"Relax Bee. Ladybird-"
"I can't relax! I'm meeting Ladybird! My idol!" Queen Bee said, grabbing Chat by his bell. "Don't you understand?! She might-"
"Ladybird! Aren't I glad you're doing well!" Chat exclaimed, Ladybird noticing how his ears perked upon seeing her.
"Thank you for your concern, but I'd prefer if you'd lower your voice. I have yet to completely recover."
"Right. Sorry." Chat sheepishly said, before remembering why they were there. "Oh! This is Queen Bee! She's-"
"I know who she is, Chat. I watched the fight."
Chat watched as Ladybird eyed Queen Bee, circling around her as she did. Chat noticed how Queen Bee was silent, stiff as Ladybird judged her.
"Chat. What are your opinions on her?"
"She's a bit on the stubborn side and a bit on the unfocused side, but she's an excellent partner. Barely have to tell her what to do when we're apart."
"So she just needs a bit of guidance?" Ladybird asked, now standing in front of Queen Bee.
"Essentially."
"Have you brought her to the training grounds yet?"
They had a training area?
"No." Chat quickly responded.
"Good." Ladybird stated, watching Queen Bee pale.
Were they going to take her miraculous back? Was this the end of- "Do you have the akuma I told you to bring?"
"Y-Yes!" Queen Bee stuttered, reaching for the bag next to her foot and handing Ladybird the jar with the two akumas. "Here they are."
Ladybird released the akumas, quickly capturing them. Carefully, she released the purified butterflies, Queen Bee watching them glow brightly against the night sky.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybird yelled, Queen Bee stunned as she watched millions of ladybugs flying across the starless night, the tiny bugs becoming stars themselves. She watched as the tiny red bugs surrounded her and restored her arm and leg back, Queen Bee feeling tears well up to her eyes.
She held the urge to tackle Ladybird and thank her when she watched her stare at her with soft eyes.
Opening up her yo-yo, Chat and Queen Bee watched as LB took out a box, carefully wrapped in yellow paper with a black bow carefully placed on top. A daisy was tucked carefully under the bow.
Queen Bee watched as Ladybird handed it to her, watching as she found herself accepting it.
Looking up, Queen Bee found Chat smiling at her, Ladybird approaching her. Stretching out a hand, Ladybird smiled.
"Welcome to the team, Queen Bee. I look forward to working with you."