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chronicallylatetotheparty · 5 years ago

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Scarlet Fever Ch. 4 Maneki-neko

LoganLight, AO3

Summary:

Convincing the Guardian... In theory.

Notes:

Hmm, so this fic is going to have transitional chapters in between the actual fighting (mostly).

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Kagami didn't like hiding. She preferred to attack her opponents head on. But there were too many minions and akuma around. She remembered the last time Papillon Écarlate attacked and didn't care to repeat it.

Plus, the kissing zombies tended to swarm. She'd almost been overtaken when the ladybugs restored their minds. Not that it slowed Zombizou much. Once she got traction her 'love' curse spread exponentially.

Kagami needed a better hiding spot than this tree. Honestly, she was surprised they hadn't found her yet... Though it might've had something to do with her mother mowing down zombies like so much grass.

Truly, Tomoe Tsurugi did not take kindly to their sword practice being interrupted.

"I'm surprised you didn't join her."

Kagami swung her bokken, pointing it at the intruding voice behind her.

"Hey!" Mister Bug protested, ducking his head back into his tunnel like a startled meerkat. "That any way to greet a friend?"

Kagami blinked in surprise as she lowered her weapon. "Chat Noir?"

"It's Mister Bug right now, actually." He rose out of the tunnel up to his shoulders and offered his hand, retracting the drill at the end. "Come with me if you want to live."

Kagami raised an eyebrow but turned back to her mother. Tomoe was tiring, it would not be long before she was overwhelmed. "Mother..."

"Kagami! Get back!"

"Mother, I can help!"

"Go, I said!"

Mister Bug's eyes softened. He didn't want to leave Kagami's mother behind but he was already pushing it with Sabine. Tomoe would insist on being with her daughter. "I'll save her," he promised. "I just have to get you out of here first."

Kagami nodded even as her grip tightened around her bokken in frustration. He backed up so she could enter the tunnel. It was big enough for them to stand in even if they had to walk single file. He pressed the ladybug shaped headlamp on his forehead, illuminating the path, and hurried foreward.

"Why does Ladybug not possess her Miraculous?" Kagami inquired. "Have you switched again?"

Mister Bug moved faster. He didn't glance back; not wanting to see Kagami's reaction. His thoughts returned to the locker room. To the way Marinette looked at him with such hopelessness. Her desperation as she called to him for help. If he had just acted faster. If he'd done more... Then maybe his Lady wouldn't be akumatized.

He shook the guilty thoughts from his mind. Those wouldn't help Ladybug now. He needed to focus. "Not exactly. She's in trouble and I'm the only one whose used the Ladybug Miraculous before and I can't... I need your help."

The earthen tunnel ended in the city sewers.

"You need Ryuko again." Kagami had guessed as much.

Mister Bug turned to look her in the eye. "We need you to use a Miraculous, yeah. But not the Dragon."

"Would it not have been simpler to bring the Miraculous with you?" Kagami asked in confusion. Clearly, he didn't have it with him. That was quite odd.

Mister Bug rubbed the back of his neck. "Kind of dangerous to have both on me... And I might have jumped ahead without thinking. But you need to come anyway."

"... That does not make things clearer."

Mister Bug sighed. "Sorry. I'm all wound up. I'll explain once I get your mother to safety." He opened his yo-yo and pulled up a map of the sewer system. "Here. Follow this red line."

Kagami heard her phone ring and pulled it out to see the emailed map.

He stepped back into his tunnel. "I'll catch up."

Kagami placed a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful."

Mister Bug's eyes widened at the simple gesture. He grinned. The first one she'd seen since he appeared. "Don't worry. They'll never see me coming."

He ran back to her mother and she followed the map he'd given her.

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Sabine considered herself a patient person. Understanding, slow to anger, down to earth. But even she had her limits. And this here? This made her blood boil.

"You did what!?" Sabine fumed.

Master Fu winced. They sat on the floor across from each other using the folded tarp. Out of slapping range. "It is necessary for a Miraculous to bond with someone at a young age so they may grow into the role."

"And you chose Marinette for her quick thinking." Sabine felt conflicted. On one hand she was proud of Marinette's accomplishments as a hero. On the other, this strange man had invited himself into her daughter's life with a heavy burden Marinette had not asked for.

"I am too old to fight Papillon myself and he needed... needs, to be stopped."

"So, you chose barely teenage kids." Sabine decided she would be blunt. "That is irresponsible. Someone even a few years older might make sense but Marinette just turned fourteen and that young man can't be much older."

"As I said before there are certain conditions that-"

"Conditions that needed to be met. Yes." Her hands ticked. Sabine needed to do something with them, she kept reaching for tea that wasn't there. "And you chose my daughter. Whom you did not train. Whom you thrust into a relationship of blind trust with a stranger. Without any external support. And you expect me to-"

The sound of rushing footsteps interrupted her. They both tensed and Sabine stood, setting her fighting stance.

Mister Bug charged in, yo-yo whirling. Kagami followed, her bokken raised to strike. "We heard shouting! What's wrong?"

Sabine relaxed her stance and Master Fu stepped away from the box on the couch he was shielding. "Mme. Cheng and I were simply in a... disagreement."

Sabine thought it was much more than a 'disagreement' but... She looked at the two youths in front of her and walked towards them. "Are you both alright?" Sabine asked as she placed a hand on their shoulders.

Mister Bug smiled tensely as Kagami gave a stiff nod. She was surprised to see Marinette's mother here but held back her questions.

"About as well as can be expected," Mister Bug replied. He didn't sound convincing even to himself.

"Kagami Tsurugi," Master Fu greeted, bowing slightly to her. "I am the Guardian of the Miraculous."

Sabine stepped back from the youths and Kagami returned the bow. "An honor."

"Normally, we wouldn't meet face-to-face but these are desperate circumstances." Master Fu asserted. "With the both of you we'll be able to save Ladybug and-"

"I'm not letting them go alone," Sabine declared. "Marinette is my daughter and I will be there to help her."

Master Fu's brow furrowed. "Giving Kagami the Black Cat Miraculous is one thing..."

Kagami's eyes widened. Her? The Black Cat? She didn't feel worthy of such consideration. Then Sabine's words sank in. "What has become of Marinette? She is my friend. I will help her any way I can."

The other three looked at her in a mixture of surprise and unease. But it was Sabine who answered. "Marinette's been akumatized..."

Kagami felt the shock like a physical blow. "Then there's no time to waste! We must stop Papillon Écarlate!"

Mister Bug gazed in admiration at Kagami's conviction. Her reaction reaffirmed his faith in her ability to wield the Black Cat. If only they had someone who was better suited for the Ladybug.

"My sentiments exactly," Sabine agreed, turning to the Guardian with defiance in her eyes.

Master Fu was agitated. He needed to make them understand. "Mme. Cheng, in order to wield a Miraculous properly you must have certain characteristics. Mister Bug is already wielding a Miraculous he's unbalanced with-"

Mister Bug looked away, barely resisting the urge to make a sarcastic comment. It's not like he disagreed.

"-Having another mispaired wielder is risky."

Mister Bug looked between the two adults. Sabine wasn't going to back down. And Master Fu needed incentive to release the Dragon. "... You told Ladybug that adults can use the Miraculous without timing out, right? Mme. Cheng-"

"Call me Sabine."

"...Sabine. Would be invaluable backup out there. She could use the Miraculous's power as many times as we need." Mister Bug reasoned.

Master Fu glanced from Adrien to Sabine's equally determined features.

"We need all the help we can get," Mister Bug stressed.

Master Fu sighed, conceding the point.

He brought the Miracle Box to the center of the room and opened it. The other three present gazed with wonder at the sight and Master Fu was reminded that Adrien had not seen it before. "Sabine Cheng, Kagami Tsurugi, you are charged with the Miraculous of the Dragon and Black Cat to assist Mister Bug. You will return the Miraculous to me when your task is complete."

They took the Miraculous Master Fu offered and a blinding light flared briefly before revealing the Dragon and Black Cat kwamis.

Mister Bug gazed at Plagg as he introduced himself to Kagami. There was a question in the kwami's eyes as he glanced at Adrien. The same question Plagg asked almost daily... But it wasn't the time so Mister Bug gestured encouragingly at Kagami.

Sabine took in Longg's extensive explanation with practiced patience. She needed to know everything about the Dragon if she was going to help Marinette.

Kagami was not in a patient mood. "Plagg, trans-"

"Wait!" Mister Bug urged, remembering his side trip. He opened his yo-yo and pulled out half a dozen wheels of the transformation cheese. "We need an edge."

Master Fu's eyes widened as Adrien kneeled to set down the transformation cheese on the floor. "You went back to my apartment? That was risky."

"Good thing Papillon's an idiot who didn't think of posting a guard then, isn't it?" Mister Bug observed as he organized the cheese wheels, wondering which powers to use. "I didn't find any of Ladybug's power-ups."

"Ladybug made her own macarons once she learned how to make the potions," Master Fu explained as he knelt down beside Adrien.

Mister Bug paused. "... Oh..." He shook the distracting thought about secrets away and cleared the lump in his throat. "Flight looks like the best choice for fighting Princess Justice."

"Correct," Master Fu agreed. "We have a limited number of power-ups. We need to succeed on the first try."

"Wish we knew what happened to Viperion," Mister Bug thought out loud.

"We can't wait any longer!" Kagami cut in. "Papillon Écarlate grows stronger with each passing moment. Viperion could be akumatized for all we know."

"You're right," Mister Bug rose and gave a yellow wedge to Sabine and Kagami. "Give your kwamis this. I need to feed Tikki."

Mister Bug left the room and went in another down the hallway, out of sight.

"Detransforme-moi."

Adrien gave Tikki Camembert so she could recharge her energy. The potion laced cheese took too much out of the kwamis for it to provide any nourishment. "Sorry, I don't have any macarons."

"That's alright, Adrien. Not all kwamis are as picky as Plagg." Tikki soothed as she ate.

Adrien appreciated her attempt to lighten the mood. "... Plagg doesn't look happy."

"He's just worried about you," Tikki replied as she set a reassuring hand on his cheek. "He knows we need a Ladybug."

Adrien smiled as he wiped something from his eyes. "Yeah... We do."

His transformation call was echoed by his teammates from the other room. He took in the determination in their eyes as he entered. Noting that it mirrored his own. As the most experienced hero, they looked to him to lead.

He took a deep breath, banishing the doubts from his mind. "Let's go get her back!"

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Luka was terrified.

His sister, Reflekta, stood atop the mast. Firing from the Liberty as it sailed down the Seine. His mother Captain Hardrock, laughed as the unfortunate people became copies of her daughter. He was tied to the mast and forced to watch. Akuma fluttering around him.

But that paled in comparison to the blank eyes that stared at him from behind her mask. He tried to read her as she floated before him. She revealed nothing.

"Marinette-"

"I am Princess Justice!" She corrected. "Why aren't you akumatized yet? Your family's under his control. You're trapped and powerless. Your crush-" She placed a hand on her chest. "-has betrayed you. Why won't you give in?"

Luka's gaze softened. "Ladybug will save you."

Princess Justice threw her head back and laughed. The most emotion he'd seen from her. "Oh, is that what you've been holding onto? Let's get to the truth of the matter." She leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "I. Am. Ladybug."

Luka's eyes widened in shock. "Wh-what? No... You're lying!" The akuma swirled in response to his agitation.

"Justice doesn't lie."

"No..." An akuma flew towards the ring on his finger...

He heard the familiar whir of a yo-yo before all three akuma around him were captured. Princess Justice turned just in time to be tackled by a black blur. A guy in a Ladybug suit rushed towards him and broke his chains.

"Mister Bug?" Luka's emotional whiplash was leaving him disoriented.

"In the flesh!" Mister Bug gave a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes as he picked Luka up and flew away from the detransforming ship. Dodging blasts from Reflekta as he went.

Sabine removed her sword from the compass as an akuma flew out... Right. That's why they needed Mister Bug.

"Wind Dragon!" Sabine swirled around the akuma, keeping it from escaping until Mister Bug could purify it. Being fluid was odd but at least the akuma didn't have anything solid to anchor itself to.

She wondered how long she could keep the whirlwind up.

Princess Justice kicked at her assailant's chest, knocking them back and freeing her arms. Righting herself she studied the flying hero.

Her suit looked more like a ninja outfit than anything else. The hood had cat ears and the sash around her waist curled like a tail. Green bands wrapped around her forearms and lower legs. Between her arms and torso was fabric that gave it the appearance of a wingsuit. Only the mask and eyes remained unchanged.

The red butterfly mark flared across Princess Justice's face. "So, Mister Bug's found a little kitty to take his place while he plays at being Ladybug. How foolish! Take this inexperienced girl's Miraculous quickly and go squash that bug!"

Princess Justice unwound her whip. "You wish to be the new Chat Noir? Let me show you what he's best at!" She struck at the pretender.

The cat dodged easily and brought out her baton. Extending and splitting it in two. "Keeping the enemy distracted?" she offered.

Princess Justice blinked and looked back at the Liberty just in time to see Mister Bug break Reflekta's mirror. Her eyes hardened and she made to rush towards him.

A rapidly extending baton knocked her off course. The cat floated in her way.

"Very well," Princess Justice decided. "I'll take your Miraculous first, 'Chat Noir'!"

"Maneki-neko," she corrected, retracting her baton back to sword length. "And we'll see about that."

The hero charged with her batons raised as the villain lashed out with her whip.

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Notes:

There will be more Dragon Sabine and Cat Kagami in the next chapter, I promise!

And Sabine isn't done with Master Fu.

(Yes, I know I'm bad at summaries.)

Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.5

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catie-does-things · 5 years ago

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Zutara Week Day 3: Shattered

@zutaraweek

The Painted Lady comes to Ba Sing Se, but she isn’t the only one prowling the city by night.

AO3 / FF.N

It was a year since the war ended and they were all in Ba Sing Se again. It was supposed to be a vacation, just a chance to relax and spend time with old friends, but you couldn’t put the Avatar, the Fire Lord, and the Earth King all in one city and expect no one to talk business. Still, Katara was disappointed just how much time the official meetings wound up taking out of their schedule.

She was also disappointed at how little they seemed to be accomplishing. There was sickness in the lower ring that year, and Katara had offered her services as a healer, only for the Earth King to politely inform her that he could not legally accept foreign aid of any kind unless it was formally offered by the leaders of her nation. He would write to her father, the chief, right away, of course. But receiving a reply could take weeks.

Finding the veils and red pigments she needed to don her Painted Lady costume, however, had only taken her one afternoon. Foreign aid from a Water Tribe healer might be caught up in legal red tape, but there were no regulations on miraculous healings by spirits.

Shrouded in white gauze, Katara offered a quick prayer of apology to the Lady for her impersonation, then set off into the night to do what needed to be done.

-----

Zuko couldn’t believe things in Ba Sing Se had actually gotten worse since it had been liberated. Under the control of Long Feng, and then his sister, the Dai Li had terrorized the city - but they had at least kept order as well. The new police force the Earth King had established to replace the Dai Li weren’t half as competent, and with the brutal repression no longer in force, disease was hardly the only thing running rampant in the lower ring.

In his first year as Fire Lord, Zuko had become accustomed to solving problems through politics and diplomacy. He knew the Earth King was learning to do the same, and that this was ultimately the best way to go about things, the right way. It still wasn’t his preferred method.

The Fire Lord could hardly march into the lower ring and start rounding up criminals, of course. But the notorious outlaw known as the Blue Spirit never had been caught, and he had been known to stalk the streets of Ba Sing Se before. The mask would be easy enough to find - it was a stock character, virtually any theater company would have one, which made it the perfect untraceable alter ego as well.

That night, on the rooftops of Ba Sing Se, the Blue Spirit was on the prowl once again.

-----

Slipping in and out of homes without notice was rather more difficult in the crowded lower ring of the world’s largest city than it had been in a small Fire Nation village. By the third house she visited, Katara was beginning to regret her choice of costume as well. The wide hat, flowing veil, and voluminous robe were hardly the most practical attire for sneaking around, and she realized that if anyone here did see her, they were unlikely to be familiar enough with Fire Nation river spirits to be assuaged by her disguise.

Perhaps, she had not thought this through.

But she was here now, and she would press on, at least for this one night. These people needed her help. Even if she couldn’t heal all of them, she had to do something. And in spite of her cumbersome outfit, things seemed to be going well - none of her patients had woken while she worked, and she had managed to duck out of sight of any other nighttime prowlers she crossed paths with while darting from house to house.

When she came to the last building on the street, she thought she caught a glimpse of a dark shape on the roof as she ducked into the small apartment above the tightly locked up shop, but she ignored it and set to work healing the shopkeeper and his wife. This proved to be her latest mistake, as a pair of strong arms grabbed her from behind, one hand covering her mouth.

Furiously, Katara bended the water she had been using to heal into a whip that cracked against the side of her attacker’s head, causing him to let go of her with a grunt. Another water whip while he was still dazed knocked the masked man into the opposite wall, where a set of rickety shelves held all the earthen cookware the poor shopkeeper and his wife owned.

The impact rattled the shelves, and all the plates, cups, jars, and pots came tumbling down - and shattered.

-----

Darting across the rooftops of the city was even easier than Zuko remembered, without the Dai Li to worry about. It didn’t take him long either, once he’d made his way to the lower ring, to find the kind of trouble he was looking for. The first robber he came across was hardly expecting the Blue Spirit to swoop down on him from above, and never stood a chance. Though once Zuko had the man disarmed and tied up, suddenly he realized he had to decide what to do with him next.

Perhaps, he still wasn’t good at thinking things through.

He could dump the thief on the doorstep of a police station, but without evidence of his crimes there wasn’t much the police would be able to do. It might be best to just leave him in the street, and let him try to explain to the neighbors in the morning what had happened. Of course, he would probably just lie, and claim he’d been attacked while out for an innocent midnight stroll.

Well, hopefully being waylaid by the Blue Spirit would be enough of a lesson for him. Zuko took to the rooftops again and set off for the next block over, scanning the dark streets for any other potential ne'er do wells. He halted on the roof of a two-story building at the end of the block just as a cloaked and veiled figure tried the locked doors of the shop on the ground floor, then hoisted itself into the apartment above though an open window. That was definitely suspicious.

Zuko entered the apartment though the same window and saw the mysterious prowler bent over the two sleeping forms of the residents. He leapt forward and grabbed the stranger, trying to drag them away from the potential victims as silently as possible.

He had expected the stranger to fight back. He had not expected the water whip that blindsided him, nor the followup attack that sent him reeling into the wall and noisily broke every dish in the apartment. That, of course, woke the shopkeeper and his wife, but Zuko barely had any attention to spare for them as he hastily dodged a volley of ice daggers aimed at him.

So the mysterious prowler was a waterbender. Strange.

He didn’t like the idea of fighting in such an enclosed space, and he seemed to have drawn the attacker’s full attention, so Zuko dove for the window, leading his adversary back outside. Sure enough, the stranger pursued him onto the rooftop, undaunted by the shopkeeper’s shouts. By that time, Zuko had drawn his dao swords, and was able to properly fight back.

They leapt from roof to roof, dancing around each other. Water and steel slashed and parried, glinting in the moonlight, and Zuko made a few key observations about his opponent. She was female, and though the sheer while veil she wore obscured her features, she seemed to have some kind of dark pattern painted on her face and arms.

So this outlaw like to impersonate a spirit as well, did she.

Still, Zuko thought, as she drew rainwater from the gutters and formed it into watery tendrils on the end of each arm, there was something else familiar about her...

-----

Katara had only heard vague tales of the Blue Spirit, but she figured it made sense that this was what she would get for impersonating the Painted Lady again, to be attacked by another spirit imposter.

No offense to Sokka, but when she’d seen the Blue Spirit draw his swords, she hadn’t expected much of a challenge. Most swordsmen in the Earth Kingdom just had no experience fighting waterbenders, and that gave her an advantage. But this one was proving to be different. The way he dodged and parried her attacks, it was almost like he was familiar with the forms, and knew what was coming. Her initial water whips might have caught him by surprise, but clearly she couldn’t count on that any longer.

Drawing rainwater from the gutters, she used a tentacle form instead, trying to keep out of range of his swords. She succeeded in wrestling one of them from his grasp, but he ducked under the swipe of the other tendril of water and got in close enough to land a kick on her wrist, making her lose control and drop the water from one hand. He swung his remaining sword around just as she froze the water she had left into a spear and brought it to bear, and they ended up at a stalemate, each with a sharp weapon pointed at the other’s throat.

A gust of wind tugged at her veil, parting it for just a moment. “Katara?” came a shocked exclamation from behind the Blue Spirit’s mask, in a voice she recognized instantly, which explained how he knew her waterbending moves so well.

“Zuko?” she exclaimed in turn.

-----

The Blue Spirit lowered his sword. The Painted Lady melted her ice spear. She pushed the veil aside, pulled the broad hat from her head, and he took off his mask.

What was said between them was heard only by the first quarter moon overhead. But when they resumed their disguises, and took off again bounding over the rooftops of Ba Sing Se, together, the sound of their mingled laughter echoed through the night.

#zutara #zutara week #zutara week 2019 #catie writes things

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