"Why are we meeting at the Louvre?" Chat Noir asked. It had been a few hours after the events of Dark Cupid. The sky was dark, but the light of the city made it impossible to see any stars, not to mention it was incredibly cloudy.

"It's emptier at night since the museum is closed. There are just a few tourists looking to see it lit up at night, but it's not too crowded," Ladybug said, "Plus, if we want this to be easier, we have to give a clear location for Carapace to find us. Later we can figure out a usual meet up point."

"Got it." Chat Noir nodded. "He saved your life, you know."

"Yeah, I'm aware."

"I... if he hadn't been there, I could have killed you..."

"Just don't think about it too hard," Ladybug said. "Oh, Chat, there's something we should talk about before Carapace gets here."

"Hm?"

"You... mentioned a curse earlier and I wasn't sure if you were talking about the akuma or..."

"Oh-" Chat Noir's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. "Yeah um- Y-yeah, that was about the akuma." He was lying. It was obvious. But Ladybug decided it wasn't something to be pushed. If he was lying to her, then he had to have a good reason for it.

"Sup, heroes!" Carapace said from above as he slid down the outer glass pyramid wall to meet the other two at its base. "Sorry I took so long, I'm still getting used to all the enhanced abilities, you know."

"Eh, we're still newbies ourselves. It's only been a few weeks, right?" Chat said, greeting Carapace with a welcoming smile.

"Sounds about right." Ladybug hummed.

"So how's this whole thing work?" Carapace asked. "Did you two also get the kwami person thing? Are they gods?"

"Yup. We each have a miraculous," Chat Noir said.

"I'm assuming your kwami explained how your powers work to you, right?"

"Yup!" Carapace nodded. "And it's powered through our bracelets, right?"

"Oh, you have a bracelet. My miraculous is my earrings, and Chat's is his ring."

"Ohhhhhhh, so they're like... different for each miraculous then, right?"

"I believe so," Ladybug said. "Now, Carapace, you know that we can't reveal our identities to each other, right?"

"Because... well I'm guessing here, but is it because if one of us gets akumatized it exposes the other two to what's his face?"

"Hawkmoth."

"Yes," said Ladybug, "it's too risky. Now, absolutely, under no circumstances, can you let ANYONE know your secret identity."

"Understood... ma'am?"

"Oh god don't call me ma'am."

"Ms. Ladybug?"

"We're the same age!"

"We are?!"

"I'm seventeen," Chat said.

"Same."

"...Same," said Carapace.

"... Odd coincidence. When's your birthday?" Chat Noir asked, getting distracted.

"We can't reveal that kind of stuff," Ladybug said with a huff.

"Well, my birthday, for one, is next month," Chat grinned, "which I believe makes me the oldest one here."

"This is not important right now," Ladybug groaned.

"Cool dude, you're gonna be an adult! Actually... I thought you were like... waaaaaay older than me but-"

"I am your elder."

"Both of you!" Ladybug hushed them. "I know it's fun, but these are exactly the type of things we can't talk about! A birthday can reveal a lot about a person!"

"Oh no I'm a Libra!" Chat said dramatically, acting like he was about to faint.

"CHAT!"

"I'm an-"

"Stop talking about zodiacs!" Ladybug interrupted the turtle boy.

"Aquarius."

"Ew, aquarius?"

"GUYS!"

"I dunno Ladybug, you might as well reveal your zodiac. We live in anticipation." Chat Noir gave her a nudge.

"No! Absolutely not! Because then you'll know the time of the year I was born and you might find out my birthday and then you could easily figure out who-"

"Yeah cause there's like, not a single person in Paris with the same zodiac as you."

"... Cancer." Ladybug said.

"Aw, Cancer."

"I'm not actually big on zodiacs," Carapace said with a shrug.

"Wait! That means you are the baby of the group!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Ugh! Damn you both!" Ladybug cursed. "Let's just stay focused! Carapace!"

"I didn't do anything-"

"Don't let anyone ever see your kwami-"

"His name is Wayzz, and yeah. He's given me the basic gist of it all," Carapace stated. "Though the way he introduced himself scared the living shit out of me."

"Can't be as bad as how Plagg introduced himself to me," Chat countered.

"Nah, Tikki kidnapped me from my school. I think I win." Ladybug grinned.

"Hey no, I was half naked!" Chat Noir practically screeched. "I literally got out of the shower, walked into my room, and BOOM! Giant man! I dropped my fricken towel! I was nude! NUDE!"

"...No..." Carapace's eyes widened.

"No dude don't picture it-"

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!"

"WHAT!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"You're both weird, got it." Ladybug sighed. "We need to focus!"

"On what?" Chat asked.

"Hawkmoth. It's bad enough- no offense- that the guardian sent out another kwami because we're not doing our job fast enough."

"As I said earlier today, I'm just damage prevention. You guys are doing fine!" Carapace assured.

"The next thing you know, we'll get another hero, then another, and another, and all it will take is for ONE villain to trap us all in one spot and suddenly half the miraculous are gone! Just like that!"

"You're worrying too much," Chat said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"No you don't understand," Ladybug said, "It's just so... sudden. I wasn't planning on being a superhero but here I am! And I stay because I care!"

"It's happened to all of us," Chat said, before looking at Carapace, "We think we have an idea of how to find Hawkmoth."

"Yeah?"

"The school, Collège Françoise Dupont. All the villains have spawned from there, with the exception of one girl, but she was on live television," Chat Noir began to explain. "And specifically from one class too. That can't be a coincidence."

"So we should monitor that class then. How many students have been akumatized?"

"Dark Cupid was a boy by the name of Le Chien Kim. But there was also Rose Lavaillant, Nathaniel Kutzburg, Ivan Bruel and Alya Cesaire," Ladybug answered, "all from the same class, same grade."

"So Hawkmoth has some ties to the school then. Could he be a student?"

"It's a possibility, yes," Ladybug said.

"So who will be the victim next?"

"I don't know, it could be anyone. But something tells me... it's going to get rough." Ladybug rubbed her head, "We need to find the peacock miraculous before Hawkmoth decides to use it. But who knows where it is...."

***

It was the Han Dynasty, the year 36B.C, and Emperor Yuandi was in power. The current sanctuary was quiet on this night. The sky was particularly clear, only a faint glow from within the threshold could be seen from outside in the courtyard. Mullo was on her usual trip to what is now present day Japan, which she did quite ritualistically, leaving for a period of short years then returning for only one. Wayzz lived in the main sanctuary down south where future guardians of the miraculous gathered to train, tested to see which of them were fit enough to guard the Miracle Box safely. Plagg was gone, missing to the knowledge of the others after having a temperamental rage over some curse that had been brought upon him by Duusu. Orikko was also south, occasionally joining Wayzz and the trainees, but would rather spend more time out on quests with her current wielder, exploring untamed territory and defending the people of Han.

The sanctuary lay in a quaint little village, in which had rings of siheyuan which were built in such a way that there was a large grassy field in the center of the town which children would often play in. This was also used for festival days and nights, where it would be decorated lavishly with beautiful paintings and banners, lit up with candles of extraordinary shapes and colors. Merchants would sell their goods here; spices of different kinds, valuable items, resale, and food.

The village was surrounded by mountains, and on its outskirts lay a hill. On that hill, was the sanctuary, the guardian of the kwamis lived there. It had a grand siheyuan where all the kwamis currently with the guardian lived, including the guardian himself. It was a respectable place to the people of the village, but no one ever dared enter its courtyard. Even travelers avoided the place, its beauty only ever admired from afar.

The courtyard was fenced in by a heavy wall of stone, its only entrance being a humble curved arch providing a gateway, which only the guardian and an occasional kwami ever used. Beautiful trees decorated the scenery, white blossoms blooming and blushing. The siheyuan was built into the wall which supported it of earth and wood. And inside, Ziggy was the only kwami awake, working on an elegant painting of a horse.

Ziggy was often the only kwami who brought life to the sanctuary in recent times. Duusu was finally climbing out of a change of emotions which had lasted him nearly a year by then. He was constantly upset, crying tears made of glass which left scars down his cheeks, which soon had turned into blue markings of tear drops which never disappeared. Kaalki was often out with Stompp, running about the forests in the mountains for the hunt, as well as blessing any weary traveler they ran into.

Tikki was going through a change of emotions, though it wasn't at random. Plagg had been gone for years. Because of this, she rarely left her chambers, and when she did, she hardly spoke or ate, and it became a chore to get her to drink. So Ziggy, the kwami of passion, along with Xuppu, the kwami of jubilation, put it upon themselves to bring the sanctuary back to a more positive light.

Ziggy heard someone step into the room with a slight swish of the bamboo doors sliding open. She turned her head with interest, perking up one of her little goat ears curiously at the sound. It was Duusu who stood in the doorway. It was evident that he had been crying again, as his cheeks were stained red with blood.

"You're awake, as usual," Duusu said, sliding the door shut behind him. Ziggy set her paintbrush down after whipping it clear of paint so that it wouldn't dry stiff.

"And you're bleeding," Ziggy said, moving across the room where a short-wide wooden bowl of water sat on a low table. She dipped an expendable cloth into it and made her way back over to Duusu.

"It's dried up by now," Duusu said as she did this. He had a calming deep voice, one that could put you to sleep if he were to sing a lullaby.

"Yes, but we can't let the people discover you can bleed. Suddenly, they'll believe us to be weak," Ziggy said, grabbing him by the shoulder and dabbing the cloth over his cheek now crusted in dried blood.

"You needn't fuss over me, Ziggy." Duusu moved her hand aside.

"Oh hush now," Ziggy scoffed, "Ugh, it's not coming off. Come here."

She then dragged him over to the table carrying the bowl and forced him to kneel so that she could better wash his face. She had little goat horns on either side of her head, and her beautiful dark hair was pulled into a bun where two parts came out and tied in a loop back into the bun.

"Why were you crying again?" Ziggy asked as she continued rubbing off the blood and cleaning his face with the damp rag.

"It's Nooroo. It's always Nooroo," Duusu admitted.

"Of course, I should have known," Ziggy said, moving the cloth to the other cheek. "We all miss him. I would definitely enjoy paying him a visit. He's not too far away, only a weaks journey if we go without Kaalki."

"Kaalki has been gone for weeks, it's getting me worried."

"I think impatient would be a better word to describe what you're feeling."

"You're telling me, the kwami of emotion, what my feelings are?" Duusu said cruelly, moving her hand away as she was pushing against his face too roughly.

"How about we get Xuppu to join us on an outing tomorrow? He always raises your spirits."

"He's a bit overwhelming," Duusu said. The cuts in his cheeks, now rubbing open, began bleeding again.

"Oh it'll be great, I need to sell my paintings anyways." Ziggy frowned at the site of the cuts bleeding once again.

"Perhaps we should be looking for Kaalki and Stompp instead."

"They're fine, I assure you. I need not to remind you that they're likely all the way across the dynasty anyways. But as soon as they're back, I promise we can coerce Master Wei Qui into letting us take a visit to Nooroo. He probably misses us just as much as we miss him." It was true, Nooroo was likely in just as much distress over the long separation between him and his fellow kwamis. But he held a very dutiful job at the moment, his wielder being one of the strongest captains of the emperor's guards, protecting the palace and the emperor with enchantments unto the other soldiers.

"Maybe if we can get Pollen to join us, we can get that lousy guard to-"

"Oh, Pollen would have no interest in toying with that man for a fourth time just for you to sneak into Nooroo's chambers without attention."

"Oh? Then perhaps you can."

"Hey, I want to see Nooroo just as much as you do!" Ziggy declared, "It'll be fine. We'll get permission to enter the palace grounds."

"But then the city will want to throw festivities again and we'll end up staying there for a month and actually get to spend no time with Nooroo at all! And it'll be so loud!" Duusu complained as Ziggy finished cleaning the cuts on his face.

"What is it with you and Nooroo that you'd rather be so casual. Parties are fun!"

"He's my best friend," Duusu affirmed. "Parties are obnoxious."

"Zaio Hu is rolling in her grave right now." Ziggy suppressed a laugh.

"Zaio Hu annoyed me to no end. I should have never given her a miraculous!" Duusu said with a slight grin. "She almost lost the brooch at a party anyways, so there! Another reason why parties and festivals are bad!" He grinned devilishly.

"And I met one of my wielders at a festival, so that's a reason why they're good!" Ziggy got up from her knees, patting her skirt down. "Now, you will be joining me in the village tomorrow whether you like it or not. I need to get rid of these paintings."

"Alright, I'll go."

Master Wei Qui decided to join Ziggy, Duusu and Xuppu on their outing to the village. There, the people excitedly gifted Ziggy with dozens of goats in exchange for her paintings, eager to have one of the many creations from their local "goddess". Duusu was given a peacock, though in exchange for nothing. The people were thrilled to spoil them for nothing, and Duusu ended up walking around with a peacock in his arms for the rest of the day. Another one to add to the courtyard. He already had so many.

The people asked them why Tikki hadn't come down from the sanctuary in so long, and they found they couldn't provide a worthy answer. They offered to throw parties, against Duusu's better judgment, just to get her to come out and join them. But Tikki would not be going anywhere anytime soon. That's why Duusu knew he had to regulate his own emotions, for perhaps if he was happy, she would be happy. It was only a problem that Nooroo wasn't around.

Master Wei Qui, apparently, was very interested in getting new furnishings for the sanctuary. He was well respected by the people, though unlike with the kwamis, they didn't give him things for free. So, Qui ended up using all the currency he'd brought down to spend at the marketplace.

Dusuu named his new peacock, Snatch, as the bird kept grabbing things that hung from canopies with its beak without Dusuu's notice. Snatch was certainly eccentric. Dusuu already had eleven peacocks; Viosepher (the oldest), Owl, Leably, Bow, Castle, Basker, Clucker, Clariphan, Lord Shen (Fluff named that one), Blinker, and the only female, Sullie; what damage could a twelfth one do? But already, Snatch was a nuisance. Though, Dusuu had a soft spot for birds, and had already grown fond of Snatch. He couldn't wait to introduce him and the other peacocks to Nooroo when he came home... if he came home before they're lives ran out... That was the burden of being immortal. Things had such short expendable lives that he could only enjoy living company for brief moments of time in the broad existence of his own life.

"Do you ever wonder when we'll free ourselves?" Dusuu asked out loud, though it was more of just a thought. Ziggy, who had sold all the paintings she brought with her, was examining some beaded jewelry a merchant offered.

"Ah, you and your deep dark thoughts again."

"Well, I don't think it's dark actually, I quite look forward to it."

"It won't be for another thousand years, and a thousand past that," Ziggy said, leaving the merchant stand, waving goodbye to the jeweler. "Humanity isn't ready yet. They'll need us for quite some time."

"What do you think happens after we release ourselves, putting on our one miraculous?" Dusuu asked.

"No one knows," Ziggy shrugged, "Perhaps there is an afterlife. Perhaps we become a part of the earth. Perhaps we get reincarnated into all the subjects we've chosen as wielders."

"Hmm..."

"Now, we should be finding Xuppu and Master Wei Qui now. It is getting dark."

"I would hope to be a bird after I get released," Dusuu said, holding out Snatch before him, looking into his beady eyes. "A beautiful peacock with the shiniest of feathers."

"Oh? You're not dazzling enough already?" Ziggy snickered.

"Oh shut up."

"Well, I hope this outing has cheered you up."

"It has," Dusuu smiled, "It really has."