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blackbat05 · 3 years

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Day by Day

Shangqi x Reader

A/N: My love for this man has hit an all time high so let me capitalize on it while I still can! If you read everything, I sincerely thank you for doing so!!! And holy cow 2 fics in 2 days have I gone back into my prime days?

Genre: PG-13

Notes: As the title mentioned, I’ll probably set it some time after endgame. You could see it as a prequel to my first post! Reader is a social worker and she’s just dealing with all the mess that the snap bought back. The reader’s name as Jen Lee. I also apologize in advance for the potentially long fic.

***

‘Excuse me, I’m looking for my child? Her name’s Wang Yiman and she’s seven.’ Another frazzled-looking parent fought her way to the front of the receptionist, approaching the helpless intern who looked like she was going to be on the verge of tears if another request came in.

‘I got this,’ a hand calmly reassured the young intern as she beckoned the relief parent. ‘Mrs Wang? My name is Jen Lee and I’m the social worker here.’ I offered my hand for the anxious mother. ‘Oh thank god! Is Yiman ok? She must have been so scared!’ I slowed to a stop outside the room at the end of the corridor, gently sitting her down.

‘Yiman has been a very brave girl Mrs Wang, but I will not lie to you. The sudden disappearance of their parents has traumatized a lot of kids. We’ve managed to explain to them what was going on but they will need a lot of support.’ I gave a glance over Mrs Wang’s shoulder, nodding to my colleague, Tammy who was holding the hand of a little girl in pigtails and a floral dress.

妈妈! mā ma (mommy!)

The young girl ran into her mother’s open arms, allowing the floodgates to open from both ends. I turn to Tammy as we shared a silent agreement to leave the area. ‘That’s the last one for the day,’ Tammy unceremoniously plops herself onto the chair, letting out a groan. ‘Thanks for your hard work Jen.’

‘Right back at you.’ I entered the last bit of paperwork before uploading Yiman’s case file onto the portal. Yiman’s reunion with her parents meant the Children and Youth Centre were halfway in getting every displaced child back to their parents. Looking at the dingy television that was hung on the walls at the waiting room, despite not being able to hear anything, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on. S.W.O.R.D was apparently in a stand-off against Wanda Maximoff? Reported rumors that Sam Wilson didn’t want anything to do with the shield? It’s been a crazy few weeks but that was utter-

‘Bullshit! If anything it’s the government. They must have psyched him into giving up the shield.’ My chair swiveled to face Tammy who returned a nonchalant shrug. ‘What? You know I’m right. Doesn’t matter if half the world’s gone or our universe gets split into two - they’re the true evil here. I’m still struggling to find a place after I found a couple making out in my apartment! And you know what the global repatriation council told me? We’re only dealing with urgent cases right now. Well I say f-’

The incessant ringing of the bell interrupted our conversation, replacing Tammy’s tirade into a cheeky grin. ‘Look who’s here!’

Shangqi stands behind the counter, dressed in his usual red varsity jacket and jeans, holding bags of what I could only make out as takeout from the Chinese restaurant that was run by a friendly Singaporean couple. ‘Did I interrupt something?’ He scratches his head nervously. ‘Nope, in fact you just saved me from Tammy’s monologue, any further and she’ll explicitly tell me what she saw in her apartment when she got dusted back that day,’ I shivered in mock fear. ‘Still haunts me up till today.’ Tammy meets us by the door, bag in her hand.

‘I thought you were staying? We got fried dumplings and 泡饭 pào fàn (poached rice).’

‘Last minute duty - A parent called, gotta run! Enjoy your dinner date.’ She waggles her eyebrows suggestively, much to our embarrassment. ‘What? It’s not...’ Shangqi stutters, trying to form intelligible sentences. ‘Get out before I throw a fried dumpling at your face Tammy!’ She winks at me, before darting out of the door. Once my nosy colleague was out, I turn towards a red-faced Shangqi. ‘I’m so sorry... just don’t mind her.’

‘Huh?’ The man was knocked out of his stupor. ‘Oh yeah... sure,’ in an attempt to forget everything that had just happened, he opened the packets of fried dumplings. ‘Ready for war?’

‘I was born ready.’

Thirty-five minutes later, all that was left were the remnants of fried dumplings and three empty containers.

‘This should be illegal,’ I patted my stomach in satisfaction to his amusement. ‘Laugh at yourself! You lost track of how many dumplings you had and ended up taking my share!’

Raising his hands in defeat, Shangqi starts to clear the table up. ‘So how’s the center? Everything alright?’ I nodded numbly.

The past five years had been a blur. Hazy, even. All I remembered was a kid running into the office telling me that half of the staff disappeared during a school holiday program that we were running with a dozen other kids. Parents who survived the snap rushed to our center, demanding to see their children. We couldn’t give them any answer as we too, were equally perplexed. Maybe the only thing that made sense was Shangqi and Katy bursting into the center to help us with the chaos.

Coming back from what could be the 1000th phone call, I got a glimpse in the children’s playroom where the five years old kids were at, treating myself to an amusing sight. They all had red cloths draped around their neck, each holding a stick that was from the abandoned prop box. Katy wasn’t spared to as she was wearing her own red cloth that seemed a few sizes to small for her. Not that she didn’t seem to mind.

‘Alright my warriors! Chargeeeeee!!!!!!’

In unison, little pairs of feet pattered across the room towards their ‘enemy’, a cardboard cutout of a monstrous creature who was really just Shangqi in disguise.

‘RAWR! I’ll eat anyone who stands in my way!’ He stands up, mimicking a dinosaur that was about to trample an entire city. I decided that the paperwork could wait, standing near the door to watch an Oscar-worthy performance. With great effort and bravery from the kids, they finally managed to take down 5 foot 10 worth of muscle.

‘Again! Again!’

I chuckled upon seeing Shangqi on the floor, about to drift off into wonderland. It was time for me to step in. ‘Alright kids that’s enough for today! Dinner’s here.’ As the kids dispersed with the help of Katy, it was just the two of us left to clear up the mess. ‘Thank you so much, both of you. I honestly can’t think of what would happen if you guys didn’t come to help.’

Perhaps my body language was screaming ‘I’m dead tired, please just knock me out’ as Shangqi takes a cloth from me, folding it back into the box. ‘It’s what we would have done, this place, it means a lot to us - to me.’

A small knock on the door diverts our attention away from the trash. Little Yiman stands at the door, as she stares at the both of us with big round eyes.

‘Yiman, it’s late, what are you doing here?’ I squat down to her eye level. The little girl beams, ‘ 妈妈 said that I could give this to you!’ She passes me a juice box together with a handmade card with colorful scribbles. Maybe I was carrying too much on my shoulders, as I suddenly felt a boulder lifted off me. ‘Thank you,’ I smile at her sweetly, ‘I love apple juice.’ Happy with the response, she runs to Shangqi. ‘Shangqi 哥哥 gē ge (brother)!’

He breaks out into a smile, opening his arms wide. Yiman nuzzles her head into his shoulder before breaking out into uncontrollable giggles from his sudden attack of tickles. ‘Are you hear to help Miss Jen?’ I took the trash from his hands, giving him some time with the girl.

‘Yes I am. Miss Jen needs some help so I’m here today!’

‘Are you her boyfriend?’

Shangqi freezes on the spot. He had undergone what could be the toughest training by his father, fought the greatest assassins in the world and here he was - stumped by a question from a seven year old. ‘Well... I’m her close friend since when we were very young,’ Yiman looks at him expectantly. ‘She helped me when I was in trouble so I had to be a good friend when she was in trouble too.’

‘Like how Ningning helped me when I injured my knee?’

‘Yeah... something like that.’ He breathes a sigh of relief, thankful to escape his first crisis. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure if he was telling himself the truth.

‘Yiman! Your mother’s here!’ The little girl gives him one last hug before running to the waiting room. Shangqi takes a moment to recollect himself. ‘Here I am thinking that you finally managed to have some stamina while interacting with young children, maybe I was wrong.’ I teased as I sat beside him.

‘Har har, hilarious.’ He tosses me a straw for our peach teas, as we were greeted by the amazing night view of San Francisco. ‘Enough about me, you good though?’ Looks like he didn’t forget the conversation that was cut off earlier. My mind goes back to a few minutes earlier, eavesdropping on the conversation.

‘I had to be a good friend when she was in trouble too.’

Life has been so unpredictable, I don’t even want to think too far into the future. With appearances from more superpowered beings, I don’t know what’s real anymore.

‘Yeah. To be honest, it’s been so crazy and overwhelming but I’ll get through it. I have you don’t I?’ Giving him a wink, I slowly sipped on the sweetness of the tea, savoring the pearls. He pauses for a moment, nodding thoughtfully.

Life isn’t the same as it was before. But maybe, just maybe... if I had Shangqi, I’ll take each day on one at a time. Day by day.

[END]

A/N: Hoho! I literally spent the whole afternoon writing because I just had to get this idea out and also because work was pretty slow today. I have no idea what is up with my first two fics hinting at unrequited love? I guess I got inspired by Shangqi’s and Katy’s platonic relationship because I thought it was so well written but I also love Shangqi so I guess is a compromise kinda thing. Again, do like and comment if you wish! Really thankful that y’all have been so kind to me so far!

Perhaps I’ll try my hand at shorter ones like headcannons before this girl exhausts herself out and I don’t want to do that because I believe I have more to show!

#xu shangqi #shangqi imagine #shangqi x reader #katy shang chi #shang chi #shang chi x reader

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thefanficmonster · 4 years

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Never Satisfied [Chapter 2]

Corpse Husband x Original Female Character

Warnings: Language

Collaboration between Vy & Ashens 🖤

“this chick is crazy...and I kinda dig it“

It’s been four days since the incident and he’s all but forgotten about it, removed it from his memory entirely as if girls hide from police in his car on a regular basis.

Today is colder than usual, and his body has been quick to respond to the change, aching around the joints. Some days it’s impossible to move, feeling his clothes and sandpaper and housing spikes as joints. Thankfully, today isn’t that bad, the pain is rather manageable. Which checks out well for him, considering he has to do some cleaning around his apartment. His skin itched at the sight of the mess his living space has become over the last few weeks he hasn’t been bothered to pick up the strewn about items or wash the dishes in the sink.

Standing in his living room, he turns in a circle, taking in the disaster that is surrounding him. His chest tightens, throat closing up due to the overwhelmingness of the work he has ahead of him while all he wants to do is hide in his room, under the blankets of his bed that is for sure not willing to offer him much comfort at the moment, seeing as how it too is a mess.

Forget about that! He isn’t sure if his mind is telling him to forget the task he has at hand or the comfort he has in mind. Either way, he knows what the right thing to do is. It may give him anxiety, but it has to be done.

He clenches his jaw and closes his eyes, taking deep measured breaths and exhaling slowly just like his doctor had instructed him to do, in hopes to ease the tension around his lungs.

Calming down a bit, he finally decides to get on with it, starting with the smallest space he has to clean, hoping accomplishing a small victory would fuel his ambition to move onto the actual rooms with a lesser struggle. So, pulling on his favorite hoodie and a beanie over his black curls, he slips out of the front door and down the stairs of his apartment complex with a trash bag in hand. He may hate cleaning, but he hates messes more, therefore it’s an easy call to make. Easy when putting the two in comparison, a struggle when he actually has to get on with the process of cleaning.

With a deep breath as a final ‘You got this’ before action, he unlocks his car doors and looks around its interior. He starts off with the junk in the front - first tending to the passenger seat where he finds a couple plastic bags and a few water bottles. He keeps the area around the driver’s seat clean as can be, so he skips that side. Unfortunately, now he has to turn to the nightmare that is the backseats.

While it may be tame, compared to most, the three paper bags, five disposable coffee cups that he’d dropped to the floor are more than enough to annoy him. He also makes a frustrating find of a hoodie, a few shirts, a hat, and what appears to be a forgotten CVS bag of medication. Much to his dismay, there’s more: handfuls of old receipts that he is now shoving into the garbage bag he has in hand along with straw wrappers, a few stray cold fries dating back to God-knows-when. He sighs, somewhat relieved to see the backseat is doing a lot better now than it was a couple minutes ago, though it’s not even entirely clean just yet. Something catches his eye though - a choker that was probably covered by one of the clothing items he had found. He picks it up, turning it over in his hand. It’s made of soft leather with a gunmetal ”C” and a pentagram embossed on it. It has a leather braided cord on both ends to tie together and no price tag or brand to indicate its origin. He can’t remember buying this...but then again, retail therapy is a thing and it wouldn’t be the first time he forgot a purchase. He gives it one final once-over before shrugging and pocketing it. After collecting the headphones he’d also dumped in the back and retrieving a pair of boots from the trunk, he locks up his car and heads back into the building, mentally preparing himself for facing the terror of cleaning his apartment.

Returning to his place after tossing the trash in the dumpster along the way, Corpse locks the front door behind him and proceeds to drop the things he’s brought back near the front door.

This defeats the purpose of cleaning up in the first place, Corpse. He scolds himself but that’s what it remains at - just a scold. He slips the hoodie off his torso, but pauses when the leather collar falls to the floor. Tossing the clothing item on a dining room chair behind him, he picks up the choker and, without as much as a second thought, places it around his throat just below his Adam’s apple The metal feels cool against his skin and as he ties the leather cords at the back of his neck the corners of his lips curve upwards just a little.

I probably look stupid. He thinks to himself. Corpse tries not to look much at his own reflection, mostly because it’s a reminder of how little sleep he gets with the dark circles and worn out, exhausted eyes staring back at him whenever he looks. But when he catches a glimpse of himself in his peripheral on his way to piss, he admires his reflection, or more so the way the black leather stands out across his pale skin. He’s gotta admit, it looks pretty cool. Edgy. Very urban. Goth maybe? But he still prefers the chains he’s known to wear over chokers.

After doing his business, he starts heading toward his office with the intention of recording a new story for his channel if he manages to find a decent submission - and also to ignore the cleaning he still had to do eventually - when the sound of someone banging on the door of his neighbor’s apartment makes him jump, thinking the sound was coming from his door instead. Being the nosey bitch he is, he creeps to his door, listening to the muffled and almost completely incomprehensible voices from across the hall. The screaming match taking place is making him rather nervous and anxious and as much as he’d rather hide in his room and pretend he never heard or saw anything, he also doesn’t want the altercation to escalate into anything physical.

“You fucking bailed on me!” An angry female shout dominates over the other voice, a male one, that’s quick to follow the previous example with the tone volume.

“You almost got caught, it's not my fault you screwed up!” It’s the male’s turn to shout, his words intriguing Corpse.

Got caught? Screwed up what?

“Fuck you! You don’t just ditch like that! That’s such a dick move!”

Ditched? If it wasn’t for the ‘getting caught’ part I would’ve thought it was a flopped date?

“I wasn’t about to get arrested for your klepto ass! I’m done with your shit!” The male voice takes the upper hand again, and though the female attempts to speak, she’s promptly cut off by the male, “No! No, I said I’m fucking done! Get the fuck out of my apartment!” A loud bang that sounded remarkably like a chair being flipped over made Corpse jump again with his thoughts once again racing to try and make sense of the situation.

Klepto? So she’s a thief. Great. He rolls his eyes, not that he needed a reminder that he lives in a bad neighborhood, but he sure got it. He inhales slowly, finally deciding to check the aftermath in the hallway. Again, it isn’t his business whatsoever, but he can’t rest easy until he knows there isn’t an injured person outside his door right now. He peeks out the peephole before unlocking the door and sticking his head out to see a long haired individual still standing in front of his neighbor’s door. They have their back turned to him and are getting prepared to start banging on the door once again.

“Little scared-ass bitch! I’ll be back for my shit!” She screams, kicking the door to punctuate her point.

This chick is absolutely nuts. Everything in his gut is telling him to turn around and go back inside but his brain’s less-rational side is convincing him to check on her. He carefully steps into the hallway, swallowing nervously as he reaches out to tap her shoulder. “Are um-...you okay?”

The girl whips around, a furious expression on her face. Corpse makes a pause, his eyes widening at the sight of that familiar face.

Holy shit, I know this girl.

Standing in front of him is the girl who leaped into the backseat of his car only a few days ago.

Shit! What are the odds?

She’s wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and a cropped sweatshirt with the quote “Mercury’s in Gatorade or Some Shit” written in bold letters and a solar system around it, with a leather jacket on top.

His mouth dries when he makes a realization...

Oh fuck. She’s way prettier in the natural light instead of that ugly light I saw her in that night.

“Oh hey! Parking lot guy! What are y-...is that my choker?” She interrupts herself, looking closer at the black leather on his pale skin, her brows furrowing. He’d forgotten he was even wearing it to be honest, but she seems to recognize it. “That’s my fucking choker, dude! I’ve been looking everywhere for it!” She reaches up seemingly with the intention of taking it off him, causing his whole body to freeze up.

Finally finding his senses, Corpse takes half a step back, eyes slightly widened, “Woah, hey! Easy there, I’m pretty sure I bought this.” He warns, hands hesitantly held out in front of himself to try and create some distance between them.

She seems not to take the hint at his desire for personal space as she reaches out again, stepping closer. “No, I made it with my own two hands, man! It’s got a C on it for my name - Cora.” She says sharply to the point of anger that honestly frightens him a bit.

He quickly unties the leather straps, removing it from his neck. However, he refuses to give it back so easily as he holds it up out of her reach.

Maybe if it isn’t on me she won’t be all up in his personal space. Yeah, it’s a bit evil, but he didn’t care. Besides, part of him is still mad about the fact she used his car as a hiding spot, shooting his anxiety through the roof in the process.

“I feel like you owe me for those fries you stole last time we saw each other. Make it up to me and I’ll give it back. If it’s even yours, that is...” He says, brows furrowing slightly and eyes narrowing as he takes another step back. “And, you know, for nearly getting me busted by the police for something I wasn’t even a part of.”

Sure, he was talking but her eyes are wandering analyzing him: first the silver chains around his neck that glimmer in the light and his dark hair, strands dangling carelessly as a curtain over his face.

He too finds himself admiring her, memorizing her features better in this light. She has olive skin and sports a little bit of a tan. Stray locks of wavy dark brown hair hang around her ears having come loose from her messy bun. She has earthy brown eyes with flecks of green that he can’t help but stare at, despite their current sharpness. Her right arm is decorated with a few small tattoos: a skull of some sort of animal that appears to be puking flowers; a small cartoon t-rex floating via many colorful balloons and a brain with a spiky spiral in the center of it. She has a single line drawn around her pinky finger on the hand of the other arm and the shadowy silhouette of a forest around her wrist. However, the one thing Corpse could see better than all of that, was she is pissed.

“Gimme my fucking choker back! I paid you for those fries, it’s not my fault you spent them on douchebag lessons!” She snaps, hopping to try and grab his arm.

She is pressed up against him now, a wave of perfume hitting him when she attempts another jump. He holds the choker higher, maybe even subconsciously, just enjoying the warm presence of another body for as long as possible - not that he’d admit that.

Corpse’s brief content comes crashing down as he stumbles backwards when he feels something hard on his hip and her hands grabbing at the front of his shirt.

“Wait-“ He tries to say, but is cut off when a good amount of weight pulls at his jeans. “Oh Fuck!” He rasps out, dropping the choker as he slams onto the floor. In the split second he spared to take a breath, his pants had been yanked down to his knees and his neck was crooked up against his door. He’s now lying on the floor as the girl hovers over him having landed with her hand on top of his head and one leg over his chest while the other is pinning his arm down.

While remaining unmoving under the girl, he takes a moment to let the previous five seconds sink in before replaying them in his mind:

This small woman, Cora she said her name was, had put the boot clad toes of her left foot into the pocket of his baggy jeans to use as a stepping stool. In turn, they were shoved down, effectively pantsing him and tearing the pocket before knocking them both to the floor.

Corpse leans against his door, jeans still around his knees, hair a mess as he watches Cora stand up from where she’d practically tackled him and equip the choker.

“Serves you right.” She sticks her tongue out, tying the piece of jewelry behind her neck. “Now get up before someone calls the cops, we both know what happens then.” She rolls her eyes and bends down, offering her hands to help him up after he situated his trousers.

“Ah-um...I-...” anxiety started reigning in his chest and head as he realized everything that had happened. He takes both her hands and she uses all her weight to pull him up. Her pull was so strong that when he stood up, he had to hold her tight to keep her from falling back. He stabilizes her, maybe a little too hard because her chest collides with his. He apologizes under his breath, releasing her hands quickly. “Don’t people buy dinner first before yanking off their pants?” He snorts, trying to make light of the situation and crossing his arms over his chest. “But then again, you stole my dinner.”

“Are you insinuating I should take off my pants?” She asks with a smirk.

Corpse nearly chokes on his own inhale, eyes wide as he quickly looks away.

Oh my god is she serious? “N-no!” He says, perhaps too quickly. Too loudly. His cheeks turned dark pink as he gapes at her for a moment before furrowing his brows again. He hunches his shoulders a little, doing his best to avoid those sharp hazel eyes.

She’s pretty. Way too pretty for him and now she has him all flustered. This girl has way too much power over the agoraphobic anxiety bundle that is Corpse.

“Oh so you’re insinuating that I should buy you dinner since I took off your pants?” She prompts, eyes narrowing with a delighted little smirk on her face. She has to be enjoying watching him squirm in embarrassment, otherwise, why would she keep asking questions like that? Of course she does. She is like every other girl in his life.

“I’m..-just...Forget it.” He mumbles, shrinking back away from her as he turns to go back inside the safety of his apartment.

She’s probably making fun of me. Great, as if I didn’t have enough self-esteem issues already.

Before he could get inside, a hand grabs his shirt at the small of his back. “Hey, I’m just fucking with you, dude.” She says, giving the shirt’s fabric a tug.

He turns and looks at her with wary eyes, wondering if she was trying to goad him into falling for her taunting again. But the ice in her gaze has melted and she gives him a crooked smile. “Lemme buy you dinner to pay you back. It’s the least I can do after you helped keep my ass out of jail.” She releases his shirt after a brief moment of reluctance and then offers her hand to him for a handshake. “Oh, I should introduce myself, officially this time. I’m Cora.”

Corpse looks at her hand and carefully takes it. She has small hands and his long fingers practically engulfed hers as he shakes it lightly. He gives her his name in return and she smiles that light filled, beaming smile he remembers from the car.

“Nice to, um- meet you, I guess.” He finds himself staring at her, unknowingly still holding her hand in his until she looks up and grins a little wider.

“This seems like a roundabout way to hold my hand, bro. You could have just asked,you know.” She teases, but this time it felt okay, his embarrassment having faded slightly, but he still hurries to look away and release his hold on her.

Corpse murmurs a quick apology, but before he could stick his hand back into the ripped pocket of his jeans, she takes hold of it again, tugging him forward. “Come on, lock your door. I’ll buy you something to eat. You drive though.” She lets go of his hand after a moment and, much to his surprise, he catches himself missing the warmth that it provided him while it was there. Turning, he ducked into his apartment to grab his hoodie and keys, feeling suddenly thankful he’d cleaned his car out.

Taglist: @vixenl @fockingwhore

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dzmoot · 4 years

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It’s been several months since Igginsworth’s departure back to Ippicus and although the Tuuns miss him dearly, they aren’t about to let it spoil the celebration of their favorite holiday, All Hallows’ Eve. It will be a Halloween like no other as the Tuuns can finally trick or treat for actual candy instead of the horrid moonrock cookies they get every year, and they can hardly wait to attend Mitchell Manhee’s Midnight Monster Mash. But they very well might have something more spooktacular in store for them, something that will make their flesh crawl and their blood pressures soar to galactic heights!

Halloween on Namasis was just like the Halloweens of Earth. Tuuns dressed as something they weren’t and went all over the entirety of Inkwell Village, expecting passer outers to throw niblets of sugar into their pales or crudely knitted bags. For our gallant Resisters, who probably loved Halloween more than any other entity in our known realm, they started prepping for it weeks in advance. While they went out to collect goodies on that cool night (which believe it or not had a tendency to be the coldest Namasis has ever been), they placed a festively dressed scary straw man in front of their home to hand out the treats to the trick or treaters. Siobhan came up with a clever name for him, Hay Leno.

Hampire was responsible for conjuring up the costumes he and his comrades would wear. This year, his attire of choice was a cowboy outfit, although he was out of a horse to ride on. Kruonch, who had been reading Hampire’s book on dry bones decided to go as a skeleton. To the shock of Siobhan and the others, he even shaved his beard so it wouldn’t droop under his mask. Everyone was so shocked and horrified by his clean shaven look that he was forced to wear the mask several days in advance. Siobhan dressed as a traditional wicked witch, although the potion she had to drink to temporarily change her skin green and her hair red tasted like bad fish tank water. As for Zappy, he didn’t even need Hampire to make him a costume, for he had one already in his possession. You see, Zappy was a part time crime fighter called “Zap Man” and his imposing costume was enough to invoke the spookish delight ideal for Halloween. They were all ready for the big night and they would be accompanied on their Halloween rounds by two of Namasis’ most foolish ghoulish fellows, Mitchell Manhees and Joachim Jerboa.

Well into the evening, the Tuuns conjured enough goodies to open their own candy store. Siobhan was anxious to get home, dump it all out and eat every morsel.

Diabetesville, here I come!

Kruonch told his daughter that she would gradually eat some of her candy every evening after dinner until it was gone as Zappy pointed in the direction of a nearby house on a hill.

Look guys, it’s the Hitchcock Hillhouse! Legend has it that our alternate universe counterparts from Razlaobo dwell in that house!

Everyone let out an array of emotions, from gasps to grumbles to giggles. Kruonch assured Zappy it was just a bunch of hocus pocus.

Oh Zap Man, everybody knows it’s a pot of hooey! Our mirror dimensions selves are dead! The Confectoons defeated them 5 years ago!

Mitchell muttered something through his mask, but just like everything he said, it was all jumbled and hard to understand. Joachim rolled his eyes and interjected.

I don’t think so you schmucks! Mitch and I have heard demented noises up there for years. Something’s gotta be lurking in that place!

A great fangy smile came over Hampire’s face.

Let’s go in!

Mitchell started squabbling heavily through his mask as everyone stood around him trying to make out his sentences! Once again, Kruonch protested.

Now I’m telling you varmints, there are no Darkies up there in that house! You’re all high on lunar smarties!

Siobhan tugged on the sleeve of her father’s costume.

What’s the matter daddy, are you chicken nuggies?

Kruonch tripped over his tongue collecting words.

Well, I, I’m no nuggy honey, I’m just, well, I don’t...

Hampire used an unlocking spell to open the gateway and they all made their way up the stone walkway. With a small tap, Zappy rang the doorbell and within seconds, a strange reptilian gentleman arrived accompanied by a see through spectral dog. His voice sounded like Kermit the Frog with strep throat.

You rang?

Mitchell stepped forward and started introducing everyone, but as the gentleman turned his head in confusion at the muffled words, he was swiftly pushed aside as Zappy stepped forward.��

I’m Zap Man! These are my companions, Buffalo Bacon Belly, Margaret Hamilton, Mr. Baggaboanz, Mouserabbit and the unintelligible hockey guy.

The lizard man gave a sinister smile.

I am Lizardton Longleggs the 5th. This is my dog, Zilch. Why do you bother us at our humble home this evening?

Before Zappy could continue, Kruonch pushed him out of the way.

Sorry to bother you Mr. Lizzyton

Lizardton interrupted and his face expanded to that of a t-rex.

IT’S LIZARDTON LONGLEGGS YOU STRAWBERRY SKINNED BAFFOON!

And just like that, Kruonch felt as if he shrunk to the same height as Siobhan.

I’m so terribly sorry. You see, it’s Halloween and we were treat or tricking and my friends insisted we come up here to see these Darkies that I know aren’t really here but we still came up here anyway and now I’m waiting for you to tell them that they are indeed not here so we can leave this dreadful place and they can realize what a ginormous waste of time this whole thing was...

Lizardton interrupted again. He was sinisterly staring directly at everyone besides Kruonch.

Let me get this straight. You believe the Darkies are living in this house?

Zappy, Siobhan, Hampire, Mitchell and Joachim all shook their heads up and down. And the dapper Lizardton slowly found his lips trembling and his chest filling up with giggle fluid. Then he let it out, a laugh as loud and as potent as that of a clown killer whale.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

After a moment or two, Lizardton composed himself and went back to his stoney face.

You fools! You all thought the Darkies were still here?!

Kruonch started laughing himself as he looked down at his friends.

I told you foolies! The Darkies are dead! Now let’s get movin...

But Lizardton continued.

Of course they’re dead, you pink Pinocchio nosed ping pong for brains! But they’re not here. They went to a Halloween party across town. And look, here they come now!

Kruonch looked over his shoulder as everyone turned around shortly therefore.

Look, it’s the Resisters! After all this time! We’ve been DYING to meet you! We hope you’ve been DYING to meet us!

From inside the house, the corpse of the evil Igginsworth started cackling maniacally. Zappy quickly drew a zapperang from his belt and Mitchell manned his machete and knife glove to strike. But before he could slash, the masked coward sprung into the air and Hampire’s evil doppleganger eradicated him with a slap of his hand. He crumbled away to ash before everyone’s eyes and Zappy was soon after slashed to salami by his evil clone’s cybernetic arm claws. With Zappy and Mitchell dead, an enraged Hampire began hurling spell after spell after spell at the evil ones.

You who have killed my friends shall see soon your horrible ends! Avada Kedav...

And just like that, Hampire's head was bitten off by the sentient head on the evil Kruonch’s nose. Only Joachim, Siobhan and Kruonch remained. Joachim tried jumping on every Darky and beating the snot out of them, but the evil Siobhan gassed him to death with her deadly night shade, garlic smelling bad breath. Kruonch put Siobhan on his back as they started to run towards their home. Kruonch looked behind him to see, to his relief that the Darkies were gone. As he made his way into the house and locked the door, he noticed that Siobhan was gone! As he looked around in a frenzy, his nose protruded from his skull mask and to his horror, the decapitated head of Siobhan, equipped with a candle embedded in it’s mouth was hurled at Kruonch as he saw that all the Darkies combined to make a super scarific, ultra terrifying hairy hare vampire Darky from hell! Before Kruonch knew it, he....

woke up from his horrible nightmare. Still clad in his skeleton costume, he looked over to see Siobhan and the others rummaging through their candy collections. Siobhan jumped onto her father’s exasperated lap.

And you tell me not to eat all my candy in one sitting. You ate so many malt balls, it’s funny your brain didn’t burst.

Kruonch began rubbing his head.

My brain didn’t explode, but I did have one rascal of a nightmare!

Nearby, Mitchell, in his chef attire was preparing the special stew for his Midnight Monster Mash.

Dubber, dubber, turr and trurber. Herper, berg me der perper!

Hampire approached with a shaker of lunar pepper for taste as he shook his head in disgust.

A Halloween nightmare. How original!

As he walked away, he began scratching the metal clamps around his neck.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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quicksilversquared · 6 years

Text

There’s No Camembert in Tibet: Chapter 12

A sequel to Plagg and the Butterfly Costume

With Hawkmoth defeated and school out for the summer, it’s time for Ladybug and Chat Noir plus their newly-assembled team of superheroes to head to Tibet to try to rescue Mrs. Agreste. Hiking, magic, and adventures await them, and hopefully at the end, they’ll be returning to Paris with Mrs. Agreste in tow.

as like normal recently, links will be in the reblog.

They had left the forests that morning, and the green plants and gold-dappled trail were now distant memories as the group of Miraculous users headed back into proper mountain range territory, where a chilly wind whistled across the exposed rocks.

"See, I could have brought my winter coat, Bugaboo," Chat Noir teased as they continued their climb upwards. Everyone in the group was breathing hard in the thin air. "I'd welcome it in this weather."

"Except we're transformed, and so it wouldn't make any difference," Ladybug pointed out, eyeballing the rocks in front of her before leaping onto one that looked decently solid. "The coat would vanish with the suit, and all it would accomplish would be adding another thing in your backpacks."

"You know what's funny?" Paon asked suddenly. "When you guys were fighting Lady Wifi and Chat Noir was shoved into that freezer, it looked- just from what I could see, from Lady Wifi's broadcast- like he came out shivering. Like, too-cold-to-function shivering. But then you were fine during the akuma fights during the winter. I always wondered why."

"Oh, that's easy," Chat Noir said immediately. "When I fell in, my Miraculous got knocked off. It must have snagged on something as I fell or something. And then I was in there as myself, and Plagg was out, and it was beastly cold. So when I transformed, I was still feeling the chill in my bones, and then I was getting Plagg's chill, too. And he was frozen pretty much the whole way through, since he's so small. But if I'm bundled up properly when I transform in the cold, or if it gets cold when I'm already transformed, then it's- well, like this. Not bad at all."

Rena Rouge fist-pumped. "YES! I got a Miraculous off! I mean, not that I knew it at the time, but at least I was semi-competent!"

"You let me go when you had me trapped just to try to get me to use my Lucky Charm so I would detransform instead of just taking my earrings," Ladybug reminded her. "Complete fail on the tactical planning- not that I'm complaining, of course."

"It sounded like a complaint to me," Rena teased. She wiggled her fingers towards Ladybug's ears, pouncing upwards towards the rock outcropping that Ladybug was on. "I can remedy that right now-"

"No thanks!"

Up ahead, the Rat was leading the way, following the barely-visible trail. His head was bowed against the wind, but he seemed to be holding a conversation with Master Fu about something. They seemed to talk often, sharing stories of life at the temple and the search to find it again as Lycaena listened in.

It was probably a fascinating conversation, but out of the rest of them only Chat Noir would be able to follow the conversation at all, and he much preferred to stay with the group of teens instead.

They reached the top soon enough, and then were back to following a narrow trail along the edges of ravines and between peaks. It grew steadily chillier, enough that they could notice just a bit, even through their suits. The clouds bunched up, and then it started snowing. They had just scarfed down their sandwiches- thankfully, the food had been kept in their daypacks, so no one had to detransform to get it- when a snowstorm hit in earnest.

And it was showing no signs of letting up any time soon.

The eight superheroes squinted as they forged forward through the snow. The five teens, Lycaena, and the Rat all held on to the edge of Jade Turtle's shell, keeping it from getting battered around by the wind and so none of them would get lost. Jade Turtle directed the group through the pass, consulting his copied directions and his compass frequently.

"Doesn't the Rat know the way?" Queen Bee yelled over the sound of the wind. "We could go so much faster then!"

Fu turned to look at her, then turned to the Rat and translated the question . The Rat made a face and responded, and Fu nodded before turning back to Chloe.

"He says that he always follows the instructions like this, and that's the only way," Fu reported. "The old Guardians used a rope system over the pass, but that's been broken for years. He didn't replace it, because he didn't want to make it easy for others to find their way to the temple if they weren't supposed to be there."

The pass split, and Fu consulted the instructions and the Rat before choosing the left-hand fork. They headed forward with a bit more speed, much to the relief of all of the superheroes. The path became a bit more sheltered, making it easier to walk as well. Their feet sank into the settled snow, and Lycaena and Queen Bee both made a face, lifting off the ground in near-unison to fly just above the ground instead.

"This is going to be difficult to go through with my mom," Chat Noir said in Ladybug's ear, loud enough for her to hear. "It's freezing, and I doubt that she got sucked into the booby trap with a serious winter coat."

"Maybe I can Lucky Charm her a coat," Ladybug suggested. "I bet Tikki could whip up a good one. I'll have to talk to her about that."

Chat's Noir's anxious expression eased. "Oh, that's a really good idea."

The wind howled over the path, whistling across the rock and snow. The group walked faster, trying to jog along the trail and stumbling in the soft snow instead. Jade Turtle looked like he was about to offer to let them ride instead, and then a sharp gust of wind nearly upset the shell.

They would have to go slow and steady, then.

"After going so fast for the past couple days, you would think that I would be fine with going normal speed for a bit, but nah," Paon said. "I just wanna get this part of the hike over with, you know? This is not a ton of fun. Even if I can't actually feel the cold."

"Is there any way around these mountains? You know, for the way back?" Rena Rouge yelled over the wind. "Because if we gotta go this slow..."

"There's no way around it," Jade Turtle called back, sounding far too cheerful. "We cross this, and then descend for a bit- quite a while actually- and then there's a ring of lower peaks around the Valley of the Temples. It made getting there quite difficult, which was the point. That much magic in one place would have made it a very attractive place for evil to attack, if it weren't so difficult to get there."

"And yet it did."

"We were attacked by insiders, who knew the best ways around the natural defenses." Jade Turtle's expression pinched, just as it always did when the topic of the temple's destruction came up. "They knew where to hide, where we would not look. There had been other threats that were deterred properly."

The younger holders exchanged a look and then decided to drop the subject.

They pushed on, going faster when they could manage it and slowing down when the wind and snow made the trip more difficult. Finally, late afternoon, the snow let up and they all piled into the shell to fly a bit faster over the deep snow.

"Wayzz isn't going to be pleased about that," Jade Turtle sighed as they flew. "He's already getting tired again. But if we walked, you would sink into the snow and it would slow us down quite a bit."

"We can get out soon," Chat Noir said. He glanced over Jade Turtle's shoulder as they sped over the snow. "Er, once we get past the snow."

Jade Turtle made a face. "That might take a bit."

They hit a downward slope, and the shell dipped down to sled instead of float. It picked up speed, and they all clutched at the edges and each other in an attempt to not scream.

Queen Bee and Lycaena flew along after them, going quickly as to keep up but definitely more under control than Jade Turtle. The shell hit a bump and flew through the air.

Jade Turtle grinned. The Rat looked like he was severely regretting his decision to come along with them. Rena Rouge let out a long, drawn-out, muffled screech, sounding a whole lot like a teakettle. They sped past a large rock and Chat Noir let out a yelp, leaning away and into Ladybug.

"I am steering!" Master Fu shouted over the whistling of the wind. "We're perfectly in control right now!"

"Are you sure about that?"

They took a sharp curve, and this time all four of the teens in the shell let out high-pitched whistle-screams. Knuckles turned white under their suits, and the Rat looked like he was really regretting his life choices.

Queen Bee and Lycaena flew serenely after them. It rather looked like Queen Bee was recording them on her trompo.

Then they were headed downwards again, picking up speed to the point that the scenery blurred. Jade Turtle looked like he was having the time of his life. The rest of them...not so much.

They hit the end of the glacier and snow pack and shot off of the snow. Jade Turtle had to pull the shell back up in the air to keep them from crashing into the rocks and bare ground that had suddenly appeared in front of them, and they kept pelting down.

The Rat said something that, based on the look on Chat Noir's face, was probably not very appropriate. Jade Turtle turned around to give the other Miraculous use a disapproving look, and they all yelled in unison.

"WATCH WHERE WE'RE GOING!"

"I am so glad that we're transformed right now," Paon said faintly as Jade Turtle turned back around with a roll of his eyes and only barely managed to maneuver them around a jutting stone. "Uh, I don't suppose we brought along an extra Miraculous so that Mrs. Agreste stays safe when we're pelting headfirst down mountains like maniacs?"

"We're not going to crash!" Jade Turtle insisted. "She'll be perfectly safe."

Chat Noir's expression turned highly dubious.

The landscape gradually got less steep and they slowed down, eventually coming to a complete stop. They all piled out in a hurry, even the Rat. Queen Bee and Lycaena finally caught up to them as they were dusting themselves off, just as Rena Rouge flopped face first on the ground, loudly proclaiming that she was never going to leave it again.

"Come on, come on," Jade Turtle told them, looking a little disgruntled. "We still have several hours of travel left to do today, and we don't want to waste any daylight. Rena, get off of the ground, please. I wasn't going that fast."

There was a muffled shriek of "ohmygodwhatISfastthem?" before Rena Rouge rolled back over and pushed herself up. "Fine, fine. I'm up."

"Fantastic!" Jade Turtle beamed at them. "Okay, everyone. Take a drink of water, and then we'll get going again."

Summer wasn't meant to be for getting up early every day, and yet Paon found himself doing just that, every single day.

He was going to sleep like a stone when he got back to Paris. Get up every day at noon and not before, and stay up late like the somewhat irresponsible teenager he was supposed to be, making his mixes and texting with his friends when they should all be in bed. But for now...

Paon landed, ran a few paces, and then took to the air again.

It had been a fairly unexciting day, which was nice after the previous day's snow and sledding craziness. It was overcast, but at least not snowing.

All in all, a pretty good traveling day. It was nice to not have the sun in their eyes as they raced along. That made it a lot easier to not trip over stuff in their path, since they could actually see.

And then, right after lunch, the skies opened.

"There's nowhere to stop for shelter," Jade Turtle called back to them. "And it's too rocky for us to be able to pitch our tents. It's not super slippery, though, so we can keep going until we get to a better spot."

Paon winced as the rain ran down his costume. He would much rather just batten down and set up camp for the day to get out of the weather, but it really wasn't a good area to stop.

Then again, there was no guarantee that there would be a better place to stop further on.

"Is there better landscape later on?" Ladybug called, almost as though she was reading Paon's mind. "Like, do we know that there's a better place to stop?"

Jade Turtle and the Rat exchanged a few quick words, and then Jade Turtle turned back to them. "If we keep going at this speed, we should reach another nice cave in under an hour."

"Sweet, a cave!" That always meant that they could move around more easily. Paon picked up the pace. "C'mon, let's get there fast! This rain is miserable."

"It's not even that heavy," Rena Rouge pointed out. "It's not just a sprinkle or anything, but at least it's not a straight-out downpour."

"It's still enough to make the rocks slick!" Chat Noir pointed out. His pole vaults had gotten shorter, keeping him closer to the ground. "We might have to slow down. Or we could just keep going for as long as we can, until the rain gets heavier."

"How about we wait and see what it's like when we get to the cave?" Ladybug suggested. "Maybe the rain will get heavier, or maybe it'll stop."

The group forged forward. There were a few times when one of them wobbled on landing as the rock turned wet and slippery, but for the most part their suits accounted for the new surface and kept them from falling.

Which was good, because they had been going for a good forty-five minutes in increasingly heavy rain, and there was no sign of any caves yet. Paon had water dripping off of everywhere- his hair, his nose, his face, his feathers, everything. Rena Rouge wasn't any better, and the two flyers looked absolutely miserable. Up ahead, Ladybug had Lucky Charmed herself a sturdy polka-dot umbrella to carry over herself and Chat Noir. She had detransformed five minutes later, of course, and now it was Marinette clinging to both the umbrella and Chat Noir's shoulders as he propelled them on.

Marinette looked far more comfortable about that than her mother did.

"I wish I had an umbrella like that," Rena Rouge said, speeding up to run alongside Paon. "Trixx doesn't like getting wet like this, either."

"I think Marinette said she was mostly worried because Tikki has gotten sick in the rain before," Paon said, remembering a conversation that they had had earlier in the trip. "Maybe it was coincidence, or maybe Tikki is actually more sensitive to rain than the rest of the kwamis."

"They're going to fall and get Marinette hurt," Rena worried, glancing up at the duo again. "I mean, I know that they know what they're doing, but it's slippery."

"It's rained during akuma battles before, too."

"But they were always both transformed. I think they tend to overestimate what they can do, since they have more experience." Rena sucked in a sharp breath as Chat Noir wobbled on landing. He recovered, though, and then they were off again. "They're overconfident."

"I'm sure Marinette recharged Tikki so that she can call on her in a moment if something goes sideways," Paon pointed out reasonably. "Give them some credit-"

"CAVE! HARD LEFT!"

"Oh, at last," Paon sighed, altering course at once. "I cannot wait to get dry."

It took them barely any time at all to set up their tents in the cave, since they had done it dozens of times before. Paon detransformed with a sigh of relief and crawled into the tent to flop down on his newly inflated sleeping pad. He could maybe snatch a quick nap and take advantage of the break that the weather was forcing on them. Nino stretched and relaxed, listening to people moving around outside of the tent. There wasn't much space to move around now that the tents were set up, really. The "cave" was more of a depression in a short cliff, and their tents pretty much filled up all of the space. If they wanted to leave the tents, they would only be able to take a few steps before they were forced out into the rain.

He had nearly drifted off when he recognized Adrien's voice close by. Nino shook himself back awake, sitting up a bit as he heard Adrien ask if they really weren't going to see if they could make it a little further today.

Nino knew that the closer they got to the temple, the more restless Adrien got in his sleep and the more he wanted to push that little bit further each day. Having a delay like this when they were so close had to be hugely frustrating.

Nino was frustrated, and he wasn't even the one who's mom was being saved. He just also appreciated the break.

"We'll get there tomorrow for sure," Nino overheard Master Fu tell Adrien. "The weather will clear up overnight, so it should be fine for traveling tomorrow."

"We could take advantage of the rain and wash up," Marinette suggested. "Since it could be hard to do on the way back."

"An excellent suggestion." He could hear Master Fu moving towards the tents. "I'll talk to the others. You go change."

Nino was already digging through his bag for his swim trunks when Adrien came back into the tent. Adrien was drier than Nino had expected, which meant that he had probably been cuddled up with Marinette under her new umbrella when they were outside, as to not get splattered by rain being blown under the overhang.

"You know, I'm really looking forward to having warm showers again," Nino said as they both changed. "Freezing my butt off just for a quick wash isn't fun."

"At least you can get away with a super-quick wash. It makes me wish that my hair was that short." Adrien ran a hand through his hair, pushing it off of his forehead. He had completely given up with styling it at all on the trail, probably because it would require a mirror and a ton of product, and it had fallen into a rather Chat Noir-style arrangement. "It's even worse for the girls."

Nino nodded his agreement. Alya had been grumbling about their last shower not getting all if the soap out of her hair and how gross it felt. She had been considering going to an even shorter haircut, bringing it to only chin-length, but decided against it since the shorter her hair was, the fluffier (or frizzier, according to Alya) it got. Chloe had stopped having the same problem since her haircut, but her hair also behaved better in the humidity.

Adrien finished changing and headed outside while Nino made sure that the drawstring at his swim trunk's waist was suitably tightened. He wasn't long to follow, though, and was startled to find that the rest of the group was already out of their tents, hovering in the small strip of dry cave rather than plunging out into the rain and starting to wash up.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Nino asked, folding up his towel and balancing it on top of his tent. It should stay at least mostly dry there, he figured. That had to be good enough for now. "We'll all die of hypothermia if we stand here waiting all day, so-"

"Nino." Mrs. Cheng's voice sounded amused. "Look out there."

Nino looked. Marble-sized chunks of hail were coming down and bouncing along the ground. He stared for a few seconds, then sighed.

"Okay, never mind with that."

"We can always use the sun shower once we reach the temple," Master Fu told him. "Before we attempt the spell. That way, we're all clean right before we start the long haul back. It'll work out better that way, I think."

In Nino's opinion, anything was better than trying to bathe in freezing cold rain water while ice pellets poured down on his head, but it was probably better not to actually say that out loud.

"So what are we going to do for the rest of the day?" Chloe wanted to know. "I mean, at least we don't have hours left, but I'm going to go crazy in my tent if I have to stay there."

"You all can try to cram yourselves into one tent," Mrs. Cheng pointed out. "The teens, I mean. The adults can talk about how the rest of the trip will go in another tent. And then we can have an early dinner, and go to bed early."

"We can play a game in our tent," Nino offered immediately. "I mean, I don't know what, but we can figure that out later."

"We can play with this app on my phone and decide what haircut I would look best with now that my hair's all cut," Chloe piped up immediately. "I mean, you wouldn't know, but Adrikins and Marinette might."

"Gee, thanks. That sounds like oodles of fun."

"It will be! I'm thinking that an uneven bob might be nice. It's so in right now, and then I won't look like Sabrina. And, like, I have nothing against her, obviously, because she's my friend and all, but she has, like, no taste at all, and I don't want to look all twinsies with her. But I don't know how dramatic I want to go with the cut, and the part on my hair. Like, it's been down the middle for ages, so I definitely need a change-up. But too dramatic and I would have my hair in my eyes all of the time, and-"

...for some reason, Nino was now feeling much less excited about their afternoon off.

The scenery had turned familiar. Granted, it was the kind of familiar that was more a tickle in the back of his mind, but at least it was any kind of familiar at all.

Jade Turtle was still very, very glad that they had the Rat there to lead them directly to the Valley of the Temples.

"The trail will end soon," the Rat told him. The younger Miraculous holder was clinging to the edges of his shell as though he were speeding along, which was ridiculous. They had slowed down their pace a bit from what they had done originally, since apparently the trail got a bit hard to follow and then there were a number of the same-looking paths in the area, to confuse would-be invaders.

He vaguely remembered that, actually. He had created one such path himself, along with several of his peers. There were enchantments to make one believe that they were going in the right direction, when in reality they were headed around the valley and into a similar one a ways off. Those spells had no doubt weakened with time, but they would still have a confusing influence.

"I'm still amazed that two normal people managed to find the valley," Jade Turtle commented as he followed the increasingly faint path. "It's quite well hidden. For all they knew, they could have just been following a dead-end path into the wilderness."

"My uncle clearly gave them instructions that were far too good," the Rat said stiffly. "He had gotten fairly far with his search, but neither of us could find the valley proper. His latest theory is that the magic here is targeted to affect people with any sort of magic most. Neither of the Agrestes had Miraculous blood, presumably. It could have given them an edge, if he is correct. And if he is, then it's a pity he didn't ask one of our neighbors for help."

"Not everyone is up for weeks in the wilderness, searching for what doesn't want to be found." Jade Turtle navigated around a tree. "And I tend to agree with him. There's so much magic around that it would confuse anyone trying to trace the valley by magic, and our greatest enemies were magic-users and creatures." They wouldn't have considered the average person a threat. The elders wouldn't have even considered the possibility of a non-magic user eve looking for them. It was short-sighted, perhaps, but all in all a reasonable assumption. "And it would be hard to find a neighbor to trust with matters like this without them wanting a Miraculous when it was over. And in this area, to find one that you could be sure didn't have any magic in their blood."

"How long would it take for the magic to work its way completely out, I wonder?" The Rat twirled his tail as he talked, clearly deep in thought. "Because I know it runs strong in my family. But the cousins- the second cousins, and third, and even more removed- how much magic do they have?"

"Not enough to cast any spells, I don't think. Nor enough to really add much power to a Miraculous user's spells. But they would likely have enough to get thrown off out here." Jade Turtle glanced back at the group following them. "And I would have to ask the kwamis if there's a permanent effect even with short use. It's hard to know. It wouldn't be as strong, for sure."

The Rat hummed in agreement, then sat up straight, pointing up ahead. "Take the left fork! This is where I had the most trouble. I always wanted to take the right."

"It does look more traveled in that direction," Jade Turtle agreed, taking the left fork. "As though the path were more worn down and frequently traveled. I would say that there were the most enchantments on this path. It's telling me to turn around, even now."

"I would love to know how that couple felt," the Rat murmured, holding a hand out as if to sense the magic. "Did they see two completely identical paths? Did they take the other one first? Or did they know to follow the sense of wrongness instead of ignoring it?"

"We can ask. There'll be plenty of time for that, after all."

They shot over a rise and around a bend. The Rat pointed to the correct branch in the trail, and then sat back to enjoy the ride again. "If I can even talk to her, I'll ask. She, ah, may not be excited to be around me at all."

Jade Turtle chuckled. "Ah, yes. We've talked about this before, haven't we?"

"Yes, and I'll explain that I have no intention- and never had any intention- of actually hurting them, or their family. I just wanted to scare them away, and for good reason."

"The two of them got crazy paranoid and protective of their kid, you know. He grew up unable to go anywhere because his parents wouldn't let them out of their sight."

"Except when they decided to jet off to another country to try to pilfer magical artifacts."

Jade Turtle couldn't help the small smile that slid onto his face. "Okay, I stand corrected: they wouldn't let him out of the sight of either them or their staff."

The Rat snorted- in amusement or derision, Jade Turtle couldn't tell- and then shot a glance over at him. "Is the kid as nosy as his parents?"

The kid is right behind us, Jade Turtle though, but he would never say it. There was still some lingering anger there, and he didn't want to make things tense. Besides, Chat Noir already wasn't the most comfortable around the Rat. "He's very polite. Well-behaved. The type to help others."

"Like his mother, then. The kind to think that butting in is helping."

"He's too shy to do that," Jade Turtle objected. "He would ask first, and then give progress reports on how it's going."

The Rat did not look convinced. Jade Turtle supposed that it didn't matter what he thought of the Agrestes, as long as he stayed in China. And since he had no reason to leave the area, there was no need to worry.

They paused for lunch shortly after the trail vanished for good. Jade Turtle detransformed to let Wayzz recharge one more time, and the little turtle kwami was thrilled to see their surroundings.

"I can taste the magic in the air!" Wayzz told them as they scarfed down their sandwiches. "It's not dangerous anymore, like it was at first. And the magic out here has faded a bit. Which I suppose should be suspected, after so much time."

"So you recognize this?" Queen Bee asked, glancing around at the woods around them. "It just looks like woods. With mountains in the background, I guess, but that describes 90% of the forests around here."

Master Fu tried not to laugh at Wayzz's offended expression. "They're different! Mountains look different, and even the same ones look different at different angles. And forests are different ages, or different heights depending on the elevation, and they have different species, and-"

"Who notices that?"

"You would notice different city skylines, right, Chloe?" Adrien asked. "And Paris looks different from different parts of the city. It's like that, but with trees and mountains."

"But buildings look different!"

"He's never going to win that argument," Mrs. Cheng commented from where she was perched on a stone. "No matter how hard he tries."

"I suppose for someone living in the city, many things out in nature would appear to look the same," Master Fu acknowledged. "And for someone living in the country for their entire life, it could be harder to tell buildings apart. I've been lucky enough to experience both."

"I've heard that many people who grew up in the countryside dislike living in the city," Mrs. Cheng said. "Was that how it was for you?"

Master Fu had to think about it. "Well, I worked my way up. I stayed in small towns first, but it was difficult to go by unnoticed. Strangers tend to stick out, you see. So I went to larger towns, and then small cities. Paris was quite a shock to the system at first, but I like being able to walk everywhere, or take the bus. I also get a decent amount of business, so I can live comfortably without needing to seek customers out."

"So you like it, then?"

He only shrugged. "Well enough." He wouldn't lie- being more on the outskirts of the city would have suited him better, perhaps- but Paris was slowly growing on him. "I could do without all of the traffic noise at night, but I recently discovered these lovely things called white noise machines. My favorite CDs to play in those are the rushing river and crickets. And the rain shower track is quite nice as well."

"And he got blackout curtains for the bedroom," Wayzz chimed in, floating over. He had evidently given up on trying to convince Chloe that different parts of the wilderness could actually be told apart. "Otherwise, there's all of these streetlights shining right in, and car headlights, and ambulance lights, all night long."

"I found it very difficult to sleep when I first moved to Paris," Master Fu told Mrs. Cheng. "Obviously. I would sleep in the back room, and once I tried setting a bed up in the tub since there are no windows in my bathroom. Not exactly ideal."

"When are we going to start moving again?" Adrien called from where he was sitting on the ground with Marinette and the other teens. "Are we close?"

Master Fu chuckled slightly at his impatience. It was understandable, really. They were clearly close, but not quite there. "We'll start again soon, don't worry. We'll arrive at the valley mid-afternoon, so there will be plenty of time to wash up before the sun sets."

"Are we going to try the spell tonight?"

Master Fu shook his head. He had considered it, of course- he didn't want to keep Adrien waiting and wondering and worrying about if it was going to work for too long, but considering when they were going to get in, there would only be time for a single try. They needed to practice reciting the spell first, which was going to be difficult since it was in another language. "We're going to set up camp and then work on making sure that we all know the spell. And take showers, of course. Then we can sleep in tomorrow morning and maybe explore a bit, then try the spell."

Chat Noir nodded, apparently satisfied, and then turned back to whatever conversation they had been having before. Master Fu turned to the Rat, figuring that it would be better to know what to expect now rather than running into something unpleasant later on.

"So, when you said that you had been burying the skeletons- what areas have you cleared?" he asked. "We've talked of doing a tour of the valley, and I don't want to go anywhere where we might run across skeletons."

The Rat thought about it. "Well, I started in the main areas, sweeping the buildings as much as I could. The buildings and the main grounds. The grounds had the most casualties. I've been working my way outwards, looking for any stragglers. I'd say that anywhere you want to show them should be safe. I had my kwami look in the buildings so that I wouldn't miss anyone."

Relieved, Master Fu nodded. "Thank you. And I might have a few suggestions on other places to look, strongholds that people might have fallen back to and escape routes. Hopefully there weren't any further casualties there, but..."

"Yes, there were already quite enough without there being many more."

On that depressing note, it didn't take long for lunch to finish and for them to continue down the trail. It grew narrower and narrower, and finally the Rat had to hop out and lead the way so that Jade Turtle could shrink his shell down to fit between the trees.

If Jade Turtle looked into the forest, he could see the remains of some of the trees that had been ripped down by the invaders, now rotted and decayed.

The trail headed up again, and Jade Turtle leaned forward, automatically accelerating as memories of going up this trail as a kid came back. The ground grew rockier, and the trees thicker. They headed around a bend, and came face-to-face with what had formerly been a narrow opening in the rock, now blasted wide open. A green valley stretched out behind it.

"Well," Jade Turtle said, turning to face the group. "We're here."

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #There's No Camembert in Tibet #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng

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