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Cigognelle stood tall over Paris.
The date was August the 24th. The temperature was a moderate 21 degrees, and the sky wasn’t too cloudy.
All that to say, it was a normal night. The threat that uncle Fu and Xiann were so worried about has yet to come.
Still, she made a promise. To Fu, and to herself. She must follow through with it if she ever wants to change. The crane will fix her, it will. Fu said it himself, the crane’s wise guidance was his salvation, his savior.
That is what she needs. Saving. Through any way possible. Magic, power, anything, she needs something to do, a goal to chase.
A breeze swept through her, and Cigognelle shivered. She stared out onto the people down below, unaware of her as they went about their day. There were so many people in this city, any one of them could become an issue.
There were far too many god damn people in Paris. And her future teammates could be one of them.
The ladybug and the black cat. Creation and destruction. Good and bad luck. Two sides of the same coin, and she was supposed to reel them in like a wrangler to a pair of particularly rowdy horses.
She almost giggled at the absurdity of the thought, but the thump of boots behind her made her halt.
Cigognelle turned, and found a boy. With cat ears on, at that. Little black cat ears perched over a head of messy blond hair. They were tilted to one side, and it was actually pretty cute.
She meant the ears, not the boy.
(Well, he wasn’t all that bad either, she had to admit…)
He leaned on a wall with a grin, green eyes flashing. His black suit almost disappeared into the darkness, but his eyes seemed to be glowing.
“So you’re my new partner, huh?” He said just then. Cigognelle could sense a hint of mischief and humor in his tone, and wondered what was so amusing.
He walked closer, and extended a gloved hand.
“Call me Chat Noir.”
Pfft. How original…
She decided to introduce herself aswell, at least for courtesy’s sake.
“Well then, I hope you’re ready to protect Paris to the extent of all your power, Chat Noir,”
“Psshh, of course! Don’t worry birdie, i’ll be the most dedicated cat the world’s ever seen!”
“Uh-huh…”
So that’s how he’s gonna be. Great.
She hates jokesters. Cigognelle hopes he’s going to take this seriously, she wont let her mission come to naught because of someone else’s failures. But, unfortunately, only time will tell.
Cigognelle went back to watching the city, and felt her new teammate sit next to her.
Chat Noir sighed and leaned back on his hands, tail swishing lazily under him.
“I’m hoping you know what were looking for here, Cigognelle,” he sighed.
“Did Plagg not explain to you—“
“Wha- hey wait a minute! How do you know him?! I thought no one could else know about him!” He pointed at her accusingly.
Cigognelle twisted her lip at the rude interruption. He was being far too loud.
Did no one teach this kid manners..?
“…I’ve met your kwami before,” she said curtly.
“Seriously? How come! I just found my box in my room, there weren’t any other little fairies around,”
“As a crane, the guardian —the protector of these powers— had to meet me in person to give me my miraculous,”
She looked down at Chat Noir. His sharp eyes looked back.
“…And it just so happened that I hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting you before then, so your kwami was still with him.”
Chat Noir furrowed his brows, but before he could say anything, a flash of red zoomed between them.
Cigognelle quickly backed away from whatever the hell that was, but Chat Noir wasn’t as quick.
He grabbed on to the edge of the roof, dangling.
“Uh— hey, birdie?! A little help here!”
But Cigognelle was already gone, chasing after the red object, her cape billowing behind her outstretched arms.
If this was the threat, she had to find it.
She had to defeat it.
Chat Noir’s loud “Cigognelle!” barely even registered in her mind.
The villain dashed along the air faster than she could fly, but Cigognelle was determinded to catch it.
She flapped her cape faster than she ever did before. She was clumsy and inexperienced (and almost crashed into a building more than once), but she was determined.
She flew in through a particularly tight street, close on their tail. People yelled and startled, pointing at them and recording.
Chat Noir soon caught up to her, leaping from stop sign to light post, his baton in hand propelling his movement.
“It was so not cool what you did back there, bird!” He yelled next to her.
Cigognelle was barely able to make out what he was saying, ears far to blocked by the whipping wind to hear properly.
She didn’t recall doing anything “not cool”, so she didn’t bother responding. The stranger in red was at the forefront of her mind, and she couldn’t be distracted.
He started again, offended at her silence, but Cigognelle saw the person slow to a stop in an alleyway and dashed forward.
Actually, to say stopped is being generous, it was more of a crash, really.
Into a dumpster.
The duo stalked towards the stranger they’d been chasing, who was now a pile of limbs hanging off the dumpster’s side.
“Who the hell are you?” She yelled. Cigognelle kept her hand on her dagger’s holster, just in case.
“How ‘bout you tell us your name and we’ll promise not to attack,” purred Chat Noir as he stalked forward. His tone was confident and almost taunting, but Cigognelle could tell from the way he gripped his baton that he was a little afraid.
The stranger’s shoes —which seemed to be covered in a red sole— twitched, before an object shot out and threw them to the ground.
The duo quickly backed away, but as the stranger didn’t move, they took a hesitant step closer.
Upon closer inspection, the person was revealed to be a girl, with black hair and… antennae?
Cigognelle looked the girl up and down, and saw the spots on her armor.
Ah.
The ladybug finally arrived.
Truth be told, Cigognelle felt a little bummed that they weren’t after an actual villain. It would’ve felt exhilarating, if this little chase was anything to go by. But she had to go ahead and greet her new teammate, theres no use lamenting about that now.
She was on the ground still, clutching her head from the dizziness probably. All those twists and turns hit the girl hard it seems.
Before she could say anything to the ladybug, however, Chat Noir ran up to her.
“Hey, hold on, are you the ladybug?” He asked with a baffled expression. “I thought you were a supervillain or something!”
The ladybug holder lifted her head from her hands, and blushed from embarrassment.
“Uhh… er… sorry?” She said with an awkward laugh. “It’s just… my yo-yo went insane! So sorry for scaring you both…”
She got up, and Cigognelle could finally take a good look at her. The ladybug was shorter than her, with red and black spots on her shoulder chestplate and shoulders. And of course the little antennae on her hair, which was styled into a side pony.
“Im, um… Ladybug! Yea sure let’s just go with that,” she grinned, her confidence seemingly returned.
Oh wow. Her new teammates were soo creative, it’s almost awe-inducing.
“Couldn’t come up with something better?” Cigognelle said, then stiffened.
She didn’t mean to say that out loud. Fuck.
Thankfully though, Ladybug didn’t seem to offended. She just laughed and scratched her head, commenting on how she didn’t really have time to make a good one. “Too busy hanging on to my yo-yo for dear life!” is what she said.
Chat Noir on the other hand gave her an odd look. His eyes narrowed, and his pupils sharpened to a thin line. Cigognelle almost shivered.
Then, he turned away. His smile was bright as he put his arm on Ladybug’s shoulder, looking like the absolute image of ease and relaxation, a switch so quick from a moment ago that Cigognelle almost got whiplash. If she didn’t know better she would’ve thought she hallucinated his stare.
“Well, Bug, I’m glad we didn’t manage to catch you, I was ready to bust through whowever we were chasing with my baton,” Chat said with a sharp grin. “If we did, I’m sure things would’ve been… cat-astrophic for you!”
He burst out laughing at his own joke, and Cigognelle felt the great urge to kick him. And, looking at Ladybug’s expression, she could easily guess that she felt the exact same.
“Ugh… That was awful, Chat Noir,” Cigognelle frowned.
“Oh, come on birdie! You have to admit that was a little clever,” he smirked.
“It really wasn’t,“ she stepped towards Ladybug and extended a hand. “My name is Cigognelle.”
“Hi there! You’re the crane, right? I love your suit!” Ladybug smiled brightly. “Seriously, the skirt is just gorgeous!”
“Oh— er, thanks, Ladybug.”
Cigognelle felt a little taken aback, but payed the comment no heed. There were important things to do after all.
She called for both of their attention before they could get too sidetracked.
“Since all of us are finally here, i think its about time we discussed the details of our mission,” she said with finality.
”Mission? What mission?” asked Ladybug.
“Just follow me.”
Cigognelle turned and flew away, leaving her teammates hot on her heels.