Chapter Text
Huge drops of rain tapped against the tall windows of the mansion. The room was almost completely dark except for a faint purple glow from a glass display case. Inside rested a detailed brooch. Hovering nearby was a tiny creature with large eyes and butterfly-like wings.
“Many centuries ago, magic jewels bestowing extraordinary powers were created. These were the Miraculous. Throughout history, heroes have used these jewels for the good of the human race. Two of these Miraculous are more powerful than the others; the earrings of the Ladybug, which provide the power of creation; and the ring of the Black Cat, which grants the power of destruction. According to legend, whoever controls both these jewels at the same time will achieve absolute power.”
“I want that absolute power Nooroo,” a mysterious, deep voice yelled from the darkness of the room. “I must have those Miraculous!”
“But nobody knows where these Miraculous are!”
“I found you though, my little Nooroo. Your Miraculous... remind me of its powers again.”
“The Moth Brooch allows you to give someone their own superpowers and make that person your devoted follower.”
The mysterious man lifted the brooch from its display case.
"This tiny thing can create supervillains?"
Nooroo hesitated.
"It can grant powers to those overcome by strong emotions."
The man's smile widened. "Even better." The deep voice chuckled. When it comes to superheroes, what could be better than creating supervillains.”
“But master,” Nooroo gasped. “The Miraculouses are not meant to be used for evil purposes!”
“I must have this absolute power! Your Miraculous is in my control.” The mysterious man pointed towards Nooroo. “Nooroo, dark wings rise!”
An insanely bright purple light erupted from the brooch as a swarm of butterflies completely covered him. Nooroo had vanished into the brooch. The mysterious man was then transformed into a terrifying figure with a silver face mask that completely concealed his identity and a deep purple suit covered his body.
The man manically laughed to himself. “From this day on, I shall be known as Hawk Moth!”
~~~
“Here is the ice water and cookie you asked for young man,” Alex handed the boy his beverage and food. “Please, let me know if you need anything else.”
Alex walked towards the exit of the children’s hospital room. The room was decorated with very vibrant red, orange, and yellow dots on the floor. The wallpaper in the room had tall green trees surrounded by all kinds of bugs.
Alex was a nurse at the hospital. Although it pained him every day to see children in such a bad place and suffering, it made his heart feel warm knowing that he was here to help, and he was one of the top nurses at that.
Alex leaned against the wall for a moment after leaving the room. His legs had a spiking pain to them as they always did after a long shift.
Four years ago, he could’ve scaled the Eiffel Tower in seconds behind an indestructible shield. But now, climbing a flight of stairs left him more exhausted.
He missed fighting sometimes, though. He still wore the bracelet of the Turtle Miraculous.
As he exited the hospital room, he noticed a faint noise calling his name.
“Alex, Alex!” The voice exclaimed.
He looked over to his side and saw his Kwami, Wayzz floating near him waving his arms around.
Kwamis were pretty hard to describe. They look like a rat with a big head and a huge bug combined and have the ability to phase through walls and objects. Wayzz in particular was green with a large turtle shell on his back and one single antenna above his head.
“Alex, the Butterfly Miraculous,” Wayzz cried. “I felt its aura.”
Alex went wide-eyed with a horrified expression on his face.
No, not the Butterfly Miraculous he thought to himself. He had spent four years convincing himself it was gone forever. Four years telling himself nobody would ever find it.
Alex exclaimed, “But, I thought it had been lost forever!”
“But Alex, it's a negative aura. I fear it may have gotten into the hands of a dark power!”
His worst nightmare had come true.
It wasn’t just fear he was feeling, it was responsibility.
Every potential villain that could be created.
Every life that might be ruined.
It would all trace back to the day he lost the Miraculous.
Without a thought he yelled, “Well, we must find Nooroo and his Miraculous! If it has gotten in the wrong hands, there’s no telling what evil will erupt in the world.”
Alex threw his arm with the bracelet in the air and began to say, “Time to transform. Wayzz, shell-”
But an abrupt pain in his chest caused him to suddenly collapse to the ground. For a moment there, he had forgotten all about his accident and thought he could still put up a fight. He was then consumed by a deep sadness and guilt that he could ever let this happen to himself, and the world.
“Please Alex, be reasonable,” Wayzz cried, “You are-”
“I’m still young, I’m only 25. But you’re right, Wayzz. I can no longer do it alone. We are going to need some help.”
~~~
“Hey trooper,” Ashlyn’s dad, Mike burst through her door. “The bus is-.”
Ashlyn, who was in the middle of doing a pirouette, was startled by her dad’s sudden entrance and fell to the floor. Her very long, ginger hair that was thrown messily into two braids, tangled around her body.
“Ow,” She groaned, slightly embarrassed. “What do you want?”
Mike chuckled quietly at his daughter's mishap. “Oh yeah, the bus is down the street.”
Ashlyn jumped up frantically and scrambled to find her school bag. “Crap, I’m not ready!”
“There’s coffee on the counter if you want it.”
Ashlyn grabbed her bag and threw on the first t-shirt she could find and put it over her workout clothes. She practically threw herself down the stairs by how fast she was running and quickly passed her mom Emma, who was also running late. She grabbed the coffee off the counter and ran down her front porch to the bus stop.
Why do I already feel like today isn’t going to go well she thought to herself.
By the time Ashlyn got to the bus stop, the bus was hurdling down her street. She let out a huge sigh of relief until she looked out in front of her. A young, injured man was limping across the street in front of her, and the bus did not look like it was stopping.
You have got to be kidding me, she thought.
But without a second thought, Ashlyn hurdled herself toward the injured man and rushed him to safety on the sidewalk. Although she was a socially inept girl that hated human interaction, she could never bring herself to just watch an injured man cross the street on his own, even if she was already having a rough morning.
“Thank you so much,” The young man smiled and shook Ashlyn’s hand. “You might’ve saved my life.”
“It was really no problem,” She replied. “Next time, just make sure no cars are coming when you cross or ask someone for help.”
The dude’s grin somehow got larger. He yelled, “Will do!” and then proceeded to walk away perfectly fine. Absolutely no limp at all.
Alright what the hell was that! Ashlyn screamed in her head. She was angry but decided it was best to move on as the bus was about to leave.
When Ashlyn got on the bus, the eruption of kids’ chatter caused her to sigh. She has always had an extreme sensitivity to noises and accidentally left her earplugs at home. The voices of teens arguing and messing around rang in her ears. Safe to say, this was not going to be a great first day.
She looked toward her usual seat and noticed two boys she had never noticed before sitting behind her usual spot. One boy was blond with fluffy hair, and wearing an orange shirt that said “Smile” on the sleeve. His face and arms were pressed against the side of the bus window and he was smiling like a maniac. The other boy had brown, shorter hair with a grey T-shirt. He was bigger and taller than the other boy and was trying to hold him back by his shirt.
Ashlyn stared at them for a moment and then realized she had accidentally made eye contact with the blond.
Well, that's awkward, she thought to herself.
She walked to her seat praying that these boys wouldn’t attempt to talk to her. Human interaction was the absolute last thing she wanted right now.
“Hi!” She heard from behind her as she was sitting down.
Ashlyn jumped in her seat. You have got to be kidding me, she thought.
She looked behind her and noticed the blond boy’s piercing red eyes. She also took note that he was way too close for comfort, and she jumped backwards.
“Is that your house?” He questioned. “What’s up with the whole school bus graveyard thing?”
“It’s a junkyard with used buses,” She regretfully replied.
The school bus graveyard he was referring to was a huge yard in front of Ashlyn’s house and near the bus stop. It had tons of old school buses that were extremely worn out and had tons of cool graffiti on them.
Ashlyn felt the blond’s breathing on her shoulder. “Personal space dude. Give me some,” she said.
“That’s it?”
“Yeah?”
“Well that’s disappointing,” The blond leaned back. “I was hoping for some kind of lore or paranormal jazz.”
“Good luck finding any of that here,” Ashlyn sighed, facing forward.
They sat in silence for a good 15 seconds. Possibly the most peaceful 15 seconds of Ashlyn’s life before it was abruptly interrupted.
“Anyway,” She heard that same familiar voice behind her. “I’m Aiden!”
I’m not interested, she cried in her head.
“And that’s my cousin Ben,” he pointed to the brunette sitting next to him. “We moved here a week or so ago from Virginia. Can’t remember what town though. Oh hey, we live just a house down from you! Since we live so close, we should hang out often.”
Ashyln seriously wanted to shout STOP TALKING TO ME so bad to this dude. He was such a yapper and that’s seriously the last thing she needed this horrible morning. But, she held herself back and decided to choose peace today.
“Nothing personal but,” Ashlyn put a hand up. “I’m a bit tired and not in much of a conversation mood.”
Aiden stared blankly toward her. But after a few seconds grinned even larger.
“It’s fine I get it.” He began. “You’re just shy right?”
Ashlyn’s face dropped in pure rage and annoyance.
“It’s alright, I'm good at talking, so it’ll be fine!”
He then continued to blab about anything the whole bus ride to school.
As soon as we arrived at the building, Ashlyn was already planning her escape from this psycho. She looked toward Aiden and Ben and noticed they were distracted by something on the opposite side of her. That was when she BOOKED IT.
Aiden and Ben were distracted by a young man that had fallen on the sidewalk in front of their school and couldn’t get up. Without a second thought, Aiden ran over to him and immediately helped him up. The man was maybe in his 20’s and had long hair that was thrown in a bun.
“Thank you so much kid,” He shook Aiden’s hand. “I’ve recently had a bad injury so walking around has been challenging."
“Of course, Sir,” Aiden exclaimed. “Do you need any other assistance?”
“I think I am good, thank you so much though.” He smiled and walked away perfectly fine.
This confused Aiden a little but he wasn’t upset.
~~~
Ashlyn was so happy she had made her great escape she was practically running through the halls. But, she decided it was probably smart to slow down after seeing a clump of kids pick up a baseball boy named Tyler. His twin sister Taylor, was beside him laughing and taking pictures.
“Incoming!” She heard a voice in front of her.
Then a literal shoe came hurdling toward her and just barely missed her. She looked to her side and saw the shoe was actually stuck in the wall.
“What even is today, dude.” Ashlyn silently groaned to herself.
She walked to room 201 to quickly get to her history class before she actually got hit by something. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her old classmate Logan, dropping a paper he had in his hand.
Ashlyn bent over and grabbed the paper off the ground. “Here,” she said, handing him what appeared to be a schedule.
“Oh uh,” he blushed out of shyness. “Thank you.”
He looked like a lost puppy dog.
Ashlyn entered the classroom and noticed there were names on the desk. She scanned the room trying to figure out which musty desk was going to be hers. Once she finally spotted her name she walked over and sat down. She looked to the desk next to her out of curiosity and saw something absolutely horrifying.
The name plate said Aiden C.
Ashlyn thought to herself that surely there were two Aidens right? I mean what are the odds she gets sat next to the same annoying boy she sat in front of on the bus that couldn’t shut up!
But then she glanced over to the desk behind Aiden’s and saw the nameplate said Ben C.
That’s Aiden’s cousin’s name. Great. She closed her eyes pretending to not see
The bell rang and the sound pierced Ashlyn’s ears. She noticed the teacher still wasn’t in class so she looked over to the door and saw Tyler and Taylor frantically running into the classroom and yelling at each other.
Who Ashlyn assumed was the teacher, walked in and pointed towards Tyler’s feet.
“Um, where’s your shoe?” He questioned.
The teacher looked like he was going to be a good guy. He had a nice smile on his face and thick black glasses that for some reason made him seem more professional. He was a little thin but tall, with dirty blonde hair.
Before Tyler could answer his question, they were interrupted by two familiar faces to Ashlyn walking into the classroom.
Aiden and Ben scanned the classroom to find their seats. But as soon as Aiden noticed where his desk was, his face visibly brightened up.
Ashlyn quickly ducked her head down into her arms on the desk to hide her face.
The teacher began speaking, “My name is Mr. Thomas, and this is my first time teaching my own class. I look forward to being with you all.”
~~~
After an hour, the bell finally rang and class was officially over. The period felt like ages to Ashlyn because she was forced to talk to Aiden multiple times throughout the class, as they were put in the same group for a semester-long project. The group consisted of Ashlyn, Aiden, Ben, Taylor, Tyler, and Logan. All people that either extremely annoyed Ashlyn or she just couldn’t see herself ever talking to.
Ashlyn wouldn’t admit it but the group actually worked surprisingly well together.
But now Aiden had her phone number and knew where she lived so the world was basically over for her.
Ashlyn walked toward her next class, praying that the blond psycho wouldn’t follow behind her. After about 50 feet, she looked behind her and saw no trace of Aiden in sight. She was so happy she could’ve practically jumped from joy right then and there.
As soon as she got to her next class, which wasn’t too far from the previous one, she scanned the room to see if there were any name tags.
There were not.
This was great news to Ashlyn. She stood in the doorway for a few seconds and scanned to see what spot would be most optimal for her.
She noticed the desks were in groups of two, which was fine other than the fact that everyone had already taken up at least one desk at each pair, so she was forced to sit next to someone.
She looked toward the back of the decently large classroom and saw Logan sitting at a desk with an empty spot next to him.
I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I sat next to him, she thought to herself. He was by far the most bearable one in the group project last hour and he's the one I'm most familiar with in this classroom so far.
She quickly walked to the empty seat so no one would take it. She slipped her backpack off and took a seat in her newly claimed spot.
“Oh, hey Ash-” he began but was abruptly interrupted.
Ashlyn heard a hand slap down on her desk with as much force as someone could slap a desk with. The loud bang freaked Ashlyn out and caused her ears to ring. She quickly closed her eyes and covered her ears with her hands as tightly as she could.
She faintly heard a deep voice chuckle even though her hands. “Hey freak, did I scare you?” The voice smugly said.
Although Ashyln’s ears were still ringing she put her hands down on her desk and looked over to who was making all of this commotion. Of course, it was the one and only boy that had notoriously bullied her and many others throughout all of her school years.
“Barron.” Ashlyn rolled her eyes.
“Look, here’s the thing,” Barron stared Ashlyn down. “Logan right here is actually my best friend so the spot you’re in right now should actually be occupied by me.”
“Oh shut up Barron. No way a kind and hardworking kid like Logan would be friends with a complete low life like you,” Ashlyn slipped up.
But quickly after she had said that she thought to herself, What the hell? Why did I just say that? I don’t even know Logan, and we definitely aren’t even friends. Why did I defend him like that?
Ashlyn took a quick glance over to Logan and noticed he was looking down and blushing out of pure embarrassment. The moment the words left her mouth, regret hit her. Why had she defended him so passionately?
Barron’s expression changed drastically. “Look Ed Sheeran, you have absolutely no idea how close me and Loga-”
“Leave this poor girl alone, idiot,” a female voice behind Barron suddenly appeared.
Ashlyn moved her body to the side in her chair to see who it was and noticed it was Taylor, another girl that was in her group project from last period. She was usually so kind to people, so it surprised her to see that she was standing up against Barron.
“Tay,” Barron sighed. “I thought you were better than this. How could you defend this socially incompetent freak? I mean I know you probably still have beef with me because-.”
Taylor made a visibly disgusted face. “First of all, ew, don’t call me Tay. Secondly, Ashlyn is way more respectful and competent than you will ever be.”
Taylor reached her hand toward Ashlyn.
“C’mon Ashlyn, let’s go find a better spot to sit at,” she said.
Ashlyn took Taylor's hand without hesitation and followed her to an open desk near the center of the room. The argument wasn't worth continuing, and Logan looked uncomfortable enough already.
As soon as Ashlyn sat down, she was reminiscing on how weird today has been.
The old man, the boys on the bus, the group project, Taylor defending her. It was all so strange.
“Thank you for defending me there,” Ashlyn looked toward Taylor. “I wish I could handle Barron like you do.”
Taylor made a genuine smile toward Ashlyn. “I just do it the way my favorite superhero does. She says all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.” She pointed to Barron. “He is the evil, and we are the good people.”
This made Ashlyn crack a little smile and it genuinely stuck with her for some reason. Her and Taylor actually used to be extremely close back in elementary school and throughout a bit of middle. But people loved that Taylor was a social butterfly and had beautiful long brown hair and a smile that could light up the whole room. Ashlyn was the complete opposite. This eventually put them in different social circles and they eventually drifted apart.
But now she was here, talking to Ashlyn and defending her. Ashlyn hated to admit it but she kind of missed having a friendship like Taylors and hers.
“And besides,” Taylor started. “Barron is my ex and I hate him.”
“What?” Ashlyn was shocked. “No way you dated that chopped cheese jerk.”
Taylor busted out into laughter. “Ashlyn you’re actually hilarious, you know that? We dated for a month before I finally snapped back into reality and realized he was using me to get closer to Tyler and make his way up the baseball hierarchy.”
No way Taylor actually thought Ashyln was hilarious. No way Ashlyn is actually sitting here and laughing with her. What even was today for this awkward girl?
Ashlyn was surprisingly enjoying the moment for once.
Until screams erupted throughout the classroom.
Ashlyn instinctively clamped her hands over her ears, but curiosity got the better of her. She turned toward the chaos.
Towering above the rows of desks stood a creature nearly fifteen feet tall. Its body was formed from jagged brown and yellow stone, massive arms hanging at its sides like wrecking balls. Cracks glowed faintly between the rocks that made up its body.
The monster's head jerked toward the front of the room.
"LOGAN!" it roared.
The windows rattled.
“That monster has Barron’s voice!” Ashlyn meant to say in her head but accidentally said out loud.
“Oh my gosh,” Taylor actually sounded a little bit excited. “Barron has been turned into a real-life supervillain.”
“What?” Ashlyn screamed. She was concerned for Logan, so she quickly looked toward where he was sitting, but he was so where in sight. She was relieved that he must’ve gotten away.
The monster burst through the window of the classroom creating yet another loud noise that was unbearable to Ashlyn.
“I’m so out of here!” Taylor quickly got up. “Wherever there’s a supervillain, there is a superhero!”
She then chased down the horrifying rock monster.
Ashlyn could only stare.
What.
Was.
Happening?