The Fox and the Ladybug

Part Eleven: Volpina

Ladybug's POV

3:43 pm

Oh god, I can't believe I picked Lila to be the holder of the fox miraculous. I would just take her miraculous back and give it to the right Alya this time, but I really don't have the time. I guess  I don't have to give Lila the fox miraculous again, so this isn't the worst thing ever. Let's just get this over with.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked, still behind me.

Part of me wanted to tell her to shut up, but that would definitely scare off my only chance of saving the world. "I don't know, just... save Chat Noir!" I spat realizing I have run out of ideas.

I turned to her and saw her was facing ahead with a facial expression I frequently used that said 'I'm focusing, don't talk to me.' I've used it plenty of times around Chat Noir. I was already starting to miss him compared to being with Lila.

"Mirage," Lila mumbled. A Ladybug illusion came together with a snap of Lila's fingers. The Ladybug jumped towards Shadow Moth with her hands next to her ears.

"Shadow Moth, you win. Here are my earrings," she said. Shadow Moth seemed to buy it and watched as the Ladybug took of her spotted studs and put out her hand. Shadow Moth released Chat Noir and he ran off the building and jumped down, waiting for us.

As Shadow Moth grabbed the illusion earrings, Ladybug vanished into the air. Of course, by then we were already gone. Goddamn, that was easy. I have to admit, I gotta give Lila all the credit for that one. Usually, my plans are unnecessarily complex, and I often forget that a simple one can sometimes get the job done better. I need to work on that.

"C'mon," Lila said. "Let's get back to my place." She grabbed my hand and jumped to the next house catching me off guard. She fell gracefully on her feet, and I fell off the darn building. You would think she's the one who was been doing this for years and I was the new girl. Also, her hands were insanely warm. Does she put them in boiling water every evening or something?! I wish my hands weren't ice blocks.

"Wow, that was elegant," she said from atop the apartment. I rolled my eyes and flung myself to her with my yoyo. "I'd love to watch you fall of more houses, but I'm kinda tired." She took my waist her one hands and my yoyo with another and flung from house to house with efficiency and grace.

"You've been a superhero for 14 minutes and you're already taking advantage of my yoyo," I remarked, impressed. She smiled a smile that wasn't her usual damsel in distress act. She looked confident and charming to me.

"Wait a minute, we left Chat Noir back over there! We have to make sure he's okay!" I said. She made a 'oh, fuck' expression and used the yoyo to turn backwards, something that took me years to master. We found Chat Noir close to where we left him.

'Hey, M'lady!" Chat said. "I see we've got a new friend!" He turned to Lila. She looked at him and smiled.

"Hey," she responded. "You can call me... uh.. Volpina!" You could almost see the lightbulb over her head as she spoke her new name. I giggled. I liked this Lila MUCH better.

"Volpina, huh?" he said. "Rolls off the tongue!" He winked at her and bent down to kiss her hand. She looked severely uncomfortable and if a photo of her face was taken out of context you would think she was constipated. 

"Uh... I gotta get home, sorry." Her gaze shifted to me. "You'll take me home, won't you, Ladybug?" She glanced at me innocently and I still choked on my nonexistent drink. She gave me a disappointed look. "You...still will, right?"

"Uhhh, yes!! Of course!" My face felt hotter than Volpina's goddamn hands.

She smiled and then smirked. "I'll race you," she said smugly. She used her new abilities to jump up to the roof of a house. "Bye, kitty," I said chasing after her. Wow, she's fast. However, she suddenly stopped mid-jump as she looked down.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "Oh, yeah!" she said nervously. "I just thought I saw someone I knew." She proceeded to keep going.

We arrived at her balcony and I spotted a lesbian colored picnic blanket. I wonder if she listens to girl in red, if you know what I mean...

She went inside and took a pink fold out chair out of her closet. "Look... I understand if you're not comfortable with this, but..." she blushed and shuffled her feet. "Would you like to watch a movie? I was gonna watch one with my mom but there was a... change of plans." She looked kind of sad, and even if I wanted to say no, I couldn't despite the voice in my head reminding me who was under that mask.

"Depends..." I answered. "Do you have popcorn?" I said stepping close to her.

"Actually, I do! Would you like to pick the movie?" she asked.

"No thanks, every time I pick a movie it's one I've already seen and then I don't have a good time," I complained. She giggled.

"Alright, how about Crooked House? It's this really awesome murder mystery where there's a detective guy and his ex lover comes to his office and hires him to figure out who killed her grandfather! And so when he-" she speaks too fast for me to comprehend.

"Woah, slow down, you're gonna spoil the whole movie! And yes, that sounds good," I spoke through cackles. I was correct, Volpina spoiled the whole thing by the time the second death was underway. Even though she's seen it 23 times before, she still has the look in her emerald green eyes like it was her first time.

-flashback-

Movie: *reading from Josephine's diary* This is getting boring. Something needs to happen in this house. So today I-

Lila: IT'S HER! IT'S JOSEPHIIIIINEEEEE!

-end of flashback-

"IT WAS JOSEPHINE!" Volpina screamed as I took off. I actually gave her my number- not Marinette's though, since I had two phones; one for Ladybug and one for Marinette. Oh god, did Lila seriously change overnight? It's like I met a whole new person. An Agatha Christy-loving nice version of Lila.

I jumped onto my balcony and opened up the trapdoor to climb into bed. I was too tired to think about Lila.