Shape of a Miracle EP 1 - The Pied Player

A Devil's Tears

She sat there in the recording room for what felt like hours. Plagg was nowhere to be seen. The only comfort she had was the side of her fringe sticking to her wet cheeks. She cursed herself. Crying wasn't going to solve anything. She still had the miraculous; this was still her responsibility. Even if she wasn't the hero, she could at least deliver the ring to a worthy holder. A better holder. She breathed in the muggy air of the dark recording room; she needed to find Plagg.

Staggering to her feet, she turned to the door and saw The Pied Player on the other side of the recording room window.

She ducked under the window; her breath held tightly in her chest. How long had he been there? Slowly, she peered over and through the window. The table and chairs had been kicked on their sides. Wires, adapters, paper, and other broken radio equipment were scattered around the floor. In the middle of it all, laid The Pied Player, gritting his teeth through heavy breaths.

Instead of ducking for cover, Shoko sat there, completely still, staring at the boy's tantrum; unable to take her eyes off of him. She only jumped when he slammed his fist against the wall, causing the glass of the window to shake around her. Somehow, he had yet to notice her, he seemed too preoccupied with kicking the floor and shouting at nobody.

Then, he stopped, and so did Shoko's heart. The Pied Player shot upright but she remained sitting, too afraid to move, expecting him to capture her at any second. But he hadn't noticed her. Instead, she watched his narrow brows become knitted and eyes pop out of his head. He flailed his arms around a little, but that only lasted a moment, as his hands slowly wavered back to his sides. He curled up in a ball and sank his red face into his scarf. Not wanting a single soul to see him this way.

But Shoko saw him.

Sliding down back to cover, under breath, she whispered: "Plagg..."

In a ball of green and purple light Plagg blinked back into her reality, seemingly more surprised at his presence than she was.

"When the akuma is destroyed." She croaked "what's going to happen to him ?"

Plagg blinked at her. Was she wrong in thinking he could understand her through her accent? Phasing his face through the wall, Plagg caught a glimpse of The Pied Player. He then dashed to pick up the pen and pulled out the crumpled paper Shoko still had held tightly in her fingers. Holding the pen with every inch of his tiny body, he quickly jotted down

"He'll be deakumatized"

The smug smile Plagg had on his face quickly vanished when he was met with Shoko's tired, yet stone faced eyes. He quickly elaborated.

"The akuma won't control him anymore. So, he'll transform back to the normal rando he was in the first place."

An expression finally washed over her face.

"But that's just deakumatization." Plagg continued "Akumatization, if you couldn't guess, is when the akuma chooses its victim and turns them into a supervillain."

"Why..." Shoko muttered, biting her lip. "Why him?"

Plagg quickly scribbled his reply: "He probably just had a bad day."

Shoko lowered her eyes at Plagg, to which he groaned and rolled his own. He was avoiding writing an essay on the subject, but he'd have to give some context to his new wielder about the situation.

"Akumas target extreme negative emotions." He wrote "Ya can't think straight when you're upset, so it strikes an unrefusable deal with you. It gives you any power you want, and in return you have to get the akuma what it wants. In this case it's only after the cat miraculous. But by the look of things I'm guessing our dear friend is getting pretty tired of chasing after some magical jewellery he knows nothing about."