Purple Primrose |Miraculous Ladybug|

𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝-𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚀𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚜

Art credit: Mona Edulesco

One might ask why a certain hero chooses to lurk in the streets of Paris in the dead of night.

If I had an honest answer, it would be to sate the growing fervour at the hollow of my chest. After all, in a place like Paris, the time of day can only mean so much.

Midnight.

I stand here like all the nights before, perched on top of the Eiffel Tower with no intention to climb down.

My eyes wander over the miniature bodies walking in and out of buildings.

Even into the wee small hours, the city's still alive and bustling as ever, a wonder to look at. It's also a time when Parisians are the most vulnerable. Maybe that's why I'm on patrol today. It surely doesn't have to do with the fact that I've been feeling overwhelmed as of late.

Okay. Maybe a little.

For me, it is the best time to cool off and to forget.

Paris did seem to be the most beautiful place to be in. The night sky view of the city is simply astonishing. Looking over all the people, hearing the distant sound of church bells and the soft wind against my ear, the atmosphere felt just right and normally that would be reason enough to calm me down. But that's not the case tonight.

Ever since Queen Wasp's appearance, it feels like I have no time left. I am this close to finding Hawkmoth, to end his miserly games once and for all.

To finally rid Paris of this terror...

It's hard to accept after futile searching but perhaps that's why I'm here; to fulfil this hope that I will find him soon. Maybe this day would be different. Maybe not. Soon feels too far away.

I jump down onto a ledge having little consideration for myself, only thoughts of what step I should take next.

My feet move on their own. Due to the lack of sleep, it takes me a moment to realise where I'm headed. I feel a familiar uneasiness form in the pit of my stomach as I mindlessly leap into place.

My mind is set on a destination. I lunge my way towards where I had spent my patrols for a few nights now.

Somewhere north-west of Notre Dame, encompassing the Pont au Change that bridged the Seine from the Saint-Chapelle to Place du Châtelet.

I completely enshrined that area in my mind. I sensed it when I had my vision.

Feeling indeed confident, I had been scouting the spot every night since then, trying to find something that resembled the images I'd seen in my head.

An observatory. A large circular window with the frame of a papillon. Tons and tons of butterflies.

It felt like a transient taste of triumph, fleeting at the tip of my tongue. A phantom. So ravishing, it felt intoxicating. What I would give to feel that sensation of fuel in my veins again.

Strangely, of course, there's not one observatory in the area that has a large circular window with the frame of a papillon.

Hawkmoth's pretty good, I hate to admit. Everything he's done so far feels so well-thought-out and articulate as if he's been planning this for a long time now. He undoubtedly disguised his hideout.

What's up with villains and hideouts?

I pout, finding that the question felt redundant at this point. Of course, Hawkmoth has a secret lair hidden somewhere in Paris.

That means we're looking for someone who's loaded enough to own a secret lair, to disguise it. Someone who's also isolated enough to make sure no one knows about it because literally, NO ONE knows about an observatory in the area. Not even Master Fu who's been living here for who knows how long.