A Pixie Problem

Chapter Five: Meeting Ladybug

Damian POV: Tuesday, February 21st, 2024

Dupain-Cheng was an interesting character. When I first saw her, she was sad, probably deep in thought, but now she was bubbly and happy. It was disturbing. She was a decent tour guide; she showed us all the ins and outs of Paris and went into vivid details of the Akuma attacks that had happened here before. She didn't mention Hoaxer, well at least not any of the battles. 

I was curious as to why she knew so much about this Monarch character yet didn't mention anything about the newest villain. Normally, people would focus on the new rather than the old. Our tour was coming to an end as we walked up to Tom and Sabine's Bakery. 

"Why did you not mention, Hoaxer, Dupain-Cheng?" I say, crossing my arms. She turns around to look at me, her eyes widening. 

"That's just a touchy subject right now for everyone in Paris. How did you know about her? I-Ladybug and Chat Noir try to keep her in just Paris' vicinity." She stuttered when mention Ladybug, interesting. 

I was going to continue my interrogation, but Father interrupts me, "We just read about her on a sight we found while doing our research about Paris. The Ladyblog I believe it was called." 

Dupain-Cheng's eyes squinted in suspicion before she smiled warily, "Yeah, I know the site. Alya, my best friend, is the one who made it. She's a huge fan of Ladybug." 

We knew that. 

"We saw her latest post, about Quiet Place. She died, did she not?" The real question is, why was she still alive? There could be many ways that she was regenerated, the Lazarus Pit, healing powers like Raven have, or many more unknown ways. 

"Yeah, she did," Dupain-Cheng rubs her arm nervously, "Ladybug has something called the Miraculous Cure. It basically fixes all the damage done during a fight, destroyed buildings, injuries... deaths." She was no longer smiling. 

"Damian, enough." Father whispers to me. I was not done with my investigation. I guess I must continue during class tomorrow. 

"Thank you for the tour, Pixie!" Grayson side hugs her. 

"Hey! That's my nickname for her!" Todd yells before pushing Grayson out of the way and picking up Dupain-Cheng in a 'bear hug', "Thanks for the tour, Pixie! Hope to see you around again soon." 

"I have to think of a nickname, okay!" Grayson says throwing his hands in the air like a child. 

"Uhh, I actually don't do nicknames, I prefer if you would just call me Marinette." She squeezes out through Todd's arms. 

"Too bad, Pixie, all we know are nicknames." Todd says, putting his arm on her head and leaning on her. 

She huffs in annoyance and pushes his arm off her, "How old are you? The only people I know that use nicknames are Chloe, and Chat Noir." She crosses her arms and juts out one hip, looking up at Todd.

"Well, Pixie I just so happen to be 21 years old. Dicky over there is the oldest of us son's being 25. Replacement is 19. And Demon Spawn is 16, he will be attending your school." She glances at me and Drake, more than likely questioning our nick names. 

"You might want to prepare yourself, Damian, not all of us speak the best English. We do pretty good, but we mess up occasionally." Funny, she has yet to mis-pronounce any words or use them incorrectly. 

"I speak French. I wouldn't travel to a place that I do not know what they are saying. Only an idiot would do that." She partially glares at me. 

Drake clears his throat before walking over to her, "Thank you, MDC! It was an honor to meet you, let alone get a shirt made by you!" He hugs her quickly.