Under Oath | Ladynoir ✓

16 | toujours innocent

LADYBUG WANTED TO STAY ANGRY at him.

She wanted to rage a bit longer, be emotional and irrational and red-hot. Didn't she deserve that? She'd been preparing herself for the worst, telling herself Chat Noir was in mortal trouble during his time away. It was easier on her pride to think he'd been incapacitated, injured even, but he'd just been swept away by some non-threatening emergency, and chose simply not to tell her. He left her, so easily, too easily, and didn't come back for two months.

So all of her pain was for nothing.

Didn't she deserve to pass some of it back to him?

Chat Noir took a seat on the stone ledge, smoothly swinging his legs over into empty air. He cut such a lonely silhouette, Ladybug was reminded of another time when she thought she'd lost him forever. Eyes of pale blue that swallowed the entire sclera, a tear like an icicle—

"Chat Noir reporting for duty," he said, turning back towards Ladybug. Her kitty jerked his head to tell her to get over there, a coy half-smile curving his lips.

Fuck.

She couldn't stay angry at him.

He was here, and safe, and the second she'd found herself in peril, he'd come back to protect her.

Ladybug lowered herself onto the stone, a few inches away from Chat Noir. The number of conversations they'd had here, side by side, watching the same skyline morph under new colours and seasons. Her throat closed up.

"What have I missed, Ladybug?"

She sighed, straightening her spine and inhaling deeply.

A lot, she wanted to say, a bit snappish, but kept calm. He was back. That was all that mattered. Now they needed to focus on the truly important priorities.

"I don't know how much attention you paid to the Agreste vs. Paris case in your time away," she began. By his utterly blank expression, she guessed none. "Basically, the honourable Heloise Hessenpy—you'll meet her eventually—is the one in charge of the investigation. I have jurisdiction over when and where to use our team, and I liaise with her. She's nice, though. I think so, anyway."

Chat Noir nodded, eyes earnestly watching her face.

"When Heloise decides we have enough information to accurately clear or charge the suspects and defendants, she'll call the pretrial hearing at the Cour d'Appel. Till then, we are all working on reconnaissance to build the evidence dossier."

Ladybug launched into a brief explanation of the general responsibilities that the superhero team had. Interrogation lay with the Couffaine twins. Protest management lay with Vesperia and King Monkey. Ryuko covered the forensics of the Agreste mansion. Rena Rouge and Carapace were the akumatisation experts now. Polymouse was the public-facing liaison, having spoken to hundreds of civilians in the last two months. Pegasus was the resident IT guy.

Throughout, she did her best to ignore the way Chat Noir looked like a painting come to life, leaning back on both palms. He nodded at the end of every sentence, jaw set sternly under the deluge of information. He looked . . . unhappy, perhaps, or intensely thoughtful. The wind stirred his blonde locks, and his focused expression cut a strong profile against the rest of the city.

When she was done detailing the inner workings of their Miraculous investigatory team, Chat Noir pursed his lips and let out a low whistle. "Seems all the bases are covered."

"They are," she agreed. The special job she had in line for him wouldn't be immediately apparent. "But the protests have made me realise something. I've skewed too hard toward criminal justice, and not enough toward finding the Peacock Miraculous."