3rd POV
"I can't believe you talked me into this." Jacques hissed at Aisling as he nervously held his phone up to his ear.
"I didn't even do anything, I just briefly mentioned that this radio station was having a contest!" She hissed back.
"Shh, shh,shh, it's starting!" Stella whisper yelled as she clutched onto Bridgette as the two of them fiddled with the volume on a portable speaker that Aisling's phone was attached to.
"I'm just saying, if you hadn't kept guilting me about how it was my fault that you had to audition for that stupid competition show you wouldn't have gotten the spot instead of Henri and we wouldn't be trying to win him these tickets." Jacques muttered angrily.
"HELLO CRAZY CAT PEOPLE!" A voice blared out of the speaker as the 'Cat Lovers' podcast began.
"TODAY I WILL BE QUESTIONING THE TWO FIRST CALLERS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN TICKETS TO AN UPCOMING KITTY SECTION HOMECOMING CONCERT! THE TWO CALLERS WILL HAVE THIRTY SECONDS TO ANSWER EACH OF THE FIVE QUESTIONS CORRECTLY OR IT WILL GO TO THE OTHER CALLER!" Stated the announcer for the podcast. Jacques hit the call button and immediately heard the announcer's voice over his phone.
"LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE HAD THEIR FINGER ON THE CALL BUTTON BEFORE THE SHOW BEGAN CALLER ONE WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"
"Jacques Picard." Jacques stated calmly trying to ignore his trembling hands. Aisling, immediately noticing his concern took his free hand and gave him an encouraging smile, not noticing the jolt of jealousy that shot through Bridgette as Jacques visibly relaxed at the contact.
"AND CALLER TWO WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" The announcer asked over the speaker.
"LOUIS DUBOIS." Came the voice of a man who sounded like he was in his late thirties.
"WELL LET'S GET STARTED!" After answering questions back and forth Jacques and Mr. Dubois were finally on the last question.
"THIS QUESTION IS FOR CALLER NUMBER TWO, WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE SCHOOL THAT KITTY SECTION'S MEMBERS ALL ATTENDED?" The announcer asked and a garbled sound came over the speaker as Mr. Dubois tried to answer.
"OH NO! IT SOUNDS LIKE OUR SECOND CALLER IS HAVING TROUBLE WITH HIS PHONE, CALLER NUMBER ONE WHY DON'T YOU GIVE IT A SHOT WHILE HE TRIES TO FIX HIS CONNECTION?" Jacques instantly shouted, "Collège Françoise Dupont!"
"THAT IS CORRECT AND WE WILL BE SENDING YOU THOSE TICKETS WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS, ENJOY THE CONCERT KID-!" The announcer was cut off as he hung up and Aisling turned off her phone.
"You did amazingly A ghrá." She murmured as she patted Jacques' back as he placed his head on the picnic table in front of him. Jacques let out a shaky breath and thanked her as he tried to get control of his anxiety.
"She's right, you did a great job!" Bridgette said with forced cheerfulness as she once again found herself fighting her jealousy.
"I just hope that Henri appreciates the tickets because I can't remember the last time I had an anxiety attack like this one...." Jacques muttered his head still on the table as he tried to fight down the welling panic. 'And this is why I leave Aisling in charge of public relations because she can talk to people and I can't...' He thought with a bitter chuckle.
"Oh don't worry, he will, they're his favorite band, he told me about it last week." Aisling said. Jacques head snapped up from the table to look at her, his anxiety forgotten.
"Wait when was this?" He asked feeling an odd new sense of concern that he hadn't felt before gnawing at his insides.
"Oh it was last Tuesday, we had a project to double up on in chem." Aisling responded with a shrug. Jacques nodded slowly. Since winning the competition show Aisling had suddenly become more popular, suddenly despite her tendency to give people the cold shoulder a lot of people, especially in their class were suddenly trying to become friends with her, some even asking for her autograph as though she was some kind of celebrity. It made Jacques happy to see people starting to get to know his best friend, it's not like he could just keep her to himself or anything after all, but he couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable it was making the both of them. While he wasn't entirely sure why HE felt uncomfortable Jacques couldn't ignore the slight fear in Aisling's eyes every time someone steps too close to her, or the way she takes a step back every time she was offered something. She's still worried about her Luck,huh? Jacques thought absentmindedly as he watched her talk animatedly with their friends. Bridgette, glancing at Jacques noticed him staring at Aisling and abruptly stood, not being able to control her jealousy anymore.
"Sorry guys but I just remembered that I still have my history paper to do, I have to go." She said as she moved to exit the picnic table's bench.
"Oh shite! No,no we get it! You go and handle that! We'll see you later!" Aisling said in panicked understanding, earning Bridgette another sharp pang of guilt for feeling the jealously towards her and Jacques. What's wrong with me?! I mean just because I like Jacques doesn't mean I get the right to have a problem with them being happy! Bridgette thought as she walked away. Then just over her shoulder she heard, "Ow! Stella what the hell was that for?!" She glanced over her shoulder to see Jacques rubbing his arm as Stella glared at him. Stella said something that Bridgette couldn't hear that left Jacques and Aisling both in a stunned silence before getting up and hooking an arm in Bridgette's.
"How about we get an ice cream before working on that paper, yeah? I haven't been to that ice cream cart that the three of you keep talking about yet." Stella said giving Bridgette a coaxing smile.
"Oh you're going to love it!" Bridgette said grateful for the distraction. Jacques stared at the spot where Stella had been. '"You need to make up your damn mind before someone gets hurt!"' That was what she had said. 'Make up my mind? What the hell does that even mean?!' He thought as he rubbed his stinging arm.
(Meanwhile)
A man in his late thirties with short brown hair and black eyes behind glasses slid on a pair of headphones as he loaded a worn looking Kitty Section CD into a portable CD player. I can't believe that my stupid phone made me lose the contest. He thought as he glanced up at a picture of his daughter. I'm sorry honey, I guess we're not going to that concert... he thought as he felt guilt fill him.
(Meanwhile)
"Oh-! Now this is perfect! Two targets in one day, oh it MUST be Christmas!" Monarch exclaimed as she sensed the emotions of two people on opposite sides of the city.
"Such fantastic options! I don't know how to choose!" She purred gleefully.
"Hm... actually I think I'll leave the heartbroken girl for later, her jealousy is like a string being pulled taut, I'd rather wait for it to snap, I don't think it will be very long now.... No instead my lovely little Akuma I think I should send you to a father full of guilt from failing his child as well as a burning rage in the face of undue failure, go and blacken his heart." Monarch said as she released a dark butterfly out of an open window.
(Meanwhile)
As he listened to his music Mr. Dubois failed to notice the dark butterfly that fluttered through his window to alight upon the CD player at his hip.
"Hello Rabidfan, I am Monarch, I believe that we can help each other, you see you are filled with rage towards the phone company whose signal let you down, and well I would like to have a little less communication between fellows, it's... good for business. So in exchange for you destroying all that stands in my way I will provide you with your so deserved revenge. All that I ask are for you to provide me with the little trinkets that the city's so called heroes carry around as well as the destruction of Khaos. So.... What do you say?" Monarch purred contemptuously.
"Let's rock." Mr. Dubois responded in a guttural tone as he was surrounded by darkness.
(Meanwhile)
After their friends walked away Jacques and Aisling decided to go on an early patrol just like they used to. As they raced along the rooftops Miss Fortune suddenly stopped, her ears twitching.
"Something wrong Lucky?" Ladybird asked landing beside her on the rooftop.
"Well unless the Hulk learned the words to "I Love Unicorns" we've got a new Akuma to deal with." She responded with a wry grin before leaping off in the direction of the song.
"Why can't it ever just be nice?" Ladybird asked no one in particular as he sighed. When they finally found the source of the music Ladybird and Miss Fortune both stared in abject horror. Standing before them was a hulking monstrosity of 8" with muscles the size of wrecking balls.
"So.... Follow him at a safe distance and wait for back up?" Miss Fortune squeaked in a chocked voice. Ladybird nodded in mute terror. 'Please for the love of all that is good DON'T LET HIM NOTICE US BEFORE HELP GETS HERE!!! He prayed silently.
(Meanwhile)
Stella and Bridgette chatted as they ate their ice creams on the bank of the Seines.
"It was like he had freaking Terminator vision! I mean he got a total read on my whole personality!" Stella exclaimed with shining eyes.
"I know right?! I mean he never fails to get a person's type down pat! I mean he got mine down to a T." Bridgette responded before coughing in embarrassment. 'Mint and vanilla? What can your type possibly be?' Stella asked herself as she looked at her friend's ice cream before glancing at her own rockin' raspberry.
"So.... Can you explain this?" She asked Bridgette pointing at the ice cream.
"'Mint for his refreshing presence and vanilla for his simple sweetness'." Bridgette recited before eating some. '"Refreshing presence?" "Simple sweetness"? That doesn't sound much like Jacques to me....' Stella thought just before everyone heard a high pitched yowling sound headed right for them. As the noise grew louder Stella began to make out what sounded like a feminine voice yelling, "I HATE MY LIIIIIIIFE!" Within a moment of Stella understanding the words she was shocked to find Miss Fortune flying past her and Bridgette's heads and landing a few feet away from them on the embankment. After saying a rather long and creative string of swears she picked herself up and dusted herself off. Meanwhile through all of this Stella, Bridgette and all of the other bystanders were staring at this in shock and confusion. Miss Fortune looked over at the girls and gave them a polite nod.
"Ladies, if you wouldn't mind getting yourselves to a safe place there just so happens to be a rather large Akuma coming this way, Ladybird and I will hold him off as long as we can but I'd recommend civilians evacuate just in case." She said pleasantly. Bridgette grabbed Stella's arm and they prepared to leave when they heard another sound, similar to the one from earlier, and turned to see Ladybird coming right for Miss Fortune.
"Um aren't you going to move?" Bridgette asked hesitantly. Miss Fortune, with a look of abject apathy filling her forest green eyes, responded, "No... this is my life now...." just before Ladybird slammed into her from the side.
"Sorry...." Ladybird groaned as he picked himself and his partner up.
"It's okay, I got used to it ages ago....." She responded as she cracked her neck.
"Go get to safety, I'm sure Sunder will be here soon." Miss Fortune said and Ladybird flinched at the pointed glare she gave Stella who nodded. As the civilians exited the area the two heroes turned back to the direction that they'd been thrown from, seeing the massive hulk-like monstrosity running in the river, causing it to spray out onto the bank.
"I think I'm starting to understand why cats hate water...." Miss Fortune muttered as a massive wave raised itself over the two heroes. Just then Sunder joined them and her jaw dropped. Ladybird pushed aside his anxiety and shot his teammates a glare.
"Higher ground, NOW!" He ordered using his yo-yo to get onto a nearby building, followed by his teammates. As they watched the wave pass over the spot where they had just been the three of them shuddered.
"Okay here's the plan, I'm going to use my L.C while I do I want Miss Fortune to distract him and Sunder I want you to knock his headphones off. If I'm right he's being fueled by the music playing through them. It probably won't do that much but at least we can probably get him to stop destroying property for a minute while he's focused on us. Neither of you use your powers yet, we may need to use them later." Ladybird said looking between his teammates who nodded stoically. Sunder moved into position to snap the headphones off of his head with her jump rope but Miss Fortune paused, looking at him for a moment.
"Something wrong?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"No, you're just starting to really come along as a leader is all." She responded with a cheeky grin before backflipping off the roof. 'I guess I am...' Ladybird thought as he called his Lucky Charm.
Sunder had considered it in the past but now she knew for certain. Miss Fortune was out of her mind, at least she HAD to be to be distracting the Supervillain before them the way that she was. From her perspective behind the hulking monster that was apparently called "Rabidfan" as he kept yelling at the feline superheroine, Sunder could clearly see Miss Fortune dancing out of the way of every hit he threw at her, LITERALLY DANCE. Miss Fortune stood in front of the villain, nodding her head and moving to the beat of the music blaring from his headphones, AND SHE WAS HUMMING AS SHE DID. Sunder stared, her mouth hanging open as not only did her teammate dance and hum while she dodged the oncoming blows but she struck up a conversation with Rabidfan along with everything else.
"I'm surprised that you like their older work, most people are more interested in Kitty Section's newer work. So what's your deal, you know other than being a fine waste of a hulking brute? I mean seriously, look at youe, you should be out keeping every gym in the world out of the red, not faffing about in some river! OH! Is that "Pretty Pink Death Blow"? Now that is PURE CLASS! It's my absolute favorite song, especially of theirs!" Miss Fortune shot Sunder a wink and Ladybird shook his head with a smile. 'Same old Lucky...' he thought as Sunder, overcoming her shock, took her cue to remove the headphones and snapped her jump rope like a whip. Ladybird looked back down at his Lucky Charm, a small washer magnet. Now what in the hell am I supposed to do with..... his thoughts trailed off as Ladybird noticed the CD player hanging at Rabidfan's hip. 'Why is it always something?' He groaned internally.
"MISS FORTUNE, TRAP HIM, SUNDER, CATCH!" Ladybird shouted throwing the washer to Sunder as Miss Fortune called up her Cataclysm and created a rift in the ground behind her as she lead the Akuma right into it. Sunder glanced at Ladybird as he gestured wildly between the Akuma and his own hip. 'W-what in the....?' She blinked in confusion.
"USE THE MAGNET ON HIS CD PLAYER!" Ladybird eventually shouted in exasperation. Sunder gasped and nodded. 'It must be a magclasp! Maybe the Akuma is in the CD! She thought jumping off the roof and racing towards the villain. She ran the washer magnet over the top of the CD player and sure enough, it opened automatically dropping the oddly purple and orange CD into the rift provided by Miss Fortune's Cataclysm, breaking as soon as it hit the bottom. Ladybird cleansed the Akuma and fixed all the damage before approaching the victim.
"Hi sir, I was wondering if you could tell me what happened, it's important for us to get as much information as possible in order to take these villains down." He said calmly. The man looked up at him and replied, "I..... don't remember much, but there was some mention of 'lack of communication being good for business' or something..." Ladybird nodded and typed that into a list on his yo-yo.
"We appreciate the help sir, remember, an Akuma can only affect you if you give in to hopelessness and fear. Monarch and Khaos feed on our feelings of powerlessness and division, when we stand together and remember that we aren't alone or without power in our own right we take away the only real power they have." He said determinedly earning a nod from the victim. Sunder opted to take the man home and Ladybird turned around to find Miss Fortune staring at him, slightly awestruck.
"What?" He asked offering a self conscious shrug. Miss Fortune just smiled and shook her head before giving him a swift peck on the cheek.
"I was just thinking that we've come a long way from where we started is all." She said before walking off, leaving Ladybird standing stunned in the middle of the road.
(Time skip to that night)
"I can't believe you just gave him those tickets!" Stella shouted at Jacques who just shrugged absentmindedly.
"Technically he was the person who should have earned them, it turns out that he actually used to go to the same school as them and his daughter is a huge fan so he wanted to surprise her with the tickets. Besides, I was still able to swing getting Henri a ticket regardless." He explained earning a confused look from Aisling and Stella. The three of them arrived at the tutoring center and Aisling and Stella's jaws dropped. Sitting there in the driveway waiting was a van with the Kitty Section logo on the side with the back open and six adults standing around it. They immediately recognized the members of the band: Luka and Kagami Couffaine, Juleka and Rose Lavillant but were flabbergasted to see Marinette, Adrien, and Ivan the ice cream guy hanging out with them along with Bridgette and an ecstatic Henri. Bridgette saw them and ran over.
"I'm so glad you guys made it in time! We were almost ready to head over to the venue! Come on and meet everyone!" She yelled grabbing her friends' hands and tugging them up to the van.
"Okay introductions! Aisling you've already met uncle Luka but I don't think the other two have so uncle Luka these are my friends Jacques, Aisling, and Stella." Bridgette said gesturing to a tall man with short black hair with teal hair tips in a vintage rock band shirt and black jeans who shook all of their hands as they gave each other starstruck grins. Luka paused at Aisling and gave her a brilliant smile.
"Your melody seems to be playing louder than the last time I saw you, how's the guitar doing? I heard you won a competition with it?" He asked Aisling mumbled incoherently for a moment before saying, "Yeah! It's been deadly, I've honestly never felt more myself in my life, honestly getting that guitar was probably the best thing that'd happened to me before moving here, it helped me come to terms with who I am. Yeah I actually won a talent show thing with it, it's changed my life." Luka nodded and smiled before saying, "I look forward to the day when the world can hear your melody loud and clear, maybe we can play together sometime." She grinned and thanked him, Jacques chuckled slightly as she swooned against him muttering incoherently at the prospect of playing with her idol.
"Okay next up is aunt Kagami, aunt Kagami these are my friends and the reason why we couldn't leave yet, please don't be mad." Bridgette said quickly and Kagami shook hands with the three teenagers muttering greetings to everyone. And so it went down the line, next was Juleka who left Stella practically frothing at the mouth after explaining that it was an honor to know that she was the role model that helped Stella come out to her fans, then it was Rose who Aisling had a conversation with about how rock fans can come in all forms and that what matters is that Aisling be herself no matter what her circumstances are. By the end of the introductions Jacques, Aisling, Stella, and Henri were actively pinching themselves to confirm that this was real.
"I mean, I knew that Bridgette's parents knew the band but this........" Jacques let out an awestruck sound that vaguely resembled a croak earning nods from the others. They were all set to pile into the van when the band stopped the five teenagers and Rose, who was dressed in a pastel pink dress with skulls embroidered on it leaned in and asked, "Just out of curiosity what are your favorite songs of ours, down the line starting with Henri." Henri stuttered for a moment before saying, "Um... "Rainbows of Fire"?" Rose nodded and pointed to Stella who said, " "Vlad the Unicorn Impaler"."
"Ooh that song is always super fun!" Rose exclaimed earning a chuckle from Juleka. Rose then pointed at Bridgette and said, "Wait, let me guess: "Girls Just Wanna Draw Blood"." Bridgette nodded sheepishly trying to ignore the slightly horrified looks she was getting from her friends. Next was Jacques who immediately said " "Pretty Pink Death Blow", hands down." Aisling grinned and nodded.
"Same here, it's always been my favorite!" She said grinning as Jacques slung an arm around her shoulders.
"Oooh, it's rare for anyone to even enjoy our older songs, I'm glad some people still have a respect for the classics." Rose said grinning. Then she turned to Kagami and asked, "Is that enough for the encore list?" Kagami nodded and walked to the driver's seat. The rest of the band filed in followed by Marinette and the five, ecstatic teenagers.

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A/N: So usually I put the apology for not posting sooner at the beginning but I honestly have a few things to say so I'm putting it all at the end. First of all sorry that this took so long to get written, I've been dealing with a lot lately. And second of all, I can't even begin to express how much it hurts to be in the world of today, recently someone literally pointed out that we're literally being faced with the four horsemen of the apocalypse and I couldn't help but agree. Things are bad, things are bad everywhere, people have never been more divided despite the fact that we have the ability to be connected to the entire world! That being said, I still honestly believe that things can get better and that we can stand together despite the way the world is, we only get one chance at life, let's pull together before Earth-That-Is becomes Earth-That-Was.

Stay safe, stay shiny, and stay connected