Edge of the Circle

by

Agent X

The mysterious supporter of pairs!

A/N: The thought that spawned this: If Hawkmoth's powers come from a miraculous, and the miraculous are meant to be used for good, then what are our heroes actually meant to be fighting?

It was on again.

"—the second occurrence this month, bringing the total up to nine since January. Authorities have stated that the case is still ongoing. There has been some criticism that the police are not taking these disappearances seriously enough, even suggesting it could be due to the economic—"

"I think that's enough of that." Her father said as he brought the remote up to switch off the television. The panning shot of a rundown street snapped to black and the lights came on in the living room. Marinette blinked, trying to rid herself of the greenish after-image that had imprinted itself behind her eyelids.

Her father laid a large hand on her head. "It's getting late, ma petite. You shouldn't watch such gloomy things before sleeping." He smiled down at her, "Run up and brush your teeth and get to bed early tonight. You've been looking tired lately."

Marinette smiled back. "That's a good idea, Papa. I'll be down to say goodnight." She dropped a kiss on his cheek as she got up from the couch. He watched her leave fondly. Once she'd gone, he picked up the remote again and the television buzzed back to life.

"-the authorities saying the area is secure and there is no cause for panic. Mayor Bourgeois has assured-"

"Oh no." Sabine sighed as she came into the room, wiping her hands on an apron. "Not bad news, is it?" She moved around the couch to sit next to him.

"Seems so."

Her head rested against his shoulder and they watched together in silence. When the story finished and the newscaster moved on to other topics, she leaned back. "Has Marinette gone up to bed?"

He nodded.

"Poor dear. She's been working so hard lately. She looks exhausted." Slowly, she got up. "I don't know what kind of homework they're giving kids these days, but it's too much. But then, I guess she wanted to go to that school."

"Sabine, chérie." He called.

She turned back. "Hmmm?"

He was still seated; eyes on the screen, a puzzled frown creasing his face.

"Since when has Marinette been watching the news?"

Ladybug glanced back over her shoulder as her feet settled on the rooftop across the street. The bakery sat in darkness, the light in her parents bedroom finally extinguished. She felt some of the day's tension leave her, seeping out into the night air with her breath. Apparently she relaxed a bit too much, for the yawn she'd been holding in also crept out. With a brief roll of her neck and shoulders, she made an effort to shake the tiredness off before leaping up and over the adjacent roof.

When she'd first started as a hero she hadn't liked night patrol. She'd done it as a part of her responsibility as Paris' new protector, but it had cost her sleep, time, and stress, and through it Ladybug had come to see an ugly side to her city that she'd never really wanted to know. Two years later, she found herself appreciating the nightly excursions in a way she hadn't anticipated.

Patrol still wasn't exactly something she looked forward to, but the feeling of accomplishment it gave was almost a relief. Unlike akuma, night patrol wasn't about keeping an unstable maniac from upsetting her civilian life. It wasn't about big battles and big magic and worrying for her friends and family. More importantly, it wasn't just another loop in the long reel of Papillon's attacks, resetting Paris so that it could be knocked down again the next week.

Night patrol was about leaving the city better off than she found it. Just a little bit better. Just a little bit brighter. Any decently sized city had crime and strife, and hers had plenty of both. She knew she couldn't eradicate all of it, but this was the one thing she could do that had concrete results. Crime rates dropped, areas became safer for the citizens, and Ladybug got to vent her frustrations on some of the pests that crawled out after dark.

So yes, some nights she almost enjoyed her duties. Tonight, however, was not one of those nights. It was the middle of the semester at school and she felt drained. She hated to think of the homework that had piled up, waiting on her desk for her. It seemed like all she'd been doing was studying lately. Luckily, the evening didn't seem to be particularly pleasant for anyone. Autumn chill was fast descending and the streets were relatively quiet. It appeared it was going to be an uneventful night, that is, unless she wanted to cite someone for public urination. Ladybug averted her eyes. She might be a superhero, but some things were better left to the police.

She touched down onto the roof of the Ambassade du Maroc, the last stop in her rounds. Her view stretched across Trocadero and the Seine to the lights of the Tower. She felt a familiar rush of pride fill her. Ladybug truly loved her city: its history, its spirit, its people. She loved it from the top of its gleaming monuments to the bottom of its dirty alleys. Everything had a story here, and she would do whatever she could to protect it.

Of course, as she fought down another yawn, she had to admit that she wouldn't have minded exploring those stories during daylight hours. Finally, the urge won out and her jaw cracked open with a sleepy sigh.

"You know, they say it's no rest for the wicked, but I'm only a little bit wicked and you're not at all. Yet here we are."

A smile curved her lips at the playful voice, but she took a second to compose herself before turning. "Oh?" She asked, eyebrow raised. "I'd hardly call you 'wicked'. 'Shameless', sure. 'Incorrigible', absolutely. But I'm not certain you have what it takes to be wicked."

He flashed her a smile; white teeth and green eyes against the dark. "You always see the good in me, my lady."

"That wasn't a compliment," she muttered as he moved out into the light. It softened his features, the yellow glow from the tower catching on his hair like a halo and revealing the affable boy that was her partner.

"I didn't expect to see you out tonight," he said, eyes shining.

"I couldn't sleep," she told him.

Chat gave her a look that clearly stated he wasn't buying it but would let her keep her excuses for now. "Well, I'm not complaining. It's rare enough that I get to see you lately. I've been counting the hours since we last met. I was beginning to forget what you look like."

"You always forget what I look like." She crossed her arms. "It's part of the glamour. And we fought an akuma together yesterday."

"Exactly. Much too long. Poets can't capture the loss."

"Well, you can stay here poetically lamenting my loss then. I have places to be."

"You're not finished?" Chat Noir asked, walking with her until she leapt off the roof.

"Not yet!" she called.

Without further questioning, he fell in behind her, following her lead as they moved across Paris in a weaving dance. She was glad she'd run into him. Although she would never admit it aloud, Ladybug always enjoyed his company. The time went faster and the chore became less onerous when they shared the rooftops. Provided he wasn't actually trying to be funny. Two years and she had still not caught on to his sense of humour.

He hadn't changed much. Chat Noir was still ridiculous and reckless and an unapologetic flirt. He was also one of her closest friends. Sometimes, when they worked together, it would suddenly hit her that she still didn't know his name. That he wasn't just 'Chat Noir'. They shared such a huge part of their lives with each other, yet she wouldn't have recognised him if she bumped into him on the street. She knew that as long as there was a chance of either one of them getting caught under an akuma's spell, it was too risky to share that knowledge. Even so, there were times when, as she drifted off in class, she tried to imagine her nighttime friend as a civilian. She thought she could picture the type of swaggering, carefree student he would be. Yet no matter how much she tried, she could never put a face to the image.

They arrived. Putting her thoughts away, Ladybug gingerly stepped down onto the broken pavement.

Chat touched down behind her. "You always take us to the nicest places."

It wasn't an affluent area. Many of the buildings were dark and dilapidated, the outer layers having long chipped away to reveal old brick underneath. Their supports had started to tilt with age and they either leant in toward the street or slanted sideways at awkward angles. That wasn't even touching on the garbage that had collected in the gutters and gaps between buildings. She imagined it looked worse during the day. The cool tones of night blurred reality, hiding it under the shadows. A solitary streetlight stood forlornly at the corner, it's reflection mirrored in the many dark windows like an iris.

Chat looked around, perplexed. "This is about the disappearances, isn't it?" he said, "I think I've seen it in the paper."

"Yes. There was another one last night," she said, moving closer to the light.

"My lady, I know you're brilliant, but isn't this a little bit out of our usual realm of expertise? We don't exactly have the authority or the resources to go taking on detective work."

"No, I know."

She was looking up. Her gaze was fixed on a window no different from the others, as if she was trying to scry something through the black glass. He moved closer.

"Buginette?"

"She was seventeen," she said. "The last one, I mean. She was the same age as us."

It wasn't the first serious crime string Paris had suffered during their tenure. It wouldn't be the last. They knew there were some things that they were just not qualified to do, and ongoing serial investigations were at the top of that list. That didn't mean it had been easy accepting those limitations. As much as she told herself that she couldn't be everywhere, couldn't save everyone, there was still a voice inside her that whispered 'You didn't have to be everywhere. You just had to be here.'

Even magic and power and miracles was not enough. Sometimes, she wondered what the point of a miraculous was if it was only meant to stop another miraculous.

A hand clasped her shoulder. Chat looked at her, concerned.

Sighing, she relented. "Let's go."

With two great leaps the heroes took off to return to their daily lives.

A/N: So I'm finally doing it. Here it is, my first attempt at a real story. A complete chapter-by-chapter story. No drabbles. No one-shots. Any and all comments or criticism are welcome.