So, in case you haven't heard (and I can't imagine anybody not hearing since it was blaring all over the news), the airport recently had a little issue regarding Stormy Weather on the runways. Chloé pulled her political "I'm the Mayor's brat" card to score the last seat on the flight to Naples for Spring Break, and it set Aurore off since she was supposed to get that seat. She figured that if she couldn't go on her flight, no one would, and soon she was putting on her mask and hitting Charles de Gaulle with the mother of all blizzards. Ladybug and Chat Noir were quick to show up and end Stormy's rampage, much to everybody's relief, but that's not what I penned this editorial for.

As you likely know by now, lately there's been an increasing trend among previous akuma victims to relapse and go into their transformed states. I don't need to remind you about Princess Fragrance's attempt to ruin the school flower expo because Chloé ruined her arrangement, or Mr. Pigeon snapping at seeing kids feed pop-rocks to the birds. This is more than just a case of black butterflies cursing people. Hawk Moth is hitting people right in their deepest thoughts and desires. Promising them all the power and freedom to do as they please and asking for nothing more than a couple of trinkets taken from Ladybug and Chat Noir in return. I mean, who's going to say no to an offer like that? Didn't we all dream of having superpowers at one point in our lives? If you ask me, Hawk Moth is more of a salesman than a supervillain, pitching you powers and preying on your emotions in hopes that you'll take the offer. Even I wasn't able to resist.

You've all read my well-publicized editorial "My Life as a Teenage Akuma", so you no doubt know what it was like for me. I want to know who Ladybug is above all else, but as Lady Wi-Fi, I was driven to do things that I would never have agreed to had Hawk Moth not egged me on. Since then, I kept telling myself that it wouldn't happen again and that the akuma was gone, yet I had a suspicion that something wasn't right with me anymore, like there was something gnawing away at my soul. And when Puppeteer took over my body and I relapsed, it confirmed my suspicion. Whatever he did to us with those butterflies, its eggs (for lack of a better term) are still in us, feeding on our emotions like parasites until they're strong enough to re-establish their power over us. Even I still feel it on occasion. That dark and burning desire to command and control others, tempting me to let go and give in. I force myself to ignore it, tell myself that I'll get what I want in life without Hawk Moth's help. And it works... so far.

But then I see others succumb over and over again. No matter how many times Ladybug removes the akuma butterfly, it's only a temporary fix at best. People are emotional beings, after all, and none moreso than teenagers. Collège François Dupont is pretty much a breeding ground for Akuma, and it doesn't help that many of them are my friends and classmates. It's to the point where some of them are actually choosing to stay as Akuma, thinking that it's the answer to all their failings in life when the truth is that they're only thinking what Hawk Moth wants them to think. Following him will only lead them down the road to self-destruction, and the worst part is that none of them are able to see it.

We're all marked, us Akuma. We may not wear the costumes or wield the powers, but our other selves still dwell in our souls, waiting for us to fall back into darkness so they can emerge again. And now it looks like more and more of us are choosing to embrace the dark rather than fight it. I'll still fight it, of course, but I fear for and pity everybody else who has their own inner self to contend with. If any of you are reading this, I implore you to stay strong and not let our emotions drive us into his hands. Fear and despair is how Hawk Moth will win. For Ladybug, for Paris, and for the world, we need to fight the greatest enemy of all... ourselves.

Stay Miraculous, my friends! And stay connected!
~Alya Césaire

Just a short thing that I wanted to write after studying up on the series. I may do more if the right motivation hits, unless Season 2 comes out and takes a hammer to my idea for how the Akuma concept works.

Miraculous (C) ZAG