June
 
"Brother!!" shouted a teenage boy as he slammed opened a door.  He entered what appear to be a meditation room.  In the center of the room was man in his 20s.  He looked at his younger brother annoyed.
 
"This better be good, Kou," he said and remained sitting.
 
"The peacock miraculous is glowing."
 
"What!?" he stood up and ran out of the room.  The two brothers ran down a hallway and went into another room.  A desk laid a small little Chinese box. It was glowing a bright pink color.  When the brothers approached it, the pink light faded away.
 
"What could this mean?" Kou asked.
 
Kou's brother didn't respond.  He opened the box which revealed the miraculous.  He slowly placed his fingers on it.  Kou flinched as he watched his brother.  When his brother's fingers touched the miraculous, nothing happened.  He looked at Kou. "The curse has been lifted."
 
Kou looked confused. "By who?"
 
"I'm not sure.."
 
"Do you think Fu is behind this?"
 
"He could be," his older brother paused.  Then his lips curled into an evil smile. "This could be a sign, Kou.  We will return to Paris in two months.  Our training should be completed by then."
 
Kou just nodded his head and the two brothers left the room.

August

Fu was sipping tea one morning while listening to music on the radio.  Wayzz came flying into the kitchen.  He had a panicked look on his face.  Fu raised an eyebrow and sat his tea cup down on the table.
 
"Master!" Wayzz said and fluttered around his head. "I sense Pain!"
 
Fu stared at him in disbelief.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  He then slowly opened his eyes. "I sense her too."
 
"What should we do!? Rin will find us in no time." the turtle was normally so calm, but the future threat has shaken him up.
 
"Hmmm"
 
"Did you place a charm on us?"
 
"No."
 
"Then he'll find us for sure!"
 
Fu just sipped his tea.
 
"Master!"
 
"Wayzz, calm down. Everything will be fine."
 
"How can you be so sure?"
 
He placed the tea cup back down and started to take off his miraculous. "Because there will be no fighting today." Fu handed it to his kwami. "Hide with either Tikki or Plagg.  I placed charms on their homes."
 
"But.."
 
Fu stood up from the table and walked over to the window.  He opened it and looked back at his kwami. "Later today I will a hold meeting.  I'll text everyone about it so stay where you are until then."
 
Wayzz just nodded his head and flew out the window.  He decided to hide at Tikki's home.  She seem the more logical choice over Plagg.  He arrived there in no time.  He tapped in the window.  Wayzz couldn't go through since he had Fu's miraculous.  The window opened, but it was Tikki.  Wayzz flew into Marinette's bedroom.  Tikki closed the window behind them.
 
"What's wrong, Wayzz?" she asked concern. "Did something happened to Fu?" Tikki saw the miraculous in his hands.
 
"No.  He sent me here to hide.  Rin has a returned."
 
Tikki gasped.  She now noticed Pain's aura. "You're right.  I sense Pain."
 
"He said he would hold a meeting later today. "Wayzz placed the miraculous down on the desk. "Where's Marinette?"
 
"Downstairs helping in the bakery.  There's a special sale going on because today is its anniversary.  So they're busy.  Should I go get her?"
 
"No need.  We can't do anything until Fu sends his message."
 
Tikki nodded her head. "Would you like some cookies while we wait?" she floated over to a plate that was lying on the desk. "There were specially decorated for the anniversary."
 
"Sure."
 
Meanwhile Fu was sitting the living room waiting.  He looked at the clock on the wall.  It was 10 am.  He sighed. Fu felt terrible about the things that will come.  He didn't think they would fight again so soon.  He wondered if he should have told them about this sooner.  Then suddenly two men appeared in the room. Fu stood up.
 
"Hello, Rin," he said. His eyes then landed on the other man.  He seem quite young. Possibly around Adrien and Marinette age.  He shook his head. "I see you gain an alley."
 
"This is my younger brother Kou," Rin replied. He crossed his arms. "Now cut the chit chat old man and hand over the miraculouses and we'll be on our way."
 
"Sorry.  You're going to have to fight for them."
 
"Alright." he held up his hand and blast wind at Fu. It sent him flying and he landed on the floor.  Rin stood there as he watched Fu slowly stand up.  He looked confused. "Aren't you going to transform?" Meanwhile Kou was looking around the room.
 
"No this is not my fight anymore."
 
"Well then just hand over your miraculous and I will let you go."
 
"Sorry it's not with me at the moment."
 
"What!?" Rin looked pissed.
 
"I sent it away."
 
Rin was about to strike again, but Kou caught his attention. "Brother, I found the box!"
"Excellent'" he said and looked at Kou he was holding a phonograph which conceal the miraculous box.  He then turned his attention back to Fu. "We'll come back for you, old man." he then snapped his fingers and both him and Kou were gone.
 
Fu let out a sigh.  He grabbed his cane from the table and went to his bedroom.  Time to start packing.  It took him a few hours, but he managed to pack away all of his personal belongings.  He snapped his fingers and the boxes and himself disappeared.
 
He appeared inside of a similar room.  In fact both rooms looked exactly the same.  Fu was his in his second home. It was hidden from Paris.  Only those who hold miraculous items could enter.  He went to the living room and sat at the table.  He pulled out his flip phone and sent out a group message (took him a bit figure out how to text).
 
It said:
Emergency Miraculous meeting at 7 o clock sharp.  Everyone meet in front of Pierre's Cafe.  Yes that includes you Gabriel.

Adrien sighed, laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling. Marinette was busy, and Nino went on vacation with Alya and her family, leaving no one for him to hang out with. Well, he could call some of his other classmates but... it would probably be weird to call them out of nowhere when he didn't really hang out with them much at school. At least his cast was finally off.

He rolled onto his side just in time to see Plagg pause from his cheese eating to look up, his eyes widening for the briefest moment before he shrugged and went back to to the cheese as if nothing happened. Adrien raised an eyebrow, "Something wrong?"

"Nah. Just thought I heard something," the kwami answered.

"Okay..?" Adrien shrugged and sat up. "Want to go on a run across the rooftops? I haven't gotten a chance to transform yet. I'm itching to get out again."

"Nah. You should wait for a bit. Get used to not having the extra weight on your arm again," Plagg answered.

"Come on. That's no going to make a difference," Adrien protested.

"Here. Have some cheese with your whining," Plagg muttered, throwing a piece of Camembert at him. 

Adrien couldn't help but laugh while tossing the cheese back. "Fine. I won't do something fun even though I'm bored out of my mind."

Plagg didn't get a chance to respond as Adrien's phone vibrated. Adrien stood and walked over to his desk to grab it and look at the text. He was slightly disappointed it wasn't from Marinette, but she was probably still working. Of course, he didn't feel that way for long when he saw that the first word was 'Emergency'. He quickly read the rest of the text and looked at his clock.

"What is it, Adrien?" Plagg asked, looking more serious than Adrien expected.

"Fu wants to meet with us this evening," Adrien answered before texting Fu back to say he'd be there.


Meanwhile, Gabriel stared at the text. His office was busy getting things ready for his fall line of designs. It was never too early to start. Plus, Adrien could finally model again, so he would have to adjust anything that they hadn't put on one of the other models to fit his son again.

He ignored the text as he worked. No one could be so important that they had to text him at work. Except Nathalie, anyway, but she had her own unique text tone. Lycca had other ideas as he flew up with the phone in hand. "You should read this, Gabe," the kwami said.

Gabriel took the phone from Lycca and stared at the text. Emergency meeting? And he had to go? Why? He wasn't interested in anything that had to do with the miraculous unless it had to do with Iris's returning. Fu had said she'd come back soon, and she was not back yet. Two months was not soon to him, and he was pretty sure Fu wouldn't be so vague in his texts if she was back.

'Do I really have to come?'  He texted back, irritably. He sighed a moment later when a new text came reaffirming that yes, he was required to be there.  'Fine.'  He would go, but he was not happy about it.

Marienette was in the back of the bakery pulling fresh bread out of the oven, when she heard her phone go off. She pulled it out of pants pocket and looked puzzled. Fu texted her? She opened the message and read it. An emergency? What did that mean? She needed to show Tikki at once. She brought the bread out to the front of the store. She placed them into a basket and looked at her father.

"Papa, can I take a quick break?" she asked him and he nodded his head. It was slowing down a bit. Marinette then went up to their apartment and into her room. She was shocked to see Wayzz sitting on her desk with Tikki. They were drinking tea and eating the cookies she gave Tikki.

"Hello, Marinette," Wayzz greeted her and bowed slightly. "It's good to see you."

"Hey," she said and walked over to the kwamis. She sat down in her desk chair. "Why are you in my room?"

"Master, had some trouble today."

"Does it have something to do with this text?" she held up her phone and showed the text to the kwamis.

Wayzz just nodded his head.

Marinette looked at the message again and then back at the kwamis. "So what happened?"

"I'll let him tell you."

Marinette pouted. She then went back down to the bakery.

Later that evening Marinette stood in front of the meeting spot. Adrien and his father has yet to arrived. She was feeling anxious. What could have happened to Fu? Why were they meeting here of all places?

"Good evening, Marinette," said a Fu.

She turned and saw Fu standing there. "Oh, good evening."

"Glad you were able to find this place."

"What happened?" Marinette asked Fu.

"You will learn shortly."

Marinette sighed and leaned against the cafe's wall.

Gabriel started his car once Adrien was buckled in.  He was still unhappy about being at the whim of some old man just because he has a magic item, but there wasn't much he could do about that.

Adrien reached over and turned up the radio, signaling the same disinterest in talking that he'd shown since June. His son had taken on a mixture of compliance and the silent treatment (outside of answering yes or no), creating a rather strained coexistence that Gabriel wanted to fix but had no idea how.  So far, he figured giving him space, other than when modeling or school was involved, was the best he could do.  Hopefully, the boy would come around at some point.

They arrived down the street from the meeting place pretty quickly, and it took a moment for Gabriel to find a place to park.  They walked the rest of the way in continued silence and saw Fu and Marinette standing outside of the building.

Adrien smiled at them and said, "Hello, Master Fu. Marinette.  How's it going?"  The difference in his attitude here versus at home was like night and day.

Gabriel just nodded to both in acknowledgment.  "So, what exactly is this emergency?"  He was straight to the point.  He didn't want to be here all night.

Fu couldn't help, but laugh at Gabriel. "You are such a business man. You need to relax a little." He cleared his throat. "Now follow me quickly. We can't talk here." He then took them down an alley that was right across the street. There was a dead end. Fu placed his hand on the wall and a door appeared. He opened it. "Quickly." he montioned them inside.

They walked into a living area. Fu closed the door behind them. "Sorry about the mess. I just moved here."

"Master!" Wayzz popped out of Marinette's purse and flew over to the old man. He handed him back his miraculous. " I'm glad that you are alright."

"Likewise. Marinette, thank you for watching him."

Marinette smiled. "No problem." she looked around. It just look like his old apartment. "Where are we?"

"Hidden from the eyes of Paris." Fu walked over to the table and sat down. "We're currently hidden by magic. Please sit." They sat down across from him. Wayzz landed on the table and chilled with the other kwamis. "For now on I will be living here. Only those with miraculouses may enter. So if you need to see me all you have to do is put your hand on the wall and you may enter."

"What happened?" Marinette asked. She had a feeling Paris will need its superheroes very soon.

Fu pulled a piece a paper out of his pocket. Before they came over he drew the peacock miraculous for them. He placed it down in front of them. "This is the peacock miraculous. I no longer have it I'm my possession." He paused. "Six years ago it was taken from me from a man named Rin." he grabbed the paper back and stared at it. "Rin is a sourcer who seeks immortality. His ancestor Rei was seeking the same thing as well. He discovered that the miraculouses hold great powers. So he tried to drain their magic. Rei got a hold of the peacock miraculous first and when he tried to steal its magic, it back fired on him and killed him. In his last breath he placed a curse on the miraculous. Anyone who touches it will get sealed inside. Its kwami was sealed inside of it as well." Fu looked sad. "For generations my family has guarded the peacock miraculous and tried to find ways to the break the curse."

"Now it's back," Wayzz spoke up.

Fu nodded his head. "Lycca, Plagg, and Tikki I'm sure you felt Pain's presense today."

"Pain?" Marinette questioned.

"The peacock kwam's name."

She just stared at him in disbelief. It was named after food?

"Anyway. Six years ago I was living in China. Rin stole the peackcock miraculous from me and I chased him all the way to Paris. We got in a major fight and at one point the miraculous got lost. Rin found it again and left. So I decided to stay here and wait for his return. I knew one day he would be back for the rest and today is the day. He attacked me along with his little brother Kou. They took the book and the last two remaining miraculouses. Which means they will learn about the God like powers from earrings and ring."

Marinette gasped. "So they're going to try to wish for immortality?"

Fu nodded his head, but then laughed. "But it can only be used once per miraculous genernation."

"So we're safe?"

"No." Fu stopped laughing. "That's not written in the book. It's a secret we guardians only know about it. Even if they did know they would still want your miraculous." He let out a sigh. "I would deal with them myself, but I'm not cut out for this anymore. I'm 400 years old."

"168," Wayzz corrected him.

Fu ingored him. "My back acts up easily. So you three will have to stop them and get back the book and remaining miraculouses. I will warn you black magic is dangerous. They can do anything to you."

Marinette glanced at Adrien. She wasn't sure what to make of this.

Gabriel stared at Fu, only half paying attention when he mentioned losing the peacock miraculous in Paris.  Six years ago?  What a strangely convenient coincidence...  Adrien didn't seem to catch it.  He narrowed his eyes.  Was it possible...? 

He didn't get a chance to finish that thought when Fu mentioned the dangers of dark magic.  "You're going to let teenagers fight dark magic users that you couldn't stop six years ago?  That's dangerous and irresponsible!  Wouldn't it be better to lay low and hide the miraculouses for now?"

Adrien narrowed is eyes at Gabriel.  "We can handle it."

"Like you handled Psychic?"  The words were out of his mouth before he got a chance to think, and Gabriel's eyes widened at his mistake.  Bringing up akumas was not the best way to get on good terms with his son.  But it was a valid point.  Akumas, even forced akumas, were bound to a very specific set of powers with a very specific power level. Psychic just happened to have the ability to freeze people; the only reason she was able to almost kill them.  Magic users probably had more specialized powers at their disposal.

Adrien glared at him, but seemed at a loss for what to say.  So he glanced at Fu and Marinette for help instead.

Marinette looked away. She did not want to get between Adrien and his father.

Fu stroke his beard. "No that will not work. Rin will be looking for you three once he opens the miraculous box. He isn't currently aware of the recent events here in Paris." At least he hoped he was right about that. "They will stop at nothing until they have all of the miraculouses. They might even use the Fox and the Bee against you three.  Just be aware of your surroundings and don't do anything stupid."

Adrien thought he felt quite a few eyes on him as Fu mentioned not doing anything stupid. Plagg was definitely staring at him. Everyone else either wasn't had the tact not to meet his gaze when he glanced at them. Did they all think he was stupid? Well.. he was a little reckless at times, be he knew his limits.

"That shouldn't be hard," Adrien said.

"You sure? That means not going out alone at night," Plagg quickly interjected. 

Adrien was quiet. Going out at night was one of the things he wanted to do again now that his cast was off. Plagg was probably bringing it up here because he knew he'd lose the conversation if it was just the two of them.

"Anyway," said Fu. "Does anyone have any questions?"

"What will be fighting against exactly?" Marinette asked.

"It's hard to say. They may fight you themselves or create something with magic. So I like I said be aware of your surroundings. Any other questions?"

"I think I'm good.." Marinette was still unsure about all of this. She wish she knew what they were up against.

Adrien shook his head. There weren't many questions to ask without having a chance to fight the enemy. "I'm sure we'll have questions later," he answered. His father just nodded nearby.

Adrien turned to Marinette. "Can I stop by the bakery for a bit?" He didn't feel like riding home with his father. This way, he could call Gorilla for a ride later.

Gabriel didn't protest as Marinette agreed. Instead, he stood and turned toward the door. "You two be careful on the way there," he said before excusing himself and Lycca. Marinette, Adrien, and their kwamis followed his lead a moment later.

They were now in Marinette's room stretched out on her bed. She let out a sigh. "Do you think we'll be okay? This new enemy sounds scary." she slipped her arms around his waist to cuddle.

Adrien slipped an arm around her, bringing her even closer than she already was and kissing her on the forehead. "We'll be fine. We learned a lot when we were fighting the akumas. We just have to stay on our toes and not do anything stupid. Like Fu said."

He wondered how dangerous these brothers were. Fu had failed to beat them multiple times, and they now had two miraculouses in their possession. The power difference between dark magic and the akumas was unclear, but Fu made it sound like there was a big difference. Psychic would have killed him without his father's intervention. There would be no sympathetic villains this time around...

"Yeah, but this time it's different.." Marinette squeezed him. She was doubting herself. Her powers were meant for creation not destruction. Would Lucky Charm help her fight these guys? "My powers may be useless."

Meanwhile the kwami were sitting outside on the balcony. Tikki looked anxious. "Plagg, anything can happen. We'll have to keep an eye on the both of them."

"You're powers won't be useless. We're a team. Even without needing to purify an akuma, you can still use Lucky Charm to help us out of a tight spot, your yo-yo is still a powerful weapon that can be used to attack or tie someone up, and you can still restore all the damage from the fight back to normal. Plus, your plans are what win the fights." He couldn't stand to hear her doubt herself. Creation and destruction needed to work together. One could not exit without the other in the same way they could not fight and win alone.

Plagg nodded. "I'm worried Adrien's going to continue going out at night. It seems hardwired into him at this point; especially since he does it to relax when he's stressed. Is there any way you could convince Marinette to patrol with him?"