#dragon!luka

The hands pushing him out were pulled away and Jagged turned his head to look. Tom had taken two huge steps back and was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. 

“Sorry, there, Jagged, I guess I thought…” 

Jagged relaxed and slipped the mandolin from around his neck to assess the damage. Snapped completely in half, strings ripped apart… geez, how much brute strength did the guy have anyways? Luckily he knew the repair spell by heart and he forced the wood back together to perform it. 

“Now then,” he said when he finished, “what’s going on in this town?” 

Sabine scuttled forward with a cup of tea and she laid a hand on Tom’s arm as she set the cup on the table and invited Jagged to sit. He waved her off and the couple shared an uncomfortable look. 

“Marinette was here,” Sabine started carefully, “...with Luka.” 

Jagged snorted. “Well, that explains a lot.” 

“It does?” 

“Sure, great leapin’ lizard shows up outta nowhere. ‘Course people are scared.” 

“Well, no, he wasn’t… he looked human, it was just…” 

“He’s not,” Jagged completed simply. “And people don’t like what they don’t understand. Can’t understand.” His own brow furrowed with the thought. Wizards hadn't been all that acceptable at first, either, until the King realized they were useful. Still left a bitter taste in Jagged's mouth. 

“There was some sort of stand off in the town square,” Sabine continued. “They both escaped, but the townspeople… well…” 

“They formed a bloody mob and went after them!” Tom thundered. Sabine laid a hand on his forearm and he quieted. 

“We tried to explain, it was out of self-defense, but no one would listen to us.” 

“Then they wanted bread the next day like they hadn’t just gone after my family,” Tom growled.  

"Wait, they went after them?" Jagged asked, his attention snapping back to Sabine. "What do you mean 'they went after them'? What happened?" 

Tom let out a little snort of laughter and sat to cover his chortles. It made Jagged feel somewhat better that he was laughing and not distraught, but the question remained. 

"They weren't there," Sabine explained, with a fond sidelong glance to Tom. "We went up with them to try to do something, or convince someone. They'd already left, but—"

"My daughter's a genius," Tom managed between laughs. 

"The townspeople heard one wail and ran. Turns out Marinette had strung some armor up. When the wind blew through it, it sounded like some sort of moan, and it made the townspeople think the tower was cursed." 

Jagged blinked at Sabine, then at Tom, who was still laughing. Sabine just shrugged, smiling a little, and finally Jagged let out a whooping laugh. 

"That's my little baker's girl!" He nudged Tom's shoulder good-naturedly and they fell into laughing together. When they finally stopped, Jagged had to wipe some tears from his eyes. "I can definitely work with that," he said, grinning. Sabine and Tom exchanged a nervous, knowing look. 

"No enchanted bogs, Jagged." 

"I would never—that was—" Jagged spluttered indignantly. "That was one time!" 

"Once was enough, thank you," Sabine said curtly. He rolled his eyes at her and pulled out his mandolin to pluck a few lines. 

"Just because that mayor's daughter fell into it doesn't mean—" 

Sabine silenced him with a look. He couldn't help grinning, though, as he nodded and clamped his lips shut.

Later, when he made his way up to the tower, he realized what Sabine and Tom had been talking about. The air was filled with unearthly wails and moans that sounded like the dead had been raised, along with the tell-tale clink of empty armor against the trees. Through the greenery, he spotted one of Marinette's rabbit traps holding up a cuirass and he had to smile. Tom was right. Genius. 

Jagged rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles as he decided how best to enhance Marinette's plan. A few simple rune traps would add to the effect. Nothing big, just some eerie mist, maybe a spectral form here or there… When they were stepped on they would activate and the whole thing would work like a "keep out" sign for suspicious villagers. 

When he'd finished the perimeter, he stood back to admire his work, then turned his attention to the tower. Luka would've left a note, he was sure of it, explaining things. That's the way the kid was. He liked to have things buttoned up and tidied away. He would've said goodbye. 

When he did climb the tower, he found the small blue flower that Luka had left, preserved with a little bit of magic Jagged had taught him and kept in place by a stone. When he opened the note, it was blank except for the words, "Thanks for everything." 

But, thanks to the preserved flower, Jagged knew exactly what to do to find his real message. 

He crumbled the flower and blew the resulting powder into the paper. The residual magic stuck to the encoded words and shimmered a glittery blue in the fading afternoon light. 

Jagged, it read, we're headed west into the forest. I'll leave a trail for you so you can come visit wherever we end up. 

You've probably already helped Marinette with her idea. If I can ask one more thing of you, there's a trapdoor hidden in the floor in the back of this room. I'm not as skilled in magic as you are, so I couldn't protect the door with anything but a simple lock charm. I know you'll come up with something better. 

No enchanted bogs. 

Jagged rolled his eyes. Seriously it was one time! Why was everyone so focused on the one time he tried a new spell and turned the entire town into an eternal bog. It wasn't even eternal—the whole thing only lasted a month or so, although, well, the smell did linger a while longer. 

He looked around and found the door Luka had mentioned. While it would be hard to find for anyone who wasn't looking, he understood why Luka would want it protected. Those books of his were his life while he'd been here. He looked back to the note and there were only two lines left. 

Until I see you again, Luka. 

P.S. Don't worry, I'll take care of her. 

Jagged smiled as the last line thrummed with a magic Luka probably hadn't intended. He really had to teach that boy about the way love and magic so often coincided.

Although he had a feeling that Luka was starting to discover that for himself. 

***

"Dragon?" the merchant asked, rubbing his chin in thought. "No, none of those in these parts. Heard tell of one the next village over, though. 'Round a tower. King's offered some gold for its head if memory serves." 

Marinette offered him a tight-lipped smile in return as she paid, conscious of Luka's tense energy beside her. 

She turned, handed him the gloves, and pulled at his shirt to prompt him to walk away. He followed, albeit stiffly. 

"Luka, I told you already, no one knows it's you they're talking about." 

"Doesn't make it any easier," he grumbled back. But he glanced down at his forearms that were still covered in scales despite their stones and tugged the leather gloves on anyway. "Besides, I doubt anyone around here will know where to find Jules. We keep to ourselves, really, and if it hadn't been for my incident I doubt anyone would've even known dragons were still out there." 

When he held up his hands to show her what the gloves looked like on him, she glanced over them in approval, then frowned in thought and reached up to brush his hair out of his eyes. 

"Nothing we can do about these, I guess." 

"Or the teeth," he added, smirking for effect. 

“Or the teeth,” she agreed fondly. “I guess just don’t… smile at anyone for now.” 

A dry chuckle slid out from between his clenched teeth as his eyes darted around the square they were in, on guard and suspicious, taking note of the people still around them. "Not a problem, love." 

She tipped up and kissed the edge of his jaw, which surprised him enough to jar him out of his rigid paranoia and turn that soft look on her. For good measure, she brushed his hair out of his eyes again, more to trail her fingers along his cheeks and down the sides of his neck than because she wanted to see the bright blue of his eyes match the blue of the stone at his neck. 

Something ignited in his gaze as he looked at her and she blushed as she pulled her hands away. She'd never felt in danger with Luka before, but that look was definitely dangerous. 

"Come on," she muttered, lacing her fingers through his and tugging him along. "There are still some people we can ask, and maybe we can find a place to stay tonight." 

***

Juleka startled to attention as footsteps resounded in the empty space of the cave she'd hunkered down in for the time being. It wasn't as cozy as other places, but there was a village nearby that was too close for comfort and she preferred to keep her distance. Stay invisible. Stay alive. That'd been her saving grace for as long as she'd been on her own. 

Arguably, she was young for a dragon to be by herself, but without Luka to smooth the waters between them, Juleka and her mother were… inflammatory. 

She thought she'd done well enough, but the human stumbling into her cave proved her very wrong. The tiny thing looked up with bleary blue eyes under a fringe of bright blonde hair and gave Juleka a wobbly smile. 

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice weak, "I just… I'm so tired… I need to…" She didn't even finish the sentence before her knees gave out from under her and, without thinking, Juleka darted towards her to catch her with an armored claw. The sprite of a human gave her a thankful little smile, snuggled into her scales, and promptly fell asleep. 

Juleka lowered her head to check that the human was still breathing, careful not to transfer her fire. Luka's mistake had been drilled into her head and she knew—she knew—that if a dragon shared their fire they shared their life. It wasn't worth it, her mother had said, giving up the freedom of the skies for anyone or anything.

Not that Juleka wanted to. Looking at the tiny, helpless thing in her arms that she could easily swipe aside without another thought—protect herself and protect her secret—she couldn't see why a dragon would ever bother with them. If it weren't for Luka's accident, she knew he wouldn't have chosen a human. 

“Ivan,” Luka greeted, nodding in acknowledgement of his respect but reaching out a hand to catch his and raise him up. “How are you, old friend? How is Mylene?”

“She’s well, everything’s good here,” Ivan bobbed his head and then turned to look at his blacksmith shop. 

***

Paris wasn’t happy but it’s not like they could express that, there was an event going on which was full of journalists who were from all over the world which meant if an Akuma were to happen, it would make worldwide news in a matter of hours.

Paris was aware that Hawkmoth was a villain that should be known worldwide but they had tried that years ago by sending the justice league video of the events and calls for help but because of the miraculous cure fixing everything, they were told to stop sending fake calls and blocked so no they had been dealing with this four years now, they had their own heroes who could and would handle this, they had no need for the so-called heroes that made up the justice league.

Clark was bored, nothing important was happening in Metropolis so he was stuck in Paris listening to awards be given out for the next three hours. The event was for awards given to people who were considered heroes due to their charity work and new ideas on how to improve the world. That meant Bruce was here as well so he wasn’t the only league member suffering.

“You look bored Smallville,” said Lois who was busy writing notes,

“You could say that” replied Clark with a sigh,

“Well not everywhere can be as exciting as Metropolis or Gotham” retorted Lois glancing at Bruce,

“Yeah that’s true but I still don’t get why we had to do this event?” Clark questioned,

“Because the other reporters had stories already or were ill” answered Lois, “It’s only one event and anyway were can spend rest of the time tour Paris since I doubt you’ve been here before”.

Clark just hummed in agreement as he went back to taking notes as the next Award winner was called. The winner only had a chance to grab the award before an Alarm started blearing and a policeman took the mic from the host. “Everyone remains calm, this is just the Akuma alarm if you follow the police instructions in order to get to one of the shelters you will be okay,” the man said pointing to the rest of the police who had entered one of the double doors.

Obviously there were people who were yelling in panic and running over to where the police were but most were just confused and followed the instructions calmly. “Do you know what’s happening, Bruce?” questioned Clark as he went over to join him away from the crowd, “no, this was not something that came up when I investigated the security of this place” Bruce muttered looking annoyed as he pulled out his phone.

“Will you three please leave” yelled on the police at Clark, Bruce and Lois who was filming the event on her phone. Before Clark could reply, he was cut off by red blur crashing through the glass window at the entrance of the event.

“Ladybug” yelled the same office running over to the person, “I’m fine officer but you need to get the guest out of here, this is the Akuma target” replied the red blur who was, in fact, a teenage girl dressed in red and black spotted spandex that was black at the back, stomach and legs and red with black spots at the feet, chest and arms. She also wore a black and red jacket with spots, had short hair, red and black spotted mask and wore stud earrings. The girl had claw-like scratches on her face that looked fresh.

“Get out of her” Ladybug yelled as she threw what looked like a yo-yo towards the broken window, it hooked on a metal beam and the girl swung forward as she kicked someone with a hammer in the face and out the window, hitting the concrete outside with a loud crack. “All of you out” the police yelled as he pulled the trio toward the exit where the rest of the guest had left.

“Who was that?” question Lois as the trio was pushed into the room that was currently holding the other guest. The man didn’t answer as he focused his attention on the project screen which was currently showing an emergency broadcast.

Clark looked the video being shown, there the girl along with other teenagers dressed up in animal-like costumes, three boys dressed in a dragon, fox, cat while girls were dressed as a snake, what appeared to be a bee and the ladybug girl. The group was fighting a cat-like woman who was wielding a large hammer which she used to throw the teens into buildings and the concrete streets.

“Ladybug, Chat Noir, Reynard, Medusa, Vouivre, Guêpe are dealing with the Akuma named Tomcat please stay away from the area at all costs as there have already been a few civilian casualties and just because the miraculous cure can bring you back does not mean you can go running into an Akuma attack” The newscaster stated, the last part seemed like dig at someone but no one seemed to notice.

“Their Paris heroes” stated Bruce looking up from his phone,

“What?” asked Clark confused on why they had never heard of them,

“They’ve been active for four years apparently” Bruce continued as he showed Clark a news blog called Miraculous Out that seemed to be dedicated to hero news,

“How come we didn’t know?” Clark questioned confused because normally the Daily Planet was one of the first ones to write about new heroes but to not know about a team of heroes for five years and ones that the justice league hadn’t heard about was confusing.

“Apparently Paris heroes tried to make themselves to the justice league but were called fake due to the ‘miraculous cure’ fix the destruction of the Akuma and were told to stop playing pranks then were blocked” answered Lois who finally got one of the police to talk to her, “Ladybug and Chat Noir was the first and main heroes before they chose more, they had temporary heroes before their id got out so were canned for good then a few months ago the other four others were chosen recently and are now permanent”.

“Which member of the league blocked them because I doubt Batman or Superman or Wonder Women knew about it?” asked Clark looking at Bruce who seemed to be angrily texting someone, probably the rest of the league,

“They don’t know because they never got a name on the emails” responded Lois who was closely watching the news as the heroes managed to grab the Monster’s collar with the cat hero turning it to dust in seconds with a purple butterfly flying away from the dust before getting captured by Ladybug’s yo-yo and turn pure white when leaving the yo-yo. The snake hero passed what looked like a small toy mouse to Ladybug only for them to throw in the air with the item turning into tiny ladybugs as they flew around reversing the damage.

“Wow, the rest of the heroes could use powers like that” stated Lois,

“Yeah” agreed Clark as he got a text from Bruce saying that they would need to find those heroes later tonight to have a chat with them but for now just gather as much info as they could.

Author’s Note: Hey, I've wanted to write a miraculous ladybug and dc crossover for a while now because I like idea of it but I don't have an exact plot at the moment so updates will be slow while I figure it out.

dragon → vouivre: https://www.interglot.com/dictionary/en/fr/translate/dragon wasp → guêpe: google translate

AO3