Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shelby was having a day. An okay day, even. Sure, she had got to school a bit late, but it was earlier than usual. It was plenty easy to slip into her seat, next to one Joey Graceffa. The class was assigned some worksheet or another, the teacher working at his desk.

"Where's Katherine?" She whispered to Joey, noting the empty seat in front of them both. Her friend took out his earbuds, which had been blasting Wellerman and shrugged.

"Not here." He answered. "Her parents are probably being jerks again." Joey stretched, propping his feet up on Katherine's empty seat. Gem, who sat next to Katherine, smacked his shoes without looking, humming as she did her work. Joey took his feet back and looked back at Shelby. "Is school unbearable now that the love of your life isn't here?"

Shelby rolled her eyes, elbowing Joey to distract him from the blush on her face. "Oh shush up. It's just a crush. Katherine's my friend, I'll get over it."

Joey raised his eyebrows, reaching over to ruffle her hat. Shelby ducked out of the way and smacked his hand. He spoke as if none of this happened. "Says the person who I haven't ever seen take off the hat Katherine gave you."

"It's a good hat!" Shelby protested, patting one of the pink flowers gently as she smoothed the green fabric. She glared at Joey's smug expression. "At least I don't have a crush on someone who runs around the city with a tail."

Joey shook his head in faux offense. "Excuse me? Katstar is amazing and you can't say otherwise. She's perfect."

"Just because she sang a sea shanty under her breath once does not make her perfect for you." Shelby replied dryly. "Nor does it make her a pirate, Joey 'Pirate-sexual' Graceffa."

"Pirates are hot!" Joey protested. "I'm living proof of that. In fact-" He was cut off as Shelby slapped a hand over his mouth, their teacher turning to face the two of them. Shelby gave him a sheepish smile. He narrowed his eyes and turned back to his computer.

Shelby removed her hand from Joey's mouth, sending him a warning look as she turned to her worksheet. Joey muttered something under his breath, before putting his skull patterned earbuds. The muffled sound of Drunken Sailor started playing from them.

It was after class ended that Shelby's phone let out a familiar sound, the sweet croak of a Mantella pulchra. She fumbled to pull out her pale green phone, answering Katherine's call.

"Katherine!" Shelby answered, trying not to be too excited to hear the other's voice. "What is it?"

Katherine sounded a little nervous on the other end as she responded. "Hey Shelby. Sorry I wasn't in class today. My mom caught me sneaking out last night and my dad isn't letting me leave for school today."

"No worries." Shelby assured. "That sucks though. You left me with Joey, after all."

That got a laugh out of Katherine, a sound Shelby couldn't ever hear enough of. "I don't know how you'll survive long enough for this afternoon."

Shelby immediately perked up. "Oh! Our study picnic is still on, even if you can't go to school?" She had been looking forward to their picnic for a while. Since it had been interrupted a month ago and rescheduled.

She could imagine Katherine nodding in response to her question on the other side of the call. "Yup! I wouldn't miss this for anything. Besides, my parents won't be expecting me to try sneaking out again so soon."

"Be safe!" Shelby told her. "I'll be sure to get all the work you're missing today."

"Thank you! I appreciate it." Katherine said. There was a weird sound coming from her line and Katherine muttered something underneath her breath before speaking up again. "I gotta go. See you then!"

"See you!" Shelby answered. Her phone lit up as Katherine hung up, showing the selfie of the two of them that Shelby had set as her lock-screen. She smiled fondly at the picture, and the memory of taking it. Then she nearly dropped her phone as the bell rang, and Shelby broke into a run to avoid being late to her next class.

It was only the thought of her study picnic in the afternoon that got Shelby through the rest of the day. It was not a good day, and her teacher was not helping. She had managed to leave her science textbook at home, and somehow only half of her homework was still intact. The other half, well...

"Miss Bubble, please explain to me why your homework is in this condition?" The teacher asked, holding up a sodden and thoroughly ruined sheet of paper. "And for Academia's sake, tell the truth this time. None of your usual nonsense."

Shelby sighed, hunching herself smaller in her chair. "I did tell the truth though! Tortoise got into my bag and tried to make a nest with my papers."

She was leveled with an unimpressed stare. "Are you seriously trying to tell me that your turtle ate your homework?" There was a giggle from a boy who sat nearby. He soon received the full force of their teacher's glare, before she turned back to Shelby. "Is that it?"

"No!" Shelby protested in answer. "My pet frog, Tortoise. He didn't eat anything, just tried to take a nap. Of course, he had to make in comfy to take a nap because he's a distinguished gentleman who won't settle for anything less, and he had just spent some time enjoying his water so he was a just a little drippy and-"

"Miss Bubble!" She was cut off. "You are rambling again. I've already spoken to you several times about your distracting habits. That's enough of your ridiculous excuses. You're getting a zero on this assignment. After all, you clearly spend more effort on lying than your schoolwork in any way." The teacher stalked off, muttering underneath her breath.

Shelby resisted the urge to bury her head in her hands. "But I'm not lying..." She whispered, blinking back tears.

"It's okay, Shubble. I believe you." The same kid who had laughed earlier slid into the seat beside her, having moved across the room. "She wouldn't know effort if it smacked her in the cabeza. Se hace lo que se puede."

"Thanks Sausage." Shelby responded with a small smile. "But my name still isn't Shubble."

Sausage smiled his bright grin. "You're welcome. And of course it is! Shubble Bubble."

Shelby couldn't help but laugh. "Shelby Bubble. Not everyone's last names need to rhyme, Mythical Jausage Sausage."

"No, no I think that's just how it should be. Besides, the J is silent." Sausage heaved over his tropical colored bag, pulling his science textbook out. "Hey, what magic science stuff are we supposed to read over again? I forgot."

Shelby reached over to flip to the correct page, barely avoiding sending all of the pencils Sausage had placed on the desk rolling off. Sausage himself didn't notice, too busy pulling out his water bottle, which looked like a sword. He always said having a good sword made things better. Maybe he was right, because that class seemed to finish a lot smoother than it started.

Finally, the school day finished. It was all Shelby could do to not run down the stairs, because she knew she'd trip if she did. Instead, she waved goodbye to Joey and started the walk back to her apartment. Maybe she was going faster than was advisable, but hey! She was excited! She would never turn down a chance to hang out with Katherine. Especially because her friend was so often kept from gatherings with her friends and even school when her parents felt like it. Shelby didn't care if they were the owners of some business empire. That didn't give them an excuse to be so strict and distant with their daughter. Especially when said daughter was the kindest, cleverest, strongest, and prettiest girl that Shelby had ever met.

She was so busy thinking about her crush (and it was just a crush, she insisted, not in denial, no matter what Joey and the rest of her friends might say about love) Shelby managed to trip over a mix of her own feet and uneven sidewalk. Throwing her hands out, she braced herself for an meeting with the concrete that never came.

Instead, Shelby heard the sound of something hitting the ground in front of her, and instead of an impact with the harsh sidewalk, she crashed into something. Somebody. Gentle hands with pinprick claws helped steady her as Shelby found her footing again.

"Thank you." Shelby muttered under her breath, embarrassed about the whole situation. She didn't look up, despite being fully aware of who had caught her. With those charcoal colored boots with a black suit, actual inorganic cat tail dipped in stardust, and unmistakable claw tipped fingerless gloves, there was no one else it could be. "I appreciate it." She repeated louder, thanking the city's beloved hero, Katstar.

"No worries!" Katstar answered cheerfully. "I was just passing by when I saw a perfectly capable damsel to cat-ch."

Upon hearing that, Shelby looked up, her shame overcome with incredulity. "That was like, the most low hanging fruit of a pun I've ever heard." She admitted flatly. "And if you'll take a look at my stature, I know about low hanging fruit."

Katstar laughed, her eyes brightening. Shelby couldn't help but stare at them for a second. They were really pretty; narrowed cat pupils in dark eyes twinkling with stars. They matched the galaxy patterned barrette in her hair, and the stardust tips of her swiveling cat ears. Shelby tore her eyes away from the other's, from the way her black hair had a midnight purple tint at the end of her high ponytail, in time to hear the end of whatever Katstar was saying. "-in anyway." She stopped, looking at Shelby. "Are you alright though? You didn't get hurt from the fall, did you?"

Shelby shrugged. "It wasn't really much of a fall. I'm just fine." She brushed off her olive overalls. "What were you doing in the area anyways? Is something going on?"

The heroine shook her head. "Nothing to worry about. It's just such a nice day out. It'd be silly to stay indoors. Perfect for a picnic."

That was all it took for Shelby to recall what exactly she was supposed to be doing. "A picnic! That reminds me! I gotta go!" She nodded to Katstar and started hurrying her way once again.

"Be careful!" Katstar called after her, before the heroine herself extended her baton and sprang away. At least, it looked as if she did. No one was there to see her sitting on a rooftop, gazing happily after the other girl before heading off herself.

Shelby barely noticed, once again caught up in the excitement of her afternoon plans. She continued making her way to the apartment she stayed in, managing to avoid tripping again. The door was quickly unlocked with the key she kept, Shelby dropping her muddy green backpack on the counter top. Her cousin was still at work, meaning the only sound she could hear was Tortoise's quiet croaking.

Tortoise's tall terrarium was Shelby's pride and joy, taking up a large portion of one of the apartment's wall. The pale gray frog himself was sitting contentedly in a hidey hole made under his mangrove log. He croaked steadily, eyeing Shelby as she approached.

"Hi Tortoise!" Shelby greeted, waving at the frog. He stared back at her. "Okay, okay. I'll get you your meal worms." She headed to the cabinet where all the frog care materials were kept, withdrawing a small carton of bugs. Tortoise croaked again, which Shelby took as her cue to start talking as she struggled with the stubborn opening on the terrarium. "It's such a nice day outside Tortoise, you wouldn't believe it. Sunny, with a light breeze so it doesn't get too hot. The rainstorm I told you about isn't here yet, so the air isn't all humid." The frog shifted, before settling back down again with another croak. Shelby shrugged in response to this action, finally sliding the glass open and reaching for the carton again. "Yeah, I know you like the humidity. I agree, the rain's nice, but I hate it when it gets all muggy." She paused to listen to Tortoise. "Well. You don't have hair to deal with."

Tortoise seemed uninterested in the conversation once Shelby had managed to drop a few mealworms in front of him. His tongue flicked out, and Tortoise hopped forward after his wriggling food. Shelby smiled at the sight, closing his terrarium back up. She was leaving for her picnic soon and she and her cousin had agreed that Tortoise was not allowed to wander the house while she wasn't there.

Finally turning away from her froggy friend, Shelby skipped around the kitchen to gather foodstuffs. Homemade bread, sandwich things, the freshest veggies. Ever enamored, the girl carefully picked only the best of the available selections when assembling Katherine's sandwich, with very little thought put into her own. Both sandwiches were wrapped and placed into Shelby's woven basket. A baggie of watermelon slices was set next to them, and a piece of cloth tied the basket closed.

Shelby checked the time, set down the basket in favor of brushing her hair. She didn't have enough time to really change clothes, but she certainly wanted to look nice. She toyed with the idea of putting on jewelry but decided against it. Instead, Shelby dug through her bag for Katherine's missed assignments, as well as her notes for the upcoming test. These were tucked into her bag along with a few pencils. Having grabbed the basket again, Shelby nearly skipped out the door, locking it behind her. She couldn't wait.

By the time Shelby got to the park they had agreed to meet at, Katherine was already there. Shelby wasn't entirely sure how she had managed to sneak out for this, but she certainly wasn't complaining. Katherine herself was busy rolling out a mauve colored blanket for them to sit on. Maybe it was the fact that she hadn't seen her all day, but Shelby suddenly had a hard time looking away from the other girl. She looked pretty as ever, in a pastel pink dress Shelby knew she had made herself. The sleeves were set off the shoulder, giving Shelby a glimpse of her crush's unfairly well muscled arms as the girl moved. As if Shelby needed another reason to find her ridiculously attractive.

She was snapped out her pining by the sound of Katherine's voice. "Shelby! I'm glad you made it!" Katherine smoothed out the blanket one more time before she sat down on it, patting the spot next to her. Shelby laughed, collapsing onto the blanket herself.

"Of course!" She answered Katherine's earlier greeting. "I brought watermelon!" The announcement was eager, as they both moved to open up Shelby's basket. Their hands barely avoided touching, Shelby grabbing the sandwiches instead.

Katherine unwrapped her sandwich and took a bite. She smiled, clearly enjoying it. "So, what did I miss today?"

Shelby shrugged. "Pix got into another 'heated debate' during history. He insisted that the lesson was factually incorrect. He kind of took over the class again." She chewed a bite of her own sandwich.

"That sounds about right." Katherine laughed. "I remember the time he replaced the map in the classroom with one of the Soviet Union. He was protesting the amount of propaganda was being treated as historical fact." She hummed thoughtfully as she reached for a watermelon slice.

Shelby finished her own bite, grabbing a watermelon slice for herself. In the same action, she grabbed the stack of papers from her bag. "That was about it for school though. Here's all the assignments we did. We're only supposed to do numbers 4 through 22 on page 80 for the math homework."

Katherine gratefully accepted the paper. "Thanks, I really appreciate it." She shuffled through the pages, looking for the math. "Do you have a pencil? I want to write that down." The lavender silver ring that she wore glinted in the afternoon sun as she pulled out the math homework.

Shelby nodded, then let her treasured hat fall off her head. She caught it perfectly, and withdrew a leaf designed pencil from the depths of it. Katherine reached for the offered pencil, and their hands did touch this time as Shelby passed it over. They both missed the other's blush as the turned to hide their own. Shelby stared determinedly at her watermelon while Katherine busied herself with writing down the math problems.

They sat for some time, in companionable silence of eating mixed with enjoyable conversation. It was nice, and Shelby could feel herself falling for Katherine just a little bit more as the time passed. How could she not, watching her eyes sparkle as she talked about making a minstrel cap for Oli, or hearing her musical sounding laugh? Then Katherine brought out cookies that she had baked herself for a picnic dessert, and Shelby didn't think things could be more perfect.

Of course, perfection is fleeting, and their lovely afternoon was shattered by the sounds of screams. A much too common occurrence with a frustratingly evident cause. There was a supervillain attack. A new sentimonster.

Katherine jolted up at the first sound of attack. In just a few seconds, she had packed up the majority of their picnic, closing the basket again securely and passing it to Shelby. The girl accepted it uncertainly, and stepped off of the blanket as Katherine started picking that up as well.

"You need to get out of here." Katherine told her as she faced her, placing the blanket it her arms as well. "It's not safe."

Shelby quickly shook her head, shuffling the things in her arms and grabbing the other's hand without thinking. "What about you? I'm not leaving you here alone. Safety in numbers, you know?" Katherine had a bad habit of running off alone in a panic during these times. It stressed Shelby out to no end, but she seemed to always find some good hiding place, because there was never any trace of her otherwise.

She was so busy thinking about this that Shelby entirely missed Katherine's small gasp at their hands, and her fond determination. She did hear the girl when she answered though.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about it. My main concern is making sure you're alright." Shelby was of the opinion that this was an entirely unfair thing for Katherine to say. Seriously, her heart couldn't handle this. Katherine squeezed the hand that was holding her own, and then gently guided it, placing it on Shelby's heart before letting go.

While Shelby's brain was short circuiting, Katherine gave her another confident smile and a soft push. Shelby started moving in the opposite direction of the screams, clutching their picnic things as her mind tried to restart and her cheeks burned. When she finally thought to pause and look back, Katherine was gone. Shelby tried to hope for the best as she kept moving.

Chapter Text

When Shelby finally ran out of breath, she took a look around at where she had ended up. It was the other side of the park, and she figured that was as good a place to hide as anywhere else. It was simple to tuck the basket and blanket under a bench, and then curl up behind a trashcan. Not the most hidden, but convenient, and at least she wasn't out in the open anymore.

For a moment, it was silent. No more screaming, no sounds of battle, just the thrumming of her heart and her slowly quieting breathing. Then, the shrill call of a bird rang through the air. Shelby dared to take a glance, and got her first glimpse of today's Sentimonster.

It was supposed to be a vulture, she thought. A king vulture, so huge, but somehow wrong, beyond the crazy colors. Most of its plumage was a bone white that crackled with energy, but it had random yellow feathers as well as indigo coverts, tail feathers, and flight feathers. Its head was a dark teal, with vivid markings of fuchsia, yellow green, electric purple. The eyes gleamed golden, and Shelby felt a shudder run through her.

The Sentivulture flew through the air, seemingly looking for something. Shelby cringed when it let out another, much louder screech and dived. Not at her, gratefully, but at another poor soul who hadn't managed to get away. Shelby tried not to watch, but found herself unable to look away as the Sentivulture knocked them to the ground, large talons splayed. The person seized, then went completely limp. Shelby swore she could see energy flowing into the vulture, another one of its feathers turning bright yellow. It was taking its victim's energy, Shelby realized. She shrank against the trashcan further, hoping to evade notice.

Just as it seemed that the sentivulture was about to start looking for another target, it was instead smacked in the side with a long silver pole. It launched itself in the direction of the attack.

"Hey Birdie!" Katstar propelled herself forward until she met it halfway. "I can't just let you carri-on doing this." She swung her baton at it once again, causing the vulture to suddenly beat its wings upward. "Let's get this over with, I have things to do."

There was another screech, and the Sentivulture started circling, avoiding another attack from the baton. Katstar leapt into the air, snagging its ankle and dangling. Her weight didn't seem to affect the bird, but it did snap at her with its beak. Katstar retaliated by grabbing a handful of feathers, trying to pull herself further up. She seemed to be looking for something on its body.

The Sentivulture made a sharp turn, nearly dislodging Katstar. Shelby could see one of her hands come loose, still clutching a few ripped feathers. As she turned to get a better grip, the Sentivulture dove once more. Katstar dropped off as it got close to the ground, instead of getting trapped under it. She rolled to the side as the vulture half crashed into the earth, immediately twisting in a way that seemed unnatural

It opened its beak, a power building inside before being unleashed, a pulse of energy flying out. Shelby flinched as nearly the force of it rang over Katstar. The heroine was knocked back, skidding across the grass. Shelby didn't notice the amount of that energy which washed over her, a rush of adrenaline beating in her veins.

There was another one of those terrible screeches, and Shelby watched in horror as the Sentivulture made to pounce, where Katstar laid still. Before she knew what she was doing, Shelby found herself standing, running at the battle. She threw herself at the sentimonster, her skin buzzing with the contact. The feathers and muscles felt weird underneath her hands, and the bird squawked in surprise, then started to hiss.

Another blast rang through the bird's body. Shelby's hands tightened involuntarily. She could see the energy seeping out of her body, but could feel nothing but a strange humming. Her hands appeared to get blurry in front of her, but the vulture's feathers remained in focus.

Time seemed to stop for a moment, then resumed just as quickly. Katstar was yelling something that Shelby couldn't hear over the Sentivulture's hissing. Her grip loosened, and Shelby could feel herself slipping off of the bird and onto the grass. She sat there numbly as the bird took off, a trail of energy still drawn between them even as it flew out of sight.

"-you alright? Shelby? Shelby!" Distantly, Shelby wondered where the hero had heard her name, but that thought slipped away before she could think on it more. Finally, the girl shook back into herself, Katstar kneeling in front of her. The heroine relaxed slightly as she stirred. "Thank goodness. I was getting worried. Don't do that."

Shelby squinted, trying to get her hands to stop looking so blurry. When that didn't work, she turned back up to Katstar. "Do what?"

Katstar looked at her worriedly. "Don't try and tackle a magical vulture construct that's trying to steal your energy? That's what." Her voice softened as she glanced over her for injuries. "Are you alright? You still look a little fuzzy."

"I feel fuzzy." Shelby said. "But I'm fine. Nothing hurts. I guess whatever the vulture was doing didn't work."

"I... I wouldn't say that." Katstar's answer was hesitant. "There's energy coming off of you and it's distorting your appearance."

That got Shelby's attention. It wasn't just her hands that looked weird, it was the rest of her too. Katstar flicked open her baton, letting Shelby use the screen as a mirror. It looked like a picture with poor shading, or a video that had been edited. She looked blurry. "Huh."

Katstar sighed. "Thank you for your help. Please don't put yourself in danger. Especially not for me."

The girl shrugged in response. "Why not? You put yourself in danger for everyone, every time one of these attacks rolls around." Shelby started brushing off her clothes, absentmindedly passing her hand through the curls of pale energy still fluttering around and away from her.

"It's my duty as a hero." Katstar replied flatly. "I have powers and a super-suit. You're not allowed to get hurt protecting me when it's my job to protect you. I promise to keep you safe."

Later, Shelby would never understand what exactly possessed her to respond the way that she did. At the moment, it slipped out without thinking. "Me specifically?"

There was an odd, catlike sound coming from Katstar. Her feline ears twitched. "A hero shouldn't have favorites." She said lamely, then seemed to recover some of her typical charm. "But with you, Glowie, it's hard not to." It was silent for a moment as Shelby attempted to process this before Katstar spoke instead. "So let's get you somewhere safe until I can track down this Sentimonster."

"Wait a second," Shelby snapped back into focus. "Glowie?" She was still a touch distracted, but had made a firm decision in her heart.

Katstar shrugged, the part of her face visible without her mask tinged suspiciously pink. "You are literally glowing? I thought it fit."

Fair enough, Shelby supposed. "I see. In any way, I'm not leaving just yet. I think I can help." She held up a hand to stop Katstar's protest. "You can see the energy leaving me. Like, literally see it. We can track the sentimonster that way." Shelby looked earnestly into the other's star speckled eyes. "Let me help you."

The heroine hesitated. "You heard my promise. I can't put you in danger." Katstar looked back into her own determined gold eyes for a moment before relenting. "I suppose. But stay close and stay out of any fighting."

"I'll be fine." Shelby assured her, heart still thrumming for several reasons. "Let's go catch you a bird, Catty."

Katstar's fabric-like tail was swishing behind her, a smirk finding its way back onto her face. "Who says I'm catching it for myself?" Katstar pulled Shelby to her side, wrapping an arm around her. "Maybe this cat has an ulterior motive, Glowie." Shelby tried to ignore how hard she was blushing as the heroine expanded her baton, sending them both into the air in the direction that her energy still trailed.

The Sentivulture wasn't that hard to find. Aside from the literal trail that led the way, the news was keeping track of it. It was also keeping track of Katstar's following, taking easy note of Shelby as the well known hero half carried her across the city. Still, with the way that the energy buzzing from her skin distorted her appearance, the cameras didn't stand a chance to pick up her features. Shelby couldn't help but be relieved to see this.

The two didn't talk much as Katstar made her way, aside from Shelby pointing in the right direction, and Katstar's incessant checks that she was alright. When they finally caught sight of the Sentivulture's large silhouette against the horizon, Shelby couldn't help but laugh.

Katstar laughed too, jumping to a building nearby to get closer to the bird's level. It seemed to be circling the area, and Shelby noticed Katstar's ears swiveling as she was set down. "There's someone hiding here." Katstar whispered to her, mood changed. "Stay here, Glowie."

Shelby nodded in agreement, pressing herself against a stone chimney. She wasn't sure if it was the literal sight of her energy leaving, but she was starting to feel drained. Still, it wasn't that big of a deal. She felt much less exhausted than after a long shift at work, so it was fine.

She watched as Katstar stealthily crept down the side of the building, avoiding the vulture's eyeline. Shelby absentmindedly thought it was kind of cute how her ears kept shifting as she tried to pinpoint where the other person was. The cat superheroine paused suddenly, then made a mad leap across the asphalt, just in time to avoid the Sentivulture's dive.

Shelby sat up straighter, watching, as Katstar spun her baton defensively. Behind her was a civilian she didn't know, crawling out from their hiding nook. The vulture made another dive, and got smacked by the still spinning shield that Katstar had made. She was saying something to the civilian, but Shelby couldn't hear it, especially not over the vulture screeching. Still, she wasn't all that surprised to see Katstar jump backwards, wrap an arm about them, and spring upwards.

She gave the civilian a friendly wave as Katstar sprang over her, depositing them on the ground at the other side of the building. Shelby could hear their quiet thanks before they ran off, and Katstar returned to Shelby's side.

As Katstar spun her staff to block another one of the Sentivulture's attacks, Shelby turned to her. "We found the sentimonster. What next?"

Katstar didn't pause in her defense, but she turned to answer Shelby anyway. "Well, we find the item with the amok in it. Or, we find Chromia- Khromatic. We could also try and find where Khromatic is. He's bound to be about somewhere if his amok is, and defeating him would also work."

"Makes sense," Shelby nodded. "What's the plan?"

As she asked, she felt a pulse of energy be leached from her body. She wobbled unsteadily, suddenly lightheaded. Katstar yelped, reaching to catch her before Shelby fell. The Sentimonster took its opportunity, dive bombing them both. They both went tumbling off of the rooftop.

Shelby landed on top of Katstar, much to her embarrassment. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, blushing hard. Then, Katstar raised her arms to form a shield with her staff again, Shelby still in between them. Shelby wondered how it was possible to start turning even more red.

She was quickly pulled from these thoughts as Katstar suddenly faltered in her movements. Shelby glanced to the side to see that the Sentivulture had managed to slip under the shield, and had a grip on Katstar's arm. So, she did the most obvious thing that Shelby could think of. She rolled over into a squat, picked up a fallen tree branch, and bonked the vulture construct in the head.

It reared back, hissing dangerously. Shelby could see another yellow feather forming on its chest, and she impulsively snatched it. It burned under her fingertips, strangely weighted, but she could see the energy from it flowing back, over her and Katstar. Her weird stance collapsed under her and Shelby was left sitting on the ground.

For her part, Katstar leapt to her feet, freeing her arm from the vulture's grasp. She extended her baton, slamming the end into the Sentivulture's body. She leapt forward at it, once again searching. For the amok, Shelby figured.

The bird managed to shake her loose and started flying off, but this time Katstar was hot on its non-existent heels. At least, once she had helped Shelby to her feet and wrapped an arm around her again. Then she was off.

It was much easier to keep track of the vulture now. It seemed to be flying in a direction this time, instead of wandering for an unsuspecting victim. For some reason, it was also flying slower, somewhat imbalanced. Still, it kept flying, not giving them the chance to engage again.

That is, until the Sentivulture slowed, drifting down into another closed off nook. Katstar balanced them both on her staff to observe what exactly it was doing. There was a clump of something that the sentimonster landed on and its body was flickering, the yellow feathers falling off and regrowing bone white once again. It didn't notice the two of them as it took flight once more, off into the distance.

Katstar made no effort to follow it. She carefully dropped both of them nearby, turning to Shelby. "The amok could be in that nest-feather pile. I'm going to take a look." Shelby nodded in response. She stepped back as the heroine knelt down by the feathers, sifting through them.

Shelby could have sworn that she heard something nearby. She glanced up, warily searching the sky for the Sentivulture's large wingspan. Instead, a flash of blue caught her eye. She was just opening her mouth to say something to Katstar when a turquoise gloved hand caught her arm.

She yelped and turned half around in time for the stranger to pick her up and leap. Snapped out of her shock, Shelby started flailing, slamming her elbows back. "Catty!" She shouted, trying to get Katstar's attention.

The heroine turned, but not fast enough. Shelby could see Katstar's mouth moving, but her cry was lost in the wind and impact of her captors leap. Khromatic, for it could be none else but the peacock villain, ran across the rooftops, Shelby in his arms. His dark blue coat flapped with the movement, golden eyespots catching the light.

Terrified for her life, but at the same time quite frustrated, Shelby turned to look him in the face. Khromatic was heterochromatic, with one golden eye and one blue behind a smooth feathered magenta mask. It was lined in gold, and had a golden beak shape over his nose. His eyes widened when hers met them, as if he was realizing something Shelby didn't care to consider. "Hey!" Shelby slammed her fist against his teal and magenta suited chest, below the gleaming peacock pin. "Put me down." When he didn't respond, still looking at her strangely, she sighed in frustration.

He shook himself and raised an eyebrow that was the same cyan as his hair. "That kind of day, huh?" His voice had an accent she couldn't place, even though it seemed familiar.

Shelby shrugged from her place as a supervillain's hostage/kidnapee. "There's been ups and downs. School was awful but I got to spend the afternoon with this girl I have a crush on." She ignored Khromatic's raised eyebrow, choosing to level a glare at him. "We were having a picnic before you and your supervillainy so rudely interrupted us."

"So sorry about interrupting your date." Khromatic apologized playfully. "But I am a villain after all. A rather effective and attractive one, as I've been told."

Khromatic tripped over an uneven rooftop, stumbling for a moment while Shelby held on to his shoulders for dear life. Shelby spoke up as soon as he regained his footing. "First of all, it wasn't a date. We were just hanging out. Secondly, I disagree."

"On me being attractive? Don't swing that way?" Khromatic asked with a smirk. "We can be lesbian gay solidarity then."

Shelby rolled her eyes. "You sound like my friend. He's the President of the Rainbow League at my school. No, my point is that you're not a very effective villain." She held up a hand to silence his protest. "You're discussing your hostage's love life with them. I'm not certain, but that doesn't sound like top tier villainy to me."

There was a beat, and then Khromatic burst out laughing. "You're not wrong." He seemed about to say more when he suddenly stopped, face contorting in pain as an odd thing showed on his face. He winced, then set Shelby down. Before she could say or do anything, Khromatic crumpled to his knees, clutching the rim of his hat in agony. It was the same dark blue as his coat, lined in gold, with an odd looking peacock feather. She could hear him muttering "I know, I know, I'll get it done," through clenched teeth. Shelby stood there awkwardly, wondering if she should try to help or just take the opportunity to run.

She chose the former, cautiously approaching the literal supervillain. He had stopped talking, but was breathing quickly and heavily, eyes screwed shut.

"Are you alright?" Shelby asked, stopping in front of him. When he didn't respond, she knelt down, gently touching his hand. Khromatic's eyes flared open, and for a second they were both gold, then both blue, before flickering back to his normal heterochromia. He took a deep breath, then reached up with stilted movements. The pain seemed to return to him full force, but Shelby watched Khromatic grit his teeth and move anyways, grabbing something from the sharp looking gold scales/feathers that encircled his upper arm. Khromatic pushed the item into Shelby's hand before going tense, body locking up.

Shelby had no idea what to make of any of this. She clutched whatever it was she had been given, noting slightly sharp edges that dug into her palm. They both sat in silence for a moment before Khromatic sprang up again. He stood in front of her, his sharp feathered fan spread threateningly as he stared at the incoming Katstar.

The heroine literally growled at him, holding out her own baton as she reached the rooftop they were on. "Let her go." She spat out, her pupils more catlike than usual.

"Now why would I do that, Katstar?" Khromatic asked, voice full of snark. "Besides, "Glowie" here doesn't belong to you. You sound very problematic right now."

Shelby watched Katstar's pupils widen back to their normal as she stood up straight, out of her half prowl. "Excuse me?" The heroine asked, a mix of offended and plain confused her. "You kidnapped someone! You're the one who's problematic."

Khromatic partially mirrored her in relaxing his fighting stance a little. He smirked. "What can I say? Everyone likes a bad boy. I'm the problematic fave."

Katstar's response sounded resigned, and Shelby was suddenly hit with the impression that the two of them had had this argument before. "There's a difference between a supervillain and a bad boy."

"Is there?" Khromatic asked with false curiosity. "Please, explain such a difference." Katstar just gave an exasperated sigh.

Shelby elected to ignore whatever the response to that was, in favor of inspecting whatever was in her hand. It seemed to be a jagged lozenge shaped shard of glass. It was clearly stained brown, but it reflected gold no matter how Shelby tilted it. She looked back up in time to see Khromatic shudder, before he brandished his fan at Katstar again. He risked a swift glance at Shelby before slicing at Katstar.

Katstar tilted her baton to block the hit, taking a step back from the impact. She took a swing herself, to which Khromatic to twirl out of the way. Her extended baton hit a broom leaning against a service door, causing it to clatter to the ground.

Khromatic leapt from where he stood, his coat flaring dramatically behind him again. He slashed with his fan, right where Katstar's neck was. She leaned backwards, underneath the swing, then sprung up again. She used her baton to propel herself forward, swiping at Khromatic with her claws. He held up his fan in front of the blow, closing it around her fist and twisting. Katstar yelped, trying to grab it with her entangled hand. Khromatic twisted again, and they both went tumbling to the ground.

Shelby could have sworn that Khromatic made eye contact with her again as they fell. She tore herself away from the fight, looking back down at the glass shard in her hand. There was an odd dark purple shimmer that ran over it, and a white eyed skull stared back at her where her reflection should have been. Shelby dropped the shard in surprise, the sound of it hitting the rooftop muffled by the battle still occurring.

She looked up again, seeing the two still locked in battle. Neither seemed to have the upper hand, but also neither of them seemed interested in actually hurting the other. Shelby knew from the vulture that Katstar could have been hitting harder, and Khromatic looked like he was fighting with himself every time he moved. She looked back at the golden shard where it lay, and it felt like something clicked into place.

Mind made up, Shelby reached for the broom that had fallen over earlier. She picked it up, pointing the side with the bristles up. Her hands trembled slightly as she lifted the broomstick above the shard, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. Shelby slammed the broom down with all of the strength in her small and currently magically altered body. It impacted the glass shard with a crack, followed by a ringing sound. A crack formed along the glass, before it splintered into pieces, crumbling before her eyes.

From where they were fighting, Khromatic froze, then fell to his knees. Katstar looked over at Shelby, taking in the broom she held and what looked like a heap of ashen mud below it. They both stared as a dark butterfly squeezed its way out of the pile, fluttering into the air. Debris and darkness dripped off of it as it made a loop around the broomstick. The butterfly was pure white by the time it gently perched on Shelby's wrist. It stayed there for a moment, light as air, then fluttered up, off into the distance.

Chapter Text

For a moment, all was still. Then Khromatic groaned, and Shelby watched a similar darkness slide off of him as well. His appearance changed, coat becoming teal with multicolored spots that looked much more like flowers than eyes. The rest of his suit nearly inverted, becoming a dark indigo noticeably different from the blue of before. The feather accents became more magenta, more feathery and flower petal-y, no longer smooth or almost scale-like. His mask was also extravagantly multicolored, mainly teal. His hat took on a patchwork appearance of colors and Shelby finally realized what had felt so odd about the feather it had before. This one actually looked like a peacock feather, instead of a feather-like antennae shape.

Katstar looked back at him, leaning down to help him up. "Hi, Chromia." Shelby blinked, noticing the obvious change in behavior for both of them.

He took the offered help, rubbing his face and squinting. "Hi Katstar. My head hurts." He complained with a huff.

“Can I ask what’s going on?” Shelby risked an interruption, incredibly confused. Both Katstar and Khromatic? Chromia? Turned to look at her. She gasped. “You aren’t heterochromatic anymore.”

It was true, both of his eyes were the same color of blue. The peacock miraculous wielder shrugged. “But I’m still not heterosexual, so…”

Katstar laughed, lightly elbowing him. She focused her attention on Shelby, who dropped the broom. “Oh, I forget that the public doesn’t exactly know. You should probably keep this quiet, Glowie.”

Shelby nodded. “Alright, but what is it? Catty.” She added the last part at the end, ignoring the way that Khromatic/Chromia raised an eyebrow at them both.

“Well,” Katstar started. “There are several Miraculous beyond mine, the Black Cat, and Chromia’s, the Peacock. One of these is the Butterfly Miraculous. In the hands of good, it can be used to grant courage and abilities to those fighting honorably. But in the hands of evil-”

“-It turns you into a mind controlled supervillain.” Chromia finished. “You keep a lot of your personality and being, but your morals are twisted terribly. Attempts to break free are met with an enforcement of will that causes physical pain. You cause harm to others because you don’t have another choice.”

“Oh.” Shelby said simply. This made things make a lot more sense. The idea that the villain Khromatic was a mind controlled version of the neutral Chromia really contextualized the situation. Shelby blinked as she absorbed this information, then shrugged. “Okay then.”

Katstar nodded. “This control of the Butterfly Miraculous is linked to an item. When destroyed, this breaks the link between wielder and champion, or in this case, victim. That’s what that thing you smashed with a broom was. I’ve never heard of the butterfly being cleansed so easily before, but none of us know enough to question it, so…”

Shelby thought about the butterfly, the way that her weird energy still surrounding her had stilled in its presence. Her heart rate had slowed at its light touch, even if it was back to racing as Katstar offered a gloved hand to help her up. Her energy wisped away from her as she stood, brushing herself off from habit. Katstar squeezed her hand, searching her face. She smiled wistfully.

“I am sorry, Glowie.” The heroine apologized softly. “I’m supposed to be protecting you, but that doesn’t seem to be working very well.”

Shelby smiled softly. “I’m fine, Catty.” Once again, her golden eyes met star filled ones. “Really, I am. Everything turned out alright.”

“Still.” Katstar insisted. “Let me make it up to you somehow. Cat’s honor and all.” She threw in a wink with the last line, gently pressing her forehead to the hand that she held.

Just as Shelby felt her face start to heat up again, Chromia coughed. “As cute as you two are, there is still a sentimonster rampaging about the city. And I’m too pretty to deal with it by myself.”

Katstar stood up, flushed, and nodded quickly. “Right, of course. Back to business. Do you happen to know where the amok is for this one?”

Chromia shook his head. “No. Well, kind of? It’s in his hands so that I wouldn’t break it the second I had any control over my body like last time.”

“I had wondered what that was.” Katstar commented. “Then what can we do to stop it?”

“Well…” Chromia contemplated. “I can remove the power from it. At least, if it sits still I can. Not much I can do if it’s all over the place. Like someone’s affections.” His second sentence was ignored as something occurred to Shelby.

She looked up, a smile forming across her face. “You mean… We have to go catch a bird?” She giggled.

Katstar laughed with her. “Cat-ch a bird, you mean.” Chromia rolled his eyes and was duly ignored this time as well. “Lead the way, Glowie.”
Once again, Shelby found herself following her own energy across the city with a superhero. This time was a little different; Chromia was there, which was a good thing. Also, this time, instead of pulling Shelby close, Katstar picked her up in her arms as they traveled.

Chromia took note of this with a smug grin. “Are you jealous that I got to hold her before you did? It’ll be alright.”

Katstar raised an eyebrow on her flushed face. “Once again, you kidnapped her. That doesn’t count.”

The two of them devolved into bickering as they moved, Shelby resolving not to comment on this conversation topic. Surprisingly, today wasn’t the first time she had been carried around like this. Sometime last year, she had sprained her ankle falling down the school’s stairs. Katherine had found her collapsed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs and easily picked her up, carrying her to the nurse. That was about when Shelby fell in love- really started crushing on her. So perhaps this method of travel was a little strange, but it was nice, so Shelby wasn’t going to complain.

She was brought out of her thoughts when Katstar slowed to a stop. Chromia was staring ahead, holding his hand up to block the late afternoon sun. They had tracked the vulture down to an empty, decrepit parking lot. If Shelby remembered correctly, a rainstorm had caused rockslide damage to the area and nobody ever bothered to clean up a parking lot that no one used. It would work great for a superhero battle though.

“So, what’s the plan on getting the birdie to sit still?” Chromia asked, keeping his eyes on the figure of the vulture as it picked its way across the lot, searching for something.

“Well…” Katstar started before faltering. “I’m not sure. You got anything Glowie?”

Shelby paused to think, and Chromia interrupted the resulting quiet with a snicker. “You can put her down now Katstar.”

Katstar, who seemed to have forgotten that she was still holding Shelby, carefully set her down. “Uh huh.” She squeaked.

Taking a moment to get her bearings upon being set down, Shelby suddenly brightened. “I might have an idea of a plan of something.”

Chromia tilted his head to show he was listening. “Let’s hear it then.”

Shelby did what Shelby did well. She rambled. “Well, first of all, we need someone to distract the vulture so it doesn’t move on while we’re here, we can confront it here. The only time it seems to sit still is when it is taking someone’s energy, but we don’t want that to happen, so we’ll have to catch it. Hold it in a net or something and I know there’s a lot of debris in the area, so maybe there’s something that’ll help? I don’t know for certain but it seems likely. So then if Chromia can distract the bird, keep it focused on him, then Katstar and I catch it, and then Chromia can remove the power. Does any of this make sense or am I…” She slowed. “Sorry, I’m rambling.”

Katstar looked slightly awed, lost in her own head. Chromia shook his and spoke. “No need to apologize. It’s cute, as I’m sure Katstar would agree.”

Said Katstar shook her head, sending Shelby a reassuring smile. “He’s right, don’t apologize. But I think your plan sounds great! As long as we can find something in the debris. Or else, we might have to use Chromia’s ever so stylish coat.”

Chromia gasped in faux horror. “Absolutely not. We are not sacrificing my cute outfit for a bird. It would clash with the vulture anyways, so it doesn’t deserve it.” Katstar giggled in response, which sounded pretty cute to Shelby. Chromia sighed. “I’ll distract the real bird while you lovebirds look around. Just give me a heads up when you’re going to do something.”

He turned and broke into a sprint, trying to punch the Sentivulture. It reared up when his fist made contact with its back, pushing Chromia to the ground. Katstar looked away from the fight with a small smile. “Let’s get looking.”

Shelby nodded before turning herself to look about. She could vaguely see Katstar doing the same in her peripheral vision. There was plenty of debris to search and busied herself doing so. It seemed fruitless, and it didn’t take long until Shelby was doubting her whole plan and ideas. Then- Finally, something caught her eye. Shelby hurried over to the half buried silver rain tarp, tugging at the exposed edge.

It didn’t budge. Shelby frowned, realizing her issue. The tarp, which would work fantastically as a net to ensnare a magic vulture construct, was not just buried beneath rubble. It was in fact caught under a large boulder that she couldn’t think of moving on a day when she wasn’t physically losing energy.

“Need some help?” Shelby jumped slightly when Katstar appeared over her shoulder, having not heard any sort of approach. The girl blamed the cat powers as Katstar continued speaking. “Did you find something?”

She shook her head, then nodded. “There’s a tarp, but I can’t get it from under that rock.” Shelby gestured to said rock in order to complete her point.

Katstar nodded contemplatively before breaking into a grin. “I got this.” She stated calmly, then approached the boulder. “Cataclysm!” Shelby stared in fascination as the energy of pure destruction gathered about Katstar’s hand. The heroine touched said hand to the boulder and they both watched it crumble with some level of satisfaction. Katstar took an exaggerated bow.

“That was amazing!” Shelby told her, kneeling down to pick up the tarp. Katstar took up the other side, then reached over to take Shelby’s side as well. Shelby let her do so without protest. “You ready?” Katstar nodded, to which Shelby nodded back. They both got distracted for a moment nodding at each other before Shelby snapped out of it. “Good-” She muttered, then turned to where Chromia was still engaged in what truly looked like a fistfight with a bird. “Chromia!”

He looked over at them in acknowledgement, then turned back to the Sentivulture. Katstar used her baton to spring forward, the tarp unfolded in her arms. She threw, and her aim was true. The Sentivulture squawked in pure monstrous fury, but remained entangled where it was.

Shelby approached the two of them where they stood. Chromia had a hand half extended, face scrunched in concentration. Katstar glanced at the vulture and then back, just as something happened. The Sentivulture began to dissolve in front of their eyes. Yellow feathers became energy once more, dissipating through the air back to wherever it had been taken from, plenty washing over Shelby. It gave one last terrible hiss and then the vulture was gone, as if it had never been there in the first place.

The three of them stood for a moment, none of them saying anything. Shelby was still getting used to having the feeling back in her fingertips, and her body no longer being hazy. Then, a difficult-to-ignore beeping rang out. Katstar shrugged sheepishly, and they all could see the fading paw print on her ring.

“I have to go.” Katstar nodded to Chromia, before kneeling down in front of Shelby. She took her hand and kissed the knuckles gently. “Till next we meet, Glowie.” With that and another insistent beep, Katstar took a running start, and pole vaulted away, off into the distance. Leaving just Chromia and Shelby side by side.

After a moment of awkward silence, Chromia coughed. “Sorry for kidnapping you.” His tone was sarcastically begrudging. “I won’t do it again.”

That got a laugh out of Shelby. “I’ll believe it when I see it. Or at least, when you stop discussing relationships with whoever you end up kidnapping next time.”

“No promises.” Chromia easily replied. “Speaking of that, do you think your picnic is still on after my little interruption?”

Shelby brightened at the thought. “I hope so.” She groaned as something occurred to her. “It’s going to take forever to get back to the park though.”

Chromia shook his head. “Truly a tragedy.” He waited a moment for dramatic effect. “I’ll take you.”

“Thank you!” Shelby chirped. For seemingly the dozenth time today, she was carried across the city. Not exactly what she thought was going to happen when she woke up this morning, but it is what it is.

Indeed, it is the joy of seeing the park quickly approaching, and a familiar girl in a pink dress looking about it. It’s the whispered “Good luck with your crush” as Chromia’s parting words before he leaps off. It’s the way that Katherine fretting over her made her heart pound more than anything with her vulture adventure. Or how her thoughts couldn’t help but drift back to Katstar, her knuckles tingling with a phantom sensation. It is the way that her heart and mind whirled, Chromia’s words echoing within. It’s a realization.

Shelby has been in love with Katherine for a while. Now she’s also falling for Katstar. It’s an “Oh no.”