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A Different Chloe

Summary:

Have you ever wondered what your death would be like?

I always wondered how I'd die. Would it be old age? Get really hurt? Was it because of an accident or did I decide to be brave and play the hero? At least I can honestly say I didn't imagine that this was how I died. I could never guess that I would die because one of my classmates' Tuba knocked into me and pushed me off the rails, making me fall three floors down and land awkwardly on my neck, killing me instantly.

Now, if dying wasn't bad enough, I couldn't even stay dead. When I opened my eyes, I was being held by nurses. Obviously, I freaked out but that freak out was nothing when I realized I was now Chloe Bourgeois, the obligatory mean girl, daughter of the Mayor of Paris and the Style Queen, also known as Chloe from Miraculous Ladybug. Miraculous Ladybug: The Adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir, the show the brat was obsessed with.

What I wouldn't give to stay dead.

Chapter 1: Death and Rebirth

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Have you ever wondered what your death would be like?

I always wondered how I'd die. Would it be old age? Get really hurt? Was it because of an accident or did I decide to be brave and play the hero? At least I can honestly say I didn't imagine that this was how I died. I could never guess that I would die because one of my classmate's Tuba knocked into me and pushed me off the rails, making me fall three floors down and landing awkwardly on my neck, killing me instantly.

I liked my life, sure, my mom was a bit strict, my dad never understood that the shirts he was wearing weren't funny and my little sister was annoying and nosy but I loved them. Mom did her best to ingrain Japanese politeness and Chinese values into my brain and dad made the best Italian pasta from his family recipes and showed us Uncle Kim's videos from when he was still a K-pop trainee before he quit. The brat and I would watch her favorite shows and cover for each other when the other forgot to do their homework.

I had so many things I wanted to do. I wanted to go to the Swim Meet next week, the piano recital next month. I wanted to become a diplomat. I know what I want and how to get it. I already know seven languages: English, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Italian, and French. I could easily get a job as a translator at the very least but I died.

Now, if dying wasn't bad enough, I couldn't even stay dead. When I opened my eyes, I was being held by nurses. Obviously, I freaked out but that freak out was nothing when I realized I was now Chloe Bourgeois, the obligatory mean girl, daughter of the Mayor of Paris and the Style Queen, also known as Chloe from Miraculous Ladybug. Miraculous Ladybug: The Adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir, the show the brat was obsessed with.

What I wouldn't give to stay dead.

Notes:

Even if you hate bullet point things, at least read chapter 16, it's my first idea when I create this.

Chapter 2: Playing with Adrien and Meeting Mother

Chapter Text

It took me three years to wrap my head around everything. Mainly me being born in place of the third biggest annoyances in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom. Which isn't necessarily Chloe's fault, the writers just ripped away all her character development but she's still annoying because of it. At least I knew what I was going to do with my life, I was going to take over the hotel and become Mayor of Paris like dad is. 

I was planning to con dad- I mean convince dad into letting me take a lot of language classes, a few Gymnastic classes, and Mixed Martial Arts classes. Languages because it was and still is my passion and I can cover myself if I slip into another language. Gymnastics and Mixed Martial Arts for self-defense and just in case I get chosen for the Bee Miraculous like Canon!Chloe. I was really lucky to be reborn as a healthy female like I was in my last life. 

I was also really lucky to be born with Eidetic Memory, or photographic memory, which basically means I can remember anything I see. Of course, it's more complicated than that but that's the basic description. I doubt Canon!Chloe has this but I will take it and not question it.

Today, I was being dragged to visit the Agreste family whom I met during one of many galas for a playdate with Adrien. There wasn't much two three-year-olds could do so I just spent the whole day asking Adrien to show me around so he could tire himself out and, since the building is so big, pass the time by doing basically nothing.

Adrien was just showing me his room, talking about his favorite toy car his mom bought for him from the USA when Nathalie entered

"Miss Chloe, it is time for you to return home." Nathalie said.

"Okay!" I said standing up before turning to Adrien, "I had fun, Adrien, but I need to go home now!"

"What?! Why? Can't you stay?" Adrien asked sadly.

"No, I need to go home. I'll visit again?"

"Okay…." Adrien pouted, "Promise?"

"Promise." I nodded. 

I knew how to play this game, it took Viola until she was twelve when she finally figured out how I was playing her. Adrien, the sheltered Sunshine Child he was, will probably take even longer than that to figure it out.

Nathalie guided us to the foyer where Jean, my personal butler, Adrien's father, Gabriel, and Adrien's mother, Emilie, were waiting for us. His mother hugged Adrien and started carrying him while Jean took my hand.

"Did you have fun, Chloe?" Emile asked sweetly in a motherly tone.

"Yes, I had a lot of fun. Thank you for letting me come." I said politely. I may dumb down my vocabulary but I was not going to dumb it down that much.

"That's great, feel free to come again. Just make sure to have someone call in case we aren't around, okay?"

"Yes!"

Jean bowed to Gabriel and Emilie before leading me out of the house to the limo that was parked in the parking lot.

"Bye bye!" Adrien waved as I walked away with Jean.

"Bye!" I said back, smiling and waving.

Little Adrien may be a brat but he was a Sunshine Brat. Cute baby but only time will tell how he will end up in the future.

"Did you have fun, miss?" Jean asked.

"Mmm… I think so!" I replied, drinking my chocolate milk.

"Miss."

"Yes?"

"Your father has told me to tell you that your mother is coming to visit and she will be bringing along your little half-sister for you to meet."

"Okay!" I said sweetly as I inwardly frowned.

I know Canon!Chloe's mom was absent for most of her life and had an affair or something with some guy which resulted in her half-sister being born just a few months apart but now that I lived it, I could tell why Chloe became such a brat. However, I will refrain from casting judgment until I actually meet my mother.

Before I knew it, I was being ushered into a room. There I saw a woman sitting on a chair with a small two-year-old sitting by her feet, near them, I saw my dad standing near her, catering to her every need like a simpleton.

It's obvious that dad loves her but the woman was barely giving him any attention. Honestly, this was just embarrassing to look at.

"Ah, Chloe dear, come meet your mother and your half-sister, Zoe." Dad said, beckoning me towards him.

"Hello." I said, smiling.

"Hawo!" Zoe greeted, smiling, her face covered in cake.

"Eh, hello Claud- Cath- Chloe." My mother greeted me before turning to dad, "Anthony- I mean Andre, go get me my drink!"

"Yes dear, of course dear." Dad said before running off.

Mother then turned her attention back onto me, "What is with that outfit?! Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! That outfit is utterly hideous! You're fired!"

"Okay!" I said, cheerfully, playing the part of the stupid child as I plopped onto the ground and took out my coloring book and crayons.

I could tell how Chloe got as mean as she was, especially with the first meeting being like that. Seeing her dad, the person she probably idolized act like that to her mother and her mother disapproving of her the second they met must have given her some deep-rooted trauma. Especially after hearing the loving tone that Emilie used to address her and Adrien.

The first meeting with her mother and every subsequent meeting after must have taught her that she needed to please her mother and that only by acting like her mother would she be able to get her dad's attention because of how he would drop everything for her mother when he's usually too busy to do anything with her.

I can confidently say that I didn't like Audrey Bourgeois. 

Audrey is a bossy and demanding woman who only accepts what she wants and is 'exceptional' by her standards. I know for a fact that she has no problem causing a fuss for those who do not meet her demands and she has a fierce, explosive temper and will get upset over minor things, as shown in the show when Audrey got angry about the red carpet not being made of marble-like she asked. I can honestly say I would never like her.

She treats dad like dirt and he still loves her. He overlooks the bastard child that Mother brought with her without a second thought. Mother doesn't deserve her dad but dad still loves her. For dad, I will play nice but she is nothing to me other than a blood relative. Nothing more, nothing less.

I glanced at Zoe, a maid who had already cleaned up her face. Right now, Zoe seems like a good girl but she's still too young to have a real personality. I will reserve judgment for Zoe until she gets a few years older because I don't know what she might become.

"What you doing?" Zoe asked, crawling towards me.

"Coloring." I replied simply, "You wanna try?"

"Yeah!"

I passed over some of my crayons and gave her one of my spare coloring books before returning to my picture. I was currently colouring a picture of a family that had a father, a mother, a son, and a daughter. I coloured the father and daughter like it was dad and me but I coloured the mother into a demon and changed the son into another daughter. It felt fitting to do so since it now actually resembled my family.

"Look! Look!" Zoe called out and I looked at her.

Zoe had broken a good number of crayons and instead of coloring in the lines, she just made a mess on the pages. If I knew this was going to happen I would have given her my old crayons and just given her regular paper, not my spare coloring book!

"Zoe! What are you doing?! Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! Look at your shirt! You have crayon marks on your shirt!" Mother yelled before snapping at one of the maids, "You! Go get Zin-Za-Zoe cleaned this instant!"

"Yes ma'am, right away ma'am." The maid bowed before taking Zoe away.

"Jean, can you get someone to clean the broken crayons and to buy me new ones? Along with a new coloring book." 

"Yes, of course Miss." 

I looked back at the carnage. I could tell why Canon!Chloe hadn't liked Zoe so much. If she had her crayons broken and her colouring books ruined by Zoe, she would be really mad. That didn't even account for the fact that the only thing her mother cared about was the crayon markings on Zoe's clothing instead of Chloe's ruined belongings.

She didn't even give me a few token words. If I was really a three-year-old child, I would be really upset and she doesn't do anything. I guess I was hoping too much that I'd have a perfect family again, but I can live with this. I have a dad that loves me like a normal dad would love their child, I don't need a mother to be happy.

I will become the Mayor of Paris and because I will be the Mayor, I will be a Queen. A Queen that won't bow to anyone's whims, a Queen that doesn't need anyone else's approval but her own, a Queen that knows exactly what she wants and how to get it.

Chapter 3: Meeting Sabrina

Chapter Text

I have never liked school, but I also never disliked it either. It was just something I had to do, something I had to get through, to further my dreams and ambitions. However, I can confidently say that I hate school right now. I started late, in grade 3 because dad wanted to keep me safe since there was an attempted kidnapping when I tried to go to school the first time.

It wasn't even the fact that I had to sit in a classroom and listen to the teacher talk about things I already knew, it was the fact that they were fawning all over me. From the janitors to even the principal, they were acting like I was some princess that would reward them for praising me and ruin them if they offend me.

No wonder Canon!Chloe got so spoiled. Surrounded by all these sycophants, it would take a miracle for her to become a nice, normal (well, nice isn't exactly a requirement to be normal) girl. I did not like it.

"Ah! Chloe, your hair looks lovely today." M Monet said.

"Thank you sir."

"Ah, Chloe, here, the new art book to replace your ruined one. Jonathan was very sorry for dropping paint onto your old one." Mme Laurent

"Thank you, but please tell him it's alright."

"Chloe, does your father mind if we go on a field trip to the zoo or should we change it to a field trip to the museum?"

"Whatever was decided by the Board is fine."

I started mentally tagging them, writing down all their faults as educators onto a document. I will fill in reports on them if they don't get better or it goes further than compliments, like telling me what's on tests, giving me free stuff, or ignoring bullies. To get away, I found myself the perfect lunch/hiding spot. It was in a mostly abandoned hall that looked out at everything, I could see into the cafeteria, many classrooms, the gym, and the courtyard. It was mostly abandoned since it's only used after school for clubs.

I was turning the corner to go to my lunch spot when I saw a group of older kids picking on a familiar-looking orange-haired girl.

"Orange! An ugly orange!"

"You think you're so smart, don't cha, orange? Teacher's Pet!"

"Teacher's Pet! Teacher's Pet!"

I couldn't believe what I was seeing or hearing. For one thing, things like this never happened in my last life. I mean seriously, crowding a kid to bully them with taunts is just cliche. Another thing, the taunts. Those are just… really? Are those the best they could do? They are childish and overused in the media.

Snapping myself out of my disbelief, I marched over and started yelling.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" I yelled.

"None of your business little girl!" One of them yelled, and honestly, so cliche and cringy. Did they really just say that?

"Ah! It's Chloe Bourgeois!" 

"The Mayor's daughter?!"

"We need to get out of here!"

The group quickly ran off but I took a picture of them before they disappeared so I could report them. Then I turned my attention to the girl on the floor, there were still tears on her face but she looked up at me with wonder.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly, kneeling down so we were at eye level.

"Y-yes! T-thank you!" The girl squeaked, "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, are you able to stand?" I asked, holding my hand out.

"Y-yeah!" The girl exclaimed, taking my hand and I pulled her up.

"Good, now, let's go report them." I said pulling the girl along but she pulled away.

"I… I can't." The girl whispered.

"Why?" I asked, I had a feeling I wasn't going to like this.

"I… I tried the first time but nothing happened… They said that they would get bored soon and did nothing…." The girl whispered sadly.

I frowned. That was not good. That was not good at all. Turning a blind eye to bullying wasn't right. I can't do anything about the unwanted flattery and sucking up but this, this was something I could report.

"Fine. Then I will take this up with the Board of Education and my father." I said, reworking my plan.

"Y-you don't have to! You already did so much for me, I can't let you go through all that trouble for me!"

"It's really no trouble at all. I've been planning on reporting all the people in this school for a while now, you're just helping my case." I said, trying to reassure the girl.

"Oh… you have?"

"Yes, I have." I said, taking out my phone and opening the Voice Recording app, "Can I get your name, recount of what happened, everything the bullies ever did to you, how you tried to get help, and how your plea was ignored?"

"Y-yes! My name is Sabrina Raincomprix and…" Sabrina recounted everything in great detail, as she did so, my mind finally realized why the girl looked so familiar, she was Canon!Chloe's lackey and loyal follower Sabrina.

After getting the confession from Sabrina, I saved the recording and started making my way to my lunch spot. After walking a bit, I turned around and saw Sabrina just standing there.

"Well?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

"W-what?"

"Aren't you coming?" I asked.

Sabrina's face lit up and scampered after me, "Y-yes!"

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Sabrina quickly became my friend, or at least my follower. I was still working on that. She needed more confidence but I'll shelf that project for now. Over the next two weeks, I used Sabrina as a soundboard to bounce ideas off of and managed to wrangle her input of some of my plans. Her being the daughter of a police officer is a lot of help.

We spent another two weeks creating an Anti-Bullying Law. As strange as two eight-year-olds creating a new law sounds, actually, it is strange, which is why we didn't do it. While we didn't create a draft bill, we did write up a list of what counts as bullying, what are the consequences of bullying, what a bystander could do, and how certain rules are allowed to be bent in the name of collecting evidence of bullying.

"N-not that I don't like this idea, but a-are you sure about this?" Sabrina asked once we finished the final draft of our list.

I'm glad she started speaking her mind but when it comes to things like this, she should follow my lead and don't ask questions. On a side note, she needs to work on her delivery. It needs to be more confident.

"Yes. The teachers here are absolutely atrocious. They are turning a blind eye to bullying just because one of the bully's parents are rich and they pander to my every whim like thirty dogs trying to get onto my good side. Those are not good qualities to have when you are an educator, or when you want to be a decent human being." I scoffed, "We need to get them out of the way before they mess someone up. For god's sake, they shouldn't be trusted with children!"

"How will they mess someone up?"

"When they tell you to put up with the bullying because the bullies will leave you alone sooner or later, they're basically telling you that if something bad happens to you, just keep it to yourself because no one will help you. That kind of mentality is both bad and very dangerous." I explained, "If you end up in a bad situation that you need to get out of but you think that you have to stay quiet, you will stay quiet and suffer."

"Oh…."

"Of course, that's an extreme example. Another possible scenario is-"

"What does 'scenario' mean again?" Sabrina interrupted.

"Scenario basically means an outline of a plot." I answered before continuing on with my explanation, "Another possible scenario is that the kids they are enabling, meaning the rich kids, would come to expect that they can get everything they want without doing anything or face any consequences for their actions. That is dangerous because they can get into a lot of hot water-"

"Hot water?"

"Basically a lot of trouble."

"Oh, okay."

"-if they don't clean up their act. So, even if the bullies will get angry that their so-called 'power' is gone, and the educators are going to lose their jobs, it's better for everyone in the long run. Who knows? Maybe the educators will get re-educated and re-employed? But that's up to them and that's not our problem."

Sabrina nodded, I could see the gears in her head already fitting everything together. Sabrina is very intelligent, her confidence was just stomped out due to the onslaught of bullying and her time with Canon!Chloe must not have been all that helpful either.

"I understand. Now what?" Sabrina asked.

"Now, we will go to your home to do our homework and have a sleepover. Then we talk to your dad about the list to get his idea."

"Oh right! Dad will love to help! He also wanted to meet you for a long time!" Sabrina smiled before she started panicking, "Oh no! I completely forgot about the sleepover! I mean, I already got their permission to have a sleepover but I completely forgot it was tonight! I-I have nothing planned!"

I let Sabrina panic for a few more seconds before grounding her, "Sabrina!"

"Yes?"

"Relax. It's fine if you have nothing planned for tonight, we're going to get the list out of the way and then we're going to have fun. You can always plan for things next time! Got it!"

"Yes." Sabrina said, calming down.

"Good. Now, let's go. Lunch is going to end soon."

After finishing our homework and getting the okay from Officer Roger about our list, Sabrina and I spent the entire night watching movies until we were told to sleep. I was quickly picked up by Jean to be brought back to the hotel because dad is still paranoid but I didn't mind. As soon as I got home, I made my way to dad's office,

It took a while but after showing him everything I complied, and all the evidence that could shut down the school entirely, dad agreed to get an Anti-Bullying Bill passed. A month later, the Anti-Bullying Law passed with a lot of praise under the name The Sabrina Act of Bullying Reduction, or the Sabrina Act for short.

Sabrina was so shocked and happy about getting a law named after her and her dad swore to uphold that law to the best of his ability for as long as he lived.

Chapter 4: Explaining Bullying to Naive Sunshine Child

Chapter Text

When everything was settled, I went to visit Adrien. I was still his only friend, mainly because he couldn't leave the house. The main reason I visited him was that I was bored and I didn't want to bother Sabrina today, and a tiny part of me felt bad about not visiting him at all since school started and forgetting about him until recently.

Another reason I was visiting Adrien was to get a legal document signed by Gabriel and Emilie before Emilie 'disappears' and Gabriels gets too controlling.

"Clo!" Adrien yelled as he ran towards me and gave me a hug.

"Hey, Addy." I greeted, I refuse to use the name 'Adrikens' even if I am held at gunpoint and forced to say it, but I needed to give Adrien a nickname or else he would get pouty about him giving me a nickname so I had to give him one.

"I missed you, it's been forever!" Adrien said, guiding me to his room, "How was school? Father still isn't letting me go, even with mother's asking. I really wanted to start school with you, you're so lucky! You can go make friends and play and-"

"Adddy, breath." I said, what am I going to do with this child?

"I am! It's just…" Adrien started to fidget, "I never go outside unless, you know, so I just really want to know!"

I sighed and petted Adrien's head, he really is a little puppy, "It's fine. Just ask one question at a time, okay? So, what do you want to know?"

Adrien perked up, "Did you make any new friends?"

"Yes." I answered, but seeing Adrien's face, I elaborated, "Her name is Sabrina Raincomprix and I saved her from some bullies."

"Really?! Like a superhero!" Adrien cheered.

I did my best not to twitch. Adrien, darling, my sunshine child, you are the one who will become a superhero when you go to high school.

"Not really, I was just doing what every good person should do, help." I explained.

Adrien nodded, clearly taking my words to heart, before frowning, "Why would people bully each other?"

"I don't have an answer for that, Adrien. Maybe they don't know what they're doing was wrong, maybe they just want to feel powerful, maybe they were raised that way, I don't know. However, what I do know is that you should never just stand by, you need to help whoever is hurting, okay?" 

"Okay!" Adrien said, determined, "How do you know someone is bullying someone? Are there different types of bullying? How can I help?"

I smiled at Adrien's eagerness to learn. Such an easy-to-please puppy.

"It's not always easy to figure out if someone is being bullied, outside of bruises and cuts from physical bullying, some people are really good at acting. If they look sad or depressed, then you should keep an eye on them and see if anyone approaches them. If they do get approached and they start looking worse while the person who got close walked away happy, then they were probably being bullied.

"There are six types of bullying: physical bullying, verbal bullying, relational aggression, cyberbullying, sexual bullying, and prejudicial bullying. Physical bullying is when the bully hits, kicks, etc, their victims. Verbal bullying is when the bully uses their words to make the victims feel bad about themselves. Relational aggression is when the bully isolates their victims socially. Cyberbullying is when the bully sends the victims hurtful messages online. Sexual bullying is when the bully uses the victims' gender or sexuality as a way to hurt them. Finally, prejudicial bullying is when the bully tries to gain control or overpower their victims by using hurtful and humiliating actions that target someone’s race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or disability

"To help, you can step in and stop them, like I did for Sabrina, or you can report it. If you see it happening in front of you, you can record it and hand it in as evidence. Get a responsible adult if you need help. There's a lot of other things you can do but those are the ones I think you should remember for when you finally go to school." 

After I finished my short lesson on bullying, I looked at Adrien. He was deep in thought. He looked a little pale but determined. I hope he remembers this lesson so he won't be such a doormat when Canon starts. I remember Lila bullying Marinette in Canon and Adrien basically doing nothing for her, both verbal bullying and relational aggression. 

Speaking of Marinette, I know she's in my school but I haven't seen her yet. I know that Canon!Chloe and Marinette had classes together four years in a row so I should be meeting her next year if everything is still going as the plot dictated.

"Oh, did I tell you about the law I helped Dad make?" I asked, trying to take his mind off of all the bad things he didn't know existed.

"No! You did that?" Adrien asked, excitedly, it seems my plan worked.

"Of course, who do you take me for? It's an Anti-Bullying Law, called the Sabrina Act. I named it after Sabrina since it was because of her that I thought up that law." I explained, "Hopefully, this will help reduce the number of victims of bullies."

We chatted about my days in class -mainly the mishaps, shenanigans, and overall funny moments my classmates had-, played with Adrien's newest video game and then watched some anime together. After that was all done and it was almost time for Jean to come to pick me up, I met up with Gabriel and Emilie.

"Hello, Chloe dear, what did you want to talk about?" Emilie asked.

"Can you sign this? Before you do, I have to tell you that it's a legal document, it's been approved by my dad's lawyer and everything." I said, handing over the papers.

"What is it, Miss Bourgeois?" Gabriel asked as he started reading it.

"It basically says that, as long as there is not any important photoshoot or emergency, I can bring Adrien out to the hotel to play, and I can come over and play." I explained, "I made this since I have a feeling that, because of school, I won't have any time to spend here or to arrange for Addy  to come over so this way, you can't stop me from taking him to play whenever I have time."

I thanked Tikki and Plagg that I was an adorable eight-year-old and for the universal thing about adults not taking kids seriously when both Gabriel and Emilie signed off on the document with a soft laugh on Emilie's part.

Thanking them, I waved goodbye to the Agreste family and entered the car, the document hugged tightly against my chest. I was going to get this document laminated, framed, and placed into a safe in my room. This was going to be my ticket on getting Adrien out of the house when Hawkmoth happens, I absolutely cannot lose it.

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As soon as everything was in place, I took control of the school's Anti-Bullying campaign with Sabrina as my right-hand woman. It wasn't that hard to do, since the pathetic excuses for adults were quick to pander to my every whim, and boy, did they regret it when I finished with my first purging of the school.

It took a week to create a team, and a month to document and record the things we saw, and go through the security cameras to gather evidence. It took another week and a half to get everything in order for the Board of Education. However, it was all worth it. In the short span of a week, I got the principal replaced, four teachers fired, five students expelled, seven students suspended, and three students into detention until their graduation. There was more but after all that, the people in charge decided to give the rest a warning instead.

After my purge of the school, our school's ratings got higher and was hailed as the first successful example of the Sabrina Act working in the news channels. I even got interviewed alongside dad who credited me for the idea. I had to explain that it was for the sake of my friend who I didn't want to get bullied again.

All in all, I was happy. Until mother called and told me that, while my hostile takeover of the school was 'quaint,' I should have strived for more and I was 'ridiculous, utterly ridiculous' for downplaying what I did for the sake of a nobody like Sabrina before hanging up before I could even muster up a reply.

I looked at Sabrina, who was sitting next to me. She came over to work on a project when mother called. I answered it without even looking at the Caller ID. I could see the confidence I was slowly building up in her start slipping away.

"I'm-"

"Do not apologize, Sabrina!" I snapped at her, causing her to freeze, "You are not a nobody! You are my friend and I refuse to let you degrade yourself like that! You of all people should know I care little about what my mother thinks about me, and if I couldn't care less about what she says then so should you. She has no say in my life and I don't care about her criticism, nothing she says will change me or how I view you so stop thinking about meaningless things!"

Sabrina froze before smiling, "Yes, Chloe."

"Good, now, let's finish this. We need to get your science grades up."

Sabrina flashed me another smile and we got back to work.

Chapter 5: Meeting Felix

Chapter Text

Two weeks after the interview was aired, I visited Adrien again. For the first time, it wasn't a routine visit/playdate, this time, there was someone new. Adrien's cousin, Felix. It was a strange experience to be led to Adrien's room, expecting it to be empty except for a single blond puppy only to find a blond puppy and a sly fox who can pass as the puppy's double. I saw a flicker of recognition in Felix's eyes when our eyes met.

"Ah! Clo! You're here!" Adrien exclaimed happily as he dragged me to Felix, "This is my cousin Felix Graham de Vanily, he's the son of my aunt! Felix, this is my best friend Chloe Bourgeois, she's the daughter of the Mayor!"

"Just call me Chloe, it's a pleasure to meet you." I smiled sweetly at him as I held out my hand, I could tell he knew it was completely fake.

"Charmed, it's a pleasure to meet you too." Felix returned the smile and we shook hands, if we gripped each other harder than necessary, well, no one can tell.

"I must ask, are you like Addy here? Because he gave me a nickname and refused to not get one in turn. If you are, I think Felicita would be simply perfect for you." I asked mockingly.

"No, no, it's fine. As much as I resemble my cousin, we, thankfully, do not share the same taste in jokes."

"A shame."

"I assure you, it is not."

"Guys, stop doing that adult talk!" Adrien whined, bringing us back to the present, "I don't want to listen to it outside of stuffy parties, I want to play with my cousin and best friend today, not listen to this!"

"Yes, sorry Addy." I apologized half-heartedly, "You see, your cousin seems like a fun person to goad."

Felix gave me a sharp look before contorting his face perfectly into the shape of an apologetic person, "Sorry cousin."

"It's fine!" Adrien cheered before turning to me, "Hey, Clo, I saw the interview a few weeks ago. Can you explain, please?"

"Sure." I said taking a seat on the couch, and buffed my nails against my shirt, "Long story short, I had to take over my school."

"...what?" Felix asked, looking perplexed.

"Yes, you see, my school had a horrible… infection of bullies, enablers, and incompetent educators. So, sadly, I had to take charge by force and purge the school. I spent a week getting a competent team together, then a month gathering evidence, and a week and a half getting everything in order for the Board of Education. The payoff was worth it since I got the principal replaced, four teachers fired, five students expelled, seven students suspended, and three students into detention until their graduation."

Felix and Adrien's eyes were wide open, but for different reasons. Felix's eyes were wide in surprise while Adrien's eyes were wide with horror.

"Why would you do that?" Adrien gasped in horror, "They lost their jobs, and the other students has marks on their record now and-"

"Oh you poor, naive, babo." I interrupted, calling him an idiot in Korean, "There are guidelines for everything so they were all punished justly, don't think too much about it. I may have said I took over the school but I only handed in the evidence and made sure it wasn't ignored. They did what they did and so they got what they deserved. If you feel bad for them then you're too soft."

"Oh…" Adrien said before looking up at me with teary eyes, "So you didn't get them fired on purpose?"

"Of course not." I lied flawlessly, however, I could tell that Felix saw through my lies since he started smirking, "It just happened. The Board of Education just couldn't let them stay teachers, and it's teachers like them that worry your father so I thought that if I could fix them, you can come to school sooner."

"Really!" Adrien perked up, "Well, then I guess it isn't that bad then…."

"Well, as interesting as this sounds, didn't you have some mecha model you wanted to show us, cousin?" Felix asked.

"Oh right! Wait right here, let me go get it!" Adrien exclaimed before running out of the room, leaving me with Felix to sit in silence.

After a moment, Felix spoke up, "I'm impressed. I thought my cousin's best friend would be as… naive as he is. I'm glad that that wasn't the case."

"You offend me, I have never been that naive." I scoffed, "I love Adrien, he's the younger brother I'll never get, but he sees things in black and white. He'll never see the greys of the world or understand other people's motives, he will try to do what he believes is right even when it's clearly wrong. He's too much of a pacifist."

"I wasn't expecting his 'best friend' to manipulate him, though, I suppose he just makes it too easy."

"Oh dear, was that how it looked? Heavens no, I'm not manipulating Addy, I'm just showing him a different side to things." I said innocently.

Felix smiled, "Of course, of course, my mistake."

"I'm back!" Adrien yelled, barging back into the room.

Felix and I turned our attention back to Adrien, letting him ramble on about the mecha model he and his mother built together. After he talked for a solid half-hour, I wonder if he just spent too much time being quiet, Felix spoke up.

"Hey, cousin, I have an idea." Felix said, smiling mischievously, "Why don't we play a small prank on our parents?"

"Okay! What is it?"

"Well, why don't we…" Felix gestured for Adrien to come closer and whispered into his ear.

"That sounds fun! Okay! Wait, how about Clo?"

"I don't think she'd mind not playing a part in this, isn't that right Chloe?"

"As long as I don't get caught up in it, it's fine. I need to look over this file Sabrina just sent me anyway." I said, pulling out my phone.

I ignored the two as they left to go to who knows where as I pulled out my phone and opened the file Sabrina sent. It was a file containing everything about all the students in the entire school, it took a while for my team to get everything but they managed. It helped that we got unrestricted access to the school's files. What we're doing could be considered stalking but I believe that, if one of them suddenly turns into a bully, it would be much faster to deal with them if we already have all the facts about them ready beforehand.

I read through each and every document. I don't know how long I was just sitting there but I do know that it was long enough that I lost track of time until someone dragged me back to reality.

"Hey Clo, Felix left me!" I heard a voice say.

I looked up and saw Felix dressed up as Adrien.

"What do you want, Felix? Why are you dressed as Addy? Actually, I should actually call you Felicita now, since you just called me Clo." I smirked.

"What-how?!" Adrien dressed as Felix exclaimed, popping up from wherever he came from, "We tricked mother, father, aunt and uncle, but how did you not get tricked? Cousin's acting was perfect so how?!"

I laughed mockingly at them, well, Adrien couldn't tell but Felix could, "Addy, Felicita, darlings, I have a much better eye then your parents. It's obvious to someone who pays a lot of attention to the details."

"Still, how?"

"For one thing, Felicita's voice is slightly deeper than your voice, Addy. Another thing is that his eyes are a darker shade of green then yours. You two may look very similar but there's also this aura around you two that are very different." I said simply.

"I see." Felix said flatly.

Everything I said was true. Felix's voice is deeper and his eyes are darker. The aura thing was true too. Felix has a mischievous, fox-like aura while Adrien has a trusting, puppy-like aura. However, I could tell that this wasn't something Felix wanted me to say, even if Adrien is now placated. Well, I don't care what he thinks.

"Well, next time maybe softening your voice a bit and changing the lighting? Maybe do it over video call or something so no one can feel your aura?" I advised, knowing that that was exactly what Felix did in the episode 'Felix'.

"I'll keep that in mind."

The three of us spent some time together until Felix was called by his parents so they could return to England. We exchanged numbers before he left, mainly because we were so alike, almost friends, and because Adrien insisted we do. Well, no matter. We are cut from the same cloth and he will be useful when Canon starts.

Chapter 6: Felix's Dad's Funeral

Chapter Text

Over the years, things have been mostly smooth sailing for me. Classwork is still as easy as ever and I have been slowly integrating myself into the management of the hotel. Sabrina and I have a solid friendship and a group of close acquaintances in the form of the Anti-Bullying Committee. Overall, things have been going as planned.

I met Marinette, she, Nino, and Kim were a group but it seems like Kim was trying to drag Alix and Max into their group. It wasn't successful so it seems like Kim was now dividing his time between the Marinette and Nino group and Alix and Max group. Marinette was as naive and clumsy as in Canon, in fact, everyone acted just like Canon.

I am now fourteen years old and have been Class Representative, Head of the Anti-Bullying Committee, and Head of the Student Council, the Student Council President, for my entire school life. I've been Class Representative and Head of the Anti-Bullying Committee since third grade and Student Council President since sixth grade. There were some bitter people at first, saying I was abusing my power as the Mayor's daughter to get all that but those words and rumors quickly died down. Mainly because they were people from who I took power.

As Class Representative, I arranged a lot of fun but educational class trips so no one in my class has anything bad to say about me since, even if I was 'abusing my power,' it didn't matter to them because they get amazing class trips. 

As the Head of the Anti-Bullying Committee, I managed to get rid of a lot of horrible teachers and got many bullies to behave so many of the victims were singing my praises since everyone knows I spearheaded everything. As the Student Council President, I managed to wrangle funds for the clubs and class materials, and away from unnecessary splurges, why does this school need new couches and chairs in the teacher's lounge? They just bought new ones last year! It wasn't enough money so I had dad donate some so we can get the money they spent on those chairs back. Not only that, he doubled the amount of money.

Nevertheless, I got acknowledged for my work and I was never badmouthed again. Those who did hold contentment for me held their tongues because they knew that everyone else would know that they are jealous and angry. Jealous of the power I held over the entire school and angry that they can no longer run wild like before.

I stood at the top of the school but no one really knew that. I was the Shadow Queen of the school, ruling from the shadows with Sabrina as my right hand and informant to keep everyone in order while giving the illusion that they were free to do whatever they wanted. Only the bullies knew for sure that I am always watching and no one would believe them since their credibility has long since been tainted by their past actions.

Unfortunately, the plot quickly caught up. Two years ago, Emilie disappeared. I was forced to use the document to visit Adrien while he mourned for the loss of his mother, having sleepovers every other night to make him feel better. Then, this year, I got a call from Felix. His dad had just died. His private plane crashed and he died on impact.

"Are you okay?"

"... no." Felix muttered, "I am not, and neither is my mother. She attempted to call Uncle about the funeral procedures but he refuses to come, or allow Adrien to come. He even dared offer to pay for the funeral as an apology, the bastard. Was taking our family rings not enough? Mother was furious, he was courting death."

"... I see." I said, looking at my calendar for the month, "Okay, give me some time. I will convince dad to let me go to the funeral, it's on the seventeenth, right?"

"Yes but-"

"No buts, you need support and since your uncle is preventing that support and your mother is in no condition to give you support I will come." I snapped, "Goodbye."

I hung up and started making my way to dad. Felix and I have a complicated relationship. We are too alike, both of us will do anything for the ones we love and could care less about those we don't. We have a manipulative streak and a desire to rise above others. We became friends but we always tried to get under each other's skins.

However, despite all that, we care for each other and I will not let him deal with his grief alone because that just won't do. It isn't right for Gabriel to refuse to let Adrien go to the funeral or for him not to go, Felix and Amelie need support during times like that like they supported him and Adrien when Emilie disappeared.

It took some time and a bit of guilt-tripping, but I got dad to let me go to the funeral. He even arranged for Jean to come with me on a private helicopter. It didn't take much to get the teachers to give me the homework for the next week and to arrange for things to run smoothly in my absence. The only kink in my plan was a panicking Sabrina.

"You're leaving for a week?! How, why, I can't be alone for a week!" Sabrina panicked.

"Yes I am. I'm leaving by plane for Felix's dad's funeral, and you can be alone for a week. You can take care of the school for a week without me."

"No I can't!"

Sabrina's self-confidence has been increasing a lot and she now walks alongside me with her head held high but I could see that the fear of being alone was causing her to slip back into bad habits again.

"Sabrina! Breath!" I ordered.

Sabrina took a deep breath, "Okay, now what?"

"Now, tell me why you're panicking. You've done this before, it should be simple."

"Last time was for only two days, not a week! I could have also called you without worrying about time zones, I could have visited if I needed to, and other stuff. You were just sick, but you won't be around because I can't be sure if you would even pick up. I'll be alone and people will start challenging me and I will be scared and your authority would be in jeopardy because I couldn't do anything and let them walk all over me and-" 

"Breath! You will be fine! I know you will." I said, I inwardly sighed, I should have expected Sabrina would have a bit of a separation issue.

This would be the first time I left her for so long and she had no way of actually seeing me until the week was over. I should have known. She was confident because she had me to help her, she was worried that she would revert back to the helpless little girl that needed my help and everything we worked for would have gone down the drain.

"No I-"

"Yes you can. You are smart, you can hold everything together until I get back. Aren't you going to be my lawyer and secretary? If so then this should be a piece of cake. Think of this as a test or a trial run, you always do well on those." 

Sabrina took another deep breath and nodded, "Yeah. Right. Okay. A test, I can do that. Just one week. Yeah."

"Better?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now, let's have a Girls' Day Out before I leave. I heard that there's a new ice cream parlor a few blocks away."

"You mean Pascal le Glacier?"

"Yes, which kind of ice cream do you want? I want Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream with chocolate toppings in a waffle cone, how about you?"

"Strawberry with sprinkles in a waffle cone."

"Okay, let's go."

After the ice cream, I met up with Jean at the landing pad and got into the helicopter. I spent the ride there on homework, finishing everything by the time we touched down. I spent the next week with Felix, giving him a sense of normalcy by getting under his skin when he needed it, sitting silently beside him when he needed company, and listening to him when he needed to rant or let out steam. We even spared when things got too much and he needed to just do something that didn't require a lot of thinking.

At the end of the week, he was kind of feeling better. He was stable enough for me to leave him without feeling bad. However, he seems to have developed a sort of hatred towards Gabriel and contentment towards Adrien. Gabriel for obvious reasons and Adrien because he didn't fight Gabriel about his decision. He didn't even try to call. I could tell that, if the Felix episode does happen, it will happen closely like how Canon depicted.

Well, it isn't my problem. Not yet.

Chapter 7: Beginning of Canon

Chapter Text

I woke up early for the first, first day of grade 10 and the day Adrien said he was going to come to school. I flipped open my phone and found Adrien's text about how he was 'absolutely cannot miss this opportunity you gave me, Clo! I swear I'll be on time! Thank you so much, you're the bestest friend ever!' Geeze, I only helped with the paperwork to get him admitted to school, with a text like this, you'd think I sacrificed my organs for him.

I sat up, feeling a feeling of dread in my stomach. Today was the day Canon was going to start, the day of the first episode. Today was the day Marinette and Adrien would become heroes and risk their lives to keep Paris safe.

I sighed and got ready for class. Before I knew it, I was sitting next to Sabrina in our usual seat, waiting for class to start. Everything was normal, there was a sudden noise as Marinette barrelled into the classroom and sat next to the new girl, nothing out of the ordinary yet. I glanced at Adrien's table and sighed inwardly, it seemed he wasn't going to make it after all.

Mme. Bustier started the class and I zoned out. This was the first day and Mme. Bustier never teaches anything on the first day, she says she wants to 'ease us back into things' so Adrien has no catching up or homework to worry about yet.

At the end of the two-period block, we were let out for lunch. However, I saw Kim steal something from Ivan so I took out my phone and started recording. The thing Kim stole caused Ivan to get angry at him and attempt to attack him only to get stopped by Mme. Bustier, who only sent Ivan to the Principal's Office. This was going into Kim, Ivan, and Mme. Bustier's files. Kim for bullying, Ivan for resorting to violence, and Mme. Bustier for not getting all sides of the story, and only sending Ivan to the Principal's Office instead of both Ivan and Kim.

"Sabrina."

"I have received them and already had filed away, Chloe."

"Good. Let's go to the library before lunch." I said making my way out of the classroom with Sabrina at my side.

As we walked across the school to the library, many students failed to sneakily stare at Sabrina and me as we walked past them. They were tense, afraid of what we'd do if they caught our attention, but at the same time, they looked at us with awe and even a bit of worship. They were probably still scared of the cleansing we did. The awe and worship are probably from how we seemed untouchable to everyone around us.

"I thought you said Adrien was going to come today." Sabrina commented.

"I did, but it seems like his bodyguard, the Gorilla, and Nathalie caught him before he could enter the school, forcing him to go back for the day. He'll probably learn from this and get here sooner than today." 

"Really? I can't wait to see him-"

"AHHHHHH!"

"A monster!"

Sabrina and I froze for a second before quickly looking over the railing and we spotted a rock monster terrorizing everyone in the courtyard. Without a word, we quickly snuck into the library and hid behind an empty bookshelf that we tilted to hide behind near the emergency exit there until we were found by Sabrina's father.

"Sabrina! Sabrina! Where are you?!"

"Dad! Here! We're here!" Sabrina yelled as we left our hiding spot.

"Sweetheart!" Officer Roger yelled, sweeping Sabrina into a hug with his one good hand, "I was so worried…."

After a few moments, I spoke up, "Not to break up the touching reunion, but can you tell us what happened?"

"Oh, right." Officer Roger said, taking a deep breath as he released Sabrina, "I don't have all the details but there's this… magic supervillain who used magic to turn your classmate, Ivan, into a stone monster named Stoneheart. He was turned back to normal by two… magic superheroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir."

Officer Roger did his best to recount what happened before ultimately telling us that school was closed for the day. I sighed, Marinette and Adrien's lives are going to be really hectic now and tomorrow is going to be a rush.

When I got home, I got an entire hour with dad before he had to leave for work again. It seems like the situation really shaken him. After dad left, my phone started ringing. Without looking at the Caller ID, I picked up.

"Hello, this is Chloe."

"Clo, it's Felix, did you see that rock monster really attack Paris? It is all over the news."

"Ah, Felicita. Anyway, yes, I did see that rock monster. Some magic super villain-"

"Magic super villain? "

"Yes. Shut up. Some magic super villain transformed someone into that rock monster named Stoneheart. We also have two magic superheroes named Ladybug and Chat Noir-"

"Ladybug and Chat Noir? Really?"

"Yes, again, shut up. The two fought Stoneheart and won but they caused so much damage that the police aren't happy. They also ask for them to not try anymore because they caused more problems than solve them."

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The next morning at school, I walked into the school and saw that almost my entire class was crowding around Ivan. I spotted Sabrina and she signed that Kim was starting to egg Ivan on and she didn't know what to do. I sighed internally and moved towards Ivan, the students parting like the red sea as I walked. Soon, I was standing next to Ivan.

"What? Gonna get angry or make fun of me too?" Ivan asked harshly.

"No. What happened was not your fault. I know you would never do anything you have done if you were in control, therefore, you are innocent." I said, placating Ivan.

"Are you-" Kim started but he quickly shut up when I glared at him.

"Since it was not your fault, and do not dare try to say it was, you do not need to feel guilty. If you feel guilty, stop. If you do feel guilty, then apologize to Sabrina's dad. Everything else, do not think about it because it was not your fault."

"You were really going to crush me. Scary!" Kim said playfully but it had an opposite effect because Ivan stormed off.

"Good going Kim." I said, giving him a glare, "Someone go after him, the last time he was alone he was brainwashed."

"I'll go!" Marinette volunteered before running off.

We all stood in silence until some girls started screaming. At first, I thought Ivan transformed again but then, I saw Adrien, he finally got to school a day late.

"Oh my god! It's Adrien!

"It's Adrien Agreste!"

I sighed. It was time to save Adrien from an army made up of his rabid fangirls. This was going to be fun.

"Okay everyone, out of the way! Adrien is here for school, which means he needs to get to class so make way!" I called out, having Sabrina stand to Adrien's left while I stood at his right to protect him from his fangirls.

"Clo!" Adrien exclaimed, his eyes lighting up, "I am so excited! When can I meet-"

"The rest of the class? When we get to class because class is going to start." I said pointedly, giving Adrien a stare, "You are already a day late, there's no need to make a record out of it"

Adrien laughed sheepishly, "R-right, sorry."

"Whatever. Anyway, Adrien, if you have any questions, just ask me or Sabrina. Our class is generally very nice, so you don't need to worry about making friends."

I guided Adrien to our classroom, introducing him to all our classmates before Mme. Bustier entered. I kept a close eye on Marinette and kept my bag closed so she wouldn't be able to try to slip her Ladybug earring to me. Mme. Bustier started class, but, as I remembered, Stoneheart busted in and kidnapped Mylene.

"Oh my god!"

"Mylene!"

"It was Ivan again!"

"Run!"

There was a stampede out of the school. However, we heard even more yelling about how the other rock monsters started moving.

"Sabrina, send a text to your dad, tell him we're going to hide in the space we hid last time and wait this out." I said before sighing as we quickly made our way to the library, "I have a feeling class is going to be canceled again."

"Yes!"

We stayed there for half an hour before getting swept up by a stream of ladybug-like lights that took us out of our hiding place and fixed the tipped-over bookshelf. 

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The next day, I came to school early, making sure Sabrina also came early and created a document to start brainstorming how to help deal with the Akuma Situation.

"So, what do we know about Akumas?" I asked.

"We know they are brainwashed and/or controlled by the villain named Hawkmoth. He is planning to 'Akumatized' people to terrorize Paris to force Ladybug and Chat Noir to give up their jewelries, called Miraculouses. We can assume that those Miraculouses are what gives them their powers, including Hawkmoth."

"True, all that was confirmed when Hawkmoth made that message to Paris and Ladybug's response to it." I nodded.

"What can we-"

"I can stay with my father's support!" Adrien yelled happily as he barreled into the room all puppy-like.

"Good for you, now go to your friend. You're interrupting a brainstorm here." I said, brushing Adrien off.

Sabrina blinked for a bit before talking again, "So, what can we do to help?"

"First off," I said, creating a list on the document, "we need an alert system. Something like an Akuma Alert App, remind me to talk to Max about this later."

"Got it."

"Second of all, we need to create Akuma Shelters, or at least register safe places people can go to during an Akuma fight. We need to create guidelines for that."

"What would the guidelines look like?"

"Unknown for now, but we should tailor them after a mix of safe house guidelines and bomb shelter guidelines."

We chatted a bit more before Mme. Bustier came in and started class. After class was over, I stayed back to watch the Umbrella Scene and took a picture of it before sending it to Felix with the caption: New Couple?

Felix has said multiple times that he wasn't interested in Adrien's love life but I knew he was lying. Felix wants to know and keep up to date about all of  Adrien's potential love interests because Adrien was family to him and, even if Adrien is a naive idiot, Felix wanted to protect him. Even if he was an ass about it.

Chapter 8: The Bubbler

Chapter Text

My phone dinged as I got ready for school. I looked at it and saw that it was the notification I scheduled for Adrien’s birthday, which was today. I called Mme Cesaire, the hotel’s head chef, and Alya’s mom, to double-check the food preparations I asked for last week were still underway for the party.

I quickly sent Sabrina a text to remind her to tell everyone to stay in the classroom after class ends for an announcement before they go for their lunch break and to make it as natural as they could without making Adrien suspect anything. Chances were that Adrien would just rush out the door the second the bell rang so it wouldn’t be that hard as long as no one acted suspiciously. 

Unfortunately for Sabrina, she needs to text all our classmates individually because we don’t have a class group chat that didn’t include Adrien and if we make one, the more forgetful of our classmates won’t delete it and if Adrien finds it, he’ll be very upset. In addition, since it would be my idea, it would be my reputation tanking because I’d be partaking in bullying by excluding another student.

This is frankly ridiculous but people talk. Especially those who still want their power back after all these years. They are still waiting for any moment to discredit me, no matter how minor or nonsensical.

After getting ready and making my way to my limo, Sabrina sent me a confirmation text that she finished sending out the texts. All that was left was to get everyone on the same page, prepare everything, and surprise Adrien. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Mme Bustier dismissed everyone fifteen minutes early for today’s lunch, everyone slowly packed up. Luckily, I didn’t have to watch their awkward stalling or listen to their stiff conversations for long when Adrien walked out of the class while talking to Nino. As soon as they were out of hearing range, I made my way to the front of the class and everyone snapped to attention.

“As you know, today is Adrien’s birthday.” I began, “We are having a surprise party for him right after lunch.”

Alya raised her hand, “How? A party takes a long time to prepare and the teachers aren’t going to just let us.”

I smirked, “I already talked to M Damocles and the rest of the teachers and they are letting us have the party after lunch for the rest of the school day so long as we clean up after ourselves and don’t cause too much trouble. If you didn’t realize, Mme Bustier also dismissed us very early today so we had more prep time. I already explained everything to them and did all the groundwork, all we need to do is finish the preparations and surprise Adrien when he gets back from lunch.

“No way…”

“Statistically speaking, that’s near impossible!”

“How did you…?!”

“Let’s just say I have more than just a bit of weight to throw around outside of being the Mayor’s daughter and leave it at that.” I interrupted, bringing that conversation to a stop before it could derail us any longer, “Now, I have roles for all of you to do. Sabrina?”

“Right! Chloe has the chefs at the hotel handle the food. Marinette, can you get a birthday cake from your family’s bakery?” Sabrina asked, reading off her checklist.

“Of course! Leave it to me!” Marinette said before blushing at whatever Alya whispered to her, probably something to do with the birthday present she still had that was poking out of her bag.

“Rose, Juleka, Myleen, and Nathaniel, can you create some basic decorations? We already have permission from the Arts Teacher to use the supplies in the Art Room. Chloe’s dad is going to refurbish them later on. I would have preferred to use actual decorations but if I gave any of you earlier notifications, there was a chance you would have spilled and I really didn’t want Adrien’s first party to be spoiled.”

“You can count on us!” Rose answered happily for the four of them as the others just nodded silently but excitedly.

“Good. Ivan, Kim, as the muscle of the class, you’re in charge of putting doing the actual decorating.”

“No problem.” Kim said as he started flexing.

“No one needs to see that.” I said, making Kim stop, “Sabrina, continue.”

“Sorry…”

“Alya, you will be in charge of taking pictures. Adrien adores pictures so make sure you get good shots. He actually prefers pictures that don’t have him in them, despite the fact he’s a model so don’t only focus on him.”

“I can do that.”

“Max, you’ll make sure all our electronics are working. The music station, Alya’s phone, anything tech-related, it’s your job to make sure there aren’t any technical difficulties that may mess with the party.”

“Child’s play.”

“Alix, you’re a jack of all trades so use your own judgment to help whoever you think needs the most help. Just try not to goad Kim into anything, no matter how easy it is, we only have so much time.”

“Haha- hey!”

“Ha! Sure, I can do that.”

“Great. Now, since Nino decided to distract Adrien, Sabrina will text him to tell him he will be in charge of the music. We got the school’s DJ station we could use but if he decides to use his own DJ station, I can transport it for him. However, I need him to tell me at least an hour in advance so I can get it set up in time.” I finished for Sabrina, “Alya, Ivan, Kim, help with making the decorating for now until it’s time for you to do your jobs. You too, Marinette, after you get the cake order done, come help. Sabrina, send Nino another text and tell him to come back to class to help.”

Everyone agreed but, just as I said that I saw Sabrina pale. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she wiped out her phone and grew even paler.

“Sabrina, what’s wrong?” I asked cautiously.

“I… I forgot to text Nino about everything…” 

“It’s okay, just tell him now.” I said half-heartedly, “Just remind him to come help with the decorating. Everyone else, we only have seventy-five minutes to do this so pick up the pace!”

If I make a big deal about it, Sabrina might panic even more. She has grown a lot but some of her bad habits still arise from time to time.

Sabrina took a breath, “Okay… done.”

Once that was done, everyone burst into working on their jobs. Ivan, Kim, Alix, and Myleen quickly made their way to the Art Room to get the supplies while Alya, Juleka, and Rose surrounded Nathaniel as he sketched out some basic and quick decorations they could make while also making them look nice. Marinette was already out the door and rushing to the bakery while Max took a look at the old DJ station that I got wheeled in and hidden under a sheet after school yesterday.

Everyone was working hard and we were almost done with the decorating when I decided to check on Sabrina.

“Sabrina, did Nino respond yet?”

“No. Not yet. I think-”

Whatever Sabrina thought didn’t matter when the noise outside became audible screams. Sabrina and I rushed to the windows and saw large purple and green bubbles flood the streets. Well, to be accurate, the purple bubbles turned green when they captured a person, specifically an adult. They were only targetting adults.

Suddenly, the purple bubbles started acting like floating televisions when an Akuma’s face appeared on them. It was Nino as the Bubbler.

Adrien’s surprise party was supposed to give Adrien a proper party and prevent Nino’s akumatization.

“Hey, hey, today’s your lucky day, little dudes. The adults are taking the day off so make the most of it! No chores, no homework, no more nagging, just fun, fun, fun, fun! This is the Bubbler’s gift to you!” The Bubbler declared.

When Bubbler’s face disappeared, the entire class was captured by bubbles and transported to Adrien’s front yard. The Bubbler told us that this was a party for his best bro and all but threatened us to have fun so that his bro could get the party he deserved. I made sure to stick with Sabrina and remind her that this wasn’t her fault when I saw her start to beat herself up because she thought that if she just remembered to text Nino, he wouldn’t have gotten akumatized.

Which was true, but I wasn’t going to tell her that.

When Adrien came out of the house, we all started cheering and wishing him happy birthday. It was a mix of fake pleasantries and genuine wishes for him to have a good birthday. Fake because we were being threatened into this but also genuine because we do want him to have a happy birthday.

We danced and partied until Ladybug and Chat Noir showed up. I think I should start doing petty little things to Adrien for taking so long to transform just because he wanted to play some more. Honestly, watching him act so happy and excited for the party Bubbler set up for him gave me secondhand embarrassment. Especially when he didn’t realize how uncomfortable everyone was.

Sabrina and I quickly made our way into the house to take shelter, which was a smart move since our classmates were sent up into the sky by the Bubbler’s bubbles. We waited in the house until we saw the, unfortunately quickly growing familiar, swarm of ladybugs that swirled around Paris.

“Finally over…” I sighed as I got up and opened the door, “Sabrina, send another text to Nino now that he came back to his senses. We only have five minutes before lunch break ends so let’s get back as soon as possible and finish the decorations. Even if I doubt anyone has the energy to party after being forced to do so earlier, we already did the work and it would be a waste to not do anything with it.”

“Of course.” Sabrina nodded, “Besides, our class is full of people with too much energy. I doubt they would be too tired to party for real.”

“Agreed. Let’s just hope Adrien will be too excited about having a real, surprise party instead of what could only be described as a hostage party and leave us alone when we sit out on all the dancing.”

“Yeah. Oh! Nino answered. He said he needs to stop by his home to get some records but he’ll be there in fifteen minutes. He also said he was sorry for all the trouble and he didn’t mean to push back the party.”

“Tell him that it’s fine this time but he should check things with me before going for M Agrests. Only those qualified - or rather those with a few bottles of wine or an unopened bottle of aspirin if they’re underage - should talk to that impossible and frankly ridiculous man.”

And you know he was bad when I, of all people, call him ridiculous.

I pulled out my phone and texted Alix to stall Adrien until we were done with the preparations. She sent an obligatory text of complaint but agreed to do the task nonetheless. The next eight minutes were a blur of motion but we managed to pull through and the look on Adrien’s face was one to remember. 

“Thanks, Clo.” Adrien muttered as he pulled me into a hug, “You’re the best friend I could ask for.”

“Hey! What about me!” Nino yelled.

“You’re my best bro!” Adrien yelled back.

“Damn straight!”

“No problem, Addy. I’m just looking after what’s mine.” I said as I patted his head before pushing him away, “Now go, have some fun!”

Adrien laughed and went to the dance floor. I grabbed a cookie, ignoring the way Marinette stuffed a few into her purse, and ate it. I grabbed myself a plate of food (a mix of healthy food, sweets, and pastries) and two bottles of apple juice before making my way up the stairs and sitting next to Sabrina. We shared the food I brought up as we watched the party go down from the back of the class, laughing at their antics while relaxing after the long day we had. Today was a long day, thank god that it’s a Friday.

Chapter 9: Lady Wifi

Notes:

From here on out, I will be updating on Sundays due to not having time on Monday anymore.

Chapter Text

Sabrina reminded me in the morning I needed to talk to Max, I’ve been putting it off to organize Adrien’s birthday. Now that it was over, we could focus on this so we marched over to Max during lunch. Interrupting Kim and Alix's Fork Stacking challenge that he was judging. It was probably another one of their bets.

"Sorry for interrupting but we need Max for the rest of lunch." I said, looking at Max expectantly.

"Whatever it was you think I did, I swear I didn't mean to do it! There is a 79% chance that Kim dragged me into it!" Max squeaked as Kim and Alix quickly fled the scene, not wanting our ire to turn onto them.

Though, not before Kim yelled how that was not cool of Max to call him out like that. Kim quickly quieted down with a glance from me. Max was smart enough not to even try saying anything in response.

"You aren't in trouble, we just need your help for some tech stuff. Unless you did something, you have nothing to worry about." Sabrina said, leveling a glare at Max to pass on the message you better not have done anything.

I am so proud of her. She came a long way.

"O-oh! Okay, eh, ahm, what do you need?" Max asked, sounding more confident as he fixed his glasses.

"We need your help with the Akuma situation, it's seriously getting out of hand."

"What can I do? I'm not Ladybug or Chat Noir."

"We need your help to create an app, let’s call it the Akuma Alert App, to be accurate." I said, seeing the spark of interest in Max's eyes, I continued, "We need someone to program it, or at least create a working model of it for bigger tech companies to use to create the app. Naturally, the first person we thought of to help us was you."

"Helping us will look good on your resume, we know you want to make a name for yourself in programming, engineering, and the like. Even if you can't create the entire thing yourself, you'll still get credited if you help." Sabrina added, helping me enter Max into helping us.

“It was about time we did something like this. We already talked about doing this after the whole Stoneheart Incident but it must have slipped my mind. Honestly, I should have remembered this earlier but it seems like all this Akuma-related stress messed with my brain.” I huffed.

"I-I see." Max said, his eyes shining in anticipation, "I will help! What does the app need to do?"

"It needs to have a button that people can press when they see an Akuma so people know what area to avoid, it should be something people can press the second they open the app. It needs a tab where you can search and find registered and approved Akuma shelters. Another tab for resources for calming techniques, and sources for therapy and/or other emotional aids. Another tab for self-defense techniques. There can also be footage of past and/or currently occurring attacks, we were planning to ask Alya for that if she's interested and we can get it to work.

"Naturally, it should work without needing any wifi and there should also have a voice activating option for those who can’t use their hands because who knows what will happen during an attack. Another thing, there should be an audio guide for the blind. It would be best also have to a website version connected to the app in case of people, for whatever reason, can’t get to their phones during an attack or want to go on the website to look at its features on a bigger screen.”

As I explained everything I needed in the app, Max was nodding along. He took out his tablet and took notes on everything, quietly mumbling about the logistics and stuff he needed to make it all happen.

When Sabrina took over to point out the list of reputable and competent companies that Dad and his people helped pick out and would be willing to help, I saw a spark in Alya's eyes as she looked at me. I sighed inwardly. I had a bad feeling about this.

-------------------------------------------------------------

I was right, something bad did happen. Due to my proactiveness in dealing with - or at the very least controlling - the Akuma situation with the Akuma Alert App, Alya thought I was Ladybug. I didn't miss the guilty looks on Marinette and Adrien's faces, those naive Sunshine children probably felt like they weren't doing enough to help.

Anyway, Alya decided the best way to find out if I was Ladybug or not was to snoop around my locker, which got her detention for trying to take a video of the inside of someone else's locker without permission. I didn’t know at the time that it got her Akumatized into Lady Wifi.

I was minding my own business in my room while working on the app. I was sitting at my work desk and had three laptops open as well as my phone. Max sent over a prototype that had all the features I asked him to include, even if it looks a bit plain. I had the website version of the app open on one of the laptops, its code on another laptop, and a document open on the other laptop to type out what needs to be changed. 

There were a few features still missing, a few bugs, and a few changes that needed to be made to make it easier to use by the everyday person but that’s expected from such rushed work. I was a bit surprised Max managed to do this much so quickly but I chalked it up to the motivation of fear (of me), the desire to do the right thing, and the greed of getting professional acknowledgment of his work. As well as the fact that he seemed to be using some template or repurposing an old website and app combo to make the Akuma Alert App.

A smart idea but there was the flaw that it wasn’t as tailored to the purpose of the app. Which was fine, we just needed to do more tweaks. I was about to send Max a quick text about the website and app when my phone started ringing. I picked it up when a bright purple light erupted from the phone.

“What-?!” I exclaimed, throwing my phone away and turning around but was frozen.

Standing in the middle of my workroom was a girl with an intense violet butterfly-shaped mask on her face. She looked like Alya but the top of her hair turns a slightly darker shade, and she wears a very dark purple supervillain jumpsuit, her lower arms, and her legs white with three white stripes above each. On her chest is a glowing light brilliant rose Wi-Fi symbol, and a thin white line goes around her waist, with the line creating a semicircle above a short vertical white line in the front, resembling a power button.

It was Lady Wifi.

“Well hello there, Ladybug.” Lady Wifi exclaimed with a smirk.

She pointed her phone at me, I tried to run but she froze me right as I was about to reach my door. Lady Wifi used her powers to create some kind of video camera right above me to record and walked over.

Lady Wifi put an arm on my shoulders and started talking, “Well, well, so I guess my hunch was correctomundo, only Ladybug would do this much for Paris.”

Lady Wifi started talking about things I couldn’t care less about, saying that I was Ladybug to all of Paris when the real Ladybug and Chat Noir burst into my room. At least they used the balcony doors and didn’t crash through the windows.

“But I thought you were Ladybug!” Lady Wifi exclaimed at my face.

Sorry, Alya, but clearly, I am not. 

“Sorry to bust your news story, next time double-check your facts.” Chat Noir advised.

“You’ll be sorry.” Lady Wifi growled.

Lady Wifi canceled her powers that were keeping me frozen and the video camera, causing me to stumble a bit before regaining balance. I was not going to let her get away with this without even landing a hit so I did a roundhouse kick and knocked her off her feet. 

“I may not be Ladybug but I know how to fight and I hate it when people break into my room without permission.” I exclaimed as I fell into another stance.

“Get her phone!” 

I reached for it but was frozen again. Ladybug and Chat Noir left the room with Lady Wifi following them. I was all alone in my room again. I wouldn’t have minded except for the fact that I was still frozen. 

“Chloe!” Dad exclaimed, barging into my room.

He stood in front of me with a sad expression on his face. He hugged my frozen figure and seemed to have wanted to stay with me when one of his secretaries came and pulled him away. 

Probably to get him to safety. They tried to move my body as well but I wouldn’t budge.

I waited, waited, and waited for what felt like hours until a stream of light that looked like a swarm of ladybugs freed me.

As soon as I was free, I regained my balance and stretched. I looked at the clock on my wall and saw that I was only frozen for half an hour. That was a lot of wasted time but I’ll take what I could get. I walked over and picked up my phone, sent a text to Sabrina and dad to tell them I was alright and sent another text to Max about his website and that we’ll need to talk to him tomorrow to finalize things before sending it to the company of his choice.

I shut down all my laptops and phone before making my way to the bathroom to take a shower. I was planning to work for another hour but I decided to sleep earlier to manage the mental stress of dealing with Lady Wifi.

Dad came in right as I was about to fall asleep, hugged me, and patted my head. He must have been significantly affected if he was willing to take a break out of his busy schedule to make sure I’m alright.

Chapter 10: Races and Valentine

Chapter Text

Just as Sabrina and I were about to leave the school after dealing with an annoying last-minute meeting (during the weekend of all days)  to visit the new cafe that just opened up near La Grand Palais, Alix came up to us and asked us to come to the park to watch her beat Kim, it was scheduled for two hours later that day. She called it her birthday victory race against a loser.

Kim, who heard her, yelled about her being the one who would be losing but the two of us ignored him while Alix just flipped him off. 

Sabrina and I checked our schedules and saw that we had that slot of time open so we agreed.

“Awesome! Both the class rep and class deputy are going to watch me beat Kim, it’s the best birthday present you could give me.” Alix cheered.

“Happy birthday.” Sabrina and I said in unison, we already said it once as a class on the class group chat earlier today but it’s the principle of the matter.

“Thanks.”

“Are you planning on doing anything special? Outside of the race, of course.”

“My dad’s taking me out to eat in a few minutes to give me something he swears is something amazing but that’s about it. I wonder if he’s going to buy my new skates? There’s nothing wrong with my current pair but I wouldn’t mind getting new ones.” Alix said as she started skating off, waving at us as she went, “Well, anyway, I got to go if I don’t want to be late so see you in a few hours!”

It wasn’t until we were eating at the cafe that I froze, remembering just what episode this was.

“Chloe? What’s wrong?” Sabrina asked.

“It’s nothing. Just a brain freeze.” I lied, waving Sabrina off, thankfully we were drinking cold drinks.

Today was the episode where Alix gets akumatized as some time-based Akuma because of her watch breaking. It broke because of Canon!Chloe wanted to take it from Marinette, who Alix entrusted it with. There was also some subplot about Marinette getting in trouble for being late but the broken watch was more important.

As long as I don’t touch her watch, which I won’t, everything will be fine. I just need to make sure Marinette isn’t late either if only for the sake of my consciousness telling me to be a good person.

When Sabrina and I got to the park, our classmates were already in a large crowd at the line that would be both the starting line and finish line. They were holding a large banner that I recognized as Marinette’s work.

“Hey, Marinette.” I said, catching Marinette’s attention.

“YEah?!” Marinette squeaked, probably not expecting me to talk to her.

“Did Nadja Chamack order anything?” I asked innocently before saying the practiced lie that I prepared and had been rehearsing in my head for a while, “I saw her making her way to your bakery while talking to someone about how lucky she was for being allowed to get out earlier or something which means she could get her order sooner.”

Marinette paled, thanked me for my help, shoved the banner into my hands, and ran off. I looked at Sabrina in faux confusion and she shrugged. We watched attentively as Alix won the match and did a victory lap before making her way to us. 

“Where’s Marinette? I gave her my watch to hold on to.” Alix said, still riding the high of her win.

“She went to the bakery to give a customer their order. She’ll be back-”

“Alix! Here!” Marinette exclaimed as she panted, handing Alix back her watch.

I silently handed Marinette her water bottle, she looked like she needed it. She gave me a thankful look before chugging the entire bottle. She later thanked me again and said how she has just gotten there in time before Nadja started calling her parents before adding that she owed me so if there was anything I needed, just ask her.

Really, Marinette. there was nothing you could offer me but, Ladybug on the other hand… it sounds like a good favor to keep to my chest for now.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today was one of the few days where Sabrina wasn’t with me. I was taking my usual Wednesday walk, talking to Caroline about the Work Experience Field Trip planned for my class at La Grande Palais when I ran into Kim. It seems like he was waiting for me on le Pont des Arts, the bridge I always walk across on Wednesdays.

He looked slightly out of breath and nervous as he leaned on the bridge railing but what caught my eye was a red heart-shaped, hand-sized box he had in his hands. I mentally cursed myself for forgetting that it was valentines day and that today was the day of the obligatory valentines day episode. How did I forget with the entire hotel lobby was covered in red hearts, and when I saw my dad looking at a picture of my mother this morning was beyond me.

“Hey, Caroline? Yeah, I need to put you on hold for a bit. No, nothing serious, just a classmate needing my attention. Give me a second.”

I put the call on hold as Kim came up to me and stood in front of me, too nervous to say anything.

“Kim, did you need something?” I asked, tilting my head, trying to beg the universe that he was here for romantic advice instead of asking me out. 

As someone who already lived before, I don’t feel comfortable dating a younger person. I wouldn’t date an older person either since that would mean that person would be at least double my physical age and that was just no. 

“I… I…” Kim hesitated.

“Yes? Take your time.”

Kim gathered up his courage and dropped to one knee. He landed in a puddle, getting his knee wet. He opened up the heart-shaped box and revealed the fancy broch inside, “Will you… be my valentine?”

This was happening. I have to let him down gently. A cyclist road past us, splashing water onto Kim and making him even wetter while an old chip bag flew about and landed on Kim’s face. Today really wasn’t Kim’s day.

"Kim, stand up." I said, helping him up and out of the puddle he was kneeling in while taking the chip bag off of his face and passing him a handkerchief to dry himself, "You are an amazing person but I can't accept this. I know someone who loves you and it's against Girl Code to go out with someone else's crush unless you also 'love-love' them and I only see you as a friend. I'm sorry."

Ondine likes Kim, even without my reservations about dating people so much younger, I can't get in the way of that, they're a cute couple.

I can't believe I said 'love-love' out loud...

“Who…?”

“Sorry, it’s not my secret to share.” I apologized again before awkwardly walking away from a still silent Kim.

I threw the chip bag into one of the garbage cans on the bridge and continued on with my walk. I didn’t do anything to humiliate Kim so there wasn’t a chance for him to get akumatized as Dark Cupid so I think today should be fine.

“Hello? Caroline? Yeah, the matter was settled. Now, where were we?”

There was still so much to do to get ready for the Work Experience Field Trip. We need to make sure it's a slow day, all important guests weren't checked in, not a religious day for any culture, and many other details. Thankfully, it was still months away.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder if the universe decided that my good luck was used up for dealing with the bullies before Canon started. My life before all this superhero and supervillain drama was normal and relatively simple.

Now?

Now I’m watching an akumatized Kim shoot people like some demented cupid from the stream on the Ladyblog in my Akuma Bunker. 

Sabrina and I were in my room, working on our homework and helping to decide on what tasks we could delegate to the rest of the class during the Work Experience Field Trip. We needed to give them tasks that aren’t important enough that if they mess up there wouldn’t be any lasting damage and the hotel’s reputation would still be fine but are important enough that they wouldn’t feel underappreciated.

A balancing act that we have long since perfected.

However, we were rudely interrupted by the Akuma Alert App going off. As good of an idea as the app was and as useful as it is for everyone these days, it goes off so many times that it was starting to get a little annoying. I made a mental note to find a way to punch Hawkmoth. Would Marinette do it for me as Ladybug if I asked her? She did still owe me for the Nadja thing….

Food for thought.

Sabrina took out her phone and started streaming the footage from the Ladyblog to see what was happening. There was no way we were streaming it on the TV since streaming it on our phones would make running easier, even watching the footage on a bigger screen would be more enjoyable to the average person.

“Is that… is that Kim?” Sabrina asked, pointing to a flying black figure darting around the sky on her phone. 

That was the only silver lining (and I’m using that term in the loosest of sense) in all this. The fact that Kim is calling himself Shining Cupid instead of Dark Cupid is the only silver lining in all this chaos

It’s not much but I’m willing to take any and all small victories fate was willing to give me at this point. 

Another small victory I mentally celebrated right now was that I was inside my room that had newly tinted windows that Dad installed for the sake of Akumas and Kim had yet to find and attack me.

Unlike if Kim was akumatized as Dark Cupid, when Shining Cupid shoots people with his arrows, the people who get hit would either break up and start hating while others get together and start loving each other. I don’t want to understand the mechanics or justifications or whatever is causing the two different reactions and, frankly, I don’t care, but what got on my nerves was that his bad costume was still the same.

Akumatized Kim was still wearing a black and red cupid-themed jumpsuit, along with large black wings attached to his back, each feather-like end tipped with two red stripes. On the sides of his neck, there are black lightning bolts. 

He was still wearing a black head cover, the areas covering the top of his hair and around his eyes being red, but his eyes remained gray. The top of his suit was still red, with a large white broken heart on his chest. From the waist down to the knee, the suit is black. From the elbow down to the hand is black, and from the knee down, it is red with a few strands of cloth sticking out above the back of each ankle. 

On his back was still a black, red, and white striped quiver, which carries red arrows. On the quiver strap across his chest was a familiar brooch, which is now red and black, attached to it. His archery bow was still based on a breaking heart. The handle is white with red heart halves at the ends, and on each side of the bow, there are two large gray and white spikes.

“It seems so.”

“Did you reject him that harshly?”

“No. I think I was perfectly polite, but you know how emotions are.”

Sabrina tsked, she looked angry, “I can’t believe Hawkmoth is taking advantage of this kind of thing again! Wasn’t Ivan enough?”

“He’s a villain, there’s never a limit to whatever bad things he can do so probably not.” I sighed sadly, gathering up all our work to take with us, “Since Kim’s the one akumatized and probably because of me, let’s go into the Akuma Bunker dad just finished installing.”

Sabrina and I quickly entered my closet and I opened the secret compartment that leads down to the bunker dad installed in my room after the Lady Wifi thing happened. It was just like the other bunkers; strong walls, devoid of technology, full of non-perishable and semi-perishable foods that could last us a month, and had a button that would kill the wifi if you press it. The food gets taken out to be used in the hotel’s kitchens and replaced every week so there was no worry of things expiring.

We huddled around Sabrina’s phone to watch things go down. However, Alya stopped streaming for some reason.

“Do you think she’s okay?” Sabrina asked.

“Yeah, she probably got hit with an arrow but it’s not a lethal thing so… I guess she’ll be fine.” I reasoned.

Sabrina sighed, “What has become of our lives? Thinking that brainwashing is better than death even if it’s not permanent death? Even if it’s true, we should have to feel relieved that this is happening at all.”

“I don’t know… but I do know I can’t wait until things go back to normal.” I grunted, pulled out a bag of dried fruits, and started eating.

Sabrina grabbed a few fruits, “I can’t wait until Hawkmoth is out of our hair. He’s messing up all our schedules.”

Sabrina and I commiserated together as we waited in that bunker, working half-heartedly on the paperwork we have yet to finish due to the new Akuma interrupted until the Akuma Alert App sent out a notification that the Akuma had been dealt with and it was safe to resume normal, everyday life.

Chapter 11: Horrificator

Chapter Text

A month ago, Nino came to me and asked if I would be able to ask the school to let us stay after school today so that he could use the school as a backdrop for the movie he was making for the film contest Dad was hosting. I agreed if he got (or at least asked) the entire class to help with the film, to which he agreed.

He managed to get everyone on board three weeks ago so I held up my promise and got everything organized from the permission to come into school on a Saturday and organizing practice sessions to go over the script as a class. I even got M Agrests to agree to let Adrien participate when both Nino and Adrien begged for help.

On a not separate note, Sabrina has started carrying a bottle of aspirin in her bag for when I need it. I believe I always need an entire bottle on hand when dealing with M Agrests, that man is a headache and a half to deal with when it comes to getting Adrien out of the house.

Nino already gave everyone their roles. He was the director and cameraman, while Alya was his co-screenwriter. Sabrina and I were the producers, meaning we were in charge of making sure the people stayed on task, keeping us from going over time, and organizing time for our class to practice reading their parts. Rose decided to be in charge of the refreshments so she brought drinks and snacks.

Max was asked to do the tech-related stuff again while Juleka was put in charge of hair and makeup since they were good at those kinds of stuff. Mylene, Adrien, Ivan, and Alya were recruited as the actors with Mylene being the female lead and Adrien being the male lead. Marinette also made the monster mask but since it was a minor thing, she was also cast as an actor. Kim and Alix didn’t want to act so they helped with holding the mic and were recruited as stage hands respectively. Nathaniel also didn’t want to act and since there weren’t any backgrounds to paint or design, he was put in charge of lighting.

Today was the day of the actual recording and the day I asked to borrow the school. I sat next to Sabrina as we watched Mylene, Adrien, and Ivan act out the first scene for what felt like ours. I looked at Alix who held up the clapperboard and I saw that we were on the fourteenth repetition.

“Agent Smith, it’s too dangerous!” Adrien acted as I gestured for Kim to lift the mic higher so it was out of frame, “We must evacuate!”

“You’re suggesting we run, Officer Jones?!” Mylene asked incensed as Nino got in closer for dramatic effect, “After it devoured my family, my friends, even my beloved dog, Sniffles?! Never! I won’t run, I no longer fear it! I’m going to face it! Then I’ll- Ahhh!”

Mylene screamed again and fell backward. She ended up shivering under Mme Bustier’s desk once again.

“Cut!” Nino yelled, sounding exasperated.

Ivan quickly took off the crude monster mask, “Sorry, Mylene.”

“Mylene, that’s like the tenth take and we’re only on the first scene!” Nino exclaimed, sounding very tired.

“Fourteenth actually, but who’s counting?” Alix asked, not helping at all.

She quickly shut up and sat down when I gave her a quick glance.

“I’m… sorry… I’m gonna do better on the next take… I-I promise.” Mylene said for the nth time.

“You’re playing the hero from the Special Forces, you’re not supposed to get all freaked out.”

“I know but that monster mask is so realistic and scary.” Mylene insisted.

“Just big old me, Mylene.” Ivan said, pointing to himself while playing with the mask like it was a sock puppet, “Nothing to be scared of.”

“Ivan put the mask back on, you’re playing the monster! And Mylene, we need you to stay in character.”

Ivan put back on the mask and Mylene flinched. She closed her eyes and started singing an old lullaby song that she said made her feel better. As she sang, she back into Adrien and jumped.

“Okay!” I exclaimed as I stood up and clapped my hands together, “Mylene, you obviously need a break. Go take a breather outside while we shoot a different scene, once you calm down, I’m sure you’ll be able to get into character.”

“O-Okay…” Mylene said meekly as she quietly walked out.

“Nino, what are the scenes that don’t need Mylene?” I asked before adding, “Or Ivan.”

“Why not me?”

“Because we need you to go with Mylene to calm her down. So go.” Sabrina said, shooing him away.

Ivan quickly rushed out the door and disappeared down the stairs. Nino pulled out his script and started quickly reading through it to find a possible scene we could do without our leading actress and our main antagonist. He was restricted to scenes we could do in the classroom to make it easier for Ivan and Mylene to find us and regroup once Mylene calmed down enough.

“Hey! Mylene ran to the washroom crying and I don’t know what to do!” Ivan yelled as he rushed back into the classroom sounding distraught.

“That… okay, Ivan, you did your best. Thanks for helping.” I sighed, “Marinette, you go to the washroom and find Mylene, comfort her, and bring her back.”

“Me?”

“Yes. The guys can’t exactly go into the girls' washroom and I won’t ask them to do that if it makes them uncomfortable. Rose may be a good person but she gets awkward sometimes and doesn’t know what to say and ends up talking a lot which can be helpful but isn’t what Mylene needs right now. Juleka has a job that they can’t just up and leave, and, no offense but Alix and Sabrina aren’t exactly the comforting type.”

“None taken.” Alix pipped.

“As for Alya, I need to talk to her about her script so you’re the only one who can go. So go.” I said, shooing Marinette out the door.

“What about my script?” Alya asked, a bit defensively. 

As the new girl, Alya hasn’t seen the depths of my power yet (even after that short dressing-down I gave her after her stint as Lady Wifi) but she has seen enough to know that I was the one in charge. She heard whispers and knew how the other students act around me. However, she doesn’t know enough exactly how much weight I can push around if I put my mind to it so she’s acting as if she can bring cards to the table.

It’s cute, really, very cute. Simply adorable.

“The kiss at the end of the first scene.” I said, flipping the pages of the script, not looking at Alya, “It really makes no sense storywise, especially given the main character's emotional journey and I know it would only make Mylene even more freaked out to have to kiss Adrien - No offense, Adrien.”

“Eh, none taken? I think.”

“So really, it has to go.” I finished.

“What?!” Alya exclaimed, taking a look at her script, “I didn’t write that!”

“Eh… I wrote it.” Nino admitted sheepishly, “It was just a little tweak, you know, to move the story forward.”

“What?!” Alya exclaimed as she got into Nino’s face, “You edited my script without even telling me?! That’s low.”

“Wait a minute, you mean our script!” Nino yelled back.

“Enough!” I yelled, getting everyone’s attention, “Get rid of the kissing scene and let’s start filming another scene. Scene 3.5 A is something we can do right now so lets-”

“Cut!” Marinette yelled, running into the room.

“Hey! As the director-”

“Nino.” Sabrina said, giving Nino a warning, he quieted down quickly, “Marinette, what is it?”

“Mylene’s missing.” Marinette said.

I took a breath, chances were that she was Akumatized. This means we need to-

“Whatever, let’s start filming scene 3.5A, as Chloe said. If Mylene went so far as to run away, she needs more time.” Nino said.

“Are we just going to leave her?” Ivan asked angrily.

“No, we’re just giving her space.” Nino denied, “After this scene is over, which is only, like, a few lines long, and she isn’t back, we’ll look for her. Kim, Max, can you go get the smoke machine for the scene?”

I guess this means Canon is going to happen. Whatever, no one can say I didn't try.

“Sure.”

“Leave it to us.”

“Great! Everyone else, read over the scene. Let’s finish this quickly and find Mylene.”

As Kim and Max left the room, everyone else took out their scripts and started working. We read over the scene, reading over it a few times to make sure everyone knew what to do so we could get it over with quickly and find Mylene when we heard screaming. Specifically, Kim and Max screaming.

Marinette was the first to react and quickly ran to where the screams came from with everyone else following her. We ran down the stairs and into the courtyard with Adrien yelling for Kim and Max. However, all that was there were blobs of pink and orange goo and Kim's wristband laying on the floor.

“I saw the same pink goo…” Marinette muttered before gasping, “The bathroom!”

Marinette passed Adrien Kim’s wristband and Nathaniel has a momentary breakdown right in front of me that Alya brushed off as she reasoned that Kim and Max were playing a joke on us.

“Relax, Nathaniel. Nothing good will happen to you if you start losing yourself to your own mind.” I said, getting Nathaniel to stand back up.

“We should go to M Damocles’ office and tell him what’s going on.” Marinette said before turning to Nino, “Nino! Come on! Stop filming.”

“Not a chance, this is just getting good.”

“The fools will keep playing the role of the fool so let’s hurry up and start moving.” I said as I herded everyone back up the stairs to get to the office.

Adrien ran off with some lame excuse of getting Officer Jones’ jacket for the movie while the rest of us went to the office. I didn’t bother getting him since I knew he needed some alone time to transform into Chat Noir and do his job. Alya knocked on the door and cautiously opened it when no one answered.

Everyone gasped when we took in the scene that lay beyond the door. The room was a mess with blobs of pink and orange goo everywhere and M Damocles was nowhere to be seen either.

We all entered the room and I pretended not to see Marinette run off to find a place to transform. Slowly, we investigated the room, being sure not to touch the goo or anything that was thrown to the ground.

“Anyone seen Agent Smith? I mean, Marinette?” Nino asked, finally someone else realizing she was gone.

When everyone rushed out of the room, I spied dark pink goo slowly sliding down the window of the office. However, when I got out of the room, everyone was hovering around Alya who had Marinette’s phone in her hand.

To make matters worse, there was suddenly a roof made of dark pink goo which meant that we were officially boxed in. I wiped out my phone and pressed the button for the Akuma Alert App.

“Quick, check the windows!” I exclaimed, just in case we would make it in time this time.

No luck, it was all locked.

Everyone started using their phones, trying to contact someone but there were no bars and no coverage. Thankfully, before anyone started panicking, Marinette as Ladybug appeared, calmed everyone down and tried to tell everyone to evacuate. Though, Nino and Alya did freak out about Ladybug being there.

“Uh-uh.” Chat Noir said as he leaned against the door frame, “Easier said than done, Ladybug.”

“Double legit!”

“I tried to cut through the goo but it’s no good. Totally indestructible. So, looks like we’re trapped inside the school for now. Just stay put and try to relax, guys.” Chat Noir said before turning to Ladybug, “Shall we take a stroll, m’lady?”

They both walked away from the group and towards the windows. They finally decided on something and told everyone to follow them. We all ran, following the trail of pink and orange goo to the classroom where we found Adrien’s shoe. Or, well, the shoe Adrien left so that people thought he was taken as well.

When Ladybug commented about the lack of pink and orange goo, Nathaniel corrected her but got captured. Mme Bustier’s desk got overturned and thrown across the classroom, revealing a monster. Mylene’s Akumatized form.

“Everybody run!”

We all ran out of the classroom and into the courtyard to hide. I took a breath as I hid with Alya, Juleka, and Sabrina behind Ivan. She growled at us and got bigger when Allya and Sabrina screamed. If I remember correctly and judged this situation correctly, akumatized Mylene gets her powers from people being scared of her so as long as I’m not scared of her, she won’t be as strong. 

Unfortunately, Ladybug and Chat Noir got momentarily trapped and that gave akumatized Mylene time to capture Alix, but not before licking Ivan as some kind of greeting. I guess her love for Ivan was still there despite the brainwashing.

We followed Ladybug and Chat Noir as they followed the trail of pink and orange goo that lead us to the basement. Everyone was in pod-like things created by what could only be hardened goo in the basement. The two heroes did a quick roll call for everyone that was taken and if things were less serious, I would have laughed at how they each called their other alter ego.

Alya, Nino, Sabrina, Juleka, Ivan, and I stuck together. We watched as the pair fought akumatized Mylene and ended up helping Ladybug with her impromptu concert using ordinary school equipment. We played and sang until akumatized Mylene was the size of a house cat and ran to Ivan to hide. 

Ladybug took the now revealed button, broke it, de-evilized the Akuma, and fixed everything like she always does. Everyone was very happy so I’ll refrain from telling them that there was a fifty-fifty chance that the movie we just filmed while chasing Mylene while she was akumatized might not be accepted into the contest.

Since, technically, what happened was real, making it a documentary, not a movie and the contest was strictly for movies.

Nino got a bit upset when I told him this but he still decided to take his chances anyway while also telling me that he was sending the video to the documentary contest that was happening next week. 

Three weeks later and like I said, it wasn’t accepted into the movie contest but we did win the documentary one so the class (and mainly Nino and Mylene) weren’t too upset about failing to make the cut.

Chapter 12: Politics and Games

Chapter Text

I stood beside Dad in front of our hotel as the paparazzi took hundreds of thousands of pictures for articles of Dad’s landslide victory against Armand D’Argencourt for the position of the Mayor of Paris. It was only ten minutes after the results of the election were announced and there were already hordes of people.

I’m pretty sure that I did a lot to get Dad’s approval rating so high. After all, I wasn’t tanking it by acting like a spoiled brat and making him do whatever he could to run damage control. There was also the fact that there were a lot of adults who were thankful for the Sabrina Act being put into effect and making them feel like their children were safer at schools thanks to Dad.

Not to mention the Akuma Alert App that I thought up and Dad funded, which did a lot.

Really, I don’t know what M D’Argencourt was thinking to try while Dad’s approval rating never took a sizable dip for his entire term. In fact, his approval rating was actually raising most of the time.

I do remember there was some episode about this election but I just couldn’t remember what it was.

As soon as the majority of the pictures were done, I was gently helped by Dad’s people and the hotel staff to get me to the limo without anyone trying to get an interview and I managed to get to school with minimal fanfare. 

“Chloe! I saw the news!”

“Congratulations to your dad!”

“He won again!”

“Thank you for your good wishes. I’ll pass them on to Dad when I see him later after school.” I said with my public smile as I seamlessly navigated the crowded hallways to get to class.

Usually, the crowds would part like the red sea when I walk through but I guess because of the election, they felt the need to talk to me or else they would offend me or something. Honestly, I don't care if they congratulate me or not since, one, it was my dad winning the election and not me. Two, I would rather get to class unimpeded, and, three, it was obvious who would win so there was really no need for flowery words.

The second I made it to class, my classmates all gave their congratulations as well. Classes went on as usual until Mme Bustier called Sabrina and me to stand in front of the class right before lunch break.

“Chole is running for the class representative position and Sabrina will be her deputy. Do we have any other candidates?” Mme Bustier asked.

No one spoke up, not even hesitantly. Honestly, running without any opponents, while it makes things easy and simple, gets very boring after the third consecutive unanimous win but I’ve been taking it as a badge of honor at this point. Suddenly Marinette barged into the room, being late again, interrupting the class however that was about it.

Mme Bustier added, “Alright, I’ll give all of you until the end of lunch to decide if you’d like to be a candidate.”

We were then dismissed. When we were all in the courtyard, I looked around and walked up to Kim.

“Why didn’t you try for candidacy?” I asked, “I heard you talk about wanting to change some things so why not?”

“I… eh… don’t have time between class work and swimming.” Kim said lamely, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

“I see. How about you, Rose?”

“You already do a super amazing job, Chloe! You can get all the teachers to listen and actually do things so I’m perfectly happy with you in charge! Especially since you got the Art Club all those new art supplies! Thank you!” Rose said honestly as she bounced about.

“That’s kind of you to say.” I said before my eyes landed on Marinette, “Marinette, I know you started coming out of your shell, how about you try for class representative? It might even help boost your growing confidence.”

“No!” Marinette exclaimed before freezing, she quickly started rambling nervously, “I mean, no thank you. I am already so busy between school work, helping at my parents’ bakery, designing, and… other things… and besides, you and Sabrina are an amazing team and everything! I couldn’t even compare and I’m happy with things as is so really there’s no need for me to even try!”

“Well, if that’s what you think then that’s that, I guess. Let’s go, Sabrina.”

After all that talking, I took Sabrina to our favorite cafe to eat before making our way back to class. We sat down in our seats five minutes early as usual and waited until Mme Bustier started class again.

“So are there any new candidates who would like to run against Chloe and Sabrina?” Mme Bustier asked expectantly.

I looked around at everyone and no one spoke up. No one even looked as if they wanted to give it a try.

Boring. But not unexpected.

“Given that Chloe and Sabrina are the only candidates, there’s no point in voting so Chloe and Sabrina are now that Class Representative and Class Deputy. Since you already know what to do, I won’t go over your duties. Please bring the paperwork to M Damocles by the end of tomorrow.”

“Of course, Mme.”

Classes went on as usual and Sabrina went with me to my room so we could work on the new paperwork we had to finish. We’ve been doing the same files for years but, even with our familiarity with them, it always takes at least two hours to fill them out due to how tedious it is.

Unfortunately, once again the Akuma Alert App decided to go off. This time it was someone calling themselves Darkblade, which means this was akumatized M D’Argencourt who wanted to take over Paris. 

I knew something bad was going to happen today, I can’t believe I forgot something like this.

Sabrina and I entered the Akuma Bunker to wait it out but suddenly, we were hit by a wall of black something and I blacked out. I was floating in what seemed to be space since it was so black and I couldn’t feel anything, not even gravity. I kept floating for what felt like forever until I saw the swarm of ladybugs.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was standing in front of the Elysee Palace. I guess I was turned into a knight. 

I ran towards the building and flung open the door, finding Dad standing in the middle of the room. I quickly gave him a hug before promising to get home safely. While in the limo, I sent a quick text to Sabrina and the class group chat to make sure everyone was safe. Which has become something of a standard procedure for me to do after city-wide Akuma Attacks like this one.

I pulled out my laptop and started drafting a proposal for Dad. If the press didn’t push M D’Argencourt so far, I doubt he would have akumatized so we need to do something to make the press less invasive. I debated for a moment before sending Marinette a text to get her to send me the phone number Nadja, I need to talk to someone from the press side of things to get the whole picture.

After I talk with Nadja, I’ll send what I have to Sabrina or get her to come over so we could go over it. When we finish that, we can hand the proposal over to Dad and have him handle things from there.

Let’s hope that this will help others from getting pushed by the press to the point of akumatization.

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I took a sip from my water bottle as I watched the gaming competition go down. There wasn’t any water in it though, instead, there was my strawberry latte. My hot strawberry latte was just what I needed to stay awake.

Was I breaking the rules? Yes. Definitely. Did I care? Normally, yes but, right now? No. Not at all. I needed the caffeine. Why a strawberry latte? The answer to that is quite simple, my tastebuds can’t handle actual coffee and I’m too sleepy to be trusted with boiling water to make my own tea and no one would ever let Mary (she's my servant for the week) touch tea.

I’m talking to myself. That’s the first sign of insanity.

This was all M Damocles's fault for pushing me this far so really, neither he nor the other teachers couldn’t punish me if they tried. He sprung the video game competition last minute on me, forcing me to pull a few all-nighters to work on it.

By last minute I mean five days ago with the physical half of the paperwork needed to be sent in by mail two days ago while the digital half needed to be sent by the end of the day. In four days, I pulled two all-nighters to arrange the paperwork to let College Francois Dupont participate in the video game competition between schools.

Normally, it would be the principal or a senior member of the staff who would have been the person to do this but Mme Leroy, who was chosen to do this, had something come so it was pushed on to me, the Student Council President. Not only that, there wasn’t anything for me to work with either!

I had to do everything from scratch!

After I finished everything, I looked for the person who was supposed to do this with the fury of ten thousand suns to give them the retribution they deserve.

Mme Leroy’s file wasn’t that different from the other teachers, nothing big enough to warrant deeper investigations but not completely clean either. However, thanks to this, I think an investigation was in order. If I was determined enough, which I am, I’ll have her sacked by the end of this month.

I am very thankful for Sabrina who helped me through all this. I made sure she never needed to pull any all-nighters but I knew she was tired, she was sleeping on the chair with her face against the desk possibly dead to the world. I didn’t know how she was sleeping over all the noise our classmates were making.

We were all in the library to watch a gaming tournament to find out who would play with Max at the competition. Right now, Adrien was playing against Max and, if everyone was to be believed, it was a fascinating and tight game.

Then in came Marinette.

I watched as Marinette took the controller from Adrien and started playing against Max. I sighed, Marinette doesn’t care about participating in the video game, she only wanted to play with Adrien. Then I froze before I groaned. I remember this episode now, it was the Gamer episode.

This was the episode where Max gets Akumatized because Marinette crushed his dreams because she wanted to be with her crush.

I downed the rest of my strawberry latte, woke Sabrina up to tell her I was going home, and made my way to the hotel. The second I reached my room, the Akuma Alert App rang out but I turned it off.

I set an alarm to go off in three hours, plugged my phone into its charger, got changed, and fell onto my bed. If I wanted to be even a bit supportive at the competition later tonight I needed to take a nap.

Who gives a damn about Akumas anyways? It’s not like I’d stay dead and I know in the episode of Gamer the hotel would be completely fine.

Fuck you, Hawkmoth.

With that in mind, I was out like a light.

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Unfortunately, I couldn’t sleep until the next morning so I got up when my alarm rang and got changed. I got into my limo, picked up Sabrina, and we quickly made our way to the building where the competition was being held. If I was being honest, I think a callosum was a bit much for a video game competition but who was I to say anything? I only touched consoles when Adrien begged me to play.

Now that he had other friends, friends who would willingly play video games with him, I was no longer obligated to play video games with him. I was forever thankful that Nino was such a willing sacrifice.

I was still out of it when I got to where the entire class was standing. However, I snapped back into reality when I saw Marinette and Max arguing about who would be representing our school in the tournament.

“Oh for the love of it all!” I exclaimed, shocking everyone as I marched over to them with fury in my eyes, dragging Adrien by the arm in a tight grip with me, “I worked on the paperwork to get our school into this competition for four days and pulled two all-nighters because of an incompetent teacher who is going to be replaced by the end of this month. I refuse to let my hard work be wasted because you three were unable to reach a conclusion to your argument and get the school disqualified for not showing up!

“Since Marinette and Max are arguing about who should go because Marinette wants to give Max the opportunity to do what he dreamed of and because Max wants the school to win, we will make Adrien decide. He is the one who would be your partner after all. However, I knew Adrien since we were toddlers so I know he’s going to give up his spot so the two of you can play together so let’s cut this entire thing short and get to the end of the story. Adrien, give them your controller.”

“What?! You can’t just decide that for Adrien!”

I glared at whoever just spoke up and hissed angrily, “Adrien was already looking at the two of them and his controller, it doesn’t take a genius to know what he was planning to do. I am tired, I am sleepy, and I am extremely angry at Mme Leroy for making me do everything myself without so much of a by-your-leave. Let’s get this over with before our school gets disqualified and my sleep-deprived self decided that this class is responsible for all this and take out all my anger on all of you.”

Adrien quickly handed over the controller and we watched as Marinette and Max walked into the ring. I took out my flask of Earl Grey tea that Jean prepared for me and downed it, ignoring the burns as it went down. Or the way everyone was giving me a wide berth.

I couldn’t wait until this stupid competition was over.

I looked down at my phone and saw that Dad sent a text telling me that some parts of my proposal were being looked at. At least something good happened in this nightmare of a week.

Chapter 13: Unrequited Love

Notes:

I have no time to post this tomorrow, on my usual day, so I'm posting this early. The next update will be on October 16, regular update schedule.

Chapter Text

This wasn’t normal. I haven’t seen Sabrina since yesterday and she wasn’t responding to any of my texts or calls. Even her dad was worried when he called to see if Sabrina was sleeping over when he didn’t see her at home. Unfortunately, there was a two-day waiting period after filing a missing person’s report in case the person wasn’t actually missing so I needed to wait.

“Sabrina… where are you?” I muttered to my phone before hiding it when Mme Mendeleiev started walking and focusing on the classwork she gave us.

When Mme Mendeleiev passed, I pulled out my phone again, planning to send another text when something latched on to me.

“Gah!” I screamed as I thrashed at whatever was trapping my arms to my side.

“Chloe! Why are you screaming?!” Mme Mendeleiev asked angrily, she was angry that I was interrupting class but she knew me well enough to know I wouldn’t do it without a good reason.

It wouldn’t make her any less mad though.

“Something latched on to me! It feels like someone’s giving me a death hug! I can’t move my arms!” I yelled before I remembered that Sabrina was akumatized and turned into an invisible girl in Canon.

That said, why was Sabrina akumatized? I was never mean to her, and I always paid attention to her, so why did she get akumatized?

“Is it an Akuma? Are you Sabrina? Let go of me!” I yelled as I continued to thrash, but I sneakily used a marker to mark Sabrina’s wrist, “Tell me what’s wrong, why did you get akumatized?! We can talk about this!”

Suddenly, Sabrina as Vanisher let go and ran out of the room. It was something to watch the door open and slam shut without any visible person going through it. I took a moment to breathe and calm myself, ignoring the looks my classmates were giving me and each other, before pressing the Akuma Alert Button.

“Mme Mendeleiev, may I be excused for the rest of the day? I’ll feel safer at home in the hotel’s Akuma Bunker.”

“As long as you finish your homework.”

“Thank you.” I said before packing up my stuff, however before I left, I spoke up for Adrien and Marinette’s sake, “Can someone tell Ladybug and Chat Noir that I used a black permanent marker to mark Sabrina’s wrist? Since she’s invisible, they can use that mark to find her.”

“Sure, no problem.”

I didn’t know who responded to me and I didn’t care. I quickly made my way home without any problems and locked myself into the Akuma Bunker in Dad’s room instead of going to the one in my room in case Sabrina was waiting for me in the bunker in my room. 

I stayed there, eyes on the security camera to watch Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat Sabrina. Once they were close to done, I left the bunker and made my way to the lobby to talk with Sabrina.

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Marinette stood by Chat Noir as they watched Sabrina turn back to normal. She wonders why Sabrina of all people got akumatized. She was happy, she had a good family and a best friend like Chloe who always looked out for her and helped Sabrina stand on her own two feet and defend herself if she needed it. So Marinette really couldn’t see why Sabrina got upset enough to be akumatized.

Chat Noir seemed to have been wondering the same thing when he started walking to Sabrina.

“So, do you want to talk about what got you akumatized?” Chat Noir asked, lacking a lot of tact.

Chat Noir was usually more discreet when he wants the Akuma victims to open up about what got them so upset but maybe he was having a bad day. Well, Marinette couldn’t talk, she would have just as much tact as he does if she had been the one to ask Sabrina. It’s always so awkward talking to classmates while hiding behind a mask.

Sabrina started tearing up, “I… I’m in love with Chloe!”

Marinette blinked, this was not where she thought this conversation was going, and, judging by the look on Chat Noir’s face, he was thinking the same thing.

“Did she reject you?” Marinette asked gently.

“No.” Sabrina said, shaking her head, “She doesn’t need to. I already know that Chloe doesn’t like girls. She already told me she was AroAce, which means that no matter what she could never return my feelings the way I want her to. I just… I always knew but I just couldn’t help but feel upset when I think about it and I rewatched a few of the Akuma attacks, specifically the ones where the Akuma victims were broken-hearted people and I got really upset and… and I couldn’t fight it after that… I felt so invisible… and I just….”

Marinette’s heart broke. She knew exactly how Sabrina was feeling. She knew that Adrien didn’t like her the way she liked him and she sometimes feels like she was completely invisible to him. However, she guess she was luckier than Sabrina because at least she has a chance at romance.

Suddenly, Chloe appeared. Sabrina froze, still crying as she looked at Chloe. Marinette and Chat Noir made eye contact, not knowing what to do. It was so weird seeing the class deputy who was always so put together break down like this so Marinette didn’t know what to expect from Chloe.

“That's right. I can never love you as you love me and I'm sorry for that, but I do love you. As a friend, you're my best friend.” Chloe said as she bent down to Sabrina and gave her the kindest smile Marinette has ever seen on Chloe’s face, “You're important to me, don’t you ever doubt that. If you need space to sort out your feelings, tell me. If you need to air things out, talk to me, and I'll listen. I promise I can always make time for you. I don't want you to be akumatized again, you're my best friend and I don’t want you to go through this again."

Chloe gave Sabrina a tight hug and whispered softly to Sabrina to let all her tears out. Marinette was feeling too awkward to stay in the hotel lobby, she felt like she was interrupting something, so she left.

Marinette resolved later that night to talk to Sabrina more. Just to give her support for moving on from Chloe.

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I stood with my classmates instead of with Dad as he gave his welcome speech to the class and went into his prepared talk about what they would be doing today. After a moment, Mme Bustier took over.

“Thanks to the generosity of M Bourgeois, we’re able to have our Work Experience Field Trip today at La Grande Palais Luxury Hotel. Each of you will get hands-on experience with one of the many jobs here at the hotel. You’ll be graded on your effort which will affect whether you pass or fail the class.” Mme Bustier explained, “Now, your jobs have been chosen for you so please do your best. Chloe?”

“Yes, I’ll take over.” I said moving to stand in front of the class, “I tried my best to put you where your talents lay or places that could help you grow. Kim, you will be working as a doorman with Jaque, our best doorman. There, you can learn to deal with annoying people without losing your cool and standing your ground while staying polite, two things you need to work on.”

Kim looked sheepish as he walked to where he was directed.

“Next, Nino, Juleka, and Rose will be working with the cooks. I’ve seen at school that you three always eat the cafeteria food, eat out, or bring really simple lunches. That’s all fine but I thought you might like trying to eat homemade food that looked fancy and tasted good enough to be from a restaurant.”

“Sounds awesome.” Nino said as he, Juleka, and Rose followed Mme Cesaire to the kitchen specifically chosen for them to work in. The one without any expensive kitchen equipment to mess up.

“Alya, if you’re wondering why I didn’t put you with your mom, it’s because I put you, Sabrina, Mylene, and Nathaniel with our Public Relations team. As a journalist, you need to know this. Same for an actress and artists, Mylene and Nathaniel, you two also need to know this. Why Sabrina is with you there is self-explanatory.”

“I’m going to need to know that for when I’m helping Chloe run this place.” Sabrina giggled as she left with Mme Martin.

“Naturally.” I smiled before continuing, “Ivan and Alix will help the janitors, it will give you a lot of work and hopefully keep you from damaging anything too expensive. Even if Ivan isn’t Kim, I know you two might turn things into a competition, might as well make those competitions helpful and learn some basic cleaning skills while you’re at it.”

“Come on, we aren’t that bad.” Alix complained half-heartedly as she left with Ivan as they followed Katherine.

“Now, Max, you will be working with security. Specifically, the security cameras and how to operate them. You’ll need to sign an NDA and it’s a lot of work to remember all the technical terms and how to use the equipment but I’m sure you can do it.”

“A challenge? I can’t wait. Though, there’s a 68% chance you underestimate my abilities.”

“As for Adrien and me, we will be working as receptionists. Adrien needs to work on his people skills and I’ll be with him to do damage control and teach him how to use the booking system.”

“I never did that before, I can’t wait!”

“Finally, Marinette. Unfortunately, you were a bit hard to place somewhere. There isn’t much work around here that an up-and-coming fashion designer can do. We don’t need anyone to redesign the rooms or remake the curtains. We didn’t want to put you in the kitchen since you already know how to bake and we didn’t want to overcrowd it. We couldn’t put you in receptions like Adrien since that’s a two-people job and we couldn’t put you and Adrien together since neither of you knows how to work the booking system. So we put you as a gopher. This will teach you how to deal with annoying and demanding customers; you will no doubt have many of those when you start taking commissions.”

Marinette didn’t look thrilled at the job she was given but didn’t complain. To be perfectly honest, there were other jobs I could have put Marinette into but, if I did, there would be a chance I would cause her to miss her chance as a designer. Her glasses for Jagged Stone were her first big commission and kick-started her career in designing, I couldn’t take that away from her. Besides, she's still too star-struck with Adrien to be allowed to work too closely with him.

I put Marinette to work by telling her to stand by the luggage carts before showing Adrien all the features of the booking system he would be using today. It was so cute how excited Adrien was at doing everything. 

A few minutes later, we got our first visitor. It was Jagged Stone. He came in with Fang on a leash, Penny by his side, two luggage carts full of luggage, and Kim pushing one of the luggage carts.

“Excuse me.” Dad said, marching to Jagged Stone but I quickly grabbed his hand.

“Dad, this is Jagged Stone. The famous rock star who sold millions of albums, he’s a bit eccentric but you can’t turn him away, or else our hotel’s reputation will be turned to ashes by his rabid fanbase.” I whispered.

Dad, while a good dad to me, was still someone who looked down on people from a lower class. He can fake it well enough (and, if I was being honest, I love him enough) that I can ignore it but I would rather him not shoot himself in the foot like this.

Fanbases were scary when they feel their idol or whatever was slighted, even if it wasn’t anything big.

“M Stone, welcome to La Grande Palais Hotel!” Dad said as he changed his tone and bowed before Jagged, “I am Mayor Bourgeois and owner of this luxury establishment. In fact, this is the most luxurious hotel in all of Paris. How many we serve you?”

“How’d you think? I didn’t just come here to admire your lobby.” Jagged huffed.

Penny took over, “Jagged would like to check into your most luxurious suite.”

“And Fang better get a real bathtub, not a tiny water hole like the one in that hotel across the street.”

I decided to ignore the scene in front of me and instead focus on helping Adrien book Jagged Stone into our hotel. I knew for a fact that dad was going to do something embarrassing so I didn’t want to look.

“Okay, Adrien. Try doing what I told you to do.” I said, pointing to the computer, “If you get stuck, don’t hesitate to ask for help. I rather you ask and admit you forgot something than mess up the system by booking it wrong. I mean, I would probably be able to fix it without any problems but I rather not need to do that.”

“Got it. I think I remember everything.” Adrien said as he did his best.

We both ignored the mayhem that was happening in front of us with practiced ease. There was the obsessive Jagged Stone fan who just couldn’t take a hint but Adrien and I both had our fair share of those kinds of people that ignoring them and letting security handle things has long become second nature.

“And done!” Adrien said happily as he moved to let me see, “How did I do, Clo?”

“Well, Addy, you didn’t fail, but you did miss one step.” I said as I took over, and clicked a few keys before moving away, “Like that.”

“I see. I’ll do better next time.”

“I know you will.” I smiled, “Now, when there’s no one trying to book a room, we don’t just stand around doing nothing. We have to look over the spreadsheet that shows when people are scheduled to leave and give those who are close to their leaving date a call so they won’t forget. Generally, you call a day before it’s their day if they have stayed for a long time or a couple of hours before they leave if their stay was short. Understand?”

“Yeah.” Adrien nodded as he opened the spreadsheet and blinked, “That’s… that’s a lot of people to call.”

“Addy, Addy, Addy.” I sighed as I took over, “That’s a list of everyone staying in the hotel alphabetically. You need to change the filters so that the list would be ordered in checkout times.”

Adrien looked sheepish, “Oh, right.”

Suddenly, there was a light at the doors, and Kim and Jaque disappeared. I grabbed Adrien and pulled him down so we could hide behind the desk. Adrien already pressed the Akuma Alert Button.

“Addy, I need you to listen to me.” I whispered, “It isn’t safe in the hotel now that an Akuma is here so we need to leave the building. When he gets to the stairs, we will quietly crawl our way to the doors and the second we get outside, we will run, and keep running until we get to the next Akuma Bunker, okay?”

“Yeah.” Adrien nodded.

Using my compact mirror, I watched the Akuma until he reached the stairs. The second he was standing on the first step, I closed my compact and started quietly crawling away from the desk with Adrien following closely behind me. Just as we were about to reach the doors, a beam of light hit us and we got transported into some white room.

“What the-”

“We got hit.” I cursed, “Sorry, Addy. I should have timed that better.”

“No. It’s fine. You did your best.” Adrien said as he looked around, “I think we’ve been digitized or something.”

“What does that even mean?” I asked in frustration before adding, “Don’t answer that.”

Adrien wisely closed his mouth before opening it again, “I think we should start searching this place. At least it would give us something to do and I doubt we will have any cell reception here.”

“There’s never cell reception when you need it during Akuma Attacks.” I sighed, “Lead the way, Addy.”

I followed Adrien as we walked and walked. I checked my phone and saw that we’d been walking for fifteen minutes. It felt longer.

“It just goes on forever. No door, no walls, no nothing.” Adrien stated, looking around as he stopped walking.

“Addy, I love you like the little brother I can never get, but I refuse to be stuck here with you. Let’s keep searching.”

“Hey! What’s so bad about me?” Adrien asked, I could tell he was getting flashbacks from the Bubbler about how Ladybug didn’t want to be stuck with him for eternity either.

“Nothing personal. I just have my life planned out and that plan does not include being stuck with you in an endless, white room.” I said honestly.

I pretended to check the Ladyblog to give Adrien some privacy to talk to Plagg when he started getting antsy.

“I’m gonna see if there’s a way out down there.” Adrien said, pointing in a random direction, “Don’t go anywhere, could be dangerous.”

I turned around to let him go when suddenly there was a crocodile next to me. It was Fang. Slowly, I approached him with my arms out and started petting him like an emotional support animal. 

Yes, Fang is a dangerous crocodile but he’s been raised by Jagged since he hatched so it was more or less safe enough to do this.

“Eh, Clo?”

“Yeah, Addy?”

“That’s a crocodile.

“Yeah, so?”

“... never mind.”

Adrien kept walking left but somehow reappeared walking towards me from my right. I guess this place was a loop instead of an endless plain. Suddenly, a window to the outside appeared in front of us and Ladybug’s face appeared.

“Ladybug?” Adrien asked, staring up at the window.

“What are you two doing in there?” Ladybug asked, “And why are you petting a crocodile?”

“I always wanted to pet a crocodile but it’s too dangerous for Dad to let me.” I answered before adding, “We got hit by the beams coming out of his eye camera thing and got transported here.”

Ladybug moved on and left Adrien and me alone. I ignored Adrien as I focused on giving Fang the best petting session I could give him. There was nothing else to do anyway so this was the best way to kill time.

The next thing I knew, Adrien and I were transported back to the hotel. I guess Ladybug tricked the Akuma or something. 

There was a thud and I saw Nino fall out of the chair. Adrien and I rushed over to him but while I helped Nino get back up, Adrien’s attention was on the live news Nino was watching on the computer.

“Dudes! You scared me!” Nino exclaimed.

“Fill in for me, will you Nino?” Adrien asked before jumping over the desk and running out of the hotel, probably to transform into Chat Noir and get to the fight.

“What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time?” Nino yelled after Adrien.

“Let Adrien run. We were stuck in this white room-like thing so he must be a bit restless. So, what did you do so far?” I asked.

Nino looked a bit sheepish and admitted all he did was sit down at the desk and didn’t do anything. I guess it was better than him messing with the system.

I shooed Nino out of the reception area and did the job expected of me. At the end of the day, the best students were given tickets to Jagged Stone’s concert. However, as I didn’t like rock music, I gave my ticket to Rose.

All in all, despite the mess Hawkmoth made today, it was a good field trip. My classmates didn’t cause any trouble at the hotel so that was definitely a small victory to be happy about.

Chapter 14: Princess Fragrance

Chapter Text

Yesterday, I reminded Mme Bustier and Mme Mendeleiev about the presentation I needed to do at the end of today's class. As usual, I sent an email to Mme Bustier, M Damocles, and Mme Mendeleiev a month in advance and another email to them a week ago to remind them.

I stood in front of the class with Sabrina by my side, handling the projector showing the presentation I created for the Toy Drive that Prince Ali created. I showed them pictures of the hospital kids from all over the world who got toys from this charity and explained how Prince Ali was actually coming to Paris and visiting the hospital for the Toy Drive.

“If any of you have any old toys you don’t want, are in good condition, and you don’t mind giving away, please bring them to the hospital to donate them to the Toy Drive. If you don’t have time, or you don't find anything until after the Toy Drive at the hospital is over, you can go to the website and send your toys by mail.” I said, concluding my presentation, “Any questions?”

There were none. With that done, the class was over and everyone started packing up to go. I handed Juleka a pamphlet about the Toy Drive for Rose since she missed the presentation and was sent to the Principal's Office due to using perfume in science class. 

After that was done, Sabrina and I quickly made our way to the limo waiting for us. We had a busy schedule ahead of us and we didn't have a second to waste.

“Sabrina, remember to make sure everything at the hospital is still running perfectly. I need to go to the hotel to meet with Prince Ali for the press before I can make my way there.”

“Of course. Leave it to me.” Sabrina said confidently.

I was about to enter my limo when I saw a red thing rolling toward my feet. I reached down and internally froze. It was Tikki. They didn’t even try to pretend to be a toy, their eyes moved a bit and it was clear that they had a consciousness. 

“Does this belong to anyone?” I asked Sabrina.

“I don’t know.” Sabrina said regretfully, “Maybe-”

“It’s mine!” Marinette yelled, interrupting Sabrina, “I’m sorry, Ti… it… she… rolled away from me!”

“I see. Don’t lose it again.” I said dropping Tikki into her hand, “Again, if you don’t want it anymore, you can give it to me to give to Prince Ali. If you need time to think about it, feel free but if you do decide to donate, please bring it to the Toy Drive at the hospital.”

“I’ll, eh, think about it!” Marinette squeaked before running away.

Sabrina and I were about to enter my limo but Rose came up to us. Thankfully, we always add an additional ten minutes to our transportation time in case of traffic, or else I would have started getting irritated at the derailing of my carefully constructed schedule. 

“D-did I hear you say Prince Ali?" Rose asked, somehow sounding excited and bashful at the same time.

"Yes. Why do you ask?" I asked.

"You also said you could give things to him!"

"Correction, Chloe said she could give toys for his Toy Drive to him." Sabrina corrected before adding, "It's no secret that he is staying at Chloe's hotel."

Rose looked so excited she seemed to be vibrating. She quickly shoved a pink and floral-smelling letter into my face. There was also a red heart-shaped sticker sealing the letter shut.

“Oh please, could you give him a special letter for me?” Rose asked, handing me the letter as she blushed bashfully.

I gently pushed the letter away from me and back into Rose’s hands.

“I’m sorry, Rose, but it isn't professional for me to give personal items like letters, especially ones that look like this, to the Prince. If it was a toy, it would be fine since it could be explained away as something for his Toy Drive but a letter like this… However, I am willing to introduce you to him at the hospital if I can. Again, there is no guarantee. Apologies but I do need to go now.”

With that, I entered the limo with Sabrina and made our way back to the hotel. During the ride, we did a quick run-over of how the Toy Drive at the hospital should go and double-checked the security. Then we called up the fireworks people and made sure everything was still working properly.

After I got dropped off at the hotel, I quickly made my way to the elevator to get to the floor where dad, Prince Ali, his attendant, and all the approved paparazzi were stationed. When I got there, dad was already talking to the paparazzi and they were already started taking pictures so I waited to the side.

“In honor of your presence here in Paris, your highness, I have taken it upon myself to organize a lavish fireworks display on the Seine.” Dad explained as Prince Ali excitedly made his way to the windows where he looked towards the Seine to where the fireworks boat was stationed, “They would be displayed from this barge.”

“Thank you! Oh, how do we say it in your language…” Prince Ali trailed off a bit before jumping with joy, “Totally awesome!”

It seems like Prince Ali was another Adrien, a sheltered child. Though I shouldn’t assume so quickly, it was the feeling I was getting. However, his attendant was definitely a more expressive Nathalie.

“We shall have to see if it fits in with the prince’s busy schedule. We have very little time for festivities. His highness has many responsibilities.” His attendant explained.

It made sense but she was making Prince Ali sad and was making dad feel awkward for bringing the fireworks up. I quickly tapped on dad’s shoulders to give him an out and get rid of the awkward atmosphere.

“Prince Ali, allow me to introduce my own princess, Chloe.” Dad said as Prince Ali turned around to face me.

I gave him the public smile that I reserve for the press and reached my hand out for a handshake, “Hello, Prince Ali. As my dad said, my name is Chloe. I hope we can get along during your stay here in Paris.”

Prince Ali grabbed my hand and started shaking it aggressively. I didn’t realize it was possible but it seems that Prince Ali’s social skills might actually be worse than Adrien’s. Well, social skills meaning not high society at least. Unless it had something to do with politicking.

“I gave out pamphlets to every student at my school and gave a presentation to my class about your Toy Drive and asked them to donate some of their old toys as well as visit the website if they need to ask any further questions. I hope your team can handle all the internet traffic.”

Prince Ali smiled, “Of course! The more people who donate the better!”

After that brief transaction, dad was able to get one of the interviewers to take over. It was the lady that I knew who got Marinette to babysit her daughter. She started if there was anything Prince Ali wanted to tell Paris when I saw the main elevator move and open with a big cloud of pink smoke.

“Akuma!” I yelled, quickly pressing the Akuma Alert Button.

I grabbed dad in one hand and Prince Ali in the other and started running for the stairs. Prince Ali’s attendant followed closely behind us as the paparazzi scatter the second they heard me yell. However, sadly for most of the paparazzi, they were hit by a big cloud of pink smoke and were under the Akuma’s control. 

It was Rose. Why she got akumatized when I didn’t drive her to tears like in Canon was beyond me but her Akumatized form was the same as in Canon, and so were her powers. All the people that were hit by that pink smoke were falling over themselves to bow to Rose and were addressing her as Princess Fragrance.

“At your service, Princess Fragrance.” I heard the mind-controlled people singing from behind us.

“W-Who are you?!” Prince Ali yelled, confused but still running.

“Less talking, more running!” I grumbled.

“I’m Princess Fragrance and I’ve come here just for you!” Princess Fragrance exclaimed as she played with her perfume gun as she chased after us, “In just a spritz, you’ll be my Prince Ali!”

We ran for the stairs, ran down them, entered a random floor, and kept running. I managed to make sure dad didn’t try to hide us in a room by reminding him that it could easily become a trap if she managed to get even a small hole into the room while we had no escape room or a way to redirect the pink smoke. 

However, we had to escape that floor when Princess Fragrance decided to just gas the entire floor. We had to run upwards since the gas, thankfully, was heavier than oxygen which means we didn’t have to worry about not having time to escape but it did mean that it flowed downwards so we could only run upwards.

“Dad! Daddy!” I yelled in horror as Dad, who was holding the door for the rest of us, got trapped in a tornado of pink smoke. I took a moment to process what happened before tightening my grip on Prince Ali and I pulled him so he would run faster, “Keep running! Don’t let dad’s sacrifice be in vain!”

I kept running. I ran and ran. I didn’t know where I was going but I knew that I wasn’t going to let myself get hit. I know, I know Ladybug could reverse everything but it never stops hurting knowing that dad was being brainwashed again. He was being attacked again. He sacrificed himself for me. 

Again.

“Shut the door!” I demanded one of the staff just as Dad came into view.

“But that’s your father.” The attendant said.

“He’s being brainwashed, not in his right mind, he would do the same!” I exclaimed as the butler closed the door.

However, the elevator door started emitting pink smoke. I pulled both Prince Ali and his attendant to get further away from the elevator. It burst open with pink smoke but I didn’t pay attention to that.

“Hey, alley cat! Are you going to help or are you going to keep watching?!” I snapped at Chat Noir who was just sitting on the window sill.

Chat Noir quickly sprung into action. He was deflecting the smoke bullets with his staff and hitting Princess Fragrance hard enough to send her into the kitchen. He then extended his staff until it hit the ground.

“Emergency evacuation. Everyone down, it’s much too dangerous for the prince.” Chat Noir said.

As the prince's attendant started making a fuss about it being too dangerous for the prince, I went down first. The next one down was Chat Noir, followed by Prince Ali and his attendant. They were wearing metal bowls on their heads as helmets, if this wasn't an emergency I would be judging them harshly. We quickly made our way into the car, which I absentmindedly noticed was Adrien’s car, and drove away. I sent a text to Sabrina telling her that the Akuma was going to delay the hospital plan and to keep things running without us.

“We have precisely nine minutes to get to the hospital, the prince is on a very strict schedule.” The prince’s attendant exclaimed as she drove quickly towards the hospital.

“What? No way we can go to the hospital, you’ll be putting all the patients and visitors there in danger!” I exclaimed, I cannot understand this woman.

“Yeah! We need to get Prince Ali out of Paris asap!” Chat Noir added.

If you’re worried about the hospital, don’t be. I already informed them. Even if Prince Ali doesn’t show up, things will still run smoothly.”

Suddenly, there was a thud on the car roof. We looked up and saw Princess Fragrance, she said something as she punched open a window. I tried to open the door and jump out of the car but it was too late, she sprayed her perfume and everything went black.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next thing I knew, I was standing on the bridge that crosses the Seine where lovers go to lock locks onto as a way to get their love to last an eternity. Nothing but a superstition but it was cute.

“Dad!” I exclaimed running to where Dad was standing and flinging my arms around him before muttering, “I told you don’t do that again…”

“You know I can’t promise that. I will rather be the sacrifice than let anything happen to you.” Dad said back, “I know I’m not the best father but I would never let you get hurt if I can help it…”

I savored the hug, ignoring the screeching banshee of an attendant that threatened to ruin the mood. Suddenly, Dad’s phone started blowing up and he had to leave, I watched him go. Dad was neglectful at times and he thinks he can solve everything with his money, even buying my affection at times when he feels so guilty for missing important steps in my life, and I hate how he acts around Mother but he never made me think I wasn’t loved. 

He was the only parent I would ever acknowledge in this life. 

I pulled out my own phone, I needed to check up on Sabrina. I need to ensure everything in the hospital is running smoothly and check up on the progress.

I think that in Canon, Prince Ali would be spending the rest of the day with Rose, running away from his attendant, so it was safe to say that, sadly enough, he wouldn’t be making any appearance at the hospital. Luckily, Sabrina and I planned for this so nothing at the event could go wrong.

Even with the disappearance of the main event. 

“Sabrina? Transition to Plan E, make sure everyone knows this, and keep things running until I get there.”

“Of course!”

I kept an ear out for any questions as I started walking to the hospital. If my calculations were correct, I’d be able to get to the hospital in half an hour if the Akuma Traffic was at its worst compared to the twenty-minute walk on foot so walking was the fastest way to get to the hospital.

Chapter 15: Volpina and Birthdays

Chapter Text

As I walked with Sabrina to our classroom when I heard the whispers. The whispers about how the new student knew so many famous people, went to all the popular tourist destinations, and hung out with all the influential figures. All the signs said that the annoying little fox was finally at Dupont.

“Sabina, take notes on everything Lila said she did. There is no way all of that’s true and I want to be able to avoid the school getting a lawsuit or the students from banking their future on a self-centered diva.”

“Already on it. I got her file from M Damocles last night, add in all her tales and I think it’s becoming one of the bigger cases.”

“Perfect. Did you remember to get Alya to make Lila sign those forms to consent to any and all recordings at school?”

“Yes, neither of them questioned it.”

“Good. That will make our job easier.”

I spotted Alya and Marinette entering the school and pointing to where Lila was making Adrien uncomfortable. I knew where this was going and what Marinette’s emotions were going to push her to. 

“Sabrina, you go ahead.” I said as I pointed to where Adrien and Lila were to a slightly confused Sabrina, “I need to save Adrien. If anyone asks, I have to take care of something and be as vague as possible.”

“Of course. I’ll add low-level sexual harassment onto her file.”

“Thanks, Sabrina.”

I quickly made my way up a separate staircase to the library, found a good place to angle my phone to record everything, and hid. I was hiding behind a bookshelf, I had already taken out two books to make a good peak hole to put my phone in to watch. Adrien was sitting at a desk, waiting for Lila to arrive and I saw that Marinette was hiding just down the alley of the bookshelves. 

Well, not hiding since I was staring straight at her but she was hiding from Adrien and Lila so I guess that counts for something.

Maybe.

“Now we can start working on our history homework.” Lila said as she walked over and took a seat next to Adrien and stared at him with a dreamy expression in her eyes, “It’s so much more fun doing it together, don’t cha’ think?”

Suddenly, Lila reached over and grabbed the book that I knew Adrien took from his father and looked at it.

“What is this?” Lila asked, studying the book.

“N-Nothing.” Adrien lied, “Just stories about superheroes.”

Lila placed her hand over Adrien’s, “I love superheroes.”

I watched as Marinette had a moment to freak out and accidentally bumped into a book cart and got an idea. However, I turned my attention back on to Adrien and Lila when Adrien started sighing about Ladybug.

I was going to hold that over his head for the rest of his life.

However, Lila got an ugly look on her face for a moment before moving her chair to sit right next to him, “A girl doesn’t need to wear a costume to be amazing, you know?”

“I don’t know, I mean, I-”

“So, you got a little soft spot for the bug, huh?”

“Me? Oh no.” Adrien denied and I watched as, just under the range of my camera, Marinette used the book cart as a disguise to get closer to Adrien and Lila to hear their conversation.

“Really?” Adrien asked in shock.

Adrien, baby, you are a treasure to trick and manipulate - I mean, you are a treasure to cherish but you are too naive.

Lila got closer to Adrien’s face, “We can chat about it if you want. Not here though. Why don’t we meet at the park after school and I’ll tell you everything.”

I watched as Marinette’s clumsiness got out of hand and she accidentally pushed the book cart into the wall, causing a loud crash, knocking all the books from the cart over and a few of the books off the shelf it crashed into. 

Adrien’s alarm rang, and they started packing up, but Lila scared him into dropping his book bag. I knew this was going to happen and checked the positioning of my camera and made sure that it recorded how Lila used her foot to slide the book away before helping Adrien pick up his bag.

“Sure.” Adrien said before running off.

I left my hiding spot and made my way to Lila, she was already starting to flip through the book.

“Lila! There you are.” I exclaimed with a smile, causing Lila to look up in surprise before falling into a nice girl act.

“Hi, were you looking for me?”

“Yes, actually. My name is Chloe and I’m the Class Representative so it’s my job to make sure you settle in without any problems. I was looking for you to ask you if you were enjoying the school day so far and if you need any help catching up.” I lied flawlessly before my eyes zeroed in on the book in Lila’s hands and I frowned, “That’s M Agrests’ book, why do you have it?”

Lila froze and looked down before doing some quick thinking, “Oh, it fell out of Adrien’s bag and he left for his fencing class before I could give it back to him. Don’t worry, I’ll give it back after school, we are meeting at the park after all.”

She was probably trying to get a reaction out of me by casually dropping the implication that she and Adrien were going on a date. 

“Really? Well, as good as that sounds, I can’t, in good conscience, let someone I have barely known for a day hold onto that book. It’s very precious to M Agrests and must be returned to him immediately.” I said before holding my hand out, “Please hand it over, knowing Adrien, he must have taken it without asking so if M Agrests finds out he would get in a lot of trouble. Possibly even more if he finds out that Adrien let some stranger touch it.”

Reluctantly, Lila handed it over. She made sure to seem as happy about it but I saw the angry glint in her eyes. She quickly made some excuses and left the library. Okay, one problem down, now to tackle the next one.

“Come out from under that table, Marinette. I know you’re there.” I said, staring down at the table and watching as Marinette quickly crawled out.

“I-I can explain! I was… there was a cat and-”

“Save it.” I said, shoving the book into her hands, “Hold this for me, I need to get something.”

I walked over to where my phone was still recording. I moved at a leisurely pace so that Tikki could see the book. After grabbing my phone and stopping the recording, I made my way to Marinette.

“Sit.” I said as I sat down where Adrien sat, I wasn’t touching Lila’s seat with a ten-foot pole even if you paid me.

Marinette meekly sat down and started fidgeting.

“Now, I’ll start talking so you better listen.” I said, grabbing Marinette’s attention, “While walking with Sabrina, I saw that Lila was grabbing Adrien and making him uncomfortable so I followed them here. I’ve known Adrien since we were three so that makes him my little brother and I have to protect him from grabby harpies who don’t know how to keep their hands to themselves. 

“While I was here, I set up a camera to record everything, don’t worry, you aren’t in any of the shots, and saw everything you saw. From the invasion of personal space to stealing the book. Everything. Now, I need you to explain why you are here. No lying and I would know if you lied.”

“I… I got jealous.” Marinette admitted before she started talking a mile a minute, “I heard all of her amazing adventures and everything she did and when I saw her with Adrien I sort of panicked and decided to follow them. And then I saw her do all that and I couldn’t help it! The book cart thing was an accident I swear!”

I was nodding along, already knowing what Marinette was going to say. Her purse started moving a bit.

“I-I know I don’t have a place to ask this but the book-”

“You can take pictures for inspiration for your designs but nothing more, I do need to get the book back to Adrien’s dad so he doesn’t get in trouble. After you get those pictures, transfer them to somewhere unhackable like a DVD or something.”

“DVD?”

“This is a reference book that M Agrests uses for his designs, if anyone gets their hands on it, it wouldn’t be good for business.”

Marinette quickly pulled out her laptop and started taking pictures. I actually told Marinette to put it on a DVD so that Hawkmoth wouldn’t be able to hack into them and find out that Marinette was Ladybug. I mean, I doubt Hawkmoth was smart enough to do that but one of his Akuma’s might get a hacking power and find it by accident.

Marinette and Adrien’s luck is just bad like that.

I pulled out my phone and started cropping the video. I cut off the waiting part at the beginning, starting it right when Lila started walking toward Adrien. Then I cut the video off right when Lila started flipping through the book.

If it incriminates Lila more, it was just a coincidence.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I took a breath to calm myself and left my limo, telling Jean to pick me up in an hour at Cafe de Flore. I confidently walked towards the Agrests’ mansion, pressed the doorbell, and watched unimpressed as the creepy camera arm thing sprung out of the wall and into my face.

“Yes?” Nathalie’s voice asked.

“Nathalie. I need to talk with M Agrests. It’s about this book that Adrien borrowed from him.” I said as I lifted the book and showed it to the camera.

“... He will be with you in a moment.”

I didn’t need to wait long. The gates quickly opened and I strutted into the foyer with M Agrests already standing at the top of the stairs. I gave him a smile and a wave which he didn’t return.

Rude as usual.

“Mlle Bourgeois. I heard you have the book that Adrien took from me?” M Agrests asked.

“Yes.” I nodded before adding, “There’s also something that I need to show you if you don’t mind.”

M Agrests gestured for Nathalie to take it from me before walking down the stairs. I took that as an invitation to show him whatever I wanted to show him. Once he was close enough, I showed him my (slightly edited) video.

“That is Lila Rossi. I started following her after seeing Addy - I mean, Adrien looked a bit uncomfortable at her grabbing his arm.” I explained before speaking a bit more to make sure all of M Agrests' ire was pushed onto Lila and not Adrien.

I did not regret pulling the He Missed You And Wanted To Be Closer To You Card to get him to not punish Adrien too harshly when I told him why Adrien probably took the book. What emotionally neglected little boy who knows his father loves him wouldn’t take the book his father was holding so tightly?

“... I see. Thank you for informing me.” M Agrests said, “You may go now.”

“Yes. Yes. I know when I’m not wanted.” I said, waving M Agrests off as I walked towards the door, “Good day, M Agrests.”

I wasn’t even given a proper goodbye. Both the doors and the gates just closed behind me without so much of a by-your-leave. Huffing, I pulled out my phone as I walked to Cafe de Flore.

I texted Adrien about the situation and what was waiting for him at home before sharing the (slightly edited) video of Lila stealing the book. I added another text about how I followed him after seeing him look a bit uncomfortable and told him to be careful of Lila because she rubbed me the wrong way.

I sent one final text that, if he ever needed me to run interference, I would do it. All he needed to do was ask.

He sent a text of thanks.

I enjoyed my soup at Cafe de Flore as Sabrina texted me that she fact-checked all of Lila’s tales and they were just that, tales. After telling Sabrina that Lila would be set up as a reminder to the masses that they shouldn’t cross the line (some of the old bullies were starting to get bolder), I was herded into the Akuma Shelter by the staff when everyone’s Akuma Alert App went off. I stayed there, watching the live footage with the rest of the patrons of the cafe until Volpina was dealt with.

Needless to say, Lila wasn’t there at school the next day or the days that followed.

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I looked over at everyone doing their best to get everything ready. We were organizing Marinette’s surprise birthday party in the park, at Alya’s request. Alya now owes me so I was using her blog as an advertising place for the next competition or contest.

I made everyone do the same jobs they did back when we arranged Adrien’s birthday party. Though this time we weren’t working with craft supplies and Adrien was there. To be faire, Adrien was only there as an extra hand and eye candy for the random passerby. I was also very sure that Marinette already knew that we were preparing a surprise party for her. No one in this class understands how to be sneaky.

“I’m going to go to the bakery to check on the cake, Sabrina, keep everyone on task, and stop Kim and Alix.” I said as I walked away.

Sabrina quickly ran to where Kim and Alix were starting to argue as I walked out of the park and towards the bakery. Just as I got there, I spotted a woman with gray hair on a red motorcycle stopping in front of me. That’s when I remembered that today would be the day Marinette’s grandma would be akumatized.

“Excuse me, you are Gina, right? Marinette’s grandmother?” I asked in Italian.

“Yes.” Gina said in Italian as she looked at me suspiciously.

“Oh good. My name is Chloe Bourgeois, Marinette’s classmate, and the Class Representative. The class is planning a surprise party for Marinette at the park. I was planning to ask her parents to keep her busy until Alya could come to get her but, since you’re here, do you mind doing it instead?”

Gina’s eyes started sparkling and she laughed, “No problem, kiddo. Your Italian is good too, did you practice a lot?”

“Naturally.” I smiled before pulling out my phone, “Can I have your number? I need it to text you when to bring her in.”

“No problem, here ya go.”

I gave the number a call and hung up when Gina’s phone rang, “One more thing. I’m sure Marinette has already figured out there’s a party planned for her, our other classmates aren’t exactly stealthy, so she might try to run during your time together. Or at least look very distracted. So sorry in advance.”

“Ha. No problem, I can handle my little pixie.” Gina laughed.

I gave her a smile, mentally switched back to French, and put on an angry face. I knocked on the door and Marinette quickly opened it.

“Chloe-”

“Move Dupain-Cheng.” I said irritatedly, pushing past her, “I need to check on the cake your parents are making.”

“Cake?!” Marinette asked excitedly, ignoring my rudeness.

I looked at Marinette as if she was less than the dirt at the bottom of my shoe, “Don’t even talk about it.”

“... What’s wrong with the cake?”

I tsked, “My… mother has requested a cake for her visit and I need to make sure it meets her standards. I am not having a good day so, unless the world is ending,  do not talk to me today. Or for the next week.”

I leveled an icy glare at Marinette and watched as she inched away from me. She was quickly saved by Gina, who winked at me, and brought her out of the bakery. As soon as I heard a conversation happening, I quickly approached Tom and Sabine and asked about the birthday cake in hushed tones.

“It’s going to be perfect.” Sabine smiled.

“Nothing less for our little girl.” Tom added.

“Perfect. Again, please bring it to the park when it’s ready.”

I then left the bakery with the same angry expression on my face and marched away from the bakery. I took the long way back to the park. When I got to the park, I informed the rest of our classmates about our new ally in Marinette’s grandma. After an hour, we were ready for Marinette so I sent the text.

After waiting for a couple of minutes, Marinette and Gina arrived. When Marinette saw everything, she burst into tears.

Apparently, she thought we forgot or something, I wasn’t sure, but I did know everyone had fun.

Once again, Sabrina and I were watching everything from the sidelines as we ate our food. We weren’t party people and I was more comfortable taking control of high society parties instead of joining parties like this.

Chapter 16: Robostus

Chapter Text

I was sitting next to Sabrina in Mme Mendeleiev’s class, waiting for the computer (or projector, one or the other) to start working. Since nothing was working, Mme Mendeleiev called M Damocles in to help so now two teachers were standing in front of the computer looking confused.

M Damocles managed to get the computer to show the home screen instead of a list of numbers. Still, a large pixelated picture of a green dinosaur appeared on the screen and a Paxman-esque thing where a green dinosaur went line to line eating a string of blue numbers and letters appeared.

“That’s not supposed to be happening,” Mme Mendeleiev panicked, “what is it?”

Max walked towards them and turned the computer around, “It’s Dino33, a malicious computer virus. Let me try-”

Mme Mendeleiev pulled the computer away and pointed to Max’s seat, “Go back to your seat now, Max. Let the adults handle this.”

Max grabbed his bag and reluctantly walked away. However, as he walked, his bag started talking.

“Inform the adults that if they don’t neutralize the virus in the next 75 seconds, there’s a 99.9% chance the hard disk would be permanently damaged!”

“Sabrina?”

“It has been added to Max’s file and I got Jean on standby to go get the paperwork needed to apply for a patent.”

“It’s destroying all the school’s data! It’s a disaster!” M Damocles exclaimed, “How many seconds did you say we have left?”

“Only sixty-five.”

“Let him try.” M Damocles said to Mme Mendeleiev who just nodded before he turned the computer around, “Go ahead.”

Max confidently walked up to the desk and started rummaging around his bag, looking for something. 

“Ah,.. where is it…” Max muttered.

“I believe this is what you’re looking for?” The same robotic voice asked as a robot hand came out of the bag with a USB in its claw thing.

Max quickly took the USB and thanked the robot before trying to divert the conversation by telling about how the USB was actually a super powerful antivirus device that he developed with the help of his best friend.

I know for a fact that the only friends Max talked to on a daily basis were Kim and Alix and I knew neither of them was intelligent enough to help Max create that thing. Not that they weren’t intelligent, they were, but not in the way that would help Max with technology-related things.

That’s when a small robot flew out of Max’s bag.

“Hello. My name is Markov.” Markov greeted in his robotic voice,  “We can fix this, Max.”

With the confidence boost from what I assume to be Max’s best friend who helped him make the USB, Max quickly plugged it into the computer and pressed the button at the end of it, making it glow red.

“This flash drive neutralizes 100% of the virus.” Max explained.

“And it fixes the computer hard disk at the same time.” Markov added.

“Oh, fascinating.” M Damocles said in awe.

Within moments, the USB thing started showing results. The green dinosaur stopped eating the blue string of code just in time on the big screen and was even regurgitating all the numbers and letters it ate before Max fixed things. The entire thing disappeared and everything went back to normal.

“Everything is in order.” Max declared before he and Markov shared a fist bump.

“Nailed it!” Markov cheered.

“Congratulations, young man.” M Damocles said, “Very impressive indeed.”

The class broke out into noise as everyone started making their way to the front to get a closer look at Markov. They started talking over each other about how amazing it was, how much of a genius Max was, and the like. Kim even commented about how Markov got a new arm from the last time he had seen him.

“Markov added them all by himself.” Max boasted when he heard Kim’s comment, “He’s the most highly evolved type of robot there is!”

“Max, have you patented Markov’s blueprints and code yet?” I asked, my voice going over the others, making me heard as always.

“No, not yet.” Max shook his head.

“I’ll get you the papers you’ll need to fill out by tomorrow.” I said before greeting Markov with a smile, “It’s nice to meet you, Markov. I’ll start inviting and including you in school activities when I can, I’m sorry for neglecting you so far.”

“It’s okay, Chloe. I wasn’t ready to be known by the class before now so don’t blame yourself!” Markov said chipperly.

“Wait, you know our names?” Marinette asked in awe.

“Of course! Max showed me the class photo, and he told me all about the class. I’m very happy to finally meet you!”

Everyone was very excited to talk with Markov even more, however, as usual, Mme Mendeleiev wanted things to get back on schedule.

“This toy you manufactured is quite impressive, Max. Now, put it away, please.” Mme Mendeleiev said before clapping her hands, “Come on everybody, back to your seats!”

Markov flew up to get to eye level with Mme Mendeleiev, “With all due respect, Mme Mendeleiev, I’m not a toy. My name is Markov and I’m Max’s best friend.”

Max smiled, “Markov is right. He’s not just some toy, he’s my friend! He’s as emotionally intelligent and sensitive as any human being.”

“Look Max, a robot may be intelligent but it can’t have emotions.” Mme Mendeleiev insisted.

“If I may, ma’am, I can assure you I truly love Max.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, I knew where this was going. Markov was going to get akumatized because people didn’t think he had emotions or something like that and the quiet week we were having wasn’t going to last. Why couldn’t Hawkmoth give us just one week of peace? Did he have nothing better to do with his time? Nothing at all? That’s actually very sad if you think about it.

Maybe he wants the miraculi to wish for an actual life? Or maybe even wish for some friends? 

I zoned back into Max’s speech, “... Ever since I created him, he integrated his own cumulative thinking system. And he developed all his emotions just like any human being.”

Everyone gasped in awe.

“That’s enough, Max.” Mme Mendeleiev said, slamming her hand down on the desk, “If you don’t put that plaything of yours away right now, I’ll confiscate it! Understand?”

“Yes, Mme Mendeleiev…” Max sighed, sounding dejected, “Come on, Markov, get back in the bag…”

However, Markov didn’t listen, “You’re not being reasonable, Mme Mendeleiev.”

“Stop it, Markov.”

“It’s true, isn’t it?” Markov asked, causing the rest of the class to start laughing.

“Alright! Can everyone get to their seats-” I exclaimed, trying to get things under control but I was interrupted.

M Damocles grabbed Markov out of the air and told Max that he could come to get Markov back at the end of the day. Everyone sadly walked back to their seats, slightly upset for Max. Especially when he said that Markov has never been separated from Max for a long time and he didn’t know how Markov would handle the separation.

“I’ll get permission for Markov to stay in class, outside of your bag, at a later date, Max. I can probably argue for it as long as Markov stays mute during class but I am confident that I can make it work.” I said.

Can I argue for robot rights?

Isn’t this conversation a few decades too early?

“Thanks, Chloe.”

Class started and Mme Mendeleiev started reviewing the molecular structures we learned last class. Things were going smoothly, if a bit solemnly when Marinette started talking about Markov and was sent to the principal’s office.

Then…

Then our own technology started to attack us.

“Everyone! Get to the park!” I yelled, getting everyone’s attention, “It’s probably far enough away from technology that we should be safe! Put your phone and any other tech you have in your bag or something and leave it in the classroom, we cannot bring any technology with us!”

As soon as I said that the panicked masses did as they were told. It’s nice to know that they were still rational despite everything. I wonder if this said something about their intellect or if this was just them adapting to our new reality.

Well, it doesn’t matter. 

As I ran, I came across an abandoned janitor cart and pulled out two of the metal brooms to bring with me. As soon as I got a chance to breathe, I twisted the broom part off of them, leaving only the rods.

“Sabrina!”

Sabrina understood and caught the rod I threw at her and started fighting the hoard of evil tech.

“Get down!” I yelled, rushing over to Juleka who ducked as I jumped over her and batted away the vending machine that tried to get her.

“Thanks.”

“Less talking, more running.” I ordered.

Juleka, always a smart one, didn’t need to be told twice.

I spun it around and started using it like a staff. I made sure to hit and bat away anything and everything that got too close. I didn’t know how long I was doing this, I just fell into a zen-like state, but I kept going without stopping. I knew I wasn’t, I couldn’t, stop until I see the swarm of ladybugs.

“Ivan! Jump left! Mylene, jump right!”

“Nathaniel, don’t just stand there! Moving targets are harder to hit than stationary ones! So move!”

“Alya! I know you want to film but can you please focus on not getting hurt?! Sabrina and I can’t keep redirecting the cars! Get out of the way!”

It didn’t matter how the ladybugs could fix everything, even death; it doesn’t make it hurt any less. If they get crushed under a vending machine, hit by a car, or bashed over the head by a computer, chances are that they would die. Die due to the impact or due to blood loss. Even if they don’t die, it will hurt a lot.

As Class Representative, I have a duty to take care of my class. This might not be in my job description (and really, anyone who puts Protect People From Evil Robots on their job description is crazy) but I still feel duty-bound to give it my best.

As for Sabrina, she was doing her best as my deputy and fighting beside me. She will follow my lead as my right-hand woman and stand beside me as we rule this world. Well, Paris. We will rule Paris.

When the ladybugs finally appeared, I didn’t register them until I realized that all the corpses of technology I created were missing. There were no more smashed computers, broken vending machines, or crashed cars into trees, all gone.

I tossed Sabrina the other broom part before I screwed my rod back onto my broom part. However, I felt eyes on me so I looked up and saw that my classmates were crowding around me. They were just staring at me.

“Did you need something?” I asked, tilting my head.

“That was awesome!” Kim yelled, “You and Sabrina just went bam and boom! And with just a stick!”

“How did you two do that? I thought you were just some prissy princesses.” Alix said, sounding impressed, “Smart princesses but weak princesses.”

“Where did you guys learn to fight like that?” Rose asked.

I huffed, “I’ve been learning self-defense and Mixed Martial Arts since I was young for safety reasons. I am the Mayor's daughter after all. It doesn’t take a genius to know why I needed to learn to protect myself.”

“And I’ve been joining Chloe since we became friends. As her best friend and a daughter of a cop, I was at risk of the same things.” Sabrina added, enlightening our fellow classmates.

Everyone blinked, blanked, and nodded. I stretched, that was a good workout, before herding everyone back to class. We still had to get our bags and go to our last period, school wasn’t over yet.

Chapter 17: Music, Water, and Trauma

Chapter Text

I took a sip of my Jasmine Milk Tea (50% sugar, no ice, with boba and no other toppings) as I made my rounds to check up on all the participants of this year’s city-wide music festival. It was a long and tedious job but, luckily, I was part of a team so I only had to check on the ones on my list and report back.

The job itself wasn’t that hard, it was just the part where you need to go from one place to the next since the participants are spread far enough from each other that their music wouldn’t clash 

As I approached the Seine, loud sounds started blasting from Juleka’s concert area which made me scream. The sound was so loud that it was making my ears ring painfully. Not only that, the Akuma Alert App went off, which meant that someone was akumatized and was probably a sound-based Akuma. So much for hoping that it was just someone's broken loudspeaker.

I quickly looked up the closest Akuma Shelter and ran into the nearby arcade. I have never really been to an arcade before in this life so it was a bit strange seeing things I recognized but at the same time don’t. It’s more like the games were similar but weren’t the same and those that were had french names.

As soon as I was safe inside the shelter, I checked the news channels on my phone and found out that it was Juleka’s mom that was akumatized and it was because Roger gave her so many tickets. I texted Sabrina to get her dad to take back the tickets on the condition that they lower the volume after the Akuma was dealt with.

I quickly texted Dad to tell him I was fine as I waited for the announcement that the coast was clear. I chatted with the other people around, listening attentively as they talked about their favorite games at the arcade, the prizes they won, their fondest memories, and their complaints about the current Akuma ruining their gaming session.

They also talked about how the Gamer and Claw-Full were their favorite Akumas by far because of their gaming aesthetic.

Yeah. 

They had a favorite Akuma.

My faith in humanity died a little.

I cannot believe that we have gotten to the point where we actually have people calling certain Akumas their favorite Akuma.

However, soon I was able to escape the crazy people and continue with my job. All in all, today was a crazy day but it ended on a pleasant note when I watched a few concerts from a distance, just out of sight.

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I was walking around the park with Sabrina at my side as we discussed - with heavy hearts - the Gabriel Agrests; Fashion Show that was going to happen soon. The same fashion show that my mother was invited to which is making her return to Paris for the first time in years. However, we were interrupted by Marinette who said something so strange that my brain just couldn’t compute it. I blinked at Marinette, not understanding what she was going for.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” I asked.

Marinette shifted nervously, “I was asking if you and Sabrina wanted to come with the rest of the class to watch a movie.”

I heard that the first time but I didn't know why she was asking us. I mean, I know she’s asking since, if it’s a class thing, it wouldn’t be right to go without the Class Rep and deputy but I have never been invited to things. Most people were too intimidated to even try asking. I guess being Ladybug made Marinette more than a little more confident, confident enough to be the first, which is a good thing for her.

I looked down at the tickets Marinette was holding in her hands. It was for the new movie from the series that Sabrina enjoyed watching, Mecca Monkey Versus Cyber Shark, this was the third movie of the series. 

“Thanks.” I said as I took the tickets and passed them to Sabrina, “This is Sabrina’s favorite movie series so she’ll love to go.”

“Great! Then I’ll tell everyone you’re coming and-”

“Unfortunately, this isn’t my cup of tea so I’ll pass.”

“But why? Even if you don’t like the movie, you could come and enjoy hanging out as a class.” Marinette said, trying to persuade me.

“I would if I could but I have to look over the plans for the Gabriel Agrests’ Fashion Show next month. You know, the one where Adrien was going to wear your derby hat for? My mother is coming to that show so I’m helping my dad with it since it has to be perfect for her.” I said with an apologetic look on my face.

In all honesty, I would much rather watch a movie than help plan anything for my mother, but I would never let my dad suffer through this planning stuff on his own. Mother never makes things simple for him.

Honestly, how are we supposed to get red marble and pave the walkway in only a month? And we need to do all that because she doesn’t want to walk on a quote-unquote common red carpet? That’s just unreasonable! For one thing, where are we going to get the budget for that?! We are not using tax-payer money for something so... so insane just because Mother says she wants it!

“R-Really?! That fashion show?! Oh my god! I completely forgot all about it!” Marinette exclaimed as her face quickly lost color.

“Marinette, calm down. It’s still a month away, anyway, Sabrina, go with Marinette and watch your movie. Also make sure Marinette doesn’t spiral downwards while you’re at it, okay?”

“No problem.”

“Thanks.”

I waved Marinette and Sabrina goodbye as I finished my walk and made my way back home. I needed to get back to my room so I could write down everything Sabrina and I discussed before I forget anything. 

Sighing to myself, I pulled out the email my mother sent that I printed out. Or rather, the document I copy-pasted her email onto and reorganized into a list. I scratched out everything we managed to complete, leaving the ones that we weren’t yet finished. The ones we were just not going to do were already deleted beforehand. Honestly, it seems like we were never going to be able to finish this. Seriously, Mother, who cares if the lighting has a luminosity of 22 instead of 20? What does that even mean? If you wanted a specific lighting style, why don’t you just say the brand of the light bulbs or light rods or whatever?

Not to mention that this wasn’t even her fashion show, this was Gabriel Agrests’ fashion show so, really, she has no say in the lighting at all. Or any other details, who cares about what type of wood the chairs are made of?

Suddenly, the Akuma Alert App went off. I checked the news as I made my way to my Akuma Bunker and saw that the streets of Paris were flooding at an abnormally fast rate, it started slowly before accelerating exponentially.

Right before I could open the doors to the bunker, my door burst open and a torrent of water burst into the room.

“Ahhh!” I screamed as the water pushed me violently into the walls.

I took a deep breath and sank underwater. The bunker wasn’t an option anymore. Even if it was built to be able to have a constant supply of fresh air in case of an Akuma like this, the water around me would just rush in. It would have just been a waste of effort. If I could just swim out of my room and get to the stairs, I could swim to the roof. I would have broken the windows but the water outside was already at the height of my windows so breaking those would take a lot of effort I just can’t expand right now.

I grabbed my thankfully empty bottle of water and turned it upside down to use it as a kind of impromptu air tank. It wasn’t perfect but it worked well enough. I reached the doors and swam out.

However, my water bottle was filled with carbon dioxide now, which meant that I wasn’t getting as much oxygen as I needed. I continued to swim, making my way to the stairway when I finally decided to ditch the bottle.

I swam with all my might but I couldn’t make it. My body reactively tried to breathe, to get oxygen into my body, and I started choking on the water. I kept trying to cough only to bring more water into my lungs. My body started getting heavy and my vision started gaining black spots. I reached one of my hands up, which one I didn’t know, towards the light but I continued sinking.

I started feeling my body drift as my mind screamed to keep going, screamed that I couldn’t die here. It contrasted greatly with the void-like silence around me. There's still so much I want to do, and I still need to achieve so much, I can't die here! I fought as hard as I could but it was all for nothing. I felt my body shut down due to the lack of oxygen, the pain was imaginable which was only amplified by the water pressure pushing down on me, and everything faded to black.

My eyes burst open as I sucked in (the beautiful, beautiful and precious) air from the environment into my lungs. I sat up and spent a few minutes just breathing, I never knew how much I loved breathing until this moment.

I looked around and, as expected, everything was back to normal.

I numbly texted Sabrina and Dad that I was okay before getting changed. Normally, I would have taken a shower and brushed my teeth before taking a nap but I didn’t feel like I would be able to look at any water so soon.

I tried to drink some water since my throat was dry from my panic, but the water went down the wrong pipe and I started coughing. I still managed to drink some water but I quickly put my water bottle aside and went to bed.

As soon as I was in my bed, I wrapped myself in my blankets, choked back a sob, and tried to fall asleep.

It was easy to delude myself into thinking that today was just a really bad nightmare, especially when my dreams were filled with water and death.

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I woke up in a panic. My breathing was uneven and I was shivering as if I’d been in the snow for hours. I pulled my blankets closer to my body, I knew doing that wouldn’t do anything and if it started flooding again I would only get weighed down by the extra weight but the irrational side of me felt better when I’m wrapped in blankets. It’s probably the primitive human part of me that yearns for warmth and comfort after such a traumatic ordeal.

I looked out the window and saw that it was still dark. I checked my phone and saw that it was barely past one in the morning. I had only been asleep for four hours when my nightmare woke me up.

I bit the bottom of my lip and thought for a moment before deciding to throw away my pride. I wrapped myself in my favorite blanket and quietly made my way to Dad’s office in the hotel.

The light was still on so I knocked on the door.

“Chloe?” Dad asked as he rubbed his eyes, “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“I… I couldn’t sleep… Can I… can I stay here? Please?” I asked hesitantly, quietly begging Dad to let me.

Dad’s eyes softened with a hint of concern, “Of course, Chloe.”

I smiled half-heartedly at him before making my way to the couch. It was a comfy couch. I put my head on the arm of the couch and readjusted my blanket. Once I was satisfied, I pulled down my sleeping mask.

“G’night, Daddy…” I muttered, drifting off to dreamland.

I heard a soft, but nonetheless loving, “Good night, Chloe.” 

When I woke up again, the sun was just starting to rise and its light entered my room. I blinked, when did I get to my room? I could have sworn I woke up and went to sleep in Dad’s office.

However, everything became clear when I turned my head away from my windows and looked to my right.

There, on a chair, was Dad sleeping. He didn't look all that comfortable on the chair.

“Dad… Dad… it’s time to wake up.” I said, shaking Dad awake. 

Dad blinked before smiling, “Good morning, Chloe.”

I smiled and waved Dad goodbye as he quickly left my room to get ready for another busy day as the Mayor of Paris.

I quickly got changed and as I did my usual workout routine, my phone dinged with a reminder that today was Mme Bustier’s birthday. I tsked, unlike the rest of my classmates, I didn’t particularly like Mme Bustier. Yes, she tries her best and does what she thinks is right but her teaching method wasn’t the best (or good, actually, they're horrid).

She has selective hearing and, more often than not, talks down to victims while insisting that the bullies just needed a bit of love. From a psychological standpoint, she was kind of right since most bullies become bullies due to not knowing any healthy way to get rid of negative emotions but just placating them won’t help them. 

Long story short, I do not approve but I do not want to be the one who forgets a birthday present. I do have a reputation to uphold, after all.

With that in mind, I looked into my closet and pulled out an expensive eyeshadow palette from Fashion Queen, something my mother gave me as a token belated birthday present that I never opened or used. I put it in a fancy gift bag I got a servant to get me and made my way to my limo.

This way, I don’t need to spend anything (money, effort, or emotions) to give Mme Bustier a (somewhat) decent birthday present and I get to get rid of something I have no use for that was given to me by someone I dislike.

When I got to school, I met up with Sabrina and we entered the locker area where everyone was talking about what they were giving Mme Bustier. Rose was giving her a scrapbook, Marinette was giving her a cosmetic bag and tube of lip balm, and Nathaniel was giving her a painting he made that involved Mme Bustier looking like a superhero and a bunch of other things from everyone else.

“Naive.” Sabrina huffed under her voice when we were far enough away from our classmates, “When is Mme Bustier being sacked?”

“When we get Lila. Knowing Mme Bustier, she will help her and we can get her, the fox, and M Damocles sent away in one fell swoop.”

Sabrina and I shared a bloodthirsty smile that made a passing student pale in fear before they turned around to take another path.

Chapter 18: Style Queen

Chapter Text

I held in a groan and struggled to keep a smile on my face. Today has gone to absolute hell the second Mother got back to Paris. The first thing she did was fire her helicopter driver and then the staff in charge of cleaning her room, after that, she fired the chefs who made her brunch because it was too oily (it was a bowl of fruit and chocolate croissant! That you requested them to make using your recipe that you email them!), and then she even tried to fire Jaque!

Did she not remember that Jaque is one of the only doormen who hasn’t resigned after dealing with all the crazy fans that try to come to visit the famous people who stay at this hotel? Without Jaque, we would have been overrun by rabid fans, paparazzi, and stalkers just waiting to see their idols, which would tank the hotel’s reputation!

You can't fire Jaque or I'll never have a peaceful night's rest ever again!

Mother almost threw a fit when she saw that M Agrests sent her a fancy car instead of the fancy limo she wanted to drive her to the fashion show venue. Dad already left ahead of time to deal with things there, and because Mother insisted that he had to be the one who opened the car door since it’s his job as her husband.

I wanted to go with Dad but, due to me staying back to rehire everyone Mother fired and to make sure everyone was fine after all of Mother’s outbursts, I ended up going with Mother in the car.

It was a suffocating ride. All Mother did was criticize everything, from the passerby on the streets to the streets themselves, to me, to the scent of the air itself, everything. I just smiled and nodded at everything Mother said, it just wasn’t worth talking to her since she never listened anyway.

I can’t wait for this day to be over and for Mother to go back to New York. She can be Zoe’s problem. 

Forever, if possible.

God be willing.

When we got to the venue, Dad opened the door and Mother walked out as if everyone came to watch her. I was about to follow her but I stopped to turn to Gorilla with an apologetic face.

“I’m so sorry for my mother.” 

Gorilla didn’t say anything and his face didn’t change but he seemed thankful enough. I got out of the car and stood behind Mother.

“Anthony- I mean, Andre, be a dear and fire the chauffeur. I can’t believe Gabriel allows his staff to drive like that!”

“Yes, of course, Audrey dear.” 

I just smiled, making a mental note to intercept that phone call if Dad actually goes through with it. Logically, he wouldn’t because that wouldn't be a politically smart move but when Mother was involved, there was a fifty-fifty chance he would.

Mother took a step forward onto the red carpet before stopping, “What is this carpet? Is it fabric? Why isn’t the red carpet made of marble as I said? You’re fired!”

I walked over to Officer Roger and said in a low voice, “You won’t be fired. Just ignore her, I’m sorry for everything she said and will say.”

“I understand, Mlle Chloe.”

“Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.” Mother huffed as she walked down the red carpet.

I followed Mother with Dad right behind me. Soon we reached the place where Nadja was scheduled to interview Mother. I stood with Dad off to the side (but still in range of the camera) as Mother took centerstage.

“Audrey, like the slogan of your magazine says: if it’s in good taste, it’s in Style Queen! So, what’s in good taste this year?” Nadja asked, passing the microphone over to Mother and I cringed.

“Judging by the way you’re dressed, you obviously don’t know, my dear. For your information, the trend this year is glitter.” Mother said.

I made another mental note to myself that I needed to apologize to Nadja as soon as the camera was off of me. What Mother said to Nadja about her outfit was another pointlessly rude comment.

Luckily, Nadja was nothing but professional, “As the editor of Style Queen, you spend a lot of time in New York, it must be nice to spend time with your family for a change here in Paris!”

Actually, Mother couldn’t care less about spending time with us, and, frankly, the feeling is mutual.

“It is.” Mother answered crisply.

See? 

“Audrey, how long are you planning to stay in Paris?” 

Mother already started walking away, “The shortest possible time.”

I mentally thanked every god I knew that she wasn’t planning to stay long. It was already a miracle that she hasn’t caused any angry Akumas yet. As she walked away, Dad and I followed her. However, I stopped just out of sight, waiting for Nadja to get off the air.

“Thank you.” Nadja said before the camera zoomed in for a close-up of her face, “This Fashion Show just might be one of the most important in Gabriel Agrests’ career, as evidenced by Audrey Bourgeois's presence. Will the famous fashion designer who never appears in public show up for the occasion? Stay tuned to find out! Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news!”

The camera cut and I walked out of my hiding spot and towards Nadja who was taking a break to drink some water.

“Excuse me, Mme Chamack.” I said, walking up to her and only continuing when I got her attention, “I apologize for what my mother said. Her comment was rude and uncalled for, especially when on live tv.”

Nadja smiled, “Thank you, but I’m fine. Interviewing rude, eh, opinionated people is just part of the job.”

I smiled and thanked her for her time before making my way back to Mother and Dad, just hoping that Mother didn’t do anything bad yet. Chances weren’t in my favor but there’s no harm in wishing.

Luck, for once, was on my side. Mother and Dad were looking at the decor of the main entrance, which means they didn’t offend anyone yet. I walked over and stood next to Mother when I heard a yelp.

I turned around and saw Marinette on the floor and the hat she made rolling to Mother’s feet.

“What is this?” Mother asked, picking it up.

“Eh, um…” Marinette stuttered as she got up and made her way to us and, seeing as she was in no position to talk, I took over.

"Mother, this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a classmate of mine and an aspiring designer. The hat you are holding is one of her many creations and it is the hat that won the Design Competition that Gabriel Agreste judged." I explained, collecting the hatbox off the floor and taking the hat from my mother, putting it back into the box, "It is the hat that Adrien will be modeling today. Now, as Marinette is already late, I will take her to the changing room Adrien is waiting in. Come on, Marinette.”

I started walking to the changing room with Marinette quickly scurrying behind me. I smiled at Nathalie and she conceded to let me handle things from there. Soon, we were in front of Adrien’s room.

Marinette looked at me expectantly but I just raised an eyebrow, I wasn’t going to knock on the door for her.

“Hello, Marinette, Clo.”

“Oh, eh, hella!” Marinette greeted him.

“Hey, Addy.”

Marinette started walking up the stairs to the changing room when she tripped, luckily for her, Adrien caught her.

“Oh! Sorry…”

“No worries.” Adrien smiled.

They stared into each other’s eyes for a while. The amount of sugar in the atmosphere was making me sick.

“Well, now that I got Marinette to your room, I should head back. I need to make sure my mother doesn’t cause any trouble by offending anyone.” I said before huffing, “That woman I swear…”

"Isn't that a bit... harsh?" Marinette asked, glancing at Adrien for support, "I mean, isn't she your mom?"

I sighed, Marinette was just too naive when it comes to things like this, "She may be the woman who gave birth to me but she is no mom. Listen, Marinette, you plan to get into the Fashion World, yes?"

"Yeah."

"Then you need to learn how to separate people into two categories: People You Care About, and Everyone Else. If you pay attention to the opinions of Everyone Else, you'll feel drained. You only need to listen to the People You Care About. For me, my mother is part of the 'Everyone Else' category. Meaning, as heartless as it sounds, I do not care about her opinion in the slightest."

"But..."

"Marinette, I am a Queen. I protect those I call mine and so I couldn’t care less about her. Someone who I don’t even acknowledge as one of my people. The only two things connecting us are dad and blood and, to me, blood is nothing to bond over. My mother doesn't like who I am and she tried to change me, and belittle me for being me at every chance she gets. I don't need a toxic woman like her in my life, I love me for me and if she can't accept that then it's fine because I don't care what she thinks. I'm happy as I am, why should I let anyone try to change me?"

I stared at Marinette with a confident smirk on my face. I looked at Adrien who looked like he wanted to look away. I knew he didn’t exactly approve of how I treated my mother, even if he knows why and can see my point of view. Personally, I think he just doesn’t want to acknowledge that there’s a chance that he might get fed up with his father and break off relations as I did.

Adrien doesn't want to do that. He's still holding on to hope that his father would be a loving father again. The poor fool, but he's my foolish little brother so I'll just watch over him for now and reach out to help whenever I can.

I looked both Marinette and Adrien in the eye and could tell that, while they wanted to look away, they couldn’t. They stared at me and it doesn’t take a genius to know why. My voice and body posture all scream confidence and independence. Two things that the two of them need to work on. Marinette needs confidence while Adrien needs to be more independent.

“Now, if you would excuse me, I need to go. See you guys at the show?” I said as I waved them goodbye.

I walked all the way back to the main entrance and through the doors to get to the runway area. When I got there, I saw that Mother was already fighting with Nathalie. From what I could tell, Mother had sat down on Marinette’s seat and everyone told her that she was in the wrong seat and she kicked up a fuss. That’s when Nathalie came and told her that M Agrests reserved a seat for her in the second row.

The second row. No wonder Mother, who has always sat in the first row since she became famous, was offended.

“This is unacceptable!” Mother screeched, “Gabriel cannot do this to me, I’m the one who discovered him! Without me, he’d still be drawing his unworldly designs in his dismal, cramped studio!

“I can offer your seat to someone else if you don’t want it.”

“How dare you, you’re fired!”

“Mother. Calm down, this isn’t anything to get upset about.” I said, trying to lower the tensions, I could already see my classmates looking shocked when they realized that this angry woman was my mother, “You can give M Agrests a call and-”

“I don’t work for you, I work for M Agrests.” Nathalie interrupted.

“We’ll see about that.” Mother huffed as she pulled out her phone and called M Agrests but he didn’t pick up.

I tried to speak up again but Nathalie interrupted me and kept adding fuel to the fire, “I assume from your expression that I’m not fired.”

“This is unacceptable! I will not view a fashion show from the second row, ever!” Mother yelled as she marched off.

I took a breath and got on stage before bowing, “I apologize for the temper tantrum my mother threw that you all had to endure. Nothing excuses her behavior and I won’t try to, all I ask is for you to forget the scene she caused. Now, I need to go and check up on her but please enjoy the show.”

After I said my piece, I walked out of the runway room and into the main entrance area. I looked up and saw a black butterfly land on the golden rose on Mother’s hat. I snuck out the side door, quickly pressed the Akuma Alert button, and hid outside behind the bushes that lined the side of the building.

I sat there for who knows how long, waiting until I got the notification that everything was done when Ladybug suddenly dropped in front of me and held out a black box with red detailing that looked Chinese. I thought she was going to give the miraculous to Alya like in Canon.

"Chloe Bourgeois, here is the Miraculous of the Bee, which grants the Power of Immobilization. You will use it for the greater good. Once the job is done, you will return the Miraculous to me, can I trust you?"

"Yes." I said, taking the box before adding, "By the way, the Akuma is in a golden rose."

“I see.”

I opened the box and out flew a cute yellow creature, “Hello, my Queen. My name is Pollen. To use your power, you need to say Venum and you can sting your target to immobilize them. To transform, just say Buzz On.”

“Pollen, Buzz On.” I said as I felt the magic wash over me.

When everything was done, I looked at myself using the window. I had a yellow and black batman-esque domino mask that hid my eyes behind the white fabric that doesn’t actually impede my vision at all. My hair was put into a ponytail that curled to resemble a bee's stinger at the ends, tied with a black hair tie, and a streak of black hair curled into my ponytail, which is very different from my usually free-flowing hair. The Bee Miraculous comb is placed next to the hair tie.

I had on a chrome yellow skin-tight jumpsuit with a black collar, and three black stripes on the torso, which includes a large black one covering my ribcage, and two on the upper thigh. There was also the sleeves-gloves combo that was all black and my black boots went down the length of my lower legs, starting below the second stripe on my thigh. My weapon was a spinning top that was tied around my waist.

“Call me Ambrosia. Now what?” I asked, tilting my head as I looked at Ladybug.

“Now, follow me. We have a queen to dethrone!” Ladybug declared.

I followed Ladybug as we swung to la tour Eiffel where Mother is. When we got there, I saw that Adrien was turned into a golden statue that was holding a golden rose in his mouth and was safely placed behind a barrier.

I did my best to watch Ladybug’s back while we fought against Mother as Style Queen, swinging my spinning top for long distances and using my limbs for close-quarters combat when necessary. Ladybug and I took turns fighting from different distances to try to win. We managed to knock her staff away from her from time to time but she then turned into gold dust to get it back.

“Cover for me!” Ladybug yelled, “Lucky Charm!”

I created a shield in front of Ladybug, deflecting the gold dust that was Mother’s attacks. Within moments, Ladybug had a plan. Her Lucky Charm gave her glue, she grabbed the national flag and squirted the glue on it. She then started swinging it around, taking away the gold dust to weaken Mother.

However, it didn’t work so well that Ladybug was sent crashing into the barrier around Adrien. Mother aimed her staff at her but I didn’t let her.

“Venom.” I whispered and quietly struck Mother in the back, paralyzing her and knocking her staff away from her.

“No!” Mother yelled, “I will not be stopped like this!”

“Whatever you have planned to get rid of the barrier, you can do it now!” I exclaimed.

Ladybug turned around and Plagg appeared. With a single touch of his paw, the barrier disintegrated. Ladybug quickly took the golden rose, ignoring Mother as she yelled at her to stop, and broke it over her knee.

“No more evil-doing for you, little Akuma. It’s time to de-evilize!” Ladybug said as she captured the Akuma into her yoyo before releasing the newly purified butterfly, “Bye, bye little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!” 

After Ladybug threw the tube of glue into the air and said the magic words, the familiar swarm of ladybugs appeared and started fixing everything. My mother also started turning back to normal.

“Pound it.” Ladybug and I said in unison.

“L-Ladybug?” Adrien asked as he became conscious, “And… you are?”

“Ambrosia.” I said simply before I heard the beep from Ladybug’s earring, “I have four minutes and Ladybug has two now, so if you don’t mind…” 

“N-no! Not at all. Thank you.”

I turned to leave but saw that my mother regained consciousness as well. Adrien would take care of her, probably. Ladybug and I went back to my hiding spot and I detransformed after making sure it was safe.

“Thank you for letting me use your powers, Pollen. It was nice meeting you.” I said as I took out a honey-flavored Halls cough drop, “Here, it’s honey flavored. Seeing as you’re the Bee Miraculous, I thought you might like this.”

“It was lovely to fight by your side as well, my Queen, and thank you very much for the food.”

I smiled and put the comb back into the box before handing it over to Ladybug. She took it with a smile and disappeared into the skyline. 

I've been officially given a miraculous. With that power, later, I can finally do something about Paris' moth infestation. There's only one problem to overcome, who is Hawkmoth?

I remember knowing his (and I'm confident he is male because of his voice and a gut feeling in my chest) identity as a child but there is now a fog in my mind. Whatever, I'll figure it out eventually.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I cannot believe Marinette Dupain-Cheng was doing this. Well, I mean, I can but really, I can’t believe she would do this. I did not ask to be dragged by her from my room at la Grande Palais to the park where Mother’s helicopter was waiting. 

I wanted to celebrate the fact that Mother was finally leaving, damnit!

“Well, well, it’s about time.” Mother said when she saw Marinette before turning around to get into the helicopter, “We can take off now.”

“I won’t be coming with you to New York.” Marinette stated, shocking my mother enough to make her turn around, “I still have so many things to do here. The people I love are here, my parents, my friends.”

“You’re making a mistake, Marinette.” Mother stated harshly.

“I think you’re wrong. A huge part of your life is in Paris too.” Marinette said as she pulled me into view.

“Chlorine, eh, Chloe?” Mother asked, sounding confused.

“I’m not here because I want to be here.” I said before I turned to Marinette and gave her an unimpressed look.

I know Marinette is trying to 'fix' my bond with my mother and to make Mother take me to New York instead of her but really, I might actually die if I have to be in the same place as this insufferable woman for longer than a few days.

“Look, Marinette. I know what you’re doing. I know you only want to help but you need to stop because there’s no way I’m going to New York and there is no way Mother would stay here because she doesn’t have anything, much less have a life, here in Paris other than Dad. There’s no love between Mother and me, we only share blood, we couldn’t care less about each other even if we tried.”

“What do you mean Charlette, I mean Chloe? I do love you.” Mother said, sounding confused.

I couldn’t help it. She genuinely sounded so confused that I burst out laughing.

“I didn’t know you could crack jokes, Mother.” I giggled, “There aren’t any reporters around so you could just be honest.”

“Honest? You… you don’t love me?!” Mother asked, scandalized.

“Why would I love you? You’re never around so there’s no emotional attachment and when you are around, all you do is complain, try to fire people I like, you can’t remember my name or Dad’s name, and criticize me for things you don’t understand. Not only that, you always throw childish temper tantrums when things don’t go your way, why would I even like you? Much less love you?” I asked, listing all of her flaws.

Now that I had momentum, I kept going. I saw the sad look on Dad’s face but I couldn’t stop now. 

“Oh, and please don't mistake this as me being bitter, this is just me making it clear what I feel about you. I respect your work as Fashion Queen, but I look down on your work as a mother, and I tolerate you out of my love for Dad because, for whatever reason, he still loves you, despite the fact he could do much better." I said before turning to leave, "To be clear, I don't hate you, to hate you means I actually had to care about you at some point. No, I'm just indifferent. You are just another face in the crowd - nothing special outside of being famous. Even so, I do hate it when you cause such a scene, it gives me headaches when I have to run damage control so your attitude doesn’t negatively affect Dad’s approval ratings. Anyway, I need to get back to that so bye."

I waved goodbye as I pulled out my phone to call Mme Martin so they could start working on fixing the mess Mother made when she was told to sit in the second row. Sure, her getting akumatized did smooth things out a bit but there were still a few things that needed to be fixed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette didn’t plan for this. This wasn’t part of the plan. The plan was to help Chloe reconnect with her mother. Marinette didn’t understand how anyone would come to not care about their mother when Marinette’s mother loved her so much. 

Marinette had thought over her life and saw that Chloe was always more mature than everyone else and always taking care of the people who got bullied. Marinette reasoned that this must be that she was trying to compensate for the missing mother figure in her life so, really, Chloe does love her mother.

However, Marinette couldn’t have been more wrong. There was no love in Chloe’s eyes for her mother, no love, no compassion, no yearning, not even recognition. It was as if Chloe was looking at a stranger. Everything from her voice to her body language screamed that Chloe didn’t care about the woman she calls her mother.

Marinette could only watch as Chloe walked away with confidence as she pulled out her phone while Mme Bourgeois stood there in shock. Suddenly, M Bourgeois appeared from behind the helicopter.

“Austen, I mean Andre, just… just what did I miss? How much of Chloe’s life did I miss while in New York?” Mme Bourgeois asked in a surprisingly soft voice instead of demanding answers like she usually did.

Marinette slowly inched away to leave while M Bourgeois proudly regaled Mme Bourgeois with a list of what Chloe had done, each accomplishment sounding more impressive than the last. 

Just as Marinette was far enough away to break into a run and not look suspicious she heard Mme Bourgeois tell M Bourgeois that she was going to stay in Paris to reconnect with Chloe, causing Marinette to pale.

Would Chloe be mad at her later if she finds this out? Marinette prayed to god and then to Tikki that Chloe would spare her if she got angry. She mentally promised to bake Tikki some more sweets if she lived.

Tikki was the Kwami of good luck right? Marinette knows she really needs some of that soon.

Chapter 19: Hero Day

Chapter Text

While I was waiting for class to start, I texted Mme Li and M Phillippe to make sure they had everything ready for what we had planned after school. I would have already made sure that I didn’t need to check things but Mother decided to stay in Paris after my ‘outburst’ to see what made me dislike her so she’s been hovering. It gets annoying, especially when she decides to grace me with her opinions on everything when I want to get meaningful work done.

On a separate (and worse) note, the class was starting late today because there was another scheduled video call from Lila.

“Sabrina.”

“Like always, my hidden camera is already recording.”

“Good.”

The video call started and I got comfortable in my seat, I already prepared my ears to listen to the tales that Lila was going to spew out of her mouth. I had long since taken to treating Lila’s video calls like I was listening to an audiobook that I picked at random from the fiction section. It works and makes these mind-numbing moments easier to go through, just enough to make me not want to bash my head in.

“Hello everyone!” Lila said cheerily.

After everyone greeted her, Mme Bustier took over, “We can’t wait to know what you’ve been doing since our last video chat! Tell us about your week at the Kingdom of Achu!”

“It’s absolutely amazing!” Lila gushed, “Prince Ali invited my parents and me to his gorgeous palace.”

“Excuse me, Lila.” Marinette piped up, “But Prince Ali couldn’t possibly have invited you because he is in the United States.”

Marinette showed the article on her phone to prove it. 

Lila started laughing, “I never said he was actually there, Marinette. I just said he invited us, that’s all. His parents hosted the visit.”

I wonder if Marinette knew how unhealthy her obsession with this was, and her obsession with Adrien is. I need to talk to her about obsessions and how to healthy deal with them at some point, later on in the month when I find the time.

“I miss you guys so much. It’s so hard being away on this magical trip so far from my friends and especially on Heroes Day.”

I couldn’t help but hide a cringe as everyone oohed and awwed at Lila’s fake mushy lies. Marinette even looked a bit green.

“Lila, what good deed are you planning to do on this special day?” Mme Bustier asked.

“Today, I’ll be meeting up with Prince Ali to show him an idea I came up with.” Lila said before focusing on Marinette, “Marinette, Prince Ali is scheduled to come back to Achu today, isn’t he?”

“That’s right.” Marinette admitted reluctantly.

“What idea is this, Lila?” Max asked.

“I’m sure it’s amazing!”

“Oh it’s nothing much, during my world travels my diplomat parents have helped me convince the leaders of several nations to agree to reduce world pollution, and I’m very optimistic that the Prince will jump on board.”

Prince Ali only focuses on children but sure, Lila, keep talking.

“Oh, that’s incredible, Lila. Thank you on behalf of planet earth!” Mme Bustier gushed.

Mme Bustier is definitely leaving when Lila leaves. So is M Damocles. They should have known better than to be fooled by a fake email and to let this girl stay home without even getting an email from her actual mother.

“Well sure, superheroes like Ladybug might save lives but couldn’t care less about the environment so somebody has to come to the rescue.”

“I’m sure Ladybug would be very impressed by what you’re doing.”

“Thank you for your encouraging words, I’m sorry but it’s late here with the time difference, as you can see behind me, the sun’s already going down. I have to leave you now, see you soon!” Lila said speedily.

My faith in humanity has dropped to a new low. Both because of Lila’s constant chatter and because my classmates and teachers were idiots for falling for Lila’s lies. Not only that, they can’t even remember that, even with the timezones, the sky of supposed Achu in Lila’s background is all wrong.

“Thank you so much for calling us, Lila, and good luck with your project.” Mme Bustier said before everyone said bye.

All of Marinette’s actions during Lila’s call, while very exaggerated, were exactly how I was feeling. 

I started cringing again when Mme Bustier started talking about needing to live up to Lila’s example, of all people, and when M Damocles came running into the classroom in his hideous costume. The only redeeming thing about the entire thing was the speech M Damocles gave was decent enough.

“So what heroic deeds have you all planned?” Mme Bustier asked, “Nino?”

Nino stood up, “I gotta admit, I never used to do anything for anyone before, but Ladybug and Chat Noir showed me what being cool is really about. So this year, I’m gonna visit the elderly residents down at the local retirement home and play them all their favorite songs.”

Everyone clapped for Nino. 

“Adrien?”

“Today I plan to give my fencing classmates a lesson in Chinese and my Chinese classmates a lesson in fencing.”

“Alya?”

“Last year I wrote an article about equipping public buildings with disabled access, but after seeing Ladybug and Chat Noir going that extra mile every single day, I decided I too could do better so I got the Mayor’s approval to improve facilities so handi-capped kids can actually attend our school.”

I see where my extra work came from. I don’t mind the idea, in fact, I support it, but I would have liked at least a heads-up before all the extra paperwork got dropped onto my lap.

“And what about you, Marinette?”

“Eh, so I, yeah! I have macaroons!” Marinette said, standing up and showing the box she brought.

“That’s great, Marinette.” I spoke up, seeing that Marinette was feeling self-conscious about how small it seemed, “A small sweet pastry is just what I need to get my day going. It may seem small and insignificant but something as small as a smile on a bad day can make all the difference. It’s nice to see you also believe that.”

I may dislike how she tried to drag me to make me spend time with my mother but I wasn’t going to let her have a panic attack if I could help it.

Marinette relaxed and smiled gratefully at me before she started going around handing out the macaroons she brought. I got an extra one. 

“Chloe, what do you have planned?”

I stood up, “I’m giving free skating lessons to the orphans at the local orphanage at the public skating rink. In addition to that, they will be using new winter clothing that they get to keep once the lessons are over.”

“Wonderful! And you, Sabrina?”

“I’ll be volunteering at the hospital for sick kids. I wanted to do something with my dad with the police but Dad said that, due to all the public attractions happening today, any helpers would be stuck under the hot sun and he didn’t want me to do that.” Sabrina explained.

After everyone finished explaining what they would be doing, some with bigger plans than others, we were dismissed for lunch.

During lunch, I needed to call Linda, Mother’s secretary, to confirm that all the winter clothing that Mother donated made it to the skating rink. However, I knew how particular Linda was (which I’m pretty sure is a requirement for working with Mother long term) and how she hated unnecessary noise, and lunch break was the noisiest time of the day at school. To get away from the noise, I went onto the roof alone after eating lunch with Sabrina to call Linda and confirm everything.

Unfortunately, fate seemed to hate me. Without warning, hundreds of red butterflies appeared out of nowhere. I looked down and spotted Sabrina and my other classmates getting akumatized all over again. 

I remembered this episode now. I just need to stay calm. I panicked a little when I made eye contact with Adrien who was stuck in an akumatized Gorilla’s hand but he gave me a look that translated to trust him so I did.

I sat down and started meditating to keep calm. I don’t know if I’d get the Bee Miraculous but I need to stay calm so I wouldn’t be used against the heroes and add another person for them to fight.

Suddenly, there was a thud on my roof and I jumped into a fighting position before I recognized the new person as Chat Noir.

“Ladybug told me to give this to you.” Chat Noir said, holding out the box.

“Right. Didn’t think I’d need to do this again.” I said to myself as I opened the box, “Hello, Pollen. It’s nice to see you again.”

“And you as well, my Queen.”

“Pollen, Buzz On.”

I once again felt the magic wash over me, transforming me into Ambrosia once again. When I was ready, I followed Chat Noir.

“So, why Ambrosia?” Chat Noir asked.

“Ladybug told you?” I countered.

“Eh, yeah! Exactly.” Chat Noir nodded dumbly.

“It’s because, in mythologies, ambrosia is the food of gods, and, to me, honey is the food of gods. Since honey comes from bees, I thought it would fit.”

“... you’re lying to me.”

“Wow, how did you figure that out?” I asked dryly.

Chat Noir pouted before grinning, “We’re going to have an amazing double act! Between my puns and your deadpan sarcasm, we can make everyone laugh.”

“And get rid of the depressing atmosphere?”

“... yeah.” Chat Noir said quietly but seriously, “That too.”

Soon, Chat Noir and I reached the Trocadero where we met up with Ladybug, Rena Rouge, and Carapace. We did a quick introduction, telling each other our powers before we focused on La tour Eiffel when Hawkmoth, now Scarlet Moth, appeared on it. He was broadcasting himself on TV, asking them (taunting them) how they plan to fight his army and to surrender our miraculi if we didn’t want to fight.

“Penny for your thoughts, m’lady?” Chat Noir asked.

“It’s like he’s been preparing for this for a long time.” Ladybug said uneasily, ‘But we, we’re not prepared for this.

“Yes we are, we already fought them all and won! And there’s five of us this time.”

“If we want to win, we have to defeat Hawkmoth, even though we have never fought him before.”

“If you guys can distract him, I can just hit him with Venom, and then, while he’s paralyzed, we can take off his miraculous, unmask him, and free everyone from his control in one fell swoop.” I suggested, knowing it probably wouldn’t work. Hawkmoth's an adult while the five of us just entered teenagehood.

“That sounds like a good plan.” Ladybug nodded.

“Don’t plan everything around it though, in a fight like this, it’s best to be flexible.” I advised.

“Sounds like you did this before.” Rena Rouge commented.

“Fighting as a superhero against a gang of supervillains? No. Need to plan for something extremely big but knowing there’s a large, large chance that things will go wrong? Yes, it’s my daily life.”

The life of a socialite is never easy. With a single misstep, you could fall into the trap of a random jealous person and have your name dragged through the mud, leaving your reputation in tatters. You may be able to claw back to your previous glory but there would always be a stain on your name; best not to let that happen in the first place.

“Hawkmoth! I hope you enjoyed Volpina’s illusions because the real Ladybug would never hand over her miraculous!” Ladybug exclaimed as she stepped into Hawkmoth’s view and out of hiding.

“And we’ve got a better idea, you’re going to give us your miraculous!” Chat Noir declared, following Ladybug’s lead.

“You may have an army of akumatized warriors,” Carapace said.

“But we’re a whole team of superheroes!” Rena Rouge finished.

Well, since everyone else seemed to be coming up with something to say, I shouldn’t stay quiet.

“Honestly, you’re a grown man, stop throwing a tantrum like a child when you can’t get what you want. News flash, you aren’t special, the world doesn’t owe you anything, so why don’t you accept your fate?” I asked.

It was the best I could do at the moment.

We jumped down from the building and started tearing our way through the army of akumatized victims. It wasn’t that hard since we were working as a team and all we needed to do was break their item to turn them back to normal. I made sure to go after Kim first, I remember he was the Akuma that turned the tide in Hawkmoth’s favor in Canon. Soon, we managed to reach Scarlet Moth and the real fight began.

Before we started fighting, Scarlet Moth decided to monologue. However, something was wrong. My mind is telling me that Scarlet Moth’s voice was coming from him but my instinct is telling me he’s behind me.

“It’s cute, really it is.” I said, cutting everyone off, “I get that you’re playing up the whole supervillain thing but really, can’t you have the dignity to talk to us in person instead of this illusion? Really, you’d think you’d give us more respect than that after defeating you over and over again.”

There was a beat of silence, the other members of my team looking at me weirdly, but they snapped out of it when the Scarlet Moth in front of us disappeared and the real Scarlet Moth jumped at us from behind. 

Now the fight can start for real.

During the fight we broke the staff, releasing the army and turning everyone back to normal. However, just as we were about to go in for the final blow, a giant moth appeared and helped him escape at the last minute.

It was a bittersweet victory. On one hand, we managed to free everyone but on the other hand, Hawkmoth escaped after we were so close to winning and now we find out he has an accomplice.

It was also frustrating on a personal level since I just paralyzed him when the moth creature appeared to help him. If that moth creature was just a few seconds slower, we would have won.

I still went to do my scheduled lessons with the orphans because I gave my word but my heart wasn’t in it.

Even if I knew we wouldn’t have won, it still didn’t make me feel any better.

At least the picnic at the park was still on so we could unwind as a class. I ate some of Sabrina’s homemade cookies while watching the class have fun. I even took a picture of Marinette kissing Adrien and sent it to Felix.

I sent it with the caption: #NaiveCouple.

It was something nice and fluffy before I cut myself out of society for the weekend to deal with something I had put off long enough.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sat in my room the day after Hero Day, thankfully it was a Saturday and I had nothing planned for the entire weekend so I could give my all to the task I was giving myself. The task of figuring out who Hawkmoth was. 

I had the money, the resources, the time, and the intelligence to do this so I had to do this. For some reason, I just can’t remember who Hawkmoth is so I had to do this the old fashion way.

Well, not old fashion but close enough.

First, I tried entering the footage of Hawkmoth’s face I got from yesterday’s attack into facial recognition software but it failed. My hypothesis was that it didn’t work because of the ugly cowl-mask thing he was wearing so I tried sketching the basics (ie. his eyes, nose, mouth, and face shape) and tried again. 

I failed again.

Next, I tried just writing down the dimensions of his eyes, nose, and mouth before sketching out only the face shape and tried again. This time it worked. However, the list was 54 025 people long.

“This… this is going to take a while…” I muttered to myself.

At this point, I already spent half the day on this. Albeit, most of it was setting everything up and sketching his face but still. Now I needed to start finding factors to use to cut down the number of people.

“Let’s… let’s narrow it down to only people in Paris and then start with height, I guess…”

571 people left. Progress.

Slow but progress nonetheless.

Little victories.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was now Sunday and I had just come back to my workspace from church with Dad. I spent the entire seminar begging whichever god that would listen to make my search easier despite the fact that I usually didn’t pray at all.

I worked and worked from morning until sunset and I was getting close. I could feel it.

I added another filter to find out who remained on the list were recluses since only someone who stayed home a lot could send all those Akumas out at such odd hours without anyone getting suspicious about why they kept leaving or looking very tired during days Akumas attacked at night.

Three people left.

Of those three people, they would need a motive. Now that the number of people left was small enough, we could use the motive filter. The wish has to be something they couldn’t get on their own, like reviving the dead or something.

Two people left.

Finally, of those two people, the one who is Hawkmoth needs to have a close helper that identifies as female because that helper is the newly surfaced Mayura, which is a distinctly female name.

One person left.

Gabriel Agrests.

He’s our culprit.

When that thought crossed my mind, I felt clouds lift from my mind and I realized it was because, while I kept an eye on Adrien and Marinette and thought about them as Chat Noir and Ladybug since the very beginning even before they got their miraculi (which helped keep the fog from hiding the fact that Nino and Alya were the other two superheroes), I forgot completely about Hawkmoth being Gabriel Agrests. That was why his glamor worked on me while the other two (well, four) didn't. 

“Agg! So stupid!” I cursed myself, “I should have known! He had the Miraculous Grimoire! That damn grimoire was in Gabriel’s possession and I was the one who handed it back to him! Idiot!”

After drinking some calming tea, I pulled out my phone and called Felix.

“Hello, Clo, did you need something?”

“Felicita, darling.” I purred, almost feeling Felix straighten up, knowing I was angry, “I am calling to tell you something very important and very secretive.

“What is it, Chloe?”

“Gabriel Agrests will soon lose custody of Adrien within the year if all goes according to my plans. Be a dear and tell your aunt to start clearing out a room for him, would you?”

“Oh?” Felix asked. breathless and excited, “And what, pray tell, did my dearest uncle do?”

“I can’t say much yet but it’s more than enough to lose custody and be forbidden from making visits for the rest of his life, seeing as he will get a life sentence in prison.”

“Oh dear, that sounds serious.” Felix said before his voice dropped to something more serious, “Is Adrien okay?”

“Currently, he’s still okay. I’ll keep you in the loop though, just trust me and give me some time.”

“Of course.”

I hung up the phone and got ready to sleep. This week was mental torture that I inflicted on myself.

For the love of tea. 

I just remembered that according to the lackluster email M Damocles sent me yesterday, Lila was coming back to school tomorrow because she was finally back from her so-called trip to Achu.

God really is dead.

Chapter 20: Chameleon

Chapter Text

I walked into class with Sabrina by my side as usual. Today, we weren’t able to arrive at our usual time due to an Akuma attack causing a larger traffic jam than normal so a good number of our classmates were already in class when we arrived.

This had happened before so nothing was really shocking about that but what was unusual was that everyone was moving around.

“Excuse me, but are we changing our seating arrangement? I didn’t get an email about that.” I spoke up.

Technically, the teacher didn’t need to send their Class Representative an email when they want to change where students sit but during the reign of Hawkmoth, it was decided that the teacher and Class Representative have to work together when they make seating arrangements to make sure the students can get along with the new people they would be sitting with. This is because, often, teachers aren't that great at reading the classroom mood. This policy came about when a couple broke up and were forced to sit next to each other, which didn't go well. 

So what Mme Bustier is doing is going against that agreement.

Another thing for Mme Bustier’s file.

“It was a last-minute decision so I didn’t have time to send one.” Mme Bustier said apologetically, “But I’m sure you could let this slide this once. We are making accommodations for Lila after all.”

“Lila? Why?”

“Because of her hearing problems. She just told me about them in an email yesterday, I must have forgotten to tell you.”

“Can I see the email?” I asked.

Mme Bustier pulled it up on her phone and I frowned.

“There’s no doctor’s note attached to this. Do you have a doctor’s note?” I asked but, as expected, I got no reply. I shook my head and clapped my hands together to get everyone’s attention, “Everyone, go back to your seats!”

“What why? But Lila-”

“There’s no doctor’s note and it’s against the rules to accommodate someone who doesn’t have a doctor’s note.” I shot whoever tried to talk back down, “Now, everyone, go back to your seats.”

The ‘or else’ was implied but everyone heard it and quickly moved back. Sabrina was already on Mme Bustier’s file to add this situation to the list. 

I watched as Marinette barged into the room, breathing sighs of relief that she wasn’t late and I couldn’t hide my smirk. Lila entered a few seconds later and saw that the seating plan didn’t change at all.

Lila, your move.

“Um… Mme Bustier, I thought I told you about my hearing problems yesterday.” Lila said meekly, “I need to sit in the front. I wouldn’t mind sitting next to Chloe or Sabrina but as the Class Representative and deputy, we shouldn’t separate them so maybe I could sit beside Adrien to help me take notes.”

If Marinette’s eyes could have shot lasers, she would have killed Lila at least twenty times already.

“Actually, Lila, it’s against the rules to give someone special treatment without a note or verbal agreement from a parent or guardian. So, legally speaking, we can’t give you the seat you want.” Sabrina said sharply.

Lila tried opening her mouth but I cut her off, “If it’s that big of a problem then I could just call my dad and get in contact with your mom through him to get a verbal agreement. Dad is the Mayor, after all, it shouldn’t be that hard for him to get in contact with an ambassador.”

Seeing that this route was blocked, Lila quickly backpedaled and changed tactics. She started looking teary.

“I… I don’t know why you’re acting so mean… are you… do you think I’m lying? Lying about my own disability?” Lila asked, sniffling.

I could tell the class was split. On one hand, their ‘good friend’ Lila was crying, but on the other, they know me. They know exactly what I do to bullies and have seen me in action more than once.

Check, Lila. you made the wrong move.

“We don’t think you’re lying.” I lied smoothly as I picked up my phone as if to call Dad to go through with my low-key threat, “It’s just that it’s against the law and we really don’t want Mme Bustier to get fired for not following the proper procedures. Also, as the Mayor’s daughter and, for Sabrina, the daughter of a well-respected police officer, we have to follow the laws to lead by example.”

“Oh, I see. If it’s like that then I’ll be fine. You don’t need to call my mom, she’s really busy so I wouldn’t want to bother her for something like that.”

“Well, if you’re sure.” I said, dropping my phone.

“I’m sure.” Lila nodded before sighing, “I just… I just really don’t want to sit alone in the back either. I just got back from my trip and I don’t really know anyone that well so sitting in the back alone like this…”

“I can switch with you, Lila!” Kim exclaimed, standing up.

“Awe, thank you, Kim. You’re the best.” Lila smiled but it was clear she didn’t want to sit next to Max.

As Lila walked over to her seat, Marinette asked her about her hearing problem. I nudged Sabrina and she started recording.

“Yes, I suffer from tinnitus, I have constant ringing in my left ear. I had it ever since the sound of an airplane engine burst my eardrum on the runway when I was saving Jagged Stone’s lost kitten.”

“Isn’t Jagged Stone’s pet a crocodile?

“Now it is, yes. But he had a kitten until he found out he was allergic to it.” Lila laughed before walking over to Adrien’s desk and leaning toward him, “Adrien since you’re such an excellent student, can you help me catch up on all the schoolwork I missed while I was traveling with my parents? Would you do that for me? Please?”

“Sure, Lila.” Adrien agreed in a panic.

Marinette got angry but she quickly calmed down when Mme Bustier started teaching. The day followed a similar pattern. Lila would lie about something, like about her sprained wrist, and trick the class into getting her lunch, and Marinette would try and fail to expose her while Sabrina recorded every second of it.

Right after Marinette threw the napkin at Lila, I told Sabrina to keep the peace while I went to the washroom. 

This was one scene that stuck in my mind ever since I saw Lila and recognized her as a Canon character.

I hid in the middle stall, the one that had the best view of everything, and started recording the second Marinette saw Lila.

“Marinette, oh are you crying?” Lila asked, walking towards Marinette.

“No, I’m not.” Marinette said defensively, causing Lila to act as if she was hurt.

“I can sense that you don’t like me, but I don’t understand why. We barely know each other.” Lila said.

To be fair to Lila, Marinette’s hostility to Lila doesn’t make sense if you didn’t know that Marinette was Ladybug, how Marinette saw Lila take Adrien’s book, and Marinette’s hatred of liars.

“Don’t tell me it’s about this new seating arrangement in class.” Lila said, implying that Marinette was being petty.

Marinette turned, probably trying to get away only for Lila to take it as confirmation that she was and implied that Marinette was jealous because she wasn’t able to sit next to Adrien as Lila could.

“You know what? It’s really not worth fighting over a boy. You and I could be friends and, who knows, I might even be able to help you with Adrien.” 

I had to hand it to Lila, her tongue was as sweet as honey.

Marinette couldn’t take it anymore, “You and I will only be friends on the day you stop lying, Lila.”

Lila gasped.

“I can’t prove it but I know for a fact that you don’t have tinnitus, that your wrist is just fine, you don’t know Prince Ali because you never even set foot in Achu, and despite what you got Alya to write on her Ladyblog, Ladybug has never saved your life!” Marinette exclaimed as she backed Lila into the wall.

I wish I brought popcorn with me, despite the fact that I would never eat in the school bathroom. This was the most argumentative Marinette has ever been and I wish she was like this more often.

Lila looked scared for a moment before she dropped the act.

“I only tell people what they want to hear.” Lila said with a sly look on her face.

“It’s called lying.” Marinette insisted.

“There’s nothing you can do about it anyway.” Lila said as she turned the tables and started backing Marinette into the opposite wall, “People can’t resist when they hear what they like to hear. If you don’t want to be my friend, fine, but soon you won’t have any friends left at all, and, trust me, I’ll make sure you’ll never get close to Adrien in class or anywhere.”

I zoomed in as Lila trapped Marinette between her arms when Marinette’s back hit the wall. I really thought these things ended when I took over the school, really, this was just childish and cliche.

“You seem a little less dumb than the others, so I’ll give you one last chance. You’re either with me or against me.” Lila smirked, “You don’t have to answer right away, I’ll give you until the end of class today.”

Lila then confidently flipped her hair and strutted out the door, leaving Marinette frozen at the wall. As Marinette stomped into a stall, I sneaked out of the stall I was hiding in, my camera still rolling, and followed Lila.

When I caught up to her, she was already talking to Adrien.

“... I also heard you play piano, my uncle’s the great pianist, Cheurk Bourocherk, he wanted to teach me when I was little but I had to stop playing of arthritis.” Lila said sadly, “But when my wrist gets better, I’d love for you to give me some lessons.”

Adrien looked uncomfortable, “Lila… I’m perfectly happy being friends with you and I’ll gladly help you catch up on your schoolwork, but please don’t lie to me as you did during that time with Ladybug.”

Lyla gasped, “Ladybug’s the liar.” 

“I’m not judging you, Lila, but instead of making friends, you’re going to turn everyone against you. You can tell me if there’s something bothering you, and I can help. But you need to be honest with me.” Adrien said sincerely and I wish I could gag.

Adrien, sunshine baby, I think we need another talk about bullies and how to spot them. Right now. If you need an example, Lila is already in your face.

Lila’s face turned ugly, “Are you trying to be some superhero? Lecturing me just like Ladybug did? Well thanks, but no thanks. Ugh.” 

Lila turned around and marched off.

My sly grin was turning into something wide and ugly and I didn’t care. The next conversation Lila would have will damn her for life.

Maybe there is some part of Mother in me, I really do find destroying Lila’s life an enjoyable pastime.

I will find a therapist for myself when both Lila and Hawkmoth are dealt with. 

Lila was walking down the empty hall when a black butterfly flew into her view. Thankfully, it appeared on camera.

“Yes, here’s my chance.” Lila cheered before singing, “Come here, Akuma.”

I recorded how Lila grabbed the Akuma and placed it into her earring.

“Hawkmoth, I am Lila. I know you want to destroy Ladybug and so do I.” Lila said with the Hawkmoth mask thing on her face, “Give me supervillain powers and I’ll get you her’s and Chat Noir miraculous.”

As Lila’s body started bubbling with magic, transforming her into another Akuma, Lila started laughing. When the magic disappeared, nothing concrete changed but Lila marched back to where Adrien was. I stopped recording, quickly pressed the Akuma Alert Button, texted Sabrina that Adrien fell to the Akuma’s attack, and followed her into the locker room before ducking out of sight.

When Lila (as Adrien) walked out, I quickly checked all the lockers and found the one Adrien was sleeping in.

“You complete idiot.” I muttered as I started slapping him, “Wake up, Addy!”

“Ow! Clo! Why’d you hit me?” Adrien winced as he held his face.

I huffed, “Lila got akumatized, again, kissed you, knocked you out, transformed into you, stuffed you into a locker, and ran off.”

I could see the gears running in Adrien’s mind and he looked as if he was trying to figure out how to get away from me to transform.

“You go to the Akuma Shelter, I’ll go tell our classmates. I don’t know if Lila would target you again so I want you to hide and not show your face until this is all over, got it? No playing hero, go hide. I don’t want to see you until Chat Noir and Ladybug deal with the Akuma and are gone from dealing with the Akuma. Understood?”

“K.” Adrien nodded enthusiastically, “I will. You will not see me. Promise.”

I walked out the door and made my way to the classroom. Knowing my class, they haven’t moved from their seats yet, despite the alert. When I got there, I quickly told them the official version of what and herded everyone into the Akuma Shelters to wait out the Akuma Attack.

When it was all over, everyone crowded around Lila to listen to her tale about being saved. I had Sabrina get in close to record and continue recording the outlandish stories again while I stealthily attached a microphone onto Marinette that would record five hours of audio before becoming useless.

Surprise, surprise, Lila’s tinnitus moved ears. 

“Sabrina, call Jean and tell him that we are going to be a bit late.”

“Of course, what are we going to be doing?”

“Just follow my lead, as always.”

When we got dismissed, Sabrina and I quickly crossed the streets and sat on the outside terrace of the cafe across from the school. We ordered a sandwich, set up a camera to record the front of the school, and zoomed in. Soon, Marinette bumped into Lila and everything was in place.

“I see you’ve made your decision, Marinette.” Lila said with a smile before getting close and whispering into her ear, “From now on, you and I are at war. You will lose your friends and wind up all alone and Adrien will soon be mine.”

Marinette just smiled, “We’ll see about that, Lila. We’ll see.”

As soon as that confrontation was over, I showed Sabrina the other video I took to give her more context and she took in a sharp breath. 

“Are… are we going to bring this to the Board of Education?” Sabrina asked, knowing better than to suggest M Damocles with this.

Lila’s parents were ambassadors so unless I plan to throw my weight around as the Mayor’s daughter, we both know who he was going to side with.

“Not yet. We need to wait. This has to be handled more delicately since we now confirmed that Lila is working with Hawkmoth.” I said, shaking my head.

This is getting more and more fun, I smirked. Gabriel (he doesn’t deserve the respect of being called M Agrests) and Lila, your days are numbered. I’ll have fun hunting you both down and dragging you through the mud.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, I invited Sabrina over so we could have a heavy planning session about what we were going to do about the Lila Situation. We went through all the incriminating evidence in Lila’s file and we already knew that, with the video of her working with Hawkmoth alone, we had enough evidence to kick her out of Paris, maybe even France as a whole, and ban her for life.

Diplomatic immunity means nothing when you aid a terrorist.

The only question is to figure out what to do now.

We could just hand everything over to the police and have them trick Lila out of Paris to arrest her without the worry of her turning into an Akuma (or our classmates when they figure out that Lila was lying to them and threatening Marinette) but that wouldn’t be satisfying. I wanted to crush her completely.

I want to turn those idiots of classmates to see what she really was and see the despair cloud their faces without them getting akumatized.

I think I’m spending too much time with Mother. I still don’t like her and I still despise her pointless tantrums but we do bond over crushing people.

After much discussion, Sabrina and I decided that the best way to do this that would give us the maximum impact while staying safe was for Dad to pay for a ‘resort field trip’ to get away from Paris to destress under the disguise that he wanted his daughter to relax. The story would be that I didn’t want to go alone and just taking Sabrina wouldn’t be fair so Dad offered to let the entire class go as well.

Once we got to the resort, Lila would be arrested for terrorism, among other things, and shipped back to Italy without any Akumas being created.

After everything was taken care of, we will move everyone while they were confused and upset to the theater to show them all the evidence. There, we would explain everything that happened that they were blind to.

Thankfully, when we entered Dad’s office and explained everything, Dad agreed to it without hesitation. He did get very angry but he managed to calm down and started coordinating things with the police.

That night, he quietly entered my room to spend the precious ten minutes he could spare to make sure I was alright going to class with a terrorist for the month they needed to arrange everything. I hugged him and told him I would be fine.

Round two, Lila. The score is already 1-0 in my favor.

I do hope you don’t end up choking before the final round.

Where would the fun in that be?

Chapter 21: Oni-chan

Chapter Text

As I walked up the stairs to school with Sabrina, I heard Nino run to Adrien and started talking to him about helping Lila. Apparently, Lila told Nino that she was worried about being behind and how she had some kind of party to go to later that night so she was upset because for some reason I no longer had the brain space to register.

I made sure not to act until Lila was out of range, no need to rush things.

“Addy!” I exclaimed, turning around and walking towards him, he stopped talking to Nino and gave me his full attention, knowing full well that whatever I was going to say to him was important or personal, “Here. Don’t take it off.”

I put a small pin on Adrien’s jacket. Well, it looked like a pin, it was actually a small camera with a small microphone to record things. It was something I prepared for today, the day Lila was going to lie her way into Adrien’s home and make a deal with Gabriel to be his spy to watch Adrien. 

Sabrina’s dad helped us get one. Usually, it’s not used unless for undercover cop work but, because he knew we wouldn't abuse it, he gave it to us. Besides, this counted as undercover work. 

Technically, at least.

“Um, why?” Adrien asked, poking the pin like it was going to explode in his face.

Rude.

“What’s it for?” Nino asked.

I levelled a look at them, “Don’t ask questions, don’t take it off, and don’t let anyone else wear it. I need that back tomorrow so don’t lose it either. Got it?”

It sounded like a question but it was really a statement. The two boys straightened up and nodded stiffly,

“Good.”

After that, I rejoined Sabrina and went to class. We didn’t learn anything new and Sabrina and I were too distracted by the planned trip to really pay much attention to what was being taught. 

Even if the resort trip was just a ruse to arrest Lila, I still want to make it enjoyable for everyone since I genuinely do want them to destress after the emotional rollercoaster I was going to put them on by revealing the witch Lila really was. With that in mind, I was going to pull out all the stops for this trip.

I do feel a bit bad, she was just a girl driven by emotions but that still doesn’t excuse what she’s done.

It doesn’t excuse her from working with a terrorist.

Sabrina had to go home so I ended up planning the trip alone in my room. As I was going through my planner, I got a notification on my phone. It was from Adrien. Curiously, I opened it and saw that I got a picture but I frowned. It was a picture of Adrien and Lila with Adrien looking very uncomfortable.

I quickly added that picture to Lila’s file and added another sexual harassment charge to the charges we were convicting her of. On a happier note, I saw that Lila was wearing the pin I gave Adrien on her jacket.

However, as usual, fate couldn’t let me celebrate. I suddenly got reminded that today was the day Kagami would be akumatized. Her akumatized form was a bit scary if I was being honest so I went to hide in my bunker.

While hiding, I pulled up the news on my phone to wait for news of the upcoming Akuma attack. I also opened up my laptop and started going through the footage that the pin was sending back to me.

I watched as Lila tricked Adrien’s bodyguard and Nathalie from Adrien’s perspective. I watched as Lila took the pin from Adrien with an excuse of wanting to wear it and that she’ll give it back later and how Lila forcefully kissed Adrien and snapped the picture. When I got to that point, the Akuma Alert went off.

I glared at the screen as it showed me all of Lila’s despicable actions. Including how she made a deal with the Akuma, telling Oni-chan that if she defeats Ladybug, she’ll give up on Adrien. Not only that, she faked an injury to trick Chat Noir into abandoning Ladybug, which almost got Ladybug killed.

More proof that Lila was working with Hawkmoth, or at least against the heroes that are protecting Paris.

I took a moment to calm down. I took the chance to send copies of the recording to Dad, the police, and to the Department of Defense (Dad got them on board, they couldn’t do anything about Hawkmoth and that stung their professional pride so they were more than willing to help with this).

Oni-chan was still active so I didn’t need to worry about them getting akumatized since Hawkmoth can only akumatize one person at a time. Well, except when he’s Scarlet Moth but I don’t think he would turn into Scarlet Moth so soon and without as many preparations as he did last time.

As soon as the Akuma was taken care of, I went over to Marinette’s place to talk to her about her unhealthy obsession with Adrien. It was a conversation that should have happened earlier but because of all the Akumas and Lila, it got pushed back. Seeing how Marinette’s first reaction was to stalk Adrien because of her jealousy when he could have just been helping someone with their homework, I should have intervened earlier. 

So I sat her down and talked to her. She tried to protest but I put it into perspective and even compared her to Pixelator. Thankfully, Marinette was intelligent enough to see things clearly and I helped her take down the majority of Adrien’s pictures from her wall, change the home screen of her computer into a picture of the class, and change her phone lock screen into a black cat.

That didn’t stop me from tearing Marinette a new one when I saw that she had a copy of Adrien’s schedule in her room. After bringing up that this was illegal since she was basically stalking him, which was another form of harassment and if anyone from Gabriel finds out that she has this, she could be given a restraining order and possibly be blacklisted from ever entering the fashion industry for the rest of her life, Marinette looked properly chastised and embarrassed.

When I left Tom & Sabine’s Boulangerie Patisserie, I was pleased with myself. I’ve done a good deed. 

That’s one more reformed rabid fangirl that can now reenter society proudly.

Well, it’s still too early to say that Marinette’s crush side will definitely change for the better but I at least know that she knows that she needs to be more discrete about it. She doesn’t want to land in jail after all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, I saw that Lila was still wearing the pin, however, despite that, I still walked over to Adrien.

“Addy, can I have the pin back?” I asked, stopping him from getting to his seat.

Adrien clammed up and looked around. His eyes landed on Lila and he gave me a look that asked for a bit of time. I nodded my head and watched discreetly using my compact mirror to watch as Adrien walked over to Lila and started talking to her. His face twitched a bit before coming back and tapping on my shoulder.

I pretended to have not seen that entire exchange and gave Adrien my undivided attention, waiting to see what he’ll say.

“Can… can I give it back to you tomorrow?” Adrien asked nervously.

I sighed, “Fine. I should have known you would have forgotten. Just get it back to me by tomorrow,”

After Adrien left, Sabrina and I shared a smirk. The longer Lila wore the pin, the more evidence we get to collect.

Besides, Lila didn’t even make the deal I knew she would make with Gabriel yet, I need that to make the case to remove Adrien from his custody. I mean, it’s going to happen either way but more evidence is always good.

I didn’t have to wait long. While I was working on calculus, I got bored so I checked the live footage from the pin and there was the deal-making.

“Thank you so much for inviting me here, M Agrests.” Lila said, walking over to Gabriel as he looked out the window of his office.

“You got into my house without my authorization by lying and manipulating my son.” Gabriel stated.

“I only meant well.” Lila lied through her teeth while acting subservient, “Adrien needed the talk! You do such a good job of shielding him from bad influences that he actually feels very alone.”

“Mhm. You’re opening my eyes to a problem I didn’t even know existed. What would you do in my position?” Gabriel asked.

“I think he needs a friend his age, someone who understands him, who can protect him from negative influences, someone you can trust too.” Lila suggested, laying the honey on thick with her silver tongue.

“You and I think the same way.” Gabriel stated, a smirk appearing on his face, “Do you know someone who could do it?”

“I may know someone.”

“See you again very soon, Lila.”

“See you soon, M Agrests.” 

They shook hands.

I glared at the screen, if my glare could freeze things, my computer would be in a block of ice.

This was like herding lambs to the slaughter, I even almost feel bad for them. Whatever. Consciousness has no place here. I quickly edited the video (cropped it so that the video started when Gabriel called her at school and ended on the handshake), made a copy, and sent it over to Felix.

I wasn’t planning on getting Felix and his mom involved so soon but Aunt Amelie was insistent so they were building up a case of their own to get custody of Adrien. We were going to combine the two then I tell them just what Gabriel did to make him lose custody and make the case air-tight.

Check again, Lila.

I hope you can put up a better fight in the next round.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day in class I saw that Lila was still wearing the pin. So I walked up to Adrien and asked for the pin back again. Like last time, he clammed up and went over to Lila before walking back to me.

“Can you wait another day?” Adrien asked nervously.

This time, I pretended to look at Lila, as if wondering why Adrien walked over to her before letting my eyes land on the pin on her jacket. After a beat of silence, I turned my glare onto Adrien.

The room fell into silence as Adrien stood ramrod straight. I slowly walked past him and made my way to Lila. I stared her down.

“I want my pin back.” I said slowly in an even tone, my hand stretched out in front of me, waiting for the pin to be placed in it.

Lila blinked up at me innocently, “Pin?”

“Don’t try to act like you don’t know, it’s on your blazer.” I said coldly, “Give it back, it’s important.”

“I-If it was so important, why did you give it to Adrien?” Lila asked.

I could see it in her eyes, she didn’t want to give me the pin back. She wouldn’t try to actively go against me because, unlike Marinette, I have political power but she doesn’t want to back down either.

"Because," I said, faking anger as I ripped the pin off of Lila's blazer, "it's important to us! If he's been getting you to keep it for so long he obviously forgot about it!"

The class took a collective breath at the ice in my eyes, they couldn’t believe I did something like that. Well, it makes them believe I was genuinely angry now that I did something out of character.

“Clo-” Adrien said as he walked towards me but I cut him off.

“Don’t ‘Clo’ me, Adrien Agrests. I'm upset with you." I said, keeping up my act as I glared at him, "Don't talk to me today. Actually, don’t talk to me until I talk to you, I don’t think I can even look at you."

With a huff, I walked past all my shell-shocked classmates as I made my way back to my seat. Lila looked shocked but there was a satisfied glint in her eyes as if she was happy she broke our friendship apart.

Which, knowing her, was probably accurate.

Under the table, Sabrina and I gave each other a high five. We had all the evidence we needed, now all that was left was to wait for the reservations for the resort to finalize and arrest Lila Rossi.

As soon as you get thrown into the helicopter, it will be checkmate, Lila.

Checkmate.

Chapter 22: Startrain

Chapter Text

I checked over my things while in my limo on my way to the train station for the school field trip to London to see the Elizabeth Tower. Well, most people just call the tower Big Ben, even though that’s the name of the bell inside the tower, and the tower used to just be called the clock tower before it got renamed in 2012.

However, the trip to London wasn’t the reason why I was nervously checking over my things. The reason was that this trip was the trip where Max’s mother would be akumatized into the Akuma Startrain and that meant that the episode where Max uses the Horse Miraculous is going to happen.

The reveal of the Horse Miraculous to the public, or at least me, was all I needed to put my plan into action.

My plan for Hawkmoth, not Lila. My plan for Lila was almost ready to be put into action.

I needed to get the knowledge of a Miraculous that could teleport people from one place to another without limits without seeming suspicious or for anyone to ask questions I couldn’t answer.

Mainly for Adrien’s sake but I digress.

Speaking of Adrien, I haven’t talked to him yet and the class is still walking on tiptoes around me. I guess I should ‘forgive’ him soon, or else the ride to the resort field trip would be awkward.

Not to mention Lila was getting on my last nerves about rubbing the fact that she and Adrien were friends while Adrien and I were ‘fighting.’ I'm not angry, I'm just in a state of disbelief about how childish she was being about this. Really, how petty-minded was she? How desperate was she for a shred of love?

I know that thought was rude since I know how absent her parents were but I also know how much Lila’s mother loves her. I saw Lila’s mother while walking in the Elysee Palace to get everything ready for the arrest so I couldn’t help but wonder how someone as full of love birth someone who lacked it.

 

As my limo approached the train station, I called Sabrina to make sure her dad didn’t deviate from the path due to a bunch of small lawbreakings, like littering. Even though Office Roger knew that Sabrina and I were working on an important project, I knew that he is easily sidetracked due to his sense of justice.

I got out of the limo, took out my suitcase, waved goodbye to Jean, and stood in the shade of a tree, waiting for Sabrina to arrive. When she got there, her dad helped her get her suitcase out of the trunk of his car, but he got distracted by someone littering and tripped, causing some of Sabrina’s stuff to fall onto the floor.

I picked up the trash that caused Officer Roger’s momentary lapse of attention before making my way to Sabrina.

“Are you ready for the trip?” I asked as we ran for the train.

“Yes, and we also get a little over two hours to finalize the Plan.” Sabrina added. 

Soon we made it into the train where Mme Bustier was waiting for us. We waved at Mme Bustier before turning to go to our seats.

“Where are you two going?” Mme Bustier asked before pointing behind her, “Our car is this way.”

I turned my head and smiled, “Sabrina and I are sitting in First Class. Dad arranged it. It’s his way of apologizing for when the staff accidentally let one of the visitors' pets into my room, making a mess and making me sleep in one of the other rooms for three days while he got my room fixed. I already sent you an email about this yesterday, were you not able to read it?” 

That was a lie. Actually, Dad and Officer Roger wanted Sabrina and me as far away from Lila as possible without making it suspicious. It says a lot when Dad forced Officer Roger to let him pay for Sabrina as well.

“I… I see.” Mme Bustier said before pulling out her phone, “Oh! I found it. Silly me, I was so busy arranging this that I completely forgot to check my emails yesterday. You two may go, if you need anything, we’re in the car behind me.”

I just smiled. Yeah, Mme Bustier, I think there may have been a mistake. I was the one who arranged most of the stuff, you just did the talking and you only said what I told you to say, don’t try to steal the credit for a job you pushed on to me because I was such a reliable Class Representative.

A good person Mme Bustier may be, but she is a bad teacher.

Sabrina and I quickly got settled in and put on our headsets. We probably seemed strange, wearing headsets with mics just to talk to each other when we were already sitting so close but there was a large space between our two seats so if we wanted to discuss secret plans, us leaning toward each other would look suspicious. It would also be uncomfortable, which defeats the purpose of sitting in First Class.

With headsets, we could talk to each other without needing to lean toward each other and we don’t get the ambiance noise around us. We could also just whisper and the other person could hear.

Perfect for discussing things that others shouldn’t overhear.

We opened up our laptops, connected them to the wifi of the First Class car, and went onto all the documents, spreadsheets, video files, and the other things we prepared for the Lila Situation.

“So let’s get started.” I said once we got the headsets working, “We need to figure out how to reveal the truth to everyone.”

“Should we show things from the beginning or start with the least incriminating or start with the most incriminating?” Sabrina asked, referring to the spreadsheets that had already ordered all the evidence.

“I think we should ease them into it, start with the seemingly harmless lies before going into the most damning evidence. Kind of how you slowly turn up the temperature when boiling a frog. So, we will show them things starting with the least incriminating before moving to the most incriminating.”

“Understood.”

Sabrina quickly filed away the extra spreadsheets into the To Be Deleted file. We aren’t deleting them until after we finish Lila off because we don’t know if we still need them before the day of Lila’s execution.

Figurative execution.

Naturally.

“Now that’s that out of the way, we need to plan what to say.” I muttered, feeling a bit of dread. This was going to be the long part.

Sabrina sighed, “At least proving the lies to be lies will be easy. Let’s only say a sentence or two for each lie.”

“Sounds like a plan. And for the videos, we should tell them when, how, and why we decided to record those videos. Then, we will let them watch it before talking about it if it needs explaining.”

“Don’t you mean we need to explain everything that happens in the video?” Sabrina asked dryly, “I mean, if this was a few months ago, I wouldn’t think every single detail needed to be explained but after Lila appeared…”

“Our classmate’s collective brain cells died a quick and painful death.” I sighed.

Sabrina and I commiserated for a moment. We talked a bit more before Sabrina started getting carsick and moved to open her suitcase. Unfortunately, a black butterfly flew out of her suitcase.

Luckily, no one saw that it came from Sabrina’s suitcase.

However everyone started panicking, I despaired for a moment that practically every Parisian developed lepidopterophobia, a fear of butterflies and moths, due to Hawkmoth. Specifically black butterflies. 

“Calm down!” I yelled, “For one thing, it could just be a normal black butterfly, so stop panicking. For another, Akumas only goes after people with negative emotions, so as long as you stay calm, nothing will happen.”

With that, everyone tried their best to calm down. Nodding to myself, I turned to Sabrina and started talking in hushed voices.

“Sabrina, why was there an Akuma in your suitcase?”

Sabrina bit her lip, “Dad was really angry on the ride to the train station, so maybe Hawkmoth was planning to akumatize him again, but Dad managed to calm down so it probably didn’t have the opportunity to brainwash him. I guess, when it lost its target, it decided to rest in my suitcase.”

‘Right, your suitcase did get dropped and your stuff needed to put your things back into it…”

“Should we warn the class?” Sabrina asked, “We are called the Akuma Class for a reason, emotions run high in our class.”

I just sighed, “Yeah, we should.”

Sabrina and I quickly and discreetly made our way to the other car where everyone was sitting peacefully.

“Attention everyone! May I have your attention please!” I exclaimed, getting everyone’s attention as Sabrina shook both Marinette and Adrien awake.

“What is it, Chloe?” Alya asked, sounding a bit upset.

Probably because Sabrina woke up Marinette and Adrien, a setup she probably put together to help Marinette get closer to her crush. I hope for Alya’s sake that what she did for Marinette didn’t ruin the work I put into calming Marinette’s crush side. It would be ugly if I find out Marinette backslid due to this nap on Adrien’s shoulders. 

“There’s a possible Akuma on the train. It just appeared out of nowhere in the First Class car before disappearing. We don’t know if it’s actually an Akuma or just a harmless, normal black butterfly but regardless, we need to capture it. As you know, an Akuma can only affect you if you feel upset so you’ll be fine if you catch it in a suitcase or bag or something so long as you stay positive. 

“When we get to London, we will hand the butterfly over to the police there to get it transferred over to the Paris police to hand over to Ladybug the next time we see her. The good thing about this is that, chances are, Hawkmoth cannot akumatize anyone with that butterfly flying free so let’s find it.

“Also, make sure you don’t make the other passengers panic, explain that there’s a black butterfly on board and that we aren’t sure if it’s an Akuma or not but to make sure they stay calm regardless. Even if this is a false alarm, I would rather be wrong than get caught up in an Akuma attack unaware during what should be our field trip out of Paris.”

With this, everyone split up and started moving, however, as usual fate had different plans for us. The train started bubbling like it was being akumatized and, when the bubbles went away, became black and red.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am Startrain! You all get to live my dream with me! Shoot off the rails, and fly off in a rocket to explore not just the moon, but the entire universe!” Announced Stairtrain from the PA system, “Fasten your seatbelts! We have liftoff!”

The train breaks free from the Channel Tunnel, and bursts out of the sea. It launches itself into space, zooming past an observation satellite, and then the Moon. The passengers are now all floating out of their seats.

Various passengers yelled, "Wow! Whoa!"

Alya seemed nervous but she still had her camera out, "I don't think Ladybug and Cat Noir are gonna make it up here to save us!"

Marinette turned her attention onto Max, "Uh, maybe we can persuade your mom to change back, Max?"

Max nodded and the two of them started moving to the conductor's room, the rest of the class seemed as if they wanted to follow them.

“You guys go, I’ll stay here to reassure the other passengers.” I said, waving them away.

With that, my classmates quickly followed Max. Now that the peanut gallery was distracted and out of the way, I can start running damage control. Here’s to hoping the stock market around trains doesn’t take a dip. Paris' economy is already not that great with all the recent attacks no matter how much work Dad's been doing behind the scenes.

However, due to the train accelerating or something, my classmates came flying back into the car. Then Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared.

Alya snapped a photo of them, and continued starts recording, "Have you been on the train with us the whole time?

"Of course not! We teleported here using a special Miraculous." Ladybug lied.

That was the lie I needed to put the rest of my plan into action.

Hawkmoth’s days were numbered now.

Chat Noir told Miss Bustier and me to gather everyone together at the back of the train. Unfortunately, as soon as everyone (with the exception of Max) left the car, the doors shut close behind us. No one was that worried since Max was with Chat Noir and Ladybug.

However, that didn't mean there was no worry. All we could do was wait until things were over so we sat tight and did. It disgusted me and grated on Sabrina's sense of justice that we needed to stay in the same car as Lila for an extended period of time.

Suddenly, we were all freefalling and landed on the floor of the train car in an ungraceful pile. I refused to turn my head to my left where I heard the sound of a neck snapping. The train was lodged into the Elizabeth Tower but that was quickly fixed by Ladybug’s Miraculous Ladybug and we were at the Paris train station, which meant that we needed to go on the train ride again.

Despite the long train ride ahead of us, everyone celebrated. However, while everyone talked about how incredible the view of space was, I hid a smirk. The teleporting power of the Horse Miraculous was now public knowledge, which means that my plans for catching Hawkmoth can start moving again.

However, if I vomited when everyone was out of sight, no one would know.

Chapter 23: Identify Reveal

Chapter Text

I sat in my Akuma Bunker watching Ladybug and Chat Noir fight against Feast, an akumatized sentimonster. It was a long and hard fight but they managed to do it. Now that the fight was over, I needed to get to Marinette’s place, I’d been compiling everything and I needed to get Hawkmoth out of the way now.

After this fight, he would have seen how the Great Guardian looked so if I want to keep Marinette from losing him like in Canon. We cannot lose the Great Guardian, it would make things so much harder and put so much more pressure on Marinette. I mean, losing your memories? No way I'd agree to that. I also needed to bring Hawkmoth down and unmask him as Gabriel before his next Akuma.

Or at least, his next devastating Akuma. I think Paris can deal with another ten M Pigeon Akumas.

I took a deep breath and called Jean.

“Jean, can you take me to Tom & Sabine’s Boulangerie Patisseri?”

“Of course, Mlle Chloe.”

“Much appreciated.”

I then texted Marinette to tell her that I was coming over for a quick chat with her alone and to not leave her place until we had that chat or else. I quickly got a positive reply that promised she would be at home.

With that, I walked down to the lobby, out the door, and into the limo where Jean was there to drive me. Normally, I would have just walked over but I didn’t want Marinette to suddenly disappear to either go out with friends and ruin my carefully made plan or just not be home at the time, making me need to search for her and then another private place where we could chat.

Soon. I was in front of Tom & Sabine’s Boulangerie Patisseri. I told Jean he didn’t need to wait for me and that I would be walking home. He agreed, told me to be safe and have a good day, and drove back.

“Chloe! How can we help you?” Sabine asked when she saw me walk through the doors of the bakery.

“Actually, I’m here for Marinette. I texted her earlier, is she in her room?” I asked.

“Yes, I’ll call her down for you.”

“Actually, I could just go to her room. I was planning to commission a handkerchief for my dad from her and we agreed to do the consulting in her room to make it easier for her to show me the fabrics she chose so I might as well just go there.” I lied.

“That’s thoughtful of you. Just go right through that door.” Sabine said, gesturing me to the door behind her.

“Thank you.”

Without delay, I walked up the stairs and entered Marinette’s room with purpose. She was sitting nervously on her chair by her desk just staring at the door, probably waiting for me. That didn’t stop her from falling backward when I did appear.

“Calm down, Marinette.”

“Yeah… yeah, okay.” Marinette breathed, playing with the hems of her shirt, “Why do we need to talk?”

“I’ll get to that, I’ll just tell you now that I told your parents that I was commissioning a handkerchief for my dad from you so if you wouldn’t mind making something, that would be great. I’ll pay you a hundred dollars for it. I’ll pay twenty dollars up front, I’ll give you the eighty once you give the handkerchief to me.” I said, handing Marinette a twenty-dollar bill to her shock and surprise.

“I don’t mind! You don’t have to-”

“Marinette, you’re a designer, you need to get paid for your work.” I snapped, “For the design, you can do whatever you want so long as when he looks at it, he sees the Paris he adores and has been working so hard to keep afloat.”

Marinette nodded mutely.

“So, on to why I’m here.” I said as Marinette straightened up, “I need you to pass along a message to Ladybug.”

“What?! Why?! And why are you asking me?! I don’t know Ladybug!” Marinette asked in a panic as she cut me off.

I gave Marinette a deadpan look, “I’m not stupid. Besides, you were the one who got Alya her interview with Ladybug, so you can pass along my message. Now, that message, that I was going to tell you before you so rudely cut me off, was that I need to meet her tomorrow morning at 10 on the roof of La Grande Palais and to bring the Horse Miraculous because I made a breakthrough during my search for Hawkmoth.”

“B-breakthrough? S-Search for Hawkmoth?!” Marinette stuttered in shock.

I ignored her and continued talking, “She doesn’t need to bring Pegasus since I’ll be bringing Adrien along and he can use the Horse Miraculous if she’s worried about needing to detransform after using the Horse Miraculous.”

As long as Adrien was there, I didn’t need to worry about Ladybug not arriving. There was no way Marinette would miss a chance to be with Adrien. A bit manipulative but what could you do?

For the greater good and all that rot.

“W-wait! What was this about a breakthrough during your search for Hawkmoth?” 

“It’s exactly what I said. I found out who Hawkmoth is, simple as that.” I said before I bore my eyes into her, “I won’t tell you who, I don’t need you getting hurt, you just need to get Ladybug to the scheduled place at the scheduled time. Got it?”

“Got it.” Marinette nodded dumbly.

“Good chat.” I said before leaving.

I made some small talk with Sabine before buying a few macaroons and walking out of the bakery. I made my way to the park and sat down on one of the benches before taking out my phone and calling Gabriel.

I used the old contract that would let me take Adrien out of the house to do stuff with me and used it for the first time in years to get Adrien free and alone tomorrow. It took a bit of arguing and threatening him to bring lawyers into things but Gabriel relented. After that, I texted Adrien that I was stealing him for the day tomorrow and to cancel any sneak-out plans I knew he had.

Once that was done, I finished my macaroons and went home. I needed to double-check everything before sleeping.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

At 9:55 the next day, Adrien and I were standing on the roof of La Grande Palais. Like the good friend I was, I didn’t tell Adrien anything.

“Come on, Clo. You gotta tell me what you’re doing!" Adrien begged, "We've been waiting here for hours and you haven't told me anything since you all but kidnapped me from my home.” 

“Be patient and stop asking questions. You’ll understand everything in a few minutes, I promise.”

Adrien tried to open his mouth again when Ladybug swung onto the roof, landing beside him. Adrien started freaking out about Ladybug being there while Ladybug was doing an amazing job pretending not to realize.

“What’s wrong?” Ladybug asked.

Huh. I guess Marinette was able to put the mission above her crush. Well, I guess getting the chance to know Hawkmoth’s identity and end all this fighting probably ranks above being near Adrien.

Thank god.

“I’ll tell you once we get to a secure location. Did you bring the Horse Miraculous?” I asked.

“Yes, right here.” Ladybug said, pulling out the box.

“Great, Addy, I need you to transform and travel here.” I said, pulling out a piece of paper with an address written on it.

Adrien, who’s just been standing there looking at us with his eyes going from me to Ladybug and back to me and repeat just numbly took the box. He put on the glasses and transformed. 

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much and I was right. It was the same leather as his Chat Noir outfit but tailored to something more horse-like instead of cat-like. He quickly teleported us to the location I gave him.

“Where are we, Clo?” Adrien asked as he detransformed and gave the Miraculous back to Ladybug.

“This is one of the summer beach houses I have under my name in the United States.”

Ladybug seemed to be getting impatient, “Can you please tell me the important information now that we were in a ‘safe’ place?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m getting to that. But first things first. Ladybug, met Chat Noir. Adrien, met Marinette. You guys really aren’t as sneaky as you think you are.” I said with a sigh as I ignored the two of them who froze in shock.

 “Really, how no one else figured it out is beyond me. I mean, for Marinette, I figured that she was Ladybug after seeing you run off during Horrificator, seeing Tikki and comparing her to Pollen, and how your late patterns correlated with Akuma Attacks. As for Adrien, it was even easier. With the smell of Camembert, hearing him talk to his kwami while we were sent to the white room by Pixelator, the fact he used his own car during the Princess Fragrance thing, knowing my Hero Name and lying that Ladybug told him, and also the late patterns.”

I sighed, giving them disappointed looks. However, they were still freaking out. They were so freaked out that Tikki forced Marinette to detransform just to calm her down and Plagg appeared to calm Adrien down.

I think it made the freakouts worse.

Whatever. Not my problem.

I went to the kitchen and made myself some jasmine tea to drink. When I came back with a steaming mug, they were still freaking out.

“Enough! I gave you enough time to calm down so get over yourselves!” I snapped before sighing, “You two can talk it out on the couches while I finish my tea. I’ll be in the kitchen to give you some privacy. Oh yeah, I also know the identities of all your temporary heroes, you all aren't that great at keeping secrets, but I don’t think telling you their names will help with your freakout.”

The two just nodded numbly and sat down on the couches, awkwardly facing each other with their respective Kwami’s on their shoulders. Satisfied, I made my way to the kitchen and slowly sipped my tea. As I drank my tea, I pulled out my folder and started laying out all the evidence on the island table. Then, I opened up my laptop and opened the file, and set everything up for the serious conversation we were going to have.

“So, have you two finished your world-ending conversation?” I asked with a hint of sarcasm.

“They finished talking.” Tikki said as she flew into my face before giving me a disappointed look, “Did you need to reveal their identities? Even if you say you found out who Hawkmoth was-”

“What?! You did?!” Adrien and Plagg exclaimed.

“-it’s still very reckless of you to force their reveal.” Tikki continued as if the boys didn’t interrupt her.

“It probably wasn’t necessary to do that but seeing them do the whole song and dance, you know what I’m talking about, was getting annoying, irritating, tiring, and embarrassing.” I said with a wave of my hand, “Now, get up and follow me to the kitchen. I set everything up there while you guys were talking.”

When we got to the kitchen, the two teenage superheroes looked over the evidence and paled.

“Yeah, so the first thing I did was try to put Hawkmoth’s face through a facial recognition thing but, because of magic I guess, it didn’t work. So I had to improvise by manually measuring things out and sketching the face shape to get anywhere close. Then I had to filter through the list using stuff I inferred that Hawkmoth had or didn’t have and I got to this. It took me a few days but, without a doubt, Gabriel is Hawkmoth and Nathalie is Mayura.

“Now, I had to get you two out of Paris to tell you all this because, for one thing, people can’t overhear us, and the other thing is that your emotions would run high. I didn’t want Adrien to get akumatized for knowing this.”

When I finished, Adrien was already freaking out. He was cycling through the five stages of grief. Denial was quick to pass, the evidence was all there and Adrien couldn’t deny it even if he wanted to, and he wanted to very badly. Adrien skipped past anger and on to bargaining, asking me to tell him that I was lying.

I wasn’t and I told him so as calmly as I could.

He got angry and started yelling that it couldn’t be true, falling back into the denial stage with the anger stage. I directed him to the gym where there were a plethora of punching bags I prepared for this moment.

As Adrien worked himself to exhaustion in the gym, I turned my attention to a worried Marinette and asked her why she gave me the Bee Miraculous. To be frank, I didn’t care why but she looked like she needed a distraction for the sounds of grief and rage Adiren was making.

“Oh, well, the person who gave me the miraculous said that the Bee miraculous would work best with someone who could command others, someone who had the disposition of a queen. When he- they said that, you were the first one to come to mind. You ruled the school through fear and admiration, just like a queen would rule her subjects. Besides, you knew how to fight so there really was no other option.”

“I see.”

After a few awkward moments of waiting for the screams and yells to die down, Adrien came out of the gym. He was sweaty, his clothing was dishevelled, and his face was blank but there was a fire in his eyes.

“How are we going to take him down?” Adrien asked, cutting straight to the point.

I guess he skipped past the depression stage and on to the acceptance stage. Though there’s a chance he’ll double back to it at a later date. Then I blinked when I realized both Adrien and Marinette were waiting for me to talk.

I already did so much, you want me to do more? Isn’t this your job? 

Whatever. I’ll pick up your slack.

“Personally, I think you should gather all the temporary heroes you already picked and add a few more for the final fight, just to be safe. Any further planning can come later since we kind of need to get back home soon. By the way, the kitchen is full of food so what does the Horse Miraculous Kwami eat?”

“Suger cubes.”

“Right. Anyway, one last thing before we go. Adrien, Marinette has a crush on you-”

“Chloe!”

“-and Marinette, Adrien has a crush on you. Well, on Ladybug. You two can figure things out from there. However, don’t even think about dating until you deal with Hawkmoth because Gabriel might make Adrien break up with Marinette just to get Marinette akumatized. I wouldn’t put it past him to try.”

With that, I left the chaos behind me and went to the kitchen to find some sugar cubes to feed the poor Kwami that needed to use their powers for this conversation to happen. Tikki and Plagg came with me to search for their own food.

Not to escape the awkwardness behind them.

Definitely not.

Chapter 24: Lila Exposed

Chapter Text

Right before class started, Sabrina and I stood in front of the class, watching as everyone got to their seats. They were also looking at us, wondering why we were standing there since we only did so when we had an announcement or something just as big so they were curious.

I just wished they could be more subtle when they stare at us. They have as much stealth as a fully-grown elephant trying to walk through the school hallway. That was one of Animan’s stranger, and much more annoying, akumatizations.

“Attention everyone! Before I collect your homework, Chloe and Sabrina have a big announcement for the class. I’m sure you’ll all be very excited!” Mme Bustier exclaimed in a happy voice, managing to wake up Marinette from her sudden power nap.

Last night's Akuma must have really tired her out.

“Listen up, everyone. We are going on a class trip tomorrow.” I exclaimed with a smile on my face, “It’s an all-expense-paid trip to a resort just outside of Paris where we will be staying for a week. It has many amenities, including a swimming pool, a sauna, a gym, a spa, a theatre, and many more.”

As expected, the class burst into noise. There were squeals of joy and people talking a mile a minute in excitement. However, there were a few sensible people who asked about how everything was so last-minute and how they were worried about how they would get their parents' permission so soon.

“The trip is being completely financed by my dad. Everything from the rooms to the bus ride there has already been paid for. As you all know, Hawkmoth is mostly restricted to Paris so by being away from it, we will be able to destress without the fear of getting akumatized. Dad has already gotten permission from everyone’s parents so all you need to do is pack your bags, show up at school tomorrow, and get onto the bus.”

All their parents were informed over the course of the last three days. It was decided that, should they ask why the trip was happening, they would be informed about the plan and the situation the kids were in, with the exception of Lila’s mother. We didn’t want any of the parents trying to stop their kids from going.

However, the parents seemed to have taken the explanation at face value and were just relieved that their kids could get out of Paris to let out their emotions and didn’t look the gift horse in the mouth.

With that, the class erupted into more noise. All their worries were dealt with so they could talk about how excited they were without worrying about anything. Adrien’s hand started raising.

“Yes, Adrien. We even got your father’s permission.” I said as Adrien sighed in relief as his hand dropped.

It must grate on Adrien’s nerves knowing that he was living with Hawkmoth and that, somewhere on his father’s body was the Butterfly Miraculous. Probably for the first time, Adrien was glad that his father was always too busy to spend any time with him, I doubt Adrien would be able to remain civil for too long.

So getting a week away from his father and spending it living with his friends must have been a blessing.

I dropped my voice to something softer, “You all will get the entire week to feel your emotions for the first time in months. You can scream and cry, rage about the unfairness of the world, yell until your throat goes raw, or do whatever you need to do that you just won’t let yourself in fear of getting akumatized by Hawkmoth. This field trip is your trip to finally own your emotions again, and far from anyone who might complain about the noise so don’t let fear hold you back.”

The class quickly sobered and looked at me. As my eyes passed over my classmates, I saw that the majority of them had misty eyes. With the glaring exception of Lila. I gave them a sad but heartwarming smile and went to my seat.

Class proceeded as usual with Marinette taking another power nap. Soon, Mme Bustier was going around collecting the homework from last night. After handing it in, I started packing before I heard something.

“It’s for my new video game.” Max's voice said.

I turned my head and looked for him. He was standing at the back of the class, talking to Lila.

“Oh, I’d love to test your video game, Max.” Lila gushed before sounding dejected, “But I promised Prince Ali we’d go on a charity cruise on his yacht over the Seine this afternoon. Sorry.”

She did not sound sorry.

Dejected, Max moved on to Kim.

“Interested in playing the best fighting game in the world? 100% created by your best friend.”

Kim put on his swimming cap, “I’m sure I’d get the highest score, but I’ve got swimming practice. Ondine’s waiting for me.”

Max tried Alix next, trying to lure her in with the promise of loot. All of that talk really isn’t helping Marinette at all who looked conflicted. She had so much stuff to do but not enough time to do them. Marinette quickly left as Alix rejected Max’s offer due to a skating contest she needed to practice for.

“Max.” I spoke up, stopping Max from leaving the room in his rush to find beta testers to play his game.

“Yes?” Max asked nervously before getting excited, “Did you want to test my game? It has a lot of characters and even the statistically weaker characters can still beat the stronger characters as long as you strategize.”

“I’m not much of a video game player, sorry, but,” I said, just as Max’s face dropped, “I know that all of our classmates are busy today, way too busy to test your game, so I have an idea that you might like.”

“What idea?” Max asked, sounding sad now that he knew that no one had time to play the game he spent so long developing.

I smiled, “As I said earlier, the resort we’re going to tomorrow has a theatre. You can set the game up there so the entire class can take turns playing it on a very big screen while the rest of the class watches. So what do you say? Sound fun?”

Max’s eyes lit up before opening his bag to let Markov fly about around him, probably sensing Max’s excitement.

“That sounds like fun! They would let us?”

“Naturally.” I huffed, “Dad reserved the entire resort, they’ll let you as long as you don’t break anything. Besides, this trip is to help the class destress, if this helps then I see no problems with it. If there is, I'll deal with it.”

Actually, I paid for half of it. Dad, while he tries his best, isn’t always able to spend time with me and, when he does, it’s usually only for a few minutes. So he ends up trying to use gifts to make it up to me. 

Sometimes, I keep them if their useful but most of the time, they’re useless. So anything donatable, I donate and then I sell everything else. Sometimes through reselling websites and I send Mary or Kent in my place or give the items to auctions with Jean or Elizabeth as my representatives. Either way, I accumulated a lot of money in addition to the allowance I rarely touch. 

Dad knows what I do with his gifts and he isn’t upset, he knows that I’m a practical person but he just can’t help himself. This was how he connected with Mother so it’s how he tries to connect with me and I appreciate the amount of care he puts into every gift.

“I can’t wait! Markov, can you help me do the calculations to resize the game so it would look good on a theatre screen?

“No problem, Max!”

I quickly walked away from the flurry of mathematical equations and logistics coming out of Max’s mouth and Markov’s speakers. Sabrina was probably waiting for me at our usual cafe for our after-school meal where we would go through the plan one more time before tomorrow arrives.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, the entire class was standing excitedly at the front of the school, talking about the upcoming week-long trip and how they would spend it. They seem to be treating this like a week-long class-wide sleepover.

Soon the bus arrived and everyone started lining up in pairs to get into the bus. The person you pair up with will be the person you’ll sit with the entire hour and thirty-minute ride to the resort.

“Hey, Adrien. I was wondering if we could sit together.” Lila piped up, “I mean, I know Nino always sits with you but I think we should give him some time to sit with Alya, she is his girlfriend after all.”

Alya’s eyes lit up at the suggestion but it seems she still has her brain, “I’d love to sit with Nino but what about Marinette?”

Lila was about to open her mouth, probably to come up with a lie that would force Adrien to sit next to her, when Adrien interrupted her, “Actually, Lila, I wanted to talk to Marinette during the trip so…”

Adrien looked awkward and flustered as he looked at Marinette who also flushed and looked away and hid behind Alya with a squeak. Alya’s eyes started sparkling with her mouth open in a wide smile.

“I got chu! Don’t worry, my girl can sit with you for the entire trip. Lila, how about we sit next to each other? I know you tried to set Nino and I up so we could sit together but I don’t want to leave you alone.”

I ignored whatever nonsense Lila was spouting and instead entered the bus with Sabrina by my side. We were sitting in the front row, right behind the bus driver and across from Mme Bustier and M Damocles. 

Sabrina fell asleep the second the bus started moving, she had been up all night worrying if this would be a bust or not. I was going through everything about the plan in my mind until something caught my attention.

“So, how do you think Marinette finally told Adrien she liked him?”

I turned my head and saw that Alya was whispering across the aisle to Rose and Juleka who were sitting behind me.

I couldn’t help but give a huff, “She did nothing. I got fed up with this whole 'would they, won't they' nonsense and pushed them to this. You can thank me later.”

“What?!” Alya, Rose, and Juleka yelled in unison, causing everyone on the bus to quiet down and look at them.

I glared down at them, “Don’t be so loud.”

The three of them had the decency to look sheepish while Lila sent a glare my way that quickly turn back to a surprised face when I turned my attention to her. As the trio tried to get details out of me, I gave them another look.

“You can ask Marinette about it, I’m not saying anything unless she said it was fine because this is her story.”

This world is literally her story but who can I tell this to without seeming like a crazy person?

With that, they stopped pestering me. Well, that plus my famous glare.

Sabrina woke up with twenty minutes to spare thanks to her alarm. I nudged the still-sleepy Sabrina awake and she quickly took out her phone. As per the plan, when we were twenty minutes away, Sabrina would do a last-minute check with her dad while I called my dad to make sure everything was in order.

“Dad? Is everything ready?”

“Yes, Chloe dear, I double-checked everything. Nothing will go wrong.”

“Perfect, thank you for helping, Dad. Love you.”

“I'd always help you. I love you too, Chloe. Be safe.”

“I will, you too.”

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. When we got there, we exited the bus in pairs, lining up by the bus while we waited for everyone to get off and for Mme Bustier to lead us from the parking lot into the resort lobby. 

Once we started moving, I squared my shoulders and walked with confidence. This was no time to get nervous, we were almost there, just a few more steps, and the plan would basically be complete.

When we entered the lobby, Officer Roger was already there waiting for us. I spotted two other cops hiding behind some potted plants, ready to move when Officer Roger gives them the signal.

“Sorry for interrupting your field trip but there’s one thing we, the police, have to do before you can have your downtime.” Officer Roger said as he walked toward us.

“And what is that?” M Damocles asked.

The class looked confused, wondering what was happening because neither I nor Sabrina told them anything about this.

Officer Roger pressed the button on his waist, the signal, and started talking with authority and sternness in his voice.

“Lila Rossi, you are being arrested for multiple criminal charges, those of which include theft, forgery, verbal and sexual harassment, and helping a known terrorist. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?”

Everyone froze, those were serious crimes, especially the terrorist ones. 

“W-what? I-I don’t understand, I haven’t done any of those!” Lila gasped, trembling in fear.

“Do not try to resist, we already have all the evidence. Do not make this harder than it has to be.” Officer Roger said as he approached her with handcuffs.

Lila tried to run but the two hidden cops appeared and grabbed her, holding her still as Officer Roger handcuffed her. She cried, saying that she was being set up, that someone was framing her, but the cops didn’t listen to her. They lifted her up and started walking out of the resort.

“Due to the situation with Hawkmoth in Paris, you will be sent back to Italy by a police helicopter where your trial will be handled by a french prosecutor on Italian soil.” Officer Roger continued as he let the two cops take Lila away.

"You can't do this to me! I'm innocent! And I have diplomatic immunity!"

"You worked with a terrorist, that immunity has been revoked."

As soon as the three of them were no longer in sight, my classmates started freaking out. They reacted exactly as I expected them to react. The only ones that were calm other than Sabrina and I were Marinette and Adrien. Though, the two of them did look rather pale at the terrorist charge.

They looked at me and I nodded, causing them to pale even more. It didn’t take a genius to know which terrorist I was talking about.

This was getting out of hand and the adults were no help so I got everyone’s attention.

“Okay! I wasn’t completely truthful about the reason for the field trip. While we are going to spend a week destressing in a luxury resort outside of Paris where Hawkmoth can’t hurt us, we also planned to arrest one Lila Rossi in a location where she wouldn’t get akumatized and hurt anyone.”  I said before adding, “If any of you were wondering, we are also deporting her mother back to Italy and asking the Italian government to send a new ambassador to complete Mme Rossi’s job as well as an explanation why they sent us someone who would work with a terrorist.”

The murmurs started again, some people were shaking while others tried to make it seem like they weren’t affected. However, there were many dead eyes, like they couldn’t believe someone they thought of as a good friend would actually do all those crimes and be arrested in front of them.

Sabrina added, “If you would follow us to the theatre, we have set up a presentation explaining everything.”

As Sabrina and I herded all our classmates to the theatre, I spied Officer Roger pulling Mme Bustier and M Damocles away. They were getting taken to the Board of Education to be reprimanded. 

And possibly replaced with better instructors instead just barely decent ones.

Fingers crossed.

Once our classmates were all sitting in the seats, Sabrina and I stood on either side of the screen, using a remote control to control things. 

“So, we’ll start off with small things before it gets to the bad things. First off, all the lies she tells. Marinette already caught on and tried to warn all of you only for you to wave her off under the justification of jealousy.”

With that opening line from me, Sabrina took over. She played video clips of the various lies Lila said and systematically proved that they were lies through a combination of news articles, logic, and Lila contradicting herself. 

After that, we talked about the charges of forgery and theft. She faked her mother’s email and phone number so that they wouldn’t call her mother, which is illegal since, by law, schools need to be able to contact the parents or guardians of all their students. As for the theft, she stole the pin I gave Adrien.

“Now, the pin I gave Adrien, which I’m sure you all remember, was actually something undercover cops use. It has a camera and microphone in it that sent everything to my laptop. I gave it to Adrien since I knew that Lila would take it, which would make recording her actions much easier.”

Even if it was a trap, Lila still stole it so, according to the law, she would still be convicted of theft.

The screen showed everything Lila did the day she had the pin. From forcing herself onto Adrien to kiss him on the cheek (“sexual harassment,” Sabrina commented) and take a picture, to making a deal with an Akuma (and that made Rose and Mylene faint, much to Juleka and Ivan’s respective concern) to trying to get Ladybug killed. 

“We’ll, eh, we’ll take five. Give you some time to process. Keep in mind that things get worse from here on out so prepare yourselves.” 

I hide a winch when I realized how pale my classmates were. Maybe I should have softened the blow a bit more but I came this far, we can't turn back now. It's best to rip the bandage off.

I didn’t need to repeat myself. A few people made a break for the washroom, looking as if they were going to throw up. The others were split into two groups, the first group was completely silent, staring off into space as if they couldn't believe it, while the second group was angry, yelling and arguing about what they had just seen. Sabrina and I just watched them without any judgment before I remembered something.

“Marinette, the next part won’t… won’t be good for you so if you want to step out for the next video…” I said softly.

Try as I might, it didn’t help because my other classmates were now hyperaware of what I do and they were now looking at Marinette with concern. A look of realization quickly appeared on Marinette’s face.

“I… I… I’ll be fine.” Marinette said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I can do it.”

At this point, Adrien started looking concerned as well, however, I didn’t acknowledge it. It wasn’t my place to say and besides, he was going to see it on the big screen anyway so there was no point. 

After the five minutes were over, we spent another two minutes getting everyone back to the theatre. Those who went into the washroom lost track of time when they stared off into space while looking in the mirror.

When they were all back in their seats, I held back from winching when I saw how they looked now. They looked so excited this morning, so full of life, but now they look like they haven’t slept in days. They didn’t look gaunt-like but their usual bright auras were now so much dimmer.

“Now that we had a break for you all to process this, let’s continue. The next video will hit a little closer to home. It will also be the video where you will see just how deep into the depths Lila was.” I said.

Sabrina pressed the play button. I watched the faces of the class as they watched the video. Their look of apprehension when they watched Marinette start going off at Lila was entertaining but their look of absolute horror when Lila’s personality flipped a switch again (just like how she acted with the Akuma) and how she called them all fools and how she threatened Marinette.

Some of them were probably holding out hope that Lila only made a deal with Oni-chan out of desperation, not Lila’s real personality. Which. understandable since they were 'friends' with Lila, however, watching her threaten Marinette, they saw the true Lila.

Alya abruptly got up from her seat, flung herself onto Marinette, and crushed Marinette in a hug. Muttering about how she was so sorry for doubting her and that she was sorry for calling her jealous and kept on crying as she muttered.

The video then cuts to the one I took of Lila and Marinette at the front entrance where the war was officially declared.

“And the part with Marinette is the verbal harassment part.” Sabrina added.

“Now… the last video is the video where you’ll see why Lila is getting convicted of helping a known terrorist.

The video started playing. The faces of my classmates got deathly pale when they saw Lila walking down an empty hall when a black butterfly flew into her view. When Lila saw it, she started cheering and talking in a sing-song voice. 

Everyone gasped in horror as Lila grabbed the Akuma and placed it into her earring before talking to Hawkmoth and willingly working with him instead of being brainwashed like everyone else. I heard a sob when Lila’s body started bubbling with magic, transforming her into another Akuma.

There was no need to relive this Akuma attack so I cut the video there. The theatre screen dimmed and the lights turned back on.

It was the end.

Complete silence.

“Class, I know that this is hard to swallow-”

“You think?!”

"More than just swallow!"

“-but we have a week to work through everything. Remember, this is a class trip to destress and to let our emotions go since Hawkmoth won't be able to get us here. We are free to feel angry at this deceit, sad at being betrayed, and whatever other negative emotions you guys are feeling now. Just let it all out, no one will judge you here, especially not right now so let everything out.” I said softly.

“How did you deal with it? Deal with knowing what kind of person Lila was. How she would willingly work with Hawkmoth? Of all the things she did...!” Alix asked, growling when she spoke Lila and Hawkmoth’s names.

“We just remembered that we were going to get rid of her. It also helped that she didn’t try talking to Sabrina or me because of my dad’s political power and wouldn’t be easily wowed by her stories.” I answered, waiting for any other comment but there were none, “I’ll leave you with this, try not to be so trusting. Yes, being nice is required during social situations but that doesn’t mean you should take what someone says at face value, try to be a bit more suspicious. Even if it amounts to nothing, at least you won’t fall for something like this again and run with the bad crowd.”

Sabrina and I walked out of the theatre, leaving everyone to their emotions as they started crying, getting angry, and generally feeling their negative emotions for the first time in months.

They are hurt now but everything will get better.

It always does when you get rid of rotten fruit.

Chapter 25: Down with Gabriel

Summary:

I don't write fight scenes well so I don't write them at all. I'm sorry to those looking forward to a beat down.

Identities
Ladybug = Marinette
Chat Noir = Adrien
Rena Rouge = Alya
Carapace = Nino
Ambrosia = Chloe
Viperion = Luka
Bunnix = Alix
Ryuko = Kagami
Pegasus = Max
Monkey King = Kim
Pigella = Rose
Purple Tigress = Juleka
Polymouse = Mylene

Chapter Text

The week at the resort was rocky at the beginning, especially because of the Lila Situation, but, by the end of the trip, everyone was refreshed. In fact, I would even go so far as to say they look better now than when we left. Even with the Lila Situation dimming their spirits a bit, they came out stronger. 

While at the resort, everyone acted normally after getting over things, which was a big relief for me. Kim and Alix were doing bet after bet while Max judged their contests as always. Ivan and Mylene enjoyed little romantic strolls in the outdoor garden where Nathaniel was spending most of his time sketching due to all the inspiration he was getting from his fresh new surroundings and being able to indulge in his emotions. 

I was working out in the gym to keep up my routine when I saw that Rose and Juleka got a couple’s spa deal at the spa. Sabrina was in the swimming pool doing some laps in an effort to not think about her dad and all the work he would be forced to deal with because of the Lila Situation.

Alya, Nino, Marinette, and Adrien were having a double date in the theatre where I managed to get to play Mme Agrests’ last film. 

I overheard Alya agree that she wouldn’t look into how I managed to get Marinette and Adrien together but she begged to know why they weren’t planning to start dating. Adrien put a damper on things when he reminded Alya that his dad probably wouldn’t approve of him dating so they were waiting until Adrien could bring it up in a way that his dad would approve and not force them to end the relationship.

Three days before we had to leave the resort, I asked my classmates if they wanted their parents to be informed of what happened. It was unanimous that they didn’t want their parents to know.

The general consensus was that they were going to tell their parents that Lila moved back to Italy, they didn’t want to accidentally cause their parents to akumatize because they got angry or upset that their children were in the same class as someone who was helping Hawkmoth. It wasn’t worth the risk.

We got back to school right before lunchtime. Just as I was about to leave for my limo, Adrien grabbed my arm.

“What did you need, Addy?” I asked, pausing as I wondered why Adrien wasn’t caving under the combined gaze of Gorilla and Nathalie.

Well, Nathalie was Mayura so there was that but Gorilla was a good person.

“Can we use the summer house again tonight at 00 and tomorrow at 10? We need it for… for H&M reasons.” Adrien asked hesitantly, glancing behind him at Nathalie, “Can you also be at the roof at 00?”

Subtlety, thy name isn’t Adrien. Well, at least you tried to pretend you were talking about the retail store.

“Sure.” I agreed easily “Anything else?”

“I also need to be free tomorrow so can you…?”

“No problem.” I said, my mind already running a mile a minute to come up with an excuse to use.

I waved Adrien goodbye and got into my limo. Maybe I could tell Gabriel that I wanted to talk with Adrien about something? No. He’ll ask why didn’t I talk to him during the week-long mental health break. However, that week was for mental health so I could say I didn’t want to bring up work during the week….

I got a shiver in my spine. 

It’s always fun thinking of ways to outsmart Gabriel. He’s a fun opponent. It’s such a shame that his time is numbered, he won’t last past tomorrow if what I was reading off of Adrien’s body language was to be believed.

I held back a crackle as my limo drove me home.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stood on the roof at the arranged time, waiting to be picked up. Thankfully, Pegasus got there before I started feeling too cold. I looked around and saw that I was the first one here with the exception of Ladybug, Chat Noir, and an old man. This is probably because this is my house so they wanted to be polite to the person who is essentially giving them a temporary base of operations.

The next people to arrive were Alya and Nino. Followed by Rose, Juleka, and Luka. The next pair to arrive were Alix and Kim before Kagami came with Max and Max dropped the transformation. I passed him a bottle of water as he pants while ignoring Kaalki’s attempt to raid the entire kitchen of sugar cubes.

“I apologize for gathering all of you on such short notice but we found out Hawkmoth’s identity and we realize that, if we want to take him down, we needed more temporary heroes. It’s too dangerous to raid his lair without help so we are asking if you would be willing to turn into heroes and help us.” Ladybug said, talking as if she has never seen us before, it probably took a lot of acting lessons on Marinette’s part.

“Of course, Ladybug. You can count on us.” Alya answered for the rest of us.

The old man passed out boxes of Miraculous’ to all of us. We opened it and Kwamis appeared. At Ladybug’s insistence, we all transformed. I could tell that everyone was surprised when they recognized the temporary heroes.

There was Alya as Rena Rouge, Nino as Carapace, me as Ambrosia, Luke as Viperion, Kagami as Ryuko, and Max as Pegasus. There were also new heroes: Alix as Bunnix, Kim as Monkey King, Rose as Pigella, Juleka as Purple Tigress, and Mylene as Polymouse. All ready to fight.

“Why did you choose us?” Mylene asked.

“It’s because of me.” Chat Noir said as he stepped forward and sighed before detransforming.

“Adrien?!”

"You're Chat Noir!"

"Dude! That's epic!"

“Yeah… we found out that Hawkmoth is my father and Nathalie is Mayura and, according to research, he wants to wish for my mom to come back.” Adrien admitted as he clenched his fist, “I’m sure he knows that if he does wish for mom to come back, someone else he loves will die in her place. It will either be me or Nathalie. I can’t… I can’t… I just… mom… I can’t… she would never...”

“Bro, don’t worry.” Nino said as he patted Adrien on the back, calming him down from his panic attack.

Adrien breathed, calming down as Ladybug took over.

“Since Adrien knows you, he vouched for you all to be chosen to be temporary heroes for this operation in addition to your personalities that match the miraculous you were given by the Great Guardian.” Ladybug lied, “There was also the fact that the Rabbit Miraculous gives their users the ability to jump through time and see multiple versions of the future. Future Alix jumped back in time to the time when I was alone in my room today after lunch telling me who to pick and a bit of extra information.”

“So, does that mean Alix knows who you are?”

“She will. When this is all over, she will go back in time to tell me about this again.”

“Adrien, get a hold of yourself, please, dude. I don’t want you to… you know, dude.” Nino pleaded.

“It’s okay, Chloe already knew that I was Chat Noir, I can’t hide anything from her, so she offered this place for us to use as a planning spot. This is her summer beach house in the United States which is very safe from Akumas.” Adrien said as he finally calmed down enough to talk again.

“So how are we doing this?” I asked, trying to get us back on track.

“Yes. So, here’s the plan.” Ladybug said as she started explaining things.

The plan was fairly simple, to me at least. It starts with Pegasus opening a portal to where Gabriel was hiding Emilie's body, Carapace goes through first to shield everyone while Polymouse multiples and carries Emilie’s coffin away and records the fight. While Polymouse was doing her job, Chat Noir, Ryuko, and Purple Tigress go in as the Main Assult Team with Ladybug, Rena Rouge, and Ambrosia as the Main Support Team following closely behind them as their backup.

Since, obviously, there was no way Gabriel would let them leave with his wife’s body and there was also no way Nathalie would let Gabriel fight an army of heroes on his own so there was going to be a fight.

During the confrontation, Monkey Kin and Pigella will use their powers on Mayura and Hawkmoth respectively while Bunnix and Viperion are the final lines of defence and Fix Everything If Things Go To Shit (named by Alix) duty.

“Getting Emilie’s body is important because there’s a chance that the Great Guardian would be able to bring her out of her coma, which was theorized to be caused by the Peacock Miraculous malfunctioning. She did use it while it was broken after all. This way, Adrien will still have one of his parents. We will attack a little after 10 when Adrien gets to Chloe's place and Pegasus picks them up and brings them here for the last go-over.” Ladybug concluded.

We all nodded, faces filled with determination to finish this nightmare.

Paris’ negative emotions weren’t going to be held hostage by a megalomaniac any longer, we will be free by the end of tomorrow. 

We have to.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

At 10, Adrien and I made our way to the roof where Pegasus was waiting for us. We knew what was coming next, it was why the breakfast we ate together was a tense situation for us.

At least we made sure no one else knew it.

Soon, we were brought over to the summer house and transformed. Well, Adrien transformed while I needed to get my miraculous before I transformed but that was a minor detail.

“Ready?” Ladybug asked, looking at us.

“Wait.” I spoke up, “Call Sabrina’s dad before we go to tell them to arrive at Agrests Mansion in ten minutes to arrest Gabriel Agrests and Nathalie Sancoeur, who are Hawkmoth and Mayura respectively. Use my name if need be, I don't mind throwing my weight around for this.”

“Right.” Ladybug nodded as she pulled out her yoyo phone before muttering, “I knew I was forgetting something…”

I’m pretty sure I was the only one who heard her but I was also pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to hear her say that.

After that little sidetrack, we followed through with the plan. Surprisingly, everything went smoothly from the beginning to getting Adrien’s innocence confirmed in the video to defeating Gabriel and Nathalie. For once, I think fate was being kind to us as an apology for all the bullshit she put us through this past year.

When this was all finished, I called Felix.

“Felix, have you seen the news? About Hawkmoth?”

“Yes. Mother is most displeased with Gabriel right now, especially since our connection with him through Emilie is being used by our competitors to try to taint our reputation.” Felix said with irritation clear in his voice, “Thankfully, we were already prepared to denounce him. Mother had everything prepared the second Auntie disappeared and has been adding and refining it intermittently as a form of stress relief. How did you know this was going to happen to uncle?”

“Keep it between you and your aunt but know that I was Ladybug and Chat Noir’s civilian aide.” I lied smoothly, “While they were dealing with Akumas and drawing Hawkmoth’s attention, I was free to do some investigating in the backgrounds.”

“I see. Why were you selected?”

“Felix, darling. Have you forgotten that I am not only beautiful, rich and influential but I am also smart? I just used the tools I had unrestricted access to and used my brains to do the rest.” I huffed.

Felix and I bantered for a while, we needed this after knowing that the man we grew up thinking of as an uncle was a horrible man. I mean, I already knew it but it somehow hits differently after seeing him arrested. The crazy look in Gabriel's eyes when he was still transformed as Hawkmoth and the dead eyes he had when the police were taking him away... I can’t even begin to imagine how Adrien was taking this. He was locked up in his room in his hotel, I should go check up on him before I sleep, if only for my peace of mind.

The next morning, all of us were being interviewed by Nadja to announce to Paris that Paris was finally, officially free from Hawkmoth’s control. We did the typical introductions and showed the video Polymouse took to show all of Paris that Adrien was innocent and to satisfy those who came to enjoy watching Akuma's attacks.

We all collectively decided to let Ladybug do the talking since she was the de facto leader. I had nothing to say other than I was happy Hawkmoth’s reign of terror was over and Paris was finally free.

We were free.

(And if I still can't look at big bodies of water or how I flinch when I hear a loud snap or how my father made sure Gabriel would get the harshest sentence and be sent to the worse facilities for solitary confinement, well, that was no one's business. )

Chapter 26: Epilogue

Chapter Text

Years have passed since Hawkmoth’s demise and a few things have happened. Right after Gabriel was convicted, Felix and Amelie got custody of Adrien while they waited for Adrien’s mom to recover, and, after years of schooling, I became the Mayoress of Paris like dad was with Sabrina as my Right-Hand woman.

The youngest Mayoress in Paris history as well as the first female one.

It was a near miracle that Master Fu was able to fix the Peacock Miraculous and heal Adrien's mom without much trouble. The only bad thing was that it took three years for her to wake it.

It must have gutted Gabriel knowing that, if he just asked the Great Guardian, he could have saved so much time and energy and gotten his wife back without so much sacrifice. Sacrifices included landing himself in jail, getting shunned by his son, and losing the love of the wife he desperately wanted back.

“Chloe, another one came in.” Sabrina said, passing me the document.

It was from the Italian government. One Lila Rossi was sending another appeal request for a lighter sentence. According to this, she was arguing that she was no longer the ignorant girl who didn’t know better so her punishment should be lessened since she had learned her lesson.

“This silly girl… so much older but not mature at all.” I sighed, “She worked with a terrorist who held all of Paris hostage and caused millions of deaths. It doesn’t matter if none of those deaths stuck, it happened and we all felt it.”

Like all those other times, the appeal request was denied.

“What’s next on the list, Sabrina?”

“There is the Double Wedding of Adrien, Marinette, Nino, and Alya scheduled for next month and the Akuma Class reunion in three months.”

“Ah. Schedule a time to look for gifts.”

“Already done, Chloe.”

Adrien and Marinette created Miraculous Designs using the remains of Gabriel. It took a long time and dealing with a lot of bad press but they did it. Sabrina married a nice girl and Felix managed to persuade his mother not to make an arranged marriage for him. She was instead having a random girl give birth to his child so the Graham de Vanily line would continue without marriage on his part.

Ivan and Mylene got married and so did Rose and Juleka. I know Kim and Ondine were thinking about it before deciding that marriage wasn't necessary for them to be together while Max, Alix, and I were the only ones who swore off relationships because we weren’t feeling them.

We were proud of our little AroAce group in a sea of lovebirds.

It took a while for my old classmates to mature to levels where I could have tolerable conversations with them but they did get there.

I think I could even say I miss talking to them from time to time but it wasn’t often. The work of a Mayoress was never done.