Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I demand you fight again!” Chloe screeched at her parents who replied with an astonished glance,

“Princess…” her father whined, placing her mother back onto the ground, “That’s not very fair of you to say,” Chloe’s eyebrow twitched, her perfectly manicured nails digging into her palms.

“Mommy?!” Audrey’s eyes briefly assessed the girl in front of her, her sunglasses inching down her nose in distaste

“Listen to your father Claudette.” The harsh woman turned on her heels, heading presumably back to the party held in her and Andre’s honour, the latter of the couple eagerly following in his wife’s footsteps, his daughters seemingly rising temper being the least of his worries.

‘I’ll have Jean take her shopping’ He thought, a pleased smile appearing at his own excellent parenting skills

“My name is Chloe!” Her voice still managing to raise a few octaves, the shrill tone bouncing off the now closed door her parents had left through, leaving her yet again alone in an empty foyer.

“Mademoiselle Chloe?” Jean Patrick appeared soon after, Sabrina following quickly behind the butler using him somewhat as a shield, having seen Chloe’s anger up close a few too many times, she was eager to avoid it.

“Leave me alone!” The blonde stormed off towards the VIP elevator, hammering the button far too many times with increasing strength as if to summon the box faster. “Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous!” She stated as the lift descended to her. Eventually, a small ding announced the arrival of the elevator and she entered, not waiting for her butler or her friend as she hit the button for her floor and watched the doors slide shut, bitterness rising. “How dare they listen to me.” She scuffed the floor with her shoe lightly in defeat.

Once in her room she quickly drew all the curtains and locked every available door and window, even going as far as to shut her laptop and silence her phone, the realisation of her actions slowly dawning over her. She had exposed all of Ladybug’s allies.

“To hell with Ladybug,” her voice coming out as a low growl as she went about tearing down all merchandise of the spotted hero from her walls, pulling dolls off shelves and outfits out of her multiple wardrobes tossing them into a pile, dusting off her hands when her room became sufficiently bug free.

Her anger subsiding for now she peaked out of her room, creeping towards the kitchen with all the grace her years of ballet had taught her, satisfied and still slightly bitter that her order had been listened to, she rummaged through the cupboards, her stomach growling in approval at the girls search for food. Having limited culinary skills Chloe sat at the breakfast counter with an uncooked pop-tart (not trusting herself with a toaster), and a glass of water, not the grandiose meal she could have summoned without question, but room service meant people. People who until about two hours ago had been under her thumb, the thought of which momentarily replacing her growing dread with conceited warmth. The moment lasting just long enough for her to finish her snack in peace.

“C-Chloe?” Sabrina’s tiny head appeared from around the corner, the flash of orange attracting her glare and causing the red head to shrink back slightly, apparently her friend had decided enough time had passed to quash Chloe’s most recent outrage.

“What?!” The word came out coated in poison, clearly not enough time,

“I-I was wondering if you wanted to watch a movie? The party is still going on downstairs, so we can have the big TV to ourselves!” To the girl’s merit, the idea was a good one, the acceptance of such only appearing as a slight smirk on Chloe’s lips as she glided past Sabrina toward said big TV, the other girl bounced in excitement as she hastily plucked the remote up on her way past the coffee table.

“Jean-Patrick?” Chloe’s eyebrow raised in his direction, the butler turning to attention, “Please prepare some snacks and after that, there is a pile of stuff on the floor of my room I want gone.”

“Of course, Mademoiselle.” He bowed happily, seeing Chloe happy (at least her own form of happy) improving his mood immediately, the thought of a destroyed bedroom made him grimace as he stirred the tea, but nevertheless, it was just stuff.

Having sufficiently provided the girls with snacks and drinks he proceeded to his next task, what appeared to be destroying all of Mademoiselle Chloe’s Ladybug and Chat Noir memorabilia, he frowned as he scooped the torn photographs and costumes into a bag. It hadn’t passed Jean’s notice Chloe had been falling out of favour with the hero for some time, the girl unable to understand why Ladybug had stopped calling on her. He guessed todays choice of the dragon hero over Queen Bee had been the final straw. With a sigh he tossed the destroyed polka dots into the garbage chute, decidedly also washing his hands of the heroes for Chloe’s sake.

The movie served its purpose, the remainder of Chloe’s tightness rolling away with the end credits, she smiled down to Sabrina who at some point had fallen asleep, automatically curling up against blonde who hummed pleasantly at the companionship. No matter how badly she seemed to treat the red head, some twisted sense of loyalty had Sabrina tightly attached to Chloe’s hip.

She was just reaching for the remote when she heard a commotion coming from the hallway,

“Monsieur Noir, I really don’t think now is a good time,” her grip on the remote tightened, Sabrina shifting against her and beginning to wake up,

“I couldn’t care what she wants.” Chloe winced instinctively, although Ladybug had always been her favourite Chat Noir was always kind, always willing to stick his neck out to protect her when his Lady’s patience wore thin of the girl. A loud crash startled both girls, Chat Noir’s silhouette appearing in the doorway alone, a part of Chloe wanted to check Jean was okay, the other wanted to run and hide. The way Chat’s eyes glared at her made every muscle in her body freeze, even if she wanted to do anything, her body refused to cooperate. “You.” The instinctive way his right hand twitched seemed to restoke a fire in the girl,

“Chat Noir, what a surprise!” Her voice came out incredibly shaky earning a worried glance from Sabrina, nerves never being something she associated with Chloe Bourgeoir, you could hear Chat’s teeth grind from across the room.

“Ladybug is to make an announcement tonight, renouncing all auxiliary heroes of their duty. She believes it’ll create quite a few akumas. Granted the public will not be made aware of exactly who caused their retirement, the heroes themselves will be given that information.” All fire left the girl again, “We anticipate you to be in immense danger tonight, and so we’re pre-emptively securing you.”

“Why would Chloe be in danger?” Sabrina nervously asked, Chloe flinched away from the girl, all the days shame building up again in overwhelming quantities. Chat Noir grinned, a smile full of malice directed straight at Chloe's back.

“Won’t you tell her Miracle Queen?” Her fists tightened at her side,

“No.” She muttered, knowing damn well that cat would hear her. Something confirmed by the humourless laugh he gave while Chloe joined him at his side, unable to meet Sabrina’s eyes.

She wordlessly left the hotel by way of her balcony, her body tensing more as she passed through the kitchen where Jean held what appeared to be an icepack to the back of his head, offering a gentle smile to the girl in passing.

“Thank you Chat.” He gave a small salute to his lady before wondering over to a chair in the corner of the small motel room.

“Shit.” Chloe hissed. Obviously, Ladybug would be here, why had she bothered to hope otherwise, she internally rolled her eyes at herself for being so optimistic.

“Is there a problem Chloe?” Ladybug’s voice came out like ice, this was not to be a pleasant conversation.

“Don’t bother with the disappointment speech, my mother beat you to it years ago.” As always when in an uncomfortable situation Chloe switched to rely on her spite and sarcasm.

“Well clearly it didn’t work! Do you have any idea the danger you put yourself in?! Possibly forever! Or at least until Hawkmoth is defeated!” Her gaze stayed fixed on the floor as the spotted hero’s voice grew louder. “Bubbler? Lady Wi-Fi? Dark Cupid? Gamer? Oni-chan? Silencer? Those names seem at all familiar to you?” Ladybug’s feet came into view, one of them tapping, clearly waiting for Chloe's answer,

“They’re the utterly ridiculous names of all your akumatised heroes.” Her eyes remained on the floor, her tone faltering. Ladybug’s snort echoing throughout the sparse room.

“Oh! The girl does have a brain!” Her words were harsh, Chloe recoiling against them. “Maybe next time use it.” The bug spat, shoving her way past Chloe, their shoulders colliding and Chloe falling, landing unpleasantly on her hip with a grunt.

“You were so nearly a person.” Chat spoke woefully from the doorway before following his lady outside and leaving the girl astonished in a pile.

“Thank you Mayor Bourgeoir,” Ladybug stood for a moment, her eyes scanning the crowd until they found her friends, she’d hoped in telling them all together that she’d give them all a support system, a group to turn to that would understand their sadness. Instead, it appears she’d created a seething ball of pubescent rage. She dragged her eyes away from the group and back to the plethora of cameras in front of her. “It is with a heavy heart I must retire all auxiliary heroes from the miraculous team,” she could practically feel Alya’s eyes burning into her, “Due to an akuma attack this afternoon, Hawkmoth was made aware of all of their identities putting them in horrific danger.” Sharp gasps whistled through the crowd, “I would like to thank Rena Rouge, Carapace, Pegasus, King Monkey, Viperion, Ryuko, Aspic and Multimouse for their bravery and service to the entirety of Paris and its citizens. I would also like to thank Jade Turtle, who in the face of Hawkmoth gave up more than any of us could imagine.” Her fingers dug into the podium, how she craved for Chat’s hand on her shoulder to support her, “Any questions?”

The crowd erupted with shouts and raised hands, all eager to find more information from the hero.
“Yes Nadia,” she asked, knowing the presenter would be the kindest

“Ladybug, how did this happen?” How could you let this happen?

“Unfortunately, the akuma in question had control over everyone in Paris. When all miraculous wearers were summoned, they had no choice but to reveal themselves.”

“Who was this akuma? Surely they should be held responsible for what they’ve done!” She didn’t have to look up to see the tears in her eyes to know Alya was crying.

“Akumatised people are not responsible for their actions, if we were to hold everyone in Paris responsible for their actions, half the city would be in prison.” She pleaded to Alya with her eyes, Chloe may be a brat but having the entire cities populous out for her blood seemed a little too harsh a punishment. Alya looked down dejectedly, Nino’s arms around her shoulders and dragging her away from the conference, flicking an apologetic glance to the heroine. “Next question please.”

Chloe’s nose crinkled in confusion at the screen, “I haven’t heard of half those people,” she looked to Chat Noir, “Multimouse? Aspic? I take it the other turtle was your Grandpa or whatever.” She crossed her arms, growing impatient.

“We decided it would be fair to retire all previously used heroes, no matter what role they held in the team, Multimouse had already been told she would not receive a miraculous again, and giving the snake back to Aspic would spiral Viperion further. Or did you not think about the people under your control?”

“Of course I-“ Her voice stuttered out with the look Chat shot her, “It was like Ladybug said, akumatised people shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions.” The black cat laughed humourlessly, his Cheshire grin not as comforting as usual.

“We both know you knew exactly what you were doing Chloe. The way you jumped after the akuma once we’d taken your powers away. Innocent people don’t do that. Good people don’t do that.” Chloe could feel the bile rising in her throat.

‘I knew you were one of us Chloe Bourgeoir.’ Hawkmoth’s words echoed around her skull, the disappointment in Ladybug’s face fixed behind her eyes. Chloe doubled over in pain, one hand clutching her stomach as the other wrapped around her throat, she was going to vomit, she couldn’t breathe, her vision became blurry as tears filled her eyes.

“Chloe?” Chat’s voice changed, concern flooding it, maybe he’d gone to far, he reached out to place a hand on her shoulder to steady her. She jerked quickly away from his grasp falling weakly off the bed and crawling away from the leather clad hero. “Chloe what’s going on? Are you alright?” He rushed out in urgency, voice breaking in panic as his former friend appeared to choke on air. Chat Noir took a few hesitant steps toward her, only to watch her retreat further into the dingy corner.

“Stay away from me!” Chloe could have sworn she’d screamed it a dozen times at Chat as he pressed closer to her (she hadn’t), she couldn’t breathe, she needed space. The bile continued to rise in her throat,

‘One of us.’ Hawkmoth chanted, her fingers curling themselves into her hair as she clawed at her skull, attempting to rip that damn butterfly’s words from her brain, her body shuddered against her will, the uncontrollable shaking making her angry. She was Chloe Bourgeoir. Chloe Bourgeoir did not lose control. It was then Chat Noir reached for her again, the ringing in her ears drowning out anything her was saying, she lashed out against him. If he wasn’t so taken aback by her sudden outburst, he may have avoided her.

As it were, Chat Noir was utterly unprepared for the strike, the slap across his face sending him reeling, and fleeing to the opposite end of the motel room. Quickly, he reached for his baton, figuring this was enough of an emergency to summon Ladybug back, the stick nearly falling from his claws at the sudden call from Ladybug.

“Scarlet Moth is back.”