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.”

Chapter Text

“I’ve had it with that girl!” Alya hadn’t stopped yelling since Ladybug had come to tell the group the unfortunate news and Luka was starting to get a serious headache, “Does she have to ruin everything she touches? Or is it just the girl can’t be told no?!” Alongside her voice, her heart-song was shouting, off notes appearing at random, her normally erratic melody becoming more distorted by the second.

“I don’t know babe,” at least Nino knew how to control his volume. “Maybe we should listen to Ladybug, Chloe’s been doing better recently… Maybe her parents getting akumatised pushed her over the edge.” Alya turned to give Nino a look of hatred, quickly shutting him up and resuming her yelling, instead Luka decided to stick near the back of the group with Kagami. He didn’t know the dragon well but her quiet demeanour seemed the most appealing. Her song was strong and steady, he imagined it would take something extreme to make that tune falter.

“I think Chloe’s actions were committed with 98.7% awareness.” Max chipped in,

“It’s not like she hasn’t done it before Nino, most of the class has been akumatised at some point over her.” Luka frowned; Kim was right about her track record but that didn’t mean the girl shouldn’t be given a chance to defend herself.

“I wasn’t akumatised by Chloe,” Luka stated, his frown deepening, “I don’t think we should blame her based on what happened in the past. She was trying to do better, that’s what we should focus on. What went wrong. Maybe if we can see how Hawkmoth got into her head, we can stop him getting into ours in the future.” He hadn’t meant to lecture the group, but clearly his words had managed to rile Alya up even more, her song drowning out what little he could hear from the others.

“Well you wouldn’t be emo Jesus. Chloe Bourgeois is far too mainstream for the likes of you.” Luka stopped in his tracks, his hands curling into fists at his sides. Couldn’t she see he was just trying to help? All Luka ever did was try to help and it always ended with him stepped on and angry.

“I’m not sure what his outfit choice has to do with his ability to resist akumas.” Kagami had stopped beside him, her words clipped and to the point, “I have also never been akumatised by the actions or words of the Bourgeois girl. If we want to start pointing fingers, why not start with Rossi?” Luka looked in surprise at the dragon, did she know of Lila’s lies? The smirk on her face and the raise of her eyebrow suggested as much.

“Of course you’d be on Marinette’s side.” Alya spat, her lips curling into a snarl, “Both bluenettes so smitten with Adrien that anyone else is the enemy am I right?” Luka’s eyes widened in disbelief,

“Oh my god, you actually believe Marinette did all those horrible things? I thought she was your best friend?” Luka raised his hand slightly to Kagami who looked like she was ready to fight the girl, and as much as he delighted in the thought of her shutting up, violence was not the way to do it.

“Clearly alliances have changed.” Kagami added, the girl tensing further beside him, Luka taking comfort in the shared desire to protect their mutual friend.

“Uh guys-"

“Not now Nino!” Alya swatted Nino’s anxious hand away from her. “Do you know what? Marinette is just as bad as Chloe! She’s a terrible friend! Always bailing on us with lame excuses. At least Chloe has the guts to stick to the mean act.”

“I really think we need to stop-" Kim tried to interrupt this time, earning a venomous glare from Luka.

“Can you even hear yourself?! The fox is a perfect fit for you. A trickster. We really thought we could trust you.” His voice came out as a snarl, teeth bared fully as he took a step towards the fox, relishing as the girl flinched back slightly.

“Couffaine.” Kagami’s hand rested on his shoulder lightly.

“What?!” His anger turned towards her, the girl not recoiling or even looking at the snake when he spoke.

“We’re 100% doomed.” Somewhere off to the side he heard Max’s grim prognosis as he felt the familiar sensation of being plunged into ice water wash over him.

“Oh for fucks-" His voice stuck in his throat as all heart songs became deafening.

“Red Mamba, I am Scarlet Moth.” Luka’s hands rushed up to cover his ears, his eyes flitting around the group, the familiar butterfly mask oddly glowing crimson around their eyes. Any semblance of rhythm vanished quickly, the groups melodies becoming corrupted by that of Scarlet Moths chorus. “You wish to defend the girl you love? I can give you the power to do that.” His grip tightened instinctively as he felt himself consider the offer.

“I won’t do it.” His words didn’t even convince himself; he screwed his eyes shut as his previous teammates began to transform around him. A dark chuckle filling his mind.

“You don’t seem so sure. Would you rather I call you Silencer? Give you the power to use Lila Rossi’s own words against her?” Luka’s blood ran colder. The brief flashes of memory he got from his time as Silencer only came to him in fever dreams, but they were enough to snuff out any lingering desire to agree to Scarlet Moths terms.

“No.” The word came out steady this time, his anger instead focused directly at Hawkmoth as he tore the darkened bracelet from his wrist and crushed it under his foot himself. He felt his body temperature return to normal as the small now red akuma crawled from the object and flew to join the swarm the others had tried to warn him of.

Luka took a deep breath, slipping the broken bracelet into his pocket he turned his back on his team as the last of them were absorbed in red sludge, succumbing to Scarlet Moths words.

“Are you ready again Tikki?” Marinette held the small bug in her hands in the sheltered alley.

“You did the right thing Marinette!” The kwami could sense her holders’ internal conflict. “By retiring your friends as heroes, you’re showing Hawkmoth that there’s no point to capture them. If he thought they knew anything about the miraculous, they could get really hurt!” She smiled up at her friend.

“I know Tikki, but you saw how hurt Alya was… How hurt they all were…” She shook her head quickly, “No you’re right it’s better that they’re safe. They have each other, they’ll get through this.” Marinette straightened, her confidence returning as her kwami floated up to her face and giving it a reassuring pat. “Spots on!”

In a flash of red Ladybug returned, her yoyo taking her with ease back to the rooftops, she was about to return to the motel where she’d left Chat and Chloe but paused when she heard the rushing of familiar footsteps.

“Ladybug!” Luka called up to her and she sighed, lowering herself to the ground again.

“Luka? Is everything okay?” Her expression softened as she noticed Luka was severely out of breath, whatever he had come to tell her was clearly important.

“He got them all.” Her eyebrows knit together in confusion as she followed Luka’s finger to a swarm of red Akuma. Everything in her body sank, her feet turning to lead blocks in dread. “We have to go.” Before she could process what was happening, Luka had taken her hand and was rushing in the other direction to the akuma. Marinette blushed under her mask at the contact.

Once a sufficient distance away from the swarm Ladybug reluctantly dropped Luka’s hand, “I need to tell Chat, he’ll have no idea what’s going on out here… When you say everyone?” She looked into his eyes; all hopes dashed as he quickly looked away.

“Alya and I were arguing, we didn’t stand a chance.” His gaze was fixed on the floor, Ladybug placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“You made it out?” He laughed humourlessly, taking a broken bracelet out of his pocket and placing it in the hero’s hand.

“Not quite,” He tried to smile, but it didn’t get near his eyes. “He bought up Silencer and I just couldn’t-“ A sob racked through him and Ladybug wrapped him in a hug.

“You got out. That’s all that matters.” He gave the spotted hero a quick squeeze before releasing her and wiping his eyes.

“Call Chat Noir.”

“Scarlet Moth is back.” Chat Noir did drop his baton then, quickly scrambling to retrieve it as Ladybug turned the camera to show the swarm. “It got everyone but Luka.”

“Give him the snake my Lady, I’ll be with you as soon as I can!” He rushed for the door, his Lady’s safety overwriting the concern for his ex-friend.

“She can’t Chat.” Luka stepped into frame a small smile on his face, “If the others saw I got mine back they’d only play more into his hands.”

“Right…” His hand hesitated over the handle still not convinced when a scream racked through the room.

“Is that Chloe?! Is she okay? She hasn’t been akumatised has she?” Ladybug’s words tumbled out.

“I don’t think so,” he took a moment to look at her tear-stricken face, “No butterflies here, but something is wrong with her…” He turned so Chloe appeared in the corner for Ladybug to see.

“She’s having some sort of panic attack by the looks of it.” Luka muttered, “I’ve seen Jules have them enough times.”

“We’re on our way kitty.” Ladybug smiled at him and hung up.

Chat starred at the blank receiver for a moment before tucking the baton back into his belt and hesitantly approaching the girl in the corner,

“Chloe, Luka says he thinks you’re having a panic attack do you think that sounds about right?” His voice was quiet and slow, Chloe seemed to shake further, each tremor becoming more intense. “Come on Chloe, it’s hardly the end of the world. Your actions have akumatised people before and we’ve always protected you.”

Somewhere in the back of her mind Chloe knew Chat Noir didn’t mean her any harm, she also knew he probably didn’t mean his words to come out as they sounded. The unfortunate reality of her situation, however, meant the rational part of her mind had long been buried by the myriad of other thoughts crowding her head.

She’d done it again.

‘One of us.’

Only hours after taking Ladybug’s heroes and pinning them against her, she’d done it again.

‘One of us.’

Why were they protecting her? Maybe they weren’t. Maybe they were keeping her away from the safety of the police so the akuma could take their anger out. Maybe they’d finally given up all hope for her and she was getting what she deserved. Chloe’s legs curled underneath her, muscles tensing to run. Could she even run from the heroes of Paris?

‘One of us.’

Would the police even protect her? Would her Father when they found out exactly what she’d done to their beloved saviours?

“Chloe.” Cool hands wrapped around her wrists pulling them from her skull. She screamed, thrashing away from the touch, but the hands stayed firm. “Chloe open your eyes.” The unfamiliar voice commanded. Her eyes slowly edged their way open, tears continuing to pour uncontrollably. “Right good. I’m Luka do you remember me?” The off-blue eyes stared into hers, the realisation dawned on her slowly at first before flooding.

“You were Viperion.” Was that even audible?

“Yeah I guess I was.”

‘One of us.’ Chloe hadn’t even noticed the voice had disappeared until it came back. Its return screwing her eyes shut again as she fought against Luka’s grip.

“Can you tell me about the room?” The room? Strange must be a requirement to becoming a hero. Her eyes opening again if only to question the boy.

“What an utterly ridiculous question.” She saw the smirk playing on his lips and quickly pushed down the desire to blush.

“Well tell me anyway.”

“Do you think you can help her?” Ladybug had asked as she carried him across the rooftops of Paris.

“I can try.” He replied honestly, “Everyone’s are different, since I don’t know much about Chloe, I might not be able to do anything.”

“I guess the better question is will you help her?” His eyebrows drew together, “She did nearly get you akumatised, you’re allowed to be angry.” Luka chuckled lowly,

“It wasn’t losing Viperion that made my temper slip, it was Alya.” Ladybug lowered them onto the street, placing Luka down gently, “She was saying some not very nice things about a friend of mine, and I suppose I just didn’t want to hear it.” He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, embarrassed by the trivial nature of it all. “So, in short, I will help Chloe Bourgeoir.” He nodded determinedly. Ladybug smiled producing a key from her yoyo and opening a door allowing him to step inside, closing the door behind him.

“Where is she?” Ladybug asked Chat who was sitting seemingly without a care on a breakfast stool, he shot a thumb to the corner of the room where a very pitiful looking Chloe Bourgeoir sat huddled.

“Do you know what her trigger was?” Luka couldn’t take his eyes of the girl, her melody cried out to him, the sound alone nearly bringing him to tears.

“She was watching the conference. I think I went too far… I told her she wasn’t a good person.” Luka frowned at that.

“Chat!” Ladybug scolded.

“What?! She destroyed our team my Lady! She’s the reason we lost Master Fu! She isn’t a good person.” Luka could feel the emotions growing in the room, his own anger beginning to grow toward Chat’s words, so he refocused on Chloe.

Luka edged toward the girl slowly, “I wouldn’t do that Luka, if you get too close, she’ll hit you.” He rolled his eyes, making sure to stop his approach at every flinch, not something he assumed Chat had done.

Luka squinted, he could see Chloe’s mouth moving, she was repeating something hundreds of times over, he turned his head to get a better angle for his ears when a flash of red caught his eye.

“How long has she been bleeding?” The voices stopped behind him, his own coming out unfamiliar and distant.

“Bleeding? She’s not bleeding.” Chat replied with certainty,

“Look in her hair Chat.” Ladybug’s voice was small, a quick look back to the heroes showed a shocked look on Chat Noir’s face and a look of horror on Ladybugs.

“I don’t know… I didn’t know her nails could do that…”

‘Dammit.’ Luka thought, he didn’t want to touch Chloe in any way against her will, especially in this state, but if her nails continued to dig into her like that… he shook his head, banishing the thought of blood.

He moved swiftly, taking her wrists and abruptly pinning them above her head, his stomach twisting at the sight of her mangled nails.

“Chloe.” He stated firmly, he could feel her erratic pulse through her skin, her song crying out further at his touch. “Chloe open your eyes.” He watched as she slowly opened her eyes. He wasn’t sure if she could actually see through the tears, but it was progress. “Right good. I’m Luka do you remember me?” He made sure to positively reinforce her to begin to counteract Chat’s words. He introduced himself slowly, outside of her akumatised form, he didn’t think they’d ever officially met.

“You were Viperion.” He winced at his mistake; he’d assumed she couldn’t remember her time as Miracle Queen. He saw the panic begin to grip her again, her lips beginning to repeat her inaudible mantra.

“Yeah I guess I was.” Her eyes became unfocused as she began to fight against his grip again, he didn’t release her, he couldn’t let her see the blood. He needed to distract her.

“Can you tell me about the room?” Her eyes refocused, filling with confusion.

“What an utterly ridiculous question.” He smirked at her, there was the Chloe Bourgeoir he’d heard about. Sure, she was a complete mess of stained hair and mascara tinted tears, but it was a step in the right direction.

“Well tell me anyway.” He needed her to focus on anything other than whatever was going on inside her head. Her eyes wandered around the room for a moment before resting on Ladybug and Chat Noir, her melody becoming more sincere and heart wrenching. “Hey guys, would you mind waiting outside?” He turned his head towards the heroes.

“I’ll go get her some clothes.” Ladybug smiled sadly, taking Chat’s arm and dragging him out with her. Almost immediately he could feel Chloe’s pulse slow.

“I hate this room.” She turned up her nose in disgust as the boy chuckled, “What else is there to say? It’s dark and smells funny, not to mention the utterly horrific décor. I mean who can be rocked to sleep by puke green.” Even if she didn’t immediately realise, her incoherent rambling subsided the panic within her, the invisible hand around her throat loosening its grip.

“Well if this room is so below standards, how would you improve them?” She peeked through the corner of her eye at Luka and was taken aback by how intense his gaze was, it was almost like he was invested in what she was saying.

“Well the whole mould and vomit would need to go and replaced with something more comforting. For a room as small as this you’d need something bright, I’m thinking blue for the walls. And the carpet would need removing with immediate effect, I mean think of all the gross stuff that’s living in there.” She shuddered at the thought, “I want to say grey for the new one?”

“I thought we were going light?” Luka questioned, tilting his head in curiosity a smirk playing on his lips again.

“Light grey obviously, anything lighter would pick up stains something terrible.” She scolded at his ignorance.

“Oh of course.” He was definitely hiding a chuckle from her now

“Something funny Couffaine?” Chloe raised an eyebrow in his direction

“Nothing. I just figured you’d pick yellow and white.” He joked as her jaw dropped at his stupidity, “After all it is your signature style.”

“WHITE! In a place like this are you insane! I’d be hesitant to give them white on even their plates. You could never manage a hotel.” She felt his grip loosen on his wrists as he let out the tumble of giggles he’d been holding back.

“No, I don’t suppose I could… Is that what you want to do? Take after your dad?” His eyes pierced into her again

“Why do you care.” Her tone turned harsh again, her heart panging slightly as the boy’s smile fell.

“Chloe your heart is screaming.” He muttered plainly, the words cutting off any remark she had loaded. He smiled sadly at her confused expression, “I’ve never been very good with words, or people.” He sighed before continuing, “But what I am good at is hearing people’s heart songs. They tell me things about people I’m not sure they’d want me to know, how people really feel, the kinds of people they really are inside.” He looked into her eyes.

“And mine is screaming?” Chloe didn’t sound like herself, there was no confidence or sarcasm in her voice, it was desperate.

“Yeah… It’s what happens when someone is at their limit emotionally. You know I should hate you, but I don’t.” She looked down in shame her eyebrows drawing together.

“You really should, Viperion-“

“No.” He interrupted her, “This isn’t about Viperion.” He laughed honestly, she looked back up to see him smiling. “I should hate you because you made my sister cry. Multiple times.”

“Then why don’t you?” She asked in earnest.

“Because with a song like that? Hurting is all you know how to do, to yourself and anyone else. Or at least that’s what I’m choosing to believe. The Chloe Bourgeoir that made Juleka cry, isn’t the Chloe Bourgeoir in front of me. This Chloe is broken and has the choice to rebuild herself better.” The sincerity in her voice brought on a new wave of tears.

“You think I can do that?” Her eyes were hopeful and pleading.

“I think you are capable of being exceptional.” She hadn’t noticed Ladybug re-enter, her body stiffening at the sound of the hero’s gentle voice. “Even if Chat doesn’t.” Chloe chuckled; Ladybug clearly not happy with her kitty, “I bought an overnight bag, and some stuff for her nails.” Chloe looked between Ladybugs solemn expression and Luka’s wince as Ladybug placed the bag on the bed.

“My nails?” She tried to look up at her hands, but Luka pulled them out of sight.

“During your panic attack you managed to hurt yourself, I can’t see how badly,” Chloe frowned at the boys words. “Try and relax okay?” He slowly released her wrists.

Chloe looked at her hands for a few moments in confusion, her brain not quite processing what she was seeing, she could have sworn she had her nails painted yellow the other day not red. The realisation dawned on her.

“I paid good money for these.” She whimpered, and then she added to the vomit covered floor.

Chapter Text

“You’re sure about this?” Luka asked, hesitantly taking the hexagonal box.

“If we fail at leading them away, you’ll need it.” Ladybug assured as the bright light shone from within the box, “The horse grants the power of transportation. All you need to do is picture a place in your mind and Voyage will take you there.”

“I do hope you’ve found someone more noteworthy this time Miss Ladybug.” The small horse announced rudely after seeing Luka.

“Kaalki, this is Luka, lead guitarist and writer for the band Kitty Section.” The horse seemed to nod, accepting his status as satisfactory. He took out the glasses where they transformed into a pair of aviators to better in keep with his style and he positioned them into his hair. “I trust you not to use it unless absolutely necessary, do you have anywhere in mind?” She asked hesitant to be giving over Max’s miraculous when he was currently rampaging.

“I have a couple of ideas. I’ll make sure one of us has access to the akuma alert app, so we know when it’s safe to return.” He nodded in understanding, as Ladybug looked anxiously at the bathroom door where Chloe was rather begrudgingly taking a shower. “I’ll keep her safe I promise.”

“I know you will.” Ladybug’s smile was slightly sad, less of doubt and more shame. It was obvious to him that she hadn’t expected Chloe’s outburst, but he could tell she was beating herself up over it.

“Are you sure I can’t just borrow the dragon?” Chat grumbled from the corner of the room where he’d been cleaning the carpet, penance he assumed, for not noticing Chloe’s injuries. Ladybug simply scowled and tapped her foot in response.

It wasn’t long before a faraway crash could be heard from further in the city, Ladybug looked anxious as Chat finished his cleaning duties. “We need to go my lady.” The cat hero’s eyes were sincere, Ladybug nodded hurrying out the door with Chat in her wake. Luka breathed a sigh of relief at their absence lying back on the bed. He had already warned his Mom, Juleka and Rose of the city, assuring them he was safe, but it was too risky to get back to Liberty; a mostly true lie.

Chloe spent far too long in that shower for her liking, the amount of dirt she could see between the tiles making her shudder, but the pink tinted water made the panic rise in her. The shower was then the lessor of two personal hells. She thanked whatever god was listening that Ladybug had been considerate to pack some of her own toiletries for the brief stay, she couldn’t bear the thought of the three-in-one shampoo, conditioner and shower gel the motel supplied.

Upon leaving the tepid water she was again thankful for a towel from the grand Paris and her own loungewear. Her faded yellow loose-fitting t-shirt atop her most comfortable underwear and softest grey cotton trousers, she made a note to thank Sabrina, no doubt in her mind the orange haired girl was responsible for her personal items.

Hair tightly wrapped up to dry and slippers on she waited until she heard the door close and heroes leave before emerging,

“That shower is disgusting. Utterly disgusting.” She allowed Luka a brief look of surprise at her very normal appearance. “But better to be clean I suppose.” The girl paled as she looked at her nails, not quite able to get the sight of blood out of her head.

“Come on princess take a seat,” He patted the bed next to him, “Lucky for you I was on the way back from work for a night in with the family, so I have nail polish.” Her eyes narrowed.

“What kind of family night involves nail polish?” The brief encounters she’d had with ‘family nights’ often consisted of fancy dresses and expensive restaurants.

“My family’s.” He smiled, his voice soft and full of the understanding that this wasn’t something she was familiar with. “As I was saying, won’t you let me fix the Princess’s nails?” Chloe was about to disagree when the thought dawned on her she’d never painted her own nails… or anyone else’s… The few sleepovers with Sabrina always involved Chloe being the centre of attention.

“If you insist.” She pointed her nose into the air before taking a seat, “Do you even know what you’re doing?” Her eyes squinted slightly; Luka simply wiggled his own fingers for her. Although chipped on the tips, the job was decent enough, she had vague recollections that he was a musician accounting for the rough edges. “Acceptable.”

“It doesn’t look like the swarm got anyone else…” Ladybug spoke into Chat’s earpiece from her vantage point, “I can make most of them out… But I can’t see Alya or Kagami anywhere…” He could hear her concern through the waver in her voice.

“I have eyes on them both. They seem to be fighting each other?” Although it was odd to have multiple akumas to begin with, the thought of the same side fighting seemed even stranger.

“Luka said that the three of them were arguing when this all started, I guess part of Scarlet’s Moth’s terms allowed for this.” He hummed in thought. “Lucky charm!” He heard the call and saw a brief flash of light from across the square, “Nothing’s lighting up…” He could hear her hope dwindling quickly.

“What have you got my Lady? I might be able to think of something?” A brief chuckle passed through the line.

“I have a bamboo training sword.” Chat’s leather ears pricked up.

“It’s Kagami.” He stated with certainty, “She had one on her back for practice, maybe it’s telling you where her akuma is!” He finished excitedly.

“So we aim for Kagami and Alya first, right.” There was still hesitation in her voice, “But what if the others join in? We can’t fight so many! And we have no idea what powers they might have!”

“I know you were against it, but what if we used Snake Noir again?” According to Master Fu, merging miraculous was extremely dangerous and was only to be used in emergencies and as infrequently as possible.

“But you only just used it this morning? You could get sick or hurt! Then what would I do?” The pain in her voice was like a dagger to his heart.

“Okay.” He agreed begrudgingly, “We stick together and head for Kagami.”

They only made it about halfway to the square when the crimson butterflies took to the sky projecting Scarlet Moth to the people of Paris. There was something eerie about his appearance this time, the edges of his mask blurred into the surrounding sky, the sides of the picture out of focus, framing his face.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir, I have taken your allies for the second time today. I let them fight each other, can’t you see what your meddling has done to such sweet innocent children.” His voice matched his cruel smirk. “Why don’t you hand over your miraculous and I’ll let your friends go.”

“Something doesn’t seem right Chat, he looks all fuzzy…” Chat nodded absentmindedly also focusing on the projection, “And having them fight each other isn’t his style, on Hero’s Day everything was so meticulously planned, this seems so-“

“Sloppy.” He finished, “Like he didn’t want to waste such a chance to akumatise all the heroes of Paris again but hadn’t thought past the initial move.”

“And If we’re right that the akuma powering him up is also Mayura, it would stand to reason that his powers are weak as she herself is sick.” The image of Hawkmoth and a frail Mayura escaping stuck in his memory. “We have a chance here kitty.” She looked at him for the first time all day with hope, enough to fuel him to fight his troubled friends.

“You never answered me by the way.” Luka was on her second hand when he spoke, Chloe getting confused by the question. “I asked about what you wanted to do. You seem to know a lot about hotels, do you want to follow after your Father?”

“I want to be an architect.” The words fell out before she could stop them, aside telling her parents who had been extremely disappointed at the time, no one knew about her dreams. “I mean I want to work in fashion obviously,” A fake laugh filled the silence, “How embarrassing would it be for Style Queen’s only child to come out a builder.” She couldn’t meet the boy’s eyes out of shame.

“I figured from your speech earlier you’d be more into interior design.” He shrugged as if she hadn’t spoken her blatant lie.

“I like interiors too, I think I’d get a degree in architecture then when my name is out there, take night classes on interior decorating so I could make entire buildings from the ground to completion.” Her voice was delicate, full of anxiety of the imminent rejection.

“Chloe Bourgeoir attending a night class? Now that I have to see.” She looked at him in surprise, his own eyes fixed on her nails.

“But as I was saying, I’m going to work in fashion. I was just telling you what an architect who wanted to branch into interior design would likely do.” She saw the smirk on his lowered head and couldn’t help but feel her cheeks warm. Why was she telling him this? Wasn’t he considered the enemy?

One of us.

The voice crept back in, whispering at the edge of her subconscious, she took a deep breath trying to push it back into the depths. Her dignity too low to take vomiting in front of strangers again.

“Of course. And in this hypothetical scenario, is the architect happy? Night classes are hard when working full time, even regular classes take a strain with part time work.” She could hear the experience in his voice, were those black circles always under his eyes?

“She would be so unbelievably happy.” The blonde mused, a distant smile on her face, “She doesn’t have to worry about public appearances or disappointing her family. She’s just so free.” Luka finished filing her last nail as she stepped down from her daydream.

“Well maybe it’s not too late for her.” He looked at her hopeful, she could only look back with a solemn expression, if only it was that simple. He seemed to take that as enough a cue that the conversation was over. “Unfortunately for you, I’ve only got three colours on me, and none of them quite scream Chloe Bourgeoir.” He produced three small nail polish bottles from his bag, she inspected them one by one. “And nothing in your usual price range I assume.” He followed; Chloe opened her mouth as if to retort but quickly realised he was completely right.

“I assume the black is for you, but your sister doesn’t seem much a pink or red kind of girl.” She mused picking up the bright red and pink shimmer polishes.

“Well if you must know, Jules and I share. Red is for Mom and pink is for Rose.” She raised her eyebrow at him, why had another of her classmates been present for the Couffaine’s family night?

“I’ll make sure to pay her back.” She passed the pink polish to Luka deciding it was the closest to herself, not that it particularly mattered, upon returning home she could always just book another appointment.

“I don’t think she’ll mind you borrowing some.” He chuckled opening the bottle as Chloe grimaced, “Do you want to talk about it?” He didn’t take his eyes off her nails, a fact which comforted her immensely, “About any of it, Miracle Queen, your parents, whatever you have against my sister…” He trailed off. “Sorry. Force of habit.” He looked up momentarily in by way of apology.

“I don’t hold anything against your sister.” She stated firmly, deciding that was the easiest topic to broach, and clearly the one that mattered most to the boy she’d caused pain to that day. “Adrien for the longest time was my only friend, the thought of anyone else sharing his first human moments like a school photo just made something break in me. I guess it wouldn’t have mattered who it was.” She rationalised out.

“And Rose?” He continued, reangling her hand to paint the next nail.

“I think you were right about me.” She followed her voice hollow as the realisation dawned on her, how many of her class had she hurt without even realising in? As the seconds ticked by, she internalised what Chat Noir had told her: Chloe Bourgeoir was not a good person.

“And what do you think about that?” His off blue eyes were looking into hers again, her vision blurry once again but she found herself not as wrapped up in despair as before.

“I think I hate it. I think I hate what I’ve become.” Something about the statement halted her tears and panic, something Luka had said to her during her meltdown burst through the haze. “You said I could rebuild.” A smile ghosted across his lips at the hopeful glint in her eyes. “You said I’m not who I was, that I was broken, and I could rebuild.”

“From the ground to completion, just like our architect friend.” Any sense of dread vanished from her, “I can help if you like, I’m somewhat stuck up when it comes to lost causes.” He chuckled lightly, as she nodded eagerly. “But you have to prove to me that you want this Chloe, because I can promise you if you hurt my sister or her friends again, it will be the last you see of me.”

“You’re my last chance.” She resolved, “I promise.” Satisfied with her response he continued her nails, only having stopped to stop her spiralling she would realise later.

Chapter Text

-Ladybug-

“KAGAMI, ALYA STOP THIS!” Ladybug pleaded from her rooftop.

“Subtle.” Chat chimed in her ear, Alya glared in ladybug’s direction, scowl full of hatred for the hero choosing to protect the heiress. Kagami meanwhile focused her hatred elsewhere, using Alya’s distraction against her and knocking the brunette to the floor. Chat called out uselessly as Ladybug threw herself into battle, the earpiece being abandoned on the roof.

-Fury-

‘Fury, I am Scarlet Moth. I will give you the power to destroy those who speak ill of your precious friend.’ The words echoed through Fury’s brain as she held her rapier above Rena Rage’s face. Although destroy sounded just fine by her standards, somewhere buried beneath the akuma she knew Marinette still valued Alya as a friend so instead she let out a sigh and targeted Rena’s wrist, destroying the object holding the Akuma. A freshly de-akumatised Alya lay beneath her boot face etched in fear.

“Run.” Fury spat, pushing off the false reporter as she ran like the coward she was.

 ‘Odd,’ she thought, ‘Usually Scarlet Moth would never allow for an akuma to eliminate one of his other minions.’ She shrugged, turning toward her next target, it seemed the snake escaped the akuma, therefore all those effected had spoken ill of her sweet friend and needed to pay.

-Ladybug-

Ladybug had landed a safe distance away from the sparring akumatised heroes, still within range of her yoyo. She had her arm drawn back ready to fire when she witnessed Kagami de-akumatise Alya.

“What.” Ladybug faltered dumbfounded, how weak was Mayura for Scarlet Moth to be this helpless. Chat landed beside her, equally as confused, this was not a situation they had ever faced before. She looked down at the spotted training sword in her hands before looking back to Kagami, her luck vision finally telling her what she needed to do. She squared her shoulders and put on a neutral face as she once again called to her friend.

-Fury-

“Kagami!” Fury’s shoulders rose to her ears in distain, why did they always have to show up and ruin her fun.

“That’s not my name. I am Fury and I will avenge my friend.”

“Right! Fury! I’m sorry.” Her head tilted to the side as the hero held up her hands in surrender, her partner equally confused at his Lady’s actions. “Fury, I want your help. Now you want to scare these people, right? But you don’t want to hurt them?”

“Marinette would not appreciate me harming her friends.” She made her disagreement with the fellow bluenette’s opinion clear with her tone.

“Right, well we want to release their akumas. And I’m not saying that we should de-akumatise them while they’re pinned by the throat-“

“But chest is fine.” Chat shrugged, both Fury and Ladybug looking at him wide eyed.

“Well I wasn’t suggesting that either, but…” Ladybug seemed to be arguing with herself about exactly how she was going to team up with an akuma.

“I find your terms acceptable. However, once I have sought revenge on those lowlife’s, Scarlet Moth will likely demand your miraculous, at which point I will reclaim them with no mercy.”

“Noted.” Ladybug’s shoulders shrank with the realisation of exactly what she was agreeing to.

In all the distraction of Alya’s defeat and an uneasy partnership, no one noticed Shell Shock disappear from his perch on the Eiffel Tower.

-Chloe-

“So where do I start?” The blonde asked Luka, keeping most of her focus on her newly painted nails avoiding his eyes at all costs.

“Well, it’s all well and good you deciding to start from scratch but given your, unique, ability to make everyone who disagrees with you even in the slightest completely miserable, apologising.” Even without looking up she could feel his eyes had a gentle gleam as opposed to the harshness she was used to.

“I’m afraid apologies aren’t something I’m used to. The Bourgeoir brand is more well, a brand. Throw money at the problem until it goes away.” The thought she’d made herself as small as possible yet still managed to shrink in on herself more. “How do I even start? I’ve been so horrible to everyone… “

“I won’t lie, this isn’t going to be easy, and it’s certainly going to take time,” She finally raised her head slightly, enough to see the soft smile on his face as he looked out of the window, “but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Start small, no one will believe you if you stroll in to class tomorrow and apologise for years of cruelty.” She winced again, this not escaping Luka’s notice, “Sorry to put it so bluntly.”

“No,” She shook her head gently, “I need to hear this.” She squared her shoulders and looked up to face him fully, “If I can’t even prove I’m sorry for the small stuff, they’ll never believe me about the larger horrible things I’ve done.”

“Exactly.” She didn’t deserve the smile he gave her but held onto the feeling of hope that filled her chest. Maybe she really could do this, maybe Chloe Bourgeoir didn’t have to turn out like her parents, maybe- “GET DOWN!” The sudden harshness of his voice caught her especially off guard, not as off guard as the sounds of glass and wood shattering filling the room with dust and debris. “I think this classes as an emergency. Kaalki, full gallop!”

Luka pulled the glasses out of his hair and onto his face as a bright light washed over him making Chloe turn away, coming face to face with a red washed version of the hero Carapace. Fear gripped her chest again, her heart starting to pound sickeningly against her ribcage, her breath was fast and shallow the room starting to spin uncontrollably. The glowing mask appeared around Shell Shocks eyes, this was it, Luka or whatever hero he turned into was going to run and leave her to his aggression. It’s what she deserved. Did she really think a complete stranger who knew her only for the pain she caused his sister would risk anything for her? What a stupid girl she was, utterly stupid.

“Voyage.” A warm light engulfed the two of them as they fell through the floor that had since opened up somewhere unfamiliar to the blonde, in the end it was slightly too much and the light-headedness overcame her.

- Shell Shock –

Finally. Scarlet Moth’s spies had paid off. While Ladybug and Chat Noir were absorbed in fighting their former heroes, half the city had been akumatised. Although not fully into monsters such as himself. Scarlet Moth had mentioned something about saving his energy for more promising targets but wanted to keep his eyes and ears as open as possible. The dingy motel suited Chloe’s end perfectly, not only would this be her final resting place but Shell Shock was sure her last few hours had been utterly miserable.

What he wasn’t expecting to find was Luka protecting her… wasn’t he akumatised with the rest of them? He swore he’d seen the same crimson mask light his eyes. Never mind that, he had revenge to carry out.

Chapter Text

- Chloe -

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been unconscious for; it can’t have been long as she was only stirred by the light of detransformation. If it wasn’t for the unfamiliar bench she now sat at, Chloe was sure she never would have believed Luka had transformed into a superhero in order to save her as opposed to abandon her.

“You didn’t leave me there?” She turned to Luka in utter confusion. The boy seemed caught off guard by the question.

“Chloe, I promised to help you change for the better, you can’t exactly do that under the boot of an akuma can you?” He had a small smile on his face now. “I uh, managed to grab your shoes and bag with the portal by the way…” A small squeak escaped her mouth as she looked down realising she was still dressed in essentially pyjamas… and in public… Something about her expression was clearly humorous as Luka immediately burst out laughing earning a scowl from the blonde.

Chloe hurried to straighten out her hair and slide her shoes on, “Where are we anyway?” She looked around cautiously, if this was Paris, it wasn’t an area of the city she was familiar with.

“Scotland” Luka shrugged nonchalantly, “We came here as a family once before everything went south and it’s pretty unlikely for an Akuma to find us all the way out here.” He began to leave, heading towards a populated high street, “You coming? I gotta feed this little guy and I haven’t had chance to eat dinner yet.” He nudged the glasses now perched back in his dyed hair and Chloe quickly got up and followed. Although the boy was essentially a stranger to her, she’d still take him over being completely lost in an unfamiliar country.

- Fury -

Scarlet Moth was oddly silent on the other end of her connection to the villain as she fought his akumas. The odd input he gave was of praise for her fighting style or the brilliance of her mind for tricking the heroes into trusting her. She was sure something was heavily distracting the man, his plans normally required constant supervision and even a slight waver from his sinister scheme would lead to an inordinate amount of pain being sent through their connection. Fury had been very upfront that once her desire for revenge was sated, she would be taking their miraculous for her crimson master and yet he continued to feed her power with no consequence, even as she thinned down the number of his minions. At some point in the battle, the heroes even had to leave to refuel their kwamis and she was sure that, had Scarlet Moth been paying attention, he would have instructed her to use that moment to strike the remaining hero.

As each akuma was released from Scarlet Moth’s control, Fury felt more of a connection to the villain until ultimately it was only her left standing. Even Shell Shock’s feeble attempt at a surprise attack had failed, fuelled far too much with anger than strategy. She stood victoriously over him, his shield thrown away to the side, one of her hands at his throat, the other extending his arm out to allow Chat Noir to release the akuma.

“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir called, placing his hand over Shell Shock’s bracelet as Fury averted her eyes from the crackling of dark energy. Maybe if she hadn’t been so foolish as to turn away, she would have noticed Ladybug reeling back to release her yo-yo and snatching the object holding Fury’s own akuma.

“Well played insect.” She sneered, allowing the red ink to wash over the two of them as her sword was snapped in half.

- Kagami -

“Need a hand?” Kagami stubbled, releasing the fearful Nino from her grasp and taking Ladybug’s hand.

“Pound it?” Chat Noir offered his fist to the two girls, although hesitant to why, she joined them in their celebration.

“We couldn’t have done it without you Kagami, even if you don’t realise it!” Ladybug’s smile was genuine as Chat helped Nino off the floor. She placed her hand on her head, confused and concerned, usually this sort of memory loss only occurred during akumatisation… and yet she had helped her heroes? Very unusual.

- Ladybug -

The sky flickered to life again, a much less blurry Scarlet Moth obscuring the Eiffel Tower.

“You win for now Ladybug. I release you my akumas!” A swarm of butterflies joined the others suddenly, she hadn’t realised just how many enemies she and Chat Noir had been up against, she really was making a mess of everything today wasn’t she…

Chat placed a grounding hand on her shoulder. “We did it my Lady,” he huffed, she hadn’t realised just how hard Chat must have been working today, she whirled in a frenzy finding her Lucky Charm, another sword that showed her when she needed to take Fury’s from her back.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” She called, allowing any destruction and at least some of the exhaustion to be lifted from the City and its’ heroes. The two ensured everyone made it home safely and had no permanent damage before finally returning to collect Chloe, Luka and Kaalki.

- Chloe -

“Sooooo,” She drawled gazing up from her latte to where the glasses rested on Luka’s head.

“Yes?” He looked up at her, slipping another piece of apple into his pocket.

“Are you really going to make me ask?” He raised an eyebrow at her with a smirk before she made an exasperated noise and flopped down onto the table resting her chin on the table. “How come you got given a miraculous, I thought Ladybug had sacked you all off after my tremendous screw-up.” He smile turned from cocky to kind.

“This is only temporary,” He adjusted the sunglasses, “Ladybug wasn’t sure if she would be able to keep track of everyone and in the off chance an akuma slipped away and came after you, this was the easiest and safest solution. I’m not sure how long we’ll have to be here before everything gets sorted but…” Chloe waved her hand and rolled her eyes.

“Daddy’s credit card works overseas; I can get us a much more acceptable hotel than where I was stashed in Paris I’m sure.”

“We’ll just keep and eye on the akuma alert app and make whatever plans we need when we need it.” He shrugged.

***

It only took a couple of hours before the two were able to return to the motel, finding a secluded alley for Luka to transform they both stepped through the portal and had plenty of time for Luka to feed his Kwami before the heroes of Paris returned to collect the two.

“Any issues?” Ladybug asked as she accepted the glasses back from Luka,

“Nothing we couldn’t handle, and Kaalki has been fed so hopefully he shouldn’t be too much of a nuisance later. Thank you for trusting me.” Chloe looked away awkwardly, feeling as if she was interrupting something private.

“That’s good, we should probably get you two home anyway huh?” Was Ladybug always this flustered? “I’ll take Chloe, Chat are you okay getting Luka home?” She asked, the black cat nodding far too eagerly at not having to escort the blonde again.

“Thank you for dinner Chloe, and come stop by Liberty sometime, and remember what you promised me.” His tone turned slightly more serious towards the end, but still soft as to not spiral her.

“Yeah, um I’ll do my best from now on.” She starred at the floor steeling her nerves before quickly rushing over to give Luka a peck on the cheek. “Thank you.” She looked at him sincerely before rushing out the door face red as giggles echoed from the room.

***

‘Stupid, utterly stupid.’ Chloe cursed herself as she stalked the Seine the next day, how was she supposed to repay that utterly ridiculous boy without his phone number or any form of address, they lived on a boat for crying out loud! She finally found the raft and stormed across the plank before nearly falling in only to be caught by the very boy she was after.

“Chloe?” He asked genuinely surprised by not only her appearance at his home, but that she seemingly came her alone, and walked nonetheless.

“Finally! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find you people! I’ve been out in the sun for hours!” She flicked her hair and crossed her arms, smirking at him out the corner of her eye as he chuckled at her.

“Welcome aboard!” He kept a hold of her hand to make sure she didn’t fall into the river on her way across.

“Aye is this another one of your friends me boy?” A woman with a fiery attitude greeted her with a firm slap on the shoulder nearly making the blonde tumble.

“Um, I’m not exactly-“ Before she could finish, Juleka and Rose emerged from below deck, both their faces souring as they saw her, even Rose in her infinite kindness had recently been unable to keep a kind façade around her.

“Not yet Captain, but she’s going to try.” All three faces turned to confusion at that as Luka nudged Chloe to say something herself.

“Well I-uh, I mean, I just wanted to… what I was going to say is…” Her eyes dropped to the floor and her fists balled up as she could feel the prickling of tears.  She heard the rustle of clothing before Luka sighed gently.

“Yeah, something really bad happened yesterday, it’s up to Chloe if she wants to tell you what. But I promised I was going to-“

“I WANT TO BE A BETTER PERSON!” She hadn’t meant to cut him off or yell, and from the way Juleka jumped and hid behind Rose she had scared the girl. “I’m sorry that Luka wasn’t at family night last night but he had to save me from some akuma’s. Your brother is a really good person and said he’d help me maybe be better.” She wrang her hands out nervously, “And I though the best start would be apologising. So I’m sorry for everything I’ve done and I want to do better from now on.” She screwed her eyes shut not wanting to see the likely disgust on their faces. What she wasn’t expecting was to be charged at by the small frame of Rose and nearly knocked off her feet again in a hug.

“That’s wonderful Chloe! Luka’s the best isn’t he?!” Luka chuckled both at the praise and Rose’s reaction.

“I raised my boy well.” Anarka nodded with her arms crossed, her face full of pride for her son. Chloe absentmindedly wondered what the approval of a mother felt like…

“Oh I also brought this with me,” she wiggled out of the hug slightly to fetch the gift from her bag, she’d spent the rest of last night digging through the collection of promotional nail polish her mother received to find something close to what she had borrowed from Rose. “I had to borrow some of your pink polish last night…” Juleka’s eyebrows drew together in concern as she spotted Chloe’s uncharacteristically short and untreated nails from across the barge, “But I found this and figured it was pretty close?” The noise that escaped Rose’s throat nearly deafened her, she didn’t know a pitch that high even existed until now as the small girl took the polish and Juleka back below deck assumably to try it, a stream of thank yous following them.

“A step in the right direction. Only thousands to go.” She smiled softly.

Chapter Text

"Oh, there's another one…" She took a long sip of coffee, normally she’d take the time to add milk and sugar but as the yelling of a deranged akuma victim drew closer she knew she didn’t have much time and would need the energy.

"What's it this week? Turning people into showtune singing animatronics?" The other rolled her eyes, assumably thinking the same and opting to inhale her cake without chewing.

"No that was last week's, I think this week is some guy creating an army out of bathroom stalls?" She squinted over her cup, somehow not even that surprising her anymore.

"Ugh great, another rain of shit then." Her friend cursed, shovelling another handful into her mouth

"Oh don't talk to me about shit, that fucking pigeon man shat on my car again yesterday" That stopped her eating.

"....the flock right?"

"..........." She glared straight ahead at the now de-akumatised leader of the stall invasion, wondering what chaos would be left behind this time and hoping it wasn’t another very expensive car wash.

"Before or after he was akumatised?"

"Before AND after. I swear if the mayor actually funded mental health services, instead of pussyfooting around his daughter like the world's wettest condom, then maybe I'd be able to get to work without being launched through the sky by the most Minecraft looking robot this side of Legoland" She slammed her fist down on the table, now empty coffee cup falling to the floor and smashing. That bastard thing had cost over €5 and she didn’t even get to enjoy it. Fucking inflation.

"Can't believe they fired you after that tbh" Her friend sighed, realising her cake had also not rematerialised

"Apparently HR won't cover me being late because of 'akuma related incidents' and I should have 'asked ladybug for help' because the tiny twinky superheroine of the Seine knows all about having a mortgage to pay." She growled

"Damn that sucks, how you feeling about that…"

"Oh I'm fine, juuuust fine” She turned suddenly to look at an approaching akuma “I’M PERFECTLY CALM THOUGH SO FUCK OFF” The akuma began to float off again, seemly Shadow Moth not even wanting to go near that aggression. “These things are worse than mosquitos atm. Anyway, what about you? Found a new job yet?" She relaxed back into her chair.

"I'm still not certain my workplace has re-materialised after that hyperdimensional incident last month… My boss was a bastard, yeah, but who's going to give me a reference now he's up with the aliens somewhere?" She scowled.

"Oh god the aliens, those were terrible, and then there was the zombie incident... How are you feeling by the way after that, I'm so sorry I tore you in half, some horror writer gets their hands on an akuma and shit just happens you know..."

"Oh no hard feelings, as long as you forgive me for the time I drowned you in the Seine."

"Well you were some weird river monster back then so you can hardly... Oh you've got a butterfly behind you" The butterfly was quickly trapped in a glass, most of the coffee still in there and seemingly drowning the butterfly.

"What's that make now? 46?"

"48 actually, they're really getting out of hand today, think the waitress will mind if we skip on the tab?"

She leaned over to gaze at the street again, wondering exactly what they’d missed while ranting. It would appear a lot as a building crumbled covering most of the fleeing citizens and cars in rubble and flames. As she leaned back in to face her friend another explosion went off somewhere in the distance.

"Nah, I think we'll be fine. Hey, do you think if I go eat that chocolate cake they've got, that Ladybug's magic thing will take it out of me afterwards?"

"I have no idea, but I want to see you try..."

Chapter Text

- Marinette –

Marinette was exhausted; physically, mentally, spiritually, just entirely. She couldn’t even begin to fathom babysitting 17 kwamis’ when she struggled to take care of Manon at the best of times… and now was certainly not the best of times. First, they managed to escape, then video chat her friends and finally send photos of her utter obsession with Adrien to her ex-Luka! This was a disaster! Honestly, the distraction of an akuma was more than welcome. And of course, Chat Noir would want to spend as much time with her as possible, regardless of how pointless it may have been and how undoubtedly worn her little escapades had made her poor kwami. In her stupidity she’d forgotten even the most basic rule of being Ladybug, take care of Tikki. The poor bug had hadn’t had a chance to rest or eat all morning.

“Tikki, Spots Off! I’m so sorry!” Tears still clouding her vision she managed to catch the little Kwami and cradled her close, supplying her with a much needed sweet,

“It’s okay Marinette, you had a lot on your mind.” The small bug smiled up at her holder, trying her best to not let her own exhaustion show and make Marinette feel worse, even if her lie was to be believed she still couldn’t stop the Bluenette from ignoring another call from her friends and curling into a ball.

“At least she seemed to be getting rest.” The Red God thought.

- Alya –

“That’s what I’m saying! I’m supposed to be her BFF and I didn’t even know they’d broken up! Let alone that she was so upset she spends hours crying in the girl’s bathroom with silly fake moustaches on!” Alya collapsed back into her chair in frustration whilst the other girls in the room looked down in despair. “I mean I shouldn’t be surprised; Marinette hasn’t exactly been the best friend as of late.”

“Not this shit again Alya” Alix growled, “Marinette is too selfless for her own good, if she’s keeping something from us then she thinks she’s protecting us!”

“That gives me an idea!” Mylene pulled a set of beads and string from her bag before continuing, “We all tell a secret into a bead then put them all together to give to Marinette so she knows we trust her with our deepest fears, and she can trust us too!”

“And in a super cute way!” Rose cheered taking the bright pink bead from Mylene eager to go first.

***

Considering how shut in her so called friend had been, Alya was surprised to find her room in a decent state of repair, sure there was the leftover hurricane from one of Marinette’s creative spouts but the dollhouse she’s created seemed worth it, she let out a happy sigh and a small smile, at least that part of her friend hadn’t been consumed by the depression spiral she seems to be in.

“She must be on the balcony; I’ll go get her while you girls wait here.” She started to climb the ladder before she was faced with a red eyed Marinette.”

- Marinette –

“What are you doing here! Get out of my room!” She half heartedly let out, she’d been avoiding her friends for this very reason, the pitiful look in their eyes.

“Is this what you’ve been so secretive about?” Rose as always held no malice in her actions but the thought of the miracle box being discovered sent Marinette into a sort of feral rage, she swung from the bed and down in front of the box causing the blonde to stagger back.

“GET AWAY FROM THAT!” Clearly the look in her eyes told the group she wasn’t messing around. Despite their best efforts they couldn’t convince her to take the bracelet or accept any help. Rose, Juleka and Mylene leaving in defeat, whilst Alix left slightly saddened that her friend felt so alone. Alya meanwhile was furious.

It really shouldn’t have come as a surprise they all became akumatised not long after.

Even with the Eiffel tower displaying some interesting side effects to Trixx’s powers, Ladybug had to be thankful of the fox’s quick thinking, cornered by Lady Wi-Fi was not something she wanted to experience after the freezer incident.

‘Good job Marinette.’ She thought, although akumas were a desired distraction from her everyday life, having those akumas after her civilian form and constantly reminding her of how much she’d fucked this all up was not.

Luckily for her, she knew her friends and although all were helping with the ultimate plan, somehow Reflekta seemed more a background character, having turned the school into her copies sure, but not anyone since. Ladybug managed to take her by surprise hanging her by her trusty yo-yo.

“I understand you’ve been having some trouble with your friend, and that she broke your brothers’ heart… that must have hurt you terribly too Juleka.” Reflekta stopped struggling in the wire.

“No! Marinette would never hurt Luka! Or me! She’s the one that’s hurting!” Ladybug was taken aback by the villains’ comment but tightened her grip again when the mark of Shadow Moth appeared around her eyes. “But that’s what I’m doing now too… isn’t it?” The mask began to blur, “If she didn’t want to hurt us by keeping things to herself, she won’t tell us anything if she knows this is the result…” Her eyes closed then in focus as the mask continued to blur more, Ladybug released her friend as she broke Shadow Moth’s spell and caught her before she could hit the ground.

“Juleka?” The quiet girl balanced herself as she came to. “That was amazing Juleka! I’ve never seen anyone do that before!” She kept her voice at a neutral level knowing how much the goth disliked loud noises. The shy girl smiled up at the hero a light blush spreading across her cheeks. A thought lit up in Ladybugs head, a plan forming already.

- Juleka -

“Juleka Couffaine, this is the miraculous of the Fox,” Juleka shook her head quickly, a sadness in her eyes. This wasn’t her, she couldn’t be a hero, she couldn’t even talk without being consumed with anxiety, not as herself anyway. “I know it’s scary but your friends need your help. I need your help.” She held he necklace out, “if you don’t want to do this it’s okay, I can use two miraculous.” It was a choice then, Juleka fought with herself for a moment before reaching out with a shaky hand for the miraculous, transforming the bright orange charm to a dull grey.

“This is Trixx. Trixx, this is Juleka.” She stared at the small creature with wide eyes.

“You don’t talk much do you kit? That’s okay, I’ll be loud enough for both of us! Just say Trixx, let’s pounce!”

‘I can do this.’ She chanted internally taking a deep breath and fastening the charm around her neck before quietly uttering the transformation phrase, the magic washed over her softly, the light not as bright as she expected which was nice. The suit she was left in differed greatly from that of Rena Rouge, her colouring took on that of a Silver Fox, the neckline loosely hanging around her neck like a scarf she nestled into, her bangs stayed over her eye, but the rest of her hair was held back loosely in a ponytail, her purple streak turned to grey. A brief glace down showed her shoes to be in more a combat boot style than incorporated into the suit, which even if skintight felt loose and airy giving her plenty of room to move. She felt a small pride fill her, guessing Trixx had sensed her relief and was happy they’d been able to come up with a suit that worked for the both of them. The guise she was given as Reflekta always made her uncomfortable, it tight, restrictive, suffocating and made her skin crawl just thinking about it.

Ladybug waited patiently until the new heroes feature hardened, determined. She was ready.

“Do you know where the akuma is? I was expecting a butterfly when you deakumatised yourself to be completely honest.” The hero rubbed the back of her neck embarrassed slightly. Juleka smiled nodding confidently.

“Alix. There’s a bracelet that links us all, I’m sure it’s in there.” The spotted hero nodded along, her theory seeming sound.

“Then the foxes’ illusions will be perfect, lets rescue your friends, together.” She held a hand out unclipping her yo-yo.

“Together.”

- Ladybug –

On the journey to Chat’s location on her bug phone she did her best to explain the Fox miraculous to Juleka, the quiet girl nodded along, she wasn’t sure how Juleka’s illusions would hold up against Alya’s, but she had faith in her friend that she’d do her best.

“Lucky Charm!” A water ring fell into her hands as her luck visions highlighted what needed to be done, she relayed to the new hero the plan and the fox dutifully took her position out of sight and called her illusion, the 4 remaining akumas rushing after the false Marinette as Ladybug landed next to Chat to help him up. Gosh, had her eyes really looked so terrible when her friends had visited her earlier..?

“That was nearly a cat-astrophe!” Ladybug rolled her eyes at her silly kitty. “Marinette coming to our aid again? She’s very brave to stand up to Akumas like that.” Chat nearly seemed smitten.

“Not to spoil the fun but not quite, I had some help.” She smiled leaning back to where the fox had appeared silently behind them, the yelp as Chat jumped out of his skin nearly made all the week’s heartache worth it. “This is… uh…” Ladybug realised she’d never gotten a hero name from the girl.

“Zorro.” The silver fox took a bow, causing ladybug to chuckle.

“Pleasures all mine,” Chat responded still looking unnerved.

“Back to business, Zorro knows the plan, so you two head to the pool while I keep them busy.” The two nodded in response, heading in the direction of the public pool, it was a long shot, but she had faith in her partner to pull this off.

***

She had hoped that Timebreaker would have fallen for the trick before Lady Wi-Fi had paused her in Horrificators arms with Princess Fragrance’s fingers clutching her precious earrings, but nevertheless the girls were de-akumatised before anything too tragic happened. Her friends met up outside the pool mostly confused as Zorro followed them out.

“If you think your friend is hiding something from you for your protection, do you really think being akumatised is going to make her trust you?” The fox spoke handing the now purified bracelet back to Mylene. “Maybe try a different approach, starting with checking up on her, if we see your other friend, we’ll let her know where you’re heading.” She smiled softly before turning to the heroes of Paris already waiting with their fists raised.

“Pound it.”

- Zorro –

“Let’s rest.” She turned to the now released Trixx and smiled, the small creature nodding in understanding.

“Anytime Kit.” They flew back to rest on Ladybugs shoulder as she handed back the necklace.

“Thank you Juleka, I know how hard it was to stand up to your friends and Shadow Moth like that. And I hope you work things out with your friend.” Juleka nodded, determined features solidifying as she headed out the alley and back towards the bakery.

- Marinette –

“Interesting choice for a fox.” Trixx noted as they munched on an egg custard. Marinette shrugged,

“Juleka is quiet sure, but her heart wasn’t in to hunting me down as much as the others. I really wish I could’ve given you back to Alya but…” Tears started to gather in the corner of her eyes again, this really was overwhelming for someone so young, she fell to her knees as a soft knock sounded at the trapdoor, the kwami’s rushing to their new hiding place. It wasn’t long before she was wrapped in the comforting embrace of her friends, and this time when Mylene offered her the bracelet she told her secrets to the bead, or as much of her secret as she could. For Rose, Juleka, Alix and Mylene, this seemed to be enough. They all gave her encouraging messages to take her time and that they’d always be there for her. Alya however seemed to grow angrier. The others left the room with smiles leaving only the two girls.

“I really am sorry for everything Alya, I want to focus more on friendship, like I did before all this happened.” She gestured to the now discarded dollhouse in the trash, trying to make light of the situation.

“Focus on friendship? Is that what you were doing? You bail on plans, you bail on babysitting, you spend all your time fantasising over models only to chase musicians. How many times have we gone out of our way for you just for you to brush us off? Lila was right about you! You’re not a good friend to any of us!” She yelled storming down the stairs and leaving Marinette flabbergasted on the chaise as the door slammed after her. So she’d truly burned that bridge. The tears began to fall again, the pain becoming too great for even Tikki to soothe.

- March Hare –

“Miss, you gave Bunnix your word when you borrowed Fluff that you wouldn’t do anything too drastic.” The bunny hero rolled her eyes at her kwami.

“Sending a text isn’t drastic Wayzz, and you don’t see cotton tail coming out the burrow to stop me do you?” She stopped tapping on the watch-turned-communicator to raise and eyebrow at the turtle.

“No. I suppose I don’t.” He went back to his holder, perching between her ears to try and stop her from sending something too bad.”

“What do you think of that?” She raised the watch to his level.

“A little cryptic but it should do. At least that way he still makes his own choice, and you haven’t directly altered the timeline.”

“I’m just moving one little event forward and stopping one little akuma. Speaking of which, Fluff Wayzz unify!” The hero’s hair turned from a dazzling blue to deep teal as she called forth her shelter and captured the little butterfly.

Before long the butterfly returned to a bright white prompting the hero to release it back into the wild. “Burrow.” That was enough meddling for now.

- Luka –

Unknown Number

Melody needs you.

He tried to call the number but was met with the cold robotic voice informing him that the number was no longer in service. It had been weeks since he’d last seen Marinette, as much as that broke his heart, he respected her too much to force himself somewhere he wasn’t wanted. He deliberated with himself a little longer before deciding to at least check in on her, if she was okay and still didn’t want to see him, he could leave in peace his mind at ease.

The trip was quick, even with trying to slow his pace he found himself cycling faster to get to her. Something about the mysterious message had put him on edge. This was a world of magic and Akuma, what if something had happened? What if she was being held hostage? He might not have a miraculous anymore but he wasn’t about to stand aside and do nothing.

“I’m sorry to intrude Ms. Cheng, but is Marinette home?” He waited patiently for all customers to be served before approaching the small woman.

“Oh Luka! Marinette is- well…” She trailed off, clearly conflicted. “Marinette doesn’t want to see anyone right now, your sister left with the others not long ago…” He could see the heartbreak in her eyes, clearly something was going on with her daughter and she wasn’t sure how to help.

“I understand, would I be able to just let her know I visited? I’ll leave straight after if that’s what she wants. I just need to check she’s not about to become an akuma, my sister already had that problem today…” A small smile appeared on the Chinese woman’s face,

“That’s very kind of you, please go on up.” She opened the counter up to let him pass.

As he entered the apartment above the bakery, he could already hear her tears combined with her heart song crying out. She did need something then, even if it wasn’t him. “Marinette? It’s Luka. Something said I needed to come drop by.” A near truth.

“I’m fine, just go.” He let out a small sigh,

“I’m coming up, because that’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told me Melody.” He’d barely poked his head through the door before she was unleashing her anger and sorrow on him, her song hitting him harder now he was in the room.

“A lie? Right because that’s all I’m good for right? I lie to you, to Alya, to my parents, to everyone!” His heart tore again as he looked at her, it reminded him scarily of how he’d found Chloe in the motel. “It’s all too much, I can’t do this anymore! I’m 14! No one should be doing this at 14.” She scowled off towards the ground where he saw a pair of earrings discarded.

“What’s too much?” He asked in confusion, “Maybe I can help? A problem shared is a problem halved after all.” It was a cheesy sentiment but what else could he say when she refused to explain anything.

“Everything. Just please go Luka. I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I already have.” She seemed miserable, this pile of a person wasn’t the fearless and strong headed Marinette he knew. He wasn’t sure who this was. “Please.” It was when she looked up to him it clicked. He’d seen this look before, on the day of Miracle Queen.

“You’ve been suffering all this time?” She looked confused, “Weeks ago when I saved you from those wasps, you’ve been like this since then?” He internally punched himself, how had he not seen this? No wonder their dates always ended in disaster. “It’s okay to ask for help sometimes. Look at Ladybug, she had all those heroes to help her didn’t she?”

“And now I have no one.” His heart stopped, but that would mean..?

“You’re right Luka, Ladybug always needs help, without Chat I wouldn’t have even made it through that first day.” He climbed the rest of the way into her room letting the door close behind him.

“You trusted me with Chloe. Trust me now.” He placed his hands lightly on her shoulders, he hoped to kwami he had figured this out and not jumped to an impossible conclusion. From the way she covered her mouth realising that she’d said too much he was counting on it. “Maybe I can’t be Viperion anymore, and maybe I can’t be your boyfriend. That doesn’t mean I won’t always be here for you, fighting alongside you.” He pulled her into his chest as her tears soaked his shirt before subsiding. She took a deep breath and took a step back to look him in the eyes.

“I am Ladybug.”

“At your service, how can I help?” He smiled, in his eyes, his Melody had become even more of an amazing person.

Chapter Text

- Chloe -

In her defence Chloe had tried her very best since returning to Le Grand Paris. She’s learned her butlers name, had Sabrina walk her through the tricky homework questions rather than just doing them for her, but it was hard work. She’d sneak out to the Liberty when things got too much with her Mother. Sometimes she’d bring gifts pretending that she’d only come to repay some fake debt only for Luka to smile and tell her that she didn’t need to buy their time and she’d to fall apart. The first few times Juleka or Rose had seen her in that state they’d been surprised, caught off guard at her sudden vulnerability, but it didn’t take long for them to find a routine in the chaos. Juleka would play something low and soothing on her bass while Rose would hum a lullaby until the shaking stopped. As the weeks went on, she stopped bringing gifts and would come even when nothing was wrong, she realised that she enjoyed the company of the strange family that lived on a boat. She went shopping with the girls a few times (in disguise of course) realising the hidden gems that could be found in charity shops. Eventually her designer wardrobe was accompanied by a smaller collection of oversized shirts and faded jeans that had certainly seen better days but felt like heaven when worn.

The class had been harder to convince she was trying to change. The daggers the retired heroes glared into her was enough for everyone to catch on she’d fucked up big time. But she kept trying, eventually moving to the back of the class with Sabrina to get closer to the girls who were kind enough to give her a chance. Deep down she knew she didn’t deserve it, but it was nice to pretend. From her position at the top, it was strange the things she saw that she was too “busy” to notice before. The way Marinette and Adrien snuck foods and quiet words to their bags, the way the Lila girls’ nails dug into her desk when someone questioned her stories or dared to one-up her with their own exciting weekend adventures. She saw the evil smirk Lila let loose when something went her way, like Marinette being uninvited to a plan or called jealous. Now Dupain-Cheng was still Chloe’s mortal enemy as she had been since Ecole, but she knew how kind the baker girl was and how these stories of her bullying seemed far-fetched, even to her.

For the first month since her akumatisation to Miracle Queen, she watched Marinette grow further and further apart from her previous friends, the bags under her eyes turning her into an exhausted statue in the corner of the room at lunch. That was until Gang of Secrets.

She’d seen the alert on her phone and the news report made her stomach sink as she saw Princess Fragrance and Reflekta. She’d grabbed her stuff in such a rush she hadn’t realised what she was wearing until Sabrina questioned it as her hand rested on the doorknob to leave.

“Chloe you’re wearing-“

“It doesn’t matter! They need my help are you coming or not!” The blonde threw the door open to give the red head chance to follow her, but her absence in the lift felt like a ghost by her side. The roads would be blocked in the surrounding area so her driver was of no use, she was so unfamiliar with the streets that she programmed her destination into google maps and slipped a headphone into her ear before taking off. She had to find out what had gone wrong, they’d been kind to her and maybe she could do the same.

Her first stop was Liberty, she found Anarka in tears and Luka with a silent rage clouding his brow. They weren’t sure how the girls had been akumatised, they were supposed to be spending time with their other friends, enjoying the nice weather. Nothing to help there then, she ran back out faintly hearing their calls of concern. Next was the school, the flood of Reflekta clones that escaped the doors told her she’d found them, she covered her mouth to not breath in Princess Fragrance’s mind control gas and stopped dead. She had no plan, no defences, nothing. What was she doing here?! Her breath started to come short, she was starting to have another attack.

“Incoming text from unknown number.” The voice of her phones’ assistant pulled her back above the water slightly, “Come on now little Architect, go save your friends.” This allowed her to take the first deep breath in minutes, the rush of air making her splutter. They were right, she had to save the only friends she had, the only one’s kind enough to let her explore who she wanted to be, not what her Mother decided she had to be. She focused on her akumatised friends, Juleka was off to the side, clutching her arms around herself, clearly not fully under the control of Shadow Moth, Ladybug seemed to notice that too using her yo-yo to take her away from the influence of the others. Ladybug. She hadn’t seen her since Scarlet Moth, no, now wasn’t the time to go back into the water, she had to stay afloat. If Ladybug could de-akumatise Juleka then Chloe would be there to support her after the fact, Ladybug had a city to save, she could hardly wait for Juleka’s post-akuma fear to end. She found the alley easily, hiding behind some bins while Ladybug worked her magic, she peaked out to watch as Juleka rejected the akuma herself, her friend really was amazing! Chloe knew how hard rejecting an akuma was once Shadow Moth worked his way into your head. The next part she knew she wasn’t supposed to see, but then again, of course Ladybug would choose Juleka. Juleka was good… Unlike her…

‘One of us.’ His voice rang through her head again.

She scowled at the ground at his memory, “Well if I’m one of you, with her on their side, we’re gonna lose old man.” She grinned.

***

Chloe waited out the attack in that alley, after seeing Juleka become a hero, she knew there was nothing she could do to help. She couldn’t go home until the attack was over either, after the adrenaline wore off, she realised Luka and Anarka had been right, running around during a multiple akuma attack was really stupid. Before long, the all-clear sounded and she turned her phone back to navigation before heading back towards Liberty, she still wanted to make sure Rose was okay after everything. She needn’t have worried though, she saw the girls in their usual group as she passed the Bakery, all with determined looks on their faces she rushed over to Rose hugging her tightly.

“Are you okay?” Rose welcomed the hug of course, cheerily smiling at Chloe as she pulled away.

“Yep! Ladybug, Chat Noir and Zorro fixed us right up! Right Juleka?” She snuck a glance to Juleka who blushed lightly as she nodded.

“I’m sorry who are you?” Chloe looked up at Alya with confusion before looking down at herself and letting out a strangled yelp. She knew Sabrina had tried to warn her this morning but an American rock bands graphic tee, acid wash jeans and converse was so much worse than she expected. Not to mention last nights makeup and her hair blown to a bird’s nest with all the running! She must have looked like a tramp.

“Friend.” Juleka smiled, under her hair. Chloe looked at the girl confused, she swore she hadn’t heard the girl talk in all the weeks she’d been at Liberty.

“Yep! Just a friend! No one really! Bye!” She turned tail then, how embarrassing!

- Luka -

Luka took a deep breath as he pulled Marinette close, “You’re amazing is what you are Melody.” She laughed weakly.

“He’s right Marinette!” A red Kwami flew up to head level as others began to come out from their hiding spots all chiming in with their support for Marinette.

“But I was supposed to keep all of this a secret!” Her arms flailed widely to all the kwami’s as her kwami giggled.

“But Ladybug always has help! And the miraculous’ that deal with time always find out someway or another right fluff?” Sass looked over to a small white rabbit who seemed to be having a very intense conversation with nothing and spinning uncontrollably.

“That’s her agreeing.” Marinette smiled wiping her eyes.

“I think I can forgive you for keeping this secret.” He smiled as the kwami’s slowly came to meet him, “That being said, I think it’s time you left your room, your parents are really worried, I’m sure your little friends can behave for a couple hours.” He looked at the creatures like a parent would when scolding their child.

“Just give a minute to get changed and stuff.” She grumbled, knowing he was right but still wanting to complain. He nodded before leaving her room and having his own miniature freak-out involving screaming into a sofa cushion. It did make far too much sense that someone as amazing as Marinette would be chosen to protect Paris but no wonder she bailed on so many plans or seemed so scatterbrained. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, he could freak out more later. He’d been given the snake miraculous enough times to have come to terms with saving Paris, and this was just an extension of that… or that’s what he was going to think for now to not scream in Mari’s face at how insane this was.

-Marinette-

She’d messed up big time. She knew that. What was Chat going to say? She’d promised that he’d be the first to know her identity when they’d defeated Hawkmoth. He was going to be furious with her!

“Chat Noir would not!” She forgot Tikki was vaguely psychic, she’d explained it once that the longer a kwami is with a holder, the better in-tune they become with their thoughts and emotions. “I think if you tell him everything, about how stressed you’ve been, about how this was all too much, he’d understand.” The little bug smiled, Marinette wasn’t wholly convinced but she’d have to talk to Chat anyway. She took a last look in the mirror, ensuring the worst of the bags under her eyes had been covered and headed down to Luka, she’d changed into black jeans and a red button up shirt, hoping to channel the confidence she gained as Ladybug.

Luka was right again of course, the relief on her mother’s face as she explained she was heading out with Luka for a few hours was clear, she’d really messed up by worrying them so much. Luka gave her hand a squeeze as encouragement as he led her outdoors. She stopped for a moment in the sunlight, letting it really soak in before she let Luka lead the way.

-Juleka-

‘Do you think she came out just for us?’ She signed down to Rose who was laying in her lap.

“I think she did. Chloe’s never hugged me before… she lets me hug her but it’s always reluctant. Like she doesn’t think she deserves it.” Her lips pulled together in sadness as the goth went back to playing with her hair. “But that hug was so full of love! She was so worried and relieved and just…” She sighed happily hugging herself. Juleka smiled, although she had been very hesitant to let Chloe into their little world at Liberty, Luka had asked with such desperation in his eyes she couldn’t just say no, and when she’d seen the panic attacks plaguing the girl up close, she’d seen the same glimmer of hope her twin had in her. The glimmer of something better.

“Jules, Rose, you down here?” Speak of the devil.

“Over here Luka! Just resting!” Rose called, both girls had pushed themselves a little far today, Rose physically and Juleka emotionally so she cringed back slightly when she saw Marinette, realising both would have to pretend for a little longer and push themselves further. Luka must have seen her face because he smiled apologetically. He flopped down into the sofa opposite the girls clearly also exhausted as Marinette stood awkwardly off to the side before he’d pulled her down too.

“Relax, no one expects anything from you here Melody.” The look they exchanged was odd, it was the one the twins reserved for exchanging secrets, but it seemed to work as Marinette collapsed into the cushions and Luka stretched out to lay his legs in her lap trapping her in relaxation.

That worked for about two hours, the sun was gently setting as the hurricane of Chloe Bourgeoir rolled in.

- Chloe -

Given that Alya spent every weekday in class with Chloe and she’d fail to recognise her, she really thought she’d had a lucky escape, but with the latest gossip article her mother was pushing in her face she was clearly wrong.

“Do you have any idea what this had done to my brand!” She pulled sharply at Chloe’s shirt, pinching the skin underneath. “The number of vultures I’ve had to pay off saying that this was some wannabe stealing and perverting your image is ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! I’ve had that little assistant of yours fired, clearly if she’s letting you out the house looking like last year’s urban trash, she’s of no use to me.” Chloe rolled her eyes, Sabrina would still be in her suite, the two girls had been fired countless times and still never been thrown out. “Honestly Charlotte I thought we’d sorted all this rebellious builder nonsense out.” Then her blood boiled.

“Chloe! My name is Chloe and I want to be an architect not a builder!” Her mother was briefly taken by surprise before the venom came back to her eyes and the poison to her tongue.

“You will be whatever I call you child! I am the only one keeping this family from failure! You think that blundering idiot of a father could even stand up straight with that lack of spine! I am the one who got him the mayorship! I am the one who pays that stupid little school of yours to let you pass you stupid girl! You will never be anything other than what I make you.”

“But I want-“ The slap cut her off catching her of guard and causing her to stumble back clutching her cheek.

“I don’t care. Throw this silly little thing away and fix your hair. I have an image to uphold.” Her cheek burned but she felt hollow. Of course, she’d guessed all these things about what her mother thought of her but hearing it from her own lips was something else. And her cheek really burned. She numbly walked to her room paying little attention to Sabrina as she headed to the bathroom to do as she was told.

- Sabrina -

“I can’t believe she hit you… but she was right you know Chloe, this isn’t you. You’ve been miserable for weeks, and doing your own homework? Really? This isn’t you. What happened to getting whatever you wanted whenever you wanted?” Sabrina had hated seeing her friend like this, ever since Chat Noir showed up that night and the incident with Scarlet Moth, something had been very wrong with her. But Sabrina had been patient, waiting for the commanding force to return. “You’ve been nice to me, hanging around with those twin weirdos has changed you.” She soothed, every time she’d come back from that boat she could see the tear tracks on her face, she always cried when she was with them, that can’t be healthy for anyone. They must be so horrible to her. “You could never be an architect Chloe, you have to be clever for that, and we know that’s not you.” She started to comb through her friend’s hair, it had been a shock when she’d heard the slap echo through the hall, she knew Style Queen was ruthless but violent..? Nevertheless, this would fix Chloe, she’d be back to normal, and Sabrina would be given direction in her life again. “Isn’t that better?” She had fixed her friends hair and makeup and now it was just the clothes and Chloe Bourgeoir would be back, she just knew it! Everything would be-

“No…” She stopped dead, her hands clutching the makeup brush tighter. “This isn’t better Sabrina! I’m not better! I want to be a good person, I want to be an Architect! I don’t want to order you around! I don’t want to step on people to get to the top! I don’t want to be my Mother!” Her voice kept getting louder, the confidence Chloe had been lacking recently returned in force and made Sabrina cower. But this wasn’t right… Sabrina was supposed to be at her side not on the receiving end!

- Chloe -

“I am not my mother.” She stared at her reflection in resolve, messing her ‘perfect’ image back to the way it had been when she was rushing through the streets of Paris determined to save her friends. Determined to do something good. She smeared the foundation to reveal and angry red mark and scratches from her mother’s manicured nails reminding her of the fashion mogul again. This wouldn’t do.

“Chloe no!” She vaguely heard Sabrina and felt her try and stop her as she took a pair of scissors designed for trimming her bangs and hacked the bottom half of her ponytail off. She tore the hair tie out and messed her hair up. She wasn’t her mother and that was okay.

Sabrina didn’t think so.

- Luka -

“Nope! No! Absolutely not! You broke her! You fix her! I’ve had bloody enough!” Was all the warning the group got before the girl he recognised as Sabrina threw another girl down the stairs into the living quarters. Rose and Juleka gasped, Rose with a sparkle in her eyes clearly catching on to what was happening a lot faster than he and Marinette could.

“I don’t who you are anymore, but I want nothing to do with it.” Was the last thing the redhead screamed before storming off Liberty.

“Um… Who’s this..?” Marinette asked, her eyes squinting in vague recognition, like him, she recognised the girl in front of them but not quite enough to recall their name.

“Chloe?” Rose asked, lifting her head up, the girl started to laugh uncontrollably, only then could they see the ugly red mark on her cheek.

“I’m free!” she span before collapsing into a bean bag.

“Chloe?!” Marinette jolted forward rushing to the blonde to hold her still from her giggle fit and examine her properly. “Chloe what happened? Your hair… Your face..?” He knew how much Marinette hated the blonde, especially given recent events and reveals but her protective instinct took over.

“Oh, my mom slapped me for going out in such an unruly state earlier and ruining her image.” She shrugged, the others now rushing over expecting her usual reaction to her mother’s antics. “And it was always getting in the way, so I cut it.”

“Short hair looks good on you,” Luka chuckled, he knew she’d been considering cutting it for a while, constantly complaining at how the long strands got everywhere and were far too much maintenance. Not to mention the one time he’d convinced her to look into schools for her passion and she’d found her hair getting even more in the way.

“Thank you,” she blushed, “I wish I’d gone somewhere though, the ends look ridiculous!” Juleka signed something toward the blonde, he couldn’t see from the angle and Chloe didn’t understand but he got the idea.

“We can fix that, Rose, get her set up will you, I think I need to update Marinette on our new friend.” The bluenette in question was stood off to the side now deep in thought.

***

By the time the girls had started on fixing Chloe’s hair, Marinette was mostly caught up, with Luka not needing to explain much about why he decided to give Chloe another chance, he only had to catch her up on Chloe’s visits since then, finishing with her realisation that Juleka and Rose were truly her friends and weren’t doing so out of pity or desire for her wealth and how she’d come out in the middle of an akuma attack to help them.

“I’m not saying you need give her the same chance, she’s been worse to you than even Juleka, but I will ask you to play nice so to speak. Not friendly, just civil. She’s really trying Marinette.” The bluenette still had her face tightly pulled together in thought as her kwami rubbed soothing circles on the back of her holder’s hand.

“I know she is, before miracle queen, Chloe was really making progress. And after what I saw at the hotel…” She shook her head, “I can’t promise she’ll be my best friend, but if she could stop causing Akuma’s that would be amazing.” She smiled genuinely, causing Luka to relax. Marinette was always a good ally to have and maybe she could use some support from the blonde in class. After what he’d heard from her today and her interaction with Alya. “Let’s see if they need any help.” She stood up from the bed where they’d gone to talk in private, “I might not have Juleka and Rose’s skills in makeovers but a designer can always tell what looks good.” She gave Tikki one last hug and headed to help.

- Chloe -

She couldn’t bring herself to regret her decision, even after the shock had warn off and the adrenaline had died down again, she trusted the girls to fix the hack job of hairdo she’d given herself. Juleka searched frantically on her phone for images to show Rose and after a hum of approval the picture would be shown to Chloe. She’d give feedback, which bit of the style she liked or didn’t and the search would start again each time refining until it was just right and something Rose felt confident she could pull off.

“Now hold still.” Rose instructed and Chloe held herself stiff, ballet really coming in handy as of late.

“Sorry if this is private or whatever, but you don’t talk much do you?” she looked over to Juleka who shrugged awkwardly. “I noticed it earlier today, all the times I’ve visited here or we’ve gone shopping you’ve never spoken but today with the others…” She trailed off.

“This is Juleka’s safe space,” Rose continued after a look from the goth, “She prefers not to talk but sometimes she has to.” Chloe would have nodded along but knew she had to stay still.

“You should put your number in my phone then, that way you can always talk to me.” She looked over to the counter where her phone rested with a blush as the girl excitedly entered her number and took a selfie to add.

“Add mine too will you.” Rose muffled around a pair of scissors she had hanging from her teeth. Juleka typed again before waiting for Rose to pull a funny face and snap a photo. She handed the phone back to Chloe and quickly typed something in her own phone.

‘Thank you for coming to make sure we were okay today, it meant a lot.’

“Well you two are my friends and when I saw the alert I dropped everything to come help, not sure what I was thinking I could do but…”

“It’s the thought that counts in this time of make believe.” She jumped slightly earning a gentle scolding tap from Rose as Marinette appeared in the kitchen. “I can’t believe the Chloe Bourgeoir is an Aerosmith fan.”

“What can I say, the rocker twins and their little princess are a bad influence.” She smirked

“I wouldn’t say that.” Marinette grinned skipping over to Rose to look at the inspiration photo before coming around the front to analyse Chloe and the image side-by-side, seemingly happy with the choice she let Rose continue. Chloe let out a breath she didn’t realise she was holding, she might not like Marinette but she does respect her opinion as a fashion designer.

“So I wanted to apologise for how I’ve treated you up until recently… something happened and I realised that I wasn’t a good person, but I’m trying to be.” She kept glancing quickly to Luka for encouragement.

“I know, I was Multimouse.” She shrugged as the room stared wide eyed at her, “It’s not like it matters now, I was officially retired as a hero but I know what you did Chloe. And I think that if anyone can help you change, it’s certainly the rocker twins and their princess. So let’s start over shall we? It’s nice to meet you, my name’s Marinette Dupain-Cheng, baker and designer extraordinaire.” She reached out a hand and Chloe took it proudly, squaring her shoulders.

“Chloe Bourgeoir, current hot mess and aspiring architect.”

“I told you to stay still!” This time Rose pinched her ear gently,

“Sorry!” she chuckled.

***

“Done!” It didn’t take Rose nearly as long as it took her usual designer to do her hair but as she looked in the mirror Juleka held up she teared up throwing her arms around the blonde,

“I love it thank you!” She looked over to Luka and Juleka who proudly fist bumped, clearly proud of the situation when a thought struck her, Marinette must have caught her curious look.

“You know, I’ve always thought you look good in pink.” She mused.

“YES.”

Chapter Text

*Ladybug*

“It’ll be okay, I’ll keep an eye out for akuma while you talk to Chat, he’s your partner Mari.” Having Luka by her side was enough support to calm her rising nerves. She had to tell Chat that she told someone her secret identity, he deserved to know that she’d broken her promise in the very least.

“Do you think I should tell him who?” She bit at her nail over her suit,

“I think you should tell him whatever feels right, trust yourself and trust him.” She took one last deep breath and threw her yo-yo up to the rooves of Paris and made her way across to her meeting point with Chat Noir, of course he was already there, early as always, so eager for her.

“My Lady!” He span to her, his smile faltering when he saw the grave look in her eyes, “My Lady?”

“I told someone! I couldn’t help it! I was scared and exhausted and he was there and he wasn’t you!” The last part came out louder than she meant it to, but she was too upset to keep her emotions in check. In his defence Chat tried to not look too disappointed, if it wasn’t for his ears and tail drooping, he would have completely gotten away with the act. “I couldn’t cope, everything got too much and after Fu I can’t lose you too!”

“Hey, hey little bug it’s okay.” He rushed over and wrapped her in his arms, “I know you’d never do anything to hurt me on purpose.”

“But I hurt you anyway!” She pushed him away, “I promised that once we’d defeated Hawkmoth, you’d be the first to learn who I was, and I broke that promise…”

“Can I know who..? Not that I doubt your judgement at all, but it would be nice to know if this Cat has any competition.” His eyebrows wriggled, trying to bring light to this situation.

“Viperion… That is to say…”

“Luka Couffaine” He finished for her, “You know there are certainly worse people to trust,” She managed to lift her head enough to see his ears had perked up, “The perfect knight to fight alongside me and protect my precious Lady.”

“So you’re not angry at me?” She whispered; she was afraid of the answer but she couldn’t not know, that would tear her apart.

“No, never angry. I won’t lie and say it doesn’t sting, but I could never be angry with you.” He gently wiped her tears away with clawed fingers. “It’s nice to have someone to rely on outside the mask…”

“It is… which is another reason I wanted to see you tonight… I was holding so much to myself, bottling it all up I’m honestly surprised I wasn’t akumatised… but I realised that maybe you could do with someone like that too…” His eyes snapped to hers “Obviously you can’t choose Luka, no one can know who we both are but… If you could find someone you trust too… someone who could be there for you outside the mask… you should tell them. Tikki told me that it was okay for me to need help sometimes and that applies to you too. It doesn’t have to be right away but… if you ever feel like you need someone in your civilian life… Please don’t let yourself get as upset as I did. I can’t lose you too…”

“Never bug.” He wrapped her in his arms again and they stayed like that for a while until the sun had well and truly set and the nightlife of Paris had begun before they parted.

“Hey snake boy, if you’re out there you make sure our Lady gets home safe!” He called, before a voyage portal appeared and Luka stepped through.

“Of course,” He raised a fist in solidarity, “Less scales these days but here to help as always.”

“You’ll need a new name then.” The cat smiled connecting his fist with Luka’s.

“How about Naga?” Ladybug pondered from the side, “It’s a shapeshifter in Hindu mythology that sometimes appears as a snake. Sass will always be perfect for you, but we might need you in other forms too.”

“Until we find a team again, that is” Chat chimed in, nudging Ladybug to add to the fist-bump.

“Until then.” This was going to be okay, she knew it would be, her two best friends would ensure that.

---

After her encounter with Gang of Secrets and Luka’s gentle prodding, Marinette had decided to catch up with all her friends. Luka was right, stressing over an unknown translation was getting her nowhere, and the more wound up she became the less likely she was to actually translate anything. By the end of the day, she’d realised just how thankful she was to Luka, she’d been so wrapped up with herself that she’d failed to notice Kagami and Adrien had broken up and decided to dedicate her entire day to getting them back together. Now that had also been a spectacular failure but in doing so she’d at least managed to cheer Kagami up, even if it was unconventionally. Even if Chat hadn’t been able to make the 72^nd battle with Mr. Pigeon, a quick merge of the miraculous was all that was needed to defeat him in the end, and with Naga’s appearance at the pool with his brilliant theory of the creation kwami Ladybug managed to create a new power in the fight against Shadow Moth!

Things were going to be okay.

*Chloe*

She crept back into the suite once the sun had set hoping to avoid her parents, having seen her mother’s reaction to just her outfit, Kwami knows what she would do with her hair now cropped short and dyed pink. What she wasn’t expecting to find was her mother in a very sad pile on the living room floor, red wine spilt all over the white half of her trouser suit and plush rug. Chloe stiffened; she hadn’t seen her mother like this since she left for New York all those years ago. She’d done it again and pushed her mother over the edge. She wiped a traitorous tear from her eye and went about scooping her sorry excuse for a parent off the floor. Luckily, although her mother-lifting muscles had disappeared since she was 10, her mother’s addiction to the finer things in life meant she weighed the same as ever, making the haul to her bedroom easier, she left a glass of water and some painkillers on the side and quietly left heading to the kitchen to make herself some tea. She was already struggling to sleep with the constant whispers of Hawk-ass haunting her nightmares, the concern of her mother drowning in vomit was certainly not going to help tonight. JP had wandered in at some point, smiling widely at her appearance before placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“You have to put her to bed?” He raised an eyebrow towards her,

“Just like the old days.” And if she happened to cry into his shoulder, no one would need to know.

---

The next morning she felt miserable, of course sleep had failed to come, her fingers twitched as she saw the packet her mother left on the coffee table the night before, and steeled herself against the decision, opting instead for a stop by her favourite café for an extra large and extra strong coffee. She’d fought with her hair for nearly an hour before leaving, regardless of how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the same effortless style the girls had managed the evening before, maybe if they weren’t too busy she’d be able to ask them to help her fix that disaster. Needing something fancier than her band shirts she dug through her enormous closet for something between fashionista and badass, managing a pair of leather trousers, camo green loose t-shirt tucked into the waistband, a plain leather jacket, and finally a pair of white sneakers. She pulled a loose thread from her shirt and headed out the door. The staff of course stared but with her head held high and a scared smile on her lips she waved at each of them, their confusion growing with a hesitant wave back.

She’d prepared herself for the classes’ reaction as well, her suspicions that Sabrina had explained her recent breakdowns to her peers was inevitable, they all huddled around the girl in the front row as she entered, her step faltered as they all turned to stare but she clenched her fists and strode up towards her seat proudly. At her entrance, Juleka separated from the main group to sit next to Chloe, looking up at her hair and giggling, Chloe rolled her eyes with a blush, “I couldn’t figure out how you got it to look so great,” she pouted. Juleka reached into her bag pulling out a brush and a couple of bobby pins still smiling, Chloe turned to give the goth better access to her hair. Marinette arrived a few minutes later and to her surprise came to sit next to the two, the glare Alya gave the bluenette’s back not escaping Chloe’s notice, she gathered something had gone wrong from Marinette’s appearance at Liberty but something that severe had not crossed her mind.

“I would never have expected that shade of green to match pink so well,” she hesitated before reaching out and fixing the front of Chloe’s hair.

“Well you are just a baker girl, how could you know the depths of fashion an heiress like me possesses.” She pulled the disguise of the old Chloe on for a moment before breaking out into a fit of giggles with the other two. “Speaking of fashion” she looked down smoothing out a non-existent wrinkle on her shirt, “I realised a lot of my wardrobe isn’t really me anymore, so I was wondering if you would like to come shopping in it sometime, I found an awesome jacket for you this morning,” she turned to Juleka, “Kinda like this one but with a few extra chains and buckles.” The goth’s eyes lit up, “I’m not sure if there’s much pink for Rose but she’s welcome anyway.” Her eyes drifted to the front of class where Rose smiled up at the girls before going back to comforting Sabrina. Juleka reached around to give a thumbs up before firmly repositioning Chloes head to continue fixing her hair earning another giggle from Marinette.

As if one news bomb wasn’t enough for the Akuma class, the actress that was Lila Rossi came into the class roughly fifteen minutes before the start of lessons with an unusual amount of confidence even for her, Chloe, Marinette and Adrien stiffened, Rossi was dangerous like this, and they all knew. “Alya!” She rushed over to the reporter and hugged her fiercely, before moving on to Rose, Alix and Mylene, glancing up at Juleka sweetly, “I’m so glad you’re all okay! I was going to come find you after yesterday, but you know… Duty called and all,” She flicked her hair over her shoulder, revealing a silver fox tail pendant for all to see… but that wasn’t… She felt Juleka’s fingers still in her hair. Adrien rolled his eyes heading to his seat seemingly heard this lie before and Marinette leaned back with her arms crossed angrily.

 “No. You don’t get to tarnish her with your image.” Chloe felt the acid on her tongue as she rose from her seat, subconsciously shielding Juleka from the liar. “You don’t deserve to even stand in her shadow so how dare you claim to be an inch of the person she is.” She saw Marinette’s wide eyes glance at her from the side. “Keep that lie to yourself.” For a moment, fear crossed Rossi’s eyes, Chloe had never felt such an urge to protect someone in her life but if that sausage-haired bitch thought she was going to impersonate her precious friend she had another thing coming.

“I don’t know what you mean.” She blinked blankly tucking the necklace under her shirt.

“That’s what I thought.” She slowly lowered herself back into her chair, Juleka placing a shaking hand on hers with such a fierce look in her eyes Chloe felt a swell of pride and turned her palm to give the other girls hand a gentle squeeze.

After that little outburst the class returned to their seats, Lila taking the opportunity to take Chloe’s old seat next to Sabrina, her heart tore slightly, the poor girl was going from one bad influence to the next… but then again it was hardly her business anymore, Sabrina had denounced her, and that was it for them she supposed. She was slightly curious about the way Marinette’s eyebrows pulled together every time she looked at Chloe, like there was a question she was trying to find the answer to without even asking.

---

Luckily, whatever concern Marinette had had vanished by the end of the day, and the walk to Le Grand Paris was pleasant, Chloe even managing to convince the girls to all choose something at the little café she loved, her entrance to the hotel was much less so. Her mother waited impatiently for them at the door to her suite, her eyes glared daggers at each of her friends, “I wanted to inform you, your sister will be coming to live with us within the next week.” She could feel the confused energy from her friends and Marinette but kept her spine straightened, “I don’t know who this little act is for, but you are not to corrupt her with your influence understand Clio?” Her wine breath washed over the group.

“Understood.” She pushed past her mother, the heels not working in the older Bourgeois favour as she stumbled back and the girls entered Chloe’s room.

“Sister?” Chloe’s shoulders rose up to her ears as a sob racked through her. Juleka was the one who’d spoken, her quiet voice piercing the silence. She took a deep breath and turned to the girls.

“The upper class are filled with dirty little secrets and my Mother’s infidelity is one of them… I don’t know much about her, only that she exists and is the one Mother chose to take with her to New York 3 years ago.” She feverishly scrubbed the tears from her cheeks, probably smudging the concealer keeping her black eye from the public.

“How could she do that to you!” She wasn’t expecting Marinette’s fury to be aimed away from her but it was, so much so her tears stopped immediately. Marinette was a force to be reconned with, she’d faced a small amount of it before, back when she used to consider the girl her mortal enemy. “And don’t think I’d forgotten about that either!” Her hand gesturing wildly to the others eye. “Is she always… like that…” Her look turned to that of pity as she turned her eyes to the door.

“Drunk? Or a terrible mother?” Chloe shrugged, she wasn’t sure exactly how much Marinette trusted her yet and unloading an entire life of trauma was hardly going to solidify a friendship. “Enough of her unpleasantness, time to go shopping.” The veil of her old self appeared slightly as she clapped her hands and headed towards an off shoot of her room. The remaining three looked at each other with mixed looks of concern before shaking the feeling away and following her, Chloe would tell them as much or as little as she wanted and no amount of asking would fix that.

---

By the end of the evening, each girl had picked out a pile of clothes, the largest pile was set aside for donations and the smallest for Marinette to ‘play with’ as she put it. They looked back into her nearly empty wardrobe, Chloe only keeping around a fifth of her original collection, she’d need to go shopping in a big way at some point and each girl had promised to take her to their favourite stores at some point and it filled the girl with a warm feeling she hadn’t felt outside of The Liberty in a very long time. She called down for food at some point and made sure each girl got into her drivers car safely with their hoard before retreating back to her room for a much needed bath and relaxation time.

*Marinette*

It had been a very odd week, if you’d have asked the version of her from the start of the week if she ever imagined telling her ex her secret identity, becoming concerningly fast friends with the Chloe Bourgeois and having the miracle box nearly taken from her by a previously disappeared order of the miraculous she probably would have just laughed hysterically in your face but somehow with each new development she became more confident in the choices she’d made so far. The new guardian had agreed to let her keep a hold of the miracle box with only a couple of conditions, one of which was teaching her meditation techniques which she’d only agreed to when he’d allowed Chat Noir and Naga to attend the sessions. She’d made it very clear that they were a team, and she would not be doing anything without their support, which had not seemed to fill him with any more confidence but alas, she really wasn’t sure she cared.

Chapter Text

*Chloe*

Despite her rather relaxing week in the absence of her Mother as she hurried to get the hotel ready for Chloe’s replacement, she couldn’t get rid of that itch that danced at the back of her head. At some point she’d taken one of her Mother’s discarded half boxes of cigarettes and allowed herself to play with the idea of picking up the habit. In her world it wasn’t at all unusual for someone her age to be picking something hazardous to her health up. Her Mother worked in fashion and her Daddy a politician, both were impossibly busy jobs that meant skipping meals and an increased amount of stress from the average profession. Her resolve caved the night before her sister’s arrival and after a particularly horrific nightmare. Since the incident following Miracle Queen, she’d been plagued with nightmares, often finding the same events repeating themselves. Every time she thought she’d made progress into becoming a better person like making a friend, standing up for herself in front of her parents, deciding that she wouldn’t hate her sister without getting the chance to know her first another twisted scene arrived. Hawkmoth would take her friends, or make her hurt them and leave. Her parents would abandon her or send her away somewhere she couldn’t speak the language or contact anyone she knew for support. Her sister would turn out just like her mother, cruel to her very core and cause her precious friends to turn away from her just to protect themselves. The worst part of it all, as Chloe awoke in a cold sweat, she couldn’t blame them. At the end of it all, Chloe Bourgeois was not a good person, and her friends didn’t deserve to be caught in the crossfire. Her first inhale had her choking but she still found the effect calming, as if the punishment of her lungs protesting against the smoke somehow fit the crime of being her.

The day of her sister’s arrival she really didn’t want to be home, she’d initially wanted to go to Liberty but Luka informed them of a Kitty Section practice and although she was still welcome, she knew that Ivan, Mylene and Adrien had not yet warmed to giving her a second chance and those uncomfortable interactions with her former only friend, filled her with as much dread as facing her Mother so she instead headed to Marinette’s. Apparently she had deliveries to run for her parents and Chloe found herself using any excuse to spend time with the girl these days. Although after Gang of Secrets the bags under the girls eyes lessoned, the animosity that emanated from Alya was undeniable and Chloe couldn’t just watch as such a sweet soul was worn down again. The girl didn’t even get to the doors of the bakery before running into the clumsy girl, not even surprised as she managed to catch whatever baked good was heading to the floor.

“Sorry!” She abashed before looking up and seeing who exactly she’d ran in to, “Oh, hi!” Her face changed into genuine happiness, “Thank you for coming to help today! But um,” she kicked an invisible stone with her shoe, Chloe smiled as she noticed they were a pair the bluenette had taken from her closet, a soft lavender pair of suede ankle boots matching her light blue jeans and pastel pink turtleneck. Chloe rolled her eyes and handed the pastry box over,

“You haven’t told your parents about me yet have you?” She guessed right if the girls’ guilty expression was anything to go by. “You have nothing to worry about, watch.” Chloe adjusted her own jade sweater before walking into the bakery, “Hi Mademoiselle Cheng! And Monsieur Dupain!” She took a short courtesy as Marinette rushed in after her, “Marinette told me all about you and it’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Clio!” Marinette stiffened at her side, she probably should have warned the girl she’d started contemplating the nickname after her Mother had instructed her to stay away from her sister. The bakers parents looked surprised but not concerned, she’d been told enough times that she barely resembled herself anymore so took it as a victory as they smiled at her and thanked her for her help before sending the two off with their first set of packages.

“Clio huh?” Marinette asked after the first parcel had been handed over, Chloe relaxed in finally hearing her voice.

“Yeah, I was speaking to Elaine the other day while helping her in the kitchen,” Marinette’s eyebrow raised but let her continue, “And she was telling me about when she was younger, how she used to get in trouble all the time and even ended up arrested a couple of times. She said when she finally got a grip she decided to change her name, that she didn’t want to be that person anymore and that she felt it held her back. I’ve been experimenting.” She shrugged heading towards the next house on their list.

“But Clio was what-“

“My Mother called me I know. But I think that’s why I like it so much.” She giggled, “It’s the first time I ever stood up to her you know? Normally I just let her say her piece and move on, but I wasn’t going to let her this time. Clio wasn’t going to be stood on.”

“I like it, I’m not sure it’s quite you, but I definitely like the idea behind it.” Chloe’s cheeks warmed, not realising how much she wanted the approval of the girl beside her.

“Good, well we better hurry , these pastries aren’t going to deliver themselves.” She increased her speed her head ducking to avoid the blush as the other girl smiled and hurried along.

---

The two giggled as the entered the Bakery for the third time, this time carrying half a crate of apples each for one of the famous Dupain-Cheng apple pies when Marinette managed to walk directly into a customer spilling her crate everywhere and tripping the two up. Chloe placed her crate down on the counter and started to collect the apples as the twin tailed girl started to string out an apology, something about the blonde customer struck Chloe but she pushed it aside, instead smiling up at Marinette’s rambles until she heard the name.

“I’m Zoe! I’m over from New York and I’m here to be with my family!” No… her grip on an apple tightened as she glared at the floor, suddenly finding the tiles to be particularly interesting. Her gaze floating to her sister’s shoes at the mention of her choice in decorating them… One friend? And she seemed so happy to be with her family… maybe it was just an unfortunate coincidence, she finished collecting the spilled apples as Marinette finished writing out her number on the top box.

“That girl’s always giving people the best of chances right Clio?” The raise of the small Chinese woman’s brow made Chloe relax somehow, so they knew but we giving her the benefit of the doubt and trusting their daughter to make her own mistakes, she could live with that.

“Of course she is, she’s Marinette.” The girl smiled, pulling a stray section of hair back into place and waving Zoe goodbye before starting on their next errand.

*Zoe*

“Zoe! There you are, we’ve been waiting for you! That flight must have been awful, just look at you!” Zoe tried to keep her expression blank as her Mother pulled her face this way and that,

“You have no idea!” She stomped her foot in annoyance, her acting classes really coming in handy when it came to her family.

“That Father of yours always was too busy to be up to our standard. Never mind, we have Andre now my dear, Jean Quentin!” A kind faced butler appeared at the door, “Show Zoe to her room and unpack her things, we have much to do!” Zoe followed dutifully, being shown to her private suite and being instructed where to find anything she could possibly need, she looked down at her phone to find an invite to a concert after school tomorrow and smiled, it shouldn’t be hard to slip past her family. She steeled her expression, adjusting her makeup and changing into her more expensive clothes before taking the elevator down to the dining room.

“Chloe not joining us tonight?” Zoe asked, watching as her Mother’s grip on her wine glass tightened and her step-fathers brow became moist with sweat.

“That wretch isn’t worth your time dear, if I were you, I’d keep your distance.” Her mother took a long drink emptying her glass and clicking her fingers to get it refilled, although Andre looked upset, he didn’t dare say anything to the contrary.

After a rather awkward meal with her new family, Zoe retired to her room for a while before getting bored and heading to the balcony upstairs, she gazed out and sighed at the lights below her, this city wasn’t so different from New York it seemed, and her Mother was certainly the same.

“You’ll get used to it.” A new voice called from her left, she turned in surprise to see the girl from the bakery earlier,

“Clio right? I’m sorry I didn’t realise you lived here…” Zoe looked in confusion as the teen seemingly flicked the butt of a cigarette off the roof,

“Yeah, I try to stay out those twos way, you’re her other daughter, aren’t you?” There was something unreadable in the pink haired girl’s expression.

“Yeah, Zoe Lee, nice to meet you.” She reached her hand out with a smile, the other girl looked at it suspiciously but shook it anyway.

“A word of advice, don’t let the Queen of Fashion corrupt you, from what I saw earlier you still have a chance to live in happiness before she snuffs that light out.” She dropped Zoe’s hand after that remark and headed back inside. Zoe pulled her jacket around herself tighter, the sudden chill making itself present.

*Chloe*

She did as she was told, mostly. It wasn’t her fault her sister had walked onto her balcony, forgetting that of course it was hers now too. But that was fine, she had no intention of letting her sister figure her out. She saw how buddy the girl was with their Mother at dinner from a nearby table, what she was more concerned about was which side of her was real: the kind side she showed to Marinette, or the near carbon copy of her Mother. Needless to say, she slept like utter crap again.

The next day Chloe’s mind was concerningly made up, she hung back in the courtyard with Marinette as she gushed about how excited she was for the concert later, Chloe had watched how Alya had shrugged off the invitation saying something about Lila probably needing help with some likely bogus charity and had decided on the spot she was going to that concert regardless of the looks she would get from the class, Marinette needed someone by her side and the band would be busy well, playing. Speaking of the liar herself, Lila waltzed into the courtyard with Sabrina in her stead holding not only her bag, but someone else’s, her heart sank as Zoe appeared at Lila’s side her expression judgingly looking over the different collection of students in front of her.

“Is that-“ Marinette’s question was cut off by Lila proudly announcing her newest friend, none other than the unknown daughter of The Queen of Fashion herself, well unknown to everyone but her of course, Zoe and her had been friends for years because she’d helped Zoe and her Mother out so many times in New York. Even Chloe wasn’t sure if that was a lie, Zoe seemed to be nodding along and she hadn’t spent much time with her sister, the illegitimate child being quickly hidden away shortly after her birth. “Why didn’t you tell me yesterday!” Chloe’s hands flew up to surrender as Marinette turned angrily to her.

“In my defence, I only found last night while I was smo-“ She cut herself off, “While I was um… outside? Yeah, that. I was going to text you but I don’t have your number and well I barely slept so it slipped my mind.” She shrugged feigning that it was much less of a big deal than it actually was. All Marinette did in response was snatch Chloe’s phone and angrily enter her contact details.

In her defence, how was she supposed to know Zoe’s lie was actually how she spent most of her day as opposed to the small kindness she saw in the bakery? Her sister turning into a hulking golden beast stomping on those seen as lesser than her certainly wasn’t helping her case of being a good person but she supposed she’d done some absolutely heinous things to impress her Mother, this was just the more diamond encrusted version of that. Zoe was a confusing addition to her life she would have to get used to, especially as she was welcomed aboard the Liberty to watch Kitty Section perform.

*Luka*

It was nice to have Chloe aboard, he made sure to keep a watchful eye when someone like Alya strayed too far from the main group and she started to look nervous, but Marinette seemed wary of that too and the presence of the bluenette seemed to repel the reporter somewhat.

“Did you want to walk back with me Clio? I guess we’re heading the same way,” Zoe chuckled nervously he watched Chloe stiffen the name.

“Clio? Who’s Clio… That’s Chloe Bourgeois…” Alya looked suspiciously at the two as Zoe’s jaw dropped as she looked between the two.

“Not anymore.” Luka whispered quietly next to Rose, Juleka and Marinette as the pink haired girl rushed off the barge in the direction of the hotel, dragging the astonished girl behind her

*Zoe*

“I knew our mother was a different kind of horrible but…” Zoe’s teal eyes met Chloe’s purple bruise quickly before having to look away again in disgust.

“I’m not sure you have to worry about this kind of backlash, you’ve always been the favourite.” Zoe looked ashamedly at the floor somehow blaming herself. “It’s not your fault though, she’s always felt trapped by her marriage to Daddy, her affair was her escape and you remind her of that freedom.” She gently nudged Zoe’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. “Besides it’s the job of the older sister to look after the younger one, right? I haven’t done a very good job at that so far but I promise to do better, and firstly, we need to get rid of your buddy buddy relationship with Rossi.” Her sister’s eyes grew serious, “She hurt Marinette, and I can’t let that continue.”

---

Chloe had warned her of Lila’s ability to spin anything in her favour but had Marinette’s class really been so easily persuaded that her new kinship with Marinette was the reason Zoe was lying about their long standing friendship? She was lucky to be placed in a different class or God knows how her second day of school would have gone. Although Lila seemed to have roots throughout the whole of the school, the ones attaching themselves outside her immediate class were weak and easily broken. Her new homeroom accepted her apology and promised to let her try again with introducing herself without all the fanfare of being a Bourgeois.

*Chloe*

You know I appreciate the company but I’m not sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.” Chloe side-eyed Marinette as the girl feverishly listed all the ways they’d help Rose after finding out about her condition, usually Chloe ate lunch alone but since Juleka’s breakdown, Marinette had decided to enlist her help in making a better environment for Rose. Juleka had also joined them but the girl was far more interested in pushing her food around her plate than eating.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Marinette hissed, crossing out a couple of bullet points before adding more.

“I think if Rose needed anything she would let us know, I also think she doesn’t need a multitool cane that has 6 different attachments to help her get around the school.” She scowled at the paper.

“7 attachments actually.” She looked defiantly up at Chloe moving her hand enough to let Juleka peak at the least and run off with tears in her eyes again.

“Fine, finish your list.” She hurried after Juleka franticly pushing opening the doors to the girls bathroom as a purple light washed over the stall and a portal began to suck everyone around them in.

---

If the lingering sense of dread and guilt was anything to go by, Chloe was thankful to not remember her time in whatever that creature was as she woke up on the bathroom floor with seemingly her whole class. Rose was back and looking as happy as ever as she thanked the superheroes for their help and went to help Juleka off the floor.

Once back in class the small girl stood bravely at the front and gave them all a good telling off. She was the same girl she’d always been and didn’t need to be treated like she was made of glass, she apologised to Juleka for making her bare the weight of her condition alone so long and thanked Chloe for trying to talk some sense into the class with a hug which Chloe blushed but accepted, ensuring Rose would text her immediately regardless of the time of day if she needed her and that she wasn’t alone anymore.

“Neither are you.” Is the only response she got.

Chapter Text

“Stare as hard as you like, I’m not turning back into a shoe.” She narrowed her eyes at her friend as the woman seemed to be attempting to gain mind powers and force the transformation. “Seriously, if you keep straining like that you’re going to shit.” She took a sip of her coffee as her friend spluttered and attempted to regain some composure.

“But… you were so comfortable…” Her eyes looked down dejectedly.

“I can’t believe when a huge hulking glitter monster is strutting around Paris, your first thought on our lunch date when I get hit is to try me on.”

“You don’t understanddd…” She whined pulling her phone out, “Just look how cute you looked on my feet!” Goddess be damned she was right.

“You know I bet there’s a market for selling photos like that… feet and supervillains, double the profit.” Her friend clutched her phone to her chest.

“I would never! What if the design got popular and they mass produced it!” The horror seemed unfounded, surely that’s exactly what her friend desired? To have a pair of shoes that weren’t sentient. “You know if they were mainstream, they’d never make it in our size.”

“Fuck.”

“Now you understand.” Her friend returned to her drink then, finally having her broken heart understood. “Now dish. Apparently, you know about the now no longer secret Bourgeoir daughter?”

“Well, some of us like to work in less toxic workplaces that don’t fire you on the spot for getting akumatised.” Her friend rolled her eyes,

“Just because you weren’t brave enough to hunt down your boss like a dog.” She crossed her arms defiantly, “I stand by my magically brainwashed choices.”

“You asked Ladybug for a reference…” She reminded her friend over the rim of her mug.

“Well I think I was a formidable foe and that demonstrates my determination to apply myself to any situation.” She raised her nose to the air in defiance, if she was going to lose her job over becoming an akuma, she might as well start filling up her CV at the same time.

“Anyway, apparently the Style Queen herself wasn’t satisfied by her fashion empire, beautiful daughter and politician husband, so she got herself a side-piece.”

“Maybe Mayor Bourgeois just has terrible game.” A woman sat on the table nearby spat her drink out covering herself, served her right for being a terrible eavesdrop.

“I think if treason extended to that wet blanket of a man you’d be extradited on the spot.” They both shrugged at that, neither claiming the rumour to be false. “Anyway, when a man and a woman love each other very much and do the horizontal tango, sometimes a little affair child gets born, now that scandal will never stand so she got shipped of to New York. Eventually Style Queen has enough of playing happy family again and fucks off to New York too. Eventually that gets boring so she comes back to akuma central to fulfil her supervillain kink, her first daughter goes nuts, shaves half her hair and dyes it so she bring baby number two back across the pond for her image or some shit. I don’t pretend to know how the rich work.”

“I don’t know, that seems pretty on point given how quickly articles on the mad one are replaced with he new one, you’d never think a woman like Style Queen would rather her affair be aired like dirty laundry as opposed to talking about whether emo-Chloe is the latest fashion trend. The rich rarely like to be upstaged by their children.”

“Mmm.” She agreed, “I dread to think about mini Agreste and Tsurugi when they hit their rebellious era.”

Chapter Text

*Luka*

“Honestly, this is just embarrassing.” Luka looked up to the sky where his parents were busy fighting in their akumatised forms causing Kwami knows how much public damage. He looked over to his sister who was staring at them with her arms crossed and an angry pout, her new earmuffs pulled tight to her head.

“Scowling isn’t going to bring them back down you know,” Chloe teased nudging Juleka with her shoulder as Rose giggled,

“She’s sure going to try,” the small girl continued, moving to boop Juleka’s nose and snap her out of her scowl.

“Come on, let’s go to my little café and wait this out, my little birthday treat.” Chloe didn’t wait for them to agree before waltzing off in the opposite direction of the carnage, the chains of her boots chiming in the breeze as another building was hit with Captain Hardrock, the others picking up the pace to avoid the rubble and dust.

-Earlier-

*Chloe*

“Tell me again why I’m doing this?” Zoe grumbled, braiding her pink streak to look more presentable and match her Style Queen approved look,

“Easy, Luka and Juleka are having a birthday party today, Adrien has been told he can’t come and you’re going to sneak him out.” She gave her sister and encouraging push towards the gates of the Agreste manor.

“And you can’t do this because?”

“Because I’m not in Mom’s, Mr Agreste’s or Adrien’s good books right now,” She smiled wickedly, counting the digits off on her fingers before stepping into the awaiting car and rolling up the window. It didn’t take long for her sister to return with mini-Agreste in tow.

“As I said Zoe, I’m really busy, I know your Mother is an important client of my Father but can’t she wait?!” He pleaded as he was unceremoniously pushed into the town car.

“Oh please, would our Mother really send my darling sister to do her dirty work if she needed you that bad Adrikins.” Chloe smiled from across the way as Zoe settled in next to her pulling her hair out and messing it up, “Grand Paris please Jean.” She smiled at Adrien’s confusion as the car pulled away from the curb.

“What do you want Chloe?” She was expecting his anger, that didn’t mean it didn’t sting all the same.

“Ease up Agreste, Clio here is doing you a favour.” His eyebrows pulled together in confusion, right, people were still getting used to that name.

“Well it’s not a favour for you, as you know it’s the Couffaine’s birthday today and well, they really want you there so we had to sneak you out.” Zoe stage coughed, “She had to sneak you out, I just planned it all.”

“Better.” Her sister nodded.

“You did this to get me to a birthday party?” He was clearly confused.

“Yes. So let’s hurry up and get princess here changed so we can head to Liberty without being late.” She opened the door and looked around before giving the okay for the others to follow her to the service entrance. Chloe had gotten quite used to all the secret entrances and stairwells the staff were forced to use to sneak around her Mother.

“You have 15 minutes,” she shooed her sister into her suite before heading into her own to change, Adrien hung awkwardly out on their shared balcony for them to come back out.

*Adrien*

Chloe was surprisingly the first to return, her outfit changing from a black turtleneck and jeans to and illusion neckline teal dress that flared out slightly at the waist that she’d paired with some black ankle boots adorned with extra buckles and chains and a simple black shoulder bag. She perched up on the ledge of the balcony, the action filling Adrien with fear as if she was about to jump.

“Relax Adrikins, just keeping you upwind.” Her eyes filled with guilt as she pulled a cigarette out the small bag and lit up.

“Chloe…” He looked at her with pity. He knew she hated that, but what else was he to do, sure she’d made some terrible choices lately, but after the incident in the hotel room as his alter ego, he had seen a noticeable change in the girl and not just in her fashion.

“Don’t okay?” She looked at him pleasingly, “I’ve already had lectures from Luka and Mari, and enough of those looks from Zoe and Jules.” She flicked some ash over the ledge.

“Okay,” He held his hands up in defence, “Is she… is she drinking again?” He looked over to where he knew her Mother stayed, the only time he’d seen Chloe consider picking up a dangerous habit was when her Mother was being more difficult than usual.

“It doesn’t matter what she’s doing. I’m not her puppet anymore.” She scowled tossing the rest of the stick over the edge. “Come on, if we don’t go get her, we’ll be late.” Chloe quickly sprayed herself down before taking Adrien’s hand and swiftly lead him back into the hotel.

*Chloe*

It didn’t take long for them to reach Liberty, even after her sister had taken an extra 15 minutes to get ready and Adrien’s mini panic: he’d left the twins present at home not realising he was being kidnapped in the nicest of ways. The girls had assured him they’d understand it was a surprise and his presence would be enough of a gift for them to wait for school to receive something material. Of course they’d been right, any scolding for being late quickly vanished as she dragged Agreste Jr. along.

“We’ll need to leave earlier than planned to drop him back at the mansion but if the parties still going we’ll be back after.” Chloe smiled as Adrien easily slipped away from the pink haired girl and back to his friends, Alya’s glare not escaping her notice. A glare she was not expecting was that of Kagami. Chloe had very little encounters with the Japanese fencer but clearly her years of hurting Marinette had given her an understandable prejudice, and not that Chloe was admitting Marinette was now her friend, she needed to at least try to make the girl less angry with her after how kind Mari had been. It seems Marinette had the same idea, appearing seemingly from thin air to physically push the two together much to Chloe’s protest.

The two stared at each other for a long moment, neither of them wanting to make the first move, Chloe decided it was the least she could do for her definitely-not-friend and shot her hand forward.

“Clio, nice to meet you.” She grunted, turning her head away as her cheeks darkened treacherously, she heard the strange sound the other gave before feeling a cool hand grip hers.

“I was hesitant to believe Marinette when she told me you’d decided to put an end to your childish era but it seems I was mistaken to doubt her.” The girl was blunt, her eyes hard but a small smile joined her hard features as she gazed at the fellow bluenette.

“Well obviously you were, this is Marinette we’re talking about.” She released the others hand with a giggle as Marinette excitedly bounced on the balls of her feet.

“I’m so happy all my friends get along now!” Chloe choked on her breath as Kagami smirked at the shocked impression on Alya’s face as the former-fox seemed to vibrate with anger from her group across the barge.

The party was seemingly going well, of course a few of the guests stayed separate from the others due to animosity but decided not to fight here for the sake of the twins. It was just after Kitty Section’s performance Chloe first noticed Juleka growing uncomfortable, a spot of red on her hand as she picked at the skin around her nails making Chloe’s vision vignette. It only seemed to go downhill from there, Rose seemed distracted by her friends’ congratulations missing Juleka’s frantic attempts to meet the blondes’ eye. Of course, when Jagged Stone made his appearance on board and the yelling started, she watched her friend grow even more anxious, pulling at her nails in full force and that certainly wouldn’t do.

“I need a smoke, want some air?” She’d meant to sound casual, instead her voice came out rushed nearly reaching for the girl herself before remembering what she’d read online. Since learning of her two friends conditions, she’d been sure to try her best to educate herself on them, keeping spare pain killers in her purse for Rose and watching Juleka for any sign of a crowd or loud noise causing her distress. She’d also noticed that on the odd occasion Juleka had needed to leave a crowded place, she’d flinched away from anyone but Rose. Turns out she needn’t have worried, the goths hands shot out to grab Chloe’s arm gripping tight with a pleading look in her eyes. Chloe nimbly weaved through the groups of shouting individuals, catching Luka’s eye briefly on the way out and pointing up so he knew where they’d disappeared to. Juleka only released her arm to retrieve her phone from beside the stage, Chloe suddenly understanding why she hadn’t texted her the second she’d started to feel uncomfortable. They disembarked Liberty and found a quiet bench beside the Siene, Chloe keeping a hold of the girl’s hand as long as she wanted, watching as she took a few deep breaths and her shoulders lost their tightness. It didn’t take long for her to retrieve her phone and send Chloe a text.

Thank you, I thought you said you needed a smoke? She looked back up at Chloe questioningly.

“Anytime, and I might have lied on that front, I just saw you might have needed an out.” She shrugged as if it didn’t mean anything that she’d been paying such attention to the girl.

Double thank you then

“Besides it gives me chance to give you this,” she retrieved the royal purple box from where she’d stored it in her bag and held it in front of her, now or never she thought, pulling her shaking hands from the box and clumsily signing to the girl Happy Birthday. Tears sprang to Juleka’s eyes.

You learnt that for me?

“Yeah but I’ve only been attending the LSF course for a couple of weeks so don’t go all French Karate on me okay.” She turned her nose up in defiance as the girl wrapped her in a fierce hug and a giggle ran through her. “I got you this too obviously, it’s so not my colour.” She pushed the box towards the girl and faced the Seine quickly, her face now glowing red. She heard the girl take off the lid to her gift but didn’t hear anything else so chose to look at her realising Juleka was as confused as Chloe first was at the ball of fur in her hands, “Let me.” She took the gift from her unfolding the pair of earmuffs as gentle clicks signalled it was locked in place, “They were pretty highly rated for compact ear protection that didn’t look like a complete eyesore, I know the usual earplugs you wear make it hard for you to hear in class sometimes.” She really wasn’t getting rid of that blush anytime soon was she? Juleka took them from the pink haired girl excitedly, strapping them over her head and adjusting the length until they sat comfortably over her hair, the matte black bringing out the purple streak just as Chloe imagined it would. Juleka pulled a couple of poses for Chloe the two giggling at the faces she pulled. “There’s also a voucher in there to get the strings on your bass replaced, I couldn’t think of a way to sneak it off you without sending you into a panic, so a voucher it was.” She shrugged.

Thank you. With a determined look on her face, she rose from the bench and turned towards the Liberty, that was before the thing was taken over by black bubbles, the party’s attendants screaming and climbing over each other to escape the boat before the akuma could trap them. Chloe took off in a sprint.

-Present-

After the majority of the party had fled into nearby alleys or ran into the city for shelter it was clear that the twins’ parents were far too interested in fighting each other than pursuing their children or the others at the party. Ladybug and Chat Noir were on scene and seemingly dealing with the issue so Chloe saw no reason for them to hang around, this wasn’t an akuma battle she could see them needing Zorro so felt confident in pulling Juleka away from the carnage. And after all any excuse to pump her body with caffeine and sugar was a good one.

*Chat Noir*

After the vague misunderstanding with the Bourgeois sister’s earlier, Adrien was thankful that the girls had stepped in to smuggle him out the mansion, as easily bribed as Plagg was, sneaking out of and back into the mansion as well as an akuma attack was asking a lot of the God. He and Ladybug were a little at odds with the pair of sky titans duking it out, they seemed more interested in destroying one another than retrieving the miraculous.

“Any ideas m’lady?” Chat asked as he landed beside her, watching the heroine’s nose scrunch up in frustration as she glared at the tape in her hands.

“I know what I need to do, but getting the chance when the two are being so loud is getting ridiculous! I need someone to just smack their two heads together and shut up for one minute is that so hard!” A few thoughts Chat had over choosing his confidant, which miraculous would suit them best and how desperately they needed a very different kind of help crossed his mind. Ladybug and Chat Noir had spent so long together that they easily communicated without talking, Ladybug handed him her yo-yo. He clicked it open and concentrated on the Roaar, easily pulling the bracelet from the light as practiced.

“Hopefully, I won’t be long.” Ladybug shrugged taking the yo-yo back and looking back to the sky. Chat had a vague idea of the direction Kagami had ran with Marinette in tow, he wasn’t quite sure how he’d separate the two but had utter faith his princess would let him accost her friend. As it was, he found Kagami alone, searching nearby streets in as frantic a state as he’d ever seen her display.

“Kagami?” He called, the Japanese girls rushing to the secluded area.

“Chat Noir, I appear to have lost my friend Marinette, please have you seen her?” Despite her level voice he could see the panic in her eyes.

“I haven’t sorry but I need your help.” He held the small box out to the girl, confusion taking over her features.

“But Ladybug said-“ He cut her off holding up his hand

“Claws in.” The transformation rolled over Adrien and he prayed to anyone that would listen Kagami would understand, “I need your help.” Her features softened greatly, as if every strange behaviour Adrien displayed suddenly made sense, which he supposed it did.

“Always Adrien.” She took the bracelet from him, sliding it over her hand and only struggling momentarily with the chains, it really wasn’t a form that suited Kagami but the powers of the Tiger were too perfect. Roaar gave her the brief rundown of her abilities before she called her stripes. Her suit was a brilliant orange adorned with black stripes and a white stomach, her eyes glowed green as the mask appeared, elegantly outlined with thick black liner. Her small, rounded ears peaked out from her hair and flicked as he guessed she heard another building fall in the distance. She flexed the fingers on her clawed hand getting used to how they moved. “We shall talk later, for now I believe your lady requires our assistance.” She smiled before launching up to the rooves of Paris, using her claws to dig into walls and propel herself higher where needed. Adrien called his transformation again, his heart filled with joy as he caught up with his friend and then Ladybug.

“Tora, pleased to meet you Ladybug.” He watched as Ladybug startled as the girl bowed respectfully in front of the spotted hero.

“No need for that! We’re a team now, Chat Noir has chosen to confide in you, that is a secret that rivals my own identity and that makes us equals.” Tora nodded understanding the importance of the information she now held.

The fight went easily from there, Tora was exact and powerful in her actions, just as Chat knew she would be, the record was taped together and destroyed with cataclysm. The miraculous ladybugs swept over the city repairing the likely millions of Euro damage with ease, the twins appeared shortly after their parents returned to normal with Rose and Chloe in tow, Luka scolded their behaviour as Juleka scowled a storm at them. Chat turned for their fist-bump catching his Lady’s approving gaze as she turned to Tora.

“Pound-it!”

“Tora, would you be able to accompany us on patrol later? I think it’s important for you to get some practice in and meet my personal confidant.” Ladybug offered the tiger.

“She can keep her miraculous?” Chat asked with wide eyes, Ladybug thought for a moment.

“She’s someone you trust your life with Kitty, besides, she might be good for Roaar, teach him some discipline. If you aren’t sure about the Tiger we can always swap it out at a later date.” Her earrings chimed their final warning, and she waved the two as she shot back into the city.

“I believe we have a party to return to?” Chat reached a hand out, Tora taking it easily with her non-clawed hand.

“And a clumsy girl to find.” Tora followed as Chat raised them to the rooves to find an alley to de-transform. “Text me the details of patrol later?” Kagami smiled as she opened her blazer for Roaar and ran out the alley to find her friend.

“I knew you’d make the right choice, shame you didn’t go to your girlfriend.” Plagg cackled as he stole the cheese from Adrien’s hand.

“For the last time Plagg Marinette is not my girlfriend! Besides, I’m not even sure she likes Adrien me all that much.”

“Whatever.” The kwami rolled his eyes hiding in Adrien’s shirt as the blonde ran back to the party for the precious hours he had left with his friends.

Chapter Text

*Kagami*

“So tell me Roaar, what is it you most like to eat.” Kagami slipped the panja back off her hand before practicing placing it back on as Roaar floated around her room, examining the few individual decorations she had added to the nightstand before resting on the shelf above her desk to speak at eye level.

“Meat!” The small creature yelled excitedly before Kagami quickly covered his mouth.

“Please refrain from being so loud, especially when Mother is home.” Kagami waited for Roaar to nod before removing her hand. “Meat is easily procured at home but for on the go, less ideal. I could look into jerky? That should survive in my bag without refrigeration. Is that acceptable?” She asked, having to focus back on her wrist as she struggled with the chain, she’d need to get better at removing and slipping the bracelet back on if this Tora Moonlighting was going to work out, and she needed it to work out to support Adrien.

“Very. You know… I’m sure Ladybug and Chat Noir intend for you to always wear the miraculous.” Roaar seemed anxious almost, which she supposed made sense, everything he was, was connected to the miraculous and it wouldn’t take much for her bag to be stolen from a locker room during fencing practice, or her blazer to be taken by the staff to be cleaned and them taking a fancy to the trinket.

“Unfortunately, this sort of accessory is not practical for fencing, and someone will mention it to my Mother before long. I’d rather you not be confiscated.” The small tiger frowned slightly before floating down to sit on the large green gem in the centre of the bracelet. Both the kwami and miraculous glowed a bright magenta before the panja instead turned to a plain silver band around her wrist with a matching silver ring around her middle finger with a single inset tigers eye jewel.

“Acceptable?” The kwami asked smiling up at the Japanese girl.

“Very.” Yes, this would do nicely.

She had dinner with her mother, a sterile affair that Roaar struggled to stay quiet for so in future the kwami would need to stay upstairs. She was read her itinerary for the following day and was pleased to see she had the later start of 7.30 so would be able to complete her homework tomorrow as opposed to rushing through it before patrol. She bid her mother a goodnight and locked her door before readying a small nondescript black backpack and transforming into Tora, adding the bag to her back before examining herself in the mirror. She wasn’t expecting to enjoy her suit more than when she was Ryuko and yet she found the tiger look just as intricate, her claws being the favourite addition. Of course she was more used to the sword of the dragon but its bluntness left a lot to be desired. She easily scaled onto the roof of the Tsurugi estate finding Chat Noir eagerly waiting on a nearby rooftop.

“I knew you’d be early so I made sure to get here early too.” When Chat showed none of his usual bravado it was easy to see Adrien through the mask.

“That was very considerate of you. I didn’t get a chance to say earlier but, thank you.” She leaned forward giving Chat Noir a tight hug, although not something she was accustomed to, she knew how deeply Adrien craved human contact.

“Thank you for agreeing.” He chuckled mirthlessly, “I didn’t know if after everything you’d even want to help me…” She pulled back to look him in the eyes.

“Always Adrien. I now see why you were so indecisive in our relationship. And I can never hold a light to Ladybug, so feel comfortable in moving on.” It was a logical way of looking at the situation, but Chat still looked somewhat confused. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to fetch some jerky to keep Roaar content during the day.” She gestured to the bag on her back, there’s a corner shop on our route to meet up with the others that stays open 24hours.” Chat nodded, extending an arm to let her lead the way. Finding her way through the streets from the rooftops was harder than she thought, leading to a few wrong directions before getting the hang of how far she could jump or when Chat would be needed to boost them further. A few citizens pointed up to them and Chat insisted they go and take pictures with the fans, excitedly introducing her to everyone they met. She had a small disagreement with the owner of the store after she insisted she pay for the jerky, the clerk only agreeing to take the money when she pointed out that Tora had yet to save anyone and she gave her word that should she ever save him personally, she would not pay again. Even with their deviations to the meeting point, the two cats still arrived before Ladybug and her partner for the night. Eventually the horse hero Kagami had seen glimpses of online appeared, stating Ladybug had been caught up at home and he was sent to let the others know to start patrol on route 4. Chat assured Tora that he had a notebook of everything hero related compiled including routes for patrols, emergency hiding spots and even meditation routines. Kagami was impressed, she never doubted Adrien’s dedication to things he cared about but seeing that side of him in Chat who always seemed so laid back took her by surprise. They started their patrol at a slow pace, allowing Tora to set the speed as she got used to her abilities. Naga showed her some useful tricks that Chat hadn’t thought of, like the storage ability of her new miraculous, allowing her to stow the backpack, and between the three of them, they found her earpiece on the underside of the miraculous gem. Once Ladybug joined them, they got official introductions out the way, Kagami finding relief that Luka of all the prior heroes had been chosen as part of their new team as opposed to someone like Alya. Kagami briefly de-transformed to show the others how Roaar had manged to transform the miraculous, and let the kwami explain the specifics should they need to do it in future for other holders. At the end of patrol, Ladybug explained that the two backup heroes won’t always be needed in battle so they shouldn’t stress about every akuma attack, they should instead prioritise their own safety and allowing the main hero they knew of to slip away. Ladybug arranged a time with Tora to teach her how to use the yo-yo to fetch miraculous should something go catastrophically wrong and Ladybug be out of action. With Tora feeling more at ease with her role in this new team of heroes, Chat insisted on a group photo to commemorate the moment before going their separate ways. Chat made sure Kagami made it safely back into her room before presenting her with the ‘sacred tome’ as he called it and leaving, promising to stop by tomorrow after school. In reality, the notebook was small, easily fitting into her schoolbag and full of neat handwriting, pins for Kagami to add to her maps app and illustrations of miraculous jewels and the kwamis that matched them. It was a lot to take in, but Kagami was nothing if not a diligent student going so far as to fall asleep with the book tightly in her grip, Roaar only waking the girl to lead her to bed curling up into her hair with a purr.

*Chloe*

When Chloe had decided to give her butler the day off for his sons’ birthday, she had a terrible sinking feeling it would come back to bite her in the ass. Of course she’d rolled over to silence her already thrice snoozed alarm when she noticed the text from Rose, she bolted up from her bed, now suddenly extremely awake.

Morning, Clio! I had a bit of a rough night so won’t be at school… Would you be able to keep an eye on Jules for me? Xxx

“Like you even have to ask.” The girl rolled her eyes before starting on her makeup and hair, having improved greatly with all the girls help. Her home assistant listing off the morning news and dreary weather forecast as Chloe fished the knee-high boots from the back of her cupboard, before pulling her hood over her not-quite-perfect hair and rushing out the door. It might be too late to fetch Juleka straight from Liberty but she could certainly be at the school earlier than usual. A last-minute decision had her ordering from bulk on her phone from a local café, picking up her order she hurried to the Boulangerie, creeping past the rush to leave Marinette and her Parents coffee’s on the side, she caught Tom’s eye pointing down to the tray and as the man thanked god at her she dropped a couple euros down and grabbed a prepackaged set of pastries. Although initially sceptical of “Clio”, the Dupain-Cheng’s had allowed the girl to come and help a few times on weekends, inviting her for dinner on a couple of occasions. Through this, she’d learned how hard it was to run the shop she’d so often criticized and had taken to bringing coffees on mornings Marinette had mentioned a large order, just to ease their day even a little. And jumping the queue this way was a definite bonus. She waved to a few regulars who had long become accustomed to the strange pink haired girl accompanying the clumsy daughter of their favourite bakers, apologising for being in such a rush and promising to catch up next time she was helping out. If this was any other morning, she’d have happily waited for Marinette or dragged the corpse out of bed herself, but as it was, she instead opted for a text to the zombie with the promise of coffee if she left her tomb. Arriving at school she was disappointed to see Luka already in the courtyard, even with her detours she thought she’d made up enough time to beat her friends to the steps. She offloaded two of the pastries and Luka’s assigned coffee, her gamble paying off as she saw the deep bags under his eyes. She never trusted how Rose downplayed her illness over text and often it took seeing her in person to realise exactly how much she was hiding, something the Couffaine’s clearly had seen in the early hours of this morning. She gave a small salute to the teal-haired boy in leu of a conversation, spinning on her heels to her locker. Tossing her handbag in and pulling her bookbag out, she carefully balanced the remaining two cups in one hand and spare textbooks in the other, she didn’t want to have to leave Juleka in between classes if she could help it. Luckily her stunt with the birthday kidnapping had worked wonders in Adrien’s hatred of her softening somewhat, and he kindly waited at the door of their homeroom holding it open for her. Feeling extra generous, and hating how underfed she knew models were, especially those like Adrien with his intense workout and fencing regimes she dropped a pastry into his hand as thanks. She saw Juleka hunched over quivering in her seat and it made her feel sick, she felt Adrien behind her stiffen in horror before vibrating slightly with anger as they both noticed how the rest of class had ignored her clear suffering instead opting to hear about Lila’s evening at some royal dinner or some bullshit. She swore she heard the boy growl but she had more pressing issues to attend to. She carefully climbed the steps to her friend, gently tapping the desk with her fingertips to let the girl know she was there. Juleka’s eyes were bloodshot beyond belief, either from the exhaustion or the crying, she wasn’t sure.

Company? She was sure she had signed that completely wrong, but it was the best she could do whilst juggling a days’ worth of schoolbooks in addition to the twos’ breakfast. Juleka gave her a watery smile, nodding quickly and reaching for the girl desperately. Clio offloaded everything in one swift moment, easing into what was usually Rose’s seat and pulling Juleka close, letting the goth hide in the crook of her neck as she stroked soothing circles on her back as she’d seen Anarka do sometimes.

“I’ll make sure I get notes for all three of us today okay? So you just do whatever you can and I’ll handle the rest.” She slid Juleka’s cup over to the girl, and placed her portion of breakfast in her lap, “Tea and the finest pastries in town, since I know you missed breakfast.” She felt Juleka shrug against her but was satisfied to hear the bag rustling as her friend picked at the food. Marinette soon followed, her nose wrinkling at the sight of Lila before rushing to the top of class to squeeze in next to Chloe on the bench. She gave the newcomer a quick rundown, Mari promising to help with notes and catching the girls up on the syllabus. Eventually, Lila’s crowd disappeared, the class only now realising Rose’s absence and Juleka’s upset. But too little too late in Clio and Mari’s eyes at least. The two shooed the crowd away, not needing to hear more about how Lila will speak to some Uncle who has never found one disease he couldn’t cure or some other shite. Reluctantly, Marinette returned to her seat at the front of class, her and Alya still clearly at odds.

Chloe was extra attentive with her notes, writing down every equation or fact Miss Bustier or the other teachers threw out, adding different coloured pens when she thought something was particularly important. At some point before lunch, Juleka slumped against the table her exhaustion finally beating her will to try and take notes. Chloe shrugged off her now dry hoodie to cover the girls’ bare shoulders, the last thing they all needed was for her to get sick too. When the bell chimed and the class started to filter out, Chloe simply took her shoes off and crossed her legs with a stretch, she’d ran to the toilet during the last period to make sure she could stay by the girl in the empty classroom, Marinette stalled in the doorway, sending her “friends” on their way before turning back to the two.

“You can’t stay here all lunch and not eat.” Chloe raised an eyebrow at the bluenette before pulling a stash of protein bars from her bag.

“Can’t I?” She challenged. Marinette sighed, defeated before even trying.

“Okay maybe you can.”

“I won’t leave her unprotected like this, besides, Rose asked me to keep an eye on her.”

“Well I’m sure Rose wouldn’t want you eating those instead of actual food.” She scowled, that stopped Chloe in her tracks, no doubt she would be in for a lecture about missing lunch when Rose found out.

“Fine.” Chloe dug through her bag again, this time pulling out her purse and bank card, “Pick us something up, ideally something for her that she can eat in class without pissing off Bustier.”

“Better.” She took the card from Chloe’s finally healed nails, the two having long ago had the argument about money and deciding that if Style Queen was going to pump money into Clio’s account instead of parenting, the least she could do was treat her friends every now and again. The only caveat being she couldn’t spend unnecessary amounts on extravagant things. That part she was still learning.

“Get yourself something nice too for being my errand girl.” She winked as Marinette scowled again,

“Luckily for you, they have a really good miniature fruit parfait on to celebrate the start of summer.”

“Attagirl.” Chloe leaned back into her seat checking over her notes and making small adjustments as she waited for their return.

“I found this one nearly asleep standing up.” Marinette announced as she nudged the door open with her butt, a tray of food in one hand and a half-asleep Luka in the other.

“Has he eaten?” She raised an eyebrow and Luka collapsed on the bench behind the girls with a noncommittal grunt.

“I don’t think so, so I picked something up for him too.” Chloe nodded happily before taking her card back and slipping it back into her purse. Juleka fussed slightly at the noise but pulled Chloe’s jacket close to her and settled again.

“I can watch these two if you have somewhere else to be.” Marinette went quiet as she started eating, any sass from their earlier conversation gone.

“I really don’t, Lila sat with Alya to talk Ladyblog and…” She shrugged, Chloe’s hand tightened into her fist on her lap.

“I can’t believe how quickly that fox was to drop you for the shiny new toy.” Her teeth ground together in frustration as she recalled her earlier comment on Rose’s condition. “And do those idiots not realise that you can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything?! If a doctor out there knew how to help Rose she’d know about it! You can’t just say those things.” Juleka started to stir again as Chloe’s voice grew louder.

“Clio. Stop, now.” Marinette’s voice was hard as her eyes fixed on something behind the girl, she barely had time to register the sound of fluttering wings as the akuma made contact with her hair clip. Her vision darked as she saw Marinette shake the twins awake, Juleka and Luka rushing in front of her to try and talk her down but she couldn't hear them through the sound of rushing water flooding her ears.

“Fairy Godmother, it’s good to partner with you again. I’ve missed the taste of your anger so much. You seek to wave a magic wand to cure your friend? Well I can make that happen, all I ask in return is Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous. Do we have a deal?” She felt her resolve waver slightly, the thought of Rose being well again nearly letting her fall over the edge.

Nearly.

“No.”

“No?!” Her response clearly took the villain and her friends by surprise of the looks on their faces were anything to go by.

“It doesn’t work like that. So I get you the miraculous, then what? You take my power and I send Rose back into sickness after showing her what life could be like? You forget how often I’ve fallen for your promises before you’ve dropped me like hot shit the second things don’t quite go your way and that’s fine. But you don’t get to hurt Rose like that. You don’t get to use me to hurt them like that. Not anymore.” She reached out blindly, finding each of their hands and holding them tight as she concentrated on severing the link with Hawk-ass, the searing pain a drop in the ocean when compared with the harm she’d cause to her so treasured friends if she was to give in to his demands. All her senses returned to normal at once as the butterfly tore itself from her clip, her muscles going limp as she collapsed into the waiting arms of the twins, Marinette already chasing the butterfly out the classroom screaming warnings as she went.

“We should probably give her a hand, the last thing we need is that girl to have unlimited evil powers,” She pulled herself up from the bench, only stumbling slightly but Juleka was quick to steady her, concern pulling at her features. “I’m okay now, promise.”

“In that case…” Luka placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her gently, “What the hell do you mean Rossi said she could cure Rose and those idiots believed her.”

“Easy blue.” She complained, her shaking stopping, “We got her to shut up pretty quick but that’s just what life in this class is like sometimes.” Juleka nodded sadly beside her. “But anyway, Mari, akuma, move!” The three rushed out following the stream of screams and running against the tides of students to get to wherever Marinette had chased that damned insect to.

Chapter Text

*Chloe*

“Retreat!” The trio were just reaching the double doors to the cafeteria when Marinette burst through, knocking her to the floor. Clio winced as an explosion sent the two skidding across the hall and knocking the twins down. A few straggling students were knocked down also as a warped figure emerged. Her ballgown dripped black ink as she floated towards the group, dark veins spreading through her olive skin as she raised a tarnished glove towards Marinette, the girl seemingly unconscious.

“I warned you, Marinette.” The akuma sneered from under her stained tiara as her glove began to glow, Chloe scrambled around on the floor, unable to get her footing without getting dizzy, her hands finding shards of door and wall and not being able to do much more she threw the chunks towards the akuma, finally faced with the ruined princess realising too late it was Lila.

“Of course.” She rolled her eyes and dragged herself up determined to face the akuma with at least some grace.

*Marinette*

Marinette stirred from her pile on the floor, groaning as she pulled a bloodied hand from her forehead before quickly jumping back into action as she watched Lila’s akuma form encroach on Chloe.

“Looks like you’re still second best to me!” She watched the pinkette grit her teeth, clearly favouring standing on her right, no wonder when she saw a splotch of crimson slowly spread from her knee, staining the tops of her light blue boots. “First Sabrina hops me for you, then when Shadow Moth can’t have me, he runs to you, how pathetic.” She sneered, looking over to Marinette and gesturing she get to safety. As much as she hated to leave Chloe like this, they needed Ladybug. She staggered in the direction of the nearest classroom, praying it was empty.

*Juleka*

No! Juleka silently screamed as the akuma advanced on Clio, she couldn’t watch the girl she’d come to call her friend be killed without trying to do something about it. She might not have a miraculous, but she knew it was time to be a hero. She looked meaningfully between Luka and Clio before gathering a handful of debris and throwing the first piece at Lila, hitting her mark perfectly and knocking the tiara from her head. She waited with bated breath as the akuma slowly turned towards her,

“Don’t any of you cretins know how to respect your queen!” She watched as the walls around her shook, cringing against the noise but thankful of her knew earmuffs. Once the Akuma was firmly focused on her she turned tail and ran, occasionally throwing a piece of stone towards the girl when she feared she was losing interest.

Hurry up heroes She pleaded as she hid momentarily, catching her breath as Lila scoured the courtyard for her.

*Luka*

Luka watched in awe as his sister bravely stood up to the akuma, leading her away from their injured friends, Marinette would likely be able to handle herself once she suited up so he ran to Clio trying to lift her into his arms before being swatted away.

“What are you thinking! Hurry up and save your sister! Mari and I will get ourselves to safety, right now we need heroes so go be a hero!” She gave him a not so gently shove in the direction of Juleka.

“Oh yeah because this throwing rocks business is going so well.” He scolded, reaching for her again only to be batted away. She crossed her arms indignantly.

“I can’t believe you think I’m that stupid.” She narrowed her eyes at him before looking up to his head, “I can put two-and-two together pony boy, most the internet has seen the new hero out and about and those didn’t escape my notice as much as you hoped.” She flicked his miraculous down to cover his eyes, “So hurry up and go save the fox, this akuma might be the excuse we need to prove lie-la isn’t our Zorro.” He sighed deeply, he knew there was a risk of Clio recognising him as a hero but knowing about his sister’s temporary hero status was an annoyance in the least and he would need to find out exactly how she’d come across that knowledge later.

“You’re a pain in the ass.” He grumbled,

“I know, but you love meee!” She teased with a wide grin on her face. He ducked into another nearby classroom to transform, not wanting to expose his hero status to anyone more than necessary. It was easy enough to get Lila away from his sister once she caught sight of the hero, her desire for his miraculous much outweighing her desire to hurt Juleka.

After managing to give Lila the slip, without the use of Voyage, Naga joined Ladybug on the rooftops, Chat and Tora following soon as they assessed the akuma in front of them, Lila seemed more focused on creating destruction than anything else, once her targets of Marinette, Clio, Juleka and Naga had escaped her, she’d started making her way slowly over to the TV station using the ink that flowed from her gown to ignite nearby cars and buildings.

“Any ideas?” Ladybug asked looking towards her team, she was always hesitant to activate Lucky Charm too early into the fight because of the timer that came with it.

“Well Clio mentioned something before I left to transform.” Ladybug narrowed her eyes at the horse hero, “I’ve already said we need to have a chat about her identifying me later, but it was rather a good one.”

“I made a promise to give the girl a chance, and even monkeys with typewriters will eventually write a novel.” The Tiger smiled, her tone may not have conveyed the joke but she was trying and that was always commendable.

“Well, Lila was claiming just after Gang of Secrets that Ladybug had chosen her to be the next fox.” A string of what was likely Japanese curse words left the girls lips, “And Clio mentioned that this would be a good time to set the records straight, and her akuma does seem rather easily distracted.” Ladybug’s eyes narrowed further.

“And how would she know Lila isn’t the new fox?” Naga paled slightly,

“That will be part of the conversation later I assure you, not that I think she would ever put Zorro in harms way.” Ladybug pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration,

“Well as far as plans go, that would be a really good one, not that I want to confirm Zorro’s identity further to her. Anyone have a better plan?”

“I hate to say it M’lady but Bourgeoir is the best we’ve got.”

“Fine. Naga, you lead the akuma away from her earlier, think you can track our fox down?” He nodded firmly, “Okay. We’ll keep tabs on Lila and keep her from collapsing populated buildings, earpieces in guys.” She took her own earpiece from the yo-yo before handing it to Naga, he had been practicing but always found Trixx the easiest to pull likely due to his connection with his sister.

“Right!” The three heroes nodded to their leader before separating, Naga heading off in a greatly different direction to the others.

*Chloe*

Clio slumped against the wall as Luka left, she knew she was right of course, if she ever wanted her injuries cured, they’d need heroes and they can’t be fighting an akuma whilst playing damsel in distress with her. But she had to admit she might have been a little more hurt than she let on. Fellow students caught in the blast were starting to stir in the hallway and from the way the cracks in the walls creaked, here wasn’t the best place to recover from a concussion. She tore a strip of fabric from the base of her shirt and tied it tightly above her knee, gingerly testing putting her weight on it before continuing down the hall. She checked the room Marinette had hidden in to find it empty, the breeze from an open window gently blowing the dust back into her eyes, she turned away quickly guessing Marinette had somehow managed to haul herself out the window to safety. The walls around her creaked again, a fresh wave of debris falling into the hair she’d tried so hard on this morning. She winced at her leg as she hurried to the first group of students, helping them get to their feet and urging them to get out of the building as fast as they were able. Most managed on their own with a couple leaning into another student for support. It wasn’t until she heard a flurry of coughing that she realised a classmate of hers had been pinned on the other side of the cafeteria doors to the hallway, she felt herself become dizzy as a couple of items seemed to faintly glow around her, hexagonal patterns appearing across a few pieces of doorway and the pile containing her classmate. She shook her head gently before rushing to work, using the pieces of door to leverage a gap big enough for the girl to crawl out from.

“Chloe?” Alix looked up at the girl with big eyes as she dusted herself off.

“Yeah, come on, this place isn’t gonna hold up much longer.” As if on cue, another explosion sounded in the distance collapsing the doorway and hallway she had previously been in, the piece of doorframe she’d arranged to help rescue Alix only just holding the rubble at bay as the two dragged each other towards the other exit to the school. Luckily, they didn’t need to get far before Juleka caught up with them, frantically signing something she completely missed before helping the two make it to the front of the school to the awaiting paramedics.

After her wound was quickly redressed the two were sent on their way and advised to await the cure somewhere safe, Alix had been forced to stay back as she was showing more extreme signs of concussion. An awkward ‘Thanks for the save’ later they were on their way to the Liberty, Clio already picking at the blood-stained dirt under her nails. The echoed memories of that night tickling her subconscious. Once aboard she began to scrub at her hands harshly, needing any sight of blood completely banished before she’d stop. Juleka’s hands eventually rested over Clio’s guiding her to sit down before returning to turn off the tap.

“Breathe with me.” Juleka’s hands returned to hers with the mumble, the goth taking a few exaggerated breaths before the pinkette even realised she’d been ion the throws of another panic attack.

“Sorry.” She hung her head in shame, she was supposed to be supporting Juleka today not nearly getting akumatised and then making her deal with another one of her episodes.

It happens. She shrugged standing up and opting to get comfy on the sofa next to the girl, scrolling on her phone.

“Don’t get too comfortable, one of the heroes will be here to collect you before long, they’ll need the fox’s illusions in this one, plus it gives us the chance to prove Zorro and Lila aren’t one in the same.” She sighed back into the cushions as Juleka’s phone clattered on the deck. Regaining her senses she took to standing in front of Clio with a glare and started to tap her foot out of impatience as she awaited a better explanation for exactly how she had stumbled onto the information of Juleka’s hero status.

“It’s not like I didn’t mention it before…” She tried to placate,

That was different.

“I beg to differ,” she pointed her nose up in defiance, “Lila might be a bare faced liar but I wouldn’t call her out over just anyone.”

Flattery gets you nowhere. Answers.

“Fine. When I saw Gang of Secrets I came running over to see what I could do to help.” The goth’s face softened, “When I got to the school I realised that it was a really stupid idea to be there and I was going to get myself and probably you two hurt. I started spiralling but eventually realised Ladybug had took you aside to de-akumatise.” She omitted the strange text, “I wanted to be there for you when she did because I thought she’d have to run off and deal with the others leaving you alone and confused so I followed you two and yeah… saw something I shouldn’t have…” Juleka joined her back on the chair as her eyes looked downcast in shame. The girl bumped her shoulder with her own, Clio looked up as she signed something, getting the jist of a thanks but struggling with some of the words, having to ask a couple of times what Juleka meant as the girl walked Clio through the signs letter-by-letter

You came to be my hero, thank you.

She snorted finally understanding, “I’m not sure I’ll be using that sign a lot Jules.” The Goth shrugged in response.

It wasn’t long before Naga sought them out at the Liberty, Clio getting the ominous, ‘Ladybug wants to speak with you too’ before he handed Juleka her miraculous to enact her plan. With that cheery news weighing heavily on her shoulders she turned on the TV watching updates on there whilst simultaneously refreshing the Ladyblog and digging through the Couffaine’s since expanded nail polish collection, finding a blue to match her tarnished boots and determined to get the sight of red out of her memory again.

*Ladybug*

To Clio’s credit, using the fox’s illusions as a distraction were more than enough to dissuade Lila from her destructive path, even when one stepped into a pool of black and was ignited, another 10 illusions sprang out to taunt her. Somehow the akuma’s rage had eaten away the braincells that would have explained precisely how impossible it was for several Clio’s to be calling her second-best at once but that was the purpose of this endeavour. One well-placed clout cutting off the akumas path, a lucky-charmed rope to trip her up and a cataclysmed glove was all it took in the end. The cure gently rushed off into the city, spreading to all those injured and dispelling the smoke from the sky, leaving a rather frustrated Lila at the hero’s feet. On queue Alya came rushing over, phone already raised and likely livestreaming.

“Ladybug! Do you have a few words for your adoring fans about how awful it must be to fight your best friend?” Ladybug’s eyebrows furrowed as Lila seemed to try and usher Alya to put the phone down, “Or how about how to tackle the awful bullying she’s been facing that caused her to be an akuma in the first place?” Her confusion grew as she felt her team slowly join her in frame.

“I’m sorry Miss Cesaire you must be mistaken, I only know Miss Rossi from akuma attacks… My only friends are the heroes I chose to fight by my side and trust with my life.” She turned and sent a thankful glance at each team member, lingering on Chat, her most faithful partner.  “Speaking of heroes, I think it’s time I official introduce the new fox on the team.” She tried to hide the smirk on her face as she watched Lila turn white as a sheet at Zorro’s appearance, “Without her, Miss Rossi, and even your own Akumatisation would have been impossible to defeat.” Alya lowered her phone to turn a confusing look to Lila who started to stutter out some nonsense she didn’t care to hear.
“Pound it!” All five heroes called, Chat and Tora going a separate way to the other three, as they landed on the Liberty and ducked inside finding a nervous Clio awaiting their return.

“Now. About that talk.” Ladybug turned seriously on her heel as Juleka detransformed, Trixx resting on her shoulder as she hurried to Clio’s side for moral support, her fingers weaving between Clio’s anxious ones.

*Chloe*

“You can’t stop letting Juleka become a hero because of my mistake!” Her face scrunched as her empty hand became a tight fist at her side. “She’s a much better fox than Rena ever was! She’d never believe a liar like Lila or hurt anyone! She’s brave and smart and kind and… You just can’t!” She yelled the last part opening her eyes finally to find an astonished Ladybug and a smug looking Naga. “I’d never put her at risk! If Hawkmoth ever hurt her, hurt any of them…”

“Hawkmoth nearly hurt you today Clio.” She wasn’t expecting a kind look from her former idol. “I heard about what you did, refusing an akuma is a big deal. I wanted to talk today because I’m worried about you.” Her mouth hung open in shock. “Surprised I’ve been keeping tabs on you? I’ve been very impressed with how much you’ve changed, how much Naga has been able to help you and when I heard Lila’s akuma was originally for you.” She shuddered, “He really does ruin everything in this world doesn’t he?” The hero shrank in on herself, Juleka releasing her hand to nudge Clio forward. She hesitantly stepped towards the hero,

“But you’ll never let him win, you promised us all, that day on the Eiffel Tower,” Ladybug looked up at the girl, a curious gaze causing her to blush. “I think with the new heroes you’ve chosen, you just might be able to beat him, so please, don’t make yourself suffer anymore because of me.” Her blush was in full bloom now.

“Okay. But only because it’ll be them in danger in you let their secret slip. Remember that.” Juleka hugged Clio from behind, a joyous squeak escaping the kwami that floated around her head.

“Until next time Kit,” Trixx bowed as Juleka curtseyed before handing the necklace back to Ladybug who dropped it into her yo-yo before turning to leave, Naga in tow before Juleka pulled him back by the belt around his waist. Ladybug waited buy the door as Juleka signed something to Naga, Clio unable to hide her giggles as Luka dropped his transformation confusing Ladybug even further.

“She said-“ Clio managed between giggles, “That gods aren’t quiet.” Ladybug rolled her eyes

“And that I owe her ice-cream for keeping her up at night talking to Kaalki.” Juleka took Clio by the hand and skipped lightly back in the direction of the school leaving Ladybug to chew Luka out privately.

They weren’t far from the entrance of the school when the two were nearly knocked over by an enthusiastic Marinette, “You two were brilliant!” She cheered before going back to hugging them each tightly. “And if you ever do that again I’ll kill you myself!” She growled, angrily hitting them both in the arm before storming up the steps. Clio smiled despite herself, feeling at peace with the decision to accept Marinette into her small circle of friends.

“Hey um Chloe?” Alix called the girl over just as she was about to enter their classroom, Juleka gave her hand a squeeze before leaving her in the hall.

“Yeah?” Clio crossed her arms across herself, wanting to look confident despite her nerves at facing someone from her parents’ elite circle. She always forgot from the way the skater girl acted that her father was the head director of the Louve and actually very rich.

“Um-Thank you, properly for earlier. If you hadn’t have come back for me I would’ve been crushed, I know that Ladybug’s cure would have bought me back and all but-“

“Dying still really sucks.” She finished for the skater, remembering all too well the feeling of drowning during Syren.

“Yeah.” The hollow look in the girls normally bright eyes made her realise exactly what she’d prevented earlier by getting Alix out from the rubble.

“Well, I guess you owe me one now. I’ll let you know when I want to cash it.” She looked down at her now painted nails with a smirk, it was enough of the old Chloe that the girl broke out of her spiral and laughed, giving her a light shove as she passed her into class,

“Sure Bourgeois.”

Chapter Text

*Kagami*

Luckily the individual she’d scheduled a meeting for during recess had similar hold-ups during akuma battles. This meant their meeting was simply delayed as opposed to completely cancelled due to the attack and their need to disappear and defeat an akuma.

“Not that I don’t trust you, clearly,” Adrien’s eyes drifted briefly to his ring, “But what exactly are we doing?” Kagami rolled her eyes, her back straightening as their guest arrived.

“Miss Tsurugi, I’m sorry about the delay but duty called.” The girls shook hands firmly,

“Not a problem, our parents require us to check in during akuma attacks, so we were not able to make the original meeting time either.” She gave the girl a pleasant smile, “I hope you don’t mind Adrien joining us?”

“Of course not! But down to business as we are running shorter on time than we originally planned… Actually, you never specified exactly what business we would be discussing. I must say outright, the technology we use on set isn’t down to me, I do understand your Mother’s tech empire is top rated for a reason but-“ She cut the girl off with a raised hand and gentle smile.

“Actually, we were more interested in a passion project of yours, after all as you’ve likely already noticed, The Ladyblog isn’t what it used to be.” Adrien’s eyes narrowed at the Japanese girl questioningly.

“I’m listening.” A mischievous grin already dancing on her features, her reporter instinct likely driving the girls curiosity.

*Chloe*

Clio sunk back into Rose’s spot with a soft smile to Juleka, shrugging off her jacket again and balling it up as a makeshift pillow.

“Rose text me during the attack, worried she couldn’t get a hold of you, I said your phone got caught at school when we ran,” the girl looked grateful, “She also said she was feeling well enough for visitors, so we’ll pop to the bakery for her favourites then head there?” The light returned to her friend’s eyes immediately, “Yeah yeah I know, you’re so cute it hurts.” She smiled, “So get some rest, we don’t want our pastel princess worrying, do we?” She teased retrieving her notes from where they’d scattered during lunch break.

The afternoon blew by, most the class not returning after the all clear, so nothing particularly important was covered but she was sure to make detailed notes regardless. She did notice Alya’s absence, the frown and concerned glances in Marinette’s eyes enough to set her on edge. Juleka managed at least another two hours of sleep. Only waking the girl properly when classes were fully over, the two meeting with Marinette to follow her home.

“Clio our caffeinated angel!” Tom greeted from behind the counter as he finished serving another of Francois’s students, “Your coffee this morning was an absolute gift from Paris’s heroes themselves!” She chuckled accepting the man’s bear hug,

“Glad I could help as always Mr Dupain!”

“No no dear, you take the time to heal, we can’t risk a bug infecting our food! Please take the rest of the week off...” Mrs Cheng came out from the kitchen with a soft frown, Marinette hurried over to see if it was something she could help with. “One of our evening helpers has just phoned in sick for the next couple of days, I know you have homework but is there any chance you could do a few hours behind the counter?” Sabine pleaded with her daughter, Marinette winced.

“Maman, I have that big commission to do this week remember? I can try and speed through some of the stitching but-“

“Absolutely not! Clara would be furious to receive something slap-dash and I know how well you can actually sew miss so don’t you start with the whole everything I sew is slap-dash.” Clio scolded, an accusatory finger jabbing in Mari’s direction, “I know we don’t exactly see eye-to-eye Mrs Cheng, but I’d be honoured to help out after school and between class if needed?”

“Do you know how to work a till Clio?” She was expecting some resistance from the Chinese woman but the gentleness in her tone made her hesitate.

“Well no, but I know your menu and its prices inside out, not to mention my math has been really improving lately.”
“Fruited scone, passionfruit tart and an éclair, I hand you a €20.” Juleka spoke up, Clio smiling smugly from her side.

“ €9.50 without extras but could I interest you in some of our locally sourced honey? It pairs so great with scones and would only set you back 50c.” Sabine’s eyebrows raised as Tom tapped on the till,

“Not even I knew that.” He admitted ashamedly,

“I’ll throw my aprons in the wash for you tonight,” Marinette winked, passing her still astonished mother with a kiss to the cheek.

“You owe me some alterations Dupain-Cheng!” She called jokingly, “I need to visit Rose but I can come back after if you need?” She asked, Sabine finally snapping back to reality.

“We could run through some basics with you, and you’ll stay for dinner? You too if you want Juleka?” The goth shook her head gently,

“She’ll probably be with Rose most the night, but I’d be honoured Mrs Cheng.”

“Give Marinette a text when you’re on your way dear.” With a couple of sweets in hand for the girls they left in the direction of Rose’s Aunt’s apartment.

A tired woman greeted them, thanking Juleka and saying to help herself to the fridge before rushing out the door with a set of Nurses scrubs.

“There was a big accident, but I mentioned you were coming over and I think she thought I’d asked.” A light voice spoke from a mountain of sheets on the sofa. Juleka rushed over making sure to check the girl over before crushing her into a hug.

“Told you she’d be fine!” Clio hung back if only slightly as Rose mouthed a ‘thank you’

“Yep! I’ve even been cleared for school tomorrow but I’ll need to wear some of my braces and no running around.” She covered her next giggle with a compression gloved hand.

“I’ll have my driver come here, then Liberty in the morning.” Her tone gave no room for argument, neither did Juleka’s scowl at the slight protest from the girl.

“I just hope the class don’t go overboard like last time…” She looked at Juleka worriedly,

“I’ll make sure they don’t. But, if you feel like things are too much, give me a poke and I’ll call a car, no questions asked.” She made Rose pinkie swear before making tea for the three, Juleka not wanting to leave the small girl’s side. The tea was drunk, and Rose managed to pick at the pastries they’d bought. Clio was given another small lecture about nearly getting akumatised, but it was hard to take it seriously from a pile of pastel duvets.

“Make sure you eat tonight, okay?” She ordered before putting her shoe’s back on to leave.

“Marie left money for takeaway, but I’ve got my special juices if I don’t feel like it.”

“Well make sure you have however many of those you’re supposed to.” She huffed before leaving.

Sabine was a patient teacher, apparently Clio was picking things up fast, but she still felt like she was slowing the store down with her inexperience, when a particularly large group came in, they swapped, finding bagging sweets a lot easier and faster than finding all the buttons on the machine. Eventually the store was closed for the evening and Marinette came down to help show her how to clean the shop floor, of course she’d seen her maids sweep and mop, but it wasn’t something she’d personally done. By the end she was sweating but was cheered on by the three bakers at how amazing a job she’d done.

“Marinette, lend Clio some clothes while Papa and I sort dinner?”

“I’ll make sure to bring some spare stuff tomorrow!” She was completely exhausted but the praise she’d been receiving even when making a mistake made her feel like she was floating.

“I’m sure you did fine!” Marinette swatted Clio’s nervous hands as she passed some plain black leggings and a dark green t-shirt to the girl, along with a pair of black trainers, “I can lend you these too since we’re the same size.” She turned back to the dress form whilst Clio changed.

“Is this the mock-up?” She asked, leaning over the bluenette’s shoulder at the muslin evening gown,

“No, Clara Nightingale is going to walk the red carpet in a potato sack.” She sneered,

“Well it was more so I could suggest you raise the side hem two inches and drop the bust line a quarter inch.” She leant back from the girls ear with a grin as Marinette stepped back tilting her head to the side.

“I should raise the hem two inches and drop the bust.”

“Yep!” She patted the girl on the shoulder as she eased past her and back down to the kitchen where something smelled heavenly.

“Feeling better dear?” Sabine asked, as she looked up from the rice cooker momentarily.

“Much.” She blushed.

“I’ll take those from you, you can pick them up tomorrow for your first proper shift, 5 to 8 okay?” Tom smiled as he placed her clothes into an offshoot of the main room.

“You mean I can come back?”

“Well without you, my darling husband would have lost us about €40 and that was only in an hour.”

“The buttons are too small! It’s not my fault I always tab the wrong croissant!” He complained returning to the stove.

“Thank you Mrs Cheng! Mr Dupain!” She rushed over to the two, hugging then each with a wild smile and red cheeks.

“Sabine and Tom, please.” Sabine smiled, “You’re part of the Boulangerie family now Clio.” If Clio shed a tear, no one mentioned it.

“So Marinette says you want to go into architecture?” Something about a Mother asking her that question made her insides curl unpleasantly.

“Yeah! You should see some of the drawings she’s been working on in art club! They look so fancy! Not like the glass horrors that have been popping up all around Paris!” Marinette’s chopsticks clattered as she talked animatedly to her parents about her, earning another blush from the girl.

“I have a lot of catching up to do before I’m allowed anywhere near a planning office Mari.” She rolled her eyes,

“You’re still young dear, I was in my late twenties before I met Tom and discovered my love of baking, you’ve found your craft early and have plenty of time to get to the big leagues so to speak.” Sabine’s smile was gentle, her eyes full of an unconceivable softness she’d never even imagined seeing in Audrey or Andre’s eyes.

After dinner she helped with the dishes before Tom drove her to the hotel, another hug and an excited reminder he’d see her for her shift tomorrow she headed through the front doors of the hotel and up to the Bourgeois home floor. She was nearly knocked over by Zoe on the way in, the girls frazzled expression and ramblings telling her everything about what she knew of their Mothers’ antics as she was dragged into the movie room, her mother in a makeshift recovery position on the space where last week there’d been a pristine white rug.

“Again! Seriously Audrey get a grip!” She growled heaving her up as the woman hurled obscenities at the two for stealing her success or some bullshit. Her nails caught Clio a few times, leaving pink pathways sprawled on her upper arms, eventually the two wrestled her into bed, Clio sent her Father a text before arranging a bucket, some painkillers and water bottle in the perfect, practiced position and stole another carton of cigarettes from the nightstand before leading a shell-shocked Zoe to the balcony.

“Again?” Zoe’s quiet question made Clio hesitate before taking another drag.

“She wasn’t like this in New York?” Without me? The question went unspoken.

“I never really saw her, she’d come to visit Dad, but I was only really something to take to parties, a pretty little accessory. How often does this-“ The cold look that graced Clio’s features cut her off. “That much then… Do you mind if I… I mean I’ve never… I think I’m just shaken?” The girl pulled nervously at her pyjama shirt.

“My bed’s more than big enough for two. But if you snore, don’t expect any covers.” Zoe’s form relaxed all at once as Clio headed back inside followed by the younger blonde.

“I heard you nearly got akumatised today?” Her voice carried easily through the dark room, Clio sighed, hoping she’d escaped any more worrying.

“Yeah, Rossi made some claim that she had some magic doctor that could magic Rose back to full health. I guess I just snapped.” She felt the girl next to her roll over and did the same to face her sister.

“No plans to take her down Chloe style? I’ve heard the rumours of what you used to be like.” She let out a big sigh.

“Plenty, but it’s not my place, not yet at least.” She thought back to how she’d seen the Italian treat Marinette in the past months from her seat at the back. “She won’t last the rest of the school year at the pace she’s on though.” She felt the bed shake with Zoe’s chuckles, only pretending to be annoyed when her sister curled in close to her.

Clio managed a few hours of fitful sleep that night before giving up shortly before sunrise. She watched the sky turn orange from a lounge chair, blanket pulled tight around her shoulders and a green tea in her hands. Jean came to wake her as usual, sighing as he saw her, electing instead to make her a fresh cup while she got ready for the day. She packed a slightly larger backpack than her usual handbag, needing the extra space for some bakery appropriate clothing. She had to opt for longer sleeves, the ugly marks from her mother glowing red on her arms. She hoped she wouldn’t sweat too much. She made Rose promise again to call her if she needed to leave at lunch before Luka whisked her away for what he claimed was a surprise. Instead, she was greeted with a quiet study room in the school library, Kagami already waiting patiently.

“Meditation practice?” Her eyebrows drew together confused at the book on the desk.

“Yes.” The Japanese girl took her shoes off and sat cross legged on the floor, “I was akumatised not too long ago and don’t wish to be again. Professionals recommend meditation for resisting akuma. I assumed you also wished to avoid them again so asked Couffaine to bring you here.” With a salute the boy in question left the room. Clio was irritated to have been led here under false pretences, but she appreciated Kagami’s version of extending the olive branch. She joined the girl on the floor finding a comfortable position before the two started working through breathing exercises. She tried so hard to relax, to empty her mind and focus on each breath she took but found herself becoming more annoyed with each exercise. Kagami had enough of her fidgeting after about half an hour.

“Perhaps meditation is not where you find peace.” The girl looked down in defeat, feeling like she’d somehow failed. “There is something else I do to relax, something that brings me true peace. I’ll return after school. Luka tells me you have work at 5 so I’ll be sure we only take an hour, you’ll have plenty of time before your shift.” It was ominous but Clio nodded, slipping her borrowed trainers back on before heading to eat.

*Kagami*

“Now I don’t imagine you’ll be any good at this in the beginning, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.” Kagami admitted as she retrieved the marker from her gym bag, small paws excitedly handing her the dark pink pen. She turned meeting Clio’s confused face with an equally mischievous smirk, “You know as well as I how much Adrien loves anime, well he showed me one recently about spies; to train her new apprentice, her senpai at any moment would just-” She hopped forward and pressed the star marker to Clio’s exposed wrist,

“The hell!” She attempted to shove the girl back, but Kagami had already spun out the way,

“Be faster.” She lunged forward again, marker at the ready. Clio avoided the first attempt failing miserably at the second, earning another pink star on her neck. “Again!” After a few more stars and avoidances she halted her pursuit of the girl, waiting patiently for her to catch her breath.

“What exactly are you training me for?” She girl grunted through gritted teeth, reaching for a water bottle.

“Nothing in particular. Luka mentioned once the aggression he saw in your eyes, and your restlessness during meditation all but confirmed you have a lot of anger mixed within you. If you can’t expel it through more traditional means, we’ll focus it another way. Although Mother prefers me to spar against more challenging opponents, I’m sure once a week of focused sessions won’t affect my overall performance too much. In between these sessions stay alert.” She pressed the cap back onto the marker returning it to her bag, “You never know when I might be around.”

“I suppose if I’m going to keep getting attacked by Hawkmoth’s favourite damaged teen of the week, it wouldn’t hurt to defend myself, even if it does have disastrous consequences.” She rolled her eyes, rubbing at one of the stars on her hand.

“They come off pretty quickly with a makeup wipe, but for now, lets learn a few quick moves before you need to leave to get ready for work.”

*Chloe*

As much as she hated to admit it, it felt good to take out her anger physically. Emotions weren’t something people could afford in the time of akuma, and yesterday had all but proven that to her. After a quick shower in the school gym, she was ready for her first official shift at the Dupain-Cheng boulangerie. The first couple hours were a breeze, she found the till easier and easier to manage, and there were luckily no ridiculously large groups with extremely complicated orders for her to manage. In her ecstasy of finally feeling like she was doing a good job, she neglected to remember the marks her mother had left on her as she rolled up her sleeves to run some dishes through the pot-wash. She startled at the sound of smashed ceramics, pulling the sleeves down sharply as the plate shards crunched beneath Sabine’s feet, the woman making her way towards her slowly, like she was a wild animal. She tried to stumble out an excuse as the woman gently rolled the hem up and ran her fingertips across the fading marks. There were tears in her eyes as she finally managed a coherent sentence.

“She didn’t mean to…” The small woman’s grip tightened on her wrist uncomfortably as she cursed in mandarin.

“Maman? Clio? Everything okay? I heard a crash.” Marinette’s eyes widened as they landed on the pale skin of her arm, she snatched her hand back quickly hiding the marks again. “She hurt you again didn’t she?!” She couldn’t meet her friends eyes going back to the dishes ashamed.

“Who? Again?” Sabine’s head switched quickly between the two girls.

“Audrey.” Marinette spat, easing the sponge from Clio’s hands. “You can’t let this keep happening, you need to phone the police, I can ring officer Raincomprix? He knows you, he would be able to-“

“No.”

“No?” the two Cheng women turned to her.

“She’s hurting because of me. Because I’m not good enough for her. She has to drink to cope with my failure, she can’t always control what she does when she gets like that… that’s all.” Marinette’s hand rested gently on her shoulder, the fingers of her other hand intertwining with Clio’s and pulling her nails from her palm.

“Maman, I know it’s a school night but-“

“Clio will be staying over.” The older woman wiped the tears from her eyes and steeled her expression before leaving the two in the kitchen to help Tom at the counter while Marinette helped her friend regain some composure.

“Zoe’s staying at Aurore’s tonight, she’s not hurt but last night shook her up and she didn’t want to be at the suite tonight.”

“But you were going back?” Her tone wasn’t accusatory, but Clio flinched back all the same.

“I don’t know.” She answered honestly, “I probably would have eventually, when I was sure she wouldn’t be around.” She shrugged.

“We’ll worry about that tomorrow.” Yes, Marinette was her friend now, and maybe that’s okay.

Chapter Text

*Chloe*

“Watch your step in the back, we did our best but some of the shards might still be about.” Her eyes were likely still puffed and red but she could at least keep her voice level.

“Well Marinette has to inherit her clumsiness from somewhere,” Sabine shrugged with a smile, going back to sealing the cakes for the night.

“I think we’re both guilty of that sometimes dear!” Tom laughed loudly, patting Sabine on the back as he headed back to the kitchen to prepare some dough,

“I didn’t tell him.” Neither women looked up from their closing tasking as the older one spoke, “I had some time to think about things, and while I don’t believe she should get away with this, it’s entirely your decision what happens next. All I can do is offer my support.”

“Andre would cover it up. It doesn’t matter what I say if all it’s going to do is cause me more pain.”

“So you’ve thought about this all before?” She sighed leaning against the broom, her eyes closing as she thought back to when Sabrina had spoken hypothetically to her Father.

“I had, and then she went to New York. And then she came back and for a while she was okay. Up until,” She gestured down to herself, “I won’t live in her shadow anymore, and if she keeps getting worse, I’ll look into things again. If she hurts Zoe,” her grip tightened, “Well it won’t get to that.” Sabine hummed thoughtfully.

“I suppose I’ll have to take your word for it, but if you ever need anything, you have friends now Clio, it’s okay to ask for help.”

“I’m working on it, promise.” The two continued their work in silence, the steady traffic of Paris ebbing away as the sun set.

“Sabine tells me you’re staying the night? Unfortunately, dinner won’t be quite as exciting as last night, we were thinking of leftovers.”

“I’m sure even microwaved your food will be much better than the hotels.”

“Make sure you never tell Alya that, she’ll skin you alive over smack talking her mom,” Marinette joined them as they entered the apartment, a vacant smile dancing on her features.

“Yeah…”

“Now before we forget!” Tom make some fanfare noise before handing Clio a small envelope, her eyebrows pulled together as she opened it, finding some Euro’s neatly folded with a hand written receipt. “You didn’t really think we’d let you work for free now did you?”

“Actually I figured I was just repaying you for giving me a second chance,” She shrugged

“Very sweet, but highly illegal.” Marinette joked, bumping shoulders with her as her cheeks flushed.

Dinner was a slightly more sombre affair than the previous night, the conversation stayed light and away from Clio’s personal life, she slipped out while Sabine was brewing some tea for the family before Tom and her tucked in for the night. She hid herself away in a nearby alley and sparked up, needing to feel the burning in her throat after the numbness she’d suffered all evening. Her fingers traced lightly over her shirt where Audrey’s marks still sat fading beneath. She knew she couldn’t let her Mother get away with this anymore but it was another thing to challenge someone she had to admit she feared.

“Those things will kill you, you know.” She startled dropping the stick from her fingers as Naga dropped down into the alley beside her.

“Did Marinette call you?” She scowled slightly, crushing the embers beneath her shoe.

“Ish, she had to cancel some plans we had for tonight and mentioned that you were staying the night. I know her parents have a strict sleep over policy on school nights so I figured it was something serious?”

“Just the usual,” She rolled her sleeve up instead of an explanation, even behind his mask she could see his eyes darken. “I don’t want to go home.” Her features crumpled suddenly as she fell into him, “I don’t know what to do! I know she can’t be allowed to do this but she’s my Mom! I’m supposed to love her! She’s supposed to love me… right? Or am I just that unloveable?”

One of us.

His voice whispered in the back of her head as Naga dropped his transformation, warm hands pulling hers from her hair.

“She’s not very well Clio, you can’t trust how she acts at the moment, that’s all. If you don’t want to go home, don’t. You can stay at Marinette’s tonight, I’ll speak to the Captain and you can bunk with us for a few nights. I’m sure Marie would love for Rose to have company during her late shifts, we’ll figure something out, promise.”

“I can’t just runaway, what if she turns on Zoe?” She cried, her tears soaking his shirt.

“She has friends too right? I don’t know how close she is to them, but we’ll figure something out, maybe your dad will spring for another room in a different hotel?” She knew he was grasping at straws, but she appreciated the sentiment anyway.

“Clio?” Marinette illuminated the alley with her gentle call, “You were gone for a while so I thought I’d come make sure you were okay?”

“Sorry, I stole her for a bit.” She felt Luka pull back from her and nudge her toward the girl, “Take care of her okay? I’ll come get you both before school tomorrow, I know how much you love to sleep in.” He teased as he headed out of the alley, likely to find somewhere else to transform again.

“Come on, the teas ready.” She let herself be led back inside and up the stairs.

“Marinette mentioned you struggle sometimes with sleeping, this always used to help me when I was your age, you might want to add something sweet though the taste is somewhat acquired.” Marinette seemed to agree as she added a large spoon of honey to her tea, pushing the jar over to Clio with a knowing smile. She took a tentative sip before grimacing, although not wholly unpleasant the herbal taste was extremely strong and burned her throat more than nicotine ever could.

“Sugar might keep me up more, so I’ll take it straight.” She chuckled into her cup at Tom and her friends’ horrified expressions. Sabine hummed in somewhat approval before taking her cup to retire for the evening. The girls stayed up for the duration of some chick flick Clio barely paid any attention to, noticing the bluenette’s eyes start to close through the credits, she nudged the girl awake and to bed. She lay down for a couple of hours in the makeshift bed Mari had set up for her before accepting sleep wasn’t going to come to her anytime soon. She crept back downstairs to make herself some more tea before tip-toeing around Marinettes sprawled out form and up to her terrace, taking a light blanket to wrap around her shoulders. She found two chairs already set up facing the Eiffel tower and settled into one, pulling up her ankles she rested her ching on her knees and got ready for the long haul of another sleepless night.

“What seems to have you up at this hour purr-incess?”

“Chat Noir?” The sound of boots pulled her back into reality as she turned to face her guest, from the sound that left his mouth and the wild reaction of his arms flailing, Clio was, understandably, not who he was expecting to be on Marinette’s balcony at 3 in the morning. “Ease up, I didn’t break in or anything. Mari’s a friend these days, I couldn’t sleep so I came out here.” Chat collapsed into the chair next to her with far more familiarity than she was expecting. “What are you doing skulking around her balcony at this hour?” Her eyebrow raised towards him, curious as to exactly how close Mari and Chat were and exactly why she was keeping this friendship a secret, not from her but from Alya. No doubt if she knew she’d have heard about it on the Ladyblog since the two’s separation from best-friends.

“You’re not the only teen that struggles to sleep in Paris you know.” She turned more towards him, not satisfied with that as a full answer. He rolled his eyes but continued. “She helped my Lady and I out with a few akuma now, she’s smart and sassy and has been going through a rough patch lately.” He shrugged, “Sometimes it’s nice to talk to someone you don’t have to worry about facing tomorrow you know?”

“Sounds nice, don’t let me ruin that arrangement, it’s not like I go to school with you or anything.” The strangled noise he made was not the most supportive argument about his identity she’d ever heard.

“I guess I’ve just been worrying about the team, since the whole clean slate situation, Bug and I have each picked someone who knows everything about us, even our identities and it’s terrifying!” She hummed in agreement; she knew how serious Ladybug was about identities. “But I couldn’t tell her how much it actually scared me because after Master Fu lost his memories, she doesn’t have anyone, she needed someone on the other side of the mask and I’m glad she has that now! And I realise I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but I heard about what happened the other day, how you refused Shadow Moth? And I guess that proved that you really have changed since that day and you deserve another chance.”

“I deserve my last chance.” Her voice was firm, “I made a promise that day to Luka, this is it, if I mess this up I’m irredeemable, I’ve accepted that.”

“I don’t think that’s true Chloe,” He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, “You’ve shown you can be better, I believe in you. Is that why you can’t sleep these days?”

“I guess, but I’ve had trouble pretty much since Stoneheart. I’ve been targeted by Hawkmoth more than most and I guess eventually all those nightmares got too much. I wake up in a panic or get too on edge to drift off so I just, don’t sleep. I realised maybe I was relying on caffeine too much so switched to herbal tea but that has only helped a little. Apparently, you can only be killed or attacked by monsters so many times before it fucks you up mentally.”

“Amen to that, you know there’s plenty of groups available for both those who’ve been akumatised and those who’ve been attacked, you could try those out?”

“I’ve been to a couple, but everyone seems to hate me there, I can’t exactly blame them though. And therapy is not something that Andre or Audrey particularly believe in so that’s not going to happen.”

“I know what that’s like,” he laughed humourlessly, “Maybe one day when we each move out we’ll manage to get our head’s screwed on straight.”

“Maybe.” She hummed.

“You don’t believe that?”

“I-I don’t know.” She stammered, “I always thought this was it, a Bourgeois for life, stuck living in my Mothers shadow. I can keep trying to break away from her but in the end who knows? She could always arrange a marriage to some wealthy guy’s kid and I’d be stuck.” Her face twisted, “If it was someone like Adrien maybe I’d manage, we were such good friends and maybe if we were married he’d have to give me the chance to be like that again.” Chat winced at her side.

“I forgot about those.” He picked at some non-existent thread on his suit, “Why would he have to be your husband to give you another chance? Surely he can see you’re doing your best these days?”

“He’s given me enough of those, and I’ve messed them up each time,” she shrugged, “I don’t want to hurt him by letting him down again, he gets enough of that from his Dad.”

“So I hear.” He hummed sadly, “The rich make shitty parents.”

“You too huh?”

“You have no idea.” He chuckled.

*Adrien*

He left Clio at around half four, Kagami had scheduled another meeting for just after the morning news and he definitely needed a shower after a night on the rooves.

“You know kid, Pinkie seems to be hurting a lot.”

“I know, did you see those scratches on her arms? I haven’t seen those since just before New York when she was at her worst.” Plagg had explained that the better suited a kwami was to their holder, the more information they could share transformed. It was one of the rare instances of kindness when the Plagg had explained he was the best kitten he’d had in a while. That fuelled his smile for weeks.

“I could always visit the witch and break her heel on the runway or something, the cameras wouldn’t exactly catch me.” His green eyes glowed from the pile of towels he’d nestled into, his hatred of water keeping him as far from the shower as possible whilst still in earshot.

“Maybe, I have one thing to try first.” He smirked at the void, small fang glinting.

“And that concludes today’s schedule. Your Father still expects top performance at tonight’s shoot, even with the early morning plans you scheduled with Miss Tsurugi.” Adrien hid his wince at how full his day was with no sleep, hoping that Shadow Moth would take the day off to give him at least a little respite.

“Oh Nathalie!” He caught her elbow as she headed back to her office, “I believe Audrey may have fallen back into an unsavoury habit, it might be worth warning Father to make sure the brand doesn’t get tainted should she have another incident.” Nathalie’s step faltered, her eyes briefly betraying her stoic demeaner.

“Are the girls okay?” She asked in a shushed whisper despite being the only two in the foyer.

“I’m not too close to Zoe but I know neither stayed at the hotel last night, and Chloe is doing her best but she was wearing more concealer than usual the other week and I think I saw scratches on her arm at school yesterday.” He rushed, he wasn’t exactly sure if the makeup was to cover up sleep deprivation but he knew his old friend well enough to recognise smoking as a major red flag.

“I’ll speak to your Father about convincing Andre she might need a visit to the country.” He smiled as her mask of unfeeling slid back on to her features, “I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear your concern for the company’s image, you really are growing into an extraordinary young man Adrien.” She nodded at the boy before turning to head to his Father’s office, beaming, he headed for the door to meet Kagami’s town car at the gates.

“So these are the photos I’ve selected to give to our friend for the soft launch, that is if we can convince her.” She slid the laptop onto his lap, sipping her drink as he studied the images, “All have been approved for public release by her, and Luka mostly agrees with my choices.”
“Mostly?” He continued to scroll as he came across a rather ungraceful shot of Naga being bested by Tora in one of their many sparring matches. “Ah, I see.” She smirked over the rim at him.

“I spoke to them the other night and they both agree we need to create a more reliable source for people to use for reporting, the app is great for mass evacuations of arrondissements, but sometimes people catch the initial incident and nothing is more valuable.”

“Did you happen to mention our plan to convince her?” Although most of her expression was neutral, Adrien could recognise the hesitation in her expression.

“Well I was already known to the media, she said Aspik was up to you. And I agree, Ryuko should be enough for her to take us seriously. And she said she’d drop by and visit her later to cement everything, also to pick up her log in. If we convince her…”

“You mean when we do!” He chuckled as Kagami swatted at her pocket,

“I promise I’m teaching him manners.” She scowled down.

“Roaar’s right puss, be confident.” He felt Plagg purr from his collar.

“I gave up trying teaching him manners.” He shrugged.

*Aurore*

“And that’s all from me this morning folks! Stay dry out there!” She twirled her umbrella in well practiced fashion and threw a wink to the camera waiting patiently to be told cameras were off before stretching her back with a crack and yawning. Early mornings would be the death of her but it was dream to be a reporter and this was her foot in the door so she’d continue to put up with it.

“Your 6.30 appointment are already downstairs in your dressing room Miss Boreal.”

“Thank you Claude!” She took the awaiting coffee from her assistant with a smile and headed to meet with her guests, excited but sceptical at what exactly the two heirs had for her. “Kagami, Adrien! How lovely to see you both again!” She cheered as the door closed behind her.

“I don’t quite know how you’re always this excited in the morning Aurore,” Adrien chuckled as they shook hands, Kagami meanwhile rolled her eyes at the boy and smiled in her own stiff way.

“I trust progress on the site is going well,” she asked as Aurore signed in on her laptop, she turned the screen to the two and watched their eyes light-up. The entire infrastructure of BuggaChat was there, it was simply missing posts. This is where she’d gotten herself stuck so many times, instead opting to redesign the page as opposed to launching. The Ladyblog was the place for Miraculous news, and trying to start a rival to such a renowned site was terrifying.

“Our turn I think,” Adrien turned the couples screen to her, “As you know, Kagami here was once known as the temporary hero Ryuko, what you might not know is I myself was once called to help Ladybug and Chat Noir, I was Aspik.” Aurore’s eyes narrowed at the blonde as he continued to scroll through images of Paris’s two main heroes. Although she couldn’t be sure those images were unreleased, they’d make a good header for more general posts. “I’m sure plenty of people have come forward as the unknown heroes Paris but Ladybug has promised to stop by later and prove my case.” He smiled, nudging the laptop over to Kagami’s side of the table, the Japanese girl taking over flipping through the images at a practised pace.

“Now we can’t help the heroes anymore because of Miracle Queen,” A blurred image of that day was the next to come up. Aurore had meticulously scrolled through every security footage released to the public and hadn’t seen this camera angle before, they had her intrigued and they could tell. “That doesn’t mean we can’t still be of service to Ladybug and Chat Noir. I’m sure you’re familiar with Lila Rossi?” She couldn’t help the annoyed tut as she heard the girls name.

“I’m familiar with her tales, that’s for sure. I’ve luckily never had the displeasure of meeting that bottom-feeder.” Even Kagami smirked at that.

“In which case you’ve seen that God-awful interview on the Ladyblog, needless to say, Cesaire should have known better.” The screen flipped to an unmistakeable Alya within the swarm of Wasps.”

“But that doesn’t make sense!” She pulled the laptop towards herself to better study the image, it was early and her eyes could have been deceiving her. “Ladybug would never endanger a civilian by claiming to be their friend! Let alone best friend! Maybe an amateur looking for clicks would fall for that garbage but she was a hero! She’d know how strict Ladybug was on that! How could she keep that post up so long?! Taking it down could easily be explained as for the girls safety to save her from online hate!”

“But there’s been no movement on that post, below instructions on how the site operates, it’s the top post.” Kagami tabbed over to the Ladyblog and Aurore felt her blood boil. This was bad journalism in every sense, and it was popular young reporters like Alya making such simple but serious errors that make it so difficult for someone their age to make it in the industry.

“Now Aurore, let’s not let Shadow Moth take advantage of you. That would hardly be a good image for the site.” She allowed herself a moment to take a few deep breaths, her heart rate slowing with each. “As we said during our last meeting, the Ladyblog is not what it was. Ladybug and Chat Noir require a reliable source of information for attacks, major news outlets have their own agenda, we all remember Prime Queen.” She hummed in agreement, “A non-profit, that a young entrepreneur starts up to forward her career means reliable information that’s quadruple checked before posting because even the slightest slip-up could be the end of her career. Now that’s a reliable news source.”

“Add to that one endorsed by the heroes themselves and she has one hell of a portfolio.” Adrien tapped the key one last time revealing an adorable, if not clumsy, selfie of Paris’s four heroes. By far the clearest image anyone had of the new Tiger since her appearance during Crocoduel.

“They gave you this?”

“Well, Ladybug and Chat Noir can’t always come to meeting like this, they have their own lives on top of moonlighting as a hero so sometimes they need trusted people, like us, to act as their ambassadors. We can’t always know the truth but we can always be a second power of eyes that has a better understanding of them, in case you ever need a post reviewing.”

“So I understand what I get from this, but what do you?”

“We can’t be heroes anymore, it’d put us in more danger than we’re already in by being exposed. We owe them this much. They’ve saved us enough times, surely you agree?” Kagami’s eyebrow quirked.

“Okay. If Ladybug comes through on her end of your bargain, I’ll email your admin details over in the morning. For now, I’ll need those for my first few posts, needs to be a good launch after all.” She passed a thumb drive to the two and finished off her drink as it was passed back over.

“See you at school!” Adrien smiled on his way out,

“I do hope, you’ll be in touch.” Kagami followed him out.

*Chloe*

“A health retreat?” Zoe had joined them at the table for lunch when her phone rang. Clio let out a sigh of relief, “No don’t worry she’s here.”

“Andre.” She addressed her Father cooly, she knew exactly how this conversation would go, she could picture his sweating forehead and shaking hands visibly.

“Oh good, yes Chloe, um, your Mother has-“

“Drank her second foot into the grave, one of your little business buddies caught her tantrum and she’s in rehab.” Juleka choked on her water and Rose dropped her fork, the clatter not startling her in the least. Mari and Luka instead just rolled their eyes continuing to eat.

“Not quite. Mr Agreste, found out about your Mothers condition and recommended a nice facility out in the country. I need you to show Zoe how we Bourgeois manage in this scenario. And I need you on your best behaviour. For her sake.” She nearly laughed at his faux-stern tone and terribly veiled threat. Instead of answering she hung up the phone and tossed it back to Zoe’s confused fingers.

“I need to go wig shopping, so eat your food and I’ll text you my location when you want to catch up.” She picked up half her sandwich from her tray and headed out the cafeteria.

Chapter Text

She swapped her school bag for her handbag in one swift motion, her other hand reaching into the depths of her locker to find her old makeup bag, luckily, she hadn’t thrown this out when Luka had helped her focus more on academics. It wasn’t much to take her current look and morph it into the old Chloe, a little blue liner, some extra blush and lip gloss were the main difference. Satisfied with her appearance she clicked the door shut and nearly punched Adrien in the face.

“Don’t jump out on a girl like that!”

“I did say your name, but I think you were in the zone.” He rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. “Been a while since you wore blue liner.” He noted.

“Yeah about that, I’m guessing Dracula isn’t the one who left his lair to find my Mom elbow deep in vomit and wine.”

“I might have had something to do with that,”

“Well if you did, thank you. Hopefully this retreat will screw her head back on straight. What made you say something anyway?” She affixed her bag to her shoulder and headed for the doors.

“You’re my friend Chloe. I’m worried about you.” She stopped in her tracks at that word.

“I’m not your friend.” She hunched in on herself, “But I think I’d like to be, so if you want to hang out sometime, give me a call. And… it’s Clio now.” She blushed furiously at his kind smile and hurried out the building.

After a brief conversation with Andre, he convinced Audrey’s secretary to email over her itinerary for the next two weeks, they knew she’d at least be gone that long. Fortunately, only one public event was scheduled for that time, unfortunately, it was one of the biggest of the year when it came to the Bourgeois. The Charity Gala for the biggest children’s hospital in Paris. There was no way with her Mother out the picture she could miss such a big event. She’d hoped if only small appearances were needed from her she’d get away with just stripping the pink from her hair, this required a whole fancy up-do and longer hair, not something she could magic up overnight. Luckily again for her, Andre had temporarily removed the credit limit on the card he gave her. A quick stop at a local boutique and the mirage of the old Chloe Bourgeois would be back in place, albeit with an interesting hairdo.

“For the charity gala right?” The woman behind the counter asked as she flipped through the colour swatches,

“And you care why?” She met the eyes of the woman for a brief moment, her eyes a bright blue Clio could have sworn she’d seen somewhere before.

“I was just wondering how exactly you planned on getting a gown of the appropriate quality on equally short notice. You can hardly pick something off the rack for somewhere with so many cameras.” Clio swore under her breath and turned back to the colour options; she was running even shorter on time that she thought. “You know I’m sure a resourceful girl like you has plenty of friends in high places, those with plenty of stored designs for such an occasion should one be around the corner.” Her eyes narrowed at the older woman, something about her screamed familiar even if she couldn’t quite put her finger on it, her tattoo in the least should have prompted some memory, she racked her brain as she tried to focus on the way the geometry and botanical elements blended together seamlessly. “They’ll probably be looking to join you soon, no?” Her eyes were pulled from the woman again as she realised, she was probably right, and if she could catch them in time, she could get Marinette to bring her sketchbook.

“You still never told me why-“ She was cut short as she lifted her phone to her ear to continue her conversation only to find the woman gone, getting distracted from the mystery again as Zoe picked up.

“Go to Mari’s and get her to pick up the pink sketchbook with dark red detailing, she needs to grab a spare swatch of Clara’s dress fabric too, doesn’t need to be bigger than the book itself. Also, get her to tell you her favourite fabric store and head there. Text me the address.” She hung up the phone before her sister could argue and turned to find a staff member to finalise her purchase. Although it was probably impulsive to choose a wig colour that matched a strange woman with familiar eyes, it was one she felt confident in.

“Clio what on earth are you planning and why do you need this?” Luckily the whole group from the cafeteria had joined Mari and Zoe,

“Shush. I stole designs from this enough times to know exactly what we need is in here, everyone open your phones and the camera app.” She instructed hoping they’d do as she asked as she became absorbed in the designs. It didn’t take long to find a design she liked, “Phone.” She held her hand out in Juleka’s direction, the goth quickly handed it over and Clio took a photo, returning it. She went around the group until they all had a photo on their phones including herself.

“Okay, job number two,” she snapped the book shut and passed it back to Mari, taking the dark navy fabric between her teeth and ripping it, dividing it between herself, Zoe, Marinette, Luka, Juleka and Rose. “Everyone head inside and find a fabric you like, it needs to match with what your holding. Marinette will come and find you once she’d sorted her own choice and help you figure out which works best with the design. I’ll need you to note down how much we need and the code. I need to find an outfit that makes people believe the old Chloe’s back. You have an hour, don’t dawdle.”

“I think we do what she says and assume she’ll fill us in later.” Luka shrugged before leading the stunned group inside. She had a rough idea the colour she was looking for so knew it wouldn’t take as long as Mari to decide in the least.

She passed plenty of high fashion outlets but a brief look at their window display told her that wasn’t what she was looking for. Yes, she was trying to emanate the person she was but she’d be damned if she lost all the progress she’d made. She needed a small boutique, whose passion proved their quality not their name. Eventually, she found a rented rack in a mid-level showroom that had the business casual she was after, Elise (the designer) happily and quickly hemmed the trousers for her and one spare V-neck sweater-vest later she was heading back to the fabric store. That would have been her last pit-stop if she hadn’t nearly physically run into Alix outside a Gabriel store looking like a deer in headlights.

“Um… Alix? You doing okay?”

“Me? Yep! Totally! There’s just that gala next week and Dad says I need to get a date and a suit. He knows I love looking so figured it would be super easy to just pick something up right? But what if I want to look at dresses? Or maybe I only like window shopping and I’m never going to pick a suit! Or a dress!” Clio rolled her eyes.

“We’re not actually talking about suits or dresses anymore, are we?” Alix turned to her slowly.

“Uh… yes?” She let out a big sigh.

“I’m sure Mari will have a decent outfit in that book for you, and I’ll be your date. Both problems solved.”

“But I!”

“Don’t have a choice, come on Kubdel.” She hooked arms with the girl and dragged her along, her skates causing no resistance and letting her easily drag the astonished girl along.

“Phone.” She held her hand out to Alix who was still babbling when they found Luka, Mari, Zoe and Juleka arguing over shades of Teal.

“But!”

“No buts gimmie.” She handed it over eventually, Clio snapped a photo and sent her on her way. Picking out her own stretch of dark green fabric and adding it to the list Rose was helping the clerk sort. “I’ll need your help cutting this,” She placed the bag holding her wig in Rose’s lap where the girl made a happy squeal and excitedly started looking up red carpet styles.

“So, tell us what exactly we need all this fabric and my sketchbook for?” Mari asked as she dropped the roll of darker teal onto the till.

“There’s a charity gala next week and we all need outfits. I can’t get out of going, neither can Zoe. Mari you made the looks so you obviously get and invite with Luka as your date. I saw your Aunt’s ID at the flat so I’m guessing you know the hospital pretty well so Jules gets to be your date. I have to play the role I was given at birth. I need you all to make sure I don’t go too far and ruin all the progress I’ve made.” Her friends all nodded.

“And Alix?” Zoe asked, turning to the still afraid skater.

“Alix is my date. She owes me a favour and I don’t want Andre to buddy me up with some rando rich kid. I recommend you find someone too.” She chuckled as Zoe’s expression matched Alix’s. “No time to waste! We have half an hour of lunch left that’s just enough time to finish my plan.” She led the group across town and into Style-Queen HQ.

“Miss Chloe! How wonderful of you to visit, Jean sent over your request and I have the badges all loaded just waiting for photographs.”

“Thank you Gerard! Sorry to be so last minute but I need another Model pass, Miss Kubdel from the Louvre is joining us.”

“Yes of course, now please. Line up.” Confused they each had their photograph taken and passes handed out. Clio first led them to filing to photocopy and blow-up Mari’s sketches, then to the design floor.

“Okay, everyone has access to this floor. Zoe, you and I have full access to the building, and Mari as my assistant you have majority access. Now if you’ll excuse me. Hanna!” She turned yelling across the shop floor.

“Miss Bourgeois, your Mother isn’t-“

“In the office. Obviously, that’s why I’m here. Your interns, what work has Mother left them?”

“Well.” She flicked thought her journal, “They have an internal contest due to finish tomorrow. Based on their work Audrey was supposed to come up with another task but…”

“She isn’t here to do so. Excellent. I’ll be taking use of your interns for the next week. This is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you remember how she was offered your job last year?” Both Marinette and Hanna’s back straightened, “Good. Well, she has designed some looks for the Gala next week. As my Mother will no longer be in attendance, these will be worked on for my sister and I.” She handed over the blown-up designs. “This is my main colour, Zoe has hers. This fabric will also be needed as an accent. Any and all alterations are to be run through Miss Dupain-Cheng. I suggest you get to work. You have my measurements. I’ll be over for a fitting tomorrow.” Hanna nodded and started to order around staff. “Zoe, stay with them, when they’re done, head back to class. I need to get our interns matched with our lovely models.” Zoe nodded and headed into the workshop, Mari needed dragging with the rest to the interns office. Everyone was paired up based on their strengths, and then given the same order to run everything through Marinette. Phone numbers were exchanged, and everyone headed back to school only just making it in time for literature, even if they could barely sit still. Marinette had her daze broken at the first question by an intern. Even now Clio found herself jealous at how easily she fit into the world of fashion. Mari had tried to scold Clio for using her Mother’s interns like this but quickly stopped when she pointed out if they had no assignments, Hanna would have likely fired them all because she wouldn’t know what else to do. Interns for Style Queen were always in high demand with an even higher supply and at least this way, they’d have a look on the runway before Audrey fired them for looking at her funny despite not looking at her at all.

She didn’t realise how alert shed been until she managed to block Kagami’s incoming marker, “Can I at least change into my gym clothes first? These are expensive and markers are annoying.” The Japanese girl smirked, she could swear she saw pride in that look as she let her pass.

“We only have half an hour before I need to be at fencing practice so this will be shorter than yesterday. Expect this to be the usual length of our sessions.”

“Right.”

“Adrien tells me you were a dancer?”

“Yes? Ballet.” Her eyebrows drew together in confusion.

“Well since we’re so short on time, we’ll work on defence today. Ballet leads itself towards dodging as opposed to fighting, but agility will allow you to get the upper hand. For not that will do. Mark!” She pulled herself upright, her feet balancing her core. Admittedly she was out of practice, Clio stumbled more than a few times, earning her a few pink stars before a low chuckle pulled them both from their concentration.

“Adrien.” She scowled, as she gained another star.

“It’s not your fault really, it’s just you rarely danced alone, right?” Her eyes narrowed more. “When we were little, you used to make me come to practice with you, and you always got the best praises from onlookers when you had me.” She rolled her eyes.

“Fine. Think you can keep up with me?” Kagami smiled wickedly, her pen ready.

“We still need that rematch.” And just like that he was pulled into their game. He was right, not that she’d ever admit it, she was always a better dancer when he joined her, she found herself getting only one more mark in the final minutes of their practice, Adrien managing none. Of course, his fencing and knowledge of Kagami’s attack style gave him the upper hand. Her lungs burned by the end, her new habit rearing its ugly head as she sat to catch her breath, she checked her phone only to find streams of pictures in the group chat of her friends back at the office getting fitted for mock ups, she found herself giggling as she spotted Marinette in each one, her face pulled into different expressions of concentration and focus. She replied to a few of the pictures excitedly before scooping up her belongings and heading to the bakery for her shift. In her excitement of a day, she’d nearly forgotten her new daily hobby of helping the Dupain-Chengs.

*Alix*

“Not you again!” She scowled as the March Hare stepped out from the burrow on to her balcony, “How many times do I have to tell you! I haven’t lost that bet yet!” The older rabbit giggled as she took a seat across from her,

“True, but I bumped into myself earlier today and I was reminded of the first bet I ever got you to agree to.” She raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? And what bet would that be?”

“Loser dyed their hair the choice colour of the winner.” Alix groaned into her hands, she knew the girl would never tell her who won or lost but knowing what the bet was for made her more determined to take it. Her hair was not something she gambled with if it wasn’t a sure win.

“Didn’t you basically tell me who you are with that hint? Doesn’t that break the rules?”

“No, my little cotton tail and I specified that those with time travel powers can’t be explicitly told but those sorts of hints are fine. Those of us in possession of the Rabbit miraculous, even for the briefest of moments, need to be able to trust each other. You watch enough of that British garbage to know what happens when you mess with time.”

“The one show I couldn’t get you to like?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” She smiled coyly, “Now I can’t watch it on repeat like you do, but something about muttering ‘spoilers’ to each other grants a certain thrill. Besides, Wayzz likes it.” She reached up to pet the sleeping kwami between her ears.

“Urgh not you again!” Bunnix joined the two on the balcony then,

“Hmm snap.” She chuckled at the flustered older version of herself.

“I keep telling you, I got this miraculous fair and square. And with your permission, I’m allowed to tweak realities that are close to my own. Even you agreed my future had less suffering.”

“Yeah well, I still think some of your stories are full of crap!”

“Don’t recognise you own style?” She watched March Hare dangle a teasing hand at Bunnyix before calling for her own burrow.

“I hate that girl.” Bunnix collapsed into her chair in her absence propping her feet up onto the railing and grabbing the coffee Alix had made for her.

“I don’t know, I think she’s growing on me.”

Chapter Text

*Chloe*

It was drizzling when Sabine dropped her off outside the hotel, she assured the older woman that with Audrey away for the foreseeable future it was safe for her to sleep there. Begrudgingly, she watched Clio enter the hotel and pulled away. Jean greeted her with a hug when she got up to her floor, a tea ready and waiting for her. She hadn’t told him everything, but she could see he’d filled in the majority of the gaps himself.

“It was a sweet thing you did for your friends Madam.” She shrugged,

“I need them to keep me in line… speaking of which,” she pulled her new outfits from her bag, “I think these are dry clean only, I know I’ve been learning how to use a washing machine, but this is a little out of my league.”

“Please don’t try and clean those yourself, Josephine says you’ve made great progress, but these require a gentler hand.” The horror on his face made her chuckle as he called laundry.

“Thank you.” She smiled as Josie came to collect them. “The Dupain-Chengs gave me some end of day sweets, please share them with everyone.” She balanced the box carefully in her arms as she bid her a goodnight. “I think I’ll be retiring for the night, feel free to head home.” She handed a smaller box to her butler as he bowed and left her.

Zoe joined her briefly for a snack, she animatedly told her about everything she missed at Style Queen, apparently Hanna and Mari had had a small disagreement on a design element and Alix made them bet whoever was right got to boss the other around for the rest of the day. Mari won, obviously, but was too kind to take her winning place in the office. They’d both agreed to listen to the other more. Clio wasn’t sure that solved anything but with two strong personalities, she supposes that was as close to peace as they were going to get. By the time Clio had cleaned herself up and gotten ready for bed, the rain had fully started to pour. She wasn’t sure sleep would come to her tonight either but unable to sit outside, she settled for a dimly lit bay window seat hoping beyond hope the rain would lull her to sleep.

*Ladybug*

She and Tora had opted for a covered rooftop to meet at with the impending weather report, she wasn’t looking forward to swinging through the rain on her way back from Aurore’s, but it was a necessary evil. As Marinette, she could never admit how little faith she had in Alya and her Ladyblog these days, but when Tora had come to her with knowledge of a new and more reliable site, she couldn’t deny the Ladyblog had gone severely downhill since Lila joined Dupont.

“Sorry I’m late, you know how unpredictable slipping away can be.” She smiled as she touched down.

“It’s no bother, I’ve completed my tasks for the evening so am in no rush. My meeting this morning went just as expected, you were correct that Beaureal couldn’t resist an unseen picture of the team. I’m not sure we could have convinced her without it.”

“What can I say, I know what drives teen reporters crazy.” She giggled as the two took a seat.

“She didn’t believe Aspik’s identity so you may need to confirm that to her later, Multimouse too if you want Marinette’s help.” She tried not to let her breathing catch in her throat.

“I think we’ll keep Marinette hidden for now. She’s closely tied to Alya after all…” Even if Alya wasn’t loyal to her anymore.

“I suppose. I built more on our cover also, we claimed that working with you so long gave us certain insights into how you think. Now for Aspik that’s true and I truly believe he knows how you think very well.”

“He was stuck with me for a while…” She really should check up on Adrien more in the suit, even if he did still leave her tongue-tied.

“And Ryouko was a popular support so I think she bought it. I’ll just be sure to use my civilian account primarily and save Tora for very special occasions.”

“Good, I can see you’ve thought a lot about this. Thank you Tora.”

“It is I who should be thanking you Ladybug, the trust you bestowed in Chat Noir when you allowed him to choose a second meant more than the world to him. Even as a civilian I see the way that trust has given him confidence and direction in his decision making.” Ladybug blushed, she knew Chat had self-confidence issues in the rare instances they’ve bled through during an akuma fight but she’d never know the boy behind the mask as intimately as Kagami, it would make her jealous if the sheer pride in the Tiger’s eyes didn’t also speak to her belief in Ladybug as well. “You should be going, don’t want to keep Miss Beaureal waiting too long. She said she’d give you the teams login information. I believe it’s safest to use our communicators to use those accounts, you never know who’s tracking admin access.” Ladybug’s face dropped.

“I didn’t even think of that.”

“And that’s why you have the daughter of a tech giant on your side.” She’d never seen such a playful smirk on the Japanese girl’s face, as much of a good influence Kagami was on Roaar, they were an equally good influence on her. She cast her yo-yo into the sky as Tora used her claw to launch herself to the next roof over, probably to start a patrol, Tora was nothing if not a diligent hero.

Ladybug was always grateful for living in Paris, the architecture lent itself to large windowsills and balconies like she’d never seen anywhere else. Even if the rain made her slip on landing a little, she was thankful to actually have somewhere to land as opposed to spiderman hang down from the roof.

“Ladybug! Please come in, let me get you a towel!” She barely had time to retract her yo-yo when Aurore burst out and dragged her inside. She was amazed at the organised chaos of the girls’ room, to the untrained eye, you’d almost call it a complete mess and yet everything had a place and there were no dirty clothes or discarded candy wrappers to be seen. She thankfully accepted the towel from the girl and made sure not to get anything wet as she took the offered seat next to a large whiteboard and her computer setup. “Kagami probably already told you, but I already have everything set up for launch, and ever since this morning I’ve been working on the launch post. Of course it won’t go live without your okay!”

“I appreciate that, I can see you’ve really done your research.” She turned to the board, finding printed photographs of akuma, the Miracle Queen attack and the appearance of the new team. Her eyes lingered on Miracle Queen.

“You know, I’m surprised there hasn’t been a massive post on the Ladyblog about that. Especially given…” she pointed to Alya behind the wasps.

“So am I. I’m glad she hasn’t, that victim really has been doing her best since the attack to right an impossible wrong. I need you to be better than the Ladyblog Aurore. People will always try and claw for clout, or speculate on the heroes about everything under the sun, but I need you to be reliable, okay?”

“Kagami already briefed me on her, don’t worry.” Her nose wrinkled in disgust as she looked at the printout of Lila’s interview.

“She’s smarter than you’d think, and it’s not just her. Believe me, I’ve met my fair share of crazy reporters.”

“I’m sure. That’s why I’ve created separate boards for that sort of thing.” She turned back to the computer. “Any speculation has its own place, nothing from there will ever be discussed on the main page.” She showed Ladybug through the site. “The main page will be for official news and Akuma alerts, once they’ve been verified of course. I’m sure they’ll be a few mistakes there for the first few months but there’s no way to refine the system anymore before it’s live.”

“Of course. Now I believe I have a launch post to look over?” Aurore excitedly moved to drafts and turned the screen towards her.

It took hours of ironing out for the website to be ready, but it was finally in a place both Ladybug and Aurore could be confident in releasing. The date and time were set, and Aurore forwarded the teams login information to Ladybug, Adrien and Kagami. With the assurance that any post could be easily removed by them without causing disruption to the site.

“Thank you for this Aurore. It’s wonderful to be working with you, not fighting against you.” She smiled as she opened the patio doors.

“Likewise. You have my number, please don’t hesitate to call with any issues you might have.”

“I trust Kagami and Adrien to help you plenty there, but I will.” Once last smile and a handshake she was off into the night. She had a busy day ahead of her after all.

“Spots off.” She climbed down to her bed, quietly closing the hatch behind her, Tikki flew to her bed next to Marinette’s pillow, excitedly munching a cookie as she readied herself for bed.

“You took a big step today Marinette, if that girl never came to town, maybe things would be different…” She looked at her chosen sadly.

“I don’t know Tikki, with how easily she believed Lila over me, maybe something like this was always going to happen.” She took one of the few photos of the two left pinned on her wall and let it fall to the floor, Trixx sadly taking it to the bin. Whatever substitute the kwami had for a heart had been broken when Marinette had explained why Alya would no longer be Rena. She curled up next to Daizzi finding comfort in her new holder’s partner enough to sleep.

*Chloe*

She’d at least managed a few hours of sleep in the window, thankful the weather leant itself to a more easy-going look, she wasn’t sure she had the energy to go full Bourgeois today. With any luck, her fitting later would be the only time she’d need to summon the illusion of a good night’s sleep. Jean had her breakfast ready for her when she emerged and a fresh pot of coffee, she accepted the drink greedily before turning to her food as the mug was refilled. She wanted to make it to school early enough to hear all about how the girls’ dresses were coming along. Her father tried to herald her into his office, but she swiftly avoided him by ducking out of the side door before he could catch up. Her walk was long and hidden enough for her to spark up without attracting any undue attention, or she hoped. No one had reported on her new habit as of yet in the very least.

Her day went mostly without incident, the only strange thing being that Mari chose to join her at the back of the classroom today, even if Lila wasn’t present until after lunch due to some likely bullshit meeting with some big celebrity, she hadn’t cared to actually listen. Alya seemed almost smug when she saw Marinette frown at her usual seat before joining her at the back. She just shrugged when Clio questioned the change, and she decided not to push the girl further, even if she was unusually quiet all day. It was her day off from the bakery and she’d already messaged Kagami that she’d have to cancel their training session due to the gala fitting, the girl understood, saying that she’d spoken to Marinette and Luka already and was excited to see them all at the event. By the time lunch rolled around, she found herself curiously looking over Marinette’s shoulder as she feverishly refreshed the website for the local news station, not that she needed to bother, when the alert she was clearly waiting for came, nearly the whole cafeterias phones chimed. A symphony of ringtones and shocked gasps sounded as heads turned to look between Alya and Aurore. Confused, she opened her own phone, her jaw dropping as she skimmed the article and the new news forum the girl had created. She could feel the anger roll off of Alya as she stormed out, seemingly talked out of going after Aurore by Nino who sheepishly followed after the cursing brunette.

“Well… As well as I think that went, I’m gonna go…” Luka looked knowingly to the group before heading out the same doors. No doubt the school was about to test the new Akuma reporting software.

“We should probably make a move as well, after little miss explosion last week, I have absolutely no desire to be lugging rubble around or spraining my ankle again.” They’d nearly made it to the front steps when a screaming group of students flooded from the upstairs classrooms. In the stampede Clio watched in horror as Juleka’s hand was pried from Rose’s, the smaller girl being nearly knocked to the ground, Clio danced through the rush of bodies and cradled Rose against herself, elbows being constantly jabbed into her and feet crushing her own as she held tight to the girl, edging slowly to the wall of the stairs and helping Rose climb down into Alix’s waiting arms below before hopping down herself texting Juleka their location to regroup.

“You okay?” She squatted next to Rose who held her wrist gently to her chest.

“I think I pulled something, hopefully the miracle cure will fix me right up!” Despite her cheery smile Clio could see how she winced.

“There you are!” The group jumped as Ladybug landed amongst them, “Rose, we need your help.” She held her hand out to the girl who hesitated to take it.

“Isn’t there anyone else? She’s hurt.” Clio stood between the two protectively, a tiny pig appearing in a flash of light.

“Hurt! Where Piglet?” The kwami rushed over to Rose and inspected her gently,

“Daizzi! Secret identities!”

“The newer kwamis don’t seem all too fond of that rule huh?” Clio giggled at Ladybugs exasperated expression.

“I can take care of that, easy peasy!” With a delighted oink, the pig flew back to collect the miraculous from Ladybug and gently placed it into Rose’s good hand.

“She can’t fasten it dummy.” Clio rolled her eyes and dropped to the ground before the girl. The jewel turned light gold in her hand as she took it from Rose, remembering this miraculous as an anklet she tied it around the girls ankle appropriately. “Go kick some ass, we’ll go find Jules.” She helped Rose to her feet and turned to Alix who seemed unbothered by what was transpiring in front of her, and they went to find the goth.

*Rose*

“Gift!” As instructed, she released her power when Alya’s new akumatised form of Blog Buster was tied in Chat’s tail. A blurry image formed in front of the girl of Ladybug denouncing Aurore’s blog and apologising to the girl, promising she’d be the only reporter the hero would go to, and promising to replace Tora and Naga as a permanent team member.

“Somebody thought they were being a supportive Boyfriend by letting her get revenge for her gossip site.” Tora came into the hall with Nino in tow, Alya’s phone glowing with akumatised power. She crushed the screen under her boot with an annoyed expression and Ladybug caught the butterfly turning Alya back to herself.

“Alya, you can’t go around wishing ill will on people. If you believe in your blog enough, you’re bound to succeed!” Pigella cheered as she untied the girl.

“Is it true?” Alya spat, her hands curling into cruel claws at her side.

“We had to.” Ladybug sighed heavily.

“Your Ladyblog lost all credibility when you chose to listen to Lila Rossi over any and all logic in this universe.” Pigella’s eyebrows drew together in confusion, what did Lila have to do with this… “Shadow Moth is more powerful than ever before and we need Paris on our side if we have any chance of beating him.” Tora followed.

“Why are you punishing me!” Alya’s tears started again as Nino rushed to her side, Ladybug reached out for the girl before pulling her arm back sharply.

“Alya, this isn’t about you. This is about being a reliable reporter. We need someone who checks their sources. Who isn’t more concerned with finding our identities than protecting the city. I’m sorry.” Her miraculous beeped, prompting the bug to cast her cure.

“I really hope this makes you scrutinise what you post in the future more.” Naga finished as he led Pigella from the room.

“I don’t understand… I know Aurore has a new blog for reporting akuma and similar topics, but why has Alya taken it so hard? There are hundreds of blogs like that out there…” She asked no one in particular as they raced across the rooftops to find somewhere to detransform.

“None of those blogs have been officially endorsed by Ladybug herself before. Other than the Ladyblog of course.” Chat replied grimly.

“It came to our attention that a certain liars’ claws were dug too deep in Miss Cesaire, we tried reasoning with her but she wouldn’t listen. We rely so heavily on Paris for support, we need them to have a more reliable place to aid us.” Tora explained, “A couple of ex-heroes decided to spear-head this new place and sought out Miss Beaureal as they knew she was already planning on a similar blog to the Ladyblog.”

“A liar? But who would do such a thing! They’d hurt Alya’s credibility! Possibly beyond repair!” Tears stung in her eyes at the thought of someone Alya considered a friend hurting her so badly.

“Unfortunately, not everyone in the world is like you Rose.” Ladybug held her hand out sadly.

“Lament.” She unclipped the miraculous and handed it back to the hero, “And you brought up Lila because she’d the one lying to Alya, right?” She turned to Tora who nodded once. “Dammit.” She turned and left the alley.

*Chloe*

The girl could smell trouble when she headed into the girls bathroom before class. She was just finishing in the stall when she heard the doors slam open.

“I can’t believe her!” The door slammed shut at the skuttling of feet, she sucked in a breath.

“I didn’t know how bad it was until this morning! I was supposed to be meeting up with you know who to go over the team and I was going to recommend adding you again like I promised but instead she showed up yelling at me! I don’t know what Marinette said to her but it’s like she doesn’t trust either of us now! That’s why she gave the fox to that new girl and made her look like my hero form.” She ground her teeth, the faint taste of blood appearing in her mouth.

“How could she do this to me! She knows how hard I worked on the Ladyblog and how much I admired Ladybug! And now she looks at me with pity! And that new tiger is just like Marinette! She hates you so much! And you’ve never done anything but help them all!”

“I knew she was the wrong choice when Ladybug told me who she was going to give Stripes to, that poor Katagami…” Did she mean kwami? “But I trusted her! That Louise is a piece of work.”

“We should run an exposé on the team! You know who they all are right! We should find all their dirty secrets and post it on the front page! That would prove we’re the right news source to trust!”

“I don’t know Alya… It might make her angrier…”

“Well let’s see what we can find and go from there! I bet they’re not so innocent!” It was honestly laughable how much pride she could hear in Alya’s voice, she really thought this would be the scoop of the century. She waited for the two to leave before exiting herself and washing her hands, they had no reason to know she heard the whole exchange, nor how hilarious she found it all. When she eventually made it back to class, she found Lila and Alya already sat at the front whispering conspiratorially and Mari at the back of class next to her again. She smiled sadly as she slipped down into the seat, she’d have to tell Marinette what she heard, at least in part. She needed to know what Lila had made Alya believe about the girl. Forewarned is forearmed after all. Rose and Juleka trailed in eventually, the small girl pulling a confused face at Lila as she passed, Juleka leading her to her seat and rubbing soothing circles on her back. Rose was Pigella, she was confident in that fact now, what she wasn’t confident in was what Rose had learnt during that fight that put such a conflicted expression on a usually happy girls face.

She didn’t have chance to tell Marinette about what she’d overheard during the class they shared so she resolved to tell her at Style Queen that evening. She packed her things and headed towards the exit of the school before feeling an unconscious tug towards the locker room. She tried to ignore it but found the urge to turn around even stronger once she was at the bottom of the steps. She turned and ran back heading to the lockers and peaking inside. She could hear slightly raised voices but couldn’t quite make them out, nor who they were. She spotted Alix hiding on the other side of the room. The girl waved her over quickly and Clio was able to sneak inside and over to the girl. Ice dripped into her spine as she realised, she hadn’t warned Marinette in time.

“I don’t know what you mean Lila.” She sounded almost bored, “I haven’t talked to Ladybug in months.”

“Don’t lie to us!” Alya stomped her foot like a petulant child. “I know BuggaChat was your doing! I know you told Ladybug the lies you’ve been trying to tell me about Lila! I don’t know why she believed you. But you ruined everything!”

“Alya I promise you I would never tell Ladybug a lie. And if it wasn’t already obvious, I don’t run BuggaChat. I didn’t make anyone do anything!” She could hear the tears in Marinette’s voice even if her face was obscured.

“You can’t even apologise can you! You’re the reason I was akumatised! You made Ladybug choose another fox! You discredited Alya to her. You got Alya akumatised today.” Lila edged toward Marinette threateningly.

“I didn’t do any of those things! Alya please! She’s lying to you again!” Lila’s arm pulled back and her stomach sank surely Alya was going to step in? Right? The girl in question looked away guiltily.

*Marinette*

When she saw Alya turn away she knew the slap was coming, she braced herself for the impact. She knew she could easily avoid Lila if she wanted, even restrain the girl but in that moment she felt so defeated. Lila had won. She’d taken Alya away from her. She’d poisoned her reputation. Who knows how many people she’d told her latest bullshit story to, and of course they’ll all believe Ladybug’s best friend over her. Of course no one would believe her…

A slam was not what she was expecting, her eyes edged open to find Clio huffing as she held Lila against the lockers. “Don’t touch her.”

“You’re hurting me…” Lila whimpered beneath her

“I’ll go get the principal.” Alya ran from the locker room

“I don’t know who you think you are.” Clio growled, pushing harder. Alix appeared from behind another row of lockers and gently placed her hand around Clio’s wrist, pulling her back.

“She’s not worth it.” Clio turned to look at the girl, her eyes slightly feral before turning to Marinette and upon seeing she was unharmed, let go.

“She isn’t, but Marinette is. I couldn’t just let her…” She shuffled back almost ashamed at her actions as Lila rubbed her arm and skuttled off, Alix chasing after her, promising to straighten everything out.

“Thank you… for saving me…” She looked strangely at Clio then, she really hadn’t thought Clio was capable of protecting anyone but herself. She’d heard from the girl as Ladybug how she was trying to change, but seeing her risk her own reputation for her civilian self was something else entirely.

“Yeah well, Kagami’s been helping me channel my anger into self-defence, although I don’t think that’s quite what she meant.”

“Knowing Kagami, I think that’s exactly what she would have wanted to happen.” She lay a shaking hand on Clio’s shoulder.

“Are you okay?” She asked nervously, placing a hand over her own.

“I’ve been better I won’t lie. But I also could be a lot worse if you hadn’t been here.”

“Do you think your parents would break the sleepover rule twice in one week? I think we could do with some spa treatment after the day we’ve had.”

“Doesn’t hurt to ask.” She smiled leading the two out the room.

*Chloe*

After convincing Marinette’s parents to let her stay over, Clio decided it hadn’t been a conscious decision to step between Marinette and Lila. She recognised now how dangerous it was to cross the liar, let alone hurt her, but she was also sure she didn’t regret the decision. Furthermorem, she was certain if a similar situation were to arise, she’d do it again. As much as she wanted to start their spa treatment immediately, they were both needed at Style Queen and with such a short deadline, missing one fitting really might have been the end of the world.

They found all the girls and Luka there anxiously waiting for the two. Apparently, Alix had filled them all in and advised them to keep an eye out for both Alya and Lila as they were on the warpath after Damocles had decided that if Clio acted in self defence there was nothing to punish as the two actions had cancelled each other out. Great teaching. Luka tapped her on the head in a light scold as Juleka glared daggers at her briefly. They both then turned to praise her on protecting their friend.

“Lila is a liar.” Rose’s gentle voice carrying so much pain and anger pulled them all from their conversations. The interns fell silent but diligently continued their work, “I was talking to a couple of friends earlier, and they mentioned that Aurore’s site only exists because the Ladyblog isn’t a trustworthy place anymore. I heard them mention Lila was the reason why… So I emailed Prince Ali… He’s never heard of Lila Rossi, or had her stay at his palace in Achu, or heard of the charity they were supposed to have worked on together.”

“I’m sorry you had to find out that way Rose, I know you wanted to believe she was helping the world.” Marinette spoke delicately as she worked on a seam of her dress.

“I’m not sure anything she says is true.” Clio chimed in, “But I’m also not sure it matters, some of the stuff is so obviously bullshit, but the class just drinks it up. It sucks what happened today but the second they chose to blindly believe her; it was bound to happen.”

“You can say that again.” Marinette added.

The remainder of the fitting carried the same melancholy atmosphere, Clio was even more sure the two needed a spa day after it. She made sure to let Jean and the other staff know in advance her plans for the evening, so they had plenty of time to prepare as opposed to scrambling around at a seconds notice. Zoe joined them for dinner and Clio could tell Marinette finally felt at ease after her horrible day. She was so exhausted after so many sleepless nights that after showing Marinette to the spare room adjacent to hers she fell quickly into a dreamless sleep.

*March Hare*

“I really think this is breaking one of the rules Miss.” Wayzz spoke nervously from atop her head as she snuck onto the penthouse balcony of Le Grand Paris.

“Look, inevitably, the akuma alert would go off, Marinette would wake up and leave her room from the window, leaving it open to get back in post akuma, yes?” She asked peering into each window, she found Marinette sleeping on the other side and gently eased it open

“I suppose so…” He answered cautiously.

“And when she does, the wind will blow into the penthouse and into her room, correct?”

“Yes.” He grumbled.

“Therefore, I am only speeding up Clio getting hit, thus not breaking any rules.” Wayzz stayed silent then as she cracked open the main bedrooms window. “Burrow.” She called, stepping inside to avoid the impending attack.

Across Paris the chaos had already begun.

“The sandboy just checked in! Now nightmares can begin!”

Chapter Text

*Chloe*

Her lungs filled with liquid fire, she clawed at her throat as she gasped for air, allowing more water to rush into her mouth. She’d had this nightmare many times before, trapped in a classroom as Syren ravaged Paris. Helpless as she drowned again and again.

She woke up with a start, the scream barely trapped behind her lips. The room was too dark, she fumbled for the lamp on her nightstand the switch doing nothing. Dammit, the power must have tripped.

“One of us.” The voice hissed from somewhere beneath her, her still shaking hand stilled on the lamp. Endless darkness spilled out from under her bed as the voice surrounded her. She scrambled out from the sheets and rushed to the door before it became consumed by the shadows. “Miss Bourgeois, what a delight to see you again.” She could hear the cruel smirk in his voice even before she turned to face him. Her entire body shook as she found his eyes in the dark. “I so enjoyed our time working together, didn’t you my Queen?” She tasted bile on her tongue, why here? Why come to her now? He took a step towards her, she took one back, bumping into her desk as she did, not that she could see anything in the vast expanse of void. “Wouldn’t it be good to work together again? Without Audrey you could lead this family, you could have all of Paris at your feet. No one would be able to touch you. You’d be the Queen again.”

“Enough!” His next step was one too far, she clutched the chair from her desk and swung. The black absorbing into the body of Shadow Moth as he fell to the floor. The chair was ruined, shards of wood sprayed in a halo around his body. She took a deep breath and reached a shaking hand to his chest. She knew if she could just take the butterfly pin from him the nightmare of akuma would be over. She could give the pin to Luka and maybe then Ladybug would let her apologise to Pollen. She clutched the broach and pulled it from his lapel only for it to disintegrate in her palm, fine midnight blue sand running through her fingers as her stomach turned to a pit. All nausea being consumed by it. The dust lifted from the floor and drifted out her open window, her curiosity had her stumbling to follow it, even in the smog that consumed Paris’s sky, a small figure stood out to her as it was surrounded by swirling clouds of dust. She turned back to Shadow Moth, he had simply been an illusion she presumed, from the way his form rejoined the boy in the sky when destroyed. She numbly dragged the figure into her closet, unsure what else she was to do with him. At least she was able to barricade the door, keeping whatever power over the shadows he had in this form contained. Screaming pulled her from her daydream as she was about to pull her chest of drawers in front of the closet door. Marinette.

She rushed out her door, scooping up a shard of chair as she went, she didn’t know what would be haunting her friend but from the sounds of her shrieks it cannot have been good.

The door to the spare room turned to ash as she placed her hand on the knob, an impossibly pale figure standing stark against the night. His attention was absorbed by Marinette as she snuck in.

“It was our love that destroyed the world. Don’t you understand? Here, we can be together. No one will be able to get in our way. No one will be able to keep you from me.”

“Chat… this isn’t you. Please kitty, you have to fight him. I don’t know what deal he made with you but he’s lying! You know he’s lying!” Clio really needed to ask about exactly what kind of relationship Mari had with half of Paris’s crime-fighting duo…

“He’d never lie to me… but if you want to stand in the way of our love, I’ll just have to find another Marinette to love me.” An orb of pale blue light started to glow at his fingertips as Marinette flinched away, her eyes screwing shut. If the door was anything to go by, this hallucination could still cause damage to the real world. She reared her arms back and with all her might hit Chat over the head with her chair leg. He fell to the floor.

“The bell…” Marinette reached for him slowly, scared he’d wake up at any moment, “The akuma was in the bell last time…”

“Last time? What do you mean last time?” She watched as Mari crushed the bell in her hand, it turning to dust and floating out her own open window. Her eyes snapped into focus then.

“Sandboy.”

“Not so fast you’ve dealt with that akuma,” she pointed out the window, “and this one,” down to Chat, “before?!” She turned quickly to Clio.

“It’s a long story.” She sighed, “If you get hit by that one’s dust, he brings your worst nightmare to life. I must have left the window open, and the dust got in.”

“Your worst nightmare...?” For her that was Shadow Moth, for Mari this White Chat, for the Couffaine’s… “Get your shoes. We’ll put him in the closet with Shadow Moth then we need to get to Liberty.”

“Sorry closet with who? Why do we have to go out? It’s not safe!” She panicked but helped Clio lift the boy.

“It’s not my place to say but if they get hit… We just need to get there. Now.” They lay Chat down and pushed the bureau into place. Clio took another shard of chair from the floor before dragging Marinette from the hotel.

They made it halfway to Liberty, avoiding the majority of conjured nightmares when Marinette managed to stop her in their tracks.

“Clio stop! This is mad!” She lost her already thin patience.

“And?! Look I get that you don’t understand what it’s like to have to play happy family all the time! I’m just as surprised as you that it was him waiting for me in my nightmares and not Audrey. Luka and Juleka might not be as lucky. Their stepdad was-“ She bit her tongue, “It doesn’t matter. They need us.” She began to continue her trek; Marinette held her ground. “You know in all those years I hated you, I never once thought of you as a coward. Clearly, I was wrong.” She stormed off.

As she continued to pass nightmares of scared children and exhausted adults the pit in her stomach grew again at leaving Mari behind, she couldn’t stop and turn back now. It would delay getting to Liberty too much. She could hear the loud boom of an angry man as she boarded the ship, she didn’t know how his fist hadn’t broken down the door with how much the walls shook with each impact.

“Hey asshole!” Her hands shook as the hulking man turned to face her. Even if she’d never seen the man before she could tell his image had been distorted by the nightmare. His mouth had too many teeth as he grinned down at her. His fists hung down by his sides, the sheer weight of them dragging his shoulders down.

“What a pretty little brat. That waste of space still needs help from the pathetic I see.” He took a step towards her, swaying on the spot despite the calmness of the Seine. He seemed to grow as her fear did, his shadow eventually engulfing her. She turned tail and ran back onto the deck, she had agility on her side if nothing else, managing to weave between crates and under the sail as his frustration grew at his inability to reach her.

“I thought I’d told you never to come back here.” Anarka stood proud at the entry of the living quarters, Clio could tell she was terrified even as she squared her shoulders to the beast. She waited for him to be within a few feet before pulling a vintage looking flintlock pistol from her belt and firing. The nightmare stood firm as dust spiralled back into the sky.

“You didn’t really think that would work, did you? You never were very clever I suppose.” The pistol dropped to the floor, and she clenched her fists and began to yell back so quickly and fiercely Clio couldn’t keep up. Seemingly distracted by the woman, Clio climbed through a window and into the twin’s room. Luka had his eyes fixed on the cabin door, stood flat against the wall face white and unnaturally still and quiet. Juleka sat huddled beside him shaking uncontrollably as Rose stroked her hair and whispered calmly into her ear. Rose’s own nightmares clawed at her legs. A partially decayed body rasped at her, it own warped form of speech dying in its throat. Clio had no idea what that was supposed to be but Rose seem unphased by its actions so focused back to Luka. She eased in front of the boy and placed her hands on either side of his face, gently she tilted his gaze away from the door and to her.

“Luka? You in there?” His eyes were unfocused and glazed over somewhat as they slowly trailed back to the door, still able to hear the two adults arguing on deck. “Luka it’s an akuma, he’s not real. He’s not back.” His eyes lost some of their fog. “We need to get out of here without him seeing, where do you put your glasses when you sleep?” She’d seen their absence on his person when she’d initially came in. Concerned that his nightmare had taken them for him.

“Drawer.” His voice was barely a whisper as she moved to search through his belongings. The sound of a wire as her hand made contact with the frames pulled her gaze out the window. A flash of red and the sail swung around on deck, a loud crash and splash followed and the yelling stopped. She hurried back over to Luka and placed the glasses over his eyes, the small horse kwami reappearing, unaware of exactly what was going on. There was a gentle knock on the door.

“Hello? Is anyone in there?” Ladybugs voice shook on the other side and Clio rushed to unlock it.

“Ladybug! Thank god! I think his nightmare broke him… I’m not sure he’s able to transform like this.” She turned worriedly back to Luka, taking his hand as he took a deep breath. Ladybug’s presence clearly bringing him slightly further out the fog.

“Anarka is watching the water to make sure he doesn’t come back for you. But I really think we should get you all somewhere safer.” She pulled a face as she rolled the corpse away gently with her foot.

“Full gallop. Voyage.” Barely moving Naga reached out to the floor creating a portal at their feet. Ladybug helped Rose get Juleka through and with a light pull of his hand, he followed Clio through. The relief of the twins returning nearly to themselves as they landed on Marinette’s balcony had the three sighing in relief.

“Dismount.” Another flash and Luka was by Juleka’s side, easing her out of her ball.

“I’m sorry you had to step in like that,” He looked up to Clio and Ladybug, “I never thought I’d see him again and I just froze.”

It wasn’t your fault Juleka’s hand shook as she signed.

“I know, I have an akuma and supervillain to blame for that.” He scowled as the akuma flew by in the distance.

“Can you fight?” Kaalki drifted into their view, somehow having precured an apple slice.

“I can voyage him to the sun if he tries anything.” The horse nodded and finished his snack.

“Ready when you are.”

“I’ll be okay.” He bumped shoulders with Ladybug before heading into the city, saluting the remaining three as he went.

“You know, there’s a lot of nightmares out there chasing people.” Ladybug looked down to Juleka, “Do you think you could distract them?” Juleka wiped away her tears, firmly getting to her feet and nodding.

I’ll make sure they go the wrong way. Although Clio was sure Ladybug didn’t speak LSF, Juleka’s now non-shaking hand being held out told her all she needed to know.

“Hello again Kit! Ready to run interference?” She nodded to her Kwami tying the necklace in place.

“Let’s pounce.”

“Communicator in, I’ll meet you out there soon.” Zorro leapt into the sky.

“A lot of scared kids out there tonight too. Do you think you could cheer them up?” Ladybug looked to Rose who seemed to have diamonds in her eyes at the thought of helping.

“You can count on me!” A delighted squeal erupted as the miraculous hit Rose’s palm.

“Twice in one day!” The little pig cheered.

“Do you want me to fasten it for you?” Clio offered; she knew Rose’s injuries from the day were healed with the miraculous cure but she had no idea what damage her nightmare had caused.

“If you don’t mind…” Rose blushed sweetly as she handed the anklet over.

“Can I see? Your pink friend might not always be here.”

“Uh, sure…” She showed the kwami how the latch worked, letting Daizzi have a go before giving Rose a thumbs up. “Ready to go!”

“Rejoice!” Ladybug showed Pigella how to get her communicator and then Rose was off into the night cheering as she ran.

“I’ll wait till the cure runs before going home, and Ladybug? Do me a favour and keep an eye out for Marinette? I sorta ditched her earlier…”

“Hm? Oh yeah sure.” Ladybug seemed somewhat conflicted as Clio unlocked Marinette’s skylight, figuring it was safer inside. “Clio?”

“Yeah?” She poked her head back up.

“You really care about your friends, don’t you?” She rolled her eyes,

“Of course I do, I’m the idiot that ran through a nightmare infested city and called an ogre of a stepfather an asshole with nothing but a shard of chair,” which she was just realising she left at the boat. “They are the most precious thing I have, and I’d do anything to protect them.”

“Anything?” She raised an eyebrow to the girl.

“Anything.” Mind made up she reached into her yo-yo one last time.

“Clio. This is the miraculous of the Turtle. It grants the user the power of protection. You will use it to keep your friends safe while they battle demons like you’ve never even imagined. When they are safe, and the akuma is defeated you will return it to me. Do you understand?”

“I won’t let them down.” She slid the bracelet on, the turtle emblem turning a pale mint and adorning the hands of a clock as it disguised itself. The light created by her new kwami was softer than Pollen. Where the bee had an impossibly bright glow that hurt to look at, the turtle’s light was almost warm, exuding a calm energy that slowed her quickened heart.

“My name is Wayzz and I will be your kwami Miss.” He bowed his head respectfully.

“Wayzz, give Clio the rundown, I need to get out there.”

“Understood Madam Guardian.”

The turtle was direct in his instruction, leaving Clio confident in what powers she would be given and how they worked, he advised her that travel on foot was very different than with a top, and if needed, her armour would protect her for street level travel even if it was usually more dangerous than that of the roofs.

“Wayzz, shell on!” She called her transformation as confidently as she could muster. She felt uncomfortable at how much time had already passed since her friends had joined the battle. It was her job to watch their backs and she couldn’t do that cowering on a balcony. Her suit was the same pale green her miraculous disguised itself as. She felt her hair be tied neatly in the back, and a hood rest on her shoulders, her back felt heavy as the shield materialised, it wasn’t uncomfortable but would take some getting used to. She took a few tentative jumps between buildings before unclipping her weapon. She found the small earpiece easily, the voices of the other heroes filling her head.

“I could use some support by the Louve! There was a twilight viewing and a lot of zombie type things!” Pigella’s voice stood out to her.

“Terrapin en route!”

Chapter Text

*Terrapin*

“Strike!” Pigella cheered as her shell-ter bowled over another horde of zombies,

“This is surprisingly effective…” Terrapin observed from atop the Louve, gazing briefly down to her bracelet, three shell segments remained. “Hey Ellie! I need to go recharge, I’ll warn you before I power down and you lose your ball!” She called down to the girl as she kicked the makeshift bowling ball towards another shambling group.

“K!” Terrapin clipped her shield back into place and turned to find Le Grand Paris above the usual roofline, travel without a top wasn’t as hard as she imagined, she just had to be extra cautious of jumping alleys when kwami knows what could be summoned by a Parisians night terror. A quick peek through her bedroom window confirmed her nightmare was still barricaded in the closet.

“Powering down, please get to a rooftop.” Her bracelet beeped again, one minute should be plenty of time for the agile pig.

“Safe Tee!”

“Shell off.” She whispered, not wanting to rouse the nightmares from their sleep any sooner, “I’m not sure what your favourites are but hopefully you can find something to recharge.” She opened the small fridge in the kitchen section of the suite. Wayzz stretched and floated over to the fruit,

“I am happy to consume anything, I’ve tasted many foods over the years and have grown accustomed to whatever I am provided.” She wrinkled her nose at that response.
“Then surely you have a favourite?” The turtle looked guiltily down to the salad he was crunching, “So you do! I’m not sure if we’ll be working together regularly but I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to keep it around. Just tell me what it is.” She folded her arms and patiently waited for a response, pulling a small amount of Bourgeois into her expression to tell the kwami this was non-negotiable.

“Prickly pear. It’s a cactus.” Her posture softened, “It can be cultivated in France, but please don’t go to any great length for me. Any green fruit or vegetable will suffice.”

“One of the staff, Birdie I think, is a big fan of plants. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind helping me keep one around.”

“They have some great health benefits for humans too, and like many plants they help keep the air clean, not to mention they don’t require much attention.”

“Problem solved then, it’s a bit late to get into gardening and we have work to do; but starting tomorrow I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you, Miss.” If Kwami’s could blush, she was sure he would be. “I should be ready to transform now.”

“Perfect. Do you know what the others eat? I could keep some food out by the pool for them.”  Wayzz nodded, excited to show his knowledge of his fellow kwamis he phased between cupboards, knocking when he found something. She gathered the snacks together onto a tray and placed them down under the cover of one of the parasols. “Shell on!” She found her earpiece still in her ear as the voices of the others faded in. “Back in action, Wayzz helped me grab some food for the other Kwami, I’ve left it by the pool, he said he did his best to find close to their favourites.”

“I’m about to power down, Eiffel tower secure.” Tora landed beside Terrapin,

“Large group of civilians stuck in the 9^th arrondissement, need support for evacuation.” Zorro’s monotonous voice caught her attention immediately.

“Happy recharging,” Terrapin nodded to Tora and leapt from the balcony.

Her throat tightened as she reached the 9^th, any lower streets or basements had flooded as a large crab tried desperately to fish within the pools. She hadn’t so much as gained a fear of water since the Syren attack, but she wasn’t too keen of someone else’s nightmare being the finned foe.

“There aren’t any fish, but the water is real. And it’s must faster in it.” Terrapin squinted around the street; Zorro had to be somewhere within view of the crab to maintain the illusion. “Theatre balcony.” She looked up to see the glint of the girls flute in the moonlight, directly above where the crab currently fished. “All the emergency exits have been flooded, front door’s the only way out and he has surprisingly good hearing.”

“Roof access?”

“Not great, ladders mostly and not particularly sturdy ones either.”

“Can we pull up the furniture and barricade the door better? Keep them safe until the cure can let them out? Then only we’ll need to use the ladders?”

“Ah yes, that would be great if it wasn’t for the giant claws that can snap a support beam like dry spaghetti.” Even without enhanced sight she felt the eyeroll.

“How long you got?”

“2 minutes.”

“Shit”

“You’re telling me.”

“I mean there’s always bowling?” Terrapin swung for the pig hero only just stopping short of her snout, “I surrender!” she squeaked. Clio took an exaggerated breath.

“Bowling?” They could hear Zorro’s intrigue.

“On my way over there were several groups of nightmares, I was mostly coming for my ball, now a ball with a giant crab? Sounds like extra weight for an easier strike.”

“The joy you get from these 5-minute games is beyond me. Remind me to schedule a family night bowling tournament sometime.”

By the time alpha team had taken down the akuma, the distraction squad had their movements down to a T. Pigella would spy a target for a ball, Zorro would create a distraction for the nightmare to isolate them, Terrapin would bubble them. Then Pigella had 5 minutes to play while the others evacuated any civilians who happened to be enjoying Paris’s nightlife. The sun wasn’t far from rising when the team met for their congratulatory fist-bump.

“Pound it!” The group called into the sky as the first rays of sunlight began to peak above the horizon.

“Just in time for school too.” Terrapin grumbled,

“And that is why coffee exists green bean.” Chat Noir teased, poking Terrapin in the side whilst still managing to swerve from her swatting hands at the feline.

“Naga, can you escort the Zorro and Pigella home? I’ll pick up their miraculous later today. Chat and Tora, I’ll see you on patrol tonight. Terrapin with me.” Various sleepy farewells followed as Terrapin started to feel dread ooze in the pit of her stomach. Her friends were safe, and as promised she would return the miraculous. But in the many times she’d detransformed to recharge she’d began to build a kinship with Wayzz, and the thought of giving him back stung just as bad as Venom.

“Shell off.” The magic rolled off her in a peaceful wave, pulling with it the last of her resolve. A single tear fell as she slipped off the bracelet and handed it back to Ladybug, the jewel transforming from her disguise to its powered form as ladybug fastened it to her own wrist.

“You were exceptional Clio. Thank you.” The hero placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as Wayzz wiped her tear.

“Until next time Miss.” The small turtle nodded before going back into the miraculous.

“Bug out!” The spotted hero saluted before tossing her yo-yo into the Parisian skyline. Clio straightened her shirt and scrubbed her face of any trace of tears before heading back into Le Grand Paris, she had a friend to find and apologise to after all.

She tiptoed to Zoe’s room first, somehow her sister had managed to stay sleeping through the whole affair, an impressive feat she had to admit. She eased the door closed again before taking a breath and knocking gently on Marinette’s door. She nearly knocked the bluenette over when the door opened.

“I was so worried about you, I didn’t mean what I said! I was just tired and on edge seeing the akuma and-“

“Hey,” Marinette placed her hand on Clio’s shoulder and led her over to sit on the bed. “I was closer to Liberty than here, so I went there for cover. I didn’t know about him. If I did, I never would have suggested we stay behind. I don’t know what happened before I got there or how much you helped but Anarka was singing your praises.”

“Ah you know me, yell first, think later.” The two chuckled before Clio and Zoe’s alarms could be heard from the neighbouring rooms. “Yeah, that tracks.” She groaned, “You hop in the shower, I’ll get a pot of coffee on.” She tossed a towel to the girl and headed to find Jean.

Even though the Real Chloe Bourgeois was supposed to be in action, Clio could barely scramble a matching set of clothes, let alone dry and style her hair. And makeup aside the basics to cover the suitcases that had taken refuge under her eyes was completely out of the question.

“With how many nightmares Paris had to deal with last night, I doubt your look today will be too heavily questioned ma’am.”

“Thanks Jean, and you? Did you get hit?” She saw the man shrink in on himself before he could regain his composure.

“Nothing I couldn’t handle ma’am.”

“Well even if that is the case, you’ll let me know if you need anything?”

“Of course.” He handed her schoolbag over gently, “Birdie says she can have the plants you asked for set up before you return tonight.”

“Tell her thank you. But, if possible, I’d like to help her and learn as much as I can about it. A friend of mine has me particularly invested. It won’t be until later though; I have a fitting at Style Queen.”

“Safe travels.” He gave a polite bow before returning to his duties.

“I hate everything about everything.”

“And that is my queue to drag this zombie to school. Zoe! We’re leaving!” She called as they left the apartment. She knew her sister was far from ready but that wouldn’t matter since she had plenty of time to get a car to Francois, Marinette and she had a couple stops to make first.

*Adrien*

-Earlier-

“You know, I wasn’t sure about stripes here when you first made your choice, but I think I’m starting to see the benefits.” The small ink blob of a Kwami swooped to catch cheese midair.

“Don’t be so mean Plagg! Miss Kagami is a wonderful Tigress, and you know it!”

“Roarr.” The pink kwami floated to attention, “What have I taught you?”

“Why brag about a skill that is plain to see. Spend that energy improving ones’ craft.”

“Good.” The tiger earned a chunk of meat as a treat.

“They’re not a dog Kagami.” Adrien scolded.

“Positive reinforcement is used outside of animal training. Observe.” She weaved her fingers into her hair, right behind where his ears would be transformed and began to scratch. He melted into her touch. “Good work on that last problem, your algebraic formulas were executed masterfully.” He purred against her hand involuntarily. Snapping out of his daze only when she removed her hand. “We both know you respond much more favourably to that than punishment cat-boy.” She playfully stuck the end of her tongue out.

“I taught her that.” Roarr proudly announced to the group

“Mademoiselle Tsurugi, Monsieur Agreste, dinner is served.” A timid voice echoed from the other side of the door with a light knock. The two rose from their place under the kotatsu and held open their jackets for their kwamis.

“Roarr has come on many leaps and bounds regarding formal dinners with Mother these past few nights. Although I am starting to see he may have merit regarding some of her more archaic beliefs.” Doubt creased her brow. Adrien reached over and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Sometimes a second set of eyes are invaluable.” He released her hand as they entered the dining hall, despite Kagami’s mothers lack of sight, she always put Adrien’s teeth on edge as if she could still see his every move. “Miss Tsurugi, it is a pleasure as always to dine in your company.”

“The pleasure is all mine, please sit.” She gestured to the seat to her left, Kagami moving to the one on her right. “I was concerned when Kagami told me of your separation, but I am glad that your head for business took over and righted that mistake.”

“Mother, I explained, we are no longer in a romantic relationship.” Kagami spoke in hushed whispers to her mother, his ears straining to make out the still unfamiliar language.

“Enough child, do as you’re told.” Kagami’s eyes snapped back to her plate as she robotically lifted her chopsticks to her mouth.

“Yes ma’am, I am forever grateful Kagami gave me a second chance to be her friend.”

“Quite.” The elder responded with a tight smile, she twisted the ring on her hand as she spoke, “You’ll both realise your true feelings soon enough.” After that ominous comment dinner progressed in silence. Adrien tried to throw Kagami a reassuring look every now and then but the girls’ eyes were vacant as she ate.

“That was intense.” Adrien turned upon closing the door to Kagami’s room only to find Kagami still sat with that vacant look on her face, “Kagami?”

“This happens a lot… when her mom says things in that tone it takes a little while for her to come back to me…”

“You do this too kid.” Plagg noted as he emerged from Adrien’s shirt, he floated over to Roarr and whispered something, Roarr nodded and nestled into Kagami’s hair, a purr filling the air. “That usually brings you out of it quicker than when I don’t.” Adrien reached out a finger scratching Plagg beneath the chin,

“I never knew…” His kwami gave a slight shrug.

The light slowly came back to Kagami’s eyes. “Sorry about her.” She said nonchalantly as if she hadn’t just dissociated for nearly an hour.

“Yeah…” He would be lying if he were to say that behaviour didn’t concern him, or even more so that it was something he did often enough for Plagg to know how to reverse it.

“Here, you know where the washroom is, I’ll lay out your bed.” She passed him a towel from the closet before venturing deeper to find the spare bedding. He nodded, Adrien trusted her Kwami as much as he trusted Plagg to care for him and get help if at all needed. Plagg huddled in the corner of the bathroom as Adrien washed, the cat still despised water but greatly disliked not having eyes on Adrien in unfamiliar places, he appreciated the sentiment even if it took some time to get used to someone watching him bathe. As Plagg explained, he was always naked and didn’t see why humans had such embarrassment over petty things. He hated to admit how quickly he’d lost that argument.

At some point during movies and snacks Adrien must have fallen asleep, only being alerted to the fact when he was sharply awoken to the feeling of freezing shackles snapping around his wrists and ankles. His eyes flew wildly around the room to find what he supposed to be an akuma only to find Kagami in a similar state of panic. The two strained against the chains barely able to lift themselves off the ground, just as Adrien thought he had enough leverage to sit up a buckle snaked from the ground and latched itself around his chest, another coiling around his neck and making him gasp for air.

“Come out coward!” Kagami’s voice was strained from the other side of the room. Adrien tried to turn his head to look at her but his gaze caught on the open window and the dark blue sand that swirled in with the breeze.

“Sandboy.” He was somewhat relieved, had it been an akuma actually present they’d be unable to transform, “Plagg! Claws out!” Chat’s enhanced strength easily broke the chains, taking Chat Noir’s appearance as a green light Roarr appeared from the shadows and nodded to Kagami.

“Roarr! Stripes on!” A pink flash and Tora was easily freed also, Chat bounded to the window and slammed it shut.

“We’ll need to use another exit. If you get hit by the sand your worst fear comes to life, and I don’t know about you, but Chat Noir and my civilian self have very different fears, and chains will be the least of our worries.” His voice was still hoarse as they slowly crept around the Tsurugi estate, double checking for sand before using a window of an adjoining hallway to enter the night.

He reached back for his baton and found Ladybug’s pin already flashing a few streets away, he release his earpiece, “Bug? You been hit? Tora and I are safe for now.” He heard heavy breathing on the other end and winced, that wasn’t a good sign.

“Ish, Hero hasn’t, Human did. Not sure if my nightmares still around, currently locked in a closet with Hawkmoth and I don’t even want to know what 6 minutes in heaven they’re having.” She wheezed before cursing through the line, “Hold tight, I’m gonna fetch us some help but need to slay some nightmares to get it. Stay out the open.” Her line disconnected as Chat and Tora began to move towards the centre of Paris where all the sand seemed to be flowing from. “Stay close, if one of us gets hit the other will have to act quickly to get rid of whatever shows up, okay?” Tora nodded firmly, “Last time I had Ladybug claiming she’d never love me. But I don’t think I’m afraid of that anymore. I’m more afraid of losing the team we’ve built up, and the trust we all have in each other…”

“I think dwelling on what might appear, is more likely to conjure something worse when you realise what your subconscious fears isn’t as scary as you once thought.” Her green eyes glinted in the dark as she vaulted expertly over the next alley, careful to avoid her claws snagging on the shingles.

“Right.”

“Naga checking in! Heading to a fire I saw on my way over, Bug’s recruiting extra numbers though!”

“If you get hit and it looks like something that’ll expose you, shout me asap, I’ll cast a city-wide fog if I have to.” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief they didn’t even know they were holding as Zorros steady voice came on the line.

“Pigella ready to make a shit time rockin’!” Pigella’s endless optimism firmed Chat’s movements across rooftops. She was right, this was bad, but that’s what the heroes were for. Even if one Parisians fear was quelled tonight it would all be worth it.

“Terrapin en route!”

“Oooo~ a new friend, welcome to the team Miss Terrapin!” Chat purred through the line, “And what power has our wonderful lady entrusted you with this terrible evening?”

“Turtle. I’m sorry Chat, I know you and Carapace were close.” Chat stilled on the edge of a roof, his paws making the gutter groan.

“I think… Carapace and I aren’t as close as you think m’lady. Afterall, when it came down to it, I chose Tora.” Tora turned to return to his location, placing a careful hand on his shoulder and wiped a tear he didn’t realise had appeared under his eye. She muted their earpieces.

“Chat? Are you okay?”

“I-I didn’t think I was going to say that…” He hung his head in shame. “After everything Nino’s done for me I-“

“Stop that.” She gripped his chin firmly but not unkindly. “You are always entitled to your feelings, regardless of what others actions and intentions were, the outcome they have on you is yours and yours alone. No one else gets to decide that.” Her eyes were soft but had an intensity to ensure he took the lesson onboard. He took a deep breath and steadied his heart. He unmuted his piece.

“Sorry about that, Tora is as ever teaching me invaluable life lessons,” he threw her a cheeky wink and she turned to continue her way into the heart of the action, “Happy to have you onboard Terrapin.”

“Happy to protect these idiots Chat.”

“We’re your idiots though!” Naga cheered

“Whatever horse boy.” He could hear her eyeroll from across the city.

Sandboy was even more formidable than last time, his ability to push out sand had been greatly increased, anytime a hero got close to his pillow they were glitter bombed into oblivion, Chat had discovered about 8 nightmares he didn’t realise he had and each one had been defeated, rationalised and transformed in the next hit. He was exhausted by the time Tora had had it and used her clout seemingly randomly on the cobbled street beneath their feet only to launch the pieces of rubble in the akuma’s direction.

“Tora! That’s a kid up there!” She shot a scowl in Ladybug’s direction that made it quite clear the next chuck would be heading her way if she didn’t zip it.

“I will catch him when he falls. This is simply to knock him of that damn pillow.” Chat shrugged and found a reasonably sized rock and joined Tora in throwing them at the akuma.

“Chat!” The bag under his eyes could act as a blanket at this point so he continued to toss rubble. “Don’t you dare.” Her eyes narrowed as Naga picked up a stone from the remains of the street.

“Fine, I won’t throw it.” He dropped the rock, “Voyage.” Just before the stone rejoined its friends on the floor a portal opened and swallowed it, the adjoining portal appearing directly above Sandboy as he yelled at the heroes about throwing stones not being very nice. The rock hit its mark and he came screaming from the pillow. Tora quickly scaled a nearby building and caught the akuma midair, landing elegantly and holding him by the scruff of his shirt.

“Cataclysm.” Chat used his pole to rise to the pillow and clawed it to shreds, a butterfly gently fluttering out of the ash.

“Piss off little insect.” Ladybug glared as the purified butterfly left her yoyo and tossed her latest lucky charm into the air, a mask that had not in fact protected her from the sand. “Miraculous ladybug.” With none of her usual theatrics the bugs flew around the city dispelling all the nightmares and repairing all the destruction they (and sometimes the heroes) had called.

“I am so stealing Mother’s experience foreign coffee beans when we get in.” Tora smiled darkly at his side as they went to join the auxiliaries for the sign off.
“I am so helping you.” It was days like this he really wished ditching class was something he could get away with.