What if Chloe tried harder to demonstrate her leadership skills during the Darkblade attack?

Darkblade and the Diary

Chloé was at City Hall, running a campaign for student representative, handing out autographed music disks from Jagged Stone, and promising free tickets to his next live concert in exchange for votes.

Sabrina came running up to Chloé, panting for breath and with her right hand hidden behind her back.

Chloé asked, "What took you so long? You'd better have gotten her diary."

"I did!" said Sabrina. "Sorta..."

Sabrina showed Chloé the diary box, which Marinette had booby-trapped so that it locked around her hand. It was a cute semicircular box with white polka-dots on pink. Sabrina just wanted it off.

"What is that?" asked Chloé.

Sabrina said, "When I grabbed the diary, this crazy box clipped down around my hand!"

"And I'm supposed to believe you?" asked Chloé. "Ughhh... Why do I bother?"

Meanwhile Marinette was campaigning for herself, making some good points about resolving the student's real issues. She suggested that Rose could get a pink cushion for her seat, and Nino could listen to music in the library (with headphones, of course).

Chloé came up to Marinette and said, "Remarkable. You actually sound like a class rep. Too bad you don't have a chance of winning. A word?"

Chloé guided (more like pushed) Marinette to the side of the room. Behind a pillar, Sabrina showed that she had the diary box.

"Oh! My diary!" said Marinette. "What were you doing-?"

Chloé said, "If you don't pull out of the race, all your secrets will be revealed."

"Don't!" said Marinette. "Uh, I mean, uh, what secrets?"

Sabrina realized Marinette had a point. With the box closed on her hand, there was no way to read the dairy.

"Ha! I guess we'll find out... as soon as I get my hands on a chainsaw!" said Chloé.

Sabrina was shocked, but before she could say anything there was a blast of trumpets. She ducked into Chloé's arms.

Mayor Bourgeois and several of the students, including Marinette, looked out the front door of City Hall. There was an assembly of knights with green halberds, led by a knight in black armor with a sword.

"Oyez, oyez!" called one of the knights. "Darkblade shalt speak now! Listen or be imprisoned!"

Darkblade spoke: "Henceforth, my flag shalt fly over thy kingdom! Bourgeois, pathetic knave, come hither and do battle!"

Mayor Bourgeois asked, "What did he say?"

"Basically, he's gonna bust you up," Alya answered.

"Uhh... Ask my secretary for an appointment!" said the Mayor, retreating.

Darkblade laughed. "Bow down to Darkblade, or feel the wrath of mine sword!"

His knights began to chant, "Par le fer! Par le fer!"

They charged for the door with their halberds lowered, but then Chat Noir arrived on the scene. Using his baton for a bouncing shot, Chat took down the leading knights, and with agile hand-to-hand combat he soon took down the rest.

"That was a nice warm-up," said Chat Noir.

"Par le fer!" shouted Darkblade, leaping to engage the hero himself, sword to baton.

Jagged Stone, thinking he heard crazed fans fighting over him, went out to calm them with music, and got turned into a knight for his trouble.

Chloé said, "Oh no!"

"What are we gonna do?" asked Ivan.

Marinette said, "The doors, quickly!"

Chloé echoed, "The doors, quickly!"

Marinette said, "Quit, Chloé!"

"Quit, Chloé!" said Chloé, and then, realizing she had been tricked, "Oh!"

"Kneel before the flag of Darkblade!" said the villain. "Bow down before mine eyes!"

The student slammed the door shut. Chloé and Sabrina retreated behind the front desk.

Rose asked, "Chloé, what should we do? What would a class rep do?!"

"Well, if indeed you vote for me, I'll provide you with an answer," said Chloé. "Tomorrow."

"But we can't wait until tomorrow!" said Rose.

"Then you're out of luck. You'll have to ask someone else," said Chloé.

Marinettte ran upstairs.

Chloé said to Sabrina, "There goes Marinette, hiding as usual whenever an akuma appears."

But a moment later, Marinette was back, giving orders and taking charge.

"We can't keep echoing her," said Chloé to Sabrina. "We need to do something really brave."

"Brave?" asked Sabrina weakly.

"That is, you need to do something really brave, and I'll get the credit for leading you to do it," said Chloé.

"Oh," said Sabrina.

"That akuma villain said he wants to put up his flag on top of City Hall instead of the real one," said Chloé. "That's what you'll do, you'll go up there and defend our flag."

"How would I even get up there?" asked Sabrina.

"I know this place like the back of my hand," said Chloé. "There are stairs that lead to a bell tower, which is right under the flag. That's where you'll make your last stand."

"Last stand?" said Sabrina with a whimper.

Sabrina stood trembling beside the bell. Chloé had not come with her, naturally.

Darkblade sent several knights up towards the roof using catapults he created by "knighting" cars.

"Tally ho!" said Darkblade, who got himself launched to the top of the tower by his knights. "Ha ha ha! Once these stripes are supplanted by mine coat of arms, I shalt reign supreme!"

This was Sabrina's chance to do something brave, but she decided to use guile instead and maybe buy Ladybug and Chat Noir some time. She pulled on a rope and rang the bell.

"Who goes there?" asked Darkblade. He grabbed onto the side of the building and looked down into the bell level. "A damsel?"

"Please help me, your highness," said Sabrina. "Your enemy, Bourgeois the usurper, put this trap on my hand."

"The knave," said Darkblade. "I shall help thee. The laws of chivalry require me to help a damsel in distress."

He swung his sword into the hinged side of the box, with perfect force to smash it open. The binding of the book was cut apart and pages fluttered down to the floor of the bell chamber.

"I have no further time to spare, fair maiden, so I cannot knight thee now. Never fear, knighthood shalt come to thee once I have planted mine banner."

Ladybug was grateful for the distraction. She had used the time to summon a "Lucky Charm," which was a wind-up toy ladybug.

Darkblade chopped down the French flag and converted it into his own.

"By the blade of darkness, I hereby declare all peoples of this kingdom are henceforth mine! Bow to King Darkblade!"

A line of darkness shot into the air, turning into a cylinder that started to sweep inwards through the city towards the tower, converting people to knights as it went.

Darkblade laughed at Ladybug, "Soon thou shalt join my army, thou venomous insect!"

"Not so fast! En garde!" said Chat Noir. He leaped up to fence with the villain.

While Darkblade was absorbed in the fight, Ladybug managed to toss the wind-up toy into his armpit.

"I hope he's ticklish," said Ladybug.

Meanwhile, Sabrina was on the floor of the bell room, trying to get a picture of one of the loose diary pages. The sudden darkness and wind didn't help, but she lined up a good flash shot.

"This ought to work," Sabrina thought. "When Ladybug fixes everything, photos of akuma damage don't count as damage to be fixed. Otherwise, there would be no pictures for the Ladyblog."

She took the picture, and was going for another when...

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

The swirl of magical ladybugs re-assembled the diary and the box, putting it back on Sabrina's right hand. Just as it had been before the akuma villain damaged it...

Sabrina rejoined Chloé on the ground floor, and soon Marinette came down the main stairs.

"So where were you? Safely hiding under a rock?" asked Chloé.

"Very funny, Chloé," said Marinette. "I got transformed... into a knight."

Adrien slipped past Marinette on the stairs, posing dramatically. "So did I! What a knight-mare!"

Marinette stared at Chloé and Sabrina. "Now that this is all over, I want my personal items back!"

Chloé said, "I really have no idea what you're talking about! I-"

Sabrina eagerly pushed forward. "Oh yes, please take it off!"

Marinette unlocked the diary box with a key. She took it back from Sabrina.

"Thank you," said Sabrina.

"Got an explanation, Chloé?" asked Alya, pointing her camera.

"I told you, I never took her diary! And I'm offended that you're accusing me," said Chloé.

"Then how did you even know my diary was in here?"

"Oh, well, uh... Sabrina told me. It was all her idea!"

"So uncool!" said Nino.

"At least now we know nobody will vote for Chloé," said Alya. "You're gonna be our new representative!"

"Uh... Not so fast, Alya," said Marinette.

Chloé pointed at her and laughed. "See? She's undependable! She's already throwing in the towel!"

Marinette spoke stirringly. "No, I'm not! I just wanna be voted in fairly, not because you don't wanna vote for Chloé, but because you believe in me! I'm not gonna make promises that I can't keep, and I'm not gonna be able to get you everything that you want. But I am resourceful and I know how to prioritize. I'm a good listener and a great multi-tasker. Representing you all is something I truly believe in. And most importantly, I believe in myself. So... Vote for Marinette, for class representative!"

The other students cheered and applauded. Even Sabrina clapped.

"What are you doing?" said Chloé to Sabrina. "Are you out of your mind? Ughh... What are you even good for?"

As she started to walk away, Sabrina pulled out her cell phone and forwarded the picture she had taken to everyone in the class. (She had collected all the numbers from earlier in the campaign, when everyone was invited to see Jagged Stone.)

Phones were beeping and people opened the image.

Adrien read aloud, "Dear Diary, I had a close call today. I accidentally sent a voicemail to Adrien, saying I thought he was 'hot stuff'. I had to steal his phone, hack his password, and erase the message. It's a good thing I have a complete record of his schedule on a pull-down chart in my room, or I would never have been able to pull it off. I'll sneak the phone back into his bag tomorrow, and he'll never know!"

Adrien gave Marinette the coldest look she had ever seen. "I've had to deal with celebrity stalkers before, but I never expected it from someone I thought was a friend."

Marinette cringed. "Adrien..."

"Don't speak to me," said Adrien. "This is the kind of thing that nearly got Alya expelled for a week, spying into someone's locker. It's worse."

"So Marinette needs to withdraw from the race," said Chloé. "Or Adrikins will press charges."

"I didn't say that," said Adrien. "I'm just not her friend any more."

Marinette was starting to sniffle.

Alya said, "Yes, my BFF has a crush, a stalker-ish crush, on Adrien. We all knew it. But that doesn't mean she can't be a good class rep. Like she said, she can prioritize and muti-task."

"Thanks a lot for your great defense," said Marinette sarcastically. She ran from City Hall.

Marinette didn't drop out of the race. She did move to the back of the class, beside Juleka, to be out of Adrien's way.

Marinette won by one vote. She stood blank-faced at the front of the class, trying to get over the crushing of her crush.

Sabrina didn't tell Chloé that the one vote was hers, out of guilt over the dirty trick she had played.

The End