The Idea for this story began to emerge after reading 'Spoiled' By MightMunchlax. I started to play with the Idea of how Chloe could become Chat Noir and also Change from being the spoiled brat that everyone sees. Then I was struck by this idea that she was the next Chat Noir. Also I haven't done a lot of Fan Fiction writing so any pointers or advice is welcome. I also wanted to dedicate this story to MughtyMunchlax, breeeliss, and tacomuerte for introducing me to the depths hidden beneath Chloe Bourgeois. You can find their stories on archive of our own.
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"Yes Alya, I just landed." The blue black haired woman sighed. "This had better be good I had better not have jeopardized my job to come back here for nothing."
The woman on the other end of the phone laughed. "Girl, would I lie to you." The blue black haired woman could hear kids squealing in the back ground. "Besides, I don't know why you would be worried about losing that job. You have a degree in fashion and design and what are you doing with it? You are fetching lattes and taking memos for other designers. I don't know why you haven't struck out on your own to start your own business."
"Because here in the real world things like that take money." You could hear the exasperation in her voice from the fact that they have had this discussion on more than one occasion.
"So, why not apply for a loan or something?" her friend countered. "I'm sure someone would be willing to fund you."
"You don't think I didn't try that and every other option there is? The problem is that In America there are tons of other aspiring designers." She looked up and could see the entrance of the airport. "I'm almost outside. Where are you parked?"
"Once you get outside look to your right. I'm in the tricked out red Toyota Sienna." Her friend said with a chuckle.
She walked out of the airport and spotted the Toyota. She had to smile her friend had the vehicle detailed to look like a giant ladybug, including the headlights that resembled eyes. It also caused her heart to twist and memories to surge. With every ounce of will power she had she forced them down she couldn't think about them or she would breakdown, especially being back in the city that was the source of the memories.
She quickened her pace to get into the vehicle so that she wouldn't have to look at the vehicle anymore. She opened the door and was welcomed by the squeal of children. "Auntie Mari."
"Hey monsters, have you finally driven your mom crazy." This caused the kids to giggle.
The brown eye woman in question gave a fake growl. "What are you talking about? I was crazy before they came along otherwise I wouldn't have had them in the first place."
This called Marinette to laugh. "So how is Nino?"
"Oh he is doing great his Tech firm is finally taking off. In fact we are finally moving out of our three bedroom apartment and into a real house." Alya said with pride in her voice.
"Oh I'm glad that his dream it taking off. Does he still do the occasional DJ job?" She asked with genuine interest in her voice.
"Oh like he would ever give that up, he says it's his way of his memories of Adrien alive." She ended with hiss as she realized that she had just brought up the subject that Marinette has been spending the last six years trying to forget. "I'm sorry Mari. I wasn't thinking."
Marinette looked up at her with tears in her eyes. "It's ok." Even she knew it was a lie when it left her lips. Again she forced the memories down. Once she was able to breathe evenly she asked. "So what was so important that you had me fly halfway around the world?"
Alya pulled out her smart phone. This is what I wanted to show you. She pulls up a really grainy security video. There were what appeared to be two thugs beating up on someone. She looked up at Alya. "Really you wanted me to see a crappy video of some guy getting beat up? I could have just turned on the five o'clock news to see that."
"Keep watching smart ass." So Marinette returned her attention to the smart phone. A split second later she sees something impossible. One of the thugs gets grabbed by a black figure and gets thrown down the street out of view. The other one gets hit by some sort of staff and goes flailing head over foot. Then the black figure picks up the victim and with one backwards takes off in a direction, presumably in route to a hospital or clinic.
Marinette grabbed Alya's phone and started watching the video again from just before the black figure entered the picture. She watched it several times. She played in back in super slow motion. She finally saw what she had been looking for. For a split second when the black figure looked back at the camera the light reflected off the figure's eyes. Just like a cat's eyes. There were no other discernable features other than the eyes.
She was holding onto the phone like it was a lifeline. "Where did you get this?" she asked her voice near hysteric.
"The editor at my job shot it to me since I take all the weird unexplainable things. I didn't want to open any old wounds but I wanted you to know about it in person. And there have been reports of this masked vigilante going back six months."
"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"
"Because until this video was taken there was no proof there were only unconfirmed stories."
"Do you think it's him? Do you think he is alive?" for the first time she felt something other than pain when thinking of her leather clad partner.
"I don't think so. I went and visited his grave and it was still intact. I think that the guardian that you told me about may have picked a new Chat Noir."
Marinette shook her head trying to physically shake away the memories. "If that's what you thought then why did you bring me back here?" she didn't try to hide the tears now.
"Because, you told me that Ladybug and Chat Noir are only chosen when the world is in jeopardy, and if that is the case then where is a new Ladybug?" Alya had her hero worship face on. "Could it be that there is already a Ladybug?"
Marinette hung her head "I told you already I'm not Ladybug anymore she died alongside Adrien when we fought Hawk Moth." Her voice was a little more than a whisper. "Paris and the world are better off without me." While they had been talking Alya had been driving through Paris traffic. They pulled up to a familiar bakery that smelled just as good as it did all those years ago.
"If I had been worthy of being Ladybug then Adrien wouldn't have died."
"I'm sorry girl, but I call bullshit. You told me what happened. You said that when you and Adrien fought Hawk Moth that you hesitated to kill him. That is not something that someone not worthy of being Ladybug would have done in fact that means that you are the perfect Ladybug. Heroes have to be better than the rest of us. The fact that you didn't kill him right away shows it all. And the fact that he took advantage of your mercy and tried to kill you shows that he really was a monster. And Adrien stepping between you is what Chat Noir always did." She grabbed Marinette's face and forces her to look her in the eye. "Adrien is dead because his father killed him. Not you. Don't lessen Adrien's sacrifice because want to blame yourself."
"We will talk more tomorrow. Right now you have a couple of people who are waiting to see you so get ahold of yourself." Marinette knew she was right but it still hurt so much to not have the love of her life next to her. "I'm sorry Alya it just physically hurts that I don't have him with me."
"I don't want to sound callous, but maybe it's time to move on. Adrien wouldn't want you to keep hurting like this. Now get your ass out of my car." The last sentence was said with a smile. "I talk to you tomorrow."
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Marinette pushed open the bakery doors and was instantly engulfed by to large arms and pulled into a bear hug. "We have been waiting on you for forever." When she was finally release she was pulled into another yet smaller bear hug. "It's been years. We are so glad that you came back to visit. Alya didn't say why you were back but she did say that you needed a place to stay. Your room is just as you left it."
"Maman, Papa I'm so glad to see you. I'm sorry that I don't visit more often but you know how life is especially when you are trying to work up the food chain." She tried to give a cheeky grin but after the talk she had with Alya she just couldn't muster the energy. "I'm tired jet lag and all I'm going to go to bed. I love you guys we will catch up tomorrow." She then walked passed her parents and went up to her room.
She walked and out of reflex said. "Tikki I'm home." She felt another heart pain as she remembered that she no longer had Tikki with her. She gave her up along with Plagg because the temptation was too much for her. She had both of the Miraculous in her hand and she was so tempted to finish what Hawk Moth had started just so she could have Adrien with her again, but she knew that if she did that she would have lost him just in another way he would have come to hate her for bringing him back at the cost of other lives.
At least she knew that he loved her even though he wasn't with her anymore. That was the only comfort that she could derive from what happened. She fell onto her bed. She laid there for what felt like an eternity. She got up and started looking through everything. Hoping that there might be something that might make all the memories stop hurting so bad. She found one of her sketch pads and started going through it. She came to a page that had a feather covered derby hat.
She slammed the book shut and threw it back in the drawer that it was in and slammed it shut. I can't do this. she looked out her window and saw that it was now dark outside. She went over to her window and opened it and felt the cool evening air. Right now she would have given about anything to be able to run across the roof tops of Paris just so that she could clear her head. She walked down to the bakery where her parents were cleaning up for the day.
"I'm going for a walk. I'll be back in a bit." Her mother turned around "Ok dear, just be careful ever since Chat Noir and Ladybug disappeared there has been more crime." Marinette wasn't really listening. "Ok Maman." She left without giving it a second thought.
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Marinette walked around not really having anyplace in mind. She finally realized that she was on a very familiar street in fact It was the same street that she had come crashing down on an unsuspecting cat boy, causing them both to become tangled in her yo-yo string. Is there any place in Paris that won't remind me of what I lost.
She was so lost in thought that she didn't realize that she was being followed until a rough pair of hands grabbed her from behind and yanked her into the nearby alley. She was assaulted rancid breath. "Aren't you a pretty one? I'm going to have some fun with you."
Marinette was scared but she was also pissed that this guy would grab her like this. She kicked the guy hard in the groin. It caused him to momentarily remove his hand from her mouth. She screamed. The thug used his legs to spread hers so that she couldn't do that again. "You little bitch. I was just going to have a little fun with you and send you on your way but now I think I'm going to just kill you for kicking me in the balls."
He then wrapped his hands around her neck and started to squeeze cutting off her airflow. So this is how the great Ladybug is going to die, strangled to death in an alley somewhere. she tried to pull his hands away from her throat but that just seemed to make things worse. Her mind was fogging over. At least I'll get to be with Adrien again.
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Things were Quiet as Chat Noir patrolled Paris' rooftops. She loved this time of night. It was peaceful and beautiful. She was about to jump to the next roof when she heard a scream come from the opposite direction. As she turned she extended her baton and started running.
She paused onto of a roof that wasn't too far off from where the scream had come from. She was scanning he streets she was about to move on when out of the corner or her eye she caught sight of a man strangling a woman. This made her blood boil.
She dropped down right behind the attacker, but he was so intent on strangling the poor woman that he didn't hear her. She brought her baton to the side of his head knocking him out cold. She caught the woman before she fell to the ground. She gasped once she could see who she held. Marinette. She felt for a pulse on her wrist so she didn't have to touch the Marinette's abused throat. Oh thank god, she's alive. she carried her onto the street and gently laid her down before she went back to retrieve the baton lying next to the unconscious monster that had done that to her.
She had the baton in her hands, and she stared down at him. She felt the urge to just finish him. No I can't dishonor Adrien's memory by becoming a killer. She how ever give him a few good kicks one of which was to his groin. She then ran back to Marinette's prone form and gingerly picked her up.
"Chat?" she heard barely more than a whisper from the woman in her arms. She looked down and she saw a confused look on Marinette's face before she passed out again. "Don't worry Marinette I've got you." She began running towards the nearest hospital.
Luck was on both their sides. When they got to the hospital there was an open ambulance with a clean empty stretcher. She looked around to make sure there was no one in sight before she placed Marinette on the stretcher. She then retreated to the shadows to keep watch over her until someone found her. I hate that Master Fu said that I have to remain hidden. What is the point of doing this people don't know there is someone looking out for them.
Ever since Ladybug and the Original Chat Noir disappeared crime rates in Paris have skyrocketed. She just wanted the people to feel safe the way that Ladybug and Chat Noir had made her feel safe. I have to see if Plagg will let anything slip as to why I have to hide in the shadows. she was pulled from her thought when she saw the paramedics walk out of the hospital and found Marinette. they jumped into action rushing her into the hospital.
Once she could no longer Marinette through the hospital doors she pulled out her baton and activated the phone feature. "Yes I have an anonymous tip. There is a woman that was just admitted to 'Saint Genevieve Medical Center' Her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng her parents own 'Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie' Please notify them." She also gave them the location of the attacker.
Chat Noir knew that she needed to get back to her patrol but for whatever reason she could into seem to pull herself away. She begins circling the hospital on the rooftops hoping to find the room that Marinette was being treated it. After looking for almost a half an hour she just happened to see Marinette's parents burst through one of the doors and run straight to the bed.
She just stayed there crouched on the roof top watching not sure why. She never did this with any of the others that she rescued. but I also never personal knew any of them it's different because I know her. Yeah that was it. she was willing to accept the lie because she didn't want to dwell on any other possible reasons.
She probably would have stayed there the whole night if it wasn't for her Miraculous. BEEP! BEEP! "Really Plagg?" She asked her voice full of aggravation. She cast one last glance back at the hospital window and its occupants before turning and running towards home.
She landed on top of 'Le Grand Paris' as her transformation wore off. She continued walking towards the door to her suite. "Does someone have a crush?" She leveled a glare at the Kwami that had been known to send other people cowering in fear. This only caused the Kwami to yawn.
"Shut up, Plagg. I just wanted to make sure that she was ok." Plagg gave her a knowing smirk. "That's what 'He' used to say all the time. 'I just want to check up on her' or 'I just want to make sure she's alright'."
She hissed at him. "So, if I do or not. Nothing would come of it. I tormented her for so many years. I wouldn't forgive me if I was her." she felt a small twinge in her heart as the words came out.
"Well lucky for you she isn't you." he paused as if considering leaving it at that, but then continued. "That was one of the things that 'He' like so much about her. he said that there were so many times after you and she would have big blow up at school that she would try to figure out why you acted the way you did." This was news to her.
"Why didn't Adrien ever say anything?" the kwami comically tilted his head to one side. "What was he supposed say? 'Hey Chloe my girlfriend wants to know why you act the way you do.' How do you think that would have gone over?" She clenched her fists. He's right I would have blown up at that. she relaxed her hands. "Go eat your Camembert. I'm going to bed." she changed out of her clothes and into a dark red with black spots negligee. She climbed into her comfy California King-size bed. No matter what she tried she couldn't sleep. She was haunted by a pair of Dazzling Bluebell eyes. Needless to say Chloe Bourgeois didn't sleep that night.