A/N: Contrary to what the title suggests, there is no actual rape involved, but the fact Chameleon is throwing her(?)self at everyone and trying to kiss them does technically count as sexual harassment, something that will obviously be pointed out
Also in this story, there will be some of Adrien and Gabriel's point of view alongside Eli's and occasionally Marinette's. This chapter is roughly 50:50 between Adrien and Eden, but the next chapter will be 100% Eden centric.
Chapter 4: Of fake physics, voice recorders, rape-y chameleons, and another akuma taken out by civilians (Is Hawk Moth even trying anymore?)
Eden was skipping down the street to school, her hair in braided pigtails for the first time in a while—hey, Marinette wasn't the only one allowed to rock the pigtails. Today was the day she would see her big sis again. And Master Fu needed to be better with wording, because he had specified not to tell anyone, there was nothing about her finding out on her own or someone else finding out on their own and telling her.
And so, she would be as extra as humanely possible.
She continued skipping happily and sang to herself,
"This whole town can slow you down
People takin' the easy way
But I know exactly where I am going
Getting closer 'n closer every day
And I am almost there
I'm almost there
People back home think I'm crazy
But I don't care.
Trials and tribulations,
I've had my share.
There ain't nothing gonna stop me now
'Cause I'm almost there."
She giggled in glee as she made it to the school, but froze when she saw Lila beside Miss Bustier. Damnit. She had hoped for one day with her sister before the drama started back up. Nope, guess not. Here comes Chameleon, here comes Chameleon, right down Chameleon lane.
Miss Bustier turned to her, "Evelyn Autumn?"
"That's me." She pulled out her doctor and guardian slip for her hearing, "Here's my doctor's note for my hearing problem." Then she saw worry flash across Lila's eyes as the teacher turned to her,
"Lila? Do you have a doctor's note?"
The worry was gone as quickly as it appeared, "I've had tinnitus for a while Miss. I didn't think it was necessary, but I can get one."
Eden growled a bit, before taking a huge bite out of a donut to calm down. Lila reminded her of her childhood bully—the one Zoe socked in the eye—she manipulated everyone and became the queen of the school using lies and made the lives of anyone who dare call her out miserable, hence why Zoe punched her.
They walked into the classroom and Eden frowned again. The seating was all wrong, as Adrien was sitting alone in the front and all the couples were scattered around, and Marinette was standing in the middle looking confused.
"Good morning students. I'm sure you've all heard by now, but Lila's home from her trip to Achu, and she's back in school with us again. And we also have a new student, Evelyn."
"Hi everyone." Lila greeted while Eden surveyed everyone in search of her sister. What she did notice, was that Adrien had bags under his eyes, wasn't wearing his normal designer clothes, was chewing on his bottom lip and his eyes kept darting to the seat where Zoe was supposed to be. Had something happened to her? Because it obviously involved Zoe, because everyone else was gazing at him occasionally as though wondering if they should comfort him. The thought of her sister being hurt made her stomach churn.
"Oh, a seat in the front row, you all remembered my hearing issue. You're all such sweethearts, all of you." Lila began blowing kisses, but Eden noted she didn't sound truly surprised either. It was odd, as Lila had to be pretty perceptive to have lied to everyone about their interests back in Volpina, so maybe it was because Eden herself was hyper-observant that made it so easy to see the lies, but this was one of the times she wondered how nobody else saw it.
Well, nobody except Adrien, who just sighed in Lila's general direction, and Marinette, who spoke up, "You have a hearing problem Lila?"
Lila sat in what was supposed to be Nino's spot, scooting into Zoe's so she could invade Adrien's personal space. "Yes, I suffer from Tinnitus, a constant ringing in my left ear. I'd had it ever since the sound of an airplane engine burst my eardrum while I was saving Jagged Stone's kitten."
"Isn't Jagged Stone's pet a crocodile?" Adrien looked up, having opened his mouth, clearly about to ask the same thing. Eden looked around and noticed everyone else seemed to be drinking in these lies like imbeciles.
"Now it is, yes. But he had a kitten until he found out he was allergic to it. The best part is since you're such an excellent student Adrien, you'll be able to help me catch up with all the schoolwork I missed while I was traveling with my parents." She put a hand on Adrien's shoulder, "Would you do that for me?"
"Sure Lila. If you give me some serious personal space." He looked up to Miss Bustier, "Miss Bustier, it is rude to evict Marinette from her seat without her around and same with Zoe in her…" he hesitated, "condition. Do you really think she'd be very happy about that? Because I know she would not." He stood up, "So if you are so insistent on moving people without their permission, I will move to the back with my girlfriend, without yours." He got up and sat in the back with Marinette, who seemed impressed at him joining her. Both of them glared at Lila together from the back.
…
Miss Bustier just stared at him. But Adrien didn't give two shits. The police had listened to the voicemail Zoe sent, and officially ordered him to stay at Marinette's until his home was deemed safe, but that was the only good thing in the last two days. Zoe still hadn't woken up, and he just felt angry all the time, and Lila touching him in a way only his girlfriend was allowed to do made him want to forcefully shut her up.
Everyone in class feared he had Brief Psychotic Disorder like Zoe got when he fell and ended up in the hospital, and did everything they could to not provoke him, remembering the horror stories of Kim almost getting throttled, and Zoe in general being more dangerous than usual. Smaller beings are more vicious, because they have less places to store their anger.
He sighed, sometimes he debated just rolling with it, because his patricide desires were getting alarmingly high as of late.
At least Evelyn seemed nice, if not completely confused.
…
Miss Bustier looked back to Eden, "Um…you seem to have come on a bad day. You'll sit in the back with Nathanael."
Eden tried to hide the fear in her tone, "Zoe?"
Lila decided to answer that question, "Did you not know? It's all over the news. Zoe Agreste, attacked by Hawk Moth, now in coma." She stood up, "My return is causing so much trouble, maybe I should have just stayed on the other side of the world. If Marinette has an issue too, then I should be the one to go and sit in the back. It's okay." She cried some crocodile tears as Eden felt bile rise in her throat, barely able to push it back down. Zoe was in a coma…Well, that explained why Master Fu had banned her from the TV for the last couple days, not that the thing wasn't kind of crappy and could barely use Netflix.
Still, she had to remain physically indifferent, because unlike Adrien, who had his head down, shoulder wracked with sobs, she was supposed to have no idea who Zoe was, and was supposed to call out this lying witch. "Well, Lila, did you know there's literally medication to help tinnitus? I know everyone hates the U.S, but Amazon shouldn't have that much of a problem. Not to mention," she pulled up hair to reveal her pink hearing aids, "I am literally almost deaf, while you can hear just fine in one ear. So why are you trying to guilt trip Adrien into coming back over to you? When I can't hear anything short of an explosion without my hearing aids, yet I'm not complaining." She felt like her sister, calling someone out her first day, and she knew Lila would keep a grudge for this, but it wasn't like she gave a crap. This girl was too much like the girl who tormented her for years, and started up again after Zoe disappeared—only to get socked by Eden herself, but she got suspended for that, and opted to choose an option other than violence as it wasn't her forte. But if Lila started suddenly acting like Joselyn, she was going to throw up.
Lila just gawked at her, while everyone else—except Adrien and Marinette, but at this point that went without saying—glared at her as though to say, "How dare you question Lila?!"
"You're lying." Kim snapped, "Those hearing aids are fake." Eden found it odd they were questioning the one with proof, yet Lila was going on her way with everyone seeing her as some angel.
"Need me to prove it? Max, check them over and see if they're real." She pulled them out and handed them to Max, who examined them for a moment, before looking up, handing them back to Eden.
"They're real."
"How did you know Max was tech savvy?" Mylene asked. Eden grinned a little bit, deciding which card to play,
"I'm a psychic. No, I do not see the future, I just get a good feel for people and previous events."
Kim crossed his arms, "Okay. Tell me something about me."
"Okay. You asked Ondine to the movies while she was at the swimming pool and asked through a game of secrets she invented, using the same capsule that was her akumatized object when she was Syren."
Everyone gasped, and Kim looked panicked at how dead accurate that was, and it wasn't something one cold just look up. Adrien, Marinette, Alya, Nino and Chloe all sent her a look that told her that her plan of having them figure it out was working beautifully. Not that it mattered if Zoe was hurt—she decided to go visit her sister in the hospital later. Nobody except Eden noticed Lila's eyes shifted to that of complete hatred for a millisecond, likely for stealing the spotlight.
Miss Bustier clapped her hands to get everyone's attention off 'Evelyn'.
"My mistake. Evelyn, you sit next to Lila. Open you books to page 23."
Eden huffed to herself and opened her textbook. Well, her day had been thoroughly ruined. Maybe she could find something to be happy about later, because she was like Poppy from Trolls in a sense—mutual love of scrapbooking was not relevant—almost always happy and hating it when she wasn't. Maybe Unikitty from Lego Movie—blame Joselyn for having seen that—with her fiery temper. "You all need to be more friendly!" Low-key the quote that defined her relationship with mankind back on her world. But here would be different!
She put some headphones on over her hearing aids, listening to Can't stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake to try raising her mood. She already knew all this, so calming her emotional turmoil was higher on her priorities list.
Miss Bustier was clearly too done to care. Sweet Adrien had sassed her, her new students hated each other and had taken the class' attention very affectively. She just wanted to get this over with.
OoOoO
Lunch came both too quickly and too slowly for Eden. She spent her classes listening to cheerful music and nobody questioned her when she finished the homework in class with a 100%—for once, those tutors came in handy as she had been a senior back at home, so this was all child's play for her.
Everyone had apparently collectively decided to be Lila's servants.
"That's for you Lila."
"Thank you, you're so sweet."
"Here's your appetizer Lila."
"I've got your main course."
"I'll fetch your dessert."
"I'm sorry I can't carry my own tray. It's almost impossible with this sprained wrist." Okay, back in Volpina, Eden could believe someone telling her Lila was a good liar. Now, she just saw everyone else were dumb.
"Lila's totally lying," Mariette said to her three friends, boyfriend, and the new girl, "she made up that whole tinnitus story just so she could sit next to Adrien. And that sprained wrist is totally bogus too."
"I don't get it Marinette, you barely know Lila. Why all the hate?" Alya asked. Eden took Marinette's hand, then Adrien, making a show to them of having a vision. She turned to Chloe, Nino and Alya as they sat down,
"Okay I'll tell you what I saw in my vision. You remember Lila when she first came to school right after the summer break? She was only here for one day and then she left on that round the world trip, everyone was captivated by her. Something just felt off to Marinette. So, she followed her when she and Adrien were in the park, because Adrien was curious and wanted to know more about Ladybug."
"She lies with every breath." Marinette added, glancing at Eden again.
"Wait, you eavesdropped on Lila and Adrien?" Nino asked, "That's not cool."
"A good reporter always verifies her sources. Can you prove she doesn't actually know Ladybug?" Alya asked.
"With all due respect Alya," Eden said, "Did you verify your sources that she does know Ladybug? Because I saw in my vision that Ladybug told Lila off right in front of Adrien with Marinette watching. That was how she got akumatized into Volpina." Alya looked ashamed as she realized just how stupid she had been, and pulled out her phone to remove the video from the Ladyblog.
Chloe seemed fully convinced, "Okay. While I believe you, you can't exactly show anyone your visions. We need concrete proof."
"Well I—uh—I.. okay you want proof?" Marinette stood up, "Hey Lila, you forgot your napkin." She threw it at Lila, and she caught it with the hand she claimed had a sprained wrist. Though why she used that hand when the hand she claimed wasn't sprained—which was more convenient—was a mystery, or why she didn't get a brace for her wrist.
"Ha ha, see that? It's obvious she doesn't have a sprained wrist."
Everyone stared accusingly at Lila, "Uh, ow. Once when I was in India I witnessed someone getting their eye gouged out but the corner of a napkin. If I hadn't caught it, this napkin could've injured Max. I didn't have a choice. Ow!"
Eden blinked, "That sounds like Beverly Goldberg from the Goldbergs. Odd."
The classmates didn't hear them, or didn't care, "Lila, you saved my eye. You sacrificed yourself for me."
"Why wouldn't I Max, you're my friend." Even though they've known each other for maybe a couple hours. Not that it stopped people from shipping Lila and Nathanael, or Eli and Zoe (the ship name was Eloe), but it was still peculiar.
"We'll take you to the nurse's office."
Mylene turned to glare at Marinette, "Aren't you proud of yourself?"
Kim joined in, "Lila's in even more pain now, all because of you."
"No no," Lila insisted, "don't blame Marinette. She was just trying to give me a napkin. Right Marinette."
Adrien suddenly got defensive as Marinette stormed off, Eden subtly following, but not before listening to this,
"How dare you? Don't you see you hurt her? You know what? Lila, I love Marinette, deal with it, and nothing you say will change that. Evelyn's a psychic and called bullshit, and that napkin story is more obscure than the pop-culture references Zoe and I have thrown at you all. You've known Marinette for years, and Lila for a couple hours, yet you turn again her?" He turned around, flipping them all off, "Well fuck all of you, kiss my ass, suck it." He went to follow his girlfriend when Lila stopped him, and Eden decided to scamper off to Marinette.
…
"Adrien? Is this about Zoe? Did I do something to offend you?" She clamped her hand over her mouth as she realized her mistake. Zoe was still a light topic, and her tone suggested the brunette girl was dead.
He froze, slowly turned back to her, twirling a plastic fork in his hand. He glared at her,
"If you say something like that again, we'll find out if a napkin really can gouge out someone's eye." He walked off after his friends, feeling their glares, but he couldn't bring himself to give a fuck.
Zoe would have given Lila a chance. He normally would have given Lila a chance. But Zoe wasn't here and the only thing on his mind was his desire to see Gabriel behind bars, and he felt himself taking it out on everyone else.
And Evelyn…she was really a psychic, or was she like Zoe? No. She couldn't be. He'd have to speak to Master Fu about it later.
…
Eden found Marinette in the bathroom,
"Hey Marinette."
Marinette looked up from the sick, "Hey Evelyn."
Eden pulled out the voice recorder she kept with her, turning up her hearing aids and hearing the sounds of heels coming close with Lila's walk patterns.
"Look, I can bust Lila but you gotta work with me." Marinette gasped and nodded, Eden put a hand on her hip, "Tikki, come on out." Marinette suddenly paled. "What? Psychic, remember."
Tikki emerged and found herself captured in a hug as Eden completed her childhood. She wordlessly dashed into the big stall that shut differently from the others, so it wouldn't be questioned. She stood on the toilet and stood on her tiptoes—which was hard in her bright lilac sneakers, with rainbow socks, but she managed.
She turned on the voice recorder as Lila came in,
"Marinette? Oh, are you crying?"
"No, I'm not."
"I can sense that you don't like me, but I don't understand why. We barely know each other. Don't tell me it's because of this new seating arrangement in class! You know what? It's really not worth it fighting over a boy. You and I could be friends."
"I'm already dating Adrien, Lila. And you and I will only be friends the day you stop lying! I know I can't prove it, but I know for a fact that you don't have Tinnitus, that your wrist is just fine, that you don't actually know Prince Ali because you've never stepped foot in Achu and despite what you got Alya to write on her Ladyblog, Ladybug has never saved your life!"
From her tone, Eden heard Lila's demeanor change as her true nature showed, giving Eden some bad memories, "I only tell people what they want to hear."
"It's called lying."
There's nothing you can do about it anyway. People can't resist when they hear what they like to hear. If you don't want to be my friend, fine. But soon you won't have any friends left at all, and trust I'll make sure you never get close to Adrien in class or anywhere. You seem a little less dumb than the others, so I'll give you one last chance. You're either with me or against me. You don't have to answer right away, I'll give you till the end of class today." Eden leaned on the wall and managed to snap a picture of Lila pinning Marinette to the wall, just before she left.
Eden turned off the voice recorder and walked out,
"Got it all." She replayed it and it was perfect.
Marinette beamed, before looking away, "I thought Chloe was evil, but Lila really just takes the whole cake. She's like a supervillain who doesn't even need a costume. If we don't manage to expose her lies, she'll ruin my life Tikki. She'll turn my friends against me."
"Don't worry. I overheard Adrien tell them all to fuck off." Marinette smiled slightly,
"Is he okay? I know what happened to Zoe's been hard on him, but he doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep…"
"He's in pain." Eden answered, "You're an only child so you might not understand, but that's what siblings do when their other is hurt. When Zoe wakes up, he'll calm down. And having Lila exposed would definitely come in handy." She knew she herself would probably lose sleep over it.
Marinette held out her hand to shake, "Do you wanna come over sometime?"
Eden beamed, because all her dreams—short of seeing her sister—were coming true, "Yes! I'll talk to my guardian." Marinette opened her mouth, so she continued, "I'm from Arizona. Long story short, everyone hates the U.S."
Marinette chuckled, "You sound like Zoe."
"Well, she's not wrong."
…
Adrien grabbed his bag from the locker room when he was intercepted by Lila,
"Hello, Lila."
Lila didn't seem to get the hint that he was already a loyal boyfriend in a good relationship, "Adrien, we'll have to figure when you're gonna help me catch up on all the schoolwork I missed. I also heard you play piano, my uncle's the great pianist Chuch Boroughchuck. He wanted to teach me when I was little, but I had to stop playing because of Arthritis, but when my wrist gets better I'd love for you to give me some lessons."
Adrien glared, "Lila, I'm okay being friendly with you and I'll help you catch with your schoolwork, but please don't lie to me like you did last time with Ladybug. You're already lying here all the time and trust me when I say Zoe wouldn't approve and I'd stop before she calls you out more brutally than Ladybug did."
"Ladybug's the liar." Lila snapped, getting angry, just like Adrien was, about ready to forcefully tell her to shut the fuck up.
"I'm not judging you Lila, but instead of making friends you're going to turn everyone against you, like Marinette and Evelyn. You can tell me if something's bothering you, Zoe and I can help. But you need to be honest with me."
"Are you trying to be some superhero lecturing me just like Ladybug did? Well thanks, but no thanks. And it's not like Zoe's waking up!" She stormed out as Adrien dropped his bag. Her words rang in his ears as he leaned against the locker, crying again, clutching the renounced Dragon Miraculous in his hand—because he didn't want to risk Gabriel taking it from her personal belongings.
"Zoe, I need you…"
Five minutes later
Lila came back in, looking remorseful.
Adrien looked up, "Hey…" He stood up shakily and Lila smiled at him
"Adrien, I wanted to apologize to you for what just happened, for what I said. I've thought about it and you're right. I do want us to be friends, so I'll never tell another lie again. Will you make peace with me?" She tried to kiss Adrien's cheek, but he backed away,
"I'll make peace. But not like that."
Lila looked angered and taken aback, but just laughed, "But I want to kiss you." She tried again, and Adrien stopped her again.
"What part of 'I am in a relationship,' do you not understand." And suddenly she was on top of him, him with his knees on her stomach to keep her away as she tried to kiss him.
Okay, this was…bad… so he did the one thing someone reasonable would do in this situation,
"RAPE!" He shrieked, managing to use his hand to grab the pepper spray in his messenger bag, spraying it in her eyes as she shrieked and rolled off him, clutching her eyes. He looked to the can and mentally thanked Zoe for the gift. "You're too pretty, and pretty people get raped. Keep the pepper spray." Zoe had said, and he found it was quite helpful.
Nino, Alya, Marinette, Chloe and Evelyn all ran in a second later as Marinette hugged him,
"Adrien! Are you okay?" She asked worriedly, "I heard you scream!"
"Yeah. I'm fine M'Lady." He looked down at a squirming, possible akumatized, Lila, "She kept trying to kiss me until she pinned me down, and that does counts as sexual harassment and I have no idea how far she wanted to take that kiss, so I sprayed her with pepper spray. But I don't know where the akuma is."
Evelyn crossed her arms, before brightening and touching Lila's shoulder calmly, then pulled an oyster out of her lunch box that she hadn't yet eaten, and placed it to Lila's lips, which turned her into an identical copy of the oyster.
"Her Villain identity is Chameleon. And I ship it, Chameleon X Clam. Clameleon."
"I think we're going to like having you around, Evelyn." Nino said, "You'll be a nice addition to our group, especially once Zoe wakes up."
…
Eden beamed. They were already seeing her as a friend! It took all her self-control to not squeal in delight.
"I'd love that. Mari, I'd do your thing."
Marinette looked to the confused others, "When she read off Adrien and I to learn more about Lila, she found out." She transformed quietly, and Eden opened up the Clameleon, revealing a black pearl,
She purified it and performed Miraculous Ladybug, and Lila appeared in front of them,
"Ladybug?"
Ladybug smiled, "At least you can say I saved your life for real. Truce?"
Lila looked to her extended hand, and surprisingly, took it, "Thanks Ladybug, I'd be honored to call you my friend."
"Yeah, I'm happy to hear that. Hey, some advice, you don't have to lie and pretend to be something you're not. People will like you just for being yourself."
"You have my word, Ladybug."
They all nodded in approval and ran off, Ladybug detransforming in the bathroom before coming out.
"You are aware Lila was lying through her teeth, right?" Eden said, having noticed the smile turn into a glare before leaving, "Also, is Hawk Moth even trying anymore? That's what, the third oddly powerful akuma to be taken down by an Agreste. But to be fair, that one was defeated by pepper spray, so I get why."
An hour later
Eden had been right on the money, because Lila was once again, lying to everyone—well, the only person Ladybug had saved Lila's life from, was someone stepping on her, or Adrien breaking into Zoe's locker for a knife to defend himself, which were both her own fault as all five superheroes and their 'psychic' friend were convinced she had been akumatized of her own will.
"Of course Ladybug saved my life, she never misses an opportunity to rescue her best friends. Ladybug and I are like two peas in a pod."
Marinette groaned from the stairs, "I should have just left her as a clam."
Adrien shrugged, seeming to finally calm down a little bit and at least pretend to be cheery, "As long as the six, soon to be seven, of us know the truth, does it really matter?"
Eden nodded, "You're right, it's not such a big deal." She then frowned, "But on the other hand, Hawk Moth might be able to use all the anger when she gets found out and create another Heroes' Day fiasco. It's best we call her out before things get too out of hand." She turned to Marinette, "I'll give Miss Bustier the voice recording after school." The other five nodded, having heard about that.
They walked back to the classroom as the bell rang, everyone sat down in their new seats.
"Lila?"
"Here."
"Adrien?
"Present."
"Max?"
"Present."
"Marinette?" Marinette was busy staring off into space, "Marinette?" Nothing, "Marinette?"
Adrien tapped Marinette's shoulder, "Marinette. Miss Bustier's called you're name three times already."
"Looks like you have trouble hearing after all Marinette. Why don't you come sit up here in the front row next to Lila and Evelyn."
Marinette sighed and got up to sit in the front row, only for Lila to stand up,
"Miss Bustier, this incredible. My Tinnitus, I don't feel it anymore. It's gone. it's a miracle. It must be Ladybug's doing, I can sit in the back now." She went to sit in the back, looking smug, and Eden could feel Adrien trying not to spray her with the pepper spray again. But…if Lila claimed she had had Tinnitus for a while, then she would have had it when she got akumatized into Volpina, and as such it would have been cured back then. Not to mention Jagged has been living in Chloe's Dad's hotel since Pixelator, back in Season 1 and it was the premiere of Season 3 now, and Fang had been there, so there was literally no way.
Eden stood up, about to bring this up, but decided to just give the teacher the recording later, "Miss Bustier, if Lila is going to sit in the back like originally planned, why don't we all go to our original seats?"
Miss Bustier smiled, "Good plan." Everyone started going back to their original seats with Lila ending up next to Nathanael, and Chloe waved her hand in Eden's direction,
"You can sit with Sabrina and I, Evie. That way you can still hear in the front row." Eden beamed and sat between the two girls, appreciating how successful her sister had been in whipping Chloe into a good person—or at least less of a witch.
OoOoO
The day ended, and Eden was about to go to the flower shop when Lila got all up in Marinette's business. She turned up her hearing aids and focused on them, so she could listen in,
"I see you've made your decision Marinette. From now on, you and I are at war. You will lose your friends and wind up all alone, and Adrien will soon be mine."
Marinette just shrugged, "We'll see about that Lila, we'll see." Lila stormed off, walking all snobby-like, and Marinette nodded to Eden, who walked back into the school to see Miss Bustier still at her desk,
"Um…Miss…"
"Yes Evelyn?"
Eden walked closer, "I wanted to talk to you about Lila."
That caused Miss Bustier to look up, "Is there a problem?"
"Yes. I got a reading off of her that she was bad news, so I followed Marinette into the bathroom, and she got Lila to confess to lying about everything while threatening her." She played the recording to prove her point.
Miss Bustier took the voice recorder, looking horrified and shocked, "I…I appreciate you coming to me with this so early on before it got out of hand. May I borrow this, it will be important in handling the situation."
Eden nodded, twirling her pigtail, "Of course. I have many."
Miss Bustier started to walk out, before turning,
"Just so we're clear, you will not use your gift with exams."
"I promise." Eden vowed, "But I'll warn you, I was a senior in high school back at home, so all of this is easy for me. I am not cheating, that's not how my gift works, I just get reading off of people and their experiences."
Was Miss Bustier stupid to not question a girl with 'supernatural powers'? Probably. But it was convenient, as she just nodded and walked in the direction to the principal's office.
Eden left the school and walked to the flower shop. That had been her favorite voice recorder, and her only one here. She always had them, and while it was originally to pretend to be a spy like her TV shows, now it was in hopes of proving Joselyn was a horrible child, and she had just happened to have it on her person when brought here.
She picked out some white roses in a sky-blue vase and used her little money to purchase them, walking to the hospital.
"Excuse me? I'm here to visit Zoe Carpenter?"
The receptionist clicked a few buttons, "Zoe Carpenter-Agreste? She's in room 329."
Eden walked to the room and found her sister's room was full of gifts and cards and random stuff Eden knew for a fact her sister would either hate or eat. She set her flowers down on a table and sat in an ugly plush armchair, gazing at her comatose sister.
She wasn't death grey anymore from what Adrien had described, but she was still paler than she had been when Eden had seen her last, which was only a couple months from Zoe's point of view. She sighed,
"Hey Showy. I know…you probably can't hear me, or won't recognize me, but it's me, Eden. I found you." She looked on the nightstand and noticed, to her shock, that the rock she had made as a gift when she was little was sitting there. She had thought she had lost it months ago. She looked back to Zoe, "But I refuse to have literally traveled universes, just for you to be dead. You need to show them that you will not be taken down that easily. But even if you don't want me around anymore…" Hawk Moth's words still stung, even though she suspected they were a lie, "I just want you to know I still love you, to whatever's end."
She sat there with her sister until visiting hours ended, just talking and explaining all the good things that had happened since she was gone and omitting the bad, and telling her about her day and busting Lila. At one point, she played Justin Bieber music, because Zoe had joked that if she ended up in a coma, she would wake up just to turn that music off. Sadly, that didn't work before Eden herself got sick of it.
When the nice doctor ushered her out, Eden took one last look,
"See you soon."
A/N: Yup. So the next chapter will be completely Eden-centric and her bonding with the Miraculous wielders and living with Master Fu. I have no idea when the next episode of Miraculous will be out, but it will be after the second akuma that you all find out if Zoe lives or dies.
And also, it wasn't clarified, but all the heroes decided "Fuck it, Zoe will just spill soon." and they all know who the others are. Chloe had figured out Ladybug when Adrien and Marinette started dating and just accepted it, but no longer completely idolizes Ladybug, just seeing her as a friend.