Nanowrimo finally over!
This is the final chapter :) Thank you so much everyone for reading and commenting! I hope you'll like the ending
Chloé Bourgeois was, on rare occasions, able to show some awareness of the events unfolding around her. Granted, it only seemed to happen when Prada released a new bag, or when someone showed a weakness she could exploit.
Once in a blue moon, however… And this author realizes that "once in a blue moon" might be a vast overstatement… She demonstrated some perceptiveness. It wasn't much perceptiveness but, considering it came from Chloé, it made people turn and stare.
"They forget everything, don't they?" she asked Adrien.
"What?"
"When you free people from the Akumas. They forget everything."
It wasn't a question he had expected to hear, because Queen Bee should have been informed of that by her kwami, and because their entire class had been turned to akumas by that point. They had to have mentioned their amnesia at some point.
Maybe it was a rhetorical question.
"I… Guess. Yes, they do."
She looked at the fight between Ladybug and Chat Noir - Chat Roux? - crossed her arms, tapped her foot, and fumed.
"Stay here", she said, as if he had any kind of choice: she had landed on a roof, and he didn't see a way down.
And she flew straight into the fight.
###
Each Kwami is unique. They are the living, undying, and really squishy embodiments of an idea, of a concept, of a belief. They are, in other words, small (and very tiny) gods. As such, they have a wide array of personalities, ranging from Tikki's warm kindness to Plagg's charming disposition. One could describe Vixx as cunning, Makko as idealistic, Zetta as very very smart, and Waspp…
When the other kwamis have to comment on her (an activity they avoid), they stick to "she's not usually that… sociopathic?". They lie their tiny butts off. Waspp is the godly representation of a wasp, people. Think about it.
If there's one good thing to be said about her, it's "she gets things done".
Now, when you know that kwamis pick miraculous holders in the way that best serves their interests, the way hers behave becomes much less surprising.
###
When Ladybug saw Queen Bee land between her and Not-Chat-Noir, she had a split second of shock (not being used to see Queen Bee join a fight of her own volition, ever). Then, she felt relief. Maybe they were not going to die. Maybe they could save humanity from a miraculous-powered Hawk Moth.
Queen Bee grabbed her by the arm and threw her across the Seine.
Ladybug crashed into a wall, but jumped to her feet and yoyoed back to the other side.
"WHAT SIDE ARE YOU ON?" she yelled.
Queen Bee gave her a dismissive little wave of the hand, while Nathanaël, perched on a lamppost, stared at her in confusion.
"I'm handling this", Chloé announced. "Shoo, shoo."
"Handling. This."
"Yes."
"Handling. THIS", Ladybug repeated.
"Yes! No go away, this is getting distracting."
"I'm not going ANYWHERE! Don't you realize what will happen if we don't get that miraculous back? Don't you know what Hawk Moth will do if he gets his hands on it?"
"Oh please. Hawk Moth has been active since ancient Egypt and the world is still undestroyed. He's even less efficient than my father's political opponents."
The evil Chat Noir, previously known as the Evillustrator, previously known as Nathanaël, decided their argument was, indeed, distracting, and a perfect opportunity to flee. He jumped to the closest roof and started running.
Ladybug gave chase.
Queen Bee flew up, dove, and crashed into the villain with her full (low, and strictly maintained) weight. They landed a few floors down. Not-Chat Noir jumped away.
"Don't you DARE making me to do that again!" Chloé shrieked. "My brushing is RUINED."
Now, even possessed with an Akuma, even in possession of a miraculous, and even dispossessed of most of his true self, Nathanaël recognized that tone of voice. He froze in panic. He swallowed hard. Then, he remembered how and why he had landed himself in Chat Noir's overly tight pants to begin with.
"Why did you have to show up?" he yelled back. "Now I have to take your miraculous too!"
Queen Bee rolled her eyes.
"Nonsense", she retorted, extending her hand. "Give me that ring."
"What?"
"Give. Me. The. Ring. Come on! Hurry! I don't have all day!"
Ladybug, still on the roofs, inched closer and tried to find the best angle from which to attack. She didn't have a clear line of sight, or she would have wrapped her yoyo around Nathanaël already. It was her only chance to capture him: the Evillustrator's powers were scarier than Chat Noir's (at least when he avoided using Cataclysm, like Nathanaël), but Chat Noir was fast. Taking him down in combat would take a while, and they didn't have a while. She wasn't even sure they had five minutes. Was Hawk Moth on his way?
"I need the ring!" Nathanaël snapped. "He'll take the Akuma away if I don't give it to him!"
"Oh boo-hoooo! You might have to go back to being poor, sparkless, wallflower Nathanaël", Chloé railed.
Someone paying close attention might have noticed it was a very poor, lousy attempt at a joke, and that she in fact did not actually think that way, but her boyfriend suffered from massive self-confidence issues. He was prone to negative thinking, catastrophizing, and tended to disqualify the positives. Also, it was a terrible thing to say, even to someone with Chloé's level of assurance.
Ladybug winced. That was how you got people turned into supervillains.
"Not happening", Nathanaël retorted, voice razor-sharp.
He jumped back.
Marinette finally had a clear shot: she threw her yoyo at him like a lasso, and caught him.
Gloved hands grabbed her ears from behind.
###
There was nothing quite like watching disaster happen while you stood to the side, watching, powerless, listening to the sound of your screams. Adrien felt like Bruce Wayne.
Well, no one had died (yet), but things were dire.
Nathanaël was Chat Noir.
Marinette was Marinette.
Adrien was Adrien.
Hawk Moth was not actually a figment of Plagg's imagination, as Adrien had begun to suspect.
And Queen Bee? Queen Bee was doing what you could expect from Chloé in the face of a danger that threatened her personally: she was running away. Nathanaël didn't follow her: he was staring at Hawk Moth, hesitant. As for Hawk Moth… It looked like he was ranting, stomping and raging. He sure was gesturing, and pointing at the tiny dot in the sky that was Queen Bee. A moment later, that tiny dot had vanished.
A butterfly-themed villain who didn't have the ability to fly had kind of missed the point.
Adrien looked down the roof he was standing on, trying to estimate how many bones he would break if he jumped down. Possibly more than by having a hand to hand combat with Hawk Moth. He had to help Marinette, however: Hawk Moth had pinned her down with his cane, and she didn't seem able to free herself (though she had landed a few nice kicks).
Queen Bee landed behind Adrien, and he nearly jumped from the roof. She grabbed him by the back of the shirt.
"Okay, what do we do now?" she asked.
They watched as Hawk Moth discovered that earrings and costumes with hoods didn't mix.
"I don't know. We need to help Marinette!" Adrien replied.
"Ugh, can you believe that dork is Ladybug?"
"WELL I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU HAVE A MIRACULOUS SO THERE."
"No need to get testy! Of course I got a miraculous. I have potential. Everyone tells me I'll go far."
"We need to help Marinette", Adrien repeated, deciding that maybe the fight with the two supervillains was more important than the fight with a classmate, at that precise point in time. "Can you get me near that roof? You'll have to fight Hawk Moth and… Chat Noir on your own."
"I'm not fighting anyone", Chloé retorted. "Do you know how long it took me to get nails this polished?"
"There isn't anyone else to do it for you this time!"
"You have very little faith in me", she commented. "There is always someone willing to make my life easier."
She wrapped her arms around him and flew up.
###
For Nathanaël, Meeting Hawk Moth was eerie, and not just because the voice in his head had sounded a little more… A little less… Stylish. As far as supervillain costumes went, this one was… Well, if Nathanaël had been given ten minutes, a pencil, and the Death's Head Hawkmoth wikipedia page, he could have suggested some improvements. Not much. Just changing the color scheme. Making the whole thing a little more armored. Adding some patterns. Getting rid of the cane.
That butterfly necktie pin was okay.
"You did a fantastic job, boy", the villain said, trying to insert the miraculous into his head.
As he would not remove his hood, nor his gloves, he was having difficulties. Ladybug's kwami also kept headbutting him.
"I will not let you use my powers, do you hear me?" she was swearing. "Never!"
Hawk Moth swatted her away.
"We shouldn't have any difficulty getting that third miraculous from young miss Bour-"
Young miss Bourgeois dropped from the skies, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up in the air at full speed. She kept going up, and up, and up, and up, aaaand up. And then she dropped him.
Chloé was a liar, of the most horrible kind, but she was perfectly sincere that there was always someone, or something, willing to make her life easier. She probably thought Isaac Newton had invented gravity just to please her. The force sure served her well. As - unlike Hawk Moth - her transformation was not only insect themed but also functional, she was able to navigate the air with much more grace and ease. She dove and accelerated, while the supervillain just… Fell. At the expected speed for his size and mass.
Queen Bee landed next to Nathanaël.
"That should give us a few seconds", she announced, with a bored look up.
The boy took a step back, tense.
"You won't change my mind."
"I said a few seconds! This is the point where you surrender Chat Noir's ring and stop being difficult!"
"I'm not being difficult! I'm never, never returning to being just Nathanaël again!"
Queen Bee groaned, throwing her hands up.
"Ooooh, you all drive me insane with your secrets and your double identities and how they make you entirely different people! Newsflash: the transformation gave you superpowers, not a new personality!"
"Like you would have any idea! Becoming Queen Bee didn't change you at all. It's different for us!"
She let out a long suffering sigh.
"Oh really? The costume dictates who you are? Because I'm yet to hear a pun or a pick up line, Chat Noir."
Nathanaël blinked.
Chloé rolled her eyes.
"Seriously. You dimwits get a mask, think 'no consequences, no accountability', and stop worrying so much, that's ALL. I just knew all along consequences and accountability don't exist!"
Hawk Moth crashed a few feet away, leaving an Hawk Moth shaped hole in the street. He jumped out of it, a bit dizzy, but otherwise uninjured. Queen Been whirled to him, while her words made their long and tortuous way through Nathanaël's mind.
"Don't you dare interrupt!" she yelled.
She had not yet learned that supervillains didn't feel compelled to obey orders. He raised a hand. Dark magic glimmered around it.
Queen Bee clicked her tongue.
"You've got to be kidding me. Who is it that you intend to victimize? Fashion? I'm sorry to say, but Marinette has you outmatched."
Nathanaël looked up at those words. Marinette was no longer pinned to the roof. Actually, Adrien was with her, and her kwami was depositing a pair of earrings in her hands. Nathanaël had to admit being dropped from the stratosphere and smashing into concrete was distracting. Hawk Moth had probably not noticed he had dropped Ladybug's miraculous.
The supervillain attacked Chloé, with a blast of dark energy.
He looked really impressive, for that split-second before Ladybug's feet connected with his face.
"Finally", Queen Bee mumbled, turning back to Nathanaël.
She paid no further attention to the fierce, near-apocalyptic deathmatch unfolding behind her.
"Where were we?" she asked.
"Masks, accountability, consequences", he murmured, heart beating.
"Ah! Yes! I was saying you were being an idiot."
"I… It's… Not just that", Nathanael said, his throat clenching a little. His voice became a strangled whisper. "I just… You wouldn't want to be around me anymore. I wouldn't be able to make things special."
She huffed and waved her hand dismissively.
"Now, that's just ridiculous. Any place I am in is inherently special."
The boy's heart fluttered. He could translate "Chloé Bourgeois" to French - at least when it came with that slight blush - and he got the meaning behind those words just fine. He went tomato red (it complimented his eyes nicely… NOT). He smiled a little. And then, a bit too overwhelmed to resist the urge, he kissed her.
He vaguely heard the Pont des Arts collapse. He ignored that, and wrapped his arms around Queen Bee.
She fumbled for her phone, and took a picture of the kiss. Aside from the shocking image of a red-haired Chat Noir locking lips with a hero who was NOT Ladybug, she also captured the escape of a blackish, violet butterfly, as it made its way out of Nathanaël's heart.
She pulled away from the boy as she noticed the Akuma, which she captured and purified. She shooed it away.
"Ring?" she asked her boyfriend.
The redhead hesitated, then removed the miraculous from his finger. He transformed back. The black cat kwami reappeared.
"Get. Waspp. Out. So. I. Can. Kill. Her", he growled.
Queen Bee pushed him away and looked around. She located Adrien, who was running to them, and threw him his ring. The young model caught it and promptly put it on.
"Thanks!"
Chloé ignored him. A few months earlier, or even a few weeks, she would have been all over Adrien grinning like that, and actually thanking her, and owing her. However, she had more pressing matters on her mind. She looked at Nathanaël - normal Nathanaël, all pale and red haired, and possibly single-eyed (you really couldn't tell) - and took a deep breath. The expression on her face could have been interpreted as mild concern by someone equipped with a good lie detector and a magnifier.
"Do you-"
She meant to say "remember what happened while you were possessed", but she didn't get to finish her sentence. Sparkless, fireless Nathanaël grabbed her face between his hands and kissed her again, proving that his memory was working just fine, thank you very much.
It left her speechless. For ten seconds.
"Well", she said.
She cleared her throat. Nathanaël didn't quite grin, but he gave her a quiet smile. In the background, Lady Bug and a freshly transformed Chat Noir were destroying Paris' architecture, using Hawk Moth as a wrecking ball.
"WELL", Chloé repeated, composing herself. "That's one less problem. Now let's get out of here", she finished, transforming back.
He blinked, and looked at Chat Noir and Ladybug.
"You're not going to help them?"
"Why would I? They're doing just fine", she replied, grabbing his arm. "And I'm starving. You're buying me pancakes, aren't you?"
###
"What do we do, now?" Chat Noir asked, because he had never made plans past Hawk Moth's defeat, and was sincerely lost. "Do we retire?"
Ladybug crossed her arms, watching the parisian tailor they had freed from evil walk away in a state of mild confusion.
"There will always be bank robberies", she said. "And planes to rescue. And rodents of unusual size."
"I don't think they… Shutting up now."
The tailor turned a corner. Ladybug absentmindedly repaired the city.
Chat Noir looked down at his miraculous, gasped, and ran to a side alley before his transformation ran out. Ladybug followed him. She turned back to Marinette. He turned back to Adrien. They stared at each other, flushing. They lost the ability to use words. There was a short, awkward moment of panic. Then, they both chuckled.
"That was quite the chat-ssé croisé", Adrien said.
"You silly cat", Marinette replied.
"I can't believe you turned me down when I confessed!"
"I turned you down because I loved y… Agh. Agh."
"Aaaah! Where is the end of that sentence?"
"Fghhhrk."
###
This author is pleased to say that Adrien heard the end of that sentence very, very often.
As a matter of fact, Chloé ended up gracing Nathanaël with a sentence that somehow implied something similar. He could read between the lines, so he just replied "I love you too".
###
