The phones stays off for another week; isolation is her only comfort and she's too afraid of the words she'll find staring up at her on that screen to look.
There have been two akumas that week, and Chloe only heard during the evening news when she went down to the kitchen for something small to eat. She watches with empty eyes, feeling hollow and numb as the heroes fly across the screen to save Paris. After those two times, she did her best to ignore the news, eating with her headphones on and music playing loud enough to make her head hurt; anything was better than being reminded of Ladybug and the gala and everything Chloe is.
She wakes up early in the morning of the beginning of the third week with a feeling that something was going to happen. The sky was clear, a cheerful blue that grew more vibrant as the sun rose. Chloe pulls the curtains shut and lays in bed for another two hours before she decides to get a small breakfast to keep herself from withering away, no matter how much she wants too.
One of the chefs hand her a bowl of fruit and Chloe takes it without really processing what she's doing. She leaves the kitchen without saying a word, barely catching the chef mutter something about ungrateful brats.
It doesn't hurt anymore, hearing those words, the way it did when she was little.
She's not sure if that's a good thing or not.
Chloe retreats to her room again, taking care to avoid looking anyone in the eye and sticking close to the walls as she makes her way through the hallways. No one's in the elevator, and she holds down the close button to make sure no one got on with her. The few minutes of quiet and isolation help her calm down from her brief appearance in the kitchen, the walls visible to her, closing her in, away from watching eyes and whispering voices.
The elevator music was still annoying, though.
When she gets to her room and sets the bowl down on the windowsill, she's hit with a sudden nervous energy. The air around her is charged with tension and her heart beats too fast in her chest.
Something's happening.
Move her body tells her, but Chloe's stuck wide-eyed and shaking, rooted to the floor.
The window next to her explodes, something crashing into her room. Glass shards go flying, and Chloe throws her arms up in front of her face on instinct. The glass cuts her arms, leaves stinging lines of red that have already began to bead with blood. She can feel some of the shards lodge themselves into her arms, but nothing hits her face or her neck, so she brushes it aside and tries to understand what's going on.
Here's what she sees:
1. Someone's in her room, looking around, angry and confused. Their scowling, little black feathers surrounding their eyes like a mask. A ballerina, judging from the tutu made of feathers. There's also feathers on her arms, draping down in what could almost be wings.
2. She's clearly an akuma. Black swan, maybe?
3. The akuma is scowling at her, eyes red and angry.
Chloe steps back, hands raised in front of herself defensively. The akuma opens her mouth, but before she can get a single word out, Ladybug and Chat Noir crash into her room behind the akuma.
"Stop right there!" Ladybug shouts, twirling her yo-yo.
"What a wild goose chase you've lead us on!" Chat Noir says with a laugh, baton extended in front of him. He's crouched, ready to attack, when he catches sight of Chloe. His eyes widen, but the akuma steals his attention away before Chloe can decipher the stricken expression that crossed his face.
"I am Black Swan, not a goose!" she cries out, then flings an arm forward. Black feathers hurl through the air, razor sharp. Ladybug deflects them easily with a few swings of her yo-yo. One is sent towards Chloe, who barely moves as it grazes her arm.
"Chloe!" Chat shouts, running to her. "It's not safe here!" He hooks an arm around her waist, then looks back at Ladybug, who circles Black Swan warily.
She looks up at them, blue eyes bright and fierce. "Get her somewhere safe, Chat!"
Black Swan whirls on them, a terrifying look in her eyes. "No one's leaving," she hisses, "You're all to be the background dancers to the show I deserve to be the star of!"
"If you were talented enough to be the star, you would be," Chloe says, tired, egging on the akuma. "Just accept that you're not good enough and quit throwing a tantrum. If you're that upset, just get better."
Black Swan howls with rage and throws her arms out, spinning to send a flurry of knife-sharp feathers at her. Chloe feels no fear; she doesn't feel anything. She watches the feathers approach in slow motion, and wants each one to hit her, go through her body, and leave her to bleed out.
'I deserve it,' she thinks, 'I deserve to die like this.'
But Chat pulls her away. He tightens his grip on her, holds her close, and runs to the windows. He throws his baton forward then jumps, using the baton to vault them out of her room and to a nearby roof. Chloe closes her eyes against the sting of wind, and when she opens them, her feet steady underneath her, Chat's got both hands on her shoulders, looking her over with worried eyes.
"Are you alright?" he asks. He brushes a hand over the bleeding grazes on her arms with a look of sadness. "Let's hope Ladybug can fix that," he mutters, frown pulling at his lips.
"You should have left me," she says, voice soft and emotionless.
Chat looks up to meet her eyes "What?"
"You should have let her hit me."
"What? Why?!"
She shoves him away. "Just go help Ladybug. Take me back to my room once it's safe."
Chat hesitates for a moment, then jumps away to help Ladybug. Chloe sinks to the ground, places her head between her knees, and lets herself shake and blink back tears.
She'd said too much. She didn't know why, but looking at Chat, everything started to spill out. Not a single lie passed her lips; Chat knew more than anyone else. She grabs a fistful of her hair and pulls harshly.
Stupid!
Saying all that, to a hero, of all things. She hadn't been thinking, but that doesn't change anything. Tears slip down her cheeks, and Chloe chokes back a sob. Someone knows now, and it terrifies her.
Someone knows.
Chat Noir knows. Ladybug, too, since Chat would probably tell her.
Chloe bites her lip, just to have the pain bring her out of her mind, and wipes away her tears. She'd just have to laugh it off, act like the spoiled brat again. It had only been a week; it shouldn't be any work to get Chat to hate her.
Another window shatter, the glass falling into the street like crystal rain. Ladybug's voice crosses over the distance between her and Chloe; she sound pissed. Black feathers shoot out from the broken windows, sharp and glistening under the sunlight, then fade away into nothing when they get too far from Black Swan.
Chloe falls to her knees and resigns herself to waiting for it all the end. The white shorts she wears as pajamas were dirty, covered in dirt and some blood. The rough cement of the rooftop dug into her knees and calves; she can already tell that she's going to have bruises.
Black Swan jumps out the window, then, twirling and leaping through the air in lieu of flying, the feathers of her costume dancing in the wind. Ladybug and Chat follow, though not without a worried glance her way. Just as quickly as they appeared, they vanished into the streets of Paris. Sounds of fighting and destruction barely reach her, she's so high up from the rest of the world.
Chloe tilts her head back, turning her face up to the sky. There's a soft breeze playing with strands of her hair. The sun is warm against her skin. She doesn't know why she feels like crying. But the tears come up anyways, falling from the corners of her closed eyes. Chloe wipes them away and takes a deep breath.
It's so quiet up there. It's so quiet.
She doesn't want it to end.
But a warm glow washes over her, painting the insides of her eyelids pink. The sting of her wounds fades away like they never happened. When Chloe opens her eyes, the windows to her room are fixed.
Miraculous cure has fixed Paris once more.
The danger has passed, but Chloe makes no moves to go back. Instead, she stands on weak legs and makes her way to the edge of the roof. She stares down at the busy streets, where people and cars rush about as though the akuma attack had never happened. The grounds so far away.
Part of her wants to see how long it would take to reach the ground.
She turns her head back up to the sky instead, and wishes she could fly, twirling into the atmosphere like Black Swan.
She doesn't know how long she stands there, but by the time she hears Chat's voice again, the sound is nearly lost beneath the ringing in her ears. Chloe turns to face him and swallows down the sudden nausea that rose with the movement. He says something, mouth moving, but no words reach Chloe. She blinks, sluggish, and feeling far too weak. The roof shifts and sways beneath her feet, and she's suddenly all too aware of the empty space behind her.
And then the world slips away from her, and the last thing she remembers is Chat's hand reaching out to her, and the look of horror on his face that reminded her of Adrien in all the wrong ways.
