Chapter 22: News travels far
Author's note: Well, Miraculous Ladybug is finally back, and this story is back because of it, and some important things have been revealed, I won't say what because some readers may not have started watching, I'm just going to say I'm a little disappointed and in a bit of trouble villain wise for those who have seen it, and I think I'm going to need some ideas for what to do if anyone wants to help.
But, this story has already made a huge departure from the canon time-line anyway, I'm just wondering how much I should stick to season 2 considering all the changes I've already made.
Anyway, on with the story.
The building was incredibly dark, the barest of light making it possible to see inside, the walls were littered with cracks and some had even fallen down completely, there wasn't a thing not caked in dust, not even the plants that grew through the floor and up the walls. The building was a complete hazard, nothing could possibly live there, and yet someone skipped their way down the halls.
Their feet treaded across the path created by shifted dust, showing it was a path frequently walked. As they walked, they passed many rooms, some rooms were blocked off by fallen rubble, while some had their doors broken off to show the insides, showing beds with straps attached to them, or operating tables inside. The person finally reached their destination, the only room in the building not caved in some part and with working electricity.
"I'm home." The person sang.
"We already heard you from down the hall." Someone from the room said, their voice sounding like many people speaking at once.
The other resident of the room only growled in acknowledgement of the person entering.
"Why were you gone so long, anyway?" The multiple-voiced person asked.
The first person's face suddenly changed.
"It's really hard to find food and other stuff, you know." They said sadly. "Especially when you're trying not to be seen."
They put some bags full of supplies on the floor, pulling out a newspaper from one of them.
They then suddenly switched back to being overly happy. "But guess what little old Dicey managed to find out." They waved the paper in front of them.
The multi-voiced personal held out a bandage-wrapped hand expectantly. "Let's see then." They said.
"Ah, ah, ah." The first person pulled the newspaper out of their reach. "I said guess."
"Dice." They said warningly.
Dice insisted on keeping the newspaper away until it was finally snatched out of their hands.
Dice then flipped extremes again. "Swarm." She cried. "That's not fair."
"Life's not fair." Swarm muttered as they began to read the newspaper.
What Dice had most likely been talking about was printed right on the front page of the French newspaper.
'Old Guard and New Guard, Fighting as One! The Quantic Team's return!'
On the front, there was a picture of a group of young heroes Swarm didn't recognise, fighting alongside some older heroes he certainly recognised, against a villain he once again didn't recognise.
"I guess they survived the final battle after all." Swarm said, clutching the paper harder.
"They just had to survive." Dice sobbed. "After all this time of thinking they were dead."
"Now, now." Swarm said in false comfort. "We always knew that they could still be about, we don't exactly have many ways of keeping up with information on heroes like we used to. But, that just means that this time, we can make sure that they're dead."
Dice's face switched back to a large smile. "That's right, we lure them out and then strike them down. Even with that Ladybird and her team active, they'll come when they see it's us. Ooh, and we'll get to see how much the new heroes are worth."
"Sounds like a plan." Swarm agreed. "What do you think, Creature." He turned to the third member of their group.
Creature growled in agreement.
"Then it's settled." Dice said, laughing insanely. "This is going to be so much fun."
Marinette woke up with a sense of foreboding.
From her conversations with Pavo about the powers of the Miraculous, and how they can leak into a wielder's civilian form, this filled Marinette with worry. She quickly expressed this worry to her Kwami.
"Miraculous powers leaking into their wielder when inactive can be a bit tricky." Pavo told her. "Especially with stuff like future vision. What you're feeling could be foretelling of something really bad coming, or it could just be a personal prediction, like you're going to have a bad day sort of thing. Either way, until we can know which it is, you should be on guard and tell the others to be on guard as well."
"Got it." Marinette said.
Marinette then got changed into her day clothes and ate breakfast before heading into the bakery, where she found a surprise waiting for her.
"A-Adrien?" Marinette stuttered when she saw her not-so-secret-to-everyone-but-him crush.
"Hey, Marinette." Adrien greeted.
"W-what is-are you do-doing here? Not to make it sound that I don't want you here. But it is a surprise to find you here, in the bakery that is, which is below my home." Marinette rambled.
"Well, I thought that we could walk to the college together, you know, since we're friends." Adrien explained.
"O-oh, o-okay." Marinette stuttered.
"Ready to go?" Adrien asked.
"Yeah, yeah, sure." Marinette said, blushing as both of them left the bakery.
"I thought that since we've revealed our identities to each other, we should get to know each other more in our normal lives." Adrien said as they walked.
"Oh, right." Marinette said.
That was right, they had revealed their identities to each other the previous day, Chat Noir was Adrien, Renard Rouge was Nathanael, and Ladybird was a girl from another class named Casey Brook. Despite knowing this, Marinette's mind still hadn't quite made the connect just yet, still treating Adrien and Chat Noir as two different people rather than the same person even though it was obvious they were without the perception magic getting in the way anymore. So, it still shocked Marinette to remember who were under the masks. Well, except for Casey, but that was because she didn't know the girl very well.
Marinette and Adrien arrived at the college to find Nathanael and Casey waiting for them, both looking awkward and uncomfortable as they sat next to each other, not interacting with each other.
"Hey, guys." Marinette said in greeting as she and Adrien approached them.
"Marinette." Nathanael said happily.
"Hey." Casey gave a small wave.
The four of them stood silent for a moment.
"Well, this is awkward. We're acting like we don't already know each other." Casey interjected, a small amused smile on her face.
"Well, technically, we do need to get reacquainted." Nathanael pointed. "Especially since we only know you from your other self."
"Thanks for reminding me that I'm the odd one out." Casey said good-naturedly.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Nathanael quickly apologised.
"Relax, will yah?" Casey told him. "I was only making a joke."
Nathanael decided not to mention that Casey's natural mono-tone, another thing about her voice that the team hadn't noticed before because of the perception magic of the Miraculous, made it hard to understand when she was joking, not wanting to make it seem like he was insulting his 'new' friend.
"Maybe we can try and be together for our next year in lycee." Adrien suggested.
"Oh, I can just imagine that." Casey said with a small laugh. "Every time an Akuma attacks, four hands shoot up in class, asking to be excused."
"Hopefully we'll have defeated Hawkmoth before that can be a problem." Marinette said.
The others hummed in agreement.
Marinette then remembered the feeling she had gotten that morning and Pavo's advice.
"Listen, guys, I need to tell you someth-" Marinette started to say.
"Casey, is that you actively talking to people without us?" A voice interrupted her.
The four turned to see some girls standing there, one of which was Sabrina.
"Yes, Bree, I can actually talk to people if I want." Casey answered the girl at the front with a role of her eyes.
"Oh, I'm so proud of you." Bree said, hugging Casey. "Making friends all on your own."
"I feel like a proud parent." Another one of the girls joked.
"Hugging me." Casey complained, trying to wiggle out of Bree's embrace.
Bree, thankfully, let go of her, and Casey straightened out her clothes.
"These are the girls from my Guiding group." Casey explained to Marinette and the others.
"It's nice to meet Casey's new friends." Bree said happily. "Hey, Nathanael."
"Hi, Bree." Nathanael greeted his fellow orchestra member.
"How have you been, Sabrina." Marinette asked Chloe's former 'best friend'.
"I've been good, thanks." Sabrina said. "The girls go out of their way to include me in things."
"You get used to it." Casey told her. "It's a, 'you will be our friend and hang out with us whether you like it or not' sort of thing with them."
"Well, if we left you alone, you wouldn't hang out with us outside of Guides." One of the girls defended.
Casey groaned but nodded her head in agreement.
"I'm going to get to class." Casey said, looking at her watch.
"How about we meet up at lunch?" Marinette suggested, still needing to relay her message.
"Sure." Casey agreed, walking into the building.
"Don't worry." Bree told Marinette, Adrien and Nathanael when she saw their uncertain expressions. "She's always like that. She does enjoy the company of others and likes to hang out with people, she just has a difficult way of showing it, and she's an introvert and enjoys have time alone. So, don't take it personally if she comes off as dismissive, it's just how she is."
Adrien sort of already knew what Casey was like this from their conversations as Ladybird and Chat Noir, where she told him she had trouble socialising and knowing how to act around others, and Adrien got the feeling it was because of something that had happened to her, but that the Ladybug Miraculous seemed to give her the capability to get past those hurdles. But to see how Ladybird, Casey, usually acted, was a bit of a shock, especially since he was used to how she acted with him as Ladybird.
"I'm sure we'll be alright." Adrien said.
Everyone then went to their own classes before the bell rang, Adrien, Marinette, Nathanael and Sabrina all walking together. Marinette fell back behind the boys to talk with Sabrina.
"How have you really been holding up." Marinette asked Sabrina quietly.
"It's been hard." Sabrina admitted. "But the girls have been there for me, especially Bree, and even Casey. I've been tempted to try and make up with Chloe more than once, but Casey's been keeping me straight, saying that Chloe will just go back to taking advantage of me, and I hate to admit it, but that's probably true. It's just, Chloe's always been my friend."
"I understand." Marinette said. "But stay strong. And remember, you have real friends to go to now, and you can even come to me, if you want. As long as you don't try to do my homework again. Uh, you haven't tried to do your friend's homework, have you?"
"Well, I did sort of try." Sabrina said admittedly. "But the girls were a lot sterner in refusing than you were, and directed me towards activities that could keep me busy instead."
"That's good." Marinette said.
Behind the girls, a certain blond trailed slowly behind, having seen the entire interaction between Sabrina and her friends, and then Marinette and her friends. She looked across the courtyard to where the other girls were disappearing into their own classes, anger building.
"She turned on me for them?" She muttered in disgust.
"Well, how the mighty have fallen." A voice said from behind her.
Chloe turned around to scowl at Lila.
"Don't look at me like that." Lila said, holding her hands up in defence. "You only brought this on yourself." She said in an impersonation of Chloe, echoing what the blond had said to her after her lies had been revealed.
"Shut up." Chloe snapped back.
"Is that really the best response you can come up with, usually you'd be doing your Draco Malfoy impression. Pathetic." Lila laughed. "But I guess you can't be a princess anymore since all your subjects have deserted you. Anyway, it's been fun rubbing this in your face, but I don't want to be late to class."
Lila walked past Chloe and into the classroom.
Chloe looked at the doors before turning around and leaving in anger.
"How dare she." Chloe muttered angrily. "Talking about things she has no business talking about. It isn't fair!"
Chloe then stormed out of the college.
Flames were dancing. Well, they seemed to be flames, shades of red and orange moved in an untamed way. But there was also a flash of white. Could flames be white?
The was also music, the tune familiar yet unknown at the same time. It was gentle, like a soft whistling.
The flames were beginning to take shape, but still seemed to remain somehow untamed, swaying to the tune of the music. The flames split into three, orange tipped with white. And behind the flames, more white, but not the white of the flames, from behind that white, a single eye stared out, the piercing blue so stark against the white and the flames.
"Nathanael!" A loud whisper in his ear work him from his daydreaming.
"What?" Nathanael asked sleepily as he looked up.
Nathanael then noticed that the teacher was looking at him pointedly.
"Would you care to answer the question, Nathanael?" Madam Bustier asked.
"Uh…" Nathanael said, trying to work out what the question was.
"Forty-two." Lila whispered to him.
"Oh, forty-two." Nathanael answered.
"Forty-two?" Madam Bustier asked, eyebrow raised. "The meaning behind the poem is forty-two?"
Nathanael winced, he forgot that they were doing Literacy, not Maths.
"Please pay attention next time, Nathanael." Madam Bustier told him.
"Yes, madam." Nathanael said blushing.
Lila gave a small laugh next to him.
"I will have retribution." Nathanael promised her quietly.
"It's your own fault for not paying attention." Lila replied smugly. "Not get enough sleep or something?"
"What gave it away?" Nathanael asked sarcastically, knowing the bags under his eyes were apparent.
Weird dreams, like what he had just been day-dreaming about, had been plaguing him for the last few days, but they hadn't interrupted his sleep until now. But last night, Nathanael had woken up after feeling like he was about to be consumed by the flames and had been unable to get back to sleep.
Nathanael had asked Vixx what was happening to him, and the Kwami told him that the Miraculouses tended to give their wielders weird dreams from time to time. But Nathanael had a feeling that there was more to it that Vixx wasn't explaining.
Chloe stalked around her room as she fumed.
"How dare she? How dare they?" She cried. "They have no right!"
She grabbed something and threw it to the floor, not caring what it was.
"They can't just leave me! I'm the best friend they ever had, I gave them everything, and they just throw it back into my face because of that liar! This wouldn't have happened if Sabrina hadn't talked to those girls, they turned her against me, I bet they turned Adrien against me too" Chloe continued to fume.
Chloe then grabbed her phone.
"They deserve to be taught a lesson!"
Inside his lair, Hawkmoth stood with his butterflies around him, taking in the negative emotions.
"Ah, Chloe Bourgeois." He said. "Such rage, perhaps Antibug deserves a second chance."
Hawkmoth held up his hand for a butterfly but then dropped it in thought.
"However, rage it a girl such as her, it is bound to cause more as she takes action. Perhaps I should wait for one of her inevitable victims rather than herself." He pondered.
The way he felt her emotions, and knowing how many victims Chloe had presented to him, he knew that her next 'offering' would be bountiful.
Though, as Hawkmoth monitored Chloe, he noticed something strange about her emotions, they were true emotions, but they seemed almost too big. But he dismissed that, the bigger and the anger Chloe was, the bigger the fall out would be when she decided to act.
Chloe dialled a number on her phone, it wasn't saved in her contacts, but she had memorised the number by heart, for when she needed certain things done to get her way.
"Hello?" The phone was answered.
"It's Queen." Chloe said.
Something that she learned from her father when dealing with these sort of people, don't let them know who you are so you can't be blackmailed or traced if they get caught, everything was to be done anonymously.
"Ah, my lovely client." The voice said. "What can I be doing for you today?"
"Information, and then action." Chloe said. "There's a girl by the name of Sabrina Raincomprix at Francoise Dupont, class 4B. Recently, she has made a group of friends. I want to know who they are, names, where they live, exact locker numbers, everything."
"We can do that for you." The voice said. "And what is the action you want to take?"
"That will come after you call back with the information I want."
"Of course. And our payment?"
"Same as usual."
"Fine by me. We'll be in touch."
The other line went dead and Chloe hung up herself.
"Once I know who they are, they'll pay for turning them against me, as well as that liar." Chloe promised.
Outside Chloe's room, hidden on her balcony, a figure stood, peaking in at Chloe with a frozen grin.
"Still no Akuma?" The figure heard through their headset.
"No." The figure said, her voice unhinged. "But we may get one yet. And I barely need to do anything."
The bell rang and Marinette's class packed up for lunch.
"Do you want to go somewhere for lunch?" Alya asked her.
"Sorry, Alya." Marinette rejected. "But I have other plans right now. Uh, dance practice."
Alya shrugged. "It's fine." She said.
Alya then walked over to Nino, the couple exchanged some brief words before leaving together.
Marinette was then startled when Adrien turned to her.
"So, where are we going?" He asked.
"Huh, uh, what?" Marinette stumbled over her words.
"You said we'd meet up to tell us something." Adrien said. "Where should we go?"
"Well, uh, I guess we could go to mine, uh, my place." Marinette said.
"We'll need to find L-Casey first." Nathanael said as he came to a stop by Marinette's desk, momentarily stumbling over Casey's name.
"Wh-oh, yeah." Adrien said, remembering who the name referred to.
Marinette let out a long sigh.
"This is going to take some time to get used to." She said.
The boys nodded in agreement.
The three of them walked out of their classroom, looking around as they made their way to the courtyard.
"Did we tell Casey where to meet?" Nathanael asked.
Adrien and Marinette shook their heads.
"Hopefully, she'll be waiting at the doors." Adrien offered.
Sure enough, they found Casey sitting on one of the steps outside of the college, staring at her phone as she obviously waited for them.
Adrien grinned and crept as quietly as he could towards her.
"Don't even think about it." Casey said without looking up.
Adrien slumped with a pout and Casey looked up at him, unimpressed.
"You forget that I know you, Bagpuss." She said.
Casey pushed herself to her feet and looked at her three fellow de-powered heroes.
"So, what are we doing?" She asked.
"We're going to my place." Marinette said.
Marinette led the way and a quick trip down the pavement and across the street led them to her home, they entered through the side entrance and walked all the way up to the living quarters above the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
"Ah!" Marinette suddenly exclaimed. "I just remembered my room is a bit of a mess, please wait here while I tidy up."
Then, quicker than their eyes could track, Marinette raced up the stairs and into her room.
Adrien, Nathanael and Casey looked at each other in confusion and shrugged at the repeat of Marinette's reaction to the previous time they came to her house.
After grabbing everything Adrien related in her room, with the help of Pavo, and hiding it away, Marinette invited her teammates up into her room. They were soon sat in a circle, eating some baked goods from the bakery while their Kwamis played chase with each other.
"So, what did you need to tell us?" Adrien asked.
"Well, I've been getting this feeling that something bad is going to happen." Marinette explained, suddenly feeling embarrassed that she'd invited them all over, especially Adrien, because of a feeling. "And Pavo explained that it could be the foresight powers of my Miraculous seeping into me."
"So, something bad could actually happen?" Nathanael asked.
Marinette nodded.
"Do you think it's linked to what Fu warned us about?" Casey asked.
"It's possible." Pavo answered as he came to a stop. "Though, if it is, that means the trouble is closer than we thought, the Peacock usually predicts the close future."
The four heroes frowned.
"That's not good." Adrien said. "Do we have any idea what form it's going to take."
Marinette shook her head. "All I got was a feeling of foreboding, I don't know if it's Hawkmoth, something new, or even a natural disaster."
"Then we'll just have to be on guard." Casey decided. "Stick to patrols and keep our eyes out for anything suspicious. Until we know more, it's the best we can do."
"Right." The others agreed.
"Do you think Fu's going to give out another Miraculous when whatever is going to happen happens?" Adrien asked.
The others shrugged.
"It will probably depend on how strong whatever happens is." Nathanael answered. "Remember what Void and Wisp told us about universal balance? Adding another hero could only end up making things worse."
Casey nodded. "We're still waiting to see if there is going to be any fallout from the Quantic Team helping us against the Collector."
Marinette gasped. "I think the foreboding feeling is tied to that fallout." She said.
"Are you sure?" Adrien asked.
"I-I don't know." Marinette said, hand moving to where her Miraculous was pinned to her shirt. "It just feels right."
"Then it probably is." Pavo told her. "A Peacock should always trust her instincts."
"Even more reason to be on our toes then." Casey said.
The rest of the Kwamis eventually finished their game and settled down next to their chosen to eat, Tikki munched on her cookies happily and Pavo popped grape after grape in his mouth, the other two Kawmis were left to make do as Marinette didn't have their favourite foods, both given a small plate of leftover chicken.
"Come on, no camembert?" Plagg questioned unhappily.
"Not everyone buys that stinky cheese, Plagg." Adrien told his Kwami.
"How can anyone deny the magnificent taste of camembert?" Plagg bemoaned.
"Easily." Responded half the people and Kwamis in the room.
They then all laughed while Plagg sulked.
The four of them continued to eat their lunch while talking to each other on different subjects until they somehow ended up on the subject of Sabrina.
"She's fitting in with the other girls." Casey said. "We're all doing our part to keep her straight and make sure she doesn't regress."
"You're very passionate about this." Marinette noticed.
Casey nodded. "I was sort of in a similar situation to Sabrina when I was younger." She explained. "More than once actually. So attached to having a friend that I ignored how bad they were."
The others frowned in sympathy.
"You got out of them, right?" Adrien asked in concern.
Casey nodded to his relief.
"I eventually got the courage to call off those 'friendships' permanently, it was hard, and I got used to not having friends after that." Casey gave a small laugh without much energy behind it. "It was a big shock when the other girls grabbed on and refused to let go, but I'm glad they did. And now, we're doing the same for Sabrina."
Casey's eyes suddenly widened when she found herself being hugged.
"I'm sorry that you had to go through that." Marinette said, squeezing Casey.
Casey didn't say anything as she shifted uncomfortably.
Behind the group, Tikki giggled.
"What's so funny?" Vixx asked.
"My chosen isn't very big on affection, especially hugs." Tikki explained.
"Ha!" Trix laughed.
She remembered more than a few of her chosen having the same aversion to affection.
"Well, she better get used to it, Marinette is an affectionate girl." Pavo said, grinning.
To Casey's relief, she was eventually released for Marinette's hold.
"I'm worried about just one thing, though." Nathanael said.
"What?" Casey asked.
"Chloe." Nathanael answered. "You know she's not going to take this lying down."
"She's not?" Casey asked.
"The girl just both of her 'friends' in one go, so she's going to be angry." Vixx pointed out.
"Oh, yeah, she has a history of forcing things to go her way." Casey recalled from rumours that circled around the college, having been lucky enough never to be on the receiving end of the blonde's ire. "Think she's going to become an Akuma or cause an Akuma?"
"Come on, she won't go that far, will she?" Adrien offered.
"You're holding onto denial, kid." Plagg said.
"She's caused a fair share of Akumas, including myself." Nathanael pointed out.
"Marinette?" Adrien turned to the only one left yet to say something.
"I'm going to have to agree with them, sorry Adrien." Marinette said apologetically. "I've known Chloe for years, when things don't go her way, she'll make them go her way, usually to the detriment to everyone else."
Adrien sighed in defeat. "I know." He admitted.
Casey and Nathanael reached over and patted his shoulders reassuringly.
"You're right, though." Casey told Nathanael. "We need to be prepared for Chloe to do something, or the return of Antibug."
"Be careful, Chloe practically has a choke hold on the college, she always threatens principle Damocles with calls to her father if he doesn't bend to her will." Nathanael warned.
"She got Alya suspended for looking in her locker, I'd hate to know what she's going to do to you." Marinette agreed.
Casey didn't look too worried. "My dad can deal with it if she tries to pull the mayor into it, trust me." She said confidently.
"Are you sure?" Marinette asked. "I don't want you and the other girls to end up expelled or something."
"I'm sure." Casey reassured.
As the girls had been speaking, Nathanael had glanced at his phone.
"Woah, we better finish up, Casey, orchestra is starting soon." He said.
Casey looked at her own phone and sighed.
"How's your songs coming along?" Marinette asked as Nathanael and Casey finished their food.
"We're almost done with the current song and have started the next." Nathanael answered.
"It's murder on my fingers." Casey commented.
"You're doing the music for the dance show too?" Marinette asked.
"All of orchestra is." Casey answered.
"Oh, you should practice with us too." Marinette suggested happily.
"What?" Casey asked.
"I'm one of the dancers, and Nathanael and I practice together, he plays music while I dance to it. You should join us." Marinette said.
"Yeah, sounds good." Casey said, shrugging.
"Great." Marinette smiled.
"See you later." Nathanael and Casey called as they left with their Kwamis.
Marinette then became very aware that she had been left on her own with Adrien, even Pavo and Plagg had disappeared to places unknown.
"So, how long do you have left until your performance?" Adrien asked.
"Oh, uh, just a few weeks, but we've got positions and stuff down, it's just a matter or practice." Marinette answered nervously. "We have dress rehearsals soon."
"Cool. What's your role?" Adrien asked.
"Nothing important, Chinese dance is more about the group than an individual standing out." Marinette said.
"Well, I'm sure you'll stand out. I'll definitely be there, cheering you on." Adrien said.
"Y-you will?" Marinette stammered.
"Of course, you're my friend and teammate Marinette, I wouldn't miss something so important." Adrien smiled.
Adrien's phone beeped before Marinette could respond.
"Speaking of missing something, I've got to go or I'll miss fencing practice." Adrien said, standing. "See you later, Marinette, and thanks for the food."
Plagg appeared from wherever he had been hiding and flew into Adrien's shirt pocket as he disappeared out of Marinette's room.
Marinette sighed happily as she lay back on her floor.
"He said he'd be there to watch me perform." She said dreamily.
"It's the perfect chance to show off your colours." Pavo said.
"What?" Marinette asked.
"Shake your feathers, attract him, show him why you should be his mate." Pavo elaborate, Marinette growing redder with each description.
"Please stop saying words." Marinette moaned, covering her red face with her hands.
Chloe looked at the list of names on her phone that she had been sent, all of whom where presumably Sabrina' new friends. She then pressed dial on her phone again.
"It's Queen again." She said. "Now that you have the names of these girls, I want you to plant evidence on them, as well as on a girl also at the college by the name of Lila Rossi."
"What sort of evidence?" The voice asked.
"I don't care." Chloe answered. "Steal valuable and noticeable things and put them in their lockers, vandalise properly and lead it back to them, anything that will get them in deep and inescapable trouble."
"Got it. We'll make sure these girls look guiltier than guilty."
"Make sure you do."
Chloe then hung up, using her phone to then make a transaction to an untraceable account.
"And now, I wait." She said smugly.
Grabbing her bag, Chloe made her way back to college, she wanted to be there for the firework show and to fan the flames.
Outside Chloe's window, the mysterious figure continued to grin and gave a manic giggle, looking forward to the firework show herself.
Nathanael and Casey sat together in the music room where the orchestra was gathered, tuning their instruments while they waited for everyone to arrive.
"You're pretty calm for someone Chloe's going to target." Nathanael commented.
"If she attempts anything through her dad, my dad will deal with it." Casey repeated her earlier statement.
"How, is he a government official or something?" Nathanael asked.
"Or something." Casey answered with a grin that told Nathanael he wouldn't be getting a straight answer from her.
"Hey, guys." Bree said as she arrived and sat down next to them. "What are you talking about?"
"Chloe Bourgeois." Casey answered. "Oh, that reminds me, Nathanael says that we should be on the lookout for her trying something because she lost Sabrina."
"But, we didn't do anything." Bree said in confusion. "It was her own actions that made Sabrina not want to be friends."
"That's the logic of Chloe for you." Nathanael said with a shrug. "She never takes responsibility."
Orchestra soon began and everyone played the music provided for them on their music sheets, each song in a different style for each dance group they'd be working with, but halfway through one of the final songs, it came to an abrupt end with the out of tune sound of a guitar.
Everyone turned to look at Casey as she hissed and nursed a finger in her mouth, looking scornfully at her guitar which had one of the strings snapped in half.
"Are you alright?" Nathanael asked his friend.
"Yeah, nothing cut." Casey answered, taking her finger out her mouth, which was only red from touching the string as it snapped. "I'll need a new string though."
Casey reached into her guitar case and rummaged around, frowning when she came up with nothing.
"I'm sure I had some." She said. "They must be in my locker." She told the teacher.
"You can go get them." The orchestra teacher told her.
Casey nodded as left the music room, shortly after the orchestra started the song from the beginning.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Tikki asked, flying out of Casey's pocket as she walked down the halls.
"Yeah. See?" Casey held up her finger for Tikki to inspect. "It's just bruised, it'll go away eventually, I'll just have to use my pick until my finger heals."
Casey reached the locker room and ran her hand over the lockers and she made her way towards her one, she then stopped suddenly and frowned.
"What is it?" Tikki asked.
"Someone's been messing with our lockers." Casey said.
She raced over to her locker and inspected it, there were no signs of anything wrong with it, but one touch showed her that someone had done something to it only a few minutes ago. Opening her locker, there was once again nothing obviously wrong with the inside of her locker, everything was where she left it, but she knew there was something wrong. Digging through her things, it turned out she was right, as she emerged from her locker holding an expensive looking necklace that she definitely didn't own.
"Who would put this here." Casey asked.
The intercom then suddenly came on.
"I want every student to report to the courtyard, immediately!" Ordered Mr Damocles, sounding very angry.
"Oh no." Casey said.
She looked back at the necklace in her hand and gained and idea of why it had appeared in her locker.
"Tikki, hide this." She told the Kwami, handing her the necklace.
"Why." Tikki asked.
"Because someone's trying to frame me for theft." Casey answered.
Casey then walked off to join everyone in the courtyard as ordered while Tikki flew off with the necklace.
"What's going on?" One student asked.
"I don't know." Another answered.
"Mr Damocles looks really angry." Commented another.
The students who were already in college were gathered in the courtyard, and since it was almost the end of lunch, the remaining students were beginning to trickle back into school and were also gathered in the courtyard. Mr Damocles and the other teachers were all gathered in front of the students, as well as a few students who looked very upset. The teachers didn't say anything until the class bell rang and all of the college students were gathered in the courtyard.
"Nathanael, Casey, what's going on?" Marinette asked as she found and made her way over to them.
"My best guess, a few things have gone missing and are going to turn up in lockers." Casey said, anger in her tone.
"How do you know?" Adrien asked, who had also just arrived.
"Because I found a necklace in my locker, which had been broken into. Someone tried to frame me." Casey said.
Marinette gasped. "Oh no."
"Marinette, do you know what's going on?" Alya asked as she and Nino made their way through the crowd towards them.
"Hopefully not what Casey predicted." Marinette answered.
"What?" Alya asked.
They were cut off by Mr Damocles stepping forward and speaking loudly.
"During this lunch break, not only have several valuable items belonging to both students and staff gone missing, but the college grounds have also been vandalised!" He said. "Now, I want those guilty to step forward! Or are we going to have to involve the police?"
Everyone looked around at each other, but no one came forward.
"Very well!" Mr Damocles called. "We will bring the police into solve this matter, and until it is resolved, you will all remain here!"
The students groaned as one of the teachers left, presumably to contact the police.
"Whoever stole the stuff, tried to frame me." Casey said.
"And with how much was stolen as well as vandalised, you can't be the only one being framed." Marinette agreed.
"You don't think it was…?" Adrien didn't want to finish the question.
"If it was, she's going to regret it." Casey promised darkly.
"If it was Chloe who did it, Bree could also have something in her locker." Nathanael said in worry.
"Hold up." Alya said. "What's going on? Who's trying to frame you?"
"No time, we need to find the other girls and warn them." Casey said, pushing her way through the crowd of students.
"What?" Nino questioned.
"Sabrina's new friends." Marinette elaborated. "They're getting framed. We need to find them and Sabrina to warn them."
"Okay." Alya said.
They separated and made their way through the students, they found Sabrina and managed to tell her about the plan, but only one of the other girls before the police officer arrived, stopping them from moving around to find the others.
"I will give one more chance for the culprits to come forward!" Mr Damocles called.
No one came forward.
"Very well, go to your classes and wait to be called for inspection!"
With nothing left to do, they were forced back to their classes and then called one by one to empty their pockets and open their lockers for inspection.
And as predicted, the evidence turned up in the lockers of everyone from Casey and Sabrina's guiding unit, with the exception of the two of them, as well as Lila's.
"This isn't fair, they're not believing that we didn't do it!" Bree fumed, tears gathering in her eyes.
The entire guiding unit, including Casey and Sabrina, and Lila were gathered outside the principal's office, all but the two girls unable to leave until their parents came. They were trying their best to comfort each other from the frightening experience of getting in trouble for such a crime, but Bree was taking it the worst.
"The entire unit has been framed except for us." Sabrina said to Casey.
"Actually, except for you." Casey corrected her. "I just managed to find the necklace that was planted in my locker before it was found."
"And you didn't think to warn us?" Lila accused, clearly agitated.
"I didn't have the time." Casey defended herself.
"Why would someone do this to us?" One of the girls, Macey, asked.
"Who would do this to us?" Bree added.
"Unfortunately, I have an idea." Casey said.
She looked pointedly at Sabrina.
"Sabrina?" The other girls questioned.
"Me?" Sabrina questioned. "But why would I…" She trailed off, realising Casey wasn't accusing her. "You…you think it was Chloe?" She asked.
Casey didn't say anything, she didn't need to.
"Of course." Lila said.
"But, why would she…?" Sabrina attempted to defend her former friend feebly.
"Why wouldn't she?" Lila responded. "She's a horrid person with no regard for others, and always makes things go her way because of her 'daddy'. And we gave her a 'reason' to."
"What reason? We didn't do anything." Bree repeated from earlier, tears spilling over.
"Hey, now, it's going to be okay." Another of the girls, Ali, comforted her.
"No, it's not." Bree cried. "We're going to get expelled because of this, and it's going to go on my school record for every employer to see."
"I caught Chloe looking at your group none to happily this morning, she clearly didn't like that you were friends." Lila told Sabrina. "And I may have rubbed it in her face as revenge for tearing up my picture, but it wasn't anything she didn't deserve. Face it, she's the reason we're all here."
"I…need to think about this." Sabrina said, walking off.
"Uh, should I go after her?" Casey questioned.
"I think she needs some time on her own." Ali told her.
"Meanwhile, we're still left with the problem of being expelled because of Bourgeois' pettiness." Lila griped.
Bree sobbed while the girls tried their best to comfort her, she was obviously not taking any of it well.
"Can we tell them that Chloe is behind this?" Macey asked.
"With what evidence?" Lila asked in return. "It's just our word against hers."
"And since she's the mayor's daughter, they're obviously going to believe her word over ours." Bree added bitterly.
Casey stood up straight, her eyes hard.
"Not if we take her father out of the equation." She said.
She then turned and left, leaving behind the confused and upset girls.
Hawkmoth grinned as he called forth a butterfly.
"I knew my patience would bare such evil fruits." He said, infusing the butterfly with corruption. "Fly, my Akuma, and take your pick."
The Akuma flew out of the window and into Paris, towards the familiar rout to the college.
Casey stalked through Paris, her hands clenched in anger.
"What are you doing?" Tikki asked, poking her head out of Casey's jacket.
"Making sure that that witch can't use her father to get her way." Casey said.
"You aren't going to hurt him, are you?" Tikki asked cautiously.
There were many chosen of all the Miraculous who become susceptible to evil through revenge, and Tikki feared for Casey becoming vulnerable if she did anything to the mayor.
"No." Casey answered to the Kwami's relief. "But my father does have something that will make him yield."
Tikki realised that Casey was traveling the path towards home, but then she spotted something else.
"Casey, look!" The Kwami pointed.
Casey looked up and gasped when she saw an Akuma flying overhead, heading back the way she had come from, towards the college, where her friends were.
"No!" Casey cried, turning around and running after the Akuma.
Casey ran as fast as she could, paying no mind to the stitch forming in her side, but the Akuma was faster and disappeared inside the college just as she reached the front steps. She charged up the steps and into the courtyard, and then up the stairs that led to the principal's office, and her heart dropped when she heard the cries as she approached.
"Bree, no!"
"Snap out of it!"
"Don't listen to him!"
Casey reached her friends and saw Bree sitting where she had been left, a glowing butterfly symbol in front of her face.
"Yes, Hawkmoth!" Bree said before Casey could do anything.
A black bubbling mass enveloped Bree, and when it disappeared, Hawkmoth's newest villain stood in her place. She wore what was similar to a traditional guiding uniform, including a sash full of badges and beret, but the uniform was darker in colour and unnaturally tight, Bree herself was also thinner, a black butterfly painted over her eyes and her hair pulled into platted pigtails, she also floated.
Casey began to back up, she need to find somewhere to transform.
"We have been wronged." Bree announced. "And now it is time to set the world right again. Because we are Girl Guides, and we will always lend a hand."
Coming out of Akumatised-Bree's mouth, Casey hadn't realised how threatening those words could sound.
"Time to join me and make your promises." Bree added, holding up metal badges that had butterflies in place of the usual Girl Guide clover.
None of the girls had time to escape as the badges were thrown and homed in on them. Not even Casey.
All she had enough time to register was the pain in her ears as she yanked out her earrings before the badge pinned itself to her shirt and enveloped her in purple light.
Author's note: I hope you liked this extra-long chapter in celebration of the extra-long hiatus of Miraculous Ladybug ending.
Please comment and tell me what you think of the chapter, the characters and what you think will happen.