Gabriel's Obsession

Chapter 2

HAWK MOTH

While Nathalie was busy with the details of her plan to akumatize Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Hawk Moth decided it was time to attack the heroes again. He stood in his lair watching more then a hundred butterflies fluttering around him, a sight that generally thrilled him. However, if he was being honest, he was in a foul mood. The Peacock Miraculous had finished healing, but Emilie was still in her coma. Healing it had not awakened her as he'd hoped, even though he knew the chances were slim. Healing it hadn't even done anything to help Nathalie's condition although the doctor's assumed him with rest she should recover from what ailed her. Hawk Moth knew he would need her as Catalyst again as part of her plan, and so he kept the Peacock Miraculous locked away in his secret safe where Nathalie would not be able to access it.

He closed his eyes and felt the emotions around Paris searching for as strong of a negative emotion as he could find. He could sense a slight darkness in the emotions of Marinette, but he ignored them. As much as he wanted to make her his, he knew she'd easily push those emotions away as soon as she spotted the akuma. Even if she didn't, he'd seen the Bourgeois girl reject akumatization, and feared that Marinette would be able to do the same if her negative feelings weren't strong enough. He assumed she had a greater willpower then the Bourgeois girl.

Speaking of the Bourgeois girl, she was also having a rather dark set of emotions as well. He knew from Adrien that she had not been to school since her stint as Miracle Queen and he was aware from his own Miraculous that she was stewing in those dark emotions. He did not want to use her, at least not yet. She was obsessed with having the Bee Miraculous for herself and currently he could not offer it to her, although he was fairly certain she'd be more then happy to become akumatized again, to fight Ladybug to get it back. Much like Nathalie, he wanted to keep her back for a more important roll in the future. The Bourgeois girl could be helpful with Nathalie's plan among other things.

The Rossi girl was another person whom he tended to check on when he was searching for a person to posses when no strong surge of negativity was present. Since he'd been "employing" her as Gabriel Agreste to keep other girls from Adrien, and allowing him to akumatize them, she'd been in higher spirits, and doubly so when he started using her as the female face for his Gabriel Brand of fashion. She'd done her job very well and was surprising talented as far as modeling went. Vincent had been very happy working with her. Hawk Moth had honestly been expecting her to be a beast to work with considering her general attitude, but she apparently took direction extremely well. It had been a pleasant surprise and even more pleasant was the ad campaign with her had taken off or as the kids put it, "Gone Viral". If she keeps it up, I may need to start calling her by her first name, he mused. Still, even if she wasn't in a bad mood, he knew she would allow herself to be akumatized if he sent a butterfly to her. Unfortunately, it could reflect badly on his brand if one of the faces for it was akumatized regularly, so that left her out. He'd still use her if he absolutely needed it.

He considered giving up, but he was itching for a fight thanks to his wife's condition not changing. He didn't even care if the akuma lost; he just wanted the fight. Finally he found it, the emotion of someone who'd just lost another match, a fencing match. He grinned a little. The anger was directed at the Tsurugi girl.

"This should be fun." Hawk Moth stated as a butterfly flew to his outstretched hand. He cupped his other hand over it. "Lets give this loser a chance to be a winner my little akuma, and best of all, if he takes care of the Tsurugi girl, I won't have to deal with that woman's insistence that we need a more familial connection. So go off my little akuma and evilize him!"

VENGEANCE BLADE

Nicholas Demure sat on the bench, his eyes narrowed at Kagami as she went against Adrien Agreste. In a fencing club where more then eighty percent of the students could qualify for an Olympic team, there was nearly no end to the line of strong opponents and Nicholas was use to that. He certainly wasn't among the best nor was he among the worst in class. He was in fact a better then the average member; so losing for him was not normally a big deal. The problem he had was the attitude of certain members of the club when they won. For example, when Adrien won, he would thank his opponents for the match and even show them how they could improve in their techniques. He was a great and helpful winner. Nicholas had in fact found himself greatly improved thanks to Adrien's after match advice.

Kagami on the other hand was a terrible winner. She had a tendency to "hmph" at her defeated opponents, as if they had been a waste of her time. She walked around as if she was better then everyone else, and not just at fencing. She had such a superior attitude about her that Nicholas wasn't surprised when he heard that Kagami didn't have any friends. Perhaps she would have more if she acted a little more like a human being and less like a stuck up bitch. Oh how he wished he could beat her just once. That would really put her in her place. Of course she was also known to be a sore winner too, but he'd take that chance. Ladybug and Cat Noir had stopped her twice after she'd been akumatized, they could stop her a third time if it came to that.

Nichols stood up and started to walk to the rest room to get away from everyone. As he went to open the door, he saw a glowing purple butterfly head towards him. Wait, is that an akuma? Is Hawk Moth about to akumatize me? He thought to himself, however he spoke something else.

"Help!" He called getting everyone's attention just as it landed on his foil. He didn't want to be akumatized himself, but once it landed and the strange glow went around his face, suddenly he was fine with the idea. In fact, it was the most wonderful idea ever.

"Nicholas, you need to fight it." He heard Adrien call to him.

"Vengeance Blade, I am Hawk Moth. You're so very tired of having someone act all high and mighty simply because they are a little better at fencing then you are. I will give you the power to counter every one of her attacks so that you can defeat her. All I ask in return is the Miraculouses of Ladybug and Cat Noir.

"Yes Hawk Moth, it will be my pleasure." Nicholas stated as a purple, ooze-like cloud formed around him, transforming him. Once it cleared up, He stood there, his fencing uniform changed into a dark green armor with spike along the edges. His skin took on a burgundy hue, with his eyes a reptilian yellow including elongated pupils. He slipped the matching helm over his head and turned to Kagami, his once foil, now a bladed rapier. "It's time we had a rematch." He stated at he pointed his rapier at her.

"Kagami, I think you should get out of here." Adrien stated concerned. Kagami turned to face Vengeance Blade and held her foil up.

"Adrien, a Tsurugi does not back down from a challenge." She stated and rushed Vengeance Blade.

"It's not about a challenge it's about not escalating. . ." Adrien stopped talking as Kagami and Vengeance Blade clashed together.

KAGAMI

"Adrien, a Tsurugi does not back down from a challenge." She heard a little of what Adrien said behind her but ignored it. This akuma challenged her to a duel and she was going to accept it. She was the best, even better then Adrien although Adrien did give her a challenge. He was also the only person she ever lost too, and that DID NOT include the time Marinette screwed up the call. She'd obviously won that time too. That being said, Kagami had no doubt in her mind that she could beat this akuma. Had she not been chosen by Ladybug to wield the Dragon Miraculous twice? She was strong, she was fast, she was fierce, and she was not getting past Vengeance Blade's defenses. NANI? She thought distressed enough that her mind went to her native tongue. How is he blocking my every attack?

"Well this looks like almost as much fun as playing with a big ball of yarn." Came the voice of Cat Noir as he landed on the upper railing of the open yard of the school where they practicing. "I hope you don't mind if I join in?" He asked.

"Stay out of this!" Vengeance Blade and Kagami both yelled at him. The pair actually stopped a moment and stared at each other before resuming their match, no, battle would be a better term for it. It was definitely more of a battle. Until she either won or lost Kagami did not want any interference; not from Cat Noir, not from Ladybug and not even from Adrien. At least the later had the sense to stay out of her way. She charged again for another attack. Once more she was blocked.

"I'll teach you what it really means to lose." Vengeance Blade taunted. Kagami rolled her eyes and looked for an opening as their blades continued to come together. She might not have been making any progress with Vengeance Blade's defense, but he wasn't getting past her either. They seemed to be evenly matched.

"Cat Noir, what are you doing?" Kagami heard the voice of Ladybug ask. She didn't risk a glance in that direction. She did not want to give her opponent any kind of opening.

LADYBUG

Marinette had not planned on watching the fencing team, not since she'd given up on Adrien, even though she was still considering joining if she qualified the next opening. No, she was just going to go home and sulk in her room with Tikki and eat a ridiculous amount of caramel corn. Ice cream would have been her first choice, but it was ice cream that had been the final nail in the coffin of her fantasy relationship with Adrien, and she wasn't in the mood for it. It had taken a lot out of her to get one when she was spending time with Luka and the others. If he hadn't wanted one, she wouldn't have gotten it. With her luck being what it had been recently, she'd ended up staying at school late because of her class president duties. It was when she was on her way out Marinette heard the commotion and saw Kagami fighting with an akuma. She rushed to transform into Ladybug to put an end to the villain.

"Cat Noir, what are you doing?" She asked stunned to see him just watching the match.

"She asked that I not interfere with her challenge." He stated with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Yes Ladybug, if you have any respect for me you will allow me to continue this match." Kagami stated without slowing. "Once I defeat him, you can undo his akumatization."

"That's not how this works." Ladybug remarked. What is wrong with her? She wondered. In truth she really wanted to trounce the akuma. She'd been waiting for a fight for a while now. She knew violence wasn't a solution to her problem, her parents had taught her that, but still, she felt like she needed to little violent release. Maybe I should go to one of those places that lets you break stuff? Cat Noir leaned over to her to whisper.

"So far, he's fighting her based on the actual rules of tournament fencing. I think if she wins, he'll likely just give up and we won't have a problem releasing the akuma." Ladybug nodded. His idea was actually reasonable, even if she really want to beat on the akuma. "Plus we get to see how he fights, so if she loses, we'll be able to better counter him." Actually she was a little concerned that his idea had so much merit. She felt that it was a bad omen.

"They are really evenly matched, is that Adrien Agreste fighting her?" Ladybug asked suddenly. Based on the fighting it would make sense, but Adrien was better then Kagami so he wouldn't need to be akumatized to win.

"Naw, it's some other student. I saw Adrien when he was looking for, well us to take care of the akuma." Cat Noir explained. Ladybug was glad Adrien wasn't the akuma but she did wonder how Kagami would have reacted if he had been. Would she have been able to fight him now that they were a couple? Ladybug glanced around and noticed that Mr. D'Argencourt and most of the club were watching the match intently. I wonder who they are hoping wins? I'm sure more then a few of them would like to see Kagami lose. I've watched her enough to know she comes off as a bitch when she wins. I wish she would change that attitude. It's probably part of the reason she has trouble making friends. Immediately after thinking it, Ladybug felt guilty. She was one of Kagami's only friends and she'd been recently avoiding the girl herself. I bet Kagami's been lonely lately.

It appeared as if Kagami was starting to have a harder time parrying the attacks from Vengeance Blade. The akuma likely gave him more stamina then Kagami had and she seemed to be tiring. Finally Vengeance Blade made it through her defense and his rapier went all the way through her shoulder. As he pulled up and back, blood sprayed from both ends of the wound. Kagami made the cutest little anime like squeal of pain, a sound Ladybug would never have thought possible from Kagami's mouth.

"Point mine." Vengeance Blade exclaimed and stepped back. Kagami's foil was loose in her hand as her other one clapped itself over the wound in the front, not that it did anything to help the spurting blood from the back. Ladybug wondered if there was an artery up there that he'd hit with all the blood that seemed to be hemorrhaging from the wounds.

"Cat Noir!" She yelled and the pair jumped from their perches just as Vengeance Blade started in for another attack. "Someone call an ambulance!" She added even as Mr. D'Argencourt rushed to Kagami's side. He'd taken off his fencing jacket and wrapped it around her shoulder. Cat Noir landed in front of Vengeance Blade and used his staff to deflect the next thrust. Ladybug landed behind the akuma and saw the instructor lay Kagami down on the floor, while he kept pressure on her wound. It looked as if someone was on the phone hopefully calling emergency, however she noted one of the girls in the club appeared to just be recording the entire incident.

As Cat Noir went in for an attack of his own, Ladybug swung her yoyo at Vengeance Blade. He managed to parry Cat Noir's thrust spin and slap her yoyo away with the flat of his blade. He turned back towards Cat Noir. Ladybug looked at the pool of blood around Kagami. It suddenly hit her that if they didn't defeat this akuma quickly Kagami could die.

"Lucky Charm!" She called and tossed her yoyo up in the air. When it came down, she found a yellow card and a red card. Her focus landed on the red card, then Cat Noir's hand and finally the rapier. She raised the card up so Cat Noir could see it and wit her other hand made a fist and opened it, mimicking the way he did for his cataclysm. "Ref calls a series foul!" She yelled causing Vengeance Blade to jump slightly. Cat Noir stepped back and towards the side as his opponent turned to look at Ladybug.

"What?" He growled.

"I'm giving you a red card and disqualifying you from the match. You committed a grave foul by not only causing serious injury to your opponent, but then continuing on without the signal from the ref or regard for her safety." Behind him She watched Cat Noir's mouth move as he whispered the word to activate his cataclysm.

"But, but." He stammered and was distracted enough that he didn't see Cat Noir walk over to him on the side where his rapier was.

"Sorry man, but it was a good match at least up until that point." And then Cat Noir placed his glowing hand on the blade. It disintegrated along with the Akuma form of Nicholas. As the butterfly flew out, Ladybug caught it with her yoyo.

"No more evil doing for you little Akuma." She stated as she pulled it back and opened the yoyo. The pure white butterfly flew away. Rather then give her usually statement of goodbye though she tossed the cards up into the air. Just as Paramedics entered and rushed towards Kagami's prone form, she yelled. "Miraculous Ladybug!" The cloud of ladybugs flew over Kagami and the blood under her disappeared. The gril groaned. The hole in her fencing uniform seemed to have been fixed and her wound healed, although she looked more pale then her usual paleness.

"We never should have let that go on." Ladybug stated.

"It's okay Ladybug, she's fine." Cat Noir replied.

"It's not fine." Her voice was full of anger, and she was just managing to keep it under a volume that would be considered yelling. "What if we hadn't defeated him in time? What if my Ladybugs couldn't heal her? She could have lost use of her arm!" That time Ladybug did yell.

"It is not your fault Ladybug. I let my pride get in the way of my common sense." Kagami stated a little weakly. "It was my own fault I was injured." Ladybug turned to her words lost on her lips. Kagami looked like she was still weak, and only being held up thanks to the paramedics.

"Kagami." She started but the girl raised her hand.

"It. Is. Not. Your. Fault." Kagami stated again and even stomped her foot down to punctuate her statement even as her head began to loll as if she were about to pass out.

"We need to take her to the hospital to get her checked out." One of the paramedics stated concerned." Ladybug nodded and watched as they put Kagami into the ambulance. She then swung her yoyo to slingshot herself out of the open yard of the school without another word. She was halfway home before the beeping of her miraculous forced her to transform back, and she did so in a narrow passage between a couple of buildings. She'd left her backpack at school but didn't care, instead with her back to the wall of the building she slid down until her knees were up by her chest and started crying.

TIKKI

"Marinette?" Tikki asked cautiously. "What's wrong?" The little kwami was concerned about her owner. She'd never seen Marinette break down like this.

"Kagami, Kagami could still die." She blubbered. "I thought the ladybugs fixed everything, but she still looked like she might not make it." Tikki thought it was a little bit of an exaggeration on Marinette's part. Kagami had been able to speak and move on her own, but she actually did look aweful and ready to pass out.

"The ladybugs can fix many things, even most wounds, but not everything living can be fixed perfectly." Tikki explained. She'd never really gone over any of it with Marinette before. She preferred when her owners tried to stop evil acts before it escalated to injuries. A previous owner of the Ladybug Miraculous didn't worry about people getting injured since her power was able to mostly fix them. Obviously Marinette would not be like that, but Tiki still hadn't explained that part. "They may have cleaned up the blood, but they must not have been able to put it back in Kagami."

"When we, when we, "Her voice hitched, "in the future after Cat Blanc and destroyed everything, would they have brought the people who'd been killed back to life?" Tikki chewed on her lip a little, a rare thing for the kwami to do, but she was nervous about answering Marinette.

"No. The Ladybug Miraculous is about creation, not life. Anyone who lost their life would not regain it." She explained.

"That's what I thought." Marinette stood up. "I'll have to make sure no one gets hurt again ever again." Her voice was strong, but in a way that worried Tikki.

"Um, Marinette, people will get hurt, it happens. You just need to do you best."

"My best wasn't good enough. I allowed that match to go on and Kagami was hurt because of it. I couldn't fully fix what happened to her. That's my fault. I can't just do my best anymore, I have to do better then my best."

"It wasn't your fault she couldn't be fixed Marinette. It's just a limitation to the power." Unfortunately Marinette had stopped listening.

ADRIEN

He had been torn between wanting to chase after Ladybug as Cat Noir or going with Kagami in the ambulance. In the end, Adrien decided to go with Kagami, since it appeared the ladybugs had fixed the wound itself but Kagami still didn't look like she'd fully recovered. He wanted to be able explain what had happened since there was no trace of the wound on her. They'd never had to deal with a life threatening injury before so neither he nor Ladybug had known what would happen. Not only that, but her reaction to the whole thing had been rather extreme. Adrien had seen how upset Ladybug was over everything that had happened recently, but he'd thought for sure if it got too bad, she'd confide in him. Apparently he'd thought wrong.

He watched as the paramedics gave her some fluids to help with her blood pressure as it had dropped. He described the wound that had transpired to the best of his ability on route to the hospital. There he had to stay in the waiting area while they looked her over, presumably with the information he'd given the paramedics. He was finally called back to discuss it in person with the doctor, who concluded that she was suffering from acute blood loss. Kagami was given a transfusion. Since she had no wounds to be treated, they planned to watch her for a couple of hours and then release her.

Tomoe Tsurugi did make an appearance at the hospital before Kagami's release. Adrien left her to speak with her daughter, but stayed within earshot where he could also watch.

"How could you allow yourself to be injured in a duel?" Her mother asked. Kagami looked up at her mother.

"I am sorry mother. The duel had gone on for longer then expected. I tired during it and he slipped through my defenses." Kagami apologized her voice sounded weak to Adrien'd ears.

"Do not be sorry, be better." Her mother chided. "I did not raise you to lose. You should have won no matter how tired you were."

"Yes mother." Adrien knew his relationship with his father had been a strict one compared to most of his friends, but Kagami may have been the only one to have it worse then him. At least his father hugged him when Style Queen had nearly killed him. Tomoe didn't seem to be in the mood to even comfort her daughter.

"It's not her fault, the akuma's power was perfect defense. There was no way she could have broken it. The only reason Ladybug and Cat Noir beat him, was Ladybug stopped the match with a red card, and Cat Noir casually touched the blade with his cataclysm." Adrien interrupted as he reentered the area. Tomoe turned towards him giving him an uneasy feeling that she was looking at him even though she was blind.

"You do not start a fight you can't win." She stated coldly. Kagami sat up and in a voice filled with barely contained anger asked her mother a simple question.

"And what about Tsurugi's never back down from a challenge." Adrien watched the expression on Tomoe flicker to a moment of surprise at what Adrien suspected she considered her daughter's defiance. She didn't say anything. She only turned and left.

"Thank you Adrien." Kagami said softly before collapsing back onto the bed, but she had a rare full smile on her lips.

CHLOE

Chloe Bourgeois stood in front of Le Grande Paris with her father, the Mayor, standing just behind and off to one side. Surprisingly, her mother, Audrey, also know as the Style Queen, and not just as her akumatized form, was positioned the same as her husband but on the opposite side. Before her was a podium with a number of microphones from various news agencies.

"Good Morning, as you all know, I am Chloe Bourgeois. My mother is the queen of the fashion industry, Audrey Bourgeois and my father the Mayor of our lovely city, Andre Bourgeois. But you also know me by another name, the superhero Queen Bee. Many of you saw how I have helped to fight against the evil Hawk Moth alongside of Ladybug and Cat Noir. I have also unfortunately been akumatized a number of times as well, the most recent while I teamed up with Ladybug, Cat Noir and Ryuko against the Heart Hunter.

"However, I was so angry at Hawk Moth for what he'd done to my parents, that I was unable to avoid being possessed by an akuma myself and ended up fighting against my teammates once more as Queen Wasp. This last possession by the akuma has left me with what is being referred to as Post Traumatic Akumatization Syndrome or PTAS. It has forced me to miss a number of days of school although I am hopeful to be able to return after the grand vacation. PTAS has obviously had a very negative effect on my life.

"I know others have been through the same thing, so my parents and I have decided to open up a support group for those who have been similarly affected. Along with that, after a talk with Ladybug, I have decided the best course of action is to recuse myself from my duties as Queen Bee until I have come to terms with my PTAS. More importantly however, is learning to control my anger so I will never again be forced to fight against the citizens and heroes of the city I love.

"I know many have considered me to be an attention seeker, and I cannot argue against that. I became a super hero for very selfish reasons, but my time as Queen Bee has shown me what being a hero really means. I hope to once more become a hero that Paris can be proud of and I want you to know that I have not made this decision lightly, but that I make this decision for the love I have for my fellow Parisians." Chloe wiped a few tears from her eyes.

"I love you all." She finished her speech, her shoulders hitching slightly as if she was holding back even more tears. Her parents both came forward and wrapped their arms around their daughter and hugged her. The trio then walked into the hotel out of the camera's range.

"There you go Clarisse, it looks like you got the attention you wanted and even I am trending now as well." Audrey stated as she walked away like she had not a care in the world while studying her phone.

"I'm very proud of you my sweet Chloe. You have shown a level of responsibility that I didn't know you had." Andre remarked.

"Thank you daddy." She got up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek before heading to her room. Once there she went to her private safe and opened it, pulling out a generic looking flip phone. She typed in the words. – I did it – before hitting the send button. A reply came a few moments later.

– I saw. Very good Chloe Bourgeois. Soon you will become Paris's sweetheart daughter and be loved by all. –

– I better be and you better be able to give me what I want afterwards – She replied.

– Don't worry, you will get everything you deserve. – The reply came. Chloe frowned. She didn't like the way that sounded, but then he always sounded ominous didn't he.

ALYA

"Why that conniving, manipulative, evil bitch!" Alya exclaimed. She had just stood up from her seat at the table in Max Kante's apartment. Since Claudie Kante, his mother, was in America going through her astronaut training, his home had been the perfect place for a very special small group of people to meet. Sitting around the table were Max of course, Nino Lahiffe, Le Chien Kim or just Kim and Luka Couffaine. After the incident with the Miracle Queen, they had all been together when the timers on their miraculouses ran out. Because Ladybug and Cat Noir had been in a hurry to get up to the roof where Hawk Moth had been, they hadn't taken the miraculouses away from any of them or scattered them, leaving the group together to witness their detransformations.

Luka, Nino and Kagami had not detransformed with the others since none of them had a miraculous on them at the time, but it didn't take a genus like Max to realize why they were altogether at that point anyway. Kagami had also been invited to join them, but she'd turned down the invitation on multiple occasions.

"Whoa Alya that seems a little harsh doesn't you think?" Kim remarked. Max had turned on the small TV in the kitchen when an alert about the press conference had appeared on his phone. They were all wondering what Chloe had to say. "In fact, shouldn't she be here in this group too?"

"No she shouldn't. She's the reason we had to give up our miraculouses." Alya countered.

"Was she the one who had that signal up on the roof like she was trying to be Batman?" Luka asked as he strummed his guitar. He'd been adding a little musical background to every part of the conversation thus far, always getting just the right sound for the intensity of the voices.

"Can you blame her, Batman is awesome." Kim said.

"I can concur with that observation." Max added. "If you give me three minutes I can even scientifically prove not only that Batman is awesome but just how awesome he is."

"I don't need you to tell me Batman is awesome!" Alya shouted annoyed.

"I would also hypothesize that you do that want to know that it appears Chloe is trending on all social media platforms." Max added.

"Of course she's trending, she's a beautiful blonde white girl going on TV about how she was forced to be a villain again, and trying to make up for it.

"That sounded a little racist my dudette." Nino commented. If looks could kill, Nino would have at the very least have been in a great deal of pain.

"I bet she would have loved to hear you admit she was beautiful." Kim added. Alya took a deep breath trying to calm herself down.

"We have all be akumatized, some of us multiple times. We all understand what it is like to be forced to work for Hawk Moth." Max stated.

"CHLOE WASN'T FORCED!" She screamed at them before surprise overcame her features and she slapped her hands over her mouth. The rest of them all stared at her.

"Oh, dude, what do you mean she wasn't forced?" Nino asked more seriously then she'd ever really heard him. Alya closed her eyes.

"I wasn't suppose to tell anyone about this, Ladybug swore me to secrecy. She didn't want this to get out. I guess she's still hoping Chloe can change."

"Well, it's too late not to tell use." Luka stated as he played the theme from "Sherlock". "You've already given us a bit of a mystery."

"When she came to retrieve my miraculous after dealing with whatever had happened on that rooftop, and warned me that Hawk Moth knew who I was, I stopped her from leaving and asked her some more questions. She told me Hawk Moth had gotten his hand on the miraculouses, somehow having found the person who guarded them. Hawk Moth not Ladybug gave the Bee Miraculous to Chloe. She believes that Chloe volunteered to be akumatized after that." Everyone in the room went silent, even Luka's perpetually strumming fingers had stopped. Alya felt a little bad about spilling most of what Ladybug had confided in her to the group, since it was things she planned on keeping to herself, including knowing that Ladybug blamed herself for Chloe joining with Hawk Moth. Because Ladybug seemed so upset over what had occurred, Alya hadn't mentioned that the miraculous users had all seen each other change back. Ladybug thought they'd all separated after they'd been released from Miracle Queen's control.

"That explains why our Miraculouses showed up when we fought Party Crasher." Luka commented and watched as Nino motioned for him to stop talking. Before Alya could ask him about Party Crasher, he quickly asked. "Does that mean Chloe knows who we all are too?" Alya just shrugged finally managing to calm down.

"I guess that means we shouldn't invite her then." Kim stated and the others nodded. No one else spoke for a while after that. Whether it was because they were all still processing what she'd told them, or she'd just plain killed the mood of the group, she wasn't sure, but Alya figured it was time to call it a day. Kim stopped to speak to Max and Alya wondered what about, so she listened in as she stood by the door.

"Hey, can I see your science on the whole Batman being awesome thing?"

"Of course, I'll even show you my methods." Max replied. Alya smiled faintly at that. It was so like Max and Kim.

GABRIEL

Gabriel Agreste turned off his monitor after the news conference the Bourgeois girl held. He heard a slight vibration from his locked desk drawer. When he opened it, he pulled out a flip phone and saw the message – I did it. – He smiled. Nathalie had her plan and as much as he hated the idea of it, he was certain it would work. It would be playing a long game, but he'd done that before. However he did have his own long game plan in the works as well.

– I saw. Very good Chloe Bourgeois. Soon you will become Paris's sweetheart daughter and be loved by all. – He typed back.

– I better be and you better be able to give me what I want afterwards – He saw her reply and laughed.

– Don't worry, you will get everything you deserve. – He responded with a malicious grin on his face.

"I'll make sure you do." He laughed. He'd gotten the two burner phones specifically for dealing with her. He'd had hers delivered with a little note that had nothing but the picture of a butterfly on it. Almost as soon as she'd gotten it, she'd sent a message. She'd understood exactly whom the phone was from. He started to coach the Bourgeois girl to make her the sweetheart of Paris so that if Natalie's plan failed, he could use Chloe to upset the entire city.

Gabriel froze. He sensed a strong negative emotion. He focused on it and felt the familiarity of the source. It was his Lady Wifi, or more importantly, Rena Rouge. He smiled and rushed to lift that would take him to his lair, but before he could transform, the feeling subsided.

"Damn it!" He exclaimed. With all his planning, he hadn't anticipated anyone being angry about Bourgeois girl's announcement. Even knowing that Ladybug would stop, or try to stop, using her miraculous team because he knew who they were, it hadn't even occurred to him that one of them would be angry about it, or that they would blame the Bourgeois girl. He mentally kicked himself for having missed such a wonderful opportunity.

MARINETTE

It had been a couple of days since Kagami had been released from the hospital. She'd only been kept a few hours until the physicians were certain she did not need any additional medical attention. Marinette had heard about it from Alya, who'd heard about it from Nino, who heard about it from Adrien. Since she hadn't been present, as herself, at the time, she'd had no way to ask about Kagami to either Adrien or Kagami herself. It had been frustrating to say the least. Marinette was extremely glad that Kagami suffered no permanent effects from the injury. If it ever occurred to her that she could have used the story on Alya's Ladyblog as an excuse to ask, she would have kicked herself in the ass though.

"Marinette, you have some visitors." She heard her poppa call out to her.

"I wonder who it is?" She sighed. "Tikki, you don't think Adrien and Kagami would stop by do you?"

"Just because you've been avoiding them?" The kwami remarked with just a hint of sarcasm. Marinette closed her eyes and took a deep breath. That is exactly what she'd thought. As it turned out, it was not Kagami, Adrien or any of her friends for that matter. It was Nathalie Sancoeur along with a man and woman she didn't know.

"Good evening Marinette." Nathalie stated. Marinette looked her over. Apparently her confusion must have been apparent because Nathalie asked. "Is everything all right?"

"Oh yes, sorry, I was just surprised to see you without a tablet in your hands." Marinette explained. She watched as Nathalie's lips threatened to curl into a smile. The woman tapped down the smile pretty quickly though, putting on a more serious expression

"Although I am here in an official capacity for the Gabriel Brand, I am not here for Mr. Agreste. You see Marinette, you have been selected as a candidate for a reality TV program that Mr. Agreste has agreed to do." Nathalie began to explain. The man and woman who accompanied her took Marinette's parents aside to speak with them separately from Marinette, pulling out papers from the attaché cases they carried. Marinette watched them walk off.

"Gabriel Agreste is doing a reality show? He hates being in the spotlight. Isn't that why he always has you carrying around that tablet?" Marinette also remembered the incident with a certain akumatized hypnotist that almost ended with Gabriel Agreste's death from jumping off a building.

"That is true, he does hate being in the public, and we are still working out all of the details, but Mr. Agreste is unlikely to actually be in person during filming, instead he will be on a screen when he talks to the contestants, and on the tablet when inspecting things up close." Marinette thought about that for a few moments.

"Does this have to do with fashion?" She felt stupid asking the question since what else would Gabriel Agreste do for a reality show.

"Yes. I have selected a number of candidates for the show after looking at their designs online. They all have websites similar to yours in fact. When your website came up in my search I knew you should bepart of this, since you won the bowler hat contest."

"Oh." She replied her mind racing at the possibilities, especially the potential for the losers to be akumatized.

"Mr. Agreste is looking to take on an intern this fall. This contest will be his way of picking said intern."

"So If I win, I'll be an intern with Gabriel Brand?" She asked hardly containing her excitement. Gabriel Agreste was still her favorite fashion designer, aside from herself of course. Maybe even including herself if she were being truly honest about it.

"Not just an intern, but Mr. Agreste's direct intern. He wishes to be a mentor to the next generation's, well him." Nathalie explained. "So you wont have to worry about running around and getting coffee for anyone on staff, well except maybe Mr. Agreste." Nathalie joked in such a flat, serious manner.

"Okay, but I not only go to school with Adrien, but I'm friends with him too. Isn't that going to be a conflict of interest? Isn't it possible he'll go easy on me because of that?" She asked and to her shock, Nathalie let out such a strong belly laugh. Marinette started to freak out watching as Nathalie nearly collapsed to the ground from laughing so hard. After nearly three minutes with her hands on her knees, holding herself up Nathalie finally regained control of herself. Marinette rarely ever saw Nathalie smile, especially with their limited interaction let alone laugh and to see her laugh like this, she felt like she just witnessed a real live unicorn jumping over a two story sized chocolate cake farting a rainbow that hamsters were running on.

"Oh my dear Marinette," Nathalie's voice was broken by her gasping for breath after laughing. "You'll be lucky if Mr. Agreste even remembers you from the contest and show your hat was in. I had to remind him of your name no less then four times that day."

Marinette felt disappointed to hear that, especially with how he'd talked her up to Audrey Bourgeois at the time.

"Where will this take place?" She hadn't gone with Audrey since it would have meant leaving Paris, so location was of grave concern to her. She was Ladybug and Ladybug was needed in Paris.

"Here in Paris. We are currently retrofitting the inside of an unused Warehouse for the studio and housing of the contestants. And before you ask, it will take place over the Grand Vacation, as the other contestants are all university students and Mr. Agreste does not want this contest to negatively affect anyone's education." Nathalie continued to explain in as much detail as she was allowed the competition while Marinette listened.

"How much time do I have to think about it?" Marinette asked.

"We can give you one week. After that, we will start speaking with our backup contestant list. If you do accept you will still have three weeks to get your affairs in order so that you can spend your vacation with us."

"I'm a little shy. Will there be camera's everywhere?" She asked.

"Mostly. Of course we will not have any in the toilet and shower areas, and there will be a couple of places where the contestants will be able to be camera free for a while, otherwise there will be camera's in the sleeping areas, work areas, and elsewhere. Also in case you were wondering, there will be money supplied to you for every week you remain on the show and it will go up per week. If we do not have the materials on hand that you wish to use, we will help you acquire them. Mr. Agreste does not want anyone's creativity stifled by lack of materials, only by lack of time and lack of imagination. He is looking for the best of the best after all. Someone truly worthy of his talents."

"I'll need time to think about it and discuss with my parents." Marinette replied at last.

"I assumed you would. The two representatives from the studio have given them a similar pitch as I gave to you so they'll be well informed on the same aspects as you have been. I do hope you will join us." Nathalie finished just as Marinette's parents and the studio reps came back into the room. She noticed both her parents seemed excited, very excited. However, the ones she really needed to discuss it with were Tikki and Wayzz.

TO BE CONTINUED

NOTES

So when I was thinking about this story and how to proceed, the idea of the reality program came to my mind, and I was like, that would be perfect and should be easy.

Dear God was I wrong about that. Just trying to put together the logistics of this contest have been a nightmare. Everything I think of leads to problems and conflicts in writing. Trying to figure out how much time they have for projects, where they work on them, how many projects per episode, how they can be insulated from elimination and so forth. AHHHHHHHHHHHH! I don't know if the next chapter will have the actual start of the competition or if it'll be the one after it, but I feel like I'm in crunch time here for it and I hope it turns out well.

BTW, I saw the images of the Playmates Miraculous toys and I'm excited. Hopefully they will have wide release unlike the Bandai ones did.

PEACE AND LOVE!

And remember Reviews are fuel for the soul and my soul needs as much fuel as it can get. Let me know what you think of the story thus far while I continue to panic on how to set up the logistics of the contest.