Chapter 13: Guiltrip

Zoé was in class when she got a text from her half-sister.

"Science class gone. Teacher too. Only me Sabrina and Looney Lila here."

Zoé had heard from her sister about Lila before, a girl who had considerable influence in the class for a while. Things changed after Lila falsely accused Marinette of various things that got her expelled, and nearly got many people akumatized at once.

Lila later admitted that she had a disease which caused her to lie. Since then, she had been much more of a loner, because no-one could trust anything she said. People started checking her stories and realized most if not all of the celebrity friendships were false, and her promises couldn't be kept.

However, Lila still had a great deal of success, because Gabriel Agreste had made her a model and the face for his brand. She got to work with Adrien Agreste in many photo shoots and she had her own fan following outside of the class.

Zoé looked out the classroom window. A whole bunch of students with worried expressions was trooping down the stairs to the courtyard, all in her circle of friends: Adrien, Nino, Marinette, Alya, Kim, Max, Ivan, Mylène, Alix, and Nathaniel. Following them was Ms. Mendeleiev.

Zoé was curious and concerned for her friends, so she raised her hand and asked to be excused to use the bathroom.

There was a commotion in the girl's bathroom, and it seemed all the classmates had gone in there.

Zoé was starting to head that way herself when Ladybug came running around the corner of the lockers and nearly ran into her.

"Ladybug?" said Zoé in surprise.

"Zoé! You need to get out. There may be an akuma in the girl's bathroom, probably Reflekta."

There was a roaring sound and purple magic swirled around them. They felt suction starting up, dragging them towards the bathroom.

Ladybug grabbed Zoé and pulled her around the lockers.

"It seems like there's a sentimonster, too," said Ladybug. "You should be safe if you hide in a locker."

"I don't want to do that!" said Zoé in annoyance.

"You want to help?" asked Ladybug. "You could paralyze the sentimonster for us, make it stop pulling people in."

Ladybug reached into her yo-yo and pulled out a golden comb. "Zoé Lee, I give you the..."

"Forget it!" said Zoé. "The way you treated my sister with Heart Hunter..."

"Zoé, I don't have time for this," said Ladybug. "You don't want to help? Then stay out of the way. Come on, Chaton!"

Chat Noir was nearby. Zoé hadn't noticed him come in.

Ladybug put the comb in her own hair. "Tikki, Pollen, Unify!"

They ran off together. Zoé peeked around the lockers and Ladybug was using her yo-yo tied to Chat's baton, jammed in the door, as a safety line against the vortex. The line gave way and everything was pulled into the room.

Soon Zoé heard the roaring stop.

Zoé went into the girl's bathroom and found one stall open. On the door of it was a weird purple-pink object like painted manhole cover. It must have been the cause of the suction, but it was no longer doing anything. Maybe Lady Bee used Venom on it?

But where were they? Was it a portal to another dimension? Zoé touched the surface of the round thing. It didn't yield. If Lady Bee had used Venom from the inside they might be trapped in there for a while until the sting wore off.

In the trash can beside the toilet there was Juleka's cell phone. The screen was full of apologies and emojis from the class. It looked perfectly ordinary, not blackened by an akuma. But Zoé recognized that it belonged to Juleka, and Ladybug had mentioned Reflekta. If it was an amok object and she broke it, that should end its power and get everyone out. If it wasn't, she would owe Juleka a new phone.

It occurred to Zoé that it might not be escapable at all from the inside. With everyone inside and the amok object outside, all of her friends might be trapped indefinitely. That made the decision easy. She threw the cell phone to the ground, breaking the glass. She grabbed the feather it released and held onto it.

The round thing disappeared in a burst of purple magic. Outside the stall, she heard people struggling in a heap. She looked, and saw Juleka, Rose, Lady Bee, Chat Noir, and many copies of Reflekta.

Zoé showed the feather to Lady Bee. "You need to purify this."

"Thanks, Zoé," said Lady Bee. "We were having trouble in there."

Lady Bee took the purple feather and put it into her yo-yo, releasing it a moment later as a pure white one. "Bye, little feather."

Lady Bee gave Juleka a Magical Charm and then threw an ice axe into the air. "Miraculous Lady Bee!"

All the people who had been transformed into Reflektas reverted to their original appearance. Zoé saw Mylène, Ivan, Nino, Alya, Max, Nathaniel, Alix, and Kim.

Rose rushed over and hugged Juleka. She shook Lady Bee's hand and said, "Thank you for saving Juleka!"

Later, Zoé was visited by Ladybug on the balcony of her private room at the hotel.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you, Zoé. You were a big help today. I hate to lose a valuable ally because of a story that Chloé told against me. Her stories tend to make herself look good and put everybody else down."

"I know that, but it's a fact that you used Ryoko against Heart Hunter, rather than Queen Bee," said Zoé. "Even though Venom fits your strategy better against large creatures, like the banana ape."

"I'd already told Chloé that I couldn't use Queen Bee again, because her identity was publicly known."

"It always was, but you used her against her father as Malediktator. She might reasonably expect to be used again when it was her father and mother akumatized."

"But Hawk Moth had Mayura watching Chloé, ready to grab the Miraculous. We found that out when we fought Miraculor. We nearly lost the Bee."

"I see... and Ryuko's identity was secure?"

"Well... not exactly. Hawk Moth knew who she was, too."

"What? Hawk Moth knew who she was!?"

"She exposed her identity in her first fight."

"Like Queen Bee. Both were compromised, and Hawk Moth could have been watching both? You're not making a good case."

"Chloé was obnoxious when I saw her. She demanded that I bring her the Bee."

"So you denied her out of spite."

"I had another reason for choosing Ryuko."

"What was that?"

"I can't tell you. It's personal."

"So it comes down to personal preference. And because of you, Chloé got akumatized as Miracle Queen."

"How do you know that?"

"Chloé remembers everything."

"She does? Akuma victims don't remember."

"I don't know why, but she does."

"Maybe since her mind was willing there was less mental shock."

"Anyway, Hawk Moth was able to give her the Bee Miraculous you denied her. How did that happen?"

"I made a terrible mistake. I let myself get followed to the Guardian. Hawk Moth captured all the Miraculous he had."

"In a Miracle Box, Chloé said."

"I really wish people didn't talk about that."

"Because of your mistake, Hawk Moth was able to tempt Chloé with something she really wanted. He got the box. What happened to the Guardian? Was he killed?"

"You don't need to know that."

"You're not making yourself look good here. How much of the blame is really on Chloé?"

"You don't know the worst. She betrayed the team. As Miracle Queen she forced every single temporary holder to reveal their secret identity to Hawk Moth! Now we can't use any of them again."

"Akuma victims don't get blamed for what they do."

"You don't seem surprised at what she did."

"Chloé told me about it. Like I said, she remembers everything."

"Did she tell you that after we freed her from the akuma, Hawk Moth sent another one and she jumped to try to catch it as it came to her, before I caught it?"

"No... I didn't know that."

"We didn't tell anyone, to spare her going to prison as an accomplice of a terrorist."

"You have no proof. It's your word against hers."

"You decide who to believe. I know you're a good person, Zoé. Don't side with her against us. She's on Shadow Moth's side."

"I don't believe she's really on his side. She's on her own side. Please don't go after her. She has the potential to change for the better."

"I think that's a lost cause."

"You'll see... just give me time."

After Ladybug left, Zoé said to herself, "If you ruin Chloé, I can ruin you, Ladybug. I saw who should have come out of that portal in the bathroom today and didn't... Marinette and Adrien."