If you didn't see, I updated the extras for this story with a short story about Rachel in Paris!

Chapter 15: Apology

Marinette furiously paced around her room.

Tikki and Wayzz watched her nervously from the desk, as Trixx and Plagg curled up on her computer. Nino and Adrien also watched her go back and forth, and Alya just patiently waited her out.

Eventually, Marinette stopped in the middle of her room. "She caused another akuma!"

"We've established that," Alya replied. "What do you want to do about it?"

"I don't know," Marinette said. "I'm not going to - I don't want to overreact. But I can't not react."

"Chloe knows what she did was wrong," Adrien said. "This isn't like before. She has changed."

"I know," Marinette said. "But - why now? What made her snap now?"

"Jealousy," Adrien answered. "Mylene was spending more time with Zoe than Chloe, and Chloe got jealous."

"Don't tell me you've never gotten jealous before," Alya teased. "Remember Lila?"

"Humans get jealous too easily," Plagg complained. "As long as there is cheese, I'm happy."

"Do I need to remind you-" Wayzz started.

"No you do not," Plagg interrupted.

Marinette gave Adrien a questioning look, and he just shrugged.

"I know I've gotten jealous," Alya said. "When Lila was talking about being close to Ladybug, and I believed her for some reason-"

"Because you are a decent person who trusts people at their word," Trixx muttered.

"I got really jealous," Alya continued.

"Yeah but you never acted out," Marinette replied. "Not like I did with her."

"Yeah, but that's the reason I jumped to do the interview," Alya continued. "And you acted out because you knew for a fact she was lying, but you couldn't tell us, because identities."

"That must have been super frustrating," Nino added.

"Yes, but - she and you were so close, and I couldn't hang out with you as much as I wanted because of akumas - I got jealous, too."

"Aww, you had no reason to be jealous," Alya replied. "You're always going to be my best friend."

"Blegh," Plagg complained.

"Oh shush," Tikki said. "This is good."

"So I've done stupid things out of jealousy," Alya said. "You've done stupid things out of jealousy, we all know Adrien has done stupid things out of jealousy, Nino - Nino, have you ever done something stupid out of jealousy?"

"Not that I remember, no," Nino replied.

"Okay, well Nino is an outlier and shouldn't be counted," Alya continued. "And I'm sure if you asked the rest of the team, they'd give similar answers. Jealousy is a stupid emotion that makes us do stupid stuff."

"So we should just forgive Chloe?" Marinette asked.

"We don't forgive Chloe," Nino corrected. "That's up to Zoe."

"And Mylene," Adrien added. "What Chloe needs right now from us is reassurance than one bad slip up isn't going to cascade into her becoming who she used to be."

"But we need assurance from Chloe that she isn't going to become who she used to be," Marinette argued. "Ugh, this leadership thing is hard."

"What if we see how Chloe currently feels about what happened, and go from there?" Nino suggested. "If she feels bad, or if she doesn't think she did anything bad, or if she does feel bad but can't admit it."

"That's a good idea," Alya said. "The ball is in her court now."

"Okay, you're right," Marinette agreed. "I'll text the rest of the team, tell them to hold back any accusations. And let's see how school goes tomorrow."

Chloe and Mylene had both gone home after yesterday's akuma attack, so they saw each other again for the first time the following morning.

Mylene arrived to class before Chloe, but after everyone else. She and Ivan exchanged a few words before she put her head on the desk and acted asleep.

Chloe arrived a few minutes later, hesitating in the doorway. Eventually, she made it into the room.

"Look," she started. "I messed up. I - I didn't know how to handle my feelings of jealousy, and took that out on Zoe. I'm sorry, especially to you, Mylene."

Mylene lifted her head up. "Thank you, Chloe." And she promptly put her head back down.

"Tech week," Sadie said, nodding.

"I've managed to talk to my therapist," Chloe continued. "And I will apologize to Zoe later. This isn't - this isn't who I want to be anymore. I'm trying to be better. So, I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize to us," Marinette said. "Mylene's the one who you hurt, it's up to her."

Mylene gave a thumbs up.

"I think she needs a nap," Ivan stated.

Mylene said something that might have been a "yes".

"As I was telling Marinette," Alya continued. "Jealousy is a stupid emotion that makes us do stupid things."

Lacy nodded. "It's a hard emotion to handle."

"So, we're good?" Chloe asked.

Mylene gave her another thumbs up.

"Does someone need to get you coffee?" Alya asked.

"Yes," Mylene said.

"Alright," Mr Monlataing said, clapping his hands together. "That's our last rehearsal before we perform tomorrow. And can I just say I feel super prepared! Now, as a little reminder, call time is immediately after classes end - Zoe, Stephen, if you two can come a little earlier to prepare that would be nice. You can leave things here overnight or drop them off in the morning. Get good sleep tonight and see you tomorrow!"

"I'm so excited for tomorrow," Zoe said, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "My dad's coming to all three showings, believe it or not!"

"That's super cool!" Lacy replied. "I'm sure he'll love it."

"Of course he will, he also does," Zoe said.

"My dad will be here for the Saturday night showing," Mylene said. "He's even volunteered to help tear down after."

"Tear down is always fun," Sadie commented dryly.

"I thought you like destroying things?" Lacy asked.

"The only thing I like doing after a performance is going to Denny's and taking a nap," Sadie replied. "Anyways, I have stuff to do, so I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Bye!"

"We all should be heading out," Mylene said. "Mr Monlataing was right - we need sleep."

"But if I go home now I'll have to do homework," Lacy complained.

"I did have something I wanted to ask you two about," Zoe said.

"Go ahead," Lacy said. "Unless it's about the homework. I don't know anything."

"No, it's about Chloe," Zoe said. "She - she apologized to me about what happened, but - I don't know. Do you think she had a point?"

"By default, Chloe never has a point," Lacy said. "But in regards to what she actually said - no. Everyone fakes it a little, you know? It's not something to worry about."

"I just hope one day we make you comfortable enough to be your full self around us!" Mylene added.

Zoe smiled. "Thanks. See you tomorrow?"

"Yep!"

Kota landed on the roof of her school, taking a moment to pause.

She loved her morning patrols. While she noticed an increase in hunger since starting them, there was also an increase in energy. Part of that was the effects of the miraculous - since she started wearing her ring, the nightmares had gone down and her time asleep each night had gone up - but there was something refreshing and energizing about being up this early too.

But she was getting hungry, and with the bakery within her sights, Kota debated stopping in for treats.

That's when she noticed the light on in Marinette's room.

Kota frowned. Marinette usually wasn't up this early - unless she was still up.

She leaped over to the bakery, landing silently on the roof, and knocked on the trap door.

Tikki peaked her eyes through the door, before floating back down. A few seconds later, and Marinette opened the trap door.

"What's up?" Kota asked.

"You're up la - it's morning, isn't it?"

Kota nodded. "It's been morning. Have you slept at all?"

"No," Marinette complained. "I've been working on - well, actually, do you have any experience making potions?"

"Yeah, actually," Kota replied. "Want to show me what you're working on?"

Marinette nodded, and invited her in. Once inside, Kota detransformed.

"I'm helping Fu with this old recipe," Marinette explained. "It's something Alya found the other day - not necessarily miraculous-related, but Fu thinks we may be able to use it."

Lacy scanned over the text, noticing that the original was in Old Greek.

"Ooh, this is interesting," Lacy agreed. "It's a disguise spell, right? Manipulate the mist so that people can't recognize you?"

"Yeah, basically," Marinette agreed. "I was thinking it would be good if someone's ever forced to detransform mid-battle, or if we have to talk to someone else about the miraculous."

"Gives is that extra layer of protection," Lacy said. "Brilliant. Oh, and I recognize some of these ingredients - we use them sometimes at camp!"

"I didn't know you ever made potions," Orikko said.

"Oh, I, um, had a crush on a guy who worked in the infirmary?"

Marinette laughed. "Well, it seems like you learned from the experience."

"I did," Lacy said. "Let's see, this recipe doesn't use ambrosia or nectar, which is good, I've already used most of my stash. That - hair of empousa? - that I've never seen in a potion before, but there does seem to be a lot of empousa in Paris. The rest looks like standard potion stuff, I've kept some of it in my supplies and I know a few other people in the city who would have some - oh, except that, that I can get at the drugstore."

"I guess I'll leave this in your capable hands then," Marinette said.

"If Lacy has more experience making potions, maybe she should be in charge of the transformation potions too?" Orikko suggested.

"I could do that," Lacy agreed. "I mean, Fu already has all the ingredients, right?"

Marinette nodded. "I'll ask him about it. It would be nice to have someone else handling the potions."

"And that means you can sleep more!" Tikki added.

"Speaking of which, I should probably go to bed," Marinette said. "Fortunately, I have the day off."

"Don't say that," Lacy whined. "There'll be an-"

Marinette's phone buzzed.

"An akuma?" Marinette finished.

"Yeah," Lacy agreed. "Ugh, if it's another theater akuma, I'm going to scream."

"I never understood the point of hair dye," Kagami admitted, watching Sadie set up the supplies. "What's wrong with natural hair color?"

"It's not colorful enough," Sadie admitted. "So, are you in?"

Kagami nodded.

"Great!" Sadie said. "Everyone should be here soon."

Sadie's phone chimed, and she checked it to see a text from Lacy, announcing her presence.

"That's them," Sadie said, standing up. "Perfect timing. Can you get that food plate out of the fridge please?"

Kagami nodded.

Nearly everyone coming had showed up - Marinette and Alya were bringing food and would be there in a few minutes.

As the kwamis gathered around the food Sadie had bought for them, Sadie went over the basics of hair dying.

"So I got bright pink for Adrien, pink for Alix, a slightly less bright pink for Lacy and Marinette, red for Alya - don't worry, I got the brand you asked me too - pink for Juleka and purple for Rose. Blue for Kim, black for Nathaniel, green for Mylene, and red for Kagami and Ivan. Oh, and I still need to text you all what you owe me. Alright, who's first!"

"Adrien," Alix said. "This was your idea."

"Alright," Adrien agreed. "Let's do this."

If you're reading this as a completed work, this would be a good place to stop. Things start picking up in the next chapter.