The Cult of Dark Wings

Miraculous Ladybug Alternate Universe

New Bonds

[Nathaniel]

This was an odd sight to see. Nathaniel had walked into class today to see Chloe by herself. Where was Sabrina? In his seat, next to Lila. This was definitely odd. Nathaniel heard about Chloe and Sabrina's friendship taking one heck of a nose dive, but didn't think it was that serious. After all, a similar incident happened last year and things between them were patched very quickly. This time, however, things seemed to be serious.

With his seat now taken, Nathaniel had two new optional seating choices. Ivan was a big guy, so he took a good amount of space. And like Nathaniel, wasn't much of a social person but even less so. So, that left Chloe. Nathaniel sighed and took his new seat next to her, much to the blonde's surprise. "Nathaniel? What are you doing?" She asked.

"Taking my seat before the lesson starts?" Nathaniel replied. "I saw this one was open after my original seat became occupied. Is that alright?"

Chloe's shoulders slumped. "No, you're fine." She said, in a depressed tone.

An awkward silence fell between the two as the bell rang. They didn't speak to each other after the lesson began.

[Alix]

Alix watched the awkward moments play before her. Nathaniel and Chloe sitting next to each other? It was almost laughable. Chloe Bourgeois would never let someone like Nathaniel Kurtzberg be seated so close to her. But, that was the old Chloe. Alix has seen first hand how much Chloe has grown as a person. Not to mention, Nathaniel has been a bit more… comfortable around the Mayor's daughter as of late.

It was the day after Marinette's dad was Akumatized. Nathaniel was telling her about how he was saved by the new Queen Bee. It wasn't until he told her that this Queen Bee kissed him that Alix started to laugh. "It's not that funny, Alix." Nathaniel huffed, his cheeks dusted with blush.

The fact he was blushing made it even worse. "You kidding? It's hilarious! You, Nathaniel Kurtzberg, got hit on by Queen Bee. What, did she call you her 'honeypot' too?"

Nathaniel chuckled at that one. "No, but she did say I had a cute nose."

"Pfft, that's not surprising. Any girl would think you got a cute nose." Alix stated.

Nathaniel gave Alix a sly smile. "What are you trying to say, Alix?"

Alix smiled back and chuckled. "We're friends, Nate, of course I'm going to compliment you."

The two then stopped at the sounds of a struggling Chloe trying to carry five textbooks, two binders, and a pencil bag. Sabrina, still Chloe's friend at this time, was right beside her, looking concerned. "A-are you sure you don't want me to carry those for you, Chloe?" Sabrina asked. "Those don't look stable. You might drop them."

Chloe forced a smile. "Nonsense, Sabrina. I have to learn to carry my own things. Besides, I did far worse when I was Queen Bee."

"I-if you say so, Chloe." Sabrina replied.

"Careful Bourgeois, you might break a nail." Alix teased.

Chloe scoffed. "For your information, my nails are currently trimmed."

Alix snickered. "Cause you broke one?"

"N-none of your business." Chloe stammered. "Why don't you just go back to talking about spray paint, or whatever it is you talk about."

Alix jabbed a thumb to the side to point at Nathaniel. "Actually, we were just talking about Mr. Stud over here successfully seducing the new Queen Bee."

"Ha, so tomatoes do attract flies." Sabrina retorted.

"Oh? And what did our little artist do? Draw her a bouquet of flowers?" Chloe asked, ignoring Sabrina's statement.

Alix was angered by Sabrina, but laughed at Chloe's question. "No, I think that's going to be their second date."

Nathaniel turned to Alix. "Alix!"

Chloe giggled. Giggled. "That's cute. You two have fun."

This was definitely odd, especially for Chloe. Alix watched as Chloe and Sabrina walked into their classroom before hearing the blonde drop her stack of supplies with a thud. "Ohhh." They heard Chloe groan.

"I-I tried to warn you, Chloe." Sabrina stuttered.

Alix turned to Nathaniel to say something, but noticed that the blush on his face was brighter. Then something clicked. "You sly dog!"

Nathaniel flinched. "W-what?"

"There was no Queen Bee, was there?" Alix asked in a half joking, half confronting manner.

Nathaniel's eyes dilated. It seemed he did not like what Alix was implying. "Alix, no."

"You? And Chloe?" Alix asked with the biggest waste-eating grin on her face.

"No! Alix, what the heck?" Nathaniel asked, his face almost matching his hair.

Alix nearly fell over in laughter. "That's rich! You and Chloe!"

Nathaniel groaned in annoyance before quickly walking away from the hysterical Alix. "No! Nate, come back! I'm sorry!" She called through her laughter.

Alix grinned from ear to ear. 'Chloe Kurtzberg. That has a nice ring to it.' Alix thought.

[Queen Bee]

Lunch was no better. With Lila being the popular girl, many people flocked around her. And with Chloe now being friendless on top of her negative reputation, she was alone at her table. 'I really have messed up.' Chloe thought as she poked at her food. 'I really am a terrible person. I'm just getting what I deserve.'

"Hey, Chloe. These seats taken?" Came Adrien's voice, snapping her from her thoughts.

Chloe looked up to watch Adrien place down his tray close to her own. "Adrien?" Chloe asked, confused.

"What up dudes," Nino replied. "Mind if I join ya?" He asked, walking up next to Adrien.

Shortly behind him, Alya and Marinette came up with their own trays. "Hey guys." Alya stated. "Looks like you two had the same idea we did."

Chloe blinked in surprise. "What?"

"You looked pretty lonely over here, Chloe. So we thought we'd join you." Marinette replied.

Chloe was in shock. "But I… Wouldn't you rather sit with, I don't know, Lila."

Marinette scowled. "Yeah, no."

"Lila's alright, but I know who my real friends are." Adrien replied.

"You don't get on the nice list by trying to expel my best friend." Ayla added.

"Besides, that table looks kind of full, dude." Nino commented.

Chloe smiled, wiping away a tear. "Thank you."

[Jalil]

Elsewhere, Jalil Kubdel was making headway on a new discovery. A new obelisk and several tablets had made there way to the Louvre and Jalil had been tasked with documenting them and readying them for display. However, he had become distracted. One of the tablets, after being translated by Jalil, told of an ancient battle between two opposing gods. One of Time and one who could end it. As expected, the tablet told the one who could end time was defeated. But what Jalil did not expect was the manner of which this being was defeated. On a separate tablet, the god of time was shown to have ripped out the second god's heart. However, the glyph showing the heart was odd. It did not resemble a heart, not even the heart symbol.

In fact, by what the tablet mentions, taking the heart only stripped the god of their power, making them mortal. Jalil raised an eyebrow. 'A god turned mortal?'He thought. 'How peculiar.'

Looking back to the 'heart', Jalil saw that it was in fact an ank necklace. And, according to another tablet, the ank was sealed away. The final glyph on the tablet caused Jalil's eyes to widen. The glyph was the ank necklace with two eyes on either side of it. Jalil recognized it immediately.

Jalil made his way to the Egyptian section of the Louvre. On the far wall was an object the size of a puzzle box, but was designed like an arch. The same symbol was of the longer two faces. "Here it is." Jalil stated.

Jalil then looked to the left and saw another tablet, which he began to translate. "Seal of the cursed god. One whom blackens the sun. He whom enslaves, and makes gods of men?"

Jalil was baffled, to say the least. Who were these two gods? And what was the relationship between these new artifacts and this arch? Only time will tell.