Bloom crouches down with Sabrina under the desk they were at, watching in no small amount of shock as Chloe gets…pelted with person-sized Berets and chased by the biggest blow dryer she's ever seen. If the situation weren't very real, and potentially very deadly, she'd be laughing hysterically.
It's just so pathetic, Chloe's worried about her hair when someone's trying to maybe kill her - besides, she walks four miles to school each morning, and an indeterminate distance back depending entirely on whether or not there's an Akuma attack and if she's going to spend some time with Marinette at the Bakery. Whether its rain, shine, or even snow.
And Chloe's worried about her hair.
Sabrina clings to Bloom in utter terror, and Bloom glances around while pushing the other girl's head down to try and find the Akuma. What she sees is…a kid with messy dark red hair watching the chaos from the second floor. And then he glances at her, and his expression softens. He gives her a smile and a wave, only to look away when Ladybug and Cat Noir show up. He quickly moves his hand over his arm, and the word 'Trocadero' appears in front of her on the floor briefly before disappearing as he leaves…after Bloom magically pushes the nearest bookshelf onto the giant blow dryer to get rid of it. One good thing about all the chaos, nobody would notice a bookshelf tipping itself over in the whole mess.
Once everything's gone quiet, Bloom turns to Sabrina and says "Sabrina, listen to me. Go home, its too dangerous for you to be out right now." Sabrina opens her mouth, but Bloom cuts her off saying "Your life is more important than a Particle Physics Project. He was targeting Chloe specifically, and until a few hours ago you were attached at the hip. He could very well go after you to. I'll email you the completed research, and we'll bang out an outline tomorrow, alright?"
Sabrina nods, saying "I'll put it on a Google Document, we can work on it together like that."
Bloom nods, saying "Sounds perfect. Stay safe."
"Seems this Evillustrator is targeting you specifically, Chloe. Any idea why?" Cat Noir leans against a wall in the familiar room, glancing at his Lady every few moments - she's much less relaxed, loathing radiating off her as she sits cross-legged on the arm of a chair.
Chloe shakes her head, putting down the paper she was drawing on, and says "No, everyone adores me."
Cat Noir can testify that that's most certainly not the case - most of the school, in fact, despises her. Honestly, if she weren't his long-time friend he'd be supremely annoyed with her right now - an Akuma is targeting her specifically, and she can't even be bothered to be worried about it. Because she's currently doodling, not even paying attention as they try to figure out just who might be trying to end her life.
"Yeah," Ladybug says, the eyeroll clear in her voice, "because you're so adorable." Instead of seeing the sarcasm for what it is, Chloe squeals in excitement over the words themselves and takes a selfie with her.
Cat Noir chuckles at the two girls, as Ladybug tries to escape Chloe and her selfies, even as his fake ears twitch and pick up a familiar noise. And then there's a thud that's easily picked up by even his human ears, signaling his sister's arrival.
Dragon Fyre walks in, saying "Sorry I'm late, I got a little held up." Getting Sabrina to go home and stay there, instead of coming to visit me to work on the project together. She glances out towards the Eiffel Tower for a moment, then says "I heard about what happened at the library."
Ladybug nods, grateful beyond belief for the excuse to get away from Chloe, and says "We saw the Akuma for a minute, it looked like he could draw things into reality."
Dragon Fyre hums, picking up the piece of paper Chloe was drawing on, and her breath catches in her throat. "You've gotta be kidding me…"
Cat Noir walks over, asking "What is it, sis?" When he sees the drawing of Evillustrator and Bloom, he gets what it is. Ladybug lets out a quiet 'oh…' as well.
Big oh. They recognize that style of sketching, they got a glimpse of it when Nathan tripped and spilled his sketchpad all over the floor next to them.
The detail that Bloom's face has been drawn over by Chloe with glasses, a curly moustache, and a goatee doesn't help matters, though.
Dragon Fyre snaps her fingers, and the additions disappear. "I know how to find him, guys. I've gotta go. I'll call you later." Nathan, you've gotta be kidding… She leaps off Chloe's balcony, quickly disappearing into the city down below.
And then Ladybug says "I'll go check the city to, Cat Noir. Later."
Cat Noir follows his Lady out onto the balcony, asking "What do you mean 'later' Ladybug?"
"I mean, I'm going to lose my mind if I have to spend one more moment with Chloe Bourgeois and her delusions and fangirling! So, later!" And then she's off swinging as well, promising to contact him if she finds the Akuma.
Bloom gets to the Trocadero, directly across from the Eiffel Tower, and looks around. He couldn't have known, he couldn't possibly have known I don't usually come here… She doesn't usually come to the place her parents were brutally - and, incidentally, unbelievably - murdered.
She can feel herself getting tense as she sits down on a bench, her magic getting dangerously close to setting the bench on fire, so she starts to draw. Something, anything to take her mind off the lurking memories of a dark night and four scary and strange men appearing from shadows around them.
She starts sketching the view from on top of the Eiffel Tower, something she's only seen as Dragon Fyre, getting so lost in her work that she doesn't notice anyone else by her until a voice says "Your artwork is beautiful."
That makes her jump almost out of her skin, and she whirls around to find that same boy from the library and the picture she took from Chloe's room standing behind the bench. Once her heart stops trying to beat its way out of her chest, Bloom asks "Why did you ask me to come here?"
The boy - Nathan - chuckles, and says "I just wanted to see you…but I don't know where you live, unfortunately."
Well, that's a relief. Not only is she somewhat territorial about her abandoned warehouse…admitting that you live in an abandoned warehouse is embarrassing even to her.
Instead Bloom says "I'm not even going to ask why you attacked Chloe. She's a spoiled rotten brat who only cares about herself. Cruel, selfish, and callous."
Nathan nods, and says "Indeed she is, I couldn't have said it better myself." Even still, he sounds rather calm for an Akuma - a lot calmer than most of them, anyway.
And she's never seen an Akuma give someone a look like…this. This…soft, gentle, this…caring.
Oh no, no Nathan…
To get herself off her rapidly-panicking train of thought, she asks "Are you going to hurt me?"
Nathan recoils as if she'd actually slapped him, and says "No! No, I could never! Your Bloom! Your beautiful, and confident, courageous…your perfect. I could never hurt you!"
Bloom feels her face burn at his words, she couldn't possibly say why though, and says "That's very flattering…thank you." She's not perfect, she's very far from perfect and she knows it. She's got a massive temper of explosive proportions, regularly beats Akumas unconscious if something happens to her partners - family - and lies to everyone around her bar Longg at least a few hours a day just by attending school. She had to magic her way into school, after all, and to make sure nobody asked too many questions about her suspiciously-thin file on record. She's not proud of it, but still…she knows she'll need an education to get anywhere in life. She's not perfect, and not even her brother knows everything about her.
If he did...he'd probably not want to be her brother. Who'd want to be the brother of a street rat?
"So," Nathan says, pulling Bloom from her thoughts, "I wanted to know if…" He scratches the back of his head self-consciously, "you'd come to my birthday party?"
Bloom blinks, then asks "Come again?" Is he...seriously asking her out on a date?
Nathan nods earnestly, and says "It'll just be you and me." He quickly draws something on the tablet on his arm, and a card appears in front of her. With a sketch of her face, and his, with a birthday cake on it - its an invitation.
He drew me an invitation just like that? She knew he could draw stuff into reality, she was there at the library after all, but that was...really fast.
"Do you like it?" The hopeful expression on his face just about kills Bloom - she hates it when her classmates are Akumatized! Really, does Hawk Moth have to go after the kids she goes to class with?!
Bloom nods, her lips curving upwards as she stares at the detail he paid to her drawing, and says "I do. I'll have something I think your missing tonight, to. Just promise me one thing?"
Nathan quickly nods, saying "Anything at all, Bloom. For you."
"Don't attack Chloe anymore. She's not worth the effort or energy." He nods, pressing the card into her hand and the back of her hand to his lips before taking off on a rocket that wasn't on his back two seconds before.
Cat Noir is on the verge of tearing his hair out and screaming, probably not in that specific order - but Chloe just handed her Particle Physics project to do, now he's much less sympathetic towards her when Bloom demanded she do some of the work! - when his staff suddenly buzzes. He takes it outside, and reads the text that says 'Can't make it in uniform tonight, but I know where Evillustrator will be. The La Seine bank near the Notre Dame, he's in love with Bloom Peters and invited her to his birthday party. Even said he wouldn't attack Chloe Bourgeois if she went. She'll try to talk him down, but if things get ugly go in. DF.'
Oh, thank the Kwamis. I don't know how much more I can take of Chloe's condescending.
And then his staff buzzes again, this time with Ladybug's number, and he puts it to his ear while jokingly saying "You can't fly out of here and then make Cat calls, Ladybug." He can already see her rolling her eyes at his joke.
"Haha, very funny, Kitty. Did you see Dragon Fyre's text?"
Getting serious now, he says "Yeah, you think Bloom will be alright?" First the Pharaoh, now Evillustrator, he has to wonder what it is about her that draws the Akumas to her.
"Well, she is pretty tough. And resourceful. She can take care of herself, for the most part. Remember Pharaoh?"
"How could I forget? Half that fiasco was spent trying to find her."
"So, what do you think, Kitty? We go in, weapons ready? Or we trust that Bloom can try to get through to Evillustrator?"
Cat Noir sighs, and says "Much as I'd like to fight the Akuma straight away…Bloom would be in danger, and I'm not sure what he'd do if she was in the crossfire."
AN: Hey, everyone! Is it just me, or does Hawk Moth have a BIG variety on just how dangerous - not to mention focused - his supervillains are? I mean, Nino threw his best friend a party when he got Akumatized, and Nathan asked his crush out on a date. That doesn't exactly sound world-ending to me. Of course, then there's Mr. Mime, who could've been truly LETHAL if he really tried - he mimed an RPG, for crying out loud! And then...there's Mr. Pigeon. Seriously, Hawk Moth needs to figure out how to make an effective supervillain - he's getting beaten by teenagers, after all. Even in canon, without Bloom there to overpower basically every Akuma they've fought so far.
Volpina, I concede, was very powerful - a psuedo-Miraculous Holder, with all the perks of the Fox Miraculous bar Trixx himself. But a lot of them? Honestly, he'd be better off spending his time trying to come up with an effective villain. Instead of just throwing Mr. Pigeon at them time and again - allergy or no allergy, it's a waste of time by the tenth time.
Anyway, enjoy! More chapters coming soon! Please review!