A butterfly cycle : The emergence of Duchess Butterfly
Phase 1 : Arrival
Miracle Base (Meeting room), 10.36 AM
The meeting room was one of the biggest room in the base, although, it wasn't that furnished : an average sized metal sliding double-door used as the entrance and the exit with 2 plants in the 2 corners of that side.
In the middle of the room, a big U table with 8 chairs on both side of the lines while 3 on the round part of the table.
The table was made out of glass and could be use as a touchscreen. The table was perfectly divided with small black outlines so each seats could have the same portion of space and that included the round part which was also perfectly divided in 3 and reserved for as what they were called, the holly trinity of the Miracle League.
While the round part of the table was placed near the door side, the 2 extremities of the table had next to them, a stage with a really big screen on the wall which could be controlled with a remote or with the touchscreen table.
The rest of the walls had no ornamentation, just normal metal walls.
At this precise time, a meeting was taking place. And of course, the entirety of the team was present just like any other meetings.
This time, the meeting was special because it only had one single goal : choose an official butterfly holder.
They never had the occasion to do it since the miraculous had fallen into so many evil hands like with Gabriel Agreste or Lila.
This meeting was taking place 4 months after Lila's defeat as baddie of Paris. The battle against her had been long and difficult but like always the team had managed to succeed.
Even though Ladybug was the guardian, she had decided to choose a holder with the rest of the team so everyone could have an opinion on the question plus it didn't matter much since it was the only miraculous left in her box inactive.
The leader herself had someone in mind but just wasn't sure, after all, she wasn't just going to hand any miraculous, it was the butterfly miraculous, the one that had always been used for evil and that the others and herself were fighting against since the beginning. The holder would have to be someone who's responsible enough to use the power correctly.
The meeting had officially started after Ladybug had finished her introduction.
Just like she had ordered days before, the ones that had someone in mind would have to present their choice and the reasons why that choice would be a good butterfly holder on stage in front of their other colleagues.
Ladybug was obviously sitting in the round part of the table precisely, in the middle of the 3 spots available.
At her left, Cat Noir was sitting comfortably in his seat and probably daydreaming about her. They had officially started their relationship 9 weeks ago and still now, he was still the hopeless romantic he was when they had met for the first time. He was of course, one of the members of this trinity like his lady.
Finally, at her right, Ladybug's best friend and third ever hero of Paris after the iconic duo : the one and only Rena Rouge !
The girl was looking at things on her screen, hardworking as usual. When Ladybug was absent or unavailable, she was considered second in charge even though, she was co-leader with Cat Noir.
Her intellectual and battle skills were as great as Ladybug so naturally, she was the perfect choice while Cat Noir was still learning due to his few years of absence after his dad's defeat.
The rest of the table or the 2 linear parts of it, was reserved for the 16 other members with 8 seats on each sides.
Next or near Cat Noir was in this order, Vesperia who had a stressed look on her face as she was one of the heroes that had to present her choice, then next to her, Ryuko who was calming her down, right after, King Monkey and Bunnix who were arguing like always, followed by, Caprikid who was drawing something on his screen with a touch pen while Purple Tigress who was next to him, was peacefully watching his creation. Next to the ferocious Tigress, Sir Paon or Félix for the unaware, was yawning of boredom. The final seat located at the end table and next to the peacock holder, was empty as it was reserved for the future butterfly holder.
On the opposite side, starting next to Rena Rouge, was of course her husband Carapace who was having a chat with his neighbor Viperion. Next to the snake hero, Pegasus was reading something on his screen while being distracted by the person to his right, the one full of positivity : Pigella, who kept asking questions to the horse hero. Right next to her, Polymouse who was waiting for everyone to be ready while her husband next to her, Minotaurox was chatting with his friend Rooster Bold. The last seat was occupied by Miss Hound who was watching her loud friends group with a happy smile on her face.
"We'll start now if it's okay." said Ladybug.
Everyone nodded and went full silence while the first hero to present her choice was walking to the stage.
Pigella was the first hero in question and was full of excitement to present her best choice for the new butterfly holder in her opinion of course.
Pigella took the remote and the big screen on the wall showed the picture of the person. Multiple small smiles and big "Huh ?" arrived with her public's reaction, they knew Rose was too innocent for this world.
"Silence ! Let her speak first !" said Ladybug acting like a mom who was scolding her children.
"As you may see, I decided to choose Manon for the role and let me explain why. First, she's a big fan of Superheroes so she wouldn't mind being one. Second, she's a teenager so her power would be limited and we could train her without making a mess and finally, she loves purple !" said a joyful Pigella.
Multiple answers ensued :
"Rose, promise me to never change" said a very amused Rena Rouge.
"No" simply said Ryuko.
"Rose that's very cute but let's be honest, Manon isn't the perfect choice. She was already a turbulent child and now, she's an unstable emotionally teen so how could we even work with someone who can't control their emotions and has to control the ones from others ?" said Ladybug.
"My turn !" said a confident King Monkey.
The jokester joined the stage and switched the screen photo to his own choice.
"Is this a joke ?!" immediately said Bunnyx.
The picture was showing the face of Ondine, Kim's girlfriend.
"It's not bunnyboo and I'm proud of it !" angrily said the monkey holder.
"So you just chose your own girlfriend for the job ?" said Viperion.
"Well yes ! I mean, I think she has all the qualities of a superhero plus she's very sporty so-" said King Monkey before getting cut.
"Dude, you're kinda judging with subjectivity instead of with objectivity." said the turtle hero.
"Maybe it's better if you leave her out of this and so, you can make sure she stays safe." said a worry Vesperia.
King Monkey nodded with a sad look and went back to his seat.
Rena Rouge tried to cheer him up.
"Don't be sad, before coming I also thought I could choose my big sis Nora but then I realized I was going to put her life at risk without her full consent so I decided not to."
Ladybug looked at a guilty Vesperia and felt same.
"Then who are we taking if we don't want to put our families in more danger than they already are ?" said a worried Polymouse.
"Maybe, Miss Bustier ? She'll do great we know it." said Miss Hound.
"Yeah but having the newest member of the team who's older than all of us would be...embarrassing." said Bunnyx.
"If we can't find anyone, why don't we just use it ourselves, I think Miss Ladybug or myself would be great holders of it." said a cocky Sir Paon.
"Why does everything always have to be about you ?" said an angry Carapace.
"It's already hard to trust you with 1 miraculous so you better not get a second one."
"I was just trying to give a suggestion, why does everything I say always have to be seen negatively ?" said Sir Paon.
"Because you're mischievous Félix." said Polymouse.
He didn't bother to respond and looked away.
"This discussion got us nowhere." then said Cat Noir.
"Well..I still haven't presented my choice." said Ladybug.
"Because you had one ?" said Rena Rouge.
Ryuko then talked to Vesperia.
"I thought you also had a choice ?"
Ladybug overheard that and responded to Ryuko.
"Well also yes, me and Vesperia worked together on this choice of ours." said Ladybug.
"A group presentation ? Let's hear it." said Rena Rouge.
Vesperia stood and joined Ladybug to start the presentation.
She then showed a photo on the screen of the concerned person here.
No noises could be heard in the room, nothing but silence.
Miracle Base, 11.29 AM
Monitor : E.3bis - Chloé Bourgeois
Just like always, the monitor was announcing who had entered the base through the elevator.
The main room was obviously empty due to the fact that everyone was in the meeting room.
Chloé was gently coming out of the elevator with her suitcases when she realized no one was there.
"Um..hello ? I arrived FYI ?! Anybody ?" said a deeply concerned Chloé.
"I'm here if you need me." responded Markov the living entity of this place.
"Where's everyone ?" asked Chloé.
"All members of the team are currently choosing the new butterfly holder in the meeting room." answered Markov.
"But Master is in his dojo if you want."
"Yeah, thanks." said Chloé.
Chloé then joined Master Su Han in the dojo. The guardian was meditating in the middle of the room.
"Hi, it's me Chloé, remember me ?" said Chloé with hesitation.
"You're the one who helped the team defeat Lila during the final battle with the butterfly miraculous, right ?" responded Su Han.
"Well, I was also helping them before that with the stones but yes, it's me I guess." said Chloé.
"Why are you here again ?" asked Su Han.
"Well I just came to visit my sister and my dad and the others I guess ? Zoé kind of insisted that I come pay a visit." responded Chloé.
"Would you like to meditate with me ?" asked Su Han.
"No thanks, I'll just wait near the meeting room for the others to finish." answered Chloé.
"Then I hope your trip will only bring you luck and happiness." said Su Han.
She hadn't paid attention to this sentence because she wasn't aware yet of how this trip would turn out for her...
Chloé left the dojo and walked to the hallway of the meeting room where there were chairs next to the door. She sat on one of them and waited for her friends, or at least the ones she had tried to salvage their relationship with.
Meanwhile,
"I know what you think, but-" had said the bee holder before getting interrupted.
"Yes, we all feel the same, mixed. Some of us had terrible relationships with her before she left Paris but she did make up for it by cooperating into helping us fight Lila. I'm only saying that so for the others to not judge your choice to quickly." said Ryuko with a confident attitude.
Ryuko gave a wink to Vesperia who responded with a smile.
Ladybug then spoke as a respond.
"Indeed, let's also not forget she has experience with using miraculouses including the one we're searching a holder for. She totally understood the assignment and succeeded on her first try with it when others would have had trouble. She's not the 15 years old girl that used to bully everyone and we already know that, don't we ? She went living in Brazil and for reasons we still can't understand, redeemed herself to become someone better. So in short, she has the minimal experience we're looking for and except for her usual cockiness, she shouldn't be a struggle to straddle with. So give me a valid reason why she wouldn't be the perfect choice." said Ladybug.
"We've rested our case." proudly said Vesperia.
"Even though, I'm not 100% bestie with Chloé, she obviously remains the better choice and already knows our identities that she miraculously kept a secret for all this time. With additional training from us, she'll do great." said Rena Rouge.
"Yeah, I thought we weren't gonna put any more of our family members in danger but I guess we'll make another exception here." responded Cat Noir.
"It's Chloé we're talking about, she can take care of herself if she lives in a foreign country all alone." said Bunnyx.
"Well, if nobody else has something to add, we'll move to the votes." replied Ladybug.
On the modern glass table, pictures of Chloé herself were put on for every heroes in the room on their own part of the table.
Each team member had to press either the green button if they'd agreed to let Chloé be the butterfly hero, or the red one if they'd disagreed and even though, there were a few peaks, everyone made up their minds and chose a button before letting the computer count their votes.
After a few seconds, the results arrived, now displayed on the big screen in front of them.
"12 votes for it, 6 against it." said Ladybug who had read the results the fastest.
"Chloé is now the new butterfly holder. May you like it or not." replied Ladybug right after.
Ladybug took her yo-yo and took out the butterfly brooch from it.
"Nooroo, we found you a permanent holder, and a good one this time."
The shy kwami responded with a smile.
"Good, cause Chloé's supposed to arrive from Brazil today." said Vesperia.
"Great but we'll also have to announce her that she won't be able to go back..." responded Ladybug.
"This meeting is now officially over." added Ladybug.
From outside,
"Don't worry Chloé, they've just finished." told Markov to Chloé.
"Okay here comes nothing." said Chloé.
The door abruptly opened and everyone exited the room at the same time.
Chloé received a few salutations while others didn't even bother to look at her. She knew not everyone here was really fond of her but at the point to not even look at her ?
Although, she also knew they had hero duties to attend to so she didn't make a big deal out of it.
Last to come out of the room were Ladybug and Vesperia who immediately approached Chloé when they saw her.
"Chloé you're here already !" said a surprised Vesperia.
Both sisters hugged each other.
"Yeah I almost thought it was another one of those apocalypse when I saw nobody when I arrived !" said "a trying to be funny and make connections" Chloé.
Ladybug then addressed her.
"Chloé, this meeting was actually about you. We were trying to find a holder for the butterfly and after a wild discussion and some votes, you've been chosen as the new butterfly hero...very sorry if all of this comes right into your face..." said an embarrassed Ladybug.
She then handed her the miraculous with her usual speech.
"Chloé Bourgeois, since you've got my trust back, I am proud to entrust you with the butterfly miraculous and I'm counting on you to use it for good unlike your predecessors."
Chloé took it by confusion, she wasn't realizing what was happening right now and knew now why some of the heroes she had met right before were looking at her with a cold look, she was joining the team as a permanent addition.
"And we'll also have to find a solution for your location since you can't really live this far from us..." said a worried Vesperia.
But unlike what she thought her sister was going to react like, Chloé responded with a call attitude.
"And what about me in all this ? Do I have an opinion on this matter ? I mean, I've just got chosen like that and you already know what I think of using a miraculous, I told you I wasn't going to anymore. I just used this one last time cause you needed me, that's all." answered Chloé.
"What I think, is that you simply lost trust in yourself. You were getting better when you realized the miraculous weren't what was going to make you better, so you left Paris to restart your life somewhere else and you did pretty good actually ! You learned things like being patient, independency and some skills some of us don't even have ! What I mean is that, after all this, you changed drastically for the better and realized it didn't take some overpowered mystical jewels to get somewhere in life, you found your usefulness by accepting who you truly were which leads me to here, I believe you've matured enough as a person to be able to help others while also risking your life for them, you finally got the spirit of a true hero, a true miraculous holder." proudly said Ladybug to the unsure Chloé.
"You..you really think so ?" replied Chloé.
"I also think same sis." said Vesperia.
Chloé hesitated a moment before revealing her final answer.
"I..I accept the position, not to have power or to be famous, but because deep down inside me, I really want to rebuild something here, to apologize to the ones I've hurt, just to repair my mistakes. I had to leave everything and everyone behind just to fix myself, now it's time to stop running away from my problems and to fix my old life, my new life." responded Chloé.
"I'm so proud of what you've become Chlo and I promise I'll help you with your moving out and the training and-" Vesperia said before getting cut.
"I know, after all, you were the one who kept sending me letters while I was away, sorry if I under appreciated you Z." said Chloé.
"Mom could never." replied Zoé who was dropping a few tears of proudness and joy while smiling at her sister.
Both started crying and hugged again.
"Promise me you won't leave the country ever again !" yelled Vesperia.
"Of course." answered Chloé.
Ladybug was watching the whole scene with a few tears in her eyes when she got interrupted by a message on her bug phone.
"I'll have to leave you girls, but I know it'll be fine. Oh and don't worry about your duties Zoé, I'll take your patrol shift for the day. You can have the rest of the day to yourself." said Ladybug.
"Thank you boss ;) !" responded Vesperia.
Ladybug then left the 2 siblings and went after her duties.
"So, what now ?" asked Chloé.
"Well unless you want to live here, we'll have to find you an apartment or something but for now, you'll just have to sleep on the couch of my home." said Vesperia.
Vesperia detransformed and both girls headed to exit.
Paris(10th district), 12.26 PM
Zoé's house was a small 2 stored house located near the canal Saint-Martin. While the bedroom was on the 2nd floor, the kitchen, living room and bathroom were on the 1st. It also had a cozy garden.
"Cute." said Chloé after entering the apartment.
"So you're living alone or-"
"I live here with my boyfriend, Luka. You know..the blue haired boy one ?" said Zoé.
"Who ?" asked back Chloé.
"Luka ! Juleka's brother ! Viperion himself ! "
"Oh ! We probably never got the chance to meet I guess." responded Chloé.
"But he was with us the whole time when you were helping us ! You know what, forget it.." said Zoé.
"Make yourself at home, I'll make something to eat."
Chloé then decided to sit in the living room waiting for her sister to arrive.
She then noticed some framed pictures around the room.
Photos of Zoé kissing Luka, others with his sister Juleka, another one with Alya both eating ice-cream, one with Marc and Nathaniel, a selfie with Adrien, one with Marinette while baking and much more.
Chloé had realized her current situation was similar to Zoé's when she first arrived in Paris.
Both having no friends, trying to start a new life in a foreign country, that's what they both lived except that while Zoé had made connections here, Chloé had closed herself to everybody back in Brazil.
"You have a nice home." said Chloé when Zoé arrived with sandwiches and iced tea.
"Really ? Isn't that utterly ridiculous for your tastes ?" asked Chloé.
"Hey remember I lived in a normal house back in São Paulo ! I haven't got luxury for years now ! I can kind of be considered as poor since I got disowned !"
Chloé forced herself to laugh while Zoé was looking concerned.
"Wait I didn't know your father had done that ! Hey, I know mom left us nothing but since I have a job, I could help you financially if you-"
"No." simply responded Chloé.
"I learnt in Brazil that if you want money you have to earn it right so I'll try to find a job or something."
"Why not archeologist ? You have your degree already and maybe I can ask Alix to find you something at her dad's museum or-"
"I'll manage by myself. We're grownups now, you focus on your own life and I'll do same."
Zoé agreed with a smile, she had to get used to her sister's new attitude but she was trusting Chloé, she could tell she was going to do perfectly well here.
After eating, both girls went shopping and chilling in the parks right after. When night was approaching, both girls decided it was time to head home.
"I hope I pleased you with your favorite activity !" said Zoé.
"Yeah, I definitely missed shopping." responded Chloé.
Both sisters arrived home and opened the door.
"Luka ?" gently yelled Zoé.
"I guess he's still working at his shop." deduced Zoé.
"So he owns a shop ?" asked Chloé.
"Yeah, it's a small music shop where he sells his handmade instruments and the albums of his dad or Kitty Section." answered Zoé.
"He loves it there."
"Good for him." said Chloé.
Zoé then headed upstairs.
"I'll go get your blankets for the night."
"Okay and thank you again for what you're doing." responded Chloé.
"It's okay, you're family after all."
Chloé thought of this sentence and regretted she hadn't thought of it when Zoé first arrived from New York.
Now, her so-called maternal figure had moved to California while probably drinking wine in a rich man's mansion at the moment. She had never felt this betray the day she left with no remorses about leaving her 2 daughters but this day had been necessary for Chloé, she had learnt from that, that she'd never needed a figure to look up to, she had to be who she wanted to be.
When she first thought she was running away, she was actually running to a trip called "change".
"Here, your bed's ready !" proudly said Zoé.
"It's been a long day, I think I'll go to bed now." said Chloé.
"Oh okay, well goodnight !
Zoé turned off the lights and head upstairs to her own bedroom.
Chloé had changed into her pyjama and before putting her clothes away, she had taken the butterfly miraculous off of her pocket and put it on herself before lying on the couch.
A purple kwami then appeared out of the brooch.
"Hi..I'm Nooroo..remember me ?"
"Of course." answered Chloé while whispering to not get too loud.
Chloé didn't really know how to interact, the last time she had talked to a kwami, it was like to give them orders and she didn't remember having a deep bond with Pollen when she used to have her for limited time during her teenage years. Pollen was also on the same roof as her but based on how their small bond ended, she thought the bee kwami would've preferred to never have met her.
Though, this kwami wasn't Pollen, it was someone totally new she didn't even have time to properly meet the first time she used him. But anyway, since Ladybug had given her a second chance, she was determined to start a first real bond with this new kwami she barely knew.
The blonde girl tried to start the conversation.
"So..you seem kind of shy aren't you ?"
"Yes.."
"I understand, what you got through was something you'll probably remember your entire existence but I assure you I won't hurt you or treat you like a slave but rather more like a companion, like the friend I never had." told Chloé to her kwami.
"Well..I'll give it a try." said Nooroo.
She knew Nooroo had probably heard about her during his 2 prisoner eras but in a bad way, so she knew she had to show her kwami she wasn't the same anymore and that they could trust each other.
"Well, goodnight Nooroo."
"Goodnight, Chloé." responded the kwami with a smile then lay near Chloé before both falling asleep.
While dreaming, Chloé wanted to believe deep down inside, that things were going to turn out great for her, she knew it from her soul, no, her heart.