Chapter 7 – Reflection (In the shadow of the wings of the angel of vengeance)
Zoé after the seraphim incident
Chloé passed out on the couch of her suite, and Zoé ran home, instead of staying with her sister to find some half-ass way of apologizing. Carrying her mother's portrait, the illusion was broken, but she could still use it to remind herself how worthless money really was. Audrey Bourgeois the wealthiest critique in the world clearly wasn't happy with much of anything in her life. Neither was Chloé.
Zoé hung it upside down in her closet, there was nothing happy about her mother anymore, and she didn't want to look at it anyway, but she wasn't about to throw out her dad's work. She had ruined any chances of a familial bond, her mother's by being a Dorian, and her sister's.
Zoé collapsed next to her bed, sobbing. So badly she wished she could go back to New York or back to Rio, but she couldn't ask her dad to do that. She wished she wouldn't have accidentally made friends with Chloé. She wished that painting had been lost on its way to Paris or stolen or been made a year earlier in her dad's expressionist faze.
Balling up and pulling the covers over her didn't help. She hadn't been in this stupid city even a month and she got turned into a supervillain that made people suicidal. She agreed to that, she did it, she tortured her sister, the same person that bought her a bunch of new clothes as an excuse to hang out. She had incapacitated a fucking superhero! That's not normal teenager behavior!
When sleep finally came, she wasn't tormented by her own thoughts, she was playing in a bamboo forest with a panda bear, "Zoé!" The bear sounded like a deeper Morgan Freeman for some reason, "Don't fret so much! We all have bad days. Just remember to get up tomorrow and seize the day!"
Zoé woke up to her alarm, vaguely remembering her dream, and what was probably not Morgan Freeman's voice. She dreaded the idea of going to school again, seeing her sister. She managed to dress herself, her new clothes fit well, she almost looked like a different person. Her dad commented on how nice she looked, she was glad it was rainy, she could put on a raincoat and cover her head.
Walking to school was different now. Everything looked bleak, except for the red brake lights on cars, everything was grey, the pigeon guy wasn't in his usual spot, there was no one to direct traffic, and the rain covered the smell of the bakery. All the love of life felt drained and beaten. It made her wish she stayed on the floor this morning.
When the first bell rang, she went to class and sat in the back next to Lila, put her head down, and didn't move. Fifteen minutes into class Lila nudged her, *bump* *bump* "Hey Doria. Are you really this upset? Meeting your mom couldn't have been this depressing." Doria shook her head. "No, it's just, I got turned into a super villain." Lila smirked, "Yeah once. You trashed a hotel." Zoé looked up at her in confusion, "How many times have you?"
Lila smirked, "Twice as Volpina and once as Chameleon. Alya probably has Seraphim's highlights on her website by now. Right next to Her lady Wifi, Nino's Bubbler, Chloé's Queen Bee and Anti-bug, Max's Gamer and Gamer 2.0, Luka's Silencer, Sabrina's Miraculer, Juleka's Reflecta.
Everyone in this city has been akumatized, the outfits always look awesome, and the superheroes always fix it even when there is an army of them, and the heroes are getting akumatized left and right." Lila paused making sure Ms. Bastier hadn't noticed their conversation was taking place.
"Welcome to Paris, where a bad day usually means you get turned into a supervillain that gets erased so well it feels like a fever dream except for the camera footage." Zoé shook her head, "No I remember it perfectly." Lila sized up her classmate for a moment, "Did you want to be a super villain." "No! Well, kind of. I just wanted a little compassion. But I screwed that all up. Chloé was yelling for Cat Noir to kill her."
Lila didn't respond for a moment, "Hawkmoth is a manipulator that's what he does, he's really good at it. You weren't in full control of your actions. Regardless of if you thought you were. Ask Chloé if you two are still cool, you'll see."
Zoé sat down, with Chloé at lunch. "Chloé are we still friends after the whole Seraphim thing?" Chloé almost laughed, "Why wouldn't we be? Because you got brainwashed into attacking our bitch mother and me?" Zoé got slightly flustered, "Well, yeah." Chloé shook her head. "Sabrina is the closest thing I've had to a sister. One tiny case of loony super villain isn't going make me give up that easily."
Gabriel Agreste
The fashion designer stood alongside a quami under the full moon, on the Eifel tower. "Nuru! Tell me what that is. That vile stench on the air! What is it?" Nuru shuddered clearly smelling it too. "That is black magic sir. It has been creeping in for days. If we transform whatever it is will know your Miraculous is here." Hawkmoth snarled but not at Nuru, "Can I kill the source?" Nuru shuddered at the idea, "Perhaps. I don't know enough. Whoever is causing this effect will be powerful, but your will knows no equal."
After considering for a moment, Hawkmoth made his decision, "Dark Wings Rise!"
Hawkmoth stood alone for a moment, until a black-robed figure, appeared. He was a very old man. "Hawkmoth" shuddered a small green Quami. The supervillain smiled at the fear that he inspired in the spirit. The robed figure spoke, "I was hoping to find you, Hawkmoth" the wizard held up the turtle miraculous, "I want to make a deal" Hawkmoth's lips curled, "And you brought a gold bar to a diamond exchange?" The wizard's hand retreated into his cloak and the bracelet with it. "Your powers can grow as well. You have made people stronger, but you have not demonstrated any finer understanding of your miraculous." "Do you have something to share?"
"Of course, I am a master of the arcane arts. All I ask in return is the dog miraculous" "loyalty? Even if I had it, why would give it up?" "Because they have the capacity to defeat Ladybug and Cat Noir, but I destroyed the source of this knowledge, eighty years ago. The dog miraculous is dormant, only I can awaken it, once we find it." "You must be in a hurry. Why?" "Because we are both running out of time Hawkmoth. Ladybug and Cat Noir are training with a guardian beyond even my capacity to kill alone. a mentor, one that can impart all the secrets of their powers. Unless we remove him."
"Let's get to work."
Chloé
Over a week had passed since her sister's crisis of conscious. The full moon illuminated the rooftops of the city. She stood alone on her balcony, calling Zoé her sister and her friend felt good. She had this new connection to someone. Part of her was afraid she might ruin it, like how Zoé thought she had done.
Marinette was a bother, but she didn't hate her, her Portuguese/American counterpart could have different friends. She had a powerful gift, to make friends with Lila, Marinette and herself. Chloé wondered what effect she might have on Kagami.
"Hey Chloé!" called out Bunnyx warmly as she dropped onto the balcony. Chloe turned to look at the hero, six months ago she would have cheered and demanded a miraculous but now, she was just confused, "What's going on?"
Bunnyx held up a small box, "Sorry I can't give any spoilers, I'm just running deliveries for Mini bug, she got a little tied up." The hero looked apologetic, "The next few days are going to be really difficult for you. I'm sorry."
Thanks for reading you guys. Sorry, I abandoned this, I'm back though! Thanks for reading! I'll respond to any comments if you guys have any questions.
