Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug. Those rights go to the respective creators and owners. I'm just having fun playing in their world.
Chapter 1.5: Good Samaritan
Chloe slowly trudged down the hallway to her next class. She wondered where her friendship with Sabrina had gone so wrong that the girl would abandon her for Lila. Chloe knew she was a bad friend, but Lila was just as manipulative and perhaps even worse than herself.
Sabrina wasn't the only friend Chloe was struggling to keep. Her past behavior was beginning to alienate Adrien. Constructive criticism towards his choice in friends wasn't earning Chloe any favors.
Adrien's close friend circle consisted of Marinette, Nino, Alya, his fellow musicians of Kitty Section, Kagami and of course herself. Aside from Adrien there were four other members in the band of which Chloe knew three. They were Juleka, Rose and Ivan.
Juleka was quiet, timid and rarely ventured outside her comfort zone. She would barely object with a mutter under her breath if forcefully made to take part in something she didn't like. Juleka was not a good fit for helping Adrien to stand up to his father.
Chloe strongly suspected the member of Kitty Section she didn't know was Juleka's older brother. Even though she hadn't met the older boy, Chloe didn't like that he had let his sister's self-esteem flounder.
Rose was naive and gullible. Rose didn't know it but Chloe was aware of her illness. On her father's reelection campaign trail Chloe had seen Rose sleeping in a children's ward of a local hospital. The nurses had grimly explained Rose's chronic condition. Chloe didn't understand how Rose could let Lila take advantage of her insufferable kindness over fake medical issues.
Chloe couldn't allow Adrien's kindness to be taken advantage of. She also worried how it would affect Adrien if something bad happened to Rose. He was still grieving his mother's disappearance after all.
Ivan wasn't very smart. Instead, he was brash and easily offended. Chloe didn't let his size fool her. Ivan was hardly intimidating when a tiny bit of pressure could crack his confidence. Adrien needed to learn to endure the mounting pressure from his father not to break under the slightest criticism.
Worse than Ivan's false confidence was his girlfriend. Mylene politically aligned herself against Chloe's father and had insulted him on several occasions to Chloe's face. Chloe could never like someone who hated her father and she didn't want Adrien to like them either.
On the surface Nino appeared noble and wise beyond his age. Chloe disagreed those traits went any further below. For four years he had allowed Chloe to get away with the same behaviour that Lila now boldly displayed.
Nino never stood alongside Marinette in all that time and enabled the worst that Chloe knew she had done. Just like back then with Chloe herself, Nino was letting Lila get away with manipulating people to get whatever she wanted. It seemed to Chloe that Nino's motivation was to be cool rather than righteous and the two people in their class regarded as most cool at the moment were Lila and Alya.
There was no one Chloe disliked more than Alya. Not even Lila came close. Chloe's main grudge against Alya was the 'Lady Wifi' incident.
Alya had taken photos of Chloe and the inside of her locker without her permission over the baseless accusation she was Ladybug. Alya's 'proof' had been some Ladybug merchandise Chloe had acquired. It went without saying that Chloe's very televised rescue during the heroine's second outing was irrefutable evidence against Alya's theory.
Chloe was mad that she was portrayed as the villain for wanting Alya suspended for breaking basic French privacy law. It was another point against Nino that he didn't stop Alya and even participated in her conspiracy. The only good thing Chloe could say about Alya was that she got Marinette to finally stand up for herself and not just everyone else.
Before Chloe thought about Marinette more she sidetracked to Kagami. Kagami was stubborn, fiercely competitive and had a harsh view of incompetence. There was a reason she was nicknamed the 'Ice Queen', but underneath the icy exterior laid an insecure and socially anxious girl.
Unlike Adrien, Kagami was less oblivious to how her social interactions affected other people. Kagami was eager to please those she liked and equally eager to push the buttons of those she distrusted. Chloe had faced her ire more than once, but despite that she had to admit Kagami made a good friend for Adrien.
That brought Chloe to Marinette. Marinette was clumsy and she had more anxiety than all the others Chloe listed combined. The girl was a nervous wreck, but she had a strong sense of justice. Marinette might not have much confidence, she might be easily embarrassed, but Chloe had never seen a teenager more determined than Marinette.
Chloe believed Marinette had the best interests of Adrien at heart. Her obsession with the boy might not always lead to the best outcomes, but Marinette was loyal to a fault. She was probably one of the few who could stand up to Gabriel and win. It occurred to Chloe that one of the only reasons she disliked Marinette and Kagami was their mutual pursuit of Adrien's romantic affections.
Chloe stirred from her rambling thoughts. A brief look around and she realized she had been wandering the halls aimlessly in a circle. She was going to be late for her next class!
"Just great!" Chloe grumbled as she turned to head in the right direction.
Ahead of her, Chloe saw Marinette heading to class too. Something was off though. The way Marinette was walking seemed lethargic compared to her usual rush of energy.
Marinette slowed to a crawl and swayed but outspread her arms to catch herself. Marinette had a habit of tripping over her own feet but this was different. Chloe widened her eyes; Marinette was about to faint!
Chloe sprinted into action, but she was too late. Marinette stumbled forward with her right foot but her left refused to move. As a result she slipped and fell backwards. Before Chloe could reach Marinette, the back of her head hit the ground.
A crack and a loud 'Ow!' echoed through the hallways. That sounded bad. Chloe's heart sped up and she rushed over to Marinette even faster.
"Marinette, are you ok?" Chloe asked as she clearly saw the disorientation in Marinette's eyes.
Marinette didn't respond and instead closed her eyes as her consciousness faded. Two seconds passed while Chloe knelt there in shock. Gathering her wits, Chloe whipped out her phone, estimated which class and teacher would be closest and yelled with all the air in her lungs, "Ms. Bustier! Marinette collapsed!"
It was fortunate their next class was also the closest. Not wasting any time to see if anyone heard her, Chloe dialled emergency services. "Hello, I need an ambulance at Collège Françoise Dupont. My classmate fainted while walking to class and hit her head on the floor."
"Miss-BEEP!" The dispatcher on the other end answered just as the battery in Chloe's phone died.
"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!" Chloe cursed her luck. She hadn't realised her battery was so low.
Chloe checked over Marinette. Her classmate had a pulse and she was breathing, but she wasn't responding to Chloe's efforts to wake her. Chloe gently lifted Marinette's head to look for an indication of injury.
Her hand came back sticky and there was blood on the cuffs of her jacket. Marinette was bleeding from the back of her head. Chloe took out a scarf that was stuffed in her purse. She carefully used it to apply gentle pressure to the wound. Stopping the bleeding was a priority, but Chloe knew that pressing too firmly could cause a potential fracture to bend inwards and hurt Marinette further.
At that moment the door to Ms. Bustier's class opened. Chloe moved her eyes off Marinette to see Alix coming out of the room. Alix called over to her, "Chloe, where's Marinette? You're both really late for class. Ms. Bustier sent me to find both of you."
Chloe shouted back. "Get help! Marinette is hurt!"
Author's note: Who knows the parable of the Good Samaritan? At first I wanted to jump straight into Chapter 2 but then I realized I needed this scene too. We get an insight into Chloe's mind and see Marinette's fainting spell from her perspective. Chloe is going to be slightly traumatized by this event and it might jumpstart the changes she needs to make in her life.
To clarify Chloe's thoughts are what I believe she thinks of peers. They are not necessarily the same as my opinions of said characters. Though I agree with Chloe that Alya broke French privacy law photographing Chloe and the inside of her locker without permission. Even the journalism argument doesn't hold water because Chloe was seen being rescued by Ladybug for all of Paris to see. Hawkmoth's debut and attempted murder of Chloe in Origins was in all likelihood a televised event.
As such I'm retconning the principal's office scene in the Ladywifi episode so that Chloe asks for parents to come and help mediate when Damocles refuses to punish Alya accordingly. It's Principal Damocles who makes the connection that Chloe's dad is the mayor and asks not to involve him. After being suspended, Alya, with the backing of Mylene, accuses Chloe of abusing the mayor's power. Even though that wasn't Chloe's intention at all. After that the episode continues as normal.
Another retcon is that Alya never mentions Lila's time as Volpina in the Sapotis episode. If Alya, the girl that jumps to ridiculous conclusions on thin evidence easily contradicted, knows Lila was Volpina then all of Lila's lies fall apart. In correct character Alya would logically conclude that the same akuma with the same powerset and thus same person was responsible for the Ladybug illusion on Heroes Day.
Chapter 2: Miraculous Malnutrition
Marinette returned to consciousness tucked in a bed in a bright room. Her left arm was out of the blanket and an IV tube was hooked into it. The back of her head felt itchy.
Marinette shrugged her right arm out of the blanket to reach behind her head. There was a small patch of missing hair there and some stitches too. The movement alerted someone sitting by the bed to her waking.
"Marinette, you're awake?" The voice revealed the person to be Chloe. Why Chloe of all people would be there confused Marinette. "I'll call the nurse."
Chloe pressed a button on a buzzer attached to what was now clearly Marinette's hospital bed. Marinette forced herself to sit up more so she could see the room around her. As she did so a wave of disorientation passed through her head. Marinette swallowed the bile that quickly rose in her throat with disgust. "Ugh, what happened? Why are you here?"
"Don't sit up so fast! You banged your head so hard when you fell that it split open!" Chloe admonished her tensely. "You're lucky you don't have a concussion."
"I figured that." Marinette responded irritably.
"I saw you collapse all of a sudden in the hallway." Chloe hesitantly answered Marinette's question. She let out a shallow breath and continued, "It was scary. You were bleeding from the back of your head and I thought you were going to die! I had to come and see if you were okay!"
Marinette noted Chloe wasn't wearing her signature yellow jacket like at lunch earlier. Maybe Chloe had gotten blood on it when rendering first aid. "So you called the ambulance then?"
"I tried to but my phone died in the middle of the call." Chloe admitted sheepishly. "If Alix hadn't come to find us for Ms. Bustier, they might have thought it was a prank."
"Thanks, for helping me, Chloe." Marinette slid back under the covers to rest her sore head again. "Where are my parents? How long was I out?"
A nurse came in at that moment and answered Marinette's question, "You've been in and out of consciousness several times for the last six hours, but this is the first time you've been fully aware of your surroundings."
"Six hours? I'm not going to make it to my meeting with Chat Noir tonight by the time I get out of here." Marinette realised as she roughly calculated the current time by comparing when she fell to the time she spent out cold.
Behind the nurse Marinette's parents slipped in. Her mother came over to one side of the bed and gently caressed her face. "Dear, you had us worried sick!"
"I'm sorry, mum." Marinette hugged her mother back. "What's wrong with me? I only remember feeling dizzy all of a sudden."
"A severe case of malnutrition." The nurse's abrupt and abrasive tone startled Marinette, but it was clearly directed at her parents, not her.
Her father glanced at Chloe. "Chloe, perhaps it would be best if you went home now. Would you mind informing your classmates that Marinette is awake and recovering?"
"Oh, of course, Mr. Dupain." Chloe nervously stood up and left the room.
Marinette watched Chloe go. Between the nurse's tone and her father asking Chloe to leave, she could tell something wasn't right. She eyed the nurse carefully, "Malnutrition?"
The nurse glared daggers at Marinette's father and stated very condescendingly, "Malnutrition is when the body isn't getting enough nutrients to be healthy. It is commonly caused by lack of adequate food. Severe malnutrition can lead to dizzy spells or even fainting, especially in already underweight teenage girls."
Marinette raised an eyebrow suspiciously. She didn't like what the nurse was implying. "My parents aren't starving me. I skip breakfast a lot to make it to school on time and I've missed lunch on occasion due to akuma attacks. If anything, my health problems are my own fault."
The nurse scoffed. "You don't have to protect them, sweetheart. It would take at least four days of not eating for you to faint like that."
"Perhaps your diagnosis is wrong. I had an evening meal on Saturday and Sunday." Marinette argued with testimony to back up her parents. "Coincidentally, Chloe happened to be in the park with her father for other reasons during our picnic Saturday night. She can confirm it."
The nurse huffed and scribbled something on her clipboard before leaving the room. Marinette's father sighed in relief and her mother shook her head disapprovingly at the retreating nurse. Mr. Dupain-Cheng sat down in one of the chairs for visitors and it squeaked under the weight of his hulking baker figure. "Thank you, Marinette. After the doctor left she wanted to call child protective services on us despite us giving the same evidence you did to her superior."
Marinette sensed there was more to the story. "What exactly was her problem?"
Her father answered with a grimace, "Nurse Leah was my ex-girlfriend from high school until I met your mother. She also despises Asians. We broke up when I caught her bullying the new Chinese exchange student, your mother."
"So, she went behind the doctor's back over a petty grudge from high school to harass you." Marinette concluded with disgust in her voice.
"She was worse than that when you were still sleeping." Marinette's mother harrumphed with bitterness and exasperation. "The doctor wanted to investigate other potential health issues in you, but she kept insisting on interrogating us instead of helping the doctor."
"But don't bother yourself with that." Marinette's father reassured Marinette to focus on resting instead of worrying about them. "We've already complained to the hospital. Leah is done for the night now. A new nurse will come by with your dinner in a bit."
Marinette picked up on the clues in theconversation. "Am I not going home tonight?"
This time her mother answered. "The hospital wants to keep you in observation overnight before discharging you in the morning. We have to get ready to open the bakery in the morning, but one of us can stay with you if you don't want to be alone."
"Oh," Marinette felt guilty. Her parents probably had to close early today and lost some business and time to prepare for the next day. "I'll be alright on my own, mum. Don't stay here and keep yourself up all night worrying over me."
"If you're sure…" Marinette's father agreed uncertainty with concern in his voice. Marinette nodded in response. "Then we'll go home after you've eaten dinner."
Mrs. Dupain-Cheng reached in for another hug with her daughter. Then her husband joined in too. Marinette happily obliged her parents.
The huddle was broken when the new nurse delivered Marinette's dinner. The meal was simple but contained a variety of vegetables. It was probably designed to make up for vitamin or mineral deficiencies in Marinette's body.
Shortly before her parents left, Marinette asked a question that had been bugging her. "Did anyone other than Chloe come to visit me?"
"Alix and Adrien both wanted to, but they were tied up in events with their fathers." Her mother supplied. "They called to wish you well."
"I'll have to thank them." Marinette nodded. She couldn't help but feel disappointed that only three of her classmates wanted to visit her and only one actually managed to come and see her.
Considering their rivalry Chloe was a surprise visitor. Marinette couldn't really blame Alix and Adrien for not making it in time for visiting hours with their strict fathers and schedules. It really hurt, though, that Alya didn't come to see her.
Alya was her best friend even with the animosity over Lila. Marinette knew it sounded like she would be discharged tomorrow anyway but she hoped Alya would have at least made an effort. Maybe her parents forgot to mention her best friend.
Marinette cleared her throat. "What about Alya?"
Her mother gave her a thin reassuring smile. "We haven't seen or heard anything from Alya, but I'm sure she's worrying about you. She's probably very busy like your other friends."
"I guess you're right." Marinette reluctantly accepted her mother's explanation with a sigh. It just seemed so out of character for her best friend. Maybe Marinette was just being paranoid. It's not like Alya would believe she was faking.
Once her parents had said goodnight and left the room with just a bedside lamp on, Marinette called out to her kwami, "Tikki?"
Tikki flew from wherever she was hiding to hover in front of Marinette's face. "I know what you're thinking, Marinette, but we are not transforming. You have to stay here and rest."
"But we're going to be late for patrol!" Marinette complained at the kwami's rebuke.
Tikki crossed her tiny arms and glared like a strict parent scolding a child. "I've already informed Plagg that you aren't well. Chat Noir knows you won't make it to patrol tonight."
"Chat Noir knows I'm in the hospital?" Marinette freaked out, worried that her secret identity was compromised.
"Relax, Marinette, Chat Noir has no idea you're Ladybug." Tikki reassured her chosen wielder.
"We have more pressing issues." Tikki continued. "Hawk Moth is testing his limits and maybe yours and your partner's too."
"What do you mean?" Marinette frowned inquisitively.
"As you know, when you use my power you have a timer until you transform back." Tikki made the foundation of her explanation by reminding Marinette of the basics she already knew. "Unlike you and Chat Noir, Hawk Moth is an adult wielder and is not bound by this rule."
"He can akumatize someone for a long time or multiple people one after the other without fear of transforming back." Tikki floated around in a circle like a buzzing insect. It seemed as if she was deep in contemplation. "There is a caveat, though. While using a Miraculous' power draws upon the energy of the inhabiting Kwamii, staying transformed drains the wielder's stamina."
Marinette sat up to listen closely to Tikki. A question was on the tip of her tongue. "What…what about Bunnyx? She was in that stone thing transformed for a long time."
"Bunnyx is a special case. She was in a sort of stasis to prevent further deterioration to her or Fluff's Miraculous." Tikki easily answered the query.
"In theory, if Hawk Moth ate meals while transformed, he could stay transformed until he needed to sleep. Given the timeframe between akumas this weekend, it's unlikely he has managed this yet, but he is close." Tikki resumed her lecture after she saw Marinette was satisfied with the answer to her question. "An immature holder like yourself, however, will need an hour's break and a meal before transforming again after every four hours of transformation."
"But we barely had a chance to eat or have a break over the weekend!" Marinette objected in a panic at Tikki's last statement. "Why didn't you say something before, Tikki?"
"I did say something before, but you didn't listen." Tikki corrected her charge. "You were eating just enough to get by until after Saturday night. Sunday was when the real problems started."
"I ate on Sunday!" Marinette protested with indignation.
"Only dinner and despite claiming that was a full meal earlier you gave half of it to Chat Noir." Tikki annoyingly corrected Marinette once again.
"Oh, I guess you're right. I didn't really eat a proper meal then." Marinette flushed with embarrassment. "So how do we fix this?"
"We can start with your eating and resting habits." Tikki outlined her plan. "I overheard the doctors talking about possible vitamin c, iron and magnesium deficiencies in you. It sounds like you need to eat more green beans and fruits on top of more food in general."
"What about Chat Noir? He's always hungry on patrol." Marinette raised her concern for her partner.
Tikki smirked in a knowing way. Marinette always worried about others more than herself. "He's a growing teenage boy and Plagg is having a similar talk with him too."
Marinette nodded for Tikki to continue. "We're going to cut patrols back to once a week and for one hour only. You need to go to bed earlier to get more sleep."
"But, Tikki, my nightmares! I need to make sure the city is safe!" Marinette fretted in distress.
"Don't worry about Scarlet Moth. If Hawk Moth tries that again, we'll defeat him just as we did the first time." Tikki tried to calm Marinette down.
Marinette remained worried. "But he got away with the help of the Peacock holder!"
"The Peacock is the least of our worries right now, Marinette. You need to relax and sleep to be ready for what comes next." Either Tikki finally relieved Marinette's fears or the girl gave way to tiredness because she didn't respond.
Tikki noticed Marinette was falling asleep and helped her to get back under the hospital blankets. As soon as her head hit the pillow Marinette was out like a light. Tikki smiled and laid next to Marinette's forehead.
2 for the price of 1! Sort of… It's been a long time coming and for that I apologize. I haven't really had the motivation. Season 4 of Miraculous was just so awful. The only good thing was Felix stealing Ladybug's Yoyo and manipulating Gabriel. It has dawned on me the monumental task that will be rewriting most of Season 4 on top of coming up with Miraculous lore we should have known by this point. Honestly, I've considered rewriting the entire series a few times.
The main thing I wanted to show in this chapter is a reason for why Hawk Moth doesn't just spam akumas all day and night. Given that adult Miraculous users can use their powers as many times as they want without transforming back, this is something that needed explaining and the show hasn't really done a good job on that front. Marinette isn't really ill here. It's more of a side effect from over use of the Miraculous after an akuma filled weekend.
Sometimes Miraculous feels written for the under preteens('They wouldn't understand it anyway mentality') demographic with how vague, wishy-washy and hand-wavy it is. It's stupid because the show is for preteens to young adults and has some themes I wouldn't approve for showing to my preteen nephews and nieces without parental guidance let alone younger children. The thing is preteens and older children will be able to understand the deeper lore and themes. So when Gabriel claims to have been looking for the Prodigious in Miraculous Shanghai for "15 years!" and this is not expanded upon in Season 4…
Emilie has been 'missing' for 2 years by the end of Season 4. This doesn't add up. There is something more going on and we still have barely any backstory.