Chloe sighed in exasperation before turning to the girl on her right.
"Sabrina, aren't you done yet?"
The ginger-haired girl looked up at her with large anxious eyes, her glasses falling down her nose.
"I'm so sorry, Chloe! I'm just finishing."
"And about time, too! It's ridiculous, utterly ridiculous how long it's taking you to finish polishing that brooch! Adrien's going to be here any second, and I wouldn't want to look anything but my best."
A voice from across the room spoke up suddenly.
"If you wanted that, you should have left the rubber jacket at home."
Chloe jerked around in her seat, hand going to her lightweight polymer cardigin in quick defense.
"What do you know, Cesaire? After all, you wouldn't know a Chanel from a knockoff or a diamond from a zirconia! Just look at what you're wearing. Or don't - It's giving me a headache just seeing it."
Alya Cesaire just glared back at her and went back to her conversation with Marientte Dupain-Cheng. Chloe huffed once more and turned to see Sabrina holding the brooch out to her. Chloe examined the silver emblem with care, watching for any speck of dust or tarnish in the intricate design, but Sabrina had been taught well over the years and not a spot could be seen. Chloe picked it up and held it to herself, first in one position and then another, looking at Sabrina for her opinion. But all she got from her best friend was a constant shower of praise and head nodding, none of which was helpful.
Chloe sighed again and looked down at the ornament.
"Oh, who cares? It's too big for something like school, anyway. It really should be saved for a gala or fashion show - I'd better not waste it on something as stupid as history class."
And with that, she shoved the brooch into her purse again just as the door opened and her old friend walked in, accompanied by a blast of cold air.
"Adrikins!" she called, waving at him to tear his attention away from the boy at his side - really, had Adrien no taste or sense of his position? - but Adrien just nodded to her and took his seat, still in conversation with Nino as he removed his coat. Chloe would have made a comment to emphasize her displeasure at her oldest friend, but Madame Bustier had followed the boys into the room and clapped her hands together.
"Alright, class. Let's begin!"
A long and tedious school day later, Chloe was exhausted and ready for some relaxation. Which, of course, meant a quick stop at all her favorite stores while Sabrina finished their homework. As they left the third fashion boutique, she looked around the street and said in disgust,
"Oh, don't tell me!"
Sure enough, there was a large monster stomping down the street, calling for Paris' superheroes. Today's monstrosity seemed to be some kind of floating creature, their octopus tentacles made out of bubbles - not Hawkmoth's classiest akuma to date. Chloe would have turned and walked back into the store, but a bubble suddenly latched onto her shoe.
"Hey!"
She tried to shake it off, but the more she shook, the harder it became, sticking her to the street as she moved it. In frustration, she turned back to the octopus monster, still making its way down the street.
"Hey, you! Look what you did to my new shoes!" she said, trying to stomp and failing for obvious reasons. "How am I supposed to get this off, you oversized sushi?!"
The monster turned and looked at her with its big, glassy eyes and raised a tentacle to point at her menacingly. It moaned softly and began to walk toward her in measuring steps, staring her down all the time. Chloe felt her heartbeat quicken, but she held the monster's eyes with hers - or rather, what she could see of them. They were dark, and glinting in the bubbles surrounding it. She suddenly saw one of its longer tentacles reach for the bubble surrounding her Gucci pump and she screamed.
"Somebody help me!"
From behind the akuma, a voice called out in answer.
"Hey! Over here!"
Both Chloe and the monster turned to see Sabrina waving her arms frantically a few feet away. The monster looked at her, then back at Chloe. Apparently it considered that Chloe was a better choice and would take less work to - what? To consume her energy? To engulf in a bubble? To use as a hostage in a Paris reenactment of King Kong? Every single one of these things had been done by past Akumas, and Chloe began to scream again as the tentacle came closer to her. Then, just as the first of the bubbles was about to connect with the bubble trapping her foot, a whizzing sound from above heralded by no more than a moment the sudden jerk around her waist. She was pulled from the ground and up onto the roof of the boutique, her left shoe left behind in the bubble monster's grasp. Chloe didn't even give this a thought as she glared at her rescuers.
"Well, it's about time! Did you bring my miraculous?" she demanded.
"Nice to see you too, Chloe." Chat Noir said sarcastically, while Ladybug just sighed and readied her yoyo. Suddenly, a scream from below caught all of their attention. Sabrina, too, had been caught by the bubble creation, and was now being engulfed in a bubble of her own, stuck up against the nearest building - unharmed, but trapped.
"Oh, so that's what it does!" Ladybug said in relief.
"Didn't he already do this one?" Chat Noir countered, as the two prepared to depart from the roof.
"What about me?" Chloe said quickly, but it was too late. They were gone, swinging - or vaulting, as the case may be - toward the monster, attacking its appendages and avoiding the projectile bubbles hurled in their directions. Chloe stomped her foot properly this time.
"Ugh! This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! You know, if you had someone with the Bee Miraculous," she shouted to the heroes, "you could just paralyze that thing right now!"
"Thanks, Chloe, really helpful information!" Ladybug screamed back at her, backflipping away from an incoming attack. Chloe stood there watching for a moment, then started pacing up and down impatiently, paying no more heed to the battle getting further and further away. After a period of time that seemed interminable, she finally saw the familiar shimmering swarm of ladybugs run through the city. She held her arms out, expecting to be transported back down to the sidewalk, and sure enough when she opened her eyes, she was back on the ground, her shoe on her foot once more. Sabrina dropped to the ground and ran right to her, reaching out her arms.
"Chloe! Oh, you're alright, I was so worried!"
Chloe scoffed at her, examining her shoe for any scuff marks.
"Right. So worried that you just watched me almost get absorbed by that monster and didn't do anything but wave your hand around!"
Sabrina took a step back and her eyes filled over with quick tears, but Chloe turned away and looked at her chauffeur. The placid Jean-Pierre was still standing motionless by the car, parked exactly where it had been before the attack.
"Can we go now, Jean-Lúc?"
"Of course, Miss." said her apparently implaccable chauffeur, moving to open the limousine door for her. Chloe stalked in. Sabrina followed her more slowly, holding back her sniffs as she did so. Chloe ignored the smaller girl and settled herself into the comfortable leather padding, pulling out her phone.
Scroll, scroll, scroll.
Like certain pictures and posts - not because of the post itself, but because of the person posting it.
A picture of her mother's latest protege - no matter how much she thought the girl looked like a watermelon slice in the pictured outfit, she clicked the "like" icon anyway.
A picture of Prince Ali of Achu - An immediate like and a quick comment about the "darling" the little children at the hospital, just to make sure.
"Ooh! Adrien's at another photo shoot! Oh, this candid shot is perfect!" Chloe gushed to her friend, holding out the phone with the appropriate picture open, then jerking it back as Sabrina reached for it. Sabrina quickly set her hands in her lap.
"Ugh." Chloe said, continuing to scroll. "Adrien liked another of Dupain-Cheng's pictures, and now my eyes hurt just looking at it! I mean, seriously! What kind of designer does she think she is - there are so many colors in this picture that it's giving me a headache."
She looked up just in time to see Sabrina quickly look away.
"What?"
"O-oh, I just… thought… I saw Ladybug. But I guess not."
Chloe went back to her phone in silence.
Clara Nightingale's latest photo? Like and double like.
A new update from Jagged Stone about his next single? A string of emojis in the comment section.
Chloe's eyes automatically glazed over any photo she thought unnecessary, but they alighted on a list of names and pictures.
Suggested Friends
She sighed and moved past it, but not before she saw something outside the usual collection of classmates and mutual acquaintances.
"Sabrina, am I not friends with you?"
Sabrina's attitude, which had been rather downcast and almost sullen, suddenly underwent a switch. She grabbed Chloe's hand and looked panicked as she exclaimed,
"What? Chloe, why would you say something like that?!"
Chloe pulled her hand away, saying quickly
"Oh, for heaven's sake! I meant online!"
Sabrina dropped her hand suddenly and turned away to the window.
"N-no, I sent you a request but you never answered."
Chloe looked down at the name in surprise.
"Huh. Weird. Well, I'll have to look at your profile to make sure it's up to standard before I accept, obviously, but if everything's in order, I don't see why I can't accept."
Sabrina nodded, still recovering from her bout of sobs as they arrived at the Grand Paris Hotel and Jean-Paul opened the door. Chloe exited first, as usual, and made her way to the door, not even acknowledging the uniformed men standing at attention outside.
"Honestly, this elevator takes for-ev-er! I should really talk Daddy into getting it replaced. I hear they have elevators in Japan that go twice this speed. Who do they think I am? Do they think I have time to waste sitting in elevators every day? It's ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!"
By the time Chloe finished this speech, she and her companion had gotten to their floor, walked down the hall, and reached the door of her suite. It was unlocked - obviously - and Chloe walked in without another care in the world.
Until she saw her reflection in the several mirrors visible from the door.
"Sabrina!" she shrieked, despite the fact that she knew the other girl was still right behind her. "How could you let me go out looking like this?!"
Sabrina quickly patted her arm and pulled her into the room with a gentle murmur, setting a chair in front of her and rushing to the bathroom for supplies. Chloe settled back and sighed in annoyance, deliberately not turning toward the window.
It was still too painful. She'd gotten rid of that stupid Bee signal as soon as possible, but every time she and Ladybug interacted, she felt that same pain again.
It didn't matter. Ladybug's opinion was irrelevant, utterly irrelevant.
Sabrina stumbled out of the bedroom, her arms full of outfits and hair styling instruments.
"Sorry it took so long! I just…"
She noticed something in Chloe's look, and stopped speaking. She handed Chloe a brush to hold, but it wasn't until she had placed each item gently on the couch that she spoke again. She didn't look at the other girl, but said as she straightened a blouse,
"You know, I… I know you might not like it, but I saved the parts of the Bee signal. The top part is still intact, we might be able to have it rebuilt!"
"Oh, what do you know about it?" Chloe snapped, hurling the hairbrush at the floor. "I threw that thing out because there isn't any use for it anymore. I'm not a superhero, I'm not the holder of that stupid box, and I'm not in New York with Mommy! So for once in your life, will you butt out?!"
Sabrina was perfectly still for a moment, then she straightened up, saying in a voice choked with tears,
"I have to go."
Without another word, she ran out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.
Chloe glared after her, long after the footsteps had faded away. Finally, she tore her eyes away from the door.
"Good riddance." she muttered under her breath. She rose and stalked over to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her and then leaning against it with a sigh.
So what if Sabrina decided to leave her? She'd find someone else. Sure, they wouldn't be Sabrina, but they could be trained - and they wouldn't ask her questions she didn't want to answer, either.
Chloe was just contemplating a bath when there was a knock on her outer door, and her father's voice as she poked her head out.
"Chloe, darling? May I come in?"
"It's open!" she called out in a clipped tone, walking toward the door herself. Her father, big and magnificent as always, walked in and smiled at her. But as always, his smile held a tiny glint of something more behind it, as if he wasn't entirely happy to see her.
"Chloe, dear… You haven't forgotten about the Grand Paris Christmas Gala tomorrow, have you? I thought you were meeting with Angie to go over the last few details, but she called me just now and told me she hasn't been in contact with you."
Chloe had reached the end of her temper. She stamped her foot.
"I don't care! She's old, and rude, and I didn't ask to be put in charge of the donations with her. I don't even want to go to the stupid party! No one there will be interesting, and I don't care about who's giving money to who! Now will everyone leave me alone!"
Her father took a step back. He looked at her gently, but his voice when he left was harder than he usually employed.
"Chloe, you may not have asked for it, but you are in a position of power along with me. I won't make you do anything, but I hope you know what this says to the rest of the world."
"I don't care what the rest of the world says!" Chloe shouted, hot tears in her eyes. "They've hated me for years, why is now any different?"
And with that, she ran into her bedroom, leaving her father standing alone in the doorway. She heard the door close for the second time that afternoon, but she was already wiping her eyes, hardening her expression once again. She looked into the mirror next to her bed as she sat down.
She saw her own reflection, but she was far from pleased with what she saw in it. Her blonde ponytail was drooping and the curls were almost gone. Her makeup was slightly smudged from her sudden tears, and her outfit was wrinkled and sagging. She huffed in annoyance and flopped down on her bed, yanking her hair loose and kicking off her designer shoes.
"Stupid Gala. Stupid akumas, stupid Paris, stupid superheros! Stupid, stupid, stupid…" she said violently, throwing her accessories through the room. "I don't care, I don't! So what if she doesn't think I'm worth it? I don't care, I don't want them, I don't need them, I don't!"
And with this, she smashed one last bottle - an expensive perfume her mother had given her instead of a birthday visit - into the wall and ran into the bathroom, her outburst relieving her mind considerably.
She didn't even glance toward the windows as she removed and reapplied her makeup, arranged her hair again, and chose a new outfit - the newest Vitalli - before walking out of her room and down the stairs to the main floor of the hotel.
"Jean-Auguste? I want a table of my own - now!"
Her butler snapped to attention and nodded, walking away without a word. Chloe stood in the lobby, idly watching the guests wander through, barely noticing the twinkling lights and hanging garlands, the trees and ornaments. Her attention was grabbed by a laugh, and she saw two familiar figures walking toward the hotel restaurant. They saw her and smiled, turning toward her.
"Bonjour, Chloe!" said the girl, as the boy beside her nodded. Chloe sighed.
"Mylene. Ivan. What are you doing here?"
Mylene seemed daunted, but continued speaking pleasantly.
"We're… It's Ivan's birthday this week, so we're on a date to celebrate."
Chloe nodded absently, looking past them to her butler, who was gesturing to her.
"Right. Well, I'm going to go now. Later, losers."
And she walked away, leaving the two of them standing there, not even noticing the look Mylene gave her, or the clenching of Ivan's fist.
A long, boring dinner, punctuated only by various chefs frantically offering delicacies to her, finally ended, and she left the dining room and marched straight up the stairs, ignoring the looks she got from patrons of the hotel.
She'd gotten enough nasty looks in her lifetime to almost make her immune.
Her usual evening routine was finished without even registering what she was doing. Her suite had been cleaned while she was at dinner, and the clothes that had been scattered around the floor, the items thrown across the room, and the shattered glass were all gone, leaving nothing, not even a scent of perfume, to indicate that her outburst had ever happened.
Trust her mother to send her stupidly weak perfume.
In her silver silk pajamas, she sat by her window and stared out at the skyline of her city in the darkness. She noticed a tiny shadow leaping from roof to roof, and knew that Chat Noir must be on patrol. She felt her anger rising in her again - she should have known that the superheroes of Paris were nothing more than selfish, stuck up-
She was still mentally categorizing the superheroes' flaws when she heard something. Or rather, she didn't hear it so much as sense it without any particular sense. She jerked her head around and stared into the darkness around her, certain she had been able to feel something. Something familiar and unexpected, something she didn't think she'd ever feel again.
"... Hello?" she called into the darkness.
There was no response. Chloe rolled her eyes at her own stupidity.
"Idiot. Kwami's can't be around without a miraculous."
"Well, not always." a voice said in her ear.
Chloe shrieked and fell off the window seat, looking around in panic until her eyes fell on a tiny form, floating by the window. Chloe blinked hard, rubbed her eyes, then looked again.
"... Pollen?"
The kwami smiled sadly at her.
"Greetings, my queen."
Chloe slowly rose to her feet and touched her hair gently, half expecting to feel the familiar comb sitting in her blonde locks.
It wasn't there. She looked back at the little bee kwami, who was still floating above her head.
"Pollen… how?"
She shook her head, saying simply
"We work in mysterious ways."
Chloe reached for her, but she just rose higher, her sad smile still on her face as she said
"You're no longer my holder, my queen, so I cannot be touched. It's an old rule, but still very powerful."
Chloe looked away from the little form as she felt a new emotion enter her. But quick as a flash, Pollen was in front of her, just out of arm's reach.
"My queen, I have a warning for you. You misused my powers and my Miraculous, but I still love you as if you were my holder, so I must tell you - you're going to destroy yourself if you go on like this."
"Go on like what?" Chloe said her voice surprisingly collected. The tiny creature didn't answer, but instead said simply
"You'll be receiving visitors tonight. They'll help you, but only if you let them. Please, my queen, I don't wish you to hurt yourself anymore, but this is all I can do for you."
"Why on earth would anyone want to help me? I don't need help."
The kwami looked even sadder, and said
"The first visitor will be here at midnight, my queen. I can tell you no more."
Chloe scoffed and turned her head, walking away.
"I don't believe this. You're not even here, are you? You can't be, there's no miraculous around!"
She got no reply. She turned around to see that there was nothing left of the tiny creature but a few tiny sparkles where he had been floating. She reached for them, but as soon as she saw them, they were gone.
Chloe stood there for a moment more, then shook her head and walked away, saying quietly
"Probably just another akuma or something."
A splash of cold water on her face, and she came back to herself. Pollen couldn't possibly have been there, there was no magic jewel around for her to have come from. Not only that, but why on earth would she have come to her, of all people? She had forced her kwami to do terrible things with her powers, had tried to kill Ladybug and Chat Noir, and had succeeded in almost killing the former Guardian of the Miraculous.
Pollen would have no reason to even come near her, let alone wish her well.
"Ugh." she said as she settled herself into bed. "This is ridiculous. Utterly Ridiculous."