Chloe screamed. She knew she had. She just couldn't hear herself over the pounding of her pulse. The man in front of her was so still, he might have been a statue, but she knew him at once.

"No! No, you're not here!"

He moved toward her, his step echoing in the empty square, even and straight and menacing.

"I assure you, this is very much real, Miss Bourgeois. Unlike your evening's travels. I hope you enjoyed your time with Volpina?"

Chloe looked past the man and saw the girl behind him, still laughing mockingly at her. She knew she was a sight for mockery - instead of the well-put-together face she always managed to save, she knew she looked precisely as she felt.

Trapped.

"You're not here. You can't be here! It's another trick!" she screamed at him. With a small smile, he reached forward and touched her shoulder. The sensation almost made her pass out.

"Neither an illusion nor a sentimonster. A particularly inventive touch from my dear Volpina, wasn't it? You never would have suspected a thing once you knew you could be touched."

At this, he pressed a hand to his miraculous… no, his two miraculous. Chloe suddenly realized that he wore a new ornament, a brooch with a peacock pattern.

"And as for the illusions," he continued on, "Volpina was most arduous in her research - she could create the scenes to perfection. And if it wasn't quite as you expected it… Well, that didn't seem to come into question."

"It was all fake?" Chloe managed to say, her voice only trembling slightly. Hawkmoth was still smiling at her.

"Of course it was fake - but what does it matter? It was real to you, and that's all that I needed."

Suddenly, Volpina appeared directly behind him and made a movement, the smirk on her face causing even more chills to run down Chloe's spine. Out of the flute came two figures.

Two almost identical figures.

Chloe once more was looking at herself, her two selves she had seen earlier that night.

"Mommy must be coming home soon, right Daddy?" said the younger one with a look of innocent trust in her eyes, still ignorant of her future pain.

"What do you mean, I can't go with you? I thought we'd be together this Christmas! I want you to be here for Christmas!" said the elder, with a stomp of her foot. Chloe shook her head, trying to dislodge the vision, trying not to hear them as they continued to parrot their phrases without a pause.

Then, she opened her eyes and saw herself.

Not a younger version, but her own self. As if a mirror had been placed before her, she saw herself as she had been just a few hours ago. Chloe tried to back up, but tripped on the pavement and lost her balance, landing hard on the ground.

"What do you know about it?!" shouted down the figure in front of her. "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, Sabrina, will you butt out?!"

Chloe reached out and tried to touch the figure, to thrust the vision away, but as quickly as it became smoke, it rearranged itself and continued to shout. Finally she managed to pick herself up and move away from it, glaring at the man in front of her, yet knowing her voice was trembling.

"What you do you want from me, Hawkmoth?"

He held up a hand to Volpina, who whisked the apparitions away. Hawkmoth sounded almost surprised as he responded

"Why, your cooperation. Haven't you missed our mutually beneficial interactions?"

Chloe took a step back in panic.

"Leave me alone! I'm not a superhero, I'm not powerful, I'm not anything! I'm nothing! No one wants me, no one needs me!"

"On the contrary - I need you. I want your help. Haven't you had enough of this? All these people judging you, seeing only the parts of you they want to see? I can help you through that - after all, that's what they've all done to me."

Chloe froze at that.

"What do you mean?"

"Why, only that Paris seems to see you the way they see me. A force of evil. An entity to avoid angering at all costs. Haven't you ever wondered why your own father never denies you anything? Why your classmates stop whispering the moment you enter the room? What the public thinks when their Mayor is being ordered around by his daughter?"

"I know that already! They all hate me, but that's not enough this time, Hawkmoth - I won't let you in, I won't!"

"Oh, my dear Chloe… It's far too late for that."

And with that, his cane opened. Chloe knew what came next. She knew what she would see. As if it was in slow motion, she saw the tiny, shimmering purple butterfly flit out and make its way to her. It would hit her. She would be under his control again. She saw his face of triumph, Volpina's face of utter glee, the butterfly about to touch itself against her hair even as she moved back and screamed again. A scream of terror, of hurt, of remorse. She shut her eyes.

And then… there was a sound. A familiar sound. A sound that she couldn't believe.

A whizzing, a snap, and a voice.

"Hold it right there, Hawkmoth!"

Chloe forced herself to open her eyes.

A group of figures landed a few feet away from them and stood up. Four of them.

The leader spoke.

"Let her go. Now."

Hawkmoth's smile made Chloe cringe even farther, pushing herself against the edge of the parapet.

"Ladybug. What a surprise. And the rest of your friends, too. How delightful. Did you enjoy my latest Akuma?"

Ladybug glared at him, the rest of the group followed suit.

"So it was a distraction! I thought so! Now what do you want with her?"

"I should think that was obvious, Ladybug. Or perhaps becoming the Guardian has weakened your mind?"

Ladybug put out her hand and stopped Chat Noir from leaping at the man in front of them. Rena Rouge was glaring, not at Hawkmoth, but at her less-than-complimentary double. Carapace held his shield in front of him, leaving only his eyes exposed, but they were filled with the rage of someone who isn't easily angered.

Chloe suddenly realized all eyes were away from her, and she slowly began to move away from the group.

She'd only forgotten about one thing.

"Gotcha!"

Volpina dragged her forward through the fake Rena had been staring down, then let her go, causing Chloe to lose her balance. She would have tripped and fallen on the ground, but she was caught.

By Hawkmoth. Before she knew where she was, Chloe had been seized and was being held with a cane to the throat.

"Not so fast, Miss Bourgeois. I think we still have some things to discuss. Volpina, if you would?"

Volpina ran forward, waving her flute in front of her. Suddenly there was an entire crowd of Volpinas, all running and shouting. The heroes ran forward, trying to destroy the fakes and find their real opponent, while Hawkmoth dragged Chloe back with him. He threw her down on the pavement once more, then quickly opened up his cane again.

"No more distractions!"

And once more, Chloe saw the familiar purple wings flying at her.

She couldn't move.

She couldn't prevent it.

No one would be coming to her rescue.

It touched her. Just the lightest touch, a flutter of wings against the small earring she wore. In panic, she heard the familiar voice, saw the familiar purple outline in her vision despite her closed eyes.

"I see your pain, your indecision. But doesn't this feel right? This power you could have? Everyone sees you as the villain anyway, isn't the best course of action simply to prove them right? Wouldn't you rather save yourself the trouble and simply accept your place in the world? After all, everyone always compares you to me, talks behind your back about how you're following in my footsteps - wouldn't you rather prove them right?"

Chloe heard noises around her, the sounds of a battle, of shouts. She tried to focus on them, tried to ignore the pounding in her head, the persistent voice, the knowledge that she could give in. That she could agree, and it could be all too easy.

She had to fight. She couldn't let him win again.

She wouldn't.

She'd been fighting him for months. Every night, she saw him in her dreams. He haunted her every time she saw a whispered conversation, a nasty look, an unkind laugh. Everything she had become, she could blame on him.

"Of course. Blame it on me. I don't mind. Everything you've become is due to me, after all. I've caused everything you've become. Before me, you were just a spoiled girl. But with my help, you can become something powerful. You can become the most powerful version of yourself. No one ever respected you before. Even I didn't always understand your desires, but now, you will be able to show everyone who you really are - a true villainess in the making."

Chloe shook her head, screamed, tried everything she could to get him out of her head again, to prevent herself from giving in, to stop herself from letting him do what he had already done so many times to her.

Or… had he?

There was something different about this time. In the past, she had been eager to accept, to prove herself, to take the powers he was giving her. Now, here she was. Struggling with every fiber of her being to reject him.

Suddenly, a flash of memory stole through his control.

"No, Hawkmoth! I am a Superheroine! Ladybug will come and get me when she needs me - I'll never join you!"

She'd rejected him once. She had rejected him once. She'd been able to. How?

She'd been a superhero then. She'd known that Ladybug might need her someday. She'd known she would have someone on her side in that choice, she had someone to make the choice for.

Now… who was she going to be saving if she gave in? No one would care, no one would even be surprised. Everyone thought she was the villain anyway. No one would save her again.

Then, another snatch of memory.

"She was just so awful, even when she knew I was just trying to help!"

A high pitched voice, a flash of ginger hair.

Sabrina. Sabrina wouldn't care.

"No one would even be surprised. Young Mademoiselle Raincomprix in particular, don't you remember?"

Chloe shook her head, trying to dislodge his voice, but beginning to lose her strength.

Sabrina. Would her last clear thought be of her friend?

In the back of her mind, something came to her. A single sentence, spoken in jest by the man in front of her.

"Of course it was fake - but what does it matter?"

It was all fake. It had all been fake.

Sabrina's words had been fake.

But there were a few words that were not.

"I saved part of the Bee signal - maybe we could put it back together."

She always believed Chloe could be a superhero again, even after she had irrevocably destroyed her chances.

She had destroyed them.

She.

Not Hawkmoth.

She. Chloe Bourgeois.

She had destroyed her chances at being a superhero. Her own actions and pride. She'd taken his akuma willingly all those months ago. She had known what she was doing, she'd wanted it. She hadn't been controlled, she'd been the one controlling others.

She had. Not him.

But that meant…

That meant he had no control over her. He never had. Her powers, perhaps, but never her.

With the most effort she had ever had to use in her life, she raised herself to her knees and opened her eyes. She saw him standing above her. She saw the glowing frame around his face and knew there was a matching one around her.

And then she opened her mouth and spoke aloud, breathing heavily.

"I… Am not…Your tool."

Hawkmoth's eyes widened, and a sudden fog engulfed her brain. She forced her way through it, holding on to one thought.

"I am not your tool!"

She tried to catch him off guard, but he stopped her hand before it could reach her earring. It was held there in midair, Chloe straining against his mental hold on her to reach the akumatized object. She locked eyes with him. Those eyes which haunted her every day.

"I am not yours to control!"

Another inch.

"I will never let you control me again!"

Closer and closer. Hawkmoth's eyes were wide now, with a tinge of unease. Chloe grit her teeth and moved her hand another inch.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Head." She said through her clenched teeth.

Hawkmoth tried to swing at her, but his cane was blocked by a silver staff.

"Chloe! I believe there's good in you, there always has been!" Chat Noir said as he parried Hawkmoth's cane away. Hawkmoth's eyes were still locked onto the blonde's, still battling for dominance within her mind. But that one sentence Chat Noir had uttered was enough.

Chloe let out a scream. A scream that held every pent up emotion. The pain of seeing herself shunned, the shame of her own actions, the anger at this man who used her and her emotions for his own gain.

And with a final effort, she reached up and wrenched the earring away.

She felt ripping pain in her ear as she threw it away from her, heard it clatter to the ground, then saw a red-booted foot crash down on it.

"That's it, Hawkmoth! Playtime's over!"

Chloe dropped to the ground, exhausted. She couldn't move her legs. Her ear was screaming in pain, and when she brought her hand back to it, it was wet.

And yet… She wasn't scared. She wasn't afraid. She was angry, she was exhausted, and she was shaking, but she wasn't afraid.

She'd beaten him. After so many months of fear, she'd beaten him. She'd shown herself to have more strength than he would ever know, more strength than even she herself knew.

She heard sounds of fighting around her, footsteps farther away, shouts of rage and frustration, and something Hawkmoth said, though she couldn't identify the words. All she could feel was her own breathing, the ground beneath her, the searing pain in her ear.

Suddenly, she was turned onto her back. She opened her eyes cautiously to see four heads above her, looking at her worriedly.

"Chloe! Talk to us! Are you okay?" Ladybug asked, running her hands over the girl's frame, trying to find any other injury. Chloe coughed and cleared her throat.

"The akuma… what happened to it?"

"It's destroyed, Dudette. It's been let go already." Carapace said, helping her to sit up. Rena stared at her ear in horror.

"Chloe, your ear - what did you do?"

Chloe tried to find a witty comeback, but couldn't. All she could do was say, between unsteady breaths,

"My earring… was the akuma."

"That was the bravest thing I've ever seen anyone do, Chloe." Chat Noir said, looking at her gravely. Chloe glanced at all the rest of them, gathered around her as she sat on the ground, but couldn't think of anything to say. Then Ladybug smiled at her. A real smile, the way she used to smile at Queen Bee.

"Chloe, I… I don't even know what to say. What he did to you, it was awful. I don't even know what came before that - but you managed to resist an akuma after he'd already taken control? That's something even I couldn't do!"

Chloe looked up at her idol in surprise.

"You… you've been akumatized?"

"Once." she said in response, looking grave. "And thank goodness it didn't last. But you managed to resist it and get the akumatized item away from you? I didn't think anyone else could do that!"

Chloe managed a shade of her old smirk and said with a hint of pride,

"Shows what you know. I've done it twice."

"Twice!?"

The faces around her were shocked, awed, and even impressed, and Chat Noir laughed outright.

"I told you, Milady! I told you it could be done."

"Wha- You- When?!" Rena spluttered. Chloe looked up at her and flashed her a grin.

"Last year- Ah!"

She clapped her hand to her bleeding ear and looked up at Ladybug.

"Do you think your Lucky Charm could make a bandage?"

Ladybug looked down at her and smiled broadly.

"I'll do you one better. Thank goodness this Lucky Charm was yours."

She stood up and flung an object into the air, her shout echoing in the darkness just before dawn.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

And as she threw it up in the air, Chloe saw a familiar shape.

A red and black spotted comb, the bee design just visible in the early morning light.

And there we go! Our ghosts are finished. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter - Chloe is such an interesting and multi-layered character (in everything except canon, because come on Astruc) and I love writing her as such. Next week will be the final chapter, which ended up getting away from me so hard. Literally, it takes up a third of my document for this story. But it ties up a lot of plot threads that were introduced, so I don't think it's a waste.

A quick note on comments - Please be nice while commenting, and if you see any nasty comments on this work, please just ignore them. I want this work to be kind and pleasant for people to read, and nasty comments just fuel a cycle of anger and aggression I really don't want to be a part of.

Thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you next week for our last chapter!