"Miraculous Team in Miraculous Trouble?"

"Animan Shows Us Why Teenagers Shouldn't be Saving Paris."

"Ladybug and Faon Vert Fans, What Do They Think?"

Feeling nauseous, I shut off my phone, wanting to just throw it off the highest point I could find. Leave it to the public to blow things out of proportions, it hasn't changed at all .

Watching as another group of students redirect their paths to avoid me, I sigh. I must look terrible right now, with hair even messier than usual, eye bags and a face that would probably make Medusa jealous. Not to mention this overwhelming aura of anger and shame. Shanger, if you will, or, aname?

Gods why did I think that? Get it together Julian.

Even Alix and Nathaniel decided to give me some space after watching me physically restrain myself from biting their heads off (the fact that I wanted to snap at them only makes me feel worse). Either that or they're just distancing themselves for when I inevitably blow up.

Which already happened, not like anyone knows that, gods, superhero alter egos are such a pain. Now it's more like a simmering boil of shanger... Or aname.

Flipping a page in frustration, I try to read up on the upcoming particle physics test, but it's all just messed up jargon at this point. I'd like to show Ms. Mendeleive a stage blocking diagram, see how she likes it.

"Damn kid. I didn't know ya were capable of such ferocity." Ossi comments after another group of students skitter past me. I groan and slam my book shut, scaring the group of students who quickly break off into a run away from me.

"I'm just so… shangry! Gah why do I keep saying that!?" I run my hands through my hair before dragging it down over my face.

"Kid, I get it! Teammates fight over things all the time. Ya ain't the first one to struggle with limitations." Ossi tries to cheer me up for the hundredth time. "I really think ya should talk to Ladybug about it."

I huff, quietly opening my book again so that I at least look like I'm being productive. "Maybe… But how can I be sure that she won't just lie to me again?"

The Kwami went quiet for a while. "I… don't know." He ends up muttering.

Dejectedly flipping a page, I sigh again, I'll probably have the world record of sighing by the end of the day, provided I don't run out of oxygen by the constant exhaling first.

"Out of my way!"

A shrill voice alerts me to the door, Chloé walks into the courtyard, looking extremely haggard and upset, kind of like me. Even her makeup looks a little sloppy, and she's wearing the same shoes as yesterday too.

Something's wrong.

"Strange… She didn't show up with Sabrina…" I muttered to Ossi, who had been peeking out of my book discreetly, the two of us shared a look.

"Ya think the two of 'em fought?" The Kwami asks.

I shrug. "Wouldn't be a surprise, they don't really have the healthiest of friendships…" I stare at the blonde stomp up the stairs towards our classroom alone. Letting out a groan, I start packing up my things.

"Whaddya doing?" Ossi asks curiously.

"Something's clearly not right with her." I grumble, strapping my bag on my shoulder. "I need to make sure she's okay."

"But why? She hasn't been good to ya at all!"

"Maybe… But I have my doubts." I make the track up to my classroom. "I don't know how to explain it, but during the World's Greatest Chef competition, she was… Nicer?"

"How was the brat in any way, nicer?" Ossi grumbles from my pocket.

I sigh again. "I don't know! It's just, when I think about it, why would she take me to a quiet place to yell at me when she never did that before? Or, why would she try to give me advice on how to get over my stage fright?"

"Kid I think the sleep deprivation's getting to ya, why dontcha take a nap and rethink this whole 'talking to Chloé' thing?"

"Too late." I mumble, opening the doors to the classroom and shutting Ossi up for now. Since class doesn't really start in another half an hour or so, most students haven't really shown up yet, a majority of them really arriving around five or so minutes before and after (Marinette varies between ten to thirty minutes late). For now, only Chloé is here, surprisingly, she and Sabrina are often the ones earliest to class, followed by Adrien, ever the perfect student, maybe she just wants to be the first to greet him or something.

At the sound of me closing the door, the blonde looks up, a smile on her face which immediately turns into a scowl when her eyes meet mine. " You're not Adrien. What are you doing here?"

Huh. It was a joke, but apparently she is always here early to be the first to greet Adrien...

Should I start doing that too? Or would that make me too creepy?

Wait, she just asked me a question.

I freeze in place. "W-Well, I just- I mean- I wanted to-"

"Spit it out Julian! I'm not in the mood for this." She interrupts, glaring at me. "And why do you always look worse the more I see you?"

I frown, frustration overriding my anxiety. "Y-You don't really look like you're winning any beauty pageants soon too you know."

"You-" The blonde stands up, glaring at me. "How dare you speak-" A loud yawn interrupts her offended speech and she lays on the table, defeated. "Forget it…" She groans.

Feeling a small twinge of pity for her, I take a step closer. "I just wanted to ask if you're alright, but now I know the answer."

It's no, definitely no, I've never seen Chloé just give up on an opportunity to insult someone like that before.

"Yeah well congratulations." She rolls her eyes, not saying anything else (my gods is she dying?) as the room falls into an uncomfortable silence.

Shifting from feet to feet awkwardly, I gulp. "D-Do you, umm… Do you want to talk about it?"

The blonde's head shoots up, too tired to mask the shock. "What're you saying?"

I wince, rubbing the back of my neck, embarrassed. "You know, when you're feeling bad, talking about it helps." I sigh internally, feeling like the biggest hypocrite in the world.

Chloé remains speechless, staring at me as if I just admitted to kicking puppies for fun. I dig my heels against the floor awkwardly, before sighing, she's not gonna say anything unless I do.

"Is Sabrina mad at you?" I prompt, wondering why her best friend isn't around right now.

The blonde actually laughs . "Sabrina? Mad at me? " She laughs again before shaking her head. "Impossible, she adores me."

Okay, so asking that way isn't going to work. "Are you mad at her?" I rephrase my question.

She hesitates, clearly debating between something before huffing. "So what if I am? Stay out of this, Julian!"

I sigh, doubting that I'll be getting anything more than that. "Alright, I will." Rubbing my shoulder, I start walking to my seat, sitting down with a grunt.

"Well, that was a disaster." Ossi whispers to me.

I hum. "She didn't use the video."

"What?"

I shrug. "She didn't threaten to upload the video." I stare at her sleeping on her table. "There were a lot of opportunities to bring it up, but she didn't."

"Kid, I think thatcha looking into things too deep."

I sigh. "Maybe…"

As I say that, the doors to the class opens again. This time, Chloé's actual target enters.

"Good morning Adrikens~!" She coos, waving at him.

"Good morning Chloé." The model gives her a small smile before looking at me. Surprise covering his features before smiling a little brighter (a small part of me felt proud of that, take that Chloé) before walking to me.

"Good morning Julian, you're here early." The blond comments, before noticing my exhausted features and frowning. "Are you okay? You look…"

Sighing, I put my hood on, trying to hide my embarrassingly red face away from him. "Like a mess. I know. Good morning."

"Well, at least you're not the only one." He gestures to his own eyes, which now under closer inspection seems to have makeup covering some dark circles too, probably there from studying too hard.

I snort. "Thank you, I feel so much better now knowing that we're suffering together." I say sarcastically.

The blond snickers, but before he could say anything, lets out a huge yawn. Blushing immediately, I look away.

Oh my gods he yawns like a kitten. My brain unhelpfully supplies as I do my best to not physically bury my face in my hands. How am I supposed to handle this with a brain at ten percent of its power?

"You must be pretty prepared for the test, huh?" I ask, definitely in a normal voice, and definitely not in the form of a whimper. I can practically hear Alix laughing at me.

"Huh?" Adrien asks, voice drippy with sleep.

I laugh awkwardly. "The particle physics test? You were staying up all night studying right? That's why you got dark circles under your eyes?"

"...Oh!" The blond jumps, looking at me with wide eyes. "Yes! That's right, the… test!"

I tilt my head to the side in question. "Was… That not the reason why you didn't sleep?"

"O-Of course it is! Stress from the test! That's it!" The model scratches the back of his neck, flustered as the classroom doors open again, a bunch more students coming in now. "I need to get to my seat, see you later!" The blond rushes away.

What just happened? I think, staring at his retreating form. Adrien must be pretty tired too.

Although… He hadn't really been so out of it during any of the previous important exams. Actually, now that I think about it, I've never actually seen him stressed out for exams, especially particle physics ones.

Could he be worrying about something else? Like me?

I shake my head at the thought. Of course not, Ossi's right, I'm overthinking things way too much right now.

An hour later, the rest of the class and I are taking the dreaded particle physics exam, Ms. Mendeleiev walked between the tables to observe us. Having studied for none of this, I give up on trying entirely, randomly filling in the questions I don't know about while glancing worriedly between Adrien and Chloé's form. Even if one of them is a genius and the other's the biggest brat in the world (guess which one's which), neither of them should suffer being as sleep deprived as I am. Nathaniel looks at me worriedly too from time to time, but is otherwise too preoccupied with the test to say anything.

"OW!" I jump at the blonde's sudden yelp. Chloé looks around the room frantically.

"What is it Chloé?" The teacher asks.

"Someone pulled my hair!"

Ms. Mendeleiev turns to look at Mylene sitting behind her. "I didn't do it Ms. M!"

Chloé stands up. "It wasn't her, it's-it's some invisible mystical being. Like a leprechaun. Or a unicorn without the horn!" She tries to explain. Unfortunately, such an unbelievable explanation only caused the entire class to laugh at her. I bite the tip of my pencil, worried. So she's being harassed by something invisible? Combined with Sabrina's disappearance and the fact that Chloé is mad at her...

I need to get out of here.

"Oh, it's happening again!" Chloé shrieks, wrestling with her purse. Setting my pencil down, I quickly submitted my answers (I was going to fail it anyways), taking advantage of the distraction to sneak out of class.

"Chloé! Sit down!" The teacher orders.

"I can't! My purse is beating me up!"

Closing the classroom door quietly behind me, I take off to the bathroom.

"Chloé must've not been able to sleep cause of the invisible thing." Ossi theorizes, flying out with the pen.

I nod. "Seems like it, it's time to transform. Ossi, Horns Drawn!"

Ossi immediately dives into the tip of the pen, causing a deer head to appear in front of it. Swiping the pen across my eyes, the mask gets drawn and materializes onto my face, I drag the pen from my left hand back to my right as a brown suit slowly starts to appear from my arms towards the rest of my body. Twirling the pen around effortlessly as it slowly grows longer, I toss it upwards before reaching towards my back and pulling up a newly made hoodie, ears on its side and antlers on top as I catch the pen which has turned into blowgun as I lean against it with a lazy smile and a peace sign raised in the air.

Climbing back up to the class entrance, the door opens just as Chloé crashes into me.

"Come with me if you want to live." Wrapping my arms around her, I quickly move out of the way, a flurry of pens hitting the spot where we once were. Sparing one last glance at the class, I leap out of the school and towards her home.

"What are you doing!? Where's Ladybug!?" I hear her scream, struggling in my grip.

"Hey! Would you calm down? I'm trying to save you here." I bite out, nearly losing my balance.

The blonde trashes about even more. "Forget it! I'm not letting some Ladybug hater save me!"

Ah, so she's a Ladybug fan. Wincing slightly at the memory of my outburst and the public's interpretation of it, I hold her steady anyways. "Yeah well too bad, I'm getting you home and that's final. You can get some sleep until Ladybug arrives, how does that sound?"

There was no response, but she did stop resisting, so that's a plus. Sighing, I leap all the way to Le Grand Paris Hotel, opening the doors into her room and-

"Woah." I look at the scene with wide eyes. Everything was trashed, clothes strewn about and ruined, walls spray painted with harsh and cruel words and furniture just thrown around everywhere.

"Finally! Took you long enough!" The blonde says, walking towards where I assume is her bedroom, where even the bed's toppled over. As she stares at the scene, my hearing picks up an almost indiscernible sigh, which tugs at my heartstrings a little too much.

"Here." I walk past her and flip the bed back, frowning at the graffiti still drawn around here. "Go ahead and rest, alright? I'll wake you up when Ladybug's here."

The blonde scoffs. "As if I could trust you with anything Ladybug related."

I wince. "Alright, I deserve that." Looking around, I sigh. "Fine, do whatever you want. Assuming that the Akuma can't fly, you'll have some time alone. I'll be on guard outside your bedroom if you need anything."

Leaving her room, I shut the door quietly and lean against it, expanding my hearing, immediately hearing some quiet snores through the door, I scoff good-heartedly. Looking around her vandalized room, I can't help but feel bad for the girl. No one deserves such ridicule, hopefully Ladybug can fix it, even if the Mayor can definitely afford the repairs, the faster the graffiti is removed, the better.

Speaking of the Mayor… I take out my blowgun, dialing his number.

"Hello?" His voice rings through the weapon.

"Mayor Bourgeois? This is Faon Vert, you need to get back immediately, your daughter is in trouble."

"What? What happened!?" The voice asks frantically.

I frown. "Chloé's being targeted by an Akuma, her room is destroyed and it's been bothering her at school."

"What? That is unacceptable! I shall organize a press conference at once! To ruin her reputation is to ruin the reputation of Paris itself!"

I sigh. "Sir, wouldn't it be better if you just get over here and talk to her?"

"Nonsense! Protect her at all costs, I shall order some servants to clean her room in the meantime!" The Mayor orders before promptly hanging up.

Staring at my blowgun in bewilderment, I glance back at Chloé's shut room. Her father clearly loves her, he just has different priorities when it comes to showing it.

I sigh, it's messed up how similar we are sometimes, in another timeline, would I have ended up like her?

Pushing others away to protect yourself, I do it too, the only difference was the methods we used.

The elevator doors ding and for a moment I tensed up in fear that it would be Ladybug, fortunately it was only the hotel staff, an army of them, each holding a specific cleaning equipment as they immediately began deep cleaning the room.

"Mr. Faon Vert." I turn to the butler addressing me, a remote in his hands. "Mayor Bourgeois has begun his press conference, would you like to watch?"

I think, before nodding. "Sure, just turn the TV on, I'll be able to hear it from here." I instruct, leaning against Chloé's door. The butler bows, saying a "yes sir" before walking towards the living room, the TV powering up soon after.

"Damaging my daughter's reputation is the same as soiling the reputation of the Mayor of Paris, umm, which is me ." I snort, what's up with the Mayor's sudden brain fart? "And an attack on Chloé is an attack on Paris!" He declares, and I sigh again. Man, how does Paris even get anything done with a Mayor like that.

"We'll find the culprit, Mr. Bourgeois. You have my word." Perking up at the sound of Chat Noir's voice, I can't help but smile, before remembering how horribly the last time we met went.

If Chat Noir is here, Ladybug is too, should I just leave? No way they would be happy to see me.

The snoring continues from behind me, snapping me out of my thoughts as I shake my head. What am I thinking? Chloé's a civilian in trouble, no way I'll just leave her alone.

As the elevator doors ding again, I look around in shock, the entire apartment looks pretty much as good as before, not a single stain of graffiti anywhere, gotta hand it to the Mayor and his crew, they know how to maintain a hotel.

"Chloé, my darling! We got special guests for you!" The Mayor declares, and upon hearing the sudden sounds of frantic movement behind me, I take a step away from the door just as it bursts open. Chloé, looking refreshed and as good as new, lets out a squeal.

"Ladybug!" She runs out of her room, tackling her in a hug. "I knew you'd come to save me! You know, considering what good friends we are!" She praises, hugging her again before giving me a harsh glare. "Sorry, you're no longer needed, Deer boy, you can leave now."

Suddenly being put on the spot, I lock eyes with my two teammates(?) before looking away, an awkward air permeated the room.

"I'm not leaving…" I try to find my next couple of words. "Until the Akuma is captured."

Ladybug says nothing, and I don't know how she's looking either, since I'm refusing to make any further eye contact out of shanger.

"Sir, would it be alright if we investigate the room a little?" Chat Noir finally breaks to silence, to which I am immensely grateful for.

"Certainly! I'll show you the worst of it!" The Mayor leads the blond towards the closet. I look at him with a raised eyebrow, this is his first time stepping foot in the room, how does he know what's affected the worst?

"My servants notified me that all of my daughter's clothing was gone! " He wails as Chat opens the closet to investigate as Ladybug fights off a Chloé who is busy clamoring all over her to take photos. "I have to put out an emergency call to all the biggest designers. Can you imagine? My daughter wearing department-store clothing? How humiliating."

I scoff. Seriously? Hard to believe that he would prioritize her daughter's fashion sense over her emotional wellbeing from the horrible slurs written on the walls. If I was Chloé I would be gutted, I guess it's a good thing that the actual Chloé is too busy taking a BFF photo with her favorite superhero.

The investigation moved on to the living room, Ladybug displaying all the important security camera footage on the large TV screen.

"Have you had any run-ins with anyone lately?" The spotted superheroine asks Chloé.

"I never have run-ins with anyone. Everybody absolutely loves me." The blonde responds, and I hum, that's… about as Chloé of an answer as you can get, I suppose.

"Really?" Ladybug isn't convinced (naturally), picking up a broken picture frame off the floor, on it displays Chloé and Sabrina. "Not even with your closest friend?" She holds the photo out to her.

"Oh, Sabrina?" Chloé snickers. "Impossible, she adores me, I'm her idol!"

Ladybug sighs exasperatedly, walking to the Mayor. "Your daughter's safe here with the doors and windows locked. This enemy may be invisible, but it can't go through walls." She explains before getting hugged again by the blonde.

"I'm sure you'll make my life perfect again! Just like it was before!" Chloé declares. Ladybug groans before shrugging out of the hug, grabbing Chat Noir and walking out of the door, me trailing quietly behind them. Ladybug is acting weird, honestly, she always seems to act weird whenever she's around Chloé, maybe she just doesn't like the upper class?

The cat hero notices this too. "Is something up?" He asks her, sparing me a glance as I shrug. "You seem…"

"She's hiding something." Was all Ladybug said in response, pressing the elevator button.

As the doors open, Ladybug seems to falter. "Hey, Faon?"

Jumping at my name, I look at her. "Y-Yeah?"

She fiddles with her hands, looking anywhere else but me. "I think you should stay behind and look after Chloé, make sure that she's safe."

"I-" I stare at her, mouth agape. " What? " Sharing a look with Chat, who looks equally surprised, my lips curl into a frown. " Seriously? "

The girl says nothing, which leads me to huff. "Fine, whatever, I'll watch you on the cameras." I grumble, turning around and stomping away as the elevator doors close.

Trying to erase Ladybug and Chat Noir's guilt-ridden face out of my mind, I storm back into the Mayor's home.

"Ew, what are you doing back here?"

Oh my gods, can I not catch a break? I glare at the spoiled blonde who's glaring right back at me. That's it. I step a step towards the girl, who loses her confident façade as she takes a step away from me.

"Now listen 'ere." I growl, taking another step closer. "Hate me as much as ya want now, but by the end of the year, we're gonna be best friends." I threaten. "And not that messed up friendship thatcha have with Sabrina, no. The good kind, the kind thatcha can gossip about boys with, or go out to buy shoes with." I snatch the remote out of her hands. "We're gonna be Best. Friends. Forever. Mark my words." I say ominously before turning the volume up on the TV.

"I- You-" The blonde was speechless, which makes me want to laugh, but we have an Akuma to stop now.

Looking at the camera footage, Ladybug and Chat Noir had caught up with the butler that spoke to me just now in the lobby.

"Whatever you tell us won't go any farther than this room." Ladybug persuades, and I sigh, wondering if I should just turn off the footage, but Chloé probably wouldn't like that, and it's herself that's being harassed by the Akuma, naturally she would want to hear this.

The butler hesitates, and for a moment I swear that he spares a glance at the camera recording this, but relents. "Mademoiselle… Did have a run-in with someone."

After that, the butler explained how Chloé and Sabrina often play pretend with said butler, the former dressing up as Ladybug and her best friend either taking the role of Chat Noir or Faon Vert (adorable, but I'm not gonna bring it up for the sake of her dignity.) Two days ago, Butler was playing the role of Big Mustachio, a villain set on giving everyone in Paris a horrendous moustache. (" Wow, what a hairy situation" , Chat jokes, which earned a groan from everyone, including me.) Chloé, in her search for the villain, crashed an interview on Jagged Stone, where she pretended to be Ladybug. It seemed to be working too, until Sabrina crashed the interview, leading Chloé to be completely humiliated on television. After that, the two of them had a huge falling out, which led to Chloé completely shutting her best friend out. Not even acknowledging her again.

" The invisible person is obviously Sabrina." Ladybug confirms my suspicions, and the TV suddenly goes quiet.

Looking at my side, I noticed that Chloé had gotten a hold of the remote and had muted that TV.

"Impossible." She says, sitting down on a nearby chair. "She's too weak to do something so bold, especially to me. Ladybug's wrong!" She adds, not sounding as confident as before.

I sigh. "It doesn't matter how strong or weak someone is, what matters is how they feel." I give the blonde a pointed look, which she's trying to ignore. "Sabrina clearly feels strongly about your friendship Chloé, she wouldn't be Akumatized if she wasn't."

"Yeah? Well, it's her fault for taking it so seriously." The blonde finally argues back.

I shake my head. "Sorry, I don't think you really believe that."

"Yeah, well, how would you know?" She changes the topic, but that's alright, one baby step at a time.

I shrug, smirking a little. "I'm just immune to lies, call it a quirk of mine."

"Look out Ladybug!" My hearing picks up Chat's shout from the lobby, looking back at the screen, I gasp at the two of them fighting with an invisible being, now known as Akumatized Sabrina.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir are in trouble, I'm going to help them." I give Chloé a look. "Stay here, okay?"

"No way!" She shouts, running to her room, ignoring my yells of protests. Chasing after her, I suddenly stop at the sound of a zipper unzipping. Oh no, there's no way I can morally enter the room now. Nope. Not risking it.

After an awkward couple of seconds, the door to her room opens again, and Chloé emerges, fully dressed in a pretty well made Ladybug cosplay.

"Alright Faon, let's go." She orders, in character.

"What? No." I cross my arms, looking at her incredulously. "You're not going down there Chloé, you're going to get hurt."

She gasps. "Is that how you talk to your leader ? I said we're going, obey me!" She demands.

I snort. "Not bad." I can't help but comment, because of the shanger. I sigh, realizing how impossible getting her to stay will be. "Fine, but stay close to me alright? I don't want you getting hurt." Picking her up, I make sure that she's securely grabbing onto me before taking a dive off the balcony, landing at the entrance of the hotel.

"Okay, stay out of sight." I instruct before putting her down. Actually, since she's responsible for the whole Akuma situation.

"Do you know where the Akuma is located?" I ask her.

Chloé takes a moment to think, before nodding. "Of course I do! It's definitely in that broach I gave her, it's pinned on the corner of that ugly sweater of hers."

I nod. "Okay, let's go, and remember, stay-" Chloé runs into the lobby. "-outta sight…" I trail off, sighing before running after her.

"Looking for me Sabrina! I'm right here, come on!" Chloébug declares, definitely not staying out of sight. Quickly catching up to her, I plant myself in between her and the lobby.

"Faon, what are you doing, what's Chloé doing here? She needs to leave!" Ladybug shouts to me.

"You try stopping her!" I yell back, before suddenly being shoved to the side as Chloé walks further into the lobby,

"If you stop this ridiculousness right now, I might let you be my BFF again." I face palm at her words, before noticing a bunch of books flying towards her. Jumping in front of the blonde, I twirl my blowgun around, deflecting the books, watching as Ladybug grabs Chloé and brings her away.

Chat lands next to me, I turn to him. "She's by the books, we have to attack from all sides."

The blond nods and the two of us charge at where the flying books originated from on both sides. Diving towards it, my arms grabbed nothing along with Chat, as we crashed against each other before dropping onto the ground in a heap.

"Ow…" Groaning, I get back up on my feet. "That was so cliche…" I mutter, looking back up at the scene. Ladybug is currently wrestling with the Akuma, before uncapping a bottle of glitter and dumping it all over the invisible creature. A bright red outline circling the Akuma as she throws Ladybug away from her.

"Just because you can see me, doesn't mean you'll defeat me Ladybug!" The Akuma taunts. Chat and I share a look, before leaping towards her. However, it seems as if she's already expecting that, dodging out of the way from the both of us, she grabs the collar of my hood and throws me into Chat again, the two of us crashing against each other for the second time.

" Ow… " I whine into the cat hero's chest. "This is just getting embarrassing now."

"Y-Yeah! Hehe, embarrassing…" The blond comments, not exactly pushing me off, I stand up anyways.

Ladybug lands by our side. "We just have to destroy her bag and capture the Akuma."

I shake my head. "No, Chloé said that it's in her broach instead."

"Yeah! Ladybug, that's not where the Akuma is!" Chloé emerges from the pillar, spinning her yo-yo around before accidentally letting it go, the object flying through the air and bonking Sabrina on the head.

The Akuma turns around, facing the Mayor's daughter. "So, you wanna fight after all, Chloé?"

"Chat Noir, distract Vanisher, Faon Vert, get the elevator." Ladybug orders. Chat nods, running towards the Akuma and restraining her with his staff, while I jump over him and to the elevator, pressing the up button. Ladybug approaches me with Chloé tied up in her yo-yo, walking to the now opened elevator doors and dropping the blonde off with a thump. I wince at the sound, that's gotta hurt.

"Wait! Ladybug! The Akuma has to be in the designer pin I bought her. She's wearing it on her sweater. Such an unfortunate ugly sweater. It was a gift from me." Chloé tries to say again.

Ladybug stomps her foot on the ground. "I won't tell you again Chloé, so listen up. You need to leave! You're putting yourself in great danger and us too. Got it?" She says before closing the elevator doors, Chloé's voice muffled behind it.

I frown at her. "Ladybug, I think Chloé's right, the Akuma has to be in her broach."

The spotted heroine turns to glare at me. "Why are you believing in her instead of me? It has to be in the bag. Now let's go."

"But-" Ladybug jumped into the scene before I could finish. Gritting my teeth in frustration, I join in the fray as well.

The Akuma turns to us, revealing Chat Noir with a vase over his head as he stumbles around, Vanisher picks him up and throws him towards us.

Not again. I think, jumping away as the cat hero crashes into Ladybug instead. Taking advantage of the hole in her defense, I fall right on top of the Akuma, pinning her onto the floor.

"Grab her bag!" I hear Ladybug shout from behind. Looking at the immobilized Akuma, the glitter perfectly making out the bag looped around her arms, but there's something shinier pinned onto her sweater.

It's her broach, I'm sure of it.

Swiping the broach off of her, Vanisher kicks me away, her strength must've been stronger than the past Akumas as I went all the way up the lobby, hitting the ceiling with an "oof!" and dropping the broach.

"No!" The Akuma yells as the broach shatters upon hitting the floor, a dark butterfly flying out of it.

"It was-" Ladybug says with wide eyes before shaking it off, opening her yo-yo. "No more evildoing for your little Akuma." She starts chanting, beginning the purification process, as I start falling.

As the ladybugs fly over me, the pain immediately subsides as I immediately angle myself for landing, feet hitting the ground with a resounding thump.

Standing up, I'm faced with a pretty frustrated looking Ladybug.

"Why did you not get the bag?" She asks.

I frown, suddenly on the defensive. "Because you weren't listening to Chloé. She's closest to the incident and knows Sabrina, she would know where it'll be." I narrowed my eyes at her. "If you wanna ask questions, why didn't you listen to Chloé in the first place?"

"Because she's a liar!" Ladybug exclaims. "She lied to us about the fight with Sabrina, she can't be trusted!"

Oh my gods this hypocrite. "That's complete crap. Since when do you care about people lying?" I sneer.

"Since you idiot!" Ladybug shouts back. "How is it that you can trust Chloé, who's done nothing but lie to us, but when I do it, by accident, you hold it against me for weeks? "

"How can you lie to someone by accident ?" I scoff. "And sorry for holding the leader of the superhero team to a higher standard than a civilian I guess."

"Guys please I'm sure this is just a huge misunderstanding." Chat finally pipes in, which he honestly shouldn't have.

"No!" Ladybug glares at him. "Chat, tell him that he's being difficult!"

I clench my fists. " Me ? Difficult ? "

"Yes, difficult! I've been trying to clear this up with you for weeks and you've done nothing but avoid me!"

"That's cause I don't know if whatcha sayin's gonna to be the truth anymore!"

The doors to the lobby bursts open and a dozen or so reporters crashed the scene.

"Ladybug! Over here! Are you and Faon's lover's quarrel going to impact your ability to save Paris?"

"Faon Vert! Some of your fans say that you haven't been visiting them in the last month, is this because of your current differences with Ladybug?"

"Chat Noir! We've noticed that you've been mediating these fights a lot, are you responsible for it, are they fighting over you perhaps~?"

"Alright ENOUGH! " I scream, shutting everyone up as the cameras start facing me. Breathing getting heavier, I look away. "Stop asking these ridiculous questions! We saved Paris! End of story!" I swallow the lump in my throat, quelling the urge to just run home. "And don't you ever bother my fawns for such dumb drama." I glare at the person who asked me that stupid question before walking away, the reporters parting ways as I exit the building.

Stupid Ladybug, stupid reporters, can't mind their own stupid busine-

A sharp, taut wire wraps around my arms and waist as I yelp in pain, alerting the people inside before I was yanked upwards. Hanging upside down, I open my eyes to see someone dressed exactly like Ladybug, except… her colors are inverted, a totally black suit with red spots on and blonde hair-

Oh no.

"Chloé?" I bite out, wire somehow wrapping around me tighter.

"Wrong! Super wrong! I am Antibug!" The Akuma announces, pulling her yo-yo as I get reel higher into the air. Wincing, I look up to see Antibug's yo-yo acting as a pulley all the way from the hotel's roof.

"Faon!" I hear Chat yell, looking down at the entrance, I notice both Chat and Ladybug looking at me in panic.

"I-" I cry out in pain again as the yo-yo pulls me up higher and tighter.

"Let him go!" Ladybug orders, earning a laugh from the Akuma.

"As if. You should be thanking me Ladybug, I'm getting rid of your competition." She declares haughtily before leaping up the building, dragging me along with her.

I gulp, this is bad, Ladybug used her Lucky Charm, so she's not going to be here for a couple minutes.

The yo-yo wrapped around me suddenly goes slack and I topple onto the floor with a gasp. Turning around, I yelp as a foot lands on my chest, keeping me pinned on the floor.

"Faon Vert. Hawk Moth says that you've been having some emotional troubles lately, you should totally team up with me, we can take down Ladybug together." Antibug offers and I scoff.

"Please, you think I don't know about Hawk Moth? Like I'll ever fall for his dumb butterflies."

The Akuma snorts. "Acting so high and mighty, oh well, it's always a pleasure to watch people like you eventually snap and get your hands dirty." She shrugs. "I guess you're not there yet, so you might as well be a good little prisoner for me."

A sudden battlecry from the left as Chat Noir appears, running and shoving Antibug off of me.

Standing back up, I pull out my blowgun.

"Chat, lead her to the pool upstairs! I have a plan!" I yell, making a running start before leaping up to the pool on the roof. Grabbing the glass pool covers, I pull it over the pool as Chat lands next to me.

"She's coming, what's the plan?" He asks.

"Get her on that cover and trap her with your Cataclysm, like what you did with Rogercop." I instruct.

"Sounds great." The blond falters slightly. "Hey, Faon? I need to-"

"Chat." I interrupt, sighing. "Please stop, I don't want to be mad at you too."

"No! I wanna to say that I agree-"

A black yo-yo flies towards us as I bat it out of the way.

Antibug approaches, laughing haughtily. "There's nowhere to go now boys." She throws her yo-yo in the air. "Anti-charm!" She yells as a swarm of dark ladybugs swarm around her, forming the most exaggerated and ostentatious greatsword I've ever seen in my life .

"Seriously?" I cry. "Ladybug doesn't make… that !"

"We need to get that weapon out of her hands." Chat says as I nod, sighing.

"Hey! Copycat!" Another voice yells, the three of us turning to see Ladybug standing right behind the Akuma. "Nice Lucky Charm, but mine's better." She claims, holding out a bag of… marbles?

"Ladybug!" Chat yells. "Chloé's yo-yo broke when she was Akumatized, I think the butterfly's in the earrings!"

The spotted heroine looks at him with wide eyes before nodding. I grip my blowgun tighter, gritting my teeth. So she would believe Chat huh?

Whatever, now's not the time for being petty.

"Whatever. As if Ladybug's gonna defeat me with a bunch of marbles . This is going to be child's play." Antibug yawns for effect.

"We'll see about that! " Ladybug runs right at the Akuma, sliding under her swipe, letting Antibug chase her towards us.

"Over to you Chat!" She yells, throwing the bag into the air.

"Got it!" The blond bats the marbles out of the bag, spilling its contents all over the floor, causing Antibug to trip over herself, falling onto the pool cover.

Hooking his staff around the weapon. "I'll take that!" Chat says, before throwing it all the way out of Paris. I can't help but snort, the little showoff.

"Alright Chat, you know what to do." I say, nudging him.

"Of course deer." Chat activates his Cataclysm, breaking the pool cover and sinking Antibug halfway into the pool as she yelps.

Ladybug leaps over the blond's shoulders, deftly removing the earrings off of Antibug, she crushes it under her foot, starting the purification process for the second time that day.

I sigh, not in relief, but in exhaustion. I'm just… so tired now…

Losing consciousness for a brief moment, I sway into Chat, who lets out a panicked squeak.

"Faon! Are you okay!?" He asks, frantically, snapping me out of my fatigue as I jump back.

"Yes! I mean- yes, I am." I clear my throat. I look at Ladybug, who's looking back at me, the two of us back to not speaking again.

"Guys, please, we need to talk about this. No more fighting." Chat pleads, looking between the two of us.

Ladybug bites her lip, hesitant. "Faon… I'm sorry that I lied, okay? You were right, I do use my powers outside of fighting, and I didn't like that, so you bringing it up... It just made me really defensive."

I frown, looking away. "I'm… I'm sorry too…" I mutter, before giving her a heavy look. "Does that mean that I can visit my fawns again now?"

Ladybug falters, hands clutched at her sides. "Faon… You know I can't let you do that."

I let out a hollow laugh.

"Faon, it's too dangerous." Ladybug continues. "What if Hawk Moth notices?"

"Then I'll stop him." I growl, gripping my staff tighter. "If Hawk Moth ever touches my fawns again, I'll hunt him down." I mutter darkly before fully comprehending what I was saying. "Besides, if worse comes to worst, we fought their Akumas before, we know their weak spots." I add, trying to lead them away from my previous words.

"Faon…" The spotted heroine looks conflicted. I sigh.

"Forget it." Shrugging out of Chat's grip again, I give the two of them a pitying look. "I'm helping people, protecting the people of Paris means more than just stopping the flavor of the week villains. And if you don't understand how important that is to me, then you never will." I jump off the building, grabbing a nearby flag poll and looping around it once before leaping back towards my home.

Ladybug won't know, not even Chat Noir would know.

They would never know what it feels like to be left alone and to suffer all alone. I'm not going to let anyone feel that way ever again.

Never again. Not ever again.