STORY DISCLAIMER: I don't own Miraculous or Animorphs; the former belongs to Thomas Astruc, ZagToons and Method Animation, while the latter belongs to K.A. Applegate (that being the cooperative pseudonym for Katherine Applegate and her husband Michael Grant) and Scholastic. This story is being written purely for fun, and no profit is being made. Please support the official releases! Furthermore, any flashbacks with text emboldened like this is actual dialogue quoted from parts of the Animorphs book series.
CHAPTER DISCLAIMER: Some dialogue quoted from #54 The Beginning.
SUMMARY: Chloé Bourgeois was meant to be a queen of mean, but what happens when you take the soul of a good person and put it in the body of what was supposed to be a bad person? What if that good soul belonged to a noble but aggressive hero from a completely different world? How will that change things? Insert & Isekai story; based on the plot bunny "Roar Like a Bear, Sting Like a Bee"
NOTES: Admittedly, this is a very far-out-there idea, tying together two totally different franchises (one of the best YA sci-fi book series of the 1990s combined with one of the best animated series of the 2010s) in a crazy way, but the idea just wouldn't leave me alone and I've already written so much. I'd say this story is like 90% Miraculous and 10% Animorphs (most of the latter coming in the form of Rachel's flashbacks and memories); no prior knowledge of the Animorphs book series necessary, although fans of that series might find it helpful. All that I ask is that readers give it a chance and be understanding, as this is my first full-length multi-chapter story.

Butterfly Effect Elsewhere

by StellarStylus

Dialogue from the Stargate: SG-1 episode "Ethon" (Season 9, Episode 15):
JARROD KANE: Do you ever give up?
DR. DANIEL JACKSON: Not until I'm dead… and, sometimes, not even then.

"FLUCTUAT NEC MERGITUR"
—Latin motto of the city of Paris ("Tossed but not sunk")

"Elle est agitée par les vagues, et ne sombre pas"
—French translation of the same motto ("She is tossed by the waves but does not sink")

CHAPTER 1: Rebirth

(In a certain time and place…)

Rachel fought bravely, and she was certain that she'd helped save the planet and the human race, but she had that unshakeable gut feeling that she wouldn't survive this.

So she treated herself to one last great battle, one where she went joyously berserk on the enemy ship, ripping out key systems and hopefully delaying its escape from Earth. Maybe, just maybe, someone else could finish the job and prevent it from escaping altogether. The last thing which the galaxy needed was this deadly ship crammed full of vile parasites with stolen alien technology flying around and threatening anybody else.

And sure enough, it all caught up to her, and her luck finally ran out.

This war had started with six Animorphs, and now it would end with five.

Up on the screen, the rest of them had looked away, not wanting to see her die.

The enemy delivered the killing blow—

Time stopped.

And the godlike being responsible for so much of this — the time-stopping meddler who had been doing this for untold eons, the one who had helped her and her teammates out of the occasional bind but otherwise did nothing for them because he saw them as nothing more than pieces on a game board — was now here at the moment of her death.

One last witness to her final battle.

She knew she was already dead, but she wouldn't go to her death without some answers first. She almost didn't expect him to answer her.

But the Ellimist humored her and finally answered her questions.

Still, Rachel had one last thing to ask him…

"Answer me this, Ellimist: Did I… did I make a difference? My life, and my… my death… was I worth it? Did my life really matter?"

"Yes… You were brave. You were strong. You were good. You mattered."

"Yeah. Okay, then. Okay, then."

She wondered if—

(In a completely different time and place…)

"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Bourgeois, it's a girl!"

"Oh thank God, André, it's finally over," the bedridden woman breathed.

"Look, Audrey, say hello to our little girl…" her husband said, grinning like a loon. He couldn't have been happier. He looked like he had just won every election for the next decade and had his prestigious hotel booked full for the next century.

"André, I'm telling you right now, you'd better not touch me again, or else I'll…" and here she leaned over and muttered something ominous to him which the doctor couldn't hear.

As for André's reaction to her quiet threats, he went wide-eyed and blanched. "Er, alright…" he mumbled.

The squalling little bundle finally calmed down, and the new baby girl was gently passed to Audrey so she could hold her new daughter in her arms.

Audrey took one look at her newborn daughter and frowned.

"You! Doctor! What's wrong with her? I thought babies were supposed to be cute!"

"She was just born, Mrs. Bourgeois," the doctor calmly replied.

"That's not a good enough answer," she snapped. "You're fired."

"You can't fire him, dear, he isn't your assistant," André reminded her.

"Hush, André," Audrey waved him aside as if it were nothing.

The doctor just stood there, taking it all in stride. He didn't look particularly worried about his job security; he knew what he was getting into when he learned that he would be helping André and Audrey Bourgeois deliver their first child.

The doctor took a moment to look around the room, this spacious hospital room all to themselves and packed with more gifts for the baby than actual medical equipment, before he turned his attention back to the proud new parents.

"…Look, Audrey!" André was saying. "She has your face."

"Well, of course she'll be beautiful," Audrey said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Just look who her mother is: Me, of course!"

"I know, dear, I know," André reassured her.

And then Audrey's attention snapped back to the doctor. "You, doctor: Since you're not fired after all, why don't you go find something useful to do?"

"Yes, Mrs. Bourgeois. I'll come right back with the birth certificate to fill out." He was all too happy get any respite from that woman and her attitude.

"…Ugh, the nerve of that man," she spat, as soon as she was certain he was out of earshot. "Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous..."

"Now, Audrey, let him do his job," André tried to placate her.

"He said he was going to get a birth certificate for us to fill out, so I guess we should finally decide on a name already," Audrey groaned.

By this point, their new baby girl had fallen silent and was yawning. They both looked down and thought about it.

"What are we going to name her?" Audrey asked flatly.

"How about Chloé?" André suggested.

"Chloé, hmm?" Audrey hummed with a thoughtful look on her face — a rare event for her. "Chloé… Yes, I like that name a lot."

"So we agree, then? It's settled!" André said delightfully. "Chloé Bourgeois… welcome to our family."

Chloé made cooing sounds, which made André chuckle, and even Audrey looked like she almost smiled.

And so Chloé Bourgeois was welcomed into the world.

But no one knew that, buried deep within her new and developing mind, was the essence of a girl once known in another world as Rachel Berenson.

There would be consequences to follow…

A scene from the life of Chloé Bourgeois, at age 5:

André Bourgeois loves his daughter Chloé.

The mayor of Paris has several stresses in his life, as both the rich owner of one of the best hotels in the city and his duties to the city, but his sweet five-year-old daughter is always the one true bright spot in his life.

And so Chloé must be getting ready for bed now, and Jean walks out of her room to see André there.

"She's just getting into bed now, sir, she'll probably be asleep within minutes," Jean says with a smile. "She's had quite a day. She really enjoyed art class and came home with many very nice drawings."

"Well, I'm glad to hear she had such a nice day," André said with a smile.

He wanted to spend more time with his daughter, truly he did, but he just had so much work to do…

"Oh, and sir?" the butler adds.

"Yes, Jean?"

"Miss Chloé wants to know when her mother would be back from her latest trip."

"Uh, by the end of the month, I'm sure," André replies, saying the first thing to come to mind, but neither he nor Jean really believe that. Audrey answers only to herself.

As quietly as he can, André slips into his daughter's bedroom and turns on the lamp at her desk. He takes a moment to turn and see Chloé all snuggled up in her bed along with her teddy bear, Mr. Cuddly. With the light from that, he looks around the room for her backpack.

For a moment, his eyes fall on the framed picture on the mantle, showing all three members of the Bourgeois family at the Trocadéro with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Four-year-old Chloé looks happy and excited, showing off a wide smile and totally oblivious to the expressions of her parents behind her; André has a strained "dignified mayor" expression on his face, while Audrey looks like she's sucking on lemons.

André just scoffs at the picture and goes back to looking for his daughter's cute little school backpack. Sure enough, he finds it a moment later, and carefully retrieves the folder of drawings from within it.

Most parents would honestly say this about their five-year-old children and their artistic output, but for a something a five-year-old child drew, these pictures look pretty good.

André looks through her drawings, and he's particularly flattered by the one she drew of his official portrait as mayor of Paris…

Pretty good for a five-year-old, he keeps thinking to himself.

…but then the last one in particular catches his eye.

It's a picture of what he assumes to be a meadow in a forest, and gathered there are a tiger, a bear, a hawk, a wolf, and a gorilla. They're all gathered around a deer-like creature he can't quite identify — is that supposed to be a centaur, and why is it blue? — and the strange sixth creature is holding what appears to be a blue box in its hands.

André supposes that Chloé went back and smashed a lot of white crayon wax into the blue, because it almost looks like the box is glowing.

He stares at the picture, trying to make sense of it. What is he looking at? Some kind of product of his daughter's imagination, no doubt; maybe some kind of fantasy story?

"Daddy?" a small voice whispers.

André looks up to see Chloé looking at him, her bright blue eyes halfway open.

"Hi, Princess," he says, leaning in and kissing her on the forehead. She giggles.

"Daddy," she squeals.

"I just had a long day, but we'll have more time together this weekend, I promise," he tells her. He looks down at her drawing again, holding it up. "What's this, princess?"

Chloé looks at it, and for a split-second there, André thinks he sees a strange look in her eyes. But it's gone just as quickly.

"It's a bunch of animals," she says. "And a visitor is giving them a gift."

"A gift? You mean the glowing blue box?"

"Yeah, it's supposed to help them save the planet," she says with a smile.

Fantasy story it is, then.

"Where did this come from, Chloé?" he gently asks her. "The idea, I mean."

She looks at him and gives a shrug, despite lying on her side in bed. "I saw it in a dream," she says, eyes wide. She also clutches her teddy bear just a bit tighter.

She's got quite the imagination, I'll give her that.

Smiling again, he gives her one more kiss on the forehead.

"Sweet dreams, Princess. I love you."

"Good night, Daddy. I love you too."

And with that, she makes herself comfortable again, closing her eyes to get some sleep.

He gently places this particular drawing with the other drawings, shuts off the lights as he leaves the room, and exits as quietly as possible as not to disturb Chloé.

He truly loved his little girl. Who knew what Chloé might be like one day? He was certain that she would be exceptional.

A/N: Yes, this is the full story based on my plot bunny "Roar Like a Bear, Sting Like a Bee" — and I'm glad to write it! Please go read it!

This is my first multi-chapter fan fiction story, and it might be on the crazy side, but it just might be crazy enough to work!

So yes, I had this crazy idea of Rachel the Animorph being reborn as Chloé Bourgeois and altering events in the world of Miraculous. How will a Good!Chloé change things, especially when she's really someone else who carries with her memories and experience from a previous life?

Again, my headcanon is that "Berenson" is/was Rachel's last name, because that's her cousin Jake's last name and their fathers were brothers. Let's also assume that the Animorphs' struggle against the Yeerks ran for three years, from 1996 to 1999 or 2000, and Rachel was born around 1984, making her 16 or 17 when she perished at the end.

Blame this on some "isekai" stories I'd been reading lately.

NOTE ABOUT THE RATING: It's fine for now, but I might raise it to "T" in the future for violence; I promise it won't be any worse than what you might have read in the original Animorphs books themselves, and even then, there shouldn't be much of that. Most of that stuff would come in the form of "Rachel flashbacks" anyway.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE! I've been getting people asking me about where to find the original Animorphs books to read them; well, it might please you to know that Ms. Applegate herself in the past has low-key approved of finding them online and downloading them for free if you couldn't find them in print or afford them. So, I'd be happy to send them to anybody who wants them; just please let me know! For that matter, here's the recommended reading order (it's the original publication order)...
#1 through #7, Megamorphs 1: The Andalite's Gift, #8 through #13, The Andalite Chronicles, #14 through #18, Megamorphs 2: In the Time of the Dinosaurs, #19, The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, #20 through #29, Megamorphs 3: Elfangor's Secret, #30 through #34, Visser, #35 through #40, Megamorphs 4: Back to Before, #41 through #47, The Ellimist Chronicles, and #48 through #54.