Chloé was on cloud nine as she swung through the city. Granted, the powers at this stage were practically identical to what she already had, but that didn't change the meaning she personally had embedded in the outfit she was wearing.

Ladybug had trusted her. Her! She was, for tonight, the champion of Paris!

So, of course the first thing she did was go home and show her mother.

Caline was over the moon for her. She took no less than fifty pictures of Chloé before the crimson heroine had to beg off and go on patrol.

Chloé laughed and cried at the same time as she soared over the rooftops.

'Oh, my God. I'm Ladybug,' she thought.

This was great!

'No matter what Hawkmoth has planned for tonight, I'm up to the challenge!'

This was spectacular!

'I can't believe this! Bring it on, Paris! I'm ready for anything!'

This was…

Chloé looked to her left and paused.

There, atop one of the buildings of the Front de Seine, was a person.

"Is that another hero?" Chloé said to herself. "What are they doing up there? Seriously, this is ridiculous!"

She changed course to say hi. While she didn't always get along with the heroes of Paris, there was no way she wasn't going to show off the fact that she was Ladybug for the evening.

Chloé touched down near to where the person was standing, and quickly realized that 1) they weren't a hero, 2) it was actually a girl about her own age and 3) said girl was standing right at the edge of the building.

It took Chloé a full five seconds to register what she was seeing, but when she finally did, she felt her stomach grow tight. She looked around and realized that they were the only two people in sight.

'I AM NOT READY FOR THIS,' She thought in a panic.

"Okay," she said to herself. "Okay. I'm a hero. I can do this."

'LIAR!' Her brain screamed.

Chloé calmed herself, took a breath, and said, "Hey."

The girl jumped a bit from surprise and nearly stepped off the ledge, causing Chloé's heart to skip a beat. She turned around, and Chloé's heart nearly broke from the look on the young woman's face.

She was small, a good three inches shorter than Chloé, with straight, shoulder-length brown hair and glasses. She was in a set of faded yellow button-up pajamas, and her eyes were red from crying.

"What are you doing here?" The girl cried out in a panic. "Stay back! I… I'll jump! I'm going to jump! You just stay back!"

Chloé put her hands up. "Okay! Okay. I'm staying back. I'm not gonna do anything, okay? I'm just going to stand here. Is that okay?"

"I'll do it," the girl's voice warbled a bit. "I will."

"I believe you," Chloé said, her own voice starting to panic. "I just, um, hey. It's a really nice night out, isn't it? You, um, you mind if I join you?"

"I SAID STAY BACK!" The girl screamed.

"I'm staying back! I just, ugh. Here." Chloé made a wide arc around the girl until she got to the ledge about three meters away. She sat down and dangled her legs over the side. "See? I'm just sitting here. Would, um, would you like to sit, too?"

The girl considered Chloé for a moment before she slowly sat down, cross-legged on the edge. "You're not gonna stop me?"

Chloé shook her head. "I'm just sitting here with you, okay?"

The girl hesitantly nodded. "O… Okay."

"So," Chloé said, completely terrified. Akumas and fighting she knew how to deal with. But this? This was dark territory for her.

'Of course it was on my very first outing. Of course something like this would have to happen. Because why would I get a normal night?' She thought.

But then, a chilling thought occurred to her.

'Who says this isn't a normal night for Ladybug?'

Chloé swallowed down her nervousness. If she was Ladybug, then dammit, she was going to be the best Ladybug she could. And Ladybug didn't let people down.

"What's your name?" Chloé asked in what she hoped was a calming voice.

The girl looked at her for a minute. "Ashley."

Chloé smiled. "That's a really lovely name. I'm Ladybug."

The girl nodded and sniffed. "Yeah, um, I could tell."

"Right," Chloé said. "So, why are you out here on this ledge, Ashley? I mean, it really is a lovely night, but this isn't very safe."

Ashley pulled her knees up to her and hugged them. "I came up here to jump. I mean, I thought that was obvious."

Chloé tensed, but she didn't do anything outright. "Why would you do that?"

"Why do you care?" Ashley mumbled.

"Because I'm Ladybug. I care about everyone," Chloé said, hearing the words as they came out of her mouth.

Her mind flashed back to the dozens of times Marinette had gone out of her way to make Chloé feel special. Chloé winced as she remembered how she had treated her in return.

'Marinette cares about everyone,' Chloé thought. 'And I am no Marinette.'

She glanced over at the scared girl beside her.

'Well tonight, I'm going to have to be.'

Notes:

This one gets heavy.

Next time...

Chloe is up against a problem she can't punch her way out of. Can she help in this instance? Does she even know how to?

Be here tomorrow to find out, same Bug Time...

Chloe: ...What? No jokes right now. Time and place, people.

...Same Bug Channel.