To Butterfly: Writing this as a balanced POV between them made for some really interesting character contrasts. And I have to admit: watching the Bees go at it is way too much fun!
To yellow 14: It's not exactly easy to sympathize with Lila. And yet, she may be evil, but I think she might finally have met her match with Night Bat!
To Rose Tiger: Glad to see your reviews! Lila is very good at getting under people's skin. This building rivalry between Lila and Chloe has been fun to play around with!
To StarDaPanda225: Bee is still around; Chloe just didn't bring her to the Mall. I'm sure she could have (regardless of whether pets are allowed…) but she didn't fit in there. But she does appear in almost every other Chloe chapter in the story! The students are all in the same year and at the same lycée, but not necessarily in the same classes together. Some of the students who were there (Marc, Aurore, Mireille, Nadine, Philippe) were in Mme Mendeleiev's class at Francois Dupont, rather than in the same class with Marinette and Adrien.
Lila carefully hefted her bags of clothes to carry out to the car. She had told the driver to return at two, and it was almost quarter after. She shrugged. She'd needed almost a completely new wardrobe anyways. She might not have gone out as often as those Heroes did over the summer, but it was still a hell of a workout – something she hadn't really expected when she got the miraculous. She'd lost a few kilos of fat and gained at least that much in muscle just from her fights along the Seine, and that was without accounting for Night Bat's latest assignment. And "baggy" was most definitely not in fashion.
But even apart from the new clothes, the trip was not a waste by any means. The opportunity to see her classmates and remind them of her status as "Ladybug's Best Friend" was always welcome. She snorted. That story had been useful in its time, but perhaps by now it had run its course. As if she needed that prudish Hero for a friend anymore…
Still, she wouldn't pass up any chance to kick a little more dirt on the Queen Bitch's grave, especially when it came gift-wrapped like that. Add to that an opportunity to undercut the Ladyblog's credibility and it was a pretty good day. It was unfortunate that Gullible had proven so much less gullible over the last year, ever since she had unceremoniously removed that first interview and issued a retraction.
That was just one reason Lila assumed Alya was a little more "chummy" with the Heroes of Paris these days than the Ladyblog ever let on. The tone of her articles had shifted, with a little less focus on the Heroes' private lives and identities, and a lot more focus on the Heroes' public activities and speculation about the new crop of villains – "Lynchpin-ions" – they were facing. Who on earth thought of that stupid name for her and Mecha-Man and the others? Must've been that stupid Cat; Gullible sure as hell wasn't clever enough for it! But if it was the Cat, how would Alya have known it? Add to that the sheer volume of private interviews she scored with the Heroes, and Lila had to wonder how much the Ladyblogger actually knew. And all of this after Lila had had her almost eating out of the palm of her hand for a year…
It was a pity she still didn't have any definitive proof of the miraculous heroes' identities. Alix was of course Sk8r Girl – why the hell was there an "8" in her name? Even if Sk8r Girl hadn't lost her helmet the time they fought over the summer, Alix's reaction to her "Ladybug hates Chloe" suggestion today would have been more than enough to go by. A couple years ago, she had told those kinds of stories for a number of reasons – the attention for herself, the insult to those she didn't like, the chance to push believability and see just how much she could get away with. But now, they served another purpose: find out who actually knows better. As it was, she could definitely cross Nadine and Aurore off the list of possible heroes, though that still left Mireille, Marc, and Nathaniel as possibilities.
Of course, the process of identifying the Heroes would be so much simpler if her Kwami actually knew anything.
The car was still running, waiting next to the curb just outside the mall. The trunk opened the moment Lila reached it, and she dropped her bags inside, slammed it shut, and pulled the back door open. Her foot was halfway into the car when she heard pounding footsteps behind her.
"Lila!" called Nadine, stopping next to her and panting. "Hold up!"
Lila turned to her with a broad smile across her face. "Why, of course! I'm so sorry for running off!"
Nadine straightened up and brushed the creases out of her shirt. "It's so amazing that you're Ladybug's friend and you can tell us what the Heroes are doing," she gushed. "I remember when Hawk Moth was still around and Juleka was Akumatized and turned us all into clones of her – it was so confusing and scary! And when the school was overrun by zombies…" She shuddered. "I read the Ladyblog, of course, but it just isn't the same getting information from there as it is finding out from Ladybug's best friend!"
Lila's grin widened. "I'm so glad I can help you feel safe in these… dangerous… times!" She sighed. "I only want to use my friends and influence to help those who need it."
"Like the orphanages you started in Achu with Prince Ali?"
Lila preened. "Exactly! All those poor children would have been out on the streets if I hadn't stepped in to help them out."
"That's so sweet of you! You're just like a real-life hero!" Nadine stopped and looked at her curiously. "You are a real-life hero, aren't you?"
Lila tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"
Nadine frowned, furrowing her brows, and eyed Lila more closely. "It's just… something about what you said at lunch… You said Ladybug had 'trusted' you like it was something more than just being her friend. So I was just wondering, what did you really mean by saying Ladybug had 'trusted' you?"
Interesting. Lila opened her mouth and closed it again, wide-eyed. "I… nothing!" she replied in a too-high-pitched voice. "I didn't mean anything by it!"
Nadine's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "But then how did you know so much about Chloe and Ladybug?" she pressed.
Lila looked around surreptitiously, grabbed Nadine's shoulder, and led her away from the mall entrance, over to the delivery entrance. "Okay, fine," she finally replied, glancing in either direction to make sure no one was nearby before her eyes ran along the edges of the roof above them. It absolutely wouldn't do for one of the Heroes to see this… "You want to know how I know about Ladybug and Chloe?" she asked. Nadine nodded eagerly. She sighed melodramatically and withdrew the black box from her purse. "I know because… I'm the new Bee." She opened the box and placed the miraculous in her hair.
Pollen shot out of the hair comb and spun around in the air. "Hello, Lila!" she chirped excitedly.
"Yes!" Nadine whooped, pumping her fist. "I knew it! Who else would Ladybug trust with a miraculous?"
Lila smirked. Who, indeed?
"Wait until Philippe hears about this!" Nadine giggled excitedly, watching the Kwami flutter around in tight circles between them. "This is so amazing!"
Lila swiped Pollen out of the air and slipped her back into her purse before giving Nadine a worried look and waving her hand frantically in a hushing motion. "Yes, it's true. Ladybug and Chloe really did have a serious falling out last spring, and Chloe's out of the Heroes of Paris now. But we're keeping it hush-hush, so you can't tell anyone about this, okay?" she pleaded. "Ladybug trusted me, and so now I–I'm trusting you!"
"You can definitely count on me!" Nadine assured her, nodding enthusiastically.
"I mean it!" Lila insisted, putting her hands on the other girl's shoulders and meeting her gaze. "That means you can't tell anyone. Not Philippe, not Pierre, not your parents – no one!"
Nadine stared at her in wide-eyed shock. "But–"
"No 'buts'," Lila warned. "No one can know!"
Nadine nodded mutely. "O–okay." Then she brightened. "But you have to tell me all about the Heroes of Paris! What are they like? What's it like going on patrols with them?" She gasped. "Ladybug's been keeping you as her secret weapon, hasn't she? That's why there have been so few pictures of you on the Ladyblog! Oh, this is so awesome!"
Lila grinned and puffed out her chest proudly. "That's exactly it," she agreed, nodding along. "With everything that happened this summer, Ladybug doesn't want anyone knowing about the new Bee hero. If Night Bat and the other villains ever found out about me, they might never show their faces, and then I couldn't jump in and Venom them so we can capture them!"
Nadine looked awestruck. "Wow! So Ladybug really does have a plan to stop them now?"
"Of course she has a plan," Lila scoffed. "She's Ladybug! She always has a plan! And when she doesn't, she has me."
"So what's she like?" asked Nadine, wide-eyed. "We always see her in public, but what's she like in private, when it's just the Heroes? Different from just the two of you?"
Lila tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You know, I was actually surprised," she replied. "I thought she would be different now that I'm a Hero, but she's still just as amazing, still just as cool and confident. We still hang out all the time!" She paused for a beat. "Of course, she doesn't really let the other Heroes see any of her vulnerabilities…"
"'Vulnerabilities'?"
Lila gasped and covered her mouth. "Oh, I'm so stupid! I shouldn't have said that!"
"I promise I won't tell anyone!" Nadine replied too quickly, worry in her face.
"It's just, if anyone found out about Ladybug's secret, they'd never look at her the same way again…" She sighed heavily and glanced over to see Nadine staring at her expectantly. "Ladybug has a medical condition," she finally admitted. "She can't be going out on patrol all the time, so she needs the rest of us to step up. That's why she finally gave me a miraculous."
Nadine gasped. "Oh, no! I had no idea!" Her eyes lit up. "I can help!"
What.
"I could be a Hero!" Nadine went on eagerly, not noticing Lila's undisguised shock. "More heroes means Ladybug doesn't have to do as much, right? So let me help!"
Lila quickly schooled her features and furrowed her brows in thought. This was a dangerous game. But still… "I don't know if Ladybug would agree," she told her, grimacing. "She's very particular about who receives miraculous…"
"Oh, I don't even need a miraculous to help!" Nadine insisted. "Plenty of other heroes don't have miraculous: Sk8r Girl, the Owl–"
"That's true," interrupted Lila, placing a hand on Nadine's shoulder, her lower lip trembling in worry, "but they're really good fighters already, so they can take care of themselves. I just don't want to see you get hurt!"
"I can take care of myself, too!" Nadine was almost bouncing on the balls of her feet in eagerness by now. "I'm really flexible and athletic…"
"Flexible": that's what you're calling what you do with Philippe?
"… I've been doing gymnastics since I could walk! And I've been taking taekwondo. And I tried fencing a couple years ago – I know a few of the heroes use fencing techniques! I picked up a little of it, but not as much as them. I can–"
Lila cut her off with a hand over her mouth. "Fine, fine." She sighed dramatically in resignation. "Tell you what, I'm supposed to go out on a solo mission tonight, but I could use some help actually. You can join me for this mission, and if you prove yourself tonight, I'll put in a good word with Ladybug. Maybe then we can bring you in!"
Nadine clapped excitedly. "Really? That's amazing!" She threw her arms around Lila and hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much!"
Lila patted her on the back awkwardly. "Meet me tonight at the statue of Maria Deraismes in the Square des Épinettes at nine," she instructed her.
As Nadine raced away from the delivery entrance, Pollen phased out of Lila's purse and stared at her with wide eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but Lila removed the hair comb from her hair and placed it back in the box, sucking Pollen wordlessly back into the miraculous. She was definitely playing a dangerous game. But if it worked…
AN: Nadine technically isn't an original character; she actually appears as one of the new fencers in the episode "Riposte" and as a member of Mme Mendeleiev's class in "Reflekta." Literally everything about her (down to the name) is what I'm superimposing on her, but…