Death. Death was upon Chloe. Death and despair and utter destruction. She couldn't even move. She couldn't breathe. Everything ached, and not in the normal way. Her head pounded, and the only relief she received was sleep. Or death.
"Get up!" Buzzi shouted, head-butting the girl in the stomach. "I'm hungry and you've got school!"
Chloe groaned and rolled onto her side, tossing the hood of her sweatshirt over her head. "I'm not moving," she said as well as she could. Her nose was stuffed, and every intake of air made her chest rattle with suffering.
She hated allergies.
"You'll feel better once the bee side take ahold," Buzzi grumbled, once again head-butting her Holder. "But until then, feed me!"
Chloe limply tossed her arm toward her dresser, "There's a stash in there. Second drawer." With that, coughs shook her entire body, and Chloe buried her face in her ladybug pillow. "Leave me alone to die."
Buzzi rolled her eyes at the dramatics, but went to retrieve her food. Why was Chloe like this? What did Buzzi do to deserve this? With a huff and a chili hanging from her mouth, the bee kwami took off for the terrace, returning with a bunch of sunflowers. "Smell these!" she insisted, dangling the flowers over Chloe's head.
"Get those out of here!" Chloe shouted, flopping out of her bed and onto her bottom. She sneezed several times in a row, jerking her body around in the fit. "You want to kill me, I see how it is," she said before sniffling hard. Buzzi couldn't help but laugh.
Eventually Chloe did get up for school. She took a shower, which helped quite a bit with her congestion. Her hair cooperated, which meant she didn't have to use anything allergy-triggering to get it just right. Buzzi teased her by bringing in random plants, but after having her fun she pitched the flowers out a window so Chloe's face didn't explode.
At school, Chloe somewhat escaped the torture of pollen. Since more than half the class seemed effected, no windows were allowed to be opened. It seemed the only ones not effected were Nathanaël, Mylene, Alix, Sabrina, and Marinette. Why Marinette, Chloe wasn't sure. She could've sworn her enemy had been suffering right alongside her just that past year.
After the umpteenth sniffle, it seemed Marinette had had enough. "We get it!" she groaned, "You have allergies! So does almost everyone else!"
Chloe turned to glare at the girl, sniffling as hard as she could just to spite Marinette. It actually got a giggle out of a few students. Proudly, Chloe turned back with a smirk on her face.
That evening during patrol, Reine continued to suffer. They jumped and swung from so many places near plants that stirring up pollen was inevitable. At least she had Chat suffering with her.
"Ladybug?" Reine called, coughing into her hand, "How come you don't have allergies?"
The superheroine turned to face her, nose twitching in thought. "Well, I used to have them really bad – to the point I had to stay home if the pollen was too high. But, after becoming Ladybug it's really died down," she explained. "I'd say it'll die down for you the longer you're Reine Abeille."
"You two are lucky, being bugs!" Chat whined, letting out a string of sneezes. "My allergies have only gotten worse!"
The girls laughed, finding joy in the boy's suffering. "Well, if it's that bad, Kitty," Ladybug began, "we can quit early tonight, so you two can get some rest."
Neither hero opposed, relieved when they could finally go home. Once back home, Chloe collapsed in bed and crawled under her covers. "I'm not moving for the next five years!" she whined, curling into a ball.
Buzzi sighed, fluttering over to the stash drawer to get a chili. "You have school," she reminded the girl, who groaned and offered a gesture. "It'll get better, I promise!" Buzzi tried, zipping down to Chloe's pillows.
The girl peaked her head out, brushing back hair, "I'll believe it when I can smell again," she said, huffing and burying her face.
As Chloe fell asleep, her chest rattled and she wheezed into her pillows. Buzzi felt slightly bad for her. She wanted to help in some way. So, the kwami slipped down onto the sheets and curled up against Chloe, falling asleep against the girl's neck.
That next morning, Chloe awoke with a clear head. Confused, she slowly sat up and glanced around her room. It was still spring, obviously, so she hadn't slept for five years like she'd planned. Why could she breathe so well?
She looked down when she heard a yawn to see her kwami curled up in a little ball at her side. "Buzzi, wake up," she said with a groan, stretching. She hadn't felt this good in weeks, wow. She breathed in deeply, sniffing the air as she did.
Was that pancakes that she smelled? Pancakes!
Chloe jumped out of bed, heading toward the stairs. Forget the elevator, that was too slow! She raced down the stairs and jumped the last few, running straight for the kitchen. As she threw open the door, she was met with the overwhelming scent of bacon. Ew!
"Uh," she started, attracting the cook's attention, "Where're the pancakes?" she asked.
"Pancakes?" the woman repeated. "There are none, Miss Bourgeois. I've only started bacon and eggs…"
Confused, Chloe backed out of the kitchen and went back to her room. "Buzzi, I swear I smell pancakes!" she cried, flopping back into bed.
"Wow, you're already back? It's only be two minutes!" Buzzi said in surprise.
That confused Chloe even farther. How did she do that? Normally it took five minutes by elevator to get to her room from the kitchen!
After a few minutes, realization dawned on Buzzi, who squealed and flew up to Chloe's face. "Your bee side-effects are kicking in!" Smelling things that weren't even in the hotel? Running so fast? The non-congested voice returning despite the high pollen that morning? Definitely bee qualities!
"My what?" Chloe questioned, trying to call back her kwami, who took off in loops as she flew around the room celebrating.
"This calls for celebratory chilis!" Buzzi announced, digging in the stash drawer.
The scent hit Chloe's nose, and for the first time in a while it made her gag. "Oh, Buzzi! That smells awful!" she whined, running toward the bathroom. "Get rid of it!"
"There's no escape, now, Chloe Bourgeois!" Buzzi said in a deep voice, cackling evilly when she heard the faucet turn on. Her little callow was growing up!
I have returned! This is quite the mood change from the last chapter, but I thought it was necessary! Hopefully the next update will be quicker?
Review and tell me what you thought!
