Chloe was glad that it was raining. She had no more tears left in her and the rivulets running down the windows made it feel like the world was expressing the sorrow she could no longer summon forth.

The full moon peeked through the clouds to illuminate the night sky and Chloe rested her forehead against the cool glass. The damp chill of the window was nothing compared to the numbing calm that enveloped her. She wished she could have felt angry or scared, but just like the sadness that evaded her, she felt neither. If anything, she felt relieved that things would all be over soon, even if this was a truly pathetic way for it all to end.

Honestly, with how her life had been up to this point, this could be considered a fitting end, one last cruel laugh at her expense. It almost felt too surreal to be happening, but she could hear sirens in the distance and knew that there was no escaping the reality of her situation. As the sound of footsteps grew closer, she smiled one last time and closed her eyes. Hopefully, it would be quick as the darkness engulfed her.

Chloe didn't expect to hear anything again, much less the oddly familiar sound of an alarm clock blaring right next to her. Her eyes shot open as she felt her heart racing as if she had been running for her life. Chloe looked around and felt the room spin as confusion overwhelmed her. At her core there was a ball of fear as she recognized the room.

It wasn't the small bedroom of the apartment she'd lived in for so long in New York. It was her old room, the imperial suite of the Le Grand Paris she had back before it all fell apart, before she fell apart. As Chloe teetered on the brink of a panic attack, she fumbled for the damn alarm clock and shut it off. The beeps felt like needles in her addled mind and she could only take so much before she wanted to smash her head into a wall.

Chloe got out of her massive bed on wobbly legs, placing her hand on the bed stand next to her bed as she took deep breaths. She started to walk around her expansive room, examining each part of it as closely as she could, curious as to what could be going on. Had everything she experienced been a terrible dream or was this the real nightmare created by her fading consciousness?

Part of her couldn't help wincing at the opulence of the room. She could fit her entire New York apartment with room to spare in here. It made her even more disorientated until she came back to her bed and the ladybug plushy on it. Ladybug, just like her hero, the person she owed her life to and who everyone loved and admired. She squeezed the plushy and it felt too real for this to be a dream.

There was a knock at the doors of her room and she jumped. A moment later the door opened and she felt a chill run down her spine as footsteps drew closer. She turned and nearly burst into tears at seeing who it was.

Jean, her faithful Butler, with his pencil mustache and perfectly coiffed purple hair, who was always there for her even when she was at her worst. Though, if she was being honest, she had always been at her worst. Jean looked almost stunned to see Chloe on the brink of tears but continued being professional; adopting his usual stoic demeanor. Rubbing her eyes and adjusting her posture, Chloe did her best to look as casual as she could.

"Good morning Jean, what do you need?" Chloe tried to say in her most confident and commanding voice but fell short of the mark. It has been a long time and she had stopped talking down to people a long time ago. Jean seemed to consider her for a moment before he spoke.

"Madam, it is almost time for school. Do you need some more time to be ready?" Chloe blinked in momentary confusion, then glanced at the clock to see the time before giving a curt nod.

"Yes please, just give me a second then I'll be right out. You can wait for me in the limo," Chloe responded kindly.

Chloe knew she should have tried to sound a little meaner, but failed. Jean didn't seem to mind as he nodded and simply left the room, closing the door behind him.

Chloe sighed before walking to her bathroom and splashing water on her face. It helped her feel more awake and less like she was trapped in some sort of hellish dream of her past as she stared at her teenage face. After that she went to her walk-in closet to change. When she opened it, she cringed at the sight of her old clothes and the almost grotesque display of wealth it all represented. It took some time rifling through it all before she found an outfit she could finally stomach.

She changed into a far less extravagant ensemble of a yellow blouse and a pair of jeans that she couldn't even remember where she had gotten them from. It was definitely a switch up from her designer exclusive outfit that she would have normally worn but at the moment that was a welcome change. As Chloe was changing she noticed something in the mirror that caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

Her eyes lingered on it for a long time, as it finally cemented the fact that this wasn't all a dream. Whatever had happened, it was real. She was tempted to test whether or not she could feel the pain if she touched it but refrained from doing so. The thoughts still haunted her and honestly, if she was being given a second chance, she'd rather forget it.

Chloe left her room, grabbing her bag and cellphone, and making her way to the elevator down to the hotel lobby. She could remember from distant memories that her dad wasn't here today, more than likely he was working at what was supposed to be his real job.

Being the mayor of Paris was a busy job, she supposed, and she really didn't feel like seeing him at the moment. Just because she had decided that this wasn't a dream, didn't mean it couldn't still be some sort of twisted magical play or personal Hell. She really didn't want to experience what could happen if she saw her father in that case, so she quickly entered the elevator and made her way down.

Once Chloe reached the lobby, she did her best to avoid everyone and quickly stride to the limo. After getting in she gave Jean a nod and began looking out the window as they started to drive and could only think on what all of this meant.

She remembered it too well. A lifetime of horrible things she had done and most importantly those last moments. There was no way it could have been a dream or a nightmare. Especially if what had happened was still there. She looked at her hand for a moment and blinked in surprise. The scarred wound was still there, but so was something she hadn't noticed before. A jade ring in the shape of a snake she had been given a long time ago.

She rubbed her thumb on it, wondering what it could mean before feeling the limo stop and Jean turned his head to speak. "Madam, we have arrived."

Before Jean could even get out of the limo, she exited, thanking him on the way out as she looked up at the entrance of Collège Françoise Dupont, the public school she had once gone to. She had never realized how much she missed French architecture until this moment as she took in the wide stairs leading up to the entrance of the three story building. She steeled herself for what she knew was not going to be an easy day as another familiar voice rang out in her ears.

"Chloe. Hey Chloe!" Chloe turned to see her friend Sabrina running towards her.

The sight of the shorter, mousey, copper haired girl filled Chloe with a tumultuous storm of emotions. Sabrina had been her friend, co-conspirator, and minion for years and now Chloe couldn't understand what she had done to deserve such loyalty from the glasses wearing girl. Chloe was so caught up in reflecting on their relationship she almost didn't notice Sabrina tripping on the sidewalk, sending her careening towards Chloe. She just barely caught Sabrina in time to keep the nerdy girl from slamming into her. Sabrina blushed as she brushed a few loose auburn strands of hair out her face while looking up at Chloe with an apologetically concerned, yet excited, expression.

"You need to be more careful, you almost knocked us both over," Chloe said a little harsher than she would have liked. It was more out of concern than actual anger but when she saw Sabrina flinch a little bit at her words, Chloe immediately regretted how easily she slipped into the old habit of chastising the bookish girl.

"I'm sorry Chloe, I'm just excited for Picture Day is all," Sabrina said with an even wider smile as she adjusted her glasses. "I even put on a good shirt today for it and did my hair a little bit."

Chloe couldn't help chuckling at that. Granted she couldn't really tell the difference with Sabrina's argyle sweater vests and plain, chin length bob-cut, but she was happy to hear that Sabrina was happy.

"Well I'm glad you decided to have some work done. After all, they say you should always look best for your pictures, because a picture is worth a thousand words," she teased as she started walking towards the school entrance.

"Are you trying a new look too?" Sabrina asked.

Chloe glanced down at her outfit and shrugged, "Sometimes simple is better."

"I guess," Sabrina said, flinching at the questioning glance Chloe shot her. "It's just I don't think I've ever seen you without any makeup on either. Au naturale looks good on you though," Sabrina quickly added.

Chloe started and had to stop herself from reaching up to touch her face or fishing her mirror out of her bag. She had been so out of sorts finding herself as a teenager again, she had completely forgotten her normal routine of applying silver-cerulean eye shadow and pale lipstick. Muscle memory was the only reason her hair was up in her usual high ponytail. She gave Sabrina an appreciative smile.

As Chloe ascended the stairs something was nagging her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She merely shrugged and continued with Sabrina by her side into the school's inner open -air courtyard. They made their way up the nearby green metal stairs to the second floor where their homeroom was.

Chloe stopped when she entered their classroom, looking around and seeing the group of people that she had once presumed she was in charge of. Not many people had arrived yet, but her gaze lingered on several in their tiered seats. Dark-skinned Nino in his red cap, headphones and aggressively blue shirt slouching next to blonde-haired Adrian.

Adrian, in his white jacket and striped black shirt, immaculate as ever, but what else would anyone expect from a professional model? Seeing Adrain left her with a stabbing pang of sadness, but she took a deep, calming breath and went to her seat in the first row. As she settled onto the bench, two more students came in through the wide door of the classroom.

Juleka, resident goth girl with her purple-streaked bangs concealing half her face and purple-tipped black hair hanging down her back, walked alongside bubbly blonde Rose in her pink and magenta dress. The two couldn't be more at odds in appearances but were almost always together, though that may have more to do with Rose's chipper attitude and Juleka's quiet nature.

Something about the two of them caused the nagging feeling to suddenly return and she turned to watch them take their seats at the top row in the back of the class. Whatever it was, she still couldn't place it and was forced to turn back around and get out her class materials as their teacher, Miss Bustier, entered the classroom. Even the sight of the kindly teacher with her vermillion hair in a bun and pale cerulean pant suit filled Chloe with a sense of regret for how she used to needlessly disrupt the class constantly.

"Are you excited, Chloe? I mean, of course you are, it's Picture Day and you always look your best," Sabrina said as she set down her own books and material for class.

Chloe relaxed a bit. Whatever was bugging her was probably nothing. 'I mean it's Picture Day, what's the worst that could happen?' she thought. Soon enough the bell rang, and the rest of the class filed in to take their seats. Well, everyone except a certain girl, but Chloe knew all too well why she was late so when she saw Miss Bustier about to close the door as she was about to start attendance Chloe called out, "Wait Miss Bustier, Marinette isnt here yet."

And just as Chloe spoke there was a light 'thud' against the door and Miss Bustier opened it to show Marinette on the other side smiling innocently and rubbing her nose a little.

"Oh well, thank you Chloe. Marinette, head to your seat please," Miss Bustier said.

Chloe nodded to herself and felt a little good considering normally she could recall Marinette just bursting into the room like a police raid, though she could hear some whispers behind her.

"Hey girl, did you do something to Chloe?"

Chloe could recognize the voice as Alya's, Marinette's seatmate and best friend. The Martiniquan Creole-French girl probably thought Chloe was up to something. Which, given Chloe's history, was a fair assumption, but fortunately for everyone, she was not the same Chloe they had known.

"No, why is she mad? Did she start yelling again?" And there was Marinette, that voice would never fade from her memory or stop haunting her

"She stopped Bustier from closing the door like she normally would. Heck, she beat me to the punch warning her you were late. She's either up to something or there might be an akumatized person on the loose causing people to act weird."

Chloe rolled her eyes at that and decided to look through the text book while listening to Miss Bustier.

"Well I hope you're all excited for our class photo today, class. After all, we'll have some new faces in this one." Miss Bustier's tone was cheerful as she clapped her hands. "Now in a short while, we're going to head down to the courtyard for our photo. We're going to have a professional photographer taking our photo, so let's look our best with our brightest smile, ok?"

After that, class went as it normally did, or almost normally, since Chloe chose to actually listen rather than spend all her time on her phone like she would have before. It was odd listening to something she had become intimately familiar with during her career as a teacher.

Reconciling the life she had lived with being young again was starting to give her a migraine, though it still paled in comparison to some of the days she'd had to struggle through with her students. Miss Bustier didn't know how easy she had it compared to the students Chloe had worked with, granted the frequent villain attacks weren't exactly a walk in the park for Miss Bustier. Chloe was brought back to reality when Miss Bustier called for the class to get up and head to the courtyard and as they were lined up, she found herself next to Rose and Juleka.

"Come on, Juleka, you can do this. No jinx will beat you this time." When Chloe heard Rose say that, she stopped dead in her tracks, the realization hitting her like a haymaker.

"Fuck." That caused Rose and Juleka to stop and look at her in surprise and she could only give them an awkward smile in turn as they walked on. She heard Nino chuckle from behind her and even a giggle from Ayla and some of the others.

She turned her head to look at them with a raised brow and they all looked in different directions like dogs that knew they were about to get scolded. She sighed and looked forward, now fully recalling this day and what would happen once they reached the courtyard. She made her way over to a step by the entranceway and sat down, Sabrina following after her.

"Is something wrong?" Sabrina asked, looking a bit confused.

Considering she had just heard Chloe curse probably for the first time, Chloe didn't blame her. Chloe looked at her hand again, considering what to say but she just shrugged and she moved her thumb over the ring on her finger.

"Trying to figure out if this is a dream or a very cruel joke." She could see the confusion on Sabrina's face deepen. "Have you ever had the feeling you just know something is going to go wrong but you don't know if you can fix it? Does that make sense?"

At that, she heard someone gasp and squeal, causing her head to snap to the side to see Rose looking excited as she spoke with Juleka. "But maybe I can make it better, or at least try and not screw it up," Chloe said as she got up and walked over to Rose and Juleka. Both stopped their conversation and looked at her as she approached.

"Oh hey Chloe, do you need something?" Rose asked, forcing a smile that was too sweet to be real, even on the blonde girl's perpetually innocent looking face.

"I heard something about a jinx and I-" Chloe paused, she wanted to say she wanted to know more but couldn't. "I-" she paused again, trying but struggling to get any words out, which caused Rose to look confused.

"Is something wrong?" Juleka asked, concerned enough that she brushed her purple bangs away to look at Chloe with both eyes..

Chloe tried to think of a lie, but every time she tried to utter it, she shivered and couldn't form the words.

"I'm worried something bad might happen to you," she blurted before covering her mouth, her face red like a beat. 'Fucking really? That came out? That?! Fuck!' Chloe thought as she continued to blush furiously.

"You're worried?" Juleka said, looking a bit confused and suspicious, though Rose looked at her with a wide smile.

Chloe nodded. She was worried. She was worried that there'd be a villain attack and that Juleka would be said villain and Chloe would cause said attack.

"Yes, I am. After all, when you know something bad is going to happen, something bad probably will," Chloe replied, scrambling to sound confident only for a snort from behind her to catch her attention.

"And I'm certain you know what that bad thing is right, Chloe?" Marinette asked suspiciously as she stepped closer to the three of them. Chloe tried not to scowl, no doubt the others thought this was part of some cruel prank she had planned. "What bad thing do you think is going to happen?" Marinette pressed.

"Honestly?" Chloe asked, trying not to seem aggressive even if a small part of her wanted to. This was a teen she was dealing with and she was bigger in height than Marinette anyway. "I'm worried we might have an Akuma on the loose so I want to do what I can to help keep us all in good spirits." That caused Marinette to look at her in confusion and a mixture of suspicion and surprise.

"So how do you want to help?" Rose asked, thankfully interjecting before Marinette could keep trying to rile Chloe. The pixie haired blonde looked at Chloe brightly and a bit like she wanted to hug her. "I mean, have you ever dealt with a bad picture or jinxes?"

Chloe went silent at that. To say she had bad pictures might be an understatement considering her track record as an akumatized person.

"I do have experience with bad photos, more than I'd rather say. But for you, Juleka, is it that you just don't like the idea of getting a photo taken or is that you're too nerv-?" She saw their faces looking at her in surprise and she realized she might have gone into teacher mode, so she took a moment to try to talk more like her old, young self. "Is it that that stupid camera can't get a photo or do some crazy absurd things happen, like a bird or a cat, heck maybe a bolt of lightning?" At that suggestion, Marinette looked like she wanted to chuckle but Juleka nodded.

"Bad things just happen and the photo gets ruined no matter how hard I try. Something always happens," Juleka said with a dour pout as she looked down and rubbed her bare arms. Depression seemed to come off her in waves. Chloe looked at her with a bit of sadness. She could understand bad luck but the only way to beat it was to break it.

"Well today is your lucky day cause I'm here and so is Marinette. We won't let anything bad happen, got it?" she said with a confident expression and noticed Marinette looking at her with suspicion before speaking

"Yeah, we'll help you, and besides, we've got a pro taking the picture like Miss Bustier said, so there's n-" Chloe pinched Marinette, causing the raven haired girl to jump "Ow! Hey!"

"Saying it won't happen, tends to make it happen," Chloe responded. "But she's right, we'll do our best and Sabrina can help too." At that Rose actually did hug her. Chloe jumped a bit in surprise, looking down at Rose with her bubbly bright smile on her face. Chloe didn't know what to do so she just stood still, looking to the others for help but Marinette just looked like she wanted to laugh and Juleka had a soft smile.

"Thank you, thank you so much Chloe! I knew you were a good person!" Rose said.

"I deserved that," Chloe said with a blank face.

"Deserved what?" Rose asked but before Chloe could respond the photographer clapped his hands signaling the class it was their turn and soon began a very tedious situation.

"Ok so you here, you there, you go there, and you over there," the photographer said as he moved the class into position around a bench that had been placed in the middle of the courtyard for the photo. Chloe smiled for the photo but the photographer wasn't finished, "No no no, it just doesn't work. You move there, you go there. Blondie, you move to the middle row. Big fellow, to the back!"

And thus, a test of their patience began as they were moved around and around for a good hour or so. Chloe couldn't understand why this was happening, she wasn't even trying to complicate matters this time by demanding she be next to Adrian. By what Chloe would guess was maybe the 22nd time, she was pretty sure she might go to prison today. If this was a dream or a joke or hell, she was going to at least enjoy strangling this massive pain in her ass first.

"There, just move a few more inches to the right and there! Perfect! Now I've got it!"

The photographer leaned in ready to take his picture before there was a beep and he paused, "Oh I don't believe this! The battery died. I have to go fetch another one. Nobody move." The photographer walked off without another word, leaving them all groaning with frustration.

"I am definitely going to jail today," Chloe muttered, considering how to end this problem before she saw Juleka walking off. She jumped from her spot, "Hey wait Juleka! Where are you going?"

"To the bathroom," she said with a tired tone as she continued walking, Chloe following after her.

"I'll go with you, that way if he does come back they can't take the picture without both of us," Chloe responded.

"You really want me to have a good photo that badly?" Juleka said as they entered the bathroom. Chloe walked over to the sink to check herself in the mirror while Juleka went to the stall.

"I will take the photo myself if I have to, and trust me, if I have to fight him for it I will! If I have to move spots one more time, I might actually go to jail for what I'll do to him!" At that she heard a giggle from the stall and smiled.

As she turned on the faucet to wash her hands, she reached down to try and take off the ring on her finger. However, when she pulled, it refused to budge.

"What the-?" She pulled more and nothing changed. In fact, it seemed to get tighter on her finger. "Come on dang it, get off!" she growled, pulling before she felt a pinch and yelped, "Oww! Why you-"

"Something wrong, Chloe?" Juleka asked from the stall.

"Yeah, my ring won't budge. I guess I'll have to deal with it when I get home," Chloe sighed as she just started washing her hands with the ring on. She heard Juleka leave the stall and was joined at the sinks. As she started washing her hands, Juleka's expression was concerned.

"Why are you helping me? I know it's rude but normally you…" Juleka looked like she was trying to find the right word but Chloe decided to say it first.

"Normally I'm a selfish, self-centered, pain that yells too much?" Chloe said with a smile as she turned off the water and started drying her hands.

"I don't know how to say it, so I'll just say I woke up today and I don't know what's going on but it feels like I've been given a second chance," Chloe smiled at the confused look on Juleka's face as she dried her hands, both walking to the door.

"But whatever it is, I'm gonna try and make it better and hey, today is already better. Because you're going to get your photo and I get to say I didn't ruin your day-" Chloe's words were cut off when she opened the door to see the kids running in terror as an Akumatized person was taking pictures of them, trapping them in photos. Chloe closed the door just as fast as she opened it before they were noticed.

"I think you jinxed it," Juleka said.