A/N: I don't know what graduations/end of year are like in France, I made it up. So, sorry to french people.
Thanks to my betas (in spanish): Katherine and Vicav (Vicav12 here in )
Waking up in the burrow is not pleasant, but it is what we are getting used to.
Opening your eyes and meet a bunch of sinister black circles. To be lying on this transparent and hard surface and no pillow.
Bunnyx snores. How can she do it with such a small nose? I don't know, but she does.
And I'm always the first to wake up. Surely it's because none of them have a two-hour beauty routine in the morning.
I get up and wake the two of them up. It's time to get out of this horrible place.
The akuma from after the interview was our fan. One that wanted to change everything in color to confuse our sight and that nobody would watch television again.
It has been effective on one hand: dizzying. But nothing will make people stop watching TV.
Worst of all, I've been pink for four hours! I don't want to see anything pink for a long time.
Being at home again and lying on my bed is great after the awkward burrowing.
Normally, I would check my social media, but now I'm kind of scared.
"Pollen, do you think I should?"
She sees me with my phone.
"If I were selfish, I would tell you not to do it. You know that you must know the opinion of the people, and beyond France."
She is right. Why is she right every time she opens her mouth? That's not fair.
I go on Instagram. Ryuko's images in people's stories. Most of them are afraid of her expression or mock her. Few support her.
Facebook. Posts talking about canceling us. That makes no sense! What are they going to do? Stop accepting our help when an akuma attacks them? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.
In Tik Tok they imitate us to make fun of us, especially Ryuko.
And worst of all: Twitter. "Crazy" is Trending Topic number one.
If I look globally, things don't get any better. They share it as "Ryuko's nervous breakdown" without saying anything about how they wanted to make us look bad.
Yes, we have had failures, but we have done many more good things.
After three hours of reading opinions, I fall asleep again.
Bustier is very happy again to announce that we don't have class. This woman doesn't like to teach, does she?
"Let's start the final year project!"
No! The final year project is always horrible. Last time we had to do a mural per class. We got "The Night Watch" by Rembrandt. Who assings a picture like this to a group of fourteen-year-olds?
We all sucked at it, especially me, though I'd never admit it out loud. The only one who got it right was obviously Nathanael. He has superior talent.
And now he is with Alix. They sat together today, and Kagami with me.
He sees that I look at him and says something to the girl. She turns around and finds me and smiles like a bitch. She whispers in his ear. Dammit.
"This year it's movies!" Says the teacher with a clap. "This morning we have raffled it among the teachers and this class has touched us, terror!"
Terror? I can't help but laugh. I already know who is not going to participate.
"What is so funny?" Kagami asks next to me.
"Horror films. They are mean, ridiculous and unbelievable."
She nods.
"I have never seen a horror movie. My mother forbids me."
I maintain that her mother is weird. Kagami is also a bit weird, although her mother more than her.
The teacher makes the delegate, Marionette, and the sub-delegate, Shrill Snooper, whose expulsion has been shorter than Alix's, stand up.
Marionette writes everyone's names on pieces of paper and puts them in a glass bowl while her stupid friend writes what Bustier tells her on the blackboard.
She divides into two large groups: actors and production team. Actors is divided into four: male lead, female lead, villain and extras. Production team is also divided into four: producers, writer and director, and staff.
First choose the male lead.
"Adrien."
The reaction is immediate: celebration by everyone, not only because he is famous and that will make them judge the film less, but because he is the only one with acting experience. Apart from me, of course.
In the girls' turn I seem to see that Marionette does something with the bowl of names: she takes one out before giving it to the teacher and nobody says anything.
"Mylene."
Mylene! This can't be happening. It's too good to be true.
This time I laugh out loud, with the whole class knowing about it, and I don't try to hide it.
The following spots are mixed picks: DJ Shit as director, Shrill Snooper as writer, and Ivan as the villain. I have had to be an extra.
Normally it would bother me, but in this situation, it doesn't at all.
The class ends and the next one is physical education. Now that we're going to the locker room and Alix will be separated from Nathanael, I can go ask her.
I know they were talking about me.
I pull her away from the rest of the girls and speak quietly.
"What did you say about me?"
The shortly smirks.
"He asked me why you look at him so much." She explains. "I told him that you want to kill him and put his body in a freezer, then dismember him and distribute his pieces around Paris in a satanic ritual."
What?!
"Why did you tell him that? It's a lie."
"Oh. Would you rather I told him that you have a crush on him?"
That is even more of a lie. Why would I say something like that to him? Based on what?
"What? Nope!" The stupid smirk of her does not erase. "I do not like it! He's disgusting!"
Marionette comes out of a corner. Of course she was spying on us.
"Do you think Nathanael is disgusting? Horrible. He has to know."
I stand in front of her.
"No. Stop getting in where they don't call you."
She puts on her fake victim face, the one where she widens his eyes and pouts.
"Calm down, Marinette, she doesn't mean it." Alix intervenes with a smile. She still makes fun of me. "Right?"
There would only be two ways to shut her up: hit her until she's down, or say that I didn't want to insult Nathanael. I don't know which of the two is worse.
"You see. I am right."
The stupid victimizer stares at me as if she has discovered something good.
Shit.
In the afternoon we come to school to shoot at our assigned time, because it's a school project and blah, blah, blah...
Srill Snooper has already done the script and told her disgusting best friend what our clothes have to look like before we came. Does she expect to get it all in one day?
She has made a pink cardboard mask for Ivan.
DJ Shit walks up to me.
"Chloe, you're going to shoot now. You are the first victim of "The Monster Eats People of the Françoise Dupont School"."
I hope that's not the title.
"They didn't give me the script." I warn him.
"That's because you don't have. Alya has made your character… like yourself and you just have to surprise yourself and scream."
Really? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. I would not do that.
Juleka hands me a bag of fake blood. Does she want me to stain my clothes? It's designer's.
I go to Ivan and hand it to him.
"Put it in the mouth of the mask after "killing me"."
"Is that what the script says?"
"The script says nothing."
They prepare everything, turn on the cameras and act.
I'm supposed to be sitting at the teacher's desk (which makes perfect sense), looking at clothes on my phone (because of course that's the only thing I do in my spare time), and when I see Ivan in that ridiculous mask Instead of laughing, I scream.
I am a great actress.
Yesterday I pretended that I liked Nadja, and today, that I don't die of disgust.
Then I go to the hallway to look at social networks again.
I don't see anyone who supports us. Last night there were. How not now? I spend a while looking and can't find them.
"What are you doing?" Kagami asks next to me. I take a little jump. I haven't heard her arrive.
"Searching in social networks." She looks at me she waits for me to continue. "Did you see the interview with Triple Super yesterday? Well, I'm trying to see if anyone supports them. I can't be the only one."
"I do that too." She says. She looks at my screen and points to a tweet. "And this girl. I know her. She is Erika."
I read her tweet. "You guys are going too far with this bullying. They told the truth. They've saved us all multiple times. You seem to be favoring the terrorist."
It's true. She defends us. Let's go read the comments, but before we do, my app crashes and closes itself.
I go back in and look for the tweet but it doesn't appear. Then, her nickname, and when entering his account, "Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules."
What? Why? Is that why I haven't seen a single message in favor since dawn?
Kagami looks just as shocked as I do.
"What if we go back in?"
She nods.
They are still shooting without changing scenery. Mylene is at the top of the class and Ivan is at the bottom.
She has a plastic knife. She trembles and says nothing.
"Cut!" DJ Shit yells. "Mylene, you have to say your sentence."
"But I'm afraid."
From a shabby cardboard mask?
I laugh again, but then I shut up. I'm supposed to be nice and all that. Or at least not be so brazen in my enjoyment of another's misfortune.
Or try to avoid ridicule to the whole class.
"If your own boyfriend gives you so much fear with a crappy costume, maybe you should leave it and someone else do it."
Have I been kind enough? By the look on her face, anyone would say that I have insulted her.
"And who would you say?" asks Shit DJ. "Yourself?"
"The best actress here is me, of course." I admit. It's true. He rolls his eyes. "But, I'm already out. So the one who would make the best of a warrior who fights monsters is Kagami."
The whole class looks at her.
"No."
No one argues with her and I'm not going to try to convince her of it.
"The best option is Marinette." Says her shadow.
Co-star with Adrien? That would make her happy. And I refuse. Besides, her clumsiness would also make us look ridiculous.
"And for her to stab herself ten times in one scene?" I mock.
She puts her hands on her hips.
"The knife is plastic. It wouldn't hurt."
That she defended more stupid, as if with that she would not remove the ridicule.
"You know that no..."
"And how about Alix?" The blonde boy interrupts me.
"No." Kagami and Shrill Snooper answer at the same time.
I look at my friend and she explains it to me.
"There is a kiss scene."
Wow. Pathetic.
Scaredy runs down the stairs and out of the classroom, shutting us all up.
I think we have offended her. Not that I care about it either.
Sabrina runs after her, although she first looks at me reproachfully. I haven't even done it on purpose. She shakes her head before walking out the door.
She cares a lot about her. Before Marionette, she did it for me. Well, now I have others. My eyes go to Kagami. She is also watching the door.
"It is clear: Marinette." Shrill Snooper repeats. "She is the only one willing at the moment."
I refuse, that would make her happy. I would offer myself if it weren't for the fact that I've already done my scene.
Since nobody says anything, they start to make the scene for her. They give her the knife, which she ridiculously drops.
I've got it!
"One moment. Alix hasn't said her opinion yet."
They all stand still and look at her.
I try to convey with my eyes what I want. She glances at everyone.
And then everything happens very quickly.
The door to the classroom breaks down and a terrifying monster enters.
It measures at least three meters, with a fat humanoid body and disproportionate limbs with cutting claws. It has a large head with three eyes and a huge mouth with two rows of long, sharp teeth dripping with pink slime. It's covered in thick purple hair, no, dirty pink. And finally, it has a strong tail and at least half its size.
It slightly resembles the crappy mask from Marionette, only this is scary.
"Go away!" Kagami orders as she pulls out something like a wooden stick from under her table.
"Are you going to fight the akuma?"
"I am going to distract it while Triple Super arrives."
I have to hurry, then.
But when we leave class we see that we cannot leave.
The akuma, because it can't be anything else, has created a roof for the patio and has covered the exits with a pink substance, suspiciously similar to its slime.
The problem is that if I can't leave, I can't transform.
"I'm going to hide in a place by myself. Don't follow me. I don't want that to come to me."
Yes, it will be a good excuse. I have to rush. I start to run down the hall, but a voice stops me.
"Do you really agree with leaving Kagami alone against an akuma?" Nathanael asks out loud.
We all turn in his direction. Some have the decency to look embarrassed.
"I'm going to the gym warehouse to get a pole. "Adrian declares. "What do you want to do?"
"I will go with you."
The blond one nods.
"Someone else?"
Marionette raises her hand. Shrill Snooper and her boyfriend does the same. That's not about Kagami. Kim does too. A braggart like him couldn't miss the opportunity.
Nobody else does. Not Alix, not me. Surely now I am looking like a horrible person in front of everyone.
I just hope this talk ends soon so I can save Kagami.
Each one goes in a different direction.
I go to a random empty class. I open the bag.
"My queen, are you angry or upset in any way?"
Is it because I feel pain? What difference does it make? Kagami is alone against an akuma.
"No. Just worried."
I transform.
The first thing is to save Kagami. I go to my classroom and find that Bunnyx is already here. The monstrous akuma has my friend on his tail and is much bigger than before. Stoneheart 2: Now in Pink?
"Let go of the girl, monster." I order to it. Its reaction is to roar at me.
Bunnyx opens her umbrella to use as a shield.
Its strong breath pushes me back. It is stinky. Does it eat people? Will it eat Kagami? I don't know what this akuma does.
It becomes larger.
I haven't touched it, so it's not like Stoneheart.
That means I can attack it.
I spin my spinning top to give it momentum and throw it like a loop to catch Kagami of its tail.
The monster pushes her away and I can't reach her. It's not going to take my friend.
"Venom" I whisper.
That's when the akuma throws pink vomit at us. Yes, exactly. It vomits on us. Nothing as disgusting as this has ever happened to me.
And it's not the worst thing, but that thing completely covers both Bunnyx and me, sticking to the ground and immobilizing us.
A butterfly appears on its face and the monster nods before leaving.
I can't do anything while the akuma leaves with my friend.
"Have you discovered something?" I ask my partner.
I hear her try to remove herself from it.
"That this thing is very sticky and strong."
"I know that too! Where's your super smart thing? Like, why does it get bigger?"
I look at the ceiling. I hope no one comes and sees us like this. I know how it would affect us.
"It does it after roaring at us, but I don't think that's the reason. It's not like Stoneheart either. It's something more. It is not necessary to touch it, but it needs another person, since it cannot control the size on its own, and only gets bigger. Besides, it wants something with the girl."
That's what scares me.
"Do you think it's to eat her?"
"I think Hawk Moth would cross the line if he made an akuma that eats people. Remember that before their possession they are people."
Certain. And akumatization is related to a desire or feeling of the victim. I don't think it was eating people.
Who is this time? It has to be someone who knows about our film and wasn't in class when it showed up. The only ones who had left were Sabrina and Mylene, and the first has already been akuma. So, it's Mylene.
She was afraid of the monster in the story and has become that herself. What, exactly, was she scared of about the monster? If they had let me read the script, I would know!
Although I think I remember that it was a person eater.
I stir again. Kagami is still in danger. And in a few minutes, my venom will wear off on its own as the energy will run out, and I'll be tired.
Six people walk through the classroom door.
Yes, exactly, the six volunteers to save Kagami.
The stupid DJ Shit is recording us.
"Turn off that camera." I order him.
"Yeah. Let's help them, I've already done it by warning them." Shrill Snooper boasts.
"Yes, that. They already know two of us."
Actually everyone.
"Three." corrects DJ Shit. "Adrien is friends with Ryuko."
"Three and no one else." Nathanael says nervously. Very subtle. "Let's help them."
The redhead walks up to me and crouches down. Look at the substance, the vomit, that has stuck me to the ground.
"I would love to have a solvent." He whispers.
Solvent. I get it. Through the Scape Room. Kim also seems to get it.
"Max. We should have brought Max."
"There's no need."
They all turn to Ryuko, who has just arrived. She has her sword in her hand and I see that I already know what her intention is. I dislike it.
"Don't do that, Ryuko! You don't know where I am. What if you amputate something?"
"Do not worry, I have great precision. Will not hurt."
What does she mean by that? She's going to cut off my hand? Nothing calms me down!
She walks over to me and makes a quick move where she runs her weapon right through the center of my body. The sticky vomit splits open in the middle, separating from me.
My heart beats very fast. What a fright.
And at this moment, my venom is gone and the wave of tiredness arrives. Now it won't last long. When I'm Chloe again, it will last much more. I'm not very used to it, but I can put it aside, while leaning on a table, of course.
Civilians gape at her. Yes, Ryuko is very cool. She and incredibly impulsive, dangerous and terrifying. Although she distracts them from me.
"Next time, let me know." I warn her.
She does the same with Bunnyx, who seems calmer than me.
"If I had, you would not have agreed."
"I was not."
They're watching us argue. They shouldn't, it's private. From our group.
Ryuko watches them for a moment. Adrien carrying a pole, Nathanael carrying a racket, Kim has two medicine balls, Shrill Snooper a rope, DJ Shit with her camera, and Marionette nothing.
"Adrien, pick up that shinai off the ground and puts down the pole. Why do you have something so cumbersome?"
Before she does, Bunnyx ushers her into a corner and motions for me to come too.
"I don't think we should go back to using civilians." she alerts her.
Ryuko nods.
"I think the same as you. Still, I do not think we should leave them alone and I would rather they have something to defend themselves with. Also, if they are all together we can protect them better."
But they are not all together. Some have hidden.
"Do you think those guys are the only ones here? I'm sure there are teachers who work in the afternoon." contradicts Bunnyx.
"Then we should search for everyone or leave this group alone." I intervene. "I vote for the second."
"Me too." the rabbit girl joins.
Ryuko looks back and forth between us. We are two against one, she knows that she has no discussion.
We return to the civilians and explain that they will stay here while we reach the akuma.
They reluctantly agree and I can barely look at Nathanael before we leave.
Better, I think, so he doesn't think he's different from the others.
Keeping track of her is not difficult, as she has left a trail of pink slime in the hallway.
Thus, we know that she has gone to the science classroom, Mrs. Mendeleiev's class.
This is where Rose, Juleka, Ivan and Max hid, along with the teacher, who corrected exams. Everyone except Juleka, the emo horror fan, is scared. The akuma is bigger again, and with the people paralyzed with fear, she catches Rose with her tail as she gives her boyfriend a lick. Gross! She behaves as if she were an animal.
"You're not taking anyone else." Bunnyx threatens. I don't know how she's going to stop her, if she didn't do anything before.
She looks at one and then another. I'm out of combat for now.
The akuma smiles mockingly. She may not speak, but what she thinks is clear.
Bunnyx takes a deep breath next to me. She runs to Mylene with umbrella ready, and she vomits on her. My partner opens her weapon and uses it as a shield while Ryuko runs after her and jumps on top of the akuma, searching for the item containing the butterfly. I have not seen anything at any time.
Ryuko seems to think otherwise and slashes her tail off. The cut oozes the same pink liquid that she vomits. That means she has hurt her, but Mylene didn't have a tail, so she won't be injured when she comes to. Wait. The monster stops vomiting to give a great cry of pain. If she thought that was it, she was wrong.
She turns to the dragon, who waves the civilians away. They come in my direction and I recover energy just at the right time. Between the two of them they fight against the akuma in the time that I get them out of here.
Once in the hall, I tell everyone to go to the other class, with the others. Most don't hesitate for a moment, except for Juleka, who stays behind.
"You have to know something." I make a gesture for her to continue. "I caused it to get smaller. My laugh has done it."
Actually, that's useful. A negative reaction, I suppose, makes her bigger, while a positive one makes her smaller. I put my public attitude.
"Thank you, you have been a great help."
I walk back into the classroom, now with a lot of expensive science supplies in tatters, and wrap the string from my spinning top around Mylene.
Standing motionless, the three of us examine her thoroughly, but we don't find the akuma item.
"What do we do now?" Ryuko asks. She seems to feel a bit guilty.
"We can make it small and see if the object does not make it with the akuma."
They both stop looking at her and look at me.
The akuma stirs in my bond and I tighten my grip.
"How?" Bunnyx asks.
"Reflekta" I think it's better not to use her real name so they don't think I know her. "She told me that laughing at the akuma does it."
Ryuko frowns and Bunnyx looks thoughtfully into space, then at Mylene.
"It's fear." She affirms. "Growls, scares and becomes big, if not, small."
That makes sense. She was scared when she ran away.
I look at the monster thinking how to laugh. Mylene has a lot of things to laugh about: her looks, that she's afraid of everything, that she's dating a guy who likes metal, ... But then I think that this loser took my best friend from me I don't feel like doing it.
"And who of the three is going to laugh? Because I have the same desire as at a funeral." I declare.
I look at Ryuko. I've never seen her do it. Maybe the other one.
"Bunnyx, aren't you laughing like half your life? Come on, it's your time to shine."
She watches her and tries to smile.
I don't think we have to laugh. Just don't scare us.
Mylene stirs again. She behaves like a wild animal. So much so that she tries to bite Bunnyx's leg. She freaks out and the akuma gets bigger. I pull the cord of my spinning top.
Ryuko plunges her sword hard into the ground, making a loud noise. She startles us.
"Do not move." She orders.
The akuma stands still and grows smaller. My partner doesn't seem surprised, as if she thought that would be the reaction.
"That is right, if you move, I will cut off your hand."
That's too violent for Ryuko. But seeing how she gets smaller, I think you have to imitate her.
Bunnyx and I look at each other without knowing what we should do.
"I can cut you to pieces if I tighten this cable more."
One more time.
"And I stabbed you with my tip."
She gets so small I can't hold her anymore and she cowers. Now we see a pin on her head.
Ryuko carefully picks her up and ends the possession.
"We had to scare her." She explains.
The doorbell rings. Lunch recess. I start packing my things. I will not leave any of my belongings in a place where anyone can take them.
"Uh… Hi."
Is it Nathanael? It's Nathanael. What is he doing here?
I keep picking up and feign disinterest.
"I wanted to ask you why you look at me so much. Last time you told me you didn't, but I know you do."
I have to make up an excuse. I don't even know why I need to make up an excuse. I clearly don't have a crush on him like Alix says.
His beautiful turquoise eyes stare at me. Dammit.
"I'm not going to kill you and put you in a freezer." I laugh.
But why have I said? It's the shorty's fault. I look around for her and see that she is laughing at me.
"I know." he says.
"I don't look at you."
He wrinkles his nose adorably.
"Yes, you do. It might be my old-fashioned clothes or my hair, but I'm starting to feel uncomfortable."
What does he say? He has perfect hair. Incredible color. Anyone would say that it is dyed if it were not for the fact that he hardly pay attention to the appearance of it.
"Your hair is…" What do I say? "right. The reason I look at you so much is because... I want you to teach me to draw."
I have never had any interest in drawing. It's not my thing.
What a shame. I'm making a fool of myself.
"Oh." He frowns. "But I don't draw in public, only for art class. With all you look at me, you should have noticed." he ends with a smile.
This is being humiliating. He caught me and I have invented a pathetic excuse that makes me even worse.
"Well, okay. I'm sure I'll find a better teacher than you. Anyway, you're just a teenager doodling in a notebook."
The smile fades from him face and he leaves without another word. Alix looks from one to the other and follows him.
I shouldn't have said that.
"What is your problem with Nathanael?"
Kagami's question startles me, even though she shouldn't. She was supposed to be writing in Japanese.
"Weren't you noting something in your diary?"
"If I had been making notes during your entire conversation, I would have the plot outline of a book." She says without expression. I've gotten used to that face.
The attempt at sarcasm has not gone well at all.
"Will you answer?"
She's the only one who really listens to me. I can't leave it unanswered.
"Nothing's wrong with me."
The problem is that I'm not sure what others see either. There is nothing. I just think he's not a bad guy and I wouldn't mind getting closer to him.
"You treat him differently from other people." She insists.
"I do not treat anyone the same. I also treat you differently." She explained. "Did Alix say something to you?"
She frowns slightly.
"What does Alix have to do with this?" she is surprised.
From whom else would she get that idea?
"Nothing. We go?"
On the patio we sat together, she with her box of Japanese food and her chopsticks. I have fruit salad with yogurt, to which I add honey. I like it, she gives me all those things that the doctor says I need and she doesn't get fat. It's all advantages.
"Have you seen what they say about yesterday's akuma?" I comment.
"Yes."
She's a little dry, but she's my friend.
Although, the poor girl was stuck in the basement of the school with that disgusting pink slime until we defeated the akuma. She may not want to think about it.
On the Internet and television they do not criticize us. They can't. There is no material to do it.
Since the akuma wasn't in public, there aren't many images, just some that DJ Shit has recorded for the film. Not much damage or injuries. Even Mylene is fine, despite her tail being cut off. Journalists have nothing to criticize.
A girl walks past us. I recognize her from somewhere.
"Hello, Kagami." she greets my friend as she passes by.
"Hi, Erika." she answers.
That's it! She's the girl from Twitter! I want to ask. I need to know if her account has been removed for a legitimate reason or what I think is happening.
"Erika!" I called her. She turns in surprise. "Why did they close your Twitter account?"
She looks at me blankly for a moment, then at Kagami, then back at me.
"Because... I defended Triple Super?" she says very confused before leaving.
A chill runs down my spine.
It's happening.