AN: Apologies for having this story inactive for about 8 months now. I'd been very busy and also having trouble coping with the finale that was Season 5 and the season as a whole. :') Plus, I also didn't exactly know how to write this next chapter in general because I didn't want Chloe to be too OOC. She is different in this AU, but not to the point where she's 100% nice. She has her snarky moments, but is still a good person. Think Cornelia from W.I.T.C.H. or Amity from Owl House or even Cleo from Monster High really. :)
I still hope you all enjoy this chapter regardless.
Chapter 2: Chloe the Queen Bee and Zoe the Vesperia
Down in the basement of Audrey's fashion house, there lived and slept a young girl that looked almost similar to Audrey's own daughter, Chloe; both in age and appearance. She even had a similar body type, light blonde hair, and both also shared the same colored-blue eyes which appeared when the young girl woke up to the sound of the basement's air conditioner; though this didn't bother her at all due to the room's hot and stuffy environment. The young girl yawned and stretched herself out of the rusty bed she slept in and looked down as she saw her one and only companion she had: A stuffed honeybee that she called Mr. Buzzy.
"Time to start another day in Hell, Mr. Buzzy." The young girl let out a sigh.
"VESPERIA!" A similar voice shouted, which made the young girl gulp. The door to the basement then slammed open hard and the reveal of Audrey Bourgeois came out.
"You're still in bed?! Lazy as ever!" The fashion designer screamed, and all the poor girl could do was take it.
"Well, come on!" Audrey ordered. "You got a job to do. You need to get the thread I'd ordered, restock the fabric, polish the mannequins, and I need you to go into town to mail off a new dress line by two o'clock!" Audrey completed her orders. "You understand me, Wasp?" Zoe glared at her with despair in her face.
"My name is not Wasp, or Vespa, or even Vesperia. It's Zoe!" The young blonde fought back, but her "employer" didn't seem to care about the correction at all.
"Just get it done." Audrey growled through her teeth as she walked out of Zoe's "room." The young blonde glared at her "foster mother" and then took a deep breath while she held her dearest bee plushie to her chest. She then began to talk to it as if it were real.
"Don't worry Mr. Buzzy, we'll get out of here and reunite with daddy again." The young girl flashed a smile now and finally decided to get ready for her day.
Making her way up to the Haunt Couture fashion house upstairs in her day clothes and all cleaned up now, Zoe began to start on her duties for the fashion designer, and those that worked for her.
"Good morning, Anasis." Zoe sweetly told one of Audrey's employees.
"Hmph, about time you're here, Wasp." The Anasis woman snapped with venom. "Didn't you hear your mother? You have supplies to get for us!"
"She's not my mother," Zoe argued back. "She's only here so I can help pay back my father!" Another snobby woman joined the conversation.
"Oh, you mean the actor from New York?" She teased critically as she pinned on a sash to a dress she was currently working on. Anasis laughed viciously. "Oh yeah, how poor is he again?" Both women laughed with malicious intention, that all Zoe could do was angrily glare at the two rude women.
"Vesperia, come now!" Audrey shouted from across the room. Zoe sighed and walked up towards the horrible baroness who was at the front door, aggressively glaring at her.
"Honestly, you are just as worthless as my own family!" The blonde girl walked out the door as the older woman handed her a list of tasks as well as a golden tote bag to help the girl carry whatever she needed to get for her boss.
"And don't be late!" The bossy woman demanded as she closed her door. After that was finished, Zoe once again let out a sigh of sadness before heading off until town to start her orders.
Meanwhile, at a school called College Francoise Dupont, a bespectacled girl with red hair wearing a purple sweater vest and teal-blue skirt was waiting anxiously outside the school, holding two cups of coffee.
"Oh, I hope she's not running late!" The girl started to panic, to the point where she almost dropped the coffees. Meanwhile, two other students, a girl with blue-black pigtails and another redhead with glasses were viewing the anxious classmate from a distance. The redhead shook her head and smirked.
"That girl really loves devoting her life to Chloe, huh?" The redhead asked her pigtailed partner in crime, who just argued back.
"It's not like that Alya," The second girl defended. "Chloe may kinda be a jerk, but she's not all that bad."
"I know that, I never said that precisely." Alya debated humorously. "I'm just saying that devoting your life to one person all through your life is pretty unhealthy." The pigtailed girl smirked back. "Aren't you the same girl that helps me with Adrien?" The two share a laugh.
"Yeah well, that's gotten better the more you've gotten to know him, thanks to Nino and I."
"Fair point." The two besties shared another chuckle and decided to walk over to the acquaintance; who replied to them all sweetly.
"Oh, hi Marinette, Alya."
"Hi Sabrina," Marinette answered. She pointed at the coffee cups. "We see that you're waiting for Chloe again." Sabrina blushed.
"Oh yeah, always am." She responded with a smile. "You know, she has gotten better ever since Ladybug saved her mother when she was akumatized that one time." Hearing the sentence made Alya grin big while Marinette flushed a bit in her face.
"Oh really?" The pigtailed one asked all awkwardly. Alya then came to her defense.
"Don't worry Sabrina, we're aware that Chloe isn't all that bad. Bossy and arrogant, sure; but not evil or malicious." Sabrina nodded in agreement.
Speaking of Chloe herself, she was just about ready to pull up to the front of the school in her limousine while she was adjusting her sunglasses and drinking a sip of her morning water to help keep her body hydrated for the day. The limo reached its endpoint as the rich blonde got herself ready.
"Not bad Ludwig, but next time, maybe pull in a little wider. I need the school to know that my arrival is important." She then handed him over a twenty dollar bill.
"Here, a twenty dollar tip. Thank my mother for it, coming from New York and all." The rich girl then unbuckled and smiled as she blew a kiss to her driver and told him that she loved him as she exited the vehicle. When the limo left, Sabrina grinned and cheered all the way to greet its passenger.
"Chloe, there you are!" The redhead coffee holder chipred. Chloe just glared at her.
"Uh, who are you again?" The redhead's expression went to worry.
"Kidding!" The blonde revealed her joking side and the two friends cheered and greeted each other. Sabrina then handed her the coffee.
"Did you remember to write down the plans for the weekend?" The blonde asked as she slipped her coffee. Just as Sabrina was going over them, the redhead bestie brought up something that sparked Chloe's interest the most:
"Oh, and your mother's fashion show this Saturday!" Sabrina revealed.
"That's the one," Chloe chirped and pointed at the planner. "Highlight it." The redhead obeyed. The rich girl then pulled out a small, folded piece of paper from her bag; which released a confident smile out of her.
"That's why I brought five hundred of these last week." She then unfolded it to reveal a well-designed poster of her mother's fashion show being advertised as "Audrey Bourgeois's Haunt-Couture! This Saturday from 10AM-5PM at the Le Grande Hotel."
"Wow Chloe, it looks gorgeous!" Sabrina said, all astonished as she reached out for it, but the spoiled, yet kind one pulled away.
"Careful, I don't need it dirty!" Chloe calmed down. "Sorry Sabrina, it's just that this fashion show means the world to my mom, that I, that I." The blonde felt a burn of insecurity in her that she had to stop herself and take a deep breath.
"Point being is," Chloe continued. "My mom has been really looking forward to this fashion show all week and I just can't disappoint her." The daughter of the fashion designer revealed. Sabrina then followed along.
"And it's also on the same day as your birthday?" Hearing that sentence made the blonde girl spit out of her drink.
"Huh?! Gimme that!" The blonde took the planner and was indeed shocked that the fashion show and her birthday were on the same day.
The day has since passed and although Chloe was over her meltdown, she still felt disdain towards her mother for the fashion show's date. Once she arrived back home, she angrily barged in, demanding to see her mother.
"MOMMY!" The blonde rich girl screamed. Audrey, who was with two clients of hers, rolled her eyes with disgust and excused herself to see what her daughter wanted.
"What is it, Carrot Top, I'm busy getting ready for Saturday!"
"First of all," Chloe argued back. "It's Chloe; secondly, how dare you schedule your fashion show on my birthday!"
"Your what?" Audrey raised an eyebrow.
"My birthday! The day I was born! This Saturday!"
"Oh, so?" The last sentence stabbed Chloe in the heart.
"You do this every time you have a Fashion Show!" Chloe called out her mother.
"Every year, it's always on a holiday or an event! My birthday, Mother's Day, even yours and daddy's anniversary!" The blonde queen began to feel herself crying. "Don't you ever think about your family for once?" The fashion mama scoffed.
"Pfft, please Chloe. If anyone is the selfish one, it's you!" Now the offspring felt officially hurt.
"What?!"
"Always crying," The diva mother continued. "Always complaining about my fashion shows. "Oh it's my birthday!" "Oh, daddy ordered you a special cake tonight!" "Oh, I made you this at school!" You think I give a shit about you and your father? Why do you think I always schedule my fashion shows on those days?" Finally, Audrey gave out the answer in her most cruelest attitude ever.
"To remind myself that I had you!" The blonde daughter felt the world shattered around her.
"And you are also so ungrateful! My fashion career should be your birthday gift! Hell, it's the best present anyone could have! But you would rather focus on yourself. Disgraceful."
The wealthy young girl, now at her lowest, quickly ran past her mother up the hotel's stairs to her room where she flopped herself on her bed and sobbed in her pillow.
"How could she do this to me?" Chloe cried to herself. "Am I really not that important to mommy?" The blonde-haired girl looked out her window with her hot teats.
"Oh Ladybug, if you can, please call on me!" The queen bee partner begged her idol. "I need to escape being a Bourgeois."
A/N: Hmm, not gonna lie. I feel like this chapter was really weak as hell. I could've done better, but I didn't want to end up writing a wall of text and filler, so this was the best I could do. :/ Plus, I wanted to show how much of an abusive mother Audrey is compared to what the show did because if the show isn't gonna treat Chloe's abuse seriously, then I will in my fics.
Hope you all enjoy