Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

Stranger in Town

Chapter 33: After the Fire

Aftermath II

Interim

Wedding Belles?

Sometimes the monster doesn't come in fire and brimstone. Sometimes it comes wearing wedding veils.

...

"Ladybug, I'm a little concerned about Chloe-I mean, Red Wasp." Phantasm, in full uniform, had done that which she'd never done before: she'd actually sought out Ladybug with a concern. It wasn't that the eudaemon holder had any antipathy for the spotted hero; she just seemed joined at the hip to Chloe.

Chloe, who was curiously not in evidence. "What about, Sa-* Uh, I mean, Phantasm?" Ladybug censored herself just in time. Most of the western hemisphere was familiar with Chloe's secret identity, but not Sabrina's, and that, she felt, was something she needed to respect. "Wait, tell you what." She looked around; a great deal of Paris had been restored to almost an identical state that it was before the Great Fire of the Madness, as everyone seemed to be calling it these days. Where the media had gotten that term, she didn't know, but it fit. "Let's take this over there, OK?" And shortly, the two were crouched behind a chimney several hundred blocks away from the construction site. "Now, what's on your mind?"

"It's…" Sabrina looked around, "...Chloe. She…she's not acting like herself. I mean, she…oh, it's hard to explain!" She ran her fingers through her hair. "She just acts…I don't know any other way of putting it…she acts dead inside! I mean, she goes through the motions, she does everything right, it's just… And I ask her what's wrong and she's like, what do you mean, nothing's wrong, even though there clearly is! You know what they say about the eyes being a window to the soul? Ladybug, I tell you, I'm afraid to look her in the eyes sometimes…" she trailed off, again running her fingers through her hair, "...'cause I'm afraid of what I won't see." She focused her own gaze on Ladybug. "Do…you think that Fire could have done that? Destroyed her soul or something?"

Marinette wanted to hug the distraught girl, but refrained. Sabrina didn't know her secret ID; to her, she was "just" the premier superhero in Paris. A superhero with a problem, thought Marinette. She still was coming up blank with anything like a plan for dealing with Chat Noir / Adrien Agreste. So she settled for what she hoped was a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "From what I understand, I don't think so," she replied, in as confident a voice as possible, "but you do have to remember one thing: she saw her father die. Right there in front of her eyes. That does something to a person. She…may have sort of closed herself off from the world that did that to her. Maybe…maybe she just needs time, and maybe some closure of some sort."

"You think?"

Now Ladybug did envelope Phantasm in a gentle hug. "Yeah, I think. Just…give her time. And…, y'know, be there for her, you know."

"I will." She checked her watch. "I better get back to her. Sometimes, she…she seems to forget to eat." A nervous laugh, as though walking through a graveyard on a dare, and off she went.

Wow, thought Ladybug / Marinette. Who would've thought it? Chloe Bourgeois, of all people, actually forgetting to eat?

Hope I wasn't wrong in what I told Sabrina.

Hm. Guess I'd best take time out to do a little recon visit, soon. Almost immediately, she was struck by the difference in her thought patterns compared to only a few weeks ago. Back then, she would have thought, Cat Noir and I had best do a little recon. Now…

Just when she'd thought everything would be glorious…

What's happened to me? she thought, as she stopped on a rooftop and held her head in her hands, her tears falling like rain onto the roof itself.

Things were not the same.

…

Sabrina's enhanced metabolism aided her in returning to the now-nearly reconstructed Hotel Bourgeois, her leaps carrying her blocks at a time. Wish I could fly, she thought to herself, wryly. But this was the next best thing.

In between shadonai magic and devil elbow grease-and maybe something more-the hotel had been almost completely restored, with some additional modifications, the exact origin of which Sabrina had not been able to trace. She knew Deanna had been spotted on the grounds, going over plans with Chloe (a strangely disinterested Chloe, she thought), and probably suggesting additions, modifications of her own.

One of those mods had been the complete closing-off of the room in which Andre Bourgeois had died. That was a mod that Sabrina could totally get behind, even if she did wonder at the wisdom of it. But, for better or for worse, that room was now one solid extension of the wall itself.

She found Chloe, still in her guise as Red Wasp, in the first-level basement, scanning the most recent files regarding the rebuilding of the city. She still seemed dull and lifeless, but she was, at least, doing something. "Anything of note?" she asked, trying to sound upbeat.

"Not a thing. Oh, well, a couple of things. We-meaning the group as a whole, not just the Guardians or Miraculous holders-got some communiques from the American supers, expressing their condolences and offering support. After all, most of them have been de-* Uh. I, I mean, they've been…" She found she couldn't go on; her tongue was running into a verbal roadblock it hadn't seen.

Sabrina sat on the arm of the chair and caressed Chloe. "I know. In that state."

"Yeah. Many of them have been in that state more than once." She sighed. "I wonder how they handled it."

Sabrina hitched closer on the chair arm. "Chloe, c'mon. Throw some stuff into a suitcase and come stay with Dad and me. At least for a while. This place is fully automated and there's nobody here; it doesn't need you here." Chloe's father, Andre Bourgeois, had left the hotel to her in his will.

"'Brina, you're a sweetie, but it's not that. I know the place doesn't need me, that isn't it. I need the place. As…as long as I'm here…as long as I'm staying busy…it's like…he's not really gone, you know? Like I'll turn a corner and there he'll be, still wearing that ridiculous sash of his." Her voice softened to where it was barely audible. "He sure was proud of that." The two reflected on that for a moment. Chloe sighed. Privately, she suspected her father had always had a bit of an inferiority complex…and his marriage to her mother hadn't helped.

As if reading her mind, Sabrina asked, "Have you heard from your-*"

"No," said Chloe, a bit savagely, Sabrina thought. "And if I had, it would have gone into the recyclers. Unopened." Chloe's last meeting with her mother, of whom she had once thought rather highly, had taken place shortly after her accepting the eudaemon and becoming Red Wasp. Surely, she'd thought at the time, now she'll see me as exceptional, too! But her mother had been, to put it most charitably, underwhelmed. "You command bugs? How…droll."

She had received a letter-an honest-to-goodness dead-tree letter-from her half sister, Zoe, expressing her sorrow at Chloe's father's death, and asking if there was anything she could do. She'd returned to the United States with their mother, who'd introduced her to the wonderful world of teen modeling, and, from all reports, that was going along quite nicely. The two had buried the hatchet before her last visit, and they corresponded quite frequently, both through email and snail mail. (Because of the time difference, live video chats were seldom.) When she'd learned of Zoe's entry into the modeling business, Chloe had expressed concern that she might fall into the wrong hands and end up being coerced into modeling something inappropriate, but Zoe had reassured her that her agent was looking out for her best interests. That plus their mother…Chloe breathed a sigh of relief when she read that. She'd always gotten the impression that her sister was a bit naive when it came to the world of public life. ("Just don't you dare pull a Vanessa Hudgens on me," she'd said, during an infrequent video chat. "I'd hate to have to send my wasps out after ten thousand plus horny guys."

"Oh!" Zoe's entire head had blushed crimson. "Ah, I, uh, don't think that'll ever be a problem.")

Chloe read on. Then, "Oh, no."

"Huh? What?"

"Oh, God, no."

"What is it?"

"Zoe's coming for a visit. You know what that means."

Sabrina gulped. She did indeed know what that meant.

Audrey Bourgeois, the Style Queen herself, would be accompanying Zoe to Paris.

…

Marinette was helping her father with a particularly large order when they got the surprise visit from the two last people she would have expected: Chloe Bourgeois and Sabrina Raincomprix, both in their civvies. From Sabrina, she expected that, but not from Chloe, who delighted in being "Red Wasp." So surprised was she that she paused in her labors. "Chloe? Sabrina?"

"It's us, Marinette," Sabrina responded. "Er, we're not intruding, are we?"

"Intruding?" exclaimed Tom Dupain. "Of course you aren't! This is a cafe! We always welcome customers!" Marinette's parents were unaware of the antipathy that existed between her and Chloe Bourgeois.

Or perhaps they weren't.

"Well," began Chloe, hesitantly, "We are customers, but we're also here in the guise of refugees." She gave a nervous laugh. "As well as to bring a warning. A great Evil is coming to town."

"Not again!"

"Oh yes," said Sabrina. "Chloe's mother, Audrey, is bringing Chloe's half-sister here."

"Zoe's a minor, so she has to be accompanied by an adult," spoke up Chloe. "At least that's what we're being told. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess who that's gonna be. So this is really more warning than anything else. After all, I can't really leave the hotel…I mean, I guess. So you might wanna spread the word that half of Paris will get fired. Again." Chloe's mother had a tendency to "fire" anyone who displeased her in any way, whether they worked for her or not. The last time she'd been in Paris, she'd not only fired Chloe, but also Ladybug, Cat Noir, her estranged husband, Andre Bourgeois, both of Marinette's parents, Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain (nobody still knew what for), as well as an entire auditorium full of people, and, it was rumored, a bronze statue down the street. In short, she was difficult to get along with.

"I won't have that, that person in this establishment!" cried Sabine.

"Now, now, dear," soothed her husband, "She just has her ways, that's all. She has no authority over us; just turn a deaf ear to her."

Sabine picked up a heavy spatula. "I'd like to turn something else on her…"

"Look, just let me handle her, okay? I seem to have more resistance to her, er, ways. I won't care how many times she 'fires' me, I know it's all bogus…"

At that exact moment…

Even before she looked around, Chloe could tell who'd just entered the establishment, just from the sound of the door's bell. "Well!" said Audrey Bourgeois, "I might have known! Slumming here in this second-rate bakery…" The thought went through Chloe's mind that calling the Dupain-Cheng establishment "second rate" probably constituted an elevation in appraisal on her mother's part. She noticed Zoe, behind her mother, bringing up the rear…and looking miserable. More so than she would have thought the situation demanded. Battle stations, girl!

"Now come on," continued Audrey, "We've much to do. I've got lawyers waiting, and they don't come cheap. But they do work fast. We can have the title transference filed by sundown…"

Title transference? Oho, so that was it. The word lit a fire inside Chloe. Somehow, for some reason, she saw, in her memory, her father dying in Akane's fireblast. "Mother. The hotel belongs to me. And it's going to stay that way."

"Nonsense. You're underage."

"I've had the will proofed more than once. It's airtight. No matter what my age-" her voice began to rise, even as she herself rose from her chair-"It was left to me and me alone. And it's going to stay that way. It will never be yours! I'll burn it to the ground first." There. She was actually breathing heavily. "If that's what you came here for, you can get on back to New York any time you want. Starting now."

It was as if everybody in the cafe was paralyzed. No one moved, no one spoke.

Then, incredibly, Audrey Bourgeois actually smiled. "Well. Finally. I was beginning to fear you'd taken after your spaghetti-spined father. Yes, you'll do." The smile faded, and she turned to go. "But we do have much to discuss. I'll expect the Imperial Suite, of course, same as last time…" Even while still talking, she turned and left, with Zoe trailing after her.

But as they left, and behind their mother's back, Zoe gave Chloe a "thumbs-up." You did good, sis.

Surprisingly, so did the Dupain-Chengs. Or perhaps not so surprisingly.

….

That night: Sabrina woke Chloe up. Chloe didn't mind; her dreams were filled with fire. Fire, a hateful female face, and her daddy-kins being reduced to a smear on the wall. "Hh? W-what is it, 'Brina?" Then she saw Zoe standing in the doorway, occasionally looking down the hallway, somewhat nervously.

"Chloe," said her sister. "We need to talk."

…..

The three convened in the rear part of the kitchen downstairs, figuring it to be the safest place. The general consensus was that Audrey Bourgeois probably wouldn't know what a kitchen was, let alone think it might be a good hiding place. "Okay," she muttered sleepily, rubbing her eyes. "What's all this about?"

Zoe leaned across the small table. "It's this. Mom wants one of us-preferably you-to marry Adrien Agreste."

"WHA-MMMPH!" Zoe's hand covered her mouth. Once her surprise was past, Chloe reached up and disengaged Zoe's hand, one finger at a time. "What?" she said in a lower voice.

"Mom wants one of us to marry Adrien Agreste. Even though I understand this Nathalie person is acting as his regent or something, still, that's what she's doing here in Paris."

"Why?"

"Oldest reason in the book: money. After all, he's rich. Extremely rich, now. You-or I-marry Adrien, and that joins the two financial empires as one. And she's set her sights on you; you, at least, know him, have known him since childhood. I don't."

Whoa. Chloe felt like she'd been sucker-punched in the gut. She sat back and thought. The whole thing…well, actually, it made sense, in a way. A horrifying kind of sense, but sense, nonetheless. While it was true she'd often fantasized about marrying Adrien (someday…), to be required to do so crossed a line she hadn't even been aware was there.

Until now. "Are you sure?"

"Very. Uhm. Are you, uhm, down for that? 'Cause that's what she'll be focusing on, if not tomorrow, then soon."

Chloe leaned back and crossed her arms. Sabrina was standing guard, and couldn't hear what was being said. Or pretended she couldn't, one of the two. "You act like you want me to do…this."

Zoe sighed, intertwining her fingers nervously, on the table-top. "You…haven't heard the whole story yet."

….

At the Tsurugi's mostly-completed townhouse: Tomoe Tsurugi settled down in her bed. Things had gone rather well that day, all told. Earlier in the week, when Cat Noir had been conversing with Kagami, the two teens had forgotten about her superb sense of hearing, and so had let drop some…interesting…bits of information. So. Cat Noir was Adrien Agreste, was he? Perhaps even better. Maybe she could leverage that to her advantage. After all, he already had a connection-of sorts-with her own offspring. Perhaps that spark could be fanned into a flame. A flame of unification, rather than the more recent one of division. She knew Adrien Agreste was attracted to her daughter, and vice versa. If the two of them could put aside their differences, could leave whatever had transpired to come between them behind, there would no longer be any roadblocks on the way towards a happy joining of the two families, just like she'd hoped for, all those years ago when she was scouting out for Kagami's future mate. Just anybody would not do. It had to be someone almost obscenely rich, and preferably, but not necessarily, without a family / support system of his own. By sheer good grace, Adrien had come to fit that description almost perfectly. And now, with the death of his father…such a wonderful prize he'd become. She was very careful to keep her plans from Kagami, knowing her headstrong daughter just might rebel at the plan, in fact, she almost certainly would. Which would be a pity, since, in many ways, Tomoe truly was looking out for all their best interests: It wouldn't be any time at all before the flotsam and jetsam of society zeroed in on Adrien, the poor orphan boy. The poor, rich orphan boy. In fact, many probably were already on their way. In her mind's eye, she could see the contrails of jets zeroing in on Paris from all points of the compass, chock full of eager young things just dying to fill the void in his life. The boy, innocent as he no doubt was, would simply have no defense against such professional social predators. He'd need someone to stand between him and society's gold-diggers. Just being married, or "in a relationship," wouldn't, by itself, guarantee him any protection. That, combined with the demonstrable fact that arranged marriages were generally more stable, more enduring, than those that happened at random, and her course of action, her responsibility, couldn't be more clear. And Tomoe did want her daughter to be happy. She'd have to handle this situation, this process, delicately, making it seem, to Kagami, as if it were her own idea. If she could do that, and get Kagami's own force of will behind the plan…

There were other young men of great wealth in the world, but the simple truth was, none of them was as nice as Adrien. As unspoiled.

He was simply too perfect to leave to such a fate.

Long ago, Tomoe Tsurugi had vowed that, if someone abused her daughter in any way, she would personally see to it that he would beg for the mercy of death. But she knew that, with Adrien, she need never have that worry. Plus, he was a super. Enhanced-power beings tended to take care of their own. Should something…happen…to Kagami, whoever was responsible would find themselves up against, not just herself, not just Cat Noir, but also the other Miraculous Holders, most likely these new "Guardians" she'd heard about, and possibly even the supers of America, Japan, and China.

The only fly in the ointment, as the Western saying went, was this small matter of Kagami's sharing of inhuman DNA with the hell-creature, Yuijin. Tomoe knew that some men prized the ability to have children, children of their own, and if Kagami was incapable of that, or if the matter was even in doubt, then that could be a deal-breaker.

The logical course of action was to seek out the ones responsible for this genetic situation, this Ouroboros, herself, and see what was what. Perhaps they'd have some answers. Perhaps they'd be amenable to reason, to persuasion. Or, if not reason, perhaps coercion.

Tomoe Tsurugi was quite familiar with many forms and means of coercion. Ouroboros would be foolish to think themselves beyond her reach.

The only other matter that might prove a complication was that posed by this Nathalie Sancoeur, who, by all accounts, had taken the boy under her wing, as it were. That was actually rather noble of her, and to be admired. But Tomoe Tsurugi really didn't see her as being that much of an obstacle to her plans. Especially not with a bullet in her head.

And the plan she had concocted for Gabriele Agreste's only child could then proceed apace.

The financial clout of their combined empires would then be poised to exert a major influence on every nation in the world.

Or just take over the world altogether. Either one would suffice.

…..

"You gotta be kiddin' me!" exclaimed Chloe. "The Ice Queen? Never happen. Not in a million years."

"Do you wanna chance that?" Chloe's mouth snapped shut with an audible click. No, she did not want to chance that.

"Don't ask me how Mom found out about all this," Zoe rubbed her eyes, tiredly. Chloe noticed bags under her half-sister's eyes. "I honestly don't know. But it looks to me like espionage isn't limited to governments. Or perhaps governments have a lot in common with mega-corporations, one of the two.

"So basically," continued Zoe, inexorably, "What's needed is…a superhero. One not afraid to stand up to a…formidable foe. That superhero-you-has to save Adrien. Because, sis, while I don't know for sure, I have a strong hunch that anybody who gets in the way of Tomoe Tsurugi's plans just might find themselves unalived real quick, like." She looked stricken. She reached out to Chloe's hand, on the table in front of them. "Sis, I wish I could've brought you up to speed a little easier, but-*"

"I can't believe we're sitting here having this conversation! Zoe, when I marry Adri-kens, it'll be because we both want to, not because I have to! Besides," she huffed, "Sometimes I think he'd prefer that little tramp Marinette. Seems like they're glued together."

"Welcome to the wonderful world of the extremely rich and famous. Our lives aren't our own. Chloe," she said, leaning forward, in intensity, "All that money, all that wealth, comes with a price, one you can't put a dollar sign to. Rich people just don't marry poor people, no matter how much they may 'like' them. Family pressure and obligation aren't just words anymore. My time with Mom has shown me that. Like it or not, we're the princesses of the new age. And royalty tends to marry royalty." She paused, looking down at the table. "Believe me, that doesn't give me any special thrill, either."

"And how, exactly, would I do this…thing? 'Hey, Adrien. Wanna get married? Somehow I don't think that would go over very well."

"So you'd rather he get with Kagami? 'Miss Awesome' herself? That wouldn't be hard, you know. Just do nothing.

"If it's any consolation, which I doubt, Mom and I think this was in the works long before this. That may be why the Tsurugis moved to Paris in the first place. And maybe Gabriel Agreste was even in on it, to some degree. I mean, two financial mega-corps, merging…now that Gabriel's gone, would there be anything the combined entity, under Tomoe Tsurugi's control, couldn't do? And nobody would see anything suspicious about it, aside from a few pundits in some out of the way e-zines that nobody pays any attention to. Maybe a Vtuber or something.

"Look, I know this is sudden, but just give it some thought, would you? That's really all I can ask. 'Cause it's gonna come up. One way or another."

…

"Giving it some thought" proved to be a lot easier than Zoe would have suspected. In fact, it turned out to be just about the only thing Chloe could do, there in her bed, that night. Her thought processes just seemed to go round and round in her head. Her and Adrien. Her and Adrien. Her and Adri-ke-*. Wait. Somehow she couldn't bring herself to say her pet name for him. Or even think it.

Her and Adrien. Standing before a priest. Saying the words. The kiss.

Later that night: the wedding bed. Both of them, having finally broken apart from a last kiss as two separate individuals, now turning the sheets down. Getting into bed. Together. Doing it…doing that lovely, sinful thing she'd fantasized about so much…

…for money. Or, if not for money, because of money.

"NO!" She sat up in bed and hurled her pillow across the room. No. Just no.

"Chloe?" Sabrina was standing in the doorway, looking at her in the semigloom. "Are…are you alright?"

Chloe gasped a couple of times. She was sitting up in bed, wiping her eyes and sniffling. "I've been a terrible person."

She felt Sabrina's arms close gently around her, Sabrina's head laying against her own. "You have not."

"Yes, I have! All those times I made Daddy paint the limousine a new shade of pink…" she paused a moment. "Pink." As though she was referring to sewage. "I made poor Zoe room in the basement, just because she didn't antagonize people who'd been kind to her. I made you steal Marinette's diary-box, then acted like it was your own idea. I told you I couldn't even see you, and that led to your being akumatized. And then I wouldn't even let you ride in the goddamned limousine! Was it possible to be more screwed up, more…more poisonous than that? But that was all my fault, don't try an' tell me it wasn't."

Sabrina hugged her all the tighter. "You know what, Chloe? I don't care. I don't care about any of that.

"I look at you, and I see…my friend. My friend who's hurting, right now.

"But for right now, let's just…sleep on it, okay? We'll figure something out. We always do." And she gently laid Chloe back down upon a pillow that hadn't been tossed. It chanced to be the one her own head lay upon, as well. Her arm went around Chloe, pulling her in. "Just sleep, Chloe. Sleep without dreams. Me, I'm gonna pray."

"Pray?" Chloe hadn't been aware that Sabrina was a Believer.

"Yes. Pray." She snuggled in beside Chloe. "Pray for you, for one thing. And pray for Akane, for another."

"Akane?"

"Yes." Sabrina's voice changed slightly, in a way Chloe had never heard before. A frightening way. "I'm gonna pray I get the chance to rip that bitch's heart completely out of her body. Assuming," she continued on, "that she has one, of course."

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