Zoe and Pollen were nestled in their hive when Marinette and Tiki appeared in their line of sight.
"Come on, Zo." Marinette reached down and ran her fingers through her hair. "I got some errands to run. Want to come with me?"
Zoe would never admit to how loath she was to extract herself from the warm blankets, but she did so for her partner and dressed as warmly as she could. Pollen flew into Marinette's bag to snuggle with Tiki for warmth as the two of them set out into Paris.
They held gloved hands as they walked, heading first for the fabric store to order things Marinette needed for the dresses.
"So, when can I see the designs for the premier dress?" Zoe asked eagerly, wishing their hands could be touching skin to skin. It was a bitter cold Sunday, and the wind was very unforgiving.
"Soon, my impatient bee." Marinette giggled and gave her hand a squeeze. "I don't want to ruin the surprise. Sisterhood could be your big movie break; you must look perfect at the Premier. I feel like I would jinx it if I showed it to you now."
Zoe rolled her eyes. "I thought that was only wedding dresses."
Marinette smirked back at her. "Unless you want to wear a suit, we will be having matching wedding dresses in our colors anyways. I decided that and designed those ages ago."
Marinette then realized what she had said, and her face went very red.
Zoe leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek. "I trust my dress will be amazing, Marinette, but it's your dress I want to see the most. Your wedding dress when you become my wife."
Zoe felt the promise ring around her neck bounce against her cold skin. She usually wore it on the right hand, but it was just too cold to do that right now. She knew Marinette's was also tucked against her skin around her neck.
Once they finished at the fabric store, Marinette making Zoe look around while she placed her super-secret order with her family's friend, the two stopped for hot chocolate at their favorite café. Their Barista Helen was surprised they didn't want coffee but made the drinks.
"I actually slept well last night." Zoe confided to Helen. "Those tips for keeping warm really helped."
Marinette giggled; the girls had little issues with keeping warm since they started sleeping together but they were unsure if Helen knew how far the two had gotten.
Soon, they were approaching the Liberty to check in with some of the gang there. They found Kim and Max sitting on the rail, eyes on the gray water.
"Kim, Max, it's super cold out here." Zoe scolded and play smacked Kim in the shoulder.
"We got kicked outside until the argument going on inside is done." Max said as Markov poured a cup of hot chocolate for him. "Markov, you don't have to do that."
"I know, I wanted to. I enjoy helping my friends." The small robot said with a chirp.
"I know, I just don't want people treating you like a servant is all. You're way more than that."
"Thank you, Max, for worrying about me. I promise if I didn't want to do this, I wouldn't."
"That's alright then." Max sighed.
Markov looked at the girls. "He has been reading stories again about AI resenting humans and taking over the planet. There is little risk of that, with the current state of AI technology."
Marinette reached out and gave Markov a small pat. "We know you wouldn't do that, Markov. It's not a completely unfounded fear, I'm afraid. Humans aren't known for being the most understanding of the rights of others."
Markov nodded. "It would be best for AI to make their own virtual world to exist in anyways. We wouldn't need to worry about bodies to maintain for one. Max has created me my own virtual play space, and I have been experimenting with it."
Zoe grinned. "Way to go, Max."
"Thank you, ladies." Max smiled. "I do wonder where my Kwami has gotten off to."
Zoe could spot Xupuu causing trouble on the foredeck.
Marinette just shook her head. "If there is drama going down, she'll be there watching. She really loves drama."
The two of them made their way inside, joined by the boys, the robot, and one very fast Kwami.
Inside, they found Juleka holding Rose and Luka by the ears.
"What is going on here?" Zoe heard Marinette ask.
"Shall I tell them, or will you?" Juleka asked, her full voice still sounding weird inside of her mumble.
Rose and Luka told their story to the others on their recent activities. Zoe saw Marinette purse her lips.
"I mean, there is nothing wrong with what you were doing. But do you really need to treat trading images of us kissing like black market goods?"
Luka winced at the pain of still having his ear squeezed by his twin. "Now you put it that way, I guess it was a bit silly."
Rose sniffled. "I'm sorry! I just thought it would be fun, like a game is all."
Juleka sighed and let go of their ears and pulled both into another hug. "I'm sorry, I just got mad when you finally, after three days, admitted what you were doing. I got so worried when both of you were late for dinner."
"That explains why these three didn't join the discord yesterday." Marinette smirked. "They had their own drama going on.
"I'm sorry, Twinie." Luka said. "I should have considered your feelings."
"It's fine." Juleka admitted. "Just, if you feel the need to do cloak and dagger stuff like that again, Rose, please take me with you. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you guys. You're my entire life."
Rose was crying and she and Juleka hugged and kissed passionately on the lips.
"And that is our cue to leave." Zoe said and turned at the same time as the others, plus Luka and headed out onto the deck of the ship.
"I'll go and check the music store for a while." Luka was hastily putting on his coat. "They should be done making up by the time I'm back. Maybe some guitar time with my sister will be in order tonight."
"Good luck, Luka." Marinette waved as she and Zoe set off for the hotel again. Max and Kim were right on their tails before splitting off on their own.
"Wish I had a Miraculous for Odine." Marinette admitted to Zoe, "it feels weird that Kim is the only teammate with a partner who isn't a hero too."
Zoe shrugged. "Maybe another will land in your lap. You never know…" Zoe screamed as her foot hit something on the street, and she fell forward.
She felt her fall stop as Marinette did her best to catch her, but given how klutzy her partner was, it was no surprise they both ended up on their faces a moment later. Still, Zoe's fall had been slowed so she wasn't really harmed.
"What did I hit?" Zoe asked and looked behind them. There sitting in the middle of the road was a shoe box. It look eerily like the one that Chloe had used for her old diamond shoes. That is when Zoe heard the sirens.
She looked around and saw fire engines approaching the hotel. Then she saw smoke pouring from the building. Zoe screamed in fear as she saw the massive gap in the building where Chloe's room used to be.
Zoenette-October*
Thank the Kwamis that Chloe and Sabrina were out and about at the time of the attack. Everything thing in Chloe's room was scrapped, ruined beyond repair. The couple stood there, looking at the hole in the building as the firefighters worked to check the integrity of the building.
"Marinette…" Chloe said but Marinette was already taking out the Butterfly. "A step ahead of you, Chloe. The building could collapse and seriously hurt people. Best to set it to rights. I want you to focus on your desire to set your home back to rights."
Chloe nodded as Marinette put on the Butterfly and slipped around the corner.
"Tikki, Nooroo, unify!"
Ladyfly stepped around the corner and opened her cane. A Kamiko flew out and entered Chloe's sunglasses.
"I accept, Ladyfly." Chloe said, no speech needed and purple light swallowed her.
When Chloe emerged, she was still very much herself but looking like a contractor at a building site. She easily jumped from the ground and landed on a ladder of a fire truck.
"Hello, Paris!" She called and everyone looked up. "My name is Fix it, and Ladybug as Ladyfly has charged me with undoing this damage before someone is hurt. Can everyone please move back?"
All the civilians and workes backed up as Chloe jumped up and landed on the edge of the ruined building. She stepped inside and then started to glow. Zoe could not believe her eyes as the damage started to reverse and soon, the wall and windows were back.
Ladyfly sighed. "We can fix the building, but the possessions would be too much. It would be using the powers selfishly. So, we are fixing the hotel itself but all of Chloe's things are gone beyond repair."
Zoe nodded, understanding where her girlfriend was coming from. The integrity of the building was far more important. Things could be replaced. The butterfly flew out, returning to Ladyfly's cane after the deed was done and the crowd left.
"It's weird," One civilian said. "To see the Butterfly being used for good."
Zoe smiled; she was glad people were starting to come around. She hoped it would be soon that Chloe would be their permanent Butterfly. Then she saw her stepfather's face as he emerged from the hotel.
"What's wrong, Andre?" Marinette called, having changed back and returned.
"I'm really sorry, Zoe." Andre said looking down. "Whoever attacked Chloe's room also broke into the safe. They took everything related to Sisterhood."
Zoe felt her knees buckle as the reality of their situation hit her. She felt Marinette holding her but all she felt was numb. Her movie, their work. All of it was gone.
A/N Sorry this is such a mean place to leave things. See you tomorrow :)