Past
No matter how many times him and Ladybug had sat atop the Eiffle Tower, Chat Noir would never get used to the view. Perched on the edge, overlooking the vast twinkling skyline of shimmering reflections that cut through the gloom of the night, he never felt afraid of falling. The ingrained cat reflexes, he supposed, an innate confidence in his balance and his ability to save any fall.
This high up the wind was merciless, but back then it didn't matter. Ladybug always managed to chase away the chill, the warmth of her smile enough to overpower the cold, but not enough to make him sweat; she was just right. Nowadays, it was colder. And not just because Paris was experiencing some freak storms and dreary weather the past few days. Not just up here, but down there the world was lost to the winter without her smile, without her heart, to break through.
He sighed. Maybe it was time to spread some warmth of his own.
Chat Noir turned to the rest of the group, not as welcoming to the edge as him as they pushed themselves back against the entranceway. "Good to see you all here."
He tried to keep his face straight, but a ghost of a smile found it's way in when he observed everyone's disgruntled faces as the cold wind grabbed at their cheeks. Rena had her head buried in Carapace's arms, grumbling about how she just got rid of her last cold. Viperion was leaning against the metal frame, arms tightly wrapped around himself and lips failing to hide the chattering of his teeth. Pegasus was crouching down, yanking a comically large hat over his head.
And then, of course, there was their other guest doing her best to stand out from the shivering crowd.
Rena peaked over Carapace's arms; eyes narrowed at their unexplained guest. "Why is she here?"
There were very few times where Adrien could say he'd seen Chloe nervous. She was born for the spotlight, taming the crowd and bringing the world's attention to her was in her blood. But standing there, wrapped up in a thick layer of gold fabric and bloated fur coats making her look like a giant cloth burrito, she was like a stickly deer that had just landed in the middle of a lion's den.
Adrien supposed that Chloe was used to people being disgruntled with her or sending her disapproving looks, but she wasn't used to people looking at her like a trespasser, like she didn't belong. From her view, everybody in the room was against her and they were ready to attack.
Chat cleared his throat and slowly shuffled himself in between Chloe and Rena, the role of peacekeeper already off to a great start. "I assume you all heard about me and Carapace's brawl down by the King Warehouses." He paused to glance around, catching all their nods before continuing. "The sentimonster wasn't just Zoe."
Another pause, though this one wasn't intentional, his voice just lost strength for a moment. It was already a hard enough pill for him to swallow, and he was there, but dropping it on the others left him feeling winded. It wasn't until Carapace gave him an encouraging thumbs up, and he took a deep breath, that he finally finished. "She was Vesperia."
The uproar was immediate. A cavalcade of voices and gasps all trying to talk over each other.
"Wait, you mean-" Luka forced his knuckles into his mouth, biting down before he could let loose a particularly nasty swear.
"That can't be true." Rena looked up to her boyfriend, their eyes holding a silent conversation where she registered that he knew, that he didn't tell her, and had to be calmed down with rapid glances over to Chat. Chat was the one who wanted to save this knowledge for the meeting after all.
"Sentimonsters can use a miraculous?" Pegasus face dropped in grim fascination at this factoid, his analytical mind struggling against the bitter horror sprouting in his heart.
"They've already tricked us." Luka spluttered, moving his fist to smack himself across the head. "I feel like an idiot."
Chat reached over to stop Luka's hand mid slap, "We all do."
"How long?" Rena was on her feet in seconds, the panic washed away by a surge of anger. If Adrien didn't know it was Alya behind that mask, he would have thought she was squaring up and blaming it on him. But he recognised Alya's aimless pacing as ire without a convenient target struck her. "How long have we had a damn senti on the team?"
Carapace came up behind her, softly gripping her shoulders and trying to pull her back. "The day the slime dude attacked. That's when she got snatched."
Luka's mouth opened, baring his teeth like fangs. "I had lunch with her. Talked with her." He growled, "I hung out with her after missions!"
"God, Zoe was at Marinette's funeral…" Rena sobbed into her hands, a bitter memory tainted with a frustrated edge. "You're telling me while we were mourning Ladybug, one of her killers was sitting there with us?"
Chat swallows the bitter taste lining his throat, "I wish it wasn't true, but this is what we're up against with Chrysalis."
They were friends with Zoe in both her hero and civilian life. They laughed with her, hung out with her, comforted her; they made memories with her. And for part of that time, they were doing all of that with a creature whose sole purpose was to crush them, who was pretending to feel anything as she planned out how she'd dispose of them. While Marinette was being lowered into her grave, Senti-Zoey was wearing a satisfied smirk behind fake look of sympathy.
So easily fond or important memories were tainted, twisted into something sickening and wrong, just by a simple act of betrayal. This was the power that Chrysalis wielded.
It took a moment for Rena to compose herself, one hand on top of Carapaces just to have something to squeeze her frustrations out of. "So that's what Hawky Jr is calling herself? She's done a good job of pissing me off."
"I don't mean to be rude." Pegasus glanced over Chat Noir's shoulder where Chloe was nervously fidgeting with the zip of her coat. "But that doesn't explain why Chloe's here."
At being named, and summoning everyone's gazes back to her, Chloe shot up like she'd just been caught committing a heinous crime, inching behind the shelter of Chat's form. He tried to silently reassure her with his eyes, but the lack of her childhood friend's friendly face seemed to dampen any impact of the look.
"We need someone to take up the bee miraculous mantle." He explained, pulling the bee miraculous from his pocket to display it before everyone. "I need a full team, and I don't think we can afford to train up any of our existing roster."
The force of everyone's faces, in perfect sync, falling under the weight strained confusion was enough to feel like a physical blow. They weren't even wondering if he was joking, they were worried that his brain was defective.
"Dude, I don't wanna be too harsh but-" Carapace did a double take before suddenly blurting out "Are you mental?"
"Seriously, Chloe?" Rena was next, jumping up with a fierce glare as she approached. This time Alya was targeting him. "After everything she's done, you want to put her back on the team?"
Rena reeled back, throwing her arms up in exasperation, hissing with the same cadence as a boiling pot. "Do I need to go down the list of akumas she caused? Or the times she betrayed us?" Leaning over and dropping to a harsh whisper, Alya's unimpressed, sarcastic expression bled through Rena's mask as she pinched the air between her thumb and forefinger. "Or, you know, that tiny little whoopsie daisy where she tried to take over the entire city?"
She ended it with a shake of her head, making Chat feel like he just disappointed a parent. "Not to mention that she hates us and that all she does is cause problems."
Chat tried to keep up an optimistic grin, but it easily deflated the more he tried to speak. "Look, she's got a big history to contend with, I know, but…" He sighed, cringing at the uncertainty of his own words, finding more gut instinct than logic. He believed them, obviously, but that didn't mean they sounded believable. "She's not the same girl anymore. She's been trying to change, for the better, I swear."
"Not only is she experienced with the bee miraculous, not only is she one of the original temporary users-" Not only is she one of the users I actually know the identity of, he wanted to add, but he felt that he shouldn't lead with a point that highlights how ill-equipped he is to be the leader here.
He cut himself off, pinching the bridge of his nose and sheltering his eyes from their disapproving glares. "But you remember hero day, no way we'd have been able to fight off Scarlet Moth's army with any other team back then."
Chat stepped to the side, letting them look at the fearful Chloe in all her nervous glory, presenting her to them as an item at an auction. With as much confidence as he could muster, and nodding vigorously in some half-hearted attempt to bludgeon them with optimism he didn't feel, he concluded. "Despite her attitude, she was a great team member. And she can still be one if we just give her a chance."
They fell into quiet discussion, the group pulling away from Chat to huddle up and pass whispers amongst each other. It felt weird to watch them talk, and not just because his paranoia added an uneasy edge to every stray glance they sent his way and that he was oh-so tempted to use his enhanced hearing to eavesdrop. It felt weird because, as he only just realised there and then, it didn't happen much.
Adrien and Chat Noir were both used to being told what was happening and going along with the ride. Whether it was Adrien's father or Chat Noir's partner, neither tended to run plans by him, much less ask for his opinion on the plan before setting it into motion. They'd tell him what he needed to do and to do it.
Ladybug chose who she wanted to recruit, she didn't need to explain her reasoning or worry that he wouldn't approve, she just needed to assure him that she knew what she was doing. That made sense to him, she was his lady, and Gabriel was his father; they knew what was best for him and how best to use him. Why would he expect anything else?
Which made him wonder: should he be following suit? Was asking for their input instead of shouldering the decision as his own showcasing a lack of confidence on his part?
"This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous." He expected one of them to break through the noise and call him out, but he didn't expect it to be Chloe. "I never took you for the brains of the operation, you mangy cat, but this takes the cake."
Before he could even register the bitter edge to her words, she clapped him across the ear, glaring up at him. Oh, he hadn't just pissed her off; he'd hurt Chloe's pride. "Is it pity? Is that it? I find out my sister is gone and you give me a spot on the team to cheer me up? Make me feel included?"
"Save it." She, quite literally, spat out. "If I wanted to be Queen Bee again, I wouldn't have given you back that stupid, ridiculous miraculous."
Chat couldn't do anything but reel back with an awkward, forced smile as Chloe continued her onslaught, forcing the hero to back away as she pushed on forward and continually stabbed at his chest with one finely manicured finger. "I don't know why you'd even think about replacing Zoey when she'll be back soon enough to take her miraculous. Unless you're not planning on doing your damn job!"
By the time she stopped to breathe, Chat's back was pressed against the railing, sending not so subtle glares the way of the amused reactions the other in the group were giving.
When Chloe turned around, that amusement dissolved into more neutral expressions. "And for the record, Rena." She emphasised Alya's name with a thick edge, like it was leading up to a sneering insult. But before her next words all that energy vanished, leaving her shoulders to go limp and her eyes to look away, ashamed.
"I… I never hated any of you." She said quietly.
And then, in a low whisper Chat was sure only his ears could pick up, she added. "I hated that I couldn't measure up to you. Especially Ladybug."
The gang exchanged furrowed, suspicious looks, but no words. Somehow the silence weighed heavier on Chat's chest than the disbelieving bickering, at least then he could catch a semblance of what was passing between them.
And then, with no lead in, Viperion had suddenly made his way through the group. He stood firm in front of Chloe, grabbing her by the shoulder and staring her down while she wilted under the sudden contact.
"Hey- What are you doing, Perv?" She cried out, too scared stiff to try and rip her arms away from him. "Get your hands off me!"
Viperion didn't move. He stood there for ten straight seconds, peering into her eyes. All while Chat's ears listened to the confused thudding of her heart.
Eventually, he let go, his thoughtful expression breaking away to reveal a simple smile. He nodded to himself and then turned his torso around to address the rest of the group. "She's being genuine."
Before Chat could relieve himself of the several questions rising in his throat, everyone else looked to each other, nodded in tandem and then shrugged.
"Well, okay then." Rena said like it was the most simple thing in the world.
"Huh?" Chloe and Chat asked at the same time.
Carapace laughed at their dumbfounded expressions, shooting Chloe a thumbs up. "Welcome back to the team, Chloe."
"Wait, what!?" Chloe exclaimed.
It was that easy? Chat, meanwhile, had completely locked in place with his jaw to the floor. "T-That's it!?"
Pegasus had the audacity to turn to Chat Noir baring a perplexed frown, as if Chat was the one that wasn't making any sense. "What? It's your idea, isn't it, Chat Noir?"
At such blatant nonsense, Chat couldn't help but push aside his questions and just laugh.
In the middle of his belting laughter, he felt Chloe snatch the bee miraculous from his hand, grumbling "I'm taking this miraculous under protest." as she slotted it into her hair.
In short order, and a flash of light, Pollen materialized over Chloe's nose, bowing respectfully. "It's good to serve you again, my Queen." And Adrien didn't dare miss the small, relieved smile that graced Chloe's lips at the sight of the kwami.
Chat let himself sit back and breathe a sigh of relief. As far as he was concerned, that would be the hardest part of the meeting dealt with. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I want to talk about…"
Still, not being the hardest part didn't make what he wanted to say any easier. He paused, only able to gulp down any remaining doubt with the encouragement of Luka's supportive nodding. "Well, there's no sense beating around the bush: I want to show you who I am."
None of them looked as shocked and offended as they had when he suggested Chloe, but there was still a double take of unconvinced eyes waiting for him to reveal a punchline.
When his silence betrayed the seriousness of his words, Carapace took the first response. "Wait, you mean the real real you?" He pointed to Chat Noir, mouth widening as Chat simply nodded. "Dude, are you sure?"
"Ladybug was quite strict with that whole secret identity rule." Pegasus spoke up, and Chat found his eyes immediately moving through them until he met Luka's. "Aren't we still at risk of giving away secrets if any of us get akumatized?"
Chat sighed, clasping his hands together and focusing all his tension on their union. "I understand why Marinette needed us to keep secrets, how dangerous telling anyone about who we are can be. That even those we trust the most and who have the best of intentions can be a risk."
His voice was stern, thick with a serious edge that seemed almost alien to Chat. Ladybug and her secret keeping had always been a sore spot in their relationship, on that he wouldn't lie, but he did understand why she did it. Despite how desperately he wanted to believe the two were equal partners, she was always on a whole different level than him.
She was the leader, she was the guardian, she was the one who wielded the miraculous that seemed tailor-made to counter Hawkmoth; she was Ladybug, but she wasn't here anymore. "But things have changed. Secrets, keeping everything close to my chest, keeping you guys at arm's length… It won't work anymore." Chat knew in his heart that he couldn't do what she did, he just didn't have the stomach for keeping all that locked up anymore, he wasn't a strong willed as she was.
"Ladybug is dead." His voice came out so raw and raspy, the words weighing heavily in the air as they solidified for the first time. It was finally all real. "Everything she knew, everything she learned, everything she took upon herself to shoulder on her own; it all died with her."
He heard Rena gasp as he stopped to pause, shame welling up in his eyes. "I don't even know who the other temp heroes are." He confirmed, the truth as sharp as barbed wire on his tongue. "If we needed them, I'd have no idea how to contact them, no way of relying on them to just know they're needed."
It was a sorry state of affairs to admit to, that even if he was good enough to be their leader he was still unequipped to even dare hope of taking Ladybug's position. He was running blind here, with them as his only lifeline. He knew how weak it made him feel, but he had to risk exposing himself like this, because they were his teammates, and they needed to know who they were putting their trust into.
"We have sentimonsters taking our own, infiltrating our team and trying to break us apart. Everyone's gonna get scared, and paranoid and overwhelmed." Chat growled. He could practically hear his bones creaking as his fingers strangled one another.
He looked to Luka again, another soft nod giving him the push to let his voice fade to a gentler tone, flushing away the doubt. "I realize more and more every day how important trust is. Not just to trust others, but to know that you're trusted."
He didn't realize how much that last sentiment resonated with him until he let the words sit there. He, more than anyone else, knew what it was like the yearn to be trusted, to be needed, and how devastating it was to wrestle with the possibility that you weren't worthy of that trust.
To love someone so much you want to do everything you can to help them, only to know that you're simply not capable of doing what they need, to know that you've only shown that person that they should seek someone else for help. It was the type of pain that rotted away at your insides. And Chat would do all he could to spare his friends that very pain, even if it made him look weak.
"I don't expect anyone else to reveal their identity, I just want you to know who to look for if Chat Noir isn't available. I want you to know…" He found his voice choking up, that desire for all that was left unsaid to bubble to the surface hitting his stomach like indigestion. Before he knew it, Carapace and Viperion were by his side, supporting him at either end while he reached over to grasp their shoulders. "That I trust you. All of you. That there'll be no more secrets. Even after Zoey."
He took a deep breath. In. Out. In. Out.
"Plagg, claws in." He whispered the words, but they echoed in his head as a roar.
A flash of light overtook him for a moment, just long enough for the weight to topple from his shoulder, only to be replaced with the instant dread as he questioned whether he did the right thing or not. Already, he felt Plagg materialize at his side, silently assuring him that they couldn't go back on this now. They're locked into this path, for good and for ill.
The first thing he saw when he finally opened his eyes was Pegasus. Well, he only saw Pegasus for a few more seconds before a flash of light consumed him to and Max was left standing there.
"Oh, oh… That makes so much sense. God damn it." Max grabbed at the bridge of his nose, partially grinning as he berated himself. "You and Marinette, you two were the only ones never akumatized. Statically, it was so obvious."
"Dude, I can't believe it!" Carapace cried out, only to be replaced with Nino laughing his ass off and slapping Adrien's back. "Guess you already know me and Rena are then."
Rena, now Alya, had her hands over her mouth, holding back her inner-reporter's internal screaming as so many questions and pieces came together. "That's why Chat Noir wasn't at the final battle. You were stuck in London."
A second later, Alya's face fell and a soft gasp escaped her lips. "Oh, Adrien. I just-" She rushed over him, joining the impromptu group hug. He hadn't seen such a guilty look on her face since the day Marinette finally exposed Lila. "Oh god, I'm so sorry. I left you with Marinette's parents."
Adrien was taken aback when she threw her arms around him, burying his face in his chest. His mind had conjured so many scenarios for what would happen after he revealed himself, but none of them had him being the one comforted.
He smiled softly. He didn't like seeing Alya upset of course, but he was touched all the same by her concern. "It's alright, Alya. I get it." Adrien said as he patted her back, meeting her tearful gaze with a bittersweet one.
"Finally." Luka groaned as he stripped off his transformation, his grin beaming the brightest of all. Though since Luka had been apart of the planning for this in the first place, maybe he was just happy it was finally over and done with. "You guys don't know how exhausting it is to be the only one who figured it out before everyone else."
For what it was worth, Chloe seemed to have the most understated reaction. She gazed at Adrien for a moment with that narrowed eye, searching look, still waiting for him to reveal he was punking her. He wondered if she was currently thinking back to all the times she treated Chat Noir like a second-rate hero that was nothing compared to her 'adrikins'. Ah, those were simpler times.
Eventually she gave up, sighing and muttering a quick "Ridiculous…"
Feeling a sudden burst of confidence and cheek, Adrien moved through the ground, leaned over and pulled her into the group hug with a laugh. She grumbled but didn't resist.
A few minutes later, the group was caught up in a flurry of mini conversations about their civilian/hero life balance. The one Adrien liked hearing the most is Alya, through gritted teeth, explaining to Max and Luka how Nino had casually given his and her's identities to Marinette and Adrien once. Nino gave a nervous laugh under her glare, while Alya assured him that he was so lucky that he was hot.
Soon enough, the conversation died down and eyes were back on Adrien again. Luka was the first to ask. "I guess we'll be discussing leads on Chrysalis now?"
"Not yet." Adrien said, allowing himself to grin for a moment. Now that his plan had gone off without a hitch, it was time for the payoff; one he was sure the group were gonna love. "I thought it'd be better to have this discussion back at the hide out."
"Alright, lead the-" Alya froze in place, blinking rapidly and playing his words over in her head until she and Nino agreed they heard her right. "Wait."
Everyone, in unison, exclaimed "Hideout!?"
Adrien kept up that cheshire cat grin as he pulled his phone up to his ear. "Nathalie, you can bring the car around now."
Nino was practically shot out of the elevator the moment the doors opened, the four-person lift becoming as cramped as a sardine can after six people were stuffed inside it for the ride.
"Holy shit, we have a batcave!" He exclaimed, creating a booming echo carried by the acoustics of the wide-open chamber.
And he wasn't entirely off. It was a cave of sorts, located deep under the foundations of the mansion, deep enough to stand just above the sewer network that ran under most of the city. The only thing it was missing was a bat computer and a giant penny.
Maybe we can add that later, Adrien mused to himself in silence, simply content to watch everyone else file out and marvel at massive structure.
For now, it was empty, a clean foundation to build atop of. The stone walkway the elevator stood atop lead to a catwalk stretching to the other end of wide-open hall, supported by strips of metal winding under it like the roots of a tree.
At the other end, a titanic window with a broken frame (it looks like it originally formed a symbol, but he couldn't make it out) cast a spotlight down on a circular platform tipped with grass and dead flowers. At the centre of the grass there was an imprint, a mass of crushed and upturned earth that spoke to something missing, something coffin shaped.
"How'd you have time to do any of this?" Alya asked, carefully testing the integrity of the catwalk with her foot. "Or get any of the building permits, because I'm sure there's like five violations here."
Adrien shrugged, "I didn't, it was already here." He admitted, turning to Nathalie with a curious gaze. "Nathalie told me about it, actually. What did you say it was for again?"
For a moment, Nathalie seemed to stiffen on the spot, her gaze hidden behind a pair of darkened lenses. When it was clear there would be no changing to subject or distracting conversation, she slowly spoke up. "The family who owned the mansion – the Salvadores – before your father, back around the 90's I believe, had this room constructed to store their trophies."
She weakly gestured to some idle pieces of metal hanging off the side of the lower walls, alluding to a floor that had once been there before the catwalk. "After your parents bought the deed, Emilie converted it into a secret garden."
Adrien nodded, "I always wondered where Father disappeared to when he wasn't in his office…"
What neither of them mentioned was what they found in this secret basement when Adrien first came down; the golden coffin that had been in the middle of the dead garden. The coffin had of course been empty, but for those precious few seconds when the Adrien had approached it, his heart had stilled in apprehension of discovering a familiar body inside.
Nathalie didn't want to explain it, she seemed as shocked as him to see it there, but he didn't need her to. Despite how much his father would proclaim that Adrien's mother had only disappeared, Adrien knew she was long since dead, but his father continued to cling to denial. A coffin for the body they never found. He could imagine his father staring at this empty coffin, figuring that, as long as it was empty, there was still hope, there was still room to dream.
But now that his father had passed on, now that Gabriel and Emilie were reunited and knew their fates for sure, there was no need for that haunting reminder.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by Luka gently shaking his shoulder, sending him a concerned look. Adrien shook his head, mouthing that he was just caught up in some thoughts before the two continued on.
It was easy to push those thoughts aside and get back to grinning when he stopped to watch Nino hanging over the railing, trying to get a better look at the depths below while a panicked kwami, Wayzz, grabbed his legs to stop him from falling over.
"What brought all this on then?" Luka asked, pausing for a moment to share a chuckle as Alya yanked Nino back onto the platform along with a few choice words. "Not that a cool lair isn't awesome and everything."
"I was thinking that we needed to be more organised." Adrien answered with a shrug, "Me and Marinette always had to hide under everybody's noses. We'd have to rush into battle with nothing but the weapons on our belts and the hope that our partner showed up."
Akumas always attacked at the worst times. Adrien still cringed at all the lame excuses and quick exits he had to make just to find somewhere to transform, especially with his father taking home security so damn seriously.
Though, on the other hand, his no-nonsense father was scary enough to the general public that he could use Gabriel as a scapegoat for many excuses without anyone daring to fact check it with the senior Agreste. He wondered how Marinette managed it without such a luxury.
"We didn't have support, or funding, or a place to meet that wasn't under the public eye where we could think. You know, aside from the sewers." He continued, pushing his hair back with a soft sigh. It was amazing to look back at where all this started, with two awkward, dumb-as-bricks (he said affectionately) kids who had no idea what they were doing. When they started out they didn't even know Master Fu existed until an akuma forced Tikki to bring Marinette to him.
It only hit him in retrospect how daunting that should have been, but back then the rush and thrill of a new adventure for a kid who'd spent most of his life hiding behind walls overpowered everything else. A reality check he wasn't sure he quite got until New York when he first had to grapple with the fact that his cataclysm could very well end a life.
He tried to put on a brave face, but he could see clearly how easily Luka saw through him. He had no shame in admitted how important all this was to him, how much he needed this team now, but he also didn't want to make them feel like he was pressuring them, or that they couldn't rely on him. "Well, the family fortune's finally been officially passed down to me… And I can't think of anything better to invest it into than Team Miraculous."
"It's a bit of a fixer upper." Chloe commented, a subtle softness to her voice.
Adrien took that in stride, taking both Luka and Chloe's hands and leading them onto the catwalk, basking in the glow of whatever poured light through the broken window. "But here, we can build something. Something with security, something that's ours, something we can keep all the stuff we can't handle out there."
He gestured all around them. It was a damp, dark cave with all signs of life left to wither in Gabriel's absence, but it could be theirs. And when his eyes met Nathalie's standing all the way in the back, where she radiated with pride and smiled back at him, he knew that was what mattered. "Besides, I thought this could be a nice team building activity, you know? Make it our own."
There was a whistle from Max as he peered over the railings, though unlike Nino he took the more cautious approach of sitting down and pressing himself against the supports. "Hey, it drops right into the sewers. We could probably get all the way around the city from here."
Adrien knew there was some sort of irony to the man who could create portals getting excited over secret tunnels they could use as shortcuts, but he didn't comment it.
Nino propped an arm up on Adrien's shoulder. "You know, I don't want to brag-"
"Like you're doing right now?" Wayzz interrupted, hanging between the two with an exasperated frown.
Nino continued, undeterred. "-but I've got some construction experience under my belt. Used to help my Dad over the summer."
"And everyone in the class pitched in for that community centre project." Alya mused.
The catwalk gave an unsteady shake as Chloe suddenly started to jump up and down. "Oooo, ooo, I want to paint! I can make these walls look amaaaaazing."
"Am I seeing Chloe excited about physical labour?" Alya gasped while Luka grabbed Chloe by the shoulders to keep her still, "Alright, where are the flying pigs?"
Chloe, not even flinching at the sudden physical contact, just pulled her hands up, putting together twin-L gestures to frame her eyes like a camera. "Shush, Cesair. I'm visualizing."
"Chloe." Nino groaned, "We're not making everything yellow…"
Chloe scoffed, "You people and your unachievable standards."
The group fell back into meaningless squabbling and petty teasing, Chloe joining the group dynamic so naturally, as if all the bad blood had never existed in the first place. The kwamis hovered above, split between taking jabs at each other's holders and being concerned that someone was gonna do something stupid.
Adrien couldn't help but silently watch, grinning ear-to-ear. There was something so casual about it all, a warmth that had been missing since Marinette's death. Watching his friends, his team, his family; it was enough to leave the doubts and the worries so much harder to hear for once.
"You look surprised." Luka said, placing himself beside Adrien and leaning against the railing.
"This is all going a lot smoother than I was expecting." Adrien admitted, an awkward laugh escaping him. "I thought at least Chloe would have almost gotten someone akumatized on the way here."
Luka squeezed his eyes together in contemplation for a second, before losing them the next second and shrugging. "There's plenty of time for everything to go wrong."
"Your overwhelming confidence is touching, Luka." Adrien shot back in a dry tone.
Luka laughed, patting Adrien on the shoulder. "I'm just saying, don't look a gift horse in the mouth." He raised his hand up like he was grasping an invisible glass for a toast. "The universe is giving us a break for maybe a day, tops. Let's just enjoy it."
A minute later, the group had assembled on the end platform, where they finally noticed the two towering objects positioned at the back, obscured by a white cloth over them. Adrien shot them a cheeky grin as he pushed his way to the front, venturing to the base of the two objects and pulling the cloth down, revealing two statues underneath.
One of Ladybug, and one of Gabriel Agreste, standing side-by-side to greet the newly formed team.
"You guys like it?" Adrien asked quietly, nerves suddenly showing on his face as he turned to present the statues to him. Especially when he spotted Nathalie looking away with an unreadable expression. Was it too tacky? Too soon? Corny?
Alya beamed back at him, "A tribute to our heroes."
Luka and Nino nodded, Luka adding "With plenty of room for more."
Adrien breathed a sigh of relief, there was only one thing left to do. "Today, we make it official, so let's lay out a few ground rules…"
Present
Ladybug and Gabriel Agreste, immortalized in two sculptures, lorded over what remained of their real-life counterparts. Gabriel had been the one to find the statues, wondering face first into his own face in the middle of insulting something or other about Marinette. Now, he and Marinette gathered in front of the display, struck with awe.
Well, Marinette was awed.
"That is simply gaudy." Gabriel scoffed, pointing up at his twisted visage with a sneer.
Time had not been kind to the sculptures. Ladybug's arm had been broken off, and Gabriel's face was littered with so many holes like his counterpart was flushed with sores. Continuing along the row, other sculptures had been erected, and better preserved. A Carapace with his eyes missing, a Rena Rogue whose hair had broken apart, a Viperion and Pegasus that had managed to melt into each other – and to Marinette's biggest surprise; Queen Bee.
However, what immediately drew Marinette's gaze was Chat Noir, nestled in the back, out of the spotlight yet no less breath-taking. He looked just how Marinette remembered him in her mind, posed mid-crouch – preparing to leap into action at a moment's notice.
At his feet lay a bed of flowers, long since dead, but only due to time. The way they were arranged, along with their faded colours, reminded Marinette more of a memorial than a tribute. Which made sense seeing as Chat now stood where Emilie Agreste used to rest. Somehow, they managed to be perfectly free of rubble or damage over the years; perfectly preserved in their bittersweet nature.
"Oh, come on, that's just the two years of rust talking." She spoke with more energy than she felt, reaching forward to make a dusting motion over the missing chunk of sculpture Gabriel's cheek. "I think they look cool."
She could practically hear him roll his eyes. "Mine's face looks like a mannequin got splattered with bleach and stuck in a blender."
Marinette clasped her hands together, grinning. "I know, the accuracy is startling."
As much as she liked the opportunity to tease, a brief look at the discontent on his face made her wonder if he recognised the placement of the statues, about which side of the lair they were on. Did he know that Chat Noir now stood over what had essentially been his wife's tomb?
Pushing that thought aside, Marinette casually added "Much better than the statue they put in the park."
She realized what she had so casually said the moment she felt Gabriel's eyes suddenly burning into the side of her head, fuelled by an incredulous stare.
"…The what now?"
Her fingers flew to restrain her other hand, fighting back against the instinct to physically slap her hand over her mouth and alert Gabriel to a subject she was sure as hell wasn't ready to broach.
"Nothing!" She cried out a little too loud, casually trying to cover up her desperate gesture by pulling the offending hand up to scratch her cheek. She was saving that little conversation for… Hm, how about never ever?
Leaning closer to Gabriel, she ripped his attention away from her blunder by replacing his focus with the instinctive sneer at her invading his personal space. "Let's just get this over with." She said quickly.
A minute later, Gabriel was leaning away from her, staring at her outstretched hand in restrained horror.
The hand she had, mere seconds before, spat in before extending it out for a handshake.
"What are you doing?" He asked with a shaky voice.
She shrugged, trying to act nonchalant, but her grin betrayed how much she was enjoying making him squirm. "We don't have a contract, so I thought we'd seal this oath the old-fashioned way."
Ironically, Gabriel was far more expressive when hiding behind a mask. So, in moment like this, Marinette had to be attuned to the sharp twitching of his left eye to find the comical tension bubbling underneath. "Must you be so disgusting?" He growled. She knew he wanted to say more, but that's what he settled with.
Marinette placed her hand over her heart, putting on her best, and most mocking, 'offended' voice. "I feel like it's part of my job to make you uncomfortable, so…" She broke the faced as quick as she had erected it, loudly popping her lips. "Yeah."
Twitch. Twitch. Twitch. She could practically hear his inner snob snapping like a piano wire with every slight movement of his eye, edging closer and closer to undoing all the little disciplined knots keeping his face tied together.
Still, he managed to keep himself restrained, puffing out his chest and straightening his posture. "Fine. If it must be so, I'll be the mature party here."
It was times like this, when he was so badly trying to cling to that prim-and-proper mask, that Marinette gleefully thought back to the time Hawkmoth tried to akumatize a baby and the hilarity that ensued. "Whatever makes the pill easier to swallow, Hawky."
He gritted his teeth. "Bug."
She grinned back, sweet as apple pie. "Where were we again?"
He moved his hand outward, flexing his fingers to grasp an imaginary object. "The terms of this fleeting truce."
"Right, right, so first of all-"
Chat Noir gathered them all, transformed and ready, in front of the statues just as Su-Han arrived in the lair, beckoning them close with a camera set up at the front. He'd heard from Nino that every momentous occasion needed to be immortalized with a picture, and he could think of no better excuse to start a scrapbook.
However, as he fiddled with the camera he found himself pausing to look back over the sea of faces he'd brought together, then looking back up at Ladybug's sculpted face. From a certain perspective, her face looked ponderous, contemplating a new crack-pot scheme to fight the next akuma.
He hoped that, if she were here in reality, she'd be matching his smile, that she'd understand and support his plan.
"It's been a dark time." He stated simply, placing a hand on Ladybug's cheek. "We've lost an amazing leader and friend."
It was just supposed to be a quiet musing to himself, just for him and the memory of his lady love, but as soon as he noticed the others looking to him, having heard him, he felt compelled to go further. "All this time, I've been real scared, and real lost. I didn't feel worthy of shouldering Ladybug's legacy, let alone capable of doing it."
Cheeks dipped into low dimples in a grimace, his is eyes fighting back against a watery edge. As he turned to them, he let out a raspy chuckle that wasn't quite happy, but wasn't quite forced either; just a confused instinct gasping for air. "Standing before you now, I still feel a little rattled."
He paused, bit his lip and leaned back against Ladybug's statue. She kept him standing. "But when I look to all of you," He made an effort to lock eyes with Nathalie and nod towards Su-Han. "Even the ones who don't have a miraculous, I feel safe."
Grinning, Chat held his hand out, gesturing to all of them. "I see a team, a family, of people I trust to help me continue the work of the most important person in my life."
The newly reformed Queen Bee, now with some slight costume alterations, scoffed with a sarcastic drawl. "No pressure or anything, huh?"
Carapace wore a teasing grin that curled up into his mask. He leaned in to press his finger against her forehead, letting out a sharp whistle as he did so. "You're looking a little green there, Chloe."
Chloe spluttered, leaning out of his touch before tightly grasping the fabric of his hoodie and yanking it down over his eyes. "That's just the light reflecting off of your ugly dome!"
"Hey, my costume's an instant classic!" Carapace moaned, stumbling back as he beat back Bee's hand.
Viperion caught him by the arm, shooting an amused chuckle Bee's way. "There isn't any shame in feeling overwhelmed." He assured her, "We're a team now. We look out for each other."
Rena raised her hand, "And hold each other accountable."
Pegasus nodded in agreement, clasping his hands together. "And always have each other's backs. That's the important part!"
Viperion dragged Bee and Carapace back together, arms slug around their shoulders. "In and out of costume." He added.
Chat chuckled as he saw Queen Bee rolling her eyes, muttering something about Viperion sounding like a patronizing mother. "Right."
"Let's get one thing straight, I don't trust you and you don't trust me." Marinette spat, covering the height difference between Gabriel and her by shoving her finger in his face. She was usually one to respect personal boundaries, but she was pretty sure she'd respect an actual dictator more than Gabriel.
Gabriel, unphased, made a simple affirmative noise that caught between a grunt and a scoff. "Naturally."
She narrowed her eyes, focusing her gaze trying to dig into his own, to uncover that little, more honest part of him he desperately tried to hide. "Don't think for a second we're friends or anything."
"I wouldn't dare entertain such ideas." Gabriel sheltered his face with the most condescending grin, throwing his hand up over his heart in mock hurt. "Lest I end up vomiting."
She meets his mocking in kind, recoiling in pain when he pushes her offending finger away and shirking away from his presence like he was a particularly nasty disease. A small comment of played up disgust caught under her breath.
Crossing his arms, Gabriel rolled his eyes. "I trust you'll be looking over your shoulder every step of the way." One hand came up to tip his chin back just as Marinette stuck out her tongue at the man. "I'd like to think the constant threat of a knife in the back will do wonders to keep you on your toes."
She scoffed, "Trust me, I expect nothing less from you. In fact, I expect nothing from you at all."
He removed his spectacles from his nose, running the hem of his smudged shirt over the cracked lenses. It wouldn't make them any cleaner, but there was something calming about the routine. "Oh, on that note, let us make it clear that any emotional disruptions should be kept to yourself." He says pointedly, like an employer asking his employee to stop stealing the office's pens. "I do not intend to waste any time playing therapist to your teenage angst."
That got an unlady-like, loud, raspy laugh from Marinette. "Oh please, like I'd ever share anything personal with you."
"There's no one else I'd rather fight beside than you guys." Said Adrien.
"If I had any other choices for an alliance, I'd be leaving you to your cardboard pancakes." Spat Marinette.
"Together, we're strong." Adrien assured them, "Together, we can-"
"Get this over and done with as soon as possible." Gabriel reminded her.
And so, the platitudes continued for a few minutes.
In one point of time, there was Chat Noir trying to inspire those he cherished to think of a better future.
In another, there was what remained of Paris' greatest hero and greatest villain, bitterly sniping about the past in a future already ruined.
In the end, both groups looked to the center of the platform, where a dead woman once rested as the obsession that started this all, where now stood the tributes to the dead that Chat refused to let become his obsession.
Adrien looked to Ladybug and his father. Marinette and Gabriel stood before Chat Noir. In the depths of the chamber where all their journeys began, the hopeful past and the fallen future met.
Adrien reached out to them, almost feeling his hands reach across the boundaries of time and fall into theirs. He swore he'd make them proud of him, wherever they were.
Marinette and Gabriel couldn't bring themselves to touch the statue, only to ponder how much Chat Noir suddenly resembled another important blond in their lives. And they wondered if he could ever be proud of them.
If there was one thing Lila Rossi could pride herself on, truly pride herself on, it was her work ethic. You don't con multiple people with fake identities across the entire globe without a willingness to get yourself dirty and knee-deep in elbow grease. It was a way of life for her, an instinct as natural to her as breathing, to live another's life to the fullest.
Now she was working with a purpose beyond simple survival and habit.
That drive is what brought her into the depths of her shiny new Tsuguri-funded lab, hunched over her workspace as her insides churned, little irritations chewing through her flesh like maggots searching for the rot.
She didn't know how long it had been since she started, her sense of time had been reduced to a broken clock sitting face-up beside her. The pain that had taken root in her heart spread to her other senses – running her taste, sight, sound and touch ragged until they were numb. It was like being hopped up on pain killers without the relief.
You see, Lila Rossi had been cursed the day she plucked the butterfly miraculous from Gabriel's tomb.
In moments like this, all she had was her focus. Keeping herself grounded in the work before her, a series of objects containing amoks strewn across the table, was the only thread that kept her together. Focus staved off the rot. Focus allowed her to hide from her weakness, knowing that even acknowledging it would give power to it, give power to him.
But she could only put up such a front for so long before even her greatest asset, her mind, gave out. That's why her ears, peaking through the white noise of her corroded hearing, homed in on the sound of Nooroo chewing on his shortbread.
He ate so slowly, taking tentative, tiny bites as if the great, immortal kwami feared a simple biscuit would hurt him. No, of course not, the kwami wasn't afraid, that made no sense; kwamis feared nothing. What kind of God could experience fear? No, the creature was torturing her, drawing out her suffering as long as he could.
She could order him to hurry up. She had not been unkind to the creature since she first claimed the miraculous, even after she realized what terrible curse the butterfly miraculous had wrought upon her body the moment she used it; but even her patience had limits. And she had to imagine 'sweet, dear' Nooroo was hoping she'd keel over any day now.
Nooroo let out a tired sigh, dropping the biscuit to the table, prompting a small smile from her. He could probably feel her frustration like smog choking his little lungs, and she considered that a small victory. His gifts gave him such powers over mere mortals like herself, but she supposed it also meant that any anguish he inflicted upon them hurt him as well.
"There has to be a better way, Master." He mutters half-heartedly, any energy for pleading having long since faded after the twentieth time he'd uttered the same meaningless argument.
"This is the only way, Nooroo. You know that better than anyone." She replied, her usual sickeningly sweet tone replaced with a cold rasp. "Dark Wings, Rise!"
The transformation was a balm for her soul, the flash of light that overtook her body overwhelming the darkness that fogged up her mind. When it was over, Chrysalis, who lacked all the scars of Lila Rossi, breathed in like it was still the first time.
As Chrysalis, she could find the irony in the fact that the very miraculous that was poisoning her was also the only thing that could keep the poison at bay. But that was by design, wasn't it? You had to keep the blade inside the wound, otherwise the flesh would bleed out.
Returning to her work, she snatched up a medallion labelled 'Disruptor', flipping it over in her palm. After his fight with Chat Noir, as well as the new experimental recall process that Chrysalis was still working the kinks out of, the amok had been left cracked. The thrums of life still sparked underneath, but the glow had been diminished.
To her right, built into the very walls of the lab, there was a large cell separated from her by bulletproof glass. Inside, malformed akumas, all leaking dark energy and baring gaping wounds that should make the flap of their wings impossible, swarmed around a withering, purple tree.
She clicked her fingers, coaxing one akuma to come up to the glass. With a click of the button, a tube descended from the ceiling, sucking the akuma in and spitting it out just above her. Instinctively, the akuma was drawn to her, settling down on her outreached hand and waiting for her guidance.
"And who are you, I wonder." She muttered to it, gently cooing as she held it closer to her eye. The vibration of the akuma, when she concentrated hard enough, fell in sync with the thrumming of her miraculous. For a moment, it was like falling into the water, waves upon waves of uncontrollable urges and toxic memories dragging her down and trying to drown her.
But she was Chrysalis, she was the master of the akuma, and whatever rage had corrupted the butterfly, she was above it. She slowed her descent, pulling herself up by her own will, by the darkness of her own heart that overpowered the akuma's. And so, the water pooled around her, splitting apart to reflect memories and thoughts within its pools.
The akuma's corruption had not been birthed by her. No, she'd been careful about contributing any of her own bitterness to her akumas, she needed to keep her wits, her strength, about her at all times. Instead, this one drew from the tree, his tree, from its tainted roots that spread far and wide across Paris.
Mayor Bustier's initiative to make way for a greener city ironically made the city flush with fertile ground for the roots.
This akuma had fed upon fresh tragedy. Chrysalis could hear the putrid screams of a populus in panic, taste the ashes of a world in flames, and feel the fear of a fallen hero. "Ah, yes." Chrysalis cradled this broken heart with a relieved grin. "Ladybug's final fight sparked such powerful despair."
Her fingers came down upon the akuma in one swift snap, trapping it, crushing it against her palm. She could hear it's muffled screams like a strangled cry, feeding image after image of people scrambling away under the ploom of smoke exploding from the shopping center in offering, but she offered no mercy, not until it was well and truly crushed.
When she was done, the only life in the akuma was the unstable energy now scrambling to escape her closed fist, the last chemical refluxes of a corpse. With great control, she managed to keep the pressure on, slowly inching her now shaking fist towards the amok. In one quick movement she opened her fist, shoved the amok into her hand and then closed it again, trapping the amok in with the corpse.
She closed her eyes and squeezed. She tried to imagine two pools of energy desperately pushed against one another, one fuelled by the horror of watching their hero fall and the other fuelled by insecurity and paranoia. Potentially, these pools could make for a devastating combination, but also an unstable one.
Squeezing tighter, her will circled the two pools, pushing them together, waiting for one to burst and allow the other to flow in and mix.
But just when she thought the dam was about to break, the pool of tragedy simply stopped, the remains of her akuma dissolving until she was just cradling Disruptor's cracked amok in her palm. Another failure.
"You're up late." It wasn't Chalot being there that made her stiffen, she'd found she could sense his akuma no matter how far away he was, but his voice.
She knew why he tried to hide his accent, but hearing the underlying strain it took for him to make his voice struggle to restrain the American drawl always made her uneasy. Restricting something as natural as the voice you were born with was the same as trying to hide that you can do something as natural as breathing; it just didn't sit right with her.
It was especially aggravating when he was doing it in her presence, when there was no one around he needed to hide himself from. A part of her wondered if she should take it as a sign of mistrust, and that thought in particular stung.
She didn't let such irritation leak into her face, continuing to stare impassively down at her failed experiment. "Progress doesn't wait for the complacent, Scruffy." She says lightly.
Judging from the heaviness of his footsteps as he quickened his pace, that wasn't the answer he wanted. This became clearer when his towering form stopped beside her, shoving a newspaper in front of the amok so she couldn't ignore it. "Accelerator's been compromised."
The article lamented another person turning out to be a sentimonster, showing the last blurry photo managed to take of the fake Zoe jumping across rooftops before Chat Noir and Carapace chased after her. For the life of her, Chrysalis couldn't summon the will to care. "A pity."
"You don't sound that worried." Chalot grumbled in a voice that was more in-line with Defect.
"There's nothing to worry about." She said with a wave of her hand, "Accelerator was a message and a convenience. Her role was always to be exposed, even if it was earlier than I would have liked."
She let Disruptor's amok drop to the table, turning her head to glance towards another medallion, this one with Accelator's name on it. For a moment, she mused how it might have been simpler to stick to regular amoks for her sentimonsters. The ones she had right now were a limited variation, a piece of the sentimonster stored away to preserve the essence even in the event of defeat, while giving the rest of the amok to the sentimonster themselves.
As her experiments had uncovered, this method did lead to stronger, and more adaptive, sentimonsters in the short term. Something that she needed for them to be efficient infiltrators. A mindless weapon that relied on your commands was good for battle, but not great for complex tasks that they needed to carry out without your constant oversight.
However, it also gave way to more unstable sentimonsters in the long run, as well as giving up the obvious advantage of total control over her infiltrators from a distance. It was enough to give Chrysalis pause, thinking over Chalot's worries. She was confident that she put enough contingencies in Accelerator's 'code' to stop her from revealing or doing anything that could really hurt her plans.
Chrysalis shrugged, waving her hand dismissively. "Let them have their little victory. They're not going to get many of those."
When she heard no response, she knew Chalot was brooding. She sighed, turning away from her work to catch him with his arms crossed, trying his best to express a hardened exterior with that uncanny valley face lift Tsuguri had given him. Maggni's tiny form was asleep inside his breast pocket, the cold remains of ice cream smudged around the kwami's lips.
Chrysalis appreciated his concern, she really did, but sometimes he was such a worrywart. But she supposed if she was the ambitious dreamer, her partner needed to be the stick-in-the-mud to temper her fanciful edge.
"Oh, do stop being so glum, everything's going fine." She said sweetly, lightly patting him on the arm (because his shoulders were too high above her for a natural reach). "With Ladybug out of the equation, her pets are nothing more than a distraction. We've already won."
"With a face like that, I'm surprised you can tell his moods past the ugly sneering." Another voice joined the conversation accompanied by laughter, and this one did make her jump.
Unlike Chalot, whose emotions were always a bright light raging like a furnace and overpowering all other emotions in its wake, Felix Fathom was a master of keeping his heart under wraps, making him practically invisible to the butterfly miraculous' emotional vision.
Her lips formed a thin pout as she whipped around to see him now sitting on the edge of her work desk, nibbling on a biscuit he'd swiped from Nooroo's abandoned plate. His brows dipped low together, greeting Chrysalis with his most self-satisfied grin. There was no reason to for him to sneak in, but he did so anyway because Felix was just that drama obsessed.
Chalot's posture seemed to turn in on itself, the closest thing Chalot's body could muster to taking an actual sharp breath as he went rigid. "Argos." He said in his most diplomatic voice, giving Felix a curt nod. It was always Argos, never Felix. The name would make it all too easy for him to think back, to make this real.
Chalot and Felix tended to avoid each other if they could. They were sure they knew where they stood with each other, what they meant to each other. Their interactions were always awkward and distant, flooding the air between them with the thick tension of a history neither were willing to put into words. While neither wanted to talk, Chalot's approach was to try and end the conversation as quickly as possible while Felix took to verbally knocking Chalot away by force.
"Defect." Despite the sudden tension in the air, Felix uttered the name like it was the most splendid sound he could possibly make, delighting in seeing how it made Chalot almost squirm.
Maggni, awoken by all the noise, phased out of Chalot's pocket and zipped straight over to Felix, stopping mere inches from Felix's nose. "Dusuu, Mr. Felix!" She squealed, as Dusuu floated over Felix's head.
"Maggni," Chalot said with a warning tone, "we've talked about personal space."
"Oh, sorry…" Maggni tilted her head like she was sorry, but her voice betrayed only curious hunger for her insatiable appetite. "Do you have, uh…"
Felix chuckled, reaching behind his back and pulling out a blue ice-lolli like a magician would reveal a coin behind someone's ear. "I don't go back on my word." He said, tipping the cold treat forward, wafting it under Maggni's beak.
"OOoo, bubblegum." Maggni drooled, practically in a trance. "The boss doesn't get me nothing, you know? He starves me."
"It's called moderation, Maggni." Chalot groaned, "I know damn well the dangers of overfeeding a kwami's sweet tooth."
Dusuu giggled, "Hehe, she's got nothing on when Tikki discovered chocolate."
Another reason for Chrysalis' new method of sentimonsters; Felix. The roundabout creation method, and the resulting limited, unstable villains, were partially founded in helping bring Felix around to their cause. He had his hangups about using sentimonsters, being one himself, but the likes of Disruptor and Accelerator were apparently disconnected enough to not go against his arbitrary moral line.
And yes, Chrysalis called it arbitrary. She'd spent so much of her early years watching the people around her, boring herself with the repeating patterns that persist through all walks of life; and she'd seen enough of his type.
The man of polite society and self-righteous indignation, so quick to use their pain like a whip, but so desperate for approval they dress it up as some noble cause. He'd talked her ear off about his views on his creations the first chance he got, he had his spiel about justice, freedom and the real monsters of society, and it sounded so very convincing.
But Chrysalis' situation had given her the marvellous opportunity to see the world through Marinette Dupain Cheng's eyes, quite literally in fact. She'd seen Felix's original attitude towards his cousin second hand, she'd seen him empower Gabriel's mad quest just to secure his own future, she'd seen him unleash the apocalypse upon humanity because they weren't his people, and she'd seen him call upon a sentimonster just to carry out a power point presentation.
If there's one thing that Lila Rossi knew about this rotten world, one thing that she held close to her heart, it was that all self-proclaimed heroes, be they the Ladybugs, or Felixs, or Gabriels of the world, were ultimately selfish.
They appoint themselves as righteous and just, but when it comes down to it, when they have to choose between what's right and what's good for them, they show their true colours. They don't care about injustice, they care that it's happening to them, that it'll make them look bad to the people they care about, that it's inconvenient for them.
In the end, the only reason Gabriel Agreste's true nature wasn't public knowledge was because he was the father of the boy Ladybug was in love with. Because Felix didn't care what havoc Gabriel was wreaking until it got in his way. And yes, because it wasn't convenient for Chrysalis' end goal for the moment.
Now, Chrysalis still possessed some modicum of self-awareness, she knew she had no business judging others for telling lies to comfort themselves. It was simply that such hypocrisy and inconsistency was oh so exhausting to deal with sometimes.
Fortunately, she and Felix had managed to come to an understanding. At the very least, she knew how to stay in his good graces despite the lack of trust. As long as she kept the sentimonster essences stored here, reducing their 'deaths' to merely a temporary slumber until they found a way to rebuild the amoks, as long as the sentimonsters were not strictly under her control, and as long as she didn't go for those darling rings Felix protected so viciously; she could keep Felix agreeable.
Her thoughts broke away to give her time to listen, hearing that the conversation had continued further while she was entertaining her inner monologue.
Felix had thrown his head back, striking a loose, lazy pose from his seat as he shot a snide look Chalot's way. "Do you really have time to be gabbing with the help? Or is your job really just to sit on your arse doing nothing all day?"
Chalot's eyes remained empty and unmoving, leaving it to the slight shift of his shoulders imitating the memory of harsh breathing to express his sigh. "Don't you have more respectable company to be entertaining?"
"Kagami's out with friends." Felix said gruffly, a shadow passing over his eyes at mentioning her in front of Chalot, like he'd spoken blaspheme in church.
Ah yes, Kagami. Lila grinned to herself. She still thinks we're controlling you, doesn't she? I wonder how she'd cope if she knew you still had your rings.
Felix continued, leaning forward and pushing his thumb against his chin with a contemplative look. "But I suppose you wouldn't know what that's like Mr… Oh, what silly name are you using now?" He slips off the desk, narrowed eyes peering up at the shiny new name tag hanging from Chalot's chest. He couldn't help but laugh.
Suddenly, Chalot's posture gets looser, more erratic, making Lila imagine a child getting told their hang turkey art sucked. "What's wrong with my name?" He says with a defensive twinge.
Seeing an opening to dig his knuckles into, Felix could only grin, raising his arms protectively and shaking his head. "Oh no, don't let me get you down." His hand came down, flexing his fingers back and for in a twinkling motion. "Enjoy your silly little game. I'm sure you thought an anagram was oh-so-clever."
Chalot looks away, speaking quietly. "It makes me nostalgic."
"Nostalgic?" Felix asks, a curious eyebrow raised.
"For… Better days." Chalot said, unsteady and uneasy.
"You have better days?" Felix didn't even sound insulting when he said it, just surprised and curious. After receiving no response, he simply shrugged. "If you insist."
Chalot drew his right hand up, jabbing his thumb into his chest. "Makes sure I don't lose focus of why I'm here."
Letting his urge to poke at Chalot's armour rest for now, Felix moved to round on Chrysalis, an unimpressed gaze passing over the mess of his amoks strewn across the table. "I wanted to oversee the progress on my investment. I heard another one of your pawns got exposed." He paused, pulled a disappointed frown and whistled. "For infiltrators, they lack a frightening amount of subtlety."
"It's of no matter." Chrysalis resumed her normal grin, full of teeth and false tenderness, reaching up to lightly grip Felix by the chin. "My dear Felix, the beauty of a good plan isn't in a flawless execution, it's in knowing how to keep the win condition wide open."
"And what's the win condition if our assets get taken out?" Chalot called out, "We can't just keep pumping out sentimonsters."
Chrysalis furrowed her brow at this, letting go of Felix to lock her gaze on Chalot. "What are you worried about? Ladybug's housecat and his posse of strays?" She ripped his newspaper off the table, flipping it over to show him the multiple headlines talking about how much of a disaster Chat Noir's pathetic attempt at picking up the pieces had become. "I told you, they're just a distraction. We're fine."
Chalot leaned closer, speaking in a harsh whisper. "When we're on a time crunch, a distraction can become a silver bullet." He suddenly stopped, giving a long enough pause for her to feel his nerves prickle at her miraculous. "Need I remind you-"
"I haven't forgotten what's at stake, Scruffy." She said firmly and quickly, unable to stop her eyes from looking past Chalot, past the walls, her stare so easily sucked into the visage of that damn tree. His tree. The tree whose roots she could hear echoing through the foundations of the building, calling out to her, reaching for her, waiting for one moment of weakness to jump out and snatch what little sanity she had left.
Every second she was aware of what she had to lose and how close she was to losing it. All because she made the mistake of taking the butterfly miraculous.
"We're up against the clock then, huh?" Felix asked curiously, and Lila hated knowing that he had another piece of ammo to add to his arsenal. "How much time are we talking about?"
Chrysalis' smile faded, replaced with a hardened, stone-faced glare made for both Felix and Chalot. "Enough." She stated firmly.
They had time, she said to herself. They had all the time in the world. Because she willed it, and Chrysalis' will was stronger than any force in heaven or hell, it was stronger than his own will.
"Excuse me if I doubt your word." Felix scoffed, "It has something to do with you being a known liar who literally has 'lie' in her name."
"I'm no liar." She said, tilting her head to the side with the most innocent tone she could muster. "Some of my stories simply… Haven't come true yet."
"And you really think your plan here will make them true?" Felix laughed, confidently circling her like a predator staring down their prey. Oh yes, of course Felix still thought himself the predator in this situation. "It's a little pathetic, Rossi."
Chrysalis laughed. One that was high pitched and wretched on Felix's ears. "You didn't betray your friends and agree to my terms because you didn't believe me."
"Friends? Please, they're Kagami's friends." He spat out quickly, conveniently hiding his expression by looking away as he said it. "Don't mistake me appealing to Ladybug's love for my cousin to remove Gabriel as kinship for her or her underlings."
Lila narrowed her eyes, a sadistic edge coming through as she leaned over Felix's shoulder, ensuring that even his denial or justifications couldn't save him from her taunts. "I think Adrien would consider what you've done a betrayal."
"Adrien will understand one day." He snapped, "Even if he doesn't, it's for his own good."
They paused, stuck in that position for the moment, Felix trying to look strong as the sinful serpent wrapped herself around him, showing him the apple he already bit into. Soon enough, Lila grinned that fake smile that stretched her lips to their limits, that looked as if it were on the verge of ripping her face apart.
"He will." She said softly, "When everyone sees the beauty of what we achieve, they'll all understand."
Her arms came around Felix, pulling her tight against him until she could feel his body stiffen, a deer caught in headlights. It was not so much a hug as invisible chains tightening around the two of them, trapping Felix there with her, despite the fact that he was physically capable of pushing her off him.
"We've all spent too much time playing a bit part to someone else's story, the stepping stone to another's happily ever after." She whispered in his ear, "I won't rest until we create a world where everyone gets to write their own fairy tale ending."
Resting her chin on his shoulder, she continued, her eyes alight with a new, determined flame. "Cinderella escapes her life of poverty and abuse. The tinman gets his heart." She paused, allowing on arm to drop down, pressing her hand down over his ring finger, where a silver ring was proudly displayed. "And Pinocchio becomes a real boy."
Finally, she let go of him, drawing away just as she heard him gasp for air, just as she watched him crumple against the desk. "Everyone gets their happily ever after. Everybody wins. Even your sentimonsters."
In her head she added, with a devilish smile 'Even Marinette.'.
Felix didn't say another word, he just shot her his signature glare before moving past her and dissolving into the darkness. Chalot, on the other hand, remained, though his stare seemed to diffuse into something less intense now that Felix was gone.
"Are you gonna sleep any time soon?" He asked, almost kindly.
It was always 'almost' when it came to Chalot and such sentiment. He struggled to express them fully, just wasn't in his nature or how he was raised Lila supposed, but part of it made those little moments more special, just knowing he was trying, that she didn't have to doubt him. Not that she'd ever tell him that. She couldn't have him thinking she worried about what he thought.
She shot him a smug smirk, cocking her head to the side. "Weren't you the one just reminding me of how little time we have to waste?"
He scoffed, lightly smacking her across the shoulder, the tough guy act coming out in full force. "We're gonna have less time if you run your body ragged. Brat."
"I can manage." She shrugged.
"Lila." It felt oddly serious to hear him use her- Well, not real, but preferred name. She didn't know if she liked or hated how it sounded. She just knew it felt significant as he clasped her shoulders and gently pushed her towards the door. "Go to bed. I'll arrange for someone to get you breakfast in the morning."
In that moment, Chrysalis fell back, and Lila breathed easy, both identities sighing. "…I suppose I can postpone today's progress. For a few muffins at least."
As she and Chalot retreated to the entryway, she couldn't help but stare into the darkness, imagining Felix grumbling to himself as he made his exit, trying to find any sense in where he'd ended up.
Chrysalis shook her head, muttering to herself. "Have faith, Felix; the real heroes of Paris are going to save the world."
Next Time - Dreams of a History Repeated:
Adrien knew it was all a dream, and that no one here could see him, but for a moment he could swear that the strange samurai's gaze looked through everyone to burn into him.
Kenzo tilted his head back, getting a good look at his sister's companion, almost looking like he had taken offense. But instead of pouncing on the poor man, he just chuckled again, reaching forward and shamelessly grasping the man by the shoulder. "I know, right? I wanted to go with 'The Katana Kitty', but everybody hated it."
Ling's cold exterior broke away under the weight of a loud groan that was quickly followed by an eye roll. "You are insufferable."
"I still think you should've gone with 'Shadow Claw'." Came an awfully familiar, high-pitched voice.
Adrien jumped back, throwing his head in the direction of the voice, desperately scanning the area until-
"What? No! That's far too serious, Plagg."
Nope, his eyes weren't deceiving him, the dark cheese-addicted kitten himself was lounging atop the rim of Kenzo's hat, a cheese wedge in hand.
That green glow, Adrien's eyes hadn't been playing tricks on him, it was a cataclysm. At that revelation his eyes widened, turning his attention back to Kenzo, looking over the samurai through a new lens. That means… This guy is one of the previous Chat Noirs?