Chapter Text
It’s been 3 years since I was given a Miraculous, at a time when the whole world seemed like such a small place, and my problems seemed so large. Before I received the Ladybug Miraculous my biggest problem was how bratty and stuck-up Chloe could be. At the time I would have called her the worst person I knew, which changed upon becoming a holder of the Miraculous. A lot has changed since then. I used to have so many friends. I used to want nothing more than everyone to be happy. Now, I just want us all to get out of this alive. And looking at the current Akumatized victim in front of me, and the lack of listening let alone help from Chat, the chances are looking low at this point. For once I can’t say that Chloe is responsible for this one, actually now that I think about it, she hasn’t been in a while. I don’t think she follows the sheep herd mentality when it comes to Lila, unlike her one friend, so she’s been keeping to herself for almost a year and a half now. Which makes it hard to cause Akuma’s. No this is another of Lila’s victims which was tricked into thinking Chloe is the source of their problems this time. Another of Lila’s lies. So, I have to protect Chloe, my oldest bully, from another Akumatized villain. I never once believed that even she deserved to be attacked, and I refuse to let myself give up that way of thinking now.
“Chat Noir! We need to get Chloe out of here!” I shout as I use my yo-yo as a shield.
“Have I told you how beautiful you are when you are defending Paris M’Lady? Cause you are pawsitively purrfect!” Chat replied leaning on his pole.
“Not the time Chat! Negator is going to get to Chloe if we don’t hide her or stop them first! So, either help me or get out of my way finally!” I scold him. His flirting has been getting worse, and he’ll get possessive too.
“There’s no reason to be so catty Purincess. Put the claws away, this isn’t that bad of an akuma attack anyways, we got time,” Chat continues on.
“Lucky Charm!” I call out hoping it’ll help me save the day.
Negator is getting stronger with every attack he gives us. I’m not sure what’s powering him. He shouted something about negating the power Chloe has over Paris. The entire school is trying to get her. From my Lucky Charm comes a symbol for the Miracle Box, but I’m out of people to give a Miraculous that I can trust. Maybe Chloe, but she’s in the middle of the danger now. So, first priority is to get her to safety and then I’ll look at the Miracle Box.
I fight Negator who makes everything negative in a couple ways. The removal of Chloe’s so called “power” and by making it absent of distinguishing features, funny enough, that can mean the difference between heavy hitting or light weight. I’m taking a lot of attacks. Chat is at least attempting to protect me, but I can’t do anything with him in my way. Finally, when he negates a cars weight as he picks it up just to negate the negation while it flies at us, I lasso Chatton with my yo-yo and send him flying at Chloe to push her out of the way. I, however, was just barely not fast enough. I got hit by the car. I managed to move enough that the brunt of the force wouldn’t hurt me, as I managed to move with the impact, but it was still painful as I hit a wall opposite the Negator, pinned by a car. I cough, some blood comes up, I’d taken a lot of hits and already used my Lucky Charm, I only had a couple minutes before I transform back. Chat Noir comes and pulls the car off me. Something I could’ve done once I caught my breath for one damn second.
“Ladybug! Are you okay?” He immediately started checking me over. I just stood up.
“I’m fine Chat. But I’m running out of time before I need to recharge. I need you to fend off Negator while I get Chloe out of here and take care of my Kwamii. Think you could manage at least that much?” I ask him, a bit annoyed. Had he helped more sooner, we might be done already.
“Of course, M’Lady. Your wish is my command,” with that he jumped out and tried to distract Negator.
I climbed out from behind the car and got over to Choe. “We need to hurry. The sooner we get you to safety, the sooner I can help de-evilize Negator.”
“Are you okay Ladybug? That looked like a hard hit. I swear, it wasn’t me this time. I really didn’t do anything,” Chloe attempted to defend herself to her hero.
“I know Chloe. You haven’t been the real cause of an Akuma attack in a while. I believe you. But that’s only more reason to get you out of here,” I turn to start pulling Chloe away so I can get her somewhere safe, only to see my classmates and couple friends that I do have, coming at us with whatever weapons they could rustle up. Like Chloe is some kind of medieval monarch that they’re rising up against or something. What’s next, a Dracula Akuma? Shit, wish I had some wood about now, that’s a serious jinx. Though how that would work is beyond me.
My classmates, Luka, and Kagami, who were two people I were considering adding to the team more based on my trust of them, were at the front. Luka had been picking up his sister Juleka to hang out after school and Kagami had fencing with Adrien today, who I realized really is better off as a friend and I just found him really good looking and nice. Funny enough, after I stopped pursuing him, it was almost as if he had started claiming me. But that’s a story for a later date, as I’m currently under attack. Lot’s of weapons attacking me, and my reflexes have slowed a bit after literally being hit by a car, which was thrown like it weighed nothing.
I dodged a sword, a guitar, some sticks and weirdly enough an actual pitchfork. Finally, I was able to get them all back a bit, enough to grab Chloe and fly out of there on my yo-yo, but not before getting a few more wounds. I really hate the minion gaining Akuma’s. I get Chloe somewhere she won’t easily be found, funny enough I took her to an alley near my house. She wouldn’t normally come near my place of her own volition, so I thought it worked. Problem is I collapsed shortly after arrival. One of those cuts were deeper that I thought, and I was losing blood fast. On top of that, even my extended time limit isn’t enough anymore. It took far too long to get Chloe to safety after using my Lucky Charm. As I land on the ground my Miraculous times out and I de-transform. Chloe lets out a gasp.
“Dupain-Cheng? But-you-I-but they-and she-HOW? Wait no, why? Why would you save me all these times? I-I was awful to you for so long, yet you saved me every time. Why?” Chloe asked me, and there was no point in hiding it now.
“Because Chloe, I knew, deep down, there was good in you. And no one deserved to be attacked by an Akuma like that. And I turned out to be right in the end. You haven’t done anything in over a year that could cause and Akuma, and you haven’t even made fun of me. And we can’t forget your time as Queen Bee. Even if I had lost my trust in you for a time after Miracle Queen. You’ve proved people can change, and for the better,” I tell her as I smile at her through the pain.
“Let’s get you inside. You can get cleaned up and bandaged up as you recharge. I’m sure that now that I’m out of the way, you’ll come up with the perfect plan to defeat Negator. You always do, Marinette,” Chloe called me by my first name for the first time, probably ever. And it sparked something in my inner Guardian as she hefted my arm over her shoulder to help me into my parent’s bakery, which was thankfully untouched from todays chaos so far. That will change if they see me though.
“I think one’s already forming,” I reply with a smile.
Chloe helps me inside and gives an off handed explanation that Ladybug had dropped her off nearby where she saw her first savior of the day, Marinette. She casually explained that I helped her get away from school in the first place and that I must’ve been working my way home ever since. She saw me and decided to help me home and help patch me up till Ladybugs magic can fix everything. Luckily said magic is already healing me a bit. We get up to my room and Chloe cleans what wounds there are and bandages them up to slow/stop the bleeding where possible. As she did that, I gave Tikki a macaroon and formed my plan, which includes the Bee Miraculous, and Chloe. If I can get Chloe to do what I ask as the Bee holder then I might be able to finish this. It seriously sucks that Luka and Kagami were taken over by Negator’s power, normally they’d be helping me after I give them their Miraculous since Chat is practically useless lately. Though he would get extremely jealous of Luka, and sometimes even Kagami, which could get almost dangerous for all parties involved. If he’d help, then I wouldn’t need their help so often.
Once I’m as patched up as I’m going to get, I stand up and walk over to the Miracle Box and pull out the Bee Miraculous. I really hope this works. I think, with Chloe’s recent changes, the Bee Miraculous might take on a different style for her when she transforms, after all, she’s Pollen’s true holder of this generation. I turn to Chloe and open my Palm towards her, holding up a jewelry box.
“Chloe Bourgeois, this is the Bee Miraculous of Subjugation. With this Miraculous you will help me defeat the villain Negator by freezing him when the time is right. Once we are done you will return your Miraculous to me. Do you accept this responsibility?” I ask her.
“I can’t, I don’t deserve it. Not after Miracle Queen. How could you even trust me?” Chloe asks me.
“I trust you because I’ve seen how you’ve changed since then. You may not be truly selfless right now, but you have changed. If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have bandaged me up just now. Besides, Pollen has missed you. Please accept it Chloe, I can’t trust anyone else,” I explain.
“If you trust me Ladybug, then I’ll do everything I can to prove it was not in vain. I’ll accept this responsibility, and I’ll accept it whenever you need me. I trust you completely Ladybug, and…and I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you in the past,” Chloe gives me a watery smile and accepts her Miraculous, opening the box.
“How can I please you my Queen?” Pollen asks as she comes out of the Miraculous and sees her holder. She’s clearly tentative, but hopeful. Which makes sense after the last time she saw Chloe.
“Hi Pollen. Ladybug has decided she will trust me with you once more. I’m sorry for the past, and for basically betraying you. I hope you can forgive me and we can work together,” Chloe looks down, toeing the floor due to her nerves.
“Of course, my Queen! I’m very happy to be working with you once again. I hope to serve you well,” Pollen nods at Chloe and seems happy to see all the change that has happened in Chloe.
“Pollen, Buzz on!” Chloe calls out her transformation phrase and I’m genuinely surprised to see the new hero that stands before me. She looks so different. Instead of her former bright yellow and black catsuit, she has an outfit that is more feminine and looks like it was meant for someone from money. She wore a short sleeve athletic bodysuit. The base was similar to her old one, but the stripes were thinner, the big sweetheart black area above the stripes had a deeper dip with the yellow fabric filling that area, and the sleeves didn’t connect to her gloves which went just past her elbow. The neck of her suit wasn’t a normal turtleneck but seemed to have a sweetheart cut on it. The back was almost completely open, save for the back of her sleeves which connected to the large black part of her bodysuit. She seemed to have a fur scarf around her neck as well, making her look even more like a bee. Her bodysuit had a translucent skirt draping on either side of her that was very short and looked almost like a skirt worn to practice for ballet that was open up front. The bottom of her bodysuit looked the same as the past, but the heels were slightly more noticeable. Finally, the last difference was that all the yellows were more of a golden honey color except for the fur around her neck which was her classic yellow. Even Chloe’s hair became more of a honey blonde with the black streak that spirals into her ponytail which has a slightly more relaxed black ribbon paying homage to a bee’s antennae. I looked at her and smiled.
“I told you that you’ve changed. You’ll need a new name. Think of one while I transform again,” I smile at Tikki and the little god beams back at me as she nods. “Tikki, spots on!” My outfit has started to change a bit too. Mine’s less drastic since I’ve been Ladybug the entire time, and my suit changes every so often at the end of an Akuma attack lately. I now have big black sections separating the spotted areas on each limb which end right before my hands and above my knees. It’ll be interesting to see how my costume looks in a year or so. “Let’s go…um…”
“Princess Honey. I think I’ll go with Princess Honey,” Chloe replies.
“Then let’s go Princess Honey. We have a city to save,” We rush out of my room through the balcony and quickly return to the fight. Though I joke on the way. “I don’t have to tell you to keep your identity a secret this time, do I?” I laugh and Chloe laughs as she shakes her head.
“God I really was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous, wasn’t I? No, you don’t need to tell me, but I’ll make sure you know that I’ll take my secret identity more serious this time. I refuse to repeat my past mistakes after the last debacle that I had with the Miraculous. Now, let’s go rescue this Negator person, whoever they were before being Akumatized,” Chloe smiles at me as we hurry to the scene. I was enormously proud of her.
When we got there she followed every direction I had given her on the way, to the letter. She never once jumped in ahead of her cues, and she was more cautious than she’d ever been in the past. She finally froze Negator and I got his ring off and was able to break it. Once I de-evilized the Akuma, and used Miraculous Ladybug, me and Chloe quickly made our way back to my room so I’d be there when my parents came to check on me. And that was the day I decided to give Kagami and Luka their Miraculous full time. I could use more partners if Chat Noir was gonna continue to be so unhelpful. I’ll keep Chloe on trial for now, but she knows my identity, so I’ll have to trust her for now. I haven’t mastered the memory wipe power that a guardian gets to have anyways.
The next day I got up early and sent Kagami and Luka a text asking to meet before school started. They quickly agreed and Kagami managed to get away from her place to come meet in the park near school, which was low in population due to the early hour. When they arrived, they both greeted me in their caring and calm manner. I smiled at them and took a deep breath.
“Kagami, Luka, these are the Snake Miraculous of intuition and the Dragon Miraculous of perfection. I would like to give these to you to keep so long as the world should need the Miraculous to remain active. With these Miraculous, I welcome you full time as Miraculous holders that will help me, Ladybug, in the fight against Hawkmoth,” I smile at my friends who by now have both had their mouths fall open from shock. “Will you accept this responsibility and fight by my side?”
“You mean…you’re Ladybug?” Luka asks, still calm as usual but clearly shocked by the news.
“Yes. The previous Guardian of the Miraculous made the rule that not even the partners I work with could know my identity. Of course, there are ways to figure it out, but that requires a strong connection to higher knowledge unless you either see the transformation or are told outright. He made the rule for safety purposes, and I get why he would…but I’ve decided that it needs to change to some degree. No one outside of us can know my identity, or yours, not even Chat Noir. But I think it will benefit us all if we could know about each other’s identities so that we could help each other after some particularly hard Akuma’s. I know you probably have plenty of moments in the past that you’d like to talk about Luka. You are the only one who remembers the reality before second chance. Not even I remember them. Though I will supposedly start to one day. My point is, I’d like us to be friends and partners. Will you two join me?” I look at the two friends I’ve managed to keep since Lila, the two that believed me about her lies, with hope.
“I would be honored Mari-hime,” Kagami smiles at me and grabs the box containing her miraculous and put it on.
“Of course, I’ll help you Marinette,” Luka responds with his warm and calming smile.
“Good, I’m sure we’ll make a great team. I need to get going, if I don’t get to school soon, I’ll have to walk through a full classroom. Which isn’t great when you need to dodge stray feet. Hehe, see you guys later!” I call out to my two friends as I rush towards school. I can’t help but smile a bit at the knowledge that my friends were now my full-time partners too.
I get into class and start sketching random inspiration that wasn’t important in my throw away sketch book. I learned early on not to bring anything I cared about to school unless I wanted the chance of it being thrown away, stolen, or ruined. I must’ve been lost in thought cause next thing I know the entire class is there and Mme. Bustier was already taking attendance. Once attendance was over Chloe raised her hand from the front row. I started sitting in the back when Alya chose to believe Lila over me and start treating me like a bully and enemy. After that betrayal I decided to switch seats with Lila so Alya could have her new bestie by her side.
“Yes, Chloe?” Mme. Bustier asked, shocked to see Chloe raise her hand at the start of class.
“Mme. Bustier, can I move to the back with Marinette?” Chloe asked. Which seemed to surprise the entire class cause murmurs erupted immediately after.
“Um, I don’t see why not. But I thought you wanted to keep sitting by Sabrina,” Mme. Bustier replied, clearly confused.
“Sabrina and I haven’t really been on the best of terms lately,” Chloe explains as she stands up with her stuff. “I figured if everyone was going to ice me out, I should sit with Marinette. At least she’s nice.”
“Mari-clutz nice? Hah! Don’t make me laugh. She’s nothing more than a bully. All she does is bully Lila or do things for attention. If she’s nice then Satan’s God,” Alya cries out.
“Please! Marinette is twice the woman you’ll ever be, little miss tabloid,” Chloe responds as she takes her seat by my side. “You’re just ridiculous, utterly ridiculous, if you think Marinette is anything other than the best person in this room.”
“Wow Marinette. You’ve really sunk low if you’re befriending Chloe. You said you hated how she was a bully. I guess that was all a lie. Guess it makes sense to see the two biggest bullies in Paris are friends. It’s the perfect match. Mari-bitch and Chloe Brat-geois,” Alya calls out making the class erupt into laughter. Mme. Bustier just stood there waiting for us all to calm down so she could get back to teaching. The longer she taught us, the more hands off she’s gotten, in favor of the student’s learning to self-govern better. This is one of the moments that I wish she’d start stepping in.
“Why you!” Chloe was about to stand up and shout at Alya but I put my hand on her arm.
“Chloe just let it go,” I turn to Alya. “Chloe’s changed a lot in the last year and a half, not that you’d noticed. But let’s just leave it for now. If you have a problem we can talk later, but right now we are being disrespectful to Mme. Bustier who is here to teach us. So, can we just put a pin in this for now?”
“Whatever,” Alya grumbled and Lila leaned over to whisper in the ear of her biggest supporter and enabler. No doubt trashing me so that Alya corners me again later. As long as it’s not too bad I’ll be fine.
“Thank you, Marinette. Now, let’s begin,” Mme. Bustier turns and starts writing on the board as she speaks to all of us about some history lesson, I only really half paid attention to.
Chloe leaned over to me and whispered in my ear. “Thank you for letting me sit by you. I know I haven’t been the nicest over the years, and I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness or your friendship. But I’d like to be friends if you’ll let me.”
I smile at her. “Chloe, after yesterday, and the way you just stood up for me, how could I say no. I’d happily be your friend now.”
I meant every word I told her. Even after Aya cornered me and attacked me in the bathroom later. Something about me bullying Lila about her having had missed so much school over time and getting Chloe to join in. Apparently becoming friendly with Chloe was reason to beat me until I could hardly breathe. I’m really glad she no longer has access to her old Miraculous or this could have been much worse after so long of her having a Miraculous. Even if Trixx said that she wasn’t her true holder, she still had high compatibility. But thinking on how much Chloe has changed, and this morning, I’d say that today was the start of what will become a wonderful friendship.
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@BlueKnight: Watch out everyone, Demon spawn is in a mood today. Guess it’s another day in#Gotham. #gloomycity#crimecity#wayneangst#iceprince
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| @Jaybird: @BlueKnight what happened? Did he lose solitude privileges again? LOL #iceprince#alwaysinside#weneedsomesun#vitamindneeded#grump
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| @SpoiledBat: Jay don’t be mean. You’re the same way. I’ll tell Alfie on you and you’ll lose cookie privileges. #cookieadict#introverts#actstough#innersoftie#rightaboutthesuntho
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| @MasterButler: I’ve already been alerted of the situation. Thankfully, some sugar and the Kent boy should help. But all should be wary of the Young Master until then.
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| @CoffeisLife: Alfie, you forgot to use #’s. We talked about this. Also, we’re low on Coffee. #ineedcoffee#cantfunctionwithout#newapplicationssoon#bruceoutofoffice#iceprince
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| @AllSeeingEye: Weren’t you cut off @CoffieisLife? I distinctly remember B telling you to go sleep. But seriously we need some sunshine. Maybe a bit of warm sun will melt #iceprince a little so we don’t have to warn the city every week about his moods. #iceprince needsmaintnence#iwantsomesuntoo#gotham#gloomycity#crimecity#homewithnosun
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| @MasterButler: @CoffeeisLife, if you’re not in bed by the time I get up there I will personally hide all your coffee and tea and not let you leave the house till you’ve gotten at least 12 hours of sleep. #youneedsleep