Chapter Text
Chloé watched helplessly as her parents were akumatized. <This is my chance. Ladybug will need my help, and this time she won’t be able to ignore me,> she thought, racing to the rooftop terrace of her suite. She rushed to activate the Bee Signal she had insisted on buying, anticipating the exact moment she would be called to action.
Chloé tried to trigger the signal, but nothing happened. Panic collided with rage as she realized her precious device had been deliberately sabotaged. The wind whipped across the rooftop of the Grand Paris Hotel as Chloé growled, her lower lip trembling with a mixture of anger and self-pity. With a furious scream, she lifted the custom-made Bee Signal over the parapet and hurled it into the void, watching it shatter on the pavement six floors below.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her.
“Chloé Bourgeois… rejection hurts, doesn't it?”
Chloé spun around, her heart skipping a beat. It wasn't her imagination. As if her darkest fears had taken shape, Hawk Moth stood before her. She slowly backed away until her heels pressed against the very edge of the roof, tears threatening to spill as she glared at him with a mix of terror and defiance.
“Your talent deserves recognition,” he purred. “Ladybug and Cat Noir’s reign has lasted far too long. It’s time for Paris to had a new queen… and the Queen Bee on my chessboard is you.”
Chloé’s voice shook. “You akumatized my parents! If I only had my Miraculous, I would...”
“You’re right,” Hawk Moth interrupted, raising a hand to silence her. “And I did it for one reason only: so you would finally understand that Ladybug is never giving your Miraculous back. I, however, always keep my promises.”
He slowly opened his hand, revealing the golden comb: the Bee Miraculous.
“This isn’t real! How do you have that?!” Chloé gasped.
Hawk Moth’s faint smile was filled with the icy satisfaction of a man who had already won. “Take it and see for yourself,” he replied, dodging the question. “You were Ladybug’s biggest fan. You helped her. You trusted her. And what has she given you in return?”
“Nothing!” Chloé snapped, her hurt turning into venom. “She doesn’t care about me at all! She’s irrelevant, utterly irrelevant!”
The young heiress reached out with trembling fingers, but stopped just before seizing the comb. “First, you de-akumatize my parents!”
“As you wish, my queen,” Hawk Moth chuckled indulgently. With a sharp snap of his fingers, the dark butterfly fled, and her parents were freed.
Chloé sighed in relief, a false sense of control washing over her as she watched her parents be rescued by the heroes below. For Hawk Moth, however, everything was proceeding exactly as planned. Chloé Bourgeois had always been exceptionally easy to manipulate.
She turned back, snatched the comb from his hand, and slid it into her hair, releasing Pollen.
It took the kwami only a few seconds to realize where she was. When she did, panic filled her tiny face. “Your Majesty, please wait! Remember who you are!” she pleaded.
“Silence! You will speak only when I tell you to,” Chloé snapped. Pollen lowered her head in defeat, her light dimming.
“Pollen, buzz on!”
A flash of yellow light engulfed her, bringing back that intoxicating illusion of power. Yet, she could feel Pollen’s resistance deep within the transformation, a desperate, futile struggle against the inevitable.
Hawk Moth watched, pleased. Without another word, he turned his back on her and walked toward the edge of the roof. <It's now or never,> Chloé thought.
She followed him slowly, suppressing her emotions and steadying her breath, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Without hesitation, she activated her power silently, her spinning top glowing with a golden aura. Holding her breath, she hurled it with all her might at Hawk Moth’s back, aiming to paralyze him and claim the glory for herself.
To her horror, Hawk Moth spun around with unnatural speed, effortlessly deflecting the weapon with his cane.
“Foolish girl,” he said calmly, his voice sending a chill down her spine. “Did you really think this was an offer you could refuse?”. Chloé stepped back, her heart hammering against her ribs.
“I must say, while disappointing, this betrayal is hardly unexpected,” he continued, closing the distance. His smile was cold—not human, but like a cruel fissure carved into a mask of pale porcelain. “Now, be a good pawn… and become my queen.”
Hawk Moth struck the ground with the tip of his cane.
Instantly, Chloé’s transformation shattered. A sharp, white hot pain exploded in her head, followed by a violent wave of dizziness. The world began to flicker and glitch. Paris blurred into smears of gray and gold, and the air grew heavy as lead.
She clutched her head, struggling to stay upright. She tried to call for Pollen, but her body refused to obey; it felt as if a foreign, dark will was invading her very thoughts. Through her blurred vision, she saw Hawk Moth still wearing that icy, unchanging smile… simply watching her fall.
There was no more struggle. Only his look of absolute triumph. Her knees gave out, and the darkness claimed her.
_______________
The battle against Miracle Queen hadn’t been just another fight; it had been a siege on the very heart of the heroes.
Ladybug landed in Trocadéro, her legs feeling like lead. The Miraculous Cure had restored the city's streets, but the silence left behind felt glacial. To her, it didn't matter what they had won that day, only what they had lost.
Master Fu, her mentor, her guardian, her friend, was gone. In his place remained only a confused man who would never remember her name again. And it was all her fault.
<If I had just been more careful… maybe none of this would have happened,> she thought, her chest aching. <If I had done things differently, maybe Chloé wouldn’t have...>
At the thought of the heiress, Ladybug spun around, searching for her. She was looking for even the smallest trace of regret, anything to prove that not everything was lost.
Chloé Bourgeois stood near the Eiffel Tower, still clutching the Bee Miraculous with an arrogance that felt insulting given the stakes. She didn’t look remorseful. She looked offended that the battle had ended without her being at the center of the applause.
There was no guilt in her eyes. Only the same shallow entitlement. Ladybug clenched her fists, her yo-yo trembling in her hand. She walked toward Chloé with heavy steps, each one carrying the weight of her grief.
“Give it to me, Chloé. It’s over,” Ladybug said firmly. Chloé narrowed her eyes, pulling the Miraculous from her hair and clutching it to her chest. Her lips trembled, not with fear, but with pure, childish rage.
“No! You can’t do this to me!” Chloé shrieked, her voice cracking. “I’m the only one who knows how to use it! I’m Queen Bee! I’m a hero!”
At the word hero, Ladybug’s restraint finally snapped. “A real hero doesn’t betray their teammates!” she cried, her voice so sharp that Chloé actually recoiled. “Do you even know what I lost today?”
“Not only did you expose every single hero,” Ladybug continued, her voice shaking with suppressed tears, “but because of you, Master Fu had to erase his entire life just to save us from a disaster you caused.”
She was on the verge of breaking. “And all for a stupid whim. All because you wanted to be the center of attention.” Ladybug crossed her arms, fighting to maintain her composure. “You revealed your identity out of vanity. You put everyone in danger over a tantrum. And then you sided with the man who is trying to destroy this city. So no, Chloé… you are not a hero.”
“I just wanted to save my parents!” Chloé shouted, trying to regain her footing. “You’re the one who pushed me aside!” She stepped forward, closing the gap defiantly. “Do you have any idea what it feels like to be ignored? How many times I called you, just for you to...” She paused, letting her resentment simmer. “...just for you to choose that stupid lizard instead of me!”
Ladybug forced herself to breathe, her gaze turning to stone.
“I gave you chance after chance, Chloé, and you wasted every single one,” Ladybug said, extending her hand in an unyielding gesture. “That was the last time. You will never wear a Miraculous again.”
Chloé froze as if struck. The word never echoed in the hollow space of her mind. With eyes burning with furious tears, she hurled the Miraculous at Ladybug’s feet.
“Then take it!” she spat, her voice thick with bile. “I don’t need it! I don’t need you or anyone! This is ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!”
Ladybug caught the comb without blinking. She stared at it for a moment, ignoring the insults entirely. Then, she simply turned her back on Chloé, treating her like nothing more than a forgotten inconvenience.
“Let’s go, Cat Noir,” Ladybug said, launching her yo-yo toward the rooftops.
Chloé stood alone in the center of the plaza, watching them soar away. The emptiness in her chest quickly twisted into a sharp, jagged hatred. “I’m not your number one fan anymore!” she screamed into the wind. “I don’t even like you! You’re irrelevant, Ladybug! Utterly irrelevant!”
She lifted her chin, turning away in a final gesture of disdain. As Ladybug and Cat Noir vanished into the horizon. Without a single backward glance, Chloé’s shoulders finally slumped. Her tears stopped, leaving nothing behind but a bitter expression etched across her face.
After saying goodbye to an unusually quiet Cat Noir, whose questions about whether they could have handled Chloé differently were met with a curt, “She made her choice”, Marinette finally made it home.
She collapsed onto her chaise lounge and detransformed. Tikki hovered nearby with deep concern, but Marinette’s gaze was locked on the egg-shaped box on her desk.
The Miracle Box.
Now it was hers. And the weight of it felt like lead.
“I messed up, Tikki,” Marinette whispered, burying her face in her hands. “This whole disaster… Fu losing his memory, Chloé betraying us… it’s all my fault.”
“Marinette, you were under so much pressure” Tikki began. “No!” Marinette stood up, pacing the room. “I knew Chloé was the right choice for that battle, but I didn’t pick her because I was jealous. I wanted to stop Adrien’s date. I put my feelings ahead of my duty, Tikki. If I had been fair, Chloé would never have been desperate enough to listen to Hawk Moth. I pushed her right into his hands.”
She looked down at her trembling palms. “Maybe I’m not meant for this. Maybe someone with better judgment should be Ladybug.”
“Don’t say that!” Tikki cried, hovering firmly in her line of sight. “You made a mistake, yes. You’re human. But teaming up with a villain was Chloé’s choice, not yours. She’s responsible for her own actions. No one forced her to say yes.”
Just then, a small yellow glow caught Marinette’s eye. Pollen was sitting near the box. She wasn't her usual vibrant self; she was silent, her expression a heartbreaking mix of grief and restrained anger.
Marinette felt a sharp pang in her chest. She knew how much Chloé had meant to her. She approached and gently cupped the tiny kwami in her hands.
“I’m so sorry, Pollen,” Marinette sobbed. “I never wanted this for you. I promise I’ll protect you. I’ll find a holder who makes you happy, someone truly worthy of you.”
Pollen remained silent for a long time. Finally, she gave a slow, mournful nod.
“None of what happened was your fault, Guardian,” Pollen said in a small, hollow voice. “No matter the choices made… sooner or later, things were always going to end this way.”
Marinette sighed, taking the kwami’s words as a grim confirmation of her own prejudice. “You’re right. She always had that spark of superiority... eventually, it was bound to lead her down this path. She would have turned on us sooner or later.”
Pollen simply closed her eyes, failing to hold back a single, tiny tear. Seeing it made Marinette’s heart ache even more.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you again, Pollen. I promise.”
Pollen didn't correct her. She just kept her eyes closed, hiding a bone-deep sadness that the young hero was nowhere near understanding.