Chapter Text
Zoé hoped Marinette didn't catch her staring. It wasn't likely, as she was across the courtyard from the other girl and Marinette was currently facing away from her, deep in conversation with Alya, but she didn't want to come off as creepy. Maybe Zoé should stop staring, but the way that the light caught on Marinette's hair, those cute little pigtails, made her look adorable. She kind of wondered what they would feel like. Would it be fun to bounce them around? And that color was beautiful. A dark blue. Was it natural or dyed? Zoé hoped it was dyed, maybe they could dye their hair together one of these days. But she would have to learn how to dye hair, instead of just relying on Juleka to do it. If Marinette did dye her hair, Zoé wondered if she intentionally dyed it to match her eyes. Her eyes were probably the most beautiful part of her. They were such a lovely blue, and so large, and looking right at her.
Zoé blinked. When had Marinette turned around? Why was Marinette staring at her? Why were Marinette and Alya walking over to her!?
“Oh, hi, Marinette!” Zoé quickly said, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. “I'm sorry, I wasn't intending on staring, but I was thinking of how to approach you...” Zoe racked her brain, trying to think of an excuse that wouldn't make her sound like a creepy stalker.
“I get it,” Alya said, in a tone that indicated she very much knew what was going on. She smiled smugly. “You're worried that Chloé might get mad that Marinette's hanging around with you, right?” She winked at Zoé.
Marinette, for her part, seemed completely oblivious. “Don't worry about her, Zoé.” Marinette quickly dragged Zoé in for a hug. Zoé felt like she might die. “I can deal with Chloé. She hasn't been a problem to me since Alya showed up.” Marinette smiled softly at Alya. Alya smiled back, and Zoé had to silence a small, jealous part of herself. Alya had a boyfriend, and Marinette wasn't Zoe's girlfriend anyway. “So if you need any help, just ask!”
“Yeah, that is why I'm here, actually. I mean, I'm asking for help, just not about Chloé.” Zoé took the offered lifeline, excited to change the subject. “Do you know much about Paris' superheroes?”
Marinette opened her mouth to respond, but Alya beat her to it. “Do I know about Paris' superheroes?” Alya laughed. “Girl, I run the Ladyblog. I am Ladybug's number 2 fan. I think the only people who know more about Ladybug and Chat Noir than I do are Ladybug and Chat Noir!”
“Number 2?” Zoé raised an eyebrow. “And, wow, I didn't know you knew the person who ran the Ladyblog, Marinette!” Man, Marinette knows all the cool people.
“Chat Noir is Ladybug's number 1 fan.” Alya giggled as Marinette rolled her eyes, though given the smile on her face Zoé didn't think Marinette actually minded. “There's no way anyone likes Ladybug more than him.”
“Fair enough, I guess.” Chat seemed more like a casual flirt when she was dealing with him, but maybe he was actually into Ladybug? “But, I actually wanted to ask about Queen Bee.”
Marinette and Alya immediately frowned, and Zoé almost regretted asking. Still, she did need to know. Eventually, Marinette said “Couldn't you just ask her? You do live with her, after all. I'm sure she's more than willing to answer all of your questions.”
“Though, I can totally understand not wanting to talk to Chloé for long periods of time.” Alya cut in, clearly trying to defuse the situation with humor.
“Yeah...” Zoé laughed alongside the other two. “But, well. She's always willing to brag about how good she was as a superhero, and she's always willing to talk about Heroes Day. But when I ask her about why Ladybug gave her the bee in the first place, or why she's not getting it anymore, she just yells at me.”
“Huh.” Alya thought for a minute and then shrugged. “I guess that makes sense. Chloé never likes admitting her mistakes.” Alya ushered Zoé over to a nearby bench and sat down. After Zoé sat down beside her, she continued. “So, first off, you know how Chloé wasn't originally chosen for the bee miraculous, right? She just picked it up after Ladybug dropped it.” Alya glanced at Marinette, who laughed sheepishly.
Zoé didn't quite get what Marinette was laughing at, but she guessed it didn't matter. “Yeah, I saw all the news videos. It was honestly kind of hard to watch some of them.”
“I know, right?” Alya rolled her eyes. “Did you know Marinette and her family were on that train?”
Zoé gasped and looked over at Marinette, who was frowning. Nodding, she said “I was so mad. It's one thing to use a miraculous just to try and impress your mom like that, but it's another thing entirely to risk the lives of innocent bystanders doing it.” Marinette shook her head. “I knew she didn't think about other people much, but I didn't think she was actually dangerous.”
“Oh, I'm so sorry.” Zoé wrung her hands together. “That must have been so scary!”
“You don't need to apologize, Zoé. Just because you're sisters doesn't mean you have any control over her.” Marinette's blinding smile took Zoé's breath away. “And I know you'd never do anything like that.”
“Yeah, of course not!” Zoé shook her head. “I might have done some stupid things to impress mom, but I never would have hijacked a train.”
“Anyway...” Alya cut in. “So Ladybug takes the miraculous back. Then Chloé decides to make a fake 'interview' segment between her-as-Ladybug and her-as-Queen Bee as a school project and presented it to our class. Naturally, 'Ladybug' spent the entire time talking about how great Queen Bee was...”
“It was really bad.” Marinette rolled her eyes. “I know she has a Ladybug wig, but she didn't even use it, so we have an obviously blonde 'Ladybug'” she said, using her fingers to air quote when she said the word Ladybug. “Like, everyone knows that Ladybug's not blonde. Who on earth would actually think Chloé was Ladybug?” Marinette grinned at Alya, which Zoé found adorable.
Alya laughed nervously. “Who indeed...” She shook her head and leaned back. “Anyway, so I call her out the obvious fake Ladybug and bring up the actual news report of what happened after the train got stopped...”
“And then we went too far.” Marinette cut in, eyes downcast “I'll admit it. We brought up a mistake she made in the middle of class and everyone laughed at her for it. I'm not sorry for being mad at her for what she did, but we shouldn't have publicly embarrassed her like that.”
Alya rolled her eyes and leaned back on the bench. “She had it coming. Anyway, Chloé went running straight for her mom, and together, they tried to get her dad to punish us somehow.” She shrugged. “I don't think we ever found out what they wanted him to do. He actually said no, surprisingly enough, so Audrey decided to take Chloé to New York to go do whatever it was she did in New York.”
“Huh, so that's what that message was about...” Zoé frowned. Noticing Marinette and Alya's looks of confusion, she continued. “Mom sent my dad a message that she was coming back to New York a couple of weeks ago, but she canceled a couple of hours later.”
“Yeah, Chloé was originally all for it, but then her dad got akumatized.” Alya leaned forwards and smirked at Marinette. “Ladybug apparently decided she deserved a second chance at the bee...”
“Because Chloé deserved to be able to make up for a mistake she made.” Marinette interrupted, frowning at Alya, who rolled her eyes. Zoé got the feeling they've had this discussion before. “And Ladybug needed a bee miraculous user anyway, so why not someone who has experience?”
“Well, whatever reason Ladybug had for choosing Chloé,” Alya side-eyed Marinette, who stuck her tongue out in response, “she did, and Queen Bee was back. They beat Malediktator, and Chloé decided not to go to New York.”
“Well, I'm glad she decided to stay.” Zoé wanted to break up the weird...argument? Whatever it was that Alya and Marinette were having, Zoé wanted it to end, so she added some cheer into her voice. “Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to come here and meet you guys!”
“I'm glad something good came from it, at least.” Marinette smiled and reached in for another hug, which Zoé eagerly accepted. “Never thought I'd thank Chloé for something.”
Zoé very carefully squeezed one more time before releasing the hug and turning towards Alya. “So, if Ladybug just gave her the bee because Chloé was the one who caused the problem in the first place, why did she get it again on Heroes' Day?”
“Ladybug probably just needed all hands on deck.” Alya shrugged.
“Maybe Ladybug thought Chloé a good choice after Malediktator,” Marinette interjected, glaring at Alya, “but then Hawkmoth deliberately went after Chloe's family to get to her during the big fight. So clearly Ladybug realized that it was too dangerous to let Chloé have the Bee after that.”
Alya was about to respond, but Zoé didn't like the look she was giving Marinette. “So what's his about a bee signal?” She cut in, turning her head back and forth between the two friends with a smile on her face. “I think I saw a couple of posts about that?”
“Ladybug...didn't tell Chloé she was benched right away.” Marinette was wincing in...sympathy, maybe? Zoé didn't really get it but reached out to comfortingly lay a hand on Marinette's shoulder anyway. “Maybe she didn't want to disappoint Chloé by telling her that she couldn't have the miraculous again...”
Alya cut in before Zoé could figure out something to say. “Or maybe she just didn't want to get yelled at by an angry Chloé. Ladybug's human, Marinette. She doesn't need to be perfectly nice all the time.” Alya was looking at Marinette pretty softly, and Zoé absolutely knew she was missing something here.
“Sorry if I brought up something I shouldn't have.” Zoé put her hands up. “If this is an awkward subject for you two...”
“No, it's fine,” Marinette sighed and smiled up at Alya. “This is just a discussion we've had a lot, so...”
“I get it.” She really didn't, but Zoé smiled anyway. “So, the bee signal was Chloé trying to get Ladybug to give her a miraculous?”
“Kind of?” Marinette winced again. “She said it was to let Ladybug know that she was free and available, so if she wanted to give her the miraculous she could...”
Zoé picked up where Marinette trailed off. “So the fact that Ladybug never gave Chloé the bee couldn't be blamed on not knowing where she was or if she was available?”
“Not always!” Alya nearly jumped up, so eager was she to make a point. “Back during Startrain, Chat said that if they knew Chloé was on the train they would have brought the Bee miraculous.”
“Hah, yeah, he did, didn't he?” Marinette smiled at Alya, but Zoé could see some sort of pain in her eyes. Zoé was tempted to try and comfort Marinette again, but she was even more confused than she was earlier. “But, um, yeah. Chloé had that signal on...pretty much every time there was an akuma attack. And...well, Chloé isn't good at social cues, but...”
“...Even she can figure out when she's being ignored.” Zoé took a deep breath. She was afraid of this. “So what happened when she figured it out?”
Marinette didn't immediately answer, so Zoé turned to Alya, who was moving over to comfort Marinette. She really wanted to know what was going on, but there was a time and place for everything, and this wasn't the time or place. Zoé was a good enough actress to hide her impatience as she waited for one of them to speak. Eventually, Alya picked up where Marinette left off. “Lila, you know her, right?” Zoé nodded. Marinette had warned her about not believing the Italian girl. “Lila told Chloé that there was some sort of way to contact Ladybug. Obviously, it was fake and designed to make her look stupid, so Chloé snapped and must have yelled at Sabrina about it. Sabrina got akumatized into Miraculer, who can steal superpowers. She stole Ladybug and Chat Noir's powers, so they had to get all the other Miraculous users, including Queen Bee...”
“Then Mayura showed up,” Marinette spoke up, voice surprisingly sad. Alya was surprised but backed off. “She managed to steal the Bee Miraculous. Chloé and the heroes managed to get it back, but that proved, more than anything, that Chloé couldn't be Queen Bee anymore. It just wasn't safe, Mayura was watching her.”
Zoé nodded. That did make sense. She knew there were heroes back in the US that had their identities be public knowledge, but most of them were strong enough that they were never really vulnerable; without the Miraculous, Chloé was just a teenage girl. Hawkmoth could go after her and there was really nothing she could do to stop it, and it would be even worse if Hawkmoth went after her parents. “That must have been awful for her.” Zoé sighed.
Alya scoffed. “Don't be too sorry for her. After what she did with Miracle Queen..”
“Alya!” Marinette literally jumped up, interrupting Alya, who opened her eyes wide in shock and held up her hands in surrender.
“Right, sorry.” Alya nervously laughed.
“Am I missing something?” Zoé knew it was a dumb question, of course she was missing something, but maybe acting dumb would get them to explain?
“I've just told Alya, repeatedly,” Marinette actually glared at Alya, and Zoé had trouble recognizing the sweet girl she had a crush on, “that the only people who know what happened during Miracle Queen are Chloé, Ladybug, Chat Noir, Hawkmoth, and Mayura. Anything that anyone else says would be pure speculation.” She emphasized the last two words. “Alya sometimes forgets that being Ladybug's preferred journalist doesn't mean Ladybug tells her everything.”
“Ah.” Zoé wasn't quite sure how that was relevant, but she wasn't going to argue. “So, why are those the only people who know what happened?”
“Well...” Alya was still nervous, eyes flicking back and forth between Marinette and Zoé. Marinette was frowning but nodded at Alya. “Chloé got akumatized again. Remember Queen Wasp, how she had the wasps that can control people?” Zoé nodded. “This 'Miracle Queen' was a really powerful version of her and managed to get the entire city except for Ladybug and Chat Noir. No one remembers what they do as an akuma or under an akuma's control, so no one except for those two and Hawkmoth's group knows what happened in the actual fight.”
“Do we know what caused her to get akumatized in the first place?” Zoé frowned. No matter how bad her sister was, she didn't like the idea of her getting sad or angry.
“We don't know, but...” Alya looked at Marinette out of the corner of her eye. Marinette, for her part, was looking away, nodding her head. Sensing that Marinette wasn't going to stop her, Alya opened her mouth to continue, but she was interrupted by a sound that Zoé didn't recognize.
Marinette reached into her purse for her phone and looked at the screen. “Akuma near Île Saint-Louis."
"It better not have anything to do with water..." Alya grumbled. "Come on girl, let's go get some footage." Alya waved at Zoé. "Sorry, gotta go. The life of the Ladyblogger is never easy."
"And you should get an akuma alert app for your phone. Nothing's worse than getting caught in an akuma attack and becoming a knight or something." Marinette cautioned Zoé before she smiled and waved goodbye.
Zoé stood up and waved back as she watched the two start to run away. She wanted to ask about what 'becoming a knight' meant, but, well, they apparently had things to do. She was surprised that Marinette was helping Alya out with her blogging, considering how much Marinette seemed to dislike Alya's speculation, but maybe Marinette was just more into the factual side of investigative journalism?
In any event, she had a bunch of things to think about, so she sat back down and starting to write in her phone's journal as she thought about it. She didn't doubt either of them, she'd trust Marinette with her life and if Marinette trusted Alya then Zoé did too, and it's not like anything she heard sounded particularly out of character for Chloé. But Marinette and Alya were just two people, and two people who weren't particularly close to Chloé, either, and half of what they told her was just speculation. She was kind of hoping Marinette could just tell her everything she wanted to know about Queen Bee, but in retrospect, that was expecting way too much. Even the simplest of people were incredibly complicated, and Chloé was anything but simple.
But if even the Ladyblogger didn't know much about Chloé's stint as Queen Bee, she didn't know who else to turn to. Chloé wasn't talking, Sabrina would never say anything with Chloé there, and she never saw Sabrina without Chloé. Obviously, Ladybug or Chat Noir would be able to tell her everything she wanted to know, or at least most of it, but even as a part-time hero herself, it wasn't like she knew where to find them. Unless one of them dropped out of the sky in front of her, she wasn't going to be able them her questions.
Zoé heard a thumping noise in front of her. She looked up and gasped in shock.
“Zoé, good to see you.” Ladybug got up from her standard superhero landing pose, smiling at her.
“Oh, wow, Ladybug!” Zoé quickly stood up and put her phone away. “Do you mind if I...”
“Sorry, no time.” Ladybug shook her head and pulled up her yo-yo. “I need Vesperia for this fight,” she said as the familiar comb appeared from her yo-yo.
Pollen appeared in a flash of light, smiling at Zoé. “At your service, my queen.”
Zoé's eyes widened as she shook her head. “Right, sorry. One thing at a time. Pollen, Buzz On!”
After she transformed, Vesperia turned to Ladybug, fidgeting with her hands. “Lead the way. But, um, maybe afterward...?”
“I'm really busy, but if I have time...” Ladybug smiled at Vesperia, but Vesperia could tell by the look in her eyes she wasn't expecting to have the time to do whatever Vesperia wanted her to do.
Still, they had a job to do, and that was a problem for later. “Right, let's go!”
As Vesperia and Ladybug approached the island, Ladybug started talking. “The akuma is named ParaFailer, and he has a sentimonster speedboat named Wipe Out. ParaFailer can make people slow down, and Wipe Out is way too fast for us to catch normally, let alone if we get hit.”
Vesperia nodded. “So you want me to Venom the speedboat?”
“Or ParaFailer himself.” Ladybug shrugged. “But it's more likely you'll get a clean shot at the speedboat. It doesn't seem to want to leave the area around Île Saint-Louis, so it's just been circling there. It has to slow down to turn around, and we've been able to touch it when it does, so you shouldn't have a problem hitting it with Venom.”
“Got it. I won't let you down, Ladybug.”
“I'm sure you won't.” Ladybug smiled at her. Maybe it was just the hairstyle, but Vesperia thought she could see a little bit of Marinette in the other superhero when she smiled like that, and, well, she absolutely understood why all those forum posts she read said stuff like 'Ladybug was my lesbian awakening'.
They landed on one of the corners of the island, near a bend in the river, with Vesperia copying Ladybug's superhero landing. As soon as she landed, she could hear the sound of a motor running and people yelling. Vesperia turned her head to look at the sound. A bright blue and red speedboat with no obvious driver was hurtling towards them in the river, and behind it, a man with blue skin and red swim trunks was floating in a parasailing wing, with a similarly colored blue and red parachute. The man, clearly ParaFailer, was pointing and laughing as some sort of beam shot from his extended pointer finder towards the crowds who hadn't run away. “Which one of us is the slow one now!?” He shouted.
A black blur jumped in front of the beam and deflected it. Even from this far away, Vesperia could see that Chat was grinning. “Still you, buddy.” He spun his staff one more time. “Seriously, that's like the third time you've said that. You should take some villainous taunting classes. “ ParaFailer just roared in anger and shot another beam, which Chat again deflected. The crowds behind him...still weren't moving? Oh, wait, no. Vesperia could see that the people Chat was defending were moving, just incredibly slowly. That must be what his power does.
Vesperia could tell, based on the speed that Wipe Out was going, that Ladybug was right; there was no way she was going to be able to touch Wipe Out at max speed unless she got ran over by it. So she was only going to have one shot at this. “Venom!” She shouted, activating her power. As she felt the energies pulse in her hand, Vesperia checked to make sure ParaFailer wasn't paying attention. He wasn't, so she felt confident enough to start running. There was no real telling if Wipe Out could see her, but if it did, it didn't react. It merely kept its planned course, slowing down as it prepared to take the turn.
“Vesperia, now!”
At Ladybug's command, Vesperia launched like a rocket. Wipe Out, at the apex of its turn, had nowhere to go. Vesperia, with her super-powered strength and agility, managed to jump from the island to the middle of the Seine and plunge the stinger of her top into the side of the boat. Immediately, it froze, and its momentum carried it into the wall of the river. Vesperia quickly jumped off and landed on the bank of the Seine, on the opposite shore from where she jumped originally.
Above her, she could hear ParaFailer shout as he suddenly was wrenched out of his planned trajectory and starting hurtling towards the ground. Before he fell too far, however, his parachute was pinned to a wall by a red javelin with black spots, halting his fall and leaving him dangling in the air. On a building above them, Ladybug and Chat Noir were grinning down at him.
“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir activated his power and approached ParaFailer. The akuma attempted to fire his slowing beam at the hero but was unable to get a good angle, allowing Chat to dodge it with ease. With a quick tap, Chat destroyed ParaFailer's parasailing harness, releasing the corrupted butterfly. With practiced ease, Ladybug caught it with her yo-yo and purified it, just as ParaFailer started to fall, though Chat caught him before he could. Then she hopped over to the javelin on the wall, pulled it out, and threw it in the air.
“Miraculous Ladybug!”
As the Miraculous Ladybug spread over the land, cleansing the man who used to be ParaFailer of his akumatization and the victims of his slowing powers, Vesperia was busy walking up to where Chat was standing. Chat gently put the man down as Ladybug landed beside him. Vesperia held out her fist, smiling at the other two superheroes.
“Pound it!” All three shouted at once as they shared a three-way fist bump.
“Ladybug? Chat Noir?” The man on the ground blinked blearily at the three of them. “And, um...”
“Vesperia, I'm new.” Vesperia grinned at the man, hoping for a nice blend of cocky and comforting. “You were akumatized, sir.”
Being Vesperia was challenging. Not because she had to run and jump around and fight supervillains...well, that too, but not just because of that. It was challenging because she had to act like a superhero, and she's never had to do that before. On the stage, she usually has a script, and even when she has to improvise, it's for situations like 'my boyfriend is cheating on me' or 'I have a long lost twin' or 'my boyfriend is cheating on me with my long lost twin' or occasionally 'my boyfriend's long lost twin is taking over his life so I'm accidentally cheating on my boyfriend'. Off the stage, she used to be the exact opposite of a superhero; she was just a regular, dime-a-dozen rich bully with nothing special to her name but her name.
Even with her acting skills, portraying a superhero was difficult for her. She had to be confident without being arrogant, selfless without being a pushover, forgiving while still punishing evil. And, of course, she had to do all that while running and jumping around fighting supervillains, which just made everything harder.
“Ah, I'm sorry.” The man reached up to scratch the back of his head. “I was just so embarrassed...”
“Don't worry about it!” Vesperia laughed. “Everyone feels emotions, and the only person to blame for akumatizations is Shadowmoth.” And, honestly, she didn't really care what his story was.
Her hair comb started beeping. “Sounds like your time is up, Vesperia. See you later, kitty.” Ladybug waved at Chat, who smiled and waved back, and then turned and jumped away. Vesperia followed. They ran over a couple of streets worth of buildings before landing in an alley.
“Buzz off.” Zoé took the comb off and handed it to Ladybug. “So, once again, I had a couple of questions...”
“Thanks for the help, Zoé, but I still don't really have time, sorry.” Ladybug took the bee miraculous from her and put it back in her yo-yo, smiling apologetically. “I have a lot of work to do, and I'm about to detransform...”
Zoé hadn't heard any beeping from her earrings...but whatever. Zoé smiled back. “It's alright. Maybe next time?”
“Yeah, maybe.” Ladybug said distractedly. “Well, bug out. Thanks for the help again!” She threw her yo-yo upwards and zoomed upwards, and then Zoé was alone again. Zoé's smile dropped and she let out a heavy sigh. For whatever reason, Ladybug seemed as unwilling to answer questions as Chloé was. She supposed it made sense since Ladybug must have to constantly answer questions from reporters and the like. She had hoped her position as a temporary hero would allow her to push through that, but that didn't seem to be the case. Zoé briefly entertained the idea that Ladybug simply didn't want to talk about Chloé, like how Chloé didn't want to talk about Ladybug but dismissed it before too long. There was no way Ladybug knew that was who Zoé wanted to talk about.
Well, she might try again the next time Ladybug chose her for a Miraculous, but she didn't want to be pushy. If Ladybug didn't want to talk, Ladybug didn't want to talk. Sure, it'd be helpful to have her input, but it wasn't like she was the only one she could ask; she might be able to get Chat Noir to talk.
Though, if he wouldn't, her options were limited. If Marinette was right and the only people who knew what went on were Ladybug, Chat Noir, Chloé, and the villains, Chat Noir was her only real option left. It's not like she could just call up Hawkmoth and get his side of the story.
Zoé pulled out her phone and checked her time and location. She was pretty close to the Grand Paris, and it wasn't like she had any other plans for today. Kitty Section was practicing, and while she was glad to be their friends she had to admit she didn't like their music. Myléne was probably listening to the band, Marinette was probably busy helping Alya with her blogging...she wasn't as close with her actual classmates, so the only people she'd feel comfortable calling to hang out were Aurore and Mirielle, and she was pretty sure that they were on a date. She may as well head home.
As Zoé started walking, she reflected on her day. Talking with Marinette was always nice. Alya gave her more questions than answers, but she supposed that wasn't too bad. Being Vesperia was still rough, but it was nice to be able to help people. And it was always nice to see Pollen again...
Zoé quickly stopped moving and slapped the palm of her hand against her forehead. Pollen! Pollen might not have been with Chloé very often, but she probably knew more about Chloé's relationship with Ladybug than anyone else aside from those two, and if Miracle Queen really was an akumatized Queen Bee like Queen Wasp was, Pollen would have been there when it happened. She would definitely have to ask the kwami about Chloé if she had time the next time she was chosen.
Most of the time, Zoé didn't mind her room being right next to Chloé's. Chloé was loud, but not loud enough to distract Zoé, and even when Chloé was being a brat and pounding on the walls or whatever, the room was large enough that she could just hide on the other side until Chloé got bored, which never took very long. She only really had issues when one of them brought friends over and they met in the hallway. Chloé never missed an opportunity to be mean to whichever of her friends she had over, frequently complaining that Zoé was wasting time and effort hanging out with those losers. Sabrina wasn't much better and generally agreed with whatever mean things Chloé said.
So Zoé couldn't blame herself for flinching when she walked out of the elevator to find the familiar sight of Sabrina standing outside of Chloé's room. What wasn't familiar, however, was the fact that Sabrina just seemed to be staring at Chloé's door, trembling as her hands clenched into fists.
Well, she supposed that even a doormat like Sabrina would get angry over one of Chloé's demands eventually. Zoé sighed to herself and started to move to her room when Sabrina turned towards her. Zoé audibly gasped as she looked at Sabrina's face. Her teeth were gritted in anger, but the area around her eyes was still red, made all the more obvious by Sabrina's pale skin. Her eyes were damp, her makeup was running, and as Sabrina approached, Zoé could hear her trying to hold back tears.
...Okay, maybe it was a bit more serious than she expected. Zoé moved to the side so that Sabrina had a clear walk to the elevator, but as Sabrina approached, Zoé felt conflicted. She and Sabrina had never had any sort of positive interaction, and Sabrina had made her disdain for Zoé clear. She didn't want to just get yelled at again, and if she called out to Sabrina or tried to comfort her in any way, she was almost certainly going to get yelled at again.
But she also didn't want to be the kind of person that would see someone clearly hurting and not even try to help, and it felt wrong for her to try and be friends with Chloé without trying to be friends with Chloé's closest friend.
“Sabrina?” Zoé hesitantly called out, still backed against the wall. Sabrina twitched and turned towards her. The other girl was clearly trying to disguise her emotions, but she wasn't doing well at all. “Are you okay?” It was a dumb question, she knew, but she couldn't think of any other way to begin this conversation. If she just presumed the other girl wasn't okay, Sabrina was almost guaranteed to snap. As is...
“I'm fine.” Sabrina's voice was as shaky as her body. Sabrina moved to walk past her, but Zoé couldn't take it anymore and moved back into the corridor, blocking her path.
“You don't look fine.” Zoé channeled one of her teachers back in the states, and tried to sound firm, but kind, letting Sabrina know that Zoé could see right through her while still allowing Sabrina the dignity of telling Zoé herself.
“I told you,” Sabrina growled, “I'm feeling fine.”
Zoé gestured to her door. “Do you wanna come into my room for a bit so you can look as fine as you feel? I don't think you would want to give anyone the wrong impression, it might look bad for Chloé if her best friend was seen looking like you did.” It was a low blow, Zoé knew that much even before Sabrina flinched, but it was her best option. Sabrina looked behind her at Chloé's door and then sighed.
“Fine. But I'm...We're not...” Sabrina wrung her hands together.
“You don't need to say anything.” And really, Zoé thought as she opens up the door to her room and leads Sabrina, still making sure Chloé's door was closed, inside, she doesn't. All Zoé wanted to do was help Sabrina out, and she's done that. Given her a space where she can sit down at Zoé's vanity and touch up her make-up and calm down while Zoé pretends to read something on her phone. Sabrina doesn't need to do anything to pay Zoé back.
But Zoé had dealt with people like Sabrina long enough to know the other girl doesn't know that. If Zoé were still the kind of person she had pretended to be, someone like Chloé, she'd want answers, no matter what she had said to the person she helped out. She knows Sabrina had dealt with Chloé long enough to know that.
So Zoé isn't too surprised when Sabrina, eyes still red but otherwise looking composed, started talking. “It's fine, really.” Sabrina's voice was hesitant. “Me and Chloé just...disagreed on something,” Zoé said nothing, but put her phone down and smiled gently at Sabrina as the other girl wrung her hands. Sabrina pressed on. “She just...gets upset, when Ladybug picks Vesperia to help her out.”
Zoé immediately felt guilty but squashed that feeling soon after. It wasn't her fault that Chloé blew her chance to be a superhero, and Ladybug needed help. If Chloé didn't want someone else using the bee miraculous, she probably shouldn't have hijacked a train so she can look better, or revealed her identity. “That's no reason to take it out on you.” Zoé tried to reassure Sabrina.
She must have read Sabrina wrong because the red-head stood up so fast Zoé thought she jumped. “She didn't! She just...” Sabrina realized she was shouting, and sat back down, still seething. “I just wanted her to tell me what she's feeling. I wanted to help her but...” Sabrina sighed. “I guess I was too nosy.”
Zoé doubted that, but she didn't think Sabrina would listen to her. “Well, do you feel better now?” Zoé held her hands up, trying to placate Sabrina. “Not that I thought you were feeling bad earlier, of course, but...”
Sabrina interrupted her. “No, I do feel better now. Thank you.” She walked over to the door but turned back nervously. “Um. Please don't tell Chloé I was in here? She probably wouldn't be happy if I was hanging out with you.”
That was a whole other can of worms. Zoé nodded, though. “Probably not.” If Zoé told, it wouldn't be her that was getting hurt. She didn't know why Sabrina cared about Chloé that much, but since she did, Zoé didn't want to ruin that for her. “But if you ever need it, just ask. My door is always open.”
“I...” Sabrina started, before pausing and sighing. “Um, yeah.” Sabrina smiled politely at Zoé, who smiled back. That was probably the best she was going to get. “Bye.” Sabrina was quiet as she looked out the door to see if the coast was clear. She turned back one last time, waved, and then walked out the door, closing it behind her.
Zoé waited a couple of seconds to make sure Sabrina wasn't going to come back before digging through one of her dresser drawers. She pulled out a yellow notebook and a pencil and sat down on her bed. Opening the notebook up to the first page, she wrote at the top, in English:
Things I Know About Chloé
Zoé thought for a bit and then started writing.
She's a brat, a bully, self-centered, entitled. Like mom, or how I used to be pretend to be. But Adrien used to be her friend, for some reason, and Sabrina still hangs out with her and wants to defend her even though Chloé treats her like a slave, so she can't be all that bad, even if I haven't seen it.
She stumbled on the Bee Miraculous and publicly revealed her identity so that she could prove she was exceptional to mom, but couldn't find any crime, so she Venom-ed a train driver so she could save the train and look good. Marinette was on that train After that, she got akumatized, and then gave the bee miraculous back to Ladybug. She tried to pretend to be a hero anyway, everyone made fun of her for it, so she tried to get Andre to punish her class for it, and when he refused, decided to go to New York with mom. That got Andre akumatized, and Ladybug gave her the bee miraculous so she could fix things, then again during Heroes' Day because Ladybug needed the help.
Ladybug decided it was too dangerous for Chloé to get the bee miraculous again, but didn't tell her that, so Chloé spent a while convinced she was going to be Queen Bee again. Then she got frustrated she wasn't getting chosen and got mad at Sabrina, who got akumatized over it. Ladybug gave Chloé the bee back, but Mayura was there to steal it, so Ladybug told Chloé she wouldn't get the bee again.
Then she got akumatized into Miracle Queen...somehow. And now she doesn't want to talk about anything that has to do with Ladybug or her time at Queen Bee, but she's really mad when Vesperia shows up.
Zoé continued to write down minor details about Chloé as she thought about her next move. She nodded to herself, and then flipped to another page, writing at the top Questions About Chloé.
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Why was Adrien her friend? He doesn't seem to act like her at all.
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Why is Sabrina still her friend? She treats her terribly.
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Why did Ladybug give her the Bee Miraculous? Wouldn't the train incident prove she wasn't worthy?
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Why was her public identity not a problem immediately, but was a problem later on?
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Why didn't Ladybug tell her she was benched immediately? I don't want to doubt Alya and Marinette, but it was just speculation, from people who don't talk to Ladybug very much. They absolutely could have gotten it wrong.
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Why did she get akumatized during Miracle Queen? What happened during it?
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Why is she so upset at Vesperia existing?
She could guess the answers to a lot of these, but she wanted to give her half-sister a fair shake. She had to live with her at least for the next several years. Maybe it was her being overly optimistic, maybe it was just her desire to connect to someone else who knows what it's like to have Audrey Bourgeois as a mother, but she really wanted to be friends with Chloé, somehow, without having to lie and hurt other people like she used to. In order to do that, she needed to understand her sister, and since Chloé wasn't going to tell Zoé herself, she would just have to ask other people.
Hopefully, the answers would prove enlightening.