Chapter Text
"Watch, watch! I'm gonna beat my own high score," Alex boasted, fingers rapidly moving all over the screen of her phone, which was quite big in her small hands. Despite the game having no motion controls, she was constantly moving it around and tilting her head to play better, at least that was what she believed.
"You're gonna drop on the ground again," Sam warned, her long orange hair getting in her mouth for a second, causing her to sputter as she leaned in to watch over Alex's shoulder.
"I'm not gonna drop it in the ground again. That was ONE time!" Alex looked over for a second, seeing Sam spitting her hair out. "I don’t know how you can stand having that long. It’s not even tied up like Clover’s."
"It was two times, and I LIKE my long hair," Sam argued, shaking her head.
"One-and-a-half times then. The second time didn't really count because I caught it before it hit the ground."
Clover sat on the bench beside them, at the right-hand side of Alex who was in the middle. She was watching fruits fly by on the screen while Alex tried her best to cut them before they were gone. "Where'd you even get a phone? My moms won't let me touch one unless they're right there watching."
"Same, mine either," Sam said. "My mom says that I'll end up seeing trawmertizing stuff on it like she did when she and Aunt Chloé got their first phones. So not fair! I already know about people being bullies online."
"It's my mom's old one," Alex said, not looking up. "She said I could keep it in my backpack for emergencies." She grinned mischievously. "Recess emergency."
"You are going to get in SO much trouble one day," Clover giggled.
"Only if you two tattle."
"We would never tell on our best friend," Sam promised, hand over her heart.
The fruit game lost its charm after Alex lost for the fifth time. They moved on to huddling together, watching short, silly videos instead. One was of a cat falling off a windowsill onto someone's face and scratching them. They laughed their heads off at that, feeling only a little sympathy for that person.
Another video was of a man attempting a skateboard trick and ending up getting hit in an unfortunate place. The three of them had tears in their eyes from that one. Other videos only interested one or two of them like one of a baker frosting a cake shaped like the Eiffel Tower. Alex thought it was boring, but Clover and Sam enjoyed it.
"Ooh, go to the next one!" Sam requested, poking Alex's arm.
Alex swiped, and a new video began playing. The smile on Clover's face instantly dropped when she saw the first second of the video. The video wasn't the best quality, but she could see a small figure wearing a dress with purple and black diamonds, giggling madly. She had pigtails with bells at the end, jingling with the slightest motion.
"Wait." Clover scrunched up her eyebrows. "What's that one?"
"Just some akuma thing! There's like a hundred of these," Alex said dismissively, swiping past it before Clover could see more. "It's boring, old news. Hahaha. L-Let's find some other video to watch."
"No, go back." Clover's chest had gone tight, her breathing quickening. "That looked like me. Those were my pigtails."
Alex sent a panicked look at Sam who remained silent, giving her an unsure shake of the head.
"Clover, I really don't think you should watch that one," Alex advised.
"Why not? I already know that I turned into an akuma, Alex."
Alex started fidgeting with her fingers not holding the phone, unsure how to deter her friend. "I just don't think it's a good idea, okay? Let's watch a different video."
"Why does it matter?" Clover reached for the phone. "I don't even remember what happened when I got turned into an akuma. I just want to see what happened."
"Clover, come on. Stop it!" Alex yanked the phone back out of reach, holding it up over her head. It didn't work well because Clover quickly stood on the bench to grab it back.
"Give it, Alex! I just want to watch it! It's not a big deal!"
"Let go! It's my phone, and I can do what I want with it!"
"Alex! Give it or I'll bite you!" Clover threatened.
"Fine! But if you get sad don't blame me!" Alex huffed and let go of the phone, crossing her arms and looking away so she didn't have to see Clover's face. Clover immediately tapped the video before Alex could change her mind.
The footage was shaky, filmed from someone's balcony, but it was clear enough. There she was, small and lanky, grinning way too wide. She was skipping around while dozens of people stumbled after her, giggling in a similar creepy way. The akuma gave out commands to her followers, her voice sounding nothing like what Clover had ever heard come out of her own mouth.
"Ooh, a fox and a cat! This is so much fun! I never get to play with this many friends at once!"
Clover watched on in horror as the heroes of Paris fought against her. Even though she knew it had happened, seeing it for herself was much different from hearing it from her parents. They never told her how terrifying she was. Why was she giggling so much at nothing with that awful smile on her face? Why was she walking like she had no bones, twisting herself in such weird poses?
She had sneakily watched a horror movie when she was staying over at her Mama's place, and thought that the movie monster was scary. That monster was like a kitten compared to how she was.
Then, she saw something that made it even worse. Two of the clowns that were bumbling around looked very familiar.
Grandpa and Grandma… I did that to you.
The video kept playing, showing some earlier scenes of people begging her to let them go. Jolly merely laughed at them before wrapping them in silk streamers and forcibly transforming them into clowns. Clover's hands had gone numb around the edges of the phone, and her mind had gone blank.
"Clover?" Sam's voice barely registered to her. It sounded like it was underwater or just a figment of her imagination. "Hey, are you okay?"
Clover didn't answer. She just continued to stare at the giggling figure on the screen, at her own self doing something so awful. She felt every drop of color drain right out of her face.
~~~
"There's my girl," Alya waved as Alex trudged out through the school's main door, backpack hanging off one shoulder. "Come on, munchkin, we're heading to my place tonight."
"'Kay," Alex mumbled, falling into step between her parents without much enthusiasm.
Adrien glanced down at her, one eyebrow raised. "You're quiet."
"I'm always quiet."
"Ha, that's a good one," Adrien chuckled. "You and quiet get along as well as toothbrush and orange juice."
"Mmm-hmm," Alex responded, not bothering to argue further.
They walked for a minute in silence, which was not normal in the slightest. Alya caught Adrien's eye, giving him a concerned look.
"Alex," Alya said, gently. "What's going on?"
"Nothing."
"Aleeex," Alya repeated, slightly more stern.
"Nothing's going on, Mom. I'm just tired. School felt boring today." Alex turned her head away from her mom, looking down at the ground.
"Alexandra Agreste-Césaire." Alya stopped walking entirely, hands on her hips. "You only make that face when you've done something you know you shouldn't have. What happened?"
Alex's shoulders sagged. She scuffed one shoe against the sidewalk. "...I might have taken my phone for recess."
Alya let out a long breath through her mouth. "Alex, what have I said about that phone?"
"I know, I know."
"At school, that phone is for emergencies only. It's not for games at recess, or videos, or browsing web sites. Oh gosh, you better not have been using the Internet browser." Alya made a mental note to set up a parental control filter on the browser. She shook her head, deciding to think about that later.
"Nevermind. What if something had actually happened, and I couldn't reach you because you killed the battery playing games all day?"
"I would've noticed if the battery was getting low! I'm very ovser… obster… observant!"
Alya narrowed her eyes and tipped up Alex's chin, giving her a stare that she absolutely hated getting.
"...I won't do it again," Alex relented, partially giving up to that dreaded stare.
Adrien crouched down a little so he was closer to her eye level, studying her face. Something about the way she wouldn't quite meet his eyes told him that wasn't the whole story. "Hey, Kit. There's more, isn't there?" The nickname was something that he and Alya called her on occasion, especially during emotional conversations.
Alex's chin wobbled, her resolve not to tell them was crumbling fast.
"Alex, what else happened?" Alya asked in a softer tone, crouching down on her other side.
"It's not really my fault, exactly," Alex said in a small voice. "We were just watching videos, me and Sam and Clover. Um, those short videos, so there's no picture to show what kind of video is next. After we watched a lot of funny stuff, there was this one video that was next. It was of that one akuma attack. Clover saw Jolly and knew they were her own pigtails. She wanted to watch it. I tried hard to stop her, but she kept grabbing the phone. She wasn't going to stop, so I let her take it."
Alya closed her eyes, hissing out in stress. "What did the video show?"
"...Everything," Alex whispered. "The video was mostly about the big fight with the heroes, but there was other stuff too. She saw herself turn people into clowns, and she saw that her grandparents were already clowns. I think she got scared from seeing how much of a bully she was as an akuma. She didn't say anything for the rest of recess."
Alya pressed a hand against her forehead and let out a long, whimpering groan that came from deep within her. "Marinette is going to give me such a lecture. She is going to seriously let me have it. I'll be the reason that sweet fashionista doesn't want anything more to do with me."
Adrien, still crouched down, reached over and patted his girlfriend's back with a sympathetic wince. "I'm honestly more worried about Chloé."
They both went quiet for a moment, picturing Chloé's reaction, and simultaneously shuddered.
"Right, can't believe I didn't think of her first," Alya muttered. "Yeah, no, we're dead. She's so going to kill us."
Alex, watching this exchange with her guilty-looking eyes, somehow decided this seemed like an excellent moment to test the waters. "So..." she said sweetly, folding her hands in front of her. "I told the truth, so I'm not in trouble, right?"
Alya let out a short, disbelieving laugh. "Oh, sweetheart. You are absolutely in trouble."
"Grounded for two weeks," Adrien added, standing back up, holding out his index and middle fingers.
"Awww," Alex whined, throwing her head back dramatically. "Come on! Two weeks is way too much!"
"Let's see, you brought an emergency phone out to recess, showed a five-year-old traumatic footage of herself, and are currently arguing with the punishment instead of apologizing," Alya listed, ticking the points off on her fingers as they started walking again. "I think two weeks is generous."
"It's VERY generous," Adrien agreed.
Alex slumped, dragging her feet the rest of the way back home.
Worst day ever.