How did he not see she wasn't doing good? Yes he had noticed a bit more aggression before Chloe came back as Honey Bee, but he chalked it off as Ladybug having a few bad days. Everything after was fixed, no harm no foul. Yet maybe her mind didn't work like that at all. He didn't know how her mind personally worked, just how she thought during battle.
"I can't tell you where I am in the world when I'm not here, but I'm safe. I'm feeling lighter." She smiled, a flash of Peter's face in her mind for a second. "I'm learning and I'm training. I am working from the outside in to figure out who Hawkmoth is, and I may have a lead."
Chat Noir's eyes widen at this new information, because never in all these years had they ever had a lead. A feeling of hope swelled up inside of him, that maybe for once someone would trust him with something important.
"I want you to know this before I tell you anything else." She says, finally looking away from the city to look into his green eyes. "I always wanted to tell you everything. All the reasons behind my decisions. To include you in things like picking the other heroes and these big master plans, but I was never allowed to by the current Guardian. I'm sorry for that Chat Noir."
There was something about hearing her finally admit that he wasn't supposed to know and apologizing for it that caused a weight to be lifted. He wasn't crazy for thinking that it was on purpose, and he was getting an apology. Not only that, but for once he felt like she was including him. Yet he couldn't help this feeling that something had changed, but what was it?
"Why are you telling me this now?"
Ladybug laughed lightly, "I was once told by someone wise that I'm the next Guardian, and part of that training is to make my own decisions. I can change the rules to a way I see fit. You're my partner, you deserve to know. It's the least I can do after all these years of leaving you in the dark with nothing but blind faith."
He was seeing her in a new light, because in all these years never had she looked so relaxed in her own skin as she said those words. She had come a long way from their first battle, her confidence was stronger.
"When I left Paris, I actually went through the airport and found something out." Ladybug recaptured his attention. "I had to sign NDA's about Paris, the akumas and us. The outside world has no idea we exist or that Hawkmoth is basically an emotional terrorist. Not only that, the Ladyblog is blocked and so is most news networks and social networks. It's also why we probably dodged the Sokovia Accords when Wanda Maximoff destroyed that building."
"Wait, wait, wait." Chat waved his arms around, "You're telling me the only people who know what is going on are the people in Paris?"
"Exactly." Ladybug nodded, "Tourist rates went up, so expensive not many people even try to travel here. It was a way to keep people out. The more I dug I eventually found a third party was putting major funds into Mayor Bourgeois bank account."
"Have you told Honey Bee?"
"I asked her to see if she could dig anything up, so far I haven't heard anything." Ladybug says, gently placing a hand on his arm. "She's a true holder Chat, like us. She's made mistakes but she's helped me a lot recently. She's a good person, so please trust her. We won't defeat Hawkmoth if we aren't a team."
For a long few moment Chat Noir stayed quiet, because in all honesty he had no room to judge Chloe. Not after what he did to Marinette. They were all human, they all made mistakes. At least Chloe was finding a way to atone for hers. Meanwhile he had no clue how to atone for his as Adrien. Yet he did know one thing, he needed more than just Chloe to help protect the city in case anything were to happen that was bigger and Ladybug wasn't there right away.
"Maybe you shoulder consider having the other true holders in the game. It will help me keep up with this city, and because you need to heal emotionally. You need that time. Please take the time to heal." The sincerity in his voice caused a pang in her heart, because in his eyes she could see his regret.
He had hurt someone, and it wasn't her. The guilt had a hold on him, and for whatever was going on in his civilian life she hoped it all worked out. There was a part of her that wanted to ask but at the same time it was not her business. She didn't want to know too much to figure his identity out, and it was merely because of the fear of who he was under the mask and him rejecting her if he found her identity out.
"I'll consider it Kitty." Ladybug promises, offering a small smile. "For now I need to go, but I'll be in contact.
...............
Ladybug let herself in through Chloe's balcony doors, finding the blonde already seated waiting for her with what looked like tea and cookies. Seeing Chloe in person after these past few weeks of being in New York, looked different and the guilt slowly seeped into her. Those tired eyes were all too familiar, haunting her now even in her dreams. Maybe this was a bad idea after all, letting Chloe share the burden of her responsibilities. It should have been Chat, and deep down Marinette would never do that to her partner.
"These are the akumas you've collected?" She asked, looking over where Chloe had set up a butterfly holder that contained four akumas. "Spots off."
Tikki was quickly to let the transformation down, flying to swallow the butterflies without Marinette needed to use her cure to heal the city. Her eating the akuma's were equivalent to the cure, and it would silently fix the damaged that had been done. Yet it would take a toll on Tikki's body, the cookies would help her get going again.
"You talk to your mangey cat?" Chloe questions, knowing a little too much on how restless the leather wearing hero was getting not knowing if his lady was safe. At the same time Chloe never knew how much to reveal to Chat Noir, so she had always opted to give the minimal information that she could.
Marinette couldn't help the small sigh that left her lips at the question, watching as Tikki took care of the akumas and replaying her conversation she just had with Chat Noir in her head. Looking at Chloe and Pollen, she shrugged.
"I clued him in that the real reasoning of my leaving was because I'm emotionally compromised. That I couldn't be here for long periods of time again yet. I told him the truth about being the next Guardian." Marinette says softly, her eyes looking away. "I should have been a better partner to him Chloe, let him in sooner. I let you in before him."
"To be fair, I did figure your identity out and forced you to take an internship to leave." Chloe reminded. "You didn't exactly have a choice in that matter."
"Doesn't matter." Marinette says with a soft shake of her head, "It took everything that happened to let him in."
Chloe rose an eyebrow, seeing that something else was bothering the baker girl. "What else was talked about? You have the look in your eyes you get when you can't make up your choice."
"He asked me to consider letting the other miraculous go into rotation to help handle things here if needed and I'm not around." Marinette says.
"Why do you keep the miraculous, or take them back after being given. I always wanted to ask you but never could before." Chloe tells her, because she could remember the feeling of having Pollen taken away from her, how it felt like losing a part of her. There had been a small part deep down that hated Ladybug for doing so, how she once thought it was unfair Ladybug and Chat Noir got to keep theirs.
"It wasn't my choice to do that. I was told to do so and I did. I didn't want to risk getting anyone into trouble either." Marinette tells her blonde friend, "Maybe if I had left the kawmi's with their holders a lot of what has happened could have been avoid. Their being akumatized, or their choices in their civilian lives. Maybe because of my choices and actions, these were the consequences. This is my doing."
"What are you talking about, Marinette?" Chloe asks, getting nervous seeing Marinette slowly going back into her own head. "You can't blame yourself for other's actions. That's not on you, that is on them."
Tikki flew in front of Marinette, "Chloe is right. Their actions aren't your fault. You aren't to blame but everyone has to learn their own ways right from wrong. Learn how to fix the mistakes they make. They have to earn forgiveness, trust and rebuild that with you."
Chloe was slowly piecing the dots together, and of course it made sense. The other holders were identities only Marinette knew because she gave them their miraculous. She would also take them back, never Chat Noir. The cat boy had definitely been left in the dark about a lot of things, and that really did mean that Marinette was lonely dealing with all she did. It also made sense on who these other holders were.
Alya was Rena.
Nino was Carapace.
Luka was Viperion.
Kagami was Ryuko.
"Do you know all the identities of the miraculous?" Chloe needed confirmation, because she had a good feeling who the hell wore the ring of the black cat kwami.
"No." Marinette answered, "Chat Noir and I don't know each other's identities. I didn't want to know-"
"And now?"
Marinette knew Chloe was intelligent, knew that she could piece the puzzle together of given the right pieces. She was a true holder, and a person that had a political back ground. She saw past the bullshit and was straight to the point. "And now I don't think I can bare the thought of knowing who it is under the mask. I don't want to know."
Chloe understood, because if she was right about who was under the mask then it would cause Marinette to go backwards. The one boy she ever cared for, and the one boy Chloe wanted to live for himself. She would keep it to herself, but understood where he was coming from.
"I think, when you're ready to forgive, then maybe give them a second chance to redeem themselves as heroes." Chloe suggests, "You gave me a second chance, I did much worse to you then they did. It would help to have other holders when you aren't here."
"How are you doing?" Marinette suddenly asks, looking into Chloe's blue eyes and ignoring the statement. "With everything how are you? Patrols and school are hard to balance. You asked to speak to me in person, and I can't help but worry."
"School? The same with Lila, full of lies and utter bullshit. It's ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!" Chloe turned her nose high in the air with her arms crossed. After a few seconds she sighed and looked at the other hero again. "It's hard to balance everything, you make it look easy, but it isn't too bad. That's not what I wanted to talk about."
Marinette nodded her head, "What did you want to speak about then?"
Chloe blinked, remembering exactly shy she asked Marinette to come in person. It was something she could have talked about over the phone, but she just wanted the other girl there with her. Why? Chloe wasn't even sure herself. It was weird having someone to care about and call a friend, and where she had Adrien as a childhood friend- Marinette was different.
They had the classic love/hate relationship, enemies turned friends. Chloe wanted no harm to ever come to Marinette again, knowing she had been a cause of the pain before. Maybe it was because Chloe understood the isolation from the class all too well, the feeling of being alone. She saw the signs of depression in Marinette, knew how dangerous that could be after finding Tikki.
Maybe it because she wasn't ready to admit her father was a bad man, and the moment she said it the emotions would be overwhelming. Maybe, just maybe, it was because Chloe was tired of being alone. She wanted a friend here, to talk to about emotionally and the only one she had that could even understand was Marinette.
"I went through my father's office, and you were right." Chloe says softly, looking down at the floor for a moment before looking back up to Marinette's eyes. "Money laundering, fraud, fake passports for so many people. My dad is in some deep shit Marinette, and I don't know what to do. I never could have thought he would have it in him, and apparently I don't know my dad as much as I thought I did. All those times I used him to scare others- I'm horrible."
It didn't surprise Marinette as much as she thought it would have, that Andre Bourgeois could do such a thing. As time went by, Marinette learned that most people were not who they said they were. Most people wore faces for others, masks or hiding their true intentions. This was not a surprise, it sucked yeah, but it was something that made sense. After all these years against Hawkmoth, it made sense that there was more than just kwami's and magic. There was cover ups, bad people. This city was corrupted now, compromised.
"It's not your fault." Marinette reassured the blonde, moving to grab her hand and give a squeeze, "You didn't know, you had no clue. Don't blame yourself for something that had bbeen out of your control."
"My mom knew. Marinette she knew." Chloe voice cracked, "She signed a paper to get alimony but had to keep what she knew to herself. She's no better. Leaving me here with him-"
"Deep breaths Chloe." Marinette reminded, feeling the anger and emotions in the blonde rising quickly. She recalled Tikki's words when she would get this exact way after schools, especially on particularly bad episodes. "You need to calm down okay, I'm sure she had her reasons. I know your dad has no excuse, but we don't know everything yet. Your mom loves you, I know that. She speaks of you in New York."
"Then why did she leave me with him?" Chloe whispered, trying to make sense of it. "She should have taken me with her."
Marinette gave a sad smile, "I can't answer that one for sure for her, but I would assume a condition in that contract was your custody. Maybe not to uproot your life here without explanation was easier. I don't know for sure, but she loves you."
Chloe wanted to believe that, but unlike Marinette her parents were different. They spent holidays apart, not as a family unit. She didn't have that warmth in a home, and sometimes she was lucky to even have a parent on a holiday. Yet this wasn't the time for self pity, she couldn't change the past or the fact that her parents were somewhat shitty people. Only move forward with as much positivity she could.
"I also found a check, it has a routing number." Chloe added, pulling her phone out and sending it to Marinette's number. "I figured you might know someone who could trace it. I don't have many friends here that would do that for me. None actually, and my father probably has people under his thumb that would snitch me out."
Marinette's eyes widen, "Chloe this is great!" She says, looking at her phone and then frowned at her words. "You will find people to be your friends, better than people we know. Luka and Kagami might be good to befriend."
"They probably hate me too." Chloe says, shaking her head.
"Try." Marinette says, grabbing Chloe's hand. "If I can make new friends, so can you."
Chloe gave her a look, "You're better with people."
"You have a good heart that's been misguided." Marinette tells her, offering a smile.
Chloe sighed, giving one more look at Marinette. "If I can make friends, then you need to consider forgiveness. I know it hurts, but we might need the help. I feel like we are biting off more than we can chew."
Marinette sighed this time, but Chloe had a point. It could be too much for the two of them plus Chat Noir to handle. It wouldn't be fair to put so much work and strain the other two heroes so much for her selfishness to accept that she needed to open her mind the thought of forgiveness.
"Okay." Marinette nodded, "And in the mean time, I'll find someone to track this routing number."
...............
In the distance, Gabriel Agreste woke up feeling a presence in town he hadn't felt in a while. Ladybug. Yet no one was feeling negative emotions to create an akuma, it was frustrating. Then for a spike, he felt anger and sadness and then it was pacified. Gone like it was never there. To make matters worse, the presence of the creation miraculous was gone too. As if it were never back in Paris.
Just who are you Ladybug?
Who was missing that he couldn't pin point? Looking at the small list of people he had from the airline records, the possibilities of who could be Ladybug was small and narrowing. Yet, Gabriel had a good feeling he knew exactly who the girl that bore the Ladybug earrings was.
"Young Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Gabriel muttered, looking of her folder. "If only I could test the theory out."
If he could figure a way to get the girl to come back, then he could finish this search. Either he would feel that magical presence or nothing, and of nothing was the case he'd go over the list again. Yet she was the only one that fit the criteria of it all, and Gabriel wasn't letting go yet.
...............
Gah finally! It took me a while to get this all planned out, but I finally got to it! I hope you liked it!
Hope everyone is well and healthy as well! Thank you for the support on this story!
Fun Fact, this is the longest chapter of the story so far! Let me know your thoughts :)
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