LadyBugOut AU (Snippets)

Bee in Her Bonnet

Ladybug hummed disbelievingly. “Even if you were right, I still can’t give you the bee back. I shouldn’t have given it to you in the first place.”

Chloe didn’t hide her scowl this time, her offense evident.

Ladybug sighed, but remained firm. “I want to see you improve, Chloe. Really, I do, but I shouldn’t have banked on a miraculous to make that happen. It was irresponsible of me.”

She knew that she could’ve ended it there. She could’ve dropped the subject and taken half of the blame for everything that happened.

But then, she wouldn’t be telling the whole truth. “And you haven’t exactly improved thanks to the bee either.”

Chloe snorted in disbelief, flipping her ponytail back dramatically. “I’m a fantastic Queen Bee!”

“As Chloe,” Ladybug corrected.

Chloe puffed out her chest, making herself look as tall as possible. “I’ve always been a fantastic Chloe.”

Ladybug gave her a look, very vividly remembering their conversation before they went to fight Malediktator together.

Chloe, perhaps getting the message with the silence alone, lost her proud posture.

“Look,” Ladybug began with an edge to her voice, “I wanted this to work out. I wanted to help you, but I can’t do that when you don’t want to do that yourself.”

Chloe, now huffy, put her hands on her hips. “What do you know?”

“Everything,” Ladybug answered without missing a beat.

Chloe gaped. Ladybug’s gaze didn’t waver.

“I know how you still treat Sabrina. I know that you still hate Marinette despite what she did for you; you were happy when Lila got everyone to glare at her.”

“Sabrina—” Chloe shook her head and waved a hand dismissively. “Sabrina does it because she wants to, and Marinette—”

“I don’t want to hear it, Chloe. You bullied so many people and you were happy about it. People like Rose gave you chance after chance to be a good person just by being nice to you and you turned them away. Sabrina doesn’t have any other friends besides you, and even if she crawled back to you afterward, she abandoned you as soon as someone pointed out how unfair you were being to her.”

She eyed Chloe’s crossed arms, Chloe’s manicured nails digging into her sleeve at the memory of what happened back when Nathaniel had been akumatized.

“Marinette hasn’t done anything to you, Chloe. She fought back when you started the fight in the first place. You can’t blame innocent people for your problems.”

Ladybug looked away, then pulled out a small black-and-red box that was surely very familiar to Chloe. Chloe’s eyes gave off a glint of desire at the sight.

She continued, “And even if you’d been a better person, I can’t ignore the fact that you treated Chat and the other people I chose like trash.”

“I respected you!” Chloe bit back, losing her very limited amount of patience.

“That’s not enough, Chloe,” Ladybug replied in a strict tone. “We’re supposed to be a team, and that means that you have to get along with everyone as best as you can for the sake of the team. If someone’s acting out, that’s different, but you only respect me and that’s not good for teamwork.”

“Well maybe your team isn’t good enough!” Chloe argued. “I’m in a league of my own and those other teammates aren’t worthy of me!”

“This isn’t about being worthy or not being worthy. Everyone has a role to play when I give them a miraculous, and most of the time, they get the job done.” Ladybug ran a hand through her hair, trying not to let her frustration with herself seep through as she added, “The first thing you did with this miraculous was reveal yourself and almost get people killed. You knew it wasn’t yours and you didn’t return it to me until after you’d already fought to keep it.”

Chloe advanced on her, snapping back, “Whatever! You’re just being ridiculous, Ladybug!”

In a swift motion, she snatched the box out of Ladybug’s hand. “I’ll show you that I can be an amazing Queen Bee, even if I don’t have you or a team!”

She turned away smugly, even giving a haughty huff to Ladybug over her shoulder. She raised a hand to neaten up her hair, then popped open the box.

However, no light poured out, because there was no miraculous to give off any light.

The box was empty.

Chloe stilled, pausing for a few seconds before turning her head back to Ladybug. Ladybug stared at her, expression impassive and hands to her side, having never made any move to grab the box back.

She could tell by Chloe’s expression that Chloe had just realized it was a test, and that she had failed it.

“Y-you—” she began, sounding flabbergasted. Her look of shock slowly changed to fury, and she threw the box at Ladybug’s feet. “Fine!”

The box skidded, Ladybug calmly stopping it with her foot. She was quiet still, watching as Chloe picked up her things in a typical Chloe tantrum. Her cold drink spilled somewhat as she picked it up, but she ignored it.

“I have more important things to do anyway than be a hero,” Chloe huffed. “I don’t have the time!”

With that, she stormed off, Ladybug feeling a bit of sympathy for whatever butler she was yelling for.

She waited until Chloe was completely gone, then knelt down to pick up the box with care.

Closing the lid gently, she said under her breath, “If you don’t have the time to be a good civilian, then you don’t have the time to be a good hero either."