#overprotective chloe
And once again, no idea where I’m going with this but here’s another god knows how long it will be fic. Yes I’m still working on all my other’s they’re just not cooperating at the moment lol.
TW - Suicide and suicidal thoughts
Ladybug stood on what was left of the Eiffel Tower, eyes moving from building to building cataloging the damage. Total loss, likely no survivors. Structural collapse imminent. Roof caved in but structurally sound otherwise. Her brain took it in with no real understanding of the carnage. Her heartbeat sounded far too loud in her head. When she heard boots land behind her she didn’t move.
“The fight is over, why haven’t you cast your cure?” The gruff sound of Batman’s voice brought despair but she pushed it back as she turned to look at him and his team. Even though she couldn’t see their eyes she could tell none of them would meet her gaze except their leader.
“You knew.” Her tone was flat and the others flinched. She felt rage boiling under her skin but she was too drained to let it out. They knew Chat was working with Hawkmoth and hadn’t told her.
“We had our suspicions, but no concrete proof. We couldn’t risk you tipping him off if we were right.” If she had any energy left to spare she would have strangled the man with his own cape.
“You agreed to inform me of everything you found. You have no understanding of the magic in use here and that information could have prevented this.” She never should have agreed to let them into Paris. Never should have trusted that they would hold up their end of the bargain.
“Your cure will fix it. You took down Hawkmoth, that’s the important thing.” She really wished she didn’t have to start looking for survivors so she could shove that condescending attitude down his throat, but Paris still needed her.
“I already cast it, that’s why the city is no longer on fire. You meddled in things you do not understand and now Paris is paying the price.” The casualty count was going to be horrendous. Her eyes trailed along the buildings again, unconsciously coming to a stop on the bakery. Total loss, likely no survivors. Her parents never left the building during Akuma attacks. She couldn’t focus on that now. “I have to go help the rescue crews.”
“You’ve always been able to fix it before, why not now?” He sounded angry, as if she was withholding her full power out of spite. As if she would make Paris pay for his stupidity.
“The Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous are not meant to work counter to each other. This is what happens when it does. Had you told me of your suspicions I could have benched Chat and taken his Miraculous.” Her tone still just sounded dead but she couldn’t do anything about it.
“If that had happened Hawkmoth would have been alerted and who knows what he would have done.” She was starting to crack, she could feel it. She needed to get away from them.
“Whatever it was, I would have been able to fix it. This is exactly why I made you swear to give me all the information you found. Paris lies in ruins and you had the power to stop it.” It was an exaggeration. The city was devastated yes, but it looked like maybe only one in twenty buildings had suffered significant damage. It could be rebuilt, but the people of Paris would take far longer to recover.
“This is not our fault.” She wanted to scream, or cry, or rage at the injustice of it all, but she couldn’t. She was Ladybug and her city needed to see her calm. They needed her to take care of them now more than ever.
“No. It’s mine for believing that I could trust you. It is not a mistake I’ll be making again.” She jumped off the beam without waiting for a reply, heading to where she was most needed to save lives. Away from her home, even though that’s where she most wanted to be. Later she would process the fact that her parents were gone. Now, she just went from building to building gauging the likelihood of survivors. She felt dead inside and couldn’t honestly bring herself to care.
———————————————–
128,356
The number was burned into her mind. The final death count from the last confrontation with Hawkmoth and Chat Noir. It seemed far too high until she realized that Chat had been targeting Akuma shelters. He’d wanted a higher death toll, hoping it would get her to agree to make a wish. She’d never had an actual number before. When everyone was brought back, no one seemed to care how many had died. Now it was just a constant reminder of her failure. Her arrogance. She should have seen what was going on.
The rebuilding effort was slow. It would have been nice if the Justice League had followed through on their promise to help in the aftermath, but there was some sort of emergency and they couldn’t spare the resources anymore. Ladybug did what she could to help. She hosted fund raisers and went to functions to try and keep spirits up. She went to every public wake or funeral she could to apologize to the families. Far fewer people blamed her than she felt should.
She held press conferences with the Mayor weekly to update everyone on the state of the city, and announce new projects or programs. Until one day she just couldn’t do it anymore. She used the forum to announce her retirement. The city was healing and they had most of the money they needed. They would be fine without her and she couldn’t be here anymore. She couldn’t take the guilt and the pain that just walking around Paris brought. Two months after the last battle, Ladybug was simply gone.
————————————————–
“Miss Dupain-Cheng!” Marinette groaned as she recognized the voice yelling her name. She knew it was a bad idea to come here but the university had one of the best business programs and a decent fashion curriculum as well. Audrey had suggested it because she thought Marinette would benefit far more from a business degree than having teachers criticizing her designs when she was already running a profitable commission business. She kept walking, hoping that the person who yelled at her would give up. She should have known her luck wasn’t that good.
Nightwing dropped in front of her and she debated just walking around him but she had a feeling that wouldn’t stop him. Last she checked, Signal was the only one normally out during the day which meant he’d likely come out here just to talk to her. It also meant they were monitoring her movements, and likely anyone connected to the Miraculous. Granted that was just her and Chloe who were not in jail, at least that they knew about. Nightwing’s grin faltered as she glared at him but he quickly returned to his cheery persona.
“Hello I’m-”
“I know who you are. What do you want?” He frowned at her.
“I see Ladybug poisoned the well. That’s rather unprofessional.” She felt her eye twitch and had to stop herself from punching him.
“Of course you would blame her. Obviously no Parisian would put together the timeline and realize the Justice League left them to fend for themselves in their time of need. Now, you stalking me on the other hand, that’s unprofessional.” He sputtered something that seemed to be a denial but there weren’t any words that she could make out. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to be going. My ride is waiting.”
“Do you know how to contact Ladybug? Or where she is?” Marinette blinked at him. What the hell? They had absolutely no reason to be looking for her.
“I wouldn’t tell you if I did. As far as I know, no one has seen or heard from her since that last press conference. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that she was one of the almost two thousand suicides that happened in the months after that last fight.” A lot of people had lost everything in that fight, her included, and she’d definitely thought about it. If there was anyone else to take over as Guardian, she probably would have. Audrey and Chloe had convinced Andre to take her in once they found out about her parents and they were honestly the only thing that kept her from completely falling apart.
“She wouldn’t have done that.” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anything but she still rolled her eyes at him.
“I apologize. I didn’t realize I was talking to an expert on Ladybug’s mental state. Since you know her so well, you should have no problems finding her on your own. Are we done?” he didn’t seem to be able to come up with a response so she walked around him.
“We’re not the bad guys here.”
“Yes, and Batman threatening our Mayor’s career and livelihood to force him to contact Ladybug was a really stand up thing to do. Especially since he never had a way to do it in the first place.” Nightwing froze for just a second, but it was enough.
“Your Mayor has a tendency to exaggerate.” He was trying to put on an air of indifference but his posture was ridged
“I was in the room at the time, but feel free to keep digging yourself a deeper hole.”
“There wasn’t anyone else in the room.” It was an automatic response and he seemed far more surprised at it than she did. Marinette grinned at him.
“There’s a reason for the phrase ‘quiet as a mouse’. Just because you, Batman, and Spoiler didn’t see me, doesn’t mean I wasn’t there, recording the conversation.” His mouth actually dropped open as she named the people who’d been there, and snapped shut when she mentioned the recording. She’d been all for using it to go after them in a public forum, but Andre had suggested keeping it until they needed it.
“I’m sure if it sounded like that it was just translation issues. Things get muddled all the time.” She raised an eyebrow at him wondering if he could hear how weak his argument sounded.
“That might be a good excuse if not for the fact that Batman is on record as being fluent in french. It was the main reason the Justice League sent you lot to Paris in the first place.” Watching Nightwing fumble for words should have been amusing but she just felt drained. “Look, just drop all this surveillance and stalking garbage and no one will ever know that recording exists. Leave me and Chloe alone because neither one of us will lead you where you want to go. If Ladybug is alive she obviously doesn’t want to be found and until she does nothing you do will make a difference.” She tried to walk away again but his soft voice stopped her.
“Do you really think she’s dead?” She wanted to say yes, just to get them off her back but she couldn’t.
“No. She wouldn’t just abandon all her responsibilities like that. No matter how much she wanted to.” And, oh, how she’d wanted to. All the Miraculous went back into the box after the last battle except hers. Even then she’d renounced Tikki anytime she didn’t need to transform. She couldn’t handle the guilt of her failure and the ultimate disappointment from the Kwami.
“She abandoned Paris.” Marinette’s rage began bubbling up but she forced it down. The Bats knew nothing about Paris.
“Believe what you want. Just leave us the fuck alone.”
———————————————
“It really does have the best business program.” Chloe’s words caused Marinette to groan and drop her head to the table with a satisfying thud. She knew that before they started talking about it, she was just hoping Chloe would have a different opinion. “I’ll go with you, it won’t be that bad.”
“How is you beating the shit out of any Bat you come across not that bad?” Chloe gave an amused snort but Mari was serious. She hadn’t told anyone she’d been Ladybug, or that she was still the Guardian, but Chloe was still overly protective of her. Not to mention what the Bats tried to pull with her father. When she’d mentioned that the Bats were obviously monitoring them she’d had to stop Chloe from going back to Gotham.
“You told them to stay away from us. If they don’t, they deserve what they get.” Marinette shot her a flat look. They both knew they weren’t just going to stop tracking them because Marinette said so. They were literally the Bats only lead to get to Ladybug.
“Chloe, you know damn well they’re going to be bothering us constantly. Not to mention do we really want to move to a city where people die in rogue attacks on a daily basis?” As a Guardian, Gotham called out to her to help restore the balance, but as the only Guardian she wasn’t certain it was a risk she should take. If something happened to her… If they were going to do this she was going to have to come up with a plan incase of death far quicker than she’d wanted.
“We’ll get a house outside of town and the university itself isn’t targeted very often for some reason. Probably because the size of the campus makes pulling together a decent amount of hostages difficult.” Marinette could only blink at her. Chloe must have started looking into this weeks ago, before Marinette even went to the school.
“You really just want to confront them don’t you?” She just continued tapping on her phone but Marinette saw a small smile form. “Honestly Chloe, do you really think it’s a good idea to piss them off on their territory? What I did was bad enough.” She should have been prepared for it but it hadn’t occurred to her that she would run across any of them in a three hour trip. She’d let her emotions get the better of her.
“What you said was not nearly enough. Especially if they still think Ladybug did anything wrong. The mighty Batman needs to be taken down a peg or two until he can finally admit he’s not infallible.” Well she wasn’t wrong, but Marinette still didn’t think them going on the offensive was a good idea. Maybe they would be content to continue monitoring them from a distance.
——————————————–
That hope barely made it through her first class. As she was trying to leave the building she was blocked by a man and when she looked up he was shooting her the same smile he had as Nightwing. Why could nothing in her life go right?
“Hi! I’m Richard-”
“What the fuck is wrong with you? Don’t think for a minute that you being in civies gives you a pass to follow me.” He just gaped at and she rolled her eyes. “Move.” He didn’t so she tried to go around him but he wouldn’t let her.
“Miss, I think there’s been a mistake I’m-”
“You’re Nightwing and you need to move and leave me alone unless you want Batman to be embarrassed on every news station I can find contact information for.” She managed to push past him while he panicked but before she could get clear he reached out to grab her arm.
“Hang on, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just volunteering for the university to help new students get settled. Not everyone in Gotham is a vigilante.” Was he really trying to convince her that she was crazy? Coming here was such a terrible idea.
“That fake smile of yours is a dead give away.” He actually pouted at her.
“My smile is not fake. I-” A fist came out of nowhere and the man was on the ground with Chloe glaring murder at him.
“Keep your hands off my sister you creep.” She didn’t yell but the words were loud enough to gain the attention of students milling about. Murmurs started and the man looked even more panicked.
“Now hang on, this is just a big misunderstanding.” He was scanning the area but Marinette wasn’t sure if he was looking for an escape or a way to salvage the situation.
“Oh, so I didn’t just see you block my sister from exiting a building and then, when that didn’t work, you put your hands on her without her consent. What exactly am I misunderstanding?” The murmurs grew louder and his expression turned harder.
“Look I was just trying to help-”
“We don’t need your help. Let’s go.” Chloe wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tugged her away before she could say anything, not that she was sure she wanted to. She did take pleasure in the fact that there was already a bruise forming on the man’s jaw where Chloe had hit him.
“Good form on the punch, though I’m going to assume you didn’t give it your all since his jaw isn’t broken.” Chloe had been taking a number of martial arts and kickboxing lessons since the first time she became Queen Bee. She sometimes forgot exactly how dangerous Chloe could be.
“I figured you would object to me sending someone to the hospital on our first day. I also didn’t hear any of the conversation so I didn’t want to be accused of overreacting.” Given that Marinette had purposely kept her voice low she wasn’t surprised. She turned to look back at the crowd and found some whispering, a few were snickering at the man on the ground but one was outright laughing and Nightwing flipped him off. So probably another bat then. Her gaze went to the rooftops next and she caught sight of Spoiler. When the vigilante looked her way she offered a wave. The girl started and immediately backed out of sight but not before Chloe saw her as well. “Seriously? They couldn’t just leave us be for one day?”
“Well, you’ll at least be happy to know that you punched Nightwing in the face.” Marinette winced as soon as the words came out. Was she planning on telling Chloe? Absolutely, but she really should have waited until they got home. She had to physically stop the girl from turning back. “Now it would definitely seem like an overreaction. Don’t worry, I highly doubt this is the last we’ll see of them. You’ll have more than enough of an opportunity to beat the shit out of someone I’m sure.”
“I’d fucking better.” The words came out in a growl more than anything else. She was going to be in a foul mood the rest of the day.
“Maybe we should just skip the rest of our classes for the day and go home. You’re not in the right frame of mind to learn anything and I just want to not be stared at for a while.” She’d felt eyes on her since they got to the campus and it was making her skin crawl. Even when she knew where it was coming from it didn’t help the paranoia. Chloe turned from murderous to concerned in an instant.
“We’ll look into switching as many of our classes to online as possible. That will cut down on the time we have to be somewhere they can watch us.” It seemed like running away but at this point Mari was fine with that. She wasn’t here to socialize or make connections. She had more than she needed already. She was here to get her degree and get out. The sooner the better at this point. “Maybe we should just drop out and try somewhere else.” She had no idea what Chloe saw on her face but it couldn’t have been pleasant.
“No, it’s fine. We’ll go as much online as we can and everything will be fine. And we can always head back to New York for a couple weeks if we need to. I’m not going to let a furry and his menagerie keep me from getting the best education I can.” Chloe let out a bark of laughter.
“There’s the snark I know and love. Come on, let’s get home and call Mom. She’ll know what we need to do.”
———————————-
Marinette couldn’t quite get a handle on what she was seeing. She’d been in their garden, sketching and minding her own business, when voices dragged her back to reality. Upon looking up she found Gotham’s Sirens gathered in front of her, studying her. Because that wasn’t creepy. And they just continued to stare at her, so now it was awkward. She was about to say something when a thought hit her. Marinette turned to glare at Catwoman. She looked taken aback but the other two were sniggering to themselves.
“You’re dating Batman.” The woman looked confused but nodded. Before she could actually say anything Marinette broke into a string of curses that had all of them looking at her like she was possessed. “You can tell that egotistical, stalking piece of trash to go to hell. I’m so tired of this bullshit! I should be able to have privacy in my own fucking home and he sends you here. Sending his team to surveil us as civilians didn’t work and he thinks this will? Chloe! We’re going to dismember a flying rodent!”
“About damn time!” Chloe rushed out of the house only to jerk to a stop when she spotted the Sirens. “What the actual fuck?”
“Okay, wait, I think there’s been some type of misunderstanding. I have no idea who you are and Batman definitely didn’t send me here.” Chloe cocked her head studying the woman.
“She’s not lying.” After growing up around politicians and business owners who were always looking to benefit themselves, Chloe had developed an impressive ability to tell when people were being truthful. “But why exactly are you here then?”
“That would be because of me.” Marinette just frowned at Poison Ivy as she stepped forward. “The plants in the area have suddenly started thriving far beyond what they normally do in or around Gotham, other than the plants I tend to myself. I wanted to find the source and they led me to you.”
“Me?” She couldn’t help the disbelief in her tone.
“Yeah that makes sense.” Her head whipped around to Chloe only to find that she was completely serious.
“How does that make sense?” Chloe just rolled her eyes.
“You’re a nurturer Mari. You take care of everyone and everything around you. It was literally your entire personality before…” She grimaced and looked away. “Before shit happened. It makes sense that they’d be drawn to that energy.” Poison Ivy gave a thoughtful hum.
“I can sort of feel what she’s talking about. The plants are very fond of you and more than a little upset that you’re in pain.” Mari felt her eye twitch and focused on a point beyond all of them.
“Not exactly thrilled about that myself.” Her mumbled response brought concerned looks from all the women and Mari started feeling like the air was too thin.
———————————————
Chloe could only sigh as Mari ran into the house. She wasn’t ready to open up or be comforted yet and nothing anyone said or did was going to change that fact. Everyone else just chalked up her attitude to survivor’s guilt but Chloe was certain there was more to it. As much as she wanted to know what it was, she wouldn’t push. It wouldn’t do any good anyway. Catwoman let out an awkward cough.
“So what’s your beef with the World’s Greatest Detective?” Chloe sneered at the words, she couldn’t help it.
“Greatest Detective my ass. If he could do his job he wouldn’t be stalking us.” None of the women seemed to know if they should be amused or concerned. “He’s trying to find Ladybug and hit a dead end that he thinks we’re the answer to. It’s pathetic really.”
“Ladybug? You mean that Parisian hero that blames him for what happened?” Chloe felt her spine stiffen and she wanted nothing more than to either follow Mari or go find a Bat to rip apart. How dare he make this about him.
“If that’s what he said he’s a liar or delusional. The only person Ladybug blames for what happened is herself. She doesn’t even blame that stupid fucking cat for what he did. She should have figured it out sooner, she should have prevented it, she should have been a better hero.” The hero was with her father constantly to help with everything and Chloe had heard every self condemnation that she threw at herself. No matter what anyone else said, she ‘knew’ the blame lay with her and there was no getting through to her. “If he’s looking for an apology he can go straight to hell. There’s no way I’d even attempt to find a way to contact her just so he can pile on to the shitstorm she already suffered. Assuming she can even be found.”
“You think she gave up being a hero?” Chloe winced at Catwoman’s question. She really hadn’t meant to say that last part out loud.
“Given that she hasn’t been seen in over a year I’d say that’s obvious.” The women shared a look she couldn’t decipher before Harley Quinn stepped closer to her.
“What did you mean then?” The question was soft, almost as if she was worried if she was too loud it would stop Chloe from answering, or make her run away.
“In public, Ladybug forced herself to be perfect. She never faltered, never broke down. After that last press conference, she had a meeting with my father and I ran into her as she was leaving.” That entire encounter was burned into her brain. The guilt she carried for not saying more was useless and she knew it but it didn’t stop it from gnawing at her. “The look in her eyes… it was the same look my friend Sabrina had the day before she killed herself… the same look Mari has everytime she thinks about Paris.” That was why she stuck to Mari like glue whenever possible. She didn’t blame Sabrina. That final battle had been bad enough but she’d watched Chat Noir literally rip her father apart on live TV. Finding out it was actually Adrien had broken what little control she had left. Chloe hadn’t understood what that dead look in her eyes truly meant until after the fact.
Harley pulling her into a hug interrupted her thoughts. She hesitated before returning it. Her mother had gotten better but she still wasn’t physically affectionate and she tried very hard not to lean on Mari emotionally given everything that had happened. This was really nice. When she looked at the other two, Ivy was staring worriedly and the house and Catwoman was glaring in the direction of Gotham proper. The seemed to both shake off their thoughts at the same time and began whispering while Harley continued to hug her and rub her back in a soothing manner. She felt like that should worry her but she couldn’t muster the energy for it.
