#vulpino

Her eyes enlarged as she watched her right leg slowly disappear into thin air. Slowly with her trembling hand, she reached forward, where her leg was supposed to be. She waved it around, hoping that her leg only became invisible. However, she sensed nothing.

Suddenly she felt like her respiration was being cut off. She gasped for air, breathing in and out, in and out, but not a whiff entered her lungs. Her respiration only became more rapid, shallower as her heart started to race at an enormous speed. She kept waving her hand through the spot where her leg had been, as if she didn't want to accept the truth.

"Chloé. Look at me. Look at me, Chloé."

Nathaniel went down on one knee and leaned in. He wanted Chloé to face him and not pay attention at her vanished leg. His lips curled upwards, turning into a soft smile. Even though he looked composed, he was feeling horrible. It was all his fault that Chloé had to deal with this after all. He still wondered why she would even protect him, but that could wait. For now, he had to calm Chloé down. First, her respiration needed to be stable again.

"Chloé, take a deep breath. In… Out… In… Out…"

It was only when Nathaniel knelt in front of her, she gazed at him. Somehow just looking at him smiling like that made her feel safer. She listened to his gentle voice and inhaled and exhaled with his mantra, which made her respiration slower.

"It will be alright, Chloé. The heroes of Paris will come and save the day. Once Truth Seeker is defeated, your leg will return. For now, let's go to a safer place, okay?"

He held out his hand so Chloé could grab it. However, before that happened, he could hear her mumbling something. He leaned closer to her and tilted his head to the side.

"What did you say, Chloé?"

"I said… thanks."

Chloé avoided his eyes while she grabbed his hand. She tried to stand up, but even with support, it was hard to stand up on one foot. She wasn't used to standing up, having only one leg to support her after all. It was very heavy, even though her weight wasn't high, for her left leg it felt like her weight doubled as she was trying to stand up with Nathaniel's help. She felt quite ashamed to be in this situation, even more when she needed to rely on someone else. However, she was still thankful for his support.

Nathaniel pulled Chloé towards him and chuckled. Seems like Chloé still couldn't properly be thankful to someone. Not that he minds getting those kind of thanks, it was quite… a cute part regarding her. However, the curve on his lips turned upside down. His eyes narrowed slightly as he let Chloé lean on him, so it would be less tiring for her to stand on one leg.

"I… should actually be the one thanking you, Chloé. Thank you for taking the shot for me… and I'm sorry."

Because of him she's the one suffering now. As a hero, this hurts his pride a lot. He couldn't even properly protect someone, instead, someone he would never expect to shield him, safeguarded his person!

"You better be thankful. I expect you treating me to something nice next time, to make up for this. I do hope Ladybug, Vulpino and that sidekick will be here soon. I already miss my leg."

"Though this isn't so bad either…" She thought as she leaned a bit more in to Nathaniel's chest. She was glad that he was there to help her out and didn't leave her alone or. For now, she only hoped for the heroes to arrive. She had faith in them, they will save the day and everything would turn back to normal. If she kept thinking this way, she'd feel much calmer. She shouldn't panic again, not like she was the one who could make that choice though. Her body just reacted on the sudden fear she'd undergo, even if she told herself to calm down, it wouldn't work. Much goes on in her mind, which made her especially restless. Even though this was the first time she experienced such a panic attack, she honestly hoped it would be the last.

Besides that, what should she do now? She couldn't lie anymore. Only thinking about experiencing that torture again made her body shiver. However, she got Nath with her now. Even though, if he wouldn't be here, she wouldn't need to talk so there would be no reason whatsoever to lie. But she would be totally lost if he wasn't staying by her side. Just realizing how thankful she truly was with him being there made her heart skip. It felt weird. Her heart belonged to Adrien, so why did she feel like she was experiencing the same thing with Nathaniel? Although they were starting to get along, she still disliked him. Mostly whenever he made fun of her. She hated that stupid smirk he got, him being all confident around her. She disliked how he talks back to her and most of all, she despised that he loves Marinette and how he talks about her. So, she loathed a lot of things about him. There was no way she would fall for him. Adrien was the one in her heart after all.

While Chloé was in her own world, Nathaniel was texting Marinette about the Akuma attack. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to contact Chat Noir, but when Ladybug is in town, so is Chat. Maybe they already noticed the attack, since there was so much commotion. Besides that, he was quite annoyed about the fact that Chloé saw his friend as just a sidekick instead of a great hero. Just hearing her referencing Chat Noir that way made his eyebrow twitch.

"You know, Chat Noir isn't Ladybug's sidekick or whatever. He's a hero himself, a great one even. So, don't belittle him. If you had to depreciate someone, then choose Vulpino. He's new to the team after all. He would be more likely to become a sidekick. If you don't treat Vulpino as a sidekick, then you shouldn't do that to Chat either… Anyways, wouldn't it be better for you to head home? It's dangerous out here!"

There was no time to argue about something like this. Chloé should call her driver to take her back home. If she would leave, not only would that be safer for her, but he would be able to transform as well. For now, he must try his best to protect this citizen one way or another in his civilian form. He wonders if Chat or Marinette were once in such situations as well. What did they do then?

"I don't want to. Just let me sit down on that chair there."

Chloé pointed towards the outdoor seating space from the ice-cream parlor they visited just a while ago. There it was again, her ordering tone. Nathaniel slightly rolled with his eyes and walked with her towards the chair, well, she was hopping towards it.

"Why? It's way too dangerous for you to stay here."

Even though he didn't think this to be a good idea, he still helped her to sit down. He glanced around to check the whereabouts of that akumatized villain. She was no longer floating in front of the Eiffel Tower. At least, he couldn't see it from where he was standing now.

"I'm staying here. End of story."

Chloé crossed her arms and appeared determined about her choice. She knew it was dangerous here, but there was someone she wanted to see, no matter what.

"Come on Chloé, don't be so stubborn. I can carry you home if I must. Why do you even want to stay here?"

Nathaniel couldn't leave her, nor could he leave any person in such state. It was either leaving Chloé or not defeating Truth Seeker. Well, since Chloé saved him, he had no other choice but to stay by her side. He would be a jerk if he just left her like this after all.

"That's none of your business, tomato head."

She wasn't lying, she just avoided answering the question and kept the answer for herself. That wouldn't count as lying, right? She didn't want Nathaniel to know why she wanted to stay in this dangerous zone so badly, it would be quite embarrassing to tell him. Who knows, maybe he would even judge her, though he had no right to do so. Besides, how dangerous could it be here? The chances that they would run into Truth Seeker again are slim. Yet, she had been pretty unlucky lately, so who knows. The only thing she could do was hoping for the villain not showing up.

While hoping Truth Seeker wouldn't appear, there she was, behind Nathaniel, her feet just inches above the ground. Her appearance was very weird as the colors of her clothes and hair seemed to change every second, from light to dark and back. She was holding one finger up and moved it from left to right, while she held her other hand on her elbow and shook her head with a smug expression.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I can sense someone is hiding something~"

Right after she told that, Chloé felt something aching in her chest. It suddenly started to feel so heavy, so painful. The exact same feeling she got from the first time. But why? She didn't lie this time, so why did she feel this pain again? What did she do to deserve this?

"Oh my, seems like I forgot to mention something. You can't keep secrets either, unless you want to suffer~ Keeping secrets is the same as lying after all!"

Her eyes suddenly glowed red again, as if she remembered something that made her furious. She glared at the guy standing next to the blonde and looked at his chest.

"It seems like I didn't hit you, boy. Are you a liar, someone who holds many secrets or are you a rare one? An honest on-."

"For Vulpino! I want to see him again! That's why I want to stay!"

With squeezed eyes, Chloé breathed out in exhaustion as if she used up the last bit of her energy. Not noticing at all she interrupted the villain. She didn't want to experience this ordeal once more. She'd rather disappear altogether or shut her mouth forever if she could avoid this agony. She didn't even have the time to feel embarrassed, not that she cared by now. She was just relieved that the excruciating pain lifted away. This time her only other leg disappeared…

She quickly averted her eyes, not wanting to watch her leg vanish. She had to stay calm. She was sure the heroes will come and bring her legs back. She examined the sky for them and implored that she'd do anything to get her legs back or actually survive this predicament without any more suffering. She would try to become kind and stop being mean to anyone. Well, if they deserved it.

Nathaniel turned around, taken by surprise on what Chloé had shouted. So, she wanted to see Vulpino so badly? Gosh, if only he could duplicate himself now, then she might be able to leave. Wait… If Ladybug and Chat would arrive and distract Truth Seeker and Chloé. He could turn into Vulpino and make a replica of himself as Nathaniel! Chloé wouldn't be suspicious about his identity if that ever would arise, since she would see both of himself. Once he had taken Chloé out of danger, he would be able to save the day as well!

Truth Seeker was in no way pleased with the interruption, but she would let it slide for now. That red-haired boy seemed to be distracted by it, now she got a chance to hit him with her feather. Every liar should suffer, without any exceptions.

"Hold it right there, Truth Seeker!"

She tilted her head up, in the direction of the female voice. She saw a girl in red and black polka-dots, next to her a black clad cat like guy. The only ones they could be were of course Paris's heroes. She smirked at this pleasant surprise.

"Well well well, look what the cat dragged in~!"

She chuckled at her own joke, forgetting the redhead. Finally, she could repay Hawk Moth for giving her this marvelous power. She will get their miraculous and at the same time reveal who they truly are! In her mind, she could hear him laughing alongside with her. After their laugh, he'd order her to get their miraculous and of course would she obey.

"Let's reveal who you truly are! Even the greatest heroes could be liars!"

She raised her voice while her eyes widened, making her pupils appear small. Her eyes gave of this dangerous red glow, but a different kind than when she was furious. That smile, those eyes, her expression alarmed everyone to back away from her as she acquired the appearance of a madwoman. She flew upwards and spread her wings out at the same time extending her arms. The feathers floated around her, pointing their quills towards the heroes. Once she stretched one of her arms forward, the feathers dashed to their targets at tremendous speed.

"Hey! I'm not lion! I'm a cat!"

Chat yelled, sounding as if he was offended by it while he was spinning his staff at high speed, so it would become his shield against those feathers. Obviously, he tried to be funny, but his lady didn't seem so fond of his pun as she glared at him and gave that look of "Not now, Chat". She sighed and concentrated on the fight again.

Ladybug observed the surroundings while spinning her yo-yo as a shield. She noticed that beyond their enemy, Nathaniel and Chloé were in this mess too. Even though she disliked Chloé, she felt a bit bad for her being in such a predicament. Though she felt even more pity for Nathaniel having to take care of Chloé and not being able to transform into his hero form at all.

"There has to be something I can do to help him… If we keep up like this, we might never defeat Truth Seeker."

Ladybug looked around, trying to think of a way to let Nathaniel run away, without making it seem suspicious. Maybe someone should bring Chloé to a safer place, so Nathaniel would have a higher chance to escape and change into Vulpino. With his fox fire, he might be able to recover everyone's state. His blue fire heals people or returns everything back to their original state after all. At least, that was what she understood from that fire incident last time.

"Chat, take Chloé to a safe place! I will handle this."

"Are you sure, my lady? Shouldn't we wait for Vulpino instead? This akumatized villain seems to be too strong to be handled alone by yourself. And what about Na- that red haired guy?"

Even though they saved Nathaniel once, he never mentioned his name, right? So, it would be weird if Chat would use his name, as if he knew him. Besides that, even though Nathaniel was capable of running away, he would still be in danger. Shouldn't he save both Chloé and Nathaniel instead? Though that might be difficult. How can he carry Chloé properly when she didn't have any legs?

"Should you two really worry about someone else instead of yourself~?"

Truth Seeker cackled like an evil queen, making the heroes hackles rise all over their body. She was no longer shooting those feathers from a single place. No, this time she flew in a circle around the heroes at full speed so they would have a harder time defending themselves. They would get hit without any doubt, it was just a matter of time now.

He had to go now! This was his chance while the akumatized villain was busy with the heroes. He hoped they'd be able to hold out. This villain proved to be tough. However, with his illusions, he could trick her with some duplicates. For now, he had to leave and take Chloé with him. He sure was glad that they arrived on time, just before he got hit by that Truth feather or worse.

"Chloé, we really need to go now."

He whispered while glaring sternly at Chloé. Even though he was flattered that she wanted to see Vulpino, he could not let her stay outside and in this danger zone. She shouldn't be selfish in this situation.

Now, how should he carry her? Both her legs disappeared, so he couldn't carry her with his hand under her thighs. Maybe he should attempt a piggyback? He should give that a try. It might be difficult or heavy. Maybe not too heavy since she obviously lost some weight when her legs disappeared.

"Chloé, wrap your arms around my neck. I will take you somewhere safe. And no buts. I'm sure you will see Vulpino another time, it's not like it's that rare to see him."

He squatted down and turned his back to her. He cannot let her endanger herself again because of him. Besides, maybe he could heal her as Vulpino with his Fox Fire. For now, he will leave her inside some building and let Vulpino pick her up or something. Yeah, that sounded like a legit plan.

"...Fine." Chloé pouted.

She wished she could see Vulpino, but he didn't seem to be here yet. She sighed slightly as she wrapped her arms around Nathaniel and leaned on his back. There was something about this situation which made her heart beat faster. She actually wanted to get off his back, as she was afraid he might feel her heartbeat going like crazy.

"Hold tight."

He leaned further forward running towards another building a few meters away. He went inside a bookstore and watched around, it was empty by now. The people probably ran away when they heard the screams. However, being here would be the safest option to not getting hit. Unless she followed them in.

"Wait here, I will check how the situation is now."

Part of this bookstore was luckily also a café, so he was able to find a seat fast. He gently put her down on a couch and gazed out the window. There must be some backstreet he could hide to transform.

"Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I? Besides, wouldn't it be safer for you to stay here and wait with me for Ladybug to solve everything. You haven't been hit yet."

"Ah, don't worry about me. I will be quick. I just want to make sure if I could bring you all the way back to the hotel."

He smiled gently and quickly ran out the door. Next to the bookstore seemed to be an alley. Chloé had her back to the window, so she couldn't see where he would go. She hopefully trusts him completely by now. He wishes she didn't think he'd left her behind and ran away by himself like some coward.

Before transforming, he examined the surroundings, just in case someone might be hiding there. Who knows. In this situation, people could be seeking refuge almost everywhere. It was so confusing with everyone running and screaming.

"Is it safe now?"

Inarii popped his head out of his pocket and once Nathaniel nodded, he flew in front of the redhead. He spent most of this whole day in that pocket. He had to admit, he was totally bored while he could do nothing in there. He did notice somethings regarding Chloé though.

"We need to be quick! Inarii, transform me!"

[ Next Chapter ]

"Yes! My plan worked. Not per plan, but I was still able to get a drawing from tomato boy."

Chloé giggled to herself as she was rolling on her bed while hugging her pillow. After she got her hands on that drawing, her chances becoming famous would go up. Being friends with a newbie is way easier than who are already famous, though she's already besties with Ladybug. However, it wouldn't hurt to get even closer to her and proudly present that to the world. She would be known as the bestie of Ladybug! Unlike Lila, she wouldn't lie then.

As soon as Nathaniel got home, he opened his sketchbook and started to draw. It was quite funny to think he had to draw himself for Chloé of all people. He still wondered what she would do with the drawing. Wouldn't it veritably be better to ask for some journalist or great photographer if she wanted some details? Well, he wouldn't show himself so easily. He didn't like too much attention after all. Besides that, the real heroes are Ladybug and Chat Noir. He couldn't just take away their spotlight.

"Hey, don't you think Chloé started to get nicer by the day?"

Inarii flew out of Nathaniel's pocket and sat next to the sketchbook. Somehow her acting all nice, still bratty, but seemly felt weird. It was suspicious that she came to Nathaniel out of everyone to ask such a request. Though it wouldn't be so bad to for his partner to have a fan as well. He would be rather happy for him. Nathaniel needed some more love after all.

"I guess she isn't that hostile to me anymore. Maybe because I also started to act friendly to her."

Already a week had passed before he finally finished his drawing for Chloé. It took longer than Nathaniel expected to make an excellent drawing that would satisfy her. He would from time to time show her the work in process and she had some critic from time to time, but other than that she was absolutely pleased with it. During those days, she didn't sit next to him and when she did come to his table, she would ask about the drawing. However, lately she also asked about other things. Like what he planned to do with the money she gave him, what his plans were in his free time besides drawing, asking about his parents. She seemed to be more interested in him? He was genuinely curious if she honestly wants to be friends with him. Or she might plan something big against him. Who knows, Chloé is unpredictable.

"So, are you done with the drawing today, tomato head?"

Even though she may have some interest in him, she still hadn't used his first name at all without also adding his surname. Well, he got used to the nicknames she calls him, he also addresses her as drama queen or something similar. Besides that, Chat Noir also called him by some nicknames, so he didn't mind this.

"Yeah, I'm done with the drawing."

Nathaniel bowed slightly so he could grab the sketchbook out of his bag. He placed it on the table and flipped through the pages till he reached the commissioned drawing. When he was on the right page, he glanced to Chloé to see what her reaction would be. She appeared to be… very stunned? It was like she was perplexed or something. She kept staring at the drawing with her eyes wide. Her hand was against her mouth as if she wanted to hold back a scream by doing that.

Chloé couldn't help but have the urge to scream. The artwork was so stunning, she couldn't say anything at all for a few seconds. She wanted to scream and tell Nathaniel that it looked amazing. That it looked so realistic as if he took a picture of Vulpino. She knew that Nathaniel was more of the cartoonist, so she didn't expect him to draw realistic as well and in such a fascinating way. The previous time he showed the drawing, everything was still flat. The shading absolutely made everything pop up. Even the colors are spot on with the original. The texture seems so picturesque too! She couldn't help but just stare at it with awe. Though she shouldn't act all too happy about it, that would only represent herself as lame. So, she slowly closed her eyes and once she opened them, she pretended to be calm. Her amazed look got replaced by an expression as if she was uninterested.

"It looks good enough. You did a great job. As reward for doing an exceptional work, how about I treat you to a drink? Or maybe some ice cream?"

"Pfft, you can be more honest about what you think about this illustration, but sure, I won't say no to that offer. How about some ice cream?"

Nathaniel chuckled as he thought Chloé was being amusing now. They both seemed to be in a good mood, since Chloé offered to treat him and he even accepted it. Well, it wouldn't hurt to hang out with Chloé even after school.

One young lady, one woman, one man. They were all sitting together in the living room. Tears were falling from the young lady's eyes. Her brunette bangs almost covered her eyes as she gazed down. The others were gazing down as well. It was silent. Only the sound of the ticking from the clock and the sound of soft breathing could be heard.

"Is it true?"

The brunette lady mumbled under her breath. She used her voice so softly as she didn't want to be heard, as if she was being careful. She balled her hands into a fist so tightly, that it made her fingers almost white. She tried her best to hold back her tears, but she couldn't.

"Mom…Dad… Is it true?"

She spoke louder and gazed at the man and woman sitting across of her. Her voice sounded hoarse, as if she had been screaming for a long time. She stared hopefully at them, her eyes were almost begging for them to tell her it wasn't true. However, none of them looked her in the eye. Her father leaned his face on his hands, while his upper body was leaning forward. Her mother fixed her eyes on her hands.

"I ask you if it's true! Please tell me it isn't… I'm not… truly auntie's real daughter, right?"

It was her so-called mother who finally opened her mouth. She took a deep breath before speaking and locked her eyes on her supposed daughter. In her eyes, sadness could be seen. What does that mean? Did it genuinely mean that she's not her real daughter?

"It's…true, Tia. Your aunt had some troubles in the past, so I raised you instead. I never told you, because I truly cared about you! You're my daughter now, so there was no real need to tell you. I considered you as my own child, not my little sister's child. She… didn't want you. Instead of making you an orphan, I wanted to raise you as my own…"

Tia didn't listen to her anymore. When her supposed mother said, it was true, her mind closed off from the real world. She didn't want to hear excuses. She didn't want to hear the reason. She didn't want to hear anything at all regarding this. Thus, she stood up. Tears were flowing down as she glared at her parents.

"You are all liars! I hate you!"

She shouted out of frustration and ran out of the room, out of the house. She heard someone calling after her, but she didn't stop. She kept on running, getting outside, leaving the place that she considered as her home. She ended up in the park and cried her heart out under a tree.

"Lies… Everything is a lie…"

She softly mumbled to herself. She still didn't want to believe she was not their real daughter. All those seventeen years, they lied to her, they deceived her. Why didn't they tell her? Was she not supposed to find out? Was she not worth the truth? What is… even the truth?

She glanced down at her locket necklace, opening the locket to see their family picture. Her with her father, mother and her older brother. Did he… know about this too? Did her aunt… or her actual mother honestly wanted to get rid of her? Every time she visited her, she looked so weirdly at her. She was always curious why… Hence, this is what it meant? Didn't she want her after all those years?

Tia ripped the necklace off her and threw it on the ground. She didn't want to see her fake family anymore. She leaned her head on her knees and placed her hands on her head. She wanted to scream, but her voice couldn't escape out of her throat. It was hard to breath. Everything felt so suffocating. She felt like she was getting trapped. As if there was a cage around her, which gets smaller and smaller by the second. What was even her real home now? She had no place to go to.

If only her family hadn't keep her birth a secret. If only they told her the truth from the beginning. Would things have gone better? She kept wondering and wondering, while feeling cold and alone. If only someone could save her from her confusing state, from this dark pit she was in.

Little did she know that there was a certain black butterfly flying in the sky in search for her. Once it reached its destination, it approached the necklace on the ground. The black butterfly got absorbed and covered the whole necklace black. Tia looked up and stared in front of her as she suddenly heard a voice in her head. The skin color around her eyes changed into a redder brown color. A pink butterfly-shaped outline appeared in front of her eyes as well. She heard the voice of someone unknown. Who was he? Was he… her savior?

"Truth Seeker, I'm Hawk Moth. I'll give you powers. From now on, no one will lie to you ever again. You will make everyone tell the truth and even bring out their deepest secrets so no one would ever feel deceived and hurt again. At the same time, you need to find out the weakness of Ladybug and Chat Noir and bring me back their miraculous."

"Yes, Hawk Moth."

She smirked and stood up, making the red brown mark on her face and the outline disappear. She bowed down to grab her necklace and put it around her neck again. As soon as she did so, her whole body got covered into some dark energy. Her clothes transformed into a strapless long sleeved dress with rose patterns at the ruffled edges. The front of her dress reached to her knees and her sleeves became larger extending to her wrist. She wore a white butterfly-shaped mask and had white wings attached to her back. Her hair grew longer down to her knees and turned white as well.

As soon as her transformation was complete, she flew to the first person she spotted. She smiled as she was floating in front of him. He on the other took a step back out of fear. She put her hand against her left cheek and tilted her head slightly to the left, while smiling kindly to the guy.

"Where are you going, young man?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm busy. I have to go."

The guy didn't want to get involved with this strange looking woman. She seemed dangerous even though she appeared like an angel, maybe she was an akumatized villain again. Hopefully Ladybug and Chat Noir would arrive to save the day. He wasn't busy, but maybe this woman will let him go if he made that excuse. He quickly turned around to leave, to run away from this villain. However, she stood right in front of him again. As if she moved faster than the speed of light.

"LIES!"

Suddenly the green brown eyes of Secret Revealer glowed red and her hair went all different ways, as if gravity didn't exist for her hair. Everything that was white, turned into black. She flew closer to him, which made him take a step aside, ending up standing against the glass of a window shop. Her hair looked like black snakes, wanting to take a bite at him. She tilted her head to the right and gave him a big smile with wide eyes. Her eyes were still glowing red. She had that look of a psychopathic woman who was ready to murder someone.

"You're not telling the truth, are you?"

"I'm sorry! I lied! I just wanted to get away. Please let me go!"

Her hair went down again, as if gravity came back. She smiled kindly now, while everything changed to white again. Her hair, her wings, her dress and mask. She threw a white feather towards the guy's chest, which got absorbed.

The guy was shocked to see how the feather got inside of him. However, he felt no different. He held out his hands and checked his body out, there was no difference in appearance either. He looked at the woman in front of him all confused, which made her smile broader instead.

"So where do you plan to go?"

"N-nowhere particular, I'm just going home."

He lied to her again, he was in fact planning to visit his best friend, but why would he tell her about that? She also didn't seem to have some special powers. Seems like the only thing she could do is change all black and make people scared. However, he got that wrong…

Just when she turned all black again, he felt something in his chest. It was so painful that he fell on his knees. It was as if he couldn't breathe no longer. It was as if his heart suddenly stopped beating.

"Home… So, you have a home huh. Liars like you don't deserve such a place. If you don't want to suffer, tell me the truth. Or am I not worth the truth!"

Again, her eyes were glowing red. It was as if they expressed her anger. Quickly the guy told her he was planning to go to see his friend. After that, the pain lifted, however, his left arm suddenly disappeared.

"For every lie you tell, your limps will disappear. One after another. Liars shouldn't need to exist after all."

She smiled satisfied as she saw him totally panicking about his arm. Even Hawk Moth seemed to be happy about this as she could hear him laugh.

"Good, good. With this, Ladybug and Chat Noir will surely appear! Even Vulpino would appear, so take his miraculous as well if you're taking them anyway."

"Yes, Hawk Moth."

She said and flew up, high in the sky. Before she would go to her destination, she would spin around and throw the feathers to as many people as she could. Many people got hit by them and many people seemed to suffer at it. She could hear the screams of the liars from below. As she heard them, she made an expression as if she was disgusted of humanity.

"So many liars..."

Her outfit started to get darker and darker. However, it wasn't pitch black like before. Which means there were also some honest people in this city. She wouldn't take that for granted though, her outfit was already dark gray, so most people she hit were liars.

"So can you tell me what you plan to do with the drawing now? I'm really curious you know."

Nathaniel and Chloé got out of the ice cream parlour. Nathaniel got a cherry ice cream cone, while Chloé got a vanilla honey frozen yoghurt, which she ate out of a paper cup. Chloé poked her spoon in her frozen yoghurt and looked at Nathaniel slightly annoyed. She was about to tell him it was private, until she suddenly saw something flying towards Nathaniel at full speed.

"Look out!"

She quickly stood in front of him and got hit by the unknown white object in her chest instead. She had her eyes closed and her arms spread, while still holding the plastic spoon on one hand and the paper cup on the other. She slowly opened her eyes to look at herself. She expected that something would happen to her, but nothing felt or appeared different. Was it just her imagination?

Nathaniel looked confused at Chloé. He noticed that something was going towards his direction as well, however Chloé responded faster than him. She even tried to protect him, but why? He took a step forward to take a better look at her. She didn't seem to be hurt, so was it just their imagination? It couldn't be right? She saw it as well.

"Are you alright Chloé? You're not hurt, are you? Why did you even try to protect me?"

"I didn't protect you! Don't take it the wrong way, I don't like you at all. It was just- "

She wasn't even able to finish her sentence as she felt a pang in her chest. She let everything fall out her hands on the ground and placed her hands on her heart. She clenched her clothes tightly and fell on her knees.

"W-what is this?"

She breathed out heavily, as if it was hard to speak. She tried to take deep breaths, since she was feeling no air coming in her. She kept on breathing, but it felt like her heart wasn't pounding anymore. Why? Why was she feeling suddenly like this? Was it just a late after effect? She was fine just a while ago. Where did this huge pain come from?

"Liars, liars, liars. This city is full of filthy liars! Those who suffer of pain now told a lie. Only the truth will make your suffering stop. I am Truth Seeker and all of you liars should disappear!"

A loud voice echoed around the city. Nathaniel looked confused, to see where the voice came from. He scanned his surrounding and saw more people suffering the same state as Chloé. Some were crying loudly or screaming out of pain. Some lied down and curled themselves up into a ball, hoping that would help. There was something else he noticed. Someone was floating in front of the Eiffel Tower. It couldn't be anyone else than the one who caused this!

"Quickly Chloé, tell me the truth. It will relieve you from the pain."

At least, if he could trust what this Truth Seeker said. This would be very difficult for Chloé though, she wasn't an honest person. At least, if it was about something nice.

"F-fine…! I did protect you!"

The pain was too much for her, that even she would tell the truth, even if she didn't want to. She shouted out what she denied before and indeed, her pain disappeared, but…so did one of her legs.

“Wait!”

She suddenly grabbed on the arm of this fox hero without even realizing she did so. She didn’t know what was coming over to her, why she stopped someone she didn’t know. However, there was this tingling feeling inside of her. As if she needed to say something to him. It was on the edge of her tongue, but the words wouldn’t come out.

There was this silence between them. Vulpino turned around when Chloé stopped him and expected her to say something to him. However, she didn’t say a single word after stopping him. He wondered why she would even stop him if she got not to say.

She looked at him in such a… strange way. Her mouth opened sometimes and closed again, her eyes pierced into his. As if she didn’t want to let go of him. She looked somehow desperate. There must’ve been something on her mind that she needed to tell him. He never saw her like this before, it just made him wonder… If she was maybe having a fever? Her cheeks were soft red, her eyes looked so tired. She didn’t look well at all, though she did say that she wasn’t feeling well during school. Yet she was somehow around the Eiffel Tower, instead of being at home. She sure was a strange girl.

“T…”

Almost, she was almost able to say it. She slightly looked away, feeling very ashamed about what she was about to do. She never felt like this before. What was this feeling? She was feeling nervous. Her left hand, which was her free hand, was grabbing on her own pants, trying to clench on something. She didn’t realize that her cheeks were glowing red, while she was trying to gather some… courage?

“Th…thank you for saving me.”

Done, she finally said it. It was so embarrassing to do so though. It was as if she lost a bit of her pride when she said something like that. Even though she was mumbling it, she hoped that Vulpino heard what she said so she didn’t need to repeat it.

There was this silence between them again. They could only hear the soft rustling of the trees, which was caused by the wind. From time to time they could hear some cars pass by.

The silence was killing her. She didn’t even dare to look up to Vulpino. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Shouldn’t he be like “no problem” in this situation and just leave? Why was he still standing there? Why did this even make her feel so uncomfortable? Maybe she shouldn’t have thanked him after all. Maybe she was indeed ill, this was so unusual of her.

“Pfft.”

Chloé looked up when she heard that soft chuckle. She saw that Vulpino was holding back his laughter, which made her feel very confused. However, she was mostly offended. She didn’t realize she was still holding on to Vulpino, but she eventually let go and instead she clenched both her hands into fists and glared at this so-called hero.

“What are you laughing at?!”

He chuckled once again, before clearing his throat. He didn’t mean to offend Chloé, at least not now when she was being quite nice. It would be nice if she could be like this to everyone else as well.

“Nothing, I was just taken aback to be thanked. I’m sorry that I laughed. I feel very honored to be thanked by you.”

Of course, he was being quite sarcastic with the last sentence. Though if he would say something like that, Chloé would forgive him. She was quite easy to figure out after all.

“Hmpf, you better be. I usually don’t thank someone.”

Well, that wasn’t a good thing, was it? Though this was still Chloé, it would be very weird if she did thank people regularly. Which made him slightly worried if she was really alright. Since he was worried, he took a step closer to her to inspect her.

“W-what?”

As soon as Vulpino took a step closer to her, she automatically took a step back. Why was he even getting so close to her anyways? And he also got this weird expression on his face. Even though she couldn’t see his eyebrows, she could see him frowning at her.

“I think you should ask a doctor to check on you just in case. Your face is totally red; I think you have a fever. You also look very tired. You should head to bed right away… Well, I will be leaving now then. I hope you will get better. Bye.”

Vulpino turned around while waving her goodbye. He hoped that she would let him leave this time. Luckily she did leave him alone so he could go home. Weird. He was actually worried about Chloé. Well, maybe that was because he was a hero, so he should care about everyone? It would be nice thought if Chloé could act nice more often instead of being some spoiled princess. Oh, well, instead of thinking about her, it might be better to think about what he should do with Marinette. She said she was having a crush on Adrien. Adrien was a great guy, but so was Chat Noir. Marinette seemed to hold some strong feelings for Chat as well. Maybe he should ask Adrien what he thought about Marinette before he would try to bring Chat and Marinette together. He told himself that he would support Chat, but… what should he do? Marinette and Adrien were his friends as well and if they would like each other… Then… Well, he wouldn’t know who he should support.

Chloé was still staring in the distance after Vulpino left her. What was this feeling? It was as if something in her heart was melting. She felt like she somehow softened up to people… Her father always told her that she should hold her head high and be prideful. “Never let them show your weakness,” he said. She always thought that kindness would be a waste. Once you were kind to someone, you could also get easily taken advantage of. Adrien was proof of that. He was too kind to everyone. That kindness would lead to doom. Not everyone deserved kindness so easily. It was not something you could get for free. When someone was kind to everyone, that person could easily get broken…

At least… that was what she thought.

Heroes were always liked by their kindness and selflessness. In the end, heroes always won. Ladybug, Vulpino… They were both so kind to her, they both saved her. Vulpino even cared about her health. However, those kinds of heroes would always get a weakness. Family, friends, people they cared about. Once they were in danger, they would give up everything. Then it would be the heroes’ loss, right?

Was being kind enough to win over someone’s heart? Many cruel people lived in this world. Once they saw their flaw of those kind people, they could attack them without hesitation. That was why she should be confident, prideful and… maybe mean. Besides, no one deserved her kindness anyways. And if they would break down just because some of her criticism, that would only proof how weak people could be.

But…

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be kind to some people. Vulpino seemed to care about her as well. Well of course everyone cared about her, Sabrina was even all over her. Though she never truly opened herself up for someone, but somehow, she felt like Vulpino could understand her. Maybe it was alright for her to open up to him.

Besides that, since Vulpino was still new, the chance of becoming his buddy would be higher. How fantastic would that be, to be friends with a hero? She would become super famous! No one would ever speak against her anymore if she had a hero friend backing up for her!

Just thinking about what great things she could achieve with a friend like that made her laugh. She was already excited to meet him again. He already cared about her today, when they met each other for the first time if the other incident didn’t count. Maybe he was already falling for her charms. Then that would be even easier to let him do what she wanted. She could totally brag this to everyone and everyone would admire her again! They would all over her like some servants to a queen.

Maybe she should try to akumatized someone, so she would be able to meet Vulpino again. Though that was a very horrible thing to do and she wouldn’t like that. Another option would be to search on the internet or the Ladyblog to see if there was any information about him. Maybe she could let someone make some merchandise of him and then sell it. Not only would Vulpino get famous, she would also get rich! Not that she was poor or anything, but gaining some more pocket money wouldn’t hurt. She always wanted to buy some new shoes or more limited edition Ladybug figures.

Besides, adding some Vulpino merchandise to her collection wouldn’t hurt. Maybe she could ask someone to first draw her something, like a design for some merchandise. However, once she looked on the blog, there didn’t seem to be many pictures of Vulpino. Many were just some vague pictures of him. It would be difficult to find any good reference then.

“So even Alya wasn’t able to capture a good picture of him huh… What a disappointment. Well, I didn’t expect much from that girl.”

She sighed and thought about something else. Maybe one of her classmates saw him and took a good picture of him… Wait, maybe Nathaniel could even draw Vulpino if she described him. And he was in her class as well when Vulpino appeared for the first time, right? Maybe he could draw a design for her!

“Chloé, you’re just a genius like always.”

Chloé went to bed early and had her beauty sleep. The next day, she felt great. She grinned to herself when she thought about her brilliant plan to get closer to a hero. And besides that, she realized something very crucial. If she would get closer to Vulpino, she could also get closer to Ladybug! Sometimes it even surprised her how intelligent she could be.  

She was also in better terms with Nathaniel now. He treated her better yesterday than before, what he should’ve done in the first place. But she would forgive him for that if he would draw her Vulpino. She secretly prayed that he saw that great hero too. Or else she would just wait at night and call for him when she would see him patrolling in her neighborhood. She sometimes saw Ladybug and her sidekick patrolling at night, though Ladybug always seemed to ignore her whenever she called for her. Well, maybe it wasn’t ignoring, maybe she just didn’t hear her.

“Ah, good morning Chloé. You seem to be in a better shape now, huh.”

Nathaniel said as soon as Chloé approached his seat again. He only glanced at her for a second, before looking away. He wondered if this would become some daily thing. Every morning she would come to his seat. Though he hoped she would just leave him alone after yesterday. Didn’t he already apologize to her? What else did she want from him? Well, however she would act to him, he could handle it. He didn’t want to pay much attention to her, so he was just doodling in his sketchbook.

“… Move aside, I will sit next to you.”

She wanted to see his drawing skills after all. Even though she already saw them once with that drawing of him and Marinette, but maybe his art style changed or improved. Besides that, she was curious if he was still so head over heels about Marinette. She didn’t understand why he would like someone like her. So, even though she was curious, she secretly hoped that she wouldn’t come across a drawing about that baker girl or else it would piss her off.

Nathaniel almost dropped his pencil when she said that. Did she like to torture him so much? She wanted to sit next to him so she could torture him even more? Why would she even go that far? He was being kind to her yesterday! Was this his fate or some kind of punishment? Would she always stick her nose in his business from now on? And she was even ordering him around. He wasn’t her servant or someone like Sabrina.

“Hold on, what right do you have to order me around? You can’t just- “

Chloé was getting slightly impatient, so she just pushed him aside and sat next to him. She glared at him, which made him shut up for a while. Then Nathaniel just sighed and leaned on his hand. It didn’t seem like he could chase her away, so he would give up.

“What about Sabrina?”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

Sabrina only had her as friend, so she would never oppose to her decisions. Sabrina would surely understand her. It wouldn’t be a big deal for her to sit on her own only for today.  

“So? What do you want from me this time?”

Of course, Chloé wouldn’t just sit next to him for nothing. She wasn’t like that. They were not having some tea time with each other after all. And before yesterday they were like enemies to each other. He wouldn’t think that just because he was just a bit nice to her yesterday, they were all friends together now. Ugh, that would even suck. He didn’t want her to cling to him like how she did with Adrien. Not that that would happen in the first place. She seemed like the girl who would go to people and befriend them when it would also benefit her.

“Can’t I just sit here without wanting anything?”

“No.”

That answer made her slightly annoyed and she felt offended by that as well. However, he wasn’t wrong. She did sit next to him because she wanted something from him. Maybe she should still play nice though. Nathaniel was quite a complicated guy. Though Marinette was even worse.

“Fine, I just want to see what you’re drawing. I’m someone with great sense of art, I could give you some critics to become even better. So, feel honored and hand me over your sketchbook.”

Did she even hear herself talking? Nathaniel couldn’t help but look dumbfounded at her. He would love to push her away and hope she would never bother him again. What was with her and ordering people around. Couldn’t see at least ask nicely to him if she was just curious about his drawing? Geez, what a drama queen.

“No way, why would I show you my sketchbook when you’re ordering me around like that. First you forced your way to my seat and now you’re demanding my sketchbook? Besides what critics? I remember the last time when you looked at my drawing, you were making fun of it and said something embarrassing while the whole class was listening. I bet you never felt so ashamed as I did on the day you saw that drawing of me and Marinette.”

What, now he was blaming everything on her? How could he blame her for only pointing out that it was him and Marinette? At least she didn’t tell him to go to the headmaster for doodling during class.

“Well, excuse me for just pointing out the obvious! You shouldn’t doodle during class anyways!”

“Says the one who’s always on her phone during class. As if you pay any attention to class!”

“You both should pay attention to my class.”

Miss Bustier went to their seat and put down some papers with assignments in front of them. Even though she was annoyed by their conversation, she still sounded nice and calm. More than being annoyed, she was being worried about their future. As a teacher, she was also responsible for them paying attention to the classes.

“Hand over your sketchbook and phone please. I will give them back later, though you should stay here after school and finish those assignments before you can go home. Really now, not only are you two always arguing with each other and not paying attention to the lessons, your grades are also horrible. I’ve made some assignments for you which would be useful for the next test. And Chloé, I’ve talked with your father before. He will leave you in my care, so there’s no need for you to call him later. For now, pay attention, alright?”

Miss Bustier smiled and went back to the front of the class teaching her lesson after she took Nathaniel’s sketchbook and Chloé’s phone. Once she left their seat, Nathaniel chuckled.

“Pfft, now you can’t go to your daddy and complain about it. Life is not fair huh, drama queen.”  

“Ugh shut up you tomato head. She also took your sketchbook, in case you forgot. And we both have to stick together to make those stupid assignments.”

Nathaniel picked up the papers and looked over the assignments. Then he looked at Chloé with a grin.

“Ah, I can solve them in no problem. So, I will go home earlier. Kinda sucks when Sabrina does all your homework huh.”

“You know… I really want to hit you, stupid tomato boy.”

Nathaniel softly chuckled once more and looked in front of him. At least he planned to pay attention to the class now. Besides, once he would work on something serious, he could do it.

“Heh, you call me stupid? I think you’re more the stupid one. I bet you can’t solve any problem without having a headache.”

Even without looking at Chloé, he could already feel her anger boil. Ah, somehow it was pretty fun to make her so mad. Serves her right. He knew that Sabrina would do all her homework, well, everyone in class knew. He quite respected miss Bustier for acting instead of just seeing her students fail. Maybe he should just do his best on his tests as well to make her happy. Well, he would usually do better in her classes than in science classes anyway.

“I will show you I can do it.”

Chloé mumbled angrily and looked in front of her. She tried to pay attention to the class as well, but she easily got bored listening to everything. How come her plan was totally ruined? All she wanted was to see his drawings and request him to draw something for her. She thought they were on good terms, but now they end up fighting again. Ugh, she could not get along with this guy at all. Maybe she should’ve hired some other artist in the first place. That would be way easier than dealing with him. And now she even had to stay longer at school! Without her phone, class was so boring she could fall asleep. However, before she would even fall asleep, she needed to say one last thing to Nathaniel.

“I really hate you, Nathaniel Kurtzberg.”

Nathaniel glanced at Chloé for a short moment and then smiled. Maybe it wasn’t so half bad to hang out with Chloé. She could be amusing when she couldn’t fight back to him and gets all frustrated because of that.

“Don’t worry drama queen, I hate you too. Seems like we got at least one thing in common.”

“You wish to speak to me, daddy?”

Chloé just stepped in to his room without knocking. Well, he was expecting her anyways, so why should she even bother knocking?

Mister Bourgeois looked slightly disappointed to his daughter. He heard another complain about her and that could ruin his reputation as major. Besides, he ignored this many times, letting his daughter do what she wants and believing she never did something wrong. In his eyes, she looks like a sweet princess, though… some other people doesn’t seem to think the same.

“I think it’s about time we talk about… school. How have you been doing dear?”

Chloé would usually smile to her father or act like she was having a hard time. If something bad happened to her, she would complain about it and blame the others. However, this time she just felt too tired to even pretend. Why does her father even bother her about school this time? It would usually be her going to him, not the other way around. This is one of those rare moments when her father wishes to talk to her when he’s not that busy or when he takes time off specially for her. Those are precious time to her. To think that she must spend such a precious time with her father to talk about school of all things, how ridiculous!

“I’m sorry, daddy. Can we talk about this another time? I’m tired… A lot had happened today…”

Chloé slightly sighed and averted her eyes. She didn’t want to look at her father. Not today… Not now…

The major even more worried about his precious daughter. She was not acting like her usual self. He only heard she argued with some kid in class. However, he didn’t hear what it was about. Did that kid bullied his daughter? If someone dare to do that to his daughter, then their parents would be in such huge trouble as well. He will make sure that that person would learn his learn his lesson and treat his daughter right, like how everyone’s supposed to treat her. No daughter of the major would get bullied without any consequences!  

“Chloé, you’re not getting bullied, are you? Who’s the one who made you so upset? I will call his parents right away!”

“What?”

Chloé was honestly surprised by this response. Her? Bullied? Hah, no one would dare to bully the daughter of the major. It was actually more the other way around…

“No, no. I’m not getting bullied. It’s nothing. I just had an argue with someone at school. It was just some kid in my class who disrespected me and… well we were both at… faults... I think…”

It was so hard for her to admit she was also in the wrong. She hurt so many people before, but never admitted it. She even turned the blame towards them or just laughed it off. However, somehow something hit her. Something about Nathaniel, what he said about her, made her think differently. This was the second time already she did something unusual. She even got this weird feeling in her chest, which made her feel upset and it was also painful. She didn’t like this feeling at all… It made her feel like she should apologize to him…

“…I’m going back to my room. It’s late and I don’t want to talk about it. Goodnight, daddy.”

Chloé turned around and returned to her room without waiting for her father’s response. She already felt… bad… about this whole situation. She never felt like this before because of anyone. How come she suddenly feels this kind of annoying feeling?

Maybe everything will be alright tomorrow… If she’s able to sleep.

“Rise and shine, Inarii~”

Nathaniel smiled brightly as he poked Inarii softly on his forehead. He was already feel much better comparing to yesterday. Somehow talking about everything with Marinette made him feel better. Well, in some way. Of course, he’s upset she didn’t like him in the same way, but he can’t dwell in the past forever. Besides, he made some progress! He’s much closer to her than he was ever before! That’s something great, right? Friends stays mostly longer together with each other anyways.

“Man, you’re really cheered up today huh. Well, I like you more with that big smile on your face anyways.”

Inarii yawned and rubbed in his eyes, before grinning at his partner. He didn’t know that humans could change their emotions that quickly. Well, maybe Nathaniel is just some special kid. Some people would take more time to feel down about their heartbreak. A broken heart is not easily fixed. Still… maybe his heart wasn’t really heartbroken? Or maybe in his heart he still hopes that he could go out with her. Or… he didn’t love her that much… No, no, he shouldn’t doubt his partner’s feelings. He should just be grateful that Nathaniel is in a good mood now. At least he really hopes Nathaniel isn’t forcing himself to be happy…

“By the way, Nath. Are you sure you want to go to school today?”

Nathaniel looked confused to his kwami. Why shouldn’t he go to school? He skipped school yesterday as well, so he couldn’t skip school today as well. He might get in some big trouble if he would skip school again.

“Yes of course. Besides, if I won’t go, my friends will be worried about me.”

Ah friends… That felt so nice to say. He always thought that no one would care if he wasn’t at school. He was sitting all the way in the back anyways, no one would notice the difference. However, now he has people to talk to. He actually made friends to hang out with! Just thinking about them gave him a thrill of excitement to go to school. Weird huh? Most people wouldn’t look forward to go to school, because yeah… it’s school. However, now he got friends, he can finally see school as some kind of hangout place to see his friends almost every day!

“Alright then, let’s eat breakfast and go to school~”

Inarii smiled. He actually meant the whole situation about Chloé. They were fighting with each other yesterday after all. Maybe he forgot about it? Well, that would be for the best. He didn’t want to ruin his good mood because of her, now he was feeling all better.

Somehow Nathaniel couldn’t stop smiling while walking at school. Some people must’ve thought he was creepy, but he didn’t care. Nothing could ruin his mood now, not even Chloé! At least, he would not let her ruin his mood. Maybe it would be for the best to be nice to her today and not provoke her.

“What are you smiling all about? Did Marinette accept your feelings or something?”

“Ah, speak of the devil.”

Nathaniel looked to his left, to see Chloé Bourgeois again, standing next to his stead with crossed arms. Somehow she looks… terrible? As if she didn’t sleep well at all. Though some might not notice it with all that makeup she putted on her face. However her eyes look very tired.

“Also good morning to you, Chloé.”

Nathaniel already promised himself he would be nice to her. If he would do that, maybe she would just leave him alone. He didn’t want to start another fight with her.

“What? How come he’s smiling at me? Did he forget our whole fight yesterday? Did he forget what he said to me? How he treated me? How I treated him?!”

“Ugh, when you smile at me like that, it’s really creepy and disgusting.”

Somehow she said that while being shocked how Nathaniel was treating her now. This is what she wanted in the beginning, him treating her with respect or at least not hostile. However, it feels so weird to suddenly get what she wanted now. As if she didn’t deserve it.

“Be nice… Be nice. Don’t lose your control, Nathaniel.”

Nathaniel forced to laugh slightly and looked away. He tried to calm down before looking at her again.

“Sorry for being so creepy and disgusting then… Also, sorry for yesterday. What I said might’ve gone too far. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”

Would this make her go away? She did look speechless at him. It was quite a funny sight, like she was some goldfish staring at him. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to act nice even to Chloé. He does need to ask some advice how Adrien could be so nice to everyone though.

“What!”

Why was he the one apologizing to her! She should be doing that! He was obviously hurt because of her. He even ran away! Now he’s looking all happy and fine while she was feeling so troubled about this whole thing. She even struggled to go to him to apologize. She was thinking all night about it, that she might feel better if she would apologize to him. Besides that, she knows he hates her! She’s not that stupid. So why? Why was he able to apologize so easily to her? Didn’t he struggle with his pride or something? Didn’t he have any feelings of anger towards her anymore? This just made her blood boil so much that she slammed her hand on the table in front of him, which made him startled.

“I-!”

“I should be the one apologizing to you, Nathaniel Kurtzburg! You were obviously not feeling alright yesterday. You looked horrible! And I even made it worse. However, now you look totally fine as if nothing happened. Why do you look so stupidly happy?! How come you look like you slept well yesterday while I wasn’t even able to sleep! I was even worried about you after you went home! Ugh I feel so stupid now!”

Chloé couldn’t help but just glare at Nathaniel. She wanted to yell all those things to him what was in her mind, but instead her mouth was tightly shut. In the end, she looked at Sabrina and yelled at her with a commanding tone.

“Sabrina! Grab my bag and call my driver, I’m not feeling well so I’m going home!”

Okay, Nathaniel was now completely confused. Why did Chloé look so angry after he apologized to her? He was being nice to her. Was that not enough as well? Geez, how can you even satisfy this girl? Well, if she’s going home anyways, that’s just better for him. He doesn’t need to deal with her anymore that way. Lucky~

Even though Chloé said she would go home, she was planning to go somewhere else. Instead, she would just go to the Eiffel Tower or something or some café to drink her ice coffee. Today is a sunny day, it would be a waste to spend such a nice day inside school. Besides, she couldn’t stay in the same classroom with Nathaniel without exploding again.

Somehow these days had been awfully quiet. There was no Akuma attack at all. Maybe because Chloé wasn’t her usual self? Though there might always be some other person who hurts someone else. Every human can hurt someone else’s feelings…

“No… Don’t think about negative stuff.”

Nathaniel mumbled to himself and softly slapped on his cheeks, as if he was trying to wake himself up. He just came back from school, instead of thinking about something useless, he should just do his homework. He still needed to catch up with his homework from yesterday. However, even though he was trying to do his homework, he fails doing it. In the end he was just doodling in his sketchbook again.

“Nath, are you really okay not doing your homework?”

Inarii was sitting on his desk above his sketchbook, he was looking at what his partner is drawing this time. This time it was nothing romantic, just some small comic of Chat, Ladybug and him fighting against some monsters.

Nathaniel sighed and put his pencil done. He rested his head on his arms, looking tiredly at his schoolbooks.

“Of course I need to do my homework, but I really don’t feel the energy to do them. My brains seems to leave whenever I want to do my homework.”

“Hmmm, why not think as your homework like some monster you need to defeat by solving the problems? You’re a hero right? You should defeat the homework monster!”

Inarii grabbed a ballpoint pen and poked the schoolbooks with it, as if the pen was some kind of sword. Nathaniel couldn’t help but chuckle at such a ridiculous idea, but with Inarii it might not be so boring to do his homework.

“Fine, I will do some homework.”

“That’s my partner!”

Inarii grinned proudly to his partner. He was glad that his plan worked, maybe he should try to find some more motivations for Nath to work on his homework. He gets that a lot of students don’t feel like doing something related to school.

Chloé has been sitting the whole time in a café close by the Eiffel Tower. She was just slowly drinking her ice coffee while flipping through some magazines. She could feel that some waitress sometimes look at her way, maybe because she’s been here for a long time. Not that she would care anyways. She would just tell them she’s the daughter of the major and then they would just shut up. She would rather have some time for herself in peace.

Though that peace was already getting ruined by some screams. She was putting her magazine angrily down and looked what was going on. It had been quite peaceful in Paris, but on a day when she wanted to have some peace it was being noisy. It couldn’t get any worse, can it?

Well, she shouldn’t have thought it couldn’t get any worse. Now she wears some very ugly bright red shoes and couldn’t stop dancing because of that stupid akumatized guy. What did he call himself again? The Danseur? Or something like that. How come all those names for those villains are horrible? Though hers was of course quite good.

“Hey, doesn’t this seem familiar?”

“Right, right, of the fairytale The Red Shoes right? Well, this does make everyone dance en pointe.”

“Oh come on guys, let’s go and defeat that akumatized guy. Everyone would get tired dancing the whole time like that. We should defeat him as soon as possible.”

Ladybug sighed slightly to hear Chat making another pun, but she would just ignore it like always and focus on how she should defeat this danseur. In the meantime, Vulpino was chuckling because of Chat’s pun.

“DANCE! Everyone should dance to feel the passion of ballet! No one will think I’m lame anymore, hahaha!”

“I still think you’re lame! Not only are you wearing that stupid outfit, but you are involving strangers to do some stupid ballet moves because of your issues! I got better things to do so let me go!”

Chloé yelled at him. She was very pissed off to be forced to dance. She didn’t even started reading her magazine for real yet. She saw some interesting articles about makeup products and how to keep the skin super soft. Now she couldn’t even do that!

“You! How dare you call me, Danseur, lame! You will dance for me like a monkey! You will forever dance till you die! To make it even more exciting, how about dancing at the Eiffel Tower~!”

The akumatized villain laughed and made the shoes speed up the dance moves. The shoes brings her up to the Eiffel Tower at full speed and make her dance on the edge. Chloé was screaming out of horror and called out for help. She never danced as fast as this and it sure is tiring. Her body is not used to this much movement in such a short amount of time. And the height even made things worse.

“Well, this is a turnout.” Vulpino said as he looked with a judgmental look at Chloé. She asked for it after all.

“Pfft, nice pun, foxy. After we defeat Danseur, you will take care of that girl.” Chat chuckled and then pointed towards Chloé. But before saving her, they should save Paris first.

After the fight, Chat and Ladybug left Chloé in his care. Why though? And why was she even here? Didn’t she go home before? She said she wasn’t feeling well… and now she looks even worse. Must’ve be because of dancing so much.

“Are you okay?”

As a hero, he should treat everyone equal. Even though it’s Chloé he’s talking to, he couldn’t help but worry when she looks like on the verge of fainting. She even almost fell down when the Danseur was defeated, because her legs gave in. It was a good thing he was fast enough to catch her before she fell down. Now she was sitting and hugging her legs. She didn’t even thanked him for her support, geez, talk about gratitude.

“… Do I look like I’m fine?”

Chloé looked down, which wasn’t a good idea. She was really high up and if she would lean even more forward, she would surely fall down. Besides that, she’s now with an unknown hero. She looked at her right to glance at this fox hero. She saw him before in her classroom, but other than that, she never saw him before.

“Who are you actually?”

Vulpino sighed slightly and then put one knee on the ground. He smiled kindly at her and hold his hand out so she should shake it.

“I’m Vulpino, the new fox hero.”

Chloé looked suspiciously to his hand. Well, he did kind of save her and helped out defeating that villain. Maybe she could trust him. Though no one could be as great as Ladybug, so she won’t rely on him too much. He was only a newbie after all.

“…. Chloé Bourgeois. The daughter of the major… Well you can forget that last part. You can just remember me as the extremely beautiful princess you saved.”

Vulpino couldn’t help but chuckle. Beautiful princess? Her? She’s more like the evil queen. To remember her like that is even worse than remembering her as the daughter of the major. Though maybe he could just play along with her, he doesn’t want her to be on his bad side as Vulpino as well. That would only cause double the headache.

“Well then princess, ready to go down?”

When Chloé nodded, he gently grabbed her arm to help her stand up. Her legs seems to be still wobbly like some spaghetti, so he lifted her up in bridal style right away.

“Hold on to me tight, I don’t want you to fall after all. You don’t look well, so I will just bring you home. You said you were the daughter of the major, so you must live in the hotel, Le Grand Paris, right?”

“Hold on, who said you could just bring me h-“

Before she could even finish her sentence, Vulpino already jumped. Chloé just had to cling to him, which was pretty shameful. She would rather let Ladybug bring her home than this unknown newbie hero. For now she would just endure it till she’s home.

“You can open your eyes now you know. We’ve already arrived. Make sure you rest well and don’t skip school okay? Then, goodbye princess.”

“Wait!”

“Hey Nath, are you sure you want to go to school? I mean… if you don’t feel like it, you can just stay home.”

Inarii was flying next to Nathaniel, while Nathaniel was looking in the bathroom mirror. He sighed loudly, scratching the side of his head. His hair looked terrible, no, he looked terrible. His hair was messy, his eyes were swollen and red because he cried so much.

“Thanks Inarii… But I’m fine. I have nothing to do here anyway. Even though I want to avoid Marinette for a while… I would only get more depressed when I will just be alone in my room.”

He smiled softly at Inarii before splashing cold water in his face and brushing his hair. He played with the edge of his hair, while looking at the mirror.

“Maybe I should cut my hair shorter…”

At the thought of that, he suddenly burst out of laughter. It was so sudden and loud that the fox kwami got quite scared of his friend. As he was getting really worried now, he tapped the shoulder of Nathaniel. “Nath, are you really alright? Don’t you want to rest more?”

“Ahahaha, sorry, sorry. It’s just… don’t they say that girls get their hair cut after a heartbreak? Now I’m even thinking about cutting my hair. Hah, maybe she would like me more if my hair style would be different? Geez, who am I kidding, there’s no way she would love me.”

“Hey, you don’t know that for sure yet… I mean, she only knows you for a while right? Maybe you can win her heart over.”

Nathaniel let out a sad chuckle as he went back to his room to dress up. “Maybe you’re right… But she doesn’t even notice me as Nathaniel. There’s no way if I would tell her who I am, she would be in love with me. Being rejected as Vulpino is enough for me. My feelings for her won’t get away just yet, but I think… Chat actually deserve her more. I mean… he thought of mine happiness before his. And I’m some hero who only recently appeared. I’m a real idiot to actually confess to her, I was rushing it…”

The redhead sat down on his bed and looked at his schoolbag. He wasn’t ready yet to tell Marinette that he was Vulpino. At least… as Nathaniel she could just ignore him and pay no attention to him at all, that way it wouldn’t be awkward between them. He would tell her when everything would be fine again. He knew that was quite unfair of him, but he wouldn’t be able to handle the concerned eyes from her to Vulpino and Nathaniel.

Nathaniel sighed again and looked at the clock. He would be late if he doesn’t hurry up. He didn’t feel like eating so he skipped breakfast and only took food for Inarii with him.

“Nath! You can’t just skip breakfast. You already look unhealthy now. Maybe you should stay home and sleep a bit.”

Inarii was just being really worried about his friend. Not sleeping a lot, not even eating now, that will only make his health worse. This is no way he should deal with a heartbreak.

“Please Inarii, for now… Just leave me be. I don’t feel like eating, nor do I feel like arguing. Just… for now okay? I will eat later when I’m hungry.”

“Nath… You know that you need energy in order to use your strength as Vulpino. If you push yourself too hard and you need to transform… It can be possible that part of your life energy would be taken away in order to fight.”

Nathaniel just sighed and understand Inarii’s concern. He will take an apple and eat that on the way to school. However, even eating an apple makes him sigh so much as if the apple just makes him even more sad. Just for a while Nathaniel closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Alright, let’s go to school Inarii. Maybe if I’m lucky, I can get distracted enough and cheer up for a bit.”

After all, Adrien and Nino are at school. He shouldn’t forget about his new friends. He should be happy to at least have them.

Weird, seems like he got earlier at school then his friends. He wonders where they are now, Adrien is usually on time. Or he just came to school way earlier. Ah, maybe he could just rest his eyes, he does feel sleepy now.

Nathaniel leaned his head on his arms and just closed his eyes. Only grunting when he heard a very annoying giggling next to him.

“Well, well, well, who do we have here? I actually planned to get revenge on you for what you did to me yesterday, but it seems like I wasn’t even needed. Hah, it seems like someone else did my work… most likely yourself. You look horrible you know. It’s as if you’re half dead.”

“Ah, maybe Inarii was right. I shouldn’t have gone to school after all. Ugh, I forgot all about this annoying spoiled princess.”

Nathaniel just keep his eyes closed and ignored Chloé. Who knows, maybe she would just leave him alone after she’s done talking and got bored.

“Nathaniel Kurtzberg! I’m talking to you! How dare you ignore me, Chloé Bourgeois!”

“Just ignore it, you can endure it Nathaniel. Just ignore her and she will leave.”

Chloé was tilting her head to her right and stared down at Nathaniel. He wasn’t sleeping, right? She came all the way up to the stairs to talk to him and want to get revenge on him. Maybe she should just wake him up if he’s asleep.

She walked one step down and stood in front of him. She looked at his face and even poked at his head with his pencil, but he doesn’t seem to open his eyes at all. She looked around for his sketchbook, maybe she could make fun of him if she just “lend” his sketchbook. But weirdly enough, his sketchbook was nowhere on the table.

“Ugh, if you’re not feeling well go home. If you’re here I might get some of your illness as well and become sick myself.”

“You’re already sick in the head tho.” Nathaniel accidently mumbled aloud. Now he’s hoping she didn’t hear it, but luck was not on his side as she screamed almost in his ear.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY? How dare you insult me like that and ignore me as well!”

Nathaniel just sighed aloud and opened his eyes. He looked at Chloé and was about to say something, but she got ahead of him with her stupid laugh.

“Hahaha, you look even more horrible with your eyes open! It’s as if you cried a lot! Oh? OH! I see, I see. You were crying because you got so scared what I might do to you today, no? You sure got the nerve to come to school at this state then. What? You want to ask for forgiveness? Ah well, I had such a good laugh because of you. If you beg for forgiveness on your knees, I might let you off this time. So how about it? Am I not very nice today to you? It must be your lucky day that I’m in such a good mood.”

“Ah, here we go again. Being such a high-mighty spoiled princess like always. Not everything is about you, Chloé. I did not cry because of you. You will no longer be any reason for what happens in my life. Just go and play your dolls and leave me alone. I’m in no mood to talk to you at all.”

With that, Nathaniel closed his eyes again and leaned on his arms. He already feels so tired after talking with Chloé. Just who does she think she is? He will cry because of her? Hah, she wishes.

“What! And I was being so nice to let you off too! If you talk to me like that, you would end up all alone again. No one would like you and you will get a girlfriend. Everyone will just ignore you and see you as nothing like before. Ah, even better. Why not date Marinette? You both would stay away from my Adrien that away. I’m sure she will come to like someone of her sort. You two are both nothing after all.”

“ENOUGH!”

Chloé took a step back as she heard Nathaniel scream so loud to. It was the first time to hear him raise his voice like that, it’s mostly surprising when he’s someone who usually remains quiet. However, now, he’s standing up and glaring at her. She was getting scared, but she won’t show that.

“Can’t you just shut up for once? It’s alright if you just talk bad about me, but don’t bring Marinette into this! She’s an amazing girl, the best in the world! She’s someone you can never be! She’s such a talented fashion designer who sometimes doesn’t see her own talents. She can be clumsy, tripping maybe even over nothing, but heck that’s so cute about her. She’s so kind to everyone, even to Lila who was hated by everyone. She will give people a second chance, she tries to see the good in them. She’s selfless what you need to be as well. She cares so much for everyone, that she thinks about them before herself. Even when we were attacked by an akumatized villain once, she tries to keep every safe or bring them to safety! Maybe you just hate Marinette so much because she is nothing like you. She’s loved by everyone and you are hated by everyone!”

Chloé doesn’t want to lose to this stupid guy. She doesn’t want to admit something she always denied. Her daddy told her to be confident in herself. Never show people your own insecurities is what he said. Act powerful and unfearful! That’s what she always has been doing, why doesn’t people like her? “I’m not kind? Hah, you can’t buy food with kindness.”  

“As if! Who would ever love a girl like that?!”

“Well I do! I love Marinette! And you will never beat a girl like her! I bet you just want so many attentions because your father doesn’t give you any!” Nathaniel shouted so loud to her face that she just has gone speechless.

They so busy with arguing to each other that they didn’t even notice that a lot of his classmates are already in the classroom. There were some soft whispers, which made Nathaniel look around. Everyone was staring at him, even Nino and Adrien.

“…I shouldn’t have come to school after all.”

Nathaniel mumbled as he grabbed his bag and just ran out of class, leaving his books behind. As he was running away, he could hear Adrien calling after him but he won’t stop. He will keep on running.

However, there was one moment when he stopped. It was when Marinette passed him by in a hurry. He looked behind to see her running to school and just laughed sadly.

“I still can’t get over her huh…”

Slow steps turned into walking, walking turning into speed walking, speed walking turned into running. He was running as his life depends on it. His sight became blurry as his tears rolled down from his cheeks. His heart was beating so fast he could even hear it in his head. He can’t hear anything at all, as if no one is in this world besides him.

Somehow his feet lead him to his house and he was even able to get there safely. He threw his bag to his bed and just slides down, leaning against the wall. He hugged his legs as he leaned his head on his knees.

“What’s…going on?”

Something feels weird, as if something happened to the classroom. Everyone stared at Marinette when she came into the classroom and then whispered to each other. Was it that weird for her to be late?

“Mari, you really had to be here earlier!”

Alya grabbed Marinette by her arm and explained everything to her. Even quoting what Nathaniel said about her from what she could’ve remembered. Alya never thought that Nathaniel could be so brave and talk back to Chloé like that. She always thought he was more like the guy who would remain silent from the side-line, but wow he really changed.

After hearing all, Marinette couldn’t help but blush and feel quite confused. It’s as if she heard the same words before. It sounded so similar that it can’t be said by two different people…  

“I can’t be… Nathaniel can’t be… him, right?”

No, it can’t be right? However, the only one who could say something like that to her and who also looks like Vulpino is Nathaniel. He’s also in her class, so of course he would know about her. However, there’s still a possibility that it’s someone else. Besides that… Why did Chloé pick a fight with Nathaniel in the first place?

“Chloé Bourgeois, please stay behind after school.”

As school was almost finished, Marinette kept a good eye on Chloé the whole time.  Oddly enough Chloé has been quiet and seems to be even thinking about something. She didn’t make any remarks when Marinette made a silly mistake in class or if someone else said something dumb. She didn’t even argue with Miss Bustier when she was told to stay behind after school to talk about her fought with Nathaniel. This was unlike her.

“Hey Alya, do you know why they were fighting in the first place?”

Marinette asked when she was getting out of school. She was pretty curious why Chloé would even do something like that to Nathaniel. He always seems to be sweet and to hear from Alya that he even raised his voice to Chloé means that she really did something to him. Well, she knew that Nathaniel always has disliked Chloé since that one incident.

“Nino told me Chloé was getting annoyed that Adrien was sitting next to Nathaniel, since she wasn’t sitting close to him anymore. So, she called him during lunch break to talk with her and it seems like Nathaniel talked back to her. I bet Chloé wanted to get some revenge today, but it totally failed,” Alya said and then looked at the books Marinette has been carrying.

“You sure you want to go to Nathaniel? I mean… Wouldn’t it be awkward? Even Adrien tried to stop you and offered to bring the books to Nathaniel instead. You… didn’t fall in love with Nathaniel now, did you?”

Marinette looked slightly sad and shook her head lightly. “No… I… Just need to talk to him about something. Bringing his books back was just an excuse.”

“Inarii… You said to me before that all of your previous miraculous wielders got a happy love life right…? Will I… get one as well?”

Inarii sighed softly and sat on Nathaniel’s knees. He looked at Nathaniel’s eyes, which looked worse by now than in the morning.

“Nath… You’re still young. I’m sure there will be another person coming in your life. I will guarantee you a happy love life. That will be my promise to you, so believe in my okay?”

Inarii smiled softly to Nathaniel and he nodded. He does hope that he will be able to get happy. Well… maybe love is not everything. Thanks to Inarii he got great friends now as well. Maybe he should keep it that way…staying friends. Things would be less complicated and less awkward that way. And if he would just see Marinette as friend… he could even help Chat Noir. He’s such a great guy, maybe Marinette could fall in love with him instead.

“How about you call Chat? You two should hang out, mostly as thanks what he has done for you.”

Nathaniel agreed with that, he should thank Chat properly. He will get on the rooftop and get transformed then. Maybe he can even do something fun together with just his illusions. The thought of hanging out with his first human friend just made him feel better already. There was already a smile on his face, as if Chat already promised to hang out with him. However… that smile disappeared as soon as he opened the heard the bell rang and… saw that Marinette was standing in front of the door.

He didn’t want to be rude and took a deep breath before opening the door for her. He must be strong; he needs to try not to cry in front of her. She already seems nervous enough now. She must’ve heard about the fight. “Well, try to put a smile then and just open the door.”

“H-hi Nathaniel.”

“Hello Marinette.”