Nightmares (A Ladybug and Chat Noir Fanfic)

Chapter 24

The car stopped and Marinette looked around unsure what to do. She had assumed the limousine in front of her house was from Chloe, but she hadn't seen the blonde the entire drive, so she was beginning to doubt herself. This whole thing felt more and more silly as she looked around confused. She looked out the tinted window and saw they were parked in front of a small cafe. There was a man standing at the door to the cafe, he looked like a waiter guarding the door. She opened the car door and got out, the man half bowed and opened the door for her. She tentatively walked into the building.

The inside of the cafe had a few tables and a counter with no one behind it. The chairs were flipped upside down and resting ontop of the empty tables, they were clearly closed. Chloe was the only person in the room sitting at a table facing Marinette. She was scrolling on her phone before looking up to see Marinette.

"What took you so long?" She scoffed not putting her phone down.

"Umm why are we the only ones here?" Marinette asked nervously approaching the table.

"I can't be seen with a lowly bakers daughter in public." She scoffed as if it was obvious. Marinette sat down across from her already regretting her decision to talk to Chloe. "So what do you want me to say Dupain-Cheng?"

"Could you just tell me if I hurt anyone Chloe?" Marinette asked after a moment of hesitation. Did she really want to know the answer to this? She caught the normally smug look on Chloe's face falter into a sad expression as her hand subconsciously moved up to her chest.

"Yes, you hurt Chat Noir, that inferior replacement for ladybug..." she paused putting her phone down, "and me." She clutched her wrist with her other hand.

"I'm so sorry Chloe," Marinette said tears welling in her eyes, "what did I do?"

"You barged into the classroom with a ridiculous outfit and an utterly ridiculous name," she looked away from Marinette's gaze, "and you said that you would show everyone how much pain your were in, how much pain we had caused you. Everyone was really scared to see you like that."

Flashes of memory hit Marinette, the words sounded muffled like she was underwater, blurry shapes and colour moving around. She tried to concentrate on the memories but they were vague and elusive.

"Then you said I was the one who was always hurting people so you were going to show me what it felt like." Marinette saw Chloe shudder softly, her eyes were still looking away at the wall.

"What did I do?" Marinette repeated the words she felt like she had been saying all day.

"The akuma gave you the power to hurt people, physically and-and" emotion caught Chloe's voice. The display was unlike anything Marinette had ever seen from the normally perfect blonde. Her eyes were filling with tears as she forced the rest of the words out, "Lady Pain made me relive all the pain I've ever felt all at once, every disappointment and missed birthday." She squeezed her eyes tight as a tear ran down her cheek.

"I'm so sorry Chloe," Marinette reached forwards to comfort her but Chloe pulled away quickly and wiped off the tear with an expert swipe as to not smudge her mascara.

"Yeah well whatever, I told you what I saw, so are we done now?" Chloe crossed her arms and refused to look at Marinette.

"Yes, thank you Chloe, I really appreciate you telling me," Marinette stood up and turned towards the door.

"You should stop apologizing," Marinette turned in shock to see Chloe looking at her, "you the one always telling us it's not our fault for being akumatized so it can't be your fault either." Marinette smiled at the rare kindness from Chloe before leaving. She should be listening to her own words but she had to fix the damage she caused first. She pushed her way out of the cafe and stood on the sidewalk wondering what she should do next.