The look on Chloe's face was only something you could describe as 'sly.' Her intentions as of now were nothing but bad. Envy clung to Chloe like a magnet, weighing her down, changing her attitude and emotions. Nothing felt good about this to her, but she felt like it was the only way things were going to work out for her. It's how it always was.
As she strutted towards the kitchen, confidence boldly staining every light step she took across the floor. Her outer confidence was easy to see from any eye, but the thing was, she didn't honestly feel this confidence inside herself, it was a gigantic facade, Chloe's way of getting noticed. She felt emotionally weak; she felt like nothing could make her happy at times, she felt neglected. This was her way of telling people that she was important and that she deserved attention.
She felt her hand shake, scared of the outcome of the choice she was about to make.
'Stop shaking; you have to show confidence!' She thought to herself. She couldn't show anything, but confidence through her body language or people would see right through her lie.
She felt like glass ready to shatter, she felt like a mess. She could still feel the burning sensation through her hand that was caused by slapping Marinette. The tingling feeling from the slap across the cheek taunted Chloe; she felt awful. And she had to keep this feeling concealed, away from others.
Shake. Shiver. Shake.
That was the only thing her body could do as she approached the kitchen doors. She was lucky no one could see how nervous she was.
She felt terrible for what she was about to do, 'But, it will all be worth it soon, right?' She shook off the questioning part of her thoughts and proceeded, 'It will be worth it.'
"Cheng Shifu, Marinette is looking for you," Chloe spoke to Marinette's uncle, pointing behind her to the hallway.
Cheng Shifu gave Chloe a nod then began to walk into the hallway and look for Marinette.
Shake. Shiver. Shake.
Chloe could feel it again. The shaking, the shivering, the emptiness, each time she did these things the emptiness only seemed to grow, on its way to becoming endless.
She took shaky steps towards the pot that had been placed on the stove, ingredients nearby on the counter space beside.
She took the top off the pot and looked for ingredients in the nearby cabinets that she could throw in.
She pulled out many spices and powders and threw them in quickly, then picking up a spoon and stirring the liquid.
Once she was finished, she frantically put the lid back on the pot and walked back over to the door, walking out just as Cheng Shifu came back.
"Marinette wasn't there." Cheng Shifu said as Chloe approached.
"Not my problem," Chloe responded, rushing past him.
As Chloe walked away, she found her muscles tensing up, and she felt as if she was holding back tears, it wasn't new, but it felt much worse this time around.
How she ached to let her true feelings out to someone, just someone.
-
The 'Worlds Greatest Chef' filming was now being continued in the dining hall of 'Le Grand Paris.'
Alec, the show host, had begun his introduction to this particular phase of the show, judging.
Mr.Cheng's soup had been poured into bowls and set in front of each judge at the table.
Alec introduced each judge to the audience, and then they began the testing.
Each judge took a spoonful of the soup, leaving only Chloe to sit back in her chair and look at the other fellow judges taste the soup.
Each one of the judges reactions to the soup were unpleasant, apparently showing that the soup was indeed not edible. Everyone at the table gave an honest review of the soup, paired with extremely low scores, leaving a painful look on Mr.Cheng's face.
Cheng Shifu walked up to Chloe's bowl of soup and had a taste, immediately spitting out the soup, "I never added these ingredients! Someone sabotaged my soup!"
"I'm sorry, Cheng Shifu, but your Celestial Soup will not be on the hotel menu this year, and you will not be named 'Worlds Greatest Chef'!" Alec told Cheng Shifu, then jumping out of his seat enthusiastically, "Onto the next contestant!"
"This doesn't seem right, at all," Marinette said as she turned to Adrien.
"It's wrong to assume so quickly, but I have a feeling Chloe's behind this," Adrien responded.
"I have a feeling you're right," Marinette replied her gaze shifting over to Chloe, letting out a sigh as she saw the smirk across her face.
Cheng Shifu walked up to the two, the expression on his face full of pain and anger.
"It's not your fault uncle Cheng! Chloe sabotaged your soup, and I have a feeling I provoked her, It's-," Marinette was cut off as Cheng Shifu began talking.
"My Celestial soup is at fault, and so am I, now I shall never hold the title of the 'Worlds Greatest Chef'!" He said before walking off.
"U-Uncle Cheng," Marinette spoke sorrowful, her words only coming out as a whisper.
-
Cheng Shifu looked down at the pot, the only emotion noticeable being sadness, and anger. He felt empty and so disappointed in himself for leaving the kitchen and giving Chloe a chance to carry out her plan.
The faint flapping wings of a butterfly filled the air, echoing in his ears until it seemed to stop and soon a dark voice replaced the sound of flapping wings and dark feelings began to wash over him, with only the intention of control.
"Hello, Kung Food. I am Hawkmoth."
-
"M-Marinette." Adrien said shyly as he tapped her shoulder lightly, gaining her attention quickly, "Ah, I'll be right back, I need to check something."
"Okay, I'll just be here," Marinette replied and sent him a smile.
"T-Thanks." He responded quickly before walking over to the washrooms.
"Plagg, you doing okay." Adrien whispered to Plagg, only to not get a response, "Plagg." he said the volume of his voice heightening. But he only got an irritated groan in return from Plagg.
"What. I'm trying to take a nap." Plagg returned, the little Kwami's voice showing vivid irritation.
"You're taking a nap right now." Adrien rolled his eyes, a sigh escaping his lips.
"Yes, I am taking a nap right now," Plagg grumbled as he found his way out of Adrien's shirt, now just peeking his head out and looking up at Adrien, "Sleep brings back your before, non-existent joy you never recall having until you took a lovely nap, and shut out the world. Sleep is a beautiful thing; you should get more of it rather than sitting in bed till three in the morning thinking about how to have a conversation with Marinette."
"I'm just planning ahead!" Adrien shot back unhappily.
A commotion then arose, and the fearful screaming of people rang throughout his ears. Adrien's first instinct was to transform without a second thought.
"Plagg, transform me!" He demanded, he nearly had to scream because of the commotion and shrieking.
"Don't get so demanding and impa-!" Plagg tried to say before being sucked into the ring.
-
Adrien who had now transformed into Chat Noir had approached the scene, only to find Chloe being carried away and a swarm of people running away. There was one person in the crowd who didn't move, they stood there, eyes wide, spilling over with tears, like an overflowing glass of water.
Marinette, was who stood there in this petrified state. The sight of the tears that ran down her pink cheeks, the look of pain she had across her face, sent Chat shivers and caused his heart to ache.
He never wanted to see her cry, ever. But he was here, seeing the energetic and happy girl of his dreams cry until she collapsed onto her knees, both of her hands covering her beautiful face trying to stop the tears.
At that moment it was the only thing that seemed to matter to Chat Noir. Everything appeared to slow down as he ran to her, the only thing coming out of Marinette's mouth as he approached being, "He's gone."
Chat fell onto his knees in front of Marinette and embraced her, placing her head on his shoulder, letting her cry into it.
"Marinette." Was all Chat could say, his voice weak, showing how truly feeble he felt. He couldn't say anything else to her, nothing. Only her name. He didn't know how to comfort her, and he seemed to shatter at this realization, he needed to help her, he wanted to help her more.
"He's gone, forever. He'll never be the same, a-a-and I-I only just met him. I-I'll never be able to talk to him e-ever a-again." Marinette spoke in a trembling voice, her body feeling so fragile Chat felt like if he weren't careful, she'd break, like a glass teacup being dropped, right in his arms, "G-G-Go, please. D-Do your job. Save a part of him for me. T-Take my uncle away from Hawkmoth's control." Marinette said to Chat as even more tears built up in her eyes. Chat's eyes widened as he realized Cheng-Shifu had been akumatized.
Chat didn't want to leave her, but she was right, he needed to do his job, and the most he could do was free Marinette's uncle from the control of Hawkmoth. And so he made a decision.
Chat pulled Marinette off his shoulder and looked into her eyes and whispered to her, "Take care of yourself while I'm gone." and before he ran off, he placed a peck on her forehead.
-
Agh! I'm so sorry for not updating for so long, I'm a terrible author. Please, don't attack me! I hope this chapter was at least decent, I know I did a poor job writing it, hopefully, I can make the next chapter better.
I want to thank all of you paw-some readers for staying patient and kind, It really does make me happy! I'm already putting the next chapter into the making and I'm going to give this book a thorough edit, for you guys! (I don't know who else it would be for but let's ignore that.)
Oh, and guess what! It's my birthday tomorrow, the 21st! And the release of the final episode of Yuri!!!On Ice, kinda a coincidence, hey? Especially since I'm a figure skater also! But how am I supposed to feel about it being the last episode! Should I be crying or excited to see who wins the Grand Prix! I'm so confused!
Did you enjoy the look you got inside Chloe's mind, I found that it almost seemed like I hate her! She does irritate me often during episodes but she has to have a reason for her actions, right? So I decided to shed some light onto her predicament and set a path for her later character development she's going to have to get in Season 2 of Miraculous. I'm most obviously going to be writing this story when Season 2 rolls around, and I'm going to do my AU recreations for the episodes so why not!
Thank you for sticking around for this chapter! You're such a warrior, you survived dealing with my procrastination!
-Ame