#queen wasp salt

[zoe-oneesama]

So what are your thoughts (and salt) on your research re-watch on Queen Wasp?

This episode is annoying because it tries to play both sides - it is very much NOT a redemption arc episode but at the same time tries to make you feel sorry for Chloe after she fucks shit up, which has tricked some into believing this actually WAS part of Chloe's redemption arc.

As @hypexion laid out in a full essay, there never was a Chloe redemption arc because Chloe never thought she did anything wrong and never thought she had to change. In "Queen Wasp", she refuses to return the Miraculous on the grounds "finders keepers, losers weepers", deliberately causes a crisis in order to try and FAIL to save the day just to show off, and when confronted with her deeds only has this to say:

See, I didn't pull Scarlet Lady's complete disregard for human life out of my ass, it was canon all along! 😈

"Who cares"?! "Who CARES"?! Putting aside that "WE" did not save them, Ladybug and Chat Noir saved them from YOU, I'm pretty sure the people's who's LIVES you endangered "cares"!

Thing is, if you just watch this episode and put the entire idea of "redemption" or "hero Chloe" out of your mind, this is 3/4ths of a good episode. Pretty fun, actually, with Chloe just...being Chloe. And getting to hit Chloe in the face with a trash can ❤️.

So what's with all the audience emotional manipulation at the end?

Why is Chat Noir making soft face and using soft voice at Chloe at the end, commiserating that she STOLE a Miraculous (because once she decided not to return it when asked, yes, that's theft at that point), crashed a train, and ran away from the consequences just to ImPrEsS hEr MoThEr? Guess that makes it alright then, right Adrien? 🙃

(If it was just meant to be an Adrien Character Moment, they would've had Ladybug counter him by point out that her motivation doesn't make what she did okay, but instead they have Ladybug ALSO commiserate with Chloe)

As a character beat, I get that Adrien is channeling his daddy issues through Chloe's mommy issues, but I mean for the audience: why are they having Ladybug admit to "making mistakes" and Chat Noir comfort Chloe when SHE MESSED UP THIS BADLY except to manipulate the viewer into feeling sorry for her?! Her mother didn't ASK her to do any of those things, she did them all on her own, so why are the heroes giving her a pass, ie. why are the writers wanting the audience to give Chloe a pass???

No pass! She sucked! And she deserved her classmates ripping on her in "Malediktator", but then the story had the balls to try and make the audience feel bad for Chloe for that too!

Speaking of that, it's really weird that they ended "Queen Wasp" with Ladybug being so soft on Chloe at the end, only for Marinette to turn around at the beginning of "Malediktator" and go back to being really annoyed with her. Especially after she went out of her way to reconcile things between Chloe and Audrey.

Even the way they did it - equating Ladybug accidentally dropping the Miraculous in the middle of the battle and then relying on the Miraculous Cure to return the Miraculous to Fu, (something she'd have no reason to believe shouldn't happen), to Chloe deliberately causing a disaster in order to fail to impress her mom and refusing to return the Miraculous that she Was Not Given? Those are not the same! An honest error that Ladybug fully intended to rectify vs. Chloe disregarding other's safety and the right and wrong of keeping something that never belonged to her are not on equal footing.

Oh and then there's this gem:

Giving back an item that never belonged to you to the rightful owner isn't "exceptional", it's basic human decency. Good Lord Chloe is not "exceptional" for finally adhering to the code of conduct the rest of us learned in Kindergarden.

All this pushing the viewer to feel some type of way and it's all for nothing. Feeling sorry for Chloe just leads Ladybug to giving her another chance in "Malediktator", giving Chloe entitlement to the Bee Miraculous, facing the issues of the enemy knowing her identity in "Miraculer", having to flat out retract Chloe's access to the Bee Miraculous which Chloe responds to with a full on tantrum in "Miracle Queen", leading to Fu giving Guardianship over to Ladybug.

Woooow, real glad we were told over and over again by the narrative to go easy on Chloe, sHe JuSt NeEdS a GoOd InFluEnCe and a SeCoNd ChAnce. That sure ended well for everyone.

Also this is just me being a nitpicky asshole, but if Chloe didn't out herself right in front of everyone (ie. GABRIEL), the Hawkmoth era of the series would've been over. After Style Queen failed, Gabriel had completely given up since his "Masterpiece" failed. If Chloe hadn't revealed herself, Gabriel wouldn't have been inspired to akumatize a Miraculous Holder and might've gone into retirement long enough to return the Miraculous in secret or reveal Emilie to the public in search of other methods before he could've been "inspired" by something else.

The villain defeated by lack of motivation, lmao.

(Also also obviously this could've been doubly avoided by Ladybug not losing the Bee Miraculous or taking the Bee Miraculous out in the first place, but we could've had Anti-Hero Bee Chloe with an actual secret identity paired with a new antagonist to go into a new era of Miraculous, so I would've considered that a win)

MY main gripe with the three Chloe centric episodes "Style Queen", "Queen Wasp", and "Malediktator" is all the pointless, blatant audience manipulation. They went so far out their way to make the audience side with Chloe against Ladybug and feel bad for her only to turn around and call us stupid for doing so. I want my time back and I never even believed in the Redemption Arc. I can't imagine how much worse it was for someone who actually believed what they were selling.

And obviously it was terrible for the thing that brought Chloe and Audrey together is how they're horrible people who torment the working class, but maybe we should've taken that as a sign as to where this was going. Way to immediately resolve Chloe's mommy issues as soon as they were brought up.

Wait...is that why they made the problem in "Malediktator" Chloe's usefulness?

[cornholio4]

No Second Chance

Author’s Note: On @cocoaducks on Tumblr I sent an idea prompt for a similar plotline and it got written as I Need an Ally (to Guard the Night Time) so you can check that out. This is me tackling the plot idea. Also if you heard about the Rise of the Spinx game upcoming and how you can walk around Paris as Marinette or Adrien and have friendship moments with the class; if there is by some miracle a romance option between Marinette and Luka then I would be getting the game by second hand.

Luka Couffaine never had any sort of positive opinion on Chloe Bourgeois for as long as he was ever aware of her existence; the spoilt selfish daughter of Paris' Mayor who was a relentless bully of his sister Juleka who was mostly too quiet and too shy to speak up to defend herself. Just about no one in their class liked her as she could use her father's position and a too forgiving teacher to get away with her antics.

After Hawk Moth appeared creating supervillains; he was chosen to wield the Cat Miraculous and become the hero Black Feline working with his partner Ladybug. More often than not the Akumas were caused by Chloe's brattiness; he would never forgive Chloe for making it so that he had to fight his own sister when was turned into Reflekta. He kept it hidden but did had some vindictive pleasure in fighting her when was turned into Antibug.

Then Luka met Juleka's friend who was helping her to break out of her shell and the only one who suffered through Chloe's bullying more and longer than Juleka; Marinette Dupain-Cheng who he could clearly see was a funny amazing girl. It didn't take long for him to fall for her and the more time he spent with her the more he fell for her.

Chloe would never get any favors from him for her treatment of his 2 favourite girls. Only Bob Roth came close in his hate list; he was only able to stop himself from being Akumatized by reminding himself that he can't let Hawk Moth have any chance at his Miraculous and anyway he and Kitty Section managed to come up with a scheme to trick him into confessing on live feed.

Then at the fashion show with Marinette's contest winning hate design; Chloe's mother became Style Queen over a seat (it was really something that it was really easy for him to believe that the person who gave birth to Chloe could be so petty to give enough negative emotion to become Akumatized over something like that) and afterwards he had to deal with the idea that Marinette could be leaving Paris for a chance to pursue her designing dreams.

However during that fight Ladybug ended up losing the Bee Miraculous she was going to give to a new hero and who should find it but Chloe herself?

Angry over her mother's treatment she actually TRANSFORMED ON LIVE NEWS TV! As the new 'superhero' Queen Bee she then proceeded to intentionally almost crash a train so she could play hero and fail miserably in her attempts to save the day. She made no attempts to hide it afterwards as she tried to draw up congratulations to her; no hint of regret or remorse to what she had done or what could have happened.

All that was bad enough but the fact that Marinette's own parents were on that train... Knowing that the girl he was in love with was so close to being orphaned...

He didn't think that he could hate her more than he already did...

He took pleasure in seeing Ladybug call her out and the words from Chloe's mother... Okay he could tell that Audrey Bourgeois was a cruel selfish toxic parent and trying to please her always failed for Chloe so he could give a little sympathy but it was far outweighted by Chloe's own actions and attitude.

She became Queen Wasp and afterwards she held the Bee Miraculous and had the gall to plead:

"Give me a second chance, please!"

He then proceed to furiously grab and twist her arms' not caring how strong his grip and grabbed the Bee Miraculous from pushing as she tried to take it back.

"Black Feline..." Ladybug asked eyes widening as she never saw her chill partner act like this.

"Sorry Ladybug... It's just that my patience with Chloe's bull has come to an end." Luka told Ladybug as Nadja Chamack came over with the live TV crew to capture what is going on as he faced Chloe on the ground looking cold. "What makes you think that you deserve a second chance after that stunt you pulled? All those people who could have died on that train if we weren't able to stop it! You showed no regret or remorse to it all and you think that we are supposed for you asking to be given another chance looking sad like that? As far as I am concerned you never should have been given a first chance at all!" Luka snapped at her causing her to stand up looking furious as she dried away her tears.

"Who do you think you are you mangy cat? Do you not know who I am?" Chloe retorted and Luka laughed humorlessly.

"I think I am one half of the hero team who have to keep the citizens of Paris safe and you are a spoiled brat who thought that creating her own emergencies to fail at saving is what superheroes do. Do you not understand the consequences of your own actions... Oh I am sorry; I forgot that thanks to your rich Mayor father the concept of your own actions having consequences is a completely alien idea to you!" Luka shouted back at her as she was open mouthed. "I know that you are a selfish bully who takes huge pleasure in picking on your own classmates; most of the time when Akumas came from your class it's your fault! Letting you keep the Bee Miraculous would give Paris a 2nd supervillain!" Luka continued on and Chloe got angry.

"You watch what you say! My daddy can and will ruin you! I will make sure that he sends the police against you both and treat you as Hawk Moth's helpers if you don't give me back my Miraculous! I will ruin you both!" Chloe shouted as she lunged forward but Ladybug easily took her down shaking her head.

"To think that I was starting to feel sorry for you at the moment... I hope you will be held accountable for the train incident; if any who was on the train or had loved ones there want to press charges then I would be happy to make any sort of statements necessary." Ladybug said getting the thought to put the idea through the live TV news. Ladybug and Black Feline then made their exit as Chloe fumed.

The people on the train did end up pressing charges inspired by what they saw on TV and were quite vocal to the news and social media; refusing to let the Mayor sweep it under the rug. Audrey went back to New York leaving her family high and dry and there was now an investigation about Chloe's conduct in school so until then she was under suspension.

"You ever think that you will regret staying here and not going to New York girl?" Alya Cesaire after school asked her best friend Marinette after a day where the class and school pretty much spent their free time celebrating about Chloe's predicament; only Ms Bustier and Adrien Agreste didn't seem to happy and were feeling sorry for Chloe.

"There is always chances and New York would be great if I didn't have to study under Chloe's mom... Can you imagine her deciding to try and mould me into the daughter she wished Chloe was?" Marinette asked and there was a shriek from Juleka who was nearby.

"I have seen late night horror movies on TV and yet that was the scariest thing that I ever heard!" Juleka shuddered causing the others to laugh.

"Just a surprise that it was Black Feline who was calling her out on live news! He always seemed to be so chill; I would have thought that if any of the heroes would do so then it would be Ladybug." Nino admitted and there were murmurs of agreement; the Chloe dissenters had become more fans of Black Feline than they already were.

"You think that he was too harsh..." Marinette ended up asking remembering what Adrien had said earlier; he always seemed nice enough even if he did seem to be an apologist for Chloe at times.

"Girl; you really got to stop listening to Adrien when it comes to Chloe..." Alya sighed as she did a lot to keep Marinette away from Adrien when Chloe was involved.

"Plus after how she treated my two favourite girls; I would say that he was too kind." Luka said coming from behind to greet Marinette and his sister having come to meet them after school. Marinette and Juleka smiled at him and Alya grinned when she saw the look that Marinette gave Luka; from how the two lovebirds to be acted and how Luka spoke about Marinette you would be shocked to find that they weren't together (not yet anyway). "How are your parents?" Luka asked Marinette and she nodded.

"They are doing good; for now time not working on the bakery is spent talking with the lawyer." Marinette replied as not only was this about the case for the train fiasco but the Dupain-Chengs were pushing how Chloe had always treated their only daughter.

"I am glad; I won't be held responsible for what I would have done if you lost your parents because of that spoiled brat." Luka said with an uncharacterist look on his face as he took Marinette's hands and in that moment everyone around would believe he would commit murder to avenge Marinette's parents.

"Well you can tell them yourself; there is a free session later to spend time with them so you can come if you want." Marinette told Luka as they said goodbye to everyone else and left together.

"Should you let your mum know that Luka has gone to see the future in-laws?" Alya asked Juleka who gave a nod.

[abittersweetraisin]

Whenever i talk in favor of Chloé there have always been people telling me how she did nothing to deserve the miraculous, that she doesn't deserve a redemption, that she never showed any signs of wanting to be better. I don't agree and in this post i go in detail on why.

Since day one they've written her as a horrible person and I've never denied that. But i do say that there have been more than just signs of her being written as someone who could be better. I'm just not being blinded by hate. Let's recap some episodes... I'll try to be as brief as possible.

-Despair bear. How many of us know someone stinking rich? Maybe just from the distance? Do you really think that rich people allows their employees to talk to them the way Chloe's butler talked to her in that episode? Sure, when Chloé felt humiliated she yelled at him, but that doesn't take away that she had allowed him to get emotionally close to her. He knew her, what she had lived and how she felt. And she listened to him.

People say that her effort in this episode doesn't count because she only did it because it was convenient for her. She cared about Adrien. Even then it shows good in her. She cared about him. Adrien. Not his money, not his position, not his fame. This goes against what the writers forced on her later on season 3 finale when they said she only loved herself. - Zombizou. Oh, i love this one. People saying that she only apologized to Miss Bustier because of Chat Noir and Ladybug were there. Apologized only so she could get her miraculous again. Look at her facial expressions:

She even felt self conscious when she noticed Ladybug and Chat Noir watching them. And that wasn't an act. The character's acting is supervised by the show's director. Look how the show portrays when someone is lying, here is Lila in Protection:

And it's more than just the visuals. Go watch the episodes, listen to the music. Chloé apology do was sincere. I've also been asked "Then why didn't she apologize to Marinette?" Well, a truly shoehorned redemption arc would had her changing just like that, from one moment to the next. It feels more natural if it happens little by little, step by step.

-Malediktator. Last week i showed a video of Marinette choosing to trust Chloé with her miraculous. Let's now take a look at this scene:

Again, look at her facial expressions. She dreamed of being a hero along side Ladybug. She was so into the moment that she almost slammed against the chimney. She admired Ladybug. She wanted to be her. That was shown since season 1:

Again, more than once i've been told she only wanted the spotlight and Queen Wasp is brought as the source for that. Have we forgotten the Queen Wasp episode or are we choosing not to see what happened back then? Audrey couldn't even remember her daughter's name. She was praising Marinette, offering her the opportunity of a life time. Offering to take her to New York with her, when she hadn't even taken her own daughter with her. May the first stone be cast by whoever wouldn't truly feel jealous and hurt by something like that. Chloé had tears in her eyes. Audrey said the only exceptional thing about Chloé was being her daughter. Chloé replied (and i quote): "I'll show you how exceptional i can be!". It was then that she transformed into Queen Bee for the first time and it was after that that she did the thing where she put the train in danger so she could be the hero to save everyone. Wrong, yes. But again, this was a character that was just beginning a redemption journey. She didn't want fame, she was looking for her mother's love.

-Miraculer. Come on... How can people say she didn't try to be better? She was being offered power and she rejected that.

Yes, later she embraced the akumas, but till before season three's finale she had been written differently. That was a character that could truly become a good person. That didn't happen not because she didn't have the potential, but because the writers didn't allow that to happen. Let's not forget she's a fictional character. I mean, in Lilo and Stitch. Stich was genetically designed to want to destroy everything and even for a character like him there was redemption. It comes down to whether the writers want to write that path for a character or not.

Then Mayura tried again, she offered her the chance to retain the bee miraculous. If Chloé had truly only wanted the spotlight she could had accepted the offer. She wanted to be a hero and this time not to impress her mother. Not because she wanted the attention from the media. Come on, she's super rich. If she only wanted to be famous she could have easily made that happen. This scene was a huge mistake from the writers and they tried to patch it up with Miracle Queen episode:

They knew they were going to keep handing the same miraculous to same people. Alya has been even trusted with the Ladybug miraculous twice! So, of course they had to write the Miracle Queen episode to say "Look, she's bad, she can't be trusted." I don't know how much of the fandom didn't like that, so what did they do: "Chloé hate campaign" all along season 4. And now what they're giving us for season 5. And all this,... Why? For what? To represent people who will never change? That's an excuse and season 2 and most of season 3 are proof of that.

If after this recap you still think that she was never written trying to be better,... I'm sorry, but it would be that you don't want to see it, not that it wasn't there.

[berkut-rigel]

I remember Chloe Bourgeois that awesome character who only showed up during season 2 and 3. I'm sad she didn't appear anymore after in the show though...

[muggle-born-princess]

Queen Wasp...

So unpopular and controversial opinion, but I actually consider “Queen Wasp” one of my favorite Miraculous episodes of all time.

The following being:

It was the first to see one of the anti heroes get a miraculous

It was the first to have someone reveal their identity; thus breaking the show’s mold of keeping your identity a secret.

It was the first to learn that even a miraculous holder is capable of being akumatized

It was where we finally learn why said anti hero behaves this certain way as a follow up to the last episode they attempted to redeem themselves.

However, the more I keep thinking of this episode, the more I keep thinking of this minor, yet big flaw it had; but I just can’t put my finger on it. What was it?

Hmm....

OH YEAH! THE ENDING! 

Seriously, the ending to “Queen Wasp” is one of the worst fucking endings the series could ever have! 

I cannot describe how furious and angry it makes me without having to hear what Marinette says to both Chloe and Audrey.

Marinette: “You're also wrong about your daughter not being exceptional. In fact, Chloé is exceptionally mean. She's the worst person I've ever met. She may be more heinous, pompous and selfish than you. Compared to both of you, even a rock seems more capable of love.”

I’m sorry, but 

WHAT THE  FUCK!

Marinette, I love you and all, but how much of a fucking idiot are you?

Okay, look. Marinette cannot be everyone’s hero 24/7; whether as Marinette or even Ladybug. She doesn’t have to right to fix everyone’s problems; big or small. She has her own life too. That is understandable. 

But look at this!

Marinette,

SHE IS LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU!

WHY?! 

BECAUSE SHE IS LOOKING FOR ADVICE FROM YOU!

Keep in mind, this is the same girl who:

Has bullied Marinette for years beyond years

Was racist towards her own uncle

Tries to steal Adrien away from her

Attempts to ruin her life 24/7

And yet, she is still looking at her, mentally telling her what should she say or do in order to make up with her bitchy, selfish, neglectful Karen of a mother!

But nope, Marinette decides to pull a 180 and basically say “Lol, you both suck ass and are worse than the terrorist that brainwashes almost everyone in this city.” 

Oh wait, that’s Thomas Astruc saying that, but you get my point. 

In all seriousness, “Queen Wasp” is a good episode due to the development we get from Chloe, but goddamn the ending can rot in hell for its atrocious, 

[nangbaby]

A lot of people condemn the scene in Queen Wasp where Marinette reconciles Chloé with her mother, Audrey. Marinette tells Audrey that Chloé is as abusive as her, thus encouraging the mother and daughter to connect by being abusive. In retrospect, especially with the direction the series has taken, this scene is problematic.

But there is an important nuance many of these critics miss.

In that scene, Marinette is insulting Chloé and Audrey their faces and both of them take offense, as Marinette intends. But why is Audrey affected by this insult to the point where she re-evaluates her relationship with her daughter? And why is Chloé able to make a genuine connection with her mother even if it's in abusive way?

Because both of them legitimately do not see themselves as bad people. The implication is while Chloé and Audrey are mean, neither of them want to be bad people and think they actually do care what other people think of them. Audrey puts on a demanding attitude to get what she wants, and Chloé does it because she's mirroring her mother, but Marinette's insult hurts them both because that's not who either want to be. The whole episode was about Chloé wanting to not only be exceptional, but wanting to be a hero. Audrey does want to be a good mother at least at this point. And Marinette has called both of them the horrible people they actually are.

Unlike in Style Queen, where Audrey falls victim to the akuma because of her pride, in Queen Wasp Audrey is hurt and not just because she was denied. She's hurt because a protégé she was impressed by dared call her incapable of love and accused her of not loving her daughter. In her mind, she clearly does love Chloé, not thinking of her as a possession or a trinket.

Compare this to Season 5. If anyone had said this to Chloé and Audrey, neither of them would care. If anything, they would take the insults as compliments.

The reunion scene in Queen Wasp would not be as damaging a scene if both Audrey and Chloé had been allowed to evolve in later seasons. With the way the scene is framed, their vitriolic attitudes are clear covers for the good people they could genuinely develop to be. Yes, there would still be the problematic idea of "abuse as humor" and how Audrey and Chloé lash out at other people but are rewarded by it, but it could also lead the two to begin to connect in other ways as both Audrey and Chloé became better people.

This would even work even without a Chloé redemption. If Chloé were to still end up falling from grace and descending into perma-villainy, this could have been balanced with Audrey being mean and cruel but working on being better for Chloé's sake. After all, that's precisely what the Season 3 finale was implying. With the reconciliation of Audrey and Andre in the finale, Audrey's demanding nature would balance against Andre's permissive parenting and the two were going to be a unit. It wouldn't be a "redemption" but the showrunners could have had Audrey become a better person while Chloé became worse in Season 4 and Season 5. This would show people could change for the better and the worse. At least, then, Marinette's speech in Queen Wasp could have saved one of them. Instead, it just became an excuse to have Audrey stick around with no change in behavior, which is a de facto endorsing of abuse.

[iwasbored777]

I noticed that majority of situations that that resulted in Marinette being salted were Morton's Forks (dillemma, where situation will have bad outcome regardless of character's decision)

I know this is because of Riposte, and you're right.

Funny how the first example I thought of was Queen Wasp, believe it or not, because Marinette receives a lot of hate for a situation she couldn't control no matter what she did.

People blame it on Marinette because if she didn't try to make Audrey and Chloé get along over being mean, and told Audrey she is a bad mother instead, Audrey would've been a better mother ever since and it would result in Chloé being a better person. But how would that work? At the time, Chloé didn't have any sympathetic moment to make Marinette feel like she should help her or that Chloé is a good person. Do I have to remind you that Chloé stole the miraculous and put people's lives in danger in that two-parter and she got akumatized because Ladybug didn't let her keep the miraculous she stole. How is Marinette supposed to love her for it and not connect her behaviour to her mother's when apple doesn't fall far from the tree?! And even if she said "hey Audrey you're a mean b*tch" Audrey would've not say "omg you're right I should be a good mother, thank you Marinette", that's not how it works. And Chloé hates Marinette. Chloé wouldn't appreciate that, like she wouldn't appreciate this. Audrey's personality would not change because her daughter's classmate told her to, and Chloé didn't even want to hate her mother, she asked her "why don't you love me, mom", she wanted to reconnect with her/for her mom to love her - and she got what she wanted.

Marinette could've said this and that and she choose this. It would've ended the same way. The way salters talk about it is as if they don't even know what kind of characters Audrey and Chloé are in canon and that, not only Marinette, but no one could've changed the ending of this episode. Like Ladybug told Jagged and Anarka "your problem is beyond my power" - let them deal with their family issues themselves, Marinette is not a lawyer.

And I even got another proof that she was right in Riposte, they should've explained it in canon that she was right.

[princess-of-the-corner]

this isn't Zoe salt but lmao Pollen side eyeing Zoe's whole schtick being wasp-coded like....

I'm still side-eyeing it because seriously what the fuck is that about?

Like you have everything else going 'look how perfect and sweet and nice Zoé is compared to Chloé!', but then Chloé is the sweet bee while Zoé is the mean wasp? And it be one thing if they were just rolling with them being similar creatures ignoring how the public percieves bees as 'good' and wasps as 'bad' but they already established wasps as bad and the evil counterpart to bees thanks to Queen Wasp.

[kazylgon]

Today i finished running an adventure for some friends in the Heart: The City Beneath roleplaying game, which was an absolute wild ride from start to finish.

First of all, the system fucking SLAPS, and if you like lightweight systems which still enable honestly a lot of tension, your character suffering a LOT like seriously your little guy is going to have such a bad time, tragedy, horror, and tragic horror you should give it a go.

But Oh Boy, the shenanigans which were got up to. Extended summary below but this barely scratches the surface of everything that happened and the context for it all so if you're curious or what to know more about the system or setting send and ask or message me because I'd love to provide more context.

Our cast consists of Horizon, a mage, addicted to magic, microdosing on corruption, desperately trying to find a cure for the affliction of feebleness plaguing their entire race. Shay, a walking corpse who came back wrong, with the whispers of their possibly dead girlfriend in their brain urging them to delve greedier and deeper. And Zaktan, a surgeon made of wasps, seeking to impose perfect order on the world.

They travelled deep beneath the ground, all seeking some elusive, vague font of power, capable of granting whoever finds it whatever their soul desires, called The Heart.

The very first settlement they came across quickly disappeared, drowned by waterlogged corpses spewing salt water from their mouths. Horizon accidentally opened their soul up to the master of these creatures with a particularly unlucky roll, and left them retching up salt water for a brief moment before everyone could escape to the Temple of the Moon.

Here they meet the high priestess Airelle, who apparently can't die, because she's the moon's favourite. She tells them that the walking corpses are vassals of the Drowned Queen, a deep god of everything beneath the water, including drowned corpses. She tells them that if they fetch a collection of runes from deeper down, she can perform a ritual to banish the queen and save all the nearby settlements that she's trying to drown. She'll offer a reward, of course, but Zaktan doesn't trust her one bit, and refuses her offer to he can break into her room to snoop around instead.

The first step on this quest is to sneak through a junkyard filled with cultists obsessed with death. Here they find a beast of metal and Heartflesh. Shay frees it, as the voice in their head encouraged them to do, devours some of its flesh, and in its gratitude it devours some of the cultists in their way.

The next destination is an ancient train station with vibrating crystals hanging from the ceiling, threatening to fall if any loud noise shakes them free. Here Zaktan becomes fascinated with the wreck of a magical train, being studied by Knights of the Rail, Horizon seeks treatment from the knight's surgeon (nasty little goblin who thinks Horizon's entire race are a lost cause because of the curse of feebleness they bear), and Shay immediately sets about collapsing the ceiling of the place to break the floor and open a tunnel deeper. This frees an angel of convulsing, raw flesh and sinew which proceeds to destroy the entire station, forcing the group to flee.

The group accepts Shay's actions after they calmly explain themselves.

Just kidding Zaktan slices Shay's face off. Shay doesn't care in the slightest because they brought the love of the Heart to the station and everyone in it.

From here it's a straight shot down to the sanctum of the mages keeping the protective runes.

Just kidding again. The Drowned Queen has taken up residence here. In person. All ten feet of her perfect, pristine, divine body, clad in jellyfish and kelp. The whole area is flooded, but Horizon, having opened up their soul to her (accidentally, but she's so lonely she doesn't realise that) and so sweet talks into letting them explore the tower. They find a vault at the base, with the runes inside, along with a victim of the mage's experiments: a person having been infused with the magic of the Heart and turned into a strange, warped creature of warping flesh. Shay free it, it attacks Horizon, and Zaktan does literally nothing to help until Horizon misses a spell to defend themselves and accidentally hits Zaktan, exposing the fact that Horizon is capable of drawing on the Drowned Queen's power.

This doesn't go down well with Zaktan, who has been shaken by an unlucky roll and is now deeply terrified of the queen, despite his disdain for all things godly. He insists on Horizon telling him exactly what is going on, and the two do so, over a completely amicable exchange of notes which doesn't result in any more faces being sliced off.

They all rest here, and Horizon is unnerved by the Queen watching them with a burning intensity the entire time.

On the way back up, with the runes in hand, they encounter a Knight of the Rail, the only survivor of what Shay did to the station. The knight attempts to bombard with with his cannon, but Shay practically skips up to him, and shoves him into the netherworld with naught but a boop on the nose.

Getting back through the station isn't as easy, as the angel has transformed into a massive tree of meat and pulsing veins, supporting the ceiling while its roots writhe across the floor seeking flesh to devour. Shay doesn't care and just walks through, the tendrils seemingly ignoring them. Zaktan and Horizon are less lucky, and Zaktan loses his notebook, his most prized possession, becoming convinced that Horizon stole it when exchanging notes. Horizon would have made it through fine, if they weren't distracted by the desire to collect a sample, which leads them stranded, surrounded, blood from the weird angel flesh tree right in their eyes, and needing to be rescued by Shay.

Back through the junkyard, they confront the bishop leading the death cult. He reveals that he and Airelle came here together, before she betrayed and abandoned him. Shay then suplexes him off of the raised platform of his throne, Zaktan injects him with a sample of a horrid virus, and Horizon calls upon the power of the queen once more to drown him.

This clears the final obstacle back to the temple where they can begin the ritual to banish the queen. Zaktan refuses to give up the runes unless he is the one to perform the ritual however, even though it draws on the power of the moon goddess. He's convinced he knows her better than one of her high priestesses, and he's convinced said high priestess is keeping something from him. Shay mans the barricades to keep the queen and her vassals out when she inevitably attacks, and Horizon...is conflicted.

The queen does indeed attack. Her form has changed. She now resembles a drowned corpse clad in a rotting, waterlogged gown, hollow eye sockets filled with nothing but worms and small crustaceans picking at the flesh, suspended in the air by a fleshy tendril connected to some massive creature concealed in the tunnel behind her. She blows past Shay, angered that this group promised to spread her influence only to turn on her, slaughtering everything in her wake. Until Horizon rolls ridiculously well on a roll to distract her, approaches her, kisses her...giving just enough time to Zaktan to finish the ritual to banish her.

She looks at Horizon, not angry. Just sad, and betrayed. She could have given them everything, she says, moments before being yanked back down into the deep.

The group were heroes. The people living in and around the temple celebrate.

Zaktan however, heads upstairs to Airelle's room and murders her, searching for the secrets she was keeping. He doesn't get much though, not even a scream or a struggle, just a cryptic message that "She's really not going to like that, you know."

And that ends the pre-written adventure that all of this came from. Next few sessions are going to be off the edge of the map and I am so disgustingly excited as to what horrors this lot are going to get themselves into next.

[stormiclown]

The Most Hated Girl In Paris Au: Chloe Salt and Possible Redemption

Overview: Listen, I may not like the direction Chloe’s character has taken or what she represents [the white woman tears, rich, privileged, nepo-baby, classist, fascist, racist], but I myself love a redemption journey, ya know, as long as they prove that they deserve a chance or earned it!

One of my (many) problems with Chloe Bourgeois isn’t her nonexistent redemption arc but the fact that many of her stans and a select number of characters within the show are just handing her chances on a silver platter (which she acts like she’s entitled to anyways) without any effort on Chloe’s part to earn or deserve them. This is not a redemption. This is just handing a spoiled brat undeserved chances of the off chance that she’ll change. And she doesn’t. In fact, it just makes her look worse.

That brings me to my next point: Consequences. This is how I knew for a fact that Chloe’s “redemption” arc was never real from the start. Because never at any point during her arc was she given any actual long-term consequences for the way she behaves or how she treats people. In Writing 101, the foundation of a character’s change for the better would be them realizing that their actions have an impact on other people, their surroundings, and/or themselves. The next step should be a slap in the face from reality. For the rug to be pulled underneath them and they’re forced deal with the fact that it isn’t always about them and that they are not all that. But with Miss Bourgeois, we never see any of that. If anything, she believes that she’s entitled to the endless chances at redemption that everyone keeps giving her. And is actively defended by others who correctly call her out on her inability to grow and learn. When people try to help Chloe change or give her an example to follow, it just inflates her ego. No wonder everyone’s given up on her.

With these writing and character flaws in mind, I’ve come up with an AU where Chloe’s actions have piled up and now she has to decide if she wants to make things worse for herself or actually change and be able to love.

It starts with Queen Wasp, where the train crash incident actually leads to numerous people pressing charges against her, whether they were on the train or had family members who were on the train. Since Chloe is a minor, the best they could do was an ankle monitor for an indefinite amount of time. Given how she’s also stolen a miraculous, she’s not allowed to be outside when there’s an akuma attack.

In typical Chloe fashion, she just keeps digging her grave while cheering herself up. By making everyone else feel worse. However, seeing as Chloe was being held accountable by the law, the school staff feel more comfortable punishing Chloe for her bullying and harassment of other students. She threatens to get her “Daddy-kins” involved, but they argue a point back that makes her blood run cold. If Mayor Andre Bourgeois cracks down on his daughter who has been famously dubbed “Train Witch” it may be the final push that’ll end with her father not being re-elected. Seeing no other way out of it, Chloe must go through detention for the first time in her school career.

Given how Roger Raincomprix stands for the pursuit of justice and safety, I have no idea how he still allows Sabrina to be friends with someone who by all accounts, should have a criminal record. In this AU, Officer Raincomprix forbids his daughter from being friends with Chloe and to steer clear of someone he views as a budding criminal. Parents of the students who attend Francois DuPont also follow suit. They tell their kids to stay away from the Mayor’s daughter and to not associate themselves with her. They’ve done this before the train incident. (As we’re shown in canon, Chloe ruthlessly bullies her classmates and people outside of school. It’s not far fetched to assume that she regularly bullies kids from other classes). Now, effectively friendless and a social pariah, Chloe has to endure scorn from both her school mates, adults, and the majority of Paris. She now the most hated girl in Paris.

Bustier would also wake the fuck up. I know she likes to see the best in people (to a toxic degree) and believes that love conquers all, seeing her student, the one she’s made endless excuses for, actively endanger the lives of innocent people including one of her own classmates (Marinette was on that damned train for gods sake!) should’ve been enough to shake her faith in Chloe or shatter it completely and question if she was really going about this in the right way. This also causes her to re-evaluate the way she’s been treating Marinette and her other students when comes to her blatant favoritism of Chloe. In this AU, the train incident is the last straw and Bustier decides that she isn’t going to force her students to forgive her. You know, because she almost killed one of them and it wouldn’t have been a good look. Now that her second biggest enabler has switched sides, her classmates are more encouraged to stand up for themselves and not take her shit lying down anymore. Marinette (who also pressed charges against Chloe) calls Chloe out on her crap more often, reads her the filth that she is, and isn’t cowed by her usual threats anymore. When Chloe acts up in class, Bustier holds her accountable and gives her three strikes. On the third strike, she sends Chloe to the principal’s office for the first time.

With Adrien, he finds it difficult to look at Chloe. While he defended her and brought attention to the fact that Ladybug lost a miraculous (by accident) on national TV, maybe hearing that one of his classmates almost died because of Chloe’s poorly thought out choices, might make him view Chloe in a completely different light. And since Gabriel Agreste is all about self preservation, he refuses to allow Adrien to associate with Chloe anymore. Chloe possibly looses her childhood friend and this is what finally breaks her.

In canon, Chloe is used to hatred, but refuses to acknowledge why so many people want her to rot. But this much hatred on a national, possibly even global level would be enough to destroy anyone. Especially a 13-16 year old teenager. But knowing that her best friend since diapers possibly views her as a monster is too much and she falls into despair. Because at least before Queen Wasp, people acknowledged her existence, even if the attention was primarily negative. Now Post Queen Wasp is a hell that she is solely responsible for creating. People either refuse to look and pretend she doesn’t exist, or they show her that she does exist and lash out at her in a flurry of suppressed rage and vitriol.

Her melt down comes later. At the beginning, she toed the line between not caring, and being annoyed that things weren’t going her way and that everyone was making a big deal out of nothing. No matter. Everything will blow over soon and life will go back to the status quo, with her as the Queen and everyone else as the peasants beneath her feet. But it doesn’t go away. Because unlike the show, people remember. They remember and aren’t willing to forgive or forget. And this is the first kick to the gut, not the disapproval, not the shame, but the fact that the usual routine has been changed and is unfamiliar. People like Chloe have one fear: The status quo being challenged.

A large part of the reason Chloe thinks she’s untouchable is because people aren’t willing to challenge the status quo (aside from the class beginning to stand up to her in season one). And if they do, they end up apologizing for thinking the worst of Chloe, or told to back off by other characters. If anything, every one of her victims would be well within their rights to spit in her face and double down on their worsening opinions of her. After all, Chloe hasn’t given them a reason not to. She has a record of being at her worst when people are actively challenging the status quo she’s created which riles her up into further cruelty. Now that a new status quo has been formed, one that she doesn’t have any control over, she has no power and it increasingly becomes more unbearable.

Every time someone or something deviates from the usual status quo that she’s used to, a little part of her soul dies. Her father refusing to go along with her whims anymore is another slap to her face. As Mayor Bourgeois has been her biggest supporter ever since she was a baby. In canon, Chloe has always taken her father for granted, but his disapproval wounds something deep within Chloe, which contributes to her mental break down.

This is due to the fact that Chloe is a very rigid person who thrives off of a set routine that she forces everyone around her to follow. People like this can’t accept change, and instead of learning how to adapt, they try to destroy the source of that change which just makes things worse for them. And that’s what Chloe has attempted to do. But every time she tries, she is always shut down by the people around her, which makes h things even more horrid in her eyes. If the show is any indication, Chloe cannot learn and cannot adapt because everyone always bends over or forget to hold her accountable. This does not work for a chronologically story driven show like Miraculous Ladybug. Since Queen Wasp wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg, all of the problems people have with Chloe are brought out into the open as people openly bond over the fact that she’s getting her just desserts. Right in front of her. Que tantrum and then scorn.

It’s a terrible loop in which, Chloe’s own inability to change and adapt contributes to the endless cycle until one day she breaks.

I’ve written this AU out this way because Chloe Bourgeois does not deserve a redemption to be handed to her. What she deserves are long lasting consequences and several reality checks that will force her to actually look at herself and ask herself if this is truly how she wants to live for the rest of her life. Then, and only then, will she deserve to at best have a chance redemption.

But even if she does change for the better, she isn’t owed forgiveness by anyone.

Redemption isn’t about forgiveness. It’s about personal growth.

[transmorphobots]

All of the Undesirable Things

A piece of prose about Mercykill before she became who she was as Queen of the Dread Pirates and her relationship with Dreadshadow through the context of things in the world she loves.

"What do you even see in her?" Her brother's rude statement nearly draws her eyes up from her paper. It's nothing new in the household, everyone questioning why her. Why the rogue. It's not that they had a problem with her, of course, no, there was no problem! Which is what they always said before asking the same question again. Why, though? It wasn't that they disliked Dreadshadow, she was relatively harmless if not a bit chaotic... no, no, I don't think she's weird! She's just... not anything like who we thought you'd be interested in, is all. She's loud-mouthed, arrogant, she's a fighter- what about Thermal down at the meteorology station, she's a large aircraft too and she's a well known scientist. No, no, it's fine she doesn't have a function, of course, but why her? 

 She starts to collect her papers instead of following her brother to another conversational dead end and as she stands, her eyes lock with him.

 "Do you want to question my love of the salt marshes too?" Her reasons are held on her tongue but she keeps them there with her teeth. His eyes dart away in submission and she pushes past him. 

The marshes are not good for writing a thesis in but she prefers fighting off swarms of bugs to their swarm of judgements. They were the upholders of Onyx Prime's archive, so of course, they had a high standard. Her aunt was from Cybertron, a student of Onyx, and her uncle was a sailor from when the Titans were more than dying off legends... it wasn't that Dreadshadow was a Transformer, it was that she wasn't the right kind.

She had no purpose or function. She wasn't some starcrossing valiant or a trader. She played pranks on passersby in the swamps when she rose out of the marsh with a bellow. She would sneak into matches to interrupt them. They didn’t want someone, who’s most recent disruption was breaching onto the floating arena and sending two fighters flying into the ocean, courting their daughter. Forget whatever the daughter’s desires or wants or needs are because if it went further than a fling then it would include Dreadshadow into their heritage. This wasn't someone they wanted to be attached to Onyx Prime's legacy... but they were attached to the prestige of the Prime and not her works. She had devoured every page of it, about the connections between them and a Transformer, and she was convinced that Onyx would like Dreadshadow. 

A spaceship Transformer, abandoned for one reason or another after her first activation, who learned to adapt to the marshes. Her foundational routines and behaviors informed by the biome she was left in. No one took her in though some tried to provide for her, they couldn't house a nearly forty foot tall Transformer (so they claimed) and Dreadshadow did not trust people. Why would she, after all? Her experience was informed by crocodiles and frogs and a mysterious creator who left her wandering an environment that was harsh on mechanical lifeforms. Yet, she became a part of it. Her mimicry of the wild life was getting better and better and still she stretched more and more. She wanted something else to take the form of, she would say with a big grin and she'd leave the air open for a suggestion.

"A whole hive of Helian wasps." she would answer just to watch Dreadshadow's grin get bigger.

"I think I would get more annoying, I'd buzz around your home all day. I'd make colonies in your rafters. I'd eat your books." Her most favorite threat of all. Devouring all of the legacy of Onyx Prime and the long lineage of books her family maintained of students and apprentices to the students and of themselves. Their names proudly shining among the greats and they were great. She thought Dreadshadow was great.

 "Transformation is inevitable for all things, even archives." And the sharp features would soften in a way that erases the years of roguish living. "And I like the sound of their wings. Even when they swarm." 

"It would be fun to swarm a match." she would say... but she still hadn't decided and a hive was a hard thing to replicate. She'd suggest ticks, termites, and water striders. Then Dreadshadow would threaten to be a plague on her home and she would answer with what about those things she liked. Everything in a marsh held value in their niche. No matter how undesirable or perceived as unimportant the creepies and crawlies were to people it did not change the fact that the ecosystem balanced delicately on the populations it contained. She never missed how Dreadshadow looked when she started on a rant about how someone had tried to propose an extermination of mosquitoes through genetic sterilization because they were "an annoyance" and they did not care about what the insects supported in their own ecosystem. There was a certain nobility to a creature that was minding its business and she often wished that certain people would take up the same noble behaviors.

They never did go further with the proposal but she also had heard the person who proposed it was nearly devoured by a giant crocodile and rather than exterminate the annoyance- which may or may not have been related to them wanting to build seaside property- they moved back to the city further inland. Though she knew mosquitoes were present there, she knew crocodiles were in short supply.

The best way to write her thesis was under the shelter of a spider colony. Thick white webs connected all the trees and she never felt afraid to sit under them. She would draw prey for them and they would in exchange, let her finish her writing in peace. Smaller, bolder spiders would land on her shoulders and crawl her blouse and her arm; some would crawl across her page but would be shooed with a little touch of her finger. The larger ones would explore and she would stop in her writing to appreciate the yellow and white stripes across the black carapace. 

 She was serene within her solitude for all she ever had to do was wait. Straining to listen for any movement in the water, vibrations against the stump she sat on, any soft thwack of mud on metal... but the one she waits for moves as silently as her name. 

 "I needed my knights." Raising her hand she offers a perch to one of the larger spiders who was sitting on her shoulder. They take a moment and then crawl over, under her hand, down her wrist, exploring... patrolling. 

 "In your castle again?" She doesn't jump at the voice, expecting it, and she smiles. She looks up to Dreadshadow, a mountain of metal plate and scales, resting on the muddy shore with those bright eyes staring at her. 

"Which one of them this time?" Dreadshadow's exasperation was something she wished she could express more freely when under the judgment of her family... but this was her castle and its woven walls kept her far from them. She lets it out in a ragged sigh of frustration. 

 "My oh so concerned brother who wants to know what I see in you."

 "Did you tell him it was my 30,000 pounds of mechanical might and how you want to mangle your hands in all my bits and pieces?" The sweetness in her voice, the fluttering of the crocodilian eyes, draws out a snort and then a little laugh.

 "Almost." 

 "You should be more vulgar. They'll stop asking questions when they're concerned about the logistics of us connecting cables." A part of her that was raised in the family's concerns balks at the idea of saying anything of the sort but the part of her that was growing as wild as the thickets of the marshes laughs at the idea. What if she was so bold? What if she could live forever in webbed castles and her eight-legged knights. 

"Perhaps I should be." Words meant to push the fantasy down. She can't save marshes and insects by running away into them. She has to walk the life of an archivist and conservationist. She rests her chin in her unknighted hand and lets the fondness creep into her face like the little squires on the thesis forgotten in her lap. 

 "What form do you think I should try next?" Dreadshadow asks, as she always does, and somehow gets the maw of her form to look coy and playful in its rigid metal. 

 "Why not one of these spiders? You would scare so many gladiators with all your beautiful legs." She offers the one on the back of her hand. 

 "I would... and I could make you a manor out of webs for you to stay in. I could be your captain of the guard and the dragon that holds you hostage from all those annoying questions."

She stands up and carefully brushes her knights and squires off as she steps closer to Dreadshadow. She climbs up one of the crocodilian arms to sit on the expanse of her plated back. They slip into the water together, a boat, an island, to clear the marsh with. Over in the distance, hidden by a sandbar she can see the ocean. The air is salty and muggy, undesirable, and yet she desires it. It's hard to bear parts - the insects, the smell, the air, the vermin- exist free and in spite of everyone who would question why they need to. 

 "Doesn't your brother like to go sailing?" Dreadshadow's voice is tinged with the same tone of mischief she gets when she's told when and where the next match is. Her own little rebellion as no one expects the archivist's favorite fighter to be the disrupter. 

Standing on the top the city area, cloaked in the darkness, with only those optics glittering like copper-core stars. Her sails open up to make herself look bigger, wider, as her laugh echoes in the night. Her orphanhood, her guideless life on display, the hard to bear parts all as performance, as presence, as she announces her challenge. She exists in spite of the questions. 

 "Often." She answers and feels an amused rumble under the plates.

 "I've been thinking of going sailing too." 

And so had she.

[wilygryphon]

My ideas for if I were to rewrite Miraculous Ladybug

Chloé Bourgeois would get a proper redemption. -She would give up on trying to please her mother after Ladybug offers words of encouragement after Queen Wasp -She develops a positive relationship with her half-sister when Zoé moves to Paris.  Also, the characters actually react to the revelation that Audrey had an extramarital affair that produced a child close to Chloé in age.

Gabriel Agreste is more consistent with his standards and qualms.  While he is willing to take advantage of an emotionally-vulnerable Marinette to Akumatize her (as in Zombizou, Chameleon, and Ladybug), he would not go out of his way to ensure that she is broken in such a way, and he would use his powers to discretely protect her from Cash by Akumatizing him and leading him away from her.  Also, he would never, under any circumstances, Akumatize Adrien.

-Adrigaminette is endgame. There are plenty of shipping moments between the three of them. -Ladybug and Chat Noir reveal their identities to each other at the end of Season 3, and then they start dating, and they also both start dating Kagami as well. -For a bit into Season 4, Kagami is still out of the loop, which causes some tension. -The main plot of Glaciator 2 is moved up to Season 3, because that's one of my favorite episodes. There's also the bonus of including the scene of Hawk Moth aborting the release of his Akuma when he refuses to corrupt Adrien, so you know Chat Blanc and Ephemeral are never going to happen.

Since the incidents that incite the premise are off the table, Chat Blanc does not happen. It is referenced, however, as Adrien has a nightmare that is pretty close to what happened in the episode, minus the time travel rectification.

Season 3 would have a Sandboy redux episode/chapter, which shows new nightmares: Chat Noir's nightmare would manifest Chat Blanc (and at one point, Ladybug would have to fight him solo); Chloé's nightmare is her relapsing back into her old ways and becoming as bad as her mother, which would manifest in the form of Queen Wasp; Marinette's new nightmare would be Lila turning her friends against her (I guess it would be like a Salt fic).

Chloé does not become Miracle Queen. Hawk Moth tries to turn her to his side, but she pretends to accept his deal long enough to get the Bee Miraculous and then uses the trompo to fly off and flee so she can warn Ladybug (Hawk Moth is surprised and he's also holding the Miracle Box, so he can't simply stop her before she jumps off the roof). He switches to Plan B, which is Lila. -The episode largely plays out the same way, although Lila takes the Fox Miraculous as she becomes Miracle Queen. Her mind control drones still resemble bees, mostly, as Hawk Moth does not feel like changing the power set too much. Queen Bee joins the Battle of the Miraculous. The conflict basically ends the same way, but afterward Ladybug and Chat Noir discuss the new status quo and decide they need to trust each other more than ever, and they reveal their identities to one another.

[miraculouswolf99]

Abuse of Power

(Contains Chloe Salt, Lila Salt, Bustier Salt, Damocles Salt, and Mayor Bourgeois Salt.)

If there was one thing that all of the heroes hated, it would be anyone that would get away with their crimes. After all, if they were allowed to get away with everything that they do, then they would most likely grow up to be criminals since they would actually believe that they could get away with these things because they have gotten away with things for their entire lives.

White Wolf and Beautifly did not have much experience with that. At least, other than the queen bee wannabes back in their home country that tried to get away with their actions but was actually punished by their parents, teachers, or both. So, it was sadly something that was really only a big problem in Paris.

And the problem's name is Chloe Bourgeois.

Chloe definitely has had a very complicated last couple of years. Her mom had left her and her father for a long time to run her fashion critic business in New York until returning the previous year. And during that time, Chloe had become one of the biggest bullies in Paris that constantly used the fact that since her father is the mayor, she can do whatever she wants and always gets away with everything she does. But then she had accidentally discovered the bee miraculous, transforming into the hero Queen Bee on live television. She actually then started to get better as a person until Ladybug decided to no longer give her the bee miraculous because her identity was known.

Things had started off with the usual Chloe reactions. She whined, complained, and threw tantrums that a five-year-old would be jealous of. She also started to demand that Ladybug give her back the bee miraculous. She even went as far as to get a Bat Signal-like light to shine a bee symbol into the sky every single akuma attack to try and get Ladybug to give her back the miraculous. Like everything else in her life, Chloe felt entitled to the bee miraculous and had pretty much tried to claim it as her own despite how it did not actually belong to her.

And the longer that Ladybug went without giving it to her, the more bitter that she got. Even after being told by Ladybug that she would not get the miraculous back, she still would constantly demand the miraculous to be given back to her. It was the first time that she had ever been denied anything in her life since she usually got everything she wanted because of her father spoiling her.

So, she had done the unthinkable. When Hawkmoth managed to get his hands on the Miracle Box, he went to Chloe and offered her the bee miraculous in exchange for her teaming up with him. And she did with almost no hesitation at all. She let him akumatize her into Miracle Queen, which was basically an upgraded version of her Queen Wasp akuma form. Her swarm of magical bees could control people.

She used her powers to take control of nearly everyone in Paris. But the worst part was that because Hawkmoth had the Miracle Box, she had exposed all of the temporary heroes. Meaning that Rena Rouge, Carapace, Viperion, Ryuko, Pegasus, and King Monkey could no longer be called upon because that would put them and their families in danger.

Now, it was back to being just Ladybug, Cat Noir, White Wolf, and Beautifly. And while four heroes were better than two, it was still not as good as when they had an entire team behind them.

Now, one would think that things might have been looking up at least a little bit. Such as Chloe now actually getting punished for what she had done. And without Chloe, that would mean fewer akumas being caused because she would not be around to bully others. But, that would be wrong.

Once again, Chloe was being allowed to get away with everything that she had done. Her father and the police all refused to do anything to punish her. Of course, most of the police wanted her charged, or punished in some way, but the mayor and Lieutenant Raincomprix both did everything they could to prevent that.

It was driving almost everyone in Paris crazy. Everyone knew about Chloe teaming up with Hawkmoth and yet nothing could be done because of how corrupt her father was.

Of course, that was nothing compared to just completely and utterly PISSED that Alya was. She had been a superhero, a dream that she had since was a little kid, and that had been taken from her because of Chloe. With her identity exposed to Hawkmoth, she and the other temporary heroes could not get their miraculous again since Hawkmoth knew their identities. It would put them and their families in danger if Ladybug tried to keep them on the team. If the rest of Paris was ready to riot, Alya was ready to go to war in order for Chloe to be punished finally.

And as for the remaining heroes, they were clueless about what to do. Yes, they were looked up to by almost all of Paris as well as being seen as the only way to fight against akumas since the police could not fight against their powers. But, at the same time, they did not actually have any real authority. So, as much as they want Chloe to finally face some consequences, they did not have the power to do so. At least, not in the normal sense, anyway.

"No, you can not turn her into an ice statue," Ladybug tells White Wolf for what felt like the millionth time.

"Why not," White Wolf pouted like a little kid. "She deserves it and it's not like she would actually die since my Winter's Touch power is magical and it would be more like she is frozen in time."

"You gotta admit, m'lady, that it is a very tempting offer," Cat Noir snickered.

"Am I the only sane one here," Ladybug asked, looking up at the sky.

"Yes," Beautifly answered. "Yes, you are."

"Just be lucky that White Wolf is the one offering t use his power and not me," Cat Noir stated. "Though, using Cataclysm on her is also very tempting."

The four heroes were at the top of the Eiffel Tower talking about what they could possibly do. They were currently lucky that Hawkmoth has not made any more moves yet, but that did not mean that they were not on high alert. Not only did he still have Chloe as someone he could akumatize at any time because she was willing to team up with him, but he also had Master Fu's tablet with the translated Miraculous Spellbook on it. With it, he could repair the peacock miraculous and they could be seeing a lot more sentimonster in the future.

"We need an actual legal way to handle this," Ladybug tells them. "We may have these powers, but that does not make us above the law. We'd be no better than Hawkmoth if we use our powers in that way."

"What legal way do we even have when it comes to Chloe," White Wolf crossed his arms. "With her father and Raincomprix doing everything they can to keep her from having any type of consequences, there is nothing we can do."

"Literally all of Paris knows what Chloe did and still nothing is being done about it because of them," Beautifly said.

"Not to mention how her teacher and that principal at her school have also been protecting her," Cat Noir added. "I have heard how they have been pretty much a protection force for her at school. Especially since Alya is REALLY mad about no longer being able to be a hero."

"I heard that Alya and Kim have both gotten more detentions than anyone else has all year because of the number of confrontations that they have with Chloe," Beautifly says.

"Can't we try and use the temporary heroes to get Chloe punished," Ladybug did not want to try and resort to anything underhanded. "They all witnessed what Chloe had done after they got unhypnotized. They know that she did not forget what she had done, unlike all other akumas. And such witnesses like that are very strong in court."

"Except that, it could easily be explained that they could be lying about Chloe in order to just get her in trouble," White Wolf says. "Alya and Kim were both akumatized because of Chloe. Luka's sister was akumatized because of Chloe. Max is friends with both Kim and Alix, who were also akumatized because of Chloe. Nino would also be upset about Alya being akumatized because of Chloe. Kagami might be the only one that could work, but they could still say that she is trying to lie because she is jealous about Chloe being so close to Adrien."

"As much as I hate to admit it, White Wolf is right," Cat Noir said. "I hate not being able to do anything, but Chloe has been getting away with everything for too long."

"Not to mention how much of a toxic cycle seems to happen around her," Beautifly says. "Almost every adult around her bends to will. Her father, Raincomprix, Bustier, Damocles. With so many adults that constantly do whatever she wants, it is a cycle that almost never ends because it repeats itself over and over again."

"And me giving her back the bee miraculous multiple times probably did not help that," Ladybug facepalmed. "I knew her identity was known and yet I went right to her when her father was akumatized. If I had gone to someone else and never gave her back the bee miraculous after she became Queen Wasp, this might not have happened."

"Look, as much as White Wolf and I usually disagree with a lot of your actions, this was almost all Chloe's fault," Beautifly tells the ladybug hero. "Yes, you made the wrong decision to give the miraculous back to Chloe during Maladiktator and even during Heroes Day as well, but Chloe made all her own choices."

"If anyone is at fault, it's the adults around her," White Wolf said. "Between her father always giving her everything she wants, her teacher telling all her bullying victims to forgive her, and Damocles never letting anyone punish her, Chloe grew into the most entitled person in Paris. She fully believed that she could get whatever she wanted just because she wanted it. So, when you denied her the bee miraculous, that was probably the first time in her life that she was ever denied anything. And she couldn't handle that."

"It definitely explains a lot," Cat Noir says. "I have lived in Paris all my life, so I have also known about Chloe for all that time as well. Whenever she is denied anything even slightly, even something as simple as just having free time, she will go to any lengths to get what she wants."

"That explains that fire department incident that happened before Despair Bear," Ladybug said. "As if Chloe would ever be willing to stand around and be taught how to bake something. She would never want to 'get her hands dirty.' Plus, it is well known how much she hates the Dupain-Cheng family and the Tom Dupain was the one teaching that class."

"I have had their pastries before and it is no wonder why they are known as the best in Paris," Cat Noir was currently looking very hungry.

"We'll get you a bowl of milk later, kitty," White Wolf teased the black cat hero. "For now, we need to find a way to get Chloe to actually pay for what she has done."

"There has to be some way to override the mayor," Beautifly says. "If he won't do anything, there has to be someone in power that would be able to finally have Chloe dealt with."

"Well, why not go to the president," Cat Noir suggested. "His name is Emmanuel Macron, right?"

Literally, all three other heroes facepalmed at the suggestion. It was so simple that they were annoyed that none had thought of it sooner. Ladybug was especially annoyed because she had lived in Paris all her life and yet she did not think of that. There was a reason why she was the one with the Lucky Charms. Because she was built more for complicated plans that always worked out in the end. Cat Noir was definitely a lot more simple when it came to any plans that he came up with. 

"He is aware of what has been going on in Paris," Ladybug said. "Especially after what happened in New York, which almost caused an international incident since a French terrorist almost caused World War III."

"He would be the one to have more power than the mayor," White Wolf says. "Maybe if we go to him, he could actually do something about Chloe. Especially if we give him any and all evidence that we can gather."

"Witness statements from civilians that saw Chloe's behavior after she was de-akumatized," Beautifly started a list. "Video statements from the temporary heroes. Character witnesses from her classmates. And we can also provide statements as well since we saw everything as well. There might even be some street cameras that recorded everything as well."

"And isn't Max, who was Pegasus, a computer expert," Cat Noir remembered. "He does have that little robot boy with him all the time. Maybe he could help with that."

Since Adrien was in class with Max, he knew very well to not call Markov a "thing" or anything else that would make it appear like he thought Markov was an object. He really liked the little AI and found him adorable. And since Markov was able to be akumatized, he certainly was not fully a robot since he had actual working emotions.

"Maybe this time, there will be some actual punishment that will stick," Ladybug said.

*****

The four heroes all did as much work as they could. Especially since things in Paris were only getting worse because of Chloe and her father.

Chloe had pretty much ramped up her bullying into physical abuse. She now believed that she was utterly invincible since she got away with helping Hawkmoth. She constantly tripped Juleka and Rose whenever they were walking to their desks. She ripped up three of Nathaniel's sketchbooks, including one that had the newest drawings for his and Marc's comic. She dumped a bucket of paint onto a dress that Marinette had been designing in the art room. She had used her influence over Damocles to get Mylene banned from being in any school play. Not to mention also using her influence over Damocles to get Nino's headphones, Alix's skates, Rose's perfume, and even Markov all confiscated and locked in Damocles' office "because they annoyed her."

Her father was no better. Many of his staff members at both City Hall and at the hotel have quit in protest of how corrupt he was and how he handled everything his daughter did. But when they did that, the mayor then had them blacklisted from the careers that they had the most experience in and from jobs that related to the careers that they loved. They all had to settle for jobs that they hated but had to do to support their families. Alya had to convince her mother not to quit the hotel because she knew how much her mother loved being a chef. She could not imagine the pain her mother would feel if she was blacklisted from being a chef anywhere since it was her mother's dream. Not even her hatred of Chloe would make her put her mother through that.

The heroes all worked to gather as much evidence as they could to bring to the president. 

Ladybug recorded all of the temporary heroes. Not only to get their statements about what had happened during Miracle Queen but to also ask them about any and all experiences they had with Chloe or her father. Beautifly was the one that went to Max, after she had also rescued Markov from Damocles, and had him check street cameras to see what they saw. And to their luck, the camera caught the entire battle with both perfect audio and visual proof of Chloe's actions. White Wolf and Cat Noir were the ones that got statements from regular civilians about things they all knew and had seen both Chloe and her father do. The ones blacklisted by the mayor were more than happy to spill all the tea that they had on him not to mention how there were dozens of people that had something to say about Chloe and her behavior.

They did not even have to wait a week before they had more than enough evidence on both members of the Bourgeois family. It was very ironic that someone as horrible as Audrey "Style Queen" Bourgeois was actually the nicest of the family after everything they discovered about Chloe and the mayor.

They gathered at the Eiffel Tower again, Ladybug holding the horse miraculous so that they could teleport right to the president. All they did was nod at each other before Ladybug combined her miraculous with the horse so that they could open the portal. Ladybug used Voyage and the portal was opened.

Macron nearly jumped out of his skin when a bright blue portal opened up in his office. Papers were literally thrown into the air when he jumped. He was about to yell for his guards and press the alarm button until he saw who stepped out of the portal. He was shocked to see the four heroes come into his office.

"Sorry to burst in on you like this, Mr. President, but we had no other choice," Ladybug tells him.

"Ladybug, Cat Noir, White Wolf, Beautifly," Macron greeted all of them. "I am already aware of Hawkmoth, so what else would there be for you to talk to me about."

"We have recently battled and defeated someone that was a willing accomplice to Hawkmoth," Cat Noir tells him. "And because of this person, all of our temporary heroes have had their identities exposed, which puts their lives and the lives of their families in danger."

"This person also caused the previous Guardian of the Miraculous to give up his role and his memories in order to keep Hawkmoth from getting his hands on the rest of the miraculous," Beautifly adds. "With the role being passed to Ladybug, that puts more responsibility on her shoulders, which means less focus on finding out who Hawkmoth is."

Macron listened to them and he was honestly shocked. He ordered the mayor to keep him updated constantly on the actions of Hawkmoth. He wanted to make sure that he knew if the terrorist had a rise in power that could spread his akumas beyond Paris and into other parts of France. So, for him to not know that there was someone that willingly worked with the terrorist was shocking to him.

"If you have defeated this person, then why come to me," he asked them. "Were you somehow aware that I did not know about this?"

"We took an educated guess that you were not told based on who this person was," White Wolf stated. "But this person is exactly why we are here."

"Who is the person that worked with Hawkmoth," Macron asked them.

The heroes all shared a look with each other, getting as serious as they could.

"Chloe Bourgeois," Ladybug tells him. "The daughter of the mayor. And that is probably also why you were not told about her teaming up with Hawkmoth."

Macron definitely did not expect that. He had met Chloe a few times when he visited the mayor of Paris as part of how he always checks in on the leaders of individual cities as part of his responsibilities to all of France. He needed to make sure every city had the best leader they could have. And while he thought that Mayor Bourgeois lacked a spine when it came to his daughter, he was definitely a lot better than that fencing teacher that wanted to turn back time to the dark ages since that was when his ancestor ruled Paris with an iron fist.

"I am aware of Miss. Bourgeois's behavior problems, but are you sure that she was willing," Macron had to make sure. "After all, I am aware that akuma victims always forget everything that happened while they were akumatized."

The heroes all nodded, making the president worry.

"Chloe was different than all other akumas," White Wolf said. "All akumas have completely different personalities since their negative emotions are enhanced when akumatized. It is why they have such a drive to seek revenge, deliver justice, seek out the truth, and every other goal that they have when akumatized. But, Chloe was exactly the same while she was Miracle Queen."

Ladybug placed her yo-yo onto the president's desk. Her yo-yo was the easiest device to use to present their evidence since it came with a very easy-to-use holographic screen that appears over the regular screen when it is needed. Since all their communicators were connected, Beautifly sent the video that she had gotten from Max and the camera to Ladybug's yo-yo to be played. 

Macron watched the video. He easily recognized Chloe since she looked a lot like herself even when akumatized. He was visually horrified when he watched her out all of the temporary heroes right in front of Hawkmoth and Mayura. And he was only made even angrier when he saw how all of them were teenagers, which meant that they and their families would only be even more helpless without them being able to use the miraculous anymore.

He did think that it seemed like every other akuma fight that he was aware of. Sure, Chloe did act the same as she normally did, but that was not real proof. It was only when it reached later in the video that he got the biggest shock.

"As you can see, Chloe remembered everything even after she was de-akumatized," Beautifly said. "And even after she was defeated, she actually tried to grab onto another akuma that Hawkmoth sent to her. But after Ladybug stopped her, she tried to use all the miraculous at once to get the upper hand. It was a good thing that she did not know the transformation phrases nor knew how to fuse the miraculous together. If she did, we would have been in trouble."

"I can not believe that a teenage girl would actually team up with a terrorist," Macron was so shocked.

"That is because Chloe wanted the bee miraculous," Ladybug tells him. "But, that is partially my fault. I had gotten the bee miraculous from the Guardian to use against Chloe's mother when she was akumatized into a very powerful villain. But, in all the chaos, I lost it when it was knocked out of my hands and it fell down the Eiffel Tower. Chloe found it and then transformed into the hero, Queen Bee, on live television."

"I am already aware of her being Queen Bee," Macron says. "I don't think anyone in France is unaware of that."

"But that is part of the problem," Ladybug continued. "Chloe might have been trying to impress her mother that way, but she also did not know how to actually be a hero since that would actually require her to be selfless. But she only knows how to be selfish. Her first 'act' as a hero was trying to save a subway train from crashing, but it was only going to crash because Chloe used her miraculous power to paralyze the driver. A lot of people could have been hurt or even killed because of her actions."

"And not only that, but Chloe also refused to give back the bee miraculous when Ladybug and I went to get it from her after we saved the train," Cat Noir said. "After that, she had been akumatized into Queen Wasp. We managed to get the miraculous back after that, but Ladybug was forced to give the bee miraculous back to Chloe during Maladiktator and Heroes Day. Because of that, Chloe felt entitled to the bee miraculous and had claimed it as her own even when it never belonged to her."

"But, Chloe could not accept that," White Wolf says. "Even when Ladybug told her that she would not be given the bee miraculous again, she still believed that it was hers. She even got a bat-signal-type spotlight to shine a bee symbol into the sky whenever an akuma happened in hope of getting the bee miraculous again. But, the thing was, she never said it was to get THE bee miraculous back but to get HER miraculous back. She actually believed that it belonged to her. And the more that Ladybug denied her that, the angrier she got."

"Chloe had never been denied anything in her life," Ladybug said. "She has gotten away with bullying, cheating, threatening others, abusing others, and has basically turned her school into a living hell for everyone around her."

"And even before that, Chloe was basically a human breeding ground for akumas," Cat Noir added. "She has caused the most akumas out of everyone else that has ever caused one. Especially since others are usually caused by accidents, misunderstandings, or just general bad days. But with Chloe, she treats people so badly that it is a shock whenever she is actually not the cause of an akuma."

Cat Noir then put up the videos that he and White Wolf had from the interviews that they did with the civilians. Macron was shown many people that had been affected by both Chloe and her father.

"She locked me in the bathroom just so that she could stand next to her obsession in the class picture," Juleka said.

"She made fun of my stage fright and tried to replace me in a class movie we were doing just so she could force a kiss on Adrien," Mylene says.

"She called me a monster just because I was the first person akumatized," Ivan added.

"She once told me 'once a villain, always a villain' because I became Stormy Weather and yet she was akumatized more times than me," Aurore said.

"She pretended to be Ladybug during an interview that I was having just so that she could lie about 'Ladybug' being best friends with 'Chloe'," Jagged Stone said.

"She got my music video shut down and also basically banned me from performing in Paris just because she did not get to play Ladybug in my music video," Clara Nightingale says.

"She got my dad fired just because he would not investigate someone that she accused of stealing even when there was no evidence," Sabrina looked like she had not stopped crying for days. 

"She ripped up my letter to Prince Ali when I asked her to give it to him when she was meeting him," Rose never liked talking bad about anyone, but Chloe was her exception. 

"She destroyed my family heirloom just because she did not think it was worth anything since I was the one that owned it," Alix was still furious even when the miraculous cure had fixed her watch.

"She outed my old crush on a friend, vandalized one of my drawings, and insulted my art as a whole all on my birthday," Nathaniel was speaking up instead of being shy this time.

Of course, White Wolf and Cat Noir also got interviews with Marinette, Adrien, Lyon, and Vallia. Since the civilian interviews were separate from the former hero interviews, they had to be interviewed as well. Lucky for them that Cat Noir managed to make up a good enough excuse when Adrien needed to be interviewed and the same was said about the other heroes as well.

Adrien had put up with a lot from Chloe. He believed that she was a good person since that was the side that he knew from all the years he had with her since she was his childhood friend. But now, there are some things that not even he could explain, excuse, or forgive. Nino is his best friend while Alya, Kim, Luka, and Max were also his friends. And Kagami was very special to him. He would NEVER be able to forgive Chloe for outing them as heroes and putting their lives in danger like that.

"She tried to have our father's flower shop in Paris closed down because he would not sell her a rare Ghost Orchid flower that was well known to be at the Garden Family Sanctuary back in Greece," Lyon says.

"She tried to steal the family medallions that my brother and I wear because she wanted the sapphire and rose quartz gemstones that they are made out of," Vallia said.

"She clings onto me as if I am some type of trophy to be won," Adrien shivered and rubbed his arm that Chloe usually grabs onto. "She has also lied to tons of people about me being in love with her. She even tricked me into signing a poster that she had already written a declaration of love onto as a fake Valentine's Day present from me. I've been her friend since we were kids, but I can no longer make any excuses for her. She dug herself into this hole and now she has to lie in it."

"She has been nothing but a bullying, spoiled, heartless, brat for over ten years," Marinette really needed to get it off her chest. "It's one thing to just be either copying her mother or lashing out at the world because of her mother leaving their family for New York, but what Chloe has become reaches FAR beyond anything that either of those things could explain. She stole one of my designs for a fashion design contest and tried to pass it off as her own. She sabotaged my great uncle in a cooking competition just because he was making something she did not like on top of how he was related to me. She's gotten over sixteen people akumatized, including almost her entire class, her own father, and so many others. My parents were on that train that she tried to crash just to show off her miraculous powers in front of her mother. She tried to get me banished from Paris just because I said that she was not a hero. I once said that Chloe did not have a heart, and Chloe has never done anything but prove me right."

And then the videos changed to the interviews that the two male heroes did with those that were affected by the mayor. And while there were not as many as those who there was against Chloe, there were still a lot of people that hated her father. And it was not just hatred, as they actually did all have real issues with Mayor Bourgeois. 

There were plenty of people that spoke out about how he blacklisted them from the careers that they were good at and what they dreamed of doing. And it was just because they quit since they did not approve of how he was letting his terrorist daughter walk around with no punishment at all. There was even a woman that started crying during her interview because she was a single mother and she was worried about not being able to take care of her kids since finding a good-paying job was so hard because of being blacklisted.

There were also plenty of cops that were interviewed as well. They were the good ones that all wanted to arrest Chloe for what she had done. They vented their frustrations over how the mayor and Raincomprix were stopping them from righting such a serious wrong just because they bent to the will of a spoiled brat. And not even just that, but all the other times where they had been forced to not investigate Hawkmoth. Every time any of them were caught trying to figure out who Hawkmoth was or, at least, where he was, then they would have their jobs threatened.

They were told that it was the job of the heroes to take care of Hawkmoth, but none of them actually believed it when they were told. All of them were sure that the mayor was taking bribes from Hawkmoth in order for the police to not search for him. And since the heroes were so busy with the akumas, they were unable to go after any leads to Hawkmoth. Especially since the only suspect they had was taken off the list because he was akumatized.

But then came the interviews that were like the cream of the crops. The interviews with the former heroes. And they definitely all had plenty to say about Chloe and her father.

"I built an AI named Markov, who actually feels human emotions realistically enough to be akumatized," Max says. "And she got him confiscated as if he was just a toy because I refused to do her homework for her."

"She's tried to have my family's houseboat taken away from us several times a week even when we have all the needed paperwork to show that we have full permission to live on the boat in that part of the Seine," Luka said.

"I saved up for months to get her a special jeweled broach for Valentine's Day," Kim was kicking himself for ever having a crush on her. "And not only did she harshly reject me, but she also sent a humiliating picture of me to everyone in the class. She also got me kicked off the swim team because I refused to carry her books around for her."

"She tried to have me blacklisted from ever being a real DJ or film director for literally no reason other than that she wanted to," Nino was almost as mad as Alya. "She got my headphones confiscated even when I was not using them just because they were something that made me happy."

"She has tried to get my mother and I banished back to Japan just because I am dating the boy that she is obsessed with," Kagami said. "She has no concept that Adrien is his own person and it is his choice about who he chooses to date. But she believes that just because she wants him that she can have him."

"I am sick and tired of her getting away with everything horrible that she does to everyone," Alya was on a warpath. "She's broken into my best friend's locker, destroyed a gift that she made our teacher for her birthday, treated her supposed best friend as a slave to do her work for her, had gotten me suspended for taking a picture of her locker when she was the one that left it open in the first place, made a fake video of herself as Ladybug praising herself about all her actions as Queen Bee, tried to get my blog shut down when I refused to post anything about Queen Bee, and has just basically been the worst human being in all of Paris."

Ladybug then closed her yo-yo and took it back. She would make copies to give to whoever else would need them, but she would be keeping the originals so that she would always have them. Just in case the mayor or Raincomprix were able to get the copies to "disappear" before a trial could happen.

"We know that Chloe is still just a teenager, but nothing excuses what she has done," Ladybug tells the president. "She is old enough to know right from wrong, but she simply doesn't care. Chloe only cares about Chloe."

"Hawkmoth could have actually won when she became Miracle Queen," Cat Noir says. "And who knows what could have happened if he got his hands on our miraculous. But all Chloe cared about what getting what she wanted. She needs to finally be taught that actions have consequences."

"Her father is doing everything in his power to stop that from happening," White Wolf pointed out. "He has always done everything he could to keep her happy. It was why he shut down Clara Nightingale's music video when Chloe was not cast as the lead."

"Chloe's most well-known catchphrase, other than her saying 'ridiculous, utterly ridiculous' a lot, is pretty much her threatening to call her father," Beautifly said. "She is like a much worse version of Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter."

"So, that is why you came to me," Macron put two and two together.

The heroes all nodded.

"You are the only one that can override the mayor," Ladybug tells him. "We have put up with a lot of crap from the Bourgeois family for a long time, but we have reached the end of all our ropes. Things need to change before they get any worse than they already are."

Macron looked at all four of the heroes in front of them. He knew that they were all young, but seeing them in person revealed that none of them could be older than sixteen. And just seeing the tiredness in their eyes, he could easily tell that all of them could really use a break in everything that was happening. And since Cat Noir had said that Chloe has been the cause of so many akumas, then getting her off the streets actually could give them the break that they needed.

"I will see what I can do," Macron had a fire in his eyes.

The heroes hoped that he actually could do something.

*****

It turned out that the heroes did not have to wait very long.

Marinette was running late to school, as usual, when she had to come to a sudden stop right in front of Dupont. There was a big crowd of students standing in the doorway and on the steps of the school as well. And looking at where they were staring, she could understand why they were all just standing there.

Chloe was being dragged into a police-like car. But the cars looked like they were a lot more secure than anything she had seen in Paris. The only time she had seen a police car that secure was when Sabrina's dad had been akumatized into Rogercop, which had also changed his police car as well into something a lot more high tech and dangerous.

Chloe was currently being dragged into the police car while she was literally kicking and screaming. She kept going on and on about her father being the mayor and they couldn't do anything to her. But the ones putting her in the car only rolled their eyes and didn't care what she was saying.

Marinette went over to where Adrien, Lyon, and Vallia were all watching this happen.

"Do I even want to know," she asked them with her eyebrow raised.

"Chloe is being arrested," Lyon did not beat around the bush when he delivered news like that. "It seems that the President of France has finally learned what she did as Miracle Queen."

"Guess she's not much of a queen anymore," Vallia giggled.

The two Greek teens looked a little too happy with what was going on. Not that Marinette blamed them.

"At least someone is finally doing something about her," Marinette says.

"I wonder when the school is going to start partying," Adrien chuckled. "After all, didn't a party start seconds after Chloe had announced that she was moving to New York last year?"

"You mean the party that you did not approve of," Marinette raised an eyebrow.

"You are never going to let it go, are you," Adrien asked her.

"I can not help but love teasing others," Marinette giggled. "I introduced Alya to Jagged Stone last month and she actually fainted. And when she woke up, a did a perfect impression of her when she would tell me to just be myself when I was nervous and could not speak properly."

"Word has it that the president is also currently at City Hall arresting the mayor as well," Lyon said. "Abuse of power is a serious thing when it is used in the way that the mayor was using it."

"I hope this also helps the people that the mayor blacklisted after they quit working for him," Vallia stated.

"I hope that this helps everyone," Adrien says. "I also heard that the president and his most trusted officers will be doing in-person interviews with as many people as they can."

"I guess that would help even if they have seen videos like what would be on the street security cameras," Marinette said.

The show was soon ruined when Damocles, who was looking really red in the face from what just happened, ordered all the students to get to class. Even when he was hated by almost the entire school for how he always lets Chloe get away with everything, he was still their principal, so they listened to him.

Everyone went to their classes, but that did not stop them from talking about anything but Chloe finally getting what she deserves. By the time Marinette finally found Alya, the reporter hopeful looked like Christmas had come early. Literally, the entire school looked ready to throw the biggest party ever. Not even Hawkmoth being defeated would make them this happy. But that was mostly because Chloe has been terrorizing all of them for a lot longer than Hawkmoth has. 

Bustier's class was probably the most excited out of them all. Especially Marinette, Nino, Kim, Sabrina, Juleka, Max, and Rose. All of them have been in the same class for a long time. Nino had a different one the previous year, but his vacation away from Chloe ended when he was once again back with the rest of them.

Marinette was the one that first approached Sabrina.

"Hey, Marinette," Sabrina tried to not look her in the eye.

"How are you doing, Sabrina," Marinette asked her. "I know that things have been really hard for you, lately."

Sabrina might have been the person closest to Chloe, thinking that she was the blond's best friend, but she was also the one that was tormented by Chloe the longest as well. Sabrina just did not know it because of how she had been basically brainwashed by Chloe. And it did not help that her own father had been in the mayor's pocket for so long.

"I...I've been better," Sabrina did not want to lie. "Mom's taken custody of me and I've started therapy. But, it is still going to be some time before I actually feel okay again."

"You will get there, I'm sure," Marinette comforted her.

"Mom thinks so as well," Sabrina said. "She only says that I need time."

"Your mom sounds like a smart lady," Marinette softly smiled at the redhead.

She knew that Sabrina's parents went through a very messy divorce several years ago. Sabrina's mother was a lawyer, so she was infuriated by her husband's lack of a spine and lack of a moral compass when it came to the mayor. But when they divorced, Sabrina's dad was able to have full custody of her while her mother only got visits every weekend because of his "connection" to the mayor.

"She's trying to make up for how she believes that she did not fight hard enough for custody of me during the divorce," Sabrina says. "I don't blame her for anything since it was not like she could have done anything when the mayor backed up my dad during custody agreements. She did not have the needed power back them."

"Well, I hope that you will be able to have a much better time at school and at home from now on," Marinette tells her.

"Thanks, Marinette," Sabrina smiled at her.

Everyone went back to their seats and Marinette joined Alya in their usual seats. But she kept an eye on Sabrina since she was still worried about her. Sabrina's mental state after being Chloe's slave and minion for so long could not be the best. And with everything going on, she really worried about the next time that the redhead would be akumatized. She was dangerous enough as Vanisher and Miraculer.

"How's she doing," Alya asked Marinette.

"She's making slow progress, but that is better than no progress," Marinette says. "I think Chloe finally being arrested with probably help a lot."

"That pretty much helped everyone," Alya giggled. "I have never been so happy in my entire life."

Marinette also giggled since she was definitely happy as well. Bustier soon came in, even as everyone was still happily chatting. But unlike all her happy students, the teacher looked sad.

Everyone, even while very happy for Chloe finally being out of their hair, got out their books. They still wanted to at least try and have a normal day before they all went home and celebrated with their parents. Especially Juleka since she knew her mother was going to be REALLY happy when she finds out.

"I am sure that you all saw what had happened outside of the school a few minutes ago," Bustier started. "And in light of that, I am giving you all a very special assignment that might be of great help to someone in need."

The class all shared slight looks with each other. They were all confused by this. They knew that their teacher was very nice, but they had no idea who this "someone in need" was. But, they all had a bad feeling about what this could be about.

"What is she talking about," all of them were thinking.

And that is when a bomb is dropped on them after their teacher passed out paper for them all to write on.

"Chloe is going to need all the help that she can get," Bustier says. "And as her classmates, those that know her the most, today's assignment is to write a letter about all the good things about Chloe that you know. I am sure that this will really help during her trial."

That definitely was something the class did not expect at all. They knew that Bustier was known as the nicest teacher in the school, but this was a level of nice that took to a toxic level of niceness. They all shared looks again as their eyes widen.

Chloe had tormented them all for years. She had bullied them, destroyed their things, called them every mean word under the sun, not to mention endangering the lives of some of them when she exposed them as heroes. None of them had anything nice to say about her on a good day. So, they definitely had nothing nice to say now.

"Ms.Bustier..." Alya tried to say something.

"I know that some of you might not have had many good moments with Chloe, but she really needs the help," Bustier did not let Alya talk. "Once they see that she just needs to be shown love and kindness, then they will let her go. Just write all the good things about Chloe that you can think of."

While Bustier might believe that what she was saying was a good thing, her students did not feel the same. All of them looked at each other even more. Sabrina, in particular, looked horrified at the thought of being forced to write anything nice about Chloe. 

Alix was the first to say something.

"Write all the good things about Chloe, that's easy," she said, then crumbled up the paper in front of her and threw it behind her. "Nothing. Assignment done."

Bustier looked shocked at what Alix had just done.

"Alix has never said anything more right in her life," Alya followed her lead and crumbled up her paper as well. "We can not write anything good or nice about Chloe because there is nothing good or nice about her."

"The black panthers at the zoo where Alya's dad works are nicer than Chloe," Kim stated.

"The irony," Max stated since he was very aware of what Kim did that got Alya's dad akumatized.

All of the students did the same as Alix and Alya. They crumbled up the papers and threw them away. Well, they recycled them since they all knew that Mylene would have their heads if they were disrespectful to the environment. Lila was the only one that did not do anything to the paper. But, why would she have anything against Chloe when she was also secretly working with Hawkmoth.

"I find it hard to believe that you actually want us to do that," Marinette looked like she wanted to throw up.

"Marinette," Bustier gasped at what Marinette had said.

"Chloe dug herself into this hole and it is not our job to dig her out," Marinette continued. "She bullied us, tormented us, got almost all of us akumatized. She has been nothing but our tormentor for years. And not that she is finally getting what she deserves, you actually want to try and excuse the things that she did? What kind of teacher are you?"

"Marinette, that is no way to speak to me or about Chloe," Bustier actually had the gall to scold Marinette.

"And that is no way to speak to Marinette just because she is telling the truth," Lyon spoke up. "Vallia and I may not have been in this class as long as others have, but even we know that Chloe does not deserve the help from anyone in this class. Not after everything she has done to them."

Vallia then spoke up after her brother. "Taking away myself, my brother, Marinette, and Adrien, since none of us have been akumatized, Chloe has been responsible for literally everyone being akumatized other than Nino, Max, and Lila. And she has not once apologized for any of her actions that caused those things to happen."

"I doubt that Chloe has ever said the word 'sorry' in her life," Nino crossed his arms as he almost growled.

"That word is probably not even in her vocabulary," Max said.

"Children, please," Bustier tried to calm them all down. "I know that Chloe is not the easiest person to be around..."

"Not the easiest person," Marinette was on her feet this time. "She had Juleka locked in the bathroom, she ripped up Rose's letter to Prince Ali, she bullied Mylene over her stage fright, she called Ivan a monster, she got Alya unfairly suspended, she called Sabrina invisible and pretended like she didn't exist, she sent an embarrassing picture of Kim to the entire class, she ruined a bunch of Nathaniel's drawings and sketchbooks, and destroyed Alix's watch, she stole my hat design for the contest Adrien's father had here. Chloe has been nothing but a bully for over ten years and now she is a terrorist finally getting what she deserves."

"Marinette, that is no way to talk about Chloe," Bustier scolded her again. "We talked about the Marinettes of the world."

"Stop," Adrien was the one that stood up this time.

"Adrien," Bustier was really shocked at this.

"There is nothing that can excuse Chloe's behavior this time," Adrien actually glared at their teacher. "I believe in taking the high road when it actually would work, but this is NOT something that can be ignored. Chloe WILLINGLY worked with Hawkmoth just because she was not getting what she wanted for once in her entire spoiled life. She exposed all of the temporary heroes. Alya, Nino, Kim, Max, Luka, and Kagami now all have their lies in danger because Hawkmoth could try and get to Ladybug, Cat Noir, White Wolf, and Beautifly through them. They and their families are in danger. Nothing can excuse Chloe's actions when she causes something like that to happen."

"But Chloe was akumatized," Lila spoke up for the very first time. "Why is everyone so sure that she all that stuff willingly."

"Of course, she would stick up for Chloe," Adrien turned his glare to Lila, shocking her. "She did trick me into leaving Ladybug to Oni-Chan's mercy by faking being injured. She probably was delighted to hear that Ladybug almost lost that time."

"The proof was given," Max said. "I helped Beautifly find the needed footage of Chloe willingly helping Hawkmoth. And I have to say... it felt SO good."

"Way to go, Max," Kim gave his best friend a high-five.

"I can not believe you all," Bustier was shocked by what was happening. "I have taught you all that love and kindness are the way to handle others. This is not what I taught you."

"You did not teach love and kindness, either," Marinette snapped. "What you were teaching us was to be doormats and that people are allowed to walk all over us and treat us badly with no consequences being ever given to them. It is not our job to make Chloe better through kindness and love. It is the job of the adults. And it is the adults that failed because they brought Chloe up to believe that she can do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted with no consequences. Well, it is about time for those wrongs to finally be made right."

"You enabling Chloe has only served to make her worse," Adrien tells Bustier. "Letting her get away with everything she does while scolding others when they are rightfully upset with her just proves to Chloe that she can do whatever she wants no matter what."

"You actually had the gall to give Chloe credit for the present that Marinette made you and then she destroyed," Alya was also on her feet. "Chloe broke into Marinette's locker to do that and yet you did nothing to make Chloe think that what she did was wrong. You actually took Marinette aside instead. That is wrong on so many levels."

"You victim blame and that only makes it so much worse," Lyon said. "Scolding people for being upset with Chloe even when they have every right to be. Bullies need to be punished, not their victims. As a teacher, it is your job to protect your students and yet you left them at the mercy of a heartless bully who never has and never will show any remorse for her actions."

"Athena, as the goddess of wisdom, would be very disappointed that a teacher like you exists," Vallia said. "Your theory about love and kindness might work in fairy tales, but this is the real world and Chloe is finally getting some real-world consequences."

"Sit down, all of you," Bustier raised her voice for once. "I am completely appalled that you are saying these things. Chloe is a sweet girl that only needs to be shown kindness. Now, you will all sit down and write nice things about her before you all get detention."

That definitely made all of the class snap. They were all on their feet and shouting at Bustier that they would never have anything nice to say about Chloe. They hurled every insult that they could about the blond brat at their supposed teacher. None of them could believe that she was so sure about Chloe that she would allow them to suffer just to try and prove herself right. It was all so intense that most of them would have missed the policeman that came through the door if not for the fact that all of them had auras of authority around them. The room soon went silent.

"Caline Bustier," one of them asked.

"Yes, the teacher answered.

"You are under arrest," another said as they put her hands behind her back as they also placed handcuffs on her.

"What! Why," Bustier was shocked and confused.

"For child endangerment, child abuse, and helping a criminal," one of the officers said.

"I have never helped a criminal a day in my life," Bustier protested.

"Does the name Chloe Bourgeois ring a bell," another officer asked her. "Helping someone that aided a terrorist get away with their crimes makes you guilty of helping a criminal."

"That owl-obsessed principal of yours was also arrested for the same crimes," a third officer said.

The class was speechless, but it was not like they did not think something like this might happen with how often the principal and Bustier excused everything Chloe has done. Karma must have been working overtime to deal with all of these corrupt people.

Chloe was sentenced to juvie for the rest of her teen years before she would be transferred to a maximum-security prison for her crimes. Her father did not end up any better since it was proven that he was taking bribes from Hawkmoth to not have the local police search for him while the heroes dealt with the actual akumas. He was given life in prison. The same was the sentence given to former policeman Raincomprix since he was almost as corrupt as the mayor. Bustier and Damocles were not sentenced to prison, but they both had their teaching licenses revoked with no way to get them back while they were also blacklisted from ever getting any jobs in education ever again.

Now, the heroes only had two more issues that they hoped to deal with as soon as possible. Hawkmoth and Liar Rossi.

[jennrypan]

if you can write chloe redemption arc what will it be like

Ohhohoh. Ok.

Basically.

Have Chloe act the same in Season 1, during the beginning of season 2 give hints on what her home life is like and her inner struggles/fears of being accepted but everytime its acknowledged have her cover it up and get defensive. Like keep all of her little moments, (the bear, the party etc. Keep it!!)

Then at the end introduce Audrey and at first its just a "Oh shes a bitch thats where Chloe gets it from, obviously" type of thing, like it just seems like Chloe is acting like her mom, have Marinette make that observation and have ADRIEN slightly glare at Audrey and just grumble how 'Shes not just mean to people she thinks arent fashionable' and ofc Marinettes confused and stumbles to ask him what he means but he just smiles and waves it off cuz its not his place to tell, he just didnt think she'd hear him.

Fast forward and we see how Audrey treats Chloe, we see how Andre instead of being a parent just throws presents and shit at Chloe instead of talking to his wife, instead of telling his daughter that doing these things arent good..you see WHY she acts like this, and then have her snag the Bee Miraculous the same way, and since she idolizes Ladybug soo much she wants to be hero, thinks itll finally make her exceptional, so she takes it.

Everything plays out the same as Queen Bees debut, she does the train thing, and LB and Chat are annoyed and pissed cuz why and shes just so excited and telling them she finally did something good, shes finally worthy of something and Ladybug still acts annoyed but Chat knows Chloe so he gets why shes suddenly so excited and impulsive (her mothers back and she wants her to pay attention to her) and obviously LB has to take the bee back, but Chats the one who talks her down especially after Audrey publicly humiliated her, and Chloe hesitates but Chat reassures her that she'd be a good hero, just not right now and to maybe not make anymore run away trains, (he says this jokingly and she gives a smidgen of a smile) even Ladybug pats her shoulder to try and make her feel better and Chloe just nods.

Now we fully know how much Audrey AND Andre suck, and why Chloe acts the way she does, it doesnt excuse it but it explains and

DO NOT HAVE MARINETTE TALK TO AUDREY AND CHLOE!!!! Marinette has no idea what havin an abusive parent is like!! She should not have given her two cents in the matter!!

Instead have Adrien talk to her! He grew up with her, he knows what havin a shitty parent is like and he also wants her to be nicer, he already thinks shes exceptional and they have a heart to heart and she promises to be a little nicer, starting with Sabrina

And season 3 you see her bein nicer to Sabrina, protecting her, shes not going out of her way to make snide comments or even insult Marinette..but problems arent fixed over night, her mother is still shitty and shes still stuck with them and the feeling of not mattering..and Ladybug not given her pollen even when the bee would be useful (not salt to LB, she has reasons to not trust chloe) and Hawkass and Mayora decide to manipulate Chloe at her lowest, make it seem like Ladybug doesnt like her and make it seem like theyre the only ones who do

She tries to resist but she gets akumatized into Queen Wasp, everything plays out the same but when shes deakumatized, shes devasted and shes angry (shes angry at herself for getting akumatized but she lashes out at Ladybug cuz she thinks Ladybug is gonna hate her even more and berate her so she beats her to the punch, obviously Ladybug wasnt going to do that, but Chloes spiralling and she just storms off)

Alright this is getting long lmao--

Just..have Chloe show remorse and try and change, make her emotions make sense instead of just..not acknowledging them, and stop giving Andre a pass!! He has a big hand in raising Chloe just as much as Audrey, even more so cuz he actually raised her and he was never a parent, he doesnt get a pass cuz hes oh so big sad he cant be some movie director, (we hate Andre and Audrey in this house)

And have Adrien interact with her more!! As Adrien and as Chat, thats his childhood best friend cmon!! He knows what Audreys like, he knows what having an abusive parent is like!

And if we MUST include Zoe, make her Chloes cousin (it makes sense with the timeline and doesnt make her mom a cheating cheater.) And itd hurt more if someone who wasnt even her daughter gets more love from Audrey than Chloe does, up the angst!

Boom. Astruck, give me Chloe, Ill treat her better

[temporalbystander]

Why do I do this to myself?

Sup everyone. Surprised to see me? Yeah I'm surprised to be posting. But as my head get slowly closer to exploding despite me doing everything that normally helps with my headaches? I thought I'd share a Miraculous hot take that I came up with a while ago but never actually shared. Warning. Spoilers and slight salt ahead.

Okay, so while I was trying to take a nap to hopefully rid myself of this headache, my mind went back over opinions I have come across on Tumblr and other sites as a sort of "yeah right, I'm not letting you sleep, have some month old anger instead". Specifically around Zoe Lee and how she's a Mary Sue.

Now. Three things piss me off about the term Mary Sue just on its own. Number one, it's more than likely being used incorrectly. Number two, it forever ruins a great sounding name (Mary Sue just sounds sweet to me and I would use for the kind neighbour next door if it wasn't for this) and three? Is used as an insult despite being EXACTLY WHAT SUPERMAN IS AND I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL WITH A GODDAMN NUKE SO COME AT ME!

pants Sorry. That always gets to me. Anyway, the term as it's applied to Zoe? Falls firmly in the first scenario. See, people call her a Mary Sue when in reality what they mean is "bland nice girl" so kind of like Mylene until Horrificator or Rose until Princess Fragrance where we actually saw more of their personality. I'd go further into what I mean but that's not the point of this.

No, the point is all the people who say Zoe has no reason to exist and to them I say. "She's a fictional character her reason is because the writers say so." But... I also agree. This is where the salt comes in because, had Miraculous not been stubbornly controlled by a bullying manchild incapable of receiving criticism, who also hates a teenage girl he made up to an extent that it's disturbing? Zoe wouldn't exist.

Now people have said that she was just a replacement for Chloe. And again I agree but not for the reasons they believe. Zoe is what Chloe should have become had Mr "nobody appreciates me so I'll put myself in the show telling them why they are idiots" actually followed through on the redemption arc. Yes I'm insulting him more than I have ever even mentioned him before. Why? Because I recently saw his tweets where he said Chloe wasn't abused because she has a father throwing money at her despite her mother rejecting her existence. Fuck. Him. Not to mention the ones where he basically calls us idiots for thinking Chloe was getting redeemed in the first place.

Anyway I'm getting off topic. What do I mean when I say Zoe is basically a redeemed Chloe? Well our first introduction to her in Sole Crusher shows she's capable of being a copy of Chloe, something she does because she just wants to feel loved by her family. We know from the whole Queen wasp thing that Chloe doubts her mother's love for her (something that is never mentioned again despite Audrey's opinion on Chloe never really seeming to change. Unless you want to count keeping her like some kind of mini me which is... Arguably worse and reminds me of how Chloe treats Sabrina) and it was believed by the fandom that Chloe acted the way she did because she wanted her mother to love her and be proud of her. But nope. She's just irredeemably evil. Despite being a 15 year old girl who still cuddles her bear and sucks her thumb for comfort when she's upset. Totally evil.

Grr... next. Point. Before I devolve into pointing out all the times Thomas Asshole showed he knew jackshit about characterisation.

Anyway. After Zoe realises that she'll never get her family's love in a way she's satisfied with she turns to her newfound friends for comfort cutting all attempts to please her mother. Something we expected Chloe to do. Then comes Queen Banana. Not only is Zoe given the bee miraculous (which I don't understand why people were surprised at, who else was gonna get it? Aurora? Marinette doesn't go far to pick new members. And if you say, "well they could always just fuse" you clearly don't understand the benefit to having another person for the Akuma to focus on.) But the way she got Chloe to keep the charm showed that she's capable of manipulating people. A skill we all thought Chloe would put be able to put to better use should she be redeemed. See Matt's Honey and Vinegar comic for a brilliant example of this.

Then we get to the major point in my mind. Something everyone (may be an exaggeration) had pegged for Zoe since she was introduced and that most theorised for Chloe as a potential explanation for some of her actions. Having feelings for Marinette. Now when this was confirmed it wasn't a surprise to me. It was so far from a surprise I was actually slightly disgusted that they chose Zoe to be the blatant one and not confirm Rose and Juleka or even Marc and Nathaniel. You can say it's obvious from how Rose and Juleka interact but Alya and Marinette act the same at times and they haven't known each other nearly as long. Or as intimately since Juleka kept Rose's illness a secret for who knows how long and that tore her to pieces every time it happened. I'm a dude. I'm so conditioned to see Yuri in female friendships that I've reconditioned myself to go the opposite way and assume it's just me being perverted. Do I believe Juleka and Rose are a couple? Yes. Will I call it canon? Not until I see a kiss, because they've definitely already confessed by now if it's true. Do I care if the writers confirmed it? No. Because JK Rowling said Dumbledore was gay and Hermione could be black. Only one of those is possible given what she's written, the other is clearly just an attempt to please this new era obsessed with inclusion at the expense of preestablished facts.

Dammit I got off topic again. Anyway, Chloe has been in the same class as Marinette for the past four years, something I remember joking about a while back calling Chloe out for being a stalker. But with her dad being Mayor, her fully using that to get what she wants even in school, and her focus on making Marinette miserable to such an extent that it's almost like Mari is the only target Chloe actually cares about hurting? Well I've seen enough "bully because I like you", "lash out because I'm confused" and "overcompensate because it's not normal/ my parents would disown me if they knew" tropes to suspect that they're might be a deeper meaning to why she does it.

Or at least that's what I would think. You know. If she wasn't completely and utterly evil. Between all the play heroes, tickle fights with Sabrina until they fall asleep, and being the sole person to throw off an Akuma before it takes hold because of their firm belief they are a hero. I mean how can you not see how evil and irredeemable she is when she has all that on her resumè?

sighs To finish up I want to make one thing clear. I like Zoe. In better hands I'm sure I'd have loved her even more but, even if she's just the replacement we were given so we'd shut up about Chloe, the fact is she's a good friend to Marinette (her lack of presence and late introduction means she hasn't done anything to annoy me like the others have), her design is amazing (reminds me of Equestria Girls Sunset Shimmer actually) and is basically the only one Chloe can't touch. The potential she brings to fanworks is absolutely staggering but in the show as it is? She's another pillar of support for Marinette. With the crap that girls gone through? That's more than enough for me.

[muggle-born-princess]

Honestly, "Queen Wasp"'s "resolution" is a case where the writers want to be "funny" and Marinette pays the price of acting OOC for the writers get the joke that they want...

What the anon is referring to

You see, I wouldn't have a problem with the ending if Marinette said something like:

"You know, it's not my place to tell you how to be a better parent, but what I should tell you is that what you're doing is wrong and damaging to Chloe's self-esteem. You've been out of her life for most of your time, and you never once ever thought about hey you know what, maybe I should treat my own daughter right. I'm not and never will be friends with Chloe, but think twice before you start raising a child."

That would make much perfect sense because A; Marinette is still being in character and B; it's giving both the depth Chloe and Audrey deserve. Not saying I would ever want an Audrey Redemption because God forbid we redeem abused children on this show while their shitty ass excuses of parents get viewed as sympathetic, but in the long run, it would help them both as mother and daughter develop as characters, and maybe a slight redemption for both in the end.