A comment by Gryphinwyrm7 on my End of the Queen's Reign inspired me to do this. Consider this a spiritual sequel to that story even if it's not the same universe. I have only seen a bit of the episode online but I have read about it and working with what I have. Haven't seen the first part of the finale yet (though read about it online of course) with episodes still yet to air, not because of some controversial content but because the show has the most bizarre air schedule I have ever seen for a show. I have seen episodes aired out of order before but usually they don't do it for the season finale. In here Lukanette gets together and stays together.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng had just been declared the new Guardian of the Miraculous and her mentor Master Fu was now retired. Plus while Chloe as Miracle Queen had the Miraculous box (including her own one) taken from her, she would now have to retire her temporary Miraculous holder allies since Hawk Moth now knew who they were.
It was bittersweet and Chloe losing her idol worship of Ladybug didn't really sting, she did truly hope that Chloe would learn how to better herself. Even despite having been bullied by her for years and everything else she had done but it seemed that for Chloe, she would always go back to doing only what was best for her own self interests.
She was about to bug out when she noticed a video camera on a stand and curiously she went to inspect it and saw it was still rolling. It was at a position where it would catch what just happened.
Then a man came up to her and told her "sorry Ladybug, I forgot about it. I was doing a blog video about Paris but then everything happened and I went to hide. I can delete the footage if you want..."
Marinette then thought about an idea and wondered if she should pull through with it. It seemed a bit mean and a bit unfair but she realised and remembered it was thanks to Chloe, Hawk Moth had so many victims from her school.
It was thanks to Chloe she had to save her parents' life from a train accident. Just now it was thanks to Chloe that Hawk Moth was so close to winning.
"Actually, do you think I can please have that footage and I will make sure you will be credited for it." Marinette asked and the man was happy to comply with the request from one of Paris' superheroes. He gave his name and Marinette thanked him for it after getting the footage.
She needed to take the video footage to Alya for her plan, just because she will now have to retire Rena Rouge doesn't mean that Alya can't help her.
Chloe was beyond furious upon getting home to the hotel and learning that her parents were now lovey dovey with eachother. After all she had done for Paris and Ladybug herself, she does this? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!
She will make sure Ladybug rues the day and she will find a way to get her Miraculous back one way or another and then she will make sure that Queen Bee will go down as Paris' best superhero.
After taking a few hours to vent by punching her Ladybug stuff, she decided to text Sabrina about how unfair everything was. However she had seen that Sabrina texted her already. She looked at it and was wide eyed:
Sorry Chloe but we can't be friends, you becoming obsessed with Ladybug was one thing but this...
Chloe blinked and then furiously wondered how that brat got off texting her like this and for what reason? Whatever, she will come crawling back just like the last time she had done this and tried to replace her with Dupain-Cheng.
She went on the computer and saw that something posted a quarter of an hour ago on Cesaire's Ladyblog was gaining traction. She sneered and knew it would be congratulating Ladybug and Chat Noir for what happened but clicked on it.
It was titled "Direct Message from Ladybug" and there was a video with her talking to the camera:
"Greetings ladies and gentleman of Paris, I am Ladybug and I am sorry to say that today Hawk Moth came the closest he had ever come to actually winning. I am sorry to say that the secret identities of my allies except for Chat Noir have been compromised. Hawk Moth knows who they are and I can't risk their saftey but relying on them again, I trust them but I refuse to put the saftey of them and their loved ones in jeopardy. It is all thanks to a betrayal by one of our own. Chloe Bourgeois who you know as Queen Bee betrayed us and sided with Hawk Moth."
The video then showed the footage of what happened but anything that could reveal the identities of the other Heroes were edited out along with a caption crediting who caught the footage. It clearly showed Queen Bee continuing to fight against Ladybug and Chat Noir even without the Akuma. The audio managed to be heard as well.
Chloe fumed thinking that Ladybug was truly dead to her at last.
"I am sorry that I feel I had no choice but to post this message but you must know this. Chloe Bourgeois sided with Hawk Moth due to the fact that I didn't want to jeopardise her saftey or her loved ones by letting her to continue being Queen Bee. I can no longer trust her and I am afraid that my previous trust in her was misplaced. I am sorry about all this: Bug out!"
The video ended and Chloe went back on her tantrum, deciding she needed air she went to her balcony only to have her ears filled with furious shouting. She looked down and saw the hotel was swarmed with an angry mob.
The video imploded with views and shares, easily becoming the most viewed and popular anything on the Ladyblog in its history. It easily eclipsed any interview with Lila Rossi.
Chloe had to stay inside for the foreseeable future for her saftey, the mob caused several VIP customers to check out in no time. The Media were in frenzy with this but then came the interviews:
Several parents of students at Francois Dupont talked about how Chloe bullied just about everyone without consequences thanks to her father's status as the Mayor. Several parents who were in that Parents day relayed the story of how the Mayor wanted to arrest her daughter's most bullied victim for stealing based on no evidence and fired the police officer when he refused to do so.
The interviews of the students themselves told similar stories and the most popular one came from Aurore Beaureal:
"She had directly told me that once a villain was always a villain, yet at the time I was only akumatized once and she had been akumatized twice before. I guess she was right though."
Her father had to tell her that the school was suspending her indefinitely while this was going on. Principal Damocles had most parents refusing to let their children attend school with not only a huge spoilt bully but a willing accomplice of Hawk Moth.
But then the interviews of the ones who were on the train she caused to be out of control come out and then things really picked up more than they did before if possible:
It turns out her father had to bribe them into staying quiet about it and not seek legal charges against her. Her father had told them it was a juvenile mistake that will not be repeated and they begrudgingly agreed for the moment, especially since Queen Bee was helping the Superheroes afterwards. They were now going forward with it saying they now regret not doing it before.
Plus the fact that a couple of those passengers were the parents of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who was Chloe's most bullied victim.
Her father resigned from office, he knew his days were numbered and felt better to do it gracefully than be forced out.
Then came the authorities from the French Government who were seeking on trying Chloe on top of the yet to be filled cases against her.
It turned out they were watching Paris intensely and were waiting for a sign of anyone working for Hawk Moth of their own free will. The Government and City Council had issued a law saying someone couldn't be prosecuted for actions not done of their own free will while being Akumatized. But if they had done so of their own free will and out of being Akumatized...
Chloe eavesdropped on conversations her parents had with their lawyers and knew how much of a hopeless case everything seemed for their end. There were talk that they didn't know if they could get her out of having to attend a juvenile facility and going to an adult prison when she was of age.
She tried to call her two friends Sabrina and Adrien but Sabrina had blocked her number and Adrien didn't respond except for one message:
Sorry Chloe. I will always treasure my friendship with you.
Even her oldest friend had turned against her it seemed.
She just sat waiting for Hawk Moth to use her feelings to Akumatize her, which never came. He was angry at how close he was to winning and while he could Akumatize her now, if she failed then she would be no use to her anymore.
With her in custody he can no longer rely on her making new victims for him to Akumatize anymore. She was no use to him anymore and so was discarded as an ally. The same thing he will do so without a second thought to Lila Rossi if he saw her no longer useful.
DDDD
Marinette still couldn't help but feel sorry for Chloe throughout it all, but deep down knew that Chloe had brought this on herself.
Things were hectic to her and not just her new responsibilities as the Guardian of the Miraculous. She had stopped going after Adrien thinking he would be happy with Kagami and now started a relationship with Luka.
She was feeling guilty that it felt like he was a backup choice but told her not to worry about it, the directions of music changes at a whim he had told her.
She admitted that she was now happy with Luka and felt the good thing about having to retire with Viperion was that she realised it could have impacted their teamwork with him being her boyfriend.
Nadja Chamack told her parents that she was fighting pressure and requests from studios executives to try and get Marinette to be her guest on Face to Face. They thought it would bring in the ratings to interview Queen Bee's most bullied target and knew Nadja was friends with her parents. She felt that Marinette didn't need this attention and the Dupain-Chengs were grateful.
On the bright side along with having a boyfriend, she had gotten her website set up and there were no shortages of a demand of the Ladybug and Chat Noir dolls she was selling.
After school she had Sabrina nervously walked up to her and she greeted Sabrina, Sabrina didn't say anything but she could tell that Sabrina had quit ties with Chloe. She was always looking down and silent when Chloe was brought up and made no effort to defend her.
"Marinette, after Chloe... I realised I don't really have any other close friends and our partnership plus everything that happened... I don't know if you want to give being friends another shot?" Sabrina asked softly and Marinette smiled in response. She may regret giving Chloe her second chance but she was confident she will not do the same with Sabrina.
After seeing the answer Sabrina jumped with joy and told her "so I am guessing you don't want your homework done but anything you want done instead? I could help you with your website or help make everything, since we're friends now you don't have to pay me! I hear you babysit so I could do it for you and I hear you are going out with Luka, I could spy on him to learn all his likes for you!"
Alya and Marinette's other friends were fighting back laughs looking at them while Marinette was exasperated. She then started their new friendship by starting a long explanation of what friends actually do and don't do for eachother.
What does it say when I don't want a redemption for Chloe and Lila and yet I am a She Ra: Princesses of Power fan who does want one for Catra? Plus as a fan of Once Upon a Time I was rooting for Rumpel to get his redemption? But I didn't want one for Starlight Glimmer and still don't?