In the city of Paris there were some things that were just widely accepted as truths in the lives of its residents; it was always beautiful at night, there are always tourists (or pigeons) nearby, Ladybug and Chat Noir always save the day, the Dupain-Cheng Bakery always had the best baked goods.. and the owners' daughter always overslept.

Now not everyone knew of the bakery, nor did everyone know their daughter. All who did, however, knew it took at least four alarms to wake Marinette Dupain-Cheng.. which is why it was such an odd occurrence for her to reach over and shut off her first alarm after barely a second's ringtone.

The Kwami of Good Fortune & Creation looked on with a mix of surprise and apprehension.. Although apprehension won out when, unlike how Marinette would usually groan at having to get up for school, she merely let out a sigh and started getting ready - all without changing the expression she had worn for the last 20 minutes.

"He.. hey Marinette? Are you okay..?" Tikki asked hesitantly, not used to her Chosen being so lethargic.

While she put her hair in hair usual pigtails, Marinette seemed to consider the question before answering: "Yeah, I guess I'm fine. I just.. It's not like I loved going to school before this mess with Lila, but now that I'm mostly cut off from everyone and sitting alone at the back? I hate going, and when I'm there I just count the moments until I can leave."

"….At least it's Friday? Look I know this is hard, especially since you know that she's just trying to take advantage of your friends, but Adrien was right. Confronting her now would just make a bigger mess."

Marinette groaned.

"I just remembered that Adrien won't be in class today or next week, since his father is doing that tribute show for his wife. That means I'm basically going to be alone today and the rest of the week!"

When Marinette had accepted that Adrien liked Kagami, and realised that his father seemed to approve of the match, she had started to move past her feelings and worked on their friendship. She was happy to say they were good friends now, and that she could speak to him without stuttering or her pulse starting to race. Granted she still couldn't think of him with someone else easily, but feelings don't just go away. And ever since the mess with Lila started, he was the only friend that still hung out with her.

Still, no point in hiding in her room. She was on time for once, so she might as well head to class.

Chloé Bourgeois was.. something of a complicated individual. She had been extremely spoiled by her parents.. though, as in many such cases, it was largely done to assuage their guilt for never having time for her. Her mother.. well, she was probably as cold a parental figure as you could get. And her father, though she knew he loved her, was mayor of Paris after all. It made him a pretty busy man.

Chloé was also an only child.. and combined with the fact that she was mostly raised by butlers, it meant that she had a very lonely childhood. And when her mother moved overseas, and her father threw himself even further into his work, she may have developed some issues with abandonment, and a slightly unhealthy territorialism when it came to her friends. She had only had the two growing up..

Chloé could admit she had been a bully, but she could also admit that it had been born from her personal insecurities. After a few years, Chloé only had Adrien. She tried never to think about the other friendship she had lost, but she knew it had only further encouraged her worst qualities.

When she got to school, she met Sabrina and so she at least wasn't alone – but she always felt Sabrina was using Chloé as much as she was using Sabrina. While she seemed to thrive, making friends wherever she went, Chloé became more insecure and withdrawn - hiding behind a mask of false arrogance and cold sneers.

So when she had heard that Adrien was coming to her school, she really was ecstatic. She immediately resolved to stick close to him upon his arrival (she had seen people try to use him for his money or fame before, and no one messed with her friends! Well.. friend) and the first day seemed to have gone well.

It was when Adrien had called her the following day, excited about how he cleared up his misunderstanding with the girl with the big blue eyes and made his first new friend that she had started to panic. What if the girl she used to be best friends with took her place with Adrien, leaving her alone?

Although, she's certain no one even realised she and Marinette had been best friends when they were younger. I mean who would actually believe it? The 'sweet & kind' Marinette, and the spoilt, bullying Chloé?

That was one of the reasons Chloé couldn't stand Marinette. Everyone thought she was so nice.. yet when Chloé's mother had left, and she was at her most vulnerable? Marinette Dupain-Cheng abandoned her 'so-called' best friend when she needed her the most.

"FINE THEN! I guess we're no longer friends then, I don't ever want to speak to you again! Everyone was right about you, you don't care about anyone but yourself."

"FINE! I don't even care, I never want to speak to you again either! And your stupid pigtails look ridiculous!"

In the back of the class, hidden from easy sight, Marinette sighed as she looked at the picture on her phone. Class had been going on for about 15 minutes, and though she had absently noted that Chloé was late and Sabrina had moved to sit next to Lila, she wasn't really paying attention.

The photo was of a handsome green-eyed, blond-haired boy.. though not who the people in her class would have expected. The picture had been taken on one of the nights Chat Noir had visited her balcony. In the picture she was sitting with her back to her chaise and Chat Noir's head in her lap; she had a hand running through his hair, and he had is eyes closed as he was drifting off to sleep. It always made her smile to see how happy he looked.. just as it made her blush to see the expression on her face. Tikki had been the one to sneakily take the picture, claiming it was too good of a moment not to capture.

She missed him. Sure, Ladybug still saw him for patrol, but she missed having him around as Marinette. He hadn't been around since before Lila got akumatised into Chameleon, and it was the first time in a long while he had gone two weeks without stopping by. Sighing again, she couldn't help but wonder if he missed her too..

"..ette! Marinette!"

"Present!"

Startled out of her thoughts by Miss Bustier calling on her, she sprung up and answered without thinking. After waiting for the class to contain their laughter a bit more, the teacher started speaking again.

"As I was saying before, the class is going to be doing a new project in pairs. You will have to write a short essay on the topic, as well as do a 3-5 minute presentation on it. The title will be 'Something You Regret' - and I'm saying this before anyone asks, anything and everything akuma-related is to be excluded! You will be working on this until next week Friday, and since Adrien isn't going to be here the class has an equal number to be divided up. However while you were daydreaming, everyone already picked a partner. That means you and the remaining student will be paired up."

Marinette nodded, and she wondered who this student was.. until her eyes shot to the empty chair where Chloé usually sat.

Chloé Bourgeois was having a bad day. She had had a nightmare about the fight that ended the friendship between her and Marinette - And seriously, your pigtails are stupid? I considered that an insult? - and couldn't get any decent sleep afterward.

This had led to her oversleeping, which had led to her being late, which had led to her entering the class to the scene of Marinette shouting 'You can't be serious!' at the teacher, while the class all looked anywhere else.

This had further worsened into her being forced to sit next to Marinette at the back, with her explaining this fresh hell they found themselves in, and the realisation that Sabrina had definitively switched loyalties to Lila.

And now here she sat in the library, across from one Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

"Look Chloé, I don't like you, and you don't like me, but I need this grade so we are going to have find a way to get over it and do this properly."

"You.. are actually right, Dupain-Cheng. As it happens, I need to improve my grade too. So how about you take the weekend to think about what you regret, and we meet again on Monday to start discussing how to do this?"

Marinette scowled at her, before asking: "And why should I think about something I regret? Why can't you? And since when don't you just call your rich daddy to fix all your grades?" she ended bitterly.

Chloé huffed.

"Well if you must know, I'm trying to be a better person since Pollen - that's my kwami, I assume even you know by now what they are - told me that if I want to be a real hero I need to do better. And I'll show the world that Ladybug trusting me with a second chance wasn't a mistake."

She stood and started to leave before stopping at the door to say: "Also, I obviously regret nothing in my life, so we'll be working off of yours. See you Monday, so get thinking."

That night, Marinette was pacing up and down her room with a Miraculous box in hand, thinking over her interactions with Chloé today.

"Tikki, am I making the right choice here? I mean Chat Noir is gone for the week, so I need a temporary partner.. But Chloé just makes me so angry sometimes! Marinette me, not Ladybug me. I wasn't completely sure about choosing her, but today when she spoke of Pollen.. Having a miraculous is clearly a good influence on her, so maybe I'm just overthinking things? But what if I just think I'm overthinking things, and then underthink this, leading to us having to deal with another miraculous-using enemy which might tip the balance and make us lose to.."

However before she could spiral any further, Tikki interrupted her.

"Marinette, you need to calm down! You know Chloé is a trustworthy hero, that's why you chose her. And speaking of, we need to go meet her."

"Oh you're right - Tikki, Spots On!"

"Are you serious? You're really going to trust me with Pollen for a whole week?!"

"Yes I am. Chat Noir is unavailable this week, so I need someone to be ready in case of an akuma attack.. and I've chosen you for it. Not only do you make a good hero, I know you've been trying to be a better person outside the mask too."

This took Chloé back a bit.. while she was glad Ladybug had noticed her making an effort, she wasn't sure how exactly she did notice it. Her surprise must have shown on her face, since before she could ask Ladybug smiled and explained.

"Chat and I tend to keep a close eye on Françoise DuPont High School, as many of Hawk Moth's early akumas have originated there,"

Chloé winced.

"I'm really sorry about that again by the way. I caused so much trouble for you guys.. but I'm doing better! I haven't caused an akuma for the last 42 days, and I was planning on apologising to the people in class I had caused to be akumatised, but now.."

Chloé noticed the surprise and curiosity on Ladybug's face when she asked: "But now..?"

"Well now I don't think they deserve it. And I know, I should be apologising for what I did, but they are all so stupid! Following around the new liar in class – since Lila has been akumatised before, I assume you know of her – and it just makes me so mad! The only people in class that don't seem to buy her bullshit is Adrien and Marinette. It's ridiculous!"

Coming down from her mini-rant, Chloé noticed Ladybug was looking at her strangely.

"The situation with Lila didn't seem to bother you from what I could tell.." Ladybug said.

"Of course it bothers me! But so what? Who'd even care? Sabrina made it clear we're no longer friends; though I admit ours was mostly a friendship of convenience. My only other friend is Adrien, and he.. well it doesn't matter. I refuse to show anyone I care, that only leads to them leaving.."

While Ladybug might have looked calm and composed, internally Marinette was completely thrown by this insight into Chloé's thoughts.

"Chloé.. is that really what you believe? That if you show people you care, they'd leave you..?"

"It's not what I believe, it's what I know from experience. My best friend left me, my mother left me.. and things between me and Adrien aren't good since I damaged our friendship by acting like I was in love with him for so long, and I don't even know how to fix it!"

And now Marinette couldn't keep the shock out of her expression, and started speaking before she could think it through: "You were only pretending to like Adrien? Why on Earth would you do something like that?!"

Chloé looked a bit taken aback at the intensity of her questions, but she nevertheless opened her mouth to answer.. only to suddenly close it after taking a breath.

"It's.. kind of pathetic actually. And I guess to understand it you'd need to know about what happened between me and Marinette. Could we maybe talk about it on patrol another day? Please don't think I don't trust you Ladybug, it's just.. I haven't really shared any of this with people?"

"Of course we can Chloé, I didn't mean to interrogate you. See you in a few days then?"

"See you then! And thanks again for trusting me."

Hearing the sincerity in her tone, Ladybug smiled back at her one last time before leaping from the balcony and zipping away, taking a circuitous route back home.

Upon entering her room and detransforming, however, she immediately started pacing.

"So.. that was a pretty deep conversation you guys were having. What are your thoughts on what Chloé said..?" Tikki asked, knowing full well the monologue Marinette was likely to start.

"I.. don't even know. I mean on the one hand it explains so much about her; how she could act so mean and arrogant while Adrien still claimed she was actually a good person, why she basically used Sabrina as a lackey and why Sabrina was fine with it.. even why she was so clingy with Adrien! Or wait, no actually she hasn't explained that yet.."

Marinette frowned a bit, before continuing: "Something strange though.. I've told you how Chloé and I used to be best friends when we were younger?"

The kwami nodded slowly, not sure where her Chosen was going with this line of thinking, yet taking note of the confused look on her face when Marinette continued speaking.

"She said her only other friend had abandoned her.. If I assume she was referring to me, why would she say it like that? I mean, she's the one who ended our friendship."

"But why?! We've planned for you to come with us to China to visit for months.. And now you suddenly can't come? What's that about Chlo, aren't we friends?"

"Of course we are! And I can't come because of.. important family stuff, okay? So just drop it! I don't want to talk about this anymore, so just stop asking. I don't have to tell you everything Mari."

Chloé was having an oddly good day, as far as Mondays were concerned. She had already been in a great mood from spending the weekend with Pollen, and even though she had been dreading working on the class project with Marinette (after all, they usually fight whenever it's just the two of them) it had gone.. surprisingly well.

They had decided to use Marinette's experience as Jagged Stone's 'gopher' as her biggest regret; or rather, her first attempts at completing the tasks which she admitted were half-assed at best. Yet the best part of the day was the fact that she was patrolling with Ladybug tonight.

They had met up earlier tonight and split off for patrol, with Ladybug promising they could meet up afterward at the Eifel Tower if there were no akuma attacks.. Luckily there had been none, and so it was that Queen Bee landed next to Ladybug at a point that was too high for the casual observer to spot them.

"So.." Ladybug started, "you said you had a long story you wanted to share?"

"Okay umm.. so this isn't going to sound good. Because it isn't good. Actually it's kind of pathetic if I'm completely honest.. But I'm pretty jealous of the friends I have? Especially Adrien since he's the only one that stuck by me through everything in my life."

Chloé knew she sounded bitter, but she couldn't help it. Even all these years later she still couldn't forgive Marinette for not being there for her. She looked over at Ladybug, but she had on a gentle expression and only nodded encouragingly for Chloé to go on.

"I'm sorry, this is going to come across like a rant, but the only way I can talk about stuff like this is to get worked up and spill everything before my mind can react and make me chicken out, so here goes. So Adrien came to school a few years ago and I was ecstatic about finally having a real friend in school you know? And I mean there were a bunch of people crowding all around him, but it was fine, that kind of thing happened all the time and he at least knew how to tell which people only wanted to know him because of his family name or wealth. So you see, while we didn't get to hang out much during the day it was fine, because I knew we'd be good once everything calmed down. Except.. he called me the next day, all excited about his first 'new friend' in school, and it just had to be her. Out of all the kids in school, he had to befriend the girl that left me, just like my mother did? What if she.. what if she took him away from me? I'd be all alone, with my oldest friends becoming best friends or maybe even dating.. either way, they wouldn't need me."

Chloé hated how small her voice sounded and was about to get up and play the whole thing off as nothing important, but then she suddenly felt Ladybug hugging her and she just slumped. Maybe she'd allow herself to be weak.. just this once.

Marinette couldn't sleep. It was 2:30 am, and she couldn't sleep. Why couldn't she sleep? Because she was thinking about Chloé, and the raw vulnerability she expressed tonight. She actually expected that Marinette was trying to steal her best friend? And Marinette had hurt Chloé so much that it still pained her now?

It just didn't make sense! Chloé was the one who had hurt her. She was the main reason Marinette had a bunch friend-groups growing up, but never someone she'd consider a best friend until Alya moved here. Their friendship had been ended by Chloé.. hadn't it?

Just before Marinette fell asleep she made a decision; it was probably a waste of time and/or going to end badly, but it was time for her and Chloé to talk about what happened to their friendship years ago.

Marinette and Chloé were sitting in her room at the top floor of the hotel Bourgeois, and Chloé had no idea why. They were supposed to work in the library after school, but right after class Marinette had come up to her and asked if they could go to the hotel to speak privately.

Normally Chloé would have said no.. oh, who was she kidding. There is no normal protocol for Marinette approaching her and needing to speak with her privately.

"All right Dupain-Cheng, here we are. So what was so important we had to discuss it in the privacy of my room?"

"I think we should change the theme of our project, since I've thought of a bigger regret I've been holding onto for years. One that I'm not sure I even understand.. So Chloé. My biggest regret is.. is how our friendship ended."

Chloé felt her jaw drop and her eyes widen. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but it certainly wasn't that.

"Don't be mad at Ladybug, but she might have told me a bit about you and her had talked about last night, but it doesn't make any sense to me! What happened with us, Chlo? One day we were best friends, and you were even coming on a 2 month vacation with my family to meet my mother's Chinese relatives, and the next thing I know you suddenly couldn't stand my family anymore? I know we're not as well off as your family, but it never seemed to bother you before.. and then suddenly we weren't good enough for you?"

"Of course I couldn't be around your family anymore!" Chloé exploded, "Do you even realise how bad it was for me with your fam.. wait a minute. You thought I didn't want anything to do with your family because you weren't as rich as us?! By that logic I could barely befriend anyone my age in Paris! Why on Earth would you think that?"

Chloé noticed her outburst seemed to both annoy and confuse Marinette, although her response held a lot more confusion than annoyance.

"I mean.. what else was I supposed to think? Out of nowhere one day you just told me you can't have lunch at the bakery anymore, but could still go to the hotel? Or that you could never sleep over at my house again? And that no matter what you wouldn't be going to China with us anymore?"

For a long moment Chloé said nothing, simply trying to process what she had just heard. Almost subconsciously she hugged her knees to her chest. Can I try trusting her? Is it really just a misunderstanding, or does she want something to use against me? While she was still thinking things through, her Miraculous comb vibrated gently, as if to give her encouragement. Taking a deep breath, Chloé decided she needed to be brave. She was a hero after all.

"Look Marinette.. it wasn't anything about how well off your family was, okay? It's just.. that was the week my mother left, you know? And I mean that hurt, but I was kind of used to being neglected.. I just couldn't be around you and your family though. You guys are just so ridiculously Christmas-movie-cliché close, it just drove home what a family was supposed to be like. Nothing like mine.. how was I supposed to intrude on your happiness, delude myself into feeling like I had a proper family only to return to this empty hotel suite? I tried for a few days, but the comparison was so jarring I cried myself to sleep every night. When I finally realised that it was the best I'm likely to ever have, I lashed out at you. You know what the worst part was? Losing my mother lead to me losing my best friend.. but it made me realise that I'd miss you a lot more, Mari."

Chloé wasn't sure when she had started crying, but the tears were flowing to freely for her to just wipe away and pretend it hadn't happened.. At least until Marinette jumped up and started shouting in Chinese. You'd think this wouldn't be so strange given that she was half Chinese.. except Chloé knew for a fact the only Chinese she knew was a bunch of curse-words learned from her maternal grandmother.

"Sānshí suì de mǔqīn gāisǐ de gǒu shǐ bǐnggān!"

Chloé just continued to stare wide-eyed, not really sure what had set Marinette off.. that was until Marinette suddenly whirled on Chloé and asked: "Did you know I came to see you after returning from China?"

"I, uhh.. no I didn't. I didn't even know you were back until I saw you in school the next year. You came to see me at the hotel?"

Instead of answering, Marinette just narrowed her eyes for a moment.

"Is your dad currently in his office?"

"Uhh yeah, it's just down the hall. But why do you.."

Yet before she could even finish the question , Marinette was storming out of her room.

The next thing she knew a door slammed open and she heard her father's voice.

"Excuse me miss you can't be.. Hey, what are you doing with..? Oww! Stop that! Okay, okay, I'm sorry! Just put it down please.. how are you even.. why are you!? Ouch!"

This was combined with various miscellaneous noises and bangs she couldn't quite identify, and by the time she reached the office, it just got weirder.

Her father was cowering behind his office chair, hands seemingly taped to the back of it. His desk was literally face-down (not like someone flipped it, like it was deliberately placed that way), his Mayor sash was hanging from the chandelier and his computer seemed to have been taken apart. Yet stranger than all of this was the fact that Marinette seemed to be wielding a baguette at him. Where'd she even get that..?

Marinette was vaguely aware that Chloé had entered and was looking at her strangely, but she couldn't help it. She was so mad! A simple misunderstanding and an interfering father had cost her years of friendship! She hadn't even realised it meant so much to her, until she noticed Chloé's tears and understood neither of them had actually wanted this enmity.

Realising she should probably explain, she turned to Chloé and took a deep breath.

"Look Chlo, I swear I came to visit you the day we got back from China.. but your dad told me you didn't want to see me, because you had finally realised I was 'beneath your station'. So I left and never looked back.. and we lost years of sleepovers, birthdays and late night chats. Now like I was just explaining to your father, you are going to be spending the weekend at my house. No excuses! My parents told me it felt as if they had lost a daughter when you stopped coming around, so don't ever feel like you couldn't be family. So c'mon, let's go get your stuff and head to the bakery.. we have years to make up."

With a final glare at Mayor Bourgeois, the two girls stormed out to get ready.. but as soon as they were out, they both got shy grins on their faces. After all, weird as it was..

It's kind of exciting to go from Friends to Enemies to Back Again.