This should be the only time I do an alternate point of view and you’ll be seeing it through Chloe’s eye. I wanted to let you know first and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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We were hanging out outside twiddling our thumbs. All of us were fighting the urge to run inside and see what was happening. I slid down so I was sitting against the wall, dosing off a bit. Nino was leaning on the wall flipping through his math book as Adrien paced nervously.

After what felt like hours, Adrien looked sharply to the entrance. Me and Nino glanced at him curious to what got him into a worse state of panic.

“It’s almost complete.” he shivered. “I can feel the pull.” He backed away. We keep our word to Marinette and Avoided going into the room until a giant burst of light exploded from where they were blinding us.

We sheltered our eyes the best we could but we still had to blink to adjust afterwards. I took that as our cue that she was done and I led us in.

The first thing we saw was Alya starting to stand and make it out of the circle before collapsing as Marinette made the resurrection drawing disappear.

Nino and Adrien bolted to Alya as I ran to Marinette.  Her eyes focused on me before closing. I examined her bare arms and almost screamed in fear at what I saw. Her arms were covered in black veins. I immediately removed my coat and slipped it on her. The others should know but it’s hersecret to tell.

Nino approached me. “Hey, I’ll carry her, Alya is conscious and will just need you to support her.” I nodded and lefted to Alya’s side as Nino scooped Marinette up in his arms. I guided Alya’s arm around my neck and helped her up.

Nino came over and Adrien asked. “Where are we going to go?” We looked around, waiting for someone else to answer.

“We could go to my palace, I live in a hotel, it should be easy enough to get you all in without my parents thinking much of it all.” I suggested adjusting my support of Alya. they all seemed to agree and we started on our way.

We trudged along the sidewalk, unsure of what to say to lessen the awkward air.

“So,” I broke the silence, my words echoing into the night. “How are you feeling Alya?” she glanced at me and made a sound that was hard to make out.

“Parden?” I asked.

“Head.” She groaned, more audible this time. She seemed to recall a painful memory as she gripped her head. When her hand moved I saw a scar I never noticed in the short time I’ve known her on her hairline.

“May I ask how you got that scar?” I waved my finger around my forehead mirroring where hers was. She pursed her lips and shook her head, blinking back tears. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry!” I panicked trying to calm her down. I’ve never had to deal with something like this, I’ve never had to help a crying person. To be fair, I’ve never had to help anyone much though.

“Stop crying!” I slapped my hand over her mouth. Nino and Adrien were way in front of us having longer legs, they looked back confused at the bits and pieces they were hearing. Alya raised her eyebrow at me. I removed my hand and the boys looked forward.

“I didn’t mean to do that, I didn’t know what to do.” Alya gave me a weird look through her tears before bursting into giggles, tears still rolling down her cheeks but lessening. “Excuse me?” I was astounded at her, I said nothing funny, I brought up painful memories, and yet here she was laughing so hard she was gripping a stitch in her stomach.

“Sorry, it’s just, you're not good at this at all.” she wiped her tears away.

“What ever led you to draw that conclusion?”

She shrugged the best she could. “Nothing really, thank you though, it felt nice to laugh in a physical form again.”

“Well if you have energy to laugh, you can walk by yourself.” she held on tighter.

We made it to the hotel, its lights dim compared to the one from the end of the ritual. Alya was standing a bit straighter by the time we entered. The lady at the desk stopped us as we entered.

“Miss Chloe! You’re back late and have brought friends. Would you like us to prepare rooms for them?”

“That won’t be necessary thank you.”

“Also, we just reserved news from your mother.” she shifted uncomfortably. “She, um, she would like us to let you know that she will be staying to mentor a new highschool intern of hers. She’ll be home in about six months and will be bringing the intern with her to continue her studies.”

I drew a shuttered breath. “Is that all?” I asked, she nodded her head. “Thank you then.” I turned away, avoiding eye contact and found the elevator.

We stood in a non awkward silence, but not a comfortable one either. Even I could feel the power and pain radiating off of me, daring others to cross me. The thought of my mother fueled the flame of my anger, it was no surprise that it will be six more months till I’ll see her again. She’s been putting off seeing me and dad for almost 2 years now.

I just need to suck it up, if I can get by without crying over this for the rest of the week, I can cry on the last day for a few seconds, after all, I shouldn't get so worked up over this. My mother has made something of herself. I should be happy that she does so well at what she loves and that she’s enjoying herself.

The doors pinged open and any emotion I felt regarding the news I just received disappeared as I stepped out of the elevator onto my floor. I found my door and opened it letting Nino and Adrien with Marinette in first.

They looked to me on what to do. “Um, you can set her on the bed.” I waved to Nino. He did so and set her glasses on the bedside table.

“Just set me on a couch.” Alya said and I brought her over to one of them, gently setting her down. Adrine and Nino drifted to the balcony to talk leaving me and Alya to chat.

“So you wanted to know about my scar?” I heard Alya pipe up from where she laid.

“Mhm.” I nodded.

She lifted her hand to feel it. “When I died, I was at the school as you know, but so were two boys. They reeked of alcohol and- and,” she tripped over her words, her eyes widened. She shook her head, deciding to skip a bit. “I was courned and they hadn’t seen me yet, but for some dumb reson I charged past them to try and get out. I don’t know what was running through their heads at the time but they chased after me- I don’t remember much from this part but I was just barely conscious when I was thrown down there.” I nodded along with her story.

She refused to meet my eye. “Sorry, it’s just embarrassing I guess, I didn’t want Ni- the others to know. I don’t want to seem weak.”

“But you're not weak, you did what you could, the fault is on those boys. Besides, I think you’re pretty strong and cool to have died and come back to life.” she blushed. “And I’ve known Nino for a fair enough time, I know he’d agree with me on this.” Alya’s entire face flushed crimson.

“I-I need to get some rest.” she turned her face away from me and I brought a blanket over to her. “Thanks.” she muttered. I glanced outside, the boys were still on the balcony chatting so I sat by Marinette’s side.

I lifted up the sleeve to show her arm. I wanted to check that what I saw earlier wasn’t just a trick of the light. Her arms were covered in black veins, it covered all the way down to her wrists and just barely has started gracing her hands.

I heard the balcony door start to creak open and hastily rolled down the sleeve again, pulling the blankets up to cover her neck where I saw more veins creeping, I also tugged off her shoes and set them neatly next to the bed so it might be more comfortable. Nino took a seat on the armchair and rested his head on his fist, drifting off to sleep a bit. Adrien paced around the room, not having much to do.

I stepped into the hall, disappearing to the kitchen. I’ve never been dead before, nor have I ever brought someone back from the dead before, but I’m assuming that they're going to need food when they wake up.

I found the room I was looking for and peeked inside. It was dark and empty. I ficked on the light and made my way to the pantry picking up a tray along the way.

“Miss! I’m sorry but you can’t be back here-” I turned to find the head chef. “Miss Bourgeois, my apologies, may I help you?” I studied her face, it looked familiar but I couldn’t pinpoint where I recognized her. Yes she’s been our chef for years, yet for some reason I felt like I was looking at someone else at the moment.

“Um, no, I’m alright.” she nodded and we started on our own ways before I wiped around and stopped her.

“Wait!” I called. She turned to face me.

“Yes?”

“Sorry, I just- I was wondering, do you have a daughter?” she looked shattered for a second before quickly pulling herself back together.

“Yes, 4.” she stated emotionless.

“Could I hear about them?” I questioned and she led me to her office. She tiled a picture so I could see.

She pointed to the tallest. “That's Nora, she’s working to become a kickboxer. Even though I barely even know what that is, I’m proud of her.” she moved on to point at two small twins, one in pink and the other covered in blue. “Etta and Ella, they’re twins and troublemakers.” she giggled but her happiness was squashed at the last girl.

“And this is Alya.” she sighed. “She loved filming and photography. It’s been almost a year since she disappeared now. We sent out search teams but no one could find her, eventually we were told to give up hope.”

“I-I know her.” I pointed to Alya’s picture.

“You knew her before she went missing?” her mom asked.

“Sorry, yes, I did.” I lied. “I was asking you because you look so much like her.” I thought for a moment before standing up.

“I need to go, but I just want to let you know that I have a feeling that she's still out there, she’s too tough to give up or anything. I feel like she turned up so hopefully.” I smiled.

“That's very sweet of you, thank you. I do hope she does come home, I miss her.” I left her in her office and completed my mini mission and made my way back to my room.

Nino and Alya were fully asleep by now so I set the tray on the table next to them for when they woke up. I’ll make calls to the school in the morning excusing Marinette and Nino’s absences. They both have been working hard and need their rest. I’ll also have to clear things up with their parents but that can also wait.

I was feeling too awake to sleep myself so I whispered with Adrien about what happened downstairs and slowly the topic merged into us talking about our childhood and how I missed it when we were kids.

I apologised for the things I said during our last fight and he did the same, I eventually drifted off to sleep as the sun was rising. It was peaceful this morning and I can call the school before it starts if I just let myself rest a bit.