41. Day 3 Part 13

Not a word was exchanged between father and daughter as they gradually made their made their way up to Chloe's plush suite, near the top floor. They'd been the same standoff between the pair en route to the Grand Hotel, as the blonde cast alternate apprehensive looks at the bag containing her now precious kwami, and stoic father, who's stony silence was beginning to unnerve her more with every passing minute.

Jeeves, for his part, was attempting to offer subtle encouragement in the shape of little nods of the head and half-formed smiles, but either they didn't work, or the heiress was too preoccupied to notice them. His opinion toward the once disruptive, incorrigible teenager had shifted considerably : Even if her Dad couldn't see the substantial amount of effort she was making to improve herself, he could.

Such sympathy and admiration from a humble chauffer meant very little in the long scheme of things though, and all he could do was watch gloomily as Chloe was led away by her impassive father from the limo, like a death row inmate to the electric chair. The driver wasn't a religious man, but she'd certainly be in his prayers tonight.

Word had obviously already reached everyone's ears of Chloe's new attire, as plenty of people stopped to gaze at her in astonishment. What they weren't expecting though, was to see her new hair in all it's glory. She'd always worn her locks in a tight, blonde ponytail, so for it to not only be in bunches, but with a distinctly pinkish tinge around the roots, caught the crowd's attention even more.

If not for a fierce, no-nonsense glare from the mayor himself, a lot of the captive audience present would possibly have badgered Chloe the way she'd been harassed at her school, instead of scuttling hurredly back to their rooms or posts, which is what actually happened. Quite an easy-going chap, Mr Bourgeois was... until you caught him in one of his infamous moods. To everyone there, from staff to guests, this was unfortunately such an occasion, so steering well clear of the guy was an absolute necessity.

DING! The predictable sound of the lift went as it was opened, and the boy holding down the button looked terrified at the daunting prospect of even sharing the same elevator with the brooding Mayor. Chloe didn't feel much sensitivity for him though... after all, she was the one who was about to get it from the elected official, probably with both barrels. The young operator would be safely back on the ground floor before her father had even begun his first sentence.

And so, when they'd reached their destination, and the grateful minimum wage worker was already descending to the depths of the hotel, the usual routine whenever Mr Bourgeois needed to 'discipline' his child started to unfold. He'd always stare out of the window in her private quarters for the first few minutes of the interrogation without speaking, as if to subtly demonstrate just how 'disappointed' he was in his daughter and give her an inkling of just 'crushed' he felt.

Finally, when he felt like the pressure was telling and she was on the verge of tears, he'd go over and comfort her. Then, the pair would have a quick chat about what she'd done wrong to upset him, before he pulled her back into line by promising her something she could use, like clothing vouchers or a twenty-four gold carat toilet, and then they'd hug it out as they parted ways amicably.

This time however, both of them felt their differences wouldn't quite be so easily patched up with material goods or a quick embrace. To the Mayor, Chloe's 'sins' were too extreme to be merely written off as childish buffonery, and from the blonde's perspective, a new vibrant feeling of rebellion seemed to flow through her system. The two prepared for their upcoming confrontation like prizefighters at a boxing match, and it was Mr Bourgeois himself who threw the first punch.

"Chloe, how could you..." The Mayor spun around to face his errant daughter as soon as she'd ensconced herself on her oversized couch. "First of all, you embarrass me in front of your entire class by announcing your misdeeds in college, and it took me an entire day afterwards to make things right with the press, that you weren't being shown any excessive favouritism in your punishment. Then, just as soon as I managed to douse that fire, you came charging out through the doors of the hotel this morning looking like a vagrant, disturbing my breakfast and nearly giving me a heart attack! Everyone saw you... everyone! Even the paperboy! And do you know what they're saying? 'The Mayor is neglecting his daughter.' 'The Mayor is spending all his money on himself' 'The Mayor only cares about his job now.' Do you realise what effect this scandal is doing to my standing in the polls? My nearest challenger was ten points behind me... now, we're neck and neck. Well? Have you nothing to say to defend your heinous actions? And just what have you done to your hair...?!"

"I like it." Chloe simply stated, almost blithely forgetting who she was talking to, while twirling a loose follicle in her hand. "In fact, I think I'm going to dye it like this every morning. You see, my friend Juleka..."

"Let me guess..." The Mayor sighed, with his head in his hands. "One of these new friends in this 'clique' that Lila was telling me about. I know you feel sorry for them sweetheart, but you really need to stop trying to stoop to their level to win their dubious approval. If they don't accept you as you are, clearly a cut above them on every single level, then they're not worth your time..."

"Daddy..." Chloe looked him dead in the eye, as if she was absolutely sure with what she was going to say next. "I used to feel that way, but thanks to the guidance of a new friend of mine, I've been having a few... new thoughts in my head lately, and I've decided to make some... changes in my life..."

"A new friend?" Mr Bourgeois seemed annoyed that his daughter wasn't more specific about who this, from his point of view, bad influence was. "And who might that be, then...?"

"Oh, you won't have met them..." Chloe couldn't help but grin slightly at the thought of her father trying to apprehend the bee kwami who'd 'corrupted' her, only for the mystical creature to evade his grasp very time, the way it had when she'd held any animosity towards the insectoid.

"Well, whoever it is, I don't want you to see them ever again. They've done something to your way of thinking, that I don't like at all." The Mayor seemed quite firm on this point, and previously Chloe would have realised this was the part to bow down to the 'superior' authority of the aggravated man looming large over her.

In this unique situation however, he was unaware of just how impossible this was. "Oh, Daddy..." Chloe let out a hearty laugh at the thought of what her father didn't know. "Believe me, I've tried. But she's a persistant little thing, and she wouldn't go away... and you know what? I think she's here to stay for quite a while. Also, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I'm really looking forward to it. She's actually grown on me over a very short space of time..."

"You dare defy me?!" The Mayor was almost shaking with rage at this point, completely unaccustomed as he was to being spoken back to like that by his usually amenable daughter. "Just look at what this 'friend' has done to you! They've completely transformed your personality from a proud member of the aristocracy, to someone who seems to enjoy the company of commoners! They've made you change your hair, clothes, appearance... and what was that I heard earlier on about you nearly being taking away by Social Services, because I mistreated you?!"

Chloe's broad smile became a pronounced scowl upon hearing this, that was perhaps the single thing her Dad had the right to be angry about. "That was all Sabrina's doing..." she growled in earnest. "That stupid girl was so jealous of me making new friends, she put me through a humiliating ordeal that I won't forget in a hurry. Believe me, Daddy, that's an ex-friend of mine I'll be quite happy never to set eyes on again..."

"Well, glad to hear at least one of my messages is getting through in that thick skull of yours..." The Mayor said, with a degree of satisfaction. "Now, all we have to do is wash that stupid stuff out of your hair, get you in some decent clothes, and somehow extricate you from this 'friend' who almost succeeded in tearing us apart..."

"NNNOOO!" Chloe's loud shout of defiance stunned her father into silence once more, and the heiress began to speak her mind more to him than she'd ever done before. "Haven't you even been listening to me?! I adore my new hairstyle, and so does everyone else that I've asked. The only one who's complained about it so far is you. Also, you're the one who's 'ruining' our relationship at the moment, by spending so much time in the office and concentrating more on pointless polls than my well-being. I know you have to run the city, but couldn't you at least make a token effort to see me every once in a while? Sometimes, I go for days without so much as a 'hello' from you. Do you even know what's going on in my life right now? Lastly, even though I agree these clothes do look kinda gross, they're the most comfortable things I've ever worn, and I'll continue to wear them, and similar outfits, from now on. They remind me a lot of what my mother used to dress me in, before she passed on and you refused to purchase me anything but overpriced, gaudy attire afterwards. Besides, if you look through my cupboards right now, I think you'll have trouble finding anything else...oops..."

"What did you just say...?" The Mayor looked at her quizzically for a moment, and Chloe abruptly realised she'd put her foot in it. He wasted no time at all in running over to her wardrobe and drawers to open them with aplomb, finding nothing inside of course, but second hand 'junk' and not a stitch of clothing costing more than a few euros in sight.

He then seemed to notice the rest of the room for the first time, and the absence of any furnishings that befit the five star hotel they resided in, the contents now barely worthy of a bed & breakfast. Zzubo had indeed done a very thorough job on removing anything of value from the property to acclimatise the formerly stuck-up teenage girl to a normal life, but whereas Chloe seemed to be adapting quickly to her new role, her father certainly wasn't.

"N-now n-now, Daddy. You remember what the doctor said about your cholesterol levels..." Chloe suddenly felt uneasy all of a sudden, as the Mayor began to gibber incoherently, resembling a madman about to have a nervous breakdown.

"Calm down? Calm down?! How can I, when my own flesh and blood appears on the verge of losing her mind..." The mayor was unintentionally ironic in his harsh assessment there, as at that precise moment he appeared far more on the brink of insanity himself."What's happened to all the fancy clothes, that I paid good money for? Where have all your other expensive personal items gone? All of this is complete rubbish, the kind of tat you'd find at a car boot sale! How did you even get everything downstairs?! This is just like what happened with your mother after we got married, rest her soul..."

Upon hearing mention of her dearly departed mum, a long forgotten flashback began to play in Chloe's mind. It resembled the dreams that had been plaguing the heiress since Zzubo's arrival on the scene, of carefree summer days spent frolicking in the fields, with a beautiful older woman, when she was much smaller. They chased each other through the long grass, collected pine cones together to make a necklace, drank from a nearby babbling brook, getting dirty, messy... all pretensions about their 'place in society' or 'proper roles in life' completely absent. It was just a mother and daughter spending precious time together, and nothing could get in their way...

Other than the older female dying so suddenly, of course... cutting short the happiest time of the little girl's life. What has gone wrong since...

"Hello, Chloe? Can you hear me?! Oh, great, not only is my child going crazy, she's even having blackouts now..." The heiress jolted awake as she felt herself being shaken vigourously, as the worried Mayor regarded her with concern. "What on Earth was going through your mind just then? It's like you were on another planet..."

"I was with my Mummy..." Chloe spoke drowsily, as if still in a daze. "It was a lovely warm summer's day, and we were watching the squirrels, kicking some leaves and making our own fort in the forest. It was so wonderful, Daddy... where did days like that go? I want days like that back..."

"What the...?!" The mayor removed his hands from Chloe's shoulders, to headbutt the wall in frustration. "Even from beyond the grave, Juliette returns to haunt me. Listen, sweetheart. Your mother was a lovely lady... smart, kind and generous, sometimes to a fault... and best of all, she helped me get re-elected twice. But she never had much of an idea of her place in society, and ending up squandering her esteemed position helping the low-lives who live out on the street. I'd hate for you to become like that... but what I've seen from you this week, hasn't been the daughter I carefully raised to preserve the family name after my death, but a complete stranger who acts like one of the garbage children who live out in the rough estate at the far end of the city. I'm begging you, as a father to his daughter, please go back to the way you were before. If you do, I promise I won't punish you at all, as grevious as your recent misdemeanors have been, and everything can go back to normal..."

A few short days ago (which was beginning to feel like a lifetime now ), before Zzubo came flying uninvitedly out of a small hexagonal box, Chloe would have scoffed at the very question. "What, the high life or the commoner's life? What kind of choice is that?" Before returning to her private foot spa, and wondering just how many servants she could have fired later for her own sadistic amusement.

But that Chloe was now dead, gone forever... and there was no bringing her back. She'd seen things, and felt emotions that she didn't know she possessed since, which had made her rethink her entire approach to life, and the way she treated others. She'd made friends, real friends that liked her for her, not because of her status or bank balance, but down to the fact she'd treated them as equals and helped them out when they'd needed her.

And, you know what? It had felt good. Really good. Far better than mindlessly boasting about her opulent lifestyle, or mindlessly picking on her peers ever did. She now cherished Juleka, Alya... well, not Lila, Sabrina, Adrien and especially not Marinette, but she still had high hopes to make amends with Kim, and there were a whole host of other potential friends in her class to make. Today had just been a warm-up, tomorrow is when the real work would begin.

So, it was in an unflinching tone that she responded. "Sorry father, but the answer is no. For years now, you've taught me to behave and act in a certain way, that sets me apart from almost everyone else I meet. At first it was fun, but just recently I realised something... your daughter isn't happy. In fact, now that she thinks about it, she hasn't been happy for a long time. She doesn't feel so good insulting people any more. She doesn't feel pleased with herself stepping on the downtrodden. Expensive things seem like a waste of money, when we could be helping the less fortunate, like those 'garbage children' you just belittled, most of whom won't even have had the opportunity in life to be anything different. Those lessons about humility, love and friendship that my mother taught me, that you forced me to ignore for so long... you know what? You're wrong, and she's right. From now on, you'll see a dramatic change in the way I look and behave towards others, but don't be scared or ashamed. This is truly who I want to be now, making a lot more friends than I did before, experimenting with new clothes I never tried because they were too 'common', and being far more thoughtful to those who have it bad in the city you run. I'll still be the little girl who loves you very much, but I want a different role than the one you've apparently assigned for me. One where I can help out everyone, not just those at the top..."

"That's enough, child! You will desist!" The Mayor was trembling slightly as he lay his hands on his daughter once more, partly due to anger, but mostly out of fear that his 'robot' was beginning to lose control of it's original programming. "Do you realise what you're saying? You're willing to give up everything you were privileged to be born with, to help out people who are so far below you in the social scale, it isn't even funny? I-I don't understand. I don't understand at all..."

"I don't expect you too Daddy, but that'll be my life from this point on..." Chloe sighed, while shaking her head. "Self-sacrifice is something I'm going to have to get used to..." In truth, she was going to miss her carefree days of shopping and extravagance. As a direct counterpoint though, a vision of her flying through the skies of Paris wearing a black and yellow costume alongside Ladybug, saving the world from akumitisations that she'd no longer cause, suddenly popped into her head, and instantly wiped out any self-doubt that may have still lingered in her mind. This... is fate. This... is destiny. And I will not let the world down...

Mr Bourgeois observed his 'insolent' daughter with irritation, before making a final decision. "You leave me with no choice, my dear."

Chloe stopped daydreaming, and raised an eyebrow at this cryptic remark. "Whatever do you mean, Daddy?"

"You'll start extensive psychiatric treatment with my personal physician Ms Philippes from tomorrow evening..." Mr Bourgeois explained, bluntly. "I've spent too much time investing effort and resources in you, for you to turn into this mindlessly humble, altruistic thing you've become..." The Mayor's lips curled, almost as if he was disgusted at the sight of his own progeny.

Chloe paled upon hearing this. "... Y-you can't force me to do that! And besides, there's nothing wrong with me! This was entirely my decision!"

"As long as you live under my roof, you'll follow my rules." The mayor dismissed her protestations with a wave of his hand. "Also, until you tell me the name of this so-called friend who changed you into this stranger I see before me today, you're grounded indefinitely, and have your entire allowance cut off. You'll probably just waste it buying gloves for old bag ladies anyway, judging by your current mindset..."

"W-why do you want to know about Z..." Chloe started to say her kwami's name, but stopped herself just in time. She anxiously cast a glance at her bag, almost as if her father might know the location of the bee creature, or even it's existence. Which of course, was impossible.

"Begins with a 'Z' does it?" The Mayor mused for a moment, tapping his chin. "Well, that ought to narrow down my search a bit. Can't be too many girls or boys in the city who's name start with that letter. I'll check the register first thing tomorrow. And in answer to your question, let's just say... I'd like a little word with this ragamuffin's parents. There should be a law against trying to corrupt the Mayor's daughter like that, when she's still so naive and impressionable. Hmm... I think I might just make one..."

"You won't find them, guaranteed, so you can get that idea out of your head right now..." Chloe giggled slightly at the notion of her father trying to lecture Zzubo, a magical being with hundreds of years more experience than him. "Also, I'm not worried about seeing this shrink! She'll see there's nothing wrong with me, I'm sure."

"Oh, really?" The mayor grinned deviously, as he made his way to the lift. "We'll see about that, when a little brown envelope containing a not insignificant sum of money finds it's way onto her desk, further illustrating my point that money can solve everything! Don't worry my pet, I'll get you back... just wait and see! And when I find the one responsible for warping my beloved child's fragile little brain, I'll... I'll..."

Chloe would once upon a time be petrified of such a threat, but thinking of Zzubo and the strength she gave her made for a resolute reply. "Whatever you say, Daddykins."

Not noticing the sarcasm present in his daughter's voice, the slightly dimwitted Mayor thought he was being paid a sincere compliment. "Thank you, my dear. I am in charge around here, after all. One last thing: Stay close to Miss Lila. She'll make sure the rest of those plebians don't go anywhere near you, and hopefully some of her common sense will reach you, too. Well, I must be off. You'll see me tomorrow, when I'll hand deliver you to the physician myself..."

Her mind filled up with a multitude of thoughts, and desperate to talk to Zzubo as she was, the newly selfless Chloe nevertheless had the presence of mind to ask her father one last thing. "... Daddykins?"

"...Yes, what is it now?" The Mayor paused briefly at the open elevator, with an elongated sigh.

"I just wondered... you know your head chef, Mrs Cesaire? Well, one of her daughters is called Alya, she's one of my newest friends, and both of them really want to get to Martinique to see the homeland of her late father. She can't get the time off though, so I was thinking... do you think, as a special favour to me, you could help her out? I'd be very apprecative..." Chloe said, hoping against hope that he'd say yes.

"I see... and this 'Alya' is one of your new friends you were telling me about, is this correct?" The cogs seemed to be whirring in the mayor's head.

"Y-yes..." Chloe stated hesitantly, not liking the malicious glare that had suddenly appeared on her father's face.

"Don't you worry about a thing, dear..." The mayor said, with an humourless laugh, as the lift doors closed behind him. "I'll make sure she gets all the 'time off' she needs. Well, bye for now, darling!"

"W-what..." Chloe began to say, but it was too late. The elevator was well on it's way down.

The moment they were alone, Zzubo appeared in front of her foster child, obviously having heard everything. She had a look of empathy, love and respect on her face. She finally knew she'd found her true user, it was just a shame it wasn't under happier circumstances. "Are you okay, Chloe?" She asked, rather pointlessly.

This time, Chloe did not wait for Zzubo to take the initative. She embraced the kwami that she'd grown to care so much for without hesitation, drying her tears on it's fuzzy neck and crying over and over again.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hope you enjoyed this chapter... it took quite a while to write. Yes, even more so than normal. It's good to feel appreciated, ya know. ;)

On another topic... lookee here... more than 300 followers. I SALUTE YOU! :D

...And more than 100k words. WHERE HAS MY LIFE GONE? :/

I'm off to ponder that very question. :( Ciao...