Chapter 23: Winter Sun (Part 1)

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You tried not to wake the others in the shared room as you tiptoed to your bunk bed. Your feet were dragging on the floor, your shoulders slightly slacked, and that was probably the only reason why you would be able to sleep. Everything that had happened earlier kept passing in your mind in flashes, and if this were any other night, you'd spend it staring at the bunk bed on top of yours. But thankfully, your body was begging for rest.

Pulling the covers over your head and creating a bubble of warmth, you unlocked your phone and opened the internet. You had to search quickly before your tiredness got the better of you.

You typed 'queen bee', and a crease appeared on your forehead when the search engine completed the sentence for you with 'identity reveal'. Your digit hovered over the option for a brief moment before you clicked on it.

You couldn't stop the gasp that left your mouth when the first image that appeared was of the blonde girl you were with just a few minutes ago. Chloé Bourgeois.

Someone shuffled on their bed and you closed your mouth tightly as your wide eyes stared at the side by side comparison of Queen Bee and Chloé photos. So that's why she had been wearing a disguise. If people saw the blonde, they wouldn't leave her alone.

It was like a veil was lifted from your eyes. Everything made sense now. The injuries, the blonde hair, even her face... It had been so obvious. You wondered if it was going to be like this if you ever discovered Chat's or Ladybug's identity. There had to be some sort of magic that stopped you from connecting the dots and realizing the obvious, you couldn't be that dense.

Your eyelids were dropping as you read Alya's article on the Ladyblog about Queen Bee. It said that a few years back, when confronted about her identity, she had just transformed back in front of a crowd of people and announced with a smug grin, 'You know what? I'm Queen Bee. Deal with it.'

Why she had done that was beyond you, since Chat seemed so adamant in keeping his own identity a secret. You imagined Ladybug was the same, but Chloé, apparently, didn't care about that.

You tried to come up with theories for her identity reveal, but your brain was exhausted. And as your eyelids fluttered closed and your fingers' hold on your phone relaxed, the only thing you could think about were Chloé's— Queen Bee's words before she parted from you.

Don't give up on that fool, ok?

An image of Chat's smile came to your drifting, slumberous mind. You wished she had said the same words to him.

----

The waiter was just arriving with your plate when your phone vibrated. You looked at the notification.

Alya: this is all the information I have

You opened the message and saw she had sent you a link. You typed a quick 'thank you Alya, you're the best' with a happy emoji to her before clicking on it. A name was written at the top of the page.

Rena Rouge.

"Your food will get cold," Haruka nudged you.

"And you're missing out on the cover guy, he's pretty cute," Louise added, motioning to the guy playing the guitar in the middle of the restaurant.

"Just a minute," you mumbled as you kept reading the article.

A sigh left your mouth when you finished. It really didn't have much information. When you had messaged Alya and asked if there were any other heroes like Queen Bee, you were excited when she told you there was one more.

But all the page said was that Rena Rouge was French like Lady, Chat and Queen Bee; that she used a fox themed suit, and had disappeared after the battle with Hawkmoth, leaving no trace behind.

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