Eva's walk home was tear filled. She would never let Chat Noir know how much he had hurt her feelings.

Sorry, short stack. You should leave this one to the professionals.

She frantically pushed her curls out of her face, wiping her tears away with the heal of her hands as Chat's words rang in her ears. What a fraud. What a jerk. She was just trying to save Alya. Just like he and Ladybug. What made them more special than her? What made him more special than her?

Eva finally made it to her apartment building, where she trekked up the flight of stairs to her apartment. She opened the door, bracing for her parents to instantly swoop in and yell at her, but the onslaught never came. She continued wiping her face as she walked further into the living room.

"Apparently, Paris isn't as safe as we thought." Eva's mother voice travelled from their room in the back of the apartment.

"Well, there's two superheroes that have saved the city twice already." She heard her father respond.

"What concerns me is the fact that it's so dangerous here that there's needs to be superheroes protecting Paris." Her mom stated.

"Let's not jump to the gun on this, Kloe. This is only the second day in Paris. We should-"

"Félix, our daughter could have died today." Evaelle gulped. So it was on the news.

"I know that. But instead of thinking about what might have happened, I'm taking a deep breath and thanking God that she made it out perfectly fine. We'll talk to her tomorrow, when we have much leveler heads."

"Where the hell is she, anyways?" Evaelle heard her mom's footsteps move out of her bedroom. Within seconds, she and Evaelle were staring at each other from across the hallway.

Her mother's face contorted in anger and disgust. "Evaelle Rose..." she squeezed her eyes shut as Eva wrung her fingers. Finally, her mother pointed to Eva's bedroom door. "Go to your room. Get out of my face before I lose it."

Eva ducked her head and obeyed, walking into her bedroom and shutting the bedroom door behind her. The walls were not that thick, and soon she could hear her parents arguing in the other room again. Evaelle's chest shuddered with sobs as she threw herself onto her bed, burying her face in her pillow.

I thought I told you to leave it to the professionals.

Evaelle's skin crawled as Chat Noir's chastising words rang in her ears. She could still feel the wind ripping through her now still hair, the feeling of her stomach dropping as she descended towards the river. Before Chat Noir saved her.

And then patronized her.

Maybe it was the heat of the moment that made him come off as rude. She wanted to like him, because Alya thought so highly of them. Well... Of her. Of Ladybug. Maybe there was a reason that Alya's blog was Ladybug themed. Maybe Chat was the least likable of the duo, maybe he treated people poorly.

"Paris may love you," Eva grumbled, sitting up and grabbing her pillow firmly in her hands, "but I know you're a charlatan, you mangy cat!" She cried, swinging her pillow across the room, where it crashed into the wall.

Her breaths came rapidly and moved her chest with vigor, tears falling down her cheeks. Her head felt light. Evaelle turned and opened the window above her bed, trying to suck any available oxygen into her lungs.

She wanted to show him that she should not be underestimated. She wanted to show her parents that she wasn't some helpless little kid who should be punished for trying to help their friend. She wanted Paris to feel the pure, raw emotion she was feeling right now. But what could she do? She squeezed her eyes shut and covered her face as she leaned against the window sill, another wave of sobs raking her body.

Just leave it to the real heroes next time, 'kay?

Suddenly, the belt around her abdomen warmed up. Evaelle moved her hands away and opened her eyes to see a faint image projected in front of her. She could just barely make out outline of grey-blue irises. This was all too familiar. She had seen this before.

"Evaelle. I am Papillon. I know I have offered you my assistance before, but my generosity implores me to reach out again. I can give you the power to do something with these emotions, to channel them into something great. All I ask is that you bring me the Miraculous' of Ladybug and Chat Noir." The honey-like voice sounded through the image.

"Revenge against Chat Noir?" Eva asked, her fist clenching slightly.

"Against all of Paris, if you wish." She could practically see the smile in his eyes.

Evaelle stared into those eyes, her thoughts wandered back to yesterday, when Alya showed her the ridiculous villain that Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated in seconds. "I don't know." She ventured slowly. "I've seen some of your work. I saw it today, actually. Ladybug and Chat Noir had almost no problem taking Antibug down. I don't want to be like that. I won't be taken for granted. I don't want to be small or pushed to the side anymore."

There was no immediate answer. For what seemed like several seconds, Evaelle and Papillon stared into each others' eyes. Neither wavered. Eva would not budge on her position. If she was getting revenge, it would not be as temporary as her happiness in Paris seemed to be.

Then, the image disappeared. The akuma fluttered in front of her face for a moment, before flying out the window, it's eerily purple-patterned wings beating quickly as it disappeared into the night, leaving Evaelle feeling entirely and utterly alone.

~~~~~

"Come straight home after school." Eva's mom stated as Evaelle turned the handle to open the front door.

"Yes, mom." Eva muttered before exiting the house. She did not sleep last night. Between her own thoughts sliding in and out of her brain like floss through her ears and her parents arguing in the room next door 'til 2 in the morning, there was no chance of it.

She did not have the energy of walk fast to school or lift her head or eyes from staring at her feet shuffling across the ground.

"Hey, there you are!" Alya's voice greeted as Eva descending the final flight of stairs. "I was worried you weren't going to come to class today."

"Like my parents would let that happen." Evaelle muttered, pushing the front door of the complex open as she and Alya began their trek to school.

"Same. I've been through crazy stuff like that before, and every time I have to go back to school the next day." Alya laughed. "Guess akumas are just too common place in Paris now."

"It's kinda of sad." Evaelle commented.

"It is. One day Ladybug and Chat Noir will stop Papillon and we won't have to deal with this anymore." Eva's lip curled slightly at his name. "But hey, seriously?" Alya placed a hand on Eva's shoulder, and she glanced up to see Alya smiling at her. "Thanks for coming after me yesterday. It meant a lot."

Evaelle felt her muscles relax slightly and she sighed with a slight smile. "That's what friends do."

They arrived at school and Evaelle was amazed to see that ceiling was completely intact- courtesy of Ladybug, of course. As Alya and Eva walked towards the staircase, Eva realized that most of the students were eyeing them.

"Everyone seems to have seen the news." Eva muttered.

"Sure seems that way." Alya whispered back, before smiling and waving at Marinette, who was sitting on the staircase. "Hey, girl!"

"Hey!" Marinette greeted, instantly standing. "How are you? I was so worried about you when Antibug kidnapped you. And that bridge situation was so scary!"

"I'm all good, Marinette. Ladybug saved the day, as always!" Alya beamed as she pushed her glasses up further on her nose.

Marinette giggled. "Thank goodness for that." She smiled before turning to Evaelle. "What you did last night was brave- maybe a little reckless, but very brave."

Eva sighed, letting her curls hide her eyes as she squeezed the straps of her backpack. "Thanks."

Marinette and Alya opted to stay back and chat while Evaelle made her way to French class. She trekked through the classroom to her seat, where she sat down and stared absentmindedly at the front of the class, waiting for Mademoiselle Bustier to begin.

"Eva?" Someone said her name from right next to her and she blinked, looking over to Adrien standing next to her desk. His brow was raised slightly and one corner of his mouth was pulled up slightly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to catch you off guard. I thought you would have saw me coming."

"It's okay, I was- just lost in thought, I guess." Eva stated.

"Are you okay?" Adrien pressed. "I saw what happened last night." His eyes dropped from Eva's as he stared at his shoes. "It looked pretty... intense."

Eva grimaced slightly at the thought of it. "It was humiliating." She grumbled.

Adrien rocked back and forth on his heels. "Well, I'm sorry things went so badly."

Evaelle sighed. "It's not like it was your fault."

Adrien's awkward smile turned into a frown. "Right." He cleared his throat before reaching into his satchel. "Actually, I have something for you. I found it on the floor while the school was evacuating yesterday." He stated. He pulled out his hand to reveal Evaelle's white bandana.

Evaelle'a eyes widened and a small smile graced her lips as she took the bandana from Adrien's hand. "My bandana." She eagerly pushed her hair back and tied the ends in a quick knot. She fluffed the sides of her hair with satisfaction. "How does it look?"

Adrien's smile reappeared. "It looks great."

"All right class, we'll be starting." Mademoiselle Bustier announced at the front of class.

"Thanks a lot, Adrien." Eva called as Adrien turned to return to his seat.

"Of course." He stated.

Evaelle watched him return to his spot at the front of the class as she sat back further in her seat. Only once the excitement of the moment faded did she realize that it was very strange that Adrien came across her bandana. Antibug pulled it off in English II, Eva's second hour, which she did not share with Adrien. After that, the school evacuated, so how did he come across her bandana?

Eva pursed her lips as she ran her fingers over the fabric. With as many bad breaks she'd gotten in the last 3 days, maybe it was best not to question the few good things that came her way.