Chapter Text
Master Fu was meditating when Marinette slipped through his studio door. Well, napping and meditating if one were to be honest. While he rarely felt all of his years it had been a rather exciting evening and his bed was calling. Akumas rarely bothered his shop; he kept few enemies, or at least had few who knew where to find him, but the Sapotis had been rather indiscriminate in their mischief. He wondered if the sacrificial cupcakes had been restored by the Ladybug. He had been rather looking forward to them.
“Master,” Marinette began, bowing.
“Ladybug, it is good to see you. I take it your evening was a success?”
Marinette chuckled. “Yes. I know two little girls who are going to sleep well tonight.”
“Wonderful.” Master Fu stood, a fresh ache running through his back. “And our new hero,” he continued. “Did she perform as you expected?”
“Yes!” Marinette exclaimed, beaming. “You should have seen her, Master. I, err, here.” She pulled the Miraculous box from her purse. “The Fox Miraculous returned as promised.”
Marinette darted forwards, pressing the box into Master Fu’s outstretched hand.
“That is good,” Master Fu said, smiling softly. “The Fox can be a wilful companion. I’m glad to see it returned safely.”
He opened the box.
It was empty.
Years of practice controlling his emotions kept the surprise from his face. He looked up at Marinette, her usual hopeful expression firmly in place, then back down at the empty box. Shutting the lid with a snap he set it to one side.
“Your champion, do you believe she was a good match for the Fox?”
Marinette rubbed the back of her head, a blush pinking her cheeks. “Well, she gave me a bit of a scare, but yes. Aly—she made a wonderful hero. I knew she would.”
“Hmm.” Master Fu rubbed his beard. He’d already lost two Miraculous, another loose in the world was tantamount to disaster. However, Ladybug was not a girl who made decisions lightly and was more insightful than she believed. “I would like to meet her.”
“Pardon?”
“Quietly, of course,” he continued. “I believe I have coupons somewhere.”
Marinette frowned, less than enthused by the idea.
“I assure you, while my parlour is in part deception I am also a professional.” Master Fu chuckled and shook his head. “Now, I believe I’m keeping you from your friend. She must be quite worried about you.”
“Alya! Shoot. I need to go. Thank you for everything, Master Fu.” Marinette spun and raced for the door. She paused, gave a quick bow and proceeded to walk into the door frame in her haste to leave.
“Master?” Wayzz interjected, flitting over as the front door slammed. “What are you doing?”
Master Fu sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Failing, my dear friend.” He picked up the box and flipped it open. “It appears that Ladybug chose a little too well.”
Wayzz did a double take. “She lost the Miraculous!” he exclaimed.
“Lost? Not quite, we know exactly where it is.”
“Which is not where it should be!” Wayzz pressed, growing agitated. “Ladybug—“
“Chose,” Master Fu cut in. “Time will tell whether she made a mistake.”
Wayzz pouted, crossing his arms. “Master. We’re running out of Miraculous.”
Master Fu laughed. “True, but I do not yet think it is time to panic. Things have a way of working out for the best when Ladybugs are involved.”
Alya managed to smile for the rest of the evening, although it was more a grimace than grin. The Fox Miraculous around her neck felt as heavy as an anchor and with every move the unfamiliar necklace seemed to catch against her collarbone bringing the moment of betrayal back to her. Ladybug had trusted her.
The fact Ladybug, Paris’ first genuine superhero and all round amazing person, considered her, a teenage blogger whose sole claim to fame was a moderately successful website, any more than another damsel to rescue was amazing. In her heart, Alya considered Ladybug a friend and hoped against hope that Ladybug saw her in the same light. After all, when Ladybug needed to get a message out to Paris, Alya was her first port of call. When she needed a villain to help The Owl be a hero, it was Alya’s balcony she’d landed on. And when Ladybug needed a new hero to save Paris from the Sapotis, Alya had been trusted with a Miraculous.
She’d betrayed that trust. Utterly.
Somehow the rest of the evening skipped past. The twins went to bed easily for once, it turned out being Akumatised made for a great nightcap, and she and Marinette mutually selected a movie to watch five years too young for them. Just what the movie was Alya had no idea, she was far too deep inside her own head to pay any real attention. As cover for her inattention, Alya spent most of the night on her phone watching the Ladyblog blow up. A new hero in Paris was big news. There were more than a few comparisons to Vulpina, which Alya elected to ignore, but for the most part the response was positive. Lots of people debating her special power. Lots of critiques of a magically generated costume she had no control over. Lots of speculation as to whether she was going to compete with Ladybug for Chat’s affection. So far, so internet. Having over a thousand people actively debating her love life was an alarming new twist, though.
“Are you doing alright, Alya?” Marinette asked suddenly, frowning at her.
Alya realised she’d been staring blankly at her phone. Looking up suddenly she reaffixed her smile.
“Fine,” she said, perhaps too quickly. “Just fine.”
Her fingers drummed on her phone case. Marinette would surely keep a secret... “Akumas suck, don’t they?” she said, instead.
“Yeah.” Marinette gave a sympathetic shrug. “Especially when it’s someone close to you.”
Silence stretched between them, a corny speech about friendship and honesty from the TV filling the void.
“Oh, did you see the new hero?” Marinette continued.
Alya froze. Technically, yes, and for the third time that evening she was seized by the manic desire to grab Marinette by the shoulders and scream that she was Rena Rouge. That it was her that was running across the rooftops of Paris with Ladybug, bantering with Chat Noir and fighting her Akumatised sisters. That it had been the single greatest night of her life!
And that she’d already ruined it.
She said none of that. Secret identities were unimaginably frustrating while sat on the outside looking in, but the moment Alya had one they suddenly made perfect sense. If the world knew Alya held a Miraculous would Hawkmoth ever stop targeting her family? Would he ever leave the twins to grow up alone, or would every childish tantrum lead to a visit from a butterfly?
“Ah, no, I must have missed her,” Alya said, deflecting. Marinette shot her an odd look, and Alya mentally kicked herself. Alya Césaire, Paris’ number one superfan of Ladybug and perennial civilian could not feign disinterest. If people knew a single thing about her it was that superheroes were her life.
“Which is so annoying!” she exclaimed, settling into a well-worn rut of journalistic aggrievement. “The Ladyblog is blowing up with pictures and I’ve got nothing to show for it!” Because she’d been too busy being the hero to film the hero. “What have you heard? Did you see anything?”
“Oh, I might have seen a thing or two amidst the chaos.” Marinette smirked, saying nothing more.
“Oh come on, girl, you can’t leave me hanging like that!” Alya pressed, leaning forwards. The Fox Miraculous shifted beneath her shirt. “What did she look like? Did she have any special powers? The internet needs to know!”
“You are way too worked up about this,” she chided, giggling. “But from what I saw, she was dressed as a fox and had a magic flute. Also, she had an orange suit and tails which is… well, it’s a style at least.”
Alya rolled her eyes. Trust Marinette to notice that. “What else? Was she cool? Was she stylish? Did she—“ Alya ducked her eyes. “—did she goof? It was her first night out, right?”
“I’m sure she did fine, Alya,” Marinette assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Honestly, from what I saw, it looked more than anything else like she was having the time of her life.”
A chuckle escaped Alya. God, if even Marinette had seen that at a glance then what must Ladybug have though? She shook away that thought. Ladybug was unlikely to be very fond of Alya at that moment.
“Yeah. She must feel like the luckiest girl in Paris right now,” Alya continued, refusing to let her own dark thoughts break through the mask. “Standing there alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir…” She sighed, wistfully. “It’s a dream come true.”
She slumped back on the couch, staring blankly at the TV. A multicoloured laser blasted the daemon princess into a crater, saving the world for the good guys.
“Alya, are you okay?”
Alya restrained herself from touching the Fox Miraculous. “I’m just…” Not worthy. “Tired. Wasn’t planning on running around all night.”
She sighed deeply. What damage could telling Marinette do? She trusted her bestie with her life, what was an extra secret?
“Marinette,” she began, then chickened out yet again. “What would you do?”
“What would I do if I what?” Marinette asked, frowning at her.
“If… if Ladybug dropped from the sky and asked you to be a hero? Like she must have done for Rena Rouge.”
Marinette scoffed. “I don’t see that happening any time soon.”
Alya shot her a look. “You’re braver than you think, girl, don’t let anyone tell you anything different. Seriously. If you were offered a Miraculous, what would you do?”
Would you give it up afterwards?
Snorting, Marinette shook her head. “Knowing me? I’d get over excited, mess everything up and try to give it back as soon as possible.” She paused. “And you?”
“I—“
Alya never found out what she was going to say. The sound of a key in the lock heralded her parents return.
“Alya? Marinette?” her mother called out, pitching her voice low. “Are you here?”
Alya sprung to her feet. “Maman, papa, you guys are okay!” She raced over, seizing Marlena around the middle and squeezing her tight.
Marlena let out a surprised oof but hugged her back. “We’re fine,” she assured Alya. “They stopped the movie for a few minutes because those Sapotis got into the projection booth, but nothing serious happened.”
She grabbed Alya by the shoulders, pushing her backwards and fixing her with a stern look. “Now, Alya, please tell me you didn’t leave Ella and Etta alone while you tried to photograph Ladybug again.”
Alya blushed. “Umm… so I have good news and bad news on that front.”
“Alya~” Marlena began, warningly.
“The good news is they were never in any danger,” Alya explained, quickly. “But, that’s because they were the Sapotis.”
The distinctive sound of Marinette facepalming rang through the apartment.
“What!”
Calming her parents down after that announcement was easier said than done, but showing them the Sapotis/twins sleeping soundly, whole and hale went a long way. Alya sensed that she was not out of the woods when it came to getting her little sisters Akumatised. Future baby-sitting privileges were firmly under review.
“Bathroom’s free,” Marinette announced, slipping back into Alya’s room clutching her wash-bag to her chest.
Alya started, looking up from her phone. A fresh post from Ladybug had just dropped and it had taken Alya a few minutes to pluck up the courage to read it. Her fear was unfounded in the end, it was a boilerplate piece confirming that the Akuma had been defeated, Paris was safe and Hawkmoth remained at large. A single line at the end noted that Ladybug and Chat Noir had been joined by a new hero that evening, and they both looked forward to working with Rena Rouge again.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Marinette pressed. “I don’t think I’ve seen you post so little after an Akuma attack before.”
“I just need some sleep,” Alya replied, jumping off her bed. “I’ll just brush my teeth and we can settle, ‘kay?”
“Sounds good to me.” Marinette began to tuck herself into the airbed and Alya made for the door. “But Alya, if you need to talk I’m here. You know that, right?”
Alya snorted, rolling her eyes. “Hey, it's my job to baby you, not the other way around,” she shot back. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”
She slipped out of her bedroom and crept across the darkened apartment. A light was still visible beneath her parents’ door but otherwise the Césaire household had turned in for the night. Dodging a couple discarded toys, she made her way to the bathroom. The lock clicking shut behind her was the best sound she’d heard all evening, and she let out a deep sigh.
“Okay… okay,” she murmured. She stepped up to the sink, there were dark circles beneath her eyes and splashing some water on her face did little to move them. “It’s going to be okay.”
Fishing down the front of her shirt she pulled the fox Miraculous free. Inactive it retained its bright orange colour, although it still looked more like costume jewellery than anything worth fighting over.
“Trixx, are you still there?”
A yawn came from her hair. Alya furrowed her brow as the little Kwami tunnelled his way to the top of her head. A pair of tiny fox ears appeared, followed by the rest of the fox. The little spirit was not an expected partner to the Miraculous, though to be honest, Alya had not actually expected anything beyond the powers and the super-suit. Trixx was almost painfully adorable with a bulbous head, huge expressive eyes and looked cell shaded, an imposition on the world rather than a living breathing creature.
“Still awake, Alya?” he enquired in his extremely squeaky voice, leaning on her head.
“Still awake,” Alya echoed, meeting the fox’s eyes in the mirror.
“Trixx… I think I screwed up,” she admitted, after a long moment.
“Mmm.” A beat passed, Trixx’s expression didn’t change an inch.
Alya let out a huff. “You know, I was kinda hoping you’d have an opinion on that.”
Trixx shrugged. “I don’t repeat myself much. I said you’ve the makings of a great hero and I stand by that.”
“Because I’m ‘trustworthy’,” Alya replied, making air quotes. She let out a deep sigh. “That worked out great, didn’t it?”
Trixx smiled. Alya elected not to describe it as a vulpine grin, despite the providence. “Many of my holders would have considered what you did the height of skill,” he observed.
“That may say more about your former bearers.” Alya sighed, running a finger along the edges of the Miraculous. “I betrayed Ladybug.”
“You could say that. Or you could say you’re just late fulfilling your promise.”
Alya groaned, dropper head into her hands. “It’s not a library book. I can’t just pay the fine and forget all about it. Ladybug trusted me and I stole a Miraculous.” Gasping, she straightened. “I stole a Miraculous. That makes me a supervillain. Oh, god, I’m the worst supervillain in Paris!”
Trixx hummed. “As you’re the only one to successfully steal a Miraculous, wouldn’t that make you the best supervillain?”
“Trixx,” Alya said, fixing the Kwami with a glare. “You’re not helping.”
“Oh, would you like me to help?” Trixx bounced into the air and settled into place in front of Alya. “Where shall we start?”
Alya let out a terse sigh. “Please don’t list all my failings, I get enough of that from Nora. Just tell me how I fix this.”
Trixx shrugged, it was a whole body thing for the tiny spirit. “We Kwami do not tell our bearers what to do. We empower and we guide. What you do with that power and how you interpret our wisdom is entirely on your shoulders.”
Said shoulders dropped.
“Although, I would begin by apologising.”
“If I apologise, Ladybug will realise I took the Miraculous!” Alya hissed.
Trixx rubbed his chin. “I am surprised no one has noticed yet. That, and a little insulted.”
“What if I returned it?” Alya continued, not listening to the Kwami. “If she never noticed it was gone, then it would be like it never happened.”
“A sound plan,” Trixx agreed. “Save for the fact you have no idea where the Miraculous are stored. And if you’re caught you’ll be in ten times as much trouble as are now.”
Alya pouted, glaring at Trixx. “You could just say no.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“Oh come on, Trixx, work with me here,” Alya pleaded. “If I don’t come up with a fool proof plan Ladybug will never speak to me again!”
Trixx scoffed. “You are way past that.”
“Trixx!”
“Okay, okay.” Trixx rolled his eyes. “Here is some wisdom right from the fox’s mouth. You, Alya, need to prove yourself. You need to prove that you can be trusted to bear that necklace. And I hope you already know what that means you should do.”
Alya looked herself in the eye, her hand closing over the necklace. “Yes, I do,” she said softly. Being Rena Rouge was the greatest thing that had ever happened to her, and she had to show Ladybug that choosing her hadn’t been a mistake. “I have to become the best hero I can be.”
Trixx’s head lolled backwards. “Quel bordel. This is going to take a while.”