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Alya was ecstatic. A new hero on the scene! Her blog had more hits than ever, with her exclusive interview with Chat Noir and his new companion, Carapace. The turtle themed superhero had jumped in front of the intrepid blogger, creating a magical forcefield to protect her from an akuma during the most recent battle, and he had even stuck around for as long as he could to give her that exclusive interview and take her home. She was more than a little starstruck.
“Nino!” She rushed over to her boyfriend, practically throwing herself at the unsuspecting boy, shoving her phone in his face. “Did you see this? A new superhero to fight alongside Chat Noir!” The intrepid reporter was buzzing with energy, distracted enough by her scoop to not notice the flashes of emotion that sped across Nino’s face.
“I watched it all last night, babe. He seems pretty cool.”
She nods absently, still lost in the comment section of her blog. “Do you think there will be anymore superheroes? And do you think they’ll all be animal themed like Chat Noir and Carapace?”
Nino shrugs, a weird look on his face, though Alya can’t quite decipher it. “I don’t know, but I’m sure if Chat Noir and Carapace need help with the attacks, someone will show up.”
Alya looks away from her phone fully for the first time since getting the interview the night before and smiles at her boyfriend. Her eyes drift down to his wrist, spotting a bracelet she hasn’t seen before. “Where did you get that, babe?”
He blinks and looks down at it. “Oh, a friend gave me this yesterday. Said she wanted me to have it.” Alya raises an eyebrow. “Not like that,” he says quickly. “We just ran into each other while I was running some errands for my mom, and she said she didn’t want it, and that she thought I might like it. It’s neat, right?”
“Oh. Yeah. It suits you, babe.” She places a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll see you after class.”
She slips into her seat beside Marinette with just a few moments to spare before Mme. Mendeleiev began class. The bakers’ daughter glances over at Alya and offers a shy smile before turning back to the book she was scribbling in. Alya smiles back politely. Marinette, from everything she had seen, was fairly sweet, but a bit spacey and rather reclusive. They had shared maybe ten words between the two of them outside of class time, but Alya found her to be intelligent and kind. Everyone she spoke to at Francoise Dupont agreed with her, but no one seemed to know the girl very well, despite many of them having known her since they were children.
Alya hoped that Marinette considered her to be a friend, because God knows they both needed more of those. I really should try and talk to her more, she mused to herself as she began taking notes from Mendeleiev’s lecture. I wonder if she reads the blog. Maybe I could use that to start up a conversation.
Lost in thought as she was, Alya didn’t realize class was over until Marinette was standing and shoving her notes into her backpack. Alya blinks and begins packing her things as well. No time like the present, right? I’ll just ask her if she wants to grab coffee sometime, or if she saw the reports about Carapace.
“Alya!”
Alya is shaken out of her thoughts by Marinette approaching her. Well, this is a twist.
“Marinette, hey, what’s up?”
“My parents had some croissants left over last night, and I thought your family might appreciate them.” For the first time, Alya realizes the girl is holding a box, emblazoned with the Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie logo on top. Surely, she hasn’t had that all day. I would have seen it before now!
“Thank you, Marinette, that’s really sweet of you.” Alya accepts the box with a smile. “Uh, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go get coffee sometime, or something.”
Marinette looks Alya in the eyes for a brief moment, and the blogger feels as if her entire life story is being read by the girl in front of her. She feels naked and exposed. Then, Marinette smiles and it’s like she’s been blessed by a benevolent god. “I would love to, Alya. Maybe you can tell me about that new superhero. I’ve been following your blog ever since Chat Noir first appeared.” Marinette pulls a piece of paper out from her backpack and scribbles down a phone number. “I have to run, my maman is expecting me, but here’s my phone number, text me and we can figure out a time. I’ll see you tomorrow, Alya. Be open to new experiences today and you’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised.”
Alya is left standing in shock as Marinette walks away, unable to respond to the strange comment. More words had been exchanged between the two girls in the past five minutes than had been exchanged in the entire year prior, and while they were strange words, things she didn’t quite understand, feelings she wasn’t quite comfortable with, Alya had the sense that she had just made one of the most important decisions of her life. She just wasn’t sure how befriending the quiet girl who sits next to her in class could be so life changing.
Alya found herself waiting beneath the Eiffel Tower at a quarter until six that evening. She found the note tucked into the pastry box Marinette had given her, and while she almost assumed it had come from the shy girl, Alya had sat next to Marinette for long enough to recognize that this was different handwriting. Besides, the note (white ink on midnight blue paper) that had only contained a time (6 PM) and a location (the Eiffel Tower) looked nothing like anything Alya had ever seen before. It was as if she held a piece of the midnight sky in her hands, with stars pulled together to send her a message.
She had almost disregarded the note, in all honesty. The idea of listening to a mysterious note with no signature slipped into a box of pastries seemed like the perfect way to get abducted. But, for whatever reason, the words Marinette had left with her that afternoon after class rang through her ears. Be open to new experiences today. And a quick Google search told her that there was a Chat Noir cosplay event at the base of the Eiffel Tower at 6 PM. Alya was not one for cosplay, herself, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to attend and maybe take some pictures for the blog. So here she was, taking photos of some of the cosplayers as they arrived—many of them recognized her and her work, which was incredibly flattering—and waiting for the clock to strike 6 so she could be sure the note was just a joke and she could leave.
A minute until 6 and Alya was beginning to gather her things, waving goodbye to the several Chat Noirs she had met when everything froze around her. Sparks appeared on the tower behind her, like stars pulled from the night sky to adorn the iconic image, and as Alya was gaping up at the tower (and the birds frozen in place, the Chat Noir who was midway through showing off with a backflip), she turned around and came face to face with a hooded figure.
Alya’s jaw drops as she takes in the woman standing in front of her. She is wrapped in the night sky, galaxies coming to life and dying on her cloak, her eyes the only thing Alya can see beneath her hood. And dear god those eyes, deeper than the depths of the ocean, looking into them is like staring out to the edge of the universe.
“Alya Cesaire,” she says, and the blogger wants to start crying. The power, the authority that her name rings with sets off something deep within the girl, and she understands that in this moment, her whole world is changing.
The woman holds out a hand and sitting in it is a necklace with an amulet in the shape of a fox’s tail. “This is the Miraculous of the Fox, which grants the power of Illusion. You will use it for the greater good in the battle against Hawkmoth, and when he is defeated, you will return it to me. Can I trust you?”
Alya’s eyes nearly pop out of her head. Miraculous. Everyone in Paris, maybe even the world at this point, knows the word Miraculous. It’s what Hawk Moth is after, and Chat Noir surely has one. Which means Carapace must as well. And now, this mysterious figure is offering one to Alya.
“I- I’m honored. Of course, you can trust me! But won’t Chat Noir and Carapace be suspicious? Won’t they wonder where I came from?”
The woman smiles (Alya isn’t sure how she can tell, since she can’t see her mouth, but the way everything around her seems to dim in comparison to the slight upturn of the corner of her eyes, Alya thinks it’s a reasonable assumption) and laughs. “Just tell them the Guardian sent you. Trixx will explain everything else. I will be watching, Alya, but I know I’ve made the right choice, and I know you will make me proud.”
And then she’s gone. The flipping Chat Noir lands his backflip, the birds continue on their way, and the tower begins to light up by its normal means. Everything continues as it was, but for Alya, who experienced a moment between seconds, nothing will be the same again.