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Alya really loves Marinette, but the girl can be frustrating sometimes. Though, maybe it’s more accurate to say ‘and as a result’ instead of ‘but’, because it seems like a lot of her frustration stems from the adorable girl’s inability to act for herself.
It comes out in small ways, usually. Like with her inability to say ‘no’ to babysitting Manon, or her general nerves and total breakdowns concerning one particular blond teen model/classmate. Who, by the way, would be entirely too lucky to be dating Marinette, but who also won’t realize it for a while because she tends to lose most vocal and motor functions in his presence.
Letting Adrien believe that her painstakingly homemade scarf was from his dad is another thing that comes to mind, because its so typically Marinette and so sweet of her that Alya expects nothing less, and yet it’s so completely infuriating because Marinette deserves all the recognition, dammit.
But those of the small things. No, the reason why Alya thinks her best friend is worryingly aggravating right now is…
“Alya, you have to get out of here!” Marinette cries, completely ignoring her own advice as she promptly gets distracted herding some of their more panicked classmates towards the safer hallways - the ones that aren’t filled with the little robots that seem to be the theme of this week’s attacks.
Honestly, it could be worse, all considered. Which, ok, isn’t saying much, but these robots are all based off a homemade toy that’s supposed to help make bracelets and stuff, rather than something dangerous, so they’re more or less limiting themselves to tying people up. Specifically the male students and the teacher in the engineering club who are known to be slightly obnoxious about their views on women and engineering, though they don’t seem to be really discriminating. So far, they’ve mostly been just grabbing the people who can’t get out of the way fast enough, except that number has been growing since the robots somehow figured out how to self propagate by makeshift assembly lines.
Anyways, they’re still troublesome enough and worrying enough that people are panicking, and Marinette, of course, decides to help rather than get herself away.
Alya is personally not in any way qualified to deal with this, but there’s no way she’s leaving Marinette - who also is not qualified, by the way - alone, so she instead runs up to her best friend and tells her, “I’m not leaving until you’re out, too.” And, because she knows Marinette won’t leave until she’s done or she’s physically carried out, Alya continues, “I’ll help you, so we can get things done faster, alright?”
It’s not actually a question, since she’s already lifting someone up by the elbow and directing them to safety with a muttered hurry, that way is safe, but the way Marinette smiles at her is an answer all the same.
She has a minute to wonder where the teachers are, but then loses track of the thought in the chaos. It’s hard trying to evacuate people, considering all the noise and the general panic, along with the fact that most of the students still in the building are either already held hostage or apparently for ‘freeze’ rather than fight or flight, and a good few of those still free students are a lot bigger than Alya and Marinette.
Somehow, though, they manage to get everyone out, and Alya thinks it’ll be fine. That’s before Marinette pushes her towards the last safe zone (which is gradually becoming less safe as it fills with more robots) and dashes off, saying, “Go on ahead, I’ll catch up!”
After that, Alya forgoes following her instinct to get out of the danger zone and chases after her best friend, somehow managing to grab her jacket to stop her and ask, “Wait, what are you doing?”
Marinette freezes, like she didn’t expect her to follow. Alya has no idea why considering Marinette herself apparently never listens, but an ominous - and growing - clatter has Marinette dragging her off to the nearest room they can find.
They lock the door and duck into a corner where they’ll hopefully be safe for a little bit, and Marinette whispers at Alya, “What are you doing here, you have to leave.”
Alya just barely refrains from smacking her forehead with her palm. “What am I doing?” she instead hisses back, “I’m trying to make sure you get out safe! What are you doing?”
There’s a crash outside as the robots start trying to get past the door, and Marinette flinches. Her hand goes to cover her purse instinctively, and she hesitates. Murmurs, “Alright, let’s go Tikki” with her face tilted downwards before she looks back up into Alya’s eyes and says, “I’ll explain everything later, I promise.”
Alya opens her mouth - to ask something, though she’s not sure what - before coherent thought pretty much flees her brain.
Because, in the span of a few seconds, Marinette has opened her bag to reveal a little red sprite thing - at least she knows what Tikki is now? - and has it disappear into her earrings with a murmur of “Transform, Ladybug!”
A flash of bright light later, and when Alya blinks the spots from her eyes, Ladybug is crouched in front of her where Marinette used to be.
Mari - Ladybug says, “Come on, we’re getting you out of here,” as she pulls her up to her feet.
With little more than a glance, Ladybug apparently spots a way out, because she grabs Alya and apologizes for the next few moments before flinging her yo-yo at a window and pretty much hurling both of them out of the now empty frame. Right before they go flying out the window, Alya sees the first of several robots break into the classroom.
Somehow, they manage not to break anything when they land. Instead, they roll (kind of gracelessly, but Alya thinks she can be forgiven) onto the grassy lawn, and Ladybug pushes Alya towards the fields the minute she gains her bearings.
With a wink, she says, “I’ll be done in a flash,” and with a flick of her wrist, she’s pulling herself into flight with her yo-yo. In the distance, Alya can see a flash of black launching itself onto the school roof, quickly joined by a splash of red.
Alya joins the rest of the school body and spends a few minutes being hounded by Ladybug fans who want to know wow was that really her and what was it like hanging out with Ladybug before one of her teachers grabs her and herds her away to a more private location. Which is fine, since Alya is a little shell shocked right now. Though, at least that means Marinette is qualified to go around saving people. So there’s that.
She can’t wait to hear just how on earth this all happened.