Alya felt liquid fire flow through her veins at the sight that greeted her at school that morning.
Lila was talking to her Nino.
Alya was not particularly fond of the vixen who ruined the credibility of her blog with her lying mouth when she'd interviewed the girl AND gave Rena Rouge a lot of extra mistrust to put up with because of Volpina's legacy, pretending to be a miraculous holder.
Lila has been trying to get back into Adrien's line of attention for awhile, the boy having none of it thankfully.
But lately Alya had noticed Lila eyeing her man, and she could see the gears turning in the Italian's brain.
Alya had tried to brush it off, just saying Nino was being polite and kind, feeling bad for the girl. But this had been going on for about a week now.
Alya's eyes narrowed as Lila giggled and batted her lashes at Nino, who put an arm behind his head in response, looking almost shy.
Alya growled, she'd had enough of this.
She stalked over towards the pair and slipped between Lila and Nino, poking the lying girl in the chest.
"Can you just back off? Nobody wants you around after everything you've done, not me, not Marinette and certainly not Adrien!" She hissed.
Lila's eyes widened before she turned on her heel and stormed off.
Nino grabbed Alya's arm and spun her around.
"Alya what the heck? Don't you think that was kind of harsh?" He said sternly.
Alya wrenched herself out of his grip, glaring at him.
"I'm just looking out for you Nino! Can't you see she's just using you to get close to Adrien?" She yelled, throwing her hands up.
Nino looked taken aback, hurt.
"Don't you think I can handle myself? I'm a hero too..." Nino said softly, looking down.
Alya put a hand on his shoulder.
"Baby that's not what I meant, you're way too sweet, and she's a conniving girl who's trying to take advantage of you. I'm just looking out for you," Alya explained gently.
Now it was Nino's turn to shake off his significant other's touch.
"Alya, for your information Lila's trying to change, she's very lonely and nobody is giving her a chance. She hasn't even asked me anything about Adrien, I already thought of that possibility," Nino argued.
"All part of that witch's plan," Alya said waving off Nino's comment.
Nino made a sound of irritation.
"Why can't you just admit you're jealous Alya?" He said angrily.
Alya gasped. She was so not jealous. Alya Césaire did not get jealous. Not over a slinky lying redhead. Who was willing to "drop" the object of her affection from the Eiffel Tower might she add.
"Nino I'm just looking out for you, why can't you see that she's using you?" Alya countered in frustration.
Nino lost it.
"What are you saying Alya? That people only want to talk to me because I'm friends with Adrien?" He yelled.
"No but Lila is," Alya said stubbornly, arms crossed over her chest, eyes narrowing.
Nino readjusted his hat.
"Alya can you please trust me?" He said.
"Nino..." Alya trailed off, not meeting his gaze.
Her boyfriend huffed.
"Alright I see how it is, I have to go find Adrien and warn him that you might rile up Marinette over Lila," he snapped. He turned his back to her and angrily walked away.
Alya felt her heart drop. What had she done?
She sank to the floor pulling her knees to her chest, and wrapping her arms around them.
Marinette had found her like that, with a look of despair plastered on her face.
"Oh Alya," she had said when Alya had told her what had happened.
"I - I just had a fight with Nino," Alya murmured looking lost. This was their first fight.
They always got along. They were two halves of a whole. They always had a good time and communicated well. Even when they were Rena Rouge and Carapace their teamwork was on par with Marinette and Adrien.
Nino wouldn't look at her during class, he avoided her at break tugging Adrien with him.
But at least Lila wasn't around him. The consolation was small though.
Alya had been too full of pride to admit yes maybe she was jealous, it wasn't that she didn't trust Nino. It was that she was insecure about the beautiful Italian.
Alya couldn't have been happier when they got an akuma alert, she really wanted to hit something.
As her team gathered on the school's roof she noticed Nino still wouldn't look at her. It filled with a sadness that she replaced with reckless determination. She noticed Queen Bee glancing between the two of them, eyes narrowing in suspicion at the change in atmosphere. Just as she opened her mouth to comment, Rena interrupted her.
"Well I'll go this way, Seeya bye!" She said as she scrambled away, ignoring the protests of her teammates, including Nino.
Alya followed her nose to the scent of the butterfly akuma, they had a distinct fragrance that she learned to trace to the object, something she taught Chat, a useful skill.
She landed on a roof and straightened, nose to the air.
Next thing she knew, she was falling and there was a pain in her back. Something had slammed into her.
Alya hit the ground hard, groaning as she rolled to avoid getting stomped on.
A safe distance away she finally had the opportunity to look at her attacker.
Her jaw dropped.
Volpina?
"Lila?" Rena choked out, shame flooded her entire being, heroes were supposed to stop monsters, not create them. Sure Adrien and Marinette and especially Chloe had created akumas before, but Alya was certain she'd never do it, let alone make the same mistake as Marinette with the same villain.
"I can smell you Alya," Volpina hissed, spitting her name with venom.
Alya adjusted her stance into an deffensive position. Lila jumped, closing the gap between them as she landed a series of strikes. Alya barely managed to block them, cartwheeling back to keep the distance between them.
It was obvious that Lila was fueled by rage.
"You humiliated me! Again!" She screeched, this time her fist connected with Alya's cheek sending the heroine flying.
"You stopped me from being friends with the only person willing to talk to me!" She yelled. At the mention of Nino Alya stood up and caught the foot before it hit her midsection. Only to have the leg retracted, bringing her closer to the devious vixen as she spun and kicked Rena with her other foot.
Rena winced when her body made contact with a car that broke her fall. She looked up at a spiteful Lila.
"I hate you, I detest you, I will destroy you!" The Italian roared, lunging for Rena once again.
Still on her hands and knees, Alya leaped from her spot, just narrowly avoiding the attack.
Her calf burned and Alya realized Lila had caught her with her claws, both the suit and skin shredded. Alya grit her teeth, trying to be faster than Volpina, receiving scratches at best and gashes when she was too slow.
"Rena!" She heard a voice call. It sounded like Nino. Volpina and Alya both stopped, hearing the voice approaching rapidly.
Rena smirked as she looked at Volpina.
"It's over Lila, we outnumber you," Alya said.
Volpina just laughed, looking smug with her hands on her hips.
"You forget my ability, I am a master of illusions!" She reminded, "Now watch this!" Volpina brought the flute to her lips, a shower of glitter changed her form to look like...
Rena herself! Down to the cuts on her arms and the wrinkles and dirt on her suit.
Just the Nino and the others arrived on scene looking between the two in shock.
"Guys thank goodness you're here! She's really strong," Rena admitted, thankful to see her friends, regretting being so headstrong in the first place.
Nino made a step towards her cautiously when Volpina's eyes narrowed.
"Nino what do you think you're doing? Stay away from her! Volpina cast an illusion on herself!" Volpina warned, playing the part of Alya quite well.
Nino frowned and looked between the two, puzzled.
Chloe buzzed over and around each of them.
"Ugh they look exactly the same, I can't tell which one of them is the real one. So annoying," she remarked before flying back over to the group.
"Her illusion is so realistic... I don't want to hurt the real Rena but it would take a hard hit to dispel the illusion," Marinette muttered to herself.
"Yeah just like last time," Adrien said with a frown.
"Wait, that one knew my secret identity, she must be the real Rena," Nino said pointing to Volpina.
"I'm Alya!" Rena cried out in frustration causing everyone to frown, "She's associating the smell of our civilian selves with out alter egos!"
"Don't listen to her! She's only trying to trick you!" Volpina argued fiercely.
Marinette slapped a hand to her face.
"I'm a terrible friend I can't even tell which one is the real one, Alya I'm sorry," Marinette cried.
Alya wanted to shake all of them. How could they not know it was her? Granted Volpina knew her mannerisms, their identities and her illusion was flawless but... surely somebody knew?
Adrien looked about as lost as Marinette and Chloe had obviously already given up.
Nino looked thoughtful like he was devising some sort of plan. Finally he spoke.
"Alright I've got it," he said as he snapped his fingers. He looked at both girls.
"What were we fighting about earlier?" he asked.
"That's easy, Lila, the whole thing that started this mess," Volpina said quickly. Nino looked at her and nodded while Alya's ears dropped.
Oh. That's what Nino wanted. Alya swallowed while Nino analyzed her.
"My pride," Alya muttered quietly. As soon as she said it Nino flung the shield on his back at Volpina, hitting her in the stomach and knocking her out as she got tossed a few feet. The illusion immediately disappeared as Nino raced over to Alya and flung his arms around her.
"Oh my god you're okay!" He said happily. He pulled back a little and glared at her. "Dont you ever do anything that reckless again!" He scolded.
"Are you still mad at me for earlier?" Alya said in a small voice as the others de- akumatized Lila, giving the couple a moment.
Her eyes were large and filled with worry and sadness. Nino sighed, he couldn't stay mad at her.
"No," he said sincerely with a smile. Alya beamed back at her boyfriend and hugged him harder.
"I'm sorry about earlier baby, this is all my fault..." she paused, taking a deep breath, "and yes I was jealous. I do trust you so much! But... I was just being insecure!"
Nino chuckled. "It's okay to be insecure, it's bound to happen in a relationship but you should talk about it so I can reassure you with how much I love you," He replied.
Nino was about to kiss his girlfriend when three people simultaneously cleared their throats.
"Um we should be tending to her wounds," Marinette stated.
Chloe just said what the other three were thinking.
"Ew can you guys do that later? Like when we're not around?" She barked, hand in the air as she hovered off the ground.
Adrien said nothing but just looked away, obviously in agreement.
Nino looked back at Alya and kissed her hand, a habit he picked up from Chat.
"Until later m'lady," he said with a wink as he let the girls tend to Alya while Adrien and him went for a walk.
The girls teased Alya over her blush.
"I am not blushing!" Alya exclaimed, wincing as Marinette tied her bandage particularly tight at the comment.