It was near dawn in Shanghai by the time that they got to the hotel. Back in Paris it would be midnight and the students were in a daze-like dream. Alya didn't remember getting to the hotel- but she remembered what she dreamed clearly.
During her dream, Alya was in a small room sectioned off by heavy black velvet curtains. The room was cold and dark; she could feel the marble floor leaching her heat out through her shoes.
A green light flashed behind one of the curtains, sending a sliver of light through the bottom of the drapes.
Alya pulled back the curtain to find- more curtains. Again a light flashed, this time red. She pulled back another drape, then another. She ran through the vast area searching franticly for the lights that were always just out or her reach. She had to find them. She had to find the truth.
A small piercing orange light ignited in front of her. She back peddled in surprise to avoid running into it.
Using dream mentality there was only one thing she could do; she touched the orb of light. Instantly, the light raced up her arm, enveloping her in a warm coating of energy. Alya felt powerful and safe.
She turned to see Nino behind her. Her smile faded when she saw the look on his face. He didn't look like his normal upbeat self. Nino was angry and tired.
Alya tried to ask him what was wrong, but she couldn't speak. Her voice was gone. She panicked- what was a reporter without her voice? Now Alya couldn't breathe. She reached out for Nino, but he wouldn't look at her, his face covered by his hat.
She had no air, no way to communicate, and no one who would help her. The glow faded from her body. She was in darkness.
Alya woke up out of breath, but least she could breathe. She took off the covers over her head, letting cool, fresh air into her lungs.
The hotel room she and Marinette shared was coloured red and orange with intricate gold details.
The sun was high outside the window, indicating it being later in the day. She checked her phone; the time read 2:00p.m. Alya sighed and did the math in her head; Shanghai was six hours ahead of Paris, making it 8:00 back home.
She opened the photo of her and Nino back up. He looked so calm and peaceful sleeping, much unlike he did in her dream. She set in as her phone background, and got up out of bed.
"Marinette, get up girl!" Alya said, yanking the covers off of her friend.
Marinette curled up into a ball from the sudden cold. She covered her face with a pillow and groaned in displeasure.
Alya laughed. "Adrien will probably be up already up…"
Alya laughed as Marinette jolted out of bed. She had never seen the girl get ready so fast. Alya poked her head out into the hallway; the hall seemed much bigger than it did the night before, when she had been half asleep. Alya could smell the food before the two of them had reached the large dining room.
The dining room was a grand, open-concept area; the far wall was mainly made of a huge window that showed a stunning view of Shanghai. The dining room was on the top floor so the students could see most of the city. To the left wall, was a row of booths, were most of the class sat. Opposite to that was the buffet. The dining room was so large that it seemed could probably be changed into a ballroom if needed. In the center of the room were dozens of small tables.
Chloe, sitting at one of the small tables with Sabrina, dabbed her face with a napkin. "Are you two trying to get more beauty sleep? It's not working."
Alya smirked. "It's works more than you ever will, daddy's girl."
"Ouch." Nino Chuckled, under his breath. He and Adrien were indeed already up. Alya and Marinette moved to sit with them at their booth.
Two men came out into the dining room from a side door. One was familiar. Alya had seen him in Paris; it was Marinette's Uncle Wang. If she remembered correctly, Wang had been a chef from Shanghai, who had traveled all over the world.
The other man was much smaller. Just under the height of Alya and Marinette. Like Wang, he had a beard, but this man's was much longer, almost wizardly.
Wang and the other man pulled Marinette into a big hug.
"Zhi! Wang!" Marinette giggled. They let her out of the hug and then introduced them to her classmates. "This is my Great Uncle Wang; most of you already know him. The other one is Zhi, my Grandfather on my mother's side." Wang usually runs the kitchen here, but recently won an award and got to travel the world. Zhi runs the largest hotel chain in Shanghai, including the hotel were at now."
Alya was surprised. "Wow, Mari, your family is really a big deal here!"
Marinette blushed. "Not really."
Zhi pointed to the room the men they came out of. "Your grandmother is back in there, you should go talk to her." He had a thick Chinese accent, but his French was much better than his brother's.
"Okay." Marinette nodded. "We're going to get some food first. Is Collin here? I haven't seen him for years."
Zhi smiled. "Collin is still at school, he has been working very hard on his studies lately."
Alya and Marinette left the two men, and headed towards the buffet.
"Collin is my cousin." Marinette said. "He's a few years older than us. He should be graduating this year." She scooped scrambled eggs onto her plate. "Would you like to come with me to meet my Grandmother Xiang?"
Alya shrugged and took a helping of some sort of vegetables. "I wouldn't want to get in the way of a family meeting."
"Grandma can be kind of…" Marinette searched for the right word. "… Judgey. I don't want her to think I don't have any friends from school."
They ate quickly, and then walked towards the side room that the men had emerged from. The area, though not huge, was obviously a staff conference room. The walls were a warm burgundy, the floor made of a soft carpet. In the center of the room was a round table, polished to a shine. There Xiang sat.
Xiang's hair was silver and tied back. She wore a white dress, a silver bird necklace, and had slim, silver glasses. She was a small woman; petite, and definitely under 5'2. Xiang shared the looks of her daughter, Marinette's mother. She read a letter, lips pursed, as if she tasted something sour.
But Xiang's look of displeasure melted when she spotted her granddaughter. She stood, smiling and strode towards them.
"Marinette!" Xiang said, placing her hands softly on her granddaughter's arms. "You have grown so big!"
She smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, time does that."
"And who is this?" Xiang turned to Alya, her face neutral.
Alya's palms began to sweat. Xiang had not yet decided how she felt about her. Something about Xiang told Alya that she did not want to be on her bad side.
Marinette put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "This is my best friend Alya."
The woman smiled, and Alya let out a breath she did not know she was holding in. "You are the one with the interest in the Yaogai, are you not?"
Alya looked to Marinette for help with the old lady's words.
"Yaogai means demons. She means the Akuma." Marinette translated.
"Oh, yes. I mainly focus on the heroes who fight the Akuma. I run a blog detailing their movements and battles back in Paris."
Xiang sat back down at the table. "The magic of both the Yaogai and the heroes who fight them come from the Kwami."
Alya looked to Marinette for another translation. "Kwami?"
Marinette offered no response, but instead was focused heavily on her grandmother's words.
"Kwami, the fairy gods of that represent the world's creatures." Xiang continued. "They give man terrible and miraculous powers."
"Could you tell me more, for the Ladyblog?" Alya asked.
"Not now, but soon my old friend, and teacher will be visiting. They will be able to give you more information."
A shrill yell sounded from the dining hall. It was clear who the commotion came from.
"Chloe…" Alya groaned, face in hand.
Xiang's face was once again neutral. "One of your friends?"
Marinette's voice dripped with anger. "No. No, she isn't." She turned and stomped out the door.
Alya followed, but Xiang stopped her for a moment. "My son has a book that could be a help to you. If you see him, tell him I told you to get the "Book of Humans Gods and Demons"."
Alya opened the door to the dining hall to see Chloe and Marinette seething in each other's faces.
Chloe pointed to Wang. "Your crazy Uncle tried to kill me last time he saw me!"
Marinette through her hands above her head. "He was Akumatized! Half the class has tried to kill you while they were Akumatized!"
Chloe huffed and looked to Adrien for help. He sighed, obviously not wanting to get caught up in the girl's fight. "You two need to calm down. Chloe, show your hosts some respect."
She scowled and sat back down.
Alya and Marinette took their place at the booth with Nino and Adrien.
"The evil has been defeated." Alya whispered. The others giggled, even Adrien, who did his best to smother his laughter.
That day, the class took a trip to the Shanghai Museum. For the first few hours the group of four perused though the countless rooms of armour, geodes, and ancient pottery, but the second Alya heard there was an exhibition on Miraculous, not a thing in the world could stop her from dragging her friends to it. Marinette seemed unenthusiastic to go to the exhibit, but Adrien seemed strangely just as excited as Alya did. Nino just seemed glad to follow Alya around the museum.
The Miraculous exhibit held many artefacts and tapestries, each with a detailed description card beside them. Unfortunately the description cards were all written in Chinese. Alya went around to many of the displays, taking photos for later use.
One of the cases held a familiar looking necklace. The necklace was a silver dove, much like the one Marinette's grandmother wore. Alya noted that Xiang must have been more interested about the superheroes than she thought. Beside the necklace was an old photo of a superhero wearing dove garments.
She moved on to look at the tapestries. One depicted Ladybug and Chat Noir at the top and many heroes below them, bowing. Another showed a Ying-yang symbol with to small creatures where the small circles would be. One creature was red with black marks, the other seemed familiar, being black with large green eyes.
"Adrien?" Alya called. "You read Mandarin right? Could you help me with this description card?"
He came over to see what she had found. Adrien leaned toward the writing to translate. "Here, shows the two major miraculous being worshiped by the six minor miraculous and the seven lesser miraculous."
"There are more Miraculous? I wonder where they are. What is the other tapestry?" She asked.
"The two major Kwami," He read. "The gods that control the positive and negative energies of our world."
"Gods?" Alya said. "Ladybug and Chat No-" Her voice trailed off. She knew why the small black creature in the tapestry looked familiar. She began to flip quickly through her photo roll, madly looking for the photo from the plane.
Adrien looked at her puzzledly. "What?"
Alya found the photo and shoved the phone into Adrien's face. "It was a Kwami!" She half whispered. "You're Chat Noir aren't you?"
"What are you talking about? W-why would you think that?" His voice gave him away.
She took the phone back and found another photo she had almost forgotten about. The picture was Adrien photoshopped into Chat Noir's suit. Marinette had denied the possibility of Adrien being Chat Noir, but now Alya couldn't possibly believe he was someone else.
She showed him the photo, and he gaped, stammering. Alya had never seen Adrien so jumbled.
A wisp of a black shadow zipped out of Adrien's jacket and floated between them. The thing that was obviously a Kwami, like in the tapestry, was black with large, round, green eyes. He shrugged and spoke in a high-pitched voice. "Well, she's got us. There's no use pretending anymore."
"Plagg!" Adrien grabbed the Kwami out of the air, squishing its head slightly. "You know better than to come out in public!"
Alya turned to see if Marinette or Nino had seen Plagg. Luckily, the other two were focused on display showing the costume of the white dove. Adrien motioned with his head for her to follow him around the corner of the wall.
She followed him trying to decipher what her new knowledge would mean in the long run.
When they were out of sight, Plagg squeezed out of Adrien's hands with a pop. "That tapestry was awful! They never get my ears right!"
Adrien was angrier than Alya had ever seen him. "What was that?! Someone could have seen you!"
Plagg scoffed. "No one did!"
The model gestured to Alya furiously.
She interrupted. "Who else knows who you are?"
"No one, just you." He looked Alya in the eyes. "You have to promise not to tell anyone."
"I run the Ladyblog! I have to give all the information about Chat Noir to the public-"
"-Alya!" Adrien was now pleading. "You Can't!"
She had no choice. There was no way she was going to put her friend in danger. If the public knew he was Chat Noir, Hawkmoth could target him and his family directly.
Alya sighed. "I promise, I won't tell anyone."
This class trip was going to be a wild ride. Alya knew that for sure.