A/N: Knick-knack, ADL is back! School's being a nightmare - again - so before I go back to this place of hell, let's enjoy my last remaining hours with the next chapter. Why remaining, you wonder? 'Cuz speed-walking will kill me T_T As well as the recently botched math test -_-

to Starshine89: Happy belated birthday, lad! Hope you enjoyed reading three weeks of brain-wrecking writing ':)

Don't worry, she will eventually. Alexa can't keep her secrets forever, especially not from the nosy journalist known as Alya ;)

About the crush, I won't spoil anything. Though I'll say this: Alexa WON'T be happy about it -_-

P.S. Hold ya horses, lad! The story isn't over yet ;)

to Romina Juarez: Lo siento mucho, no puedo hablar español, pero usaré el traductor de Google:

Muchas gracias, muchacha! Me alegra que te guste mi historia :D Pero no te preocupes, aún no ha terminado ;)

to SpiderDom321: You were in Cape Cod? That's so neat! I hope you had a great time there :D

Well, Marinette was the same way too. But Alexa's a bit different here: She's not the one who de-evilizes the akumas, she's merely a third wheel (literally ':( )

Thanks a lot, dude! I nearly wrecked my brain writing this scene. I'm no good at such things like arguments and stuff, so I'm glad it paid off ':) And you're right there: Every hero has his struggles... Alexa just still hasn't recovered from her past experiences :'(

to GaoGod (Guest): Meh, I wouldn't say Alexa is a Mary Sue. A perfectionist? Yes. But no Little Miss Perfect. Alexa has her flaws like everyone else, she's just scared of what might happen if she... you know ':(

Not at all! And you shouldn't have, but still thank you :3


Bloodhound rushed inside through the window, quietly landing on the laminate floor of her room. The transformation wore off just as she closed the window and lowered the shades.

Alexa groaned and rubbed her temples. She didn't feel like sleeping. Not after all this nighttime turmoil. It still gave her a terrible headache.

So there is a guardian around here. One known by the name Master Wang Fu. And he owns a massage shop in the Quartier Asiatique. I guess I'll need to ask Marinette about it tomorrow.

It took a lot of yelling to gain this information, but the brunette regretted nothing. She could finally return the long lost Dog Miraculous to its rightful owner and not jeopardize anything. Everything will be back to normal.

Well, at least to the point when she moved away anyway.

Deep in thought, she didn't immediately hear the whimpering coming from the cherry pit pillow on her desk. When it did though, it hit her like a ton of bricks.

Yapp!

Alexa felt another lump forming in her throat. The way the little kwami sobbed, he must have found out about her intention. And it sent freezing chills down her spine.

Her shaking hand carefully reached out to Yapp, him twitching from the touch but not turning around to face her.

"Yapp?" No reaction. Alexa was at a loss for words. "Yapp." She tried again, but the dog kwami didn't budge. She felt him shake under her fingers.

"W-why…?" Yapp whimpered. When Alexa remained silent, he finally turned around, his grey eyes filled with tears. "Why? I-I thought you loved me, Alexa! Why are you doing this? WHY!?"

Alexa flinched from the high-pitched yelp - quietly thanking God for soundproof walls - and felt her eyes moisten again. Oh, how much she hated this!

"Yapp…" she tried. "I… I'm just… You need to understand. You were away from a guardian for so long, away from the other kwamis. You've been vulnerable for over a millennium… I'm just doing what's best."

"Best for me," Yapp retorted angered. "or best for you?"

Alexa gasped at that. She then gazed down in utter sorrow.

Yapp was right. Was it him she was trying to convince… or herself? The brunette didn't even know anymore.

Gah, I'm such a basket case!

Alexa exhaled shakily. "I… I'm selfish, I admit that. And… I don't always think about the opinions of others. I'm insecure… and shy… and self-doubting." She paused for a moment. "But… but that doesn't mean I don't care! Because I do! I do care about you, Yapp! If I didn't, I wouldn't give a damn about the dangers that would come with me keeping you!" Yapp's eyes softened at that. "I'm paranoiac and gullible at the same time. Sometimes my paranoia wins, sometimes my gullibility. I mean… I just started adapting myself to this new environment. Nobody knows me here. I can start completely from scratch again. I can finally be myself! The real Alexa!" The girl pointed to the window. "Did you see what 'being Bloodhound' made me? A violent, dry-humored and cranky dog with a no-nonsense attitude! What you saw there was the former Alexa! Not me!"

Alexa felt another headache coming up and began massaging her head again. Now she definitely won't get any sleep after all of this!

"Alexa…" Yapp murmured, his ears having curved back in worry. "A lot of my former chosen were the same way. But they learned to cope with that. Remember, Bloodhound is still you. It's just another face of yours, and you need to accept that. After all, you can't deny who you are."

The brunette knew the dog kwami was right. But she couldn't accept herself. She just couldn't! Her former self had ruined most of her life and will ruin this one too if she'll unleash it!

"Anyway…" she tried to change the subject. "Thing is, it's not about me Yapp, it's about your safety." The brunette smiled as she cupped Yapp into her hands and rubbed his head with her index finger, the dog kwami immediately leaning into the touch and panting happily. "I wasn't lying earlier today when I said I love you. You're like the pet I never had. The best friend I always wished for. You're like a dog, but so much better! I can entrust you with anything and you would never tell. I can talk with you, laugh with you, cry with you… sing with you…"

"I love singing!" Yapp exclaimed enthusiastically, his tail wagging and his pupils widening.

"Heh, I noticed." Alexa chuckled. "You were humming something the whole time I was doing my homework." she pointed out, to which the kwami shrugged sheepishly.

"Point is," the girl then proceeded. "I can pour you my whole heart out and you wouldn't tell a single soul." She rubbed her nose against Yapp's, the latter enjoying the Eskimo kiss. "Yapp, we may have only met today… but I feel like I've known you my whole life. I'd like nothing more than keep you by my side forever…" Alexa then pulled away and smiled sadly. "… but I can't. Ladybug is right. Hawk Moth has his eyes and ears everywhere. And if something happens to you because of my imprudence… I would never be able to forgive myself. It's just too dangerous, Yapp."

The dog kwami looked at his chosen for a long time. The sadness was evident, but there was also a tint of comprehension on his face. Yapp understood the brunette's reasoning, and he was sure Alexa would never lie about something like that.

"Can… can I at least spend another day with you before I… go back to being dormant?"

This question tore the Alexa's heart apart as she gazed into the pleading grey eyes of the little kwami. How could she say no to such a request?

The girl simply smiled and stroke Yapp's head again, a clear sign that she didn't mind. She carefully placed him onto the cherry pit pillow and gave him a little kiss on his forehead, causing a big smile to appear on his face. She then went to her own bed and nestled into the pillow.

Alexa watched the dog kwami slowly doze off. It must have broken his heart to pieces when he finally accepted his fate. And even though she had no idea what it was like to be 'dormant', she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

Poor guy must be really lonely… she thought as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep.


Laughter sounded from all around. Utterly disdainful laughter. The brunette pulled the hood over her head and tried to ignore their voices as she walked through the seemingly endless hallway.

"Look who's there! It's the teacher's pet! Gonna suck up to the adults like the crawler you are?"

"We're talking about Alexa Ivanov. She's the clear definition of 'crawler'."

She began to walk faster.

"You think you're one of us? Someone like you doesn't even deserve to be called a human being!"

The girl felt the tears stinging in her eyes' corners as she gained speed.

"You good-for-nothing!"

People bumped into her on purpose, making her almost trip.

"Go to hell!"

She now ran for her 'dear' life, blocking her ears while trying to find a way out of this cursed place. Why was she here? How did she get here? Why couldn't they stop already?

"Bitch!"

"Asshole!"

"Freak!"

The brunette couldn't bear it anymore. She began to scream and to punch and kick. Anything to make them shut up. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Alexa awoke with a start, completely drenched with sweat. She darted her eyes everywhere, desperately trying to calm her breathing. When she did, the girl groaned exasperatedly.

It was that nightmare again. The same one she has been having periodically. Although she's not there anymore, the memories still continue to haunt her.

Alexa glanced at a curled-up Yapp, who was snoring quietly with his tongue tangling from his mouth. Sleeps like a log. She chuckled inwardly. At least he has it good.

She looked at the watch. 3.02 a.m.?! Only four hours left! Ugh, great! She may as well stay awake. It's just not worth it.

The brunette fell back onto the pillow and groaned once more. So much for having a good night's rest.


"Miss Ivanov!"

Said girl jerked up from her seat, gasping sharply and slamming her hands onto the table.

"The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle results from the sum of the two leg squares!" she yelled in one breath.

Silence. Alexa looked around the science classroom to see several students - even Chloé - staring at her startled, including a blue-eyed woman with dark purple hair and a beauty mark above her lip. She wore black square-framed glasses, along with a purple collared dress shirt with a white scientific scribble pattern underneath a white lab coat.

The brunette slowly sat back down, frowning in shame. "I'm so sorry, Miss Mendeleiev. Insomnia plagued me tonight, being new here and all…"

The teacher's shock eventually wore off and she looked at Alexa with mixed emotions. "You must know that I do not appreciate students dozing off in my lessons." She then added matter-of-factly. "And we are learning the intercept theorems, not the Pythagorean."

Quiet snickering was then heard from somewhere behind, to which Alexa blushed brightly and pulled her hood over her head in embarrassment. Marinette and Alya, with whom the brunette was sitting together, both gave her sympathetic glances, the former patting her back comfortingly.

"Buuuut…" Alexa peeked from under the hood to see the woman's exasperated face. "Since you are new here, I will let it slide for once. But don't you dare let it happen again, capiche?"

"Yes, capiche!" the girl nodded excitedly. "Thank you so much, ma'am."

"Very well then." Miss Mendeleiev replied only before resuming her teaching again. Alexa exhaled in relief. That was close!

She suddenly felt a wiggle inside her hoodie's pouch, no doubt the little stowaway trying to hold in his little laughter. The girl rolled her eyes in annoyance. This was going to be a long day.


During lunch break, the three girls were sitting in the cafeteria with Alya showing Marinette and Alexa her footage of yesterday's akuma fight - and gushing non-stop about the 'new superhero in town' - but the brunette was hardly listening. Her head was still throbbing like crazy, partly from last night's events and partly from this damned nightmare.

She tried to focus on the main task: Return the Dog Miraculous to Master Wang Fu without exposing the secret.

Piece of cake, right?

"And then she totally nailed the akuma on the head and… Hey Alexa! Are you even listening?"

Said girl gasped sharply, pulled out of her intense thinking. "Huh?! Oh yeah, new superhero. Super exciting." She gave two thumbs up, laughing awkwardly.

The two besties looked at each other uncertainly. "Are you okay?" Marinette asked in a worried tone. "You're paler than you usually are."

Alexa flinched. Because I had a nightmare that kept me up all night. "Ah… uh… because of… a scream I heard at midnight?"

Alya perked up at that. "You heard it too? Man, that scream really gave me a headache last night. I wonder which crazy lunatic would have the guts to do that."

"Yeah, Mondays are full of surprises." Alexa agreed, mentally punching herself. Great job, you dumbhead. What she didn't notice was how Marinette squirmed nervously with a slight grimace.

"Oh, by the way!" Alya suddenly exclaimed. "Nice choker you have there, Alexa!"

This statement threw the brunette a bit off-guard. Choker? She carefully touched her neck, tracing the jewelry that secretly was the Dog Miraculous. Oh yeah. I didn't put it off last night.

"Oh, thank you!" she replied flattered. "It was… a-a parting gift! F-from my grand-parents! Yeah. I decided to wear it for school today, as a memento of them."

"It looks really beautiful on you." Marinette said earnestly, Alexa's cheeks turning pink from the compliment.

"More like utterly horrendous!" a familiar snobby voice called out from behind the girls. Groaning in annoyance, they turned around to see Chloé with her ginger stooge - whose name was revealed to be Sabrina. Oh, great! She's just what I needed! Alexa grumbled sarcastically.

"Do you need a repetition from yesterday?" Alya asked peeved, crossing her arms. "Besides, don't you have something better to do than pester us with your comments?"

"It's black and white; monochrome to the core!" Chloé rambled on as if the brunette hadn't spoken. "And same goes for the rest! Only boys wear hoodies! And simple jeans and sneakers! And you didn't even apply any make-up! Just plain unacceptable! Someone should call the fashion police and accuse you of wearing such rags!"

During the whole time the blonde brat talked, Alexa was trembling with rage. Why you little… She wanted to grab her by this yellow jacket and shake her like a rag doll. She wanted to tackle her to the ground, to choke her and beat her up senseless. She wanted to scream at her. She wanted to… she wanted to…

Easy, girl! her inner voice said soothingly. Remember your anger management training: Take steady breaths and count to ten. Let the insulting words wash over you, like a river over stone.

The brunette closed her eyes and did as she was instructed. After she finished her count, she looked Chloé dead into the eyes, who stood there with the same smug face like yesterday.

"You…" Alexa started in a very calm, almost threatening, voice. "… are worse than Laura Schneider. And that is saying something." Without another word, she lightly grabbed Marinette and Alya's hands and pulled them far away from the mayor's daughter, whose demeanor remained disgustingly complacent.

"Who is… Laura Schneider?" Marinette asked carefully, yet curiously at the same time. Even Alya seemed intrigued by this name.

Alexa looked at the two girls with an unreadable expression for a moment, but then gave a reassuring smile. "Nevermind. It doesn't matter." She looked at her watch. "And lunch break ends soon. Let's scat." She nodded her head towards the exit and started walking, leaving the two still uncertain girls with no other choice than to follow her.

"Ugh, this Chloé girl sure can ramble." Yapp's annoyed voice quietly rang from the pouch just as he poked his head out to glance at his soon-to-be ex-chosen. "I wonder how your friends can handle her." Alexa's only answer was a helpless shrug.


After bidding goodbye to Alya and Nino - and once again snapping Marinette out of her ridiculous Adrien-induced stupor - Alexa was given a little tour around the area by the blackette as promised the day before. Although she already gave herself one the other day, a promise is a promise and the brunette always kept them.

Besides, Marinette guiding her successfully distracted the girl from the previous events.

They also went to the designer's parents' bakery, where Alexa was gifted with a box of hazelnut nougat macarons in gratitude for defending their daughter, and were now sitting in the park and enjoying the sweet pastries.

"I must say, Marinette." Alexa exclaimed giddily. "These macarons are amazing! I've tasted a lot of pastries in Germany, but this is the ultimate!"

"Aww, thank you Alexa." Marinette blushed. "My parents will be very honored." She then added exasperated. "And with honored I mean that they'll shower you with with more free pastries and hugs and thankyous and god knows what else."

Alexa laughed at that. "Better kindhearted and affectionate than mean and repulsive, that's for sure!" Marinette couldn't help but agree at that.

They laughed for a while, both comfortable in each other's presence. Alexa couldn't remember when was the last time she felt that relaxed with another peer. Usually it was always the adults or the seniors.

Ah well. Better get used to it. she shrugged and stuffed another macaron into her mouth, sighing blissfully. Man, those treats were simply scrumptious!

Seniors…

Oh no, Master Fu!

The shock caused the treat to go down the wrong pipe and Alexa to start coughing up a storm. Marinette immediately started panicking and proceeded to slap the girl's back to help the latter breath again.

"Oh my god Alexa, are you alright?" the blackette asked her worried.

The brunette coughed and gasped to regain her breath. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks." she wheezed. "I just remembered something important I meant to ask you, and the macaron was halfway in my throat and… you know."

Marinette nodded understanding. "What is it?" she wondered.

"Well…" Alexa started, thinking of something to cover her real intention. "My mom… she has some serious backache as of late and… she went to some masseurs back in Germany, but none of them could really help her, so… I wanted to ask you if you know someone who might heal her back…"

She practically saw the blackette's gears turning in her heads as the former waited anxiously for her to say something. Now that I think about it, the thing with my mother's back is actually true. I just hope I didn't sound too suspicious. For a moment she thought she noticed Marinette bearing an unsure expression, but it was gone in an instant, leaving Alexa to think she just imagined it.

"Actually… there is someone." the designer answered, the brunette to perking up at that. "And… he is really good at it. I can show you the way to him, if you'd like to." A nod and an empty treat box later the girls were walking down the park, towards their next destination. Alexa didn't notice Marinette looking down at her purse, where a red and black spotted kwami with blue eyes was glaring at her chosen in disapproval, but the latter giving her a reassuring little smile.


Well… here she was. The moment of truth has finally come. Behind this with bamboo designs decorated door was Master Wang Fu. The almighty Guardian of the Miraculouses. The one to relieve her of her 'burden'.

Her knees were trembling with nervousness. Marinette had to leave because of her parents needing help at the bakery, though she promised the brunette a continuation of the tour later. So she was all by herself.

Alexa looked down at her pouch, the dog kwami looking back. They shared a wistful expression, but both knew that there was no turning back now.

Yapp flew up to her face. "Well… I guess this is it." He smiled sadly at the girl and hugged her cheek, the latter reciprocating the hug. "It was nice knowing you, Alexa."

"Aww, don't be sad." Alexa cooed. "Look on the bright sight. You'll finally meet a guardian after all these years, and you'll be reunited with the other kwamis." She cupped him in her hands. "You'll be back with your family."

"Yeah… I guess." Yapp replied unsurely. "But still, I'm gonna miss you a lot, Alexa."

"I'll miss you too, buddy." She scratched him behind the ears a bit, making him close his eyes and pant in pleasure. The brunette then carefully put him back into her pouch and looked at the door. Gathering all of her courage, she knocked a few times. When no answer came, she carefully opened the door, and what she saw rendered her completely speechless.

The place was filled with many Chinese-influenced designs, decorations, and objects, along with scrolls hanging all over the walls. There was a little table with scented candles and a desk with a huge gramophone. Next to the door stood a divider, with bamboo designs as well.

But what really floored her was the old man resting on the huge white mat. He had grey hair and had a mustache and goatee. His attire consisted of a red Hawaiian shirt with a white hibiscus flower pattern, tan Capri pants, dark-brown shoes and a bracelet with a turtle-shaped stone on his right wrist. He was sitting in the lotus position with his eyes closed, seemingly meditating.

The brunette quietly entered the room when his eyes suddenly opened, revealing themselves to be dark-brown and filled with wisdom.

"Hello, Bloodhound." He greeted her with a gentle smile.

Alexa's eyes widened. Holy moly, this man saw right through her. There was no doubt that he was the guardian.

Feeling deep respect towards him, she folded her hands and bowed. "Wènhòu, Wang Shīfù."


A/N: Cliffhanger, everybody! Looks like Alexa's past continues to haunt her and she cannot come to terms with it. And who's this mysterious Laura Schneider? Maybe we'll find it out someday…

Well, second day of school: not so good ':( But being plagued by nightmares, can you really blame her? Adrien and Nino are kind of in the background here, because I want to focus more on Marinette and Alya and their growing friendship with Alexa. But I'll try to include the boys more in future chapters, I promise ;)

OBTW, Alexa practiced a bit Chinese to show her respect towards Master Fu. Being respectful is something she takes very seriously (unless people don't deserve it -_-)

Ah well, like always, reviews are greatly appreciated and remember:

Stay cool and so long!