The green light that enveloped her felt different then her transformation into Volpina. Her skin didn't tingle with the same warmth. Turning into Chat Noir felt wild. The tail that wrapped itself around her hips whipped behind her like a flag in a storm. She ran her hands through her hair and felt the leather ears peak out between her fingers, shorter and thicker then her volpina ears. Her tongue ran over the sharp canines. At least those were familiar.
The light faded and she took off towards Ladybug and Rekko, grabbing her staff and extending it.
"Adrien-"
"Not quite." She laughed, blocking an attack with the staff.
"Volpina! But-"
Alya gave Ladybug a smile. "I'm always here for you M."
Rekko roared with anger, and both heros were sent flying backwards.
"This is futile! You aren't going to kill me, and you can't send me back!" Rekko stalked towards them, the shadows pooling at his long legs. "Even with your replacement cat, you'll never make the portal. You will lose Marinette."
Ladybug met his gaze, he wouldn't scare her. It didn't matter if he knew her name, she wouldn't let him do anymore harm to anyone.
"I call on the magic of the black cat and the ladybug."
Rekko turned to look behind him and saw Nino, standing in his hoodie, cap, and jeans.
"You?" Rekko snarled again, "Asa's descendant? I thought I ended your line years ago."
Nino gritted his teeth and ignored the kwami, bringing his hands together in front of his stomach like Tikkit had taught him. He saw Rekko charge at him but Alya took him down quickly before he could get far. He took a deep breath.
It was terrifying. He couldn't exactly practice this spell, and he only really had one shot to get it right or they'd all die. Not only that but the power that came from borrowing Tikki and Plagg's magic was overwhelming. It ran through him, sending electricity to his fingertips. It was like lightning looking for an escape. He could feel sparks flying between his hands. In front of him Rekko was yelling, pushing his way towards him as Ladybug and Chat-, Alya, held him back.
Focus.
He closed his eyes, drowning out the scene before him.
Adrien lifted himself from the ground slowly. His body ached and his vision was still slightly blurry. There was a bright light a ways from him, sparking violently. He rubbed his eyes gently and hissed with pain when one of them was too tender. Peeking through his one eye he could make out Nino standing in the center of the light. Ladybug stood on his right, a warm red light surrounding her. On his left there was a bright green that Adrien knew was Plagg's magic. His ring! He looked down at his hand to find it missing.
"It's alright." A small voice said beside him.
He turned to see Fanna. She floated up to his chest and lifted Volpina's necklace.
"That's Alya?"
Fanna nodded. His eyes caught the body laying a few feet from him.
"Elle-"
As quickly as he could, he moved to her side, holding her head in his hands.
"Please wake up." He whispered, staring down at her face. He watched her chest rise and fall in gently with her breathing. Relief flooded him.
There was a loud crack of thunder. Adrien turned back to Nino. Sparks were flying through the air, singeing the ground. Ladybug and Chat Noir were gone, the coloured lights they had emitted now localized to Nino's hands. He was going to open the gate.
Rekko roared and shadows swarmed around him, crashing like a tidal wave on Nino.
"We have to go help him." Adrien gently put Elle down and with great effort made it to his feet.
"Please be careful." Fanna said.
"No promises. Fangs bared!"
Nino looked around him. He could see the sparks, and the soft glow of his hands illuminating the darkness that surrounded him on all sides. The light kept Rekko's shadows at bay.
"What do I do?"
Stick to the plan. Open the gate. Tikki's voice floated through his mind.
Nino took a deep breath and focused on the energy between his hands. It was difficult to hold, the magic wanted to run wild.
That's the destruction magic I told ya about. Plagg said.
Don't let it out. It's destroying the barrier between the kwami world and ours, but if you lose control, the two worlds will forever be joined again. Tikki warned him.
Just then the shadows around him grew closer, some reaching out towards him, trying to grab onto his hands. Nino felt a panic rise in him. In the distance he saw Rekko standing on a pillar of shadows sending wave after wave, until the darkness formed a small sphere around Nino. He was trapped inside.
Adrien watched the orange light fade around him. His tail was not it's usal belt, but now more like coat tails. In his hands he held a flute, and the black short ears had been replaced by longer ones that stuck up. If he had his staff Adrien would have shot up there and dealt with rekko directly, but he wasn't Chat Noir right now. He needed to think differently. He needed to think like Volpina.
He took off and crouched behind the corner of a building. He needed Rekko to stop attacking Nino. Swinging the flute off of his back he summoned a fake Nino, making him run out of the shadows and towards an alleyway. Rekko didn't stop his attacks though. He kept a hold of the dark sphere and moved towards the alley to investigate the fake. It was as good of a shot Adrien thought he would get. He took off after him.
Rekko stood at the end of the alley, having already dissipated the fake Nino.
"It will take more than that to fool me Volpina. I will destroy you and your friend."
"I need to get out of these shadows," Nino jumped as one came close to grabbing his leg.
We don't have time. You need to open the portal! Said Tikki.
"If I concentrate on the portal I'll let my guard down and he'll attack us." Nino said.
The shadows swooped down, knocking him forward. Nino kept his hands still, roughly falling on his side.
Nino!
"I'll be ok, Tikki."
Don't lose control of the magic, Kid.
"I won't."
The sparks started to get smaller.
What are you doing?
"Trying a different approach." The sparks were infrequent, only producing a small bit of light, "I'm giving you back your magic. We need to weaken Rekko. It's the only way."
Nino!
The shadows seemed to grow without the sparks keeping them back. Nino felt something wrap around his ankle, something else wrap around his arms.
Alya found herself standing next to Marinette. In front of her was a big black ball of shadows.
"What's going on? What is that?"
Marinette shook her head, "I don't know. Where's Rekko?"
Tikki flew up next to Marinette "You need to transform right now."
"Tikki what's going on?"
"Nino is trapped in that shadow thing. He can't open the gate without Rekko attacking him."
"Plagg, claws out." Alya transformed without further instruction. "We have to get him out."
Marinette nodded, transforming herself, "I'll look for Rekko, you try and break Nino out of the shadows."
Ladybug swung up onto the rooftops of the tall buildings. There was the tell tale sound of a flute in the distance. If Alya had the ring then...
"Adrien!" She swung down along the streets, following the sound.
There in a small side street stood Rekko surrounded by six male Volpina's. Everytime he hit one it would disappear and the others would taunt him. That was her Chat alright.
"My lady!" She felt arms wrap around her from behind and she almost screamed before she slapped a hand over her own mouth.
"Sorry!" Chat- Volpina, whispered pulling back from the hug, "I just was worried, when I came to you were gone and so was my ring and-"
She smiled, "I'm glad you're alright Kitty. Think we can take him down?"
"I may not be Chat Noir, but I will always be your partner Bugaboo."
Ladybug smiled and gave him a quick kiss. "I love you."
"I love you too." He smiled. "What's the plan?"
"Nino!" Alya attacked the shadows with her baton, but she couldn't break through.
"Alya?"
"Nino I'm here, I can't get through."
"You have to stop Rekko! It's the only way!"
"Ladybug's on it. But we need to get you out of there! Stand back!" Alya took a deep breath, "Cataclysm!"
She wondered if Chat always felt like this. Her hand felt heavy almost. She could see the dark magic coating her gloved hand, tiny bits of its flying like balck sparks. This was why it took so much out of the Ladybug and Chat. She could use Volpina's magic all day long, but this. This was taxing. She placed her hand on the shadows waiting for them to crumble away. For a brief moment it worked and she saw Nino inside being swallowed up by the darkness. It was thick and oozing like slime, or what Alya imagined the Oozbeck in that Dr. Suess book would be, only dark. As if all the light was being sucked out of it. Then the Shadows came back, crawling up the small hole in the sphere until there was only a solid dark wall again.
Alya banged her fist against it, "No!" She took out her staff and tried to beat down the shadows. "Can you break through from your side?"
"I can't move Al. The shadows have got me."
"Can't you do some magic stuff?" Alya cried, desperately still bludgeoning the wall of shadows.
"What magic stuff?"
"I don't know! You're the one with all the magic spells!"
She jumped as a shadow sprung out of the sphere towards her head. Great globs of shadow started appearing around the sphere swinging like arms at Chat. Alya glanced at her ring, one of the lights had already vanished. "I don't have much time before I detransform now!"
"Alya, I know how to shoot light out of my pinky and warm up a lake, that's not going to help!"
"Isn't dark weak to light?"
"THAT'S IN POKEMON ALYA!"
"JUST TRY IT!"
Nino closed his eyes. Light. Creating light. He thought back to the other night, alone with Alya, shining light out of his chest.
"Lumos!"
The light shone out of him, but the shadows on his arms were blocking parts of it. The shadows that held the sphere together retreated.
From the outside Alya could see the sphere expanding. "What's going on?"
"It's not working, they don't like it but it's not strong enough to destroy them!"
"Well then do it stronger!"
"Gee Alya, why didn't I think of that!"
Alya charged at the shadows. This time the wall gave through, apparently weakened enough by Nino's light. She gave a little cheer in victory running over to Nino who was still trapped.
"Alya no!"
She whipped her head around to see the shadows swallow up the whole she had created just like before. They were both trapped now.
"Shit. Are these things sentient now?"
"What are we going to do?" Nino turned his head around desperately trying to find another escape.
"You're gonna turn into the sun again." Alya said, determined.
"But-"
"Nino. Just trust me. You can do it." Alya moved closer and wrapped her arms around him, "The two of us can get through anything. And I mean anything."
"I love you." He smiled.
"I love you too." She closed her eyes and kissed him. He hadn't even said their silly magic word she had created, more like stolen. Through her eyelids she could still feel the blinding light that surrounded them. Warming her skin like the sun, floating in the air bringing her the distinct feeling of magic she only felt when she was transforming into Volpina. Nino's arms wrapped around her. She knew it had worked. She peeked open her eyes and laughed, before hiding her face in his shoulder.
"You can turn it off now, babe."
Volpina-Chat barely managed to roll away in time. The corner of the building behind him didn't, since it was completely stationary. The poor building was hit with the full force of Rekko's attack, crumbling, as a burst of darkness hit it full force. Ladybug swung down quickly, wrapping her free arm around Volpina as he automatically wrapped both of his around her. They landed on a rooftop not too far away. Suddenly the trail of shadows heading towards Nino lit up and then disappeared without a trace. Rekko cried out in pain and collapsed onto the ground.
"They did it." Volpina grinned.
"Second phase of the plan."
Still holding onto each other they swung off towards Nino.
There in the middle of the square stood Nino and Alya. Alya saw them approaching and quickly took off the ring. Adrien exchanged it for her necklace.
"He needed some cheese." She said, "But he should be ready to go now."
Plagg nodded.
"Alright. Let's do this." Nino said.
He took a deep breath and put his hands back in their position as Alya and Adrien transformed.
"I call on the magic of the Ladybug and the Black Cat." The sparks came easier this time, dancing between his fingers and Ladybug and Chat Noir disappeared. The sky around them turned dark and there was a loud crack as lightning struck the ground.
"Whoa. This is pretty cool babe." Volpina said with a grin.
Nino smiled. He lifted his hands in front of him and there was another loud crack of lightning.
Volpina spotted Rekko in the distance charging towards them.
"I won't let him touch you."
"I only need a minute."
Volpina took off towards the villain. He was tired and weak, and she was fueled with adrenaline. This was the home stretch.
First is Plagg's destruction magic. Tikki's voice was back in his head. You need to rip apart the barrier into the other world.
Rekko will be sucked in and then it's Tikki's magic that will fix the hole. You got this, Kid.
The gate was smaller than Alya had pictured, and it wasn't so much a giant door, as it was a plaster hole in the wall of the universe. She wasn't really sure what was on the other side, she couldn't make out anything, but she could feel it's pull. Elle had said that the jewelry masked the kwami's magic, but she could still feel her body moving towards the vortex before her. Rekko was being dragged forward much faster than she was. His heels were dug into the ground, his shadow tendrils clinging onto anything to keep him stable. Alya looked at Nino. The sparks illuminated his face, his eyes glowing with determination and magic.
"As Asa's descendant I banish you from this world. You will be locked away never to return to it."
Nino spoke in a voice that wasn't his own. There were figures behind him, all with the same glowing eyes. A woman caught Alya's eye. She couldn't be over 30. The woman reached out gently, and placed a hand on Nino's shoulder. Unlike the others she spoke with him, in a voice she was sure now belonged to all of them.
"For the people you've hurt, and the lives you have taken from this world, you will never be forgiven. If you dare to show your face here again, you will forfeit your own life."
Alya watched as Rekko was sucked into the entrance. His eyes were wide with panic, his calm smirk from earlier completely erased. She would have laughed if she wasn't still holding her breath. She saw him reach out his arm before she felt the shadow tighten on her leg. She fell to the ground desperately clawing at the pavement as she was dragged towards the portal.
"NINO!"
"You'll have to let me back if I take you're little friend with me-"
Alya looked over her shoulder as she hurled towards the cackling kwami. She was too close, she was going to be-
There was a final crack of lightning and the shadow stopped pulling her. She looked up to see the woman from before. Her arm extended the palm facing towards where Rekko once stood. His body lay on the ground for only a moment before it was sucked back into the portal. The pulling stopped, and the whole in the middle of the air repaired itself. The soft pink light that came from Tikki's magic, filling the space it used to occupy. And then, it was all gone. And there was just air. Alya looked to Nino. There were no more mysterious figures behind him, no more glowing eyes or crackling thunder. Instead Adrien and Marinette stood beside him, looking dazed. Alya got to her feet slowly.
"You should rest Fanna." She said softly. Volpina's magic washed away, leaving Alya with the very real ramifications of fighting an evil kwami. Her legs somehow managed to carry her to him, though she had no control over them. And then he opened his eyes.
"We did it." She said. Fanna landed on her shoulder wearily.
Nino looked to either side and saw Marinette and Adrien holding a tired Tikki and Plagg, "We did?"
"We did." Alya's eyes were watering, she almost fell on him as she leaned forward to embrace him.
"We did it." Marinette seemed just as shocked as Nino, but the joy on her face hadn't been there in a long time. Suddenly there were so many arms wrapped around one another, and four smiling faces that had tears streaming down their cheeks.
Alya wept. Whether it was from relief, or joy, and exhaustion, or even fear, she didn't know. But she held tight onto her friends.
After a moment Adrien pulled away. "Elle-"
He took off before he could say anymore. Alya forced her legs to work again and ran after him, still holding onto Nino's hand.
The four heros and the kwami fell to the ground next to Elle. Marinette reached out and felt the woman's neck.
"Her pulse is strong. She'll be alright." She reassured Adrien, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Alya pulled out her phone, "I'm calling for an ambulance. Someone call Marinette's mom."
Even when the blaring noise of the ambulance arrived, or when Adrien climbed into it with Elle. Even when the three of them slowly started to walk back to Marinette's parent's Bakery, Alya couldn't stop her smile or her tears.
They had done it. It was finally over.
Marinette wasn't exactly sure how she ended up here. Adrien and his father had been at the hospital with Elle for the past two days. She had brought them food and begged them to sleep the first night, but she didn't know if either of them had. The second day she had managed to drag Adrien back to his apartment and make him go to sleep. Alya and Nino were there as well. The apartment was so busy she never really got a true moment alone. Her parents had also come by to make sure everyone was taking care of themselves. Alya's mother and sisters had stopped by for a long visit, that Adrien had come out of his room for. In between there were long calls in italian being made to Nino's grandmother. Alya participated a little this time, when the phone went on speaker and his grandmother switched to French. The kwamis all snacked and talked freely with each other in the kitchen throughout the day unless there were visitors. Marinette had eavesdropped a little, but they were mostly stories she didn't understand. Something about Plagg's teenage years. The thought of that alarmed her. What were "teenage years" to a kwami? And what did the god of destruction do during them? She only caught something about a giant wooden horse before giving up and returning back to the other humans. They watched a movie. Somehow that night she found herself sleeping off the aftermath of the fight next to Adrien in his bed.
And now here she was trying not to freak out that she was in the Gabriel Agreste's house as she paced outside his office, too nervous to peek inside.
They had released Elle from the hospital, and the Agreste men had rushed to help her, though Marinette wasn't sure how much help either of them were when they had sent their personal driver to assist as well. She had been left in the mansion, helping to set up for the welcome home party. She was pretty sure her mother had planned it, since she and her dad had already brought over a large two tiered cake, but it easily could have been Tikki or Plagg's idea. Adrien had confessed he thought his father might have planned it, but he conceded it was most likely wishful thinking.
Apparently she had been deep in thought because she hadn't even heard Alya call to her, warning her about the table corner that hit her hip and caused her to double over.
"Mari, are you alright?"
Marinette laughed a little and nodded, "It's just a table. I've survived worse."
Alya laughed lightly, "No I meant are you feeling alright. You've been…"
"Different?" Marinette supplied.
"Yeah." Alya busied herself with fixing the table cloth. "Although I guess we're all kind of different now."
Marinette frowned, "This is going to sound horrible but… I wish that things were, well-"
"Back to how they used to be?"
"Yeah." Marinette shook her head, "I mean not Hawkmoth! Obviously not that, I'm glad that's over for good but… Everything is different now. Chat and I know each other, and we're dating! Alya, I'm dating Adrien Agreste! I'm standing in his house right now!"
Alya laughed, "Glad to see that's still the same."
"Hey- No it isn't!" Marinette pretended to pout. "It's still hard to wrap my head around. People know I'm Ladybug. My mom knows I'm Ladybug, and she's somehow wrapped up in all of this. And there's Adrien's mother, and Elle, and Master Fu…" Marinette trailed off thinking about his funeral. It was around the same time Alya's dad had passed away. The same time her and Volpina were fighting. The same time her and Alya were fighting.
Alya seemed to understand, and wordlessly reached out to squeeze Marinette's hand.
"I want us to go back to before." Marinette said. It was almost a whisper.
"I don't think we can M." Alya gave her a sad smile. "We aren't the same people."
Marinette nodded, her eyes watering as she stared down at their hands, still holding on. Alya pulled her forward and let go of her hand to wrap her arms around her.
"That doesn't mean we can't be friends." Alya said into her ear. "We can be better friends than before."
Marinette nodded again, a laugh escaping her as tears fell down her face.
"Best friends."
"I'll fight kitty boy for that title every time. I am the one and only best friend."
Marinette laughed into Alya's shoulder. "You are."
Nino pouted, "I still think it would be fun!"
"No!" Marinette said, re-stacking the macarons for the fifth time.
"She's coming home from the hospital! Why would we hide in a dark room and yell surprise at her?" Alya said, she turned to Marinette exasperated, "Mari, the macarons are fine, leave them."
Marinette didn't stop her stacking, "I just think that-"
"Marinette, you should listen to Alya." Tikki chided floating down onto her chosen's shoulder.
"Ok, but what if we just turn the lights off and not hide?"
"Nino-"
"I agree with Nino," Plagg chimed in from his spot on the table, next to the wheel of cheese.
"Well you've made this difficult," Fanna whined weaving in between Alya's legs, "Because I also want to surprise Elle, but I don't want to agree with you…"
"That's petty." Plagg grumbled reaching for the cheese. Tikki smacked his hand away.
"We're not jumping out!" Alya said, giving a look to Fanna.
"Exactly," Marinette had moved on to fussing with the glasses.
"Marinette, just sit on your hands!"
"You agree with me right Wayzz?" Nino turned to his kwami, who was reading in the corner.
"Pardon?"
"There. It's four against two." Nino grinned.
Alya sent him a glare, "Nino Lahiffe-"
"They're here!" Sabine Cheng ran into the room, quickly ducking behind the table.
"So she gets to hide-"
"Nino! Just get behind the curtain." Alya made a mad dash for the light switch as she heard feet in the hallway, jumping behind the nearest piece of furniture, an elegant chaise.
"-up to something. You have that look on your face Gabriel."
The light switch flicked on and collectively they all called surprise.
To Alya and Marinette's horror Elle let out a startled cry, but thankfully burst into laughter not a second later.
It was a weird party. Nino had provided music, and Sabine and Tom had provided cake. Her mother had brought her extra food the night before which now sat in the incredibly fancy bowls belonging to the Agreste Mansion. The homemade banner that said "Welcome Home Elle" didn't exactly match the pristine marble floor or furniture. But Elle seemed to love it. Every inch of it. A sappy love song came on and Marinette and Adrien were already dancing, Adrien's full Chat persona on display.
Alya felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find Nino, standing with his hand extended to her.
She felt Fanna slip away, going to join Elle and Gabriel in the corner wit the other kwami.
"Careful, you'll turn into Chat Noir." Alya warned him as she let herself be pulled close.
"I could kiss your hand and call you M'Lady?"
"Ew, don't you dare." Alya smiled up at him.
Alya let the comfortable silence fall between them, as they swayed to the music. Her and Nino hadn't started looking for apartments yet. There hadn't been a lot of talk about the future, between the two of them. The past few days had been filled with holding each other, and hiding out in his room eating pizza. She didn't want to face the future just yet. They had defeated a supervillain, but still it wasn't the end of it. She still needed to find another job. She needed to contact the registrar about the spring semester. She needed to… to figure out what to do about Fanna.
Nino noticed her frowning and leaned forward bringing their foreheads together.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Volpina." She whispered back.
"Are you thinking about her beautiful eyes?"
"No," She laughed, "Hawkmoth's gone… Does Paris really need four heros still?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Should I be giving back my miraculous?" Alya asked bluntly. The two of them stopped swaying.
"No, of course not." Nino said, lifting a hand to cup her cheek. "You're an amazing Volpina, Al."
"I know." She smiled, "It's nothing. I was just thinking since there's no threat anymore, what are we going to do?"
Nino laughed, "Absolutely nothing. We're going to take a 20 year long vacation."
Alya hit him on the arm lightly. "You're lucky you're cute."
The song ended and Alya led them into the empty hallway. They really hadn't been alone in a long time.
"Do you still want to be Volpina?"
Alya thought for a second, before nodding, leaning against the wall as she smiled, "I've always been obsessed with superheroes."
Nino laughed.
"Do you?"
"Want to be Volpina? Well, yeah, but I think you look better in the costume then I do."
Alya rolled her eyes, refusing to give him the satisfaction of making her laugh. She couldn't stop her smile though. "You know what I mean." She turned her head to look at him.
Nino was looking at the marble floor. "I don't really have a choice. It's kind of in my blood or whatever."
Alya frowned and looked down too, "Nino…"
She hadn't spoken to him about it, about when he had opened the portal. They weren't avoiding it, they had just been busy, and they hadn't had a chance to be alone… And they were avoiding it.
"I saw something." Alya forced herself to say.
Nino turned to look at her worried, "Another weird Rekko vision?"
"No." She reassured him, shaking her head, "Those are gone, I promise." She paused, "I saw something when you were doing your magic thing."
Nino seemed to bristle slightly.
"Nino I saw your mom. I'm not sure, but behind you there were all these people, and right behind you there was this woman, and she was wearing modern clothes and she put a hand on your shoulder. She was the one who sent the lightning that stopped Rekko. I think she saved me."
Nino nodded, "That makes sense."
"What do you mean?"
"I felt someone, behind me, and I felt the hand on my shoulder… I didn't see her."
"You felt her?"
Nino nodded. Then after a moment he smiled a little. "I thought I heard someone say, 'I'm proud of you.' I thought it might have been tikki in my head, but I sort of hoped...'"
Alya stared at him with wide eyes. "Your mom talked to you?"
"Maybe." Nino laughed, "And I guess she approves of you, she did save you."
Alya reached down for his hand and held it in her own, "How do you feel?"
"Weird. Very, very weird. Those were the first and last words my mother ever said to me."
Alya nodded, not knowing what else to say.
"I'm glad she saved you." Nino gave her hand a squeeze. "I can thank her for that."
The party was dying down when they came back in. Sabine was next to Elle and Gabriel, when Gabriel angrily shook his head,
"She just got home! Can't this wait?"
"Let me speak for myself." Elle scolded him as if he was a five year old. He even pouted like a child.
"What's going on?" Adrien had heard the disruption. Him and Marinette approached the group just as Alya and Nino did.
"As I was saying, " Sabine gave a pointed look to Gabriel, "I'm more than happy to continue as the temporary guardian until we can train someone new."
"But?" Elle prompted.
"But I thought you would be an excellent replacement."
Elle seemed to blink in shock, "Me?"
"You were trained by Fu himself."
"But only briefly! I never finished that training!"
"Neither did I." Sabine said with a laugh, and then in an almost whisper, "To tell you the truth I don't think Fu ever finished his."
Wayzz laughed a little.
"You wouldn't be up shits creek without a paddle," Plagg said, "We'd be here to help."
"As would I." Sabine added.
"I don't know if I'm the right person…" Elle met Tikki's gaze and then quickly looked away. "I've spent my life just running away from the miraculous. Can you trust me to look after it?"
"Yes." Tikki said, moving forward. "I suggested it."
"Are you sure?"
"Just take it already!" Plagg grumbled.
"I would be honoured." Elle smiled.
Sabine clapped her hands with a feeling of finality, "Fantastic. I have one final act as the Guardian then."
She reached into her bag and brought out a familiar looking jewelry box. She handed it to Elle who frowned.
"What is this?"
"My last act as Guardian is to entrust Noroo to you."
Elle opened the box to find the butterfly miraculous sitting carefully inside. A soft purple kwami appeared before her. They ducked behind the box, cowering.
"Noroo?" Elle said softly.
The little butterfly looked around and saw the other kwami, seeming more relaxed they peered over the box and up at Elle.
"It's nice to meet you." They said softly floating closer, "I'm Noroo, the butterfly, I am at your service."
"And I at yours." Elle smiled.
"It seemed like the perfect match to me. I think you were there when Amara brought them into this world."
"I was. It's good to see you again. I'm Elle. The new Guardian."
"My mother brought a kwami into our world?" Nino asked, looking between Elle and Sabine.
"She did. Mostly by accident." Elle explained pinning the brooch on her shirt. "It was when we tried to seal Rekko away 11 years ago."
"You tried to seal him away before?" Marinette asked.
"Yes. And we failed, which is why I ran." Elle said looking to Adrien, "I think I promised you the whole story."
Adrien nodded slowly, "You did, and I'd like to hear it. Just not now. I want just one more day of peace."
The two months that followed passed faster than the two that had come before. Frost had started to cover the grass in the garden. The trees had long since abandoned their leaves, which had been raked up by a professional groundskeeper. Alya and Elle found this ridiculous since there wasn't much greenery at the mansion anyway, though Elle had set about to change that. The drapes were yellow, which had made Adrien stop and stare in awe when he first saw them. Inside there were plants, and rugs, and pillows, and candles, and everything that made you feel like the mansion might just be a home after all. Alya had been living there for the past month for work reasons, and when she approached Elle about staying a little while longer, Elle had begged her to stay till after Christmas. She was still back and forth between here and Nino's place, and in January they would be in their own home, just the two of them.
Life had gotten back on track slowly at first. She had withdrawn from school before the deadline, meaning to go back in January, get a new internship and start over again, but Elle had made a better offer. It had been early November when Elle had proposed her idea. Back in the day they had a whole team of miraculous users who doubled as researchers, historians, and scholars. Elle needed a reporter of sorts. Someone who could track down information about the miraculous, and most importantly keep a record of it. She offered room and board, as well as pay. Alya had said yes in a heartbeat. She had always been obsessed with Superheroes.
Between her research and the Ladyblog, she was busier than she had ever been. Nino's 20 year vacation would have to wait a while. She had brought Elle into running the blog with her. Together they managed to piece together posts, videos, pictures, or information that was safe to share. Soon they discovered it was also a good resource. People from around the world read it, and those who already knew about the miraculous reached out and offered information. There were reports of different Miraculous being found around the world, or new heros from other countries that might be linked. They had managed to locate three potential miraculous, and fill in a decent chunk of the history in the month that they had been working together.
Alya wasn't the only one visiting the mansion more often. Adrien still came for his father and his "family dinners" but he had also come to see Elle. Around a week after she became the Guardian the two of them sat down and she told him the whole story from start to finish. Alya had forced herself not to eavesdrop, but Elle had later told her much of the story anyway, leaving out some of the personal baby Adrien anecdotes. Alya had added it to their working history of the miraculous.
Elle told her about finding the earings in a pawnshop when she was 16, and then running off to Paris. She described meeting Celine, and then Sage a year later, then becoming Adrien's nanny. She talked about Phillip, who was the very definition of a cat burglar, and Sage's death. She had thought Phillip had killed her. She was convinced she would never forgive him, but then she learned it was an accident. It wasn't until she was older she realized that was when Rekko had appeared, and Sage was his first victim.
Alya had written it all down, a record of Elle's life as Ladybug, and then suddenly the story became one she was familiar with. 15 year old Marinette Dupain-Cheng becomes Ladybug right as Hawkmoth is born. Alya wrote about becoming Lady Wifi, and being held prisoner by the Pharaoh. She poured through the blog finding every fight in detailed description and copying it into the history book. She sat down with Marinette and Adrien over lunch and picked their brains to fill in the gaps. She made her way to Tom and Sabine's bakery with a notepad and left with answers and a paper bag of treats to take home.
She loved her work. Almost as much as she loved her magical boyfriend. Nino had stayed Wayzz's chosen, and even though the miraculous dampened his magic, it was finding ways to seep through. Sometimes he would get too happy and his chest would start glowing. One time he had accidentally melted the ice when they went skating and he fell face first. But other than the strange magical tendencies, Nino's life had gone back to normal. Marinette's had too. More normal than it had been before actually. In a weird way she had gotten a normal life with minimal superhero interference. Her and Adrien still partoled as Paris's superhero duo, but with her free time she was helping her parents with the bakery, entering design competitions, doing pop up fashion shows on campus; Marinette had made herself busy. Alya supposed it was because it was what she had been used to for so long. Adrien on the other hand had fully embraced his new less stressful life. Gone were the piano lessons, and fencing practices, and private tutoring and surprise photoshoots mixed with a secret superhero double life. Now Adrien Agreste did very little. He did most of the cleaning and cooking, since him and Marinette practically lived together. When he wasn't at home, or chatting to the neighbors he volunteered. Recently he had started helping their old highschool organize a talent show. Marinette had told him he should become a teacher. He liked that idea very much.
That's how life continued. It was a week till Christmas now and Gabriel had decided to organize a big christmas party for the team and their family's. Nino even borrowed Adrien's car and he and Alya drove to get his grandmother. The mansion had been transformed, not only by the decorations for the party, but by its inhabitants. Elle's changes hadn't stopped with rugs, and houseplants. Alya thought there were at least 4 trees in the house, probably more, and each of them was decorated with twinkling lights, and handmade decorations. Some were from when Adrien was a child. Others Elle had made throughout December. Underneath every tree was a mountain of presents. Their tags revealed her name as well as the rest of team miraculous. She would spot others too. One for Nathalie and her wife. One for the couple that ran the grocery store down the street. There was a stack of them by the tree in the office that were for charity. She wasn't sure if it was the lack of Rekko, the addition of Elle, or the fact that Gabriel Agreste was no longer neglecting his son, but the Agreste's were using their wealth for more and more good these days.
Alya had convinced Marinette to get ready at the mansion with her. So at 4 Marinette arrived at the front door with a garment bag, a series of smaller tote bags, and a tool box filled with make-up. Alya's room in the mansion was bigger, and much more private then Marinette's own. Marinette had given Adrien the keys almost a week after everything went down.
"Are you going to start living with each other yet?" Alya asked trying not to burn herself with the curling iron as she wrapped her hair around it.
"What?" Marinette got flustered too easily, "We've only been dating for two months!"
"You've been in love with each other for five years."
Marinette chose to ignore her and focus on her eyeshadow. "Do you think this colour works?"
"You're the fashion expert, I'm the one that's supposed to ask you those things." Alya frowned in thought before nodding, "It does look good though."
Marinette smiled, "How's Nino?"
"Good. He misses you, we both do."
"I know, sorry. I'm just so-"
"Busy. I know M, it's ok."
"I just don't like standing still for too long, and now I have all this time-"
"It's ok." Alya smiled, "I'm very happy for you Marinette."
"Thank you."
Marinette paused for a moment, make up brush still in hand, but lowered from her face.
"When we were fighting him- Rekko, and everything was going wrong, I was so scared." She said in a whisper. "It was just me left and I was staring at Rekko, and then I saw you. You as Chat."
Alya nodded silently, a lump forming in her throat.
"I never said thank you. You saved me."
Alya placed a gentle hand over Marinette's, "Mari, whether it's moving out of your parents place, going out drinking on a friday night, ranting about your arts history teacher, editing your papers, fighting a super villain, or just giving you a hug when you need it. I am always there for you. Always."
Marinete blinked away tears and nodded, pulling Alya into a tight hug, "I love you."
"I love you too."
Marinette's dress was as beautiful as Alya had envisioned it. Marinette had sent her pictures of the progress but in true marinette fashion, it was pinned unfinished to her mannequin until last night. It was a deep red, with a tea length fit and flare skirt. The back scooped into a deep U that met her waist with an oversized bow.
Alya grinned, "If Gabriel Agreste doesn't sign you this instant."
"You and Adrien," Marinette chided, "I'm discovering who I am as a designer. And besides. I don't want any special treatment."
"Well his loss. That's all I'm saying."
The party was warm, and the food was amazing. Alya's sisters had stars in their eyes the whole night as they each took turns descending the stairs in their dresses and blazers. There was music, courtesy of Nino of course, and then suddenly Tom had taken over on the piano, plunking out awkwardly christmas carols and singing loud enough to drown out the stereo. Her and Nino joined in full heartedly, wrapping their arms around each other's shoulders and swaying. Elle had pushed Gabriel in front of the keys and they attempted to play heart and soul while Adrien booed and called them unoriginal. Finally Adrien sat down and started to play, Marinette sitting on the bench next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.
Alya let her arms wrap around Nino's neck and felt his hands fall on her waist.
"Shall we dance turtle boy?" She said, giving him a playful smirk.
Nino rolled his eyes, "It's unfair that you have an embarrassing nickname for me."
Alya laughed as they swayed together.
"Volpinie"
"No."
"Vulpix"
"That's a pokemon."
"Pokemon has not steered us wrong before."
Alya laughed and rested her head on his shoulder.
"How 'bout Foxy Lady?"
She pulled back to look him dead in the eyes. "If you call me foxy lady, I will call you turtle boy for the rest of your life. I'll say it in my vows. They'll say do you take Turtle boy to be- Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You want to marry me?" Nino stopped moving, staring at her in shock.
"Calm down. Not this second."
"But like, one day. You could see us getting married?"
Alya smiled, "Only if you never call me Foxy Lady again."
"I love you." Nino kissed her.
"I love you too, Turtle Boy."