Rena Rouge nodded in understanding to Ladybug, Carapace at her side. The fight against Shadowmoth had not been an easy one, even more so now that they all knew the villain's true identity. It had been a shock, almost as big a shock as learning WHY. Chat Noir had been the one to discover the villain's lair, though he was oddly quiet about the how's and why's.
Gabriel Agreste. Adrien's father. God, Sunshine Child was going to be devastated.
But then Ladybug revealed her plan. With the nod given, Rena surreptitiously slipped away, unnoticed by the grieving unmasked man, raging against Chat Noir's hold while Ladybug explained her counteroffer. The switch had to be made quickly, before Hawkmoth realized that there wasn't actually a fifth miraculous holder. The Mirage of Ladybug took over, allowing the real ladybug to slip away and become Epona.
Rena Rouge watched on, focusing on the actions of her mirage, as Epona took over, speaking quietly to Gabriel Agreste. She did not hear their words, but she saw the moment of his total defeat, the moment his aspirations of villainy died, in the sudden collapse of his composure, and then the tremor of his sudden wracking sobs. Chat Noir shifted, barely managing to halt his reaction, but Rena noticed his tension and the conflicted look on his face. Gabriel nodded to something Epona said, spurring Chat Noir and Carapace into action. They helped the man to his feet, helped him retrieve his wife, Adrien's mother. Epona created a portal to their destination, as it had been planned and prepared. Epona and the man formerly known as Hawkmoth, carrying the magically comatose Emilie Agreste, vanished into parts unknown.
Lady Epona returned a few days later and thanked Alya and Nino for their time as Rena Rouge and Carapace. It was a heartfelt goodbye, but it was time. Trixx and Wayzz were returned to Ladybug, sad but accomplished. Ladybug surprised Alya with a crushing hug. It's time, she said. Time for goodbyes. She didn't miss the way Ladybug kept looking to the shadows, a pensive look on her face as she stared into nothing.
Two days after Ladybug and Chat Noir's goodbye speech, Marinette surprised them all. With a teary goodbye and a promise to write, the French-Chinese girl was moving to Shanghai, ostensibly to reconnect with her extended family and to see the world with fresh eyes to fuel her inspiration. She'd be back in a couple of years, she said, so it wasn't goodbye forever.
By the end of two years, she almost never wrote. She also did not come back.
Alya Lahiffe nee Cesaire was many things. She was a good, loving wife to Nino, who was her partner in all things, the calm to her storm, the wisdom to her recklessness. When he needed to travel, she held their interests at home. He in turn did the same for her. They gave each other the support and trust that was needed to make a relationship apart work, be it for two days, two weeks, or two months. They'd been everything from friends and heroes to lovers and confidants together. Alya knew how a successful relationship worked.
She was the mother of the most precious four-year-old boy to have ever graced her life. While she held Miles's hand, he held her heart. He was the perfect blend of his parents, with Nino's honey eyes, and Alya's auburn waves. Nino's widow's peak, Alya's dimples. Those dimples were on full display while he bounced exuberantly through the doors of Tom & Sabine's, the bell ringing merrily behind them. Alya prepared herself for the careful maneuvering and elaborate mix of storytelling and misdirection that would be needed to escape the bakery without ending up with a sugar overloaded child. Alya had always been very good with kids, and her own was no exception.
"Good Morning! Welcome to Tom and Sabine's!" greeted an unfamiliar teenage boy with familiar blue eyes and midnight blue hair. The skin tone was a bit more tan, the facial features a bit more European than Chinese, but there was no denying the resemblance.
By profession, Alya was an investigative journalist. It was her job to get to the bottom of things and discover the truth. In honesty, her profession was more of an extension of her personality, ever curious, ever pressing to see more, learn more, know more. It was her love of the truth that had made her such a good Rena Rouge, for who better to craft the illusion of truth? Through the years, her keen observations had been both a blessing and a curse. One duty of knowing the truth was knowing when- and when not- to divulge it. It was ironic that her living was made from divulging the truth when the most important skills of her life revolved around concealing it. She knew a truth when she saw one, even if she was a secret-keeper. And apparently not the only one.
She missed an exchange in her shock, but the teen boy was responding to Sabine with a smile (and calling her Grandma) and Miles was tugging her hand forward, and now Sabine was approaching her with a wide, welcoming smile.
"Alya! It's so good to see you again! Is this your son? He's gotten so big!"
Alya blinked, pushing aside the burgeoning revelations, and smiled, nodding happily at the tiny Chinese woman. "Nice to see you too, Mrs. Cheng. We came to see Marinette." Her eyes turned toward the counter and the dark-haired boy standing there. "And to get some breakfast." She said it kindly, but her eyes were keen.
The boy smiled back, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish smirk. "Mama should be down in a few minutes." He turned his gaze to his grandmother with a shrug. "You know how she is."
Alya did, as well. Or she thought she did. She'd always thought that she was a good friend. In reality, she was the best friend a girl could have, whether that girl knew it or not. Even when that girl grew up into a woman who stopped communicating. But Alya wasn't known as the Ladyblogger for nothing. She'd always had that girl's back, even when it was turned, because Alya understood. At least, she thought she understood. She was realizing now that perhaps she hadn't understood as much as she'd thought.
"Oh! That's right," Sabine chimed in with realization, gesturing towards the teen. "Alya, this is my grandson, Athan."
Alya took a deep breath and gave a shocked smile to the older woman. "No way!" she looked at the boy, Athan, doing some quick calculations. She had originally placed this boy at around thirteen or so, but he was probably just tall for his age since Marinette was definitely not pregnant during their second to last year of lycee. She'd left for Shanghai twelve years ago, and assuming she was not pregnant at the time… Wait. Alya's brain took a dive. What if she was?
"I have it on good authority, that I was indeed born, Mme. Alya," the boy, Athan, assured her. She blinked. Did that little shit just…? She hadn't even known that sass was genetic.
That settled it.
Marinette finally came down the stairs, almost tripping over herself in her haste, just like old times. "Alya! You made it! Hi!" The dark-haired woman was breathing heavily. Alya was willing to pay good money to bet that she had overslept and then rushed to put herself together before running downstairs. "Is that Miles?" she asked, eyes lighting up. She looked both nervous and anxious. Excited.
Had something like this happened even ten years ago, Alya would not have hesitated to drag Marinette to the nearest closed room and ordering her to spill. But they were older now. Wiser. She could put it off for a moment. "Yep! And now, I've met Athan," she smiled in a way that she knew Marinette would interpret as intrigued. "Speaking of, let me get…" she made a show of deliberating over a couple of breakfast pastries and letting Miles choose his own, steering him away from the sugar bombs and towards the more fruit-filled confections. Sabine handed her a plate with the treats (Guests don't pay, dear, you know that!) to take upstairs.
Before they left entirely, Marinette called back downstairs, "Athan, Auntie Fei told me to remind you not to forget your practice." Alya didn't miss the way she said her son's name, as if that wasn't what she was used to calling him. Interesting.
"I'll go with him to the park later, dear. Enjoy your time with Alya!" Mrs. Cheng replied, waving them away.
She didn't miss the nervousness that set into Marinette's spine as they entered the upstairs apartment. She relaxed a bit while she was coaxing Miles's favorite show out of him, then finding it in her parent's impressive DVD collection. Alya watched the interaction like a hawk. Once upon a time, Marinette was useless with kids. A grade-A guaranteed pushover. Now, she acted like an old pro, even indulging him while he told the "ladybug" story. He left out a lot, like the details about the girl from the park, but when he repeated the "miraculous ladybug" part, Alya noticed the way Marinette's breath caught and her smile got a bit misty.
"That's amazing!" she praised him in quiet awe.
Miles was now engrossed in his show, something with trucks that looked like dinosaurs who solved problems by building things. Marinette sat at the kitchenette with Alya after making the two of them a cup of coffee. The silence was companionable, but Alya was itching for answers.
Alya Lahiffe nee Cesaire was many things. An idiot was not one of them.
She watched Marinette blow on her coffee before taking a tentative sip. She waited for the opportune moment, adjusting her seat, ostensibly to have a better view of her son, but more to get out of Marinette's direct line of sight. Alya knew when it was a good time to let a secret go. And that time was right… about… "So, Ladybug, when were you going to tell me that you and Chat hooked up and had a kid?"
While Marinette sprayed coffee and choked and stuttered and babbled, Alya hid a smirk behind her own coffee mug, eyebrows raised in amusement.
Alya was also a bit vindictive.
Louis waited until his mother and the Alya woman had completely escaped upstairs before pulling out his phone surreptitiously. A quick search later and he had not only Alya Lahiffe's public profile and social media but also several of her blogs, including one called the Ladyblog. It had last been updated almost four years ago, but it was a gold mine. As he scrolled, his grin spread uncontrollably across his face. Anyone who really knew him would have recognized how dangerous the glint in his eyes was. Miraculous Theories, Histories of Known Heroes past and present, Videos from the days of Hawkmoth, Interviews with Ladybug and Chat Noir…
Emma was going to flip. They NEEDED to get this woman on their side. First, he made an account and username for the forums, fudging his birth year to get past the age restrictions, then forwarded the blog's URL to Emma. The response was almost instantaneous.
E: IKR?! ᕙ(`▿´)ᕗ Way ahead of you.
A midnight blue eyebrow twitched. "Oh really?" he murmured sarcastically to himself. It sure would be nice if she'd shared that info with him. Well, two could play at that game. He smirked and began to compose his first message directly to the inbox of the Ladyblogger.
This was going way differently than Marinette had anticipated. It was both better and worst. She had actually expected to tell Alya all about her "one night stand with a handsome foreigner" and then tell her about living in Shanghai with her Uncle and breaking into the fashion industry from the ground up. She expected to go over all of her civilian misdeeds. She expected apologizing for losing contact and promising to do better.
That was very much not what was happening now. After she'd finished laughing (and Marinette knew that Alya was laughing at her, no matter how well she hid it), she'd helped Marinette get cleaned up. Her old friend then calmed her back down, checked on the four-year-old, who was still fabulously distracted, then sat with her to talk, seriously this time.
"How long have you known?" Marinette asked, heart still in her throat, despite Alya's best efforts. And did she know that she was the guardian of the miraculous as well, or just that she was ladybug? Ladybug being the guardian was not common knowledge. In fact, until her children had discovered the box, her old partner had been the only one to know. Alya had always been far more shrewd than she had any right to be, and observant besides. Even as a teen, when she sensed a story, she was tenacious about following it. Marinette, as Ladybug, had lost count of the number of times she'd had to pull the journalist's fat out of the fire, sometimes literally, as she continued to chase akumas. Currently, Alya had the look of a woman putting all the pieces together.
Alya shrugged one shoulder and waved a hand as if it didn't really matter, but answered, "I figured it out around about the same time you left for Shanghai and Ladybug vanished. There were several very conspicuous sightings of Ladybug the world over, with most of the confirmed ones mainly in India and Asia. It was obvious you were making a statement." She waved widely in a grand gesture. "Don't look in Paris, Baddies! Ladybug isn't a one-city hero anymore!"
Marinette looked shocked. "You've known for that long?!" A quiet panic began to set in. What else had she managed to figure out? Oh god, had she put herself in danger again, without Marinette knowing this time, chasing after her trail? Had she… She took a deep breath. This is no time to catastrophize, she told herself. Alya is here and healthy, with a beautiful baby boy. Nothing has happened to her, so she probably hadn't found out anything… overtly dangerous. To either of them.
Hazel eyes bore into blue, narrowing in suspicion. The designer felt her face heating under the scrutiny.
Suddenly, Alya chuckled. "Relax. You know I'd never rat you out, girl." The auburn-haired woman leaned back, physically demonstrating how not bothered she was. "The moment you vanished, Paris suddenly got very, very boring. And don't forget: I was part of Team Miraculous. I was there when Hawkmoth was defeated."
Even with the pointed look that Alya was pinning on her, Marinette did relax, now seeing what Alya was getting at. "Oh," she voiced quietly.
"I remember how much you used to love Adrien. It wasn't a crush. It was love. But when you left, you couldn't even look him in the eye properly. You didn't just leave to draw away the new danger; you left to get Hawkmoth out of Paris. You, the girl who loved Adrien more than anything, got his parents out of Paris to heal. Everything just lined up, you know? It was that damned scarf all over again, but this time it was so much worse. You didn't come back like you said you would. And that, I couldn't figure out."
Marinette picked at her nails idly, biting a lip. "I'm sorry. I sorry I let our friendship die like I did, but…" Should she? How honest could she afford to be? If there was one thing that she'd learned during her tenure as Guardian, it was that there was always something else. "But things came up."
Alya gave her a small chuckle. "Yeah, I met him downstairs." She considered for a moment. "So let me see if I have this correct. You left to give Adrien back his family, but in the meantime fell in love with Chat Noir and had his baby…" Her eyes went wide at a realization. "Oh my god! One of my ships sailed, and I missed it!" She leaned forward excitedly, "Did he go to Tibet with you? Is that where it happened? Who was he? What happened to him after that? Why aren't you happily married to Chat, Girl?"
Marinette just stared silently at her nails, no longer picking at them. Just stared at them as if she'd expected them to have all the answers and they'd failed her.
"Nooo," Alya shook her head in disbelief as she drew her conclusions. "Marinette, tell me you didn't…"
She hadn't. Marinette… LADYBUG… had gotten pregnant with Chat Noir and not told him! Alya realized in a growing sense of horror. Why would she do such a thing? There had to be a reason. That did not sound like the Ladybug she knew. As Marinette, she was clumsy with her emotions and tended to catastrophize in the worst of ways, but surely she hadn't spiraled THAT badly!
"I couldn't. I mean, I wanted to, but…," Marinette defensively answered, albeit quietly. "It took me three years to figure it was finally safe for me to come back, but then I realized..." she trailed off. Alya could see the struggle on her face, saw her almost say something before the pinched look on her face was washed away with an exhale. "I realized that everyone had their own lives back here, and I'd been gone so long that… I almost came back. A few times. But I had responsibilities that kept reminding me they existed." It wasn't a statement made in bitterness, just matter-of-fact.
Translation: Chat had moved on with his life without her. That would be something Marinette would assume. As for the rest, Alya knew a bit about that, as well.
"The Shanghai Incident," Alya guessed. It had been international news seven or eight years ago and had led to a ton of speculation on the Ladyblog, as one of the two heroines of the story was suspiciously similar to Paris's Ladybug, but with a vastly different costume. It wasn't missed that a Tiger and a Monkey hero had also joined the main superhero of Shanghai, Lady Dragon's, side, similar to how new heroes used to join Ladybug's side.
That had been a tough time for Marinette, and the first time she'd had to deal with a supervillain after Hawkmoth. Not only had she been stressed and sleep-deprived from schooling and raising twin three-year-olds, but Kage had been the stuff of nightmares. A supervillain with all kinds of shadow powers with Mafia connections? No thanks. She'd been lucky that Fei's senior students had been so well suited to Roaar and Xuppu, because both women had needed the help.
Marinette just gave Alya a silent nod of confirmation. No need to go into details. Besides, it wasn't like Kage was going to show up again anytime soon. He was currently safely tucked away in a prison for life and the source of his power was entrusted to the Order of Guardians for safe-keeping. Without a miracle box to protect, and with adjusting to the new shape of the world after over 150 years of not being a part of it, many of the old guardians, especially the younger ones, had left the temple for good, but enough still remained, including Master Su-Han. The Order, as an organization, was in dire need of restructuring.
It wasn't feasible to just take young children from their homes and train them from childhood anymore. That kind of thing didn't happen these days. And then there was to consider the connection of the world through technology that hadn't existed over a hundred years ago. From the guise of her growing fashion line, Marinette had so far connected most, if not all, of the modern Guardians in the Eurasian continent. Together, they'd established safe-houses and methods for calling for help, made plans for "In Case of Villain", wrote the new rules for how to be a guardian in the modern age. In some ways, nothing much had changed, but in others, everything had changed. Thanks to Hawkmoth and the Ladyblog, the existence of the Miraculous was not as secret as it once was. Never had the existence and secrecy of Guardians been more important. It was a catch 22, maintaining a secret organization in the age of technology.
Marinette didn't miss the look in Alya's eye, the one that said "I think I just discovered the story of a lifetime and I'm not going to let it go". She trusted Alya, but not all secrets were hers to tell. By the way that the journalist was chewing on her next words, though, she wasn't certain she'd be able to simply lie her way out if directly asked.
Alya suddenly took out her phone, scrolling, and clicking. When Marinette peaked over, she noticed it was a Ladyblog post. "Okay, what about Beijing, Moscow… and Dublin?" she listed. "All within the last ten years have had some type of 'miraculous' event similar to Shanghai, though no direct sightings of known Heroes. Tons of speculation and loads of hogwash, conspiracy theories, but theoretically no real connections."
Marinette did indeed know about those, at least to some extent if not directly, but "I can neither confirm nor deny any of this, Alya," she said regretfully. "But… please stop looking into it," she requested.
The journalist blinked, mouth gaping in open shock. The two women stared at each other for a moment wordlessly conveying concern and disbelief, respectively.
"I knew it," Alya breathed. "There is something bigger going on here." And then her mousetrap of a mind latched on to a new idea. "Wait…how does Zhuangzi tie into this? A new hero suddenly visiting from Asia on a 'training' trip?" Marinette worked to maintain as neutral an expression as she possibly could while Alya gasped. "During the same week that you come back?" A pause.
No, no no no, Marinette thinks to herself, her panic rising, maybe having Alya visit was a bad idea after all…
"…with…"
"Mama, Grandma wants to know if Mme. Alya is staying for lunch," Louis stated as he strolled in through the door, seemingly oblivious to the tension he'd just walked into. Marinette knew better. He looked relaxed, nonchalant in fact, but the question in his eyes asked if she needed a rescue.
Alya looked gape-mouthed at Louis, then again at Marinette. She swallowed, a weak smile on her face while she answered the boy. "Well, we wouldn't want to impose…"
Marinette exhaled, willing herself to calm. They needed to talk this out. She couldn't leave Alya to make her own conclusions. "Yes, Athan, but ask Maman if she could pack us something to go. Just in case."
The blue-haired boy shot her a two-finger salute in confirmation and closed the door behind him as he left.
Alya stared at the closed door for a few moments after that. Then, "Oh. My. God. Girl!"
Not knowing how exactly to react, Marinette did the best thing that came to her mind. Jazz hands, and a weak "Surprise!"
The journalist's response after her initial shock was tumultuous laughter, broken up by, "Oh god, that interview…!" then more laughter. "Please, please, PLEASE tell me you are going to tell Chat. You do know who he is, right?" Alya asked once her shocked laughter subsided. "You really can't keep hiding Athan from him. He's like… Chat 2.0."
Okay, this was a topic Marinette could handle. Steer away from Guardian stuff… "Yeah, I know who he is. And I told him the first night we came back."
Alya's eyebrows perked at that. "And how did that go? I need all the details!"
The bluenette gave her a small smile. "Well, not all the details, but…"
For the next hour, the two women talked, gossiped, and swooned while Marinette told the story, leaving out Chat's identity, just in case. The hour after that, they talked about everything else under the sun. By lunchtime, they were back to being best friends. It filled a space in Marinette's heart that she hadn't even realized had been vacant.
Alya didn't tell Marinette that she already had her suspicions as to who Chat was. It kinda served her right but made the whole story just that much more entertaining.
Especially when she got home that evening to find a new PM on the Ladyblog from a user named "leCatbugno1".
leCatbugno1: Mme. Ladyblogger, it has come to our attention that you know our parents. As the original LadyNoir shipper, we thought that you might be willing to help us in Operation: Parent Trap. We need to help an old cat catch a bug, and for that, we need information. Would you be interested?
Alya. Ladyblogger: 100% kiddo. Count me in. :D
AN: Tada! **Jazz hands**
I present to you: All-Knowing-Alya!
Let me say, I rewrote this sucker like four times. I hope it satisfies.
Special thanks to Black Neko Hime, Agiani, and Kapel85 for the comments, and everyone for the faves and follows. :) I promise there are Plagg's and Tikki's in the future, because, you know... Shenanigans.
