THIS IS SET AFTER THE EPISODE GANG OF SECRETS


"You're not in this alone anymore." Her words hung in the air, the words Marinette so desperately wanted to hear. Needed to hear. She looked up at her best friend and smiled through tears.

A few days passed. They were spread out on the floor of Marinette's room. Alya was working on an article for the Ladyblog, Marinette was studying the Miraculous book, trying to decipher the language. "Come on Mari, please. I just need one comment to put in the article. Anything," she pleaded.

"I don't have anything to say on the matter," she snuffed, "besides, I'm busy. I need to figure out what this text says." Marinette sighed in frustration. She was getting nowhere regarding the deciphering of the book. She was getting nowhere period. She wasn't any closer to figuring out who Hawk Moth was or even what his motives were. Sure one could say world domination, but that couldn't really be it. There was always some other underlying reason, something more personal than that to cause someone to go to the lengths Hawk Moth had gone to.

Heck, Marinette hadn't even confessed to Adrien, not that she could even if she got the guts to. She didn't have time and on top of that she wouldn't be able to be honest with her boyfriend for all the reasons she was always gone, always disappearing. Noone likes being lied to or would pretend not to notice her always disappearing.

She didn't blame Luka for leaving her. She would of done the same thing if she were in his shoes. It probably seemed to Luka that she didn't even like him with the way she had been acting while they dated, which was far from the truth. She liked Luka, really really liked him. But someone else still lingered on her mind and she felt guilty for it.

She wished she could just erase the feelings she has for him, so that she could properly move on, but it wasnt so easy. Alya said that the best way to move on is to eliminate the 'what if' and the only way to do that, according to Alya, was to tell Adrien how she feels. But she didn't know about that. Marinette didn't want to ruin the progress in their friendship they had made. And what if he returned her feelings? Marinette knew he didn't feel the same, but the small chance, the 'what if' as Alya called it, still lingered, clinging onto the hope that he returned her feelings. But if he did, it would be worse because she would have to turn him down. She couldn't date him, she couldn't date anyone until Hawk Moth was defeated and how could she do that if she couldn't even figure out what the Miraculous book said.

"The original guardians were chinese, right? Alya asks.

"Yea," Marinette responds slowly.

"Its probably a simple substitution cipher that we could translate if we knew Chinese."

"Oh my gosh!" Marinette exclaimed, "Alya you're a genius.

"About time you noticed," she laughed.

"Don't let it go to your head," Mari smirked, "You're sounding like Chat Noir."

"Is a certain skin-tight leather clad boy on your mind?" Alya mused.

"No," Mari said defensively, "you just reminded me briefly of him with your over the top smugness."

"You know who could teach you Chinese?" Alya smirked.

"No," Mari warned.

"Too late," Alya said as she sent a text to Adrien. Ding. "Wow that was fast. Someone was a little eager to hop onto the opportunity to spend some quality one on one time with you," she nudged.

"I don't get you," Marinette huffed, "First you imply I have feelings for Chat, then you try to get me one on one time with Adrien."

"Girl, you have to sort out your feelings somehow, what better way than spending some alone time with him. It'll help you realize what you actually want. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge LadyNoir fan but I just want you to be happy. And I think you don't even know what you want. So go out there and figure it out girl."

Marinette sighed knowing her friend was right, although she couldn't be together with anyone at the moment, the only way to move on and clear her head was to figure out what she actually wanted and getting to know Adrien more in a totallyplatonic setting could help her to move on. She couldn't afford to spend any time ogling over guys, she had to save Paris.

"You're right," she said determined, "I can get over Adrien easier this way, see him as just a friend and be able to finally translate this book."

"That's not exactly what I meant, but you go girl. Everything's going to work out. We're going to find Hawk Moth, save Paris, and you will learn to translate that book and become an amazing guardian."

"I don't think I could ever be as good as Master Fu," she sighed.

"Marinette you need to believe in yourself. Master Fu chose you for a reason," Tiki flew up in front of Marinette's face.

"I know," she sighed, "I just wish he were here to guide me. I have so many questions, so many things I didn't learn. And he doesn't even remember who I am."

"You're not in this alone Marinette. I'm not Master Fu, but I am Alya Cesaire, Marinette's best friend and I'm not going to let you do this alone. We'll find Hawk Moth together. We'll translate this book together. We'll save Paris together," Alya's words were comforting to Marinette. She had been alone in this whole saving Paris and being the guardian thing for so long it felt nice to have some of the burden off her shoulders. She had Chat, and she felt guilty for telling Alya before him, but she was there when she needed her. Not that Chat wasn't, it's just different with him. Master Fu had warned against sharing their identity with each other, and Chat Blanc still haunted her dreams. She shuddered at the thought.

"You okay?" Alya asked.

"Yea, I just remember a bad dream I had"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, there are more important things to focus on right now."