Golden Eagle
Chapter VII:
A Parent's Love
Alicia sat at her desk as she tried to finish her maths homework. Unfortunately, maths was one of her worse subjects. Out of irritation, she let her head hit the table when her phone rang. Alicia groaned and pressed answer.
"Hello?"
"[You sound grumpy. Doing maths?]"
"[Mum!]" Alicia exclaimed, easily switching over to English.
"[Hi, deary, how's Paris? Sorry I haven't been able to call much since you left. I've got a huge fashion show coming up and there's a leak who's been selling my designs to my competitor's. But I've got some time so, how's school?]"
"[It's okay. There are some really nice people there and the teachers seem to understand about my anxiety issues. I joined the art club today but there's only one other member. His name's... his name's Nathanaël...]" Alicia said and she found herself blushing again.
"[Nathanaël is it? Have a little crush on him do you? How sweet]" Bridget coo'd and her daughter blushed even more "[Say, have you opened your gift from me yet?]"
Alicia pulled her pendant out from under her shirt and looked at the black onyx.
"[Yeah... um, about the necklace? Is there something you want to tell me about it?]" she asked as Donno landed on her desk.
"[Huh? Whad'ya mean, sweetie? It's an old family heirloom I received from your great-great-grandmother when I was your age. She said something about a fairy when she gave it to me but she was senile by then and it was so long ago that I don't remember the exact story]"
"[Didn't you ever try it on?]" Alicia asked, rubbing her thumb over the smooth black gem.
"[Not really. My hair always gets tangled with necklaces, you know that. Anyway, I'm glad you like it. I love you, Ali]"
"[Love you too, Mum, bye]"
Alicia put down her phone and looked at the Miraculous. Donno floated up and looked at her. He seemed upset about something.
"You look a lot like your great-great-grandmother, Alicia, she was Golden Eagle too," he said.
"So I'm from a line of superheroes?" Alicia said "Great,"
She pushed away from her desk and leaned back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling. It had only been a week since she left New York but Paris had already grown on her and she was now one of its protectors. The media had mixed feelings about Golden Eagle appearing. Ladybug and Cat Noir seemed to trust her but she could tell they too were hesitant at going from a duo to a trio.
"Hey, Donno? Wanna go for a fly?" she asked "Donno, wings out!"
Golden Eagle glided through the skies of Paris without a thought in her head. In the sky, she had no worries and no anxieties. It was just her and the open air. No responsibilities, no obligations and no fears. Then her bow holder began to buzz and opened up to show the communicator was on with Ladybug on the screen.
"Hey, Ladybug, what's up?"
"Golden Eagle? We need to talk. Meet me and Cat Noir at the Louve. ASAP," and she hung up.
She'd seen this coming. Sooner or later those two would want to chat with her and try to ascertain to her true motives. Golden Eagle rode the wind currents and glided her way over to the Louve where her Eagle Vision spotted Ladybug and Cat Noir standing on the roof. She glided down to them and pulled back her little brown wings.
"Hey, you guys have decided to interrogate me now?" she asked.
"You're smart," Ladybug said "Tell us, what's your Miraculous?"
Golden Eagle took hold of her pendant and showed them the sparkling yellow topaz. They leaned forward to look at it as if they could determine whether or not it was real themselves.
"And your Kwami's name?" Cat Noir added.
"What are yours' called?" she asked.
"Tikki," Ladybug said, bluntly.
"Plagg," Cat Noir admitted.
"And mine's name is Donno," Golden Eagle answered "Anything else?"
"Yes... where did you get the Eagle Miraculous?" Ladybug asked "Tikki said its been lost for over 50 years,"
Golden Eagle had to think about her response. She didn't want to let slip that she'd only just moved to Paris or that it was an heirloom. Carefully, she chose her words.
"It was a gift from someone who received it from the previous Golden Eagle," she said.
"Who?"
"Can't say,"
"Why?"
"Secret identity stuff,"
Ladybug and Cat Noir both groaned in irritation and Golden Eagle smirked when she suddenly heard cries for help. She stepped forward, past the other two superheroes and she used her Eagle Vision to look for the source of the screams. What she saw was smoke ascending from a burning building.
"Holy- there's a fire!" she exclaimed.
"Where?" Ladybug asked "We can't see it,"
"Follow me!"
Golden Eagle spread out her glider wings and launched off the edge of the roof. Ladybug and Cat Noir took out their weapons and free-ran after her. It wasn't long into they too saw the smoke, heard the screams and smelled the burning.
"Please, let me save her!" a woman begged, her face covered in soot and her arm burned "My daughter's only 7 and she's disabled! Please! You've got to let me through!"
She tried to push past the police officers but they held her back. The burning apartment building loomed over them like a fiery monster holding her child captive. Paramedics tried to treat her injuries but she continued to try to re-enter the building. There was suddenly a gust of wind and Paris' protectors landed in the street.
"Where's your daughter?" Golden Eagle asked, her previous light-hearted tone replaced with a deadly serious voice.
"Apartment 17-B! Please, save her!" the woman begged.
Golden Eagle looked up at the burning building and her eagle eyes grew determined.
"Ladybug, Cat Noir, rescue as many people as you can. I'm going after this woman's daughter," she said "Golden Wings!"
Her brown glider wings turned into magnificent glowing gold eagle wings. She flapped them once and shot into the air, fighting against the air currents. Ladybug and Cat Noir watched in awe for a moment before snapping out of it and rushing in to save the other trapped civilians.
Alone and trapped under the fallen ceiling, 7-year-old Jolie wrapped her arms over her head and tried to hide her face from the flames. There was a gust of wind and she looked up and she saw what she perceived as a golden angel standing before her. The angel knelt down and tried to lift the fallen ceiling off the trapped Jolie. In her effort, she looked down to see the girl's tear-stained cheeks set ablaze by the light of the fire. Her eyes were wide with fear and hope. Reinvigorated, Golden Eagle screamed as she lifted the ceiling slab up. Jolie smiled up at her with amazement.
"Move forward!" the superhero ordered.
Jolie used her arms to drag herself forward when there was a loud creek and cracks began to spider-web across the ceiling. As the ceiling began to drop dust, Cat Noir appeared from nowhere and tackled Jolie out of the way as it collapsed again. Golden Eagle smiled in relief when the floor began to break apart underneath her. Ladybug's yo-yo wrapped around her waist and she was pulled out from under the collapsed ceiling.
"Everyone else is out! Let's go!" Ladybug ordered.
Golden Eagle lifted Jolie up and held her close as the trio of superheroes jumped from the building as it collapsed in on itself. Golden Wings had worn off so she used her usual glider wings to control their decent. She softly landed in front of Jolie's mother and presented her with her child.
"Jolie!"
"Momma!"
The mother and child embraced and Golden Eagle smiled at them when a pang of longing for her own mother hit her. The woman forced herself to her feet and looked Golden Eagle in the air. She leaned against the superhero and hugged her.
"Thank you, Golden Eagle... you've saved my daughter's life," she said, tears streaming down her face "Thank you..."
The mother fell down to her knees with Jolie in her arms and allowed paramedics to take them both to hospital. Golden Eagle looked down at her pendant and saw that only one segment was still gold, the rest were black.
"Hey, Eagle!" Ladybug called to her.
"Sorry but my Miraculous is about to run out!" Golden Eagle called and she coughed.
"Wait a minute! How much smoke did you inhale?!" Cat Noir asked but she was already gliding away.
Exhausted, Golden Eagle climbed through her bedroom window as she reverted back. Alicia dropped onto her bed and Donno plopped down beside her on the pillow. She heard Grant calling her name and his footsteps as he headed towards her room. She pushed herself up and got to her feet.
"Ali, where've you been? You said you'd be gone for only a half-hour but that was hours ago!" her father called.
As Alicia reached to open her door for him, she began to cough violently and she fell to her knees. It felt like her lungs were burning and the pain erupted throughout her body. She fell to the floor, violently coughing when her father walked in.
"ALICIA!"
The next thing she knew, Alicia was waking up in hospital with an endotracheal tube down her throat. Her head was spinning and she reached for her pendant but found it missing from around her neck. She groaned and lay her arms over her face. She took a peek at the clock outside her room and saw it was 11 o'clock at night.
"Alicia!"
Grant threw the door open and ran to her side. He collapsed next to her bed and frantically hugged her but jumped back when she let out a minor cough. He calmed down after that and sat in the chair next to the bed, holding her hand tightly in his. A doctor had followed him in with a clipboard.
"Good to see you awake, Miss Blaise," he said "You suffered from minor smoke inhalation but it was enough to warrant you collapsing,"
"Smoke inhalation?" Grant questioned.
He looked at his daughter and saw that the tips of her deep brown hair, her mouth and nostrils were all slightly singed from fire exposure and hot smoke inhalation. How had he missed that? He was an investigative reporter and yet he hadn't spotted the signs that his daughter had been in a fire?!
Scared for his daughter and disappointed in himself, Grant sat in the hospital's garden to try to clear his head. He was so frustrated. Not only had Alicia disappeared for hours and he didn't have a clue where she was, she also somehow breathed in enough hot smoke to nearly die and it had only been a week since she came! As soon as Bridget found out about this, she'd definitely want Alicia moving back to New York.
Grant opened his wallet and pulled out a picture of his family back when they were still all happily together. He and Bridget had worked so hard to make sure that despite their parents being divorced, Alicia and Kier were not from a broken home. Had he failed?
He looked up at the night sky and was completely unaware of the dark purple butterfly fluttering towards his family photo.
Quick Timeline:
Alicia's great-great-grandmother became Golden Eagle at the age of 17, had a child when she was 28, retired from superheroics at the age of 40, became a grandmother at 44, became a great-grandmother at 70, gave Bridget the Eagle Miraculous at 85 and died at 86.
Bridget received the Eagle Miraculous at age 15 from her great-grandmother but never put it on, her great-grandmother died when she was 16, married Grant at the age of 20, she had Alicia at 23-years-old, had Kier at 28, divorced Grant at 33 and she's currently 38 (but is touchy about it).
It has been 68 years since the previous Golden Eagle retired.
(That was just to help me keep track of everything).