Golden Eagle
Chapter IX:
Anime Talk
After a week of hospital treatment, Alicia was back home and contemplating her future as Golden Eagle. Yes, she still wore the Eagle Miraculous but she hadn't had the heart to transform. Transforming to save her father was one thing but just to go on patrol and be caught up in a crime? No! Alicia curled up where she sat on her bed covers with Donno sitting across from her.
"I-I don't think I can do this, Donno! I'm too afraid..." she whimpered.
"But, being afraid is a part of being brave," Donno said.
Alicia looked away and saw her laptop flashing. She got up and sat at her desk, opening her laptop to see a Skype call coming in.
"[Hey, Mum]" she said, leaning back in her chair.
"[WHAT HAPPENED?! YOU WERE IN HOSPITAL?!]" Bridget yelled.
Alicia jumped and hurriedly plugged her headphones in.
"[Mum, it's alright. The doctors already gave me the all clear, I responded well to the treatment, I'm fine. In fact, I go back to school tomorrow]" she said.
"[Nuh-uh, no, I can't- I can't do this. Paris was obviously a bad idea. Nope, you're coming home]"
"[Mum! No! There isn't any school for me to go to in New York and I want to spend more time with Papa. I'm really... I'm really getting the swing of things here. Besides, you remember after we moved to New York? Kier broke his arm sliding down the spiral staircase's banister. Papa was all the way in Paris and couldn't be there for him. This is just like that except it's me and you instead of Kier and Papa]" Alicia explained.
"[You're right... but your father flew out as soon as he could. My fashion show will be over by the end of the month. I'll fly out to see you then]" Bridget said "[It'll provoke me to finally bring my brand to France]"
Alicia sighed. She'd definitely have to tell her class that Bridget Foley was her mother because knowing her, Bridget would be a huge goofball about spending time with her daughter.
"['Ey, Mom?]" Kier said, walking into the camera view "[We have any potato chi- ALI!]"
"[Hi, Kier, what's up, little brother?]" Alicia asked.
"[Nothin'! Hey, were you really in hospital? Are you gonna come home? Are we going to you?!]" Kier asked.
"[Easy, baby boy, I have to talk to your papa about it first]" Bridget said "[We should let Ali rest now, okay?]"
"['Kay]" the red-haired boy said and he disappeared off screen.
"[Later, Kier]" Alicia said "[Bye, Mum]"
"[See you later, sweetie]" Bridget said.
The Skype call ended and Alicia was about to close her laptop when Donno flew out of hiding and forced it open. Without explaining himself, he opened Google and searched for the Ladyblog and brought up Alya's articles on Golden Eagle. She had gone around asking her classmates what they thought of her:
"I think it's adorably sweet that we have another superhero protecting us," -Rose.
"It's totally cool that she can fly," -Nino.
"She seems like a good addition to Ladybug and Cat Noir," -Nathanaël.
"I think she's awesome," -Marinette.
"Whatever," -Chloé.
"Golden Eagle's pretty amazing," -Adrien.
"I like that there're more girl superheroes now," -Sabrina.
"Well... like... y'know," -Juleka.
"I calculate that with the addition of Golden Eagle, akuma will be captured much faster," -Max.
"Golden Eagle seems tough but I bet I'm tougher!" -Kim.
"I admire how brave she must be to go out there and save the day," -Mylène.
"I like... uh... how she's... kind," -Ivan.
"She's pretty rockin'," -Alix.
Donno closed the laptop and sat on the lid, looking up at his Miraculous wearer. Alicia looked down at him with worry on her face. All of those people (except Chloé) admired her but they admired Golden Eagle, not the girl under the mask. Except Mylène, who admired her bravery. Being brave enough to transform to save the day was something she did as Alicia, not as Golden Eagle.
"Alicia, anyone can use a Miraculous but it was you who was chosen by the hands of fate to wear the Eagle Miraculous," Donno said "Believe in yourself more, like how Paris believes in you,"
Alicia sighed and looked down at the onyx pendant.
"Maybe I'll give it another try," she said.
"Yay!" the Kwami cheered.
The next morning, Alicia walked into her classroom with her books in her arms and her head down. Everyone stopped talking once she entered and they watched her as she took her seat. Nathanaël got up from his own seat and slid into the empty space next to her.
"So... everything's okay now? You're completely healed?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine now but the doctors said not to over-exert myself so I've got a note to get out of gym class," she responded.
"That means I'll see you for the art club meeting after school today, right?" Nathanaël asked "You missed the first one because you were in hospital,"
"Uhh... yeah, sure," Alicia answered "But, there's something I gotta tell you and everyone... about my mother!"
"Oh? Like what?" he asked but then their teacher entered the classroom.
Alicia looked away from him to pay attention but to her surprise, Nathanaël stayed seated next to her. A small blush rose to her cheeks as she buried her head into her textbook. She didn't want to tell everyone now and have Chloé bothering her all month. She'd tell Nathanaël, Marinette and maybe Alya, Nino and Adrien. They all seemed the most trustworthy of the class.
This was effectively the first lunch break Alicia had spent not in the library alone with Donno. Nathanaël had insisted on having lunch with her... so that they could talk about club activities and such, of course. This included what song to start the karaoke with.
"The latest published song is Crossing Fields," she said, looking at her iPod's playlist "From Sword Art Online, right? Haven't watched that in a while,"
"Yeah? I've heard they were translated covers of Japanese cartoon theme songs but I've never really watched them," Nathanaël admitted "Unless Pokémon counts,"
"You haven't even seen the anime?! Oh, we are so binge-watching SAO and SAO II some time!" Alicia declared "But if you want to watch the *best anime, there's Blue Exorcist, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Soul Eater, Magi: The Labyrinth/Kingdom of Magic, Assassination Classroom, Aldnoah .Zero, Seraph of the End and if you don't mind the really gory stuff then there's Black Butler: Book of Circus and never forget the biggest anime since Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z... Attack on Titan!"
"Sounds good," Nathanaël chuckled "You really know your anime, don't you?"
Alicia blushed as she realized she had just fangirl'd.
"Anime and manga both have... a unique style... very artistic," she mumbled.
"Oh, yeah, the- uh- the club activities," Nathanaël remembered.
The conversation went silent and they began to take bites from their lunches. Across the courtyard, some of their classmates had overheard their conversion and the sudden spike in anime's importance to their current social structure.
"I didn't know Alicia watched anime. Maybe she can recommend some series' for me," Adrien said "I've been meaning to find a new show to watch,"
"Y-Yeah, me too!" Marinette blurted out and she immediately face-palmed since she didn't actually watch anime.
"You watch anime too, Marinette? Cool, that's something I didn't know about you," he said, turning to talk to her.
"Oh, Marinette's filled with surprises," Alya said, shaking her best friend's shoulders "You guys should totally hang out to talk about your shared love of anime,"
"Sure, it would be great to talk to someone else about this stuff," Adrien agreed.
Marinette watched her crush walk over to Alicia and Nathanaël to join the anime talk. If she was going to talk anime, she needed to study up on what it meant to be an anime fan! She needed to know about the best and most popular anime and which anime to rag on. She needed an expert to tutor her in the ways of the anime nerd and as she looked over at Adrien for inspiration, she remembered what got them talking about anime in the first place... Alicia!
"I can't believe you didn't give me lunch today!" Donno complained as he rode in his Miraculous holder's hoodie pocket.
"Sorry but Nathanaël was there. We couldn't risk him finding you," Alicia apologized.
The Kwami humphed and she offered to buy him a snack from the vending machine. She pushed her scooter out of school to the vending machines around the courner. Alicia gave Donno a coin and he floated up to make his choice.
"Hey! Alicia! Wait up!"
Alicia grabbed Donno from midair as he was about to buy a chocolate bar and hid him behind her back. Marinette came running round the corner in a pant and she leaned against her knees to catch her breath.
"Um... Marinette? Is- ur- is everything okay?" Alicia asked.
"Yeah... it's just *pant*gasp* I need... your help..." the exhausted girl panted.
"With what?" Alicia asked.
Marinette stood up straight and looked right into her eyes with a fiery determination.
"I need you to teach me about anime," she said "Due to a series of events, I'm talking with Adrien about anime tomorrow but the problem is, I don't actually watch anime. I need you to teach me enough so I at least sound like I know what's going on,"
Alicia blinked, took her glasses off, cleaned them with her sleeve and put them back on her face. She considered Marinette's request. This did give her the opportunity to be a real friend and she didn't want to see her crash and burn.
"I'll do it but there's one thing you must always remember," Alicia said.
"What?" Marinette asked.
"Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 sucked and should burn in the fiery pits of Tartarus,"
...Blaise Loft...
Marinette accompanied Alicia home and they sat in the media area of the loft's open plan. As Alicia looked through her anime box sets and manga volumes, Marinette sat awkwardly on the sofa. She looked around the loft and couldn't help but marvel at its sheer size.
"Here it is!" Alicia exclaimed, triumphantly holding up a stack of DVD's "Let's begin with some good ol' fashion Studeo Ghibli. To begin with there's Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Kiki's Delivery Service. You can't say you're an anime fan unless you've seen most or all of those movies,"
"So, we've gotta watch all those?" Marinette asked, looking at the spread out DVD's "I thought anime was Japanese cartoons?"
"Yes but if you're gonna talk anime tomorrow then you don't have time to watch hours of anime episodes," Alicia pointed out "Get the basic Studio Ghibli stuff down and you can at least talk the part,"
"But what about the shows you mentioned to Nathan? Soul Eater, Metal Alchemist Brothers and Magi was it?" Marinette asked.
"Soul Eater and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood ran for a good 50 episodes each and Magi has two seasons both 24 episodes a piece. Like I said, you don't have time to watch any series' unless you don't want to sleep tonight," Alicia explained "However, I will give you some titles to look up. You've gotta be careful with a first anime though because they can be either super cutesy or horrifically gory,"
Marinette nodded, all her questions answered and she looked at the screen as Spirited Away started. Alicia had seen it a-million times but it continued to be an amazing watch. Marinette sat on the edge of her seat as the movie got tenser and the stakes rose. Her wide-eyed wonderment continued through Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle and the rest of them. Several times Alicia had to pull her back from the T.V screen.
*Hey! Alicia has the same taste in anime as me! I wonder why... XD