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“I have noticed something,” Adrien says. “It’s probably nothing.”
Why would I hate you, Marinette?
Alya Césaire, future reporter, isn’t good at letting sleeping dogs lie. Especially when they’re Marinette’s, because those sleeping dogs are rabid and will come back to haunt them all.
And Alya will pick up the pieces, either way.
Marinette makes her feel seen. That’s why she’s always accepted her absences, her silences. Marinette always manages to take care of what she needs. So Alya does the same.
“What is it?”
“It’s probably nothing,” Adrien says. He looks down, and his thumb rubs against the twin rings on his finger. “It has to be nothing.”
Alya put a hand on his shoulder.
“I know this is hard for you.”
“…She visits Nathalie a lot,” Adrien says.
“What.”
Adrien is shaking.
“It’s probably nothing, right? That she flinches a little when I touch her, after?”
“Fuck.”
Adrien flinches.
Alya sighs, and she hugs him.
He says it first.
“Is Nathalie hurting Marinette, too?” He asks.
“I don’t know,” Alya replies. “But I’ll find out.”
“Do you know Ladybug’s identity?"
“Hello to you too, Chat Noir,” Alya says. “Not gonna start with asking why Rena Rouge is spying on two normal citizens?”
“Ladybug trusts you,” Chat Noir says. “I’m sure you’re helping someone. Do you know Ladybug’s identity?”
Alya sighs.
“And if I do?”
“Then…” Chat Noir sighs. He collapses next to her on the roof. “Then she has some other secret, bigger than being Ladybug. And what could that be? I know her.”
“Ladybug’s not good at keeping secrets from me,” Alya says. “It’s to protect someone else, I think.”
“What if it Akumatized her?”
“…what now.”
Marinette Dupain-Cheng makes mistakes. No, that’s not right. She does bad things, in attempts to do good, or bouts of selfishness. But she is kind, and she is forgiving. After Alya realized Lila wasn’t just a love rival like Kagami, she remembers Marinette in her lap, saying she tried to reach out, when she learned Lila had mental health issues.
If Alya thinks very deep, she thinks it wasn’t just impulsive lying, and something actually was wrong with the poor girl. She was lonely.
It’s always girls who have it out for Alya’s girl, her Marinette. And Alya can’t forgive them, for that.
Not loving Marinette feels antithetical to goodness and nature, not the least because the god who hides in her pocket says she’s the greater creator in the universe’s history, the multiverse’s history. An endless collection of Marinette is the best.
Marinette makes mistakes, though.
Alya considers.
She thinks some more.
Marinette, who was busy with the New Hawk Moth Conspiracy board, turns to her.
“Am I missing something again?” She asks.
“Normal area’s wider than Monarch,” Alya says. “She’s probably moving around more.”
“That makes sense,” Marinette says. “Monarch always— nevermind. You’re right. How did I miss that?”
Because she’s exhausted. And probably being… god, probably being hurt by Adrien’s adopted mother.
Marinette steps away from the board, looking out the window towards Adrien’s house.
Alya puts a hand on her shoulder, and, yeah, Marinette flinches.
“Marinette?” Alya asks.
“What?” Marinette asks. “Nothing’s wrong!”
“Marinette,” Alya says. “It isn’t your fault.”
Marinette looks at her, stares, no tears, no… anything. She looks deflated, she looks used up.
“It is,” she says.
Alya follows Nathalie. This should be fine, but then she realizes
1) Nathalie is going to Kagami’s house
2) She’s being watched.
Getting shushed by the mysterious vigilante isn’t expected.
“Hey!” Alya says.
“Shush,” says Fury. “This is bigger than you know, and I can’t tell Ladybug until I know she’ll do something. Can you make us invisible?”
“I’m not helping a rogue vigilante,” Alya says. “Unless you impress Ladybug, or Chat Noir.”
“I work for Chat Noir,” Fury says. “It’s complicated, okay? Just— something bad is going down. I didn’t know how bad. We weren’t supposed to know this.”
“You— what?”
Fury groans.
“Evil secret organization of rich people is real,” she says. “It’s fucking sucked. I got a letter for someone else because he didn’t know. Secrets!”
“They’re annoying,” Alya says. “Right?”
Fury hesitates, then she nods.
“The important part is we believe Nathalie Sancoer is trying to groom a young girl to replace Gabriel Agreste,” she says. “And I won’t let anyone hurt her. I love her more than anyone except my girlfriend. Possibly more.”
Oh god. She means Marinette.
Oh fuck.
“I can make us invisible,” Alya says. “We just have to be quiet.”
“…done,” Fury says.
Loving Marinette and evil are polar opposites, after all.
They don’t learn anything.
They don’t learn anything they need, that is. They do learn Kagami’s mother worked for Monarch willingly.
Alya frowns.
“I have an idea,” she tells Fury. “Give me time, okay?”
“…I thought Ladybug was better than this,” Fury says. “I can’t believe…”
Alya sighs. She knows too much.
“Ladybug isn’t good at making decisions when it comes to people she loves,” she says. “I know why she did this.”
“You know believe it or not,” Fury says. “I do too. But now I also know… Gabriel Agreste was Monarch.”
And then it all slots into place.
“Alya?” Marinette asks. She looks in her eyes, she looks… so scared. So small. Alya had no idea it was this bad.
She hugs her.
“I think you need to learn to trust your team,” she says. She texts Zoe to get Kagami for a sleepover. The other girls will help tomorrow, but right now she needs to cross-reference. “Isn’t that why you made us?”
“What?” Marinette asks.
“I know everything,” Alya says. “I’m so fucking mad at you. I love you so much.”
Finally, Marinette breaks somewhere safe.
“We brought someone else,” Ryuko says. “I hope you don’t mind.”
Marinette barely looks up from Alya’s chest.
Then she whimpers.
“Hey Princess,” Chat Noir says. “I’m sorry?”
“No,” Marinette says.
“My Lady…”
Marinette’s shaking.
Alya frowns.
“She’s ruined her life like fifty times to hide this,” she says. “If we’re done with secrets, we’re done.”
“Oh, that will make this worse,” Vesperia says.
“No…” Marinette says.
“Plagg, claws out.”
Getting the blackboard out with 5 people is useful.
Alya is sure, in another timeline, they would be more angry.
She’s also sure they need to let Nino in, now. Thank fucking god.
Somehow, she knows her and Adrien could never be angry at Marinette for long. Not when she flinches at every lie, broke in their arms and looked so small, especially against Adrien who had grown several inches over the summer.
They have more to discuss, it’s not good.
“At least Marinette isn’t being used by the kingdom,” Zoe says.
“That’s actually a good idea,” Marinette says.
“Using the Agreste brand?” Adrien asks. “That’s a terrible idea!”
“It’s the best we have!”
“…Is that what I sound like?”
“They’re already back in synch,” Alya says, looking up at the sky, then back to the other girls. Adrien and Marinette needed a moment alone. Well, Ladybug and Char Noir did. Alya may help Marinette, but she knows Chat Noir outranks her.
“We still have more to talk about,” Kagami says, looking down at her ring.
“So much,” Zoe says. “Why did you call me, Alya?”
“Because the lies just made it worse,” Alya says. “I’m not adding more.”
“I think I made the wrong choice,” Kagami says. “I think I’m being used, again.”
Zoe puts a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s not wrong to make your own choices,” she says. “I still think that. Even if I disagree with yours. Your mother is a monster.”
“She’s my mother.”
“…then you’re lucky.”
Zoe and Kagami set up the usual pillow fort. Alya joins Adrien and Marinette in her bed. It’s a tight fit. They make it work.
Marinette still trembles if they move too much.
“We’re not leaving you, Marinette,” Adrien says.
In the end, Alya supposes Nathalie was hurting Marinette, but just to protect herself. That’s—
I already accepted Nathalie hurt someone I loved. I already knew Father was a bad person. At least… at least they loved mom. At least she loves me.
…She really needs to call Nino first thing in the morning.
“Never,” Alya says.
She’s still mad, it’s too much.
But damn it, that can wait.
They aren’t alone anymore. She just hopes Marinette can understand that.
Well always love you.
She hopes it’s enough.