Chapter Text
The past few days have been quite challenging. Not only did she get into an argument with her older sister (again) about the lack of care for her safety but she also hasn't found another job ever since the massage parlor she worked at closed up shop randomly (her job was just her talking to the customers and trying to get them to buy things they'll forget about as soon as they set it down on their coffee table). The old man had gotten dementia, and his former lover was taking him to China to help take care of him (even though she doesn't look to be far from losing her memories herself)
To top it all off, her parents were still trying to get her into going to therapy or seeing the school counselor (she wasn't trying to get herself killed. She wasn't. She follows the akuma attacks and records from a healthy distance for her blog, she just sometimes happens to be above or below a collapsing building or the villain comes charging at her) no she won't stop chasing the battles (even it she does somehow end up getting hurt or killed Ladybug would just bring everyone back like she always does. It is as good as new. It doesn't even hurt all that much anymore, and she's pretty sure the rest of Paris has gotten used to the feeling of being dead, so it should be fine)
Alya was just heading to school after having spent half an hour chasing an akuma battle with Ladybug and Chat Noir for the Ladyblog and finishing up some last-minute edits when she saw the time: 8:15 am
“Crap” she was so gonna be late if she didn’t pedal faster she wished she had a moped like the one in her dreams or at the very least more money so that she could buy one. It’s not her fault that she has no impulse control when going past the famous Dupain-Cheng Patisserie outside her school; the smell alone would make any person who had just eaten a full twelve-course meal feel like they were starving. She quickly chained her bike to the bike rack and grabbed her school bag before speeding up the stairs to class, only just making it before the bell rang. She took her seat in the first row opposite Nino and Adrien as everyone waited for the teacher to arrive.
A tall redheaded woman had her hair in a loose bun and had walked into the class holding what Alya noticed to be their year group's standard textbook collection with a sticky-note pad, a notebook, and a standard pencil case. The woman was wearing a white blazer and a navy blue button-up shirt with white pants and high heels - how that woman managed to walk up steel stairs wearing those, Alya would never know - as she gave the class a beaming smile as she ushered another pair into the class. The first was the school principal, Mr. Damocles. With his plump figure and brown suit, he was a bald man with a well-groomed beard that covered half his face and big eyebrows that seemed to remind everyone of an owl. His piercing gold eyes swept across the class, slowing to stare at the vacant seats. Lila was away at home after returning from a trip to Italy with her mother, and Alix was just gone. Alim Kubdel, her father, sent her to Cairo after an akuma had attacked the Louvre with the entire family inside. It was the final straw for the man as he sent his youngest child to stay with her aunt - his sister - and their family. Alix had told them before she left that her father had tried to send Jalil as well, seeing as he was a legal adult with all the necessary adult things like a degree, a license and car, and an apartment of his own, not to mention a well-paying job. He was allowed to stay (although he was the akuma that attacked the Louvre and the other members of the Kubdel family inside), but it was clear that the museum director was not pleased with his son's decision.
“Good Morning class” Mme. Bustier called with her ever-present beaming smile and gentle eyes, you would think that she was the happiest person in the world if you didn’t look closer. Extra concealer likely hid the bags from lack of sleep and the way her fingers trembled and squeezed the books she was holding or the way she was tapping her foot against the hardwood floors. Was she nervous about something? or was it because of an attack so early in the morning that’s gotten her stressed? Their homeroom teacher was never known for letting what she was feeling at the moment show, so maybe something happened or is happening that’s gotten her so anxious.
Alya looked to Mr. Damocles, and she saw the very same thing going on with him as well, and that made her nervous. She looked to her classmates, and they had seen it too or were still trying to notice. ‘What’s going on that has them both so stressed’ She’s pulled from her thoughts as the Owl-look alike principal cleared his throat loudly getting everyone’s attention “now that I have everyone’s attention I would like to introduce you all to a new classmate of yours that will need to be shown around during lunch break, do I have any volunteers?” Before she could fully process what she had heard and re-sort her thoughts, her arm was already in the air. “Ah, Miss Césaire, wonderful, as expected of the class representative.” She blinks and forces herself to smile.
She has a feeling that she should regret this if the shiver down her spine or the tingle in her chest is anything to go by.
This is going to be exciting.
Principal Damocles and Mme. Bustier both usher in a short girl of Asian descent with black hair as dark as the night sky with a sheen like the night stars that fell to her shoulders gently, she had pale skin made even more prominent by the dark circles under her blue eyes with a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. The girl was small, and she looked smaller with a baggy T-shirt and oversized jacket with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. The only things that looked like they fit her were her pink pants and white shoes. she was wearing a bracelet with wooden beads painted different colors tied together by a red string around her wrist. This girl looked tired, and not just from staying up late; she looked tired of waking up, she looked tired from just standing and staring, and that made Alya feel tired. She also looked scared and sad for some reason, and that too made Alya feel scared and sad.
"class this is Marinette Wang she'll be your new classmate from this point on" Mme. Bustier chimed with false chipper but when her gaze fell to the girl standing beside her her eyes softened and voice smoothed to something more real "Marinette why don't you take a seat in the front row next to Alya, she'll be showing you around the school during lunch" the girl nodded mutely as she took stiff steps before sitting next to the blogger.
_ _ _ _ _ _
The day went by quickly than she was expecting because as soon as she went to pack her things, she felt Mme. Bustier tapped her on the shoulder and nodded her head towards her new seatmate who was also packing up her things.
" So, Marinette, is there anything you'd like to see first?" "The cafeteria, please." "Right, come on, it's just this way."
They walked in silence, and Alya noticed the way Marinette would at times let her tired gaze wander and drift to other parts of the school before returning to her with a look of somber nostalgia as she gave the new girl a tour. It was making Alya even more curious about this new girl and where she had come from. Did she go to Francois Dupont before Alya herself arrived? Alya quickly threw that idea out the window because if she had she wouldn't have needed the tour because the building of Collège Francois Dupont hadn't at all changed in the last nine years and this girl was her age if maybe a bit younger by a few months or a year, and if she had had an older sibling who attended Francois Dupont then wouldn't she be more familiar with the school? this girl made Alya curious (not that she already was), and it was making her excited at the prospect of a new mystery to unravel, especially after the whole Lila debacle.
She shivered just thinking about Lila Rossi was enough to make her shudder and Grimace.
She jolted when she felt something cold touch her arm. It was Marinette, and she was looking at Alya intensely, her dull, tired eyes replaced by concern and worry. Alya smiled reassuringly as she began fiddling with her glasses "sorry about that I have a habit of getting lost in my head" the short girl nodded softly before opening her mouth "We're at the cafete-" she was cut off by a loud banging noise followed by a series of shattering sounds and sirens. BANG. BANG. BANG. Every bang was accompanied by a large quake. "AKUMA ALERT. AKUMA ALERT. EVACUATE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY AND HEAD TOWARDS A DESIGNATED SHELTER. PLEASE KEEP AWAY FROM THE AREA WHERE THE AKUMA HAS BEEN SIGHTED. I REPEAT: EVACUATE AND SEEK SHELTER. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO GET IN THE PATH OR VICINITY OF THE AKUMA." Alya sighed. she would love to go chase the akuma for a new story, but she had a job to do, and that was looking after the new kid. Yes, even from sad people getting possessed by evil butterflies and turning into rampaging monsters. The ladyblogger looked to her side, where she was expecting to see a large hoodie curled into a ball of some sort, only to see tiled flooring and air.
"crap"