Miraculous Ladybug: The New Holders

Chat Noir: Part Fifty-Five

Alya had gone straight home after school. She couldn't stay to hang out, or face seeing Nino again.

And now, there she was. Sitting at her desk, anxiously looking at the drawings given to her at the festival.

She was trying to use them as a distraction to avoid thinking about all of the other things in her life that had gone wrong. Between not seeing Chloè or Sabrina at school, Nino coming back, the warnings from the future, it was all so much on her back. But vigorously scanning the sketches wasn't helping in the slightest, they just seemed like another thing weighing her down.

Alya tried to breathe calmly, but she couldn't stop thinking of everything that was worrying her. It was all so much. It was too much.

Alya stood abruptly, and backed away from her desk. She collapsed onto her bed and shakily snatched up her pillow. Alya clutched the pillow tightly to her chest, trying desperately to calm down.

Alya heard a faint buzzing coming from inside her backpack, which lay nearby. Alya reached into her bag, her hands trembling horribly. It was her cell phone, and Adrian was the one calling.

Alya did not want to talk to him at this moment. Not in the slightest. But her fingers were still shaking, and she accidentally pressed the green button.

Now she had no choice but to talk to him.

Alya slowly lifted the phone to her ear, not wanting to drop it with her madly trembling hands.

"Alya? Hello?" Adrian's voice called urgently through the receiver.

"H-hello?" Alya's voice was shaky and hoarse.

"Uh... Are you okay?"

Alya was silent for a moment. In that moment of silence, she could feel her head and heart pounding hard, her breathing in quick unsynchronized gasps, and her entire body trembling and shivering. Alya had no doubt Adrian could hear her breathing, so she wouldn't bother lying.

"No... I'm not." Alya whimpered. "It's all so much, they're missing, Nino, the warnings, the sketches... I'm so scared. What's happening? Why is everything going wrong? What's going to happen to us?"

"Oh, man, you are not okay. I didn't know you were worried about all this... And I just made it worse, bringing Nino back-"

"What?! You brought him back?? But he said-"

"Uhh, it doesn't matter! I'm sorry, I didn't know having him back would have this effect on you... I'm sorry, I just made it all worse..."

"I don't know what to do. It's all just piling up, Adrian." Alya's breathing got worse. "It's all piling up and it won't go away."

"Alya, listen to me. I know it all feels hopeless. Believe me, I know! But that's why you have a team! Between you, me, Ladybug, and Queen Bee, we're a team. And we always have each other's backs. You're not alone, and you don't have to carry all of the burden on your own."

And that reminder, that helped. Helped to calm her. Alya inhaled and exhaled deeply, and her hammering heart slowed to the constant two-beat rhythm that was its norm.

One thing that helped her as well, Adrian wasn't waiting for an answer. She knew he knew she needed a minute to calm herself.

"Thank you..." Alya swallowed. "I needed that..."

"Of course! Please don't feel like you're alone in this battle. You have your friends and teammates beside you. I'm always here to talk, and I know if I ever need to talk to you, you're here."

"Yeah!" Alya felt pumped. But then, a question popped in her head. "Wait a minute. You didn't know I was, uh, well in the middle of a panic attack... Why'd you call me in the first place? Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, right. No, I'm okay. I was just calling because Chloè called me about the homework."

Alya tried not to scream.

"Wait, Chloè??"

"Uh... Yes? She wasn't here today, remember? After school she called me and told me she wasn't feeling very well, and asked about the homework. I wanted to check with you to be sure about the assignments."

Alya's mind raced for a coherent sentence. She couldn't exactly tell Adrian that Chloè was Queen Bee, even if they knew each other's identities. It was only in respect of Chloè's privacy, of course. "Uhh, right. Yeah. I think we only had the, uh, Mitosis worksheet for science. Numbers 1-17, I think?"

"Right, that's what I thought, too. I'll be sure to tell her."

"Right. Well, I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, for sure. Talk soon!"

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Alya fell asleep almost instantly. She had just come back from a late-night visit to Chloè as Volpina, only to find that Chloè knew about as much as she did.

"Tesorino!"

Alya looked around and saw Eliza standing nearby. "Eliza! Where'd you go last night?"

Eliza waved her hand dismissively. "Those girls simply had a message for you and not for my ears. I respected that. But I'm here now!"

Alya nodded, smiling. "That's good. Because, I think I have something to finish saying to you."

Eliza grinned. "Go on."

"I want this to be real, mon ange." Alya blurted it out. "To whatever those words entail, I know I don't want this to be just a fantasy."

Eliza looked so overjoyed, Alya swore she could glimpse tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Then when you wake up, I'll be there."