Alya looked at her with wide eyes, but she didn't stop.
---Adrien's POV---
"That's it! If Lila wasn't the most despicable human being before, she definitely is now. What is she, working for Hawkmoth?!"
"I dunno Kid. I've seen a lot of horrible people in my time."
"Stop trying to sound wise Plagg, and eat your stupid cheese so I can get back to Ladybug."
Plagg was taking a lot longer than normal to eat the stinky substance.
First, he had insisted on checking on Ladybug because I had left her hurt and and alone and he would never eat cheese out of my hand again because HE needed to recharge. Then, apparently after making sure she wasn't bleeding to death or something started taking his sweet time eating the foul-smelling cheese. Talking to it and me instead of just taking a bite.
"That's it, you've recharged enough. PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!"
I waited for the transformation, but it didn't happen. Looking up at Plagg, he had flown a ways away and had stuffed pieces of cheese into his ears.
"PLAGG!"
"Can't transform if I don't hear the words!"
"Plagg there's an akuma!"
"Wait a bit kid. This convo needs to happen."
---Marinette's POV---
I wasn't crying. At least not because of Alya. I had given up on that friendship a long time ago.
Still, hearing her heartfelt speech did... tug at my heart. A little.
Turns out that it's harder to erase months of friendship in a week. I really thought I had got that backstabbing blogger out of my heart for good after seeing her buddy buddy with Lila, but once again, I was wrong.
Of course, after all that, she still believed Lila. Livestreaming her stupid face on the stupid Ladyblog.
"No. I haven't been on the Ladyblog much lately. Even if I was, I don't think I would have watched a livestream about Lila Rossi."
Alya looked a little hurt. What did she expect me to say? Just because she apologized doesn't mean I have to forgive her. Yeah, I'm human. Congrats genius. That amazing revelation doesn't make what happened hurt any less.
"You may have wanted to watch this one." Alya chuckled, "I took what you said about Lila to heart you know. About her being a liar? I did what I should have done the first time I heard her stories. Some research. "
An image of Alya in the park the other day flashed in my mind. The two of them seemed awfully buddy buddy if Alya actually did what she was saying she did.
"Lila thought she was so smart with what she pulled with Marinette. Within a week she had most of the class on her side over the whole thing. Honestly though, I probably would have believed her too if you hadn't spoken to me."
"Is that why you two were so close this week? Hanging out like besties and hugging?"
I clamped my hand over my mouth. Alya's head swerved towards me and her face was filled with confusion and embarrassment of all things. I could see the gears turning in her head as she, even if it was unconscious, remembered every detail of that day and tried to pick my face out of the scene.
"How did you... If you didn't watch the live stream..."
"I was in the park Saturday!" I blurted out, it wasn't a lie, but it also wasn't the whole truth about why I had noticed them in particular.
Alya seemed satisfied enough with my answer, turning off the detective part of her brain as fast as it had activated, instead choosing to focus on explaining herself."
"I had seen what she could to the people who saw through her firsthand. She turned Marinette, Our everyday... well, our everyday You, against most everyone."
"Most everyone?"
"Sabrina and Nathaniel believed Marinette at first, but since she wasn't there to defend herself they swapped sides pretty quickly. Adrien technically never really took a side, but it was clear if you paid attention that he believed Marinette. Aside from them, Nino, Rose, and surprisingly Chloe stood by Marinette through everything."
"Chloe? Like Chloe Bourgeois? Like Chloe the mayors daughter Chloe?"
"Little miss gonna derail a train so I look cool as a hero herself Chloe. I guess since Marinette was nice to her, even after everything, Chloe just couldn't believe Marinette was possible of what Lila was claiming."
Aly laughed a little to herself. A little guilty, but like she was thinking about a happy memory.
"Not that you'd know most of those people. "
I sighed, trying to think about how to respond.
"Adrien, famous model and all around positive guy. Chloe, a stuck up spoilt brat who holds a lot of sway as the daughter of the mayor. You, Alya, runs the best blog in Paris, is kind but goes a bit overboard at times. Ivan, likes Mylene, sweet and gentle giant. Mylene, nice but scared of her own shadow, Max the genius who loves video games and is best friends with a robot..."
Alya looked at me with wide eyes, but I didn't stop.
"Alix, loves dares and is dependable when you need her, Nathaniel, shy and artistic, Nino you know I know all about, Rose, a sweet girl who cares about others, Kim, overconfident at times but he has a big heart, Sabrina, nice but a big pushover, and Lila, who I'd rather not share how I see her."
"I stand corrected. You do know my class." Alya chuckled.
"When a group of people becomes known as the akuma class, you get to know a lot about them.
Alya snickered a little, looking around a bit.
"Plus, akumas have their upsides. You get to know a lot about a person from that."
I didn't know why is was so easy to talk to Alya again, but once I started I just had to keep talking.
"You for instance, as LadyWiFi were akumatized trying to find the truth. That says a lot, not just about how snoopy you are, but your determination and willingness to go to extremes for, what you consider to be, the right thing."
"Same thing with Sabrina and Karma right now. She follows those she trusts in blindly, but when you hurt those people, it doesn't matter who you are she will make things right.
"I never thought about it like that."
"It's an interesting perspective to get."
All was quiet for a moment. For just a second, I could imagine that instead of being in pain in an ally, me and Alya were hanging out in my room gossiping about Nino and Adrien and planning the mischievous stunts we would pull the next day.
"So what happened to your foot?"
"Piece of the roof fell on me. Cat Noir went to recharge, but he's taking his sweet time about it."
"How long has it been?"
"About five minutes before Ivan dropped you off here."
"Really? That's a while isn't it? He's been in a bad mood since Marinette went missing. How'd your talk with him the other day go?"
"How'd you know about that?"
"Kitty has a big mouth. I recorded him for the Lila thing the other day. Guy wouldn't do anything until I mentioned her name."
My yoyo buzzed, signaling that Cat had messaged me.
[Kitty: On my way back, my Kwami was being very stupid]
"See? Cat's on his way."
I have no idea what I was thinking, but I handed Alya, the biggest snoop on the planet, my yoyo and expected her to only read the most recent message instead of following basic human nature and starting from the top. Maybe it was my desperate heart trying to prove I could still trust her and that she wasn't a bad guy here, but I should have known better than that about anyone. After all, she just went into a speech about how we're both human, and all humans mess up.
Only the bottom half of the message was visible, but it was the harshest part without the context of the start.
[Akumas related to her disappearance combined with a personal request from a few high standing citizens should be enough to bring any suspicion over our interest at rest don't you agree Bugaboo? Marinette was one of the few people that I could talk to in costume or without. She accepted both sides of me and considered both as friends. Marinette was the first person to do that. I can't risk losing her over something like possibly risking something that is always at risk anyway like who we really are. If nothing else, we can blame our interest on Lila? You never really liked her and weren't too good at hiding it.]
"He said WHAT?!"
(A/N Sorry this chapter's a bit longer than normal, but it wasn't long enough to split in two, and I didn't want to take out details- For clarification on Alya, she took Ladybug handing her the yoyo as permission to read all the messages on the screen)