With the plan of telling Alya the truth in mind, Chloe and I hurried back into my family's bakery and up my stairs.
My heart was beating fast at all the running we were doing. As we stopped at my room, we had to catch our breaths.
"Okay, where's my papers? What paper do I use? Should I just... send her a text? Oh wait, I broke my phone. Never mind," I realized again, staring at the phone I cracked during one of my tantrums.
I viciously attacked my desk for papers, but Chloe held up the box containing my diary.
"Why not use one of these?" She asked, handing me the diary.
"Good thinking," Tikki popped in, flying up from my pillow.
"Thanks Chloe!" I took the box back. Tikki tossed me the key, and I unlocked my diary box.
Quickly, I tore out a page from the diary and snatched up one of my pens.
Dear Alya,
I started to scribble.
"Now what?" I mumbled to myself.
Chloe looked over my shoulder and smiled, "Just tell her the truth. Tell her how you felt when she freaked out on you and ignored you for your alter ego."
You made me sad when you freaked out.
"Try to elaborate a bit more. I mean, you got straight to the point, so great job! Just give detail," Chloe advised.
What I mean was that you hurt my feelings. When I revealed my identity to you, I trusted you with this huge secret.
I revealed this to you guys because I felt it was time to show the other side of me. I thought it was time to let you know who I was.
I was really hurt when you revealed my identity on your blog, but mainly I was hurt because I couldn't talk to you anymore.
You called me by my persona, like Marinette wasn't relevant anymore. It really hurt me.
I know this was a crazy secret. I probably should've revealed it a little less bluntly. I'm sorry we haven't had the chance to talk.
Let's start over.
I miss you.
-Marinette
I signed my name and folded the paper in half.
"I'm ready to give this to her. I think I'll just leave it at her door, and hopefully she'll come over or talk to me the next time I see her," I told both Chloe and Tikki.
"You've got this!" Chloe encouraged me. I heard her phone beep, meaning she received a text.
Her face expressed slight annoyance when she unlocked her phone and read the text to herself.
"Darn, my dad needs me to greet the other mayors and their families coming to his hotel," Chloe told me, locking her phone and slipping it into her purse.
"Oh, you should go ahead! Good luck!" I said, slipping the paper into an envelope.
"Are you sure you'll be alright giving your letter to Alya by yourself?" Chloe asked, biting her lip with worry.
"Don't worry, I'll just drop it at her door or something," I assured her.
She quickly pulled her phone back out to text her dad or driver back, then she dropped her phone back into her purse.
"Alrighty! Good luck, Marinette!" Chloe hugged me a little, then opened the door to let herself out. After saying a goodbye to my parents and me, she walked into the limo that had just pulled up in front of the bakery.
I waved to her as she left, and she waved back. The limo was just beginning to pull away, back to her father's hotel.
With the letter in hand and my determination, I begun to walk to Alya's house.
This wouldn't be hard. I wasn't too harsh in the letter, right?
I hoped not, yet I wanted to get my point across.
I continued to walk down the sidewalk, but stopped at the light. Looking down at my enveloped letter, I took a deep breath.
Today, I would change my life back to the way it was and I couldn't wait.
Once the light permitted pedestrians to cross, a couple of other people and I began to walk across the street.
I cursed to myself silently for not bringing Tikki, so I could've transformed and taken my yoyo to get to Alya's house more quickly. I continued to walk across the sidewalk after crossing the street, knowing that I could've gotten this done ten times more quickly if I would've thought to bring Tikki.
Lately I haven't brought Tikki anywhere because I know there wouldn't be any evil akumas anymore. After satisfying Hawkmoth's need, he promised he wouldn't akumatize another traumatized person ever again.
Now that his purpose was fulfilled, I wondered what Ladybug was good for. Would I just chill with Tikki unless there was a robbery or something? That was police work, though. Maybe Chat Noir and I would fight terrible crime such as kidnapping and illegal activities that police couldn't handle easily.
Maybe Chat Noir and I would be part of the police force?
There was another possibility I didn't even want to think of, but I knew it was possible.
I stopped my thought process once I reached Alya's door. Maybe I could ask her parents or somebody to hand it to her, so I could just leave.
I rang the doorbell and with my awkward luck, Alya answered the door.
"Marinette? Uh... Hello," Alya sheepishly greeted me.
"Hi... I was going to give you-" I looked down at my letter, but shoved it deeper in my pocket. I knew I had to do this the real way.
"I was hoping we could... maybe talk," I told her as the two of us struggled to make eye contact with one another.
"Uh, yeah sure! Come in," Alya held the door open as she took a step back to let me in.
"Thank you," I replied awkwardly, walking into her house with my eyes on the floor.
"So... I-um... I actually needed to tell you something too," Alya told me as we walked into her room.
"Oh, I- go ahead," I stammered, allowing her to speak.
"Marinette, I'm so sorry about everything. It took me so long to realize how dumb I was. I exposed your secret to the world, and I had no right," Alya shakily began.
"I trusted you, Alya. I wanted to trust my best friend with my biggest secret, a crazy part of my life! I needed you!" I didn't realize that I would blow up with emotion.
"You're right. I didn't even pay attention to you, and I forgot how to be a true friend! I was so blinded by my admiration for you, and I didn't see that Marinette still was in you! I just... treated you like Ladybug, and I expected- well, I don't even know what I expected. I was so excited, and it was unfair to you. I know you needed your best friend, and I promise you, if I'm given a second chance, I will not mess this up! I need you, Marinette. I've missed our friendship, and it's been so hard not having you around! I promise, I won't let this happen again. I'lol be ready to listen whenever!" Alya bursted into tears, making it harder for me to hold mine back.
"I've- missed you so much!" I began to sob.
"Girl, I'm so sorry!" She wept, pulling me into her Alya hug. I only cried harder, hugging my best friend back as well.
Relief filled me as the two of us sobbed, clinging onto each other as we realized we were best friends again. I couldn't have been happier to have her back.
"Alya, I wanted to talk to you all along. It's just... I felt like Ladybug was the only person people cared about. No one called me by my name for so long, and I felt like I was losing myself to Ladybug," I confessed.
"Girl, I felt so bad about everything that I took down the post and disabled the LadyBlog to keep your privacy. Our friendship is worth more than some website and you're worth more. You are just as awesome as Ladybug, wait no, you're even more amazing than Ladybug! You are such a strong person. You survived all this drama, all the crap I put you through, and going missing! Speaking of which, how did you go missing? It worried me so much!" Alya began to ramble.
"It's a long, long story," I chuckled to answer her last question, wiping away my tears.
"But let's start over! Let's be best friends again! I don't want this drama to ruin us," I smiled at her, earning a smile in return.
"That, I agree with. Now, we've got things to catch up on! It's been months, Mari!" Alya told me, hugging me excitedly.
Nothing would come between our friendship like that ever again.