Until We Meet Again

Chapter 11: Confessions

I started running down the street, past buildings that had been destroyed, buildings that I had known in what seemed like another lifetime.

I was lucky, when I reached the building where the pâtisserie used to be, it was still standing. I suppose "lucky" isn't a word befitting the current situation, but in that moment, I was glad to be back. I was glad to be home.

I opened up my yo-yo and pulled out the key that would open the door. My family had bought the building when we first came to Paris, and hadn't put it up for sale when we left. It had been sitting empty ever since.

As I stepped in, there was a small ding from a bell connected to the door frame. A layer of dust covered everything in our former pâtisserie. It was all so familiar. As much as I wished that there was time for me to reminisce about my time spent here, there wasn't.

I had left lots of things in my former room for the convenience of traveling. Included in that was my stock pile of scrap fabrics. I was going to use some to make a sling for Fleur, and bring extra just in case it was needed for tourniquets, wraps, or splints.

As I reached the hatch that led to my room, I heard footsteps behind me. I prepared my yo-yo in case whoever was behind me was here to battle. As they walked through the doorway, I swung and wrapped my yo-yo around the intruder.

"Ow! A little tight there, Ladybug!"

It was Rena Rouge. She must have followed me after I ran off.

"What'd you expect when you decided to sneak up on me?" I pulled the yo-yo back to me. "What are you doing here, Rena?"

"I suppose I could ask you the same thing. Why are you here?"

"If you must know," I said, turning around and going through the hatch, "I'm getting fabric."

"Why did you choose this building? Did you know her?"

'Her'. Of course I knew 'her', but I couldn't give a truthful answer. With all my heart I wish I could give her a truthful answer for once, but as I walked through the hatch I washed away all traces of Marinette from my Ladybug persona.

"Barely." I said simply, although I knew that wouldn't be enough for Alya. "Chat Noir and I saved her several times."

As Alya stepped into my room, I heard her gasp slightly. I watched her as she stepped around the room cautiously. While she was not crying, I saw tears threaten to begin falling.

More than ever I wanted to hold her and tell her that I am fine. I would be risking everything if I revealed that though. Was it even worth the consequences?

A tiny voice in my head kept telling me that it was fine for me to do that. I was the Guardian, I could make the rules and risk it all. The voice was begging me to tell her, but I could imagine how disappointed Master Fu would be. One of his most important rules was that we kept our identities a secret. I'd already broken it once, I couldn't do it again, not in such a dangerous situation.

Alya looked at me, still blinking back tears. Her reaction seemed so unlike her, but I suppose I had been gone for quite some time. I didn't know everything about this Alya and what she'd been through since I left.

"You know more than you are letting on." She saw straight through me.

In less than a second I had gone through so many emotions, but there was a crack in my resolve. A crack that let through some very dangerous words.

"She is safe, Rena." I suppose at the moment that wasn't a lie, but I certainly wasn't in the safest of situations.

She looked at me, expression unreadable, but that melted into palpable relief.

"Thank you, Ladybug. You have no clue how much it means to me to know that." She let out a sigh. "Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"She can't come back. She has a duty to fulfill for her family." I had to stop there. If I didn't I knew I would regret it.

"How well do you actually know her?"

"Well enough to know the risk of you finding her. It is of the utmost importance that no one knows her location."

"For her safety, or my own?"

Alya was always good at asking important questions, that's why she's such a fantastic journalist. I always made sure I kept up with her blog. For a long time she speculated on the Ladyblog as to where Ladybug had gone, but eventually it evolved into heavy hitting issues. She mainly wrote about political and social issues now. Everything impeccably researched.

"Good question, but I think you know that answer. You know she wouldn't have left like that if it was just for her safety. The risk towards you is far too great." I let out a sigh. I always talk too much with Alya. "Now help me find some fabric. I'm sure you have a better idea of where she kept stuff like that." I am a horrendous actor, but I try my best.

We searched until I pretended to find the fabric in the closet, and left the building from the balcony.

An hour later we had set up a civilian camp in the louvre. At least fifty people were there now. The four of us had patched people up and we're now out searching for the villain. We had still not seen them, which had me incredibly worried.

"Ladybug!" Nino chimed in, still battered and bruised from me attacking him. "It's never taken this long to find a villain. I think they're trying to lure us to them. They might know that Rena, Chat, and I are here, but you might have the element of surprise."

"What should we do then?" I asked, not fully understanding what Carapace was getting at.

"Okay, so this is going to sound insane, but I think you need to detransform dudette."

"That does sound insane, and it's not going to happen. If I get seen back in town as my civilian identity, people are going to have questions that I can't answer. I have stayed in touch with very few people from my old life, and the only person who knows both my civilian and superhero identities is Chat. Lastly, I am not detransforming in front of the two of you."

"You don't have to. You can go down into an alley while we continue searching. You'll be our eyes on the ground. Your identity remains a secret that way."

Nino made a compelling argument. I could be the team's secret weapon if anything went wrong.

"How would you signal me when you want me to jump into the battle?"

"I'll call you." Chat answered. "I've got your phone number."

I chuckled slightly. "Right. Well, if you all think that's the best idea, let's do it."