Masked Permanently

History's Heroes

Dressed as Bridgette to avoid suspicion, Ladybug was led by Chloe to the park, where they would formulate a plan with Alya.

"Is it really the best idea to tell Alya about this?" The heroine asked hesitantly.

"Oh please, it'll be fine. I'm not telling her that Bridgette is Ladybug, or that Ladybug is Marinette," Chloe insisted, "All I'm saying is that you're blind as a bat and need help getting to the old man's store."

"Why can't you take me?" Bridgette asked, deadpanning to where she estimated the blonde to be.

"Because we need Alya to be there in case he doesn't know anything about the old Ladybug. We need to do this broadcast as fast as we can. You're changing so quickly, and we don't want it to be too late when we find the answer! Now I'm going to talk to Alya and you're going to tell her where the old man's store is! While you go, I'll see if I can find Chat Noir just in case he has something to do with whatever's happening," Chloe told her.

"If we broadcast it, Hawkmoth will find out. If he knows, he could use me to his advantage or threaten me. People might put the pieces together that Mari is missing and I'm stuck being transformed! Also the poor cat guy has nothing to do with anything," She quietly disagreed.

"If we can get answers more quickly, we can prevent all these things from happening!"

Bridgette sighed, allowing the blonde to guide her to Alya. She kept her eyes trained on the ground, downwards so the grey pupils under her green contacts wouldn't be so visible.

"Oh Bridgette! I haven't seen you in a while. How are you?" Alya remarked once she noticed her.

"Blind. You?" Bridgette asked, laughing politely. She didn't notice Chloe's glare of disapproval toward her sarcasm.

The bespectacled girl took a moment after smiling and nodding to realize what she had said. Her eyes traced up to Bridgette's eyes, and she noticed how foggy the lens over her pupil had become. Her hand flew up to cover the gasp that threatened to exit her mouth.

"Blind?! How did that happen? Are you okay? What happened? Is that why you haven't been able to come to school?" Alya asked her relatively new friend.

"Mostly, I guess? I'll try to come tomorrow if I can, but it might be a little challenging," Bridgette laughed lightly.

"Well if you want, I could help you! We usually sit beside each other anyways and I could like help read things out to you and-" Alya rambled, unsure of how to respond to one who just lost their sense of sight.

"It's totally cool, Al," she smiled, looking toward Chloe instead of the blogger. The blonde spun her back to face Alya.

"Anyways nerd, we had a request. Bridgette needs to talk to an old man who apparently masters in massages and meditation. I'm going to look for somebody. Could you take her for me? She can give you the location," Chloe asked Alya.

Eventually, the small group split up, and Alya unknowingly walked both her idol and missing best friend down the street. Ladybug wondered what it would be like to just tell Alya the truth, the entire truth. How would she react, knowing that Ladybug had been masquerading as Bridgette and hiding Marinette away for so long? Would she be angry? Relieved?

Honestly, having a life before Ladybug was seeming more and more distant from her memories. It was becoming slightly more difficult to remember things outside of her transformation. How would life be... if she completely forgot who she was as a civilian? What if Marinette slipped her mind forever? She didn't even truly feel like the civilian counterpart of herself anymore.

"It's probably down three blocks to the left from here," Bridgette informed Alya, her heightened sense of smell picking up an all-too-familiar scent of a light floral incense burning outside his shop from the intended direction.