The Lone Vixen - EDITING

Chapter Eight: He's Your Birthday Present

The rest of the day went by in a blur for Alya. She came back from the office with a warning, and went along with her day. Lila and Sabrina sent glares at her any chance they got, which frankly, Alya had no idea why. They were doing it more than usual, so she assumed that she should be at least a little frightened. The last time she had seen them was in the locker room. Now she was standing out front texting her mom if she needed to go on any last-minute stops to the store. It was unnecessary, and Alya started on her way home. She was not even all the way across the street when Luka ran up to her. "Hey."

"Um... hey? Aren't you and Juleka walking home together?" Luka blinking twice, then cleared his throat.

"Yeah, well, she's hanging out with Rose, so I kinda thought... well, I..." His thoughts trailed off, as did his eye contact.

"Well?"

"Oh, yeah... I was kinda hoping I could come over now?" The end of his sentence went higher in pitch, reminding Alya of how Marinette would talk to her. "I-I know that the party isn't until later, but it would be nice to have an extra set of hands, right?" Alya thought for a moment. It would be a huge help if Luka were there to set up; her mother was working her shift at La Grand Paris, and wouldn't be home until 5:30. Her father would get off work at the Zoo about an hour before his wife, and Nora was not too great at decorating.

"Alright, sure. You can come along with me early. It would be nice," she said, blushing. She seemed to do that a lot recently, which stumped her. Luka's eyes closed when he smiled, and he brushed his dyed hair out of his face.

"Cool." They walked in silence a majority of the way. It was enough being in each other's company. Alya showed him to her house, and got him situated with a drink before they began decorating. "So... big family, huh?" He asked, looking at their family portrait on the wall.

"Yeah. Four kids. I don't know how my parents do it. I don't even think I could handle one!" Luka laughed at her response, and began to hang the streamers that Alya had handed him.

"If your parents decorated the house last night, why are we adding all of these extra things?" He was right... why were they adding more?

"I-I... I really have no idea." She stuttered. Luka started laughing at her lack of knowledge. His laugh was hearty and wholesome, very nice to listen to in Alya's opinion.

"You don't.... you don't even know why!" He wheezed. Alya soon joined in, and they were laughing on the sofa. After a while, Nora came out of her room.

"Quiet you bozos! I'm trying to study for my mid-term here! I... why are you holding streamers like they're your weapon? You know all of that is to hide their presents from the family, right?"

"Oh!" Both Alya and Luka shouted at the exact same time. Nora sighed and started walking back to her room.

"You're so dumb..." Nora muttered as she slouched back to her studies.

"They're all on the balcony. Here, let's go use these as they were intended." Alya and Luka stood with the décor and marched out onto the balcony and began throwing anything they could to cover the presents. It took a long time, and many breaks, but around 4:51, Alya deemed the coverage to be sufficient. "We're all done. Now all we have to do is wait." They walked back into the house, and Alya led Luka to her bedroom. "Do we have any homework?"

"Just about getting a form signed for a new exhibit at the Louvre. It's dedicated to all those who are missing. I'm really looking forward to it. Any memorial for our friends is worth my time." The mood quickly turned sour, but was lifted back into the clouds when Ella and Etta came bounding into the room.

"Alya! Alya! Daddy just picked us up from our first day of being eight! The troop even sang a special song to us!" Alya whispered 'girl scouts' to Luka, which got her a nod of understanding. "He says people are coming real soon." Ella said excitedly. "He says that...wait... who's this?!" She looked at Luka with a bright smile on her face.

"Are you a god?!" Etta cried.

"No, no." Alya said. Luka practically sighed with relief, but choked when he heard her next words. "He's your birthday present!"

"What! No way!" They cried at the same time. "What does he do? Does he give good hugs, and let us run around without putting us in time-out?" They looked at him with large eyes, ones he could not resist.

"Oh, sure! I do anything my princesses desire. Today, today only, I am at your service M'ladies." They squealed in delight as they tackled the teen for bear-hugs. He was saved by Alya's father calling from the other room.

"Ella! Etta! Josephine is here!" They squealed some more, and ran from the room. Alya and Luka were left chuckling and shaking their heads.

"They really are a handful." Luka said after a while.

"Yeah... but they're really sweet." They sat on her bed with their legs crossed for a while, not really doing anything. "I, uh... thanks for going along with it. It just really makes them happy to have guys my age around. Nino, he... he... he was always with me, and treated the girls like his own. It made them really happy." Tears formed in her eyes. Even Trixx could see them, and she was peeking out of a bag all the way across the room. "It made me happy." No matter how much she tried to keep Luka from seeing, his eyes grew large in concern when he saw them streaming down her face.

"I... I'll give you some space." This made her cry more.

"No, Luka, please don't go, I-"

"I'm just giving you time to get through your emotion spike and calm down. It helps me to be alone whenever I start thinking of Kagami, or Marinette, so, I 100% understand. I'm just gonna go help your dad watch the little ones. It's okay." He walked out the door and closed it, leaving Alya seemingly alone. Trixx zipped across the room to her, quickly getting to her eye level.

"Kit, are you okay?"

"T-T-Trixx? Let's P-pounce!" Her transformation lacked the beauty it generally held. She was throwing herself out of her window before her suit was even fully on. Right before she hit the ground, she flew upward in a gorgeous swoosh, leaving her tears in a puddle on the stone streets below. The citizens around the area clapped and watched in anticipation for more, but never received it. The only place Alya could think to go was the statues. The ones in the park by the Dupain-Cheng bakery. They calmed her in some way. It was nice to gaze at their faces, knowing even if she never found them, she could come see them every day if she wanted to. She finally got her sobs under control after about fifteen minutes, but the sounds still continued. Where were they coming from? After a once look-around, she spotted the culprit. At the other side of the park, a blonde female was hunched over herself crying. She was facing the statue of Rena Rouge and Carapace, a beautiful silver slab erected into the side of the park. Reluctantly, Rena made her way to the girl. "Are you okay?" The girl looked around, only to see the glowing hazel of Rena's eyes.

"Who's there?!"

"I... I'm sorry for spying. It's none of my business. I was just interested that I'm not the only one who comes here to be sad." Rena Rouge stepped closer, revealing herself, and seeing that the girl was none other than Chloe Bourgeois. "I... is your pain... bad?" Chloe nodded.

"Recently, I've gotten so much pressure, and I am trying to change to lessen the pressure. Not only that, but to just... change. My friends aren't very happy with it, and I can't help but wonder if they knew what kind of pressure I had... if they would understand." Chloe finished.

"I can relate. I have all of Paris on my back, and I have a pupil who I have to teach to be my partner in crime. I think she'll do great, but I have that deep-down fear that she'll mess everything up. I've been doing it alone for so long... I've lost the ability to trust anyone with my city anymore." They continued speaking, telling of their struggles and just having a conversation. In the end, Alya was cheered up, and glad. Chloe really was trying to change. Their conversation lasted for over an hour, leaving Alya to fly back home with the wandering eyes of the people. She slowly opened her window and snuck to her closet, dropping her transformation in front of her mirror. She could see Luka's face on the bed, his jaw low as can be.

"Oh... my... god."