The Lone Vixen - EDITING

Chapter Sixteen: Becoming Full-Time

Alya threw herself onto Luka's bed, sighing from her lack of energy. Her entire body was sore from fighting Volpina. She was so sore in fact, that she and Luka had to skip their movie altogether. Her mother thought that she would be out until four, and Alya had thought so too. She didn't expect her afternoon to be split in half by a jealous hero wannabe. Luka's bed was memory foam, soft, but hard at the same time. Alya's head and back sank into the material, soothing her throbbing muscles. She lay there for ten minutes of rest, nothing but the soothing sound of Luka practicing his guitar quietly in the other room. It was sweet toned, like a canary's song at dawn. She was so calm and at peace, that she didn't realize that she had fallen asleep until she woke to the sound of her phone buzzing. It was the tune she had selected for her mother. "Hello?" Alya tried to sound as awake as possible, but you can imagine how difficult that is right after waking up.

"Alya, where are you?"

"Huh?"

"Hon, where are you? It's 3:52, and you haven't contacted me all day. You sound tired. I can come pick you up, and maybe we can talk about something."

"Mom." Alya groaned. "I'm on a date. I don't need you checking in on me. I'm almost an adult. I can handle this. I'm with Luka. We just got out of our movie, and we were gonna hang out for a while. I'll be home closer to six." On the other end, her mother frowned.

"Alya, dear."

"I love you, but you're being so overbearing lately! You've never wanted so bad to talk to me. I don't have anything to talk about! Just... leave me to me, and I'll leave you to you. Okay? Bye." Alya hug up and threw her phone down on the bed. She didn't realize that Luka was in the room until just then, making her visibly jump. "Luka!" the boy laughed at her with a certain jubilance. "How long have you been there?"

"A good thirty minutes. I came in and checked in on you around two, but you had fallen asleep, so I put my guitar away and took care of my goldfish."

"Your goldfish?"

"Yeah, Seinfeld. He's great. Well, after that, I just watched you sleep." He smiled, then his eyes went wide. "I hope that's not weird or anything. I didn't mean to be a creep, you just look so peaceful when you're sleeping. It calmed me." Alya smiled and combed through her short locks with her fingernails.

"That's not weird. I used to watch Nino sleep all the time. It was really nice. I understand where you're coming from." Luka saddened hearing her say that, but nonetheless kept up his façade. "You know, ever since I got my miraculous, I've had the courage to say stuff like that. To be bolder with my actions. I wish I was always like that. Then I wouldn't have to hide behind a magic cover." Luka came and sat on the bed with her, thinking deeply of the possible stories she had up her sleeve.

"Alya."

"Hm?"

"How did you become Rena Rouge?" That was the big question. The one Alya had been waiting for. "Like, how did you get your miraculous?" Luka reiterated.

"I, uh... It's a long story." She said, rubbing her neck with her free hand.

"I have time." Alya thought of how to begin, wanting it to be as close to the events as possible.

"I didn't become a full-time hero until about a year after my début."

∞∞∞∞∞

Two Years Before

Alya sat on a bench at the park waiting for Adrien, Nino, and Marinette to grab their ice creams. She sat licking her plain vanilla bean, scrolling through her blog, calculating her profits. She had recently created a subscription where people can donate for equipment. They even got special sweepstakes, like being on her filming crew for an attack. It had gained lots of popularity, and was Alya's actual paying job. Before, she was just filming with her phone. Now, she had full on crews and real cameras. Not to mention her go-to camera man, Nino. "Hey, dudette!" Nino called, walking up to her with a cone of mint chocolate chip. "Sorry it took so long. Adrien couldn't decide what to get, and both him and Mari are too nice. They kept letting people go in front of them while he decided." He said with a chuckle.