Keep the Mask, It Goes With Your Costume

~Chapter Eleven: The Fraud~

Alya was pretty confused when Cat Noir's baton fell out of the sky right in front of her as she was walking down the street looking for some solitude. Like Cat Noir, Alya still really cared about finding Marinette, and happened to be feeling very down in the dumps about it that particular day. In fact, no one in the city really seemed to care much about her anymore other than Alya, Cat Noir, and Luka.

Hoping for some silence and deep thought, Alya had decided to go for a walk under the stars, but to her surprise she saw Cat Noir and Ladybug on a rooftop in the distance. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but figured they were getting ready to start patrol. But after a few moments, Ladybug swung away, which confused Alya. Then she heard a pretty loud scream, and next thing she knows, the black Cats baton lands in front of her feet!

She figured there must be something going on between the two of them, and she never missed out on a good scoop. So, being the reporter she is, she went over near where she had seen the two heroes standing.

As she neared the building, Alya noticed Cat Noir leaning against it from the ground. And once she got closer, she could hear that he was crying. She had never seen Cat Noir upset before, something must really be going down between him and Ladybug. She was hesitant to say anything, but took a deep breath in. It would probably make him uncomfortable if she started videoing like she usually would for the Ladyblog, so she put her phone away before going up to him.

"Cat Noir?" she said quietly from a short distance. "You okay?"

He quickly wiped his eyes and turned around trying to act normal. "What? Me? Oh yeah yeah I'm fine!" He replied, but they both knew he didn't mean it.

She looked into his eyes, and they both teared up, as if they knew why the other was upset.

Cat Noir sighed. "No one cares about Marinette anymore. I just want her to be back."

"Me too Cat Noir, but don't beat yourself up, it's not your fault-"

"But it is!" He interrupted. "The last place she was seen was when I saw her, after hiding her for protection from a supervillian, that was when she disappeared!!!" He sniffled, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to not get emotional.

"I just-" he continued hesitantly, "I just wish Ladybug still cared about finding her. She wants me and her to stop looking." Then a took a deep breath out, he regretted getting mad at Ladybug, but he was still just a little mad at her. But he didn't want to seem mad at her and tried to calm himself inside.

Alya, on the other hand, was immediately enraged. Ladybug was supposed to be the hero! She was supposed to care! How could she quit?! Alya looked up to Ladybug as maybe being one of the few people that still cared, but no. Even though she had more ability than anyone else in the city, she wanted to quit, just like that! 

This was Alya's thought process at Cat Noir's words, and she wasn't scared to show her anger.

"HOW COULD SHE?!" she screamed "SHE'S MORE POWERFUL THAN ALL OF US AND SHE'S JUST GONNA QUIT?! THAT'S MY BEST FRIEND THAT'S MISSING!" Her face turned red.

When Cat Noir saw how angry Alya was, it almost made him feel like he should be angrier too. She was right, Marinette was his friend, Ladybug should respect that!

"I know!" He said, with similar rage! "And she was acting so suspicious too! I almost feel like she knows where Marinette is!" 

Immediately after saying that Cat Noir bit his tongue, he realized that's probably not something he should have said to the biggest Ladybug exposer in the city. But by this point he was too angry to care.