Marinette looked at her best friend like she had two heads. "You cannot seriously believe that I was Ladybug."
Alya grabbed her best friend by the wrist and started heading down the stairs, pulling her along with her. She assured her parents that she would be back soon, but then she stayed silent as she walked to her small home.
"Wow, Alya I love your house, I don't think I've been here since you redid your garden I-"
"Shut up." She brought her inside the office space, full of different articles that Alya had written since starting her career and research on the ones in progress. She pulled a key from around her neck and unlocked a file cabinet, heading straight to the back. She pulled out a letter and handed it to Marinette.
"What is this?" she asked, but then saw her own handwriting.
"Just read."
Hey Als.
This is kind of a weird letter to be writing. You see, for the last ten years I have been hiding something from you, something huge. I'm praying that you're not mad at me, that you understand why I've hid it... but I'm Ladybug. I have been this entire time and I'm sorry for sabotaging your investigations and lying, but yeah... There's a rule that once somebody knows my identity then I can no longer be a miraculous holder, and that's why I am telling you, before I forget. I am giving the miraculous to someone that I trust, I'm not going to write their name down so that their identity remains a secret from even me.
I've been terrified to get close to anyone, being engaged to Luka has terrified me, Being a superhero has left this target on my back for years and I'm finally ready to forget about all of that, to have a family with someone I love. I just need to forget about being Ladybug. And if Chat Noir ever looks for me, tell him I'm sorry. I just couldn't say goodbye, I knew it would hurt him and I didn't want him to change my mind. I won't remember anything about him, so I'll have to live with the stories that are told about him and Ladybug, maybe then I'll admire him as much as he did me.
Also, final note. Please don't tell me right away. I need to find out who Marinette Dupain-Cheng is when she's not a superhero.
I love you so much, please don't hate me!
Marinette
Marinette looked up from the letter as she finished reading. "And you sent that through the mail so that you'd have a few days head start before I knew. By the time I got it, the news had already announced the new Ladybug, I was the only one who knew what happened to the old one."
Marinette was still taking in everything, but tried to crack a joke. "At least you had an exclusive... you love exclusives."
"When I'm reporting! Or able to gossip with my best friend! Not when I have to keep a secret about my best friend FROM my best friend."
Marinette face-palmed. "I'm sorry."
"You know the worst part? As you decided to go on your path of discovery, I had to sit on the side-lines. You and Luka? I know why that didn't work out, but I couldn't say anything about it!"
"Luka and I just... we didn't work, what do you mean you know?"
"You're an idiot, Marinette! The two of you didn't work out because you got all your confidence from being Ladybug. Don't think I was stupid. I may not have had the confirmation from you, but I've known you forever. When we were 14 I watched the shy, awkward girl grow to be student body president, to always run towards danger when something was wrong. I may not have known you were Ladybug, but the week we were waiting for the mail to deliver I watched my best friend go from a badass to that shy awkward girl. You wanted to forget who you were as Ladybug, but that's a part of you that you should have embraced more... it just took me until you were in CHINA to finally connect all the dots."
Marinette banged her head on the desk. "I ruined everything, didn't I?"
Alya gave an awkward smile, trying to be reassuring, but it didn't work.
"Is there anything else I should know?"
She paused for a second, debating if she should tell her. "Well... if you were hoping that there was any chance of you going to Chat Noir and having him help... there's a new Chat as well."
