Miraculous Ladybug: The New Holders

Volpina and Master Fu: Part Thirteen

Monday arrived, and for once, Alya was actually looking forward to it. She hadn't seen Marinette or Adrian since the attack, and Alya wanted to see if they were doing okay after a record-long akumatization.

Alya threw her stuff in her school bag, having to reorganize it after dumping everything out to use it for the battle. Renard flew around Alya's shoulders, curious as to what she was doing.

"Oh, is that school stuff?" Renard asked.

Alya sighed. "Yup. School may be a drag, but at least it's the one place I can see my friends on a daily basis."

"So do Ladybug and Chat Noir's civilian identities go to this school of yours?"

"Actually, they are two of my best friends." Alya paused. "At least now, Marinette's weird excuses make sense."

"Marinette being Ladybug?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it'll be interesting to see her again." Renard said, still flitting around Alya's shoulders. "You'll need to make sure to be supportive and kind, she's gonna need it after such a traumatic experience."

"Yeah, you're right." Alya slung the bag over her shoulders. "Hide in my bag for now, Renard. Don't worry, I packed you some beef jerky."

"Sweet!" Renard dove into her bag.

And with that, Alya tucked the necklace underneath her shirt and made her way to school.

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Alya sat down next to Marinette in class. "So where were you when Ladybug and Chat Noir got Akumatized, girl? I was really worried about you."

Of course, Alya knew exactly where she had been. Marinette had been Akumatized. But Alya just wanted to see what weird excuse she'd scrape up.

Marinette froze. "Uh, Iwas at my house." She stammered. "Sorry I didn't answer your calls, I accidentally left my phone in my locker the day before."

Well, as excuses go, it's not horrible.

"Good. I'm just glad you're okay." Alya told her.

"What about you?" Marinette asked. "I saw your last broadcast on the LadyBlog, what happened after that?"

It was Alya's turn to freeze. "Well, I was going to check on the Volpina person, and they flew away before I could. I went home after that and waited it out." She spoke a little louder so that Nino, who had been sitting in front of them, probably waiting for Adrian, could hear.

Before Marinette could respond, Adrian walked into class, looking exhausted.

Oh thank god, now Marinette will stop asking questions and focus on Adrian.

"Hey guys." Adrian plopped down in his seat with a yawn.

"What's got you so tired?" Alya teased.

Adrian was suddenly full of nervous energy. "Oh, um, I just couldn't sleep at all last night." He said quickly.

"Speaking of which, where the heck were you yesterday, man?" Nino asked. "You weren't answering your phone."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I lost my phone a few days ago, and I just found it this morning." Adrian spoke a little too smoothly, and Alya suspected he had spent the whole night thinking of excuses to tell them. Unlike Marinette, who probably just went straight to bed.

"It's okay man. Glad you found it, though."

Ms. Bustier cleared her throat. "Class, please silence all the talking. We'll be continuing our math lesson, please take out your homework over the weekend."

"Crud." Alya muttered and facepalmed herself. "I completely forgot about it." And that was the truth. She was so busy running around as Volpina homework seemed like it didn't matter if Paris was destroyed.

"...and because of the events over the weekend, if you didn't do the homework, you'll be excused from it this once." The class broke into cheers and thank yous for Ms. Bustier.

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"Wait, I thought you were going to wait a while before you'd visit Master Fu?"

"I just can't sit around here any longer, Renard." Alya said, exasperated. "If anything else, it'd be good to check his studio so I wouldn't be keeping him waiting."

"Okay, but how are you gonna get there?" Renard reasoned. "Do your parents just let you sneak out of the house whenever you want?"

"Well, my Mom's still at work, and my Dad will probably be so busy with my sisters he won't even notice." Alya thought aloud, then sighed. "As usual..."

"Cheer up, Alya!" Renard flew in front of her. "Come on, let's go see Master Fu. It'll cheer you up!"

Alya regained her posture. "You're right, Renard. This time, I think I'll just walk to the studio. I don't exactly know where it is, and I don't want to attract a lot of attention."

"Good plan! Let's go!"

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Alya stood outside the mediation studio. Renard flew out of her bag and landed next to her shoulder.

"Are you sure this is the place, Renard?" Alya whispered to her Kwami.

"Pretty sure."

Alya knocked on the door, and an old man answered.

"Come in."

She walked inside, with Renard floating just above her shoulder.

An older chinese man was sitting in the studio. He tilted his head at the sight of Alya and Renard. "That's strange. I last gave the charm necklace to Eliza. I don't remember giving it to you."

Alya stole a glace to Renard, who looked like he was holding back tears at the reminder of his dead holder. He looked at Alya and gave her a small nod.

Alya focused back on Master Fu. "Sir... I have some bad news about Eliza."