Miraculous Ladybug S4: Nino salt fic (CW: Misogynoir, casual racism)
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Last week was surely the worst week of Alya's entire life.
Sunday, Alya noticed something strange about the trip Lila took last week with prince Ali... it never happened. Prince Ali was staying with his grandmother all week because she got sick. Alya was sure that this was all just some big understanding, so when she saw her green-eyed friend walking down the street she asked her about what happened. "Are you calling me a Liar?" Lila spat at Alya, all of her words dripping with venom. "What?! Of course not! I'm just saying that you didn't go with Prince Ali last week. Did you mean the week before or-" Lila cut off Alya before she could finish. "You're going to regret that." Alya tried to reach out to the girl she thought was her friend, but the liar walked away without a word.
Monday was probably the worst day of Alya's entire life. She went to school like normal, but Nino was late. Then, he burst through the door and screamed "ALYA'S CHEATING ON ME!!!", "What??? How could-" "Lila told me everything you DIRTY LIAR!!! AND I HAVE PROOF!!!" Nino took his phone out and showed the class a poorly edited photo of Alya huging some random boy. Alya was speechless, but Nino wasn't. "I'M DUMPING YOU, CHEATER!!!" In that moment, Alya finnally realized that Marinette had been right about Lila after all. Lila wasn't Alya's friend, she wasn't a celebrity, and she definitely wasn't a good person. "Nino, you have to trust me-", "I'LL NEVER TRUST YOU AGAIN, LIAR!!!" and Nino sat next to Adrien quiet the rest of the class. As Alya's heart slowly broke into pieces, Lila's smile grew larger.
Tuesday, Alya and Marinette became fully ostracized from the rest of the class. All of the girls asked the duo to delete their phone numbers, and they didn't say anything else to them. Nino still kept quiet the whole class, he didn't even speak to his best friend. As for Adrien, Alya and Marinette both knew that he knew Lila was a liar, but he argued that going against her would only do more damage. "BS" Marinette muttered under her breath. "Adrien is the most popular boy at school and he has Chloe in his pocket. You really think the class would choose Lila over him?" "I... I don't know anymore." Alya could feel the resentment of everyone in her homeroom crushing her. "H-hey, calm down! We can't get upset or else-" "-Shadowmoth will try to akumatize us, I know. I just... can't take this. I'm sorry I didn't believe you about Lila before." The more Alya thought about how many second chances she gave Lila, the more twisted her stomach became. "Don't apologize, Alya. Even when you believed Lila, you were still nice to me. You are better than everyone in that heck hole." "sniff Thanks girl." Alya said as she wiped tears from her face. The two girls continued to chat, alone togather in the cafeteria. Out the corner of Alya's eye, she could see Lila leading Nino into what looked like one of the bathrooms, but at this point she was over him. Everyone at school hated Alya and refused to talk to her, but at least things can't get worse right?
Wensday, things got worse. That was the day her classmates started bullying her. Chloe, her doormat, and Kim started name calling Alya and Marinette the minute they sat down. Rose cringed at what she saw, but she never spoke up. Mylene looked like she was enjoying what she saw. And Adrien had a dull look in his eyes, like he was above his classmates antics and not a coward. Miss Bustier walked into the class room during the middle of the name-calling, and she was very quick to get Kim to "settle down". But she never stopped Chloe and Sabrina... Alya wondered why, but she knew in her heart of hearts what was going on. Then Nino walked in, a completely different person from the last time Alya saw him. His base ball cap was gone, and his hair had been straightened and slicked up into a hairstyle that resembled pictures Alya saw of American frat boys. His blue T-shirt and jeans were replaced with black dress pants, a black wifebeater underneath a brown vest. His glasses were missing, but he had many watches on his arms. And besides the new Nino was Lila clinging to his shoulder. "HEY GUYS, LILA AND I ARE DATING!!!" Nino shouted in his 'indoor' voice. "Nino, how many times do I have to tell you to be quiet indoors!" Miss Bustier reprimanded him. "Oh Miss Bustier, please forgive Nino. You know how he gets when he's excited!" Lila spoke in her fake nice voice. "Oh, alight Lila. But make sure to control him better next time!" Miss Bustier urged the Italian. Alya did a double take at what the white teacher had suggested. Ms Bustier was always like that, being ignorant of her blatant racism and disguising it as "helping Chloe and Lila". Alya didn't think it was a sin to be racist on accident, but it was a sin to act like you know everything and still act ignorant. As for Lila... Alya didn't know if she was racist and she didn't care. Lila was already weaponizing racism against her and Marinette. The rest of class was much the same, half of the class harassed Alya and Marinette, but Ms Bustier only stopped the non-french kids from "acting uncivilized with each other".
Thursday was much the same, the exact same actually. After class Alya spotted Nino, or new Nino... evil Nino? Jerk Nino? Alya spotted jerk Nino standing on the sidewalk behind the school. Her brain wanted to ignore him, but her heart wanted to make things right with him. Alya knew that she could never get back with Nino, but she knew that he was better than Lila and didn't want her to influence him anymore. "...Nino?" "Ugh, what do you want." Nino bit at Alya with his words. "Look, just hear me out okay?" Nino stared at Alya for a bit, then he turned his head and popped a cigarette out. Oh Nino, Alya thought, when did you start smoking? "I know that you still don't believe that I never cheated on you, and that there's nothing I can say or do to be with you again-" Alya felt a trail of tears go down her cheek. "- but you have to believe me when I say that Lila is a bad influence on you. My heart has broken into pieces, and watching that girl corrupt you into someone your not is grinding those pieces to dust! You have to break up with Lila, for your sake!" For a moment, silence. Nino looked at Alya like she was nothing, a look he never gave her even when he hated her. "Are you done?" Nino blankly asked Alya. "What?" "See girl, the thing is, I never liked you like that. Having my first girlfriend was nice and all, but you were never Marinette." Alya's mouth hanged from her jaw, did Nino not hear me? "Eww, and that's the other thing; you're ugly!" Alya felt like a dagger was being pushed into her heart. "And judgmental, and bossy, and you never let me be a real man. Now Lila, that girl's got everything! She's nice, cute, not fat like you, and she let me be the person I always wanted to be!" "That... that can't be true! The Nino I knew would never speak to me like that!" Then, Alya felt something hard crash into the side of her face, knocking her off balance and onto the ground. As she looked up, she saw Nino's hand raised. "KEEP MY NAME OUT YOUR MOUTH, WITCH!!!" When Alya touched her cheek, she could feel a small cut from one of Nino's gold rings. Alya looked back at Nino, and he spat into her eye. Alya screamed. "Oh shut up!" Ladybug then dropped out of the sky, punched Nino in the gut, and then threw him into a trash can. "M'lady stop, you could have killed him!" Chat Noir meekly said as he fell down moments after Ladybug. "THEN YOU HELP HIM!" Ladybug shouted at Chat Noir. She then scooped Alya into her arms and swung back to Marinette's room. Once they were safe, Ladybug detransformed into Marinette and Alya cried into her arms.
Friday, Alya stayed home. She was treated for a possible eye infection after the Cigar Rat had spat into her eye, and she. Stayed. Home. At 3:00 p.m., Marinette came for a visit. She told Alya how her day was, that Nino and all the rich kids were cutting classes. They might be held back. Then she left. At 5:00 p.m., Nora answered a call from Nino's father, and she told him to never call this number again. Then Alya went to sleep.
Saturday, and Alya stayed home. On the news, Ladybug and Chat Noir were fighting an akumatized Nino. They beat him, but Nino slapped Chat Noir's hand when he reached for him and ran off. That couldn't be good for his reputation. Ayla laid in her bed all morning and afternoon, and she wanted to disappear. She felt like nothing. She felt worthless. She felt unlovable. She felt- "Hey sis, can we talk for a bit?" Nora spoke through a crack in the door. "Sure." Nora opened the door and came into Alya's bedroom, which looked frozen in time. "Alya... what's happening to you? You're not acting like yourself." "Well, me and my bestfriend are being bullied at school. You already know about Nino, and his new girlfriend is the one that caused all this. The classroom teacher is letting this all slide because she puts white girls first, and Adrien is letting this all slide because... I don't know, he's scared." Alya said blankly. Nora looked furious "That's seriously not cool! Why didn't you tell anyone! Why didn't you tell me?!" Alya felt water leak from her eyes. "Because... maybe if I had just lied and said that I was sorry to Nino and believed that Lila went on a trip last week, none of this would be happening. I-" "Alya stop! This isn't who you are! You an ace journalist! You care more about the truth then anyone I know! So stop lying to yourself! You are seen, you are amazing, you are worthy, and you are loved!" and with those touching words, Nora hugged Alya until she stopped crying.
Sunday, Alya's parents asked her to run some errands for them because they thought she needed a breath of fresh air. She was just about done when Lila appeared behind her. "Hi... Alya." Lila spoke in what she thought was the evilest way possible. "Lila, what do you wa-" "Save it. I hope you understand by now what I meant last Sunday. Do understand, Alya, that this is not the end. It is merely the beginning. Tell me, how would you feel if the Ladyblog got hacked? If your big sis got banned from boxing? If Marinette got expelled from school? These aren't empty threats, but the reality you are living. I. HAVE. POWER. I can make heads turn! I can make mountains move! I can do the impossible and the unthinkable! So now you have a choice... choose me over Marinette, and I'll even get you back togather with Nino! Choose Marinette over me... and you will now what it's like to live in H e l l! You don't have to decide today. Just like Marinette, I'll give you some time to think about it." Lila then flipped her hair and walked away like she hadn't talked like a maniac two seconds ago. That made Alya mad.
"Lady Wifi, I am Shadowmoth. You are the most honest person in all of Paris, and yet you're life has been destroyed by the lies of one girl. I will give you back your powers and, in exchange, all I ask are Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous." "I, no-" Alya felt like her head was about to explode from pressure. "Why resist me? After all, I'm the only one that believes you are innocent." Shadowmoth whispered into Alya's ear. For a moment, Alya was about to accept Shadowmoth's offer, and smash Lila's head. But then she remembered the truth "No Shadowmoth! You aren't the only one that believes me! Marinette, my best friend in the whole world has always supported me! Ugh, I renounce your power!!!" And with those words, Alya broke the hold Shadowmoth had over her.
Last week was surely the worst week of Alya's entire life.
And this week was surely the best. Alya and Marinette went to school like normal, all apart of their master plan. "Honestly, I don't even like black girls" Nino said in his "indoor" voice. "Their too loud, annoying, and aggressive!" "Haha, Nino, aren't you black too?" Lila asked while, for the first time in her life, genuinely laughing. "What??? No! I'm not black, I'm just a dark skinned Arab!" Nino said, oblivious to the fact that people can be black and Arab at the same time. Not so oblivious to the fact that he was uplifting one race to put down black people, playing coon for an Italian girl. "The difference is?" Lila asked, not because she wanted to know but because she liked seeing her boyfriend humiliate himself in public. "Well, black people aren't cute like me!" Nino shouted in his indoor voice. All of the white kids, minus Rose and Juleka, plus Kim, laughed at the anti-black joke. Max cringed, but didn't say anything. Alya decided to raise her hand, for the plan to work. "Ms Bustier, are you seriously going to let him say that about my people?" she asked, knowing Ms Bustier definitely would. "Alya, it's just a harmless joke. And Lila, I told you to keep Nino under control!" Ms Bustier commanded. "Sorry Ms Bustier. Um, can I go to the bathroom?" Lila asked. Not like she needed to ask, since Ms Bustier would do everything she wanted in order to teach the class to "uplift white women". As she was a foot out the door, Lila winked at Nino. "Oh, uhh, Ms Bustier! Can I go to the bathroom too?" "It's not 'can I', it's 'may I'! And you better be back in 15 minutes young man! I won't have you making sexist jokes all day and failing my class!" Ms Bustier shouted at him. Per usual, Ms Bustier only stands up for black girls when white girls are threatened. Nino scurred out the room to go smoke with Lila, or drink with Lila, or do something else with Lila. Per usual, Lila and Nino didn't return to the classroom, which caused Ms Bustier to sigh. "I knew Nino was a bad influence on Lila". For a second, Alya wanted to scream at the ignorant teacher, but then she remembered that Lila didn't corrupt Nino. She only brought out his true colors.
The next day was the best day of Alya's life. Marinette's plan was quite simple for once, record the classes awful behavior and post it onto the Ladyblog. The website had actually had a lack of updates for a few days because of the drama, so when it randomly posts evidence of the beloved creator being bullied and racially harassed, Alya's entire family got akumatized and attacked the school. After Ladybug stopped the attack, alone, a full investigation was launched into Ms Bustier's homeroom. Apparently the woman used to be a kindergarten teacher, and before that she was a Trans Exclusive Radical Feminist living in Britin. And she was guilty of tax evasion. Alya almost felt sad for her. Almost. Chloe, Sabrina, and Kim were all sent to seperate reform schools full of kids that were 10x nastier than they were, pure karma. Ivan was planning a mass shooting on the school and told Mylene, who though he was joking. He got sent to a psyche ward, and she got a "slap on the wrist" of 1,000 hours mandatory community service.
The next day, Marinette and Alya were invited to a special news interview where they discussed, at length, the lies Lila had told. The special guest, aside from them, was prince Ali, who admitted he didn't know who Lila was. Lila then asked Max to permanently delete the Ladyblog off the Internet as a favor from "saving his life from a ball of paper". Max considered it, but then he remembered Lila's racism. So Max called the news segment and gave them a voice recording of Lila asking him to destroy the Ladyblog to hurt Alya. On live TV. With almost everyone in Paris watching.
Thursday, Lila broke into the news studio to spread "the truth" that Shadowmoth is Gabriel Agreste and that Alya is working with him. She was arrested and placed into an asylum far away from modern technology, a place where she would never "hurt hurself" again. Marinette and Alya had a little laugh at her desperate attempt to stay relevant... then Alya put the pieces in place and realized she was right. Marinette used the rooster Miraculous to gain the power of X-ray vision and looked through the Agreste mansion, only to find a ridiculously sized basement with a... coffin inside. Gabriel's mansion was raided within the hour. Shadowmoth attempted to put up a fight, but Ladybug had a new team of miraculous holders that were actually good at their jobs helping her this time. Gabriel was apprehended and to be brought before a U.N. court for international levels of terrorism. Chat Noir, who was Adrien, had his identity found out by all of Paris. On accident. Ladybug considered taking his miraculous away, but Rena Furtive convinced her otherwisr on the the condition he never become Chat Noir again. "Keeping Plagg might make him grow a spine" Rena argued. "Either way, if he commits a crime with a miraculous, he is definitely going to jail." "Oh, definitely." Before the day ended, Marinette finnaly got togather with Luka, the only person besides Alya that actually supported her. Luka also gave a stern talking to Juleka and Rose, who apologized to the duo for everything they didn't do. They even offered to become friends again, but Alya declined. It was nice they don't have their heads stuck up their butts anymore, Alya thought, but it will take more time to forgive them.
Friday, everything felt right with the world. Adrien moved to London to live with his aunt, and with him gone only one last blight remained. Afterschool, Nino approached Alya on the sidewalk. "So you thought you could ruin my life again and get away with it, YOU BLACK WITCH!!!" Nino screamed at Alya. "Are you done?" Alya blankly asked him. Nino raised his hand, but this time Alya caught him.
Then she punched him in his teeth.
I will not do this ever again.
