There comes a time when every life goes off course. In this desperate moment who will you be? Will you let down your defenses, and find solace in someone unexpected? Will you reach out? Will you face your greatest fear bravely? And move forward with faith. Or will you succumb to the darkness in your soul?
- Lucas Scott

⚠️ Some subjects discussed in this chapter may be uncomfortable for some readers. Look for the 🔺🔺 at the beginning and end of the section ⚠️
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the past week Alya's noticed Carapace following her of an evening. She hadn't been back to the club since the night he had found her crying. She knew that if she tried to get there he would intervene and stop her. For some reason what Carapace thought mattered more than the consequences, consequences she knew would be horrendous due to the agreement she had made.

The consequential night came quicker than expected.

She pressed the end call button on her phone after a quick conversation with Marinette. It was the London Fashion Show tomorrow and she wanted to wish her BFF good luck for her first official 'Agreste' range. When Marinette had mentioned that herself and Adrien will be modelling the finale pieces in the show Alya had screamed. She knew her best friend was beautiful and she was so excited to see the pictures of her and her Prince walking down the catwalk. She was secretly hoping it would be an aisle in the not too distant future.

She placed her phone back in her bag and exchanged it for the keys to her and her friends home. Alya hadn't drank for a week and the nervous shakes were evident in the jangling of her keys. She took a deep breath and went to open the door. Unfortunately, she dropped the keys. This happened another four times until a green superhero jumped in to save the day.

"May I?" He asked, indicating to the keys positioned at their feet.

"Merci, mon tortue." Carapace, aka Nino, was happy that she had allowed him to help. He bent down and grabbed the keys, opening the door for her and letting her in. She nodded in thanks as she led the couple into the hallway.

Nino stilted in his walk and closed the door behind him. Marinette had only been in London for a week and yet the house was destroyed.

"Alya, what's happened?" He spoke quietly to himself as he looked around. He was quite sure the expression on his face told Alya exactly what he was thinking.

"I'm sorry about the mess. I just don't seem to have the motivation to do anything. You don't have to stay if you don't want to, I won't be offended." She walked into the kitchen and grabbed an almost clean glass off the side, filled it with water and raised it to her lips.

"Alya?" Alya filled the glass again and took another drink over the sink.

"Alya? Are you ok?" She still wasn't responding or even acknowledging that he was standing there. He sighed and closed his eyes, wiping under his goggles with his hands.

A smashing sound ripped his eyes open as he saw Ayla grasping her hand and crying. Blood was flowing out of a cut as she held her hand over the sink, letting cold water help ease the pain. Carapace ran over to her and wrapped a towel over the wound, controlling the flow of the blood pouring onto the floor.

"I'm such a mess. You shouldn't be hanging around me, I'll just bring you down. I'm quite sure Ladybug and Chat Noir wouldn't be too happy either."

"Alya, Ladybug is worried about you. She asked me personally to check up on you." Alya shook her head, not believing a word being said. Did she really believe people didn't care about her?

"If she cares then why isn't she here instead? I haven't seen or heard from her in months. She doesn't care." Alya walked past him and went into the lounge. Carapace followed her out the room and into the lounge. He pulled out his top of the range secondary phone and began typing a message. "Being a hero must pay good if that's your phone."

"It's my work phone, my boss gave it to me."

"Who you texting? Ladybug? Letting her know I'm a poor excuse of a person."

He couldn't stand it anymore.

"I'm texting a close friend who's going to come round and talk to you whether you like it or not. You're going to let them help you. Agreed?" He was stern in his tone, like a parent telling off a disobedient child. She eyed the shelled hero curiously before agreeing. Carapace shut off his phone and pocketed it.

"He'll be here in five minutes, he's in the area."

"H-h-he? A-a m-male?"

"Yes. Is everything ok?" She looked so small and defenceless as she answered the question. Her body had skunk back into the sofa and her arms wrapped around herself in a defence mechanism.

"He won't hurt me, will he?" Carapace had to hold back the tears. He thought he'd figured out the issue. Finally after all this time he realised someone was hurting her mentally and physically.

"He definitely won't. You know him, so I'm sure you'll feel safe with him. Listen, I've got to go now superhero business and everything, but please promise you'll let this dude in." Alya looked at him. A dude eh? She thought it might be Nino that he'd asked around, but after their messy break up she was positive he'd want nothing to do with her.

Carapace made his way to the door.

"Keep the door locked until the guy turns up. You'll recognise him straight away. See you soon Alya."

"See you soon Turtle." With their goodbyes delivered Carapace waited until he heard her door click and lock before moving on. He stepped into a dark alleyway not too far from Alya's house and released his transformation.

"Here you go Wayzz." He tossed the kwami a green macaroon. He'd been visiting the 'Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie' to make sure his kwami was fed with the best he could afford. Luckily, also being best friends with their, hopefully, future son-in-law worked well too.

"I feel she is not well young master."

"I agree, Wayzz. Let's just hope she doesn't turn me away."

Before heading towards the door he pulled out his phone and messaged his agent. He said he'd come down with something and needed the rest of the week off. He couldn't care less if his agent was angry, there was only one person and one job on his mind at the moment.

Nino took a deep breath and walked to the door. He rang the doorbell and prayed that she would let him in. After a few moments he saw a face look out the window at him and then shuffling towards the door. It slowly opened and he saw the love of his life broken and guilt striken.

"I knew he was talking about you. I suppose I should let you in." She opened the door wider and signalled for him to enter. He made his way down the hall and heard the click of the door and the lock of the key as he turned round. Alya was resting against the door frame looking down at the ground. He stood for a moment before deciding which option to take; A the easy way or B the hard way.

He went for option B. He walked up to Alya, and wrapped his arms around her securely as she cried in his arms. They stayed that way for a while until he walked her into the lounge. She never broke contact with him in fear of never gaining it back. They sat down on the sofa and she wrapped herself around him again. He didn't know what to say, he didn't even know if he should say anything?

Her phone suddenly bleeped and she tensed.

"Do you want me to read it?" She nodded against his chest as he took the phone from her.

It was a direct message on the Ladyblog, apparently it was the number two contributor within the forums.

[MrBug666]
You were warned, Alya! You don't follow our little agreement there will be consequences. This is your first strike. Two more and you're out the game ... for good!

Nino gulped. What the hell?

"Go and pack a bag. You're coming to stay with me."

"Nino, I can't! I've got to stay here."

"What? So some psycho can tell you what to do? Do they know where you live?" She looked away. Nino softly placed his hand under her chin and pulled her face back to him. She jolted from the touch of his skin on hers.

What has she been going through? She can't even deal with my touch? He thought to himself, this made him even more determined to protect her.

"I'm not going to hurt you Alya, I promise." She jumped onto him again sobbing into his shoulder. "Come on sweetheart." Guiding Alya upstairs Nino helped pack some essentials before checking his phone for an 'Uber'.

She looked at the man next to her. He still made her heart flutter and her stomach swirl with thousands of butterflies. She'd gotten into this mess because of not being careful. When MrBug666 started messaging her he had been kind, caring and sweet, Nino had just started gaining popularity and Alya had felt lonely at the time. She'd really fell for MrBug666 and his pick up lines. The day she agreed to meet him her world changed for good.

🔺🔺

He'd assaulted her. He'd used and abused her and he would then continually come back for more. He'd message her everyday with threatening descriptions of what he would do if she didn't attend their rendezvous at the club. This was the fourth time this week she hadn't been and he wasn't happy. The descriptions of assault became worse and she knew she had to do what she could to protect the one person who would be hurt the most. She wasn't Rena Rouge at the moment, only Alya. There was nothing she could do. From what they kept saying to her she couldn't cry rape ... they made sure she was agreeing to it and then using it against her. But it was stripping her away and turning her to anything that could take her mind of it. She hadn't yet turned to drugs or harming herself, however if this continued she didn't think it would be too long.

🔺🔺

The 'Uber' arrived and Nino took Alya's bags as she locked up the house. She looked around, nervously cautious incase they were being followed. Once they pulled up at Nino and Adrien's building Alya let out a breath she'd been holding for months. As she entered the building she saw security placed at every door. It took Nino three different keys to get them to the penthouse apartment; one in the lobby door, one to access the elevators and then another to access the penthouse.

Outside the elevator was a wide foyer and there sat another security guard.

"Evening Pierre." Nino said leading Alya down the corridor towards their apartment.

"Good to see you Mr Lahiffe, and lovely to see a lady with you too."

"She'll be staying here for a few days. She's Ms Dupain-Cheng's best friend and housemate."

"Hi" Alya spoke nervously. Pierre was a big man. Around the same size as Gorilla but, by the sounds of it, a lot more chatty. He gave her a nod as she followed Nino down the hall. He opened the door and led Alya into the hallway leading to the most impressive lounge she'd ever seen. She placed her bags down and walked over to the window, glancing at the Eiffel Tower.

"I can see why Mari likes coming here so often." Alya couldn't believe she'd never been here, she'd been offered numerous chances but always said no.

"She may as well move in she's here that often." He looked over and saw the small red-heads shoulders drop. "Hey," he walked over to her and wrapped her up in a tight hug, "what's wrong?"

"She's safe when she's here. She has Adrien to protect her."

"But who protects you? Perhaps Mari should be at home more with you! She should be looking after you, can she not see that somethings wrong?" Nino was starting to feel angry at his blue haired friend.

How dare she leave Alya this way! He was usually quite chilled but something about this situation was rubbing him the wrong way.

"She's trying to help me, but I'm refusing the help. She doesn't know everything that's going on and I don't intend to tell her. You know more than she does." Alya let go of Nino and walked away, continuing her gaze out the window. She could see couples walking down the street hand in hand and tourists standing a top the glorious Eiffel Tower.

"Why can't you tell her?"

"Because ... because ..." she closed her eyes and took a deep sigh. "If I don't do as he wishes, he'll kill her." Nino was shook. He blinked fast and his heart was beating out his chest.

"He's obsessed with her. He uses me for information about her and imagines I am her, he makes me wear a wig and her clothes. If I don't do these ... these ... these ... things with him he'll take her." She looked straight into Nino's eyes. "He wants to take Marinette."