AFTER Watching Miraculous

Chapter 16: Secrets

Marinette stared at the women in the coffin.

"We need to get out of here. Now," Marinette told Tikki. Marinette ran back the way she came.

"What are you going to tell Adrien?" Tikki asked.

"Nothing. For now. I need to think of how I'm going to break this to him."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Marinette. He needs to know," Tikki insisted.

"I know. I will tell him. Sooner or later."

"Hopefully sooner. What are you going to tell him if he noticed that you were gone?"

Marinette ran as far the opposite direction from the coffin that she could and she made it to an elevator that she didn't notice before. She made her way inside it and hit the tallest button she could.

"I'm working on it."

The elevator made its way to the floor it was told.

🐱🐞🐱

Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace and Queen Bee were all in Hawkmoth's lair looking for their friend.

"Anything?" Cat Noir asked everyone, slightly panicked.

"Nothing," Queen Bee answered.

"Not one thing, dude," Carapace responded.

Rena Rouge walked over to Cat Noir and put her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. We'll find her. She couldn't have gone anywhere and she can take care of herself."

Cat Noir looked over at Rena Rouge and smiled. Just then he saw a person come up from the floor like they do when they leave the lair. The person didn't stop though. They kept going. The person had pigtails too.

"Marinette?" Cat Noir called out to the person.

Marinette looked at Cat Noir as the platform kept making her go up. "Oh, hi Cat."

Rena Rouge, Carapace and Queen Bee turned around to where Cat Noir was looking.

"Marinette!" They all started to run to where she was going. The platform didn't stop though. It kept going until it reached the top floor. Marinette was then back in Gabriel Agreste's office.

She looked around and saw Lieutenant Rodgers staring at her. She waved at him. The platform started to go back down and she jumped off.

A few minutes later, Rena Rouge and Carapace came to the main floor. They both ran to Marinette and hugged her.

"Where were you?" Rena asked.

We were looking for you. You scared us," Carapace said.

Before Marinette could answer, Queen Bee and Cat Noir came to the main floor. Queen Bee didn't seem that much concerned about what was going on, but Cat Noir was concerned enough for the both of them.

"Marinette!" Cat Noir ran to her and hugged her tight. "You had me terrified!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Marinette joked.

Cat Noir broke the embrace and held her by her shoulders. "Where did you go though? Did you find something else?" Cat Noir looked into her eyes begging for an answer.

Marinette has a hard time deciding what to tell him. She didn't want to lie to him but she didn't want to break his heart either. She said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Oh, I just slipped and fell into an old storage space. It was dark and dusty so it took me a while to find a way out. Nothing was in there though. It was just one big empty room. Nothing to worry about," Marinette lied. She then smiled one of her big almost unnatural smiles. Cat Noir looked at her puzzled.

"Well, if that's it then I'm off. Don't stay here too long. This is still an investigation," Lieutenant Rodgers said with a top of his hat. She then walked his way out of the mansion.

"Marinette. Are you sure there wasn't anything in the room?" Rena Rouge asked.

Marinette nodded. "Yep. Not one thing in sight."

"You said it was dark though. Maybe you couldn't see anything," Carapace pointed out.

"I walked all around the place. I didn't feel anything except for the floor and the wall. Trust me. There is nothing in there."

Cat Noir examined Marinette's face. Marinette looked at him. She hoped he couldn't see through her.

"Okay. I'm just glad you're okay," Cat Noir said and then hugged Marinette.

Marinette hugged him back. "Yeah. Me too." She then looked away from the rest of the group with a grim look on her face.