The New Guardian

Chapter 22: The Cube Part 2

"Marinette!" Alya whisper shouted as she ran into the room, holding a blue cat. Adrien, Nino, and Juleka followed behind her and closed the door.

"Alya?" Marinette slid off of Luka's bed. "What's the . . . a cat? Why do you-"

"Shhh!" Alya hushed, setting the cat down. She ran over to Marinette and grabbed her hand, moving her across the room, away from everyone else. "There's an akuma outside, so we have to hide. I knew you'd be in Luka's room, so we came to "look" for you while we searched for a good place."

Marinette blushed. "But where's Luka? He went to get something about a minute ago." Alya's eyes shifted to the small cat on the floor. "No." Marinette's eyes widened and her mouth gaped open. "There's no way." She crouched down next to the feline. "Luck really isn't on my side of relationships." She pouted.

"We have ourselves a cat." Alya shrugged, turned to her friend. "And not just one. There are tens in the streets and probably more by now."

"An akuma?"

"Of course." Alya said, crossing her arms. "There's a cat woman turning the people of Paris into cats and we thought she'd be afraid of water, but sadly, she chased us anyway."

"Why would someone want to turn us into cats?" Marinette asked.

"I heard her earlier." Nino started, leaning against the wall. "When she was threatening Luka, she said that she had a few stray cats by her house, but her parents wouldn't let her take them in. She fed them everyday anyway and took care of them, but she witnessed two strangers abuse them. In a fit of rage, she was akumatized to turn everyone into her pets." He sighed. "It's a really strange solution."

"Then she turned Luka." Adrien added. "We tricked her for a moment after and bolted with the new blue cat."

"Poor Luka." Marinette patted his fluffy head.

Adrien stared. "So uh . . . Marinette, what were you . . . doing in here?"

"Oh u-um." Marinette gulped. "I was . . . looking for the bathroom!"

"The bathroom?" Alya squinted, obviously not believing it.

"Yeah, I had to go." Marinette said, backing towards another door on the other side of the room. "And since you guys barged in before I found it, I should probably keep looking." She turned around.

"Wait!" Alya said, Marinette taking a deep breath as she turned back. "Aren't you forgetting that Luka has one?" Alya moved to one corner and tapped her knuckles on the wooden door. "Right here." She said, looking at her friend strangely.

"Oh, I must have forgotten." Marinette's eyes widened as she smiled awkwardly. Everyone stared at her as she moved across the room. Alya would probably have questions later, but for now, there was an akuma and she had to do her job. This wouldn't be the first time for awkward situations and lame excuses anyway. "Thanks." Marinette's hand touched the door.

"We'll talk later." Alya whispered. "Look, I know you were trying to get close to Luka earlier, so your thoughts aren't gonna be entirely clear, but when you're done in there, we must focus on the akuma, even if two boys you've been interested in are in the same room, one being a cat at the moment."

"I get it, Alya." Marinette smiled, turning the knob. "I'm just overthinking a lot of things right now and my emotions are everywhere after talking to Luka earlier." Marinette tried to think of something that wasn't too random. She opened the bathroom door and slid inside.

Juleka picked up her cat brother and sat on the bed. "So what are we gonna do about the akuma?" Juleka mumbled.

"Ladybug should be here soon." Nino replied.