"Future Rewoven" Book 3 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy |COMPLETED|

Chpt 31: Well, This All Seems a Little Familiar, Doesn't It?

Alya and Nino watched Cat Noir pace back and forth in front of them as they again sat on the bench at the little hidden park where they had met everyone just the other day. They had thought that the superheroes had some new information about the villain, but since Ladybug wasn't with him, that didn't seem like the reason. As Alya and Nino continued to watch Cat in silence, they both thought that the meeting was starting to feel exactly like the one that they had alone with Ladybug awhile ago. She had also paced around in silence before Alya poked her and she eventually asked them to watch out for Adrien. Now, Cat had asked them both to meet him here and paced without saying anything.

"Well, this certainly feels familiar," said Alya out of the side of her mouth to Nino, who gave a low chuckle in response. He had had the same thought.

"What?" asked the distracted superhero as he continued to pace.

"Oh, nothing," said Alya lightly, tracking his movement with her head.  "Is there something you need us to do for you?" Might as well move this along.

"Possibly something regarding a certain non-superhero?" snickered Nino, certain he knew what Cat Noir was going to say.

"What?  Why do you ask?" said Cat, who stopped pacing, surprised by Nino's question.  Did they already know about the incidences?  "So, you know about Marinette, then?"

Nino's expression sobered immediately and he looked over at Alya to see whether she knew what he was talking about.  She shook her head at Nino and shrugged.

"No, sorry," said Nino.

"We thought you were here about something else," added Alya.

Cat abruptly turned his head toward them, startled by what they said before realizing they probably meant they thought he was going to update them on the villain. He was about to tell them there was no villain news yet when Nino interrupted.

"Never mind.  What is it about Marinette?  Is she in some kind of trouble?" Nino asked quietly.

"That's just it.  I'm not sure if I'm overreacting or seeing things where they don't exist or . . . ?"  He shoved his gloved hands through his hair in frustration. No, that wasn't true. He and Marinette did know, it just was so difficult to explain to anyone else when there seemed to be no motive and Marinette's friends didn't know she was Ladybug, so he certainly couldn't explain one of the reasons that she might be a target.

"Start at the beginning," said Alya, wanting to get all of the facts in the right order for what she could tell had the makings of a big story

Cat Noir gazed up into the sky, trying to bring all of the incidences to mind and what order they happened in and then whether those photos being posted of him online with Lila were at all related to this.

He did his best to objectively relate everything he knew to his friends.  When he came to the end of his information he tried to gauge what their reactions were, but all he could pick out was the shock on their faces at hearing somebody tried to hurt Marinette.

"Somebody's really after Marinette?  Why?" asked a confused and worried Nino.

"Why didn't Marinette tell me this either?" Alya said, thinking how Marinette hadn't called her to talk about the fight she had had with Adrien and that she only heard about it through Ladybug of all people.  "And how did you find out about it?" asked Alya, outraged that someone was after her friend and if it weren't for Cat Noir, she might not even know about!

"Adrien contacted me right after it happened.  He and Marinette seem to think that Ladybug and I would be more help to them than the police," Cat Noir said, avoiding Alya's very astute gaze.