Miraculous: Bluebell Eyes

Chapter 4: Nino

He flew through the air with debris from the road. His body collided with something made of metal, and he fell the rest of the way to the ground. His body hurt. He felt some sort of concern; there had been someone with him. Then suddenly he was someplace else and the stump that use to be his hand was bleeding, and it had been wrapped with a string of some sort, but then the armored woman came over and unwound the string, causing fresh blood to gush out again.

"I prefer you to suffer more." She stated just as she kicked him in the head.

Nino woke up covered in cold sweat. He'd been having nightmares like that every so often for weeks now. They were so random, in length, subject and even clarity. What they all had in common was he was in pain, and something horrible had happened. One night, he'd even seen someone get decapitated. The nightmares were freaking him out, a lot. When he noticed that parts of some nightmares repeated in other ones, he started making notes. He had this impression that there was a complete story somewhere in it if he could piece it all together. He was hoping that once he figured out that story, the nightmares would stop.

Nino took a shower. That was another thing that annoyed him. He'd been helping his dad after school working on the repair and remodeling of the Dupain Boulangerie Patisserie. Nino generally just referred to it as the Dupain Bakery, like many others. Once he finished there, he would need a shower, since he ended up all sweaty and dirty. With his nightmares coming more and more often, he was having to shower after he woke up too. He frowned as he soaped himself up. Maybe I should go to bed without the shower.

He didn't mind helping his dad out with the bakery job. His father had been friends with Tom Dupain since their university days and was giving Tom a deal on the work. Hence why they were working on the place in the evening and why Nino's father wasn't using his usual crew. His dad was paying him a decent wage for the help however, and Nino planned on using it for some new turntables. Plus, if he were being honest, the work they were doing was pretty cool.

Tom Dupain had a storage area in the attic of the bakery's building, and that storage area wasn't being used for anything. After the Great Cataclysm, part of the building had been hit with debris, putting a hole in the wall. While inspecting the damage, Tom thought it would be the perfect place to put a game room. The plan was to take out part of a closet to put a set of permanent fixed stairs leading up to it, a large window where the hole had been, and lots of fixtures for electronics. Tom already ordered an extra large 4K flat screen to hook up his video game consoles to. Nino had seen Tom's video game console collection and it honestly looked like he had every console that was made.

They were close to being finished. Nino figured another day or two and he'd have free evenings again to spend with Alya, at least when she wasn't working. He smiled at the thought as he finished rinsing off. He stepped out of the shower and dried himself. They did have some plans for tonight already. His dad didn't need his help and Ayla had a plan for setting up Tom on a blind date with Sabine Cheng. She'd been working on Sabine for a little over a week to get her to go bowling. Nino had been working on Tom for a few days and finally gotten Tom to agree to it. Nino frowned a little thinking about spending his first free night in a while trying to set other people up on a date. He just really wanted to spend time with Alya.

Probably the best thing about working on the Dupain Bakery, was that Tom gave Nino a wickedly good discount on anything he ordered, and he'd been taking advantage of it. His intentions had been to get something for his friends, but he'd been stress eating in the mornings lately so he'd only been saving something for Alya at best and nothing for Adrien or Chloe.

"Hey Mr. D, how's it going?" Nino asked putting on his happy face. He wasn't willing to let anyone know how stressed out he was about the ongoing nightmares he was having. He refused to mention them to anyone. He had this fear they would get worse if he did.

"Good morning Nino, It's going great." Tom replied with a smile. He set a bag and a couple of coffees on the counter. "Your usual order."

"Awesome Mr. D." He smiled and used his debit card to pay for the food. "We still on for bowling tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm up for a little bowling. Your pops said he'd be making a lot of noise tonight, so getting out will be good."

"Cool." Nino smiled as he left the bakery.

He started to walk to the bus stop where he would meet up with Alya eating a croissant along the way. While he was alone with his thoughts, he kept seeing the woman undoing the tourniquet wrapped around the stump of his arm. The scene disturbed him and without thinking he'd started eating a second croissant and setting everything down briefly to start on his coffee. With his coffee finished, he picked up a third croissant and gobbled it down just before he made it to the stop.

"Oh man, I ate almost everything again." He stated aloud when he went to grab the last croissant. The same scene had played out a number of times over the last few weeks since he'd started having the nightmares. He'd pick up his order, eat most of it on the way to the stop as he contemplated the nightmare only to have maybe one for Alya. He frowned and looked at the time on his phone. Alya was running late. She almost never ran late and he found himself wondering if she'd show up before the bus did. He pulled his phone out again to call her when he saw her.

"Dude, did you oversleep?" He asked holding out the drink and final croissant.

"No, just lost track of time." She explained without really explaining why. She even changed the subject a moment later. "More importantly, is everything set up for tonight?"

"Yup, Mr. D has agreed to come out. Although I'm not sure this is the best idea. What happens if Ms. C and Mr. D don't get along? Couldn't that cause your mother some trouble since they're partners?" Ayla had been really pushing the idea of Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain since she'd first heard Nino talk about the work his dad was doing for Tom. He was really starting to think that she was way too obsessed with getting them together especially since she'd never even met Tom. Much like his hope that the nightmares would stop when he put everything together, he hoped that once this blind date happened Alya's obsession would go away as well. The pair got on the bus and headed for the bench seat in the back.

All Nino wanted to do was lay his head on Alya's lap and have her stroke his hair to help him relax after waking early from the nightmare even though he really didn't want to sleep. Asking her to do it might mean telling her why he wanted it, and he wasn't ready to share the reason, so he suffered in silence glancing at her comfortable looking lap.

"From everything you've said about Mr. Dupain, I think it'll be fine. They have some similar interests after all, right, with cooking and baking." She bit off part of her croissant and chewed it. "I mean these are glorious. How can Sabine not like them? You even brought some leftovers to him that she made last week and you said he quote, enjoyed the hell out of them." It had been weird offering Tom the leftovers, just telling him they were from the café his girlfriend worked at. Tom really did like them, and even asked Nino what the name of the place was, but he'd had to tell Tom he couldn't remember the name, and that Alya had just given them to him. He felt stupid for acting like he didn't know the name of the place his girlfriend worked.

"I know, but I feel totally bad setting him up like this without saying anything first." Blind dates could go so badly, he'd heard the horror stories before.

"Just think of it as a surprise party, blind date style."

"That's the part that worries me." Nino sighed. Surprise parties are fun, and you usually don't have to worry about the people attending hating each other. A blind date, you do have to worry about that. If Alya hadn't been so obsessed with getting those two on a date, Nino would have put his foot down and stopped it. Unfortunately it was hard to say no to Alya. The bus stopped and the pair got off to meet up with Adrien.

"You didn't save anything for Chloe or Adrien again did you?" Alya asked. Nino felt a little embarrassed since he'd once more at the food without realizing it.

"Um, no. I totally forgot." He admitted.

"Uh huh, are you sure you forgot or that your stomach forgot."

"It's totally my stomach's fault. I had them sitting there and it was all like, feed me Nino, Feed me." Alya laughed, which cheered Nino up a lot. Problem was, he knew it was stress and not his stomach. He had also started to wonder if he was putting on weight with all the stress eating.

"You're lucky you're adorable." Ayla joked. Nino frowned.

"Adorable, dude, I'm a guy I'm handsome." He argued.

"Nope, Adorable."

"Cute, I'll let you have cute." He countered.

"Nope, sticking with adorable for you." The best way to remove a smirk from Alya's face was to kiss her, but he really wasn't in the mood to be that kind of playful and instead he shook his head and hit the call button.

"May I help you." Came Nathalie's voice.

"We're here to pick up a little lost puppy, you know with blonde hair, green eyes." It was such a spur of the moment thing for him to say, which his weird comments to Nathalie usually were.

"I'll let you in so you can pick up the puppy." The gate opened as she replied.

"One of these days, I will get a reaction out of her." Nino pouted a little. He really did want to say something so bizarre that it left her speechless or sputtering.

"I doubt it. She's a pretty cool customer. I bet if a bomb went off, she'd be the only one standing there like it was just another day, and then start directing everyone to safety." Ayla explained to him.

"You're probably right. Maybe I should just hit her with a water balloon." He grinned like an evil little imp.

"You do that, and if she doesn't hurt you, I will." Ayla practically growled at him. To a certain extend that made him want to try it more.

"Hi Guys!" Adrien called out as he exited the door.

"Hey Bro, how goes it?" Nino held up his fist and Adrien bumped it.

"It goes good." The blond boy replied.

"Then why are your pants on backwards?" Ayla commented with a little smile.

"Wait what?" Adrien panicked as he checked his pants.

"You are so easy sometimes Agreste." She laughed and when she looked at him, she laughed even harder to the point where she missed the step to get on the bus and almost fell into a puddle. Adrien saved her.

"Thanks." She said with a sign.

"Oh don't thank me yet, I'm debating if I should lower you into that puddle there." Adrien grinned evilly.

"You wouldn't dare?" She paused "Nino, help!" She cried. Nino looked at her and then at Adrien. He just shrugged.

"I'm kinda wondering if he'll do it or not." He remarked.


B


Nino knew the only reason Alya wasn't mad at him for not intervening was because Adrien hadn't dropped her in the puddle. He knew or was at least reasonably sure Adrien wouldn't do it. He watched a moment as Chloe distracted Alya and they started talking. Normally he would join in on their conversations, but he was still lost in his own thoughts. Maybe I should talk to the school counselor about my dreams. No, she'd probably have me committed if I told her about them. He frowned. Adrien and Chloe were now talking and it was something about Chloe's real mom coming back home for a while.

Nino drifted through his day, up until lunchtime. Alya had been late to the cafeteria and seemed to be a little upset, although she didn't want to talk about it. Since he was in the same kind of mood, he didn't push it. Under other circumstances, he probably would have.

"Oh, I'm going to go out with Chloe after school to do some shopping. You don't mind do you? We are getting together later tonight already.

"No, that's fine." He laughed. "You and Chloe can enjoy your girly stuff and we can go through with your plan afterwards. You've pounded it into me enough we don't need to go over it again." He sighed dramatically.

"Are you sure, I really want this to work. Everything needs to be perfect." Ayla responded.

"Dudette, things will work out fine, or they wont." He replied. "It's up to Mr. D and Ms. C how it all turns out. We can't force them to make a connection, we can only put them in a position to have it happen."

"That was really philosophical Nino, and I do love you for it, but that is such a load of crap." She placed her hands on his shoulders and shook him little. "We can make it as perfect as possible to make it easier for them to connect. They need to connect." She emphasized the last part.

"Why?" He asked. She blinked and paused.

"Because they do. It's important." She replied.

"Why is it so important to you?" He asked. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"If you ask me why one more time, I'm going to knee you in the crotch."

"Wh." He stopped himself for saying it. He wasn't sure if she was joking or not and thought best not to find out.


C


"Hey Pops. Hey Mr. D." Nino stated when he entered the Dupain Bakery. His father was sitting at a small table eating a sandwich and speaking to Tom.

"Hey Nino." His dad replied.

"Hi Nino." Tom added.

"Tom finally," Nino's father emphasized finally, "decided on a color for the game room. I've just got a couple of things to finish up tonight and we can paint tomorrow. Then he just needs to fill it with whatever crap he wants."

"That's awesome." Nino replied. He'd have a lot more free time once they were done. He'd also be able to buy the new turntables he'd been craving.

"Is it time for us to go?" Tom asked checking his watch.

"Just about." Nino replied. Tom got up and flipped the sign on the door to closed and got up to change his clothes. They got ready to leave and Tom turned to Nino's father.

"Don't forget to lock up after you're done."

"No problem my friend." He replied and grinned.

"And don't put any fish in my bed."

"Still holding onto that are you?" Nino's father smirked.

"You did it three times when we were at university." Tom remarked. "Three times."

"I'm older and more mature now."

"Is that why you put the plastic wrap around my toilet seat the other day, because you're more mature."

"Yes, because it didn't ruin any of your sheets or mattress. " Tom rolled his eyes.

"I will have my revenge." Tom threatened. Nino's dad just laughed.

"You can try my friend, you can try." Nino was quiet but listed to the two older men closely. His father talked about his university days, but never really got into the details, except when he spoke with Tom. If not for moments like his, Nino would never have found out his dad had been a prankster.

"Do you have any ideas what I can do to get back at your father?" Tom asked Nino after they got a block away from the bakery.

"Honestly, no. I don't really do practical jokes, and neither do any of the people I hang out with. I guess we're totally boring." He shrugged. Tom smiled.

"Naw, not boring, just not irritating." The pair laughed as Nino saw Alya in the distance with Sabine Cheng.

"Hey Alya!" He yelled. Looks like we timed it perfectly. Nino thought. At least Alya's plan is working so far.

"Oh, hi Nino, what are you up too?" Alya yelled back with a little wave.

"Mr. D and I are just about to do some bowling, you?" He replied trying to sound like it wasn't too rehearsed.

"Hey, so are we." Alya grinned and as if she'd just came up with the greatest idea ever idea, looked at Sabine and added, "Do you mind if they join us?" Sabine response was just to shrug, but Nino noticed she was looking over Mr. D pretty intensely.

"I guess." She finally stated once her eyes had finished their meal.

"Cool, you guys want to join us?" Alya asked.

"That would be awesome." Nino replied, once more trying to not sound like it was rehearsed. "That good with you Mr. D?"

"Sure." Tom replied after he looked at Sabine. Tom opened the door and held it for the rest of the group to go through, Sabine and Alya, whom winked at Nino, first, then Nino and himself. They all paid for their fees and Alya went to set up the scorecard.

"I'm sorry, do you want me to put Mr. D or. . ." She was fishing for his name.

"Tom." He said with a little smile

"Oh yeah, this is Tom Dupain. He runs the Dupain Boulangerie Patisserie." Nino did a quick introduction. Maybe we should have done this when we first got together. "Or as I like to call it, the Dupain Bakery."

"Oh, shoot, I'm sorry, and this is Sabine Cheng, she's my mom's partner." Nino couldn't help but smile a little as he realized Ayla had really forgotten about doing an introduction.

"Ah, partner." Tom seemed to be a little disappointed to hear that.

"No, not like that, I mean in our restaurant. " Alya quickly corrected. Sabine couldn't help but laugh.

"Marlena, her mother," She gestured to Alya, "and I run Paris China Café. We do some Chinese, French fusion foods."

"That sounds cool." Nino spoke an unscripted line, which earned him an elbow in the side from his girlfriend. She'd been so worried that he would do something to blow the plan, she'd ended up doing it herself since Tom and Sabine caught the action.

"So, it would seem we're being set up." Sabine sighed softly, slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, it looks that way to me." Tom then explained, "I thought it was strange when Nino asked if I wanted to go bowling with him." Sabine agreed with a nod of her head as she glanced at Alya.

"Um, well, no, it's not like that." Ayla waved her hands as if she were both trying to surrender and erase what had just happened.

"It's fine. I don't mind. It's been a while since I've gone out, with or without the blind date." Sabine admitted. She looked Tom over again, and Nino would have sworn she had those "Hungry Eyes" you heard sung in 80's songs. She totally wants to eat him alive.

"Yeah, I don't get out much. I would have dressed a little better if I'd known, but…" Tom admitted. Nino watched as Tom and Sabine talked and laughed together. He saw how often Sabine touched Tom. I guess Ayla was right. They look like they're ready to hook up, at least Ms. C totally seems interested in that.

After they finished bowling the group broke up, Nino walking with Tom and Sabine heading back with Alya. He knew that Alya would be interrogating Sabine on what she thought of Tom, so he asked Tome about Sabine.

"Looks like you and Ms. C hit it off." Nino stated since he had no reason to hide the set-up.

"I did enjoy her company." Tom admitted and when got a little quieter. "I've always had a thing for Asian woman."

"Really?" Nino asked.

"Yes. Better yet, she was also a chef, and enjoys baking. It was great talking to her. I hate to say it Nino, since I don't want to jinx it, but she's as close to perfect as I've seen."

"Wow, that's awesome dude." Nino replied. He hadn't expected it to go that well. "So does that mean you're going to ask her out again?"

"Yes, I will. I'm wondering if it would be too forward to have her over and cook for her." Nino Shrugged.

"Don't know." He replied, because he really didn't. "Whatever you decide, I wish you luck."


D


"I don't see anyone else." Came a female voice. He looked over and saw a woman dressed in mostly orange and white. She resembled a fox of some sort, but he knew it wasn't just that. She was someone he knew, but he just couldn't remember who she was. He only knew that he cared about her and was concerned for her safety. He spoke before he even realized he was speaking.

"We need to get up there and stop him." No, we need to get medical help! He screamed in his own head. When did I become a hero? He wondered.

"The others will be heading that way too, I'm sure." The fox babe stated. He could hear a little pain in her voice as well. Who are the others?

He hadn't even seen the attack but he felt a burning in his arm even as he saw his hand disconnect from it. He noticed the bracelet he had been wearing just hang in the air a moment, before the armored woman, with "Nasty Woman" written across the chest plate, grabbed it and threw it towards the silver masked dude. He fell to his knees and grasped his stump.

"You have two more knights of the patriarchy to defeat before we can end it fully." The villain in the silver mask stated to Nasty Woman. "Don't forget to get their Miraculouses." He added.

"I made a promise long ago that I intend on keeping." The sliver masked man leaned down and smirked. "If you're still alive if she shows up here, let her know that I'll be waiting on top of the Eiffel tower for her." The villain vanished.

"Oh my God." He heard the female voice say, the shock in her voice, obvious. "She rushed over to Nino and pulled out a YoYo and used the string to wrap around his stump, pulling it painfully tight cutting off the blood flow from the wound.

"Cat Noir?" The woman asked as she jumped to her feet. It was too late, and, she was hit with the blunt end of Nasty Woman's weapon, sending her flying through the air. Nino looked up at her. She smiled and bent over and started to undo the YoYo string.

Nino woke up and wasn't sure where he was. The dream was longer then it had ever been, extremely disconnected, and more vivid then any previously. He felt sick to his stomach and rushed to the garbage can where he vomited. He knew he couldn't go on like this. The only thing that gave him hope that it was nearly finished was the dream being longer with more parts coming together. Maybe his theory about figuring out the entire dream to stop it, would work.

"Dude, if that doesn't work, and this just keep going on, I'm going to need help. Like I'll give it a week." He stated to himself as he carried his garbage can to the bathroom with him. He felt lucky he'd emptied it last night and all he needed to do was dump in into the toilet and clean it out. After that he showered and got ready for school.


E


He wanted to tell Alya about his dream, he really did, but at the same time he was afraid to. He hadn't gotten much sleep and felt like everyone would be staring at him. No one did though.

"You look tired." Tom stated when Nino picked up his food at the Dupain Bakery.

"I was up playing a video game late after I got home." Nino lied with a yawn.

"Which game? When I get everything set up maybe we can battle. I'm actually looking forward to beating your dad's ass in Street Fighter." Nino found himself a little lost by the conversation. It wasn't that Tom said anything weird; it was just Nino was having trouble focusing on pretty much everything.

"Wait, pops plays Street Fighter?" Nino asked both surprised and trying to steer the conversation away from his night.

"Oh yeah, he and I were the best players in university."

"Wow, I did not know what. That's totally, um weird actually."

"Why, because us old guys played video games in school? Don't forget, if it weren't for our generation, your generation wouldn't have the modern games. We helped support the industry." Nino couldn't help himself and grinned.

"Yup, and now my generation can get rich playing games online." He gave Tom a thumbs up before leaving with his food and headed to the bus stop.

"So Sabine enjoyed her time with Mr. Dupain. How did he like her?" Alya asked as they sat down.

"He totally liked her. He's gonna call her for a real date." Nino responded with a little smile.

"Awesome. I am the matchmaking queen." He finished as the bus stopped. They got off and headed to Adrien's place to pick him up.

"I hear you're holding Adrien Agreste hostage in there. Send him out and there won't be any trouble." Nino said into the comm.

"How many pieces do you want him sent out in?" Nathalie replied without missing a beat. How does she do that? He wondered.

Once again Nino didn't really pay attention to the conversations going on around him before class started. He'd been afraid his schoolwork was suffering, and found he was correct when Ms. Bustier asked him to stop by between classes.

"Nino, is something wrong?" She asked. "I've been noticing you're not paying attention in class lately and your last test score was well below your usual ones." She even had the offending test paper on her desk as a visual aid.

"Oh dude, I've been suffering from that, um, what's it called, when you have trouble sleeping?" He asked.

"Insomnia?" She asked. "You've been suffering from insomnia?" Nino nodded in response. "Have you been noticing additional stress in your life that could be causing it?" She'd hit the nail on the head; the stress from the nightmares was stressing him out, no pun intended. Truthfully, there were many nights he didn't want to go to sleep because of the nightmares. He wasn't sure how to answer her though.

"I'm on top of it, really I am." He replied. "I know what the problem is, I'm trying to fix it."

"Well, I'll give you some time, but if I don't see some improvement soon, I'll have to talk to your parents about it." Nino frowned and nodded.

"Gotcha. I already gave myself a time limit." He smiled.

"Good luck Nino, and if you need someone to help or even just to talk to, please feel free to come to me. That's why I'm here."

"Thanks dudette." He replied and then panicked a moment. "I mean thanks Miss Bustier." She laughed.

"It's fine Nino."


F


After school was out, the group headed to the Agreste mansion. Nino hadn't been paying a lot of attention to what was going on, as he was still mostly interacting on autopilot through his day, which made his catch of Chloe's bag impressive to himself when Emilie Agreste jumped out of the house. Granted, he almost fell down the stairs, but he caught the bag. Nino had met Emilie Agreste a number of times in the past, so he had an idea of what to expect and under normal circumstances would have been better prepared. It did cause him to start paying attention to what was going on around him though.

"I wish my mother would grow up a little." Adrien stated as he watched his mother and Chloe. That caused Nino and Alya to laugh.

"I wish my mom was that childish. Her and Sabine are so serious all the time." Alya sighed dramatically.

"Yeah, being an adult mostly sucks my dude, let her have her fun." Nino couldn't help but add that. He knew how much his pops worked and he was actually glad that his dad was doing work for Tom, since it gave his dad a chance to hang out with his old friend.

"Yeah, but her fun often involves me." He complained with a groan.

"Oh, you mean like their dress up games?" Alya smirked and Nino watched Adrien's face fall into irritation. Just stop right there, Alya, don't go any further. Of course, she did take it further. "Oh yeah, I've seen the photos. You don't really think my best friend would keep those secret from me do you?"

"CHLOE!" Adrien shouted and turned on his heels and into a sprint towards Chloe faster then Nino would ever have thought he could run.

"Gotta run," Chloe screamed as she ran into the house.

"Hi Nino, and I'm assuming you're Alya." Emilie greeted them. Nino had forgotten that this was the first time Alya would me Emilie. He watched, as Emilie looked her over like she was choosing a steak to cook. He wanted to interrupt her, to protect Alya from that gaze.

"Chloe is right, you are beautiful." He saw the surprise on Alya's face from Emilie's comment. He'd told her that a million times, and she always brushed it off. Emilie stated it, and Alya started to blush.

"Chloe said that?" Alya had trouble speaking. Maybe Emilie would notice it, maybe not. Nino knew how hard it was to make Alya speechless so it stood out to him. He found himself a little annoyed, truth be told.

"Yes, many times actually. I think she's been hinting at having you join in when I have her try on clothes for a while now. Of course today she flat out suggested it." Emilie was smiling as she spoke. "And I think I know the dress she was talking about for you, and it would be perfect." There was a slight pause "However, I do I have a favor, or more of a proposition for you, both of you in fact."

"Oh?" Alya questioned as this got Nino's attention and he cocked his head a little to listen.

"I was telling Chloe that I've been offered a spot in a Gallery spotlighting photos by celebrities and they asked me to supply some. Now I have plenty of landscapes but I want to show off my fashion photography, and I would like to have a couple of additional models to help out. That is where I was hoping the two of you would come in." She wants us to model for her? Seriously?

"As I mentioned, this isn't just a favor, it's more of a proposition, as I would pay you for your time as models. Of course you'll need at least one parent's permission on a consent form, preferably both though." She'll pay us for it? Nino thought. Adrien had told him some of the horror stories of modeling clothing for his mother, so Nino was a bit leery about Emilie's proposal. Still, his mind focused on the additional equipment he could buy with the money, even before he knew what she was going to pay them.

"I'll talk to my parents, but I don't think I'm right for it. I think you would be better off finding a true beauty, and not me." It was Nino's turn to be surprised. What did she mean by "True Beauty"? Alya was gorgeous.

"Oh please, whoever told you, you weren't a true beauty was insane." Emilie shot a look at Nino that could have melted steel.

"Don't look at me, I think she's the most beautiful girl I know." The look rather offended Nino, however Emilie did give him a little wink as she pulled Ayla away. She's messing with me again. Nino watched as Emilie spoke with his girlfriend, and the reactions Alya was having while they spoke. He knew she had moments where she thought of herself as unattractive, and he'd done everything he could think of to convince her otherwise. Sometimes it worked, usually it didn't. He was a little jealous over the way Emilie was apparently getting through to Alya, but if it gave her more confidence in herself, then he wasn't going to complain, too much. Around the time that Emilie was showing Alya things on her phone, and Alya made little googly eyes over them, he thought it was time to get back into the conversation.

"So How much would you pay us, and um, some of your outfits for Adrien, those aren't going to be the ones you'll like use on me?" He asked.

"Oh God no. As much fun as it is to get Adrien in a dress, I would never put those photos in a gallery without his express permission, and he's not going to give me that. No, I have some boy style clothes that correspond with the Lolita Style outfits I have for the girls. But that's not all; I plan on having you all in other styles as well. I can see Alya in this gorgeous evening gown I picked up in Italy when I was there last. As for the pay, here is what I was thinking." Nino felt his Jaw drop when she quoted the amount she wanted to pay them. He had sudden visions of gold plated DJ equipment in his head.

"I'm in." Nino stated as all his apprehensiveness was drowned by the money he'd make.

"I will beg if I have to for that kind of paycheck." Alya added.


G


Nino had asked Alya if she wanted him to go with her as moral support when she went to talk to her mother. Alya had decided against it. She felt her mother would look at it as they were gaining up on her, and that would just make it worse. Instead, he headed over to the Dupain Bakery to help his dad.

"All we've got left to do is paint." He explained to Nino. "Tom already picked up the paint and we're ready to go. Anything else is up to him. Although I did tell him I'd help him get the furniture in here when he was ready."

"Cool. I'll do the painting if you want to hang out with him for a while."

"Thank Nino." His dad replied with a grin. Nino went up to the game room and looked around. His dad had a couple of ladders and cans of paint and the trim taped off with plastic on the floor. Nino started to paint. He wasn't sure how long it took him, but once he got the lower part of the room done, and by that, he'd finished what he could reach with the short foot ladder, he went down to get his dad's help holding the stretch ladder that would ne tall enough to reach even the ceiling in the extra tall room. Nino paused as he listened to the adults talking.

"So yeah, she was either a prostitute or a thief, because once I woke up, all the money in my wallet was gone." Tom stated with a smile.

"Seriously? Nino's dad asked.

"I'll tell you what though, that woman gave me the best night of my life. No one has been able to match her in bed since then. I swear if I meet her again, I'll marry her." Tom laughed at his own joke.

"Man, I wish I'd had a chance to travel the world like you did." Nino listened and chuckled to himself as his dad spoke. He already knew Tom had spent a lot of time after university traveling the world to learn new cooking techniques and recipes. It's why he had such a large selection of exotic baked goods.

"You know what my wife likes to do when we get intimate. . ." That was all Nino had to hear, he rushed back up to the game room. Listening to Tom's conquests was far more acceptable to him, then to hear his dad talk about his mom. Nino leaned the tall ladder against the wall and climbed it with a bucker of paint.

About a half hour later, the two men heard a scream, a crash and a whole lot more screams. They rushed up to see that Nino and the tall ladder were on the ground and Nino was freaking out as he held his wrist.


H


"Well, it's not broken." The doctor stated when he entered the room. "You just sprained it pretty bad. We're going to put a brace on it, and I would recommend not doing too much with it." He wrote down some instructions for Nino to follow.

"I do have one more question though?" He broke up the image of Nino's x-ray on the computer screen. "Have you broken your arm before? We have no records of it." He showed Nino and his father the x-ray. "You can see where it's healed up here." He pointed out a line that went though the radius and ulna. "It almost looks like his hand was cut off and reattached." The doctor joked.

"No, my son's never broken his arm before." Nino's dad commented ignoring the joke. "Not that I'm aware of at any rate." Nino just stared in horror at the x-ray. He'd dreamed a number of times of his arm being cut off and he was certain it was that exact location of the cut. He fainted.


I


Nino explained away his fainting as having got a vivid picture in his mind of the doctor's "joke". He didn't mention that he could imagine it so vividly because it had been part of his dreams on and off for weeks. They still kept him for a couple of additional hours for observation. Nino was actually grateful for it, thinking that it would mean he wouldn't be able to get enough sleep to end up in a dream state. He was wrong.


J


He and the fox babe jumped on cars, light posts and outcroppings on the buildings until they ended up on the top of Le Grand Paris Hotel, the pool level in fact. That was pretty cool, he thought. They came face to face with a man in a purple and silver suit, wearing a silver mask on his head. Nino glanced around looking for the others the fox babe had mentioned.

"I'm glad you've brought your Miraculouses to me. If you hand them over, I'll let you go." He didn't like the tone of voice the villain was using. The guy was cocky and it was irritating Nino.

He hadn't even seen the attack but he felt a burning in his arm even as he saw his hand disconnect from his arm. He noticed the bracelet he had been wearing just hang in the air a moment, before it was grabbed out of the air by Nasty Woman and thrown towards the silver masked dude. He fell to his knees and grasped his stump.

"Another knight of the patriarchy." Nino heard the American accented woman say as a girl in a bee like costume landed nearby. Both he and the girl seemed to watch as the fox costume dissolved away revealing a blur of clothing. He heard a startled scream and looked at the bee girl. Nasty Woman had grabbed her by the ponytail and yanked her off her feet. Even before the girl could fully fall, he watched that weapon slice through the top of her head just above her eyes. His own eyes widened with terror as he felt a warm liquid seeping into his pants. He noticed as she fell her costume dissolved and the girl looked like Chloe.

"You have two more knights of the patriarchy to defeat before we can end it fully." The villain in the silver mask stated to Nasty Woman. "Don't forget to get their Miraculouses." He added.

"Eiffel Tower." Nino Croaked. "He's waiting for you."

"I'll fix this Nino." She stated in anger. "Whatever it takes, I'll fix this." She opened the YoYo and used it like a cellphone. "There are wounded by the pool of Lad Grand Paris, send help soon." Nino heard the sound of metal bouncing on concrete with the final sound being mellowed by liquid. They both looked over to see a ring in a pool of the fox babe's blood.

"I prefer you to suffer more." Nasty Woman kicked him in the head.

"Chloe?" He asked aloud as he sat up. "Was that Chloe? Did I just dream about Chloe being totally murdered?" He shook his head. He'd been disturbed by his dreams before, but something about it looking like one of his friends was a victim made it all the worse. He started scrolling through his phone wanting to either send Chloe a text or call her to make sure she was all right. It was a little irrational, but he'd felt irrational since the X-ray. Nino came to a startling realization; he didn't actually have her number.

"I could call Alya or Adrien for it, but they'd want to know why I want it." He frowned. How did he not have her number? He'd known them both for years. Dude, I guess I've never hung out with just Chloe. Before Alya she just came along with Adrien. Once Alya and her became friends, she was the one who always contacted Chloe. He decided to wait until he saw her. It's not like his dream was real, he did have his arm intact, except for the weird healed break shown in the X-ray. He shivered a little at the thought. Nino wondered if Chloe's head was x-rayed, would she have a healed line in her skull?

Nino didn't bother stopping by the bakery that morning. He knew Tom would probably give him whatever he wanted for free, but with his reaction to the sprain the night before Nino was too embarrassed to face Tom. Instead he just headed to meet Alya.

"What happened to your arm?!" Alya seemed more then a little freaked out about the brace on his arm.

"Oh, it's nothing, I just sprained it last night when I was helping out my pops." He couldn't help but lift his arm up and stare at it. He felt there was some sort of connection between the healed break and his dream. "Yeah, I totally didn't sleep well because of it. Dude, it was so embarrassing." That was pretty much true.

He noticed on the bus that Alya was yawning a lot. She must be really tired too. Qith everything else going on, Nino wasn't in the mood to make any weird comments to Nathalie this time, and just asked her if Adrien was ready. Ironically, that was the first time he'd heard her pause before her reply. Once they headed back to the bus and rode towards school, he noticed Adrien was having trouble staying awake. Everyone seemed really tired to him. For the first time, he had to wonder if they were all having nightmares.

"You all look terrible, utterly terrible." Chloe remarked when they entered the classroom and headed for their seats. Nino couldn't help but stare at her too. Her hair was different, she'd recently changed it, but he couldn't remember when. He thought about her being pulled off her feet by her ponytail in his dream. It seemed like a weird coincidence but a very important one.

"Your mother is showing." Adrien commented, obviously sounding a little annoyed. Nino saw the look of hurt that appeared on Chloe's face. Adrien must have noticed it too.

"Sorry, Chloe. I'm just really tired." Adrien apologized quickly looking a little sheepish.

"Audrey came home earlier then we expected. I ran into her this morning. It was not pleasant." Was Chloe's mom supposed to come back this week? Nino wondered. Man, how much did I like miss this week?

"I'm really sorry then." Adrien sounded like he was sincere.

"Me too." He saw Ayla give Chloe a comforting squeeze as she spoke.

"If you like, I could go over there and fart on your mother." Nino stated trying to help the situation a little. He felt really bad that he hadn't noticed how awful his friends had been looking recently. "No seriously, I've been like super gassy since last night." They all started laughing.

"Everyone, please settle down. I have a meeting with Mr. Damocles this period, so I'm going to let you all have a study hall. Please try to study while I'm gone. Sabrina, you're in charge of the class." Miss Bustier left the room in Sabrina's care. Nino noticed that Adrien almost immediately put his head on his desk to take a nap. Nino envied him. He was still afraid to sleep. He also found Adrien distracting, as his friend seemed to be shifting around and trying to talk in his sleep. Dude, how can he start dreaming that fast? Nino wondered glad that he didn't. Although the night before he must have gone into a dream state right away. He was pulled from his thoughts and startled to his feet when he heard a terrible scream from Adrien.

"MARRINETTE!" Nino felt that if heartbreak had a sound, it was the sound Adrien had made while screaming that name. He looked around. Almost the entire class was on their feet, except for Lila. Most of the girls, except for Lila again, seemed to have tears in their eyes, and the boys looked like they were holding back their own. He watched as Alya and Chloe started to weep in each other's arms. Yes, Heartbreak definitely seemed like the most appropriate word as that's exactly how he'd describe the look on everyone's faces, everyone except Lila. He knew Alya had some issues with the girl that she didn't want to talk to him about, but now he was wondering what was wrong with her that she seemed to have such an emotional void in her heart.

"Um Adrien, who's Marinette?" Kim asked the question Nino was about to ask him. The name seemed important, but Nino wasn't sure why.

"I need to see the nurse." Adrien rushed from the room just as Miss Bustier came back.

"Adrien?" She asked as he passed her and then glanced around the room, her eyes wide at all the teary eyed faces. "What happened?" She asked looking towards Sabrina for an answer.

"I don't know." Sabrina replied sniffling and wiping her nose with a hanky.


K


Nino had wanted to talk to Chloe, to at least get her phone number, but he didn't. He tried to speak with Alya, but couldn't find the words. Adrien's scream had derailed the entire day for the three of them causing the rest of it going by like a slow blur for Nino. None of them went even home together. Ayla ended up walking, as did Chloe, but they went in separate directions. Nino felt like they all needed their space, but also that they needed each other too. It's so messed up.

"Dude, no mater what happens tomorrow, I'm getting everyone together. Something is really wrong here." He stated, getting a few strange looks from the others on the bus that overheard him.


L


The street exploded around them, and he felt himself flying through the air. He hit a parked car with his back and watched as little stars circled his vision. He wanted to know what had hit them, what caused all the pain he felt.

"I don't see anyone else." Came a female voice. He looked over and saw the fox babe. She was someone he knew, but he still couldn't remember who, just that he cared about her and was concerned for her life. He spoke before he even realized he was speaking.

"We need to get up there and stop him." He knew they needed medical help but he went along with her as he always did in his dream.

"The others will be heading that way too, I'm sure." The fox babe stated. He could hear a little pain in her voice, and he was desperately trying to remember who the others were aside from the girl he was certain was Chloe.

The pair jumped on cars, light posts and outcroppings on the buildings until they ended up on the top of Le Grand Paris Hotel, the pool level in fact. Being able to leap like that was totally awesome, but then he knew something bad was about to happen. They came face to face with the man he recalled was called Hawk Moth. Nino glanced around looking for the others the fox babe had mentioned, knowing they wouldn't get there in time, but not able to change anything.

"I'm glad you've brought your Miraculouses to me. If you hand them over, I'll let you go." He wanted to punch the guy in his cocky mouth.

"Not happening." We need to run away before she gets here! He screamed in his head to himself and the fox babe. Then there she was, Nasty Woman. He still assumed that person was a woman. Once again he didn't see the attack but felt that burning in his arm and watched as this hand became discounted from his arm. The bracelet he had been wearing hung in the air before it was grabbed Nasty Woman and thrown towards Hawk Moth. He fell to his knees and grasped his stump. He watched in horror as Nasty Woman swung her weapon separating the fox babe's head from her neck. Her head even rotated around as it fell. He wondered in horror is she was alive long enough to see her headless body. Nasty Woman had grasped hold of the fox babe's necklace as the body started to tip. Again she tossed it at Hawk Moth.

"Another knight of the patriarchy." Nino heard that American accent say as the bee girl he now thought was Chloe, landed nearby. Both he and the girl paused to watch as the fox costume dissolved away revealing an orange plaid shirt and skinny jeans. He heard a startled scream and looked at Chloe. Nasty Woman had grabbed her by the ponytail and yanked her off her feet. He wished he could close his eyes so he didn't have to watch as Nasty Woman's weapon sliced through the top of Chloe's head. His eyes were wide with terror and he even felt a warm liquid seeping into his pants. As he went to look away he finally saw the unmasked head of the fox babe.

"Ay, Ayla." He whispered when he recognized the fox babe. "Ayla." He stated again.

"You have two more knights of the patriarchy to defeat before we can end it fully." The villain in the silver mask stated to Nasty Woman. "Don't forget to get their Miraculouses." He added.

"Yes Hawk Moth. Your contribution to this cause will always be remembered." She stated before she leapt off the building. Nino had scooted on his knees towards the body. Hawk Moth moved over to him and smiled.

"Looks like Ladybug was trying to reuse my cast offs. No wonder you all fell so easily." Hawk Moth commented with a chuckle.

"Why?" Nino croaked.

"I made a promise long ago that I intend on keeping." He leaned down and smirked. "If you're still alive and if she shows up here, let her know that I'll be waiting at the top of the Eiffel tower." The villain vanished. Nino didn't know how much time had passed when he heard someone else nearby. He looked up still holding his stump trying to stop the bleeding while he cried over Ayla's body.

"Oh my God." He heard the female voice say, the shock in her voice, obvious. "She rushed over to Nino and pulled out a YoYo. She used the string to wrap around his wrist, pulling it painfully tight cutting off the blood flow. He looked up into her tear filled bluebell colored eyes.

"Eiffel Tower." Nino Croaked. "He's waiting for you."

"I'll fix this Nino." She stated in anger. "Whatever it takes, I'll fix this." She opened the YoYo and used it like a cellphone. "There are wounded by the pool of Le Grand Paris, send help soon." Nino heard the sound of metal bouncing on concrete with the sound of final bounce being mellowed by liquid. They both looked over to see a ring in a pool of Ayla's blood.

"Cat Noir?" The woman asked as she jumped to her feet. He wanted to warm her about Nasty Woman, but he couldn't. She was hit with the blunt end of Nasty Woman's weapon, sending her flying through the air. Nino looked up at her. She smiled and bent over undoing the YoYo string.

"I prefer you to suffer more." She then kicked him in the head.

Nino woke up with a silent scream on his lips. He jumped from his bed and grabbed his cell phone, hitting the quick access to call Ayla's phone. It wasn't answered right away freaking him out after that dream. It did eventually pick up but Alya didn't answer, instead he heard Ayla's voice distantly through the phone's microphone.

"What the hell?" She asked sounding confused, with her voice echoing like the microphone was just catching her voice.


To Be Continued

Next Chapter: Emilie


NOTES:


Probably the darkest chapter of this story.

I look at Nino as being the most laid back character in the series, at least until something happens to get him going, such at finding out Adrien has never had a real birthday party or Alya being kidnapped by her sister. That's why I figure that he'd be so affected by what he witnessed in his dreams. I also wanted his to be more of a jumble, more of a nightmare then the others. I hope I succeeded in that.

I don't have a proofreader (I've mentioned in other stories how much my friend who normally does it hates this series and the main character) so I've already reread and did some editing. I'm going to let it sit for a couple days then reread it again. Hopefully I can catch most cause there is no way in Hell I'll catch all of my mistakes and typos. I'm also hoping to watch some Nino heavy episodes to see If I can better capture his way of talking. (I did just that and changed a lot of his dialogue that wasn't previously written in other chapters.

Emilie's chapter is next and will be a past heavy one. It'll most likely be longer because of that. I have lots of little ideas for her to string together.

If anyone has any thoughts about what's happened, feel free to send me a PM if you don't want to leave spoilers in reviews.

As always, Reviews are greatly appreciated and apparently very fueling.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Peace and Love!