Rena Rouge made her first appearance in their fight with Saptois. Chat had to admit, it was nice to not have to fight alone while Ladybug acted out her plans. After the fight, he had been enlisted to take the Césaire twins home. They were more than happy to come with him, which made his job a whole lot easier. However, after the twins were safely in their beds, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.
Chat turned, but he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until he made a move to go in the direction of the bakery. Something pounced on top of him, and caused him to roll across the building he was perched on. He reached for his staff, but did not have much time to react when whatever it was turned tail and ran. Chat thought about following it, but thought better of it when he heard his miraculous beep.
Chat was becoming paranoid. Every few nights when he was out on patrol with Ladybug, he saw that thing somewhere. He thought about pointing it out to Ladybug, but once he did get the opportunity the thing was out of sight. However, he did keep a watchful eye on the creature while he could. Other than his first meeting with it, it hadn't tried to attack him or Ladybug. That factor put him at ease, but the idea of an unknown creature running a muck did not.
At first, he thought it was an akuma, but other than attacking him, it hadn't caused any mischief. It had not tried to come after him nor Ladybug while they were on patrol. While being an akuma seemed pretty likely, adding those factors in made it seem a lot less likely. This alarmed him. If it wasn't an akuma, what was that thing?
"Chat, you've been glaring at that sign for the past five minutes. Is everything okay?" Ladybug was staring at him expectantly.
"Everything is fine m'lady." He said, trying to muster a grin.
"Are you sure? I didn't think you were that interested in the Agreste fashion line."
Chat couldn't come up with a reasonable excuse for that. He just gaped like a fish out of water. Luckily, the situation was saved when both of them realized the time.
"I have to go. "They both uttered at the same time.
Chat took the long way back to the bakery, as usual. He didn't get too close until he saw Marinette go inside. He then made the final jump on the balcony, checked to make sure no one was watching, and detransformed. Plagg was surprisingly silent after the detransformation. It wasn't until later, after Marinette was asleep that the cat kwami spoke again.
"You're seeing him too, aren't you?" Plagg muttered.
Chat looked at the cat kwami, who simply stared blankly back. He gave his best attempt at a nod, which the kwami scowled at.
"I was afraid you'd say that."
Marinette was trying to haphazardly stitch together the garment she was working on while trying to hold her phone to her ear.
"Don't you ever find it strange that Chat Noir never shows up to fan meet ups?" Alya was on her current tanget. Chat Noir being too much of a mystery. "Granted what times I've interacted with him, he has complied to answer questions. But, he just seems off."
Marinette was a bit surprised by this. She usually just wrote off Chat's strange behavior. "Off how?"
Alya seemed a little more hesitant to comply. "I don't know. I just find it strange how much more active he is than Ladybug. He always is the first to a fight and always lingers around the city afterword."
Marinette could understand where Alya was coming from. Granted, she did want them to keep their identities a secret, but it was almost like Chat wasn't a person outside of the mask. "I get what you mean, Alya. He is a bit introverted when it comes to fans, but a lot of the fans questions are a bit personal." Marinette remembered one situation when a fan boldly asked him about his love life. She recalled how flustered he'd gotten, which really wasn't like him at all.
"That could be a possibility. But I just think he's hiding something, besides his secret identity, and I'd really like to know what." Alya said offhandly.
Now it was Marinette's turn to be uncomfortable. Alya had gotten better with obsessing over her and Chat after her time as Rena Rouge, but she still had her moments. Her being curious about Chat worried her. It wasn't that she was worried about Chat hurting her or Alya getting hurt in general. What she was worried about was what Alya would find. It wasn't like she didn't want to know Chat outside of the mask, she would love to be able to spend more time with him. But, it would put them both at risk. "I'm sure Chat has a good reason for keeping his secrets hidden from the public." She hoped that this would help deter Alya from digging to deeply.
"Maybe you're right." Alya said, sounding like she felt a bit guilty. "I wouldn't want someone digging up my secrets either."
Marinette almost sighed in relief when she heard a tap on the window. She almost threw her phone when she saw a certain black cat staring at her with expectant eyes. "Uhh, I gotta go. See you tomorrow."
"Wait, Mari-"Marinette cut her off abruptly and ended the call.
She drug the cat superhero in by his ear. "You do realize you can't just be outside my window, right? That would draw way too much attention-"
Chat only half listened to her scolding and then politely asked. "Can I borrow some paper and a pencil?"
Marinette stared at him with a blank look before obliging. Once he was given the materials he asked for, he thanked her and then plopped down on her floor. Marinette, even more confused, looked over Chat's shoulder. "Might I ask what you are doing?"
"While Ladybug and I have been patrolling lately, I've noticed someone following us. They usually disappear before I can point them out to Ladybug. I thought that having some sort of image of them to show to Ladybug might help us with finding out who they are."
Marinette hummed in reply but she felt the hairs raise on the back of her neck. How long had Chat known about this and not said anything? Granted she was not upset with him, but she was more concerned about whatever Chat was seeing. What if it was an akuma? She had been slightly careless with her detransformations as of late, if Hawkmoth found out her identity through an akuma, they'd be in great danger. When she looked over Chat's shoulder again, she was fairly surprised. The rough sketch Chat had drawn looked a little like him, but not that much at the same time. This person, or creature more like it, looked like an older version of Chat. The same blond hair, but it was much longer. This person's features were twisted into a snarl. There was also a thin scar twisting across the person's face. All in all, they were quite a sight.
"When did you first see them?" Marinette asked, innocuously.
"A couple days ago, after our fight with the Sapostis," Chat began. "I had just taken the Césaire girls home when this thing tackled me."
"It attacked you?" Marinette said, now worried.
"It just rolled me, and then left. It hasn't tried to attack me or Ladybug, but it worries me that it is hanging around." Chat said staring down at the drawing.
"I can understand that." Marinette responded.
"Thanks again for the paper, I'll make it up to you when I can." Chat offered.
"No, that's fine, anything for one of the heroes of Paris." She said offhandly.
"Look, I have to go but, I'll see you later." Chat said, grabbing Marinette's hand and kissing the back of it. He then bounded out the balcony trapdoor.
"Tikki," Marinette asked. "Do you know what's going on?"
The little bug god came out of her hiding place to go to Marinette. "I'm not quite sure, Marinette. Chat's situation is unique as it is."
"Wait, what do you mean unique?" Marinette asked, now even more puzzled.
Tikki froze then stated. "What I meant was, this isn't like anything that I have seen with any of my past Ladybugs. I'm sorry I can't really help more."
"Thanks anyway Tikki." Marinette said and sighed.
"Do you love me?"
Chat had caught Marinette off guard with this question. Of course she did care about him, but she wasn't sure about her feelings for him being romantic. There wasn't anyone else she was interested in per say. She had thought about giving him a chance, but was worried about the danger that would come with it.
"I'm not sure."
That had been her only response to Chat's question. This had been the first time he had spoken about anything remotely romantic since their talk after fighting Glaciator. She told him she would try to eventually give him a chance, but not now. He had seemed fine with this at the time and hadn't brought it up again until now.
Marinette pushed her thoughts aside and grabbed her sewing machine to work on a project. She almost let out a groan when she heard a familiar tapping on her window. Just as she thought, Chat Noir sat perched in front of the window, grinning. As much as she loved his company, he always dropped in at odd times. She tried her best to smile back as she let the cat superhero inside her room. "To what do I owe the visit?"
She hadn't noticed until then that Chat had his right arm behind his back. Once she realized what he had brought her, the thought process from earlier came rushing back. He had brought her roses. Red roses to be exact. She barely reacted when he handed them to her.
"You don't like them do you?" Chat asked, intently staring at her.
"No, no, I do," Marinette said, mustering up a smile. "You just caught me off guard with it is all."
"Oh, I'm sorry." He said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.
"Have you found any more out about the thing tailing you and Ladybug?" Marinette asked, changing the subject.
Chat immediately sobered. "Not yet, my kwami-the thing that gives me powers-doesn't know much about it either."
"That's strange, even the Ladyblog doesn't have any documentation of anything following you or Ladybug." Marinette said.
"I would think I was going crazy but my kwami has seen it as well." Chat said, leaning against Marinette's wall. "I just I wish I knew what it was."
Marinette understood, but was beginning to worry about Chat. Why was he the only one seeing this creature? Was he in trouble; or was something wrong with him and his kwami? Marinette's mind was racing, so she didn't notice Chat trying to speak to her until he tapped on her shoulder.
"I have to go, my timer is running out." Chat gestured to his ring which was now on its third dot.
"Oh, okay." Marinette said, still dazed.
Chat started to walk towards the trap door when he was stopped by Marinette. She had thrown her arms around him in an awkward hug. Chat froze at the contact, but turned so the embrace was a little less awkward.
"Be careful." Marinette mumbled.
"I will." Chat turned to leave for the last time, but looked over his shoulder to take one last look at Marinette. "Take care of yourself, Mari." With that, he was gone.
Marinette slumped to the floor, placing her head in her hands. "Oh, Tikki, what am I going to do with Chat?"
The bug kwami looked at her chosen with pity, not knowing how to advise her. "Maybe it would help if you tell him how you feel?"
"I really don't know what would be the right thing to do." Marinette lamented.
A/N Her Knight got its first review!
That's a good twist. I see the beauty and the beast trick and I reaaaaaally liked. This is a promissing plot with a easy and lovely writting. Keep doing this amazing work-PamNawi
Thanks for the review and I'm glad that you liked it.
Also, it might be a while before I post another chapter. I'm trying to stay ahead by 1-2 chapters, and currently I only have about half of the next chapter done. Thanks for reading!