Marinette sped through the dark water, heart pounding against her ribs while she clutched the small charm close to her chest.

He knows my name. The thought repeated endlessly through her head as if stuck in a whirlpool, her mind unable to get past that initial shock. How does a human know my name!?

"Woah, girl!" Alya appeared out of the darkness as she swam forward with her arms up, a concerned expression on her face. "What's wrong?" Her eyes flitted over Marinette's shoulder, searching the depth as if something might appear there. "You're not being chased, are you?"

"He saw me!" Marinette cried out, her voice cracking in panic. "A-and he knew my name! Alya, he knows me!"

"Alright, slow down," Alya instructed, her voice soft and calm. "Just take deep breaths." She laid her hands over Marinette's shoulders. The gentle touch and her friend's reassurance seemed to work, taking a bit of the edge off of Marinette's confusion. Soon enough, her rapid pulse had returned to a reasonable rhythm.

"So, start from the beginning?" Alya asked softly. "Who saw you?"

"The... The man from the boat. The one with the mask?" Marinette's voice came out a bit less rattled, even if she did hesitate with her explanation. "I didn't notice that he was sitting on the rocks in the bay. I couldn't see him in the dark until he... he called to me."

"Is that when he...?" Alya's eyes widened. "So he somehow knows your name? "

Marinette nodded before moving her clasped hands away from her chest, opening them slowly to reveal the charm band nestled within. Alya's gaze moved over it and narrowed as she stared. Marinette whispered, "This is what he dropped."

"They look similar," Alya mumbled as her eyes flicked up to the side, and Marinette followed her friend's gaze to her own charm. "That can't be a coincidence, unless you two somehow got them from the same place. But even so..."

"I don't remember where mine came from." Marinette fidgeted nervously while she stared at it, trying to will the memory into place. But the harder she tried, the more her head ached with an odd sensation. Something thrashed in the back of her mind, almost as if fighting her.

Alya suddenly sighed, snapping Marinette out of her trance. "Then I'll have to help you to investigate. Though it will have to wait until morning. They're probably all asleep by now."

"Really?" Marinette squeaked before slumping over in the water. "We're not going to spy on them again, are we?"

"Nope," Alya answered with a mischievous grin. "I'm going to talk with them."

- o - o - o - o - o - o -

The sun shone brightly while Nino whittled at a twig of driftwood that he found. While the others hiked off across the island to see if they could spot the supposed 'mermaids,' he chose to remain on the beach near the ship. Adrien thought it was a good idea in case they returned, but Nino simply didn't want to waste the whole day traipsing about, searching for creatures of legends and tall tales.

As he cut off another shaving of wood, the waves lapped against the sand and quickly sped towards his bare feet where he sat. He had no worry of them reaching him though, because he had chosen a spot just up the shore, far enough away to keep himself dry.

So when a tall wave suddenly crashed and licked at his heels, Nino jumped back and dropped his knife, gaze shooting to the sea to find a mound of bubbles foaming in the surf.

Nino blinked to clear his vision, because he swore he saw a shape moving up out of the water. He lifted a hand to rub at his eyes, and when he opened them, he jerked back, shocked to find a very odd... yet... pleasant sight sitting before him.

Coppery hair hung over the woman's shoulders in wavy lengths, brown skin almost seeming to glow in the sunlight. At first glance, she appeared to be a normal human. But... no. She was anything but normal.

It took his brain a moment to process that she wasn't actually wearing any clothes. The pearlescent scales over her chest might have first looked like undergarments to him, as they covered the more 'sensitive' areas of her figure. His curious eyes trailed down to her hips, where a golden tail eventually tapered to a point and transparent fins curled above the surf.

Nino's mouth fell open, but no words came to him.

"Hey there." A playful smirk tugged at her lips as she spoke. "Would you be willing to have a chat? I've got a few questions."

"D-do you?" Nino's voice cracked out about an octave higher than normal, and he turned his head to clear his throat. "Well, uh... Sure? I can oblige that." He nodded dumbly, thinking it was ironic. He had about ten million questions trying to fight to the forefront of his mind about her.

"I appreciate it." Her eyes traveled over him slowly, and Nino subtly tried to sit up straighter. "But first," she said, pointing a slim finger above his shoulder. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"What?" Nino took a second to look back, noting the harpoon-gun-turned-net-launcher and quickly raised his hands. "Nope! No, that's... that's for fishing. Not for mermaids." He slung the weapon off and tossed it as far as he could down the beach. It hit the sand with a muted thunk as he leaned forward with a grin. "Though you do appear to be quite the catch."

The words left his lips before he could stop them, and Nino mentally kicked himself even as he gave her a wink. He had been stuck for far too long with Adrien on that boat. Just as he feared, the mermaid didn't appear amused. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised a single eyebrow above the stern frown she gave him.

The expression was just so... so normal and human, that it took away a bit of the edge to his nerves. "Err..." he brilliantly started. "You had some questions?"

"Right." She unfolded her arms and leaned forward. Nino instinctively tilted away, eyes glancing to the side nervously. "There was another human with you that apparently recognized a friend of mine. He somehow knew her name."

"Her name?" Nino parroted back, and a thought occurred to him. "Actually, wait, before that." He raised his hands apologetically. "I wouldn't mind introducing myself first." His eyes flicked up to hers, and when she didn't answer, he offered his hand. "Name's Nino. Nino Lahiffe. I've never met any mermaids before."

She eyed his hand warily before looking up with a curious frown. "Alya."

Nino dropped his arm with a bit of a pout, but seeing as how she lived in the ocean, maybe she just didn't know standard customs. He glanced around her, eyeing the waves, but she had obviously come alone. "So, your friend. Her name's Marinette?"

"Your companion somehow knew her." Alya tilted her head. "And I'm here to protect her, depending on how you answer my questions." Without giving him any chance to respond, she leaned forward and rested a hand on her hip. "Are you pirates?"

Nino's eyes flicked away, uncertain with how to answer that. Technically, the Spanish considered them as such, but back home, they were nothing less than heroes to the people and excellent privateers as far as the government was concerned.

"Well, uh... That depends on who you ask?" He realized his mistake when he noticed her gaze narrow. "But we definitely aren't! We don't kill innocent people or... or kidnap mermaids or anything like that." He jerked a thumb toward his chest and gave her a cocky smile. "We're actually proper heroes in our hometown of France. Mostly used to saving abducted children and pretty maidens."

"Okaaay..." Alya didn't look impressed, though her icy gaze seemed to defrost just a little. "So how does your friend know mine?"

"He's been searching for her," Nino quickly started. "She disappeared eight months ago—so almost a year now?"

At this bit of information, Alya's expression changed to a look of surprise. He continued on before she could interject. "He saw Marinette last night in the bay, and he recognized her charm because it's the one he gave her."

"So they really did meet before?" Alya frowned and bit at her lip, leaning her head on her palm and drumming her fingers over her cheek.

Nino hummed thoughtfully, sensing something off about that. "Uh... Shouldn't she already know that though?"

"No..." Alya's voice seemed hesitant as she answered, giving him a sideways glance. "She doesn't have any memories of meeting him." Nino stiffened when her gaze focused back on him. "Which leads me to my next question: Why are you searching for her?"

"Why else?" Nino relaxed with a chuckle. "Most of us grew up together, so we're all friends. Marinette and him were even close as kids." And maybe a bit more than that now, at least for Adrien, he thought.

"What, like a pod?" Alya raised a brow. "You're telling me that a bunch of human children found a mermaid and made friends with her without any problems?"

"No, no, that's not it." Nino waved his hands with a shake of his head before looking back up. "It gets a bit weird. The Marinette we know is—was... human."

There was a slight pause in which the only sound was the gentle toss of waves spilling out over the shore. Alya's wide eyes locked onto his for a moment before she seemed to shake out of her surprise. "What you're saying isn't possible, then. Marinette is a mermaid, so she can't be the same girl you're looking for."

Nino laughed at that. "Seriously? I'm talking to you aren't I?" She made a face at that, and he quickly tried to back-track. "Two minutes ago, I didn't think mermaids were even real! Now, though? I can't really question the scenario of a human suddenly turning up as one months after her own disappearance."

"Okay, another question." Alya raised a single finger before pointing it at him. "How did your Marinette disappear?"

Nino leaned back with a sigh. "She was going off to live with relatives of hers for a bit. She's got a cousin that works with silk, and she wanted to apprentice with her to learn better tricks of the trade." Nino winked and added, "Girl's a natural talent. But anyway, on the trip there, the ship ran into a bad hurricane and she fell overboard." His expression darkened as he remembered the day the news broke. "There wasn't much chance she'd survived, but our Captain refused to believe she was gone, so we've all been looking for her since."

Her brows furrowed, and Nino thought she looked slightly distraught by that before her expression shifted and she asked, "Can humans drown?"

Nino blinked back at her. "Uh... yea? I mean, we don't breathe under—oh, wait! I see. It makes sense why you wouldn't know that." He scratched his head as his gaze flicked to her neck. "Do you guys have gills like fish or is it magic or something?"

"Inherent magical ability," Alya answered, much to his surprise. "So you can't 'drown' us with air or anything."

"Duly noted." Nino then tilted forward, fixing a serious look on his face. "So, now that it looks like I've answered your questions, how about you consider another one of mine? Is there any possibility that your Marinette is the same as ours? Cause, according to our Captain, she's a dead ringer. Plus, she's wearing my boy's charm."

Alya pursed her lips. "It... might be possible."

"How long ago did she lose her memory?" Nino asked, a thought suddenly occurring to him. "If it's along the same time-frame..." he trailed off.

She was quiet for a moment, possibly thinking before she softly grunted. "About two seasons ago." She held up her hands, displaying eight fingers. "If your 'months' are anything like the moon phases, then it's been eight since I found her, and when we met, she had already lost her memories. She wasn't alone for very long before that."

"'Moon phases?' Like new moons? Then that would make it around the same time," he murmured. "But how did she—"

Both of them must have been too focused on their conversation, because Nino didn't even notice Kim charging down the beach until the harpoon gun went off. The net unfurled past his vision with a snap and quickly collided with the mermaid before him.

Rather than getting caught, however, she simply disintegrated into a bubbling mess of seafoam.

"Wh... What the—!?" Nino sputtered in horror before spinning around with a glare, his eyes blazing as they landed on his idiot of a friend that at least had the decency to look mortified. "KIM! What the hell was that!?"

"I-I didn't mean to kill her!" Kim wailed, dropping the net gun into the sand at his feet.

"We were having a conversation!" Nino angrily shouted right as Max and Alix jogged up at all the commotion. Markov must have been watching from the sky and alerted them, because the parrot shortly landed on Max's shoulder, squawking excitedly about mermaids and bubbles.

"That was... much more effective than I anticipated," Max said breathlessly as he leaned forward on his knees. "But I believe the foam was merely an illusion."

Nino calmed down a bit as Max's words sank in. "Wait... She wasn't real?"

"What's going on!?" Nino heard Adrien's voice shout from far off. Moment's later, with a crashing of leaves and bushes, he finally burst out onto the sandy beach. His Chat Noir mask had been stowed in his jacket, all of them agreeing that if he ran into Marinette again, she wouldn't swim away if she could easily recognize him. He panted as he jogged up. "I heard screaming?"

Nino pointed accusingly at his offending crewmate as he yelled, "Kim scared away the mermaid!"

"Mermaid?" Adrien froze in his tracks before them, his hand clutching his side where his wound was. Nino suspected he might have set it bleeding again with all his running. "You saw Marinette?"

"No, but she knows Marinette." Nino sent another glare Kim's way. "And Kim turned her into seafoam in the middle of my finding out!"

"What!?" Adrien yelped as he spun toward Kim.

"She's not dead!" Kim cried. "Max said it was magic!"

"She is alive," Max reassured everyone before turning to Nino. "Did you happen to get any useful information from her before Kim ruined everything?"

"Plenty." Nino nodded, clearing his throat to drown out Kim's indignant whine. "From what I heard, I'm pretty sure mermaid-Marinette is our Marinette."

"How do you know?" Adrien's voice was quiet, sounding hopeful.

"She doesn't have any memories from eight months ago. Lost them around the same time our girl disappeared." Nino rubbed his chin, recalling the important details. "I talked with Alya for a good while before Kim interrupted us."

"Alya, huh?" Alix asked with a playful grin.

"Alix, I swear..." Nino muttered.

"Well," Max started. "Now that Kim's scared them off, there is zero chance they'll be coming back to this beach."

"Ugh." Adrien slumped down against the sand, dropping his head in his hands. "Why is my luck so rotten when it comes to finding her?"

"No worries, mate." Nino patted his shoulder reassuringly. "If I know Marinette—and I do—then there's no way she can stay away from you for very long."

- o - o - o - o - o - o -

"Alya, are you alright?" Marinette asked with concern.

"I'm fine," Alya answered with an angry frown, looking anything but fine with her hands stretched out in front of her, tiny bubbles fizzing through the water from her fingertips. "They just interrupted my magic."

"Okay, good. Well then, that could have gone better." Marinette slumped her shoulders as she floated next to Alya out in the cove. They were hidden at a safe distance from where Alya's illusion-self had conversed with the man named Nino.

"I think things are starting to come together, though," Alya said with a smile. "So one of them took me by surprise and tried to attack my spell. That doesn't mean they're all bad." She averted her eyes as she added softly, "That Nino guy seems alright. Weird, but alright."

"And he knew about my charm, right?" Marinette lifted her wrist to point to the bracelet in question, her tailfin jittering with her nerves. "They know who I am! Where I came from!"

"But he said you used to be human?" Alya tilted her head as she pursed her lips. "It's not that I believe it's impossible..." she mumbled as her voice faded.

"I think... I think I believe him," Marinette answered, wrapping her arms around herself. "I just have this feeling, Alya... It started yesterday when we first saw them, and since then it's just been growing..."

Alya looked at her with a frown. "It isn't just your headache?"

"No." Marinette pouted. "Although that hasn't gotten any better." Her eyes darted to the side. "Maybe... Maybe Tikki would know something. We should tell her what we found out."

"That... That might be our only option." Alya's eyes widened with what might have been fear as she pointed over her shoulder, but Marinette didn't get a chance to turn before she heard the stern voice shout at them.

"Tell me what?"

Marinette spun around to watch Tikki approach with Rose following close behind. "What have you two been up to?"

"Absolutely nothing!" Alya quickly answered, waving her hands wildly as Tikki stopped in front of them and crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't look convinced that they were doing 'nothing.' "Just dealing with the hurricane's mess!"

"Really?" Tikki arched a curious brow, staring at them with an intense, scrutinizing gaze. Marinette felt herself wither beneath it. "You've been gone the whole day trying to clean the beach?" She tilted forward. "It has nothing to do with the pirate ship docked at the island?"

"Oh dear," Rose whispered beneath her hands.

"W-wait! They're not pirates!" Marinette blurted in a rush. "AAH—I mean—we haven't gone—uh, that close! And we definitely haven't talked with them!"

Alya groaned softly, hiding her face as she shook her head.

"You spoke with them?" Tikki asked with widening eyes, and Marinette 'eeped' as she winced. The water shuddered with Tikki's rising voice. "I've told you how dangerous it is to approach humans! Let alone pirates!"

"T-they're not pirates!" Marinette repeated. "And one of them knows me!" Alya's hands made a slicing motion through the water in the corner of Marinette's vision, but caught up in her panic, she kept going. "A-and he looked familiar to me, like we'd met before! Even though he was wearing a mask!"

Rather than Tikki getting angrier, as she feared, their matriarch appeared to immediately deflate with a surprised look. "A mask?" She furrowed her brow. "Did he have black cat ears as well?"

The question caught Marinette off-guard, and she stared silently at Tikki until she cleared her throat. "Oh-uh... Y-yes? The mask was black. A-and his eyes..." Marinette trailed off as she remembered them. "They didn't look like normal eyes."

Something unusual seemed to pass through Tikki's expression, but as quickly as Marinette spotted it, it was gone. "How exactly did you meet him?" Tikki asked more calmly.

"We... didn't really." Marinette hesitated before continuing. "Not intentionally, anyway. I was in the cove looking for something he dropped. We waited until night so they wouldn't see us, but somehow... he still spotted me. He was even able to recognize me." She brought forward the charm she had found in the bay, holding it up alongside her own. "I was looking for this... They look so much alike. A-and he knew my name."

Tikki pursed her lips, her eyes flicking between the two charms. She eventually reached out and placed her hand over Marinette's. "I think I would like to meet him myself."

"What!?" Alya's startled yelp mirrored all of their reactions as Marinette's jaw dropped open.

"Oooh! We're going to meet humans?" Rose excitedly cried.

"B-but you're always telling us how dangerous they are!" Marinette only managed to stutter when she finally found her voice again. "Why would you suddenly want to meet one?"

"Apart from the fact that he knows who you are?" Tikki mused softly, a soft smile pulling at her lips. "Or at least, he appears to." She picked the charm bracelet out of Marinette's hands and turned it slowly, as if appraising it. "And these are too similar to deny that there's a deeper connection."

"Really?" Alya frowned. "Because of some jewelry?"

"That, yes." Tikki nodded. "But mostly because, of all the humans that I believe are dangerous in this world, there is one exception." She placed the man's charm gently back into Marinette's hands. "The chances that you've met him, out of all people, are phenomenally small, but still possible."

Alya and Marinette exchanged a confused glance before Alya slowly asked, "And what makes this human so different?"

"He's a hero," Tikki answered with a smile. "A legend among humans, so well-renowned that we occasionally hear tales of him down in the sea." She tapped the space between her own eyes. "Chat Noir wears a mask to hide his true identity, taking down pirates and protecting innocents that cannot defend themselves."

"Okay," Alya said with a curious look. "So... you meet him, and then what? If he is the Chat Noir, what do we do?"

"Well, you wanted to know more about him, right?" Tikki laid her hand over Marinette's shoulder, and she couldn't help but look a little guilty at wanting to hide the truth earlier. "If this human that knows you really is the legendary hero, then we'll all be able to speak with him soon enough."