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

Chpt 1: Summer Starts Off With Some Blame.

"I can hardly believe that today was the last day of school!" said Cat Noir, looking out at the city from his perch on a rooftop railing.  "I've never had a last day- school was just basically a year round, never ending thing.  It feels kind of freeing to have an end, doesn't it?" he said, looking over at Ladybug who was standing beside him.

"It's so frustrating that we have no idea who we're even looking for!" said Ladybug, as she leaned over the railing and scanned the crowds of people who were out enjoying the warm summer evening.

Cat rolled his eyes.  Ladybug hadn't even been listening to him!  He tried to get in a sympathetic frame of mind- he knew she took sole responsibility for allowing the villain to escape into the city a few weeks ago.  And, they hadn't seen or heard from him since. 

"I understand that you're frustrated," said Cat, leaping down from the railing and putting his arm around her waist, "but I really do think that we'll be able to figure out whatever happens when the villain finally shows himself.  You've really been stressing yourself out over this and I don't think it's helpful."

"But, I like to be prepared and the only useful thing I can think of doing is patrolling and nothing ever comes of it," she said plaintively.  "And, I blame myself that we lost him," she continued in a quiet voice.  "If I only could have overcome the 'Reverser' clumsiness the same way you overcame your 'Reverser' 'fraidy cat curse, I could have captured him and today we would know where he was.  I failed." Her head dropped and her shoulders slumped as she castigated herself for the thousandth time.  How could I have let this happen?

Ladybug had been bringing this up every day since they had lost the villain in Paris.  She wasn't to blame.  Neither of them were.  They had been 'cursed' by the villain with things that really kept them from doing what they normally could do easily.  But, she was determined to take it all on her shoulders.  Ladybug had never failed to bring down a villain before and she was taking it really hard.

"I'm not sure why you don't consider me to be as equally responsible for letting him slip away.  I could have thrown him up the Eiffel Tower stairs to the platform to trap him there instead of tossing him down the stairs.  Or I could have left you where you were and chased after him right away.  I am just as to blame as you," said Cat, not sure what else he could say. Ladybug, or Marinette when she was not in her superhero form, was usually the one that was helping him. He didn't know what to do except to keep repeating his assurances that it wasn't all her fault. Cat Noir looked over at her, but she wouldn't meet his gaze. Instead, she brought her head back up and continued to scan the crowds.

Cat didn't like seeing her like this and tried to think if he had ever done anything in the past that had gotten her to open up. He smiled slightly as something popped into his head. "Should I be offended that you don't seem to think that I am an equal partner in this relationship and therefore don't deserve half the blame?" he said, purposefully poking her to get her to talk. He had remembered that she would often rush to his defense when he was putting himself down.

What he said got through to her and she whipped her head toward him.  "No, of course I don't think you're anything but an equal partner!  It's not that at all.  You were dealing with so much more than me!  The villain's 'curse' brought up all your difficulties with your father, your feelings of things being out of control- you were even worried that you were at heart a coward and not a real superhero!  I was just dealing with exaggerated clumsiness, which is extremely frustrating but not as mentally damaging.  So, I should have been able to figure out a way to capture the villain!" she said, getting all worked up about it again.

"If you agree I'm your full partner, then, let me take some of the burden off your shoulders.  There's enough blame to go around," he replied, rubbing her back soothingly with one hand.

When she still refused to acknowledge that she wasn't the only guilty partner, he said "Come on, Bugaboo," she gave him a groan at the hated endearment, but he ignored her and continued with "You know that obsessing like this isn't going to get us any closer to finding the villain.  Try to step back and approach the missing villain from a different angle.  What do you think the villain is doing here?  Will he try to go back?  What does he need to accomplish these things?  Maybe looking into these questions again could point us in the right place to look for him anyway." He moved his hand back to her waist.

Ladybug responded quickly with "Money.  A place to stay.  A place to work on his inventions, if he's planning to go after our Miraculouses or try to go back to the future."  She leaned over the railing to watch the crowd again.  "I've already thought of all of those things but they haven't magically led me to the villain.  I never realized how easy it would be for someone to hide out in Paris!  If the villain is even in Paris anymore.  Who knows?"  Ladybug abruptly stood back up, feeling restless from frustration, and accidentally knocked her head into Cat's chin as he was leaning down to give her a hug.

"Ow!" he said, rubbing his chin.

"Sorry!" she said guiltily, turning around.  She gently took the hand that was attending to his injury, put it back around her waist, and leaned up to kiss his chin.

"Better?" she asked him, gazing into his eyes.

"Much," he replied, leaning down to take her lips with his.  Ladybug then snuggled against his chest, wrapping her arms around him. He automatically put his arms around her, pulling her closer.

"So, what other problems are there that need solving?  Distract me," she ordered jokingly, keeping her arms firmly around Cat.

He looked down at the top of her head and smiled at how cute she looked cuddled around him.  He tried his best not to purr, which he still felt was quite embarrassing, even if she didn't tease him about it anymore.  She seemed to actually like it when he purred.  "As M'Lady wishes. Okay, hmm . . . let's see.  How about, how are we going to get to see all of our friends this summer?  Alya's got that part-time internship at the newspaper, Nino's DJ business has really picked up, Max is probably going to be helping Lila's cousin- the one that's that scientist. Kim's doing that swim thing for potential future Olympians, or whatever it's called. Did Rose and Juleka end up starting that dog walking business? Chloe's spending the summer with her mother in New York, not that you are especially interested in seeing her.  Alix is . . . ?  Yeah. I've got no idea what Alix is doing."  He paused, trying to remember who else he had missed.  " Oh, and what are Ivan and Myléne doing? And, then, there's the Kitty Section practices.  It almost even seems busier than during the school year!"

Ladybug thought about it.  "Maybe it will be the easiest to see everyone in the evenings?  I'll text them and see that they think.  We could take turns planning a get together at our houses or an outing!  That could be fun!"  She happily started to think about all of the possibilities for summer, all thoughts of the villain temporarily vanishing from her mind.

Cat Noir smiled to himself, giving himself a mental pat on the back for coming up with a distraction.  He would be quite happy to stand here like this providing distractions for the rest of the evening.  He wondered how long Ladybug might let him do it!