Between Generations

Chapter 12

"Uh..what?"

"Lise, you should never have come to this time. The master has made a huge mistake, in all of his plans," said the little red creature.

"He should be stopped once you get back to his time. You should keep the Miraculous book and this tin away from him, and return the Miraculouses to their original owners."

"But first. We need to restore the timeline of 2016 to the way it once was," said the little cat to the red one.

"I know. If she doesn't, she will cease to exist."

"Adrien didn't give Marinette his umbrella, so they haven't fallen in love. Lise, you must recreate the—"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa." Lise waved a hand to silence them. "Whoa." She took in a deep breath.

The rain had stopped. The pavement around Lise was extremely damp, but they were already starting to dry with the sun coming out from behind the clouds. Dense fog closed in on the Eiffel tower.

"Who's the master? What plans? What timeline? The umbrella? What—"

"Okay, okay," said the little red creature, holding up her tiny limbs in defense. "We're sorry. We realize that you're not accustomed to the legend of the Miraculouses."

"Well, I've heard of them, from school. Ladybug and Chat Noir had one for each of them, right?" Lise's memories took her back to being in the red headed Mr. Bourgeois' art class, when he talked about each of the Miraculous heroes with a fierce passion in his eyes, as if he had known them at a personal level. He'd been her favorite teacher--because he'd always talked with his students as if they were equals.

"That is correct. The tin that you hold--that is no ordinary storage box." Lise's grip tightened around the tin as Tikki spoke of it. "That is the channel that the man was using to harness every one of the Miraculouses' powers. He was planning on using it to go back in time. Unfortunately, seeing that you are here in this time--clearly, something has gone wrong in the Dark Collector's plans."

Struggling to steady her hands, Lise clicked open the lid of the small tin. Inside, the black velvet had imprints to keep each Miraculous jewelry in place. She recognized Ladybug's earrings, Chat Noir's ring, Queen B's barrette, and numerous others beneath layers of black velvet. They were bright with color, as if the kwamis were still inside of each of them.

"Wait...if you guys are here...how can I see you?"

The kwamis exchanged glances. "We're not sure either," confessed Plagg. "Whatever the reason...it's definitely why you were able to travel into the past."

Lise fingered the edges of the tin, her eyes drawn to the facets of each piece. There was so much power, so much history in these objects. "So...how will I get to the past?"

Tikki spoke up. "All of the kwamis enclosed in the jewelry you hold in your hand--together, we all will bring you back into your time. But we cannot do that right now, not when your presence has interfered with...required events in the timeline. You need to reconcile Adrien and Marinette. Your presence has altered the timeline, and they are enemies at this point, when they were originally supposed to be friends."

"Friends? I--"

"Hey, Lise!"

Lise violently closed the tin container, and shoved them into her pocket. The little kwamis vanished. She looked up to see the brunette with big glasses from before waving to her. A large group of friends surrounded her. "You still coming to the concert? Marinette will be there."

"Oh! Uh..." Lise looked around for the creatures, but they had vanished. Should I risk hanging out with them? I don't even know them...

She froze.

A short girl with pink hair was among the crowd. She had on a baseball cap and dark clothes. Her eyes slanted upward at the edges a little bit, and her big blue eyes gazed at her with friendliness.

Mom!

"Sure! I'll come." Lise shoved the tin into her jacket pocket, and jogged up to join the group. Her eyes lingered on Alix for a while longer, before averting away.

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