Between Generations

Chapter 24

The television was swarming with news and updates of Ladybug and Chat Noir's latest victory over the Memorializer, who had had the power to make people relive memories or random moments at some point in their lives.

Lise stopped drying the salad bowl, and stared at the screen. That must've been what happened to me yesterday. I had been able to see the moments of my birth.

Everything Kim and Alix told me had been a lie.

"Lise, honey? Are you all right?" Sabine rested a shoulder on Lise's, startling her out of her trance. "You feeling okay?"

"Yes, thank you. Just remembering something." Lise resumed swiping the towel on the bowl.

Sabine seemed to hesitate before continuing. "I understand that you are Marinette's friend, but I don't recall seeing you anywhere. At school, in the bakery...may I ask where you are from?"

Lise had no idea what to say. Oh, I'm from the future. 31 years into the future, in the year 2047. I'm actually the daughter of Kim and Alix Kubdel, but guess what? They're not my parents! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA--

"I just moved in...on the uh...other side of the city. No one lives there. I recently met Marinette. At the moment...I'm kinda fighting with my parents."

Sabine nodded, smiling. She rubbed Lise's back, and turned back to the kitchen to finish doing the dishes. Lise's heart swelled for the concern that Sabine had for her, but guilt weighed down her soul. They have no idea of the secrets and lies that I've been holding, but they still welcomed me into their home.

How on earth would she explain to them why they would never see her again when she had to go back to the future? She couldn't disappear without an explanation.

Focus on the task at hand, Lise, she reminded herself. The kwamis need you to reconcile Adrien and Marinette and set them on the path to true love again. Then they can bring you back to the future.

Lise looked over at Marinette on the computer, drawing on her sketchpad. Her tongue was stuck out to the side. Her eyebrows creased at certain points, but they relaxed once ideas formed in her head.

"Hey Marinette. Wanna go out for a coffee?"

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Adrien smiled when he noticed Lise walking up to where he sat at a patio chair just outside a local bakery closer to the center of Paris. He was wearing his usual outfit with a messenger bag containing homework. His hair was neatly combed as always. His green eyes were bright, but then filled with worry once he looked past Lise.

"Again?" Marinette's voice cried out, mixed with annoyance and anger. "Lise, you know we--"

"I don't care," Lise snapped, whirling to face Marinette. The blue-haired girl's face was shocked. "You both are my friends. You both need to figure out what's going on. I don't want to go back with both of you like this. I want both of you to make up before I--"

She stopped, her eyes widening. Marinette's shocked face turned to one of confusion. Her dark eyebrows furrowed together.

The realization hit Lise as if someone had thrown a brick at her. She'd said too much.

"Before you go back?" Adrien echoed. "Before you what?"

"What are you hiding from us?" Marinette asked.

Her two friends stepped a little closer to Lise, as the blond-haired girl tried to grasp an explanation from something, anything.

There must be some way to get myself out of this situation...!

"Going back to where you came from?" Marinette queried. "I thought you just moved here."

"Why do you need us to make up so badly? You didn't even know us before you moved here," Adrien pressed.

They both stared at Lise, trying to demand for answers but also trying to give her space. Lise knew that they somehow knew that whatever explanation she needed to give them, it wouldn't be what they expected.

There's no other way.

I'm sorry, Tikki.

"I...I have something to tell you," Lise said, her breath shuddering. Her hands clasped her elbows, trying to comfort herself. "It'll be hard to believe, but you have to try. It's the truth." Lise glanced around her at the busy streets of Paris. "But not here."

Adrien and Marinette followed the blond girl wide-eyed to a less busy part of town. They were farther away from school than they would've liked, but it was the only way to get answers from Lise.

They entered an abandoned alley. Clothes clipped on strings between two aged apartment buildings to dry flapped in the gentle breeze. The sky was bright blue overhead. Lise tried to forget about what she had to say to her friends and focus on the brilliant shade, but she knew that they needed answers.

She turned to meet their perplexed eyes: the spring green of Adrien, and the oceanic blue of Marinette. She took in a deep breath.

"I came here by accident. I never meant to come here. Ever since I appeared at your doorstep, Marinette, I've been trying to get home. It's very complicated, and I'm sorry, but I can't reveal many details because of the secrets of Paris' superheroes. Some...friends I've met that are working to get me home need me to fix some things first. Apparently my presence in this time has..." Lise averted her eyes between Marinette and Adrien, "...altered some events. I will be leaving soon, for good. I'll never see you guys ever again. And...it hurts to see that two of the friends I've made here will be constantly at war with each other."

Lise knew that there was a chance that the lie towards the end of the explanation was noticed, but she couldn't let them realize that her real mission was to reconcile Adrien and Marinette so they would be able to marry and have children in her time. She had to protect them from knowing their future.

"You...you know details about the superheroes of Paris? And their identities?" Marinette asked uneasily.

"Yes. I cannot reveal anything."

Adrien was staring at her like he'd seen a ghost. His perfect, smooth skin was as ghastly white as a sheet. Lise sucked in a breath, knowing that he had started to make connections in his brain.

"Your presence at this time?" he whispered.

Lise nodded slowly. "I am from the future."

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