Between Generations

Chapter 33

Lise crept into the office area where she and Zoe had fallen in, which felt like a lifetime ago. The circle hole was still there, and the Dark Collector was pacing back and forth, a kwami floating around him. Lise knelt beside it and craned her neck down the hole to listen.

"...could this happen? I had the tin right in my hand--I could've gotten ultimate power--I could've saved them--"

"Please, calm yourself, Master," whispered the gentle voice of the kwami.

"The tin is gone! That girl--whoever she was--used them somehow to go back in time! How is that possible? She couldn't have been thinking straight. She couldn't have had time to think of a clear mental picture of where to go!"

A mental picture? Lise wondered, leaning further into the hole.

"Master...you didn't succeed. You couldn't have been able to go into the past, even if you tried and completed the spell."

The Dark Collector stiffened. "Of course. The girl. She must be the key. If she disappeared with the tin of Miraculouses...she must be the one who can do it." He whirled around, and marched across the room. "We need to determine where she went. And how to keep that other girl silenced...the one who escaped."

Oh no. Zoe.

I need to keep her safe.

The old man rubbed his temples. "I can't linger on this any longer. I must rest. My age isn't allowing me to dwell on this any longer."

He left the room through the back door, apparently not concerned if the front door was locked.

It's been years since anyone else's stepped foot in here...some people may think this household is cursed since Hawk Moth lived here.

Lise checked around the room once more, and discovered that it was indeed empty. The Dark Collector showed no sign of returning. She shuffled herself so she could jump down feet first.

When she landed, she tensed up, scanning the room for any signs of danger or movement. Nothing.

Lise then walked slowly over to the enclosures where she knew that Ladybug and Chat Noir were. She stood between the sleeping, peaceful figures, and gazed wonderingly at them.

Her true parents.

Chat Noir had ice crystals intricately frozen in a pattern on his cheeks. His pale lips were blue, but they still looked soft and gentle. His leather tail hung limp to his side. Ladybug's eyelids had miniature snowflakes spotted across them, and her long eyelashes had tiny sprinkles of ice at their tips.

A mental picture of Marinette and Adrien came up in Lise's mind, and she compared the young, spirited teenagers to the stunning mature adults that laid before her now.

Neither of them were wearing their Miraculouses.

They're still in their suits. How has the old man been able to keep their identities concealed now? He has their Miraculouses in that tin.

No. It doesn't matter how he figured that out. I have them.

Lise fingered the tin in her worn jacket pocket, smoothing a thumb over the metal surface.

What now?

She glanced around to check for the old man. He showed no sign of returning.

Lise pulled out the small tin, and slipped off the lid.

Ladybug's earrings, Chat Noir's ring, Rena Rouge's necklace, Carapace's bracelet, and Queen B's comb laid neatly stacked on one another. Lise could see several small Miraculouses buried deep beneath the more powerful ones, but she didn't take the time to examine them closely.

She picked up the two little earrings, her fingers trembling a little.

She reached out a hand to lift the glass dome.

Cool air hissed, meeting her face and outstretched hand holding the earrings. Gentle wisps of fog spread out from the body of Paris' hero.

Lise grasped her mother's earlobe, and slipped in the earring. She did the same with the other side, trying not to wince as she felt the cold skin.

As soon as the earrings were clasped, Lise watched the woman intensely.

The snowflakes on her eyelids and the ice on her eyelashes slowly melted away. The stiffness of her limbs eased.

Then her eyes opened.

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