"Adrien."
Seeing him here, beside her, threw her for a loop.
This was... her brother? The person she quote, grew up with, unquote. The person she treasured with all her heart, her best friend.
This was the idiot who put himself in danger, got himself hurt, which hurt her in the process, by the way.
This was the idiot that scared her to death, harassed her at one point and... the person she kissed and cuddled.
"What..." Adrien cleared his throat lightly. "What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" He joked.
She stared at him, before reaching over and removing his mask. Then her hands went up to his hair and tussled it right way and... there he was. Yeah, this was her idiot cat.
Marinette couldn't help but smile because... good lord, Adrien was Chat Noir. Adrien, in a world where they weren't siblings, were dating. Which was a weird thought to process, but now she was slowly coming to term with it.
She touched his face gently, because of all the times he put himself at risk, and how hard it must have been to keep this secret. Adrien allowed all the touches. Until she hit his shoulder.
"Ow! Mari?" He cried.
"You absolute! Idiot! I've been so worried about you as Adrien, then Chat Noir, and you've gotten hurt!" Despite saying that, she hit him again. "You're thoughtless! Reckless!"
Adrien tried to shield himself from her hits, but he wasn't doing too well. "M-Mari, c'mon, it's a part of the job description!"
"The job description includes Ladybug, doesn't it? Don't! Be! So reckless!"
"Now, now children, don't fight." Fu came back and set down two steamy teacups in front of them. The man sat across from them and he had his own mug, taking a careful sip. "But Adrien, you've forgotten the most important part."
Marinette had settled back in her seat, but her head snapped to Adrien as Fu said he missed something. "What more are you hiding from me?"
Adrien rose his hands up defensively. "Well, I... Might have lied to you about Ladybug." He chuckles lightly.
"Lied? About what?"
"Well, you know how I said that in the real world, you weren't Ladybug?"
There was a silence before Marinette started to hit him again. "You... freaking... idiot."
Adrien tried to shield himself again, until an orange colored rod came between them.
"Not that I mind too much, but I need my partner to be in one piece for this final battle." Volpina came in from the garden, her flute stopping Marinette's blows.
"Volpina!" Adrien was grateful that she stopped Marinette's hits.
"Lila, I'm glad you were able to join us safely." Master Fu had already set down another teacup for her.
Marinette looked over at the vixen, holding back any indignant huffs or crass comments. "You're Volpina?"
Lila dropped the transformation and she was back in her dress, taking her mask off. "Yours truly." She sang.
"So... You coming from Italy to make a contract with our fa—" Marinette stopped and cleared her throat. "With, with Gabriel, was that planned or was that a coincidence?" She questioned, glancing over at Adrien at the mention of his father's name.
"She was summoned per request of Adrien." Master Fu supplied.
Marinette looked back to Lila, eyeing the necklace on her neck. "Why...." She turned to look at Fu, settling back in her seat. "Why was Gabriel given a miraculous?"
The old man took a long drink from his still steaming tea, letting out a slow, long sigh. "The city of Paris had two heroes before Ladybug and Chat Noir. The two helped with minor crime around the city. Le Paon and Papillon."
"Peacock?" Marinette asked.
Fu nodded. "The Miraculous of Champions and the Miraculous of Veracity. There were two before you."
"But why Gabriel?" Marinette questioned.
"Like the two of you when you received your miraculous, Gabriel had the desire to help. Not so long ago, he was in the same position you two had been and I granted him the Miraculous of Veracity."
"The Miraculous of Veracity? Then that means he didn't have the Miraculous of Champions to being with." Lila stated.
Fu nodded once more. "The Miraculous of Champions was held by his partner, a young, aspiring actress."
"Did Gabriel take her miraculous as well?" Adrien spoke up after all this time.
"No," Fu started. "In fact, they were very good partners. The two of them were good for each other. So much, they revealed their identities to each other."
"And then what?" Adrien pressed.
"They started a family and had a son."
Adrien's breath hitched. He was leaning forward, bracing himself against his knees, but now leaned back. "You mean," he shook his head in slight disbelief. "You mean, my... my mama was a miraculous holder?"
"Yes."
"Then what happened?" He demanded. "How did my father get his hands on her miraculous! How, what did my father do to her!" His fist hit the carpeted floor with a dull thud and he was panting.
Marinette went to him, putting her hands on his shoulders as he hung his head. "Adrien," she murmured softly.
"I cannot say what happened to your mother... Nor do I understand why your mother left behind her miraculous before returning it to me. Your father has been abusing the power of the Miraculous of Champions and I have had no way to claim either miraculous back." The older man sighs. "Now, it's just a matter of keeping the Miraculous of Destruction away from him."
Marinette was trying to soothe Adrien, when she looked up at Master Fu. "What happens if Gabriel is to get Adrien's miraculous?"
"When the Miraculous of Creation and Destruction are combined... The user is granted an unstoppable form. However, their power is only extended to ask for one wish... And whatever wish that is, no matter what they ask, it will be granted."
"But isn't that what basically happened here?" Lila asked.
"Not exactly. With the Miraculous of Creation only, he was able to combine a little bit of power from the Miraculous of Champions and only managed to create an alternate universe. The red strings of fate are a force of nature that is not to be messed with. However, together, they can alter fate itself." He explained.
"What could Gabriel Agreste want? He's the most famous fashion designer of all of Paris? What is there that he could not get?" Lila questioned.
Marinette looked back down at Adrien. "Emilie Agreste." She answered softly.
Lila straightened. "Emilie... You mean, Mrs. Agreste?"
Marinette nodded. "Even with me in the world, I was adopted to... 'replace' Emilie. But the love for a child cannot replace the love of a partner."
Adrien's hand intertwined with Marinette's. "Marinette, what if... What if I give him my miraculous? I could... I could have my mama back." He whispered, looking up at her.
"If you bring back someone from death, or missing... Bringing someone back will alter reality. Fate itself will become misconstrued. Reality can be altered far beyond than just bringing your mother back, Adrien."
Marinette looked back down to Adrien and it was almost like... looking at a whole different person. His eyes were full with unshed tears and his judgement was gone. "Adrien..."
"Mari, we... we can get my mama, no, our mama." He whispered, his voice shaking slightly.
She smiled softly... sadly, as she shook her head. "You, of all people, know that Emilie is not my mother, Adrien. My real parents are Tom and Sabine Dupain-Cheng." She explained quietly.
Adrien shook his head, in a manner too quickly, too desperately, trying to avoid the truth. "The four of us... we, w-we can be a family. Together. All of us." His voice cracked. Denial.
Marinette's breath trembled as tears started to trickle down Adrien's cheeks. "Adrien," she whispered, cupping his cheeks and wiping away at his tears. "Adrien, please, snap out of it."
"His heart has been clouded." Marinette looked down to the source of the voice. Plagg was resting in Adrien's lap, his ears drooped and his eyes cast down. He floated up after a while, looking at Marinette. "I've lost him."
Marinette reached out and the dejected kitten curled into her palm. She brought the kitten to her chest while her other hand was being tugged towards Adrien's chest.
"Mari, please..." The boy let go of her hand and looked down at his hands. He slipped the ring off his finger, and he took Marinette's hand, placing it in the middle of her hand. "Here, take this. Take the ring and take it to my father. He... He will fix everything."
Marinette gasped as the cool metal touched her hand. Adrien pushed her fingers to close around the ring and lead her closed hand to her lap.
Plagg whimpered in Marinette's other hand, expecting to be sucked into the ring in any given moment.
"Adrien," Lila slapped her palm onto the tatami before them. "Snap out of it! Thousands of akuma are going to sprout if we don't do something about this!"
Adrien shook his head, patting Marinette's knee. "N-No, Mari... Mari is going to take the miraculous to... to my father, and things will get better.
Master Fu came forward now, putting an arm on Adrien's shoulder. "Adrien is in no condition to hold a miraculous." He helped Adrien stand, a boy who had been torn down the mentality of a child, sniffling softly. Fu turned to Marinette, holding a withered hand to her. "The poor boy has been through so much. I'll take the Miraculous and put it somewhere safe."
Marinette looked at his hand then opened her hand that held the ring. The cool, silver ring that sat in her palm, then at the kwami with flattened ears in her other. "Master Fu," she started softly. "I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to hold onto this."
"Fate cannot be messed with, Marinette. If Gabriel is to get his hands on that Miraculous, the concept of time will become misconstrued!" Fu said, stretching his hand out to her to reiterate the idea of Marinette handing it over.
"Marinette, please." Adrien begged quietly.
Marinette rose Plagg up and he started to float as she looked down at the ring. "Sorry, Adrien," she replied, slipping the ring onto her left middle finger. "I won't be giving the Miraculous to Gabriel. Master Fu, I think I'm going to hold onto the ring for a while." She looked up at Plagg, who was looking at her curiously.
"The Miraculous of Creation isn't the as the Miraculous of Destruction," Plagg explained. "By accepting my power, you're going to allow a dark shadow into your heart."
Marinette stared at the kitten as he touched the ring on her finger. "I don't think it's something I can't handle."
He looked up at her. "All you've got to say is my name and 'transform me'."
Marinette didn't know his name, but something in her mind called out for the small kwami. "Plagg, transform me."
A green light shrouded Marinette. The skirt of her dress started to burn slowly from the bottom, until it was knee length. The rest of her dress turned black, her heels turning into black knee high boots. Her lace sleeves slowly turned black, the golden ladybugs trailing down her sleeves until they reached her palm. There, the last golden ladybug crittered over to the other side of her hand, and to the ring.
The ring shimmered and a leather surrounded her hand in a familiar glove Marinette had come to know.
Her hair fell out of it's elegant bun and black faux leather ears were perched at the top of her head, the live-like tail swishing under the shorter skirt of her dress.
Marinette checked herself out, from the boots to the ears that twitched lightly at her hair. "I'm like Chat Noir but... female."
"Chatte Noire, if you will," Lila commented. "No offense, yours is so much more cooler than Adrien's."
Marinette turned to Adrien, who was looking at her, a little in admiration but also in sadness. "Marinette..."
"I'm sorry, Adrien. I promise I will make things better." She stepped towards him and hugged him.
Adrien hugged her back and Marinette could feel the desperation in him when he squeeze her. "Promise?" He whimpered.
She nodded. "I promise." She whispered back.
Adrien nodded and he slowly pulled away by Fu until a flash of orange light made her turn away. She was greeted by the Volpina of long ago, but it's not like Marinette could remember.
"So, she reached behind her to grab the baton that was strapped into a belt hook of her dress. The baton expanded and she naturally spun it in her hand. "What's the plan?" Chatte Noire questioned.
Volpina stepped into the garden, the building opened up to reveal a blackened sky. She jumps onto the roof and Chatte follows. "We go away, as far as we can from here. To avoid any leads to Adrien or the old man."
The two nod and start to run across the Parisian skies.
The sensation of gliding through the air all by herself felt so strange, but familiar. The wind whipped through her hair, and the skirt made jumping through the air unconventional, but magic seemed to keep it down.
They kept jumping across the skies when a stronger gust of wind blew. Chatte Noire tucked her baton into one of the shingles to anchor herself down. Volpina wasn't as quick to react, but Chatte Noire wrapped a quick arm around her waist and brought her down.
When the wind settled, Chatte let her go and Volpina looked down at her. "Wow, not so bad, cat."
"I can't let you get swept up by your own ego, now can I?" She smiled as Volpina's semi-appreciative gaze turned into a glare.
"Ugh. I'll take Adrien's lame cat puns now, please." She stood now, dusting herself off.
"What's wrong purrincess? Can't handle the truth?" Chatte blinked and then she groaned. "Plagg, does this ring come programmed with puns, this is terrible."
She couldn't see the kwami, but she could hear him laughing in her head. "The Agreste line is very strange. You've been around it for too long, that's alllll you." He sang.
Chatte groaned lightly and then her attention was turned to a man standing at the end of the building they were on.
A blonde man, dressed in a Greek styled robe with a white, swirly baton in his hand. On his shoulder was a golden medal that tied his robes together and on his face was a cloud shaped mask. "I am the Wind Waker, controller of the winds! By the power granted by Papillon, I will collect the Miraculous of Destruction!"
"Good luck with that!" Volpina replies, playing a tune of her flute. After she finished, a plume of orange smoke covered them.
When the smoke cleared, Chatte could see multiple copies of the two of them. Amidst all of the, Volpina grabbed Chatte's hand and pulled her to a different direction.
"C'mon, let's go." She whispered.
The other clones did the same as Volpina did, some of the other clones even taunted the Wind Waker and headed towards different direction.
Chatte looked back as they escaped, noticing the clones going everywhere, across the city of Paris. "So that's how you managed to make the Adrien back at the ball?"
"So you know how to connect the dots, Chatte, I'm proud." She mused.
Chatte rolled her eyes. "I don't know how he puts up with you."
"His heart of gold was a force to be reckoned with." Plagg commented.
Chatte hummed, unimpressed. She knew more than well that Adrien had a sweet and golden heart, a patience that she never did when it came to a lot of things.
They continued to run, when they were greeted by another akuma.
"Looks like you ladies got caught! It's time I roll an attack with advantage!" It was the Keeper.
"Oh no, not this nerd." Volpina sighed.
"Hey!" The Keeper's glasses shine as he adjusts them on the bridge of his nose. "I'll have you know, Dungeons and Dragons is very in these days.
"Preach it to a different choir, dude." Volpina was about to jump up to attack, when Chatte's baton extended forward and into the Keeper's robes. As it came back, a small velvet back was hooded onto the baton and soon in Chatte's hands.
"Hey!" They both cried.
"You can't just steal my attack from under me!" Volpina whined.
"It's called being 'smart, not rash'." Chatte spun the velvet bag, dice clicking inside of it. "Can't make rolls without die, now can you?" She asked the Keeper.
The Keeper gasped, and he was patting at his pockets. "Hey, that's no fair!"
She smiled and tucked the bag into her belt. "Sorry, but better luck next time. I do have one question though, why are you a back again?"
"Gosh, that's so lame. Come on, we have no time to sit and chat!" She started to run past the Keeper, Chatte following behind. "I could have had it! I was handling it!" She called back to the black cat.
"You don't want to expend all your energy with one akuma." Chatte called back. "If you waste all your energy with one, you're going to be burned out before we–"
There was a purple flash that tackled Chatte and sent her rolling across the rooftop. Shingles went flying in the air as she rolled, the air that was forced out of her lungs leaving her cold and aching.
Chatte tried to stop, grasping at any shingles but she couldn't. She continued to roll until she rolled over the end of the roof. She gasped – and it hurt – but her reflexes allowed her to grab onto the edge and stop herself from falling.
"Oh my god," she panted, looking down at the five-story tall fall. "Plagg, do all cats land on their feet?"
"Uh... I do."
"Not helpful." Chatte took shaky breaths and tried to get her footing on a windowsill. It took a minute and after almost slipping, she managed to flip herself onto the rooftop again, meeting with her attacker.
She was wearing dark purple, with white on her feet and hands to resemble boots and gloves. On her chest was a white symbol that resembled an internet signal.
The more Chatte looked at her, the more familiar she looked. Her eyes, her hairstyle... "Alya?" Chatte asked, one of her arms wrapping around her sore side.
"The name's Lady Wifi, and..." She trailed off, eyeing Chatte over. "Wait a minute, you're not Chat Noir."
"A good observation." Volpina said, going to Chatte. "You okay?"
"That's not Chat Noir." Lady Wifi repeated to herself.
Chatte nodded to Volpina, trying to catch her breath. "Alya, what happened? Why did you get akumatized?"
"I'm not Alya! I'm Lady Wifi! And I'm supposed to get the Miraculous of Destruction from Chat Noir."
"Well, meet Chatte Noire, the genderbent version of Chat Noir." Volpina motioned to Chatte.
"Don't," Chatte sighed.
"Well, if you have the Miraculous of Destruction, I'll be taking it!" Lady Wifi prepared to attack again, but a voice stopped them.
"Hey, duck."
Chatte and Volpjna didn't know who it was but they instinctively ducked and blue sparkling powder exploded into a big cloud, enshrouding Lady Wifi.
Lady Wifi was obscured by the dust momentarily, her coughs audible as she tried to fan away the dust. As the dust dispersed, Volpina and Chatte stood, seeing how Lady Wifi was highlighted by a soft blue tinge.
"What... What's going on?" Lady Wifi asked as she looked down at herself, then looked up at the two heroines in front of her. "Volpina? Uh... Female Chat Noir?"
"Alya, what happened? Why were you akumatized?" Chatte asked.
Lady Wifi gasped, looking down at herself. "What? This is my akumatized self! Dude, I need to take a picture–"
"Alya!" Chatte snapped her fingers to get her attention from taking a selfie. "What happened?"
"Well, uh, I saw how Chat Noir and Marinette were facing Papillon, then butterflies went everywhere. And then..." She puts a hand to her head. "I saw an akuma come and I tried to run away. I wasn't feeling any anger or anything, but... he told me that I could be the best blogger ever if I helped him get the biggest scoop of my life."
"A big scoop of shit,"
"Volpina, please." Chatte put her hand up. "So then what?"
"Well, I agreed and next thing I knew, I, uh... Well, I'm here."
"What's going on though? Why are you so... lucid? Usually akumas suppress the real person." Chatte spoke.
"That would be my doing." A voice spoke from behind them.
The three of them looked to the source of the voice. Standing up on a higher ledge was a woman in a royal blue suit. She spun an oversized hand fan of various colors and then snapped it to her back, the fan settling down to look like an oversized coattail of her jacket, which gave it the appearance of a tail.
"Ladies, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Originally Papillon, you may call me... Paon Bleu."