"Ladybug! Wait up!"
Ladybug turned at the sound of a familiar female voice calling out to her. She had anticipated it would be Alya with questions for the Ladyblog, so she was surprised to see her pink-haired classmate gliding towards her on her skates.
"Alix? What's up?" She asked with a tone of concern. The small girl skidded to a halt in front of her, pausing before speaking despite not seeming to be out of breathe. Ladybug waited as patiently as she could, seeing as she didn't have a time limit as the akuma today was a particularly easy one that didn't need her Lucky Charm to be defeated. Still, she didn't like lingering in public for too long.
"I just wanted to say thank you. Y'know...for trusting me to help with Reverser? It can't have been easy after what I put you through when I was akumatized." Alix spoke sincerely, her usual confidence replaced by a shy shame. Ladybug blinked in confusion, as the implication of what the girl said hit her.
"Y-you remember what happened?" She questioned. Alix winced as she nodded.
"Yeah...I remember what both of me did. I asked around and nobody else can remember their time akumatized. Do you think it has to do with having two sets of memories?" Alix responded in tow with a question Ladybug had no way of answering. She looked at her scarlet clad feet as they shuffled nervously.
"Honestly Alix? I have no idea. I could try talking to Chat Noir and see if he can think of anything." At the mention of the superhero, Alix's brow furrowed with guilt.
"Can you tell him I'm sorry for what I did? I know he won't remember, but I still feel bad." Alix requested softly. Before Ladybug could respond, there was a thud behind her.
"Why are we apawlogising to me? For scaring me senseless when I was most vulnerable?" Chimed the unmistakable voice of Chat Noir behind her, laced heavily with a humoured tone.
"Pfft...as if I'd apologise for doing something so hilarious." Alix bantered back, bouncing back to her usual confident self.
"Then what?" Chat Noir asked, sauntering to Ladybug's side with a curious expression.
"I'm running late. I have to go." Alix announced with a strong poker face, before zipping off down the road. Chat Noir chuckled.
"What was that about?" He asked, still chuckling. He turned and saw for the first time that Ladybug was frowning and stopped laughing.
"My Lady? What is it? What's wrong? Are you okay?" Chat Noir questioned frantically, pivoting to stand in front of her. He brought his hands up to her shoulders and began rubbing comforting circles with his thumbs. Ladybug sighed sadly.
"There's something I need to talk to you about from when Alix was akumatized. Can you meet me on top of Musée D'Orsay in ten minutes?" Chat Noir tilted his head in confusion at the request.
"Too many people are noticing us meeting at the Eiffel Tower and at Notre Dame. We've got to shake up our patterns." She explained. Once she got a nod of comprehension from her partner, Ladybug took off.
Taking a quick pit stop to detransform and feed Tikki, Marinette shuffled anxiously on her feet.
"Tikki are you worried about Alix being able to remember? Does it mean something went wrong?" She asked her wise companion quietly, not wanting to draw attention to the narrow alleyway they were hiding in. Tikki waited until she finished her mouthful of cookie before responding.
"I am worried, and I don't know what it means. But I don't think Chat Noir will know either. Why are we asking him instead of Master Fu?"
"I don't expect him to know. I just think this might be the best way to bring up what happened before we went back in time. Every time he sacrifices himself for me I think back to then and it's been killing me. I don't think he knows how much he scares me when he does that." Marinette admitted. Tikki floated up to Marinette's face and offered a sympathetic look. Not wanting to be late, they transformed and headed over to the meeting point.
When Ladybug got there, Chat Noir was already waiting for her, looking as nervous as she felt. At the sound of her landing, he jerked his head up in her direction and gave an odd expression of excitement and anxiety.
"Hey chaton. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me." She spoke, attempting to convey a gentle tone.
"Did I do something wrong?" He blurted out, eyes immediately going wide with regret.
"What are you talking about?" She asked, moving toward him and reaching for his hand in an effort to comfort.
"You seem really upset with me. Did I make you uncomfortable by saying something stupid? Or-" He began, before she shushed him.
"No, chaton. I'm not upset with you. More, I'm upset about you. Something happened before I time travelled and it has been haunting me ever since." She began explaining, trying to ease into the topic.
"My Lady, you're scaring me." With that, he squeezed her hand back.
"You died." She revealed softly. She felt his hand tense.
"What?" He yelped, eyes riddled with fear and confusion.
"Timebreaker was about to hit me and zap me from existence, but you took the hit for me. The energy she got from you was how she managed to travel back so far in time. Now, every time you take a hit for me, I just think back to then and you're dying all over again." She explained rapidly, tears welling in her eyes. As the first tear rolled down her cheek, Chat Noir pulled her into a deep hug, gently rubbing her back in a calming way.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It hurt too much to bring up. But, when Alix brought it up, all the guilt hit me again at full force and I knew you needed to know." She sobbed into his shoulder. His body tensed, causing her to gasp.
"Wait, how would she remember killing me?" He asked, pulling back from her to make eye contact.
"I don't know. All she knows is she can remember what both versions of her did. No other victim seems to remember."
"No, I mean how does she remember what happened in the other timeline? Shouldn't your Miraculous Cure have fixed everything?" He questioned her, a serious look burning in his eyes.
"It did. It merged the two of her like it did with me. I mean, I remember both so..." She trailed off when she saw the horrified expression wash over Chat Noir's face. He took several steps back, his expression not relaxing.
"Oh, no. Ladybug, what have you done?" He asked with a strained voice.
"What do you mean?" She had a horrible feeling about where this was going.
"If the only people who remember both timelines were the ones who jumped, that means that the timelines remained separate. If our timeline replaced the original then everyone would have merged and I would remember both as well." Chat Noir ranted.
"Again, what do you mean?" Ladybug asked, voice squeaking in fear.
"I mean I think you left the original timeline with no Ladybug." He revealed, the look of horror on his face now making complete sense.
"Which means that universe has a Hawkmoth with no Chat Noir and no Ladybug." She whispered, the meaning of what she said hitting her in the gut and stealing all her breathe.