(A/N) Due to a reader's suggestion, I'm now italicizing past dialogue to make it easier to read.
The four of them were transported to the entryway of College Francois-Dupont. Past Marinette and past Alya walking to class together.
Alya grinned. "Oh! I gushed to you about Ladybug! That convinced you of how AWESOME you are and that you should give it another shot, right?"
Marinette chuckled wryly. "Not exactly. You gave it your best shot, though."
Past Alya handed Past Marinette her phone, showing her the webpage she'd just pulled up. "Ladyblog, bringing you all the latest news about the coolest superhero, Ladybug! How awesome is that?! Check out the number of views since I posted a video!"
Past Marinette looked down. "But why do you trust Ladybug so much? All these stone beings..."
"She's gonna handle them," Past Alya stated confidently, not an ounce of doubt in her voice.
Alya smiled. "I was right. Even back then I could see it. I KNEW you'd come through."
Marinette smiled.
Past Marinette wasn't reassured. "But what if she's not really cut out to be a superhero even though everyone thinks she is?"
Adrien opened his mouth, looking like he was going to launch into another defense of Ladybug, when past Alya did the job for him.
"What are you talking about, girl? Oh, wait." Past Alya looked at Marinette appraisingly. "I know what this is about. You're scared, but don't be! I've seen it with my own two eyes, girl! Ladybug is a true superheroine! She's going to protect us all! I believe in her."
Alya chuckled. "Honestly I'd have said something similar even if I'd known you were Ladybug. You may have been scared, but it was obvious to anyone with eyes that you ARE a true superheroine. Seeing you fighting against Stoneheart, assembling a plan on the fly and defeating him with the most random objects, you couldn't HELP but to believe."
Nino joined in, "I wasn't there for that first fight, but seeing the footage... well it was hard to be too scared of the akumas, because I KNEW that you and Chat Noir would come through."
"Never doubt yourself, Marinette," Adrien joined in. "You're the most incredibly crazy awesome person I know. If you're not cut out for this, then NO ONE is."
Marinette felt tears spark in her eyes at the praise, but she HAD to counter Adrien's last point. "Chat Noir would be. He leapt into superheroing without a second thought. Being so impulsive might've gotten him into some trouble, but if he HADN'T been so quick, if he'd hesitated, Alya could've been hurt. He never stopped trying to fight Stoneheart, he never fled, he just continued fighting. Because he couldn't let anyone else get hurt. I may've thought that I shouldn't be Ladybug, that I wasn't GOOD enough to be Ladybug, but I NEVER, not ONCE, doubted that Chat Noir - whoever's behind the mask - should be - well, CHAT NOIR."
Adrien stared at her, tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. He made a faint... mewling noise? Marinette didn't even know humans COULD make that sound. She looked away from him, trying NOT to melt into a puddle at the looks he'd been giving her. She didn't know how many more memories were left, and she'd need her wits about her when they ended.
"Alya, wouldn't you like to be a superhero and go out and fight monsters and villains?"
Marinette jumped. She'd been so lost in her Adrien-coma, she hadn't noticed the scenery shift. Not that they'd gone far, past Marinette and past Alya were still walking to class, they'd just skipped forwards a little in time and space.
Alya looked at her. "Waaiit... you were asking me whether I'd want to be Ladybug, right?"
Marinette nodded.
"Totally! I'm not scared of anyone! Why?"
"Oh, no reason..."
The four of them watched as past Marinette surreptitiously slipped the Ladybug Miraculous into Alya's bag.
"Girl that was SMOOTH. So that's how you're able to steal phones so easily! You're an expert at moving stuff around without being caught," Alya spoke admiringly.
Marinette chuckled, chagrinned.
Adrien just seemed confused. "Marinette steals phones?"
"Oh- ah- Well - look, we're entering the classroom now!" Marinette called out, desperately trying to distract the love of her life (and the one-time victim of her phone thievery) from that train of thought.
Then the four of them walked into the classroom, and Marinette almost wished that she'd kept up the phone thievery conversation.
Past Marinette stalked over to Adrien as he knelt over the gum, "Hey! What are you doing?"
Past Adrien panicked, unable to form a coherent sentence at the accusation. Chloe and Sabrina broke into laughter and past Marinette filled in the gaps on her own. "Okay. I get it. Good job, you three. Very funny."
Past Adrien managed to form whole words finally. "No, no, I was just trying to take this off! "
But it was too late. Chloe's and Sabrina's laughter had convinced her. "Oh, really?"
Their continued laughter did NOT help.
Disgusted, past Marinette asked, "You're friends with ChloƩ, right?"
"Why do people keep saying that?" past Adrien muttered, then took his seat.
Marinette covered her face, ashamed. "I shouldn't have judged you. I jumped to conclusions and I BARELY listened to what you had to say."
She looked into his eyes. "I'm sorry, Adrien."
Adrien blushed, but held himself together long enough to answer. "I don't blame you. I NEVER blamed you. And after seeing how Chloe treats people, and what happened the day before, I understand why you assumed the worst."
He winked at her. "Besides, we got there in the end, didn't we?"
She blushed, melting into a puddle at his gaze. This boy was going to be the death of her.
The world jumped forwards slightly. Marinette almost didn't notice, since the location didn't change this time.
Well, except for the classroom suddenly having huge gaping holes in it. That was a bit of a giveaway.
"Come on! Let's follow him!" past Alya called out to past Marinette as she looked at where Stoneheart had gone.
"You have NO sense of self-preservation," Marinette told the present Alya.
She grinned cheekily. "None!"
"Uh... Oh, no. You go. I'm finding myself a safe place to hide."
"Girl, you're gonna miss Ladybug in action!"
Marinette rolled her eyes. Honestly she kind of WISHED Alya had become Ladybug, if only because then she would've been able to protect herself full time, and not only when she had the Fox Miraculous.
Past Marinette picked up past Alya's bag, presenting it to her. "You and Ladybug will both be better off without me."
Alya's eyes widened. "Oh. OOOOH. So THAT'S what happened. If I'd taken my bag that day..."
"...Then you would've been Ladybug instead of me."
Alya shook her head. "You were always meant to be Ladybug. I couldn't improvise the way you do. I couldn't have done things the way you do."
Marinette looked at her, conviction in her eyes and her voice. "You couldn't have done things the way I do. But you would've done things the way YOU do. You'd find a way."
Alya smiled back at her. Ladybug believed in her. Marinette believed in her. But... "Okay, maybe I could've been Ladybug. But you'd still be a superhero, one way or another. You can't honestly believe that you'd just sit by while akumas were running loose? You'd manage to save the day somehow."
Marinette opened her mouth to try to counter Alya's point... but couldn't. She WOULD help out against akumas any way she could.
As Past Marinette ran off, still attempting to give past Alya her bag, the world shifted, this time to the street.
Past Alya was running, trying to catch up with Stoneheart. She dove behind cover and started filming.
Meanwhile, Chat attempted to fend off an army of Stonehearts. He was managing to dodge their attacks, but it didn't look like something he could keep up. "If you can hear me, Ladybug, I could use a little help!" he called out anxiously
Marinette winced. "Sorry Chat."
"It's okay," Adrien replied. Marinette stared at him, confused. He quickly realized his mistake and attempted to cover for himself. Which he did. Poorly. "I- I mean, I'm sure he would've understood. He doesn't seem like the type who would've held it against you - from the few times I've talked to him anyways, it's not like I know him that well or anything," he said hastily, giving a nervous laugh.
Marinette looked at him suspiciously for a moment, but seemed to accept his answer. "I still feel bad. He was out here, risking his life without a second thought while I'd just tried to ditch my Miraculous at the first sign of trouble."
She looked down. "He must've thought I'd abandoned him..."
Adrien put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a comforting smile. She gave him a small one back.
Internally Adrien wasn't NEARLY so calm. She cares about me she cares about me a LOT she's worried about what I would've thought if she'd disappeared OHMIGOD she could've succeeded and I never would've had her as a partner again and I'd never have known what'd happened to her what would I have-
Marinette pulled him into a hug. All thought ceased at that point.
She abruptly let go of him as a car hurtled at past Alya. "NO!"
She let out a sigh of relief as past Chat threw his baton, saving past Alya once again, but at the cost of leaving himself defenseless.
The nearest Stoneheart picked him up while he was defenseless, leaving him to uselessly flail his legs.
Past Marinette dropped Alya's bag. She stood, stunned, trying to figure out what to do. Alya was trapped, Chat was being carried away, yelling insults all the while, and there she was, stuck with the Ladybug Miraculous and no one to give it to.
Then past Alya cried out-
"Heeeeeelp!"
-and her decision was made.
She took the earrings out of the bag and put them on.
Tikki appeared in a ball of red light.
"I think I need Ladybug!"
"I knew you'd come around!"
Past Marinette nervously told her, "Well, I'm still not sure I'm up for this, but Alya's in danger. I can't sit back and do nothing!"
She transformed.
Alya came to a realization. "Waaait... you transformed... in the MIDDLE of the STREET... while I was RIGHT THERE?!"
Marinette chuckled. "Yep. Good thing you didn't look a little to your right."
Alya face-palmed, groaning.
Adrien focused on a different aspect. "You transformed because you had to help. Because you couldn't leave others in danger, even though you were scared. Even though you were uncertain. You still stepped up."
He smiled at her, much like he had a few weeks ago, at the Heroes' Day picnic. "You've always had what it takes to be a true hero. This just gave you the chance to really show it."
Marinette squeaked.
The scene changing saved her from having to come up with actual words. Which was good, because she'd probably have just stood there and made animal sounds for a bit while she attempted to regain control of her brain.
They stood in the area near the Eiffel Tower, Stoneheart standing on one of its beams. Down on the ground where Marinette, Alya, Nino, and Adrien had materialized, past Ladybug and past Chat Noir were trying to reason with Officer Roger.
Still injured from the LAST time he'd tried to fight off Stoneheart, Roger nonetheless attempted to take charge. "We're clear to attack!"
Ladybug attempted to stop him. "Wait! No, don't attack them! You know it'll only make it worse!"
"I have a new plan, unlike you! Move aside and let the pros do their thing. You've already failed once! "
Alya growled. "Why you-!"
Marinette put a hand on her shoulder, smiling and shaking her head. She pointed towards Chat and Ladybug.
Ladybug turned towards Chat, nervous and unsure. "...He's right, you know. If I had captured Stoneheart's akuma the first time around, none of this would have happened! I knew I wasn't the right one for this job..."
Marinette looked at past Chat, a fond, trusting smile on her face as he told her past self what she needed to hear. "No. He's wrong, because without you, she'd no longer be here. And because without us, they won't make it, and we'll prove that to 'em. Trust me on this. Okay?"
"Okay!"
Marinette turned to Alya. "Chat can be a little goofy at times, but he's ALWAYS had my back when I needed it. Right then, hearing that I'd already done well? That we'd both work together to prove Roger, and everyone else who doubted us wrong? That's what I needed. But most of all, he asked me to TRUST him. And I did. I couldn't let him down."
Adrien teared up again. Marinette gave him another concerned look, but became distracted. "Does anyone else hear a faint rumbling noise?"
It cut off as quickly as it had started, Adrien looking embarrassed for some reason.
Marinette frowned. That had sounded weirdly familiar for some reason, she just needed to place it...
Their surroundings blurred, derailing Marinette's train of thought. Something was different this time though. The colors around them blurred and bled around them, swirling together and then turning grey. A soft light glowed around Marinette before jumping to Adrien.
"Wha-" Marinette started shouting.
The surroundings twisted and resolved, this time coalescing into a location Marinette had been in only a handful of times, but wished she'd been able to visit more often.
"Why are we in Adrien's room?" she asked, perplexed. She'd already started forming a theory, however.
Past Adrien hurtled into the room, throwing himself over the back of the couch and turning on the news.
As the current Adrien came up with the same theory, a smile slowly spread across his face. "I think once the akuma finished showing your turning points, it must've transferred to me."
Marinette nodded. "That's my theory too."
She looked at past Adrien, still engrossed by the TV. "Why was this one of your turning points though? Just because this was a supervillain's first appearance?"
Adrien chuckled, that wide grin still plastered on his face. It changed to a smirk as he watched his past self, seeming to wait for something.
He looked back at Marinette a few seconds later, his smile turning into a smirk. He shook his head.
"No. It's because you weren't the only one who became a superhero that day-"
"What's this doing here?"
"- My Lady."
Past Adrien popped open the top of the box, unleashing a green, glowing light. It faded to reveal a sleepy, cat-like kwami.
Marinette's mind broke.
