Hey everyone!
Sorry this took me so long to update. I've been sick and not in the mood to write. I hope you enjoy it!
And just a heads up, according to Google Translate 'Tortue Verte' sounds like "Tor-tu" (like the 'ue' sound in 'virtue') and then just "vert". Or thereabouts anyways. I won't claim to be an expert in French (The best I can do is say "I do not speak French.") But any guesses for what 'Tortue Verte' means? ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own Miraculous Ladybug.
Lost In The Time Stream
Chapter Two
PARIS
2016
Adrien stared at Marinette while his brain tried to work out something to say to her.
They were still on the ground where they'd fallen, and Marinette's face grew steadily redder in the silence that grew between them.
He'd called her Princess.
He wasn't supposed to call her Princess.
What was he supposed to say now?!
"Uh, sorry!" He eventually blurted out as he rushed to stand and help her up. "Sorry, Marinette, sorry. Let me help you. Uh. Hi. Hello."
Oh dear Lord, he'd just waved at her.
He was supposed to be acting normal.
This isn't normal, Adrien! He mentally shouted at himself. Nervously waving at people isn't normal.
"How are you? Are you good? I hope you're good," he babbled, pointedly not commenting on the fact that he'd called her 'Princess.'
Typical airbender tactic, his mind supplied for him. Avoid and evade.
(He really did have an unfortunate habit of thinking up quotes that applied to the situation at inopportune times; now wasn't really the moment to be thinking up Avatar quotes).
"I'm okay," Marinette answered, although she still looked red. However, he considered it a win and that he'd successfully distracted her when she asked, "What about you?"
They'd covered this already, hadn't they? Now they were just talking in circles. Marinette asking if he was okay was the whole reason he'd called her 'Princess' in the first place.
He laughed at the absurdity of the situation. They were both just standing there awkwardly asking if the other was okay. "I'm fine," he said.
She looked at him in concern, clearly wondering what was so funny. "A-Are you sure?"
"I'm fine," he repeated, a little too fast. "Fine. Fine. Totally fine."
Oh my god, he thought. Put down the shovel, Adrien, and stop digging yourself a hole! Quit while you're behind!
Adrien had briefly thought earlier that he'd broken Marinette, but apparently he was the one that was broken because he could not shut up.
"I'm fine, really," he said. "It's just been a hectic morning. I'm a bit frazzled."
(And wasn't that an understatement.)
Marinette gave him a tentative smile, "W-w-well if you heed nelp – need help – I'm here."
He returned the grin, but he felt a little sad. I know you are, my Lady, but you can't help me with this.
"I know, thank you, Marinette," Adrien said. "But come on, we'd better get to class."
Marinette jolted, like class had been the last thing on her mind and she was only just remembering it. "Right," she said. "Let's go."
Adrien had never been so thankful for class.
It meant he could just sit there, say nothing, and try and get his thoughts into order.
As soon as he had sat down, Nino had worriedly asked what was wrong but Adrien had just given him the same lacklustre excuse he gave Marinette: that it had been a hectic morning. Nino still looked worried, but he accepted what Adrien had said.
Pretending to take notes on what Ms. Bustier, Adrien wrote down all his thoughts on his time travelling situation. There wasn't much on his page. He felt completely out of his depth. The main thing he wrote was: 'SEE MASTER FU ASAP!'
What kind of time travel was he dealing with, anyway? If he was in his younger body did that mean he younger self was in his older one? Or did his younger self just cease to exist because he'd taken over his body?
Adrien shuddered. That was a morbid thought.
But how to fix it?
He didn't have a time turner, he didn't have a TARDIS, and he didn't have a DeLorean. He had a grumpy kitten with a cheese addiction and a partner who didn't actually know he was her partner.
(Not to mention he clearly freaked out when he saw her; they have that in common now. Neither of them can speak to one another.)
Adrien wrote all of his thoughts on the subject down, even if they didn't really help; But seeing words such as 'TARDIS' and 'time travel' at least gave him the illusion of productivity.
The bell for lunch rang and frustrated, Adrien tore the page out of his book, screwed it up and threw it in the garbage bin. "I'm going to the library to study," he told Nino.
His best friend still looked concerned, "You sure you're alright, dude?"
Adrien nodded, "Yeah, I just want to do some more physics study. I'll catch you later."
Adrien waved at Nino, Alya and Marinette (who were still packing up their things) and fled from the room, all but running to the library. Once there, Adrien found a deserted corner and collapsed at a desk with a groan.
"You okay, kid?" Plagg asked, floating out of his hiding place.
"No," Adrien replied, leaning face down on the desk. "I need an adult."
"You are an adult," Plagg reminded him.
"No, no I am not. I don't feel like one, I feel waaaay over my head. I need an adultier adult. I need an adult who knows how to time travel. I need Doc Brown, I need a Time Lord, I need –"
"Master Fu," Plagg supplied.
"Master Fu," Adrien agreed before going on, "I need to calm down and not freak out every time I see my friends, especially Marinette."
"We'll go and see the Great Guardian this afternoon," Plagg said. "He'll know what to do."
"Hopefully, but even you said that you'd never encountered this kind of time travel before."
"There's a first time for everything, kid."
Adrien sat up. "Well," he said, sounding determined, "I'm not gonna mope about it anymore! I'm not gonna freak out. I'm gonna act normal, I'm gonna get this sorted and I'm gonna go back to the future!"
"…Adrien?" A new voice spoke up behind him.
Adrien froze and Plagg did a desperate dive to hide in his pocket. Adrien turned to see Nino standing behind him, a look of concern and confusion on his face. However, what caught his attention the most was the crumpled piece of paper Adrien had thrown out earlier that was now in Nino's hand.
"I got this out of the bin, I thought it might have some clues as to why you've been acting weird," Nino said. "You're lucky I got it. I saw Marinette eyeing it off, I had to get Alya to distract her. Adrien, man, what is going on? Who were you talking to just then? What's this about time travel? Just – what's going on? Can I help?"
Adrien's brain short circuited.
He couldn't think of a decent excuse.
He was talking on the phone? That piece of paper was a story idea? He was trying to write Doctor Who fanfiction?
Nothing came out.
Instead, he just slammed his head back down on the desk and groaned.
PARIS
2027
Jumping around the rooftops of Paris was a familiar comfort to Adrien; an always enjoyable activity.
Continuously losing the akuma that sent him to the future was not.
Father Time was tricky, with an ability to stop time in order to run away from him and Ladybug.
They had gone through numerous Cataclysms, Lucky Charms and detransformed kwami recharges, but so far they hadn't been able to capture Father Time long enough to get a good shot at his watch. They were certain that was where the akuma was, it was just proving exceedingly difficult to get at it.
"You know," Chat said as he and Ladybug took a breather on one of their usual rooves to hang out on (Adrien had been pleased to see he and his Lady still sat there all those years in the future). "I'm really getting over this guy."
"Me too," Marinette agreed. "I think it's time to call in reinforcements."
He looked at her in confusion, "Reinforcements? You mean the police?"
She shook her head and took out her yoyo, "Not quite."
"… Are you being purrposefully vague? Or have you taken lessons from Plagg on how to avoid questions?"
Despite the situation, she laughed, "I'm not intentionally trying to annoy you by not saying anything. It's just that I didn't want to overload you with too much information all at once. You've had a fair few surprises since you woke up. Our 'reinforcements' would just add to that."
Chat understood where she was coming from. She definitely wasn't wrong when she said he'd had a lot of surprises: travelling to the future, identity reveals, marriage, Emma … But, really, what was one more surprise on top of all that?
"I can handle it," he told her.
She nodded and then turned her attention to her yoyo. She frowned at it. "Neither of them are picking up."
"Who's 'them'?"
"Tortue Verte and Volpina."
Chat looked at her in alarm. "Volpina?! The last time we dealt with her, you nearly gave your miraculous away!" Chat paused, suddenly thinking of something. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where my book on superheroes went, do you? I've been tearing my house apart looking for that. If my Father finds out it's missing, he'll be really angry."
Ladybug looked momentarily guilty. "I found it," she said. "Well, technically Tikki found it, she's the one who went diving into a bin to get it. But past-me gave it to Master Fu."
Chat gaped at her. "You gave it away?! My Lady, if I don't return that book-"
"Master Fu is the one who gave us our Miraculouses," Ladybug said, cutting him off. "He'd been looking for that book for years. Any knowledge of the Miraculouses should go to him, or as Tikki and Plagg call him, the Great Guardian."
"Then why did my Father have it?"
Ladybug was silent and looked lost in thought. "A conversation for another day," she eventually replied. "But come on, we have to go to our reinforcements. They're not answering, so they don't know to come to us."
Ladybug swung her yoyo and propelled herself up onto a roof; Chat followed her.
"Right, about that," Chat said as they bounded over rooftops, going back to the original topic. "Volpina?! Why is she our reinforcement when she was a really tricky enemy to fight the first time? God, that whole day was awful! I had to pretend I was in the shower for who even knows how long and then rush back because you insisted you had to check on me! And then I was just standing in my bathroom when all I wanted to do was open the door and be like 'It's me!' but I couldn't."
Ladybug looked nostalgic, "Wow, that was so long ago. All those pre-reveal shenanigans."
"It wasn't that long ago for me." He paused. "Wait a minute … if you're Ladybug, then why were you so angry at Lila? What was up with that?"
To his surprise, Ladybug blushed and stopped running over the rooftops of Paris. "Uh, well, past-me was very, uh," she tried to explain, "intolerable of liars?"
Something clicked in Chat's brain and a smirk appeared on his features. "Intolerable of liars," he echoed. "You know, there's another word that could be applied to that situation."
"I'm not having this conversation again."
"Come on, my Lady, it's just one little word," he said, his tone teasing.
Ladybug groaned. "Save me from the stubbornness of Chats! Even after all these years, you're still harping on in smug satisfaction about the 'Lila Incident', then past you comes along and does the same thing."
"Did you just quote The-"
"I was jealous, okay?" Ladybug said, bulldozing over what he was going to say, sounding defensive and very much like she'd had that particular conversation numerous times. "I was jealous because Lila was so much better than me. But Chaton, I have just one word for you: Copycat."
The smug grin disappeared from Chat's face. There was a silence. "Touché," he eventually replied. "But my Lady, you never had to worry about Lila. I've always loved you."
"Yeah, I know that now," she said with a smile. "Hindsight and identity reveals are great things. But fifteen year old me didn't know that. You were Adrien Agreste: Kind, beautiful, and woefully out of my insecure reach."
Despite her smile, Chat looked at her with a sinking heart, thinking of his Marinette in the past. "Is that really how you felt?"
Ladybug froze, as if she didn't realise her words would have that effect on him. "Although it wasn't for a lack of trying, mind you," she said. "I tried to confess numerous times. It just never happened. I was painfully shy. You would always try and talk to me, though. Always try and include me."
"So what changed?"
"I did," she answered, looking lost in memories. "My feelings didn't, but how I interacted with you did."
"What do you mean?"
"I didn't continue trying to win your heart. I just tried to be your friend. You had numerous admirers, fangirls, fanboys, Lila, Chloé," she said, with a grimace at mentioning the Mayor's daughter. "But you never had too many close friends. I endeavoured to be one of them. I got to know you, I stopped stuttering, I found out how much of a dork you are-"
"Hey," he protested indignantly. "It's totally fine being a dork."
"I fell in love with you all over again," she went on, causing Chat's breath to hitch in his throat and a blush to burn his cheeks. She paused and turned to smile at him, "I'm not going to say anything else. Spoilers and all that. It's a long story that can't be told, has to be lived-"
"Okay, now I know that you just quoted-"
"However, going back to our original point," she said, cutting him off. "We're not going to find Lila. We're going to find the one who has the Fox miraculous. The true Volpina." She paused and broke out in a smile, "And her husband, Tortue Verte."
Her smiled widened and there was a particular glint in her eyes. Like she knew something he didn't and couldn't wait until he found out what it was.
"They're wonderful people," Ladybug continued. "They baby sit Emma for us all the time."
"They do?" Chat asked in surprise.
Ladybug nodded. "We look after their kids too."
"We do?"
She nodded again. "Yep. They love their Uncle Adrien."
"They know who we are?"
"Yep," she repeated. "We're all very close. You're especially so with Verte, although you do like to call him Michelangelo, much to his chagrin. He prefers to be called Leonardo."
Chat digested that overload of information. "So which one is he more like?" He eventually asked. "Michelangelo or Leonardo?"
Ladybug contemplated the question for a while.
"I'd say he's more of a Donatello."
PARIS
2016
Nino somehow convinced Adrien to let him take him home.
They'd given a poor excuse to Marinette and Alya, stating that Adrien didn't feel well and Nino was going to make sure he was okay. But considering how strange Adrien had been acting all day, it probably wasn't that hard to believe.
When they were finally in the safety of Adrien's room (and Natalie had been placated after stating that Nino wouldn't stay long and Adrien would rest), Nino practically exploded with questions, since Adrien had refused to answer any until they were home.
"Dude, what's going on?! What's this about you coming from the future?! Are you just kidding with me? Is someone going to jump out with a camera? Are you Punk-ing me right now?" He paused and looked at Adrien's stricken expression. "Holy shit, you're not kidding! You're actually from the future! How did you even get here?!"
Adrien rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Uh, well, you see…" He trailed off, trying to think of a way to explain the situation without outing himself as one of Paris's superheroes.
Nino sent him a flat look, "Dude, I can't help you if you don't tell me anything."
"But, well, you see…" Adrien tried again, pacing anxiously around his room while Nino sat on his lounge, patiently waiting for Adrien to explain.
"Oh, just tell him, kid," Plagg said, floating up out of Adrien's pocket. "He's going to find out eventually anyway."
"PLAGG!" Adrien cried, mortified, and tried to catch the kwami out of the air.
(Nino, for his part, just stared dumbfounded at the floating little creature).
"You can't just reveal yourself like that!" Adrien scolded, still trying to catch the kwami. "You're the one who said I couldn't tell anyone in the first place! Don't break your own rules! This isn't how it happened the first time! What if this changes the future?! What if there's a butterfly effect?!"
(Damn butterflies, they always had to be a pain in the arse.)
"Dude," Nino said. "What is that?"
Adrien stopped his frantic attempts to catch his kwami and sighed. "I swear to all the Miraculouses, Plagg, that if we get back to the future and it's destroyed, or Emma doesn't exist, or Marinette doesn't know who I am-"
"Wait, Marinette?" Nino interjected, catching onto a familiar name.
"I swear you will never eat camembert again," Adrien finished. He turned to Nino. "It'll be easier just to show you. The cat's out of the bag now anyway." He couldn't help smirking at that last statement.
"Huh?" Nino looked absolutely lost.
"Plagg, transformez moi!"
There was a flash of green light as the transformation took hold. Moments later, he was standing in front of Nino as Chat Noir.
His best friend just gaped at him.
"No way!" Nino breathed awe in awe.
Chat shrugged, "Yes way," he said, before dropping the transformation. There was no need to keep it up now that Nino knew.
"Dude."
"I know."
"That is awesome!" Nino cried, jumping up off the lounge in his excitement. "You're Chat Noir! You're a hero!"
"Nino! Not so loud!" Adrien shushed him. "Other people can't find out."
"So that's how you got sent back in time? Cause you're Chat Noir and you got hit by an akuma? How far in the future have you come from? And seriously, what is that little, talking cat thing?"
"Uh, eleven years-" Adrien started to answer Nino barrage of questions.
"Eleven years?! Dude, you're, like, an adult! Is it weird seeing all of us looking super young?"
Adrien nodded, "Yes, it's really weird, which was why I was freaking out and acting all weird at school. And yes, that's how I was sent back in time. I protected Ladybug from an akuma, got hit and woke up in my fifteen year old body."
Some of the excitement disappeared from Nino's face. "It kind of sucks you still have to deal with akumas eleven years in the future."
"Don't I know it," Adrien replied. "You're preaching to the choir there, man."
A determined expression appeared on Nino's face as he sat back down on the lounge, "So what do we do?"
Adrien drew breath to answer, but was interrupted by a whine from Plagg: "Adrieeennnnn, cheeeeeese!"
Adrien rolled his eyes and went to grab a wheel of camembert out of his bag. He unwrapped it and sat it next to Nino on the lounge. "There. Try not to get it on the lounge this time."
Nino looked at the cheese beside him, shrugged, and pulled a piece off for himself. "So that's why you always sort of smell like cheese," he said as he popped it in his mouth.
Adrien raised his eyebrows at the display and looked at his kwami, wondering how Plagg was going to react to someone taking his cheese.
Plagg frowned and floated up until he was in Nino's line of sight. "My name is Plagg the Kwami," he said seriously. "You ate my camembert. Prepare to die."
"Wh-what?" Nino asked through a mouthful of cheese.
Adrien let out a long suffering sigh. "Enough, Plagg," he said. "Eat up quick. We need to go see Master Fu."
"Master who?" Nino asked.
"Master Fu, the Great Guardian. He's the one who chooses who gets to wield the Miraculouses. I wouldn't be Chat Noir if he didn't think I was worthy."
"He sounds important," Nino said.
Adrien nodded, "He is, and hopefully he's my ticket home."
Nino didn't listen to Adrien's protests when he said he could go see Master Fu alone. The DJ firmly stated that he said he'd help and that's what he was going to do, even if that included going to see a mysterious Miraculous-giving old man.
When Adrien finally decided that arguing with Nino was pointless, he spent the rest of the trip to Master Fu's explaining who and what Plagg was, and how he help him become Chat Noir. They'd gone on foot and didn't use Adrien's driver because they didn't want anyone to know where they were going.
(Plagg had been sour towards Nino after the camembert incident and didn't warm up to him until Nino stopped at a corner store halfway to Master Fu's and bought the kwami two whole wheels of cheese. Plagg adored Nino after that, but Adrien knew it was all just for show. Plagg in the future had mentioned that he liked and respected Nino for being the first one to befriend Adrien at school; Adrien had to agree with his kwami on that one).
Nino had also brought up a point that Adrien honestly had never thought of before.
"I don't get your masks," Nino said.
"What do you mean?"
"When you blink, you don't see your eyelids, your mask covers your eyes – I noticed it in your room – how does that even work?"
"Huh?" Adrien asked, taken aback by the bizarre question.
"Think of a normal mask, right? It has holes in the material for your eyes to see through and when you blink or close your eyes, your eyelids would be seen. With yours, your mask covers your eyelids, so when you shut your eyes, it's just fully black. No eyelids. What's up with that?"
Adrien stopped walking as he considered what his best friend had said, and then he burst out in loud laughter. "Oh man, eleven years and no one, not even the future you, has ever commented on that. I don't know the answer, man, but I'm putting it down to kwami magic."
He kept laughing and Nino joined in as they continued walking, their conversation light and amusing as they made their way through Paris. Adrien was happy to see that despite him having over a decade of extra memories, he could still hang out and have fun with Nino. His best friend was still his best friend, despite there now being a large mental age gap.
So while his trip was enjoyable in that regard, Adrien was a bit nervous by the time they reached Master Fu's. What if the Great Guardian didn't know how to get Adrien home? What was he going to do then? He pushed those thoughts out of his mind as they reached Master Fu's massage shop. Master Fu would know what to do. He had to.
When the familiar voice bid then enter, Adrien couldn't help but feel excited at the thought of seeing his old friend, despite his nervousness.
He and Nino entered, with Plagg riding on his shoulder. Master Fu was sitting on the floor, looking every bit like he'd been expecting them to come and had been waiting for them to arrive.
(Knowing the wise old man, he probably had.)
He looked up at them.
"Hello, Chat Noir," he said, and Adrien nodded respectfully at him.
Fu turned his attention to Nino, who was looking at the man in surprise and recognition.
"And hello, it's nice to see you again, Tortue Verte."
Authors Note:
So, what did you think?
I totally support the idea of Turtle!Nino. I think it's great. However, I'm being very mindful with characterisation for future chapters because I don't won't to seem like I'm copying thelastpilot's 'Jade Turtle'. I love their fics and can't wait for the next update of 'The Weight of Jade'. That fic is so good.
I struggled to think of a name for the superhero because my brain was literally just stuck on Jade Turtle (how great is that fic, seriously?), but then I figured that if the show can literally call one of the main characters 'Black Cat', then I can get away with 'Green Turtle.'
I also totally support the idea of Nino being like Donatello and being one of the calmer heroes and using knowledge to win battles busting out in technobabble every now and again. Although I suppose with all his 'Dudes', he seems more like Michelangelo.
Also, reading back over this, I slipped waaaaay more references in this chapter than I thought I did. Ten points to the Hogwarts house of your choice if you pick up on the TeamFourStar reference I put it here (I had to modify it slightly). And I'm not gonna lie, the Princess Bride reference was kind of the driving point of this whole chapter. I wrote everything else literally so I could make Plagg say that.
I clearly have a referencing problem. You know how I made Adrien mention his habit of referencing things all the time? That is me everyday, not even kidding.
Anyway, please tell me what you thought in the reviews! And thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed or favourite this story! :D
Much love,
Leisey.
