Shattered
One last time trip before everything slowly goes to hell. Where to? Who knows! I don't own MLB, I write stories for fun.
They ended up talking all night. For most of the night they stayed up, coming up with plan after plan. A lot of them had some sort of fatal flaw, but they would try anything in order to escape. But sometimes, completely accidentally or not, they would get off topic, asking mundane questions about the other's life. They would tell each other light hearted stories, they would laugh together, little things to distract themselves from their situation. It was nice, just being in the other person's company. They liked how they could talk to each other like normal teenagers. But when they weren't joking and laughing, they were working on their plan, they edited and revised it. Their plan was no where near perfect, and it was a little bit risky, but it was a plan and it was better than nothing. They just hoped that time would be on their side.
But time is always an enemy. And when the first beams of morning light spilled into the prison cells a couple of soldiers arrived to take the teenagers back to the laboratory. The two of them were silent the entire time, and Chat Noir didn't even look at Ariana. He didn't care if she was his mother. She didn't deserve his attention, she didn't deserve the right to be called mom, not after all that she has done. But that didn't stop her from attempting conversation.
"This is the farthest back we've ever sent you." Ariana explained, typing various commands into the large computer.
Between her typing and ordering around her lab assistants she glanced over at her son. He didn't react to her words, he didn't even move. His breathing seemed heavy, his body looked tense. He refused to give her any indication of emotions, anger, sadness, confusion. She couldn't read anything with the blank expression he wore on his face. Then her eyes wandered to Ladybug, who narrowed her brilliant blue eyes at the woman. Ariana figured that her son had told Ladybug about her, hence the rude expression on the young girl's face. Ariana didn't blame Ladybug for judging her, or her son for ignoring her. A part of her knew, after everything that she had done to them, she deserved it. But they didn't understand, what she was doing was the right thing for them.
"You don't want to know?" Ariana inquired, an eyebrow raised.
"Surprise us." Ladybug stated flatly before turning her gaze away from Ariana.
Ariana sighed and flipped the switch, Ladybug and Chat Noir braced themselves for the familiar pain that came with time travel. The electric shock felt like a punch to the face, or getting stung by a hive of wasps, it was never pleasant. Both of them felt as though their entire bodies were burning, like there was lava in their blood. They both found that it hurt less than the day they first travelled back in time, but it definitely wasn't an upside to time travel. The flash of white light didn't come fast enough.
When the light faded they were in a house. A one room house with large windows and white clay walls. An uncomfortable looking cot sat in the corner of the room, a counter made of stone and a few flimsy looking chairs made up the dining area. There wasn't much beyond that, a scrap of bread sat on the counter, a yellow flower was wilting in a clay vase. There were no lights, meaning that they were in a time before electricity.
"Where do you think we are?" Chat Noir asked. "Sorry, when do you think we are?"
Ladybug looked at the period-appropriate outfit that the machine had given him and immediately turned deep crimson. He wore only a linen skirt that stopped at his knees, his chest was completely bare. His toned, chiseled, muscles were completely exposed. Chat Noir was in pretty good shape. She was definitely not complaining about his costume. Her outfit was much longer and looser, her dress was white and soft, it felt like something that she would sleep in.
"Let's find out." Ladybug tried her best to keep eye contact with Chat, but him being shirtless made it very difficult.
She pushed past the boy towards a makeshift door, which was more a long cloth hanging from the ceiling than anything. She pushed back the cloth, light flooded the room, the sun shone brightly in her eyes. She took a few hesitant steps into this new world, it was boiling hot, the air was dry and still. There was no wind at all, she could already feel herself beginning to sweat. It was never this hot in France, and this was unbearable. The streets were made out of dirt and stone, children were playing in the streets as if the heat didn't bother them. And it most likely didn't. The buildings were made of stone, some of them had colourful paintings above their doors, statues stood tall and proud, and stone arches lined the streets. It was beautiful and spectacular in it's own little way.
"Anything you recognize?" Chat Noir questioned, suddenly appearing beside her.
"I'm not sure…" Her voice trailed off as she slowly looked up.
He followed her gaze to a large mountain, just like all of the others surrounding the city. Tall and intimidating, something that could never be moved. But there was something about it, something that wasn't right. That large mountain that loomed over this city, it wasn't a regular mountain.
"That's a volcano." Ladybug gasped. She had seen so many pictures of that destructive beast in the history textbooks, it was the same volcano that made an entire city disappear. "Vesuvius, we're in Pompeii."
"Well maybe today isn't the day." Chat Noir tried to sound optimistic, but he knew the trend.
"We only go back to destructive days." Ladybug told him sadly, hanging her head slightly. "Today is the day."
She looked up at the city, taking in every detail of this world while it still existed. It was bittersweet, being in Pompeii on the eve of its falling. It was even worse to think about the fact that all of these poor innocent people would die. It really took a toll of the both of them, seeing so much death and destruction the last few days. Pompeii, being there was extraordinary. For more than a thousand years this city would be buried beneath the earth. It would be nothing but a story, a legend, nobody would even remember it existing. Until one day, when someone rediscovers that amazing little treasure of a city. And a whole new appreciation would blossom for what was lost and what was found.
They started walking, for no other reason other than to explore. It was the city's last day on the face of the planet, it may as well be a good one. There were a lot of bars in the city, cafes, and restaurants, the smell of food made their stomachs growl. How much did they wish that some money had come back with them? Or at least whatever currency was back in the year 79. They knew that stealing was out of the question, it wouldn't be fair to whoever ran the shop. Plus if memory served in ancient times they used to cut off the hands of thieves and then hang them in the middle of town. They continued walking, passing stores and restaurants, decorated with paintings and statues of deities. One of them was eerily familiar, a bust of a girl with long hair and a defined jawline. The most curious detail was stretched across her face, a mask with polka dots on it. Chat Noir stared at the bust for a long time, then over at his Ladybug, wondering if it was just a coincidence.
"That's Ladybug." A scraggly voice informed him.
Of course it wasn't a coincidence. Chat Noir turned to see an older man, dressed in a dirt-filled linen cloth, he was bald and his eyes were almost black.
"Not many know this one," The man continued. "One of our city's very own goddesses, she keeps us safe."
That's when Ladybug started listening. A goddess? She smirked, ancient people thought of her as a divinity. They worshipped her. The thought was weird, but also rather fascinating.
"Is there another one? Cat themed maybe?" Chat asked hopefully.
The man shook his head. Ladybug laughed and elbowed Chat lightly in the chest. He glared at her, somewhat annoyed.
"She lives in that big house just up the hill," The old man pointed up towards a house made of glamorous white stones. "But she doesn't like visitors."
With that, the man lumbered away, disappearing into the crowd. The two teenagers looked up at the house, gawking at how marvellous it was for first century architecture.
"Well she's going to get visitors today." Ladybug mumbled as she began her trek up the hill, Chat Noir close behind.
Her eyes never left the mountain, which was filling up with molten hot lava at that moment. She wondered when the pressure would become too much, when it would all inevitably explode. When all of this was gone, it would be remembered only in the memories of those who loved it. But what would happen to her? To Chat Noir? Paris had no doubt by now realized that their beloved heroes had vanished. Were they missed? Was someone looking for them? Or had they already been forgotten about. A fading memory in the minds of Parisians everywhere. The thought made her shudder, she didn't want all of their adventures together to be erased from history when they were gone.
The house was bigger than any of the other houses that they had seen in the city. The house was white and made out of stone, columns rose up to the roof, a wooden door painted white hung lazily on its hinges. There were gardeners trimming topiaries and rose bushes, and a large statue of what was most likely a household God stood surrounded by brightly coloured flowers. Ladybug was the one who knocked on the door, she waited for a minute, and when nobody answered she knocked harder. The door opened slightly and a young man poked his head out, a mop of disheveled black hair on his head, a small smile on his lips. A ring on his finger, a familiar ring.
"Hello." The boy greeted, he didn't make eye contact with either of them.
"Hi, is Ladybug here?" Ladybug asked, trying her best to sound pleasant.
"My Lady isn't taking visitors today." The boy quickly replied, trying to shut the door, but Ladybug put her foot in the doorway, forbidding it from closing.
"We aren't visitors," Ladybug told him. "We need to speak with her, something bad is going to happen today and there is no way of stopping it."
The boy nodded as if he understood and opened the door for them. The house was just as spectacular inside as it was on the outside. Stone walls painted white, pictures depicting Gods and battles were painted on the walls and on the ceiling. A statue of a goddess, more likely than not Vesta, stood in the middle of the room. The boy led the two heroes into another room, where a sheer white curtain made of silk hung. He pulled back the curtain to reveal a young lady lying on what looked like a very uncomfortable bed. It wasn't really a bed as it was a slab of concrete with a woven cover. The young woman wore Ladybug's signature red and black suit with the mask covering her eyes. However, this Ladybug wore a matching headdress over her her head, covering her hair. The boy got down on his knees, bowing to the woman.
"Should we bow too?" Chat Noir whispered.
Ladybug slowly nodded her head and the two heroes politely lowered themselves onto their knees in respect. The young woman looked at the three people kneeling before her, sitting up in her bed and watching them.
"My Lady," He said, he lifted his head up to look at her. "These strangers wish to speak with you."
The young girl stood from her bed and began circling the three of them slowly. Her piercing grey eyes were cold and unfriendly, they gave off an intimidating glare. She stopped in front of them, she raised her hand, giving them the signal to rise. Ladybug stood up slowly, Chat Noir following close behind her. The young girl sat on the edge of her bed, she didn't smile or frown. Her face was unreadable.
"What is your wish?" She asked, her voice uncaring and cold.
"It's not so much a wish as it is a warning." Ladybug explained.
"Do not waste my time with warnings, if anything were wrong then the seers would inform me." The young lady spat, narrowing her eyes at Ladybug.
The boy stood up from his position on the ground and was about to close the curtain. Ladybug stepped in front of him. She had to say something, she couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
"I'm a seer." Ladybug interrupted.
The young woman stood from her bed once again, circling Ladybug and occasionally stopping to observe her. Ladybug froze, what was she doing? Could she sense that something was wrong? This girl most likely knew that Ladybug was not a seer. But she knew exactly how the city would fall, and that was all that mattered.
"Prove to me that you are a seer." The girl spoke softly.
Ladybug closed her eyes. How would she be able to prove that she could see the future? She didn't know much about Pompeii other than what would happen later today. But she knew Ladybug, she knew what made Ladybug a hero.
"Tikki?" She called.
The young woman's eyes widened, she was suddenly engulfed in a bright red light, transforming her from Ladybug to a normal girl. She wore a long purple dress, the colour of royalty and the Gods, a gold laurel sat atop her headdress.
And floating in front of her was the cheery red kwami that was attached to the miraculous. Attached to her. Even though she knew that this wasn't the same Tikki that existed nearly two thousand years into the future, Ladybug still smiled as if seeing an old friend. Her heart swelled with joy, she had to bite her tongue to keep from squealing. She just wanted to hug the tiny kwami, it was so good to see her again. She tried not to seem weird, this Tikki didn't even know who she was. Marinette didn't exist yet. This was a different Tikki, but she was still wise and confident. She wished that she still had her miraculous, then maybe she could be Ladybug again.
"It's good to see you." Ladybug smiled at her kwami, barely containing her excitement.
"Um.. you too?" Tikki replied, eyeing her curiously.
Ladybug felt a tiny pang of sadness in her chest. She knew that Tikki wouldn't recognize her, she didn't know Marinette yet, she wouldn't know her for nearly two thousand years. Although she wondered if maybe, just maybe, Tikki could sense that she was Ladybug. The small smile on Tikki's red face was hard to read. Maybe she knew, maybe she didn't. She would have to ask her Tikki once she got back.
"Okay, you have my attention," The young woman sounded annoyed and surprised. "What do you see?"
"Later today that mountain is going to explode and the entire city will burn." Ladybug explained, she knew that the word volcano didn't exist yet. It wouldn't exist until tomorrow. "I suggest that you get out of this city, get as many people out as-"
"Stop." The woman held out her hand, silencing Ladybug. "The Gods of the mountain will be reasoned with if your prophecy be the truth."
The young woman stood up and tugged the young boy by the sleeve of his shirt. They began leaving the room, Ladybug and Chat Noir followed them close behind. The girl and the boy were both engulfed in light and transformed into their superhero counterparts. Ladybug grabbed the young girl by the arm and pulled her back.
"Where are you going?" Ladybug yelled. "You have to li-"
The young woman pushed her to the ground. Chat Noir held out a hand to help her up and he glared at the young woman angrily.
"How dare you touch a Goddess without permission." She declared, her voice boomed and echoed throughout the room.
"Ladybug is mortal." Ladybug stated, taking Chat Noir's hand and lifting herself up on her feet. "You are not special or invincible, you are not and you never will be a God."
The young woman who stood before Ladybug looked astonished, as if she couldn't believe that someone would ever have the audacity to speak with her in this manner. Ladybug felt a small smile creep onto her face, she remembered Chloe having that exact same horrified expression whenever Marinette talked back to her. She hated girls like that, the ones that thought that they were better than everyone else because of money or power. And at one point in history, she had been one of those girls.
"How dare you speak to my lady that way." The boy sneered, grabbing Ladybug by the arm.
"Enough." The young woman interrupted, striking the young man across the face before turning around to leave. "Mountain first, her second."
Even though the two Pompeiani didn't want the two heroes to follow them, they did. They walked up the mountain just out of sight. It was quite a difficult trek, jagged rocks jutted out from everywhere, the slope was too steep in most places. They began to wonder if they would ever make it to the top in time. The two teen heroes watched as the young woman entered a cavern in the side of the mountain, her associate following close behind. The cavern was small and tight, they had to squeeze through as quickly and quietly as they could to avoid being detected by the wannabe-Goddess and her teammate. Although she didn't seem to treat him as a teammate so much as she did a slave. The inside of the mountain was boiling hot and filled with smoke, tiny little rocks and ash rained down from the roof of the cavern. Tiny tremors shook the floor, slowly growing stronger, it was nearly time.
The cavern opened up to a large ring of fire, lava boiled and bubbled in the depth below, smoke wafting up from everywhere. The woman stood on a rock, hovering above the lava pit down below. Chat Noir and Ladybug crouched down behind a boulder, a veil of smoke giving them extra cover.
"I wish to speak with Vulcan, God of fire." She demanded, her booming voice echoed and bounced off of the mountain walls.
From their hiding place they could see that the lava in the volcano was beginning to ripple and stir. The mountain began to shake and the ground began to crack. Giant rocks fell into the lava, burning up on impact. Ash fell around them and smoke clouded their vision, making them cough and choke. Chat Noir instinctively grabbed Ladybug, and hugged her close to his chest, afraid of what would happen next.
A humongous rock figure rose from the lava and let out a terrifying roar. The monster was at least fifty feet tall, with stone horns jutting out of its head. Fire spewing from its mouth and eyes. There was something around its wrist, a golden band of some kind. Something that Ladybug and Chat Noir knew meant that there was an akuma inside. The young girl fancied an akumatized victim a God. Either she was an imbecile or Tikki and Plagg did a very bad job of explaining their goals as Ladybug and Chat Noir. Most likely the first one.
"Should we tell her?" Chat Noir whispered.
Ladybug looked at the young girl and the boy, they were Ladybug and Chat Noir here. This was their job, it was not the place of visitors from another time to intervene. So Ladybug shook her head and continued to watch the young girl curiously.
"Vulcan," The young woman started, lowering her headdress from her scalp, her long brown hair dripping with sweat. "I wish to speak to you about the prophecy."
"Miraculous." The beast bellowed, it's low voice sounded creepy and almost like a ghost.
The beast reached out, trying to grab the young girl, but she was quick to jump out of the way. The mountain continued to rumble and shake, as if everything were about to collapse on their heads.
"Give them to me." The akumatized victim shrieked in anger, slamming its fist into the wall of the volcano.
The wall made the mountain less stable. Lava continued to rise, smoke continued to rise up and out of the large hole at the top of the mountain. There was no way to escape this, all of this was meant to be. The creature knew exactly what it was doing.
"Either give me your miraculous, or I destroy Pompeii." The beast told the girl.
She stared at the beast in shock. He was giving her the choice, either she keep her powers and watch her city burn, or the city stands, and her powers disappear forever. She wasn't ready to make such a decision. The people of the city looked up to her, she was their queen, their goddess. Pompeii would be nothing without her powers, and yet she had sworn to protect the city. They would still worship her, even without her powers. She was prepared to make a sacrifice for them, she sighed and slowly reached for her earrings. Ladybug's eyes widened when she realized what her Italian counterpart was doing.
"Stop!" Ladybug jumped out of her hiding spot and ran towards the young girl.
The girl looked at Ladybug in shock, thinking that she had left the ungrateful peasant girl behind.
"I thought that I made it clear that we didn't want to be followed." She spoke harshly, eyeing Ladybug as if she were about to push her into the lava.
"You can't give him your miraculous." Ladybug told her, taking a step closer to the girl in the red headdress.
"There are twenty thousand people living beneath this mountain," The girl yelled angrily. "They worship me, they honour me, and in return I protect them."
"I hope that you're kinder in your next life." Ladybug seethed, stepping closer to the young girl. "What you're doing isn't protecting them, you're protecting yourself. Being Ladybug isn't about power, it's about doing what is right. I know that Tikki would give up anything to keep the miraculous safe. Think about her, what would Tikki do?"
The young girl looked down at the earring in her hand, a small smile forming on her lips, and she stuck the tiny polka-dotted miraculous back into her ear.
"For Tikki." She whispered.
Ladybug opened her mouth to say something, but sound never came out, because at that moment the ground began to shake underneath her feet. The monster tore the ground apart, the lava rose with the creature's rage. The screams and cries of that monster drowned out any other sounds. There was ash and smoke everywhere. Vesuvius was erupting. Ladybug took one last look at the young girl before Chat Noir pulled her away. The two of them tried running back out the way that they came, but the tunnel was now sealed off. Rocks and ash fell around them, they crouched down and held each other tightly.
"Why aren't we back in the lab yet?" Ladybug questioned, even though she knew that Chat didn't know the answer.
"What if they're killing us?" Chat sounded scared, his words were muffled as he spoke into the girl's black hair.
Ladybug held onto him tighter, burying her face in his bare chest.
"Oh crap." She whispered into his chest.
Chat lightly kissed the top of her head, his lips lingering on her soft locks for a moment before resting his chin on top of her head. That kiss, though it was short, made them both feel warm and gooey, like drinking hot chocolate. But this wasn't the time to think about their feelings. They both shut their eyes tightly, waiting for the worst to come.
That's when the flash of light blinded them, and everything around them disappeared.
This was supposed to be longer... Not my best work but oh well.
In the year 79 AD Ladybug and Chat Noir are named Aurelia and Alexander.
I had to look up what you call people from Pompeii, which proved to be difficult because everyone jokingly said "dead." The main consensus that it came to was Pompeiani, which might be right or wrong. I tried. I'm not a professional writer.
And, because I know that SOMEONE will ask why two French speaking teenagers understand Latin... The time machine translates everything? I don't know, that's how the TARDIS works...
I really wanted to fit in a Doctor Who joke somewhere in here but I couldn't.
Until we meet again, keep on reading.