Stand Alone – Under the pretense that Alya gets and keeps her miraculous.

xXx

Master Fu loved what he did, both as an every day job, and as the magical guardian of the Miraculous stones. Sure, it had its drawbacks (outliving anyone he'd been born with, all of his family and many generations afterwards), but the rewards were immeasurable. And he had just gotten that much closer to finding the butterfly (and hopefully peacock) Miraculous as well. He was sure his two, new holders would be up to the task (well, they'd been doing a great job of it so far, even if there had only been about two weeks and four akuma.

Now if only he could figure out what that strange, magical disturbance last night had been. He was sure all the Kwami had felt it, although he couldn't be sure if said Kwami had told their wielders. It was as if...well, he couldn't quite describe it, and he'd never heard anything like it happening before. But,the closest thing he could come to describing it is that someone had basically torn a hole in space and time and then blown a raspberry before closing back up again. There hadn't been any real intent behind it, and it had been extremely blatant to those who knew what to sense.

"Wayzz?" he asked aloud. They'd already discussed it multiple times, but it never hurt to try and come at it from a new perspective. His kwami and best friend flew over to him.

"Master?" he asked.

Fu opened his mouth to speak but something twinging on his senses made him pause. He cocked his head to one side. Someone with magical residue was approaching. If he hadn't been on the look out for something, he my have missed it altogether.

"Hide," he finally said. "We're about to have a visitor. It seems we may actually get our answers faster than we initially thought."

Wayzz nodded and hid beneath the table.

At least they had the decency to knock, whoever it was... even if said knocks were loud and demanding. Five knocks.

The old man took what he could from that and sipped his drink before calling out, "Come in."

They did. Surprisingly, he'd never seen the girl who more or less threw the door open and carelessly shut it behind her. She had a lovely shade of tan skin, and hair that faded from a dark, reddish-brown on top to a much lighter red on the ends. He couldn't tell if that was natural or intentional. She had a mole over one eye, wore glasses and a plaid shirt and looked like she either wanted to drop down and cry or kill something. He was actually warily impressed that she could exude both impressions at once.

"Please, come in," he said with a smile as he rose to make some more tea.

"Thanks," she muttered before closing the door behind her, coming up to the table and plopping down in front of it. She put her arms on the polished wood and then buried her head in her arms.

Master Fu raised an eyebrow. "Hard day, I take it?"

The snort that came from her more or less confirmed his statement.

"I'll return shortly with some tea."

"Thank you," she said, waving one arm. "Chamomile and lavender with a sprinkling of cinnamon if you have any."

He raised an eye at her strange order, but shrugged. He did, indeed, have the ingredients she'd requested. Apparently she needed calm today.

It didn't take him long to fix the drink and so, soon enough, he walked back into the other room with a steaming cup on a tray. He placed said cup down in front of her and she looked up at him gratefully.

"Thank you, Master Fu," she said, reaching for the cup.

"You may want to wait for it to cool down," he warned.

She smiled sadly, almost nostalgically. "You said that the first time we met too."

The old man cocked his head to one side and raised one eyebrow. "Oh?" He didn't recall having met her before... ever.

The teenager took a tentative sip of the steaming tea and then let out a welcome sigh.

"My name is Alya Cesaire and I run the Ladyblog."

Master Fu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Ah, yes. The Ladyblog. I believe I've heard of that."

Alya paused before taking another sip and instead scrutinized her host. "Well, it's official. I came back alone."

The guardian stroked his beard as he studied her and thought over that.

"Came back? And you expected to bring someone with you?"

The girl sighed, suddenly looking far older than her teenage years would suggest. "What happens when you destroy a Miraculous?"

His eyes widened at the multiple implications hidden in those few words. "I..." well, she obviously knew of the Miraculous, and if she'd come here than she knew about him in regards to them. She also said it so casually and without any threat or malicious intent that he could detect (and he was rather good at that, if he did say so himself), so, after some thought, he just continued where he'd left off. "...Didn't think it was possible."

Her expression, somehow, grew even drier. She put one hand in the air in front of her, palm up. "Cataclysm," she said, then held the other one up in the same position on her other side. "Miraculous." Then she put her palms together before pushing them apart, wagging her fingers dramatically. "Boom."

Master Fu's eyes widened even further. "The backlash from that..." he started, his mind racing ahead of him. "Unpredictable... devastating... I just..." He blinked over at her. He wanted to ask when this happened, because he certainly hadn't felt it, and how it had come to be and why and... but he figured that all of his questions could be shortened into two words: "What happened?"

The dry expression turned a little wry and she leaned her elbow on the table, and then her head on her palm, never taking her eyes off of him.

"Well, we went after Hawk Moth."

The old man raised an eyebrow. "We?"

She closed her eyes, obviously trying to reign in her frustration. "I got Trixx. Well, at first it was just once to help out, and I had to give him back, but then it got worse and you decided to give me the miraculous. So, I..." she paused and took a deep, steadying breath. "When we're done here, can I see him? I just... want to make sure he's okay. I understand if you don't want to activate another Miraculous right now, and I... will be upset, but will understand if you choose to give him to someone else. I... I just have to know. He... I don't think he came back with me. And he was in so much pain... I just... please."

His brow furrowed. The way she'd acted before, he didn't think this girl acted so desperate so often. Still, she already knew more than just about anyone else alive today should. Malicious or not, that made her dangerous... or a potential, unthinkable boon. "Perhaps," he finally said.

Alya must have realized that was about as good as she would get because she simply nodded, took another breath and continued. "Anyway, we went after Hawk Moth. We fought. Chat... Adrien... he wasn't thinking straight. I..." She paused and sent a wary look towards the guardian. "Did you know? About his father?"

Well, that sounded ominous. Obviously he didn't know what she was talking about, but it wasn't that difficult to put two and two together. There had been a magical resonance around Adrien when he'd first found the boy, but it had been so faint that he had dismissed it at the time. But if she was mentioning his father and then all of this...

"I'm guessing he's Hawk Moth."

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "You didn't know?" She mulled over that for a bit and took another sip of her tea. "Huh. So you don't know everything."

He smiled at her, and managed to make it amused, even. "Of course I don't. I'm only human, after all."

"Huh," she said again, but then either dismissed it or decided to think on it later. "Anyway, we'd just found out and he... wasn't taking it well. Ladybug had gotten Hawk Moth to trip with her lucky charm – marbles, of all things – and he went in with his cataclysm, straight for the Miraculous. I think he was just acting on habit, you know, go after the piece that holds the akuma and cleanse it. I don't think he really thought it through. Can't say I'm surprised.

"Carapace must have realized what would happen, because he stopped Ladybug from going after him and got his shield up around her and Bee. I was across the room from them, but I still saw him going for it. There wasn't much else I could do, so I dove forward, tried to push him back towards the shield, but I didn't get there in time.

"Then..." she shuddered. "Then everything fell apart. I think. I... I'm not sure how to describe it. It's just, everything unraveled. Adrien screamed, but it sounded like more than one person. I think his Kwami was screaming too. Trixx screamed as well and I heard more voices. I... I think it was all the Kwami. And the world just... wasn't anymore. I don't know why I'm here and no one else is, but maybe I got thrown back the furthest because I was the closest to him at the time? But where is Adrien then? Unless..." she paused, looking rather sick, and Master Fu got the distinct impression Alya wasn't talking to him anymore. From what she said and how she was reacting, he needed to fix that, get her to focus on the here and now and get her mind away from unpleasant memories and conclusions.

"So, when you say 'back', you mean from the Future?"

The girl startled, as if just realizing he was there. Then she heard his words and sighed in relief. "Yes. I woke up all the way back here, before everything happened, before I got my Miraculous. Although, I have to say that being back when my boyfriend and I aren't dating and my two best friends don't even know about each other..." She suddenly got a pained look, closed her eyes and leaned down, banging her head on the table softly.

"Oh, I'm so going to lock them in a closet! I can't take another year or two of their drama!"

Master Fu sipped his tea and decided to try and lighten the mood. "If they are as difficult as you say they are, are they worth your friendship?"

The glare she shot at him could have melted stone. "Of course they are! They are the kindest, sweetest, most selfless people I've ever met! You should know that! You gave them their Miraculous!"

So she had been talking about those two.

"But honestly! Only those two could be involved in a love square that only involves two people! Why?! Why, I ask you?!"

Master Fu smiled. "Can you honestly say you would do any better in their situation?"

She opened her mouth, but paused and then closed it after a few seconds. Then she muttered, "At least I can be honest with myself about my feelings."

The Guardian couldn't help it. He laughed.

"Come," he said, gesturing for her to follow him as he rose and walked to the back of the room, towards the old phonograph. She sent him a questioning look before he turned his back to her, but he heard her rise and come to stand behind him as he opened the hiding place.

He entered his pass code and reached in to remove the box and heard her sharp intake of breath. He ignored it, continuing to smile as he set the box down and opened it, revealing seven spaces, five of them empty.

"Master!" Wayzz said, rushing from under the table. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Hi, Wayzz," Alya said softly. Fu glanced at her to see a relieved smile on her face, and knew his stoic friend well enough to see the surprise in his expression. It was really just more evidence that she was telling the truth. Still, the kwami would have the final say.

Wayzz flew up to her and studied her intently. The old man went back to picking up one of the two remaining boxes. Then he handed it to her.

"Check and see for yourself."

Alya blinked, then her gaze hardened and she nodded firmly. "Thank you."

She opened the box and a bright, orange light appeared in front of her.

"Hello," the little fox said, "I'm—"

"Trixx!" Alya practically yelled. Her arms darted forward to grab the Kwami and then brought him to her neck in a hug. "Oh, I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried! You..." she paused, eyes opening wide before she hurriedly let Trixx go and stepped back, cautiously. "S-sorry. You obviously don't know me at all and I... Well, I'm... I'm just really happy this version of you is okay. I... I don't think my version is." She looked down sadly.

"This version...?" Trixx asked, confused. Then he turned to Wayzz. "Did Plagg finally talk you into pranking me back for Istanbul?" he huffed. "Oh, for goodness... That was centuries ago! Besides, it was just a joke!"

Wayzz didn't answer, although he looked distinctly amused.

"Oh," Alya said, a gleam in her eye as she rushed back to her backpack. "You haven't told me about that one! I gotta write it down in my..." she faded off as she opened her bag and looked inside, obviously not finding what she'd been expecting to. "Oh. Right."

Trixx, looking rather lost himself, glanced over at Master Fu.

The old man didn't allow himself to snicker. He had far too much control for that. "Alya here is from the future. Apparently, she was your wielder in another timeline."

"Oh," Trixx said, blinking his large eyes at him, then glancing back at Alya, who hadn't seemed to want to look back up at them. "Well, that explains why she feels so familiar."

The teenager blinked and whipped her head back. "I... I do?"

Trixx nodded.

Alya managed a weak smile. "I'm glad something's still there. Even if I don't end up being your holder this time—"

"Wait, what?" Trixx asked, flying up into her face. "You don't want to be?"

The human girl blinked, backing up a bit to focus a little more easily on the Kwami.

"Well, yeah, I do. But I don't want to force you or presume."

Something told Fu that a year into this girl's past, she wouldn't have said something like that. This girl seemed like the investigative type who demanded answers and fully expected to receive them. At least, that was the impression he'd gotten from the Ladyblog.

"Well, I'm here now, I'm active now, and Master Fu wouldn't have done that if he didn't want you to have my stone. It's my choice whether to accept his judgment or not, and I didn't see a reason not to."

Alya's eyes lit up and she looked over at the old master for confirmation. He nodded, still smiling. The light of hope in her gaze spread to her face and she squealed with delight, rushing over to Master Fu and throwing her arms around him.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I won't let you down!" She looked back at Trixx. "And thank you! I won't let you down either, Trixx."

The little fox laughed.

"Well, perhaps we should get down to writing out what happened in the future?" Master Fu asked, sitting down at the table. "Forewarned is forearmed, after all."

Alya nodded, gaze hardening into steel. He liked this girl. His future self had chosen well, if he had indeed been the one to choose.

"Alright, so let me go over all the Akuma I can remember and what their powers were. Who was the last person Akumatized?"

Fu canceled the rest of his appointments and she stayed there long into the evening before she insisted she had to leave. She promised to come by again soon.

xXx

That night, several months earlier than in another timeline, Ladybug and Chat Noir met Rena Rouge for the first time.