Cat Noir flung himself sideways, a twisting double-helix blast of white light flashing past him. Even as he came up into a roll, he saw the bolt of magic continue on to strike a woman pushing a baby stroller near the end of the street. In a flash of white, a near-duplicate of that woman, noticeably more slender and dressed in a Gabriel suit rather than jeans and a sweater, appeared next to her.
Cat winced slightly as he sprang forwards, trying to get closer to the akuma hovering over the middle of the street on feathery white wings. According to Clarence Odbody's rants, these near-duplicates were the "yous" of alternate timelines, the people you could have been if you'd made different choices at the critical turning points in your life. It hadn't exactly been hard to figure out what Hawkmoth was hoping to accomplish here. Hit Ladybug or him and the akuma would probably get a duplicate who hadn't picked up the Miraculous, one who could be recognized. The akuma spun and fired another of those duplicating blasts up at Ladybug, who was on top of one of the house roofs. She ducked back behind the chimney she was using for cover, and the bolt shot off into the sky.
Cat ducked behind a car to evade another of those duplicating bolts, then lunged for the akuma, trying to get close enough to grab the photo sticking out of the akuma's breast pocket, the only thing on him that wasn't bleached white. But even as he lunged the akuma shot up into the air like a rocket. Cat's staff lashed out sideways, connecting with a car and sending him flying off at an angle before the akuma could hit him with one of the duplicating bolts. He rolled over and sprang to his feet to see Clarence Odbody soaring over the rooftops, raining duplicating bolts as he flew.
"Milady," Cat whispered, then leapt up, springing off a balcony to vault up onto the roof. Ahead he could see Ladybug weaving back and forth, dodging the duplication bolts as she dashed across the rooftops. Cat broke into a charge, baton held in one hand. But before he could catch up to the akuma, it tucked its arms in and suddenly sped up, slamming into Ladybug and knocking her sprawling. Then before she could recover, the akuma fired one of those duplication bolts at point-blank range. There was a flash of white… and a second figure in red with black spots appeared out of nowhere, lying next to the real Ladybug.
Marinette stared in astonishment at the figure that had just appeared next to her. This certainly wasn't her. This Ladybug had coppery skin and almost golden eyes behind that black mask, and her hair was the warm reddish-brown of cinnamon dust.
"What?" the akuma exclaimed. "Another Ladybug?" He spun in midair and fired a bolt at Chat, who was leaping towards him from behind. The bolt connected… and in a flash of white a second black-clad figure, this one with feminine curves, golden eyes, and hair so black it seemed almost blue, appeared out of nowhere. The two Cats Noir landed, the new one landing in a sprawl on the tiles and the real one landing on top of Ladybug in a tangle of limbs.
"What?" the akuma exclaimed. "I didn't ask for more superheroes! This is totally unfair!" At that, he spun and shot off sideways, disappearing down the street before any of them could react.
Cat Noir rolled off Marinette and to his feet, and she got up. But before she could do anything, the other Ladybug grabbed her, holding onto her arm with both hands in a deathgrip. "Why, goddamn you," she hissed, and Marinette was startled to see tears in her eyes. "Goddamit, why did you give me this?"
Alya… Marinette thought as she recognized the alternate Ladybug's voice. Then it suddenly clicked. "That's it, isn't it," she said out loud. "You're not who I would have been if I'd made a different choice, you're who Ladybug would have been if I'd made a different choice. You're… I gave away the earrings, didn't I? That's the choice, after I failed to capture Stoneheart's akuma and tried to give away the earrings, I didn't take them back at the last second."
"Milady," Cat said, looking stunned. "You… you tried to give away the earrings, after Stoneheart?"
Marinette winced. "I… I just… I'd screwed up, all those people were turned into stone statues because of me. I'd convinced myself that I was the wrong choice for Ladybug, that you'd be better off with someone else-"
"NO!" Cat Noir snapped. "Milady, are you mad? I can't do this without you! Not without Ladybug, without you. You… I love you, because you're brave and clever and…" he trailed off, blushing.
"He's right," Ladybug-Alya said, voice quiet and oddly toneless. "I can't do this. It's… it's been a year and change since that day, in this timeline, right?"
Marinette nodded, confused.
"It's barely been two months in mine," Ladybug-Alya said. "After Stoneheart… Paris hates us. A lot of people believe Hawkmoth when he says that this would end if we gave up our Miraculouses. Sometimes people hunt us, try and capture us to take our Miraculouses so that the attacks will end. We've had so many close calls, we've had to hurt people to get away and they remember even if the Miracle fixes everything… Goddamit, Ladybug, I can't do this! I can't be you!"
Marinette pulled the echo of her friend into a hug, and Ladybug-Alya began to sob into her chest.
"And I suppose," the alternate Cat Noir said in a clipped tone, "That this would be my cue."
Cat turned to face his alternate, his stomach twisting.
"Can we not discuss this?" he said. "I think I know what choice you are, and it's something I really would rather not talk about. Especially in present company."
"I am what I am made to be," the alternate Cat Noir responded. "And even were I not, I believe that these words need to be said. There was a reason you almost gave up your Miraculous that day."
"Wait," said Ladybug, "you tried to give up your Miraculous too? But you love being a superhero! You're always so excited, so confident… what happened?"
Cat Noir sighed. "Syren, right?" he said to his double. "That's the choice?" She nodded, and he continued, not looking at Ladybug.
"You remember how we had that mission, just before Syren, when you called in Rena Rouge to help with the panthers?"
"Yes?" Ladybug said after a moment's pause.
"I think that's when it really started getting to me," Cat said, still not looking at Ladybug. "I mean, I liked Rena Rouge, I still like her, but the fact that you were bringing in new team members, that you knew her identity when I couldn't, that you were getting Miraculouses from somewhere that I knew nothing about and knew all this important Miraculous-related information I wasn't allowed to know… I know Miracle and purification make you the more important partner in battle. That's fine, it is what it is and anyway it's because of the way our powers work, not because of anything you chose. But outside of battle… I'd always thought that we were equals, partners. And then that wasn't true anymore and I didn't know why."
Cat felt an odd sense of relief as he continued talking, as words he'd kept bottled up inside came pouring out. "It was during Syren, when you went off to get the potions, that I hit my breaking point. Always before there'd at least been some reason I couldn't come, something that I was doing while you went off to do whatever it was. I was needed to hold off the Sapotis or keep the panthers busy, and that was at least some excuse. But with Syren… there was nothing I could do, no purpose for leaving me behind. I just wasn't allowed to know what you knew, and I wasn't even allowed to know why I couldn't know. And you'd just demonstrated that you could replace me, that there were other superheroes you could call on if you needed a partner."
He started as two arms wrapped around him from behind, almost falling off the roof. "Cat," Ladybug whispered in his ear, "I could never replace you. You think I could do this without you beside me? Not without your powers, without you. Sure, I could find other heroes, other Black Cats. But they wouldn't be you."
Cat laughed, though even to his ears it sounded dry and hollow. "That's just what Plagg said," he said. "I'd detransformed, told Plagg that if he wouldn't tell me what was going on then I was done. I wouldn't be kept in the dark, not about this. And of course Plagg said that I couldn't do that, that he needed me. And so I asked if he just meant he needed me to give him cheese, and he said 'Oh, I'm sure there will be another Cat Noir to give me cheese, but he won't be you.' And that's when Ma—the Guardian showed up."
Ladybug's arms tightened around him. "I'm sorry, Cat," she whispered. "I should have seen how bad it was, should have pushed more for Fu to reveal himself and given you more information. I should never have let myself think that it was all on me, or let you think that you were just a… I don't know, a soldier to be ordered."
"Incidentally," the alternate Cat Noir said in an emotionless voice, "Plagg was entirely correct. I could replace Cat Noir after you renounced the Ring, but I could not replace the boy behind the mask. In my timeline… I was the Guardian's third choice. The first two both failed dramatically, one badly enough that the Guardian had to risk entering the field personally to prevent disaster. I at least had the combat skill, and that was enough for me to replace you for a while, but… I wasn't you. In my timeline, my Ladybug was being viciously bullied in her civilian life, and I offered her no support when we met in costume. In fact, I didn't even realize anything was wrong until Ladybug had been tormented so severely that she broke and became akumatized. The Guardian had to use the Rabbit Miraculous to send me back in time. I was able to intercept the akuma and Cataclysm it, but the strain of using the Rabbit caused the Guardian to suffer a stroke. I've had to take temporary possession of the Miracle Box until he recovers, if he does. Worse, Hawkmoth appears to have realized that Ladybug's civilian identity is someone important, and has yet further redoubled his efforts to break her. Just before the akuma summoned me here, we met and she gave me her earrings, charging me to find another Bearer, someone whose identity she did not know and who she could not give away when she broke again."
"My God," Cat whispered. He realized that his hands were shaking. It had been bad enough, looking back on how close he'd come to breaking that day, how close he'd come to losing everything he held dear in a fit of pique. To learn that he had come so close to bringing ruin on all Paris…
"Why are you telling me this?" he asked his double.
"Because it is what I exist to do," she said. "Remember, I am not in fact Kuro Neko or Kagami Tsirugi. I am an echo, a shadow of a person who could have been, created by magic for the purpose of showing you what might have been if you had chosen differently on that day."
Suddenly, Ladybug let go of him and jumped back. "Oh my god!" she blurted out. "The akuma's still out there! Alright, come on, let's hunt him down. Other Ladybug, other Chat, you want to join us?"
Kagami Noir nodded, but the false Ladybug shuddered. "I… I can't," she whispered. "I just… I know I'm not real, that I didn't actually do any of those things, but, well… I feel like all that just happened. I can't go up against another akuma, not when you're here."
"Don't worry," she added with a wonky smile. "I'll just go poof when you purify the akuma. You won't actually be sending me back to that timeline."
"That's ok," Ladybug said gently. "I'm sure the three of us will be more than enough. And Cat, after this we're going to need to have a talk. I…" she halted, then continued in a more subdued tone, "I shouldn't have kept you in the dark like I have been, even after Syren. You're right, we're supposed to be partners, and I haven't always been treating you like a partner. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too," Cat responded instinctively. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you, ever put my own good over yours. I've said I love you, I've said we're partners, but I wasn't acting like I loved you or like your partner on that rooftop."
"I believe you need to have this conversation later," not-Kagami said, looking at her baton's extended screen. "It would appear that the akuma has been sighted near Le Grand Paris, I believe it is trying for the mayor. But do not forget to have that conversation. Even I can tell that you both need it."
"Right," Ladybug said. "Come on, Chats. Let's go!" And with that, she turned to leap off over the rooftops.
"Right beside you, Milady," Chat said, grin back on his face.