AN: I haven't watched the New York special that aired last night yet. At this point I don't think any new episodes will be part of the "Mind Games"-verse, though I may find ways to incorporate ideas when they fit. The New York heroes, for example, haven't made an appearance yet (beyond Marinette thinking of them in "America"), but they could…
To GuenZhenXuan2020: Thanks! The interactions are a lot of fun, especially Tikki and Plagg bickering like an old married couple. The Bat Kwami's name is "Bella." She isn't herself corrupting him (though that is the concept she embodies), any more than Plagg destroys everything he touches.
To Butterfly: I love being able to spread things around between all the characters! All of the next three multi-chapter stories actually focus on different characters than Adrien and Marinette, though they feature prominently in the one-shot series spinning out of this story.
When they were ready to set off for the last leg of the hike after their lunch stop, Marinette took Adrien's hand and raised an eyebrow at him. He nodded and wrapped his other arm around her in a hug off to the side of the trail, allowing Master Fu, Felix, and Pedro to lead the way up the mountain ahead of them. She released his hand and wrapped her arms around Adrien's neck, pulling him down into a kiss. Gorilla took his time around the ledge where they had eaten, clearly waiting for them to leave and allow him to bring up the rear. She flushed but sighed in acceptance. Even if Gorilla wouldn't give them privacy here in the middle of nowhere, on a mountain path in the middle of the Himalayas, they could at least trust him not to tell anyone about their conversation. Once Fu and the others were out of earshot, she released Adrien and took his hand as they followed, Gorilla a silent presence behind them.
"What's on your mind, Purr-incess?" Adrien asked, squeezing her hand.
"Have you noticed that Master Fu is acting a little strange?" she asked by way of reply. "I mean, more so than usual."
Adrien frowned. "He has been rather somber today," he agreed. "It can't be easy coming back here after everything that happened. All the friends he lost."
Marinette squeezed his hand gently. "You've managed okay with the Mansion," she pointed out, kissing him on the cheek.
"Only because I've had you by my side," he told her, lifting her hand to his mouth and kissing her knuckles. "That stopped feeling like a home after Mother disappeared, and it didn't start feeling like a home again until you started coming over all the time and redecorating." He looked into her eyes and chuckled. "But this isn't just about Master Fu, or the Mansion, is it?"
Marinette gave him a concerned look. "There's been something off all day," she explained with a nod. "You haven't really been your normal happy self – not since we left the Mansion."
He looked into her eyes, and she could see the hurt and fear there. "I'm worried," he admitted. "Father and Mother came here together, and Mother left in a coma."
"And we're going to wake her from that coma," she promised, squeezing his hand reassuringly.
Adrien shook his head. "That's not what worries me," he told her. "What if it happens to you this time? I–I don't think I could forgive myself if something happened to you, and the only reason we're here is to heal my mother. I mean, you didn't have to come with."
Marinette put her hand on his cheek and gave him a small smile. "We both know that's not true," she replied. "First, I did have to come because according to Master Fu, Miraculous Ladybug is what will repair the Peacock. But second, the fact that she's your mother makes this important for me, too. Of course I'm here for you. We're partners, right?"
"We are," he agreed, smiling though he still looked troubled. "It's just… I've seen exactly what a world without you in it looks like, and I have no desire to experience it firsthand."
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Don't worry," he assured her, squeezing her hand gently. "I know what CBN did, and I would never do that. I've put his actions in the past – he will not be my future! But that doesn't mean I want to experience his grief."
Marinette leaned into his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her protectively. This was perhaps the worst consequence of their trip to the future last year. She knew that Adrien still had the occasional dream about the dystopian future in which she had been killed and he had gone insane from grief – his dreams occasionally woke her up. For that matter, she dreamt about it occasionally, also. In her dreams, however, he was the one who died, and she was the one left behind to pick up the pieces. And if that future-Adrien could have imbalanced the world through grief, what might she have done in that situation? She stopped walking and pulled him into a tight embrace. He lifted her off the ground and kissed her deeply. She wrapped her legs around his waist and poured every ounce of her love into the kiss, running her hands through his hair. When they broke apart, she met his eyes and whispered breathlessly, "You trust me, right?"
"Absolutely, Milady," he whispered back, staring back into her eyes.
"We can do this," she assured him. "Together. We work together, and neither of us will have to experience that loss."
Adrien nodded and rested his forehead against hers. "Of course, Milady."
Marinette closed her eyes and melted into Adrien's embrace. Together, they could accomplish just about anything, especially with their friends–
A throat clearing further along the trail interrupted Marinette's thoughts. Adrien let her back down to the ground, and she opened her eyes, turning to glare at the person who had disturbed them. "I'm tempted to throw you off this mountain," she growled.
"Is that a bit of a temper I detect from the pure, righteous Ladybug?" drawled Felix, arching an eyebrow at them. "If the two of you weren't so busy sucking face, you would have noticed that we're here."
Marinette felt Adrien's grip on her hand tighten as they followed Felix up the last ten meters past the rocky outcropping hiding the trailhead. On cresting the ridge, she gasped at the sight of the plateau where the Asian Miraculous Temple had once stood. The plateau was as flat as though someone had sliced the mountain off to create a table. Massive stones were strewn all over the landscape – they had picked their way around several the size of minivans on their way up the mountain both days of their hike. On the far side of the plateau were the bases of two massive watchtowers, the tops of the structures having been pushed over in the temple's destruction and fallen down the sides of the cliff. The only building that appeared to still be standing was a large barn on one side of the lines of stones indicating where the main temple had once stood. The sides of the barn had warped with time and the roof had collapsed. Close to the head of the trail the group stopped in front of two stone blocks placed three meters apart.
"This was the temple gate," Master Fu announced, kneeling in front of one block and placing his hand on it. He closed his eyes and sighed, clenching his fist. Marinette put her hand on his shoulder in sympathy. Master Fu extended his other hand to prevent her from a stepping into the space between the stones. "Under ordinary circumstances, you would place one of the Guardian rings on the arch, concentrating on the people around you, to extend the wards' protection to them," he explained. "With the arch gone, the connection is broken. If it is to work, I think you must both place your rings on the arch's bases at the same moment to simulate that connection in order to allow everyone to enter the temple complex," he finally continued.
Obediently Felix and Adrien stepped in front of the stones and placed their hands on top of them together. A weak white shimmer ran through the stones, skimmed along the ground around the perimeter of the temple complex, and spread inward, converging at the center of the temple's main keep. Master Fu dropped his arm, and Marinette hesitantly stepped forward between the stones of the temple gate. She led the way further into the temple, stopping in the courtyard to take in what she could see. Half-pulverized tiles from the buildings' roofs crunched under her feet. To one side of the courtyard was a tree whose branches had almost taken over half the courtyard. Tikki took to the air from Marinette's shoulder to float ahead of her, turning in all directions to look over the remains of the temple.
Tikki flew over to the tree and put her paw on one of the dead branches, causing a flower to blossom on it. "Guardian Hua planted this tree nearly 1400 years ago," she commented sadly. "The Guardians tended it faithfully in her honor. To see it in this state… Longg would be so disappointed."
Marinette followed her over, plucked a dead branch off the tree, and discarded it on the ground. "What if we took a seed from this tree to plant at home in front of the Mansion?" she wondered. "Could you and Daizzi help it grow?"
Tikki nodded and pulled a seed out of the flower that had just budded. "We can do that," she assured her, handing Marinette the seed, which went into her purse. "I think Longg would appreciate having a memorial to one of his favorite holders at our new home."
Marinette looked around, taking in the disrepair of the temple. She could easily imagine the immensity of the structure when it had first been built, or even when it had been destroyed the first time. Kneeling to look at one of the massive bricks that had made up the main building, she could even see evidence of the second destruction which M. Agreste had described. "What do you remember of the Maw's original imprisonment?" she asked Tikki, running a hand along vines trying to reclaim the bricks.
"Nothing," replied Tikki, shaking her head. "I do remember when the Maw first came to Atlantis. First it devoured the Anchiorn Miraculous user. Then it swallowed Rhetto, one of the Kwamis of Speed – water speed. The Cantius Miraculous was lost to it next, though the Guardian who had been carrying it just barely survived – Barkk's holder pulled him from the Maw's grasp. By that point the Mage had realized what was happening, and he rallied the Sorcerers' Guild and the Guardians to fight it off, though the Dingo Miraculous was still damaged in the battle. Afterward the Mage took a group of his disciples and together they imprisoned it. They didn't bring any Kwamis or any Miraculous except the damaged Dingo with them for the battle – not even me. All I remember is that the Mage returned alone with the Dingo Miraculous repaired – none of his disciples returned with him."
Marinette swallowed hard, her eyes roaming around the temple complex. What could this Maw be like? How were they supposed to fight this thing? Which of their group might not make it? And yet, from what Master Fu said, this was the only way to repair the Peacock Miraculous, and that was the only way for them to wake Mme Agreste from her coma. She of course trusted Adrien with her life – she had for three years, and he had yet to let her down. Master Fu was her mentor. Adrien trusted the Gorilla implicitly. And despite the circumstances of their first meeting, Pedro had proven himself to be trustworthy again and again. But Felix? Yes, he was Adrien's cousin, but did that really make him trustworthy? Or even useful in fighting a monster that eats Kwamis? Marinette furrowed her brows in concern as she continued to examine the remains of what must have been the temple's living quarters.
She was stirred from her thoughts by Pedro, who approached her from closer to the center of the plateau. He held a smooth stone about the size of his palm, a troubled look in his eyes. He tossed the stone to her. "What do you make of this?"
Catching it, Marinette turned it over and saw a familiar symbol etched into it of a circle bisected at an angle with a triangle set in each half of the circle. She furrowed her brows in concentration as she tried to remember where she had seen it before. "I think I recognize this," she began, "but not exactly this… Is it–?"
"The symbol of the Dark Acolytes of the Mundane?" Pedro supplied, nodding. "It is, but not quite. You see how the triangles are connected along one side here? The normal version has the triangles joined at the tips." He pointed to the spot in the etching and frowned. "I don't know why it's different, but it is. I remember seeing this variation of the symbol in one of the books at the Dark Acolyte temple, but there was no explanation for the difference."
"What do you think it means?"
Tikki flew closer to look at it on both sides. "I remember seeing a few other stones this shape and color worked into the mosaic, but they were all smooth."
Pedro slipped the stone into his pocket and left to examine the tile work in the dormitory. Marinette meanwhile followed Tikki into the remains of the main temple building, where she stopped on the edge of the enormous mosaic taking up much of the center of the main room. Although the mosaic had been broken in pieces, she could recognize similar elements to the mosaics she had studied at the American Miraculous Temple in the spring. Reds and blacks dominated, with green and white showing the land around the temple. Smooth white stones similar to the one Pedro had found were interspersed through the mosaic, forming a pattern that stirred something in the back of Marinette's mind. The red outline of the symbol of the Asian Miraculous Set with a red-and-black yin-yang set within it was situated in the very center of the room. Black triangles surrounded the symbol for the miraculous set. Marinette's mouth dropped open as she examined the images.
"I don't believe it, Tikki," Marinette whispered, looking up at the Kwami. She smacked her forehead in realization. "I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner! The triangles – they don't all face the same direction. They're not representing the mountains in which the temple was built! They're teeth! And that must mean…"
Tikki's eyes grew wide as saucers. "And that's why the Mage insisted that Plagg and I come to this temple specifically…" she murmured, looking up at Marinette. "It's right there in the mosaic!"
Marinette reached down and ran her hand over one of the black triangles. "According to Gabriel, Adrien's mother was examining this mosaic when the Maw awoke and attacked her," she observed.
"The Mage warned never to disturb this mosaic," Tikki warned floating closer to Marinette's head and hiding behind one of her pigtails.
"Well, we want to wake up the Maw, right?" Marinette pointed out. "If that's the case, it seems like we need to do whatever you're not supposed to do." She took a deep breath and picked up one of the loose tiles.
The moment her fingers closed around the tile, the mosaic began to shudder and rumble, shifting as if the ground itself was about to open up and swallow them whole. The long seam running the length of the mosaic spread apart, and a black tendril shot up from the bowels of the earth, reaching for the Kwami hovering behind Marinette's head.
Marinette's eyes grew as wide as saucers as the monster rose from the ground before her. "Tikki, Spots on!"
AN: The future events happened in "Running out of Time." The symbol of the Dark Acolytes of the Mundane first appeared in "A Miraculous Adventure in America," Chapter 10.