…
…
…
Hm…?
A softness beneath her.
Heavy weight to her body.
Light filtering through closed eyelids.
She cracked her eyes open.
AH AH AH AH TOO LIGHT TOO LIGHT TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF
"Tunitoff" she muttered, making a halfhearted effort to move some limb to block out the accursed light.
Noise rustled next to her.
"Honey come over here, take a look!"
"What is it dear- Marinette!"
Instinctively she turned her head to the side, cracking open her eyes once again.
Two fuzzy shapes dominated her vision, sharpening into familiar figures.
"Maman…? Papa…?"
"We're here."
Wait, why would her parents be here waiting for her to wake up?
And…
Wait.
Where was 'here'?
"What- what happened to me?" she asked, her voice thin and reedy.
Her mom answered her. "We're not sure. This nice old man found you and your friends passed out on a rooftop. None of the doctors could find anything wrong with you, you just… none of you would wake up."
Her friends…?
Reassuring Alya after experiencing her Nightmare World.
Nino explaining his encounter with the warped version of herself.
Adrien believing in her, telling her that she'd never go as far as her copy.
And that copy trying her hardest to convince her to give up on them.
She bolted upright, lethargy forgotten. "ARE THEY OKAY WHERE ARE THEY-"
A nurse opened the door. "What's going on- oh you're awake."
Her head whipped around. "The people who were with me, are they okay?!"
It sounded like 'Marinette' was agreeing to free them before, but she'd never explicitly said she would, and with how much she hated them? She wasn't counting on them being in good shape even if they WERE freed. Heck, she didn't even know whether they were okay just after she'd been pulled through that portal and separated from them in the first place!
A commotion came from the hall. "WHERE'S MARINETTE?!"
The nurse sighed. "That makes the fourth one. I appreciate that you're all worried about each other, but there ARE other patients in this ward trying to rest."
The fourth…? So then..!
Her heart pounded. "They're all awake too?"
"Yes, the first of you woke up just a few minutes ago, then another a minute later, and well, sounds like the last one's up too."
They were awake.
They were alive.
And judging from that outcry a moment ago? They were themselves.
She fell back onto the bed and closed her eyes, allowing herself a moment of rest.
They were safe.
"Can I see them?"
Her mom looked at her, concerned. "Honey you just woke up, and we don't even know what - actually, can you tell us what happened?"
Huh.
Well at least she could be truthful.
"I'm not sure. One minute we were all having a picnic, then some white stuff came down from the sky and then… I guess we passed out?"
Her mom frowned. "An akuma maybe? We didn't hear anything on the news, but some of them aren't widely known and it'd explain why all of you woke up at once - never seen Ladybug and Chat Noir take that long to defeat one though. I hope they're okay."
Marinette just hummed.
Not an akuma, but probably safer to let everyone think that was the culprit.
Besides, she didn't actually know what'd happened.
She sat up, trying to move to a more upright position once again.
Which was when she discovered all the tubes sticking out from her that she'd been too worried and exhausted to notice before.
"...How long was I out?"
"Somewhere between 22 and 24 hours, depending on how long you four were unconscious before you were discovered."
Well that explained the need for all the tubes, especially with them not knowing how long she was gonna need them. She still needed nutrients, water, and to…
She blushed. "Uh… could we get all these tubes out of me? Please?"
After an examination by some doctors and being declared healthy, they removed the equipment. She promptly made a break for the bathroom. Didn't help much since there wasn't actually anything to get rid of, but it felt better afterwards at least. Catheters were NOT fun.
Her friends were similarly getting prepared to be able to leave. She didn't get to see them unfortunately - by the time everything was done it was pretty late, and all of them were leaving pretty soon after being declared healthy.
It worried her and she didn't think she'd feel truly satisfied until she saw them again.
She touched her earrings.
Luckily, that didn't have to be very long.
MARINETTE may need to go home for the day.
LADYBUG had other plans.
First though, there was something she'd been wondering about. She hadn't really had time to ask during the only time she'd had alone before this in the bathroom (plus she REALLY didn't want to talk about anything at that time).
Safely upstairs in her bedroom though?
"Tikki? Are you there?"
The little ladybug kwami flew out from her purse. "Marinette!"
"Tikki!"
She hugged her kwami as best she could, Tikki snuggling up against her. She'd worried about her kwami before with all their Miraculous missing, and while after she woke up she'd figured it was just because Tikki wasn't affected by whatever-that-was and so wasn't in the dream state, without being able to actually see her? Part of her just didn't quite believe it.
After a moment they separated slightly, Tikki floating a foot away.
"Tikki, what happened?"
"After you all collapsed we all spent a few minutes trying to wake you up, even getting… creative."
"Creative?"
Did she WANT to know?
Tikki read her expression. She made a face. "Plagg thought that true love's kiss might wake Adrien up. So he kissed him. On the lips."
Well.
Points for Plagg being willing to go to great lengths to help Adrien she guessed?
"Luckily the salt stuff doesn't affect us apparently. Plagg didn't think to brush it off before kissing him."
"Wait, salt stuff?"
Tikki shrugged. "That's what Plagg said it tasted like."
She continued. "Anyway after a few more minutes of that kind of thing, Wayzz flew off and got Master Fu. When he couldn't figure it out either he contacted your parents, claiming he recognized you from when he's seen you run out of the bakery. He didn't even need to lie about that; he just recounted that time he chose you when you 'saved' him from walking into the road. From there your parents were able to contact everyone else's parents and got you all shipped to the hospital."
So that explained how they all got there. She'd figured as much, but it was good to hear it confirmed.
But it wasn't what she meant.
"No, I mean, what was that salty stuff? Why were we out? And what was up with that dream world were in?"
"Dream world?"
Tikki didn't seem surprised exactly, more thoughtful.
"Yeah. All of us were in it together - well not at first and I got separated at the end, but for most of it."
The kwami hummed for a moment. "Can you tell me exactly what happened? I have some ideas, but that'll help pin it down."
She recounted the whole thing. Tikki nodded periodically, occasionally comforting her when she mentioned something disturbing, but didn't interrupt.
At last she finished with Saltinette's snap(after hearing of Plagg's experience she figured it was a good nickname and it beat calling her 'imposter' all the time).
Tikki closed her eyes and crossed her arms for a minute.
"...Well?" Marinette asked.
Tikki opened her eyes again. "I suspect you four were pulled into some sort of rift energy between the dimensions."
What?
"I have no idea what that means."
"It's like... "
She flew off, retrieving some pieces of paper Marinette had cut up earlier for a project.
She started moving the pieces around. "Normally different dimensions stay separate. But sometimes they collide."
The paper ran into each other, crinkling both pieces.
"When that happens sometimes they'll stick together briefly, and with the collision… well, sometimes things can leak from one world into another."
Marinette frowned. "But these weren't normal, full worlds. And Saltinette mentioned something about a 'Source Universe'?"
Tikki nodded. "These dimensions aren't always the same kind as this one. Some can be a bit more… ethereal. Conceptual.
As for the Source Universe thing, Saltinette was right. I noticed we separated as soon as that akuma appeared that revealed everyone's identities. It doesn't really affect us much per se, but it DOES mean that whatever we do will stay mostly localized to just this universe - a Source Universe creates and affects an endless multitude of universes that spawned from it, often even after those universes separated."
"So then… what WAS Saltinette? And why'd she go after us?"
"I'm not totally sure, but I think she might've been an offshoot from several other universes that split off from the Source, particularly of their negativity. If enough negative energy coalesces… well, you know how powerful that can be. Papillon uses that to warp and control people. If enough of it floats off of dimensions? They can make an entirely new dimensional being."
"So she WAS the dimension?"
"Probably. She may not have had full control of all aspects though; she'd be more of an emerging consciousness rather than one that created everything from scratch. Plus well, it's not like you consciously control or are even aware of everything your own body does, it just does it."
That explained why she hadn't been more effective at thwarting the four of them at least.
She frowned. "Wait, if her dimension was more ethereal and if she just captured our minds… what would've happened if we'd stayed? If she hadn't let us go?"
Tikki looked uncomfortable. "None of you would've woken up. Ever. And with your minds disconnected from your bodies, even your bodies perishing wouldn't have freed you."
WHAT.
"...I'm gonna try not to think about the implications of that."
Tikki nodded vigorously. "Good idea! Maybe do something a little happier?"
Something happier…
Oh yeah!
"Hey Tikki, you up for transforming?"
Ladybug soared through the city.
This joy, this freedom, she'd come so close to never knowing it again - not really. Not truly.
Maybe Saltinette could've made a Miraculous facsimile for her to pretend with. Would've created an entire fawning population to base their whole lives around her, to ensure that any 'wrong' committed against her was repaid a thousand-fold.
But those facsimilies wouldn't have been real.
Those people wouldn't have been real.
They'd have just been a fantasy, and ultimately?
Her only company would've been a twisted version of herself.
Interacting with others carried risks.
Misunderstandings happened.
Some people were even malicious.
Feelings could fray, people could lash out, say and do things they'd later regret.
But ultimately?
Ultimately it was worth it.
She alighted on the designated rooftop, Chat Noir, Carapace, and Rena Rouge already there looking worried.
They turned at the sound.
Ecstatic, raw joy filling their expressions as they realized she was there.
That she was okay.
Rushing over to her.
And mobbing her in a bone-crushing group hug.
She returned it as best she could, stretching her arms out in an attempt to encircle all three of them.
They were here.
They were okay.
If Saltinette had decided to keep them…!
...Maybe she couldn't have.
Even during the short time they were there they kept breaking through her manipulations.
Through her control.
They always shown through.