Three days later…
"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug proclaimed, throwing the roll of fishing line into the air and releasing the magical ladybugs.
"Pound it!" She, Chat Noir, Kobra, and the brand-new permanent heroes exchanged fistbumps all around.
The akuma this time around had been called Alter-Not, a man granted the power to turn people into what they 'could have been' if they had made a particular choice sometimes in life. This time, the victim had been angry with a business partner of his due to sudden drops in their investments. This led to an argument that brought up some less than savory memories from when their company was founded. Of course, no one could have predicted something going wrong further down the line, but the man was insistent that one choice was the root cause of everything.
All in all, it was a weird power, but life was weird in Paris anyway.
Not wanting to make the same mistake again, Ladybug had informed Chat Noir about the new permanent members, stating that she realized having more Miraculous out would save time having to rush back to the Miracle Box to grab the one they needed and then find the person as well. Of course, not all of the Miraculous were active, so there would likely be more times where they'd still need to do this, but at least this way, akumas and amoks could be dealt with more efficiently or at least contained in case Ladybug couldn't make it to the scene right away.
Chat Noir agreed with the reasoning right away, even though he was a bit bummed out, he couldn't know their identities, but he was excited that he had more superhero pals to hang with during patrols. He and Shadow Barb already got along fantastically, as well as with Dragonica.
Eventually, the group of heroes made their respective ways home. As Bunnix snuck into her room and detransformed, a Burrow appeared right in front of her.
"Brings back memories, mini-me," an unfamiliar voice laughed from the other end. It sounded similar to Future Bunnix - the Alix that she would become - but it wasn't the same.
"Future me? Is that you?" Alix gasped.
"Not the one we knew… or at least, the one we thought we knew…"
Alix tilted her head, confused. "...I don't follow."
"Time is always changing, mini-me," Future Bunnix's voice replied, "The choices we make can easily affect our future or wipe out one path in it completely. For example, while I was the one to warn you about Lila the day you awakened to your Persona… as it turns out, the Bunnix that appeared during Timetagger was from a whole other timeline!"
"She was what now?!" Alix gawked, causing Fluff to cringe slightly. Noticing this, Alix breathed in and out in an attempt to lower her voice.
"Yeah, and between you and me, this isn't the craziest thing you encounter when you wield a temporal Miraculous," Bunnix laughed almost nonchalantly.
As the Burrow closed - Future Bunnix's time must have run out - Alix just stared dumbfounded at where it had once been. She had such a big future ahead of her… how did her future self manage it?
She needed to talk to someone about this. Bottling her up would only get her akumatized, and that could not be afforded right now.
But who? Ladybug needed to know, most likely, but she wouldn't get it; she'd never wielded a time-based Miraculous… wait.
"That's it!" Alix snapped her fingers, making Fluff jump a little bit. She pulled out her phone and created a small group chat with her and two others - one of which was just the guy who understood what she was going through… hopefully.
Bunnix: Kobra, I need to talk with you about something important. Ladybug, I'm going to need you on akuma-catching duty.
Ladybug: Are you okay? Bunnix: I don't know, but I haven't seen any moths yet.
Kobra: If you need Bug's help, it must be important. I'm at the Liberty; Juleka isn't here right now, so there isn't a problem there.
Bunnix: TYSM! I'll be there in a sec!
"So… what's on your mind, cottontail?" Luka asked, taking some juice out of the fridge.
"Hey! Don't call me that!" she said irritatedly.
Luka chuckled, "I don't know, maybe. But seriously," he put two cups on the counter and started filling them with orange juice, "What on your mind? Should I be worried?"
Alix filled him in on everything. Two Future Alixes, the legacy she was to inherit and the responsibility that came with it, how Future Bunnix seemed to take pretty much everything in stride… it was a lot for even a chill person like Luka to take in.
"That's a lot," Luka said honestly when she was done. "You have big shoes to fill, but I think you can do it."
"Yeah, but it's not like our other business!" she retorted, "I don't get everyone else's backs on this one! I feel like freakin' Atlas right now…"
"It's a heavy burden the two of us bear," Luka admitted, "sometimes I have trouble dealing with all the alternate timelines I've seen, you know."
"R-really?! You?" Alix gawked. "You're always so chill, dude… how do you do it?"
"You said you don't have everyone's backs… you're wrong."
"Huh?"
"Sometimes the best thing you can do is try not to worry too much about it," Luka shrugged. "Yeah, chances are that there will come a day where we have to address all the shit we've seen, but as long as we do our part for the team we can and should trust the others to pick up the slack. After all, that's the main reason Ladybug is trusting us even now, isn't it? She knows she can't do this on her own."
"I never compared us like that…" Alix whispered, feeling a lot better about what was to come.
The future was uncertain, there was no doubt… but wasn't that the case for everyone? Even if she didn't know if she could do it now, the fact that her future self spoke to her, voice strong as strong could be, was proof that things would - or at least should - be alright in the end.
Indeed…
Alix jumped at the voice that spoke in her mind. It was quite similar to Atalanta's, but stronger… no, more mature, perhaps?
"Atalanta?" she mumbled. Luka looked at her quizzically.
No longer, muazi. As with Krotos, I have changed with you into something stronger… I am now Wenet.
"Hey, Luka?" she said, turning to him with a big smile on her face. "Guess what? I have another thing in common now!"
Before Luka could ask what, Marinette walked in, having dropped her Ladybug transformation earlier.
"I only had to catch about three akumas before they stopped showing up," she said, wiping her brow. "Is everything okay now?"
"Yeah…" Alix said, her smile softening slightly. "Things are looking bright."
"That's great!" Marinette smiled happily, "I'm glad you managed to figure everything out!"
"What did you mean by something you had in common?" Luka asked.
"Remember how Terpander transformed into Krotos?" Alix reminded them.
"Yeah, what about it?" Marinette asked. Her eyes then widened in realization. "Wait… you don't mean…?"
"Congratulations, Alix," Luka smirked. "We'll have to tell the Tokies the good news, won't we?"
"Aw, yeah!" Alix cheered, giving a toothy grin.
As the three started talking, they didn't notice a figure watching them from another building. She smiled and nodded approvingly before walking back through the Burrow.
Now to shred a few more of her mini-brother's cognitive documents…
AN: R&R and update the TVTropes page when you all can!
