Ladybug's surroundings stilled.

Her breathing stopped.

The panic that was now cruising through her body was something she could not shake, yet it was necessary for her to snap out of the stupor brought on by Alix obviously working her out. Ladybug cursed herself for not leaving her civilian phone at home, and it seemed that both Alya and Adrien had cottoned on to what was happening.

Miss Bustier stood up, "is everything ok Alix?" The redhead asked with mild concern. Multiple sets of eyes flickered between the two teens, while Adrien tried to discreetly snap Ladybug's attention to her communicator as a cover for the vibrations.

"Ye-yeah, yes," Alix shook her head and looked down to her phone, "I've uh, just realised that I was wrong about Marinette, but my signal's poor, so I can't send the message." The teen gulped as she thought on the spot, "I just wish I could get through to her."

Ladybug smiled kindly in understanding at her friend with a thankful nod before realising what Adrien was gesturing to. "Ah, my yo-yo is-"

Suddenly, Ladybug fell downwards through the floor, landing hard on her bottom, the red spotted heroine immediately recognised the inside of the burrow.

"Bunnix! What the-"

The Bunnix Ladybug was looking at, was not the adult version of the superhero, but the teen friend who had just realised her identity mere minutes ago.

"Hey Ladybug," she winked before pulling the heroine to her feet. "Sorry, but I really needed you to drop in right about now."

Ladybug rubbed her bruised behind, "wh-what has happened that you need to-"

"Lila is moments away from working you out."

"How?"

The new heroine rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "she's not stupid you know." Bunnix gave Ladybug a levelling look. "You show up with a poster from the video that you as Marinette was so adamant that she was lying about." The teenager lifted her arms exasperatedly, "what did you think she was gonna think? That the two people who have disputed her lies are not the same person when one of them is missing from the scene… come on!"

"Oh." The realisation dawned on Ladybug.

"Yeah, a big fat 'oh' is right." Bunnix walked over to one of the many screens showing different time periods, "you need to see this."

The heroine's white gloved hand adjusted one of the sets to display the bakery in flames: Ladybug's heart stopped momentarily. "How-how did this happen?"

Bunnix left the scene paused on the screen with an Akumatised Lila standing next to Hawkmoth smiling sadistically at the burning remains of the spotted heroine's home. Bunnix explained:

"As soon as she worked it out, the brat became Akumatised and told Hawkmoth your identity."

Bunnix rewound the screen like a video before letting it playback for Ladybug to watch in horror how the events unfolded. It began when the poster became unhooked from the heroine's hip; Miss Bustier picked it up and flipped it around after saying that it was a lovely scene that reminded her of paradise. Lila's eyes widened before Rose stated how it looked just like the background that had been on Lila's video; the Italian then looked from Marinette's empty seat to the heroine at the front of the class.

"You!"

Determined hands reached up for the butterfly that was headed in her direction, to willingly let the tainted creature infect her.

"Yes Hawkmoth... I already know who she is… Ladybug is Marinette Dupain-Cheng…"

Ladybug clutched at her face as she watched Lila transformed on the screen. Instead of attacking, the new Akuma bolted straight through the window: their classmates left in shock as Ladybug made to pursue Hawkmoth's willing accomplice out of the classroom. By the time Chat Noir had caught up with Ladybug, the heroine had already laid eyes on the pile of rubble which contained her parents, everything had taken a turn for the worse from there.

"How do I-"

"Stop this?" Bunnix cut across the ashen faced heroine, "we have to go back, as Lila can never know your secret…" The rabbit themed heroine looked down at her feet despairingly, "we have to go back before you come into the classroom as your alter ego."

"But isn't that just going to mess up with the time frames, a-and how do I explain two of me?" Panicked blue searched her long time friend's apologetic eyes. Bunnix looked back to the scene playing out before them of Hawkmoth pulling out the Miracle Box; Chat Noir lay on the ground with Ladybug being restrained by Mayura while an Akumatised Lila lay into her with powerful strikes to the abdomen. Paris' villain cackling evilly as he opened the box in his hands.

"I don't kn-know," Bunnix breathed out, "maybe I can bring you back just before I take you, so Marinette and Ladybug are seen side by side, but…"

"But?"

"I think Lila is already on to you."

Ladybug let out a resigned breath, "well wouldn't that throw her off? I mean how could she argue that I am Ladybug if we're stood side by side?"

Bunnix thought for a moment before raking her hands down her face, "god I messed up!"

"No," the ravenette placed a calming hand on her friend and new ally's shoulder, "we just have to pay me a visit early on so I know to exit the room before you bring me back in here."

"But then we're stuck in a constant time loop."

"Not necessarily, we're both new to this whole time travel thing, so we may have to have a few runs at it, but I think we can do this…"

Bunnix tapped her chin in thought while she pondered what Ladybug was saying. "Would it work?"

Ladybug shrugged, "I'm not sure, but we do have time on our side." The determined glint in Ladybug's eye helped Bunnix to see the bright side of their situation. "How did you get the watch anyway? If Hawkmoth has the box?"

Bunnix's thoughtful features turned smug as she sent Ladybug a smirk, "I've just dropped off my future me as I'm retiring."

The dark haired teen's eyebrows rose, "oh?"

"Yeah," Bunnix smiled, "let's just say I have an idea of what I could be doing, twenty years from now."

"I won't ask," Ladybug shook her head and removed her hand from her friend's shoulder, "the less I know the better right?"

"Right!" Bunnix affirmed, "so I've just had a thought…"

"I"m listening," the taller hero cupped her chin.

"What if we make it so you are there from the beginning… you know, from when all hell broke loose in class?"

"But wouldn't that stop you from getting the watch?"

"I don't think so, I was apparently due to get it around about now anyway," the blue and white heroine winced slightly, "something about needing to be shown the truth…"

"Ah," Ladybug replied.

"Yeah, but you did that already so…."

"Let's just see what happens."

Their first run did not work.

Neither did the second or any attempt thereafter.

Bunnix now stood with three Ladybugs and one Marinette in her burrow, after failing several times, they decided to regroup and go back to the drawing board. The good news was that the original outcome of Marinette's home being destroyed had not happened… The bad news was that currently the whole class knew, Adrien had been exposed and Nathaniel was looking at suspension…

Things had really gone to pot.

The original Ladybug was now Marinette, and the teen stood with Bunnix, alongside Tikki, as they discussed what their next action was going to be.

"Maybe we should go back to the beginning…" Tikki shook her head before chomping down on a cookie, "this whole time travel mess is really starting to fry my brain."

Bunnix chuckled, "you're not the only one, how the hell do we sort this out?"

Marinette tapped her chin in thought while looking at her other selves. "Would a lucky charm sort this out?"

"But you haven't actually faced an Akuma," Bunnix pointed out, "I'm sure one of you said that was what a lucky charm was for: to fix the damage done by a specific opponent."

"Or Miraculous," Tikki chimed in.

"Exactly." Marinette focused on Bunnix with a new found determination, "I hate to say this, but it has been caused by a Miraculous, so a lucky charm should be able to at least do something about the multiple mes in here."

Bunnix sighed and looked at her feet feeling like a failure, "I'm so sorry Marinette."

"Hey," the ravenette cooed, "we're in this together, if I hadn't been so set on exposing Lila, then none of this would have happened, you were just cleaning up my mess." She placed a hand on her ally's shoulder, binging Bunnix's eyes up to meet hers. "You are the one who was required to clean up my mistake, you're new to this, let's just learn from our errors and try to fix this. One thing at a time. Together."

The blue and white heroine gave Marinette a resigned nod, "okay, let's do it."

"That's the spirit," the heroine in civilian attire turned to her fully recharged Kwami, "ready?"

The tiny being gulped the last of her food down and nodded with pride at the two heroes' determination. "Ready."

"Tikki, spots on."

I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)

Life has become really hectic recently and I have not been able to write as much I would usually, but I had a sudden bout of inspiration and just could not get to sleep until this was typed up.

Thank you for the reviews, follows and faves on this story, I really appreciate them and thank you for reading =^.^=

Take it easy

Lady Rhi X