Gabriel's Obsession Chapter 15
In the three years that had passed since the murder of Chloe Bourgeois, a number of events had taken place. The first obvious event was Chloe's memorial service. The service itself was invite only, however since Chloe had become such a beloved figure (to the surprise of many), it had been streamed for all to watch. The Agreste family had been present, including Gabriel Agreste, in person. Nathalie had not been invited and Gabriel did believe this to be a time for him to show in a more personal manner. What had been surprising was a young woman named Zoe had been there. As it turned out, the girl was the daughter of Audrey and a man that Audrey refused to talk about. Even Zoe did not know who her father was. She'd been living in New York City with Audrey when she was there, and alone with a maid when Audrey was not. When she'd learned of her half sister's death she'd snuck away from home and went to Paris for the service. She'd never actually met Chloe in person.
The school itself had it's own special memorial for Chloe. Since the students, except for Adrien, had not been invited to the actual service, Mr. Damocles thought it was would a good idea to have one for the students. The Majority of the school had attended. Soon after, Zoe joined the school, and was in the same class as Marc Anciel.
Ladybug openly blamed Hawk Moth for Chloe's death, never willing to give in on the idea that Chloe could have been saved if not for the akumatizations stopping them. That of course lead to the CNN headlines of "French Teenage Super Hero, Without Evidence, Blames Super Villain Over Death of Mayor's Daughter", of "Should Teen Super Heroes be Allowed Without Adult Supervision?", and of course "Majestia Should Assign A Member Of Her Team to France to Properly Supervise Unattended Child Super Heroes". In fact after the last one, Majestia and Knightowl did visit France for a time to observe the young Heroes. Eventually they decided that even though they were young, they were doing fine, although that was only after they met Master Fu, who was in charge of the teens, thanks to the powers of the Fox Miraculous.
Aside from Adrien, Chloe's death had hit Luka the hardest on a personal level out of their group. They had been so close to forming a relationship before she was murdered. His friends, family, Ladybug and Cat Noir all did what they could for him, but it wasn't always helpful. He would have dreams about her, about their date that never happened and about her death. One night he even heard her say "I'm sorry I missed our date Luka." To which he replied, "It wasn't your fault, Chloe." And he could even swear her scent was in the air when he woke up. His eyes filled with tears that refused to fall. The longest relationship he had after that, lasted five months.
Marinette and Adrien kept their relationship secret for nearly six months. Alya was more then a little mad at her best friend for keeping such a secret, but was also understanding considering the circumstances. Once Gabriel Agreste found out, he tried to force Marinette to break-up with his son. Although Gabriel had been certain Adrien had been at fencing practice, Adrien had confronted him as he was talking to Marinette.
"I will pull Adrien from that school and keep him away from everyone if you continue to see my son." Gabriel threatened. Marinette shook with anger and trembled with fear for Adrien's future if his father did that. She tried to contain the tears that wanted to flow from her eyes, but wasn't fully able to.
"And if you do that father, I will not longer be the face for Gabriel Brand." Adrien said surprising everyone. He had been holding his cell phone and had been recording the whole time. "And I will post this video online, so everyone can see how the man behind Gabriel Brand treats his son and his son's girlfriend."
"You wouldn't dare." Gabriel said.
"It's already being saved to a cloud folder you don't have excess to, and that others who will see it gets out, do. Father I do not wish to fight with you like this, you've done a lot for me, but I've also done a lot for you as well. It's time you let me make some of these decisions. I will continue to go to school, and I will continue to date Marinette and in return I will continue being the face for Gabriel Brand. If you cannot agree to these terms, then you'll have forced my hand on this."
"I believe I may be both angry and proud of you son." Gabriel replied sounding resigned. "You win."
Afterwards when Adrien took Marinette out, he showed her a note he'd found on his fencing mask.
- Your father is going to force Marinette to break up with you. If you want to stop it, be back at your home by 5:13. – There was a little drawing of a bunny head as the signature. Even though Marinette was still angry about not being able to use the Rabbit Miraculous to save Chloe, she was grateful to Bunnyx for getting word to Adrien.
About a year later, the assassin who had shot at Mayor Bourgeois, and killed his daughter instead, was found. Though there were questions about not only the Bourgeois murder, but other murders none were ever answered. The assassin committed suicide in prison.
A year and a half after that, Ladybug and Cat Noir found the last person to give a Miraculous too. Alya had made the suggestion that Lila would be the prefect addition to the team. Both Ladybug and Cat Noir had immediately voted her down. Alya had been surprised about the amount of venom that they seemed to have for Lila. It made her a little more cautious around the girl but she never really saw anything too bad about her. Chloe had been a far worse person then Lila in her opinion.
Speaking of venom, Ladybug had avoided finding someone for the Bee Miraculous. Originally she hadn't wanted to upset or anger Chloe, but even after Chloe's death she'd never felt right about it, until Zoe had shown herself to have the heart of a hero. It seemed almost like passing on a legacy with her. Ladybug didn't know if Chloe would approve or not, but she liked to think she would have. Okay, Chloe probably would have thought it was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.
Shortly after that, had been the battles with the Guardians of the Miraculouses. They'd wanted their box back. Ladybug and Cat Noir refused them, and a number of battles occurred. The guardians used Miraculouses linked to the Western Zodiac to fight with. The battles ended with stalemates. "We can not give up our Miraculouses while Hawk Moth is a danger to Paris." They'd stated. The guardians had laughed at them, telling them they would defeat Hawk Moth themselves then. The guardians failed. A truce was reached between Ladybug's team and the Guardian's team. The groups would eventually end up helping each other out on occasion as well.
Mayura also reappeared, or at least her sentimonsters did. Whatever power Hawk Moth used to become Scarlet Moth, Mayura also used to create multiple sentimonsters at one time as well. Luckily that power boost did not seem to be able to both at the same time.
By the time the third anniversary of Chloe's death had passed, the various Miraculouses had all been given out. When someone managed to not be akumatized for more then a year, they were allowed to keep their Miraculous rather then give it back to Ladybug or Cat Noir. They weren't perfect, but they were doing better then Ladybug had imagined they would. In those three years also, five people had lost their lives due to Hawk Moth and Mayura's excessive attacks on Paris.
PRESENT DAY PRESENT TIME
HAWK MOTH
Nathalie had already been transformed into Catalyst by the time Lila had made her way into Hawk Moths Lair via the secret passage that lead to a sewer line and an outside access. He had never revealed his or Catalyst's identities to her, though he suspected she knew who he was. He handed her the Peacock Miraculous.
"Duusu, Spread My Feathers." She called out and transformed. Her version of Mayura gave off a younger, sexier vibe then Natalie's did. Although very similar, her skirt was much shorter, with a fishnet design in dark purple over her blue skinned legs. She wore knee high boots, with a wicked stiletto heel, and a long triangle at the toe, giving them a more claw like look. Her skirt and top were separate, showing off her own toned abs, and the top had a long deep V, showing off her cleavage, in a manner that put Nathalie's to shame, was an off the shoulder design. She wore feathered wristbands and had the same headpiece Nathalie had.
"Now Mayura, I want you to try to make a sentimonster from Catalyst's helmet." Hawk Moth ordered. She pulled a feather from her fan and blew it towards Catalyst. A moment later it was absorbed by the akuma's helmet and a doll like version of Catalyst stood before them.
"Now my Catalysts do your thing." He ordered.
LADYBUG
One of Ladybug's greatest fears had been the eventual circumstance that both Hawk Moth and Mayura would find a way to create multiple akuma's and sentimonsters, at the same time, and it finally happened. A swam of red glowing butterflies were accompanied by a pillow fight of feathers. Virtually every person akumatized had a sentimonster created with them. There were thousands of them. Everyone on her team showed up to fight. Ladybug even contacted the Guardians and Majestia's teams for assistance. She wanted to minimize potential casualties and this was literally the largest number of akumas and sentimonsters she'd ever seen.
"I think these will help." Lord Dragon, aka Max, said as he held up a box containing a few glass containers with some kind of electronic lid on them.
"What are they?" Cat Noir asked.
"Well, if I'm right, they'll hold the butterflies and feathers. I've been working on them a while with the help of Markov's studies of the akuma and amuks, but I haven't been able to test them." Max's Lord Dragon had the look of a Samurai, but with a techno flare to it. His costume was still red and black, like Kagami's had been, but instead of the yellow highlighting some of the pattering, it took on the look of circuitry.
"Seems like as good a time to test them then I guess." Cat Noir replied.
"Please give those out to the others, but leave a couple here." Ladybug said. She and Cat Noir were at the best vantage point they could find to direct the battle, at least as much as possible. They would be joining the fray soon enough. Not to far form them a portal opened up,
"Thank you for sending Pegasus to get us." Majestia said as she came through with Knightowl and their sidekicks. "Door Man is in California on a secret mission and couldn't be reached."
"Thank you for coming to help." Ladybug said. "Lord Dragon built these to hold the akumas and amuks. When you break the possessed item, use it to capture them. Once it's full, bring it to me and I'll cleanse them." She gave one each to Knightowl and Majestia.
"Did Lord Dragon actually tell you how you'd be able to get them into your yoyo?" Cat Noir asked. Ladybug's mouth fell open a moment.
"No, he didn't. I guess we'll just have to experiment there too." Her voice showed off her concern. A number of Ladybug's team started with helping the Paris Police evacuate civilians from the battle area, switching back to fighting when needed. The battle continued for over two hours, with so many heroes getting exhausted freom such a sustained attack. The akumas and especially the sentimonsters didn't seem to tire at all. As Ladybug caught a butterfly, Cat Noir bumped into her, causing her to accidently release the butterflies and feathers from her yoyo. They flew off, but at least they were cleansed and wouldn't be able to immediately repossess anyone.
"Sorry." Cat Noir said.
"It's okay, Kitty." Ladybug replied sounding tired and a little annoyed even as another akuma came at her. After she broke the possessed item and captured its butterfly, a small portal opened up and Bunnyx came out with three others. It had taken Ladybug a while to cool her anger at Bunnyx, at least when it came to the older one for not allowing her to save Chloe with the Rabbit Miraculous. She'd almost considered not giving the miraculous to Alix because of it, but she ultimately did because she did not want to screw up time, again.
"I brought some reinforcements." Bunnyx stated. "I believe you're familiar with all of them, but just in case, we have Gemini, Capricorn and Aries." Ladybug frowned a little. She'd asked the Guardians for help, and she knew she would get members of the Western Zodiac Miraculous users, but she'd fought both Gemini and Capricorn before the truce. They were good fighters but she was a little more leery about them because of it. Plus they reminded her too much of ninja Power Rangers. They had masks that only allowed the eyes to been seen, with a loose hood over them. Capricorn (male body shape) wore grey and black with a cape. Gemini (female body shape) wore yellow and black with a hooded cloak, which seemed redundant because their ninja outfits had hoods already, and Aries (also female body shape) wore red and black, with heavy gauntlets.
"We're all that's available." Gemini said. "What do you want us to do?" They hadn't kept any additional bottles so Ladybug couldn't pass any more out to the newly arrived heroes.
"Fight, break possessed items, close to me or someone who has one of those capture bottles. If you find a civilian still in the fight area, please evacuate them." The trio nodded just as a Ladybug received a call from Pegasus.
"Boss, I found where the feather and butterflies went, and I don't think you're going to like it."
CAT NOIR
Pegasus had come up with a plan after the last scarlet invasion had occurred. What if they could accidently release a bunch of the butterflies or feathers? Hawk Moth would be too preoccupied with the fight to realize they were following them. Cat noir added the suggestion of using Foxy Night's power of Illusion to help hide Pegasus by making him look like a bird. And so with Foxy Night attached via a harness to Pegasus, she made the illusion they were a large bird to follow the cleansed items, hopefully, all the way to the base. Ladybug agreed to the plan and it looked like it had paid off.
"Perfect timing." Bunnyx said with a smile like she wanted to laugh at her own joke. Ladybug rolled her eyes, but he laughed after all Cat Noir did like a good Pun, or a bad pun, well he liked puns in general.
"So where did they go?" Ladybug asked.
"The Agreste Mansion." Pegasus replied.
"What?" Cat Noir and Ladybug asked together. Ladybug had suspected Gabriel Agreste before, but Hawk Moth had akumatized him also. But he did have the book about the Miraculouses, Cat Noir thought.
"We have to check it out." Ladybug said at last. Cat Noir reluctantly agreed.
"Great, lets go." Gemini spoke. "The quicker we beat Hawk Moth and retrieve the missing Miraculouses, the sooner they can all be returned to the Guardians."
"You're a real charmer." Cat Noir grunted. He was fairly certain she was smiling under her mask.
I'm looking forward to this." Capricorn said. Aries had already left earlier to fight along side the other Miraculous users, so she wasn't there to go along.
"Don't forget me." Bunnyx added. "I can use my power to get us there quickly, although I won't be able to do much afterwards without a recharge. Cat Noir knew that Bunnyx had a special relationship with the Guardians. She'd talked about it before. There was something about the time travel miraculous users being predestined. There were apparently more then one miraculous like the rabbit one that allowed more extensive time travel and the guardians held those users in extreme regard. In fact Bunnyx had been a great help with getting the truce between their faction and the guardians. It's why she was also considered Ladybug's liaison with the Guardians. He also had to note that young Bunnyx was a lot nicer to him then the older one was. He got the feeling from the older version that she disliked him for more then just his accidentally catacysming her to ancient Egypt.
"Alright, let go. Bunnyx if you would?" Ladybug asked. Bunnyx nodded and opened a portal and the group entered the Time Burrow. As they entered inside, there were hundreds of screens, but nearly all of them were blank. Bunnyx hadn't fully come into her powers so what she could see was still limited. Cat Noir remembered Ladybug saying that the older Bunnyx had made her wear a metal bowl on her head to avoid seeing things she shouldn't. He couldn't help himself, he still looked around before Bunnyx opened another portal, apparently a few seconds before the time they'd entered in order to move the portal since she had to move through time to move through space. She'd mentioned to him how confusing the rules could be and how she was actually concerned about messing things up even though she saw how put together her future self was.
Pegasus and Foxy Night returned to fight akumas and help evacuate this area. If this was some sort of trap, they wanted the others to continue protecting Paris. With Bunnyx out until she finished feeding Fluff, that left Ladybug, Capricorn, Gemini and himself to look into his home.
He'd never actually been in the attic space before. He'd thought it was where is father put his old designs and such. Adrien had never been told not to go up there and he'd never really wanted to go up there either. Even if he was a model, truthfully he didn't really care that much about his father's designs outside of what he dealt with as a model. Maybe it was because his father never consulted him on anything like he had his mother. On the other hand, Marinette did occasionally ask him his opinion about her designs and took his critique amazingly well. He liked occasionally modeling for her because of it.
The four of them made it up to the window that led into the attic and they saw four people in there. Hawk Moth, Mayura, and two others they didn't recognize but looked nearly identical.
"I think that one is a sentimonster." Ladybug said pointing to one of them. Cat Noir took a better look and could see that it did not look like a person but more like a doll.
"You think that Akuma is how Hawk Moth become Scarlet Moth?" Cat Noir asked.
"Must be. Then that sentimonster must be a double of her giving Mayura the same ability." Ladybug said.
"Well, lets take care of this. There's one for each of us. Catacysm." He said put his hand on the window causing it to disintegrate. Scarlet Moth looked up in time to see Ladybug, Cat Noir and the two Power Ranger wannabes jump down into his Lair. Gemini went right for Scarlet Moth, having grabbed a long piece of debris and using it like a baton. Capricorn went for Mayura who was already running away, leaving the Akuma and Sentimonster for Ladybug and Cat Noir to fight. Cat Noir did not like the split. He wanted Scarlet Moth in case it was his father. He knew the Guardian's miraculous users were generally more concerned with retrieving the villain's miraculouses then they were with justice.
Cat Noir went after the sentimonster. All he needed to do was touch it with his Cataclysm and it would be finished, but it was avoiding him like crazy. He turned to glance at Ladybug, who was going hand-to-hand against the Akuma, whom he thought might have been Nathalie and then looked towards Gemini who was now using two batons to face against Scarlet Moth and his cane. He had no idea where Capricorn and Mayura had gone off to, however another sentimonster had appeared with Capricorn fighting it.
"Cataclysm!" Cat Noir yelled as he finally got into range of the sentimonster and touched it. It dissolved away to nothing but smoke and powder. With that sentimoster down, he imagined that the others outside had a lot less to worry about since even the larger one that had shown up had vanished. He turned to see the akuma was on the ground and her transformation ending. It was in fact Nathalie wearing a dark purple skirt suit with a red blouse and high heels. He could even see the top of her lace thigh high stockings clipped to garters. She looked up at them.
"Ladybug, Cat Noir? What's, what's going on?" She asked.
"Hawk Moth had you akumatized." Ladybug said. They heard a meaty thump and looked over. Gemini was hitting Gabriel Agreste with her weapons. At some point he'd detransformed, but she kept up her attacks.
"Cataclysm!" Cat Noir yelled once more and grabbed Gemini's weapons, barely controlling himself from really attacking her or yelling father. Gemini looked at him with such anger in her eyes, but she controlled her anger and did not attack him.
"Don't worry, I wasn't going to kill him." She stated. "And aside from the blood loss, the Miraculous Ladybugs will fix the damage."
"We don't beat people for fun." Ladybug said in anger. She called forth her ladybugs to fix everything.
"What did I miss?" Bunnyx asked as she showed up. "Oh, nothing good it looks like."
"Get Mr. Agreste to the paramedics that should be on the way, and watch him, he was Hawk Moth." Ladybug stated
"We need to have a talk with Gemini here." Cat Noir added. He noticed that Bunnyx took a look at Gemini who nodded. She grabbed Gabriel Agreste and used her time portal to move him.
"You can't just attack someone like that for fun." Ladybug said, nearly repeating her earlier line.
"It wasn't for fun, it was for revenge. He tried to have me killed."
"What?!" Cat Noir asked and suddenly started to detransform. He'd used up all his Cataclysms and hadn't realized it. He hadn't even heard the warning beeps. "Oh shit." People connected to the Guardians were pretty much the last people they wanted to know their identities.
MORE THEN 3 YEARS AGO
BUNNYX
The newly transformed Bunnyx rushed through the portal leading to the Time Burrow. She skidded to a halt when she saw someone was already waiting there.
"Cute Costume. I miss the cute one. I ended up going mostly for cool or practical once I learned how to manipulate it." The other stated. Alix had only briefly glanced at her reflection in Marinette's mirror after she'd transformed, having rushed to Marinette's house to grab the Miraculous she'd found months ago when she'd hit her head on the strange ladybug patterned egg after borrowing Marinette's bed to nap on. She blamed the anime she'd binged the night before. It had been the one dealing with adolescence syndrome or whatever. The main thing was, the lead female character had been wearing a bunny girl outfit in a library trying to get attention of anyone because she'd suddenly become invisible, and her bunny costume looked like the Miraculous version of that.
She'd ended up wearing a white skinsuit, with a light blue forming the corset like bodysuit bunny girls wore in anime. Instead of looking like boots, she had a short, thick heeled pump style shoes in the same blue, with little cuff like designs at her wrists compete with fluffy tail and ears. The only thing that was even close to being the same as her older version was the mask.
"I don't have time for this, I need to save Chloe." The young Bunnyx exclaimed.
"You're in the Time Burrow, you have plenty of time, but you need to know certain rules first and understand what you are thinking of doing."
"I'm going to stop Chloe from being murdered, that's what I'm doing"
"Words I bet you never expected to say. Well knowing Chloe, maybe more expected." It was that moment she realized she was looking at an older version of herself, a much older version, with long grey hair and wrinkled skin and hanging jowl. "As I was saying, you cannot stop her from being shot. We can only stop incidents that are caused by other manipulators if time, whether that is a living thing or inanimate object."
"But that means I can't save her."
"I didn't say that. I just said you couldn't stop her from being shot. I have in here a present for you. It is a device that will heal her wound, but there is a catch."
"What catch?"
"You can only have a person or object out of time for a few hours before time solidifies around that person or object being out of the timeline."
"Meaning?"
"You can't put them back where you got them from. In the case of Chloe, she wont be healed in the time limit you have. You will have to drop her off else when. In most cases, you might be able to drop them off within a few days, but more like a few months afterwards. However with Chloe, you'll need to wait for more then a year when the assassin is caught and then manages to commit suicide by taking three bullets in the back of the head while in prison with no gun found." The last part was spoken more then a little sarcastically.
"Okay so I need to take her forward in time then?" The young Bunnyx asked and the older one smiled and shook her head.
"You cannot travel to your own future. You cannot even travel to within twenty years of your death. Well technically you can do a few seconds in time." The elder explained. "You will need to keep Chloe in here during that time. And the Time Burrow will be connected to your time, so time in here moves at the same rate it moves for you even when you are not in here." The younger looked a little confused. "In other words if you leave a plant in here and forget to come back and water it for a month, it'll be dead because you have Chloe in here. Feel free to try that, I know you will." The elder laughed before continuing to explain how the Time Burrow and her powers worked. Bunnyx was finding it very confusing. Some of what she was told seemed to go against other things she was told. It was like there was a set of rules that kept changing.
"This will be the only time I will be here to help you. Consider this your one free time paradox. After I leave, I the Time Burrow is yours and will be connected to you."
"So what should I do? What did you do? Did you save Chloe?"
"I did what you will decide to do."
"How will it work out?"
"The way it's meant to."
"Are you always this annoying?"
"I've been told I am, but when you deal with time and the timelines, you tend to be cryptic."
"Okay, so I want to save Chloe, what do I need to do?" The younger asked.
"Gemini, please come out here." The elder called. The young Bunnyx noticed a cloaked figure enter from a doorway off to the side. "Gemini here has the power to make temporary duplicates. You will grab Chloe as she hits the ground, and pull her into the Time Burrow. Gemini will duplicate her and you will replace Chloe with the duplicate. While you do that, I will place Chloe in the machine to heal her."
"Temporary, how temporary? Why do we need to leave the duplicate?" She asked.
"Because some events are meant to happen. Chloe Bourgeois was assassinated. Her body was interned and her assassin got away for a while to eventually be tracked down by Ladybug and Cat Noir. Until that occurs, Chloe's life would be in danger if she appears back in the world while the assassin is still free. And don't worry about the duplicate, it'll be around until well after the body is taken care of." The elder remarked. The cloaked figure shifted as if annoyed with the conversation.
The process went smoother then the young Bunnyx ever thought possible and without a hitch from what she could tell. Chloe's body was placed in the device that would fix her, and according to the elder, that device would cease to exist afterwards to avoid another possible paradox.
"Word of advice for you, Fluff is rarely coherent, but when she is, ask as many questions as you can. It won't last long. Write down any questions you think of and keep them handy. You'll learn more about how everything works that way."
"I understand." The young Bunnyx replied.
"I won't be able to visit this time anymore now that you've activated the miraculous. I, you, we cannot interfere with ourselves. That's another bit of knowledge you will need. If you mess up, it stays messed up. You cannot travel back to fix your own mistakes. I learned that the hard way."
"Thank you." She smiled. "Can I hug you or will that cause us to explode or something?"
"You can hug me." The elder laughed and hugged her younger self. "And one last little secret, it'll be a few months until Marinette gives you your Miraculous officially." The younger heard Gemini gasp in surprise by the statement. The elder gave Gemini an annoyed and dirty look and continued without missing a beat. "I need you to place this one in its place, and you'll need to learn a little more slight of hand so you can switch out the fake with the real one when she gives it to you." The younger Bunnyx nodded and took the fake miraculous. "It's time for us to leave. Good luck with the adventure you are about to embark on." She opened a portal and motioned for Gemini to enter it first before she herself did, leaving the younger Bunnyx alone in the Time Burrow with Chloe's healing body.
"What have I gotten myself into?"
CHLOE
She'd heard about those experiences people have where they wake up looking at a strange ceiling, and laughed them off. That would never happen to her. She may have been the mean girl, but she wasn't a party girl, but here she was looking up at a strange ceiling with a machine attached to her body. She tried to talk, but her mouth was filled with something, like a tube. I'm in a hospital. She thought slightly panicked. When she saw the blue and white bunny girl come into sight, she changed her thoughts. I'm in a ridiculous, utterly ridiculous dream.
"I believe the machine is finishing up and will be releasing you soon." The bunny girl said looking her over. She felt different probes release her and even the tube in her mouth and down her throat began to pull out. It was a terrifying sensation and she was afraid she would puke before it was done. Chloe barely managed to hold it down.
"Okay, you'll probably want to rest a bit. I'm not fully aware how the equipment works." The bunny girl stated. Chloe tried to work her mouth but had trouble talking. "So, you were shot while giving your speech. Well, after your speech." The bunny girl explained.
"I what?" Chloe asked in a hoarse scream.
"You were shot, in fact everyone believes you are dead. I rescued you and had you healed." The bunny girl said.
"If you healed me, why does everyone believe I'm dead?" Chloe croaked.
"So there is this whole long explanation about time travel, and duplicates and stuff, but you should probably rest more before going into it."
"Do you know who I am? You will explain yourself to me now." Chloe demanded on the verge of freaking out.
"I know exactly who you are Chloe Bourgeois, daughter of the biggest bitch in fashion and the mayor of Paris." Chloe felt her anger rising. "Being who you are won't help you here, and honestly it's probably what got you here."
"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Everyone loves me. No one would shoot me. You must be mistaken."
"That scar on your breast would say otherwise." The bunny girl stated and Chloe looked down realizing for the first time that she was naked, but that concern went out when window when she saw the scar. It wasn't huge or anything, in fact it looked pretty faded.
"How long have I been here?" Chloe asked sounding afraid.
"Only three days." The bunny girl replied. She sighed. "I'll try to explain everything to you." She added before going to a closet and pulling out some clothes. She tossed them to Chloe. Plain, boring cotton panties, matching plain boring cotton bra, black leggings and an oversized tee-shirt. Chloe frowned and pulled the fabric of the boring too large shirt at her waist behind her and tied a knot into it to at least give it a little shape.
"Explain to me again why I'm locked up in here like this. It's ridiculous, utterly ridiculous." Chloe said annoyed a few hours later.
"Because I don't want you to get shot again." Bunnyx remarked.
"But people out there think I'm dead, Cotton Tail. I was supposed to go on a date with Luka!"
"Would you stop calling me, wait, Luka, really?" Bunnyx asked surprised. Chloe put her face in her hands. "Look Chloe, your assassin won't be caught for more then a year. If he or she finds out you're still alive, then you'll be killed again and I won't be able to stop it."
"Why would the assassin come after me if daddy was his target?" Chloe asked and her eyes suddenly went wide. "I was the target the whole time wasn't I?" Bunnyx did not answer her directly. Chloe had seen the news of her death. Bunnyx had set one of the Time Burrow's screens up like a television so Chloe wouldn't bee too bored. She'd even offered to bring in a television with a game system set up, but Chloe rejected it. She didn't play video games. That being said, Chloe had seen all the reports on the news about the failed attempt on her daddy that killed her instead. Bunnyx stiffened. "I'm right aren't I? I was the target the whole time."
"Fine, you were the target, that's why you're still here. My future self told me to keep you here until after the assassin was caught."
"What am I supposed to do while I'm here? Watch TV all the time? Can't you bring me some books, or maybe get my school work or something?"
"Doesn't Sabrina do your schoolwork for you?" The bunny girl asked. Chloe looked at her. She had to know who this person was, cotton tail had way too much information. Then again, time travel was her power so she could have learned a lot of it from that, but they way she talked seemed more personal. Almost like she was already somewhat annoyed by her on a personal level.
"Yes because I usually have better things to do then school work. Right now, I have nothing to do except watch television. You don't even have an exercise room here. At least back home I would use the exercise room in daddy's hotel, Cotton Tail."
"You are so needy." Bunnyx complained.
Days later with the memorial for Chloe Bourgeois being streamed live, Bunnyx had connected to the internet to give Chloe a chance to watch. At first she was hesitant to do so. It seemed a little too morbid for her, but then she did anyway. Her father was obviously broken up over her death. She really wished she could go to him and let him know she as still alive. Her mother on the other hand seemed to just be mostly playing a part, and that made Chloe feel horrible. There was also some strange girl with her parents who seemed almost as upset as her father. She'd seen some of the news footage of the aftermath of her being murdered when so many people had been akumatized, but her mother, who'd obviously witnessed her on the ground with her daddy over her, had not been upset enough to be akumatized. She'd been so certain their relationship had improved over the last number of months, but apparently it hadn't.
A couple days later, the school held its own memorial service for her. She'd been stunned at the number of her classmates who were grieving her death. She'd honestly thought they would have been cheering for it. She felt tears slip down her cheeks. She was honestly very touched seeing the classmates she'd so often mocked and made fun of being so obviously upset at her passing.
BUNNYX
A year had passed with Chloe as her guest in the Time Burrow and it had gone mostly without a hitch. In fact, Chloe had practically begged her to help out on some of her missions after only a couple of months. She'd broken down and would take Chloe with her. She'd often have to "borrow" a set of clothes from the time period for Chloe and for herself. She obviously didn't detransform in front of Chloe as she no intention of letting Chloe know who she really was under the mask.
Chloe ended up being surprisingly helpful on the missions though. It had also been fun working with her. She'd seen the changes in Chloe over the months, but never really expected her to really become a decent human being. She found herself a little more excited at the prospect of getting to know Chloe better.
After a few months of having Chloe help her with her time related missions, Bunnyx ended up getting really mad. Chloe had somehow figured out how to get the Burrow to open a portal. No one was supposed to know she was alive yet. That Blonde dip shit is going to ruin everything, Bunnyx thought. She froze as she looked out of the portal. Chloe hadn't gone to her father or her mother, but to Luka.
"I'm sorry I missed our date Luka." Chloe said and Bunnyx could hear the sorrow in her voice. Does Chloe really care about Luka that much? She'd said something about a date before, but I wasn't expecting this? Luka started to roll over and spoke even as he did so. Bunnyx Grabbed Chloe and yanked her back into the Time Burrow, barely hearing his words as the portal shut. "It wasn't your fault, Chloe." She watched as Chloe's Jaw worked as she was trying to not start sobbing. Bunnyx wrapped her arms around Chloe and let her cry.
CHLOE
"What is this place?" Chloe asked as she looked out over the temple in the snow-covered mountains.
"This is the monastery for the Guardians of the Miraculous."
"What are we doing here?"
"I am dropping you off here."
"What?!" Chloe shouted as a group of monks opened the large door and came out.
"It is a pleasure to once more feel your presence, Bunnyx-la." The lead monk said.
"The pleasure is all mine, Su-Han." She replied. "This is Chloe. She wishes to be trained to protect others." She motioned back to Chloe. Wait, is she trying to ditch me with these people? Chloe wondered. I did tell her I wanted to learn real fighting to help her better, but I wasn't expecting her to abandon me.
"Ah yes, I recognize her from the images on the television you brought us." The monk replied. Chloe couldn't help but stare at them both. She brought them a television? What is going on here? "She had used the Bee Miraculous for very selfish reasons. She has even teamed up with the one known as Hawk Moth."
"That is all true." Bunnyx replied.
"Hey!" Chloe yelled. "I'm right here. You're all being ridiculous, utterly ridiculous."
"This is best for you, Chloe. The assassin won't find you here and you can get the training you wanted. They're also doing this as a special favor for me. You'll never have a better chance."
"Fine, as long as I don't have to shave my head."
BUNNYX
It had been a little over a year since Bunnyx had left Chloe with the Guardians, and her assassin had been caught and "committed suicide" just as her elder version had told her. It was time to see Chloe and let her know she could go back home. When she got there, the master of the monastery greeted her as he had done in the past. Bunnyx was impressed at the changes she saw. They'd fully embraced technology; far past the television and generator she'd brought them. It made sense since the world had become a more dangerous place with numerous super heroes and super villains. The guardians had even started sending their own miraculous users out to deal with villains, although they were also after Ladybug's Miraculouses. They did not like that the child was in charge of them. Bunnyx kept trying to use her influence as a time miraculous user to change their minds about it. So far is hadn't worked.
The master took her to see Chloe, who was wearing a black skintight costume, with yellow boots, belt and vest. Her hair was done in a single long braid down her back with a black streak going through as one of the sections. When she turned around, Bunnyx saw a black eye mask as well as mouth protector.
"Oh cotton tail, you've returned." Chloe called out as she pulled down the mouth protector.
"Really, you're still calling me that after I got rid of the tail?" She asked annoyed. Bunnyx had finally worked out how to modify her costume and she'd gone for the much more cooler version her older self had worn the first time she'd seen her. She'd barely figured it out in time for Ladybug to give her the Rabbit Miraculous and have her costume as the cooler version for her first transformation. She was honestly surprised Ladybug hadn't figured it out yet.
"Oh, you did. That's too bad, your costume really was cute and a little sexy, utterly sexy." Bunnyx shook her head and sighed at Chloe's comment.
"Did they actually let you have a miraculous?" She asked as she noticed the choker Chloe was wearing.
"They did, and it gives me the power to copy things. Watch." She picked up a fighting staff. "Duplicate." She stated and in her other hand were two more staffs, however they were only twelve inches long.
"You made chopsticks." Bunnyx commented dryly.
"For now." Chloe used the chopstick to wind her hair into a bun. "They'll last a little while then dissolve away. I can also copy myself." She added before saying her phrase again. A second Chloe appeared, looking like an exact copy but in miniature.
"I can either keep full control of the copy like now." They said in perfect synch. "Or I can let her act on her own. It's awesome, utterly awesome in fact, because when I do that, I can absorb her and retain her memories. If I had that when I was going to school, I wouldn't have ever left home."
"I see you think as selflessly as always." She said with more then a little sarcasm. Chloe just gave her an eye roll. "Isn't that a little cruel though, just absorbing her again?"
"She knows she's a temporary copy. It's actually helped me learn to fight better, but when I absorb them back, I also get the damage. You wouldn't believe how often I've bruised myself that way. Besides everything she is would be lost once she dissolved and that seems much more cruel. Don't you think?"
"I guess you have a point. So what's your hero name going to be this time, Queen Copier?" Bunnyx mocked.
"No, the whole royalty thing was so three years ago. Since I have the Gemini Miraculous, I figured I would just use Gemini." Chloe stated proudly. At that Bunnyx sputtered and ended up choking on her own saliva. She remembered that name.
Chloe laughed at her a little before continuing. "You know what's really awesome, the rest of the Zodiac users decided to go with my naming scheme. We're all going to go by our Zodiac signs. Well our Zodiac Miraculous Signs. We don't all have the miraculous that matches our astrological signs."
"I was not expecting this." Bunnyx stated. Chloe grinned.
"Best of all, I get to help them try to retrieve Ladybug's collection of miraculouses."
"What?" Bunnyx exclaimed.
"It'll be fun and all thanks to you."
BACK TO THE PRESENT
ADRIEN
"Adri-kins? You're Cat Noir?" Gemini asked and jumped to hug him.
"Chloe?!" The two exclaimed. Gemini looked around.
"You better hide Adri-kins." She said and gave him a push just before Capricorn reappeared. Gemini's body language became very stiff and formal.
"Now that Hawk Moth has been defeated, it's time for us to take your miraculouses back." He said.
"So you were able to recover the Peacock Miraculouses?" Gemini asked.
"Er, the one known as Mayura got away. You fought Hawk Moth correct, did you not get the Butterfly Miraculous back?" Gemini sighed audibly.
"It should be around there." She pointed, however it was gone.
"Where did it go?" Ladybug cried out. "If you hadn't been so busy trying to kill Hawk Moth we wouldn't have lost the Miraculous."
"I was not trying to kill him. I made sure your Miraculous Ladybugs would keep him alive. I just wanted him to feel pain." When did Chloe get so violet? Adrien wondered. What did she mean when she said he tried to have her killed? Does she think my father hired the assassin that tried to kill the mayor? He looked around from his hiding point while Plagg continued to eat a chunk of cheese. None of them had been paying attention to where the Butterfly Miraculous had gone when it had been knocked off his father. Plagg let out a small belch.
"Plagg, claws out." He whispered and transformed.
"You lost Mayura right? She probably grabbed it." Cat Noir said as he reappeared. "We were too busy with getting civilians out of harms way and taking care of Mr, Agreste to worry about it at the time. Since you lost track of Mayura, she probably had a chance to get it."
"Are you accusing me of not doing my duty?" Capricorn growled.
"Cat-egorically yes." He replied.
"Okay that was a stretch for a pun." Gemini stated even as she moved to stand in Capricorn's way to avoid a fight between the pair. "Since we have neither the Butterfly nor the Peacock Miraculouses, then obviously we have not truly defeated Hawk Moth and Mayura, and will not be able to take back the Miraculouses as our deal with Ladybug's team states." Gemini said.
"But."
"No buts. We screwed up. They will have enough to worry since they'll be cleaning up our mistake." Chloe really has taken change of that group. I'm impressed. Cat Noir thought with a smile. "Just because Gabriel Agreste has been outted as Hawk Moth doesn't mean Mayura won't find a replacement."
"Fine." Capricorn grumbled.
"We'll regroup at the hideout." Gemini stated and Capricorn left.
"Hideout? You have your own villain lair?" Cat Noir asked.
"Not really, I just can't really show my face in Paris right now." Gemini replied. "And you can thank me now for letting you keep your miraculouses."
"Wait." Ladybug stated. "Would you care to explain how you're alive. I think that's rather important right now."
"Sure, Bunnyx saved me."
"That doesn't explain. . ." She paused. "Actually that does explain a lot." Ladybyg sighed.
MARINETTE
It had taken hours to go over what had occurred with the authorities. Gabriel Agreste had been taken away for treatment and then to be locked up. Teams of investigators were going over the house with a fine tooth comb looking for other secrets. Adrien Agreste made an appearance and looked visible shaken when he found out that his father was Hawk Moth. Once more Nathalie was in custody for additional questioning since she'd been found akumatized.
Is had taken three days for everything to calm down enough for a small gathering to take place. It was strange to trust Chloe with such a big secret as her identity, or would have been had she not guessed it after Cat Noir had detransformed in front of her. Chloe knew a lot about what had been going on in Paris over the last three years, including her and Adrien dating, as well as Ladybug returning much of Cat Noir's affection finally. That's how she ended up with both Chloe, currently sporting a black dye job on her hair, and Adrian in her room. She'd asked Alix to join them, but Alix mentioned that Chloe didn't actually know her identity even though Chloe and Bunnyx worked together occasionally. Chloe more fully explained the story behind her still being alive and her time as one of the Guardian's Miraculous holders.
"I really didn't care too much about actually getting the miraculouses back from you. I just enjoyed fighting against Ladybug and Cat Noir." She smirked at them. "To be honest I don't think Master Su-Han cares either. He's honestly said some nice things about the work you do and your willingness to ask for help and give help. He also would have come with had he not been nursing a broken leg.
Marinette could tell that Adrien was emotionally torn as they spoke with Chloe. He was happy to see she was still alive, but obviously not so much when it came to her nearly killing Adrien's father, even if his father was Hawk Moth. Even if Chloe had been making sure she didn't kill him, it still had been a very calculated attack she'd done. On the other hand, if not for the intervention of Bunnyx, Chloe would have been dead because of Gabriel Agreste. Wait, how did she know?
"How do you know my father hired the assassin?" Adrien asked before Marinette could speak up.
"I spent a lot of time with Bunnyx, and she'd been watching for the assassin. She wouldn't bring me back until it was safe. One time she left her monitor on and I was able to go back and see who hired him." Chloe explained.
"Hawk Moth was really quick in getting those scarlet butterflies out." Marinette said softly and glanced to Adrien. He didn't even look like he was willing to argue. After confirming his father was Hawk Moth, it must not have been too difficult to accept the idea that he's send an assassin to kill someone just to upset Paris. Not just anyone though, he'd grown up with Chloe. She'd been his only friend for so long.
"It makes sense." Adrien stated at last. "He faked the death of Cat Noir before to upset people. It's not too much of a stretch to think he'd go even further. I guess once he killed someone, he didn't care if he killed others afterwards."
"What are you going to do now that you're father as been taken into custody?" Chloe asked. She sounded honestly concerned about him.
"I'll find someplace to live I suppose. I don't think I can go back to that house again."
"You know, my parents, um really love you too Adrien, maybe you can move in here, not here here as in my room here, but here as in we have a guest room here too." Marinette could feel the heat in her cheeks rise. Adrien laughed and Chloe rolled her eyes.
"That would be great." He replied.
EPILOGUE
CHLOE
Chloe knocked on the apartment door. She waited there and listened as the door was unlocked and opened. She looked up at Luka.
"I'm sorry I missed our date three years ago, do you think we can have a redo?" She asked to the stunned Luka. Marinette had informed her that he was currently single so she didn't have to worry about an awkward meeting if he had a girlfriend. She wouldn't even have gone to see him if he'd had one.
"Chloe?" He asked when his mouth finally started to work. She pushed him to force him back inside so she could close to the door to any prying eyes. She wrapped her arms around him.
"Yes, it's me, and no I'm not a sentimonster or anything like that. You can ask Ladybug and Cat Noir if you want."
"How?" He asked.
"Bunnyx." She replied as an explanation. He slipped his arms around her. They stayed quietly like that for a few moments.
"I think I can handle a redo on our date." He said at last with a smile.
"Wonderful, utterly wonderful." She replied softly.
ANDRE BOURGEOIS
He couldn't stop smiling. His sweet Chloe was still alive after all, thanks to the superheroes. He'd been upset that she hadn't contacted him earlier, but just knowing she was alive was wonderful news. It was a surprise though that she didn't want any attention on herself. She actually seemed to like not being known. Chloe did admit to being a superhero herself now, a real one, not that game she played as Queen Bee. She wouldn't go into too many details, but she'd told him she'd visit him again and do so regularly. He was a little saddened that Chloe had not wanted to see Audrey again though.
"Do you want to meet your half sister?" He'd asked as they sat in his office together. She'd snuck in somehow and had waited for him there.
"Half Sister?" She asked. "When did that happen? Is she yours or mom's?"
"Your mother's. She's a very nice girl though, just a little younger then you. I don't think your mother actually had much to do with raising her. It's probably why she turned out that way." Chloe gave him a look that let him klnow she was a little offended by that statement.
"Maybe next time." Chloe had replied sounding a little uneasy.
"Whenever you're comfortable." He said as he got up and hugged her. "I'm so happy you're still alive." He knew he was crying, but he couldn't help it. Chloe had always been a problem child, that was true, but she seemed so much more mature now.
"Daddy, you're being ridiculous, utterly ridiculous." She replied and it sounded like she was crying a little too.
TOM DUPAIN
"I'm surprised you agreed to this." Sabine whispered to her husband as they watched Adrien get out from the back of the limo his bodyguard, or former bodyguard, drove. The Gorilla as Tom knew he was affectionately referred to as, grabbed a few suitcases from the back even as Adrien appeared to be telling him he didn't need too.
"Our Daughter loves him and I'm fond of him as well." Tom replied smiling as Adrien tried to get a least one suitcase from the Gorilla. "Besides it's not like they'll be in the same room." And at least he's not Cat Noir, Tom added in his head. He still hadn't been able to really forgive the super hero for breaking his daughter's heart. Tom opened the door for the pair and the Gorilla set down the luggage in front of the pastry case. The Gorilla turned to Adrien and gave him a big hug.
"I'll miss you too." Adrien said to the large man who wiped a tear from his eye after the hug before leaving the bakery. Adrien turned towards Tom and Sabine, but they didn't give him a chance to speak.
"Welcome home, son." They said in unison. Adrien's eyes watered as he fought back tears and hugged them both, as best he could considering Tom's size.
(Bonus)
"Nice try son." Tom said as he caught Adrien attempting to sneak up to his daughter's room. Adrien just smiled and reversed his sneaking.
NATHALIE
With Gabriel in custody, she and the Gorilla were now unemployed. She of course had plenty of money to survive on, Nathalie she wasn't worried about her own future. The Gorilla would likely be able to find some work himself, she figured and he probably also had money set aside assuming he hadn't spent it all on his super hero figure collection. She did like the man, but he really wasn't her biggest concern. Neither was Adrien. She knew he'd moved in with the Dupain – Cheng family and would be well taken care of there. Gabriel Brand fashion was in chaos, but she wasn't the one in charge of it, although she'd been given an offer of employment from the woman currently dealing with the chaos caused from Gabriel's arrest and unmasking as Hawk Moth. She wasn't even concerned about Emilie's body which had yet to be discovered in the more hidden part of Hawk Moth's Lair. Her concerns were solely for Gabriel himself.
She'd spent a few days in the custody of the authorities once again answering questions. Like all of Hawk moth's villains, she pretended she had no idea what was going on. Her acting was perfect and they believed her. She'd been worried for a while that they would give her a full body search. If they had, they would have discovered she'd hidden the Butterfly Miraculous away in a very private area. She knew that there was a slim possibility that Gabriel may win his court case, and if he did, she had nothing to worry about. It could take months or even years, but she'd be there for him if he were released. Best of all, there was no way Emilie's body would survive all that time, and she could comfort him and finally make him hers. She'd miss Emilie, but she'd rather have Gabriel to herself then have Emilie back anyway. She smiled a little and attached the miraculous to her blouse.
"Nooroo, dark wings rise." She stated and transformed. She used the power of the Butterfly Miraculous to start her own butterfly garden in preparation should the need arrive for her to release Gabriel. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. Her costume consisted of a silver, below the knee pencil skirt, black ruffled blouse, dark purple fitted jacket, a purple and silver eye mask, with her hair turning to silver and lengthening to halfway down her back. Along with black fishnet tights showing below the skirt's hemline, and she stood in sky high silver, stiletto ankle boots. A much more stylish costume then the previous Hawk Moth's costume, she thought amused.
"Gabriel will be mine." She laughed a throaty villain laugh.
THE END?
BONUS
BUNNYX ELDER
MORE THEN THREE YEARS AGO AND MANY YEARS IN THE FUTURE.
"Okay, you've know Marinette was Ladybug for decades now, why did you gasp like that?" Bunnyx asked annoyed.
"I thought it would add to the drama. You're the one who insisted I wear the cloak again." Gemini retorted as she pulled the cloak off. "Plus I knew it would annoy you." She grinned.
"It did, and I should have expected as much."
"At least now I know why you wanted me to wear the cloak, but why did you want me to not talk. There is no way the younger version of you would have recognized my voice at this age. She didn't even recognize yours."
"I just wanted you to be quiet for a while. It's such a rare thing." Bunnyx mocked and laughed. Gemini shook her head and undid her transformation. Her Kwami, looking like a pair of twin mermaids joined at the hand floated before her. "Thank you for your help." Chloe stated with a loving smile.
"Of course Mistress." They replied in unison.
"Alix, can we go home now, the kids are brining over the new great grandbaby and I want to see him." Bunnyx detransformed and smiled. Alix herself had never had children, the ones Chloe mentioned were all from her life with Luka before he passed away.
"And you think I don't?"
"I don't know, do you?"
"Of course I do."
"Are you sure?"
"Shut up Chloe."
"Make me Alix." She replied. Alix leaned over and kissed Chloe, silencing her for only a moment until the kiss ended.
"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous." Chloe stated. "I'll show you how to kiss properly."
"Oh not this aga. . . "Alix was cut off as Chloe learned her over and kissed her.
NOTES:
Season 4
So this takes place instead of season 4 obviously. I did change a few things to fit in with some of the information we got from season 4 so far though.
TYPOS
I keep typing Butterly instead of Butterfly (in fact just did it making this note lol)
And Butterlies instead of Butterflies.
In the new Mayura's description She wore knee high books
High Helled – instead of High Heeled. I'm sure anyone who tried wearing 5 inch (12 cm) or higher heels the first time would agree with the typo. Lol. Seriously what is it about going from like 4 to 5 that increases the difficulty so much?
The Zodiac
I decided on Gemini for Chloe because of wanting a duplication power for obvious reasons. Then when I needed to color code the Miraculous users, I saw an Image representation of Aries being Yellow, Gemini being Red and Capricorn Green.
When I started to look at the actual descriptions though it was different, but it was an unplanned coincidence that Gemini ended up being yellow. Honestly I had been so looking forward to catfishing you all with Aries in yellow, in case any readers suspected Chloe was still alive and among them.
I wrote the Bunnyx Chloe stuff back around Chapter 4 when I had Alix borrow Marinette's bed to nap in. I was thinking it would be a good ending, which I modified to add to it, but yes that means I'd planned on Chloe's assassination way back then and the originally ending would have been Chloe and Alix without the mention of Luka. Luka and Chloe forming a relationship just sort of happened in the story.
I also want to thank all the people who left reviews on this story. Without you I might have lost my mind and stopped because there were some difficult times. I've lost three human family members and my cat while writing this. Seriously if not for the kind words I've received I might have just stopped. Below is the list at the time I've written this.
CadenceK2007
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Guest (listed six times, not sure if they were all different people or same or some combination of those)
herald of the scourge
HeWishesToBe
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Lover of Miraculous Ladybug
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Miraculous Queen
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Thank you all so much.
Peace and Love!