Ephemeral Efforts

What if there was an akumatized Luka, with a more powerful version of Second Chance that can rewrite time over a longer range? Spoilers for Season 4.

Chapter 1: Luka Regrets

Timeline 0: Luka knows the secret identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir.
Timeline 1: Adrien knows Ladybug is Marinette. She doesn't know who Chat Noir is.

Luka was miserable about his lie to Ladybug after the defeat of Wishmaster. He had said he didn't learn the secret identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir, but in fact he knew them both.

Why had he lied?

Marinette was overwhelmed with secrets. Her song was rushed and jangling now, with occasional sour notes that reflected poor decisions. Luka could see why she had run off so much when she was dating him, and why she didn't dare to try again with Adrien.

Adrien's song was getting sadder and sadder. He was pulling back from everyone he knew. Other than his kwami, he had nobody to talk to that knew the two sides of his life.

It would be so much better if they knew each other's identities. They could support each other.

Luka could have helped, but it seemed like he had lost his chance. He would have to admit he lied to Ladybug, and he would lose her trust and friendship. She hated liars, and she hated that she herself had to lie and keep secrets.

He was sitting under his favorite bridge, strumming his guitar, consumed with regret. He didn't notice a purple and black butterfly until it absorbed into his guitar.

"Ephemeral, I am Shadow Moth. I sense your regret and despair. I will grant you the power to go back in time and fix your mistakes, at a far longer range than you can do as Viperion. All I ask is that if you create a timeline in which I get the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous, that you leave it alone and let me win."

There was something wrong about this, but Luka's regrets overwhelmed his rational thinking.

"I agree, Shadow Moth."

Purple magic bubbled over him. Ephemeral was a transparent, insubstantial copy of Viperion. The guitar had turned into a remote control device.

He was free to move about in time and make changes! He giggled to himself.

"Rewind!" he said, running time back to a point before he returned his Miraculous to Ladybug.

He decided that Adrien needed the most help. If he knew who Ladybug was, he could speak to her as a civilian and all the misunderstandings would be cleared up. He would tell Chat Noir who Ladybug was.

Ephemeral merged with the Viperion of that time and took over. Leaping around, he caught up with Chat Noir heading off to detranform.

"Chat Noir, I need to tell you something," said Ephemeral.

"What is it, Viperion?" asked Chat.

"I won't tell Ladybug this, but in one of the timelines I saw Ladybug get hit and transform into the Knitting Fairy," said Ephemeral.

"Haha! You saw her without a mask?" asked Chat.

"Yes, I did. Do you want to know her identity?" asked Ephemeral.

"Yes, very much!" said Chat. "If you don't tell her I know. She'll get mad."

"She's Marinette Dupain-Cheng," said Ephemeral.

"What? Really? Wow!" said Chat, looking very happy.

Ephemeral returned the Snake Miraculous to Ladybug, using the same words as before when she asked about what he knew. The lie suited his new sense of mischief as an akuma.

Ephemeral left Viperion and said "Fast forward!"

He flitted forward through the new timeline that he had created.

When he next saw Adrien and Marinette together, they were holding hands and smiling at each other.

"What has happened between you two?" asked Ephemeral as Luka.

"Adrien asked me out!" said Marinette.

"It turned out we've been secret admirers of each other all along," said Adrien.

"I'm sorry I was so unfair to you, Luka," said Marinette. "I shouldn't ever have been dating you when I was really stuck on Adrien."

"No hard feelings," said Ephemeral. "I'm just glad you found happiness."

There was some jealousy, but he pushed it aside for now.

With another "fast forward" he saw them dancing together to the music of Kitty Section. Marinette and Adrien were clearly in a pink cloud of bliss.

This timeline was good for them, but he wasn't sure if it would help Shadow Moth.

Fast forwarding a little more, he hit a wall where he could go no further. A wave of destructive energy was sweeping Paris, ending the lives of everyone.

Ephemeral backed up before the wave killed Luka.

"Rewind!"