Author's Note:

This is the second chapter I have already written. I gave it a quick read over and decided it's close enough to not make you all wait two weeks for it.

I may come back and make edits to this chapter and the first chapter in the future, but only to improve the flow of the writing, the plot shouldn't end up changing :)

Feedback is welcome and appreciated! Thank you!!

— Where we left off… —

Marinette seemed to recover first, "Prove that you are the real Future Mister Bug. Let me speak to your kwami."

— Chapter 2 —

Marinette could see the familiarity that Future Bug showed in response to her tone. She assumed, since Future Bug and Time Chat came back to get her specifically, that Future Bug knew her identity. His soft smile and the look of adoration that he bore in the face of her demand was only more proof that the reveal had occurred.

The thought that Chat might know her identity and still have just as strong of feelings for her did strange things to her heart. Things that she wasn't planning on dealing with today, when she had resolved to confess her love to Adrien Agreste. Why did even the straightforward confession have to end up this complicated?

"This Knight would do anything for his Princess," the blonde before her said with a bow, "I'll go on the other side of this wall. Once the kwami is free to speak with you, do you mind walking with her over there? It would be great if I could speak with Adrien as well. Secret identities intact of course."

Marinette took a minute to digest that thought. What if Future Bug knew she was going to confess to Adrien today? What if he pulled them out of their timeline because she confessed to Adrien and the timelines got corrupted? What if Chat and Adrien were somehow sworn enemies and that's somehow what led to Chat Blanc last time? What if -

Her thoughts were abruptly halted by the feeling of her partner's forehead against her own and the realization that her partner's face was far too close for her heart to handle. Trusting her instincts, she managed to move her hand in between them in order to push him back by the nose.

She knew her face was probably Ladybug red at the moment, but she wasn't going to let that smirking partner of hers turn her into a flustered mess. He and his gorgeous green eyes and wilder-than-normal hair, and perfectly toned body could take a step back, thank you very much. There was business to attend to first. Wait, not first. Just business to attend to. The end. Just business.

"Fine. If your kwami is truly the Ladybug kwami, I'll go over there to speak with her."

The soft smile her partner flashed over to her before he moved to the other side of the wall was more than enough proof that this was her Chaton. There was only one other person who could make her heart flip from such a soft look like that, and she knew there was only one boy between those two who could pull off wearing her miraculous and looking so…

She felt a small weight crash into her chest and looked down to see the future version of her kwami hugging her as closely as possible. I'm no more than a moment, the red kwami flies back out of reach and hovers in the air in front of her. At first, Marinette is confused, until a sharp gasp comes from behind her and she remembers that she wasn't the only one brought here from her timeline.

Tikki laughs lightly and twirls around, though Marinette can tell that her happiness is all for show.

"My name is Tikki! I am the ladybug kwami and I hold the power of creation."

As Tikki spoke in an overly chipper voice, she guided Marinette to the other side of the roof, looking back only to meet the younger Adrien's eyes to signal that he go to his future self.

––

Adrien watched as Marinette walked out of his view with Ladybug's kwami. His only thoughts landing around how much of a crazy turn the day had taken. How did it get from being the day he would finally make good on his alter ego's promise to his Lady to being trapped in a different timeline with Marinette, his older self, and someone who he could only guess might be his cousin (based on his similar looks but lack of grace in his manner).

Once Tikki and Marinette are out of sight, Adrien saw his older self wave him over. He walked up to the wall before feeling himself pulled around to the other side.

"Care to explain-"

"I need to-"

Speaking to yourself at the same time was an experience all in itself. Both younger and older Adrien tried and failed to let the other continue speaking. With time being of the essence, future Adrien eventually covered his younger self's mouth and finished his thought.

"Something unexpected happened to Ladybug in my time!" He started, effectively silencing his younger self and starting his explanation.

"In our final battle with Hawk Moth, er, Shadowmoth? Whatever he is calling himself in your time…in the final battle, I misjudged M'Lady's intentions and something unexpected happened which ended up wiping Ladybug's memories in her civilian form.

For a while, she was in a coma and when she awoke I was so relieved that I didn't notice the signs that something was still wrong.When Tikki, Plagg, and Chaos Chat-"

"Felix." Adrien stated plainly, interrupting his older self and daring him to correct the assumption. His older self sighed and nodded in defeat.

"When they all convinced me that something was wrong, I planned to rectify it. I didn't plan to tell her, since she wasn't really herself…but she caught on somehow before I noticed.

She ended up getting ahold of the miraculous that were still in the Miracle Box, Fluff from that time included, and now she seems to be hiding out in this timeline.

She's making such a mess of it, Alix is wiped out. The latest plan Alix, Chaos, and I came up with was to pull one of the previous Mouse holders and one of the previous Snake holders into this timeline to help watch for abnormalities.

The mouse can watch over multiple areas at once. When something wrong is found, Chaos and I can remove the anomaly so the timeline can be kept straight. The problem is, we are in the past and we need to keep identities intact while being in the most akumatized area of the city. That's where the snake comes in.

The snake will not be in the battle. The mouse will be with both the snake and with Future Bug but separately. That way the mouse can tell the snake a filtered version of the story that still leads us to victory and their memory of any secret identities will be removed each time Second Chance is used. The snake can update everyone on strategy without knowing identity spoilers."

The plan sounded great, Adrien could give the older group that, but it left so many questions unanswered that he wasn't sure where to start in his response. What in the world happened to his Lady? Are they planning to fight Ladybug's civilian self? After all that Felix has done, why is he wearing the black cat miraculous? Can they really trust him? How were he and Marinette supposed to find these abnormalities/anomalies? Speaking of Marinette…What's with his older self's behavior toward her?!

Unfortunately, the time for explanations was still limited, regardless of Adrien's growing list of questions and concerns.

"You should probably get to the other side of the wall before Marinette comes back this way," his older self noted.

With a quick mental review of the list, younger Adrien chose the question that matter most to him.

"Before I go, about Marinette…Why were you acting that way with her?"

He could tell his older self was controlling his reaction to the question as he looked off into the distance. The pause was so long, Adrien wondered if he might not get an answer after all.

"I can't give details," his older self finally noted, "but in the final battle, Marinette ended up using herself as a sacrifice."

Adrien's eyes grew wide as he felt an overwhelming sense of dread consume him. He wanted his older self to continue the explanation. Any second now, he was going to say they revived her with the miraculous ladybugs, right? After all, they still had the ladybug and black cat miraculous. That means they won, right? So why wasn't his older self getting to the part that would at least start to bring Adrien's paled form back to life?

As if his luck had finally taken a turn to the good side, Adrien saw his older self seem ready to speak again.

"I love her," older Adrien said quietly.

'Yes, and she's okay now, right?' the younger blonde wanted to shout.

"I didn't get to tell her that before she was gone."

'No…not gone…Marinette couldn't be…gone.'

"She's more incredible than I had ever realized," his older self continued, "and I know how much regard I already had for her. I'm jealous that you'll have her with you...because I would give anything that she would allow me to for just the chance to hold her again."