MIRACULOUS

CH.39

THE PASSPORTAL

Location Unknown…

Emilie sat cross-legged in the middle of her dark hall. She flipped the pages of the miracle book and took out a black light device that shone on its pages. Hidden scribbles could be seen among the pages. She motioned her fingers and a ring of white mist appearing over her.

"You have really come into your own, mistress," Shiroi said. "This is information that has been lost for centuries."

"It's amazing how the guardian never figured this out," Emilie pointed. "Then again, he had to rely on the homunculus to point out how to achieve the aquatic abilities for their miraculouses. I guess he is not the most qualified of guardians."

The ring of white mist over her head started to gather within the palm of her hand and flow within her fist and disappeared.

"Perfect."

"Let us not forget that those who were supposed to guard the miraculous are responsible for the disappearance of the ancient temple," Shiroi.

"No matter," Emilie waved off. "With this new information, our army will be unstoppable…" She moved her eyes to the side, not losing her smirk. "And how long are you going to be a fly on my wall, Bunnyx?"

"You really believe that I'm not insulted by using such power for your petty goals?" Bunnyx said as she leaned on the wall with her arms crossed.

"Are you calling Adrien and Emma trivial?" Emilie got up on her feet.

"No, but you don't seem to realize what our organization has strived for millennia," Bunnyx said. "Why don't you drop your quest to be part of something bigger?" she asked, offering her hand.

Emilie looked down at her hand then back to her eyes before gently sweeping her hand away.

"I have no interest in your 'cleansing,'" Emilie replied. "Don't forget, I was the one who tracked down the guardian for you to coax for your aid. I'm surprised you are not on board with this. Weren't you friends with Adrien?"

"We were in the same class but we weren't that close," Bunnyx stated. "But let's say your plan works and Adrien and Emma are restored. Are you going to bring them in this decaying world?"

"You can't even figure out Cat Noir's identity," Emilie pointed out. "How do you expect me to view you as someone who can achieve something this grandiose?"

"What did you say?"

"Fluff is resisting, isn't she?" Shiroi said. "She has refused to reveal his identity."

"If you and your kwami can't get into an agreement, how do you expect to change the world?"

"Shut it!" Bunnyx slammed her fist to the wall, cracking it.

"Oh? Did I strike a nerve?" Emilie mocked. "If you have access to all timelines as well as what happens in the past and the future, why are we still fighting?"

"That's irrelevant," Bunnyx insisted.

"Is it?" Emilie asked. "If your miraculous is so powerful, why are you not certain that your pan will not succeed. You claim mine won't, why?"

Bunnyx growled and greeted her teeth but stayed silent. Emilie continued.

"The future is not absolute, is it? It never was…"

"So what? That means we can still succeed!" Bunnyx pressed. "This world is filled with so much misery and selfish people who have destroyed others. This world is in constant turmoil and humans have no one but themselves to blame. The Blue Mustang strives for a world where we are all the purest of heart!" Bunnyx paused; she looked down for a second before looking back up. "This cruel world targets and hunts down those people of pure heart. Your son was one of them and look what this world did to him."

Emilie inhaled and her palms sweat, she looked away before speaking.

"Hm, no matter," Emilie shrugged. "Once I bring my children back, not of it will matter."

"Hm," Bunnyx relaxed. "You're hopeless."

The two walked away from each other without another word.

Meanwhile back in Paris…

Mordecai was still with Nathalie at the Agreste manor, standing and listening to the conversation with her and Duusuu. Duusuu begged her to take her back as it would be the first time she would be apart from her or Emilie. Nathalie wasn't having it and she wanted to turn her down as gently as possible.

"Please," Duusuu was on the verge of tears. "Don't do this Nathalie."

"It will be better for both of us." Nathalie soothed. "I don't even know if I'll survive this. I may have a target on my back right now."

"Don't you think it's more of a reason to stick with you?" Duusuu asked.

"No, it is best we are not seen together," she said. "You still have a long life with purpose."

"Miss Nathalie…"

"Mordecai is your new master now."

"But…"

Nathalie ignored her and motioned Mordecai to come towards them.

"Remember what I've told you so far?" she asked him.

"Got the gist of it, but I think you needed more time with Duusuu," he said. Duusuu backs up towards Nathalie again with a reluctant look on her face. Nathalie tipped her cheek with the tip of her finger. Duusuu looked at her again, Nathalie nodded with a sad smile. The peacock kwami shut her eyes tightly. She flew by her face and rubbed her cheek with hers. Nathalie closed her eyes and returned the gesture affectionately. After that, Nathalie turned to Mordecai again and nodded. She hesitantly flew towards Mordecai, who offered his and where she say down and he patted her head, causing her to giggle.

"Um, what do you eat?"

Movie Theater…

"Marinette!" Tikki rubbed her cheek with Marinette, almost about to cry.

"Tikki!" Marinette giggled with glee. "I've missed you so much!"

"It's so good to be with you again," Tikki said. "So much has happened feels like forever!"

"I know, I know," Marinette agreed.

Adrien and Plagg had their own reunion nearby.

"Plagg, are you sure about this?"

"I have to come clean, Adrien," Plagg said solemnly. His tone really shook Adrien to the core as who he was talking to right now was not the Plagg he knew.

"Plagg…"

"I hid this for too long," Plagg continued. "This needs to come out."

He floated towards everyone else. Plagg told the master to summon all the other kwami as he felt they also needed to hear this.

Soon enough, Marinette, Master Fu, Elder Chloe, and the present other kwami, including Tikki, surrounded Plagg with expecting looks on their faces. Adrien was hiding on a nearby wall, leaning his back with his arms crossed. He still needed to conceal his identity from Marinette. The fact that her mother's soul was held captive had finally hit her as she was about to break into tears while elder Chloe tried to console her. All the other heroes took over patrol that night.

"Plagg, please…" she croaked. She got on her knees and bowed.

"Marinette, I don't think that's…" Tikki began but was cut off.

"Shhh…" Chloe cut her off

…

"We are now aware that you have concealed more information than I ever had," Master Fu said.

"We have had a little conversation with Future Chloe, so you can thank her for that… Future Choe, right? Or is past Chloe?" Marinette stammered.

"Marinette, focus!" Tikki said.

"MMMHH!" Marinette grunted, messing up her hair in frustration.

"Anyway, we have learned quite a bit and the clues keep pointing to you!"

"Plagg," Tikki approached. "I never would imagine how much you have kept from us."

"I believe it is time for you to come clean," Sass said.

Plagg took a moment to take in the position he was in and sighed.

"It was a matter of time, I suppose," Plagg admitted.

"Plagg," Tikki said. "Marinette told me about Pinyin and how much of an influence you were to her. That was the first time I've heard of her and you never even mentioned her. Did you encounter her when you were with one of the previous Cat Noir's?"

"You could say that."

"The Elder Chloe has revealed to us where she came from. A place where is beyond even my knowledge yet she claims you were there."

"Plagg, for the longest of time I believe we came into this world together. Along with all of us," Sass continued.

"That's not true at all, is it?"

"No, I'm actually way older than that…"

The closed-down theater was even quieter now. The guardian shut his eyes and inhaled. Marinette didn't know how to react. Even though she already suspected something of a sort, she couldn't help but still be shocked at the revelation.

"The thing is…" Plagg began. "I've known Chloe for all these millennia, even before any of you existed," he said, looking at the other kwami. "I guess if you can see from her attire or lack thereof," he grinned. Chloe blushed and looked away with a shy smile.

"Plagg!" Tikki elevated her voice.

"All right! Chloe, I think you should start from where you came from?"

"Of course," Elder Chloe approached. "But first, now that the cat's out of the bag…" she gently picked up Plagg from the bottom with both her hands and snuggled him with her nose. "Oh, Plagg! You're as cute as ever!"

"HUH!?" Marinette stammered and fell off her feet.

"WHOA!" Adrien fell on his back within his cover. "I'm ok."

"Ah, Oh how I missed this Sugar Queen!" Plagg said, accepting her affection.

"'Sugar Queen!'" Everyone repeated.

"So how have you been doing back with Kagami?"

"Kagami!?"

"Hey, would you can it on the reactions?" Plagg asked annoyed. "Sheesh."

"It's just that uh…" Marinette stammered before grunting again and finally shouted. "What's going on?"

"Plagg, I think it's time to spill the beans," Elder Chloe concluded. "Besides, they want to know how you know what you know."

"Yeah, yeah," Plagg rolled his eyes.

"I'll start…" Elder Chloe stepped in and took a deep breath.

"Finally, some answers," Marinette thought.

"I came from an island between dimensions, in the middle of an endless sea."

"That island I saw from the plane…"

"Interdimensional?" Master Fu repeated. "Even at its peak, our temple merely scratched the surface about the existence of other dimensions.

"With the power of the miraculous from the Altean era, they were able to create one. Though the island was created for one specific reason."

"What's that?"

"Guess we should go further back," Plagg suggested.

"I guess," Elder Chloe said.

"The Altean era?" the guardian repeated. "So it's true, humanity has been…"

"Around way before the dinosaurs?" Plagg finished for him. "Yes, and Altea was the world's largest and most advanced empire at that point. They were way more advanced than humanity is today, heck, if you were to go there you'd think it's the future. They managed to be based on science, nature, and the unknown. Combining all three is was the backbone of Altea. Kwamis and miraculouses could be created on a whim. Wars were fought to be sure but they were also used for so much good. Fighting crime, help people in natural disasters, they have served so much purpose in doing good and technological advancement."

"What caused Altea to fall?" the old guardian asked.

"The same thing that happened to the temple," Plagg answered. "The ring and the earrings were combined."

He began to float around as if he was pacing. "One half wanted the elite to use the miraculous to govern over the lower class while the other half wanted the miraculous to be accessible to everyone in they have the right qualities. With a turmoil like that, it could've only lead to disaster."

"So humanity just reset and went to the Stone Age?" Adrien asked from his hiding spot.

"Basically yes," Plagg answered. "But it didn't stop there. When advanced civilizations have afterwards rediscovered the miraculous and created their own, we wanted to ensure that the Altean disaster wouldn't happen again so the last of the Alteans created an alternate dimension."

"The island where I've been for around uh…" Elder Chloe pondered. "3000 years, give or take…"

"WHAT!" Everyone shouted.

"And that is still way before the wheel was reinvented in the real world. Kagami and I will be long gone before anyone finds the knowledge on the island."

"Wait, how were you able to live that long?" Marinette asked.

"I have merely reached the 200-year mark and I am at my physical twilight years. It is astonishing how you were able to maintain such youth," the master said and amazement.

"Yes, there is a lot that has been lost in time."

Pollen came out, and that's when everyone realized.

"Wait, Chloe created you?" Marinette asked.

"Yes, I didn't even know how Paris looked like," she said. "Only what Chloe told me."

"So the Pollen that our Chloe has…" Adrien began.

"That must be my future self."

"Let's back up a bit," Plagg intervened.

"Anyway, the civil war slowly but sure escalated given how many people ignored the trouble and believed their empire was too big to fall. Yeah if the entire population believes that you're screwed," Plagg said.

"And that's where the island came in," Elder Chloe said.

"You see, with everyone and everything on earth wiped out, a few key individuals left the Altean legacy on the island. They laid the foundations of all knowledge that they had and they needed a hiding spot," Plagg explained.

"Chloe, you said you came from that island, right?" Adrien asked. "What's your stake in this?"

Chloe stepped away and bought her hands together and tighten herself with her eyes closed.

"Does that have something to do with Kagami's fate that Tomoe was talking about?" Adrien asked.

"Kagami and I…" she began. "Have been on that island for so long there was nothing else to do… You see when I first woke up, I thought it was just like any other island. With the internet advancing so fast in these years, I thought I could just send out a signal and be rescued in no time. But soon after, Kagami found me and looked like she got there before me…"

"Kagami…*gasp*"

"Is there something wrong, Marinette?" Tikki asked.

"I just remembered on my plane back to Paris, I saw the island."

"You did?"

"Yeah, and there was no doubt in my mind that that was Kagami!"

"Really?" Chloe asked. "She saw you?"

"Not only that she told me to…" Marinette stammered.

"Hmmm?" Everyone hummed. Marinette blushed and turned to where Adrien was hiding. "Cat Noir… she wanted me to trust your decision… I think she meant…"

"Yes?"

"Before all this, I wasn't going to let Chloe be Queen Bee again. I thought it was for the best but now I know I couldn't have been more wrong!"

"Marinette?"

"Chloe, do you have any regrets?"

"She knew that Cat Noir set me to a path to her," Elder Chloe blushed. "He saw the good in me and little did I knew of what I would do in the past…"

"I don't follow," Adrien said

"You may not know this but…You set my path," Chloe said with a smile. "And I can't thank you enough."

"Chloe…"

"You saw the good in me and my potential to do good."

Marinette smiled sadly, resigned that denying her the bee miraculous would've been a terrible mistake. She clasped her fists to her chest and allowed the moment to play out.

"But," Adrien added. "You won't live your life here. You have to go back for good, don't you? No resentment?"

"No, I still have a role to play," Chloe said. "I mean, what kind of life would I have here? Would it be better? I don't know how to explain this…"

"You don't have to," Marinette stepped in.

"Marinette?" Adrien said.

"I know what would have happened if you didn't trust Chloe the bee miraculous."

"You do, how?" Adrien asked.

"I just do, ok? Trust me on that." She gave a knowing look at Plagg.

Plagg grinned.

"All I can say is that I now know for a fact that this is the right path for Chloe." She turned to Chloe and smiled at her. "I was wrong to decide not to let Chloe be Queen Bee. And you made the right choice. I know that now."

"Marinette I…" Chloe soothed and looked back at her. "Thank You."

They took a few minutes of silence before Plagg cleared his throat.

"Back on topic," Plagg said. "Anyway, Longg, Pollen, and I were left with the groundwork Chloe and Kagami left on the island. Based on the foundations the last Alteans left on the island, and with the research and experimentation, they have found the means to create a miraculous. Not only that but they have also laid the groundwork for alchemy, mathematics, astrology, medicine, chemistry, natural biology, science, semiotics, mysticism, spirituality, even art. These things advanced humanity thousands of years."

"It's been a lot of fun actually," Older Chloe added with a smile. "And we still have a long way to go."

"So once the whole shebang was discovered it was spread all over the world. Of course, not everyone was accepting of those truths. You know where that leads to, wars, mobs, and massacres, lead these discoveries to be spread around and hidden in different places until it was slowly being reintroduced with each passing generation. I'll spare you the bloody details. So here's the important thing. The knowledge of the power of the miraculous, heck even the knowledge of our existence was decided to be kept in hidden places all around the world, which is why they are miraculous and kwamis all around the world beyond that master's miracle box. I had no say on the matter but the places where they decide to hide this knowledge were too spread across the world that they had completely lost contact with one another. As time went on, the knowledge of these other locations have been lost and the master's old temple was on their own. It got up to a point when they finally became completely ignorant of each other's existence. And well, you know what happened."

"The same as to what happened in Altea…" Master Fu concluded. Plagg nodded solemnly.

"With their own ambitions, they tried to open the passportal between life and death, in the hopes of bringing people from the dead… Turns out there are heights that are best left unreached."

"Like the temple, by combining the black cat and ladybug miraculous, it's what brought an abrupt demise to the temple."

"The passportal sucked everything at its path," Plagg concluded. "It got completely out of control. I had no say on the matter."

"So the end times are triggered when playing God," Chloe said.

"If Hawk Moth ever had his way…"

"Whether or not that was his goal," Adrien said rather defensively.

"I think that's what leads to the belief of the wish-making of combining our two miraculous," Tikki concluded.

"When the temple fell, Shiroi gave up and started to believe that this cycle was already a lost cause."

"Shiroi?" Adrien asked.

"Lux's kwami," Plagg replied. "Shiroi is the white owl which held the power of manipulation."

"Manipulate…what," Marinette asked.

"Err… Depends on the user's will and based on what she was able to do, there is no doubt in my mind that her resolve is solid, the ability to create portals, teleport, and the manipulation of these poor souls to create her army. I'm willing to bet Shiroi has given her that kind of information and freedom to use such abilities. That's when I know he means business."

"So he's just using Mrs. Agreste?" Master Fu asked. Adrien's heartbeat sped up and held his breath.

"Shiroi wants to wipe out humanity and let the earth start from scratch, only sparing those he deems worthy. And part of that plan is to wipe out whatever remains of the Altean Era a.k.a the island." Plagg said. "Any connection to our past mistakes holds the new generations back as all the progress and advancement have created sins from the past. That the only way to move forward and for humanity to truly become peaceful is to erase the sins of the past and for our children to maintain innocence, that's Shiroi's theory anyway," He rolled his eyes. "I for one don't buy it."

"But without history or achievements in the past, we have nothing to learn from, nothing to turn to we're on our own," Older Chloe protested.

"'Those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it'" Adrien quoted.

"But Plagg," Tikki interjected "How is it that you know all this? You, Shiroi, and Pinyin, what's your stake in all that?"

Plagg was silent and floated away for a couple of meters and had another deep breath.

"Shiroi, Pinyin, and I are the last living kwami of the Altean Era."

The place was silent for another good two minutes. None of them knew what to think if they were thinking at all. Pollen then interjected.

"Longg and I are the first kwami to be created after the fall. It should be obvious at this point that my counterpart is my future and her past."

"It is clear to me now," Master Fu stroked his beard.

"All this time…" Tikki began. "All this time you were created before the rest of us?"

"I can only assume that they also helped to lay down the groundwork for the forbidden arts that they used to create me…" Marinette said.

"That goes without saying," Plagg replied.

"But wait," Tikki interjected again. How is it that we haven't known any of this until now?"

"I don't believe we should stay silent about this anymore," the rooster kwami said.

"I agree," the pig kwami said. "Why did you keep hushy-hushy all these centuries?"

"Well, Plagg?" the monkey joined.

"Because I had to ensure this info doesn't fall on the wrong hands!" Plagg justified. "I had to keep my history hidden at all costs, even adopting this carefree and ignorant persona so I could play second fiddle to you."

"What? Pinyin said that all this time you behaved wasn't the real you," Marinette said.

"I didn't believe her," Tikki admitted. "When Marinette told me what Pinyin said, I was so sure I knew you more than anyone else. You always had that aloof attitude of occasional irresponsibility. Believing we all came to be at the same time, I was told I was the first kwami and took it upon myself to be the voice and represent all of you… All this time, how you behaved… it was all just an act?"

"Not really," Plagg insisted. "I just pretended I knew less than I did and let you take the wheel so I can protect myself and this knowledge I telling you now."

"And you never trusted me with this information?" Master Fu asked, slightly offended.

"You think It was an effort to keep a series of complex secrets is a challenge for 200 years? Try 50,000."

"So in other words, you used me as a figurehead so you could hide behind our backs to protect yourself?" Tikki asked rather cynically. Plagg's eyes widened and back away an inch as Tikki's question sunk in. His eyes wondered and scratched his head.

"Sheesh, when you put it that way," Plagg exclaimed. Tikki started to back off as well.

"I don't believe this!"

"I did what I had to do," Plagg defended.

"What's next?" Tikki asked. "That the dinosaur extinction was no accident."

Plagg stayed silent.

"It can't be…"

"The dinosaurs were a failed experiment by the Altean scientists, their overly demanding diet threw nature off balance. They were destroying the earth."

"That is terrible…" Sass couldn't believe what he just heard.

"You are unbelievable," The tiger miraculous said as she approached Plagg.

"What more have you hid from us?" Another kwami asked defiantly.

"Please, don't gang up on him," A small voice said. Everyone looked at the source, it was Nooroo.

"Nooroo," One kwami said. "You've been silent this whole time."

"You were intending to gang up on Plagg, right?"

"Nooroo," Tikki soothed.

"How could we not?" The rooster kwami said. "He lied to us!"

"Then gang up on me instead," Nooroo requested, everyone gave a gasp.

"Nooroo?"

"I've made a lot of people suffer and I had little justifiable reason," he said, he flew by Plagg in a protective position.

"This is different," the trigger miraculous insisted. "He lied to us to protect himself!"

"To protect us!" Nooroo yelled. "Don't you get it? I have seen so much suffering and I have seen enough from my wielder making so many impossible choices! All these years, all my wielders' champions have risked their lives. They have chosen specific people to lend their lives, even if temporary to do what is needed, and many have perished. Do you have any idea what it's like to be responsible for people's lives to be interrupted and not make it back?"

Every kwami inhaled and looked at him in silence and began to back away as Nooroo began to tear up.

"At least Gabriel made sure their lives would be spared and no one died under his watch," he finally said. "Not all of them were that merciful. To be given such a burden because you have no choice…"

"Nooroo…" Even Plagg was speechless.

"I never…" the tiger miraculous began before Nooroo floated away without another word.

"Nooroo," Tikki was about to go after him, only to be stopped by Plagg.

"Let him go," he said. "He's gone through enough."

Adrien's arms stayed crossed as he listened to what had transpired. Marinette, Chloe, and Master Fu were also silent at the ordeal until he finally spoke up.

"This is indeed beyond anything I have ever anticipated…" the old guardian said.

"You past self told us his story on the island and that's how we knew we needed to do our part to secure your future."

"Chloe…" Marinette began. "How did you get on that island anyway?"

"I can't tell you," Older Chloe said.

"Why not?"

"I have to put my input in this which is why I want my younger self's memories to be erased once I'm back."

"Speaking of which," Marinette started to blush. "Why don't you put any more clothes on while you're here? And how are you still young? If you've been there for 3000 years, you should be dust by now!"

"Ouch, my lady," Adrien said. "Very ouch."

"I must say, the anti-aging effect in your case is considerably more powerful yet my physicality is weakening after only 200 years."

Chloe grinned and bushed her hair through her fingers as she whipped her hair.

"Let's just say, that knowledge is waiting to be rediscovered." She said. "And besides, it's hot in the island and we had no need for shoes so we haven't wore them for millennia."

"I get the feeling that's not all…" Marinette raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. "You and Kagami are way more modest than that. Don't tell me Kagami is also showing that much skin, too."

"Well," Chloe hugged herself and blushed. "Once I realized I was never leaving the island, Kagami and I only had each other's company and after a while of being the only person in each other's lives for so long…" her blushed deepened and held her cheeks in embarrassment. That caused Adrien to slip from the wall he was leaning on hitting the floor.

"OOF!"

"CAT NOIR! DON"T!" Marinette blushed profusely, pointing at the wall where he hid.

"WHAT!?"

"Oh, my," Master Fu muttered.

"What's wrong with wanting to enjoy each other's company even more?" Plagg asked.

"PLAGG!" everyone screamed.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Plagg had the biggest laugh in millennia.

"May I advise you to return to the conversation at hand,"

"Oh, right, the passportal," Plagg said. "Well, in the island archives, Chloe and Kagami discovered how we can use that passportal to free the souls from Lux's grip, did we already did that?"

"I don't think we got to that yet," Chloe said.

"Well," Plagg began. "Simply put that's where the belief of bringing someone back from the dead came. You see, Altea fell when the passportal opened, sucking everyone out of control. The real reason why Tikki and my miraculous was so notorious is that by combining them has the ability to open the passportal and bring the end times yet again."

"So anyone who wanted to bring someone back, was to open the portal to the afterlife in the hopes to somehow bring someone back yet it always ended in disaster," Tikki concluded. "It happened in Altea and in the temple…"

"I can only speculate who was responsible for such atrocity," Master Fu wondered. Plagg's eyes looked away. Marinette and Adrien listened in silence, believing it best to keep their comments for later.

"It would probably take us quite a while to reach that point of our research.

"Well, Chloe and Kagami would eventually discover that…" Plagg hesitated. "There is actually a way to bring someone back…"

"THERE IS!?" everyone nearly shouted.

"IN THEORY!" Plagg defended.

"What do you mean?" Marinette asked, sounding disappointed.

"It means that it was never tested out. Look, let me backtrack again," Plagg insisted again. "The whole thing began when we decided to dig into Shiroi's ability and to find a way to break the effect of the white plague and free the souls."

"Wait so many of these souls…" Adrien began. Marinette and Chloe covered their mouths.

"…have been trapped within the white owl miraculous since the Altean era…" she said with her voice breaking.

"You never told us that!" Chloe said with some anger.

"That's because we haven't got into it yet," Plagg countered. "You said it yourself!"

"This is beyond anything I have ever anticipated," the master said.

"And you have hidden this while you did nothing but munching on camembert?" Sass asked furiously.

"Ok, first off that's not fair," Plagg defended. Secondly, and tell you what? That some poor souls are beyond our reach and there's nothing we can do but to possibly wipe the earth of humanity again?"

"You should have told us!" Tikki attacked as well. "We may have figured something out with all the other wielders!"

"It's not that simple," Plagg said.

"Seems pretty simple to me!" Tikki sneered. "I thought I knew you Plagg! I thought I could trust you. I never thought you were so conniving."

"Again, totally unfair," Plagg said.

"I wasn't trying to be…" Tikki muttered as she turned away. Plagg furiously floated back to her view.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!?" Plagg yelled. "Look, I'm sorry I kept a lot from you! Really, I AM! But you don't have to be such a prick about it!"

"You dare to justify yourself, after what you've done?" Sass tried to but in but Plagg was having none of it.

"You stay out of it, Sass!" Plagg sneered. "You and Fluff are way more powerful than me and I have to paint myself as 'the all powerful' to protect you!"

All the other kwami gasped. Tikki turned back to him with a hurt and betrayed look on her face.

"OH, COME ON!" Plagg shouted. "Why are you shocked?"

"Plagg… just… what are you? I don't know you anymore!"

"Tikki…"

"You think I'm just going to accept all of this after all this…"

"QUIET!" Adrien yelled, restraining himself from emerging from his hiding spot. Everyone flinched, including Master Fu and Chloe. Even Marinette fell back from her seat. "We're straying way off topic. Plagg, is breaking Lux's spell connected with bringing someone back from the dead?"

Everyone was silent once again. Though this time, the time of silence was considerably longer. The atmosphere was uneasy to say the least. The tension was only amplified by the darkness of the movie theater lobby. In the closed for the night with only a few light sources, including the violet neon lights in the hallways as well as the light on the concession signs. Barely enough light to tell where is everyone, but dark enough to keep the meeting incognito… or at least, that was the idea.

After a full ten minutes of silence, probably more, Plagg spoke up.

"The Passportal" By Team Sleep plays.

"The passportal exists as a bridge between the eternal spirit realm and the physical world. I'll spare you the mumbo jumbo of how we came with that conclusion. But, we ultimately came to the conclusion that with we bring someone back, we would be able to stabilize the passportal by bringing that person back and the passportal would only suck the poor souls trapped by the white plague. In other words, we theoretically put some barriers on the vacuum as it only sucks the tormented souls while we take back that single soul."

Marinette and Chloe couldn't quite grasp what Plagg was trying to say.

"I think I got it," Adrien said. "If we pull someone from the other side, that process will get in the way of sucking everything and would only free the souls trapped by Lux."

"Basically yes," Plagg said. "Again, we never tested that out so you must understand that it's all just theory. Also here's the kicker of this theory… We can't just bring anyone back…"

"What do you mean?" Marinette asked, Plagg could tell her heart began to sink.

"It means that the person really needs some specific requirements and I mean like really, really specific requirements to even remotely qualify as a candidate to be bought back," Plagg decided to immediately spare Marinette the pain. "And before you ask, no. Neither of your parents qualifies for this… I'm sorry…" he closed his eyes. Marinette's heart sunk and she rubbed her arm.

"I guess it was too good to be true…" she sobbed.

"Tell us then," Adrien insisted. "What does that person need to be brought back?"

"We have concluded that we can only bring back someone whose life was taken away unfairly. Someone who never had an opportunity to choose or to even actually live for that matter."

"Meaning?"

"Someone who was barely a newborn, and only lived for a very brief amount of time…"

"What about Emma Agreste? Lux's stillborn daughter, maybe she'll change her way when we bring her back and maybe lead us to the Blue…"

Plagg raised his little arm, cutting her off.

"She doesn't cut it either, sorry," Plagg said. Now it was Adrien's turn for his heart to sink. Plagg took a glimpse towards where Adrien hid.

"Oh…"

"You see, aside from never being given a proper chance to live life, that specific individual needs to already have self-awareness," Plagg continued. "In other words, they need to already have a sense of being, awareness of their own existence. A stillborn child would never have that, she didn't even leave her mother's womb."

"A newborn possesses no selfawareness, yet they need to only live briefly," Master Fu said. "How can we find such an individual?"

"But who, then?" Marinette asked. "I mean, they must've died immediately after being born but also already needed an identity…"

"Feels like an oxymoron," Chloe said. Marinette looked at her with curiosity.

"That's a big word coming from you," she said.

"Oh, you know what I mean," Chloe retorted.

"But I've said it before and I'll say it again!" Plagg raised his voice, probably louder than he intended. "It was never tested, so chances are we might have been wrong and we might end the world yet again, it's too dangerous!"

"But what if there is someone who just might…"

"Cat Noir," Marinette cut him off.

"Huh?"

"I think I know who you may refer to…" His voice was breaking again. "Please don't give me false hope…"

"My lady…"

"I think it's for the best to let this go," she said. "We'll find another way…"

She got up on her feet and walked away, grabbing the ladybug earrings.

"Come one, Tikki."

Tikki floated away to join her. She stopped before taking one last silent look at Plagg. He just stared back at her. Tikki shut her eyes with a hurt expression and whipped her head back at Marinette and joined her.

Adrien stood silent, giving his entire being to keep himself from showing who he was. Once he knew he was in the clear…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" he punched the wall dividing himself from the rest, destroying it.

Song ends

Author's note: I'm gonna stop here and I did whatever I could to make this chapter interesting as all this information was laid on you.

So yeah, I believe I made it clear that Plagg was deeper into this whole mess than we thought and this chapter was a long time coming. I knew it was going to be a massive info dump so the best way I think I should handle a chapter like this is by making it interesting.

So who is this mystery candidate that they may bring back to break Emilie's spell and free the souls from her undead army? Who will be the catalyst for that and be given a new life? I think I have left enough clues and foreshadowing throughout the story for you to figure out, stay tuned.

As usual, constructive criticism is appreciated.