Per a request on discord, here are all the hints from earlier in the fic that Madelaine was evil:
· Chapter 1/2: the pair fighting in the first scene; the priest calls her Lady Foy, which will become relevant later
· Chapter 3/4: the flashback comment about knowing what happens when kwamis stick with one identity for too long
· Chapter 12: one of the guardians, when told by Emilie that humans would be better off if they were just kind to each other, told her "like you're one to talk" and made references to horrible things she's done
· Chapter 14: nothing in particular, but it does show that Duusu/Emilie has a dark side toward her enemies
· Chapter 15: Plagg's mention of kwamis doing wrong out of anger and frustration over their identities being taken over and over again
· Chapter 16: nothing related to Madelaine really, but there are two references to Marinette getting sick and I just felt the need to point that out
· Chapter 17: even though the number of Helena's parents worked just fine, the number to Madelaine's boss didn't- because it was fake; Plagg's comments about the crusades and the Cathars harken back to the flashback in chapters 1 and 2- he's trying to figure out if something went wrong and she remembers something from the last time she was named Madelaine; also Plagg's comments about Madelaine being chill about magic
· Chapter 19: if you thought Madelaine suddenly coming on to Gabriel was weird, this is why- she was trying to manipulate him
· Chapter 22: another mention of the surname Foy; also, if you thought the bit with Madelaine fixing Marinette's shirt tag was weird, that was on purpose, too- it's when Madelaine infected her
· Chapter 23: akuma abilities are being pulled out of time, which follows Duusu's time skillset
· Chapter 24: contrary to Chat's theory, there isn't just one patient zero, but multiple, i.e. those Madelaine akumatizes plus Marinette (see the comment about chapter 22); also, the Pharaoh himself was pulled out of his time and into the present
I didn't want to say it outright at any point, just leave a few breadcrumbs for you to follow that might offer a hint. ;)
Interlude – You Have to Work for It
Duusu cringed, dabbing at the blood on her forehead with a wet cloth. Her power couldn't save her this time and even then, she wouldn't go back and risk changing anything just to avoid a minor head wound. She was a god; she could handle it. Her wound wasn't even that bad compared to some of the others', she thought, eyes drifting over to Daizzi, the youngest of them all at only 100 years old.
His blonde hair was stained pink by half-washed-out blood, his wrist swollen and clutched close to his chest. He nearly let his eyes close, only to jerk back awake. Trixx, Daizzi's father, sighed and brushed his bangs away from his face. "You did a good job," he whispered.
"We all did."
The voice of her sister caught Duusu's attention, and she turned to look at Tikki. 3,600 gods before this began, now down to seven, with thirteen demigods fighting alongside them. Children and grandchildren fighting one man- one god.
Tikki pushed herself to her feet with no small effort, limping towards the center of the group. She was the eldest, the leader, the one they all looked to for guidance, even if the seven originals were septuplets. She was the one who declared they had to stop their biological father from destroying the world.
"You did an amazing job. I'm proud of all of you and your bravery and your will. But we're not out of the woods yet. Enlil has proven that the gods had too much power- and so do we. There needs to be something to keep us in check. We've spent the past five centuries protecting humans; maybe we should trust them with our powers."
"How would that work?" Roaar asked. "We can't just leave our powers on a rock for someone to find. I wouldn't even know how to remove my powers."
"We've thought about that," Wayzz answered for Tikki. "The solution is to put our power into certain items, then inhabit those items when they're being used by a human."
Fluff raised an eyebrow. "And where will we be in the in-between?"
Duusu sighed, resting her hands on her knees. "With each other. In a separated dimension away from mankind." They'd been talking about this for centuries, for almost as long as they'd been fighting Enlil. But no one had mentioned it to their kids yet. They hadn't the need, still fighting for the world. But the time had come and they had to make a choice. They all did.
"We'll give up our human forms in exchange for the ability to grant others a lesser version of our powers," Duusu continued. "It's not necessary for your kids to do it if you don't want to, but the seven of us are all going to do it."
Nooroo nodded in agreement. "Enlil wasn't always the monster we fought. He became that way, and the last thing we want is to find a time when we turn into him. You'll all age and pass on eventually, and even if you have kids, their powers will dilute with each generation, so the threat to mankind diminishes over time. We won't."
A long, drawn-out silence filled the cave they had been taking shelter in for the past two weeks. Finally, Orikko, Duusu's own child, stood up, clutching their side. "So my power, it could help humans forever? Even after I've passed?"
Plagg cleared his throat nervously. "If you do this, you will never pass. You'll become like us."
"And I'll be able to help them?"
"Yes."
Orikko hesitated, then nodded. "Then I'm doing it."
"Me, too."
"Me, too."
Gradually, one by one, all thirteen demigods coming to a consensus that yes, they would give up their regular lives for immortality, for the benefit of mankind.
"Okay," Pollen sighed. "Then that just leaves one more thing: who stays?" Confused murmurs rang out, and she elaborated. "We need someone to stick around and protect the conduits. And to choose and induce people to continue protecting the conduits after their death."
The pause was longer this time. No one seemed to want to be the one left behind, to have their ability not benefit mankind for generations to come. But eventually, one of them stood up.
Plagg's eldest child, Kitt, got to her feet. "I will," she declared. "My power is too dangerous for anyone to have, even me. When I go, it'll end. And that way no one will get their hands on my ability."
Plagg stepped up to Kitt, wrapping her in a hug. He whispered something in her ear, then pulled back, tears in his eyes. "I've got some old scrolls from Inanna that should let us pull it off," he spoke up, addressing the group. "We'll need to figure out a way to get people to follow you, Kitt. To protect the items we choose, make sure they have good judgment, pick the right people to wield them… that sort of thing."
"Guardians," Kitt concluded. "Guardians of miraculous power."
Orikko scoffed. "Well, we beat Enlil. I'd say that was pretty miraculous itself."
"We did," Duusu breathed, the realization that they won finally hitting her full force. "We did."
Beep, beep, beep!
Emilie Agreste reached out and turned off the alarm clock, getting out of bed with ease and a smile on her face. She turned, looking at Gabriel as he turned in his sleep but didn't otherwise stir. He would change over time, this she knew for a fact, but in the meantime, he was not going to wake up before nine on a Saturday.
After planting a kiss on his cheek, Emilie changed into a fresh set of clothes and left the room to prepare a bowl of cereal for herself. She enjoyed her quiet time, reading the newspaper and working on the crossword until she heard tiny feet running down the hall. She put the paper down just before a little blonde bundle could crash into her lap.
"Good morning, darling," she greeted her son. "And how are you this morning?"
He smiled with a light that outshone the sun, his eyes looking more teal than green- a leftover she'd noticed from when he'd had a vision in his dreams. "I'm great!" he cheered. "I saw her last night!"
Emilie furrowed her eyebrows together. "Who, kitten?"
"The girl I'm gonna marry," he replied. "We're gonna have a girl; her name will be Emilie like you but we're gonna call her Emmy- and two hamsters! We're gonna have those, too, and two more kids, but I didn't hear their names."
A smile broke out over Emilie's face that matched Adrien's. "I'm so happy for you, kitten," she said, pulling him into her lap. "But remember, the future doesn't just happen."
"You have to work for it," the two said in unison. Adrien had heard her say that enough times to have the entire speech memorized, even the longer, more rambley versions of it.
"And we don't tell anyone about what we can do," Emilie added in. She hated having to teach her son to lie, but it was safer for him that way. Even if he wasn't going to be burned as a witch for it now, seeing the future was still something people would either ostracize or attack him for- not to mention the ones who would love to get their hands on him for their own nefarious purposes. That's what led her and Gabriel to the difficult decision to homeschool in the first place. The last thing they needed was for someone to notice that Adrien's eyes had turned blue during reading hour or something, and it would be a couple of decades before his powers settled into something concrete like the other younger kwamis'.
Adrien nodded understandingly. "I know, Mommy." He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "What about her? Can I tell her?"
Emilie didn't answer at first. She wasn't really sure what to say, in all honesty. For five thousand years, she'd jumped around from her true form to false identities, but the miraculous were always in the shadows. Now, the world had superheroes. America had Victory, Sparrow, and Knightowl, and of course Paris had Paon up until Emilie took a human form. The girl Adrien married… she might not be able to handle that. Unless he was honest with her, then she'd know.
"Just… as long as it's before you marry her," she finally said. "Not too much before, I don't want you telling her the day you meet, but you need to be honest with each other. That's how relationships grow strong."
Adrien nodded solemnly, hanging on her every word. "And then I can keep her and our kids safe from the bad people."
Emilie froze, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "The… the bad people?" she repeated. "What do you mean, kitten? What bad people?"
"The ones you and Daddy talk about when you think I can't hear," he explained. "The ones that want to take you cause you're special. But they don't know you're here, so we're safe from them right now."
Right now. Emilie's mind flashed, a vision she'd had dozens of times before, one in which her son, dressed in a suit obviously made by Plagg, fought a Guardian in front of a portal to the Ekur.
"Right," she said. "We're safe from them." The image of her son in battle wouldn't leave her mind. "Why don't we practice, hm?"
Adrien beamed at the idea, leaping up and running around to the other side of the coffee table. He plopped down on the floor, leaning on the table with his chin in his hands.
Emilie picked a pebble out of the vase on the tabled and passed it over to Adrien. "Focus on how that feels," she said. "Think about how smooth it is in your hand, if it's cold or warm, the weight."
Adrien squeezed his eyes shut, tightening his hand into a tiny fist.
It was hard for Emilie not to giggle at the sight. He looked so perfect, the picture of innocence and delight.
"Alright," she said, "now give me the rock."
Adrien opened his eyes and passed the pebble over to Emilie. "Now what?"
"Now, you take it back."
Adrien reached out, but Emilie closed her hand around the rock. "Not like that," she said, slightly amused. "I should have explained that a bit better. You need to imagine the way the rock felt in your hand the moment you were holding it. Draw it back from that moment in time, from my hand to yours."
Adrien nodded, suddenly looking serious with his lips pursed and his eyebrows furrowed together. His hand shook and his face scrunched up, but Emilie felt the rock vanish from her closed fist.
Slowly, Adrien opened his eyes, then his hand, and sure enough, there was the pebble inside it.
Emilie grinned, reaching out and cupping his cheeks. "That was amazing, kitten!" She kissed his forehead. "Oh, I'm so proud of you! You know, that took me millennia to learn. I used to only be able to pull things from the moment I held them, and you've leaped right over that."
"Leaped right over what?"
Emilie and Adrien turned to the door, watching Gabriel walk in. His hair was a mess and his glasses askew, but the sight of him still made Emilie smile, reminded her of why she'd fallen in love with him.
"It seems your child is a prodigy," Emilie declared, her gaze drifting from her husband to her son. "He's managed to pull something out of my hand just by holding it shortly before."
Gabriel hummed, a smile on his face. "Well I certainly hope you use that power for good and not evil." He leaned down, tickling Adrien and causing him to burst into laughter. He stopped suddenly, getting in close to Adrien with a mischievous look on his face. "That means no stealing ice cream before dinner."
"No promises," Adrien replied, grinning.
Gabriel's jaw dropped. "No promises?" he parroted. "What do you mean 'no promises?'" He picked up his giggling son and spun him around before falling into the sofa next to Emilie. "You're putting devious thoughts in his head."
Emilie snorted, giving Gabriel a light slap on the shoulder. "You goof," she laughed.
"Yeah, goof," Adrien agreed.
Gabriel looked from Adrien to Emilie. "Devious," he repeated in a whisper.
Emilie only grinned, unable not to enjoy the moment with her husband and son. Even if things wouldn't be perfect in the future, they were perfect now. And that's all she could ask for.
Bonus:
Tikki – Ladybug – Creation
Plagg – Black Cat – Destruction
Wayzz – Turtle – Protection
Nooroo – Butterfly – Transformation
Trixx – Fox – Deception
Pollen – Bee – Communication (because wtf was canon doing)
Duusuu – Peafowl – Time (originally snake/bunny's power)
Mullo – Mouse – Size Manipulation – daughter of Nooroo (see: transformation-based power)
Kitt – White Cat – Energy/Life Force Absorption – daughter of Plagg (see: destruction-based power)
Stompp – Ox – Omnilinguism – son of Pollen (see: communication-based power)
Roaar – Tiger – Imitation – daughter of Trixx (see: deception-based power)
Fluff – Rabbit – Multiplication (originally mouse power) – daughter of Tikki (see: creation-based power)
Longg – Dragon – Weather – daughter of Tikki (see: creation-based power)
Sass – Snake – Invisibility – son of Wayzz (see: protection-based power)
Kaalki – Horse – Teleportation – daughter of Pollen (see: communication-based power)
Ziggy – Goat – Shapeshifting – daughter of Nooroo (see: transformation-based power)
Xuppu – Monkey – Power Disruption – son of Plagg (see: destruction-based power)
Orikko – Rooster – Parachronal Cognition – child of Duusu (see: time-based power)
Barkk – Dog – Healing – son of Wayzz (see: protection-based power)
Daizzi – Pig – Deception Detection – son of Trixx (see: deception-based power)