The other bread
They got out from the building and crossed the street to go into the park. They continued to walk in silence until they found a bench hidden in the dark between the trees.
They passed a new statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir. This one was bigger and more monumental, it showed new Ladybug and Chat Noir.
"They are scared of us. Everyone is scared of us. What have they done." Ladybug asked while she stared in the empty space in the darkness before her.
"We have to stop them." Chat smiled. "We will stop them."
"I don't understand, I got bread for my lucky charm. But we found nothing here." She protested.
"Perhaps the clue was in something they told us." He pondered.
"But they told us nothing, no information, save that they are scared of us." She had to be careful not to scream.
"Scared of them, they are scared of them, not us." Chat corrected. "What about the loaf of bread? It sort of made me hungry. Maybe w should go to some other bakery? Do you know any other bakery in Paris?" He was having an idea.
"Apparently there is one where we just left and I'm sure they would give you some food if you ask." She felt sick to her stomach.
"No, the clue, do you know any other baker?" He nudged her. He was certain he was right, of course he was, he just wanted her brain back on track from that whirlwind of self demeaning thoughts that she just got herself into.
"Grandpa, grandpa Roland is a baker too." She smiled.
"Let's go there." He grinned. Because that was the smile he wanted to see, out from the gutter and straight to the stars.
The two of them flew and ran over the streets and rooftops. The streets were empty and it was still early in the evening for that. Usually, at that hour, if there was no rain, the streets were not full, but considerably occupied with pedestrians on an evening stroll.
Thy landed in the front yard of a small house.
"This is it." Chat whispered. He remembered that Marinette's grandpa was a baker, he had to taste the bread they were making. Very familiar smell of fresh bread teased his nostrils. He knew they were in the right place.
Ladybug took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Roland opened the door. His eyes widened suddenly when he noticed who was at the door.
"They are not here!" Roland brushed the guests away and motioned to slam the door, but Chat stopped the door with his hand.
"Please, we just want to talk with them." Chat grinned.
"Can we enter?" Ladybug asked.
"Let them in." They heard Sabine from somewhere inside the house. It was dark, the lights inside the house were off, so anyone or anything could be hiding in the darkness. Both heroes instantly recognized the voice and smiled with relief.
The man stood to the side to let them pass with a grunt and a glare to the dark shadow in his house. The two heroes entered the house slowly and closed the door behind them. Roland Dupain looked at the guests in his house with narrowed eyes and anger all over his face and posture.
"Thank you, gr … I mean, Monsieur Dupain." Ladybug smiled widely at the sight of her grandfather. She remembered him in good mood, but she also remembered him angry and dissatisfied as when he held a grudge against her father.
"Thank you for letting us in. Can we speak with Tom and Sabine please." Chat asked politely. He was getting used to calling them Tom and Sabine although he sometimes wanted to say papa to Tom, probably because the man addressed him as son.
"You made them leave their home and their bakery. How dare you come into my home and demand to see them?" Roland roared. His voice and posture full of rightful rage, as if he was ready to die before he would give them anything they wanted.
"They did not demand, they asked nicely, Roland." Sabine spoke softly but she remained standing in the darkness. Both heroes looked her way hopeful to see the woman they wanted, they needed to know she was all right, and perhaps learn what happened from her.
"They asked … these new guys, they never ask!" They heard Tom from the same dark corridor from which Sabine was speaking. There was surprise and hope in his voice, as if he just got a first piece of good news after a really long time.
"It's them Tom." Sabine spoke warmly. "The real Ladybug and Chat Noir." They could hear the excitement, happiness and hope in her voice. Ladybug wanted to run over and hug the woman, it was obvious how much she suffered and hoped for them to return.
"Oh." The man stepped out from the darkness to pass by a window that let some light from the street inside. Then he flicked on the switch. That was what prevented the heroes from hugging her parents.
Everyone covered their eyes to adjust to the light.
They slowly removed their hands from their faces.
Ladybug and Chat Noir stood there and smiled.
"It is them, they are genuine, they are the Ladybug and Chat Noir who were fighting akuma and monsters, not those new imposters." Sabine spoke softly and quietly as if she was scared to be overheard..
"Where have you been?" Tom crossed his arms. "Have you beaten those two imposters?" He demanded. Sabine nudged him with her elbow.
"I'm telling you I don't like this modern magic stuff." Roland muttered and walked away into the kitchen.
"It doesn't matter, they are here now and they are going to fix everything. Come on, join us for dinner." Sabine invited the heroes.
Soon, they were seated and enjoyed a warm home cooked meal with a lot of fresh bread.
Chat could not believe how hungry he was. Sabine enjoyed putting more and more food on his plate. Ladybug slowly got her appetite back and they both ate well.
Tom collected the dishes and Sabine brought out cookies and offered coffee and tea.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Chat asked.
"Please start … from the time after Hawk Moth got defeated in China and you got back home." Ladybug asked quietly.
"After we returned from China, the school started and we went back to business. Mayor of Paris confiscated all of Hawk Moth's belongings to compensate for the damages. But it was worthless, the company went bankrupt after the main share holder pulled out." Tom started.
"Poor Adrien did not want anything to do with it. Even if the business and the mansion should have belonged to him, he just let them have it. The boy barely had any means left. At least his aunt promised to support the boy financially." Sabine sighed.
"But she wanted something, something that Adrien and Marinette did not want her to have, I remember they were very nervous before they went to that dinner. Then they lost something, or they were robbed, we never knew." Tom clenched his fists.
"They were both really sad for a while. It was understandable, it had to come sooner or later considering that Gabriel was … " Sabine hitched a breath. "And then there was the trial, it dragged on for months."
"Adrien had a disagreement with his cousin, it was not even about money, it was about their girlfriends or something. We did not want to interfere in the teenage stuff. I guess we should have tried, when one looks back." Tom pondered.
"Anyway, the mansion was sold to the Italian embassy and then strange things began to happen. New Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared. They claimed that Adrien and Marinette wanted to be the next Hawk Moth and Mayura and the kids were found unconscious in an alley.
They have been in a coma in a hospital ever since. The doctors said it was probably electricity, but they never saw such injuries before. They made us close the bakery and move out from our home. But we could not leave Paris, not while our children are still alive at the hospital."
Ladybug and Chat Noir were crying. They wanted to detransform and tell them that they were okay. It probably would not have even mattered if they revealed their identities because Ladybug already knew that they were probably expected to erase this timeline.
"I remember those days. Something strange happened with that box Marinette brought here for safe keeping. I even found two strange dead mice near the box one day." Roland shrugged. "I know they were not my mice, my mice would come to the kitchen and ask for food."
"What box?" Ladybug asked.
"What mice?" Chat Noir asked.
"Let me show you." Roland got onto his feet. "Marinette and Adrien brought a plain cardboard box one day and asked if they could keep it here." He walked away and opened the ladder that lead onto his attic. "It is up there, Marinette wrote an address in China on the box. Maybe she received it from there?"
"Maybe we were supposed to send it there?" Sabine noted. "It was probably something for her cousins."
Ladybug ascended the ladder quickly and Chat Noir was just behind. They found a cardboard box ready to be sent to China with an address on the top.
"We were not supposed to learn anything about our future?" Chat whispered.
"Shut up, this is not the future, we have to make sure of that." She replied.
They found the miracle box. Four miraculous were missing, the ladybug earrings, the Chat Noir ring, the peacock brooch and the butterfly pin.
They closed the box and descended the ladder.
"Um, so, about the mice … " Chat Noir scratched the back of the neck.
"One was blue, another was violet, and they were both dead. I found them in the attic and I buried them in the back yard where I bury all my mice." Roland explained.
Ladybug was tempted to ask to dig them out and see for herself if they were indeed Nooroo and Duusu, but she gave up. It was dark outside and she had seen and heard enough to know that those were indeed the two kwami.
They spent more of the evening talking.
When they left and climbed the first rooftop from where they could see the fire in the distance. They quickly came closer. The new Ladybug was wearing her dark suit with red spots while Chat Noir was still black but his tail had an arrow in the end and the ears on his head were more pointed, he had fangs.
People escaped the scene in evening suits and ball gowns. The Mayor of Paris and Chloe were begging them to stop the carnage.
But the black bug demanded respect and admiration.
The two heroes stood on the rooftop and observed for a moment.
"Shouldn't we take the miraculous from them? They are abusing their powers to do evil things." Chat proposed.
Ladybug called her lucky charm and got a chewing gum. It was shaped as a clock. She looked at the chewing gum thoughtfully.
"We have to take their miraculous but I have to ask Bunnix something later." Ladybug replied.
"What" Chat replied.
"When was the moment she wanted to pick us up first." She sighed.
"She said we were gone." He reminded her.
"Oh yes, it must have been one of the earlier moments then." She snapped her fingers.
"Then we were … " He was trying to remember.
"Stop that, Chat, I'm on a timer." She reminded him.
It was actually surprisingly easy to defeat the black bug and the mean cat. Element of surprise combined with the fact that the evil duo never engaged in a real battle against their equals. They only abused their powers to harass civilians.
Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around the black bug and Chat pulled the earrings off to reveal Lila Rossi. The heroes were not even surprised. After that they went after the mean cat who was not even running away, he was trying to get the earrings too.
Chat Noir activated his cataclysm but the mean cat did it too while he threw two pieces of his stick on Chat, he destroyed one piece with his cataclysm. The mean cat then pinned Chat to the ground and was ready to use his cataclysm on Chat Noir.
"Stop it, you can have my earrings if you let him live." Ladybug walked over. Mean cat grinned.
"No." Chat Noir screamed. It was obvious that the mean cat intended to use his cataclysm on Ladybug.
But Ladybug replaced herself with a parking pole when the mean Chat tried to reach her and the pole disintegrated. Chat Noir grabbed the mean Chat from his back and Ladybug pulled the ring off to reveal Felix.
"This was stupid anyway." Felix spat out and turned around to walk away. "We never should have done this, any of this. It was completely unnecessary."
"You loved to make them miserable, you liked it when they all hated Adrien." Lila snarled.
"I was just jealous of him, of his popularity, just like you were jealous of her, you wanted to become her, bout you are not like her al all." Felix spat back.
"Oh, is that why you hesitated to destroy her?" Lila teased mockingly.
"You just wanted him, not me! You wanted to stand in her place and you wanted to make him love you. But nobody could ever love a monster you became." Felix shot back.
"You tried to trick her and be with her by pretending to be Adrien." Lila was clearly jealous.
"And you are making me be him!" Felix screamed.
Ladybug was tempted to linger but Chat Noir picked her up and vaulted on a rooftop nearby.
She tossed the chewing gum in the air and called for miracle cure before her transformation dissolved and she returned to be Marinette.
She huffed and searched her purse for a macaron.
"Here." Chat offered. "Tom made me take some extra 'for the way'."
Tikki took the macaron gratefully.
"So how do we undo all this?" Chat asked.
"The gum was the clue." Marinette replied. "We have to make Felix feel welcome in the class."
"That is going to be a tough task after that stunt he pulled with the video. Felix loves pulling pranks, but he never liked when someone pulled pranks on him." Chat sighed. His ring reminded him that he needed to recharge his kwami.
Chat detransformed and found the last triangle of Camembert to feed Plagg.
"We can't make him an outcast." Marinette sighed. They both looked at each other, they were heading up to some serious high school drama if they wanted to avoid this future from happening.
"I thought I would have two Plagg's now that I have two rings." Adrien took the other ring from his pocket.
"Really, and I have just one Tikki." Marinette smiled. "We have to leave those jewels back in the box before we return."
"And the peacock brooch and the butterfly pin?" Adrien asked.
"Oh, I think I have an idea where they are." She smiled.
Plagg and Tikki finished their meals and the two heroes returned to the Agreste mansion that was now an Italian embassy, or a consulate, or something.
They sneaked back directly inside the lair through the same circular window and then they walked over to the sarcophagus.
"Are you up to it?" Chat asked.
"I guess I have to be." Ladybug sighed.
They pressed several buttons until the transparent cover retracted. Ladybug searched the elegant suit and the scarf and she found them, the pin and the brooch were just there, hidden by the silk scarf.
They closed up the sarcophagus and walked away.
"It doesn't matter, we have to erase this timeline." Chat muttered.
Ladybug returned a sad smile.
They landed on the roof of the small house of Roland Dupain, opened the small attic window and sneaked inside. Ladybug opened the box, Chat Noir extracted the miraculous from his pockets and Ladybug stored it back in the box.
"What about the mice?" Chat teased.
"I'm not digging my grandpa's back yard." Ladybug shook her head.
At that moment the miraculous box glowed lightly.
Motionless Nooroo and Duusu floated in through the small rooftop window and phased into the box.