Chapter 12
Je sais qu'un jour on s'envolera
Car mon amour, un jour tu verras
Qu'après de moi tu deviendras toi
"I have bad news for you," Sirena told Ladybug and Chat, the night after Ryuko and Queen Bee defeated the Sleuth as they sat together on the arc de triumphe. "I went to visit every person from the Akuma victim list and none of them seem to have any connection with Hawk Moth,"
"Are you sure?" Ladybug asked dangling her feet on the edge of the structure,
"Very sure, every name is checked, you can take a look at my notes if you want to," I answered, handing her my tablet,
"I honestly thought that this plan would work," Chat mumbled,
"Well, we need a new plan," Ladybug stated, returning my tablet after giving it a quick look,
"We can't go back to checking every person in Paris, can we?" Chat placed a hand on his chin as if thinking of something
"Let's not," I pleaded, "There's gotta be another way,"
"I don't think we have to," Ladybug started as if a bulb had gone off in her brain, "Hawk Moth must have a range if we can localize the victims maybe we can come up with a location from where the attacks are coming,"
"But all the victims live in different sides of the city, some of them don't even have a permanent residence here," My head flooded with the information I had gathered over months, and it was becoming harder to think clearly, especially this late at night,
"But we don't need that, do we?" Ladybug smirked, and Chat's eyes glowed with understanding,
"All we need is the place where they were akumatized! brilliant My Lady," Chat chimed,
"I'm guessing you don't carry a map with you, am I right, Sirena?" Ladybug looked at me
"Do I look like I'm eighty-four to you? I only have the one on my tablet," I showed it to her and we began to mark a ruff location of where the attacks had been and, except for StarTrain, we came up with a nice range surrounding the Eiffel Tower,
"According to this, Hawk Moth could be hiding around this general area," Ladybug pointed in the map, "I wish we had more information though, we could come up with something more precise,"
"That's going to be tricky anyway, a lot of people live around there, plus there are thousands of tourists every day. Are you sure you'll be fine?" Chat pointed out. I remembered that he should have a better knowledge of the place, since his house was inside the range, pretty close to the center, actually.
"Don't worry! You guys focus on protecting Paris, I'll focus on finding Hawky." I pointed at me with my thumb.
We continued to work on a more precise strategy until we noticed how late it was getting. Ladybug and I went home together, but Chat decided to stay a little longer, and after he was sure that we were both long gone he said,
"Plagg claws out,"
"Nice view," Plagg exclaimed as the transformation fell. Plagg took a seat on Adrien's shoulder to enjoy the landscape, "But why did you detransform? I've always known you were a little up the hole, but this is a whole other kind of crazy," He said lazily,
"I just wanted to talk to someone,"
"My, my, what a surprise, Adrien wants to talk, no, wait, let me guess, you want to talk about Ladybug," Plagg said sitting against Adrien's neck,
"No," he exclaimed pretending to be offended, "I wanted to tell you something about Marinette," Plagg facepalmed, though Adrien didn't notice.
"Oh screw it, what did she do now?"
"I've been thinking, things are going pretty well with Ladybug, and apparently Marinette and Luka are a couple now, so I was thinking that Ladybug is truly the one for me, don't you agree, Plagg?" He sighed with half a smile,
"Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" Plagg was playing carelessly with one of Adrien's locks as if it was a ball of yarn,
"Why would I try to convince myself?" Adrien tried to look at Plagg making him stop playing with his hair, his only entertainment
"Because out of the two of us you're the one that cares," Plagg answered now annoyed that he didn't have anything to fiddle with,
"You know what, Plagg? you're really not helpful sometimes," Adrien faced his annoyed kwami,
"Listen, you need to stop worrying about these things, Marinette, Ladybug, I honestly don't see the difference," And he honestly didn't,
"Well I love Ladybug, and Marinette is just a friend,"
"Yeah, yeah, so you keep saying. But if you want to keep whining about that, give me some cheese and I'll listen to all your rambles,"
o0o
That was the way Adrien spent the next months, telling himself that Ladybug was the one he loved while still maintaining his visits to Marinette and learning more about her every time, like the fact that she and Luka weren't actually a couple and that she was a terrible loser when it came to video games. This information had the power to confuse him every now and again, but he was clinging to the hope that he and Ladybug were meant to be together.
But it turned out he wasn't the only one having problems organizing his life those days, in fact, other people were having a much worse time, which made Paris the perfect place for villains like Hawk Moth, feeding on negative emotions.
Late that winter, somewhere in the city, there was a college student from a university nearby. He was struggling with a math equation and after many tries, he convinced himself that he couldn't do it. He threw his notebook, pencils, and materials away. He didn't feel like trying anymore, but how could he become an engineer if he couldn't solve a simple mathematical equation? How could he find a job? How would he find a home? How would he earn a living?
Suddenly he found it harder to breathe, the what-ifs began to flood his mind, tears started to roll down his cheeks, the void in his stomach began to grow and his body began to tremble. Isolation, abandonment, his parents, his future children, his nonexistent girlfriend, his future... the bright future he envisioned... He couldn't control it, it was all falling out of his hands,
"Sightseer," A dark voice was heard on his mind when a black butterfly made its way inside of his smartwatch which was marking an abnormal heart rate, "There's no need to worry about what the future might hold, I give you the power to see what the future has in store for you. As a reward, you will bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous!"
Sightseer's breathing began to normalize, and with a steady voice he said, "Thank you, Hawk Moth, I'll do as you please." The black cloud of smoke covered him as he transformed into a new villain,
o0o
When Chat Noir and Ladybug went to the spot where the usually met for night patrols, a mysterious figure stood near the edge of the arc de Triomphe. He had a purple cloak flying in the cold late winter air, it was decorated with all kinds of clocks, he had a cane attached to his hand which he used to stay balanced.
"You're right on time, Ladybug, Chat Noir," The figure spoke, without exposing his face to the light,
"Who are you?" Ladybug asked although she couldn't see the entirety of his figure,
"My name is Sightseer, and the stars tell me that you're about to give me your miraculous!" He exclaimed, standing his ground, "I have seen this day thousand times and the days after it, and now I have the power to bend it at my will and make you give me your miraculous for Hawk Moth!" He sneered, "Never again will I fear the future, because now, only I control it!" He began to laugh hysterically,
"Then I guess you've seen how we defeat you every time," Ladybug taunted him
"Yes, but now I know how to defeat you!" He screamed and charged towards them. Chat was about to hit him with his baton, but Sightseer opened a portal and disappeared in it, only to appear behind Chat a second later, hitting him hard on the head and tackling him and pinning him unto the floor with his foot. But Ladybug was faster and tackled Sightseer with a mighty kick but when she tried to capture the villain with her yo-yo, he disappeared into another portal, making Ladybug catch Chat instead, who was standing behind where the villain had been.
"Hey, my Lady, I'm not the bad guy here!" He yelled at her trying to disentangle himself from the lasso,
"Are you sure about that? You're the one with the bad jokes," she giggled, but released him nonetheless,
While she was still untangling Chat Noir, two portals opened, one in front and another behind them. From the one behind them, Sightseer appeared and pushed them into the other portal,
"Why don't you take a look at your future!" He laughed hysterically until the portal closed and every sign of him disappeared.
They found themselves in the same monument where they had been before, but something was odd. The buildings were of a different color, the Eifel tower was changing colors every few seconds, and the city as a whole was more illuminated. But what caught their eyes the most was the presence of what seemed like two superheroes moving in the distance, one of them was flying and the other was moving faster than anything that they've ever seen, but they seemed to be engaged in conversation,
Ladybug and Chat stared at each other, confused by the strange sight,
"Are we gonna follow them?" Chat asked his Lady,
"Of course we're gonna follow them," She answered already throwing her yo-yo to the nearest tall building.
They followed them from a distance, especially since the strange figures were much faster until they reached a certain rooftop they had never seen before. It was a building, but it was very near to the outskirts of the city, and it seemed to be very old and in need of repairs, it seemed to be part of a very poor neighborhood. But what caught their attention were the superheroes, they were Ladybug and Chat Noir, but they seemed... different, taller, perhaps even stronger. They stood silently watching a couple of older looking superheroes from behind a chimney.
"This is all your fault!" The older Ladybug yelled at the older Chat Noir,
"Oh sure, as if I forced you into it," He answered with a snort, though there was a hint of amusement in his voice,
"Well, it's easy for you to say!"
"It's not easy for any of us, but you need to calm down," Older Chat gesticulated with his hands,
"Calm down? I am calm down!" She yelled, but she obviously wasn't calm down.
But as our heroes heard the exchange, a single pigeon passed by, landing on the chimney where young Ladybug and Chat Noir were hiding, and, as you know pigeons are birds, and birds have feathers, and feathers are Chat Noir's mortal enemy. He sneezed so hard that the bird flew off, alerting the older superheroes of their presence. Young Ladybug facepalmed and came out of their hiding spot,
"Hi, um, I'm well, Ladybug and I think we're in some sort of trouble," she stammered while Chat came out of his hiding place rubbing his nose, waving sheepishly at the older superheroes. On their side, the older heroes looked at each other with worried expressions but then seemed to remember something,
"Oh, so this is the day!" Ladybug exclaimed, "Now everything makes sense," She smiled at his Chat Noir and then to the younger superheroes,
"Let me guess," older Chat intervened, "You guys were fighting an Akuma and you got sent into the future?"
"Apparently, how much... in the future are we?" Chat asked,
"I'm guessing about ten years," Older Ladybug said, "But don't worry, Sightseer can't go this further into the future, you're safe for now,"
"You know him?" Chat Noir asked, and both older heroes huffed at the same time,
"We've dealt with him hundreds of times," older Chat continued, "He's a very anxious person, and Hawk Moth takes advantage of him, but right now he's seeing a therapist and his anxiety has been improving, so we haven't seen him in ages, but we remember how annoying he was,"
"He can only go into the future, and he has a time limit, but the things he sends through his portal don't, which is why you were sent so far in the future," Older Ladybug added,
"Well, whatever he is, we have to go back to our time and defeat him before he sends something or someone else," young Ladybug pleaded, and older Ladybug smiled at her,
"I think the young Lady is right, Chat, why don't you call our time travel agent while I show these two to a very special place?" Older Ladybug, who now Ladybug noticed had one hair bun instead of two pigtails said as she got closer to them,
"You got it, boss," He winked at her and leaped settling on the roof of the rooftop house that gave entrance to the building,
"You guys follow me," Older Ladybug guided them to the edge of the building and then jumped and entered through a window on the top floor, after a short glance at each other, they followed her into the building.
The apartment where they landed wasn't very well lit, in fact, it was mostly empty, there was no furniture and the walls were dirty and falling off. As soon as they moved inside, and their perspective changed, the whole room shone with Christmas lights, and there was a huge tv on a wall, there were also several puffs and other couches scattered around the room, there was also a marble counter and a corridor, which they guessed, lead to other rooms,
"What do you think?" Older Ladybug asked seating on top of the counter, but the young superheroes were so surprised by the unexpected change that didn't say anything. Older Ladybug giggled, "This is one of Rena's perpetual illusions, you'll learn more about them in a few years,"
"What is this place?" Chat Noir asked as he started to fiddle with some accent pieces that he found on a nightstand
"This is our favorite local superhero hang out place," She explained,
"Your what?" Younger Ladybug screeched,
"Did you think Chat and I were the only heroes in Paris?" Noticing the looks of the younger heroes, Ladybug giggled again and continued, "You'll know more about this in a few years,"
Just then, the older Chat entered through the window, "Bunix isn't picking up," He told his Ladybug,
"Did you try Pegasus?" She asked him, to what Chat nodded,
"He says her race just started, and that it should take him about half an hour to get her here, maybe more,"
"That's too long, there has to be another way," younger Ladybug exclaimed,
"Don't worry mini-me, Pegasus will bring Bunix as soon as she finishes the race and she'll send you to the exact second where you left off your fight,"
"Sounds good to me," young Chat said enjoying his time swinging on a hammock placed next to a window, but soon their miraculous started to beep, that is, the younger hero's miraculous started to beep, and the older heroes got their hands into action.
Ladybug grabbed Ladybug's hand and dragged her into a bedroom decorated with more Christmas lights, a huge bed, and a minibar, whereas Chat Noir carried Chat Noir on his shoulder and took him into a bathroom.
"It's alright mini-me, you can detransform now," Older Ladybug said, and as younger Ladybug's transformation fell, older Ladybug walked towards the minibar, "Time traveling exhausts Kwamis more than anything else, that's why we have especial kwamis for that," she kneeled in front of the tiny refrigerator where she found some cookies and handed them to Tikki,
"I have so many questions," Marinette told her taking a seat on the bed,
"Be careful what you ask," Ladybug warned taking a seat next to her, "If I tell you what happens it won't happen,"
"That's what Emma said," Marinette giggled but Ladybug just looked at her askance for a moment, but then she seemed to understand what she meant.
"Right, that's what she said," She smiled distractedly for a moment and then added, "It's been a while since she came to visit, I almost forgot about her,"
"How can you forget your own daughter?" Marinette asked with a shocked expression,
"I've been thinking about so many things lately, and I'm afraid my future daughter wasn't one of them," she lamented, so Marinette didn't say anything,
After a moment of silence, Marinette asked, "So, are you coming from a fight?"
"Yes, we won, of course," Ladybug smiled down at her,
"How come you're still transformed?"
"Oh, I guess that is a question I can answer. You see, as we get older our bodies get bonded with the miraculous, and as you grow you get stronger, so Tikki doesn't have to use that much energy to hold the transformation. Also instead of five minutes after your Lucky Charm, you get five Lucky Charms, and some other powers,"
"I think I saw you fly on the way here," Ladybug smiled and taking her yo-yo, she shaped the chord in a specific pattern and then placed it on her back as if it was a backpack, the result was a pair of glowing wings coming out from her back. She started to fly around the room, but then she crashed into a lamp in the ceiling and fell back into the bed.
"You can see I'm still very clumsy, though, Somethings never change," She laughed, making Marinette laugh as well.
o0o
Meanwhile, The older Chat Noir and Adrian sat together in the bathroom waiting for Plagg to finish eating his cheese.
"So, how are things with Ladybug?" Adrien asked resting his arm on the tank of the toilet where he was seating,
"What about her?" Older Chat answered with a question as he shifted his position on the edge of the bathtub
"Are you, I mean, are we like a thing?"
"My Lady and I have an... interesting relationship," Chat explained playing with his baton and pointing at Adrien with it,
"What does that mean?" Adrien huffed,
"My Lady is many things, let's not add 'mad at me' to the list," He gesticulated with his hands,
"Why would she be mad at you?" Adrien raised an eyebrow,
"Because if I tell you what happens then it won't happen. You should know." Adrien nodded and then asked,
"Do you still love her?"
"I don't think there will ever come a time when I don't love her, especially not now that she's... the leader of our group, she's an amazing leader, you should see." Adrien rested his head on the toilet tank imagining how brave his Lady was, when he suddenly hit a sore spot and he flinched, "Are you hurt?" Chat asked,
"I don't know, I think it's the spot where Sightseer hit me," He began to tap his hair until he reached a certain spot that felt sticky,
"Let me take a look," Chat stood up from his seat and started to study Adrien's head, "It doesn't look that bad, but let me clean it, I wouldn't want anything serious to happen to us," Chat winked at him and went to look for something in the cabinets of the bathroom, moving swiftly around them until he found a first aid kit,
"Is this your house?" Adrien asked as Chat cleaned the wound,
"Something like that, it's more like a clubhouse for the members of our team, it's legally mine, though," Chat explained, sitting on the floor to examine Adrien's head,
"What happened to our old house?" Chat poured some sort of liquid on Adrien's head making him flinch,
"Nothing you have to concern your mind with right now." Chat said, "It's really just a scratch, it'll heal once Ladybug fixes everything,"
"Doesn't everything?" Adrien joked but Chat didn't laugh, instead, he just smiled,
They talked for a few more minutes until a bright light was visible from under the door, followed by the voice of a woman yelling, "Alright, who messed up with the time continuum this time?"
"That's her," Chat said, standing up from the floor where he had been seating, "Get ready, you're going back home," Adrien obeyed and transformed, but when the older chat put his hand on the doorknob, Chat placed his hand over his and looked at him in the eye,
"Just one more question before we go," Chat looked back at him, "Are you happy?" Chat looked down for a moment before answering,
"After a long time, I think I can finally say that yes, I am happy," Chat smiled broadly and the younger Chat smiled back at him.
o0o
When they came out of the bathroom the two Ladybugs were already outside talking to Bunix while Pegasus sat in one of the puffs enjoying a bag of chips,
"I'm assuming that the two of you thought twice about what you said," Bunix said pointing at the two older heroes,
"Don't worry Bunix," the older Ladybug answered, "We remember this," She looked at the older Chat and winked at him,
"Oh, if you remember then there's no temporal anomaly, why did you call me?" Bunix out her hands on her hips, "I was in a race on the other side of the world!"
"Well, we still have to return these two youngsters to their time," Chat added with a sarcastic smile,
"Sightseer?" Bunix asked, and they all nodded, making her roll her eyes. "Ok guys, there's something you need to know about this villain if you want to defeat him," Bunix took one of Pegasus's chips and paced around the room, "He can see as far into the future as he wants, but he can only travel forward, and he has a time frame in which he works, he can send you guys as far in the future as he wishes but he can't go after you," She ate the chip, but continued to speak, "So, actually sending you here was a mistake, since now he doesn't have a miraculous to catch, so Hawk Moth is going to give him a hard time about it,"
"It's a pretty dumb and weak Akuma," Chat added, "Don't be intimidated by him, you'll be able to defeat him without help,"
"Is it just me or Hawk Moth is getting desperate right now?" Young Chat asked, and all the four older superheroes answered with a chorus of, "Pretty much," "Very," "Absolutely desperate," "Annoying as heck,"
"For now, just go back to your time, everything will be revealed in time," Older Ladybug told them, putting a comforting hand on the shoulders of the younger superheroes,
Then, Bunix used her umbrella to open a portal for the two of them to leave, they said their goodbyes and took a last look at the room where there were in, trying to memorize it as much as they could.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Chat Noir could swear he saw something else. Was it his imagination or Ladybug just locked arms with the older version of himself? He didn't have the time to check if he saw correctly, 'cause Bunix was rushing them into the portal.
Once they stepped out of it, they found themselves behind Sightseer again, who seemed to still be enjoying his momentary victory of having sent them into the future,
"Not so fast, Doctor Strange," Chat said to him, who turned to face them,
"Don't you need two miraculous holders if you want our miraculous?" Ladybug told him and he paled,
After that, It didn't take much longer to defeat him since he knew now that he couldn't send the heroes into the future. Using her Lucky Charm, Ladybug was able to understand the pattern that his attacks followed, after that, it was just a matter of separating him from his cane and purifying the Akuma that flew from it, thanks to Chat's cataclysm.
"What happened? Where am I?" The young man asked, looking around with a worried expression,
"You were akumatized," Ladybug explained to him,
"And apparently you will continue to be, but don't worry, we'll always be there to save you," Chat smiled at him,
"I will? How did you... Oh no!" The guy asked, and then began to hyperventilate. Ladybug was fast to act and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder told him to take a deep breath while she stroked his back,
"You're not alone, um, what's your name?"
"Darren," he said shakily between shallow breaths.
"We're here for you Darren, we understand how you feel," Little by little, Darren's breathing began to normalize, but they knew that this wasn't the last they would see of him. Darren's anxiety attacks would come back often, he seemed to have lost hope in life and would be triggered if anyone mentioned the future.
This made him a particularly good target for Hawk Moth; however, as much as his anxiety, his power was harmless, because the future doesn't have the power to alter the present. This doesn't mean that his attacks weren't serious, they were scary and unsettling, but they wouldn't take him anywhere. It took him longer than it should have to understand it, and for a long time, Hawk Moth would still continue to use this trait of him against him.
o0o
Both Adrien and Marinette went to bed with broad smiles plastered in their faces, though for different reasons.
Adrien couldn't help to think about what he saw, or at least what he thought he saw.
"Could it be Plagg? I definitely saw Ladybug hold my hand,"
"You mean your future hand?" Plagg giggled sinking in a pile of camembert cheese,
"Yeah, that means Ladybug and I will be together in the future! That settles it! See Plagg? I told you my heart belongs to Ladybug and to Ladybug only," Adrien thrust himself in his bed and snuggled in his blankets,
"I never said the contrary," Plagg said from the other side of the bedroom,
"Well, now there's no doubt in your mind," Adrien said drowsily, falling asleep almost immediately, all that time traveling had really exhausted him.
"There never was, it was you the one whining about it all the time," Plagg yelled at him, but when there was no response, he flew to Adrien's bed and sat into the pillow next to Adrien. He stared intently at Adrien for a while, only to sigh and say to himself, "How long do I have to keep this up? This isn't funny anymore, it's just sad," Plagg sighed, pausing for a moment before adding, "And hella annoying,"
o0o
Meanwhile, Marinette sat on her balcony, half expecting someone to come to visit her, although it was probably too late for that,
"Is it true about the new Powers, Tikki?" She asked the drowsy kwami sitting on her lap,
"As time passes you will get more powers, yes, but don't worry about that, you will know when it happens,"
"Everybody keeps telling me not to worry about something, but that just makes me worry even more," She complained
"I understand Marinette, but all you really need to worry about is living one day at the time," Tikki yawned, "Which is hard now that you know part of what your future will look like,"
After a pause, Marinette added, "Did Chat look different to you?"
"You mean future Chat? He did seem about ten years older," Tikki snuggled a bit more in Marinette's lap,
"No, I mean, the way he acted, there was something about him, I can't describe it, but he and Ladybug seemed to be in sync, and he also seemed a lot more mature,"
"That's probably because they have worked together for ten plus years," Tikki grunted with her eyes closed,
"There has to be more to it, I can feel it,"
"Marinette," Tikki started to speak more adamantly abandoning her previous sleepy position and flying to face her owner, "People change people, for better or for worst, I'm sure future Chat Noir has seen and done things that neither you nor Chat can imagine now, which is why I'm telling you to be patient, time will tell you all you want to know,"
"The good part is that we'll always have each other, and we get to grow as heroes together. It's good to have someone I can count on,"
"You guys are already a great team, as you were always meant to be," Tikki cheered,
"Yes, but we will be better." She sighed before adding, "There's still a lot about each other that we don't know, but when we do, we will be unstoppable,"
Marinette was right, of course, about everything, the future had many things in store for them, some good and some bad, but everything had a purpose and for everything, there's a season. One day they would see that together they were destined for greater things.
I know one day we'll fly
Because my love, one day you'll see
With me, you will become you!
[Completely unrelated content: You guys know what? I've always had this nagging feeling that the Chat Noir from the future (as seen in Timetagger) is not Adrien! I know it sounds crazy, but he doesn't talk! And nobody talks about him, and also there's, a certain ominous tweet by Thomas Austruc, makes me believe that something terrible is going to happen to Adrien and they're going to have to replace him! (Even if his tweets are not the most reliable,)
This is not a headcanon, let's call it a hunch, which I really hope doesn't happen but still... If it does then, you read it here first!
I'm not writing about it though (or am I), but I just wanted to vent about it. This show gives me the feels!
Read you next week,
SDG
Luz.]