A/N: Hello Miraculers. Sorry for the long wait for this chapter; at least it is long. It was a hard process trying to make this go the way I wanted. It is very light and cheerful in the beginning, but beware, it will become much darker at the end. I hope it flows well enough. Enjoy!
The two fashion designers drove to Marinette's bakery. They walked in, and Marinette's parents dashed over to their daughter.
"Marinette, you've been gone for a while," her mother told her worriedly. "You left without finishing your breakfast."
"She was with me for quite some time," Gabriel informed them. "I was in a rush, since Adrien wanted to invite Ladybug to a fashion show tonight, and Marinette's Ladybug design was perfect to make Ladybug a dress for the event. I had her help me make the dress."
Tom's eyes lit up in excitement for his daughter. "Oh my goodness! Our daughter is going to have Paris' hero wear her design. I'm so excited for you, Marinette!" He hugged his daughter, and Sabine joined in.
Hoping not to interrupt the family bonding, Gabriel stated, "Marinette will be joining me for fashion show tonight. I want her to get some experience and meet some important people in the fashion community."
The parents looked up at Mr. Agreste and back down at Marinette, and Sabine told her daughter, "Make sure to get a picture with you and Ladybug, sweetheart. Your friend Alya would probably like that."
Marinette forced a convincing smile, and looked up at Gabriel who gave her a reassuring nod.
"I need to go up stairs to get ready," Marinette told her parents.
Sabine and Tom let the designer out of the hug, and the girl dashed upstairs.
"Would I be able to get something to bring back to Adrien?" Gabriel asked.
"Of course, what would you like?" Sabine asked.
Meanwhile, Marinette reached her room. Tikki flew out of Marinette's purse, and sighed. "Marinette, how will you get a picture with yourself?!" she exclaimed.
"Don't worry Tikki. Mr. Agreste will photoshop me or something," Marinette reassured her kwami.
Suddenly, Marinette received a text from Mr. Agreste saying that she should bring a dress to dress as Marinette for part of the show in order to introduce her to some important people. The designer immediately looked for a dress that'd look good with red but wasn't red in case the make up artists use that color on her face and so she would looked too much like her alter ego. She grabbed a more casual outfit that wouldn't be as flashy as her other dress, but was formal enough for the event: a black dress with red roses and a brown cardigan with some green flats.
After dressing, the girl ran downstairs, still carrying her sketchbook, grabbed a premade sandwich from the fridge that she was going to have for lunch, and ran back upstairs to her bedroom where she got all of her stuff organized. She quickly ate her sandwich and ran downstairs where she kissed her parents good-bye before hiding and transforming into Ladybug.
"Now where is this fashion show?" she questioned.
The heroine slid open her yo-yo, and looked up the location; it was taking place at a nearby stage. She got up, and began to dash away.
After reaching the stage, she stopped at an alleyway where she detransformed. Tikki flew back into her pouch, and began to nibble on some cookies. Marinette walked out, carrying her ticket that Mr. Agreste gave to her earlier. She approached the guard, handed him her ticket, and she was then handed it back. Marinette headed in the direction of backstage, was stopped by a guard, but then was let through by Mr. Agreste.
"I'm glad you made it, Marinette. Ladybug's not here yet, so why don't you go ahead and make yourself comfortable," he said, glancing over at Adrien who was in earshot of the two.
Marinette glanced over at Adrien who looked back at her and waved bashfully. She bashfully waved back with a blush, but snapped herself out of a daze before it even happen. Gabriel led Marinette around to a dressing room, and told her, "the dress and the mask are in here." He gave her the cue to wait until she was unnoticed to enter the room.
After a little while of sketching some accessories, she snuck over to the dressing room, and began changing. She quickly changed into the dress, the shoes, and nearly all of the accessories that went with the dress. She looked in the mirror, and Tikki joined her.
"You look so pretty, Marinette!" she cheered with amazement.
"Thank you, Tikki," she replied, looking at how the dress fit, and looking tentatively at the magicless mask.
"Marinette," Tikki began more seriously. "I've decided that tonight, I'll be flying by your side so I can protect you from those who want to remove your mask."
Marinette was baffled. "Wouldn't that make me more vulnerable as Marinette if someone else sees me with you?"
Tikki paused for a moment, then zoomed through the wooden door. The kwami sped quickly passed models, crew, and designers, gladly unnoticed, until she found Gabriel. She began to explain the situation to Gabriel and he responded. "Hmm… I suppose we can popularize toys of you and Plagg if you'd like to make yourself less noticeable and your holder can make the excuse of having one of the figures."
"That would work, if you figure out a way to get Plagg and I noticed in somewhat similar circumstances that aren't suspicious to Marinette being Ladybug and yourself being Hawkmoth."
"Then I'll get on that," Gabriel said, writing the plan down in a notebook.
Tikki then zoomed back to Marinette who was patiently waiting.
"We figured something out. I'll be watching over you," Tikki told her holder.
A moment later, someone knocked on the door.
Marinette looked at Tikki quickly, and then said, "Come in!"
A makeup specialist entered the room.
"Hello, Ladybug. Mr. Agreste said that he'd like you to have makeup since you are debuting his intern, Ms. Dupain-Cheng's, piece of work tonight," she said.
"Wait, I'm debuting her work? Am I going on the runway or something?" she asked, hiding her nervousness since Mr. Agreste didn't tell her at all and she's the designer and the model.
"Yes. He said that he forgot to go over that with you, but at the end, he's going to have you go out on stage and talk about you and the designer," she explained, getting her makeup out and looking for the right foundation.
"Oh, okay," she replied, hiding her growing anxiety.
"By the way, I'm Clara," she introduced herself. "I'm the top makeup specialist for Mr. Agreste."
In less than a second, Tikki was out and inspecting Clara and determining if she was a danger or not.
The makeup specialist was startled by the kwami, and then was completely confused by it.
"Sorry for startling you, Clara. My name's Tikki. I'm Ladybug's kwami or magical spirit. I'm a somewhat of a guide to my holder. Since her Miraculous is not activated, she is in a more vulnerable state, so I am here to protect her. To help me protect her, I need to make sure you won't be removing Ladybug's mask," the lucky spirit stated.
Clara looked at Ladybug's face and what she'd have to do to compensate. She decided that she'd only do eye and lip makeup and not have to worry about foundation since that'd look awful if Ladybug ever decided to change back during the event.
"Alright. I'm just going to do some simple eye makeup and lipstick with maybe a little blush," she informed the two.
Meanwhile, as Adrien was being prepared, he kept constantly looking around for Ladybug. Gabriel was about to pass him when Adrien asked, "Has Ladybug gotten here yet?"
Gabriel spotted Marinette closing the door of the dressing room, and stated, "Yes. She just got here. She's beginning to change."
Adrien smiled. He couldn't wait to see how Ladybug looked. The ex-hero still couldn't get over that he was in a relationship with Ladybug. Things have come quite far in such a short amount of time.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a bang from outside. His father looked over to the door, and jogged over. The man opened the door, and standing there was Ladybug panting in exhaustion.
"Ladybug, why is there a second you here?" the designer asked.
"It's hard to explain. Just please let me in! There's an akuma after me!" she explained.
Gabriel quickly let her in and she dashed into a second open dressing room. He then walked over to the door of that dressing room, and knocked. "Could you name the akuma you're being chased by so I can warn others?"
Slightly muffled from the door he heard the name, "Timebreaker." He nodded, and proceeded to walk over to Adrien.
"Adrien can you come with me?" he asked.
"Of course, father. What is it? I thought you said Ladybug was already here. Why did another come in?" the boy pondered as they walked to a less populated hallway.
"It seems that you need to create Timebreaker, since there is a Ladybug and a Timebreaker from the future here," he quietly informed his son.
"But can I wait 'til after the fashion show?"
"I'm afraid not. Create a Timebreaker so it can continuously gain energy from people so it has enough energy to travel back by three hours or so. You also need to lead the Timebreaker that's right outside our door so it doesn't ruin the fashion show. Make sure it stands by for a little while," the mastermind informed his sidekick.
"That's a lot of people Timebreaker will be taking energy from, but I guess it's not going to hurt anyone," the model nodded uneasily.
Adrien ran off and hid in a closet where he transformed, and created a little green and purple butterfly. The creature then flew out of the tight space as Hawkmoth Jr. contacted the future Timebreaker.
"Timebreaker," he called.
"Yes, Hawkmoth Jr.? What do you want me to do now? You told me not to interrupt the fashion show."
"Wait until the past version of you arrives, and aid it in gaining enough energy as you did. The Ladybugs will come to fight right after this event which is hopefully the exact amount of time it took for you to gain the energy to travel back to this time," the original akuma explained hopefully.
"That is correct," the akuma replied, earning a relieved sigh from Hawkmoth Jr.
Suddenly, the second Timebreaker was akumatized, and Hawkmoth Jr. said, "Future Timebreaker, explain the plans to the current Timebreaker. We'll get Ladybug's Miraculous eventually."
Adrien sighed, and transformed back into his civilian form. He walked back out of the closet and over to his father.
"I think it's all handled," he told Hawkmoth.
"Good. Now hopefully this show won't be ruined by a paradox," Gabriel sighed.
Meanwhile back in the current Ladybug's dressing room, Marinette was just finished getting her hair finished. Clara and the hair stylist who came in later both smiled in awe.
"You look amazing! I've got to meet your designer!" Clara replied.
"Agreed!" said the hair stylist.
The two exited the room with their equipment, and Marinette looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was down and was straightened from the waves her pigtails often caused. It was good that she could put it back up easily without the pigtails being strangely different.
After gazing at herself and looking at her dress for mistakes, she exited the room. As she walked out she saw Gabriel and Adrien talking to each other, and Gabriel sighing.
"Mr. Agreste," she called. Both of the Agrestes looked over and were startled by her beauty.
Adrien's Cat Noir, flirtatious attitude kicked in, and he sauntered over, and whispered, "You look amazing bug-a-boo!" He was about to kiss her when she placed her finger on her boyfriend's nose.
"Not right now! We both have makeup on!" she chided playfully.
Mr. Agreste walked up to them, and explained, "We'll be on in 15 minutes."
In the background, the other Ladybug waited until she could dash off to the other dressing room so she could change back into Marinette. After detransforming and checking if the coast was clear, she dashed off into the other room with Tikki.
"What a strange coincidence this is Tikki! I got, I mean, I get to be here as both Marinette and Ladybug after all!" she chuckled.
"Yeah," Tikki replied non-wholeheartedly. Tikki's head was drooped and her eyes drifted of away from Marinette who was taking her shoes off.
"Tikki, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Oh it's nothing, Marinette," she replied with less enthusiastic smile.
"Come on, Tikki, you are not normally this glum. Please, tell me," the human begged.
The lucky spirit sighed. "I'm just tired, Marinette; it's been a long day, literally!"
The designer looked at her kwami suspiciously, but gave up and decided now was not the time to pester her kwami. They had a long night to deal with.
Marinette found her purse, and grabbed a cookie out of it for Tikki. "After you are reenergized, should we go out and fight Timebreaker?"
With a full mouth, the ladybug shook her head and swallowed before saying, "You'd have no chance defeating them right now. Your other self is unaware of the situation, and seeing as Timebreaker acquired enough energy to travel three hours into the past, I'm guessing that the original Timebreaker was just akumatized, and there are now two akumas out there."
Marinette sighed. "I guess I'll just get changed, and go find Mr. Agreste."
Tikki nodded.
Down the hall, Adrien was lined up with the other models and getting ready to go out. Gabriel walked out onto the stage, and the audience erupted in applause. As he began a speech, Ladybug and Tikki were eagerly peaking through the crack of the curtain at the fashion emperor.
Near the end of speech, Marinette walked out of her dressing room and down to the stage. As she was going to go and watch from the audience, so she doesn't both her other self, she was stopped by Adrien who quietly said, "Marinette you disappeared after I last saw you. I was worried you were going to miss the show."
She blushed and replied, "I was busy sketching."
Gabriel walked off stage, and noticed both of his interns, and decided he'd tend to "Ladybug" first.
"How are you enjoying the backstage view?" he asked.
"It's exciting and amazing but, it's also a bit nerve-racking!" she answered.
"I'm sorry for not telling you that you will be modeling the design as well as just wearing it for fun," he apologized.
"It's fine! I just hope that the audience won't insist to see the designer!" she stated nervously.
"Don't worry. I have a plan," he smiled.
He looked over for "Marinette", and saw she wasn't there anymore. He dashed away, apologizing to his models, as he split the line momentarily and caught Marinette before she entered the auditorium.
"Mr. Agreste!" she exclaimed in surprise.
"Hello Ms. Dupain-Cheng. Did you enjoy the backstage view of the show?"
"Yes. It was quite a surprise to see another me come out when the audience asked to see the designer, but I guess that means I should be ready to be on stage before the end. Where would you like me for now?"
The adult thought for a second, and then said. "You can be in the audience. I'll have a guard escort you to the front, so you can climb up the stairs in time, and your other self will be less frightened by the appearance of a second you."
Marinette nodded and followed Gabriel. A guard led her to the front of the auditorium directly next to the stairs. She settled into her spot, and was even more amazed and inspired by the dresses and suits she saw. One by one the models passed her and the event continued.
Finally at the end, Adrien exited and his fangirls screamed in excitement. He glanced out at the audience and looked directly at Marinette for a second. The audience cheered as Adrien walked over to the side of the stage where his father exited and took a bow.
"We have one more piece to show you. You will immediately recognize the model who bears this new piece, as none other that Paris's hero, but the dress was made just today by a young, female designer who I have recently accepted as an intern."
Gabriel looked over at Ladybug, and she exited somewhat nervously, but her confidence grew as she saw the proud smirk on her boyfriend's face. The audience began to roar. Adrien joined her as she walked down the runway and let her do a little twirl, making the audience go wild.
Tikki then seemed to appear out of nowhere, and gave a small wave to those who noticed. The audience seemed to quite with curiosity. People began muttering, "What is that thing?" and phrases along those lines.
"For those who question the little ladybug, this the spirit who gives Ladybug her powers. Her name is Tikki. She simply wanted to say hi."
"Hi!" Tikki said accordingly, and at that point, people began chanting to see the designer.
Gabriel looked over at Marinette as the chanting grew louder and more synchronized.
Marinette sighed, and climbed up the stairs. A spotlight followed her as she walked over to Gabriel Agreste.
"This young lady here is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She has been my intern for less than a week, and she has already exceeded my expectations as you can see," the fashion emperor introduced the designer. Cameras flashed as they took pictures of the upcoming designer, and her creation.
Adrien and Ladybug walked back down the runway together, and Ladybug's confidence was fizzling away as she watched herself stand next to her mentor. She immediately worried about an akuma, but kept it hidden under a smile.
"Adrien, I need to transform. There's an akuma," she spoke to her boyfriend urgently.
"Not right now Ladybug," Tikki told her holder. "We must wait for the press to be over with."
She sighed. Adrien held her one of her hands, and put his other on the heroine's cheek. "Don't worry, bug-a-boo. It'll be alright." With that thought, he wondered where the other Ladybug had gotten off to. The one he was with was obviously from the current time since she didn't seem to be aware of Timebreaker.
After the show was finished, Adrien, Marinette, Ladybug, and Gabriel went out for some quick interviews and to get pictures taken. Adrien began sensing a nagging feeling in the back of his head. He left the other three saying, "I need to get changed". After the three got a picture together, they snuck off to a less occupied part of the building.
"You did great, you two," Gabriel congratulated.
'Ladybug' immediately began quietly and quickly spouting questions to her alter-ego. "What is going on? Is there an akuma? Are you really Marinette? Give me proof you're actually Marinete Dupain-Cheng."
'Marinette' sighed and began to explain. "Timebreaker is going to attack. There are going to be two of them. They have already gained enough energy to travel three hours into the past, so the streets will be desolate. I'll tell you the rest of the plan on the way."
'Ladybug's' kwami had inspected 'Marinette' earlier, and claimed. "She is telling the truth. I sense another version of me with her."
Gabriel then interrupted the heroines' battle plans and asked, "Will you be leaving? If so, make sure you collect everything you need, since we'll be closing up."
'Ladybug' looked at Marinette and asked, "Did you battle with the dress on?"
'Marinette' nodded back.
Gabriel looked at the two heroines, and smiled. "I should be going. I need to make sure everything is organized."
They smiled back, but then immediately transformed, their catch phrases echoing in the hallway. The two dashed down the hall to the nearest exit.
As the heroes skidded onto the sidewalk, the slightly elder Ladybug stated, "They'll be coming quickly."
Back in the building, Adrien sat in a cushioned chair waiting for his father. He began feeling this strange doubt about his akuma. Why was he still akumatized? What was the point? It wasn't like he was there to chase after Ladybug to get her Miraculous. The presence of the akuma was beginning to make him feel sick.
The boy was snapped out of his deep contemplation from his father placing a hand on his shoulder. The adult smiled and said, "We may need to wait here, seeing that the battle is just beginning."
"What about the staff and guests?" he asked.
"They are being directed to the other side of the building where they can exit without becoming obstacles in the battle," he explained.
Adrien paused for a moment before speaking. "Father, why am I still akumatized?"
Hawkmoth's civilian form furrowed his eyebrows in concern. "Because I'm sharing my power with you. Without the Cat Miraculous, you'd be defenseless, and I could never let you get yourself hurt."
The model nodded expressionlessly, his sense of morality slowly slipping away. "But why am I creating akumas? I felt so awful seeing Ladybug struggling in front of me because of my doing. All I want is to live happily with Ladybug. I don't want to manipulate her like we have."
Gabriel sighed he knew this might happen, but he couldn't just remove Adrien's akuma so easily without it multiplying and turning the whole city into Hawkmoth Jr.'s. Besides, his son's akumas were in the middle of a battle right now. He didn't want to cause a paradox.
"I understand that you don't want to hurt Ladybug, and I do confess we have been quite manipulative, but we are on the verge of obtaining her Miraculous and getting your mother back."
Adrien's expression suddenly grew dark with anger and hate. "I'm tired of just waiting and slowly manipulating Ladybug. I just want to get it over with, so I can be free of this akuma. I'm just gonna tear the bandage off, and get her Miraculous so she doesn't have to deal with this any longer."
Adrien was enveloped by darkness, and returned back to his villainous form with a sinister grin. He got up from his chair and disappeared with a black blur.
Gabriel stood shocked. That was never how he expected Adrien to react. This wasn't supposed to happen.
Nooroo flew out of his jacket, and sighed. "Adrien's been akumatized too long. The darkness of the akuma within him is getting to him, just like it did Volpina."
"At least he won't actually hurt anyone," Gabriel stated, assuming that the situation wasn't as serious.
Plagg then flew out solemnly. "I don't think so Gabe. I was Adrien kwami for quite a long time, and what I just saw wasn't too Adrien-like in character. He may do things he may normally never do."
Gabriel looked out the nearest window at the battle and noticed one of the sets of Ladybug and Timebreaker were gone. What was his son about to do? He needed to warn Ladybug somehow.
After teleporting to Hawkmoth's lair, Hawkmoth Jr. smirked. He immediately began making plans. He could use his akuma powers to his advantage by using all of the past akumas he needed to get Ladybug's Miraculous. First, he had to lead his current akuma in the battle at hand.
Only one Timebreaker and Ladybug were left when Hawkmoth Jr. began observing the battle. Timebreaker dashed at Ladybug, and Ladybug swung to a rooftop where the rollerblader couldn't reach her.
"Timebreaker," Hawkmoth Jr. began. "Retreat for a moment. I need to get another soldier for our scheme."
The rollerblader glared up at Ladybug and said, "This won't be the end, Ladybug. My masters have a plan and it won't fail this time!"
Ladybug looked down at the Timebreaker as she zoomed away too fast for Ladybug to tell which direction she went. Masters? What did Timebreaker mean?
A/N: So, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, even if I'm ending on quite a cliffhanger. If you need some clarification on what just happened in this chapter, be free to message me. It had a lot of plot that was difficult for me to portray, but I hope it was understandable. I may change the chapter up with suggestions since I'm open to positive suggestions(not criticisms. I'm having a difficult time with criticisms because of some family problems, so please be kind!)