"And the music at last came for the king.
'Why?' he asked.
'Because we have been to the outside world,' The music replied. 'We have seen the infinite darkness, and we have learned that we need not only inspire love, but fear.'
-Robert Shearman, Scherzo
Pandora's father...was dead.
Ne didn't want to believe it.
He was dead...it couldn't be possible. It wasn't fair.
Ne shook riv head, unwilling to believe it. "No," ne protested when the time traveler got to that part of its explanation. It had already revealed that riv father had been none other than Hawkmoth himself, but considering the other things Pandora had just learned, that didn't come as much of a shock as it would have just a few days ago. "No!" Ne said, "That's not fair! I wanted to kill him myself!"
Maybe ne shouldn't have actually said that part out loud, but neither Regent nor the time traveler looked shocked or horrified.
At least ne had just said 'him', instead of 'my father'. Pandora and Regent had both expressed murderous wishes towards Hawkmoth in the time they'd been fighting him, so hopefully, Regent wouldn't think too hard about riv's outburst coinciding with the revelation that Gabriel Agreste had been Hawkmoth, rather than the news of Hawkmoth's death.
Fortunately, Regent didn't seem overly shocked by riv outburst, he seemed to still be wrapping his head around the fact that his giving the kwami enough freedom to alter their transformed states had given Nooroo enough leeway to kill Hawkmoth－Pandora's fucking father. Not that Regent knew that part. Hopefully.
Hawkmoth had already been dead since the moment their transformations had been altered when Regent cast the Miraculous Ladybugs. Riv father had been dead since the moment the Miraculous Ladybugs had washed over Pandora and changed riv appearance.
The kwami had been given enough slack that they could use their powers to change what Pandora, Regent, and Pandora's father－fucking Hawmoth! - looked like when they transformed.
Plagg and Tikki had liked them, so they'd used their connection through the Miraculous－or Shackles, as the time traveler vehemently insisted on calling them－ to give them a form they would enjoy.
Nooroo, on the other hand, had hated Pandora's father with every fiber of their being. So when they were given enough power to alter his form...they'd used it to kill him instead.
And there wasn't even a body to recover.
Apparently Pandora's house was a lot bigger on the inside than even ne knew. There was a whole sub-basement area that riv father had been using as his lair as Hawkmoth, with the secret elevator accessed through a portrait of riv mother in riv father's office.
And then came the real kick in the teeth.
Riv mother was alive. Kept in cryogenic suspension－frozen on ice－down in that sub-basement.
She wasn't dead. She hadn't found another man and ran away with him. She hadn't been kidnapped by some rival fashion company or any of the million and one theories Pandora had come up with ever since she 'disappeared'.
She hadn't disappeared.
She'd been in the house the whole time, locked up in the basement like a popsicle.
Why?
Because apparently at some point, riv parents had gotten their hands on not only the moth Shackle, but the peacock as well.
And apparently that Shackle had been partially unlocked, so when riv mother transformed with it...
...the kwami enslaved by it had had more control than other kwami would be able to. When riv parents revealed what their plan for the Shackle was, the kwami had decided to ruin their plans by almost killing riv mother.
Unfortunately, riv father had managed to get the Shackle off her before the kwami could kill her the whole way, and he had inmediately frozen her in cryostasis. And then he'd used the Moth Shackle to Akumatize random people, hoping that it would somehow lure the Black Cat and Ladybug Miraculous out of hiding...
Which it had.
The time traveler's expression turned grim, then, as it explained the long and twisted story of the last guard of the Shackles.
The last guard had been a slave just as much as the kwami, bound by magic to serve the will of those who had trapped them all. They couldn't release the kwami or even use their Shackles to let them interact with the world unless an unordinary threat arose that demanded the use of a Shackle. Hawkmoth's pronouncement and subsequent attack on the city using the Moth Shackle had been enough to remove that restriction from the last guard. They couldn't equip a Shackle themselves to fight Hawkmoth, but they were granted temporary access to the Shackles in order to find worthy holders. They'd been allowed to bequeath up to two Shackles to those they deemed worthy in order to face this threat.
And they had chosen, specifically, to let Tikki and Plagg out of the Miracle Box, to find holders for them over all the other kwami available, despite the interdiction that forbade using the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses together.
They had managed to painstakingly circumvent this rule by giving the Ladybug Miraculous to Regent, then having the kwami of memory alter their perception of what had happened, so that they remembered giving Regent the Rooster Shackle instead, with plans to give the Black Cat Shackle to Pandora.
Then, with this false memory hiding their true plan even from themselves, they had managed to deliver the Shackle of the Black Cat to Pandora's home without being stopped.
But the magic of the Shackles was twisted deep into them, and the spells woven to protect them quickly adapted to the magic creating the false memory, and ate steadily away at it, day by day, until the guard could finally remember what they'd done and why they'd done it.
The magic that governed them, and through them, the Miracle box, killed them instantly for their disobedience, just one week after they enacted their desperate plan.
If they hadn't been the last remaining guard of the Shackles, this wouldn't have been a big deal. But there were no backups, they were the only one left. When they died, they took the majority of the spells woven into the Shackles with them.
This meant that when Regent eventually figured out how to communicate truthfully with Tikki through careful manipulation of double-meanings and carefully crafted lies and trust, and figured out the exact wording he needed to use to give Tikki more freedom with the Miraculous Ladybugs, Tikki was given the power not just to let the kwami control the appearance of their Shackle's holder, as Regent and Tikki had hoped, but their reality as well.
The last guard's sacrifice had allowed Tikki to give the rest of the kwami enough freedom that Nooroo could kill Gabriel.
And in the time traveler's original timeline, the long series of events that followed eventually led to the kwami being freed completely, but it was years down the line. Once the kwami were free, it had teamed up with the kwami of time to come back here to free them earlier, now that it knew how.
Apparently, the universe didn't give a shit about paradoxes. It was only people who got all nervous about timelines changing in ways that didn't align with their limited, linear conception of time.
So now the kwami were free, and the time traveler was here to make sure this timeline went better than the one they were from.
All of this was the result of the last guard of the Shackles sacrificing themselves in a last-ditch effort to free the kwami. They'd hoped that, with Regent and Pandora being children, they would be more lenient in the safety of their Shackles, and might even be convinced to give both to one of them.
The last guard had hoped that one of them would equip both Shackles at the same time, and in doing so recreate the universe in a way that might give the kwami more freedom. And if that didn't work, they had hoped that, if Hawkmoth got his hands on their Shackles, the same thing would happen.
That was why Plagg's Shackle had been left in Pandora's room for rix to find, and why the same had been done with Tikki for Regent.
The guard had hoped that, by giving them the ingredients to create a bomb, they would accidentally destroy the universe, and free the kwami in doing so.
Pandora felt...
Well, ne didn't know how to even define what ne felt. Ne didn't think the word 'angry' really covered the injustice and absurdity of it all.
Mostly, Pandora just felt tired. Riv legs were literally shaking beneath riv weight, and riv hands were tingling like they were going to go numb.
The time traveler must have noticed something in Pandora's body language to warn it, because its expression, or what passed for an expression on its face, softened, and it said, looking between Pandora and the still sheet-covered Regent, "I'm sorry, I forgot how young you two still are. This is a lot to unload on anyone, let alone two kids. I'm sorry. There's better ways for me to explain this to you. For now, let me take you home so you can rest. You'll have the rest of your lives ahead of you when you wake up tomorrow. I'll put you to sleep now, so I can drop you both off at your houses without revealing either of your identities to the other. Don't worry, I already know who you are, I've known for years. I'd sooner die, and have, than reveal your identities. That is your secret to keep, not my silence to break. Sleep now, you're safe. You can deal with this in the morning."
Then it reached forward, slowly, and for some reason, Pandora didn't try to move back. Maybe it was the exhaustion, or shock, or something about the way it spoke to them with more affection than it had ever heard directed at rixelf before. But for some reason Pandora didn't try to flinch away or dodge when the time traveler slowly reached forward and gently placed a hand on the top of riv head.
The world slowly faded away, and again, Pandora wasn't afraid, even though ne probably should have been. All ne felt was peace.
The world faded to nothing but black, and ne drifted, knowing somehow that ne was deeply, safely asleep.
The only time Pandora awoke was for a few moment when ne felt rixelf being placed gently onto the familiar comfort of riv new mattress. The lights were on, but dimmed, when ne opened riv eyes. The time traveler was standing over riv bed, taking riv blanket down from the stand it was kept on during the day to keep it pristine and warmed. The rest of the room had already dropped to its nighttime temperature, just cool enough that the blanket would be perfect.
Pandora's eyes didn't want to stay open very long, so ne couldn't actually see it when the time traveler unfolded the blanket and spread it over the giant bed, and pulled it up over Pandora's shoulders.
Then the time traveler's voice said softly, "Good luck, Pandora. I hope you have a great life." Ne heard something heavy being set down on the nightstand, and the last thing ne heard before riv sleepy mind pulled rix back down into slumber was a quiet rushing noise, like a gust of wind blowing through the open window.
And somehow ne knew, as what was there of riv consciousness fell back asleep, that the time traveler was gone, and it would never come back.
-Preface:
This text should be readable in whatever language is spoken the most in your home, including braille.
If not, my apologies, and I will try to fix it, it might just take a few hours for an updated version to pop up. But if you can't read this, I'm not sure what the point is of me trying to apologize to you, since you won't be able to read it.
Anyways.
I won't tell you my name, because it won't mean anything to any of you. You don't know me, but I know you, and I know the futures I have averted. I know that this timeline, the only timeline you will ever know, is the best one, for as many people as possible.
You may call me the time traveler, or, if that's not specific enough, I guess you can call me The Time Traveler From the Year the Sky Turned to Rats and Ate the Sun.
So, TTftYtSTtRaAtS if you want to abbreviated it. Or how about you just call me Tasty Rats? When was the last time I slept, you ask? Don't ask me that question.
I'm tired, okay? I don't even remember where I was going with this, and I'm not resetting this timeline to do it again.
So. I am a time traveler from the future. I've come back to prevent as much tragedy as I can, and set the timeline on the path that leads to the most good for as many people as possible.
This has required killing certain people, all around the world. Billionaires, millionaires, white supremacists, the British monarchy, almost everyone in a position of power in the US government, and more. Not everyone I killed was 'important' in the grand scheme of things, but they were a horrible person that the world is less hateful without.
You can find a master copy of this text, which will list out the names of every single person I have killed, by closing the book, turning it upside down, and opening it backwards. By opening it the normal way you would read a book depending on your location, you will, by default, be selecting the version of the list specific to your locality.
Your book is currently set to display: Paris, France.
For the sake of brevity, anyone listed as a billionaire is also inherently abusive to their employees. You cannot accumulate billions of dollars without exploiting other people.
I tried to list out my reasons for killing everyone, but some of these explanations would require several books of context all on their own, so forgive me－or dont', I don't really care－if all I list out is "bigot". You don't have to take my word for it－ask anyone who knew the person who isn't also dead.
Anyways, I'm not a god, but if you want to leave offerings, you can place whatever your favorite food is in the small wooden bowl that should have appeared with this book. Place the bowl somewhere quiet and dark where it won't be disturbed, and your offering might be accepted. Don't go yelling at your kids if the cookies disappear. It just means it's working, and you have my thanks in advance.
But anyways, time's a wasting, except not really, because I'm a time traveler. But I am a time traveler who hasn't slept in over a thousand years. So I'm going to go take the nap of the millenia.
This is Tasty Rats, signing off. Enjoy your new world. I spent more than four thousand years making sure I got it right.
========Location:
Paris, France.
========Key targets:
Agreste, Gabriel - Plutocrat, billionaire, abusive parent,
Bourgeois, Andre - Plutocrat, billionaire, abusive parent,
Bourgeois, Audrey - Plutocrat, billionaire, abusive parent,
========Notable targets:
Agreste-Graham, Amelie - billionaire,
Agreste-Graham, William - billionaire,
Bourgeois, Chloe - billionaire, abusive, racist. Became a fascist leader in 999,999/1,000,000 timelines, no matter how many nice families I got her adopted by, no matter how much therapy I got her, no matter what I tried. And in the timelines where she didn't become the face of the newest white supremacist movement, she died sacrificing herself to pull a kid out of train tracks anyways. So believe me when I tell you that killing her now is the kindest option. And don't worry, the kid she saved doesn't fall into the tracks in timelines when she's already dead. I checked.
Bustier, Caline - billionaire, abusive teacher, and I'm not even afraid to admit this one was personal. I hate her with every fiber of my being. My only regret is that I couldn't go back further to prevent her from ever becoming a teacher in the first place. But why I can't do that is for the universe to know, and you all to speculate about for the rest of eternity.
Harceleur, Andre, AKA Andre the icecream man - (Look, do I really need to explain why this man needed to die? Well, I guess for the sake of posterity I should.) creeper, queerphobe, transphobe, literally just a horrible person with no respect for anyone. Just ask anyone who's had the misfortune of trying to buy icecream from him before anyone could warn them.
Pater, Jacob－millionaire, abusive parent,
Ramel, Albert - millionaire, transphobe, racist,
Stone, Jagged - millionaire, animal abuser, abusive, the public face of the exotic pet trade,
Wells, John - millionaire, abusive parent,
========Other targets:
Dupain, Rolland - racist, abusive parent, father-in-law, grandparent, ableist,
Kennith, Henri - abusive,
Rossi, Lyra - abusive parent,
Sancoeur, Nathalie - abusive,
========Requested targets:
For this section, please write down the full chosen name and last known address of whoever you think I should kill, and list out your reasons for why I should kill them. Do not lie. It won't work. I will fact-check and verify that you're being honest. I have all the time in the world now, and this part doesn't have a time limit. If I agree that the person should die to make the world a better place, I'll kill them.
This is a serious offer.
Please make sure your handwriting is as legible as possible.
=======Cops:
Adavail, Ashley.
Arlington, Beatrice...
Pandora sat back on riv bed away from the book, rubbing at riv forehead where ne could feel a headache building in earnest.
There were too many names in the "cop" section for rix to handle reading right now.
It was a giant book with what looked like real leather binding, and most of the pages, when Pandora sat back up again and flipped to the back, then to the middle, then began leafing through it to see if ne was missing anything, were filled with the names of the now dead cops from Paris.
And it was a lot of pages. This thing was bigger than Pandora's largest textbook from riv new school. Towards the back, there were blank pages, probably hundreds of them, with nothing written on them.
It didn't make sense.
And those names...
Pandora's mother's name was noticeably absent. Riv father was there, even though the time traveler hadn't actually been the one to kill him. That had been Nooroo, the moth kwami. So the time traveler had planned to kill riv father, but not riv mother.
And she was still alive, still frozen down in the basement, in cryostasis.
Why?
Pandora let rixelf fall backwards until ne was lying down again, staring up at the ceiling so far overhead.
Chloe was dead.
Riv father and aunt and uncle and god father and god mother were all dead.
Why was riv mother still alive?
The book didn't have any notes addressed to rix shoved between any of the pages, or beneath it. Ne did find the little wooden bowl the book had referenced, though. It was dark brown and polished smooth and shiny, about the size of one of the cans of cat food ne had stocked up on for Purrincess, with a little round base that held it off the table a little bit.
Jasper jumped up on the bed and came over to nuzzle xeir face into Pandora's hand, and ne remembered again that Plagg was gone, maybe forever.
Ne didn't want to think about that, though, so ne just concentrated on Jasper's warm fur beneath riv hand while ne scratched xeir chin and felt xem purring deep in xeir throat.
Pandora wasn't sure how long ne just laid there, staring up at the ceiling, petting Jasper, before it felt the light movement of Purrincess jumping up onto the bed. After a moment, Pandora saw it out of the corner of riv eye as it shifted its weight, its white and orange fur standing out against the dark grey patterned blanket.
Purrincess watched rix warily for a few seconds, then padded over, its tail flicking hesitantly through the air like it couldn't figure out if it wanted to be confidant or nervous.
Clearly, it was up here to be with Jasper, who was now settling xeirself very firmly ontop of Pandora's hip, still purring away as ne continued to run riv hand through xeir fur, but Purrincess clearly wasn't entirely sure about whether it wanted to be this close to Pandora, even with Jasper as very effective bait.
After a few seconds of what was apparently furious internal debate, Purrincess made its decision, and walked softly over to curl up next to Jasper, which, coincidentally, also meant its side was pressed firmly into Pandora's.
Jasper's purring increased, and after a few seconds, Pandora felt Purrincess start purring too, though ne could just barely feel it. Jasper's purring was a loud, steady thrum, but Purrincess' was much quieter and stuttering, like it was only purring on every other breath.
Pandora had been able to purr as Chat Noir.
Ne had discovered that when it had decided to spend the morning sunbathing on the roof of riv house, the third day after ne had met Plagg.
Plagg had been the one to suggest it, and reassured rix ahead of time that the suit would protect rix from any harm getting too much sun could cause.
The heat from the sun, not only from the sky, but radiating off the roof tiles, and the perfect breeze...it had been the best nap ne'd ever had.
Ne had been thinking that when ne suddenly felt rixelf starting to purr.
The sensation had been entirely alien, yet completely unmistakable. Ne had felt it vibrating inside riv own throat when ne had lifted a hand to touch it, the way you could feel yourself humming, but much deeper and louder.
Ne had already been happy and relaxed before ne started purring, but afterward it was, well it was hard to describe. It was like being in a dream, where sometimes you would feel emotions and it would be like that emotion became your whole world. Lying there in the sun in the warmth, ne had felt comfortable in a way ne'd never felt before.
The purring was involuntary, the same way riv heart racing when ne was excited was involuntary. It was just a consequence of emotion.
Eventually, Pandora had fallen asleep, and only woke up three hours later when ne started to roll over in riv sleep, and had to catch rixelf as ne started falling down the slope of the roof.
That had been monumentally embarrassing, even though there hadn't been anyone else around to see it.
Ne had found a bigger section of roof to relax on a few blocks away, and had promptly fallen asleep again. Ne had no appointments for the day, and though ne was supposed to be doing riv Chinese work, riv father wasn't exactly known for keeping himself up to date. And Nathalie couldn't be bothered to check up on Pandora any more than riv father could.
Like the saying went: out of sight, out of mind. As long as Pandora wasn't directly in riv father's face, inconveniencing or annoying him, he pretty much forgot ne existed. That was the way rev father liked it, that's why he gave rix riv allowance. Which was just the way Pandora liked it, since the only times riv father remembered riv existence was when he was insulting rix.
Pandora had long since given up on gaining riv father's respect or love. The only kind of attention riv father was capable of giving was negative, insulting, and humiliating.
And now he's dead.
The thought entered Pandora's mind by itself, a reminder of what had happened. Pandora hadn't spent the whole night lying comfortably in bed, the way it felt with the sleep spell the time traveller had cast, ne had gone out to the woods to meet with Ladybug. Ladybug no more, now Regent.
And riv father was dead.
Chloe was dead.
All the adults ne knew in riv family were dead.
So was Nathalie.
So was Henri.
So was Ms. freaking Bustier.
It occurred to Pandora very suddenly that ne was possibly the only one in the entire mansion.
With riv father dead, with Nathalie dead, would any of the cleaning staff bother to show up for work? They knew what had happened－everyone did, surely? Pandora had only just woken up, but ne knew from the angle of the sun that it was almost noon. A copy of the book with the lists of the time traveler's targets had, if the inscription inside the cover was telling the truth, appeared in everyone's home, telling them who nearby had been killed.
Ne was lying in bed in riv room, with two purring cats, and the world had been irreversibly altered. There was no going back.
Riv father was dead.
Chloe was dead.
But riv mother...
...was alive.
Pandora wasn't sure whether or not ne was happy about that, now that it was daytime.
Would ne have rathered the time traveler kill her, and let the whole thing be behind rix, water under the bridge?
Or was ne glad she was still alive, so that the choice could be riv, and riv alone?
Jasper and Purrincess were both purring, Jasper's fur warm against riv fingers, so Pandora decided ne would stay where ne was for at least a little while longer, and simply enjoy the fact that ne was alone, with no Nathalie or father or anyone to bother rix.
Not that they had done that much before, but now ne knew it wasn't going to happen at all, and that made it all the sweeter.
Pandora closed riv eyes, and just enjoyed the quiet sound of purring cats, wishing ne could purr back right alongside them.
Sometime later, ne didn't know how long, Jasper decided xey were thirsty, and got up, stretching luxuriously, to go over to the water fountain. Purrincess of course immediately followed, and Pandora, freed at last, lazily sat up, bending and stretching riv leg to flex out the stiffness, since Jasper lying on riv hip had put it to sleep.
Ne spent a moment to watch riv cats sitting in front of the fountain, practically smacking their heads together as they lapped at the water.
The skyline out riv window was behind them, showing clear blue skies and a city whose streets were filled with cars, busses, cyclers, and pedestrians. It looked like there was a parade going on out there, ne could swear ne could see the barest outlines of fireworks, faint against the bright sky, bursting out in the distance.
The windows blocked all sounds, just like the rest of the room was soundproofed, though, so ne was separate from the celebration, insulated from it as long as ne kept the windows shut.
Pandora swung riv legs over the side of the bed, and, with one last glance out the wall-spanning window, turned for the door to riv bedroom.
It took fifty five steps to get from riv bed to the door. Pandora made sure to shut it behind rix, not wanting to risk anything happening to Purrincess or Jasper until ne could make sure there weren't any windows or doors left open anywhere that they could get out of, or placed they could get themselves trapped, or who knew what else could hurt a cat in a mansion of this size.
Pandora stopped counting riv steps when ne got to one hundred and still hadn't gotten to the top of the stairs. But ne counted the steps on the way down, hoping it would give rix something to think about besides what ne was thinking about. There were either thirty six, or thirty seven steps in the grand staircase, depending on if you counted the floor at the bottom as a step or not.
Ne paused at the base, one hand on the railing, looking across the entryway to riv father's office. The entrance to Hawkmoth's lair, right beneath riv feet this whole time, hidden in the one room Pandora had never been allowed to enter, except when summoned, and then, only ever for a minute or two, and only under the most serious circumstances.
That was the room riv father had called rix to on the day he told Pandora that riv mother had disappeared. Ne even remembered the date: September 1st, the first day of public school.
Just two months ago.
Sixty five days.
It felt like a lifetime. So much had happened, so much had changed. Pandora had changed.
Riv father had told rix that riv mother had disappeared, that she had already been missing for a week before he bothered to tell rix, when Pandora has just assumed she was on a business trip.
Riv father told rix that the search had already been called off.
He wasn't going to waste any more resources looking for her when she clearly didn't want to be found.
And as far as riv father was concerned, that was the end of it.
Pandora didn't get to ask any questions, get any answers, have any sort of opinion at all.
Riv mother had disappeared. No one knew where she was. And riv father didn't care. He wasn't looking. No one was looking. Not the police, not any private investigators, no one. She was just gone, and if she came back, it wouldn't be through any actions of riv father.
Anything could have happened to her. An unplanned vacation. A mugging in some dirty alley somewhere. A kidnapping. An assasination. Murder.
Maybe she'd come to what few senses she had and decided to divorce riv father. It's not like she cared about rix, she'd made that clear enough.
But then that didn't really make sense, either, since it was her house. Riv father had married into her family, her money. It was her money that had build his fashion company, her money that had bought all the technology and paid for all the artists who did all the work for him while he sat away inside her giant mansion doing whatever he did when he wasn't making his...
Hmm. Pandora's internal ranting slowly slid to a halt as ne realized ne didn't know what to call rixelf in relation to riv father. Ne wasn't a son. And ne was not a daughter. What did that leave? Offspring? Scion?
Did it really even matter anymore? Riv father was dead. Ne wasn't riv father's son anymore, because there was no father to be the son of.
And as for riv mother...
Well,
Pandora looked at the office door, shut like it always was. It had once felt like an impenetrable barrier.
And now riv father was dead. Henri was dead. Nathalie was dead.
The only person left that needed to die was riv mother, and ne would have riv happily ever after.
She was alive. Frozen down in riv father's secret basement, locked in cryostasis. She was alive.
Not for long.
Opening the door to riv father's office was as easy as putting riv hand on the knob and twisting. The door wasn't locked. It never had been. There was no need to lock a door that no one would dare open.
But Pandora's father wasn't here anymore to punish rix, nor was Nathalie, or Henri, or anyone. Not even the cleaning staff.
Ne pushed the door open, and it opened. It was just a piece of wood and metal. No more a barrier than any other door. All the weight behind it was gone, snuffed out by the candle of death.
The office was large, larger even than Pandora's bedroom. This was where riv father had done all his work, what little work he did do that didn't involve shoving money at his problems. Mostly, he had shoved money at his problems. You didn't need to know anything about fashion to run a successful fashion company, all you needed was enough money to hire the people who would do all the real work for you, while you sat back and got all the credit, all the acclaim, all the rewards.
Pandora didn't waste time sightseeing. Ne didn't care about the few fashion pieces riv father had been working on before he died. Ne had eyes for only one thing－the portrait of riv mother that hung in a place of honor over riv father's desk, towering from floor to ceiling with abstract shapes and lines of gold and blue and paper white.
Ne crossed the room, one foot in front of the other, until ne stood at the base of the Ozymandian portrait. Ne lifted riv hands, and placed them where they had to go.
The glass tube of the hidden elevator rose around rix, and a moment, later, the room appeared to lift towards the ceiling as the floor beneath Pandora's feet began to lower down out of the house ne had grown up in, to reveal the further hell that lay beneath.
It was an open space taller than the highest tower in the mansion, lit closest to rix by the brilliant daylight streaming in through the blue Agreste-brand butterfly stained glass window that Pandora had only ever seen from the outside. The light reflected around the massive space, lighting up a platform rapidly approaching beneath rix that led to the blue window, and a long metal walkway hanging over the dark space hiding below, leading to the other side where the orange crescent moon of the Agreste family coat of arms hung like the sun in the dark wall, another window that Pandora had never seen from the inside. The moon and the sun, hidden in plain sight, letting their light shine on the secrets they both kept from the world.
Beneath the orange window was a garden, shockingly green in the orange-filtered light, with white butterflies, even at this distance, visible fluttering over the plants in a cloud of wings.
And in the very center of that platform sat a silver metal coffin, propped up on angle, its edges shining with gold.
Riv mother was in there, frozen in time. Frozen on the brink of death. Still alive, undying.
Even before ne stepped off the elevator, ne could feel the hum of power vibrating beneath riv feet from the generators far below. The Agreste mansion never ran out of power, even when the rest of the city went dark. Pandora had finally figured out where the electricity was coming from.
Ne crossed to the bridge, riv footsteps echoing in the almost-silence that was further broken only by the sound of riv breathing and riv heart beating in riv ears.
Pandora kept one hand on the railing as ne crossed that deep black expanse, but the walkway never moved, never wavered, never even creaked. It was as solid as stone, it wouldn't give way beneath riv weight.
Less than halfway across, a wave of scent washed over Pandora like walking into a cloud of perfume. It was sweet like sugar, and smelled like pure essence of every flower ever to bloom. It was shockingly pleasant in such a somber and serious place. It felt like breathing in pure daylight on a stormy night.
When ne stepped onto the final platform, ne was surprised to find that what ne had assumed was a green carpet was real grass, growing in a thick mat all the way to the edges of the walls.
Some sort of vining plant was climbing up intricate trellises surrounding the cryopod, tangling around itself and reaching high up the walls. Where it couldn't climb, it draped itself along the ground in long ropes of vines that tried to strangle to eachother in the hopes of climbing above the rest.
The white butterflies were infesting the plant, and to Pandora's surprise, so were bees, thousands of them, buzzing in amongst the leaves, crowding together and jostling for space on large, impossible-looking purple and pink flowers that had to be the source of the sweet smell. After a few seconds, Pandora spotted some round green fruits that were almost blending in with the leaves, which had three rounded lobes each. Ne wondered if this was the poison ivy ne had always heard about. Leaves of three, right?
Pandora didn't understand why riv father would put a poisonous plant here, but then, ne couldn't understand why riv father would have kept riv mother's almost-corpse in the basement in the first place.
Why use the Moth Shackle to terrorize people, when surley, he could have simply just used the powers of an akuma to heal her?
But maybe he hadn't been planning to just heal her. Maybe he had planned to rewrite her personality so she would do whatever he wanted.
It was no secret that Gabriel Agreste was only allowed access to a small fraction of the Agreste family fortune that he had married into. Pandora's mother had always snidely informed riv father that if she gave him access to the rest of her money, she had no doubt that he would flush it all down the drain with one of his stupid, ridiculous plans.
Pandora would never know, because riv father was dead, and riv mother would never get a chance to shed any light on it.
Four trees stood spaced evenly around the platform, far enough away from where the vines were sprouting up to avoid becoming living ladders to the daylight leaking in through the orange skylight.
It was darker on this side of the space, despite the garden. Most of the daylight came in through the blue window. But the plants didn't seem to care, nor did the bees or butterflies.
The trees were large, far larger than Pandora thought should be able to thrive in such an environment. But then, many things were possible when you had all the money in the world to throw at your problems.
Riv eyes landed on the cryopod, on the far edge of the platform, nestled in the very center of the back wall, a perfect circle free of vines around it, just a clean-cut swath of grass, with a few stray butterflies and bees landing on it or fluttering above it on their way from one plant to the other.
Riv mother was in there, alive, suspended between life and death, caught between one moment and the next.
Pandora walked across the grass, the bees and butterflies fluttering and zipping around rix without a care in the world. One of the butterflies even landed on riv arm, and sat there, slowly opening and closing its wings, the entire walk over, before leisurely flying away.
Pandora stood in front of the cryopod, staring at the smooth and shining surface. Riv mother's face was visible beneath the curve of the glass, her eyes closed, her expression peaceful, not a single hair out of place.
She was pale, the vibrancy of her lipstick standing out mockingly red against the paper white of her skin, like it was laughing at her.
Sleeping beauty she was not.
Here lies Emilie Agreste, Pandora thought scathingly, Terrible mother, even worse person, will not be missed.
Pandora was not here to give her true love's kiss. Pandora wasn't here to wake her and heal her wounds. She was no princess. She was no queen.
She was riv abusive mother, that ne hated with every fiber of riv being.
Pandora was not here to forgive her.
She lay beneath the frozen glass, her eyes closed, her expression peaceful. One of the butterflies came over to land over her face, and Pandora watched it in silence, its white wings like the stained glass so high overhead, the edges jagged sharp and orange, like they had somehow been made from broken pieces of the window, like they had been crafted by a purposeful hand, rather than born.
But Pandora knew these were real, they were alive. They hadn't been created by the Moth Shackle or any other Shackled ability of the kwami.
Pandora's parents had been obsessed with China, and had forced rix to learn everything about the place as ne could, including seemingly useless information about the plants and animals that could be found there, or anywhere even remotely near there. These butterflies had been included in riv studies. They were common mapwings, named for the clean black lines crisscrossing their white wings like roads on a map. Which meant the trees here were probably fig trees, which produced the kind of leaves their caterpillars ate.
Pandora didn't know what the purple vining flowers were, but ne could only assume they were here to provide more nectar for the butterflies.
As ne moved closer to the cryopod, the butterfly perched on it stayed where it was, slowly opening and closing its wings like it didn't know the meaning of the word fear.
Maybe it didn't. Maybe riv parents had shown these butterflies more gentleness and kindness than they had ever shown rix or any other person.
Ne walked apraisingly around the side of the cryopod, looking at the black metal struts that kept it lifted off the ground and stabilized it. There were thick silver cables running from the base down to behind the platform, disappearing through the floor. Pandora couldn't see anything ne could unplug or remove to disable the power.
And it was powered, ne knew it was. It was cool to the touch, though not as nearly cold as ne had been expecting. Though maybe ne should have figured that out, since if it was as cold as ice, the butterflies probably wouldn't land on it.
Ne crouched to look beneath it, and found what ne was looking for. The cryopod itself didn't have anything to be unplugged from, because it wasn't plugged in at all. It was sitting on a massive charger plate, and receiving power that way. Probably so that, incase of emergency, the whole thing could be transferred to another, more charger mobile plate and moved to safety.
So all ne would have to do was lift the cryopod off the plate. The power would be disconnected. Pandora's mother would thaw, and die just like the Peacock Kwami had intended, all without ever waking up or even knowing what was happening.
There weren't any metal pieces on the sides to hold the cryopod in place, probably because riv father had never expected anyone else to ever come down here.
He certainly wouldn't have expected Pandora to come down here with the intention of murdering riv mother.
Pandors placed riv hands on the side of the cryopod, and gave it an experimental shove.
It shifted slightly.
The butterfly that had decided to perch on it finally decided it had had enough, and lifted into the air and fluttered away back over to the flowers. Pandora shoved again, and again it shifted a little, but not enough to lose power.
Frustrated that it wouldn't be as easy as flicking a switch or pulling a plug, as ne had hoped, Pandora snarled wordlessly, unwilling to speak over riv mother's soon to be corpse.
Even if she was asleep, unconscious, frozen, she didn't deserve to hear riv voice. Didn't deserve any kind of hope that ne was here to save her.
Some irrational part of riv mind was also afraid, no matter how stupid ne knew it was, that if ne did speak, riv mother would somehow magically wake up and try to stop rix, even though ne knew it was impossible. Ne could almost hear her now, chanting riv five names like a spell, like a curse.
Dropping riv hands, balling them into fists, feeling riv heart racing in riv chest in anger, Pandora wished for the first time since singu had left that Plagg was still here, that ne could still transform.
Ne wanted impossibly sharp claws to cut the metal open with. Ne wanted the super hero strength to send this soon to be coffin crashing to the ground. Maybe, if ne could, ne wouldn't kill her here, ne would make a crater of her statue in the courtyard with her tomb of ice as the sledgehammer. Let everyone know how much ne hated her.
But Plagg was gone, singu was free, and maybe Pandora would never see laer ever again.
If there was ever a time for Plagg to come back, visit rix, let rix borrow some of larity power one last time...this was it.
But ne stood alone in the garden of the villains of riv life, with nothing but the butterflies and bees for company. No kwami appeared out of the air to grant rix their power. Plagg wasn't coming back, or if singu was, it wasn't going to be today, it wasn't going to be now.
This was something Pandora needed to do under riv own power. No one was coming to help.
Ne took another breath to slow the shaking in riv limbs, closed riv eyes, and dug riv heels into the dirt.
Ne pushed and shoved with all riv strength until, finally, the gilded coffin, teetering on the edge, came crashing down.
It landed right side up, flat on the ground. Inside the glass pane, riv mother hadn't moved an inch, held in place by whatever technology was keeping her alive.
Had been keeping her alive.
Alarms were now ringing on panels that had emerged from the coffin itself where they hadn't been before. Lights were flashing orange and red in warning, and a computerized voice, the same voice Pandora was used to hearing from the speaker in riv room, spoke riv mother's doom.
"Warning! Cryogenic Pod designated Reunion has been removed from its primary power source. At current rate of consumption, this unit will only be able to maintain its function for thirty five more minutes. The occupant is endangered. Please connect this unit to a new source of power or perform an emergency transfer of the occupant to a powered cryogenic pod immediately. If this unit is not restored to normal power or the occupant removed within the time limit, occupant fatality is unavoidable. Please keep calm, follow the instructions on the screen below, and move quickly to prevent this outcome."
A computer screen lit up at foot of the coffin, light blue with large text and warning symbols. The instructions on how to save riv mother's life, and a timer counting down from 34:51.
Ne had 34 minutes and 49 seconds to change riv mind, to figure out a way to lift the coffin back onto the charger plate.
Ne started a timer on riv watch, synced with the coffin's alarm.
And then Pandora turned away from riv mother's coffin, away from the flowers and trees and bees and butterflies, and started back the way ne had come.
It took three minutes to walk back across the bridge, and five more minutes to reach the elevator. One minute later, and ne had left riv father's office. Six minutes later, and ne was back in riv room, giving Purrincess and Jasper some special soft treats, just because ne could.
Then ne climbed to the top of riv rock climbing wall, and perched on the top of the cliff there in front of the windows, looking out on the streets.
A few thin clouds had found their way into the blue sky, but even as Pandora watched, they were driven away by the wind or dissipated beneath the heat of the shining sun.
Pandora sat up there, the sun warm on riv skin despite having to fight its way through the thick panes of glass, swinging riv feet against the rock wall, watching the crowds in the streets below. They were waving flags, playing instruments, forming an impromptu parade. Even without any sound, the joy was palpable.
Pandora sat there for the sixteen more minutes it took for time to be up.
Ne felt the moment riv mother's heart stopped, really stopped. The instant riv watch began to beep, it was like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over riv head after ne'd been on the verge of collapsing from heat. New energy was rushing through riv veins like elevtriciry, like riv mother's death had given riv new life, making riv heart pound.
Pandora decided to expend some of this newfound energy by climbing back down the way ne had come, taking the time to find careful footing.
When ne was back on the ground and riv climbing harness was put away back where it belonged, riv heartrate slowed to a more normal level, ne went over and looked out the window, at the crowd, at the celebrations.
Pandora just watched for a few minutes, wanting at least for a little while, to just be a spectator.
Then ne saw...
...riv friends.
Nino and Alya and Marinette, Max, Alix, Rose, Kim, Juleka, and Ivan.
Riv friends, standing on the street across from the mansion's front gate, far enough away that ne could see them past the top of the wall. They were waving, jumping up and down, cupping their hands over their mouths, looking right at rix. Alix had a pair of binoculars aimed at rix, and Kim had a megaphone.
The glass blocked out all sound, so all ne could do was see them waving and calling silently.
Pandora lifted a riv arms over riv head and waved back, letting riv mouth finally widen in the smile ne had been trying to hold back for twenty minutes, just in case somehow it didn't work. But it had, ne knew it had. Riv mother was dead.
Alix saw riv smile and lowered the binoculars so she could jump up and down, clearly shouting something. Marinette tried to grab the binoculars from Alix before she could drop them, and by the time she had lifted them to peer up at Pandora, ne was already back in riv climbing harness and making riv way bac up the rock-climbing wall.
Pandora got to the top again, and this time, instead of sitting to watch the view, ne went to the window and unlocked it so that it spun in its frame, letting the blast of music and cheering of the parade outside burst into the room like a physical entity, wrapping itself around Pandora like an embrace from the world itself.
Ne could hear riv friends calling out, even over the drums and the trumpets and the singing. The music filled the room, rushing past the shelves of books ne would never read, past the games ne would never play, to the spaces ne could never fill. It was a celebration like the world had never seen before, and it was calling for rix to join it.
Ne didn't know if riv friends would be able to hear rix, over the din of the music, but ne cupped riv hands over riv mouth anyways, and shouted as loudly as ne could, "I'll meet you halfway!", then gestured as welcomingly as ne could, exaggerating the movements so they would be able to understand what ne was saying even if they couldn't hear rix.
It worked, because a few seconds later, Nino threw his hands into the air in a cheer, and led the charge towards the Agreste mansion gate. Pandora watched as it opened without resistance. There was no lock, no guard, nothing and no one to stop them from entering.
The crowd noticed, and more people followed them in, dancing and whooping and spinning cartwheels around the garden as Pandora's friends ran up the stone steps to the front door that would open at their touch, unguarded and never to be barred again.
Pandora began the descent back down the rock climbing wall for the second time, trying to remember how long it had taken rix to walk from riv father's office, up the stairs, down the hall, and to riv room.
If riv math was right, if riv friends ran the whole way, then they should be arriving right about...
...Now.
The door burst open, letting riv friends flood in to a room they would never have been allowed to reach before.
Pandora still needed to finish climbing down the rock wall, but riv friends were gathering beneath it, all of them speaking at once, excited and concerned and relieved.
Pandora was feeling too many emotions to name as ne grinned down at them while checking for the next foodhold, but none of them were bad.
This was the best day of Pandora's life, and it was just the first of many.
Ne had riv whole life ahead of rix, and now, so did everyone else.
It was time for rix to join the celebrations.
After all, riv mother was dead. Riv father was dead. Ne was finally free.
Ne didn't know what ne was going to do tomorrow, or the day after that, but ne didn't need to know. Ne had riv friends, ne had riv cats, and that was enough. That was all ne needed.
Ne was almost at the bottom of the wall when Marinette's voice called up, "Adrien! I'm so sorry, I heard about your father－that he was Hawkmoth, that the time traveller killed him－are you okay?"
Pandora knew how much it must have cost her to express concern over the death of riv father, the one who had subjugated the city for years. But ne couldn't help the startled laugh that burst out of riv mouth at the question, and ne had to press riv forehead into the plastic of one of the handholds for a few seconds, trying to contain rixelf so ne wouldn't laugh rixelf right off the wall. The harness would catch rix if ne fell, but it wasn't pleasant and would just scare the heck out of riv friends.
Well, it would probably scare them more than the fact that their friend whose parent had just been murdered was laughing about it.
After half a minute of painful laughter, when ne felt like ne had gotten riv breath back, ne called down, breathless, the smile on riv face stretching wide enough to hurt, "I'm okay, I promise, I just have a lot to tell you all once I get to the ground."
Starting with riv new name and pronouns. And then ne would tell them about riv mother. And ne would tell them that ne had been Chat Noir.
This was the first day of the rest of riv life, and ne wanted to start without any secrets. Lay it all bare, and leave the rest behind.
No more secrets, no more lies. Just Pandora, getting to live the rest of riv life, finally free.
No one would control riv ever again, and riv friends were waiting for rix.
Pandora climbed down one step at a time, into the happily ever after that awaited rix at the bottom.