"Sorry Marinette. I thought you were going to zig when you zagged," apologized Adrien over a skype call. Marinette sat at her desk, unable to focus on homework, especially after she and Adrien failed to foil Hawkmoth, Kitty Paws, and Anti-bug's plans for a third time.
"Zig? I always zag in that sitch," came Marinette's response, sounding equally as depressed as she felt.
Adrien didn't look like he was faring any better, as his room was still mostly unpacked, with closed school books littering his desk.
At least Plag wasn't bothered as the feline ate some nachos from Bueno Nacho.
"Really? Oh, man. We are so out of sync," Adrien slumped back in his chair in defeat.
"Yeah, no doubt," Marinette sunk even lower in her desk chair, almost threatening to fall out.
"Well, I guess that's what happens when you live on opposite sides of the globe."
Marinette sighed, deeply wishing things were not turning out this way, "It's not working, is it? The save the world thing?"
"I don't think so, My Lady. You, um, ahem, you better go it alone," Adrien's voice cracked, Marinette feeling that this was just as hard for Adrien as it was for her. She had come to rely on him for the past months as her partner, and as hard as they tried, it wasn't working with them so far apart.
"Yeah. I guess I'd better. Still friends?" Marinette offered weakly.
"Always. Heh. I've got, um, I've got something in my eye. I'm gonna talk to you later," Adrien hung up the call.
Marinette flopped over on her chaise and began to cry. After all they had gone through, how could it just all end here? Her pity party was disturbed by a message on her watch from Adrien.
The message was a picture of what looked to be his Latin textbook.
"'Tempus...time?'"
Another picture message was received from another page of the Latin book, "'Feles...cat?' Tempus Feles," Marinette thought back to the last words Hawkmoth said to her before disappearing into the space distortion.
"We'll meet again in time."
"Time Cat!" Marinette exclaimed as she shot up from her seat, only to be blinded by a bright light coming from a blue portal. As she readjusted her focus, a black cat standing on its hind legs while dressed in upper body armor appeared out of the portal.
"Plagg?" The portal disappeared once the last bit of the cat's tail made it all the way through.
"I am Plagg 3000. I have come for you from the future. Hey, do you have any camembert?"
"I… might," Marinette made her way to the trap door, her eye on the future cat who stood observing her room.
"This just got so much weirder," Marinette mumbled to herself as she made her way downstairs, thankful her parents were already asleep.
She found some pieces of Plagg's favorite cheese Adrien had left at Marinette's house in the fridge and took them up to Plagg 3000, who was making himself comfortable on her chaise.
"Uh here," Marinette handed the cheese to the cat, who greedily munched on the snack. Marinette called Nino on her watch.
"Nino, Plagg just zapped into my bedroom and he's talking and eating cheese like a normal person."
"LB, Plagg is in California, with Adrien. Did you say, 'Plagg is talking'?"
"Yeah. Check this out," Marinette held up the watch to the cat who was licking any cheese remnants off his paws. A smaller camera on an extended cable emerged out of the watch to get a closer look.
"Uh, LB, I don't think that's Plagg," came Nino's answer.
"He's totally Plagg! Except for the, you know, talking part," responded Marinette.
"I am known as Plagg 3000. I come from the future," Plagg 3000 seemed a little ticked off with how much he was being questioned.
"OK…" answered Nino, still doubting what exactly was happening.
"You're from the year 3000," Marinette closed in on the cat's face to study his response.
"No, but I am one of 3,000 hyper-evolved descendants of Plagg Prime."
"So Plagg did get a girlfriend?"
"That is classified information."
Marinette frowned in annoyance while Plagg 3000 looked smug at his response.
"Nino, give me the super genius take on this," Marinette sat beside the cat.
"I'm definitely picking up time cooties."
"Really?"
"No dude! There's no such thing as time cooties."
"Actually, there are," interupted Plagg 3000, scratching an open place on his armor, "and they really itch, but we gotta focus on a more important issues, like I don't know... the fate of the world."
"Um, could you be more specific?" asked Marinette.
"Ugh! It'll be easier if I just show you,"running out of patience, Plagg pressed a button on his wristwatch device, and a new portal appeared. Marinette's mouth almost dropped to the floor, uncertain what to do.
"Come on kid," Plagg 3000 nudged Marinette forward, Marinette moving the next couple feet on her own into the portal.
Instead of landing on solid ground, she found herself falling through the time stream, eventually landing in a darkened vacant alleyway. Marinette looked up to see and dirty orange fog covering the city. As she made her way out of the alley, she saw all of the city adorned in orange and black flags, and people wearing outfits similar to Volpina's, marching in uniformed groups. Flying cars zoomed overhead, in and out of the fog.
"No way! Hawkmoth did it? He took over the world?!" In fear of getting stuck in this future, Marinette ran back to the portal and jumped back into her room, the portal closing up her return.
"Huh? Uhh! Unh! How does that happen?" Marinette stumbled to ask the right questions as she confronted the bio-ped cat who was still relaxing on her chaise.
"The Supreme One took power with cruel swiftness. No one knows exactly what happened. We believe that time travel is the key. Somehow the Supreme One tampered with your past," answered Plagg, who had already made himself at home by playing with a ball of yarn.
"Time travel? The Time Cat!" Marinette snatched the yarn when Plagg tossed it in mid air.
"Exactly. Tempus Feles," Plagg stood up, regaining seriousness since he lost his new toy.
"But what can I do?" Marinette sat beside the cat.
"History tells us that you are the only one to have defeated the Supreme One in the pre-Tempus Feles era."
"But if the Supreme One has the Time Cat in the future, or the past... or... wow," Marinette clutched the yarn to her forward as she tried to think through everything, "Aah! Brain pain."
"Time travel does that," Plagg patted her on the back.
"All I know is I'm stuck in the now and I'm fresh out of Time Cat," Marinette moaned.
"This is a chrono-manipulator," Plagg pulled out a watch looking device similar to his own.
"Um," Marinette strapped the device to her other wrist, the chrono-manipulator much larger than her watch. "Big enough?"
"Beats strapping a cat to your wrist," chided Plagg.
"True."
"This is your ticket to time travel," Plagg pointed to the button he had pressed earlier that allowed him to open the time portal.
"Cool! Mind if I scan the specs?" Asked Nino, Marinette forgetting he was still here for the conversation.
"Nino! Were you able to analyze anything regarding the future when we went though?"
"Sorry LB, connection cut out when you were in the future. I don't think I'll be able to analyze anything when you time travel."
Marinette grimaced. First she lost Adrien as her partner, now Nino couldn't even help her.
"So can I scan the specs of the Chrono-manipulator," asked Nino again.
"No! The time stream has been polluted enough! In fact, I must return to my own time before I corrupt the past even further. Also, I'm making nachos."
"Nachos?"
"Not as good as camembert, but a satisfiable alternative."
"Ok," responded Marinette, not like she had ever eaten nachos to refute or affirm that statement. Nino looked just as baffled.
Plagg opened a new portal, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the fate of the future, humanity, and the planet earth itself rests in your hands."
"But no pressure," Marinette teased. Plagg offered no response as he jumped back through the portal.
Eleven year old Marinette Dupain-Cheng stood outside of the recreation center clutching tight to her gym bag. She wore a pink dress with white flowers stitched in as trim along the collar and hem, her blue hair in two Minnie Mouse buns.
"You sure you don't want me to walk you in," Sabine offered.
Marinette shook her head. Chloe had recently been having her ballet lessons the same time as Marinette's gymnastics, and Chloe had been teasing Marinette every chance she got about her childish leotard.
Yesterday Marinette had finally finished making her new leotard, and she wasn't about to let Chloe tease her for this one after she worked so hard on it.
"I'll be fine maman," Marinette whispered.
"Alright, just remember to have fun. This is your gymnastics school as much as it is Chloe's dance school."
Sabine pulled Marinette into a hug, which Marinette returned, making her feel a little better.
"Bye Maman," Marinette let go and dashed inside the recreation center. The hallway was crowded full of the normal students and teachers as Marinette snuck her way to the locker rooms to change. Satisfied there was no Chloe around, she quickly ducked inside, and ran straight for the girl's bathroom to change.
Adrien sat in his room looking over his scrapbook while Plagg rested on his lap.
After the information he had found when glancing at his Latin textbook, he figured Marinette could handle it. She was Ladybug long before they were partners, and maybe her not depending on him would get her back into the swing of things.
He opened to the first page in his scrapbook, which had a newspaper article of Ladybug with her original mask and an older man standing in front of Chinese styled home. The title of the article read, "New Teen Hero rescues Jewelry Collector."
"This was her first mission Plagg, I think this was back when she was in Junior High," Adrien told his cat, Adrien fondly remembering his father discarding the paper, leading Adrien to find the article.
A weird feeling came over Adrien, scaring Plagg out of his comfortable place, darting across the room.
"What?" Adrien looked to see Plagg hiding between some boxes in the corner.
"Cats," Adrien rolled his eyes before looking at the scrapbook finding a picture that wasn't there before.
It was a picture of him and Marinette without the ladybug mask, and in the gymnasium at his mother's dance studio.
Twelve year old Adrien practically jumped out of the car as soon as it came to a stop in front of his mother's dance studio, racing up the steps of the recreation center.
"Adrien, I'll be back to pick you and your mother up later," Nathalie called out from the car.
"Ok," Adrien waved back before dashing inside the building, racing past the few students who still wandered the hallways.
"Mother!" Adrien called out as soon as he found the open door to his mother's studio, to find Zara Agreste stretching.
"Adrien!" His mother stood up and rushed over to her son and pulled him into a bear hug, which Adrien eagerly returned.
"Come, stretch with me and tell me about your day," Zara led her son over to the front and center of the room, sitting him down across from her. She went into full splits, while Adrien stretched his legs as best he could, both leaning towards their right leg.
"Lessons were fine, I'm getting better at writing hanzi and speaking basic Chinese greetings."
"And didn't you just finish piano?"
They moved over to leaning on the left side.
"Yep, Mr. Berlioz is trying to teach me some Christmas music at Father's request. Father wants me to play for his company's Christmas Party."
"Maybe then I should help you practice when we get home and we can play a Christmas duet."
"Please! Maybe then Father can accompany us on violin!"
"That would be fun," Zara smiled at her boy before they both leaned towards the middle, Adrien smiling right back at his mother.
"ADRIKINS!" The door to the studio opened and Chloe raced in, tackling Adrien into a hug.
"Hi Chloe," Adrien righted himself so Chloe wouldn't stretch his legs into the splits any further.
"Are you going to dance with us today?"
"No, just watching today. Hi Sabrina," Adrien waved at Sabrina, who shyly waved back as she followed after her friend.
"Alright girls, lets do some stretches before the other students come," announced Zara as she pulled her legs into a butterfly position.
"But I thought my father paid for private lessons," Chloe finally let go of Adrien, Adrien scrambling to a corner of the classroom by the door.
"Yes but unfortunately our classes are booked for private lessons by our older dancers. It will only be a few other girls though that are your age who have also made it to pointe."
Chloe frowned, but didn't argue. As far as Adrien knew, Chloe never argued with his mother for long. Three other girls entered the classroom, all who gave a polite hello to Adrien before joining his mother, Chloe, and Sabrina in stretches.
"Adrien, could you please close the door," asked his mother.
"Yes mother," Adrien stood up to close the door to notice a girl dressed in red and black spots enter the gymnasium from the locker room. Curious, Adrien left the studio and enter the gymnasium, losing the red and black with the other gymnasts.
"That was a most productive afternoon," other entered the gymnasium, two girls and a boy all dressed for gymnastics. Adrien side stepped out of their way, but they remained idle by the door, looking for someone.
"Indeed! Hair pulling," commented the boy.
"And that outfit, terrible fashion choice if you ask me," responded a blond girl in a black leotard with red spots.
"Aren't you three suppose to be doing warm ups in the gym," asked one of the gymnastic instructors.
"Yes, ma'am," the three made their way to the gymnasium.
"Now time to crush Ladybug's spirit," mumbled the boy, the other two girls laughing in agreement.
Adrien frowned, he knew those kids were up to no good.
"You, you're Zara's son," Adrien looked up to see he had been caught by the instructor.
"Yes ma'am. I was wondering if I could watch today?"
"Fine, but only watching. You aren't properly dressed to go on any of the equipment."
"Yes ma'am," the instructor led Adrien to a chair next to a group of students his age doing warm ups, his eyes easily identifying the person he assumed was Ladybug. A girl in a red and black spotted leotard with Minnie Mouse buns was stretching with a group of children, including the three he had seen in the locker room. She flinched at every whisper or gesture from the three troublesome students.
A true gentleman would always protect a lady, as his parents had taught him. As he watched the girl go into the full splits as easily as his mother would, Adrien was determined to protect this lady.
"Ugh! How long can it take to crush the spirit of an eleven year old?" Marinette caught the last words of Volpina's rant as she approached the sidekick from behind after stepping out of a time portal. Volpina had taken station outside the recreation center, waiting for the villains.
"This is low, even for you Volpina," chided Marinette, dressed in her Ladybug outfit.
"Not my idea. I'd go lower."
"You like time travel," Marinette prepared herself into a fighting stance, "Allow me to knock you into the next century." Marinette jumped forward, knocking the binoculars out of Volpina's hands.
"Allow me to make you history," Volpina readied herself, Marinette high kicking first, which Volpina dodged, before striking back with a punch of her own.
As the girls fought, inside the gymnasium Marinette chalked her hands before preparing to go on the balance bar.
"My turn," the girl in the black and red spotted suit stepped in front of Marinette.
"Hey, it was my turn," Marinette pouted.
"Oh was it your turn," the angry looking girl with pointy teeth asked?
"We had no idea," the two girls stepped aside to allow Marinette onto the bar.
"Thanks," Marinette was about to climb onto the bar, when someone shoved her off and onto the ground.
"Psyche!" And there was the third, the boy in the group. The three laughed at Marinette. Honestly, these three were worse that Chloe with their teasing.
"Leave her alone!" The four turned to see a blond haired boy in dressed in normal clothes approach the group.
"It was her turn," the boy stood eye to eye with the other boy.
"Oh yeah, and what are you going to do about it," asked the mean boy.
"A gentleman always protects a lady," the blonde boy stood in front of Marinette, stretching his arms out to protect her.
"Get him," ordered the mean boy, the two girls on his side approaching the boy.
"I'll hold them off, go get an instructor," the blonde boy whispered to Marinette. Marinette nodded and scrambled away. She turned to see the three bullies trying to corner her hero, when something inside her snapped.
"Hey bullies," the four turned their heads towards her as she came running back, jumping onto a springboard, which threw her up onto the highbar. Using the spin on the high bar for momentum, she launched herself at the bullies.
"Hi-yah!"
"Hi-yah!" Marinette launched herself at Volpina, Volpina flipping out of the way. Volpina then lept forward, swinging her glowing plasma hands at Marinette, which Marinette ducked before bringing herself back up to fight. Volpina swung another fist at Marinette, but instead, struck a lamppost. The lamppost fell into a nearby mattress store, springing back to crash into Volpina.
"Volpina! Help," a teenaged looking Hawkmoth, Anti-bug, and Kitty Paws ran out of the recreation center, changing back into adults as they ran.
"Younger Ladybug is savage!" Anti-bug cried, turning her head to make sure the smaller Ladybug wasn't close behind.
Hawkmoth stopped short when he saw Volpina on the ground rubbing her head in pain, the two following crashing into him.
"Oh, no, she's here," Kitty Paws panicked.
"The little brat," asked Anti-bug?
"The big brat!" yelled Kitty Paws in frustration.
"Hey, guess what?" The villains turned to see Marinette standing on top of the sign advertising the mattress store, "Free swim in the time stream is over." Marinette was sure Adrien would appreciate that pun amongst the others she made that day.
"Mission not accomplished, I presume," scolded Volpina as she rose to her feet. Hawkmoth only brooded as he walked away, "We're regrouping."
"Fear not," Kitty Paws pulled out the Time Cat, "Time is on our side."
"Drop it!" Marinette ordered, jumping after the villains, only for them to disappear in a space distortion before she could reach them.
"Ow," Marinette rubbed the sore spot where she hit the ground. A blue portal appeared behind her, and Plagg 3000 stepped out with a plate of nachos.
"Marinette, have you stopped the Supreme One?"
"Not. And they escaped with the Time Cat," Marinette pouted
"Well," Plagg looked like he was seriously debating something before relenting, "Have a nacho."
"Thanks," Marinette took one of the cheesy chips. They were actually pretty good.
"I will return to the future and scan the time stream. We must determine where the Supreme One will strike next. Where can I drop you off in the early 21st century?" Marinette looked up to see her younger self and a young boy leaving the school.
"No, thanks. I'll just wait here in the good old days."
Marinette took a seat along the sidewalk, watching her younger self.
She had been so proud of her leotard that day she remember some boy had been sitting in the corner of the gym, watching her all day, even complimenting her tricks on the high bars. But she never got his name.
"Looks like they're gone," the boy stopped his search.
"Thank you, for helping me," young Marinette blushed.
"Hey you kicked butt there. You were amazing!" Marinette's phone beeped and she pulled it out.
"A message, on my blog?" Marinette opened to the blog she had recently created for a school project, planning on reaccounting her rise to greatest in gymnastics.
"Looks like someone needs your help."
"But I'm not a hero."
"You're a hero to me Ladybug. What's helping one more person?" Marinette turned 50 shades of red. She had just met and saved this boy, and she already had a nickname.
"Why not." Marinette quickly put in the coordinates where she needed to go.
"Bye, and thanks again!" Marinette ran off leaving the boy behind.
Older Marinette smiled, knowing how the next adventure should play out she pressed the chrono-manipulator to head back to her own time. Before she stepped in, she saw a blonde woman appear out of the studio dressed in ballet attire.
"Adrien, what are you doing out here. I've been looking for you everywhere."
Marinette quickly retreated into the portal before anyone would notice. That boy was Adrien?
Young Marinette approached an old Chinese style home. She was certain her mother would be able to tell her more about the historical significance and design, but for now, someone was trapped in there. And they needed her help. She could let that boy who saved her down.
Marinette knocked on the door, a strained voice responding, "It's open."
The halls were elaborately decorated, depicting the man's travels to all over the world. She turned down a few halls to find a room with lasers surrounding two men stuck in the middle in the most uncomfortable positions. One was a tall, lean man while the other was a small, older gentleman, presumably the owner of the house.
"Hello?"
"Ah Ladybug, thank goodness," the tall man breathed a sigh of relief.
That made it the second time someone had called her Ladybug today. The leotard was inspired by a ladybug she had found on her balcony.
"Just tell me what I need to do!" Marinette called out.
"Yes, we would like to have the lasers shut off, please. Get that remote, but avoid the beams at all costs," responded the tall man, grabbing the foot of the smaller man as he wobbled.
Marinette glanced around the room, spotting the remote.
She stepped back to give herself a running start. This was just like gymnastics. She could totally handle.
She leapt into the room, wobbling a little on her first land, but she quickly bounced off again, her movements almost like a dance as she slid, tumbled and jumped around the room. She hoped the men weren't getting dizzy and would fall by watching.
She finally came to solid land, her pointed foot on the remote, disarming the lasers.
The men fell over, Marinette picking up the remote and handing it back to the taller man.
"A cheerleader," the tall man asked, befuddled by the young girl before him.
"Gymnast actually," Marinette corrected.
"Thank you Ladybug," the older man came forward, shaking her hand, "My name is Mr. Fu."
Marinette's eyes widened at the name. Mr. Fu was was well known for his specialized combat schools across the world as well as being a renowned jewelry collector. "We would have been in a lot of trouble if you hadn't shown up."
"Um Mr. Fu, I must ask though why me? I'm sure you have lots of students who could have helped."
"True, but you still helped even when you didn't know who I or Mr. McHenry were," Mr. Fu led her over to the vault she presumed the laser system had been set up for. Marinette looked back at Mr. McHenry, also well known for his advanced security systems.
"Tell me Ladybug, what do you plan on doing now?"
"I don't know sir. I should probably head home before my mother worries."
"I mean what are you going to do as Ladybug?"
"I don't know," Marinette glanced around the vault filled with jewels set in fashion pieces, "I like helping people. But I don't know if I'm capable of being a hero."
"I think what you did today shows you are very capable," Mr. Fu grabbed something off a shelf, "And I am sure there are others who believe you are too."
He handed over to her a mask decorated in red and black spotted fabric, similar design to her own leotard but felt fancy even holding it.
"A little something I picked up in Venice, a gift if you should ever decide to continue being a hero."
Marinette thought long and hard as she gazed into the mask. Being a hero was a big responsibility. Even babysitting was a challenge sometimes. But she here she had an old man with more fighting experience one could ever have in their lifetime and a boy who protected her believing she could be a hero. Two people saw something in her she couldn't see yet, but she could maybe find out.
Sixteen year old Marinette Dupain-Cheng was sure she had died and gone to heaven. She was on a date with Adrien!
Not that Adrien knew that though.
And Alya and Nino were there too.
And Alya started hogging the conversation the moment Adrien had mentioned Ladybug's latest win, which sent Alya into journalist mode as she discussed with Adrien her latest theories; Nino refuting any point that could lead to Marinette. This conversation had been going on ever since they entered the Louvre for a summer hang out.
Despite everything else saying otherwise, Marinette would consider it a date with Adrien.
Until the security alarms started going off.
"The thief just ran that way!" A security officer ran by.
Nino looked over at Marinette with a curious eye.
Nope. Not going to interrupt her date.
"Come on, let's go check it out. Maybe Ladybug will show up," Alya pulled Adrien along with her towards where the security guard was headed.
Nope. Not even for Alya, even though Alya had stolen her date. She would just go to watch along with them, and then maybe if the thief passed their way, she would feel inclined to trip them.
While other visitors made their way out of the museum, Alya led the group up to where the thief was cornered by the security guards.
Marinette groaned as she recognized the thief to be none other than Anti-bug. Now her "date" was ruined.
Nino looked over to Marinette, who nodded, both of them leaving Alya and Adrien to head to the bathrooms.
"Ready for action Nino?" asked Marinette as she donned on her mask after a quick clothes change, transforming into Ladybug.
"Whenever you are LB," in the watch monitor, Nino donned a green mask.
Ladybug exited the women's restroom, tossing her bag into the men's, and praying Nino caught the bag. She ran back to where they last saw Anti-bug to find the security scattered, only a few guards remaining.
"Excuse me officers," Ladybug approached the security.
"Ladybug! Thank goodness you're here. Anti-bug ran off with a painting, but she escaped through the vents," answered one of the guards. Ladybug looked up to see a hole in the ceiling where a vent grating should be.
"Carapace, anyway you can track her?"
"I'll see what I can do."
"Please and thank you."
"Ladybug!" Ladybug was sure her face paled under the mask as she recognized Alya's voice. She forced a smile as she turned to be confronted by Alya and Adrien, Alya gushing with excitement and Adrien turning pink in the cheeks.
"I have so many questions for you," Alya started.
"Maybe after I catch Anti-bug," Ladybug offered, wishing Carapace would hurry.
"Wait, where's Nino? And Marinette," asked Alya, finally noticing her missing friends
"They probably made it outside. Which is where you both should be too for your own safety," Ladybug turned the teens by their shoulders urging them out of the museum. She had to keep mentally telling herself not to panic because she was touching Adrien Agreste's shoulder.
"LB, I got a trace. Sending you the coordinates."
"Thanks," Ladybug shielded her watch away from view of Alya and Adrien, replacing the screen for the coordinates.
"Bug out," Ladybug quickly ran off towards the coordinates, signalling security officers as she went to block all possible exits for Anti-bug.
Ladybug made it to the Egyptian Exhibit, a large sarcophagus and ancient stone jackals the only things in the room.
"Are you sure she's in here," Ladybug asked Carapace.
"Right where you are actually."
Anti-bug came crashing down, Ladybug barely dodging the falling debris and thief.
"You would be the one villain that had to go and ruin my day," Ladybug snarled as she stepped into a fighting position. One of many she had learn from Mr. Fu after their first meeting.
"Well, you being here is ruining mine, so now we are even," Anti-bug charged at Ladybug, swinging first for the jaw, followed up by a punch in the gut. Ladybug dodged both, kicking out instead Anti-bug's legs, but Anti-bug quickly bounced back up and tackled Ladybug. Ladybug rolled back and kicked Anti-bug into the sarcophagus.
"Woohoo!" Ladybug turned to see Alya recording their fight, Adrien watching in anticipation from behind.
"Ladybug! We found the painting," said a security guard from the hole above.
"Thank you sir."
"No, thank you Ladybug."
More guards enter the room as the guard above lowered the painting. Two other guard pulled up Anti-bug, ready to lead her to the police that should be arriving on the seen.
"Ready to bug out?" Asked Carapace.
"In a bit, I promised Alya an interview," Ladybug waved to the security guards, thanking them for their help as she approached Alya and Adrien, who had come out of their terrible hiding spot.
"You said you had some questions," asked Ladybug, trying to seem confident as possible, when she was internally freaking out. One slip up could lead to an identity spill.
"Yes, first question, who are you behind the mask?"
Ladybug knew this question, as she had answered a million times before. Just a normal school girl who wanted to make a difference in the world.
But that answer never came.
Instead, she felt the ribbon holding the mask slide off the top of her head, pulling off the mask. On reflex, Marinette immediately grabbed the hand that pulled off the mask, flinging it into the wall once her mask was safe in her other hand. After she followed through with her movement, she saw a devilish smirk on Anti-bug's face as she lay against the column.
"Who knew you were so violent even without the mask?" Marinette's eyes went wide as she came to terms with the mask in her hand. Something she had fought for years to protect was gone in an instant.
The security acted like nothing happened as they took Anti-bug away, no longer offering Ladybug words of thanks or praise. Marinette hesitantly turned to see Alya still recording, both her and Adrien's jaws nearly hitting the floor. The boy she loved, her best friend, and the rest of the world knew who Ladybug really was, and their silence scared her.
"M-Marinette," Adrien spoke after a long silence, almost sounding like a question when he spoke. Sounding very close to disappointment.
Marinette ran opposite of the way they had taken Anti-bug, wishing more than anything this day, even including the partial date, had never happened. She could hear her friends yelling after her, wanting to probably talk, but Marinette kept running. She needed somewhere she could be alone and think.
Not looking to where she was going, Marinette ran into a stone pillar, falling on her butt.
She looked up to see a giant stone monster with glowing eyes staring down at her.
"Ladybug, meet the Stone Guardian of Jing…" from behind the stone being appeared Hawkmoth, Volpina, Anti-bug, and a woman she had never met before with razor sharp teeth and claws for nails. "Or should I say, meet your doom! Ah ha ha ha ha!" The clawed woman laughed maniacally.
"This is not cool right now," Marinette grumbled as she sat up, "Anti-bug, I just imprisoned you, Hawkmoth doesn't do ancient magic, and I don't even know you."
"Not yet, but you will," responded the clawed woman, gesturing for the monster to proceed with an attack. The stone monster struck out at Marinette, Marinette jumping out of the way
Marinette could not deal with this now. Not only had she been discovered, but now these villains expected her to fight.
She was ready to go home, she needed time to think and this stone monster wasn't giving her any as it struck at her again.
All of a sudden, a blue portal lit up beside her, a maskless version of herself appearing, equipped with new gadgets.
"Buckle up. The hurt is on," announced older Marinette, looking more confident than younger Marinette felt at the moment.
"Ladybug," Exclaimed Hawkmoth!
"Times two!" Cried Anti-bug.
The monster swung at both of them, the girls flipping uniformly out of the way.
"Anybody want to explain any of this to me?" asked young Marinette to her supposed older self.
"I'm you, from the future. Well not too far future. More like nine months into the future you."
The stone monster did a low sweep, older Marinette launching her yoyo to a rafter and pulling them away.
"OK, this is a 9.7 on the weirdness scale," commented younger Marinette as she looked down. She could get use to this yoyo-grappling hook thing. Older Marinette landed them safely.
"Oh, you'll get used to it. Trust me. Look out," Older Marinette pushed her younger self out of the way of another flying fist, Older Marinette jumping in the opposite direction. The girls continued the dodging and jumping, both trying to come up with a plan. The monster swung at the girls, Older Marinette jumping on his fist. The stone being slammed his other hand down on top, but older Marinette jumped off before he could crush her. The monster lumbered after them, the Marinettes splitting up to keep the monster distracted. He slammed his fist down on older Marinette, who tumbled out of the way.
"Ladybug's going to lose!" Cheered the woman with the sharp teeth, the villains in the room watching with anticipation.
"Wrong cat-woman," a new blue portal appear, the upper portion of a cat with armor poking out while a boy dressed in an outfit similar to older Marinette's but with the inclusion of a cat-eared hoodie, black mask, and belt tail stepped out.
"What's going on?"
"Chat!" Older Marinette raced over to the boy she called Chat, pulling him to a hug.
"Ladybug needs you," and with that, the cat and portal disappeared.
"Good to see you too Bugaboo," Chat squeezed her back before letting go, noticing the younger Marinette who jumped out of the stone monster's way towards them.
"Two Ladybugs! I'm in heaven!" Chat dreamily sighed, Older Marinette rolling her eyes with a slight blush while younger Marinette looked confused.
"Who are you?" Younger Marinette asked while examining the cat-boy. People from the future were just getting weirder and weirder.
"I'm-" started Chat.
"Our partner. In the future. Chat Noir," answered Older Marinette.
"At your service little lady," Chat Noir, brought younger Marinette's hand up and kissed it.
Younger Marinette almost combusted. She had a partner?! Who liked her?!
"Marinette!" The three teens in the room turned at the arrival of Nino, Alya, and Adrien.
"Girl! What is going on, I've been trying to - who are they?" asked Alya as they all stopped short seeing Older Marinette and Chat Noir.
Older Marinette could feel Chat Noir go stiff behind her seeing his younger self.
"Older Ladybug and her partner Chat Noir at your service," answered older Marinette in a flourished bow, similar to what Chat Noir had done a bit ago. She felt Chat relax at that but saw Adrien turned 50 shades of red. Maybe the bow was a little much.
The rock monster, upset at being ignored, roared in their faces, the younger teens minus Marinette panicking at the site.
"Personal space please," Chat pulled out his baton and bopped the monster on the nose, the rock being pulling back in confusion, before attempting to punch them into the ground. Older Marinette pushed Chat out of the way, while younger Marinette urged her friends away from the beast.
Older Marinette and Chat began running around the room while the monster chased them, the two splitting up for Marinette to run up against the wall before flipping over the beast to regroup with Chat.
"Any plans my lady," asked Chat as they ran.
"Still coming up with something," grumbled Older Marinette. She then noticed the security closed gate, Anti-bug's pouch of explosive marbles, and the Egyptian exhibit hall.
"Think you can grab me Anti-bug's bag?"
"On it!"
"Meet me in the Egyptian Hall."
Chat nodded and raced towards Anti-bug, swinging hit baton at her while Older Marinette led the monster away.
"Where is older you going," Alya asked younger Marinette. Younger Marinette only shrugged, Alya taking that as an invitation to follow Older Marinette.
With Anti-bug momentarily distracted by the swinging baton, Chat sidestepped and grabbed the bag off her side, running around to follow after Older Marinette.
"GIve that back!" Anti-bug yelled, the villains chasing after Chat.
Older Marinette ran back into the partially destroyed Egyptian Hall, the rock monster following her in. She ran up the wall as the monster struck at her, bouncing off his head as a turnaround.
"Stay back," she warned her younger self and friends as she raced to them, hitting the emergency lock down as she went.
The gate came fast, trapping the monster inside the exhibit.
"As you requested Buginette," Chat handed her the bag of marbles once he caught up to them.
"Thanks Chaton," Older Marinette pulled out a marble and chucked it at the giant, the explosion sending the stone monster to rubble, along with destroying part of one jackal and the emergency gate.
"Pound It!" Chat and Older Marinette fist bumped.
Outside the Louvre Police Officers escorted Hawkmoth, Anti-bug, and Kitty Paws out of the museum. Alya had long turned her attention from younger Marinette, giving her some space at the promise of an interview later, to instead interview Chat Noir, while Nino had already begun going through the questions on the blog, and Adrien listened between Nino talking about the blog and Chat's interview.
The two Marinettes stood off to the side, giggling at Officer Raincomprix's deja vu of just having arrested Anti-bug moments before.
"So how exactly did you meet Chat?" Younger Marinette asked as they took a seat along the glass pyramid.
"After the whole identity deal blows over, Nino suggests we get a partner. Chat seemed the best candidates out of the ones we choose."
"Not Alya? I thought for sure she would want to do the whole save the world thing."
"Let's just say Alya tries but gets very distracted," the Marinettes laughed looking over to their friends as Chat pulled Plagg out of his pocket to introduce to Alya as honorary mascot of the team. Adrien eyes went wide, and immediately turned a bright pink, Older Marinette figuring maybe Adrien had found out Chat Noir's identity.
"Do we ever get together with Adrien?" Asked Younger Marinette as she looked wistfully at Adrien. Marinette looked over at Adrien, their eyes meeting before Adrien looked away, suddenly becoming interested in his shoes. She smiled before turning back to her younger self
"That I'll leave for you to decide."
"Do we then get together with Chat?" Both Marinettes looked over to Chat, once catching their attention, Chat sent them a wink, both girls turning 50 shades of shade.
"Another one for you to figure out," Older Marinette grumbled.
"Take them away," ordered Officer Raincomprix as the other policemen led each villain to a car.
"But you can't leave us here in the past," whined Kitty Paws before being shoved in a car, followed by Anti-bug.
"We'll face months of deja vu," continued Anti-bug, who looked to be dreading being right back where she was several months ago as she went inside the same car her younger self was in.
"Who are you?" asked the younger version.
"I request a different car!" yelled Older Anti-bug.
"This will throw the time stream into chaos," pleaded Hawkmoth as he was led to the same car as Kitty Paws.
"Yeah, like I haven't heard that one before," joked an officer.
"Hmm. Going to prison sure sounds like a waste of time," Volpina appeared out from behind a police car. "Of course, with this," she pulled out the Time Cat, "I can waste all the time I want."