By the time Marinette organised Tikki and rode to the Bourgeois Hotel the engagement party was in full swing. The event had been set up in the hotel gardens with a marquee over the impressive buffet spread and a dance floor placed in front of a contemporary band stand (well, contemporary for their timeline at least).

Marinette fixed her mask on and walked around the dancefloor looking for Adrien. The sound of high pitched laughter landed Marinette's eyes on what was clearly Chloé who was in high spirits in her gold mask, entertaining other ladies of local society and being the queen bee of the party. Her father Mayor Bourgeois was sitting alone with a very stony look on his face, not even cracking a smile for his daughter's own engagement. He ran his finger around the rim of the glass of scotch on the rocks sitting in front of him. Next to him on the floor was a small wooden case Marinette recognised as the one that held the dueling pistols she had seen in town hall.

Pushing through the crowd, she eventually spied a neatly pulled back blond ponytail atop a black mask.

"Adrien." She said, grabbing his arm as he walked towards the buffet. He turned to her with an amused look.

"Good guess Marinette, but I'm afraid I am the better looking cousin and alas, a taken man or else I would have invited you to dance."I'm

Marinette could feel her face flush in embarrassment and she quickly let go. "Félix? Oh my goodness I'm so sorry."

Félix waved it off, picking up a plate from the table. "No need to apologise. You haven't been the only one. These masked affairs are always tedious, but Chloé seems to get a kick out of it. Of course, there is no misplacing her, even in a mask. If you're looking for Adrien though, he's gone to talk to an old acquaintance of ours staying in the hotel. Plate?" He asked, handing her one before loading up his own.

Truth was Marinette wasn't even a little bit hungry, her nerves churning her stomach over. She picked a few pieces of fruit just so she wouldn't have an empty plate.

"An old acquaintance did you say?" She enquired. Félix nodded.

"Remember I told you about the woman Adrien saved from drowning when we were younger? Well her husband was visiting Paris and now he's staying in the hotel here. He's a funny little man really, but quite sweet. He used to teach Adrien and I some of that, what do you call it? Martial Arts, that was it. It was fun anyway, although I was always better at it than my cousin." He preened. "But it was nice catching up with old Fu again."

"Who?" Marinette blinked at him.

"Oh that's his name, Wang Fu." Félix replied nonchalantly. "I think he said he originally came from Shanghai or something."

Marinette looked away from Félix back towards the hotel. Surely it couldn't be the same Wang Fu could it? It might just be a really common name and even if it was the same one, it would have to be the Wang Fu from that timeline. No, that can't be right either. Félix said he was old and when Marinette met him he was old then too, 75 years later. That just wasn't possible because she had the time travel watch, so how could…? Marinette shook her head. No, she can't worry about this now, she had more important things to think about.

Félix noticed Marinette seemed fidgety and he offered her his arm.

"How inconsiderate of me to keep you on your feet. Come, sit with me until Adrien comes back. I'm afraid I have lost my fiancée to her crowd of admirers." He said, his voice a little more gentler than she had heard him before. She placed her free hand on his arm and allowed him to guide her to a table, away from where the Mayor was sitting.

"Has the Mayor been himself tonight?" Marinette asked, eyeing the man at the other table silently drinking.

"I wouldn't worry about the Mayor too much." Félix said as a matter of fact. "Adrien told me about Bourgeoise's plans to put a bullet in his head."

Now Marinette had completely lost her appetite. "Félix, really? Don't you care about what happens to your cousin at all?"

Félix looked at her surprised. "I have all the regard in the world. When Adrien told me about the duel we knew there was no way of talking the old boy out of it. So, I hatched a plan. While Chloé had her father distracted with some petty demands, I went into his office just before the party and emptied half the gunpowder from the bullets. Even if the old fool goes through with this duel, no one will get hurt. So don't worry anymore about it. Adrien should be just fine."

Félix nonchalantly poked his fork into his chicken and salad, not noticing the perplexed look on Marinette's face. She remembered back to her meeting with Mr Damocles when he showed her the pistols and he explained about the gunpowder. But if Félix has already emptied half the powder out, then Adrien should be safe from harm, yet he wasn't. She knew he wasn't. It was a fact quite literally carved in stone in the graveyard behind the old church.

"Marinette." A familiar warm voice called out and Marinette turned to find Adrien walking over to her. She had barely gotten to her feet when Adrien swooped in, kissing her fervently.

"Adrien." She exclaimed flustered. "People will see us.

"Let them see." He beamed, his face covered in a black mask similar to Felix's but with green accents. "I don't care who sees us, least of all that pompous windbag over there." He added, motioning his head towards the mayor. "Come, dance with me m'lady."

Marinette hardly had a chance to respond when Adrien wrapped his arm around her waist and swung her around onto the dancefloor. Marinette didn't really recognise the music the band was playing, but she let Adrien lead her across the floor, twirling her around before pulling her closer to him.

"You look like a little red ladybug." Adrien smiled, running his finger down her nose. "It looks cute."

"Thanks, I think." She said with a giggle. "Your mask kind of reminds me of Plagg."

Adrien laughed heartily. "Félix said that too. Mind you, Félix and Plagg never did get along all that well. Félix stood on his tail once by accident and I don't think Plagg ever forgave him."

Adrien dropped Marinette into a low dip before pulling her back up to him again. "I can't wait to go away together." Adrien said as they swayed again to the music. "I feel like my life is just beginning when I'm with you. I told you this once before that you are like magic to me. Félix invited us to London if you want to see Flairmidable race. We could make a start there and see where the wind takes us."

Marinette wrapped her arms around his neck and looked up at him earnestly. "I want to go everywhere and see everything. Let's go now. Forget this stupid duel. We can send our apologies to Félix and Chloé and just slip away. No one will know we left."

Adrien smiled to himself, holding her head in his hand and kissing her hair. "It's tempting, but I can't do that." He said gently. "I'm a gentleman of my word and if I didn't go through with this, Nathaniel might never be able to show his face here again. You wouldn't expect me to sacrifice him for my own happiness, would you?"

Marinette shook her head, looking up at him. "No, but I don't want to lose you either."

Adrien hooked his finger under her chin. "You won't Mari, I promise." He leaned down and kissed her, softly at first, but then with more fervor, the two of them becoming lost in each other and in the music, oblivious to those around them. When their lips parted Marinette rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

She could almost see it, the life she and Adrien would have. When she was like this in his arms, she felt as though nothing in the world could touch them, that they were somehow immortal, destined to find one another again and again across lifetimes. Then, almost out of nowhere in her mind, she heard Miss Bustier's voice. "Some say it was the duel that killed him. Others believe it was the mysterious woman he was living with."

Marinette's breath caught in her throat. Adrien sensed the change in her, pulling her back slightly so he could see her face. She couldn't be here when the duel took place. "I have to leave." She said suddenly. Adrien looked down at her puzzled.

"Why? I don't want you to leave me anymore. We're going to leave together tomorrow, remember."

"And we will." She reassured him, holding his hands in hers. Trying to think of a reason she looked down and noticed she had forgotten to put on her necklace that Luka had given her. "I left my necklace behind. I have to go back and get it."

Adrien gently tucked a peice of hair back behind Marinette's ear before running his finger along the edge of her red mask. "I can see it's important to you." Adrien said, taking her hand in his and guiding her off the dancefloor.

"Luka gave it to me." She said, seeing the unsure look he was giving her. She reached up and touched his face gently. "Not in that way, my love. It's not just about Luka, but his family, the band, they were important to me for a large part of my life. I had promised I would always wear it, not for any romantic reasons, but to remember those in a time I may never see again."

Adrien took her hand from his face and softly kissed the inside of her wrist. "Just promise you'll come back to me." He said, and she could hear his heart aching with his love for her.

"I will. I'll be as quick as I can." She said, raising up on her toes to kiss him. "I love you. Only you."

"I love you too." He said between more kisses. "I'll see you soon." He gave her one of those smiles that just filled her heart with happiness before letting her go and walking over to join Félix.

Marinette scurried past the bandstand and was about to leave the hotel gardens when she heard Chloé's shrill laughter. "Oh Lily, you really are utterly amusing. Come, I want to introduce you to my fiancé."

Marinette turned to find the source of the voices and found where Chloé was talking to a dark haired woman in a red dress and matching mask. Alya then spotted Marinette, waving and walking over to her.

"Marinette, I haven't even gotten to see you tonight. You're not leaving already are you? " She asked, giving Marinette a hug.

"I'm coming back, I just forgot something." Marinette replied. "But who is that woman Chloé is talking to?"

"Oh that's Lily." Alya smiled happily. "I met her earlier. She's a guest in the hotel and just arrived from Tuscany. She's been telling us the most amazing stories of her travels. You should come over and meet her."

Marinette looked back over to where Chloé was introducing Félix and Adrien to Lily. So old Aunt Lily was here like she said, but if she only arrived tonight, how did she claim to have known everyone so well? "Maybe when I come back."

"Sure." Alya said, sensing something was off. "Is everything alright?"

Marinette wasn't entirely sure whether Alya and Nino knew about the duel and she didn't want to needlessly alarm them.

"I'm fine. I'll be back soon. Just… Keep an eye out on Adrien for me will you."

Alya nodded, albeit still somewhat confused. Scurrying off, Marinette took Tikki and went the shortcut by the lake back to Adrien's house. Once back, she took out the watch and found herself back on her own porch, but no sooner had she walked in the door than the phone rang. Marinette was going to ignore it, but it was unusual for her to get a phone call after 10 o'clock at night. Taking off the red mask she had been wearing, she placed it next to the phone and cautiously answered.

"Oh Marinette, it's Caline Bustier here. I've been trying to get a hold of you all evening." The voice on the other end said anxiously.

"What's wrong Miss Bustier?" Marinette asked, sensing her urgency.

"It's Aunt Lily. She has taken a turn for the worse and the doctors think she won't last the night, but she is asking to see you. She just showed me the most extraordinary thing."

Marinette could feel her stomach churning. "What was it?"

"I can't tell you over the phone, please you must come. It concerns the murder of Adrien Agreste."

Marinette's heart almost stopped in her chest. Finally she was going to talk. "I'll come straight away."

Hanging up the phone, she quickly threw off her red dress and put on a shirt and a pair of jeans. It took a bit to get her old car started since she hadn't turned the engine in quite a while, but once she got going she made fair time to the nursing home where Miss Bustier met her out the front. A nurse then took them to Aunt Lily's room.

Lily herself was laying on the bed with her eyes closed, but Marinette could tell by the way she twitched at the sound of their footsteps she was still awake.

"This is what I wanted to show you." Miss Bustier said, handing Marinette a large certificate. "She insisted that I should show this to you. I had no idea. All these years she had kept her true identity a secret."

Marinette looked over the creased, yellowed paper. It was a birth certificate, but not for anyone named Lily. Marinette turned her head towards the bed where the gray haired dying woman was watching her with piercing olive eyes.

"Lila?" Marinette gasped, stepping closer to the bed. "Are you Lila Rossi?"

"Yes." She said slowly. "Yes, it's true. After Adrien died I ran and left this town behind. I only returned when those who might have recognised Lila Rossi had left and gone far away. Even then I couldn't go near that old house, or the places I once knew. Not after what I had done."

Marinette's eyes widened. "What do you mean? Lila what did you do?"

Tears started to dampen Lila's eyes and her breaths became ragged. "It was me." She finally said, closing her eyes as though she was trying to numb a great pain. "I was the one that killed Adrien that night at Chloé's engagement party."

Marinette could hear her heartbeat thumping in her ears. "Why?" She exclaimed, gripping the back of the chair that was next to the bed. "Why would you want to kill him? Everyone loved Adrien."

"Yes." Lila said, her voice almost devoid of emotion. "Everyone loved Adrien, but Adrien never loved me."

Marinette slunk into the chair, her legs too weak to hold her as she listened to Lila continue, trying to pull herself up. "I saw you leave the party, and I took my chance to pull Adrien aside and reveal myself and my heart to him. If he liked dark haired girls I changed it, if he liked girls who were creative, I could learn art or needlepoint or music. I wanted to be whatever kind of woman that he wanted.l" She turned her head away from Marinette and looked out the window. "I might have expected his rejection, but not his anger. He said he had never been in love with me. That what I thought we had was nothing more than a fantasy in my own mind." She gripped up her sheets in her fist. "He said that even if he wasn't in love with you, there would never be anything between us, even if I was the last woman left on Earth."

Her voice started to crack as she pounded down her fist. "I had already done so much to win him over. I modeled naked for Nathaniel in his house, I made friends with his oldest friend, I changed my appearance… I even got rid of the woman I thought was standing in my way only to be faced with another." She ranted, exhaustion taking her over and she fell back into her pillows.

"My god." Marinette whispered in horror, her hand coming up to mouth. "You caused the accident that killed Kagami." Lila didn't look at her, but her silence was as good as an admission. "And the picnic? When I mounted Tikki and she suddenly bolted?"

Lila slowly turned her head back to Marinette, her eyes empty. "Horses are so dramatic aren't they? Something so simple and small as a thorn under the saddle can cause so much trouble."

By this stage even Miss Bustier had to take a seat at such bombshell revelations, despite her confusion at Lily/Lila's apparent familiarity with this young girl. "What happened?" She asked cautiously. "After you spoke to Adrien."

Lila took in a ragged breath, her hands once again gripping the sheet. "My love for Adrien instantly turned into an insatiable hate. I had caught wind of the duel that Mayor Bourgeois had challenged him too, and I had packed a pistol in my handbag with the intention of stopping it myself. Adrien's rejection though, the coldness in his eyes, the way he gritted his teeth and turned from me in disgust - all I wanted was to see him dead." She stopped, taking out a handkerchief from under the covers and wiping her eyes.

"I followed Adrien and the Mayor to where the duel took place and hid behind a tree, but my intention was no longer to stop it. If that drunk fool missed his shot, then I would not."

The room fell silent as those who had listened tried to process what they had just been told. Marinette then stood up, standing next to the bed. "Lila, where did they duel?"

Lila started to cough violently into her handkerchief, gasping for air before falling back onto her pillows. Miss Bustier got up, grabbing a glass of water next to the bed and helping Lila to drink through the straw.

"Please Lila." Marinette begged. "Where did they duel?"

Lila looked up at Marinette with perhaps the slightest glimmer of remorse in her eyes. "Behind the hotel there is a clearing. They went there. The clock struck midnight a few minutes before they started."

Marinette looked at the clock and found it was already almost 11pm. Without another word she raced out of the room and back to her car. She had to get back and stop them, or she would die trying.

Marinette raced her car back to the house, barely remembering to switch off the engine before jumping out and running towards the door. As she threw it open she headed towards the staircase when she saw something, or more specifically someone, in her peripheral vision.

"Juleka!"

Luka's sister was sitting on the couch, holding the time watch in her hand. Marinette stood frozen to the spot as she watched Juleka turning the watch over in her hand.

"You really shouldn't leave your house open like that. You never know who could have come in." Juleka looked up at Marinette with hurt in her eyes. "So… you cheated on my brother?"

Marinette swallowed thickly. "Please Jules, I've already talked to Luka about this and I don't…"

Juleka stood up and took a few steps closer to her. "I know what you told him. Your little fairy tale about time traveling might work on sweet innocent Rose and my kind hearted brother who's been in love with you since we were 16, but it doesn't wash with me. You just made it all up to cover for your affair didn't you?"

"It wasn't like that at all, Juleka." Marinette counted. Juleka glared at her.

"Maybe it's the magic in this watch playing tricks with your mind then. A delusion? A hallucination? Maybe I should just destroy it and free you from this hold it has on you?"

"No! Juleka please don't!" Marinette screamed, reaching out with her hand. "When in my whole life have I ever lied to you? You have to believe me, I only wanted to save Adrien's life, I never thought I would fall in love with him, but I did. I couldn't help it, but if I don't get back now he is going to die. Please give me the watch back. Let me save him."

She reached her hand out for the watch, but Juleka held it closer to her chest. "And what about Luka, or Rose or me? I thought I was your friend Marinette. I… I don't know what to believe anymore."

Marinette dropped her head. "I'm sorry Jules, I guess I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want to hurt anybody, but I can't keep living in two worlds."

She looked back at Juleka, her eyes brimming with tears. "Back when Rose read my cards, she said I would have to make a choice, one that would not only change my life, but the lives of those around me. I made that choice, and I chose Adrien. I can't just forget about him, Jules. I can't just stay here and marry Luka and pretend that what happened between Adrien and I didn't happen. He's part of me now and I'm part of him. I have to try and save him."

Juleka pursed her lips trying not to get emotional and clutching the watch tighter. "What if you can't save him? Then what? You'll just stay lost and alone in a past you don't belong in?"

Marinette reached her hand out, placing over Juleka's that was holding the watch still to her chest. "I will always carry all of you in my heart, Juleka. You have been my family and my rocks, but now I have to follow my own path, even if that path takes me away from all of you, even if we never see each other again."

Juleka's face crumpled and she let the tears she had been trying to hold back start to flow. Opening her hand, she let Marinette take the watch. "I'll miss you." Juleka choked out between sobs. Marinette wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly.

"I'll miss you too." Marinette replied. Pulling back she held Juleka by the shoulders. "I told Luka I would find a way to let you know I'm alright and I promise I will."

Juleka nodded her head, wiping away the tears. "We'll write a song for you, even if you never get to hear it."

Marinette smiled at her warmly. "Just knowing will be enough." The clock in the lounge chimed 11:45 pm and Marinette panicked. "I have to go. There's not much time left."

"You go, Marinette." Juleka said with a resigned smile. "I hope you have found your happiness and maybe I'll see you again, in another life."

The two girls looked at each other for a moment in a silent farewell before Marinette ran up the stairs and quickly threw on the red dress and her necklace from Luka. Opening the watch, she ran back down the stairs, taking Tikki and following the shortcut once again towards the hotel.

In 1975, Juleka stood for a few minutes at the bottom of the stairs. The whole house had become very still. Slowly she ascended and stood at Marinette's bedroom door. Quietly she knocked. "Mari?" She asked, but there was no response. Opening the door, Juleka found the room empty, all that remainder was the red mask Marinette had left behind.

One more chapter to go... thank you for your patience