Adrien had no idea what kind of base it would be, but his expectations might have been set unfairly high. The small gadgets he'd glimpsed in Marinette's apartment made him believe that he'd only grasped the tip of the iceberg with all the fancy, futuristic technology. Seven years was plenty of time for some hi-tech advancements, right?
With each careful step he moved forward, Adrien's excitement continued to grow. The itch to open his eyes jittered restlessly along his nerves, but he could only move so fast. Marinette's gloved hand grasped his own as she led him carefully through Alix's Burrow. Even with all of them still transformed, Adrien could feel a sensation of warmth transfer from her hand between the suit's materials.
That feeling of her just being there helped to settle Adrien's mind and steel his resolve in order to keep his promise. Even if he was destined to forget everything when all of this was over, he wasn't going to muss anything else up by peeking at one of the many windows to another time inside the Burrow's tunnel.
"Careful, it's a step down," Marinette's voice echoed strangely through the space around them, even though she had spoken softly. A brief moment later, the air seemed to shift, and like she had warned, his foot dropped as he nearly tripped onto the lower path.
"You can open your eyes now," Marinette said, letting go of his hand. His heart pounding with anticipation, Adrien blinked his eyes open to gaze excitedly up at the wonder of their futuristic superhero base.
But his enthusiasm immediately plummeted. What loomed ahead of him was nothing like the visionary buildings he'd seen depicted in comic books. A rocky expanse of uneven concrete surrounded them in all directions, its pebbled surface dusty with piles of loose sand. Between the crisscrossing pattern of cracks, large untamed shrubs of weeds and scraggly grass spilled out in abundance.
And there, across the old, abandoned lot, a gray and rusted building forlornly stood, looking decrepit behind the bent and twisted wires of a neglected chain link fence. Adrien could easily see through the large windows where the glass was fractured or missing completely.
Adrien's shoulders slumped a bit in his disappointment, and he turned dejectedly as Luka and Alix stepped onto the dreary pavement. Waving a hand over her shoulder, Alix didn't even glance back as the Burrow quickly closed up behind them.
"I know you guys need to keep a low profile," Adrien started as he motioned toward the run-down building. "But I thought our superhero base might be a little more… Spectacular?"
"Ha!" Alix barked out a quick laugh while she moved around him to pry open the rusted gate. The hinges squealed loudly in protest. "Never judge a book by it's cover, kitten."
"It's what's on the inside that counts." Luka nodded in agreement. Adrien hesitantly followed the adults, with Marinette taking the lead as she approached a dented metal door that, like the rest of its surroundings, looked to be in dire need of a new paint job.
She grasped the handle, and Adrien was surprised when the rusted hinges gave her no resistance, the door itself swinging open almost silently into a wide warehouse that was just more of the same as its outside. Twisted beams and rusted pipes littered the concrete floor between piles of dead leaves and abandoned heaps of trash scattered throughout the mess.
It was when Marinette led them over to an elevator door that Adrien began to suspect that all was not what it appeared to be. Despite the run-down destitution and thick layers of dust caked over every surface, the elevator appeared to be the only thing not tarnished with age. There were a few superficial dents in the metal, but otherwise it seemed fine.
With curious fascination, Adrien watched as Marinette lifted her hand and held it up to a part of the wall. A small, hidden panel slid open, revealing behind it a dark screen crisscrossed with the bright lines of a grid. Adrien's eyes grew wider with growing excitement when Marinette pressed her miraculous ring against it.
The screen let out a pleasant beep and quickly flashed green, then the panel slid shut with a tiny click and disappeared once again into the wall. A moment later, the elevator doors slid open with a quiet whiff of air, and Adrien stumbled after the group as they all began to move inside.
Crisp and clean, the elevator was lined with sleek grey panels separated by dark-metal borders, while an outline of soft, hidden lights illuminated the elegantly patterned ceiling. It was all a shockingly stark contrast to the run-down building it resided in.
"I'm starting to see how I shouldn't have judged," Adrien said, looking down to study what appeared to be a dark granite floor while the doors slid shut almost silently. The only acknowledgement of any movement was from the soft hum of electricity and a tiny bump as they began their descent.
"Just wait," Luka chuckled. "It's much more impressive once we get to the actual base."
"How do you keep anyone from finding this place?" Adrien asked out of curiosity. "I'm guessing you need a miraculous to get in, but what's to stop the enemy's kwami from just phasing inside?"
"Kwami can't phase through so much solid ground," Alix explained, shaking her head. "And Max has set up a bunch of anti-kwami defenses around the perimeter. If one of our enemies tries to get them to go through the elevator, they just wind up at a collapsed tunnel."
Adrien couldn't keep the grin off his face as he bounced excitedly on his heels. The elevator continued to take them down, and down. It wouldn't be long until he could finally see the base with his own eyes, but with nothing else to distract him until then, his curious gaze continuously flicked over to Marinette.
She had her eyes closed with her arms folded over her chest, leaning casually against one of the sleek wall panels as if she might have been resting. The fidgety tapping of her finger against her arm said otherwise, however.
He still couldn't believe it. All this time.
How could he have not realized that Ladybug was Marinette?
It was like a veil had been pulled away from his eyes, because even though the Marinette standing next to him was an older version of her, he could clearly pick out the similarities in her features to the Ladybug he knew, even with the dark mask obscuring her face. Which, actually, 'similarities' was a stupid way to put it. They were identical, because Marinette was Ladybug.
Despite the irritation that nagged him for his own blindness, he found that he felt more relieved above all else. He knew that he married Marinette in the future, and as much as he valued their friendship, he couldn't, for the life of him, understand how either of them had gotten to that point.
But now he knew why his heart had changed—because nothing had changed at all.
He'd felt something there in her actions and through her words—the same characteristics that had drawn him to his lady. He enjoyed both their company, disliked upsetting them, and felt lost at the thought that either might somehow disappear from his life.
All that time, Adrien had never considered Marinette as anything more than a friend, because the loyalty of his feelings for Ladybug were absolute.
But Marinette was Ladybug. And his brain now screamed at him that Marinette wasn't just a friend.
"Call me curious," Adrien began softly, leaning in a bit closer to Marinette. Her eyelids popped open and her head snapped up a bit too sharply, as if he'd startled her from the quiet of a nap, but her bright gaze looked alert when it quickly focused on him. "But if you weren't in love with Chat Noir as Ladybug, then why did you confess that you were in love with me as Marinette?" he asked.
Marinette's expression suddenly widened, her green gaze looking more awake than ever. Then her head fell forward into her hands, and Marinette simply groaned while Alix immediately burst out laughing.
"Wait, seriously?" Alix laughed, her voice wheezing. "When did that happen?"
"When my dad got akumatized," Marinette grumbled as she kneaded her fingers against her forehead before she turned her attention back on Adrien. "I panicked! I thought you had figured out my identity! And… And that was the first idea that popped into my head." She slumped forward and let out a long sigh. "At that point, papa had already heard everything, so things just snowballed from there."
Alix was still laughing when the elevator's humming quieted down and there was a quiet ding to announce that they had finally arrived.
Adrien hopped up to the doors before they even had a chance to slide open, and they eventually pulled back to reveal a wide corridor with lights that snapped to life one by one, slowly illuminating a lengthy hallway. Glossy white panels lined the walls, their surfaces delicately etched with the pale figures of various kwami. Despite the lack of any color, apart from the frosted glass, their forms seemed to flicker in and out, creating a faint dance that made it appear as if they were alive.
Adrien tried not to dawdle, but his delight at studying the intricate designs kept him trailing behind the group while they moved on to the end of the hallway. As they drew nearer, a set of doors automatically slid open in a woosh of air that sounded like it had come right out of some futuristic science fiction show—which wasn't so far off from reality, considering when Adrien was.
Tilting back his head as he stepped through the doorway, Adrien marveled at the space that opened up before him. A domed roof stretched far above their heads like one of those gigantic, curved theaters. Maps and various news stations played over sleek screens arranged across the surface where a multitude of lights flickered in and out. Amid the chaos of technology, Adrien barely noticed the railed walkways circling the walls, or the glass doors at the other end where soft light spilled out from another hallway.
"Greetings, young Adrien."
A voice echoed over the din of faint noise coming from the collection of screens. Adrien glanced around in confusion before turning his gaze toward a movement from above. He looked up in time to watch Max as he floated closer, reclining on a sleek chair that actually hovered silently in the air. Adrien watched, transfixed as a softly glowing ring attached to the bottom of the chair touched down against the floor. Max got to his feet and stood proudly, waving his arms out over the myriad of screens. Kaalki, who hovered just above his shoulder, mimicked his movements with a flourished bow. "Welcome to the Kwami Cave, our base of operations and occasional hangout," he announced.
"It has great acoustics for karaoke," Luka added with a wink.
"This is... So. Cool," Adrien breathed in awestruck delight, unable to help himself as he bypassed a set of stairs entirely and hopped up to a nearby walkway, landing on all fours and balancing easily against the railing.
His gaze moved so quickly over the room that he didn't have time to fully focus on anything. Charts and maps flitted through his view until he finally settled on a section that displayed various feeds of Paris' famous landmarks, major tourist areas that were higher targets for villainous activity, most likely. "Is this supposed to be a look out?" he asked.
"We try to monitor most activity and stay one step ahead," Max explained. "Although we usually don't have to keep an eye out twenty-four seven, since the civilian alert application is linked to our systems and vice versa. We'll know as soon as anyone else does when an akuma, or otherwise, is attacking."
"You okay, Marinette?"
Adrien turned quickly at Alix's question, attention focusing on Marinette where she flopped down onto a sleek sofa on the lower level.
Immediately quashing his curiosity about the futuristic hideout, Adrien leapt down to land next to Marinette right as her suit disappeared in a flash of green light. Plagg whirled above her head before darting down to hover in front of her, the kwami's face scrunched up in what Adrien recognized as concern.
"Are you alright?" Adrien asked, hesitantly reaching out a hand toward her, but she waved him away.
"I might not have been as back up to speed as I thought." She gently shook her head. "But it's nothing to worry about. I think I just need a break after everything that's happened."
"You should take a rest in the infirmary," Luka suggested, pointing a thumb over his shoulder toward the glowing doors across the room.
"I'll do just that," Marinette agreed, even though she didn't make any move to get up. Instead, she turned her attention to Max. "But first, I want to know how much you've learned about Foresight."
"Of course." Max adjusted his glasses and lifted a single finger, seemingly pointing at nothing, but to Adrien's delight, a bright glow suddenly lit up beneath his touch. As he drew his hand through the air, a tiny outline began to form and grow along with his movement. Eventually, a large screen hovered before them with the crisp, clear image of Foresight displayed on it; a photo of her from one of their previous battles, it seemed.
Max cleared his throat. "As her name implies, Foresight is able to gather information by traveling to a chosen point forward in time. Using what she's learned, she can apply said intel to her past in order to be better prepared for manipulating a more favorable outcome of her future."
Adrien was only slightly distracted as the text along the side of the screen highlighted each word while Max spoke.
"Putting it that way," Max continued. "It means that Foresight is unable to directly alter the timeline itself. She can only divert a future event if she is able to return to the time from whence she came and uses the knowledge she has learned. That's why nothing in this time has changed yet, because she is still here."
Marinette hummed softly, her mouth pulled into a thin frown. "And Farfalla probably offered to help her learn what she came here to find out," she suggested.
"Ladybug and Chat Noir's weakness?" Adrien added, remembering what Foresight had said after they'd all popped into the future. "But what exactly is she looking for?"
"Duh!" Alix loudly shouted, swinging her arm up to smack her own forehead. "Marinette is pregnant! She's obviously not up to full strength, and Farfalla's already suspicious thanks to her fainting incident as Ladybug the other day."
"So Farfalla and Foresight are both after Ladybug," Adrien said, shooting her a fearful look. "Then why have they been targeting you as Marinette? They don't know your identity do they?"
"No," Marinette sternly answered along with a firm shake of her head. "Farfalla definitely doesn't know my identity. Believe me, everything would be a lot worse if she did."
"Well, Farfalla going after Marinette isn't much of a surprise." Alix sighed, shrugging listlessly before turning to Marinette. "She just hates Marinette's guts as a civilian too," she added with a mischievous grin.
"With what I could get from Félix, it sounds like they wanted to use the baby and I," Marinette huffed crossly. "So in a series of unfortunate events, they managed to find out about my trip to the hospital when I fainted during the akuma attack, this all being right before Foresight showed up. They must have figured out that since the miraculous Ladybug didn't heal me, then they could take advantage of that and... What? Use me as bait or something?"
"That's too cruel," Adrien growled and clenched his fists. "Who could possibly hate Marinette so much?"
No one else in the room responded to that, but even as the words left his mouth, a familiar figure suddenly popped into his mind. Startled, he immediately spun around to face Marinette and yelped out, "Lila!?"
Marinette and Luka stared at him in disbelief while Alix just threw back her head and laughed.
"It was too obvious." Max nodded and waved his hand over the floating screen. It blinked out like pressing the power button on a television. "Lila is no longer subtle about her intense hatred of Marinette these days, and Adrien was already aware of her grudge."
"Okay, back to what's important." Alix waved her arms to draw everyone's attention. "Lila and Félix tried to nab Marinette not once, but twice. They failed both times because neither of them accounted for Chat Noir showing up. Why is that?" Alix proposed it as a question, but from the way it sounded, she was simply laying out facts that they already knew. Adrien watched intently, fascinated at the team dynamic playing out before him. He couldn't help but think how exciting it would be to have some of his friends as teammates one day.
"Foresight cannot accurately predict the future where Ladybug or Chat Noir are involved," Max answered with an intense nod, his hand propped against his chin. "Specifically, she cannot see them when she jumps forward from this time period, because they are not a part of this timeline."
"Her intel ends up being wrong, and it creates a hole in the information," Luka added, looking pointedly at Marinette. "Félix tried to grab Marinette at her apartment because Foresight wasn't able to warn him about Chat Noir being with her. As long as Foresight doesn't return to the past that Ladybug and Chat Noir are from, the situation in our current time should go back to normal when we defeat Foresight."
"Theoretically, that means we don't need to interfere to fix anything, correct?" Max asked. "If that is accurate, then why did Alix need to go find Luka to reset everything?"
"Because of this guy," Alix turned to glare sternly at Adrien. He simply shrugged, and Alix continued. "He and his partner are anomalies in our timeline. So not only are they invisible to Foresight's powers, but the two cats being in the same place are causing a major disturbance in the force."
"Question." Luka lifted a finger in lieu of raising his hand from his crossed arms. "I understand that Marinette isn't up to speed with the baby and all, but why did the akuma travel so far into the future?" He glanced at Marinette and gave her a warm wink. "Not to say that Ladybug is weak, but there had to have been other situations in the last seven years or so."
"Yeah!" Alix agreed with an enthusiastic shout. "Whatever Foresight was looking for didn't have to be this far in the future, because Marinette's done waaaaay more dumb things that count as a 'weakness.'"
"Excuse me?" Marinette fumed indignantly, sitting up and grasping the seat of the couch. "What do you mean, 'dumb?'"
"Exactly," Luka agreed, seemingly ignoring Marinette's offended huffs. "Remember when she fought an akuma while she had the flu?"
"You did what!?" Adrien yelped, his suddenly frantic gaze spinning back to Marinette.
"It was a head cold!" Marinette protested, waving her arms and sending a stern glare at both Alix and Luka. "NOT the flu!"
"It is possible that Ladybug and Chat Noir following Foresight may have given her portal a boost of some kind," Max proposed. "It would explain why they wound up so far in the future. Although…" His gaze slid toward Marinette. "If Foresight was looking for a weakness, Marinette is certainly not in an ideal state where she should be transforming and taking part in combat like she has."
Marinette crossed her arms and slumped against the sofa cushion, grumbling loudly, "Duly noted."
"Alright, like I mentioned, they're anomalies," Alix said, turning the subject back to a more seemingly formal discussion. "But once we get both pairs of bug and cat teams into the same place, you louts will stop creating spatial deviations that throw off my groove!" Alix shouted, pointing an accusing finger between Adrien and Marinette.
"Uh, if that's true, then shouldn't we be getting Marinette here?" Adrien asked, his worried glance sliding toward her on the couch. "The uh… past version, that is."
"Already on it," Alix answered, twirling her umbrella around to eventually rest against her shoulder. "I talked with mini-Marinette last night and gave her a heads up, but considering all of Luka's resets, I'd be shocked if she hasn't noticed something's up. We'll probably be getting a call pretty soon."
"According to the scans, it appears that Mister Bug, Carapace and Rena Rouge are all active," Max announced after pulling up another floating screen, this one more like a laptop with it's own glowing keyboard. "They are either aware of the issue, or something has happened in their area."
"I'll contact them and find out what's wrong." Alix then pointed her parasol at Marinette. "You head to the infirmary and rest—and you!" Alix swung around, facing Adrien and holding out her hand. "I'll take the mouse miraculous to hold onto for now. Don't want you popping back to the past and creating any more time-paradoxes."
"Aha, right," Adrien hesitantly chuckled, swiftly pulling the miraculous out of his pocket and dropping it onto Alix's palm.
oOo
Marinette's senses had already drifted away from the waking world, the lights in the infirmary dimmed just enough so she could get in a bit of rest before everyone else arrived at the base. After Alix made contact with her husband, Max would most likely arrive with them any minute, but they still had a little ways to travel, since even Pegasus' powers couldn't simply teleport them directly into the base.
For the moment, things were quiet. Once Marinette settled comfortably onto a bed, Plagg had quickly flown off toward the base's kitchen to fruitlessly check for any leftover Camembert.
"And you were always disappearing during akuma attacks!" Adrien's voice shattered the peace, snapping Marinette back to a drowsy state of wakefulness. His heavy footsteps thump, thump, thumped loudly over the room's pristine tiles. "You were never in the same place—except that time we faced Kwami Buster!"
Almost quiet, Marinette inwardly groaned.
To his merit, Adrien had remained silent for a time, trying to be as considerate as possible, but in the hush of the underground room, his excitement had obviously gotten away from him.
It was a strenuous effort to pry one of her eyelids open just a crack, peeking out to watch Adrien pace restlessly near the double doors at the entrance. Neatly made beds nearly identical to the ones at the hospital were spaced evenly throughout the infirmary, each one with its own privacy curtain. The bed that Marinette chose was located near the front of the room, the floor to ceiling drapes drawn so she could see out.
"Illusion from the fox miraculous," Marinette mumbled sleepily.
"Right!" Adrien exclaimed, only pausing in his pacing for a second. "But you two were identical!" He jerked to a halt and tugged at his hair, turning a bewildered gaze on her. "How could I not. Notice?"
"The miraculous," Marinette yawned, rolling over onto her stomach—a position that wasn't yet uncomfortable to do—and folded her arms over the pillow beneath her head. "They create a sort of… Glamor? No, that's not right," she mumbled blearily. "It's a quantum masking that—" another yawn "—fools our senses."
"It fooled me," Adrien agreed with a vigorous nod. "I even called you our 'everyday Ladybug!'" His eyes then shifting to a mischievous sparkle, he turned to face her with an almost pleading look, holding both hands clasped together in front of him. "It won't hurt anything if I know how you found out each others' identities, right?"
Marinette was quiet as she mulled over that request in her head. He already knew just about everything, and telling him one more thing couldn't hurt their future. Especially since, according to Alix, he would just forget it once this was all over.
"Which time-line?" she eventually asked.
Adrien's mouth dropped open to gawk at her and he yelped, "There's more than one!?"
"Adrien, I know you're excited by all of this," she sighed, the weariness finally creeping into her tone, "But I'm exhausted right now."
Adrien suddenly froze, his wide eyes growing both concerned and horrified, as if he'd just remembered that she was supposed to be resting. "Sorry." He straightened up and clasped his hands behind his back. "Do you need anything?" he hesitantly added.
Before Marinette could even open her mouth to answer, the infirmary door slid open with a sudden loud ' whoosh' of air. The figure that darted inside was nothing more than a blur of red and black and a flash of bright blonde locks in her vision. She barely had time to pull herself up before her husband's arms surrounded her, squeezing her tightly around her shoulders.
Marinette collapsed against him, breathing out a sigh of relief in the comfort of his embrace. Without a word she hugged him right back and nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck.
A moment passed, long enough for his warmth to encompass her until he eventually shifted and held her out at arm's length, his stern, scrutinizing gaze flicking over her. "Are you alright? What happened? Alex said something happened?" he fired off without even giving her a chance to answer.
"It's…" Marinette lifted his hands away from her shoulders and moved them around to her lap, clasping his gloved fingers between hers. "I'm okay, thanks to young Adrien." Her eyes flicked over to him, noticing when she did that Alya and Nino, still transformed, had managed to silently sneak into the room.
And there, strangely quiet, was her younger self, peeking around the doorway in a tentative manner.
Young Adrien had obviously been anticipating her arrival, because his gaze immediately swept past Nino and Alya, a bright smile lighting up his expression as soon as he laid eyes on her.
Marinette expected some form of relief at their reunion, maybe even a hug. She was completely unprepared for the expression of panic that instantly took over her younger self's expression. She jittered in place as she tried to move forward the same instant she tried to duck back around the edge of the door, all the while Marinette had caught the bafflingly bright flush of pink spreading from beneath her mask.
Young Adrien took two giant steps, practically leaping toward Marinette's younger self, but he quickly stopped short, pausing just before the doorway to bow politely while young Marinette shuffled hesitantly into the room. "Marinette," past Adrien marveled, a joyous sparkle shared between his crinkled eyes and brilliant smile.
"You…" Young Marinette's eyes shot up as she breathed her words like a faint whisper. "H-how? You know?" Her gaze flicked over Adrien's shoulder, staring widely right at Marinette.
Marinette smiled apologetically and shrugged listlessly. "It's a crazy story," she simply said.
"A really crazy story," young Adrien agreed, reaching down to take her hands, which she, surprisingly, allowed. "You've been so close to me all this time, my lady."
There was a split second of silence as their gazes locked together, and suddenly, past Marinette practically threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around young Adrien in a hug. Seemingly caught off guard, his eyes blew wide and he shot a brief, hesitant look back at the adults. Despite the confusion furrowing his brow, a hint of awe broke through when he eventually stammered, "M-Marinette?"
Young Marinette simply tightened her embrace in response, and without another word, young Adrien's arms rose slowly over her back. When she didn't push him away as he appeared to expect, he let loose a quiet sigh and almost seemed to melt against her.
As one of his clawed gloves lifted to curl gently into one of her pigtails, Marinette heard her young self whisper, "It's you…" Reluctantly, she pulled away to peer up into his eyes. "It's always been you."
"Yeah," young Adrien answered shyly, lifting an arm away to nervously rub at the back of his neck. "I'm not really sure I…" But then his voice quietly trailed off, his eyes slowly widening in dawning realization. He appeared to catch the meaning of her words the same instant Marinette did. "Wait," he said. "You… Did you find out who I am?"
Young Marinette's response was to simply nod in answer, tilting her head gently as her shy smile grew wider.
Marinette's own gaze shot back to her husband, but he merely shrugged. "Looks like we have a really crazy story too," he chuckled.
Across the room, young Adrien's expression widened into a grin as he affectionately patted her on the head. "Smitten with this kitten after finding out I've been a celebrity all this time? But no need to worry, milady. I've always been me, suit or not."
"No," she shook her head, choking out a soft laugh between a quiet hiccup, and Marinette noticed her eyes glistening with the threat of tears. "Not that. You're… you. My friend. My partner…" Her voice seized up a note at that, her entire face practically turning the same color as her suit. "You're everything, Adrien."
Young Adrien's expression slowly widened into pure wonderment, but there was still a bit of confusion in his gaze when he asked, "Me?" And then his arms shifted tighter around her waist, his gaze widening in surprise. "Me?" he repeated, eyes growing rounder and blinking slowly back at her. "You mean… not just finding out who I am… Who I've always been?" His face drew closer to hers, their foreheads practically touching. "The boy you love…?"
Marinette could practically hear his nervous heartbeat, all the hope and longing drenching every word. The inkling of her cryptic words had finally clicked in Adrien's thoughts. The pieces were falling neatly into place long before Marinette's young self nodded to confirm everything and brush away all his doubt.
"It's always been you," she answered, lifting her hands to his face and cradling his head. "I…"
Marinette listened intensely, eagerly awaiting what would come next, but the words her past self wanted to say appeared to be caught in her throat. Though she stood with confidence, the apprehension and uncertainty were clear in her expression. Marinette understood completely, because she had been in that position nearly a thousand times before. The failed, convoluted ideas and perfect moments that had slipped away with the briefest of hesitation...
In what might have been an effort to reach for some kind of motivation, young Marinette's gaze flicked her way, a panicked look knitting her brow.
Marinette was quick in her silent response. She simply leaned forward and laid her head against her husband's shoulder, wrapping their arms together and curling her hand around his. At her touch, Adrien's fingers immediately closed around her own and he automatically responded by relaxing gently against her.
It didn't matter how or why they were brought here. They were both together in the same place. Past and present. No more secret identities.
If there ever was a time to say those three words, it. Was. Now!
Young Marinette's gaze broke away and she took in a quick breath.
"I… I love you, Adrien."
Adrien had gone shockingly still. In the absolute silence of the infirmary, they could have heard a pin drop.
The air hissing between his teeth from a sharp intake of breath, young Adrien suddenly lunged forward to capture young Marinette once again in his arms. She let out a strangled sounding yelp when he abruptly lifted her and spun her through the air, but in a quick heartbeat her joyous laughter harmoniously joined with his own.
Adrien eventually slowed to a stop, setting her feet carefully on the floor without tearing their gazes from one another. The pair was too lost in their own little world.
Marinette couldn't tell who moved first, but it was quick and almost instantaneous. Pressed close to one another, Adrien bowed his head to touch their lips together in a gentle, tender kiss. Young Marinette eagerly lifted herself onto the tips of her toes just so she could reach.
Marinette felt a gentle squeeze from her husband's arm around her shoulder, and his head soon laid lightly on top of hers. She didn't look up, instead leaning comfortably into his embrace as a cozy warmth spread through her, one hand resting lightly over her abdomen.
Oh how far they had come.
Unexpectedly, tears suddenly pricked at the corner of her eyes and she discreetly tried to wipe them away.
In the tender, gentle quiet of the room, an unexpected noise snapped from somewhere nearby. Marinette immediately recognized it as the subtle click of a camera phone.
"Alya!" Marinette hissed quietly, turning an incredulous gaze on her friend.
"Sorry," Alya winced. "Forgot the sound was on."
"I don't think that's the issue, babe," Nino murmured, a slight grin pulling at his mouth. He patted Alya's shoulder affectionately from where he had his arm draped over her.
Young Marinette and young Adrien had already separated by the time Marinette turned her attention back on them. The pair didn't look too flustered to remember that they had an audience, but they were both wearing matching blushes that turned both of their faces a matching hue of pink. Though they were standing apart, Marinette's gaze lowered to notice their hands still connected, fingers laced between one another.
"Well, isn't that a kick in the head." Alix strode in through the open doorway, looking like she had waited out in the hallway long enough to give them a moment together. "Looks like you two know pretty much everything now."
"Everything?" Nino's jaw dropped as his whole body sagged from disappointment before he tossed his hands into the air. "Seriously!? Shell off!" The bright light of his transformation engulfed him, and Wayzz quickly flew up to hover over his shoulder while Nino adjusted his cap. "I wanted it to be a surprise! But I guess it's cool now that we don't have to keep up secrets anyway, right, my man?" Nino grinned expectantly at Adrien, who's expression quickly shifted from blank confusion to utter disbelief.
"You—!?" young Adrien suddenly jumped up and jabbed a finger at Nino. "You're Carapace!" He glanced back at young Marinette, as if for confirmation, his shock slowly turning into excitement with his growing grin. "Nino... Of course it's Nino!" He let out a quick, sharp laugh before turning his gaze and narrowing his eyes suspiciously at Alya. Practically beaming at her, he started, "So that means…"
"Oh, come on!" Alya shouted dejectedly and planted her hands on her hips, turning a scowl upon her fiancé. A second later, she dropped her transformation, Trixx spinning up to join Wayzz. "You ruined the surprise!" Alya yelped.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Nino raised his hands defensively. "How was I supposed to know he didn't know?" He jabbed a finger in Alix's direction. "She said they know everything now!"
"'Pretty much everything,' is not everything ," Alix sighed, leveling him with a stern glare of her own. "Which is moot now, by the way."
"Uh…" Nino wrung his hands together nervously and glanced back over at Alya. "Sorry, babe."
"Oh, did I miss the show?" Plagg chose that moment to phase back in through the wall, and when he floated closer, Marinette caught wind of a ripe stench. Almost immediately, her stomach felt like it had spun around in a queasy flip.
"Plagg," Marinette groaned, waving one hand at him while covering her nose and mouth with the other. "Did you eat Camembert?"
"Uh…" Plagg stopped short in the air and then shrugged, his expression contorting into a sheepish grin. "Oops?"
"Plagg," Adrien sighed, sounding annoyed as he pointed off to the side. "Just don't get too close."
"Alright…" Plagg whined, but he followed directions and lazily floated a few feet away before turning toward Marinette. "Better?"
Marinette simply gave him a quiet thumbs up in response, finding it easier to help quell her nausea if she concentrated on breathing. In through her mouth, then out through her nose...
"Are you sure you're alright?" Adrien leaned down so that he could be eye level with her and laid the back of his hand gently atop her forehead. "You look pale. What exactly happened today?"
"Nothing too serious—" Marinette started to say, but Plagg's sudden bark of laughter interrupted her.
Even if he did smell like stinky cheese at the moment, Marinette still stretched out to swipe for him, but the kwami darted further out of reach. "If it weren't for Luka, her butt would have been captured by the enemy already!" he exclaimed. "And that's not even mentioning almost having her identity as Multimouse exposed!"
Adrien's gaze shifted back to her, his expression contorted with fear. "Did that really almost happen?"
Marinette hesitated, but eventually nodded. "I'm okay now, thanks to past you." She tilted her head in young Adrien's direction. "He could remember everything that happened even after Luka used Second Chance, so he turned the fight in our favor."
"They're basically walking time-anomalies," Alix explained, glancing at the pair with an eyebrow raised.
Adrien finally let out a relieved sigh, hugging her close once more. "I'm glad you're okay," he breathed softly into her ear. "Both of you."
"I'm just exhausted after everything that's happened," Marinette reassured him and patted his back. "But please don't take me to the hospital again, " she added quickly, just in case the thought had crossed his mind.
"I'm not a doctor," Alix interjected, shrugging her shoulders. "But I'd wager she just needs some decent sleep instead of seeing a doctor at this point. Can't imagine anyone wouldn't be tired after what she's been through."
"See?" Marinette leaned back and smiled as sweetly as she could at her husband. "I just need rest."
Adrien opened his mouth, appearing ready to make another argument, but a portal opening in the middle of the room interrupted anything he had to say about that.
Max, having transformed into Pegasus, stepped out into the middle of the infirmary and immediately announced, "There is a giant robot—a sentimonster, I believe—heading for the Arc de Triomphe, along with two smaller akuma signatures."
"Two akumas means Foresight's out there," Alix said, turning toward Nino and Alya. She quickly pointed at them. "You two, go." She then motioned silently toward Max. He nodded, and without a single word, he immediately opened up a new portal, which Alya and Nino transformed again before jumping through.
"If Foresight is there, then that means Ladybug and Chat Noir should be too." Alix turned a worried gaze Marinette's way. "I wish we had some time to plan, because I'm gonna be honest… I have absolutely no idea what could happen at this point. I've never made it close to this far before everything usually goes to absolute shit. So unless everything runs smoothly, I'm going to have to go through all this again ." Alix reached up and pulled her rabbit ears down over her face. "It's like some sick, twisted version of Groundhog Day!"
"What about Marinette?" young Adrien asked. "Won't they be able to use Foresight to find her if we separate?"
Marinette hummed at that, then turned her gaze back to Plagg, who was still hovering a few feet away from her. "Well, they're only looking for Marinette , right?" Before anyone could say otherwise, she called out to him, and in a flash she jumped up from the infirmary bed, flipping the lengthy braid over her shoulder and smirking playfully. "They don't care about Lady Noire."
"You getting into a fight with another akuma doesn't make me feel any better," young Adrien muttered, his expression far from amused at her implications.
"I'm not going to fight," she corrected him, planting her hands on her hips. "I'm going to stay somewhere safe and keep an eye on things from far away. Besides, I'm feline better now that I've had a little cat-nap."
"As long as you promise not to get involved," her husband sighed and combed a hand through his hair before shooting her a mischievous smirk. "I guess you really are feline better if you're stealing my puns."
"I didn't steal it," she huffed, flicking him playfully on the nose. "I'm your wife. What's yours is mine."