"iT iS tIMe! sAy yOur fAReWelLs eVerYoNe!"
"Bonk!"
Bonk?
" Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!"
From down there, the scene was surreal. What seemed to be a ball had suddenly collided with the metal and was now bouncing in between the aligned cannons like a Brick out game. The akuma, disconnected from Pandora who could have warned him, didn't get alarmed fast enough, and decided to ignore it since it wasn't doing any damages to his weapons, not even moving them by an inch.
"LaUnCh!"
"Fetch!"
In an instant, about half of the cannons disappeared, and 2 series of beams met against each other, negating themselves. Granted, since it wasn't exact science, some beams passed through, finishing their courses in the sky or on the floor, leaving beant and profound holes, but fortunately not as much as expected. Everyone including a taken aback akuma turned their head to the right, where the stolen floating cannons had popped up, taking an amberish color. And in the middle, stand calmly a petite woman, face hidden behind an integral dark visor ; a dog costume with a skirt, dark stickers, and what seemed like hospital clogs at her feets. From behind, Chat with his greater vision could see a pointy caramel tail behind.
In her hand, she was playing with the ball they had seen just then, and it didn't need long to guess how everything had happened.
"GrRRrrRRR! yOu uSElEss wIzARd!"
"You're talking about him? " came another woman's voice from behind the small heroic group, pushing a worn out wizard covered in yellow stings out one of his teleportation portals.
With literal stylised wings on her back, she matched perfectly the dark and yellow rays of her hornet costume. Similar to the other one, her face wasn't to be seen behind the motorcycle-like visor she wore. She looked taller but Ladybug noticed it was due to the long and large heels she was wearing.
"..Vesperia?" could only whisper with a quivering voice Ladybug in recognition.
At her side, yet another younger teenage girl wearing literally Volpina's outfit, jumped near the wasp superhero like an overexcited flea.
"So how was I Aunty? I was cool for my first time illusion, right?! He totally fell in the trap haha! When I'm going to tell Mom about that! I bet Uncle Noir will be impressed too! "
The adult simply giggled.
"Alright alright 'Newbie', it's not over yet."
"Ah! Yes yes, Roger! Focused! I'm all focused! I'm extremely focused! "
With that said, the fox miraculous holder securitized the akumatized object and broke it for the older one to catch the butterfly into a peculiar translucid cage. The wizard's surface dissolved in dark bubbles to let appear a small scholar old man with a mustache as impressive as his akuma form. The time the duo joined them helping the man up, Emma summarized with a smug face.
"So? Told you reinforcements were coming! We're safe now!"
Relief and smiley faces returned into the small group. It might have felt like they were robbed of their battle, but they weren't exactly complaining about it. Still floating by, the akuma felt the situation had reversed for the worst. Miss Hound had gained control of the few remaining cannons left in her armada, his being also reduced to about 6 or 7 of them. He would need time to make some other pop, and thus couldn't make his laser barrier like before. And the icing on the cake was that the wizard, his only emergency door, had been defeated leaving him uglily outnumbered.
" 1 vS 9? ThiS iS uNfAir…"
"Mmm? For someone who pretends to be catching mice, you're quite easily overwhelmed. You should know wolves hunt with a pack to be stronger. As well as cats sometimes, like me! "
Okay, make it 10 then.
The new deep voice gave goosebumps to not only the akuma, but also Ladybug and Chat Noir.
"No way…"
Of course, when they had heard about reinforcements from the future, there was a little part in their mind prepared to face their future self. But, similar to when they met their children, this…this was a new step in accepting the incredible reality offered by the all mighty powers of miraculous. The first thing that struck them was how intimidating Chat Noir looked from up there, standing on the edge of the left side building. The immediate comparison with Black Panther rang in the mind of the moviegoers, with that indestructible looking material yet showing all the muscles accumulated through efforts underneath. Some green strips were added over time on the disguise, and even if they couldn't see the cat's green eyes behind the visor, they could guess them shining behind with contained demeanor. Some familiar features remained, like the stick; and his senses of joke it seems, although the tone of his voice wasn't as malicious as Chat could get. Maybe a bit drained off actually for the knowing ears, but nothing transpired outside. Because from the outside, Future Chat Noir looked undeniably powerful and imposing. Perfect Shooter aimed all cannons at the incoming menace, and in response, Miss Hound shot some of them, while Chat deployed his stick, not moving from the roof he was standing for yet. He didn't need to put any strength, because as soon as the stick would touch one cannon, it would be reduced to ashes in an instant. In no time, no more cannon were left, and the akuma had no choice but to flee, only to meet Vesperia as he turned away, launching from her heels a series of stings he couldn't avoid.
The now immobilized villain almost crashed to the floor, but was rescued by the misfortune Hero, who cataclysmed his guns, freeing the victim from his curse.
That is how the battle was over, as the Lucky Charm had predicted.
At the exact end of the battle, Bunnyx's portal opened, startling Ladybug and Chat Noir. Really, enough was enough with the jumpscares! Their hearts had been quite tested all over these last hours already!
"Fiouu! Sorry for being so late! Thanks to you all and (unintentionally) Monarch for distracting them, I could escape my stalkers and finally reach the future! I wouldn't have done it without all your efforts! But where's Louis?"
"I'm…I'm here…"
The raven haired man and Alya had waited for the battle to be over before showing up, although the reporter was pesting against her camera for not catching a thing. Louis looked pale, but was returning to his normal state little by little. He still felt greatly embarrassed by the display he had offered when he turned to the past superheroes, his cheeks red with shame.
"Sorry about that… I can be quite the drag in an akuma battle…"
Chat Noir only gave him a comforting smile, while Ladybug responded.
"Don't be. It's thanks to you, the miraculous was repaired and the reinforcement could arrive."
"How do you know about that My Lady?"
"Ah! Well! Uhm…you see, I've met him before…I've charged him to do that when I've seen him…"
The man facing them only snorted, knowing how they would find this conversation stupid if they actually knew who was under each other's mask. Talking about masks, all the fighters involved were starting to join in. Ladybug and Chat, Marinette and Adrien, were now facing adults and children of tomorrow. Hugo had de-transformed, drained by the energy he had to use up but still high fiving Xuppu for their performance. Among the new faces, the fox miraculous holder also dropped her transformation out of tiredness and collapsed on the floor, revealing a brown colored skinned girl with half fuzzy hair curled into a coil , and a red sportswear with sneakers on.
"Waa, what a drain Trixx! I think I can't move a muscle anymore! I hope the Sports class is canceled or I'm dead! "
"Hihi, you will get used to it M(bubble)! It was a great start!"
"Everyone's scolding me but Maya's got the right to use a miraculous! She's only 2 years older! "
" Hugo " said the soft voice that now Marinette could really recognize as Zoe, " We had no choice since Al..you-know-who was out of Paris at the moment. Besides, Maya had to always follow me and obey me according the Rules; which I remember someone telling me you didn't exactly follow a few times before."
Ouch, his past mistakes were always surfacing with a different person everytime it seemed. Hugo sighed in defeat.
"Yes fine I get it.." he started to pout, but immediately stopped when he heard the soft but firm call of his name again. His eyes darted to the older cat man dragging around the ex-shooter akuma victim, a college student with two arcade guns in hands, to find the portal to get back home. The boy didn't think twice before running to him and hugging him tightly with all the strength he could manage.
'Papa..'
It wasn't because it was whispered that the word couldn't reflect the intense emotions of relief he was feeling right now. Of course he hadn't been alone, he had even met his teenage father and his big brother. But no one could replace his real Dad, the dotting and protective one who would always come to search for him no matter where he hid. He felt tears coming again, and cursed himself about how frail he actually was since he had been teleported here. He was never again treating Louis a crybaby ever, because he sure was a pathetic one as well. The fabric of the costume didn't permit the aged-up Adrien to share warmth with him, but he nonetheless tied his son in a strong and secure embrace, expressing his alleviation.
" Shh. I know you were scared. But I'm here now. We will bring you back home."
They stayed like this for a couple of minutes before Hugo finally let his paternal figure free for him to reach to the others. Ladybug and Chat watched in silence and uneasiness the older man approaching, until he seemed to notice the gaze and decided to lighten the mood in his own way.
"Oww, My Lady! You are as cute as I remembered in my memories! No wonder I fell for you more than once!"
Marinette swore she could actually figure how his Cheschire smile sounded.
"Cat's got your tongue it seems? Well, It doesn't surprise me, even I would be flabbergasted in your position, seeing how generous time has been on me! Oh wait, I can even ask myself about the matter, haha!"
He heard both his sons growling in the corner and his hidden smile spread even more. Being flirty with their mother while gently embarrassing them was his newfound preferred Dad's activity over the past years. It didn't work on Emma though, because she would laugh at any of his jokes so teasing her was more difficult. He didn't know how the Marinette from this period would react, but seeing her cheeks reddening and an incoherent slur escaping her lips, he felt in heaven. Granted, his wife would probably hear about it, but even if he couldn't be attracted by her teenage self (seeing how he was now in his forties, ya know) , he couldn't help the wave of good memories from that time he shared with her resurfacing.
Finally, Ladybug managed to speak more clearly.
"Arg! You're still the same no matter the years it seems!"
She mumbled a bit, before shyly interrogating him.
"So..you know who I am in the future?"
The man tilted his head. Of course, she would be bothered by that question.
"Yes My Lady."
"And…what has been your reaction? When uhm…you've discovered who I was?"
He paused. He wasn't going to give her details, because it went very different from what she would imagine. Their identities were discovered completely by accident, as it was more difficult to hide superhero extra-activities from your other half for long. But he would never forget the moment his epic girlfriend revealed to be the superhero he always admired and he had loved since the beginning, along with the one who had lied about his father and him being a sentimonster to protect his feelings and sanity. Quite the rollercoaster, but yet…
"It was one of the most beautiful days of my life." he stated softly, as the sentence that could summarize it entirely. To this, Marinette had been put deep in thought, blushing and melting under his gaze ( even if she couldn't see it), and so, he had turned toward the other remaining silent hero of the past. It was certainly a weird feeling to see his past version, and probably even more for the Adrien he used to be. Said Adrien didn't know what to say, he was simply mesmerized. If he hadn't met Hugo or Louis earlier, maybe he wouldn't have been able to face his future self, fearing what would await. But now, he knew that a lot of positive events were going to happen, along with its share of negative ones, but a future he would nonetheless want to reach.
"So uhm….you're….future me right? How's it..uhm…in the future?"
He had literally the occasion to question his future self, and he asked…this? How lame could his phrasing be, seriously. It was ridiculous, he wanted to slap himself for being intimidated by himself!
The other one remained silent, and made a few steps toward him. Ladybug unconsciously understood the need for privacy, and instead reached for the other ones, notably Zoe and Sabrina she wanted to talk with. Even the boys got the message, while Emma, Haruka, Billie and Maya had already circled around an hysterical Alya interviewing them.
The man stopped a few meters before the child-he-was-once in silence. Probably he didn't know what he could say, how he could say it. The first thing that he did was pushing the button on the side and turning it halfway, in order for his visor to fall down a bit, revealing the upper part of his face above his nose.
"Like this, I feel it is better for us to talk. The visor feels quite..informal. I guess you have questions, I definitely would. I can't really give you too many details but I think I can give you some advice. However, before so, I will need to know which year we are in this era."
"We're in 2023."
"O".
Adrien saw how pained his future counterpart looked like, before he heard himself sigh.
"2023 was as much a good year as a very, very complicated and emotionally draining one. You're going to have to face obstacles you've never gone through before, and your love will be put to test. But if you manage to pass through, no matter the events afterward, even if there's bad moments you will forcibly have to face, then you will have matured enough to finally build your own future, and be one of the most lucky person among the unlucky miraculous holders."
His eyes motioned in one way and Little Adrien followed, before smiling at the Dupain-Cheng Agreste brotherhood in complete.
"Yeah…I can see that. But I feel already lucky to be honest. " he smiled and guessed his future self was doing the same seeing how his eyes bent.
Suddenly, a familiar dial tune rang, forcing the future chat to interrupt the conversation momentarily. Seeing who was calling him, he fastly picked up the line, only for his past self to hear a very familiar voice full of worry.
"Chat, We've secured Paris over here. Did you find them?"
"Yes My Lady, I'm with them just now, in 2023 ! Everyone is alright it seems. Bunnyx is currently preparing the spell to bring everyone back and repair the time continuum."
"Thanks to all Kwami gods…" Future Ladybug let out a very long and relieved sigh " It's been almost a whole day we've been fighting and there's still so much to do. Bring them back and let them rest at home, they deserved it. We will see each other afterward."
"Yes my Love."
Past Adrien almost choked on his saliva. He swore his future self was smirking when he noticed his spontaneous reaction.
"Did I say Love? Lady, Love…two words beginning by L. So easy to make the mistake really! I should go with Sweetheart next time! "
"...Chat, who are you talking with?"
"Would you believe me if I told you it was with myself from my teenage life ?"
Current Chat Noir could hear sighting noises in the speaker.
"Really, you're incorrigible! Stop messing with the poor thing, you're giving him the wrong idea! He's already a girlfriend, I should signal you."
" Oww, did I hurt your feelings? I will make sure I pay for it tonight."
"Hush you dork! You're starting to sound embarrassing. We've still work to do and I dearly hope Alix's spell does work because if not, I will skin you alive for messing around."
"I know I know, I haven't been slacking, I promise. See you soon, Love."
"See you soon Chaton."
And he hanged just like this. This conversation made no sense for current Chat.
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"That, with Ladybug?"
" A normal conversation in the future! We know each other after all so it's easier to tease."
" That wasn't just teasing…but I don't understand, aren't we married in the future to M.."
"Shh. Can't tell you about it sorry. Don't worry, we're doing nothing wrong to our family if that's what you're worried about!"
And he just ended the conversation like that, adding a wink. Frustrated, Adrien felt he had been given an important clue, but he might be such a klutz he didn't see what it could be….
"Lucky Charm!" yelled Ladybug, in order to restore the plaza's state. It was much more pleasant to discuss that way than in a desolated warzone. The three akuma victims were helped to walk through the portal, especially theformer multi legged akuma; a wounded man who wasn't steady on his feet wearing a patient outfit from a hospital. Miss Hound notably discussed a bit with him, something about reaching associations and psychological help if he needed to. While watching her do in a distance, Marinette felt the gaze of one of her older friends.
"Wow, it does feel strange seeing you so small."
"Uhm…you're Zoé right? "
The tall woman got her visor down, revealing a punkish woman with short hair and a few piercings. The hair and skin colors were off because of the magic, but knowing her identity made Marinette recognize her trait, although the way she grinned showed a very much more independent and confident woman than the current Zoé.
"Not too difficult to guess, since it's you who've given me my miraculous."
"And.. is it you Sabrina?"
Miss Hound, having joined them in the meantime, nodded.
"Hello Ladybug. Yes, it's me. I do remember I wasn't really a good friend back then…I'm sorry about all that."
"Ah uhm…don't worry, I know it's Chloe's fault."
"Chloé…Yes…you know, I had good memories of her, even if we could qualify it as a toxic friendship in hindsight ."
"Well, I'm still in contact with my sister nowadays and she's got a lot better than in the past, although we haven't seen her since she left…"
"Since she left? Where?"
"That, It's a secret!"
Zoé winked to a confused Ladybug, before pointing at her ears to remind her of something important.
"Oh shoot, the detransformation! I've to go! Chat, see you later!"
The cat waved at her before finding it a good idea to detransform for the goodbyes as well.
"I need to go too! It was nice to meet you all!"
They both found an empty place not too far to detransform, only for them to come back, to all the future protagonists' amusement.
"Seriously, can't we tell them they don't need to hide their identity's anymore?" Hugo suggested, eyeing his brother.
"No…We don't want to spoil that moment for them here.."Louis said, although he didn't tell the most important reason they should be quiet.
So instead, when Marinette and Adrien got back and saw each other, they first ran, Adrien catched his girlfriend mid-air as she threw herself in his arms before kissing, relieved that the other was safe and sound, in the purest glee that their innocence and ignorance could permit.
"I'm so glad you're safe…These akumas looked pretty nasty!"
"Yes, me too! Fortunately, powerful allies came to help Chat and Ladybug…"
"Yes…about that, I wanted to tell you something…it's about Hugo, the boy with me…"
"Ah, Well, i wanted to also talk about Louis…Actually…euh…Well….how to say…"
They looked at each other, not knowing if it was a good time to discuss about this delirium of time travel children, also ignoring what the other one knew about it. Only for Alya to interrupt them.
"Guys! "
They both turned to find the promising journalist bringing Maya along in a mild strangleholding position while the younger girl was grimacing in defeat.
" It's my DAUGHTER from the future!"
"Bouhou….Vesperia, I'm so sorry! I can't hide anything from her even in this era! She's too stubborn!"
"That's because you're reacting just like Nino ma chérie! He can't hide anything from me! I really need to teach you how to gain a foothold in the future!"
Both Marinette and Adrien blinked twice before laughing. Alya had accepted the whole ordeal so fast compared to them, it was fascinating how she could adapt so quickly to merely any situation encountered. A clapping noise attracted all attention to the center of the place, where Bunnyx stood before the portal.
"Alright, I've completed the spell! It's time for the goodbyes before I launch it!"
All good things had an end it seemed. The time travelers all gathered before the portal, while the golden trio watched them with a bit of sadness. There were still so many questions, so many details from the future they wanted to get a hold on. Adrien and Marinette felt a pang in their heart watching their children smile at them, the girl jumping like a grasshopper from excitement, not being able to stay in place.
"It was so nice to see you like this! Keep being the perfect couple ever! I ship you super hard! Teehee! "
"Me, Billie and my Sweeties wish you our farewells ! If only I could stay and watch your faces when you discover all your deepest and dirty secrets….I was just kidding, don't look at me like that Uncle Noir! "
"Yey, we would , like, NEVER do that, right! And how could we? By stealing the rabbit miraculous like? Pff! Nonsense! "
Older Chat glared at his nieces' insinuations (he knew better what they were capable of) , before making a quick 'farewell' gesture to the pastlings, patting his older son on the shoulder, and disappearing into the portal behind the children enthusiastically chatting. Then, the rest followed one by one, waving at them. Finally, Bunnyx ended the cortege, having one last thing to explain.
" I've to go search for all the children of tomorrow who are stuck here to bring them back to their area. For you though, it will last a millisecond while for me it might take an hour or two! Afterward, I will open a wider portal to exchange back the past and future souls from the one that already existed in this era and restore the time continuum, so don't be surprised by it! "
"About that…Louis told us we will not remember anything right?"
"What really? Are we just going to forget everything on the spot?!"
Alya and Adrien didn't like the idea one bit.
"Not exactly on the spot. There's a lot to correct, it will happen gradually…..I've never done it before so I will say…about 3 days? You will not even notice it."
"No…I don't want to forget…please." begged Adrien, sensing Marinette massaging his hand in a way of comfort.
"I'm sorry, but that's how time is. There's probably a parallel world where you keep all your memories, but I don't want to take the risk. It might be too huge and some of the children might just be annihilated from existence if I do so. Or some of us wouldn't be alive in the future…."
It was a convincing warning to make them all understand what was at stake and accept the conditions. The trio was left, waving back one last time at their time traveler friend, before the portal disappeared.
In the ending afternoon, they saw a beautiful multicolor portal in the sky and what looked like a rain of lights.
Note :
So, it is nearly the end! Thanks you all the readers that made it to this chapter haha! I know the OCs are always tricky in the lifetime of a fanfiction ( and the difficulty to use english as efficiently as I would like), but promise there will be no more than the ones here, because the next chapter will be the epilogue! This chapter had a lot of things I've added from the original content, and there's a few point I want to explain. Unfortunately, I would have wanted to add more interactions between the future and past protagonists but I felt it would be too long and maybe redundant.
1) At the end I introduced a bunch of characters and as you saw, upgraded all their powers, as I did for Pandora (Lila) with her akuma curse :
- Miss Hound is notably able to fetch multiple object AND take controls of them, as hers! The controlled devices are taking another color to visually show what she got control of.
- I've though of multiple evolution for Chat's power. Cataclysm balls of power Dragon ball style; A gun able to shoot bullets that can cataclysm for example ; but I felt even Future Adrien wouldn't risk such a weapon, because if the akuma took an hostage, he might cataclysm someone! Of course, I could say He need to snap his fingers or something to cataclysm, but still, a bullet is still too violent for him. So instead, he is able to use any object to be the extension of his arm when cataclysming. Since he do fencing, he can pinpoint exactly the place he want to cataclysm and maybe control the amount of it!
- For Vesperia, I immediately though of Bayonetta with her heels gun, throwing paralytic needles. Basically, Like Chat, the idea to use your competence in a distance. Although, there need to be a significant amount of needle and not just one because if not she would be too OP I guess!
2) You might wonder why, knowing Bunnyx will repair everything, all the future protagonists still don't want to tell the whole truth and their secret identity to the current teenagers; while Louis revealed about his filiation with Marinette easily. I've though about it and concluded : If Marinette or Adrien were told before the correct date or if Hawkmoth got a wind of the infos ( with sneaky journalists for example) , the scenario of Chat Blanc could happen in the meantime, or one of them being akumatized. If Hawmoth get a hold on the miraculous before loosing the memory and make his wish, the changing of reality will alter the future despite Bunnyx' powers. The future protagonists cannot taking that risk, also knowing Adrien's amok is still in his father's hand and he could get akumatized.
That's it for the explaining, but if you have questions, do not hesitate! o/