When Worlds Collide

by darkkey19

We've seen what happened when an alternate version of Ladybug and Cat Noir came to the world of the series. But what would happen if one of our heroes were to be sent to another world. One where both Ladybug and Cat Noir were much the same, but events had transpired just a little differently. A world where Ladybug and Cat Noir are "stronger together".

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4-Peacock

So, I'm bending the rules a little and making how the miraculous function a little more similar to the main universe than is displayed in the movie, but I don't think it's a big change. You'll see what I mean.

This chapter is a little shorter, so I'm going to try and post the next chapter next weekend.

---

"Shaking Natalie off of my tail took way longer than I thought. So, I figured I might as well pick up an early lunch along the way."

Adrien nodded appreciatively, taking a bite out of the pizza Cat Noir had brought. All three teens sat on the stage of the theater, enjoying the street pizza his counterpart had purchased on impulse. He'd also brought a sleeping bag and some other basic supplies like a charger cable for his phone, and a couple of handheld games to help Adrien pass the time. He'd also decided to stay in costume to help his Marinette tell them apart.

"You guys have some good street food here." Adrien said, conversationally.

"Bet it beats anything you've got back in your universe." Cat Noir challenged.

"Dream on." Adrien fired back, taking another bite.

Marinette sat back in a relaxed posture, clearly enjoying the gentle banter between the three of them. Tikki was still making headway on the pastries that her holder had brought with her, and Plagg was steadily doing the same with the pizza. Considering the Kwami's obvious food preferences, Adrien suspected this was a regular meal for them.

"Oh," Marinette suddenly chirped, pulling out her phone. She flipped through the screen for a while before turning it to show Adrien a picture. It was a photo of herself and his counterpart in formal dress; clearly the party she had mentioned earlier.

"A masked ball?" Adrien asked, incredulous.

"It was a little ironic," Cat Noir chuckled. "But that was when she called out to me, calling me Cat Noir and told me I could call her Ladybug." He glanced toward his girlfriend and smiled. "One of the best nights of my life, no question."

"Same." Marinette agreed, grinning back.

Adrien looked at the two of them and nodded to himself. "So this is what it looks like from the outside."

The other two looked at him questioningly.

Adrien smiled at them. "All our friends went out of their way to help my Marinette and me come together as a couple. I knew they wanted to see us happy together, but it always felt unfair how much they were doing for us. But now I think I can see why." He looked to the floor, still smiling. "If my Marinette and I are the same as you two, then I can finally see the appeal." He looked back up at them. "Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng are just that cute of a couple."

"We call ourselves Adrinette, for the record." Marinette stated, matter-of-factly.

"We're trying to get it copyrighted," Cat Noir added, "but that's taking a while."

Adrien barked out a laugh at that, pounding his fist on the stage floor.

"You two had that much trouble figuring things out?" Cat Noir asked.

Adrien nodded. "Marinette had been crazy about me for so long, but I was oblivious."

Cat Noir nodded his head in a way that conveyed, Been there, done that.

"But after I finally figured out how I felt about her, and told her I'd fallen for her, she finally started to be able to open up to me more. To relax enough that she could really be herself around me." He chuckled to himself as he remembered their game of Marinette raising her hands to his questions. Looking to his counterpart. "I don't know about you, but I'm not always the best when it comes to noticing things unless I'm paying attention. But once I am paying attention, I don't miss much."

"Well, I'd like to say the same, but I suspect a certain someone might argue with me about that."

Marinette just snorted.

"Anyway, once we got to that point, it was pretty obvious how she felt about me, but she couldn't get the words out. Our friends helped me serenade her with a love song and Nino even tried to set up a romantic movie set type thing. But she couldn't say it."

Both Marinette and Cat Noir looked at him incredulously. When he nodded his confirmation, both started laughing.

After they calmed down, he continued, "I don't know what changed exactly, but at one point she just caught me outside of the house one evening, right by the gate. She said it wasn't how she planned it, but she finally told me she loved me. I told her how magical it felt to me." He grinned at the pair in front of him. "It wasn't a masked ball or anything, but it felt perfect to me."

"Sounds like an 8/10 moment to me." Cat Noir said, in a jokingly critical voice, as if he were trying to pretend he were a movie reviewer. "No special occasion? No flowers or doves flying around? Acceptable, but not perfect."

It was Adrien's turn to snort, taking another bite of pizza.

"It is weird that my counterpart had so much trouble." Marinette mused. She looked at Cat Noir. "I was nervous around you too, at first, and I had a lot of trouble working up the nerve to ask you to the masked ball, but it sounds like it wasn't anything like as bad as what my counterpart went through."

"I wonder why she had so much trouble." Cat Noir questioned.

"Well, that's not hard to answer." Adrien answered nervously. "We have our Chloe to thank for that."

"Why am I not surprised?" Marinette muttered. Cat Noir just shook his head.

"Basically, she convinced Kim to pull a prank on my Marinette a year ago that involved a love declaration." Adrien explained with an ugly look on his face. "I'll spare you the details, but I think it really traumatized my Marinette. To the point where she completely freaked out and was having panic attacks when she was reminded of that day."

"That bad?" Marinette asked.

Adrien nodded. "Kim explained it all. I don't think he understood exactly how much he had upset my Marinette, mostly because Chloe had convinced him to do it as a prank." Adrien closed his eyes. The memory of Marinette being hurt like that still made him angry. "The guy got akumatized a little while after me and another friend told him off for what he'd done. Kim thought we just didn't understand his sense of humor. And I can honestly say that's the only time I've ever actually wanted to hurt someone who was akumatized, not just save them. But anyway, that's why she had so much trouble opening up."

Cat Noir and Marinette were quiet at that. Both seemed stunned.

"I'm not sure which one I think is worse in that situation." Cat Noir finally said. "The one who thought something like that was just a joke and never figured it out. Or the one who planned it and struts around like a peacock."

"Well, to be fair, Kim did apologize after we confronted him and made him realize how terrible it was." Adrien countered. "Chloe, on the other hand, wouldn't apologize even after I confronted her. That was the event that made me cut ties with her."

"I think that answers your question." Marinette said, looking at Cat Noir and sounding satisfied.

Adrien perked up as he thought of something. "Speaking of peacocks," he started slowly, "There's something I wanted to ask about. What happened with the peacock miraculous? Did you manage to recover it too?"

"Peacock miraculous?" Two voices asked in confusion.

Adrien sighed. Well, that answers that, he thought. He began to explain about Mayura, the peacock miraculous, and how Hawk Moth had become Shadow Moth when, unexpectedly, Plagg jumped into the conversation.

"In our universe, Master Fu lost two of the Miraculous, the butterfly and the peacock." the kwami explained. "We don't know how they wound up in the hands of you-know-who, but despite not getting the butterfly back, the peacock ended up in the hands of my holder's cousin Felix."

"Felix?" Cat Noir replied in shock.

Adrien nodded, eyeing Plagg. The kwami usually explained things using some metaphor involving cheese. He must still be angry at Felix. Adrien thought.

"Do you think that happened with our Master Fu?" Marinette asked nervously.

Adrien considered. "I'm not sure. If he hasn't mentioned it, then maybe not. And if you haven't run into senti-monsters before, then there's a good chance no one has used it. But on the other hand, you should probably know about it, and be wary of Felix. He's the one that actually stole the miraculous in our universe."

"What?!" Cat Noir exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"Yeah," Adrien continued gravely. "He ended up trading almost all of the other miraculous for the peacock. He eventually used it to create a senti-monster that made almost everyone in Paris just vanish. I managed to make him realize exactly how much damage he was doing, how terrible he was being, so he undid the damage and brought everyone back."

"Wait, what's a senti-monster?" Marinette asked.

Plagg entered the conversation again, explaining how Duusu's power worked, but Adrien was focused on Cat Noir. He seemed shocked by the news that Felix had performed such terrible acts. Even if it had been a different version of Felix.

"We don't know for sure that he'll try something like that here." Adrien told his counterpart carefully.

"No, we don't." Cat Noir agreed, sitting back down. "But I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on him if and when he comes to town."

"That's probably best." Adrien admitted. "But don't judge him based on the actions of the Felix from my universe. Besides, my Felix learned his lesson in the end, and has been working, I think, to make up for what he did. Unlike Chloe, he became a better person when given the chance. Odds are your Felix could be the same, if you reach out to him the right way."

A tense silence followed their exchange, and just as she had the night before, Marinette attempted to ease the situation by making a drastic change in the subject.

"So, what are you going to do with your Ladybug when you get back?" Marinette asked, in a nervous and strained voice. "You have a new Hawk Moth to deal with and they have the butterfly miraculous. That means you have to worry about exposing your Ladybug's identity if you get akumatized."

"Like either of us would ever get akumatized." Cat Noir scoffed. "In any universe." He seemed to be eager to have a new subject to discuss.

"I get what you mean." Adrien admitted. "I once said pretty much the same thing to my Ladybug. But after the whole mess with Felix, I wanted to do better as her partner. So I stopped trying to convince her to agree to us revealing our identities."

"So, what are you going to do?" Marinette repeated. "She doesn't know who you are, but you know who she is. I know you're happy to know my counterpart is your Ladybug, but isn't knowing that kind of risky? And I'm sure you want to tell her your identity now, but do you want to put that kind of pressure on her too?"

Adrien leaned back on the stage, looking at the ceiling again. He'd been avoiding thinking about this, mostly because he knew that this Marinette was absolutely correct. As much as he believed that he'd never let himself become akumatized, especially now that he had more reason than ever to protect Ladybug, he knew that there was always the chance it could happen. A thought that he'd been trying to suppress worked its way to the surface of his consciousness at that moment. There probably was a way to fix this.

"I guess I could always forget what I found out here." Adrien said morosely.

Cat Noir sat back on the stage and Marinette looked at him curiously. Clearly they were both thinking the same thing. You think you can just forget something like this?

"With a little help." Adrien answered their unasked question. "One of the other miraculous, the miraculous of the rooster, can grant pretty much any ability that isn't granted by another miraculous. It's one of the ways to travel to other universes. But I bet it can also grant the ability to erase memories too."

"Wow, that sounds like an incredible miraculous power." Cat Noir said, grinning. "I wonder what all you can do with it."

Marinette smacked his shoulder, glaring at him.

"It's mostly limited by the user's imagination." Adrien explained, preventing Cat Noir from retaliating. "So it can probably fix this situation."

"That feels so unfair." Marinette lamented. "You finally have the chance to knock down all the walls between you and your Ladybug. And you're just going to forget who she is? I know I'm the one that brought this up, but isn't there anything else you can do?"

"I don't know." Adrien admitted. "The only thing that's ever protected against akumas is a magical charm. And that's a catch 22."

"Magical charm?" the other two asked, once again in unison.

"Something my Ladybug came up with." Adrien explained. "She was frustrated that people kept getting akumatized over and over again, so she figured out a way to use the energy from the purified akuma to create a charm that protected the person from being akumatized again." Marinette perked up at this, but Adrien shook his head. "Won't work. Each charm has to be made for that specific person, which means we'd have to be akumatized first. And that defeats the whole purpose."

Marinette looked crestfallen. Cat Noir however, looked thoughtful at this. "So what would happen if we tried to make them using our butterfly miraculous?"

It was Adrien's turn to perk up, but this time, Plagg interrupted. "That plan has more holes than swiss cheese. For starters, Ladybug can make a magical charm if you get akumatized, but assuming you tell her your identity, how do we make one for her?"

Marinette started to speak up, but Adrien cut across her. "I know what you're thinking, but since you've never seen them being made before, I'm not sure you could make the same thing." He turned to face Plagg. "But I've watched Ladybug make the charms plenty of times, and I've used her miraculous. I think I can probably make one for her."

"But that means you'd need to akumatize each other separately." Plagg argued. "Meaning we'd need two akumas. Nooru's power can only produce one akuma butterfly at a time. Purifying it to make a magical charm would mean it couldn't be used a second time. And there's no telling how long it would take for a new one to regenerate. Like properly aged cheese, good things take time. If we could get our hands on the kind of butterfly used to make akumas, that could speed things up, but who knows how long that would take."

Adrien went quiet, but this time it was Marinette's turn to solve the problem. "But what about that akumatized villain that sent you here? We're going to travel back in time to right when you arrived here right? If we go back to your universe with you, and break the akumatized object when we get back to your universe, then capture the akuma without purifying it, couldn't we use that?"

Adrien perked up at her words, but Plagg shook his head. "Even if we try that, how do we get you guys back home? We'd need to use up both akumas to make the charms, so we wouldn't be able to use Nooru's power to get you two back here. We'd have to wait until a new one could be made, and it's not a good idea to have two of the same miraculous in one universe for too long."

Cat Noir looked curiously at Plagg, who nodded sagely. "It messes with the whole 'balance of the universe' thing. Me being here even a few days is pushing it. And like I said, there's no way to tell how long Nooru's power takes to generate a new butterfly."

"But what about the rooster miraculous?" Marinette inquired. "Couldn't we use that to get home after making magical charms?"

Plagg paused at her words, but then went on. "But even if we manage to pull all that off, magical charms have been overpowered before." he said.

It's almost like he wants me to forget what I learned here. Adrien thought, confused. Out loud, he said, "Unfortunately, Plagg's right about that part. Eventually, we started having to deal with megakumas, more powerful versions of akumas. Those were strong enough to break through the protection of magical charms"

"Sugar cube's power alone wasn't enough to block them." Plagg agreed.

But these words made Adrien start to think. If Ladybug's power alone wasn't enough…

Judging from the looks on Marinette and Cat Noir, they were thinking along the same lines.

"With the power of all the other miraculous, there has to be some way to make it work." Cat Noir mused. "What about the rooster miraculous? You said it can grant other powers. Maybe it can grant the power to boost magical charms?"

Unexpectedly, the local Tikki piped in at this. "Unfortunately, Orriko's power, the rooster kwami, can't grant powers that interfere with other miraculous powers. He can't grant someone the ability to expose a holder's identity, for example. He can boost the holder's power, but not the effects directly. So that probably wouldn't work either. And by the way," the red kwami glared at the black one, "don't call me, or my counterpart, sugar cube."

Plagg just gave a toothy grin.

Everyone was quiet at that point. Adrien was thinking his way through what he knew of all the different miraculous powers. His counterpart was right, there had to be some way to make it work.

"If only we could conjure some venus fly trap for akumas." Cat Noir joked.

Marinette, however, seemed thoughtful at that. "What about the power of the peacock?" she asked. "Plagg, you were saying a little bit ago that the peacock miraculous creates senti-monsters, creatures that can have strange powers." She looked at her own kwami. "Could a sentimonster stop an akuma, or help protect against one?"

Both kwamis went still at these words. Plagg looked reluctant, but Tikki seemed intrigued. "That could work, maybe. If you had a strong enough emotion to go along with the senti-monster, it might be powerful enough to help protect against akumas."

Adrien, feeling a rush of hope, said, "That plus the power of magical charms should be enough to protect against getting akumatized! If we use the magical charms to hold the amoks, that should add the powers together to protect us."

"You'd need an extremely strong emotion to make a senti-monster powerful enough to guard against akumas." Tikki warned. "Do you think you'd want to avoid getting akumatized enough to make something like that?"

"No, I don't." Adrien admitted. "Plus, if I created a senti-monster to protect myself that way with the magical charm, I could throw the charm away if I got angry enough. People have done that before." He paused, and looked at Marinette. "But there is someone that I want to protect enough that I could definitely make a senti-monster like that."

Marinette caught on immediately. "And I know she'd want to protect you the same way."

"Especially," Cat Noir threw in, "if she were to find out who you were. Which could actually be a good reason to tell her your identity."

Adrien felt himself getting even more excited and hopeful. A valid reason for revealing his identity to Ladybug? And a good argument for keeping his own memories of her identity? This was fantastic!

Rational thinking interrupted his sudden excitement in the form of the kwami of creation. "Look, I'm not trying to spoil your excitement. I've seen how happy my holder and your counterpart are as a couple, and they've been able to work together even after finding out their identities. But do you really think this is safer? Or is this just an excuse to be able to remember what you've learned?"

Adrien looked at Tikki and felt himself deflate a little. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she was right about his motivation. He was mostly looking for a way to avoid forgetting his Marinette was also his Ladybug, assuming she really was, and to have a reason to tell her his own identity. That doesn't mean that I'm wrong to want that. Adrien thought to himself. Knowing each other's identities could allow them to watch each other's back more, even out of costume. So there was a strategic advantage to the situation; it could make them a stronger team. But if he was being honest with himself, that truth was also an excuse. The real reason he wanted to remember was because it meant he got to know that the girl he loved was his partner, and his partner was in love with him in turn.

"Maybe she's right." Adrien admitted slowly. "Maybe it is safer for me to forget. We lost the miraculous once already, that's the whole reason my Ladybug handed them out to permanent holders. So we're trying to be safer about them."

"Wait a second, your Ladybug handed out the miraculous to the current holders?" Cat Noir asked, suddenly more alert.

"Yes," Adrien confirmed. "After she recovered them."

"Then that means she knows the identities of all the other holders, right?" Cat Noir continued.

"She does." Adrien confirmed again. "What's your point?"

"So what would happen if your Ladybug were to be akumatized right now?" Cat Noir asked.

Adrien stopped short. His counterparts' last two questions melded in his mind, and he realized a truly terrifying possibility. "That would expose everyone on the team, not just her." Adrien whispered. How had they never thought of that? Even before, when Ladybug had kept all the miraculous and handed them out when needed, if she had been akumatized, she might have handed over the miraculous to Monarch herself. She'd always been trying to prevent the black cat and ladybug miraculous from falling into Monarch's hands, just in case either of them ever got akumatized. But as long as she knew all of the other holder's identities, then that created the possibility of something nearly as bad. "She doesn't know my identity, but every other miraculous holder's identities could be revealed to the new Hawk Moth." Another thought occurred to Adrien at that moment. "And I don't know all of the holder's identities, but I do know about half of them, which means if I got akumatized, that could expose them just the same. If either of us get akumatized, we could lose the miraculous all over again!"

That realization rocked him. Before, when Ladybug was holding all the miraculous, his getting akumatized would only have lost his own miraculous. But now, he could endanger half the team and their miraculous that way. He still believed that they wouldn't let themselves be akumatized, but he also knew that it wasn't smart to take that chance.

"I doubt Orikko's power could erase that much information safely." Tikki pondered. "If you and your Ladybug have known the holder's identities for a while, trying to erase all of that could really mess up your minds. It could even end up like how Guardian's lose their memories when transferring ownership of the box. Worse case scenario, you could end up with total amnesia, including forgetting who you are." The kwami looked to the ceiling. "Maybe this magical charm senti-monster plan could be for the best after all."

The three heroes all looked excited. Adrien still felt nervous by his sudden realization, but this plan could alleviate that a great deal if it worked. Plagg looked like he was trying to find another angle to argue from, but couldn't find one. Yeah, something is going on with him. Adrien thought.

"Just think it over for the next couple of days." Tikki cautioned. "Make sure you've thought it through, carefully, before we get you home."

"I will." Adrien promised. "And this whole plan depends on what my Ladybug thinks too. I'll need to convince her it's a good idea for this to work."

The conversation between the three moved to lighter topics, such as how the local heroes liked to spend their time or the times Adrien had to use the Ladybug miraculous. Cat Noir's and Marinette's favorite part of that story had been the way the Lady Noir had acted under the influence of the black cat miraculous.

While they chatted, at Adrien's request, Marinette pulled some colored pencils out of her bag and did a sketch of the dress she had worn to the masked ball. Adrien wanted to be able to show the design to his Marinette. He thought it was the perfect design for her to use for a dress to the party his aunt was throwing next month, and he wanted to be able to show it to her.

The conversation moved toward extra curriculars, and Adrien was unsurprised to learn his counterpart participated in the Darjan Cour fencing club. It doesn't sound like they've met Kagami though. Adrien thought to himself. I should probably mention that to the other me later, when his Marinette isn't around. Adrien knew he wasn't the most romantically savvy person in Paris, but even he could sense it wasn't a good idea to mention his past relationship in front of this Marinette. And I should probably warn the other me about Luka too, he thought, but then reconsidered. Or maybe it would be better to warn Marinette about Luka. Better to keep either of them from growing jealous? He decided to think more on that subject before approaching either of them. He wanted to make sure to present that information the right way to avoid a lover's quarrel.

"The big match with the other fencing club is the day after tomorrow." Cat Noir informed him.

"Hmm." Adrien wondered. "Then maybe Cat Noir should make an appearance in public that night."

"You mean you?" Marinette asked.

"Could make for a great alibi." Adrien shrugged. "If I make a big enough spectacle, and it's well known that you're in the match, then you're set. Nobody will ever figure out who you are."

"The matches are usually televised." Cat Noir said slowly.

"Perfect." Marinette exclaimed, hugging Cat Noir.

Eventually, Marinette asked for some music to accompany their afternoon. Both Cat Noir and Adrien sat at the piano and performed an upbeat duet for her entertainment. Marinette danced around the stage in time with the music they played. Adrien was so surprised by how coordinated this Marinette was that he nearly messed up the song. As much as he loved his Marinette, she was one of the clumsiest people he knew. This Marinette was far more certain on her feet, and applauded her piano players after they concluded their song. Asking for space to perform a solo, Cat Noir started to play a softer melody.

"I recognize this song." Marinette said, her voice filled with emotion.

Adrien just looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

Cat Noir answered first. "It's the song I played for her on our first date." he grimaced, although his fingers didn't miss a note. "Best, and worst, first date ever."

Marinette winced at that, but said, "Don't look down on that night too much. That memory means a lot to me. It helped me realize something super important."

"Fair." Cat Noir admitted, still playing. "But I try not to think about how it ended."

"Equally fair." Marinette agreed.

"I can relate." Adrien muttered. "She told me earlier how that night went for you guys."

Cat Noir laughed. "I bet you took rejection better than I did. The next day, not only did I break the heart of the most wonderful girl ever," he blew a kiss to Marinette, who smiled in return. "but I was so depressed, playing sappy music full blast on headphones, that I nearly missed half the city being destroyed."

Adrien's eyes widened and he looked to Marinette, who nodded. "That was the day of the final battle with…Hawk Moth."

Adrien looked at Marinette curiously. Why had she hesitated just now? But instead, he asked "Seriously? Your first date was the night before your final battle with him?"

"Yeah," Cat Noir shook his head then looked out toward the seats surrounding the stage as he finished playing. "It was a pretty big shock when I took the headphones off and saw Father destroying the city."

Plagg winced. Marinette and Tikki both nodded in agreement with Cat Noir. Adrien was too stunned to process what Cat Noir had just said.

"Didn't know it was him until the end of the fight, of course. I don't know how things went down with you, but our fight with him got ugly." Cat Noir continued, completely oblivious to the bombshell he had just dropped on his counterpart. "In the end, he blasted off enough of my costume to recognize me." his voice softened. "I guess even as far off the deep end as Father was, fighting-"

"What? What are you talking about?" Adrien finally blurted out. He looked from Marinette to Tikki, from Tikki to Plagg, and from Plagg to Cat Noir.

"Well," Cat Noir said, clearly still unaware of the storm brewing inside his counterpart, "I mean I guess I was able to pull Father back from the madness that drove him to become Hawk Moth, and helped him to…."

Cat Noir trailed off, finally noticing the look on Adrien's face.

Adrien couldn't speak. His hands were shaking. His mouth was agape. His eyes were wide.

---

So, this was the central idea that helped inspire this story.

For more than half the show, I was dissatisfied about the reason for keeping their identities secret from each other. Not until the episode Ephemeral in season 4 do I remember having a valid explanation for it. And I kept trying to figure out a way to get around the worries of them getting akumatized. This is what I came up with. I figure combining the powers of several miraculous can protect against akumas, even megakumas.

Of course, we'll have to see what Ladybug thinks, and what will happen now that Adrien has learned the truth about his father. How will he react, to both the knowledge that his father was Monarch, and the knowledge that almost everyone in his life was keeping this information from him? One way to find out.

See you next time!