And so here we are with chapter 2. This is where things start to get a little more interesting, and where, I suspect, you'll start to get a better feel for my writing and what I'm trying to do with this story.
Read on, and hopefully, enjoy. And just a heads up, I'll try to get these chapters out every couple of weeks.
Chapter 2-When heroes collide
Cat Noir had fallen into Hole Spacer's rifts multiple times that evening, so the darkness didn't surprise him. He wasn't even surprised by the lurch he felt as he accelerated in leaving the darkness. But he was surprised by how long he was in the dark. Specifically, that he wasn't sure how long it was. Part of him felt it was only an instant, while part of him felt it was for hours. It seemed like he hadn't had time to do more than gasp while part of him had felt so tired that he'd had time to think an entire day's worth of thoughts before it was over. Cat Noir had expected to have to rely on Ladybug or the rest of the team to help him escape that blackness, but after an indeterminable amount of time, he was once again hurtling through the night sky of Paris.
Cat Noir was again disoriented by the sudden change in direction and light, but after a few moments he regained enough awareness to realize he was flying past the Eiffel Tower. Reacting on instinct, he whipped out his staff and extended it to catch on the tower and give himself the leverage to halt his fall. Taking a moment to steady himself, he turned his gaze toward the field where Ladybug and the others had been. But what he saw made him blink and rub his eyes.
"I must have been hit in the head or something."
Below the black clad hero was a crowd of people enjoying what appeared to be a calm and quiet evening. Ladybug, Caprikid, Rooster Bold, and King Monkey were nowhere to be seen, and the field was completely undamaged.
Ladybug and the others must have stopped Hole Spacer already, Cat Noir thought to himself. And Ladybug used her Miraculous Ladybug to repair the damage, which brought me back. But where'd they go?
Reasoning that the most practical way to find out what had happened was to contact Ladybug or the others, Cat Noir climbed over to the side of the tower, pulled his staff loose and collapsed it, and slid down the tower to the ground. He was just opening his staff to its communication form when he heard a scream. Pulling his staff back to its weapon form, he shifted to take a fighting stance and face where the scream had come from, and found himself face to face with a crowd of civilians holding cell phones.
"Look! It's Cat Noir!"
"Where?"
"Over there!"
Before Cat Noir could so much as get a word out, a small mob of people (mostly teenage girls) had surrounded him, asking for autographs and pictures, cellphones in hand. While trying to keep a polite expression on his face, inwardly Cat Noir groaned. This hasn't happened to me since that time outside Marinette's family's bakery. Some of the more aggressive individuals attempted to take selfies with him, but the jostling of the crowd made that all but impossible. Cat Noir did everything he could to extract himself from the situation in a polite manner, but he quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. Shoving away his admirers as gently as he could, he slammed his staff into the ground and used it to launch himself into the air again.
Pushing off the ground a few more times, Cat Noir found a building to press up against and peer around to look for the crowd he had just escaped. He didn't see any sign of them, which prompted a sigh of relief.
I am nowhere near old enough to be complaining about people being addicted to their cellphones, Cat Noir thought, collapsing his staff again, but I'm really tempted to start doing it anyway. He turned away to try and find a route to escape to a private location and contact Ladybug, only to find himself facing another crowd. And judging by the number of cellphones being pulled out, this group was just as enthusiastic to meet him as the previous one.
This could take a while.
Half an hour later, Cat Noir found himself doubled over, panting, in an alleyway several boulevards over from where he had started. He couldn't remember the last time it had been so difficult to escape crowds of civilians. They were much more enthusiastic than usual, and it even seemed as if there were more people on the streets than he usually saw. He'd ended up running around in circles trying to get away, and even rooftops hadn't been an effective escape option. Most of the buildings close by had terrace roofs, and the clear night and warm weather had many people inconveniently enjoying the evening where they could easily spot him.
Cat Noir didn't understand why the people he'd run into had reacted so excitedly. He'd drawn crowds more times than he cared to recall, both as Cat Noir and as Adrien, but he couldn't remember ever seeing a more excited and enthusiastic mob of fans. The thought of the crowd's enthusiasm made Cat Noir slide down the side of the alley until he was seated.
Suddenly remembering why he had originally wanted to after falling out the sky, Cat Noir pulled out his staff in its communicator form and finally reached out to Ladybug, but it went straight to voicemail.
She probably finished things up and transformed back already. Cat Noir thought, realizing that it had been a while since the fight with Hole Spacer. It made sense, but he had to admit that he was a little hurt that Ladybug hadn't stuck around to see that he was okay. Or maybe, Cat Noir thought, a terrible idea coming to him suddenly, it's not that she didn't wait to see if I was okay. Maybe she thinks that I'm NOT okay. If she knows that I went into that portal, she might have assumed I didn't come back out. And never would.
The thought made Cat Noir uncomfortable, but reassured himself with the knowledge that he didn't know for certain that's what Ladybug was thinking. And even if it was, he would make sure to let her know that he was okay as soon as he could. On the upside, since nobody other than Luka knew he was Cat Noir, then Natalie and Marinette wouldn't have to worry about Adrien disappearing.
Cat Noir was just deciding whether the area was deserted enough for him to transform back when he heard the sound of quiet footsteps making their way toward him. Cat Noir closed his eyes, and was preparing to pick himself up to make another escape, when he heard a familiar voice.
"What in the world are you doing here?"
That voice jolted Cat Noir awake. That was…
Glancing over, his eyes confirmed what his ears told him. Marinette stood, only a few feet away from him, with an expression of mingled concern and disbelief all over her face. Cat Noir felt a smile on his face before he quickly controlled his expression. He couldn't act like Adrien right now; the charming kitty-cat act was much better in this situation.
Climbing to his feet, Cat Noir immediately sank into a formal bow. "Good evening, Marinette." Unbeknownst to him, this prompted a look of complete bafflement on the girl in front of him.
Skipping the pleasantries, she proceeded in a business manner. "I was in the courtyard by the Eiffel Tower. I saw you fall out of the sky, and saw the crowds of people chasing after you, and I only just managed to get away a moment ago. What happened?"
Cat Noir found himself answering as he stood back up. "There was an akumatized villain by the tower earlier, we-"
"Impossible, an akuma?" Marinette asked, sounding horrified and shocked.
"Yes." Cat Noir confirmed. She seems completely startled by that, he thought in surprise. And I've seen her face down Lila when she was akumatized with a crowd of hypnotized people backing her. He continued, "But considering the state of the area, I'm sure it's been handled by Lady-"
"Tikki, Spots On!"
Cat Noir froze; his brain could not compute what had just happened in front of him. It can't be…there's no way…how can…impossi…what? he thought.
Ladybug was looking around, as if expecting to see something around them; when she didn't appear to find anything, she turned back to him. "Okay, I don't know how this is possible, but where is this villain now?"
Cat Noir didn't say anything. He was still too shocked. Both at the knowledge that was staring him in the face, and the idea that his partner (and apparently girlfriend) would expose her identity so freely. But as difficult as it was to accept, every passing moment provided additional proof to what his eyes were attempting to relay to his brain. The girl he loved was Ladybug.
Wow, he thought, the first coherent thought he'd had in over a minute, The girl I'm in love with, that I'm dating, is Ladybug. How crazy is it that I can say that in a completely different way now?
Ladybug appeared to only now realize that something was going on with her partner. "Cat Noir?" she asked cautiously. When that didn't get a response out of him, she drew closer to him. "Adrien, what's going on?" Ladybug whispered, concern written plainly all over her face.
That penetrated the haze surrounding his brain. She knew who he was? What was happening? She'd always insisted on not knowing his identity. And now she was casual enough about it to call him by name even in costume?
But fate didn't appear to be in the mood to take it easy on Cat Noir that evening, as just as he was starting to regain the feeling in his legs, one more surprise came pelting around the corner of the alley. If not for the gargantuan surprise related to Marinette/Ladybug already silencing him, this surprise would have stunned him.
"Ladybug, what's going on?"
Ladybug looked back at the newcomer, and in that moment all three individuals in the alley shared the same look of confused disbelief.
Ladybug, and both of the two Cat Noirs all seemed dumbfounded.
The red and black spotted superhero defrosted first. WIth a sudden lashing of her arm, her yo-yo flew out and entangled both of the Cat Noirs.
"Sorry about this!" she called, as she jumped up and out of the alley onto the roof of the closest building. Thankfully, this rooftop was out of sight of prying eyes, as she dragged both Cat Noirs along with her. She spread the two of them apart, both lying on the rooftop, but held her yo-yo string tightly to make sure they were both completely bound.
"Okay, whichever of you is the real Cat Noir, I'm sorry, but this seemed way simpler than you two arguing back and forth, pointing the finger at each other."
"Okay," the second Cat Noir, the one that had come to the alley last, said simply, completely unperturbed. The first Cat Noir just nodded, still stunned by all this.
"All right, where did we have lunch today?"
The first Cat Noir hesitated. He and Marinette had had lunch at her house while she worked on her designs, but he got the feeling that wasn't the answer she was looking for.
The other Cat Noir spoke up before the first one could make up his mind on what to say. "Trick question. We were going to meet up for lunch, but you had to cancel to help," he glanced at the other two occupants of the rooftop, appearing to choose his words carefully, "your best friend with her sisters."
Ladybug visibly relaxed, and loosened her yo-yo string to release the second Cat Noir.
Wait, he knows her identity too? Well, that made sense. If this Ladybug had thought he was this other Cat Noir, a Cat Noir that already knew her identity, it was logical that she would be willing to transform in front of him.
As he saw, well…Cat Noir, climb to his feet, the still tied up Cat Noir finally blurted out the one thought that had been with him since he saw Marinette transform. "What's going on here?!"
The two standing superheroes looked at him. "That's what we'd like to know. Are you some kind of leftover akumatized villain?" Ladybug asked, still holding her yo-yo string like a lasso.
"Or some other kind of enemy?" The Cat Noir on his feet asked. "You're way too good an imposter to just be some kind of Cat Noir fanboy. You look just like me."
The bound Cat Noir took a deep breath. He had no clue what was going on, but at least the two in front of him were trying to talk this out instead of fighting it out. That seemed like a good sign. Hopefully they could reason their way to finding out what was going on.
It was difficult to sound calm while still tied up, but he gave it his best shot. "Okay, I'm not entirely sure what's going on here, but I'm not akumatized or some other kind of villain." He looked toward Ladybug and thought about what she had said to him after finding him in the alley. Trusting his instincts, he made a gamble. "My name is Adrien Agreste, and I'm the holder of the black cat miraculous, and I go by Cat Noir."
The standing Cat Noir grew visibly angry at this. "That's a lie!" he burst out. Ladybug kept her composure better, but she too was clearly shaken by this. The Cat Noir lying on the rooftop breathed out a sigh of relief; clearly they had already known his identity. He guessed as much since this Ladybug had addressed him as 'Adrien' earlier. But that only confused him more. Who were this Cat Noir and Ladybug, and how did they know who he was?
Taking advantage of their momentary hesitation, the tied up teen managed to sit upright. Looking at the Cat Noir and Ladybug in front of him, he realized that this Cat Noir did indeed look exactly like him while in costume. And the Ladybug couldn't have looked more familiar to him, from the pigtails to her costume. This Cat Noir and Ladybug were indistinguishable from himself and his lady.
This Cat Noir and Ladybug, he thought. Then it hit him. This wasn't the first time he'd met another holder of the black cat miraculous, or a second holder of the ladybug miraculous. When Betterfly had come to his universe, his and Ladybug's counterparts had followed. Had he done something similar?
Just as the pair standing in front of him started asking questions, the seated Cat Noir spoke up. "W-Wait, wait wait. I think I figured out what's going on." That halted the other two briefly, but then the standing Cat Noir replied. "Make it fast, imposter."
"Okay, first, I'm not actually an imposter, and I'll prove it." Trusting his gut again, he made another gamble. "Claws in."
This got less of a reaction than his declaration of his name, but Adrien wasn't surprised by that. He'd already claimed who he was. But the appearance of a black kwami as he transformed back certainly got their attention.
"Plagg?" Both Ladybug and Cat Noir called out in surprise. This finally startled Ladybug enough times for her hands to slip on her yo-yo string. Stretching out his arms, Adrien reached into his shirt for camembert for Plagg. His sudden action made Cat Noir draw his staff and point it at him, but Adrien just calmly held up his hands, and slowly took his miraculous off and set it on the rooftop in front of him.
"Look, I can't transform now. So just let me explain. I'm not an imposter." Adrien looked to his kwami. "This is like what happened with Betterfly, isn't it?"
Plagg floated up toward Cat Noir and Ladybug, looking them over. "Sure looks like it." he called, and floated back. "Only this time you and this Cat Noir are two slices from the same block of brie."
Adrien laughed. "Okay, this is going to sound a little crazy, but I'm guessing you two are pretty used to that." Adrien tried not to look at Ladybug. It was easier to keep his attention on the matter at hand that way, instead of thinking about Marinette being Ladybug-
Focus, he thought.
"Basically, I'm another version of you from another universe." Adrien forced out, mostly at Cat Noir, "If you guys want proof, one of your kwamis should be able to back me up on that." he explained as simply as he could.
The two heroes looked at each other as if to confirm they had both heard what he said. Ladybug gave a slight nod of her head. Stepping back, she said, "Spots off."
Adrien thought he was ready for it. He'd seen her transform earlier, and the knowledge hadn't been forgotten. But watching Marinette Dupain-Cheng, even another version of her, appear as Ladybug disappeared was enough to stun him. Her kwami appeared over her shoulder, just as expected.
Tikki took the macaroon that Marinette handed her, and then floated over to examine his miraculous. She then floated back toward Cat Noir, examining his ring the same way. Finishing her food, Tikki floated back to her holder. "Both those black cat miraculous are real, so he must be telling the truth. He's another version of you." she said, looking at Cat Noir.
This prompted a discussion, or perhaps interrogation, with the red kwami. Adrien found himself not following the conversation. He was too distracted by his mind being forced to circle back to the notion of Marinette being Ladybug, although he did hear words such as "parallel worlds" and "stick to the basics".
Adrien looked at Plagg and gave him a beseeching look, and nodded to the Marinette in front of him. Plagg tried to pretend not to notice, but when Adrien glared at him, Plagg gave him a look that plainly said, Later.
This Marinette might be Ladybug, but that doesn't mean mine is, he thought. That was certainly possible. While it was clear that the Cat Noir in front of him was another version of him, and Paws Noir had also been another version, he'd never actually confirmed that the ladybug miraculous holder that had come to his universe was another version of his Ladybug. She probably was, but since his lady had never confirmed it, he couldn't know that for certain. But on the other hand, this Marinette looked identical to his own Ladybug when transformed. And if their costumes reflected who they were, as Plagg had once told him, then could his Ladybug be anyone else?
Marinette had never been akumatized, that he knew of. He'd seen Marinette with Ladybug once, as a temporary holder of the mouse miraculous, but Adrien had pulled that trick once too, with Wayhem as a stand in. And that time with Multi-Mouse happened right around the time Plagg and Tikki were discovered in our school. Adrien thought, another clue that pointed to Marinette. Besides, with the power of the fox miraculous, it wouldn't have been difficult for her to create an illusion to cover her tracks from Cat Noir. Now that Adrien thought about it, Ladybug had taken back the mouse miraculous that day right in front of him, out in the open, which was something she'd gone out of her way to avoid doing after she became guardian. She hadn't wanted him to know the identities of the temporary holders if it could be avoided. But that one time, it was as if she'd wanted Cat Noir to witness Marinette and Ladybug together. And there was only one explanation for why that would be.
Do I want her to be Ladybug? The thought came to him, in an effort to make sense of his emotions in that moment. Part of him, a very excited part, screamed "Yes!" at him as loud as it could. Knowing that he was dating the girl that he'd fallen for and loved for so long, only to fall in love with her again, made him feel like he was flying. But as much as he wanted to, he couldn't completely ignore the part of him that knew that his lady had always guarded their secret identities with good reason. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew she wouldn't be happy knowing that he knew her identity.
Of course, he'd probably still need to guard his own identity around her. Security aside, she might not be happy to find out that the boy she'd been in love with for so long was secretly the partner that she'd clearly been annoyed with time and time again. Adrien grew nervous at that thought. What would happen if she did find out? Ladybug had turned him down enough times. Would finding out Adrien was Cat Noir be enough to make her reject him? Although, Adrien considered, she did seem very interested in Cat Noir for a while there. What was that all about? Had she given up on me as Adrien by then?
His chaotic musings on that subject were interrupted by the pair in front of him. It appeared that the two of them had finally been convinced by Tikki that the Adrien Agreste in front of them wasn't some kind of imposter, but was in fact another version of Cat Noir. Both of them still seemed somewhat bewildered by everything (which Adrien could appreciate from his first experience with other dimensional visitors) but they seemed far more friendly than they had a few minutes ago. Reaching down, Cat Noir offered, "Sorry about all that, uh, brother?" He seemed awkward, as if not entirely sure what to say. Adrien laughed and took his hand, climbing to his feet.
"And after I fell out of the blackness, I landed in your Paris. You know what happened after that." Adrien finished.
His audience had been very attentive as he had relayed the story of how he had arrived in their universe, although he had to sidetrack several times to explain some events that hadn't occurred here. It had shocked the pair that in his universe Master Fu was no longer the guardian and that Ladybug was. The idea of other miraculous holders had excited them, although Marinette had seemed oddly reserved about the topic after a few moments. Learning that Hawk Moth had become Shadow Moth and later Monarch after stealing the other miraculous had made them gasp in surprise, but both had relaxed when Adrien explained that his Ladybug had managed to defeat him. The story with Betterfly, Paws Noir and the alternate Ladybug in particular interested them, considering they were essentially experiencing the same thing. They'd also been surprised to learn that Adrien and his Ladybug hadn't recovered the butterfly miraculous. Adrien in turn had been stunned when he found out that his counterpart had defeated Hawk Moth before any of the events he'd talked about had been necessary in this universe.
He had needed to pause the story at one point when Marinette got a phone call from Alya, where Marinette had to spin a story about being swept away by the crowd of people chasing Cat Noir. It was made easier by the fact that the story was half true, but judging from Marinette's answers, Alya hadn't seemed upset. Especially after Marinette had reassured Alya that she hadn't just snuck off to be with Adrien and then told Alya she'd managed to get a picture of Cat Noir as he had run from the crowd and promised to send it to her. Both Adrien and Cat Noir had shaken with silent laughter as they realized they would need to stage this picture.
One question that had been explained more simply than he had expected was how and why they knew each other's identities. Marinette had admitted that in the final battle with Hawk Moth, Cat Noir's mask had been damaged enough to reveal part of his face beneath, which was enough for Marinette to recognize him. And after the butterfly had been recovered, Marinette had felt safe in revealing herself to him as Ladybug.
As Adrien finished his story, Marinette started talking animatedly, trying to make sure she understood everything Adrien had said. Cat Noir didn't say much, nodding along and giving the occasional comment.
Watching his counterpart made Adrien pause. He had so far avoided mentioning his father, and he sensed that there was something Cat Noir was holding back as well, probably for the same reason. His experience with Paws Noir proved that some events were common between the universes, like their mother's death. Some things had transpired differently in this universe, but Cat Noir's hesitation suggested this wasn't one of them.
Adrien slowly looked his counterpart in the eyes, and at that point he knew for sure they were thinking about the same thing. "I'm assuming Father-" he started slowly.
"Yeah." Cat Noir interrupted, looking down. "Yeah." His tone made it plain that he didn't want to discuss it further, and Adrien felt the same.
A horribly uncomfortable silence followed this exchange, and Marinette, looking desperately back and forth between the two of them, blurted out. "Okay, I'm sorry, but there's something I need to understand. Chloe got a miraculous? Chloe?!" Her expression was a comical mixture of anger and wide-eyed disbelief as she spoke. "How in any universe does that make sense?"
Adrien couldn't help but laugh. He had to give this Marinette credit; she had obviously been trying to distract them, and it had worked. Cat Noir looked at him, an equal amount of disbelief in his eyes.
"The first time it happened," Adrien said, still smirking, "was kind of an accident. I'd been taken out of commission by an akumatized villain, so I couldn't back up my Ladybug. So, she went to Master Fu, he was still the guardian, and borrowed a miraculous to give to someone to have them help."
"And she picked Chloe?!" Marinette demanded.
"Well," Adrien admitted, "I'm not sure who she actually intended to give it to that first time. The way that whole situation was explained to me was that she dropped it on the way back to the fight, and it sort of ended up in Chloe's lap. The crazy part is, before we managed to get it back from her, she transformed in front of a whole crowd of people exposing her as a miraculous holder."
Marinette and Cat Noir looked at each other. It could not have been more obvious that both of them wanted to prevent such an event from ever happening in their universe. At all costs.
"After that time though," Adrien went on, "we sort of let her try it out on a trial basis here and there. And she wasn't a bad teammate for a while, when she wanted to be. But because she had revealed herself as 'Queen Bee,'" Adrien paused to smile and nod as Marinette and Cat Noir rolled their eyes, "my Ladybug and I decided it was too dangerous to keep using her. There were some other allies we trusted at the time, and we relied on them since no one knew who they were. But that wasn't good enough for Chloe; she thought we didn't appreciate her, so she willingly worked with Hawk Moth to steal the miracle box."
Marinette and Cat Noir gasped. "That's how…?" Cat Noir began.
"No." Adrien interrupted. "We managed to get the miraculous back that day almost immediately. Losing the miraculous happened later. But that's the event that caused Master Fu to transfer guardianship of the box to my Ladybug." Adrien paused. He had experienced some unfortunate things since receiving his miraculous, but that day stuck out more than most. It was their first real defeat against Hawk Moth. "Anyway, we got the box back, and Ladybug exiled Chloe from the team."
Adrien shook his head. "I haven't always agreed with how my Ladybug has handled things, especially since she became the guardian. But that's one decision that I've never questioned."
He looked to his counterpart, not noticing that Marinette had narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't know how things went down with you, but Chloe was the first friend I ever had, so I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt and gave her the chance to be a better person. Several times." he admitted. "But eventually I realized the kind of person Chloe, well, my universe's Chloe was, and I cut ties with her."
The silence that followed this story was heavy, but not nearly as uncomfortable as the previous one.
"Can't say that I've ever had that bad of an experience with Chloe," Cat Noir started slowly.
"I've come close." Marinette interjected, glancing at him.
Cat Noir huffed a laugh. "But I'll be sure to remember that we shouldn't trust her with a miraculous. Your Chloe sounds pretty much the same as ours."
"As much as I'm enjoying listening to reasons why we shouldn't trust Chloe, and believe me, I'm going to be taking notes on everything you've told us when I get home," Marinette commented, sounding completely sincere, "we should probably focus on how to get you home."
Adrien just shrugged. "Well, you guys have the butterfly miraculous right, or Master Fu does?"
Cat Noir nodded slowly, looking concerned. "Is that a good idea? I don't want to akumatize anyone."
"We can just do the same thing Betterfly did." Adrien shrugged again. "And create kamikos instead of akumas."
"Nooru's power isn't meant to be used to create villains, but heroes." Tikki commented, speaking for the first time in a while. "As long as you focus on positive emotions, it'll be fine."
"Then I can akumatize, or kamikotize…" Marinette said, testing out the word, "my Adrien into someone with the power to send you home."
"That's basically what we did before."
"But to do that," Cat Noir argued, "we'll need the butterfly miraculous. And Master Fu has it."
"Do neither of you know where he is?" Adrien asked, growing nervous for a moment.
"Oh, we know where to find him, usually." Marinette answered. "But he's out of town. He's reporting to the other guardians about everything that's happened with the miraculous in Paris. Sort of an annual meeting or something. He said one of them in particular was very insistent on speaking with him."
"Probably master Su-han." Adrien muttered.
"He won't be back for a few days, and he has the miracle box with him." Cat Noir added. "So we'll need to hide you for a while."
Adrien started to worry at that comment. It would be one thing to explain Cat Noir being missing from his universe for a few days. But Adrien? They couldn't go back in time-
Adrien deadpanned as he remembered the powers of the other miraculous.
Marinette and Cat Noir continued, oblivious to his inner monologue, but were clearly thinking along the same lines. "Maybe we could try to contact Master Fu sooner." Cat Noir suggested. "It'll be difficult to hide his identity if he disappears for exactly the same time as his universe's Cat Noir."
"But he left his phone behind. " Marinette argued. "And we don't actually know where the meeting is. Any ideas, Tikki?"
"Hold on. I don't think we need to worry, as long as we can get Master Fu to let us use one other miraculous. The rabbit."
Tikki perked up. "Of course, Fluff's power can send people through time, so you could travel back to the moment this Adrien appeared in our universe, and use the butterfly to give yourselves the power to send him back, then come back to the present with Fluff's power again. Perfect."
Adrien laughed to himself at how a plan using the most powerful objects in the universe to transcend time and space could sound so simple.
"There's a miraculous that can send people through time?" Cat Noir asked, amazement written all over his face.
"Sure is."
"In that case, we just need a place to hide you for a few days, like you said. What do you think about the theater?" Marinette suggested.
Theater?
"That could work." Cat Noir mused, his face shifting to a pondering look. "If we grab a sleeping bag and food, it would make a good camp out spot. There's a bathroom and showers and everything. And we already have that mini fridge for drinks."
"Perfect!" Marinette beamed.
"But it's probably too late to get you set up there." Cat Noir commented, pulling out his staff to check the time. "You want to crash with me for the night?"
Adrien nodded, feeling a little strange to be offered a place to stay with himself.
Cat Noir chuckled, clearly realizing how unusual his offer was as well.
"Then let's meet up at your place tomorrow. I can swing in through the window and show him where the theater is." Ladybug offered. She turned to Adrien, "I'll bring a toothbrush and things for you," she turned back to Cat Noir, "so why don't you grab a sleeping bag and some simple snacks like granola bars or something and meet us there later, to make sure no one sees two Cat Noir's or Adrien's at the same time?"
"Sounds like a plan to me." Adrien answered, holding up his right hand in a fist.
"Plagg, claws out!"
"Tikki, spots on!"
And so that was chapter 2. What will happen now that Adrien has learned, or suspects, Marinette's secret? Will other secrets be revealed? How will Adrien react if they are? What other differences have occurred in this universe? Only one way to find out readers. Please feel free to comment/review.
See you next time!