Chapter 12-The Words
Time to get back on track with the greater story. Will the partners be able to create senti-beings to protect each other? If so, how will they work? Will any other complications arise? And is that all that will happen in Mumbai?
Let's find out.
Upon arriving in the city of Mumbai, the two heroes made straight for the address that Kagami had sent Marinette. They were a little early, but were pleased to see two familiar figures on top of the World One skyscraper, illuminated by the orange red light of the setting sun.
"Welcome to India." Argos greeted them politely. Ever since he had been made an official member of the Paris superhero team, his entire demeanor had changed. After having been shown a better way to help people, he had proven himself eager to try and make up for his past mistakes, and been far more personable than he had been previously, even as Felix.
Of course, the influence of a certain fencing champion likely played a role in his transformation too.
"Did something happen, back in Paris?" Ryuko asked in a business-like manner.
"Something did," Ladybug began, a small laugh escaping her, "a lot did, actually."
Both Argos and Ryuko looked startled for a moment, but Ladybug rushed to reassure them. "It's not a bad thing, at least I don't think it is. It's a long story, and we'll explain it, but the short version is, Cat Noir and I think we found a way to make ourselves akuma proof."
That got a stunned expression from both Argos and Ryuko. Ryuko's expression broke first and was replaced with reserved joy. "That is wonderful news. How did you do it?"
"And what exactly do you need our help for?" Argos asked, his expression curious.
Cat Noir huffed a small laugh. "Well, to start with," Cat Noir answered, reaching into his belt, "Ladybug and I were able to make magical charms for ourselves." He pulled out his own magical charm. It was shaped as all magical charms were, and colored in all black, with yellow lines encircling the Ladybug spots.
"And Cat Noir figured out a way to build on their protective power, to make sure we don't ever get akumatized." Ladybug finished. She pulled out her own magical charm, which held a standard Ladybug pattern, red with black spots.
Again, Ryuko and Argos seemed stunned, but they both recovered at the same moment, and simultaneously asked.
"How did you make magical charms for yourselves without getting akumatized?"
"How are you planning to build on the power of the magical charms?"
Argos and Ryuko looked at each other, laughed sheepishly, and then looked at Ladybug and Cat Noir, slight grins on both their faces. Cat Noir grinned right back at them, and after a moment, so did Ladybug.
"Get comfortable, you two," Cat Noir said, settling down on the rooftop. "Like Ladybug said, It's a long story."
And so, Cat Noir started to explain everything. From getting blasted into another dimension, to running into his and Ladybug's counterparts and coming up with the idea for protecting themselves with their counterparts' butterfly miraculous. He couldn't reveal that he had found out his partner's identity, so that shortened the story a good deal, but he did include that he had found out Monarch's identity. Argos had already known, and apparently, Ryuko had known too.
Despite his frustration with one of his closest remaining family members, Cat Noir had managed to do as his partner had asked and kept his tone civil as he had explained what he had done and experienced when traveling to a parallel world. He had been surprised when finding out that Ryuko had known his father had been Monarch, but he realized he shouldn't have been. It made sense that Felix would tell Kagami, but he wasn't sure how he felt about it. He supposed that they, like Marinette, had only wanted to protect him from the truth, but the fact that Felix had told Kagami but not him made Cat Noir feel more frustrated. At least Marinette hadn't told anyone else about his father.
Although, now that he thought about it, he should probably confirm that with Marinette.
At one point during the explanation, Ladybug had suggested having Duusu or Longg join the discussion to help support the existence of other universes. Argos volunteered, and after feeding Duusu a piece of fruit from his pocket, Felix had asked the peacock kwami for confirmation about what Ladybug and Cat Noir were telling them.
"Oh absolutely, there's an uncountable number of other realities out there." Duusu squeaked out cheerfully. "More than you can imagine. You're really lucky that you found yourself in one so similar to ours."
"No argument here." Cat Noir agreed. "And even luckier that they were willing to come to our universe to help us."
"Speaking of," Ryuko asked. "Where are your counterparts now?"
"Back in Paris." Ladybug answered. She'd let Cat Noir do most of the explaining of the situation, since it was mostly his experience, but she had insisted on making sure their counterparts were okay before leaving for Mumbai. "We'll send them home with the power of the rooster miraculous in a couple of days, but they were going to relax and keep an eye on the city while we flew here. It's not likely another akuma will hit so soon, but you never know."
"Which means we should probably get down to business and see if this idea of yours can even work." Felix said, nodding to Cat Noir. "I don't like the idea of creating senti-beings casually, but I suppose if they're being used to protect both of you, that's not casual use. Especially if that means you're going to keep them long term." He looked to his kwami Duusu as if to ask her opinion on the matter.
"I don't know if it'll work." Duusu chirped. "Nothing like this has been tried before. But I'm willing to give it a shot if you are." Her tone was optimistic, but with an edge. As if she saw this idea as a challenge for the power she represented. "I think I should warn you though, since this has never been tried, we don't know what kind of side effects a senti with this kind of power might have."
Cat Noir hesitated. He hadn't considered that there might be side effects to using Duusu's power. If there was a risk to using the peacock miraculous this way, then maybe they should take more time and think things through.
"I'll go first." Ladybug volunteered, interrupting Cat Noir's thoughts, and stepping forward to hold out her hand to Felix. He complied, handing over the peacock broach to Ladybug.
Cat Noir restrained himself from stopping her with difficulty. He knew his lady had always taken the more cautious path when deciding what to do as Ladybug. Either she had decided that this unknown risk was outweighed by the risk of exposing every team member's identities if they were akumatized, or Ladybug didn't want to forget his identity even more than he'd thought. Regardless, he decided to leave the decision to her. He had told her the previous evening that he trusted her judgment. Now was the time to prove it.
"Tikki, Duusu, unify!" Ladybug cried out. As the energy of the two respective kwamis appeared in each of her hands, she clapped her hands together and a bright light flashed before them all. When the light cleared, a new hero stood where Ladybug had been. Her appearance was similar to her standard costume, with only subtle differences. Mostly, some of her spots had turned to blue, her hair had taken on a more soft blue coloring.
"Call me…Plumage Bug."
Cat Noir snorted in amusement, and though Felix and Ryuko both tried to hide it, both had grins on their faces.
Plumage Bug rolled her eyes. "Okay, not one of my better names, but you think you can do better?" she challenged. "What do you call a fusion of Duusu and Plagg?"
"Fowl Noir," Cat Noir replied simply.
Plumage Bug rolled her eyes again.
"You'll need to concentrate entirely on the emotion you want to channel into the senti-being." Felix instructed. "I've only used Duusu's power a few times, but I understand how it works. The words you speak and the emotion you channel will shape what is created. In your case, it's a desire to protect. Part of that is fear, but don't let fear take control, or you'll end up with something monstrous. Focus on how much you care about the person you want the senti-being to protect." He said that last part awkwardly, glancing at Cat Noir. Cat Noir hid a smile. Felix may know that he was talking to Marinette, but he didn't know his cousin was also on that rooftop with them, which likely made the whole situation slightly uncomfortable for him.
Plumage Bug nodded.
"It helps if you have something specific to focus on." Felix continued, stepping back and standing next to Ryuko. "You and Cat Noir have never been akumatized, but focusing on preventing that should help."
"Actually," Plumage Bug said slowly, "that shouldn't be a problem."
Cat Noir stared at his partner in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Bunnyx, the future Bunnyx," Plumage bug explained, looking at Cat Noir, "asked for my help with something once. It's something that shouldn't happen after today, but she wanted me to fix a future where you'd been akumatized. And it was…bad." Her tone made Cat Noir think that she was drastically understating things. "I'll tell you about it some other time, I promise. It's something I don't like to think about."
Cat Noir stared at her. She had never mentioned anything about this, but it did make him realize something. "That's why you've always been so against us knowing each other's identities. Because you knew something like that had happened, or could happen," he whispered.
He didn't press her about how bad the situation Bunnyx had shown her was, but he made a mental note to get the full story out of her later. This was another secret she had kept from him, but for once, he couldn't hold it against her. It would have been entirely logical for her to have told him about it, since it strengthened her argument against revealing their identities. She must have been viciously unsettled by the experience not to have used it when she insisted on maintaining their ignorance, and the look on her face told him exactly how uncomfortable the subject made her.
Plumage Bug just nodded.
"That's a perfect concept to focus on." Felix decided. "Concentrate on how much you don't want to ever see the sight you saw that day ever again." He turned to Cat Noir. "Do you have anything like that you can use to create a senti-being?"
Cat Noir nodded. "I do." He had been thinking about this topic since Marinette's counterpart had suggested the idea. "Mine isn't a memory, it's a nightmare. Courtesy of Nightormentor." He realized he said the last part through gritted teeth. Relaxing his jaw, he continued. "He showed me a vision of everyone around me crumbling away to ash. Everything just being destroyed. And the one closest to me in all of that was…you." He looked to Plumage Bug.
Plumage Bug caught his eye and her expression was so forlorn that Cat Noir had to turn away.
"It's not because of you getting akumatized, but I think I can safely say that something happening to you, especially because of my failure, is my worst nightmare. So I shouldn't have any trouble making a senti-being capable of protecting you."
He looked back at the ground, but he caught the subtle changes in the expressions of the other heroes on the rooftop. Felix and Ryuko seemed surprised by his statement, but not suspicious. Cat Noir realized he probably should have been a little more careful with his explanation of that nightmare, but it probably made sense to them. Ladybug was his partner, and the whole team knew they were close. So the surprise Felix and Ryuko were showing likely had more to do with the fact that he had made such a claim, instead of the claim itself.
Thinking of that memory made Cat Noir realize something. His vision that night had been of people being destroyed because of his lack of control over his power, but the figure that he had held in his arms had been Ladybug, not Marinette. He supposed that was because he knew that Ladybug's death would be a greater disaster to the world, and that he had still been in love with Ladybug then too. But he didn't remember seeing Marinette in the crowd of ashen people. Surely his girlfriend crumbling to ash would be a part of his worst nightmare, wouldn't it?
Or maybe, he thought, maybe I already knew, deep down. Or at least suspected. Maybe part of me subconsciously knew that both of the girls I loved were one and the same.
Shaking his head, he steeled himself and faced his partner. Plumage Bug read the resolve on his face and took a deep breath.
Pulling out the fan that came with the peacock miraculous, she plucked a feather from it. Putting the fan away, she took out her magical charm and stepped toward Cat Noir. Pulling him into a deep hug, she clasped her hands behind his head and whispered softly, "Please, Amok. Take the form of the desire I have to protect the one I love most."
Cat Noir trembled, but couldn't tell if that was a result of Plumage Bugs words or the power of the peacock miraculous. After the trembling stopped, he could feel light shining on the back of his neck as Plumage Bug stepped back. Turning to face the source of the light, Cat Noir had to shield his eyes as a red and black spotted ball, about the size of an orange, appeared to hover right at eye level. The luminescent color coming from it felt much like the red of the setting sun on the horizon.
"Red Guardian. I have created you for a singular purpose. To guard against akumas. Please protect Cat Noir from the power of the butterfly miraculous, even against his own wishes." Plumage Bug instructed the shining red and black ball, holding her magical charm in her hand.
The ball bobbed up and down once, as if in acknowledgement, and floated toward Cat Noir's chest. It was so sudden that Cat Noir did not have time to react, but when the Red Guardian entered his chest, right next to his heart, he felt a strange warmth for a moment. It faded, but the triumphant expression on Plumage Bug's face gave him a different, albeit similar, warm feeling inside.
"My turn."
After feeding Duusu another piece of fruit and merging her with Plagg, Fowl Noir stood on the rooftop. He was much like Cat Noir, only with blue lines running up his arms and legs and green hair. As soon as the unification was complete, Fowl Noir noticed something. A pulsing sensation that he couldn't quite place. Looking at Ladybug (who still held her magical charm) Fowl Noir realized that he must be sensing the amok that had created the senti-being that now protected him.
Nodding to himself, Fowl Noir pulled out a feather from his fan and gripping it together with his own magical charm, placed his arms around Ladybug and whispered, "Amok, I beg of you. Take the form of the desire I have to protect the most important person in the world to me."
Fowl Noir could feel Ladybug tremble in his arms, just as he had trembled earlier. When the light faded, he could see a floating black ball, similar to the one his lady had created and about the same size, right behind her head. It had yellow lines forming circles on its surface, similar to the ladybug spots of his magical charm, and the yellow lines glowed softly.
Holding up the magical charm, Fowl Noir commanded, "Black Guardian. You have been created to protect the most important hero of Paris. You will shield Ladybug from the power of akumas and the butterfly miraculous under all circumstances."
The black ball bobbed, similarly to the previous senti-being. It floated toward Ladybug's heart, and entered her chest, prompting a slight widening of Ladybug's eyes, but no other reaction.
"How do you both feel?" Ryuko asked, concern lacing her voice.
"No different than before." Ladybug replied, looking herself over. She looked at Fowl Noir. "You?"
"Exactly the same." Fowl Noir confirmed. "Plagg, Duusu, divide!"
As Duusu reappeared, Felix produced his last piece of fruit for her. Cat Noir grinned at them all. "I think we did it."
"We need to test them, but it looks like it." Ladybug agreed, sounding cautiously optimistic.
"We still don't know for certain that there aren't any side effects," Duusu cautioned them, although she too sounded very pleased. "Be sure to let me know if anything seems amiss, ok?"
"Definitely." Cat Noir offered enthusiastically at the same moment Ladybug gave a more reserved, "Of course, Duusu." The partners looked at each other, and all at once the tension of the evening gave way as all four heroes and one kwami broke into laughter.
"If it turns out there are no side effects," Ryuko wondered, "do you think we should try doing this for the whole team?"
"I'd love to," Ladybug answered, "but we're pretty sure that it would work best with people holding magical charms protecting each other. And only a few members of the team, like you, have magical charms."
"Can't we use this other butterfly miraculous to make more?" Felix asked, placing the peacock miraculous back on his shirt, under his vest."
"We won't have access to it for that long." Cat Noir explained. "Our counterparts won't be able to stay in this universe long enough for that to work. It isn't safe to have multiples of the same miraculous in one universe for long and Nooru, the butterfly kwami, takes a while to generate a new butterfly. We had one from an akumatized villain last night, that's how we made magical charms for both of us, but we don't know how long it will take to get another one."
"Could we not just travel to their universe after waiting for a new butterfly?" Ryuko suggested. "You said earlier that you were planning to send them home with Rooster Bold's power of sublimation, correct?"
Ladybug smiled. Clearly, she had had this idea too.
Duusu, however, made a noise suggesting her discomfort. "Um, I don't think that's a good idea either."
Four pairs of eyes locked onto the peacock kwami.
"Just like how having multiple miraculous in the same universe for too long is bad, it's not good to open big portals between universes too often." Duusu explained. "A small portal wouldn't cause trouble. But to make one big enough to send a living being through? And another to bring them home? Too many of those could mess with the barrier between universes. If that starts to weaken, then people or objects could just start randomly passing between the universes without warning. We're probably fine to send our visitors back, and maybe another trip or two. But I don't think it's safe to do more. Not for a while, anyway."
The four heroes on the rooftop all looked crestfallen. However, the leader of the team recovered quickly.
"Well, I had another idea to make magical charms for the team besides using their butterfly miraculous, but it'll take some doing to make it work. I need to talk it out with Rooster Bold. I need to talk with him anyway. I'd like to see if he can boost the power of senti-beings; that would make three miraculous worth of protection against akumas."
Cat Noir looked at Ladybug in surprise. He'd also wondered how they might be able to use the rooster miraculous to increase their protection, but he hadn't thought of anything. He wondered what his partner had come up with.
She really is the brains of the team, Cat Noir thought, feeling no small amount of pride.
"Anyway, that's all we needed regarding team business," Ladybug told Felix and Kagami. Then her voice shifted slightly. "But there is another matter I wanted to talk to you both about." She glanced at Cat Noir. "It's kind of a confidential matter."
Oh.
"Of course, m'lady." Cat Noir offered. She's going to tell me soon, he thought forcefully. "I'll head back now."
"Would you mind checking on our counterparts when you get back?" Ladybug inquired. "I want to make sure they're ok."
"You mean you want to make sure mine hasn't done anything stupid, right?" Cat Noir joked.
"Well, that too."
Laughing with genuine amusement, Cat Noir pulled a piece of magically enhanced cheese from his staff.
"Power up!"
Watching Astro Cat fly away, Ladybug felt a strange feeling of separation. It was silly, really. She'd known that Adrien was Cat Noir for less than twenty four hours, but she'd spent most of her waking hours since then with him. But watching her partner fly away from her, especially after making the declarations they had when creating the senti-beings, left her feeling oddly alone.
But of course, she wasn't alone. Ryuko still stood on the rooftop, and with a quick, "Duusu, spread my feathers," Argos stood beside her. Both looked at her curiously.
"Using Duusu's power was different than I expected." Ladybug offered brightly, trying to dispel her sense of solitude. "I thought sensing the amoks would be different, but all I could pick up was a weird pulsing sensation."
Argos just shrugged. "That's how it works. You can get a general sense of where one is, but it's hard to tell exactly where. Or if something holds an amok, unless you're specifically focusing on it. It's impossible to tell if there are multiple amoks in the same location, for example."
Ladybug laughed a little to cover her nervousness and to pretend that she was embarrassed for being wrong. The truth was that she had been worried about Cat Noir sensing Felix's amok, which was why she had volunteered to go first when using the peacock miraculous. Fortunately, she hadn't felt anything different after making the Red Guardian to protect Cat Noir, so sensing individual amoks wasn't straight forward, as Argos had just said.
She might have suggested waiting to borrow Duusu, or finding some way to keep Felix away while they made the senti-beings. But the idea of Cat Noir sensing Felix's amok only occurred to her on the flight over, when AstroCat had mentioned (incorrectly) that Felix wasn't a senti-being. And by that point, it was too late to change the plan without raising suspicion.
She'd considered using Duusu's mentioning of side effects as an excuse to put off creating senti-beings, but considering how reckless Adrien had been in the past as Cat Noir, she figured that would just motivate him to volunteer himself as the guinea pig. He wouldn't be put off if it meant protecting her. So, she'd decided to go ahead and use Duusu first. Of course, if Cat Noir had sensed Felix's amok, they could have always just said it was for a senti-being he was experimenting with.
Argos' words comforted her, however, as she realized another possibility. If it were possible to sense multiple amoks in the same location, then Argos might be able to sense that Adrien now carried two amoks. One in his magical charm for the Black Guardian, and his own, in his parent's rings. But as long as he kept them both together, that shouldn't be an issue. And of course Felix held his own amok, so that would further mask Adriens'.
"So what exactly is this confidential matter we need to discuss?" Ryuko asked, cautious.
Ladybug shook her head and focused on the other girl on the rooftop. She had a suspicious look on her face, as she eyed Ladybug while Argos stepped up beside her. In fact, both of the other two heroes looked at her as if they were concerned about what was about to be discussed.
No point in putting it off, Ladybug thought to herself.
"It's time to tell Adrien the truth."
"What?" Ryuko and Argos exclaimed.
Ladybug just nodded. She figured they'd react like this. They knew immediately what she was talking about. There was only one secret they all shared that would necessitate her acting this way.
"Why the change of heart?" Argos asked carefully. "You were always so opposed to us telling him the truth."
"Yes," Ryuko agreed, nodding. "We agreed that the decision to tell him must be unanimous between the three of us. You said that as long as Adrien was holding his own amok, that it was better to just let the matter lay. To let the secret die with us."
"And I meant that when I said it." Ladybug confirmed. "But there was another reason, too. If we ever told Adrien the truth about being a senti-human, that would likely lead him to figure out his father was Monarch." Ladybug looked down, unable to meet their eyes. "I told you both I never wanted Adrien to have to carry that burden, but that's not a factor anymore."
"He knows?" Argos cried out.
Ladybug didn't answer directly. "Like he said, Cat Noir found out that Gabriel was Hawk Moth in that other universe, and he put two and two together. He understood why I didn't want to hurt Adrien with the truth, and Plagg had even confirmed Gabriel's last request for me. But he didn't agree with me keeping the truth from Adrien. So, last night, he gave me an ultimatum."
Everything she was saying was true, which made it easier for her to tell them, but she was leaving out enough details for her to consider it a lie. She hated lying to her teammates, but when secret identities were involved, that overruled almost everything else.
"Either you tell Adrien about his father, or Cat Noir will." Ryuko concluded.
Argos put his palm to his forehead and closed his eyes. "I don't disagree with Cat Noir's thinking, but I don't like being strong armed. Is there any other option?"
Ladybug shook her head. "Not this time, and frankly, Cat Noir agreeing with both of you makes me wonder if I was wrong about keeping Adrien in the dark this whole time. I'm going to handle telling him about his father, as Ladybug, by myself. But with that out of the way, I think it's time we told him everything. Spreading out the shock seems the better option, rather than just telling him everything all at once."
"Do you think he is ready for that?" Ryuko asked skeptically.
"Honestly? No, I don't." Ladybug admitted. "But I don't think he'll ever really be ready for something like this, and the longer we put it off, the worse it'll be when he finds out. And Adrien's not a fool. Once he finds out the truth about his father, there's a good chance he'll start digging and figure everything out. If that happens, he might never forgive us for keeping the truth from him." She shifted her weight to her back leg. "I think we all need to be there to give him as much love and support as possible, preferably in a familiar place, outside of Paris."
"Something like this could easily lead to him getting akumatized." Argos agreed. "What about my family's home in London? Adrien has visited there before, so it's familiar to him. And it's far enough away from Paris that he shouldn't be in danger from Hawk Moth."
Of course, Adrien shouldn't be in any danger of that at all now, but Argos and Ryuko didn't know that. But even without taking that into account, it probably wasn't a good idea to tempt fate. They couldn't know for certain that the magical charms combined with the Red and Black Guardians would be enough to fully protect them from Hawk Moth until they were tested. Beyond that, she was hoping for an excuse to have Adrien lend out his miraculous for a day or so. She didn't want him to transform and run off as Cat Noir in shock.
"That would be perfect." Ladybug sighed in relief. She had been wondering how to set up the right situation to tell Adrien. "Do you think you can set that up for this weekend? That's when you're scheduled to be back, right?"
"Shouldn't be a problem." Argos said, his expression thoughtful. "Mother wanted to stop by London on the way back to Paris anyway. I just have to convince her to invite Adrien and you for a weekend trip or something."
"That would be perfect." Ladybug repeated. One more step of her plan was in motion. The last part, actually telling Adrien, might be the most difficult thing she'd ever do in her entire life, but at least she had the ideal set up. And she also wouldn't have to do it alone.
A thought occurred to Ladybug in that moment, as she considered what Adrien's likely response to his origin might be. Choosing her words carefully, Ladybug asked, "Do you know if anyone else knows what Adrien is? Other than the three of us?"
Argos considered for a moment before saying, "I don't know for sure. Obviously his parents knew, but I don't know if they ever told anyone else. And I don't know if anyone else using the peacock miraculous was ever close enough to the rings to sense Adrien's amok."
Ladybug's mind flashed back to what Adrien had told her on the flight over, about Natalie possibly being Mayura. She shook her head slightly; as likely as it seemed, Adrien was right, there was no proof yet of that. As she thought about her own words, Ladybug realized how fortunate it was that Adrien hadn't been able to confront Natalie yet. Ladybug may not have known for certain, but it seemed likely to her that Adrien's future adoptive mother knew what Adrien was, even if she hadn't been Mayura. And if Adrien confronted her, his identity as a senti-human could easily come out. She'd have to figure out a way to have him put off that confrontation.
Ladybug's insides squirmed, similarly to how they had the previous evening. This was manipulation, and she hated resorting to it. But she comforted herself with the knowledge that she was doing it to reveal the truth to Adrien in the best possible way.
Regardless, there was something else she needed to know right now.
"And none of his other friends, our other friends, ever knew?"
"I don't think so." Argos confirmed.
Ladybug nodded to herself. That, coupled with another piece of information, should help reassure Adrien when the time came to use it.
"Why do you ask?" Ryuko wondered aloud.
Ladybug looked off toward where Cat Noir had flown off. "I've got a feeling that information is going to come in handy when we need to help convince Adrien that he's 'real'."
So, I know that we haven't seen our other universe Ladybug and Cat Noir around for a while, but not to worry, because they'll feature prominently in the next few chapters. How will they do so? Only one way to find out.
See you next time!
Please comment and Review!
~Sneak Preview~
I'm gonna' kill him.
That created a kind of intimacy between us.
It all seems like it can't just be coincidence.
