It seemed like even after Adrien and Marinette were a couple, Marinette would still be hopeless. Though as Ladybug, she seemed to have things together alright. She'd even gotten better at wrangling children, that move with switching out the art box was the sort of thing that she, herself, would do with Ella and Etta if she needed them to let go of something. Redirecting kids generally worked better than using force to make them do what you wanted.

Not that Marinette was admitting that this was the future, and that she was Ladybug. While she did have some solid arguments against this actually being their world (especially with being able to use Miraculous powers repeatedly), it wasn't an ironclad refutation of the idea. And she was almost certain that Marinette was Ladybug either way, she simply knew too much.

And… well, she just really liked the idea of her, Nino, and Marinette all being superheroes and kicking butt together. The only person in their friend group who hadn't been confirmed to be a superhero was Adrien, and if she was right about what both the theme song and Adrien's sudden exit from the cafe and Chat Noir's subsequent entrance into the story implied, it might be four for four.

(Scene: Marinette's bedroom. She places the picture of Ladybug that Maya drew into her diary)

Alya: We still don't know anything about the new Holder of the Butterfly Miraculous! My investigation's a total flop.

Marinette: That's not true! We now know that they're changing their voice, but they won't tell their name to their victims, and don't want us to know what they're after. That's definitely something.

Alya: I wish I could have done more to help you.

Marinette: Carapace and you have helped me a lot already. I, however, should have held back. I don't need to do everything on my own all the time, when I have a super-duper super team I can rely on. You're up, Tikki!

(Tikki does a little dance, glows, then pukes something into Marinette's hands, which she then presents to Alya).

Alya (looking disgusted): Woooow… Tikki… that was, eh..

(The puke recedes to reveal a teardrop-shaped red object)

Alya: Is that–?

Tikki: A new kwagatama!

"This akuma is just making things up now!" Marinette complained. "Tikki would never do something that gross! She likes sweets and nice things, not spitting."

Everyone turned to stare at her.

Marinette coughed into her hand. "I mean… that's the impression I get from what we've seen so far. Not like I've ever actually met her. She might not even exist, the akuma could have made her up."

She rolled her eyes. Marinette's stubborn denial was so extreme, it was almost impressive.

Still, she really did seem to be surprised by Tikki's actions just now. Tikki must not have made a kwagatama in front of her time's Marinette before.

Marinette: If anything ever happens to me, Tikki will bring you my earrings, and YOU will become the new Guardian. You'll then be in charge of the team. Alya Cesaire, do you agree to officially become my deputy?

(Alya takes the kwagatama.)

Marinette: Thanks to this jewel, you will have access to my whole memory. From the day Master Fu appointed me as Guardian, to the day I renounce my title.

Master Fu?

Guardian?

What on earth?!

Marinette had mentioned something about being the Guardian before, when she was talking to Tikki in that alleyway, but she hadn't explained what that meant. Guardian of what?

At least she knew who gave Marinette the position, though since she'd never heard of a 'Master Fu' before, that still didn't help much.

Hm. And what did Marinette mean about the jewel giving access to her memory? Like, would she remember Marinette's past like she remembered her own? Because that seemed like it would cause an identity crisis. Or maybe there was some sort of search feature or assistant to help sort through to the memories she wanted? But she couldn't even imagine how that kind of system would be tagged and sorted. How would she know what to look up?

She glanced over at Marinette, who just shrugged.

Trixx: What about me? What will I become without Alya?

Marinette: The new guardian will assign you to a new Holder.

Alya: Don't worry, I'll pick someone awesome. (To Marinette) Thanks for your trust, but I hope I never have to replace you because that would mean something happened to you–

Marinette: It's just a precaution.

She frowned. "Just a precaution, huh? I'm not sure I believe that." She glanced at Marinette. "Granted, you ARE prone to overplanning, but this doesn't really sound like one of those times."

She really hoped that Marinette wasn't hiding something. The idea of something bad happening to Marinette… she didn't want to comprehend it.

But with this new Butterfly Holder causing trouble, she had to admit, it wasn't guaranteed that things would be okay. This wasn't like the superhero shows she watched, where good always came out on top in the end. This was real life.

Plus, even though Good always ultimately won out in the end in those stories, it wasn't always without sacrifice…

Alya: Now it's Marinette's turn to trust herself around Adrien. It's about time you become a super couple.

(Marinette freezes from shock, then falls onto the ground, twitching.)

She burst out laughing. She couldn't help it.

Marinette giving her the key to her memory in case something terrible happened to her? She's super calm and collected.

She suggests Marinette actually relax around Adrien? Time for Marinette to go night-night.

Classic Marinette.

Marinette herself giggled a little as well, though she sounded embarrassed.

Scene Change: Marinette and Adrien sitting together in a movie theater.

Marinette: Everything… okay, Adrien?

She blinked. "Wait, did they decide to go to a new showing? Is this a different day, or did Marinette and I meet up at her home, and then she rejoined Adrien on the date?"

She hoped it was the former. Adrien didn't need to spend any more time waiting around for Marinette.

Adrien: I'm sorry I'm not doing things the way you need me to, Marinette. If you no longer want to be my girlfriend, I'll understand.

Marinette: No no no! No! I'm so, so happy we're together. I'm sorry if I.. I… Uh… I think I'm afraid. I don't really know how you're supposed to behave when you're a loving couple. I'm afraid of messing things up when I'm with you, so I try to control everything, but… I'm just ruining everything.

Adrien: This is all brand-new to me too. But we can figure it out together. Okay?

Oh geez. Good for Marinette that Adrien's the kindest, most understanding boyfriend in the world, but…

Well… actually… that probably wasn't the best way to portray it. It seemed more like he was just so insecure, that even though Marinette was the one flaking out, he genuinely thought that he must be the problem.

Ugh. Probably a consequence of Gabriel's awful parenting. She hadn't seen much of him, but she'd listened to Nino's ranting about him after the birthday party incident. With being raised by a man like that, of COURSE Adrien would interpret Marinette's avoidance and discomfort as being due to his own inadequacy.

"Adrikins, you are hopeless." Chloe declared. "Ugh, blaming yourself for how awful of a girlfriend she is? Could you be any more of a doormat?"

"Chloe, stop it!" Adrien said sharply.

She definitely wouldn't phrase it the way Chloe did, but she wasn't totally wrong. Adrien really needed higher self-esteem, and Marinette needed to get herself together. Luckily, this last conversation seemed to be a solid step towards that goal.

Scene Change: Some unknown woman at the cafe from earlier, writing in a notebook.

Woman: Nothing (laughs). Nothing. You'll know nothing about me, about us, about them. I'm everywhere. I'm nowhere. I'm a chameleon. Nowhere. You. Won't. Get. Anywhere.

"I'm guessing that's the new Butterfly Holder then," she murmured. The fact that she'd been at the cafe watching Adrien and Marinette… that didn't bode well. She had to already know that Marinette was Ladybug, what other reason could she have for spying on her?

"THIS. IS. A. DISASTER!" Marinette yelled, clutching her head. "She was there? The ENTIRE time?! She already knows everything, she could steal the Miraculous at any time! She could threaten my parents! THE WORLD WILL END-!"

"But she hasn't done that yet," she pointed out, trying to calm her friend down. May not be possible, but it was worth a shot. "So there may be something stopping her from doing that. And this akuma is giving us prior warning, so we can gather information about her without her knowledge or her being able to do anything about it." She gave Marinette a sly smile. "Of course, that's assuming this is actually the future. If this is just a fake timeline the akuma made up, then there's no reason to worry at all."

Marinette shot her a glare, but didn't dignify that with a response.

Seriously, did she actually believe anyone was buying her denials?

…okay, maybe Chloe and Kim. But Chloe wouldn't want to believe it, and Kim… was Kim.

"How much longer are we going to be subjected to this?" Chloe complained. "Watching Dupain-Cheng fumble around being neurotic is not my idea of a fun afternoon. Well, unless I can laugh at her, but it still gets boring when she's just doing it nonstop. I had a manicure scheduled! Ladybug and Chat Noir need to hurry up and beat the akuma already!"

Huh. Didn't know Chloe even had "neurotic" in her vocabulary. Guess even Chloe picked up on some things.

"None of us know how long this is going to take, Chloe, we're waiting, same as you," Adrien replied tiredly. "I assume that Hawk Moth will get bored eventually. And if you really don't want to watch, you can close your eyes and take a nap or something. No one's stopping you."

"Hmph!" She turned away, but didn't lay down or close her eyes. Guess watching was still superior to naptime.

The screen flickered, turning black briefly before turning on again.

She sat up straight. Seemed like there was more to come.

She would be prepared for it. Any info she could glean, anything she could figure out, might be able to help in the fight against evil – both against the current supervillain in her time, and the future one on-screen.