Chapter Text
This time, the Miraculous Ladybug fixed everything the Miracle Storm had done.
As people around the world celebrated, Marinette returned to her family and friends feeling like she needed to sleep for a week. It was only later that Marinette and Adrien would realise they had used their powers multiple times without de-transforming, and Tikki and Plagg informed them they now had their adult powers.
The crowd cheered as the villains of Paris were arrested.
“Get off me! Do you know who I am?!” Audrey screeched.
“Oh, shut up, Audrey,” Gabriel said in irritation.
The Disastrous Team were being dragged into a police van.
“It’s not fair! We were brainwashed!” Cerise exclaimed.
“And M. Agreste will pay for that,” An officer told her, “Just as you will pay for the crimes you committed before you were brainwashed.”
“We were always brainwashed!”
“Don’t waste your breath,” Camille told her, “Everyone knows full well we weren't.”
“Well, they do now!”
“I just know when to give up,” she retorted.
“So much for always getting what you want,” James grumbled.
“Even in failure, I’m a more successful leader than you ever were,” Cerise shot back.
James lunged at her.
“Break it up! Break it up!” The police said as they dragged them apart.
Once the fight had been broken up, the doors closed, and the van drove off.
There was a tense silence.
“Does anyone want to play eye spy?” Tulip asked.
“NO!” Everyone exclaimed.
Later, when things calmed down, the police came to arrest Nathalie, Félix and Chloé for their crimes. None of them protested.
“If we don’t get some sort of punishment, we’ll be lynched,” Félix said.
He and Kagami exchanged looks, conveying a silent promise.
“We only just got you back,” André said to Chloé.
“I know, but you can’t get me out of this, coerced or not. I was a supervillain who did a lot of damage, and Gabriel has no reason to be silent on the stuff I did before I became Drone Bee. Besides, trying to get out of it is something Audrey would try to do. If I’m going to unlearn how to be like her, I have to do things she would never do, like taking responsibility for my actions.”
She turned to Zoé, “At least I got a chance to be Queen Bee one more time, even if I didn’t do much.”
“You protected me,” Zoé said, “That’s more than enough.”
“How could I not? You saved me when everyone else had given up on me, myself included. You’re a better hero than I ever was. Just promise me you’ll continue to save others.
“I promise.”
They hugged.
“They might get shorter sentences,” Nathalie said, “But I won’t. I don’t have the excuse of being manipulated, threatened or in fear of my life.”
“No,” Adrien said, “But you did the right thing in the end.”
“And someday I think… we can forgive you,” Emilie told her.
Once everyone had made their goodbyes, they were escorted away.
That night, Paris partied in the streets as a celebration of the defeat of the Disastrous Team and Monarch and a fond farewell to their powers.
The heroes had their own celebration at the restored Liberty.
Adrien, Kagami, and Zoé sat quietly in a corner watching the fireworks.
“Will they be okay?” Socqueline asked.
“In time,” Nora replied.
Socqueline looked at her former teammates. She was going to miss having them by her side.
“Hey, don’t look like that,” Aurore said, “If you ever need us, you can just send us one of those butterflies.”
“And it’s like we told you,” Mirelle added, “We never wanted to be a superhero as a full-time job.”
“I just wanted to bring Lila… Cerise… whatever her name is to justice,” Nora said.
Ondine shrugged, “I just liked hanging out.”
“Still,” Socqueline trailed off.
“We know,” Nora said, “One more time?”
They all put their fists forward, “Pound it!”
Félix and Chloé did indeed receive relatively light sentences, while Nathalie’s was longer, but she would be released in time.
The Disastrous Team, Gabriel, Tomoe and everyone who worked for them during Gabriel’s brief rule of Paris were given life-long sentences.
Gabriel and Tomoe tried to use the fact that they created the device that saved the universe in their defence, but since they were the ones who created the cracks in the first place, it didn’t work.
On the headlines was a picture of Emilie slapping Gabriel when she found out about Riposte and Gorizilla.
Doorman regularly visited the Miraculous Team, sometimes with Victory and other superheroes with publicly known identities, to advise them on how to deal with this new phase of their lives.
One day, Ladybug called a meeting with the United Heroez to inform them of something that had been troubling her.
“So what’s special about this akuma?” Eagle asked, looking at a picture from the Ladyblog.
“His name was Timetagger.”
Knightowl raised an eyebrow, “I see where this is going.”
“He came from the same time as Alix’s future self to try to steal my and Adrien’s Miraculous before we unlocked our full powers.”
“But she’s about a decade older than our Alix,” Uncanny Valley said, “How… oh.”
“Someone mind explaining?” Eagle asked.
“It means that at some point in our future, a supervillain is going to get the power to create akumas,” Majestia said and rubbed her forehead.
“Could it be Gabriel?” Knightowl asked.
“No, he said, and Nooroo confirmed that Timetagger told him it was someone else.”
“Camille Benolt?” Victory theorised.
“Possibly, all we know is that they wanted the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous.”
“Which means they want to make a wish,” Majestia said.
“So someone is going to steal the Butterfly Miraculous?” Eagle asked.
“Not necessarily,” Knightowl said, “Scientists have discovered that there is a very small amount of Miraculous energy in everyone who had been affected by the Miraculous Bang, too small to do anything, but it has been theorised that this energy could be reactivated with the right spark.”
“There is also the Miraculized,” Majestia added, “They were the result of a technological recreation of the Butterfly’s power.”
“So, we know that someone is going to get the Butterfly’s powers and go after your Miraculous, but we don’t know who, when or how,” Eagle summarised. “Yippee.”
“Future Bunnyx also mentioned a few villains she said I would defeat in the future.”
Victory sighs, “Go ahead.”
“Dr. Sadness.”
“Doesn’t ring any bells,” Eagle said.
“The Aklipt Invaders.”
“Them I have heard of in my travels in space,” Majestia said, “The stories are not encouraging.”
“Pain and Tears, the twin queens of the Inner Dimension.”
“Inner Dimension?” Uncanny Valley asked.
Ladybug shrugged, “...Ignoblia.”
Majestia’s shoulders slumped, and Knightowl patted her hand.
“And Monsieur Rat.”
Eagle snorted, “Monsieur Rat? Reminds me of that Pigeon guy you used to fight.”
“She only mentioned that last one as an afterthought,” Ladybug said.
“Nonetheless, we’ll be adding it to the list,” Victory said.
“List?” Ladybug asked.
“We have our own time-travellers,” Was all she would say.
A week later, Bunnyx would visit her past self.
“What is it? Do you need my help?”
“No, Mini-me. I’m just here to tell you why you were needed in the final days of Hawk Moth.”
“Seems pretty obvious. Socqueline needed to power me up, so Marinette had enough time to save the world.”
“Well, there is that, but just as importantly, you saved her so she could save the world.”
“Huh? Do you mean Miss Fortune? That was a team effort.”
“You were the first to think of changing your costume to evade the Miraculized, you were the one who came up with the plan to lure away the rest of Hawk Moth’s forces, and what you said to her was vital.”
“I told her there were supervillains in Paris in every timeline,” she remembered.
“That was one of the things that gave her the will to break free.”
Her future self put her hand on her shoulder, “Dad was right. We are more than our Burrow. Never forget that.”
Alix smiled, “Okay.”
After he was released on parole, Félix was in for a surprise.
“You want to give the Peacock Miraculous again?” He asked Marinette.
“Yes.”
“Why, what happened?”
She sighed, “This isn’t public knowledge yet, but the Disastrous Team got their powers back and escaped.”
“What? How?”
People had mostly stopped trying to reactivate their Miraculous powers after one bogus attempt had turned a group of criminals into animal hybrids.
“We think it was the Supreme.”
“He’s real?” He had heard the rumours of the mysterious figure who ruled another universe and started attacking others as soon as he learnt of their existence, but had never believed them.
“Oh, yes,” Marinette said grimly, “They even found a replacement Bee.”
She handed him a file. It was an arrest report of a girl their age.
“She seems familiar, wasn’t she at the Diamonds’ Dance?”
“Yes, her name is Amber Dubois. She joined Gabriel’s side and fought Zoé briefly during the final fight. She now goes by Killer Bee.”
“Charming. Are you sure the Supreme didn’t just give them Miraculous from another universe?”
“Yes, the Kwamis exist in every universe simultaneously, and they assure us none of their counterparts are in the Disastrous Team’s hands.”
Félix raised an eyebrow at the new information about the Kwamis. How did they not go insane?
“Why me? Why not give it to someone else?”
“Every time I thought about giving it to someone, I remembered Sentibug, and I was torn about whether it was right to use this power, so I could never bring myself to do it, but you of all people, understand this dilemma, so I know you’re the right choice.”
She held out the Peacock Brooch, “Are you in?”
Félix hesitated before taking the brooch and transforming into Argos.
“Why not Royal Blue?”
“I don’t want to hide from my past. Besides, this feels more like me.”
When Chloé is released, she is greeted by Zoé and André outside the prison. She ran into their arms, and they hugged.
Chloé was later able to reconcile with Adrien and Sabrina, and while the rest of the team would never be close to her, they at least learned not to hate her.
Ladybug thought back on the changes Paris had gone through in the last few years.
After the final battle with Monarch, most people returned to their lives, but many former superheroes found work in law enforcement or became non-superpowered superheroes. Others joined a security force founded by Adrien’s bodyguard to protect the Miraculous Team’s families and even the heroes themselves when they're not fighting crime. Many of these people became regular kamikos for Painted Lady alongside her original team.
Marinette and her friends had adjusted to life with no secret identities, but this came with the challenges all famous people dealt with.
While Gabriel Agreste, Tomoe and those who followed them were either behind bars or dead, many other threats had taken their place, and now the Disastrous Team were back.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Ladybug and her team watched from the rooftops as one of Chrysalis’s akumas tore through the city, assisted by several of the Disastrous Team.
Ladybug and her team went to confront them, knowing they were ready for any challenges the future had for them.