Chapter Text
When Marinette woke up next morning, her memory had already majorly faded. She faintly remembered that there was someone else, but she was alone in the empty house.
Now I get how Adrien feel each day, she thought. Maybe I could ask him to come to visit me as Chat Noir and cuddle with me the whole night, going back early in the morning, at least until my parents don't return. I hope he would like to keep me company.
Marinette even managed to get to class early. Alya was already there, winking at her as if she knew all her secrets. Oh wait. She really did.
Adrien entered the room and immediately found Marinette for a good morning kiss. She didn't protest, though there was Ms. Bustier watching them.
Their teacher smiled to herself. Luc was finally back to her side, all thanks to Adrien and Marinette. They made a really beautiful pair, she thought. Together with her husband they had put last pieces together. Luc and Caline figured that Louis was Adrien and Marinette's son. Well, that explained why he was not here. And why his name disappeared from everywhere and no one remembered them except her, Luc and the Paris's superheroes.
Well, she was wrong about the last one.
Chloé on the other hand remembered him very clearly.
She walked in class, downed and depressed. Time Master had been defeated the previous night, which meant Louis was already at home. He thought she would forget him; she knew she should; but she didn't. Right now Chloé called for all existing gods to meet the person she would fall in love instead of tearing her heart for Louis.
Little did she know that she was going to meet the love of her life in less than a year, being saved by him from the robbers. Little did she know that they would fall for each other in less than an hour. And of course she didn't suspect having a wonderful son with him, whom she would name Louis after her first love.
But right now Chloé was broken. Right now she was willing to do everything for Louis. So she put on her best smile and pretended that everything was alright. She pretended not to notice Ms. Bustier concerned stare, suddenly turning into an understanding one and then into apologetic?
Chloé looked at her teacher. No, not apologetic, but full of worry for her. And just like that, the blonde knew the right person who could help her to cope with her state.
She rose from her seat and walked close to Ms. Bustier. Everyone was focused on their own problems, so no one really noticed.
Caline was a smart woman and an experienced teacher, despite her young age.
"Ms. Bustier," started Chloé uncertainty. "Can you help me?"
"Sure, Chloé. Falling in love was pretty easy, but falling out forcefully? Much harder."
"How did you know?" the girl asked, stunned.
"Easy," Caline smiled. "Louis Agreste was easy to fall for, but this love was impossible. And only love makes people change that quickly."
The mayor's daughter stared at her in awe. She never expected her homeroom teacher to be the most important person in her life during her recovery period.
Yet the girl already knew that Ms. Bustier was going to take this place.
----------
Louis appeared on the same empty street where he was taken from several days ago. It was night already, so there was no risk in being seen. The boy raced home as fast as he could.
When he reached the mansion, he suddenly remembered something. Why bother the security system and Emma and Hugo who possibly were already sleeping, when he could always use the good old wall climbing method?
Louis raced around, avoiding security cameras, and with three quick trained movements reached his window. The boy climbed in and sighed in relief. He took a moment to calm himself down.
Staircase. He needed to get down in the dining room. Okay, that could be arranged. Louis hoped Adrien and Marinette won't be too mad at him.
The boy inhaled deeply and raced down the stairs.
His parents were sitting in the guest room with Emma and Hugo still awake, as if waiting for him.
Neither of them expected Louis to enter from the second floor.
"Louis!" cried the four voices in sync.
The next thing he felt was being enveloped in a tight hug by his family.
After they released him, he looked like he just got out of the bed (or out of the fight), still not completely awake.
"So," started Adrien, "you might have already guessed that we," he gestured mostly to Emma and Hugo, and that didn't go unnoticed by Louis, "would like an explanation. And I mean the WHOLE explanation," his dad added meaningfully.
Oh, but his parents became smarter with years, Louis thought.
"Okay, where do I start?.. Emma, Hugo, do you know why our hamsters have such names? I know now, and you might really want to hear it."
He looked at his parents for confirmation if he understood them correctly, and both simply nodded. So he began his story.
Louis told them how he first met Ladybug and Chat Noir. What he thought of them. How the superheroes found out who his parents were. How he met mom and dad and went to school with them. How others began to piece everything together. How he found out that his parents were Ladybug and Chat Noir...
"Wait!" cried Emma. "I don't believe you! Mom and dad would have told us about such a big thing earlier!"
"I also thought so, Em. But they're magically prohibited to do that."
After endless questions from the children to the parents, Louis managed to continue the story. When he got to Chloé's part, Marinette wasn't able to believe him.
"You mean - she fell for you?! God, and here I endlessly wondered what happened to the bitch she used to be. Good thing she's happily married to Raoul now."
"I told her that everything would be alright!" exclaimed Louis happily. "I'm glad she found her true love."
His mom wordlessly shook her head.
"Crazy. This all is just crazy," she muttered under her breath.
"Mom, dad," grinned Louis. "You know pretty much about the miraculous, don't you? Are Ladybug and Chat Noir always soulmates?"
"Yes," Adrien answered. "Mostly they do know each other in civilian lives. They make a perfect match with different personalities usually. But both are the most fitting ones for that role."
"If you knew it before you got together, how could you not figure out each other's identities? Especially you, mom," he stated matter-of-fact.
"We didn't," she smiled. "The knowledge came when we defeated Hawkmoth and took his miraculous to Master Fu. That's when he told us a long tale of all the miraculous. He said we would need it."
"Okay," Louis snorted, "or else I wouldn't stop teasing you two about how oblivious you were. Oh wait. I wouldn't even this way," he smirked in a very Chat-like grin.
"Don't get bad habits from your dad," told him Marinette half-jokingly.
"Oh, purr-lease, my lady," her husband made a face, and their children laughed at his expression, "I'm claw-some with my feline purr-sonality, and you meow it."
She rolled her eyes in response and playfully pushed him away.
When Louis was finally in his bed, he couldn't help but think of how strongly his parents loved each other. I hope to be something like that with Vanessa one day, was his last thought before he finally drifted to sleep.
----------
The next day Louis hurried down to breakfast, and after practically swallowing it sprinted over to Vanessa's house.
He was halfway to her place, when he bumped into some stranger. Huh, I'm attentive usually, thought the boy. He quickly apologized to the man, who didn't even notice him and hurried further for his own business. Louis was taken aback - how can one be so swallowed into his own world? - and was about to continue his way, when he noticed the old man several feet away from him tripping over the bottle on the road.
Louis's instincts kicked in before he could even process the situation. He miraculously managed to catch the elder person just before he fell to the ground. Letting out a sigh of relief, Louis helped the old man to get up.
"Be careful, sir," he smiled at him. "You're lucky this time; you could have hurt yourself badly."
"Thank you, young man," said the man. "I'll try to pay attention next time."
"Do you need any help in getting somewhere?" Louis asked.
"No, though thanks for your kindness," he smiled.
"It's nothing. Oh, sorry, I gotta go now. Good luck, sir!"
The old man looked at the boy. If only there were more people like him, the world wouldn't have been so filled with evil. Where were all that wonderful times when you could receive the help from any stranger? He sighed and slowly continued his way.
Louis didn't get to Vanessa's house; instead, he bumped into her in the middle of the street.
"Vanessa!"
"Louis!"
They hugged tightly, Louis kissing her passionately afterwards. She responded with equal adoration and even more worry for him.
"Where have you been?" she asked in a worried voice once they broke the kiss. "I was all sick and worried for you! I went out for four nights in a row, circling around Paris and searching for you!"
"You shouldn't have!" he cried with horror. "You could get hurt!"
"But I didn't," she smiled. "Come on, darling, I was raised to fight by your parents, my skills are nearly on the same level with yours. Besides, if I finally got a chance to use them for some real purposes, then why not?"
"I guess you're right," the boy smiled. "But I can't stand you getting hurt. Promise me you'll do everything in your power not to be so reckless."
"I promise," she smiled. "But Louis, where have you been? I went to your parents, and they only said that you were safe and in the right hands."
"Long story short, in the past."
"In the where?" she gasped.
"In 2016. They had a time traveling akuma, and it got me from here. So... While Time Master wasn't being defeated, I couldn't get back."
"Um, I don't like 'long story short' concept. Tell me everything, I'm dying to know! Did you meet our parents?"
They chatted like this in the nearest cafe for several hours. Louis carefully avoided outing his parents as the superheroes. Vanessa asked for an awful lot of details, and poor boy felt his throat getting dry already in the middle of his speech.
When they finally parted their ways, it was dinner time. Louis slowly walked home, admiring the view. He missed his Paris. Sure thing, Paris in his parents' time was beautiful, but Louis preferred his own anyway.
Beyond tired, Louis flopped down on his bed once he got into his room. To entertain himself, he turned on the TV with some fighting movie on the screen. Louis never particularly liked them; those movies had pretty little in common with his own style. But he continued to watch the TV anyway.
"We're interrupting our program for some urgent news," the voice reached the boy's mind. Suddenly he forgot all his tiredness and stared intently at the screen. "It seems that akumas, the ghosts from twenty years ago, have returned. The supervillain calls himself The Hunter and now he is on the loose in the streets of Paris." There were some recordings of the newest villain showed while the reporter was speaking. "Does that mean that Hawkmoth is back? And will there be any superheroes this time to save the city?"
Louis clenched his fists. He was going to fight The Hunter even if wasn't a superhero. He couldn't just sit here and do nothing!
His gaze unwillingly dropped on the table near the TV. There was a black box standing there.
I bet I didn't see it earlier in my room, thought the boy. He reached for it and opened the box.
Plagg materialized in front of Louis.
"Oh, hi, Plagg! Long time, no see!" cheered the boy. "I bet dad missed you."
"Hi there, Louis. Well, now is the time to work with you. I've been looking forward to it, I wouldn't lie. Never before did I have so skilled Chat Noir."
And then it downed on Louis.
"M-me?" he squeaked in a very high voice. Plagg rolled his eyes.
"God, kid, and here I thought you were smart."
"I am!" Louis was a little offended. But really, it was his fault for not piecing it together sooner. "And I might have a pretty good idea on who Ladybug is..."
In fact, Louis knew only one person who fit this role perfectly.
"I hope Vanessa will recognize me," he smiled. "But it's enough talking; I already know the conditions of being a superhero with secret identity, if they haven't changed?" The boy looked at the kwami.
"They have never changed in several thousands years," replied Plagg. "The new Hawkmoth is more dangerous than the previous one, I must warn you. But you'll cope, we know it."
"Good," said Louis. "Then we have an akuma to catch. Plagg, claws out!"
As the transformation light enveloped him, Louis felt like there was nothing impossible for him.
He leapt out of the window and headed towards The Hunter. But with all luck Louis had from now on, once mid-flight between two rooftops he felt himself crashing into someone.
"Ouch!" yelped a familiar voice, falling with Chat on the rooftop and rolling several times. "Huh, I never thought you were so clumsy, Louis," Vanessa now dressed as Ladybug smiled confidently while lying on top of him.
He smiled in response while fighting the urge to kiss her - they were supposed to fight the akuma after all.
The fact that Vanessa recognized him right on the spot certainly gave Louis some extra faith in their victory. Both clearly remembered their parents' most favorite phrase.
"All it takes for evil to prevail is that good people do nothing."
Well, they hoped so.