Chapter Text
A Slip in Time Makes a Whole New Life
It was like running in a huge tunnel slide made of white light Ladybug thought. She could see Bunnyx and herself returning in the opposite direction, no doubt running back to their regular time holding on to Bunnyx's umbrella, she smiled to herself, then suddenly it was like a mirror she was running next to herself between herselves.
Bunnyx turned to say something then looked at her then her umbrella handle. She looked back at Ladybug and raised her free hand to her lips and brought one finger to her lips and suddenly her mirror image was gone. That's when she realized there was no Bunnyx with her either and she was all alone in the tunnel.
Suddenly Bunnyx popped back in, "What did you do?!" she demanded.
Ladybug crossed her arms, she had no idea how the time stream worked but was this okay, to just sit in it? She opened her mouth to answer but Bunnyx cut her off before she could even begin.
"I told you to hold the umbrella. No. Matter. What!"
Ladybug became afraid and angry, something bad had happend. More afraid than angry. "What happened."
Bunnyx ran her fingers through her hair, "This is bad, Ladybug, really, really bad."
Ladybug swallowed, standing tall, she could get through it. "What is it?"
Bunnyx looked like she was trying to figure out how to describe something.
Ladybug became more anxious the longer she took to say it. "Just say what you're thinking!"
"It's not the right term because you're not."
"I'm not what?!"
"A clone."
"A what!" Ladybug yelled!
Bunnyx nodded, "you're more like a twin, only born now, is probably a better example, I bet you even have different thumb prints. I'd love to find out" she said to herself.
Then Ladybug did something she never did, "ALIX! Focus! What happened?"
Bunnyx gave her a dirty look, "well someone let go of the umbrella, didn't they? Probably at the exact moment we passed ourselves in the time stream, right?"
Ladybug shook her head. "But I'm not the clone, the other one, she must be, I woke up this morning, I'm Ma, er, I've got parents, and stuff, I- I," she was at a loss for words.
Bunnyx sighed and looked down, then looked back up with sad eyes, "I understand, and I'll explain it the best I can."
Ladybug started breathing hard, her chest rising and falling rapidly, she could hear and understand everything Bunnyx was saying but at the same time it sounded foreign and far away, yet so loud as to be painful. Then her hand was on her back, rubbing small circles on on her upper back.
"It'll be okay, we're going to figure something out, I promise, I'll make it better,I promise. You're Marinette aren't you?"
Ladybug nodded, she just didn't have the strength to cover anything up and more than anything she needed to be acknowledge to exist in every form.
"I won't tell, I promise. I think we're going to have to go to me when I'm older. She might know what to do."
Ladybug was starting to breath more normally and nodded, that seemed like a pretty good idea, so did yelling at Bunnyx, "I told you, not to use your miraculous unless it was needed. It wasn't for fun."
"If I hadn't then I wouldn't know how to get to Older Bunnyx, and I wouldn't know what happened to you, now would I?"
Ladybug didn't say anything, she was right, all of her experiments had been very meticulous. Finally she sighed and nodded
Bunnyx nodded, "Exactly. Okay, here's what we're going to do, we can't turn around so we're just going to get out and turn around then go forward. Then we're going to get some help. Then figure it out from there. Okay?"
Ladybug nodded.