Chapter Text
Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger’s jaws,
And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood…
— William Shakespeare, Sonnet 19
⬷۵⤐
Children aren’t supposed to die before their parents.
That was all Marinette could think of as she watched these strangers bury her family, the last of her children. The rest of them were already buried six feet under. Marinette had so wished she could save at least this one, that she wouldn’t need to bury Dick. She hadn't wanted to bury even one more of children and yet. Yet. She had thought she could see at least him grow old. He'd only been 27. 27 was not old. It was one thing to lose her husband in a battle, brutally murdered alongside their daughter, but another to lose all of the children she considered her own, regardless of whether they were already nearly adults when she’d first met them.
They’d all died off one by one. Duke had gone first — killed in a car crash. Marinette still remembered she’d been called from work to the hospital where she had watched the heart monitor slow down and the doctors declaring him dead. That had happened nearly two years ago. She hadn’t thought she would survive seeing his heartbeats slow down and stop, that she wouldn’t be able to go on, but she did, for a while. It wasn't easy and she had always missed him, but she had been able to go on.
Then fate had decided to destroy her completely.
Jason was the second one whose death the police had to tell her — gang fight he’d tried to stop. At least it was Jim that had found him so his name wouldn't be dirtied in the public. Marinette couldn’t get the sight of his body riddled with bullets out of her mind, nor the tears that had fallen down her face as she went to identify the body. It happened only a few months later. He had deserved to live longer than that.
Tim was the third to die — his health had failed. Why had Marinette not known about his missing spleen? He should’ve told her! Or maybe she should’ve noticed every cold and illness being so much worse on him than everyone else combined. The sickly paleness of his face was something Marinette had never wanted to see, least of all on one of her children. She couldn't erase that or his hazy eyes from her mind even if she wanted to.
The fourth to go was Stephanie — too much ibuprofen, too much alcohol, both at once. It happened a few weeks after Tim’s death. Suicide. Overdose of pills. Marinette hated herself for never noticing how her mental health declined and crashed down, hated the fact it hadn’t even been her to find Stephanie’s dead body. It had been Damian. Regardless of how much the boy had seen death, he’d still only been a child and didn’t deserve it. All of her children deserved better than this. Even if Steph hadn't been her own daughter, she might have as well been, and Marinette hated the fact that she had failed Steph just like her birth mother had. Maybe she had been even worse than Crystal.
Cass was the fifth they lost. She actually died in the same fight as Bruce. Neither had been careful enough — all the deaths in the family had taken their toll on all of them, but to those two, it meant losing control, their need to survive and all common sense during battles; Then it meant dying. She’d carried their bodies home to be buried with Dick. It was still difficult, but she couldn’t ask Damian to help, it wouldn’t be fair to the young boy, and Babs was in a wheelchair. They had to make do.
Four months later she had to hear about Barbara’s demise — the hospital she had an appointment at was blown up four months ago. She wasn’t Marinette’s child, not really, she even had a good family left, but that didn’t apparently mean Marinette considered her any less as a daughter. She had decided the 16-year-old girl with no good parents (though her uncle did a wonderful job) was as good as hers soon after she’d met her and began mentoring her up until she was paralysed and became the Oracle. Then Marinette had gotten to witness her mentor Cass and it had made her so proud.
Now? Now she was dead.
Why hadn’t Marinette killed Joker back when he killed her baby boy?
Or when he paralysed Barbara?
If she had, Barbara would now be alive. Jason might’ve not died in the first place.
Her youngest had been the seventh to go — there had been a school shooting and Damian had saved most of his classmates that he had kept saying he despised. It just told of his good heart, about how much he’d grown since he was brought to his father… and the fact guns really should be banned. There had been enough deaths already, hadn’t there? Marinette couldn’t forget the text she and Dick had gotten, a short message from Damian saying “There’s a shooter. I’ll see what I can do about it. Do not get involved, Mère, it might get worse if you or Grayson are seen here. The police has been called.”
At least she had seen the message in time and been able to tell Damian she loved him one last time. She knew he had seen it because the next message she had received soon after had been “I know, Mère.” Then there was nothing after that until the police came to her door once again.
He’d only been fifteen at the time.
After all of them, she’d sworn she would protect her last remaining one with all she had got — there was no way she could afford to lose everyone. Now she still had a reason to go on, a reason to get through each day, because she needed to make sure Dick would survive. He was strong, and with support and therapy, Marinette was sure he would. Losing everyone would always hurt, no doubt, but he would survive. He'd done it before too.
And then he’d gone out for patrol because someone had to and his grapple gun’s line had failed him less than a month later.
He had pressed his emergency communicator so Marinette got a notice of it, and she got suited up in Cass' old suit faster than ever but she’d been too late anyway. He had still been breathing by the time she got to him but there was no chance of survival no matter what she tried — and she'd tried, alright. Eventually, he’d died in her arms, the last thing he’d said having been “I’m sorry, Mom.”
The first to come had been the last to go.
Marinette had no idea how she was supposed to go on now.
Watching, crumbling down as she could do nothing but mourn her lost children, Marinette gathered up her skirts and walked into the huge manor she now owned. She hated owning it alone. It was too big for one person, too empty, and the fact no voice other than her own would ever occupy the rooms of it again had her pack her things and leave.
She would either return one day or she would give the manor away for children with no families. There were definitely enough rooms for such.
Marinette travelled the country, finding places she’d never known existed before until she remembered an old story Tikki used to tell her back when she still had her miraculous. She had said that while the Black Cat and Ladybug miraculi used together would surely grant you your wish — though with them there would also be a sacrifice to pay in order to restore the balance of the world — there was another way to grant whatever wish you may have. There was a place called the Fountain of Life that would let you make a wish and it would be granted so long as the price was of equal worth, but that the price would be something the wisher could choose themselves and if the wisher wasn't okay with the price, it wouldn't be taken from them — though that also meant no wishes granted. That wasn't surprising. At least it wouldn't hurt the world and only the wisher.
That meant her goal of the destination ended up being the Fountain. Marinette let her instincts take her with them and followed that. For some reason, that meant she ended up in Texas of all places. She passed Jacob’s Well on her journey and considered diving into the chambers for a moment before reminding herself that she had a task at hand.
After all, if she wasn’t there to save her family, who would?
She ended up at the Ghost Tracks in San Antonio and shivered as she could feel the spirits of the dead around. They were kind, though, she was sure, so she wasn’t scared. With Tikki, she’d gotten used to feeling the dead who were forced to stay in this world for a reason or another around her, and even after she was separated from the kwami, the skill stayed.
She spent a while with the spirits, talking to them even if they couldn’t reply back to her because she felt like they should be talked to. It wasn't fair people didn't talk to them especially since they were only children. She told them about her family and asked them to tell her family she was sorry if they happened to see them. Then she apologised to the little spirits for being unable to help them move on from this world into the next because she no longer had her miraculous.
Eventually, she had to bid the spirits goodbye. There was a reason she’d come all the way to San Antonio from Gotham, and that reason was a Fountain calling for her in the forests near the tracks.
Passing the trees, she walked always deeper and deeper into the forest until she found what she was looking for. There, hidden in the middle of everything, was a place people most of the time naturally and subconsciously avoided like plague, and the most beautiful fountain was located there. The water ran clear and turquoise blue, fading into white as it hit the surface. Flowers and dragons statues made of rock surrounded it and the weather seemed to change all on its own — while it was cold and windy and dark everywhere else, here it was warm and calm, and the lack of the Sun in the sky didn’t stop the place from being illuminated by the warm shades red and orange. It was like it was dawn. There was a rock that resembled a seat in front of it all, and that was were Marinette walked.
“Uh. Hi, Honoured Fountain, I— I want to make a wish. Will you listen to me?” she asked, hesitating, as she sat down on the rock and crossed her legs. Marinette folded her hands on her lap, looking at the tranquil water right before it suddenly changed its direction and began moving unnaturally.
Finally, it stopped. Mostly, anyway. The surface of the water rippled as though someone was tiptoeing towards her. There was a clear and bright voice of a young woman echoing around her, but not in a way that would bring her a headache. No, it was rather calming, actually.
“Greetings, Marinette Wayne of the family of Dupain-Cheng, the last one of a long line of Ladybugs as well as the sole being with a soul of creation blessed by the goddess. Should you make a wish, I shall hear it, after which we may negotiate on the terms of your wish and the price of it,” it — she? — said, somehow knowing exactly who she was. It should have crept her out but then again, the fountain was talking and said to grant wishes, so it really wasn’t that strange anymore.
“I was thinking… I want to save my family. I wish to bring them back to life without anything that will hurt them — no madness, no new pain, no new disabilities — old ones can stay, it’s not like we would have been able to do anything about them anyway —, in the fullest health they can be. I’ll give up anything for that except their safety,” Marinette decided. She was sure that was what she wanted, and besides, if she tried to specify it so that her family, her children wouldn’t need to suffer, it would have to make do.
No matter the price.
And oh, she knew what the cost of a wish as grand as hers should be and she knew she didn't have enough but she had to try.
The fountain chuckled. “Oh, dearest. No. You have my sincerest apologies, but you possess nothing of worth equal to nine lives. One life isn’t as expensive as nine. It’s not enough. It would need at least 9 lives to bring them back.”
“Then… What if I offer you the Joker’s life? And Oswald Cobblepot’s? And the lives of Harvey Dent, Lila Rossi, Gabriel Agreste, Nathalie Sancœur, Ra’s al Ghul and Talia al Ghul. And myself, obviously. They deserve to die, and my family deserves to live. They’ve fought to help the those that these people have hurt and have stolen from, and four of them lost their lives to them. Some of them twice.”
There was a quiet hum and then chuckles. “Oh, but little one, if you sacrificed those you didn’t care about and those you wanted dead, it wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice, now would it? It isn’t your price to pay, it won’t cost you a thing if those eight people die for your family. You don’t possess anything you could save all of them with. Either leave or come up with something else, but knowing your soul is marked Tikki’s, I doubt you will give up on your family this easily, now will you?”
They both knew the answer to that question was no. She would never give up on her babies. She would save them, no matter how high the cost. Marinette just needed them alive and safe.
Marinette sat there for hours. Wondering, suggesting things.
“What if I had the time rewind? That wouldn’t surely cost as much.”
“No, but it would eventually lead you to this very situation. Reversing time has that effect even if you try to change the course of time. It wouldn’t help you.”
“What would I get if I sacrificed the happiness of my own bloodline?”
“Probably your family's ghosts haunting you forever. And the knowledge your bloodline lost all of its happiness for that.”
“What if I went back in time and saved them all one by one and brought them into this timeline?”
“This timeline would cease to exist. I doubt you want that either.”
It kept going on. She couldn’t figure out how to save them all, except…
“What if… Miss Fountain— Wait, what do I even call you?” Marinette had only now realised she did not have any name to call her by and it’d be easier if she had one.
“Inochi.”
“So, Inochi, what if I travelled back in time and saved them there from the very beginning?”
“I am not certain I follow, dearest.”
Marinette thought about how she wanted to explain it for a moment before turning her gaze back to the fountain from the skies. “I was thinking, what if I travelled back, saved everyone one by one, staying in that timeline, just new changes to later times every time. Would that work? I would be able to save all of them so that they never ended up having to do what eventually got them killed. They would never find themselves in the situations that had them die.”
Inochi started laughing as the ground under her feet shook. Marinette shivered, cold creeping up her spine. “Oh, you are something, aren’t you. What would you pay for this idea of yours? Creating a new timeline completely and changing the course of fate is expensive, especially since we both know you’re asking this to save nine lives. You’d also be changing the lives of so many others and turn the course of time — it doesn’t come cheap.”
Biting her lip, she made her offer. “I’ll give up my life, and any memories anyone may have of me. They don’t need to know who saved them as long as they’re alive and safe. They can forget me and all I did for them once I’ve made sure they are no longer in danger.” A tear rolled down her cheek as she thought about the possibility of her family not knowing her but she knew this was a decision she had to make. “You can erase the memory of me from the world and take my life once I’ve seen all of them alive, but you can’t erase my existence as it would take back my actions. Or you can replace my memory with a memory of someone else. Anything.”
“That’s not enough. You would be changing the entire world’s story with what you’re asking to do.”
“It’s enough. I’d change it anyway regardless of what I did. I’m only doing this to save my children and my husband. I’m giving up my life, their memories of me, and my chance to ever be with them again. I’m giving up everything I have for them. It has to be enough.”
A sigh. “Alright, I agree. You can’t just bring them back to life, but I will give you the power to alter the course of time and fate so you can save them for the price of your life and their memories of you. Does this sound fair?” Inochi asked. She hummed, waiting for Marinette’s response, and the wind started dancing with her song. It played with Marinette’s hair and almost spun her around, pushing her off of the rock. Marinette refused to move, though, instead trying to get a steady hold of it. The ground shook but Marinette fought even harder to stay upright.
“Yeah, it does. Can we make the contract or whatever you use to make this final?”
It was only then that the ground and the wind calmed. The water in the middle of the fountain rose up in the air and brought her a small cup full of clear liquid. Marinette lifted it up to her face and smelled it. It brought mint to her mind. Fresh, a little bitter. She brought the cup to her lips and drank it, and soon she realised she had become younger by maybe twenty years. She looked like 21 again — seven years younger than her oldest son had been when he died, 9 years younger than her oldest daughter had been when she did. It was a little disturbing.
“This is not what I asked for.”
“No, but it’s what you’re getting anyway. It’s better for you to be in a younger body when moving around in the stream of time. That, and less of a chance for you to get caught. Now, take the cup and drink two cups of the waters of the fountain. Then I will grant you your wish.”
Marinette looked at Inochi like she was crazy before crouching down and scooped the cup full. She took a cautious sip at the liquid so sweet-smelling. Honeydew, if she had to guess. Not a lot of it, but enough for her to be certain she recognised the flavour. Inochi urged her to drink the rest of it and then a second cup. At least it didn’t taste horrible.
“My children… My Night… I’m coming and I’m going to save you this time around,” she murmured, taking one last gasp just before she lost her touch of reality and fell down on the ground, unconscious. Soon enough her body faded away.
When she woke up, she was in the middle of a crowd running everywhere. Looking around, she immediately realised she wasn’t even anywhere in Texas — no, this was far from there. This place, she knew.
In a way.
Because this Gotham was cleaner and smelled fresher.
Marinette looked forwards, determined to make things right this time around, but first, she needed clothes fitting for the time period. After all, she had a theatre show to see.
⬷۵⤐
“Mushi-chan, you know the rules. You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Oh yeah, yeah I do. She’s just fascinating, and besides, I’m also not allowed to tell her about us. That means I can’t really refuse her either.”
“You’re impossible. You better make sure she gets what she wants — I’m not losing her because of this.”
“I got it, sheesh. Now, megami-sama, let’s watch how the one you’ve blessed will be able to work when grief-stricken and determined.”