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Marinette laid face down on her bed, mumbling into the blanket. This was all so complicated! Alya knowing she was Ladybug, but Chat not knowing. And tonight had been another failed attempt at getting him to talk about what was wrong (he was depressed, probably). She hadn’t told him that she’d told someone her identity because that’d surely make him spiral more, but the longer she kept the secret the bigger the inevitable spiral became.
She screamed into a mouthful of cotton. “Maybe I should just tell him who I am.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than she was standing on a dark roof, the faint sounds of conversation a few meters away. The voices came from a group huddled under an awning, their identities unreadable. Bunnix let go of her arm and opened a Burrow, and left Marinette to approach the circle of figures alone.
“Hello?” she asked. “I think I’m supposed to talk to you?”
“Of course you are, dear,” said one of them, stepping out from the awning and into the moonlight.
Marinette gasped. She was staring at a different version of herself. The Marinette in front of her looked older, though only a bit taller, with hair cut stylishly above her ears.
“I know, pretty disconcerting.” She turned to the group. “Let’s come over here, someone bring an extra chair.”
Marinette quickly found herself surrounded by… herself. She glanced through the faces, who all looked the same age, thankfully distinguishable by their hair. There was Long-haired Marinette with a wispy fringe, Ponytail Marinette, Braid Marinette, and one who’d kept the pigtails.
Short-haired Marinette had taken on the role of leader. “We all chose something different at the point you’re at now,” she explained, “and we’ve all turned that decision into something good. You’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself, but one choice can’t determine the future. There are a million other choices between the big ones and the end of your story.”
Marinette nodded, trying to follow along. “So which did you choose?”
“That’s the only thing we can’t say,” Long-haired Marinette said. “But ask us any other questions!”
“Okay, um, what’s your— what are your lives like?”
“Amazing!” Short-haired Marinette exclaimed. “I’m graduating with a degree in fashion design next month, and I just got engaged. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to add that it’s Adrien.”
Long-haired Marinette glared at her. “We all know that younger us will think you have the best life based on that.”
“I know. And I love my life, but it’s not everything I wanted. The job I’m working… it’s not what you want. It’s fashion, sort of, but not really my dream. And I think I’m gonna stay in it for a while, for stability.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Marinette conceded. “And, oh wow, Adrien !”
“He’s not that great.” Braid Marinette rolled her eyes. “And my life’s pretty good, too. Cool job in LA and all that. I did just have to deal with a break up— not Adrien,” she added at Marinette’s look, “Luka. I’d tell you not to date him again, but he did get me to LA.”
A fashion designer in LA? The clients she must have! And so what about the Adrien thing; he was honestly the last person on her mind with all this Guardian stuff.
Ponytail Marinette spoke up next. “Apparently we’re all sharing our relationship status. I’m not really sure, actually, but Chat and I are kind of starting to date? It’s so weird and I feel like teen whenever I talk about it but— it’s really nice. And I’ve started teaching sewing lessons full-time, it’s really fun.”
“You’re dating Chat Noir?” Short-haired Marinette asked.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Interesting.”
Marinette listened thoughtfully. Everyone so far sounded like they had a happy ending, or some version of it. And honestly, she wouldn’t mind dating Chat Noir.
The sound of her own laughter rippled around and she felt herself grow red. “I said that outloud, didn’t I?”
“Hey, we all know what you think about Chat,” Pigtail Marinette cut in. “I mean, really, the leather tail?”
That got Pigtail Marinette a few snickers, a few blushes, and one light punch on the shoulder.
“That’s my boyfriend you’re talking about,” Ponytail Marinette said.
“I thought you were ‘kind of starting to date’.”
“Okay, okay,” Short-haired Marinette interrupted the ensuing chatter. “Younger us is about to combust. Let’s move on.”
“Ooh, me next!” Long-haired Marinette said. “Unlike these losers, I actually got the fashion thing figured out. I got recruited for a name brand a few years ago, dropped out of university, and I’ve been designing since. And I’m pretty sure I’m the only married one here, so I think I’m winning.”
“This isn’t a competition,” Short-haired Marinette said.
“Have you met yourself? This is so a competition.”
“I think I should be judge,” Teen Marinette said. “And I can’t properly judge without knowing who you’re married to.”
Long-haired Marinette puffed up. “Kagami.”
“Really?”
“She’s hot, right?”
Teen Marinette sputtered and pointed at Pigtail Marinette. “You next.”
“Well, I’m also single,” she started, “and I’m moving to Belgium in a few weeks. I studied abroad in New York for a semester, I’m in the process of setting up my own designing business. I’d say I’m doing well.”
“You all sound like you’re doing well,” Teen Marinette agreed.
“But who won?” Long-haired Marinette asked.
Teen Marinette thought for a moment. “Me, because I can still experience all of your timelines.”
“That’s cheating.”
Short-haired Marinette sighed. “What else do you want to know?”
“Um, are you still Ladybug?”
“I am sometimes,” she answered.
Short-haired Marinette was joined by Pigtail Marinette in the realm of Sometimes-Ladybugs.
Ponytail Marinette was the only full-hero in the group, but Teen Marinette assumed that was more because of her relationship with Chat Noir than anything else.
Braid Marinette wasn’t a hero anymore, and Long-haired Marinette…
“I’m not Ladybug but I am still a hero, but I don’t miss Tikki at all, I see her everyday. It’s sort of complicated actually, because Chat could still—”
“Chat!” Teen Marinette said. “How is he?”
Everyone fell silent.
“He has to be good, right? Cause I don’t want a happy ending if he doesn’t get one too.”
Short-haired Marinette put a hand on her knee. “We were talking before you got here, and he’s doing well now in all our timelines, but there’s been some where he had a rough few years.”
“Oh.” She turned to Long-haired Marinette. “So when you said you’re not Ladybug…?”
“I’m Lady Noire, and someone else has Tikki. Chat might come back, but I don’t know. I want what’s best for him, and if that’s giving up his miraculous, so be it.”
“What other timelines?”
Braid Marinette raised a hand.
“What did you choose when you were me? How can I prevent it? I don’t want Chat to suffer.”
“We know you don’t,” Long-haired Marinette reassured her. “But remember, it’s not just this choice. And it’s not all in your control. The stuff that happened to him in my timeline, most of it’s not my fault. And some of it is his.”
“Mine too,” Braid Marinette whispered. “He was… not doing okay, and refusing to admit that, for a long time.”
“And he’s doing a lot better now than I’ve seen him in a long time,” Long-haired Marinette added.
“I still wish I could prevent it.”
Short-haired Marinette nodded. “I know. I do too. The… Thing that happened in their timelines wasn’t in mine, but my Chat went through a lot of the same stuff. He just got put on antidepressants earlier.”
“I guess I can encourage him to get help.”
“But it’s not your fault if he still doesn’t,” Long-haired Marinette reminded her.
“I know.” Teen Marinette crossed and uncrossed her legs. “Um, shit, that got heavy. Do you have any pets?”
Immediate chatter broke out, of which Teen Marinette could only catch bits and pieces.
“—brought home a stray cat, because of course—”
“—not my fault Alya’s pug hates me—”
“—woke me up at two screaming, don’t know why I ditched the hamster idea for guinea pigs.”
“You have guinea pigs?”
Everyone’s attention turned to Pigtail Marinette.
“Their names are Tairie and Tiny.”
“How cute.”
“Thank you.”
Marinette could’ve stayed with them for hours. All these different versions of her, the timelines she got happy endings in, they were comforting. Even though she couldn’t ask whether they’d revealed at her age, she’d picked up some hints.
By the time Bunnix showed up and led her towards the Burrow, Marinette had already made her decision. She was happy for all of her future selves, she knew they all had great lives. But when the pressure and stress of the choices were removed, it wasn’t a choice anymore. She thought that Bunnix must have known that, that this whole meeting was nudging her in the direction she’d landed.
“Got any good ideas, Minibug?” they asked, putting a bowl over her head.
“Yeah.” Marinette stepped in, ready to return to her time. “I’m telling him my identity.”