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“Do you see that dog over there?” Lady Noire asked, pointing out the window of the desolate bar.
“Yeah, it’s humping a pole.” Multimouse waved dismissively, barely sparing a glance in that direction.
This seemed to tick off the feline. “Don’t brush me off like that! Look at the fuckin’ dog!”
Multimouse gasped. “Don’t curse at me! It’s not nice.”
A toothy smile stretched across Noire’s face. “Then look at the dog like I asked.”
All three pairs of eyes drifted out the window, two of which widened at the sight of Ms. Hound - Sabrina with the dog miraculous - with her legs wrapped around the metal pole, grinding her crotch against it with her tongue lolling out of her mouth.
“See what I mean?”
Multimouse thought for a moment before nodding. “I see, but it still doesn’t have anything to do with our predicament…”
“It has everything to do with our predicament!” Noire nearly shouted, popping up from her seat to stride across the empty bar to fiddle with a glass of brown liquid - sliding it between her hand a few times - before walking back over and sitting in her chair again… only to stand and spin the seat around to sit in it backwards. “It’s what’s gonna happen to all of us if we don’t fix this! Soon!”
Ladybug, who was sitting in between the two alternate versions of herself, nodded. “She’s not wrong.”
“But we need to think about this first!” Multimouse expressed, clicking the pen in her hand repeatedly before tapping it against the table in a quick, staccato rhythm. “If we rush into this without knowing what exactly went wrong, we could make everything worse. Not just for ourselves but for all of the timelines and universes.”
Thinking about it, Ladybug could admit that that was sensible. “It makes sense. We should do a little planning first…”
Multimouse smiled. “Exactly! So I was thinking we could start by going through a variety of possibly situations and thinking of ways to combat them-”
“That’s stupid!” Noire said, hitting her fist against the table. “So fuckin’ stupid! There’s too much at risk to just stand by making plans for every thing that could possibly go wrong. We need to go out and face the problem head on! It’s the best way to learn the information we need: hands on and up, close, and personal!”
“Ladies,” Ladybug tried but seemed to go unheard.
“Now that’s stupid.” Multi scoffed, tapping her pen against the notepad in front of her where complicated and complex diagrams were drawn with the title The Multiverse written across the top in pristine handwriting. “Rushing in will lead to nothing but disaster. Mistakes - both small and dire could be made that could end all time and space when we could just watch and wait instead of being stupid and jumping in feet first-”
“We can’t wait!” Noire shot up from her chair so fast that it clattered against the floor. The table wobbled as she slammed one hand against it and put the other on her hip. When she spoke again, her voice was near shrieking, “If we don’t do something right fuckin now we’re gonna be stuck here forever!”
Multi’s chair was left in a manner similar to Noire’s as she sprung up as well, hands balled into fists and held in front of her as she shouted back, “Well if you caramelize everything up then the situation is going to get worse!”
‘Oh my goddddddd.’ Ladybug thought, head dropping into her hands. ‘I really need to take control, but-’
“I don’t know what ‘carmelize’ is or means, but if you’re trying to say I’m gonna fuck shit up by trying to fix everything, then you got another thing coming, Mousey-”
“Don’t call me Mousey!” Multimouse squeaked.
“Oh? Does Mousey not like it when someone calls her Mousey?” Noire purred, a smirk slipping onto her lips as she sensed the raised levels of frustration and irritation wafting off the mouse hero.
“I’ve already said I don’t!”
The smirk on Noire’s face grew. Dragging one finger along the edge of the table, Noire drew closer to her, almost like a cat stalking its prey. It took everything in Multimouse to stand her ground and not run like the prey she was. “Does it make the little mouse angry when I call her Mousey?”
She huffed. “You can clearly see that it does.”
“You guys-”
“Angry enough to cuss, for real?”
“Wha- Gooseberries! Of course not! Let’s get back to-”
“Are you sure?” Noire said as she entered Multimouse’s personal space. The finger lifted from the wooden table to drag along the sensitive skin of Multi’s neck before curling underneath her chin, forcing her to look up into Lady Noire’s green eyes that sparkled with mischief. “You sure you don’t wanna use big girl words to tell me to fuck off or eat shit?”
“Hey!”
Multimouse’s eyes burned with resolve. “I don’t need to use that kind of language to tell you to badger off. Get out of my face.”
Pressing even closer, so close their noses almost touched, Noire purred again. “Who’s gonna make me, Mousey?”
A surprisingly menacing growl left the mouse’s mouth. “Keep fudging around and you’ll find out, Kitty Cat.”
Noire’s mouth tipped down in an angry smile. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me, Kitty.”
Just as her claws curled into a fist, both heroes found themselves ripped apart, tied up, and hanging from the rafters.
“ That’s enough !”
The command had the cat and mouse watching with wide eyes as Ladybug stood from her chair, head bowed and hands flat on the table. The string of her yo-yo dangled from her fingers and, when she raised her head, the heroes could see the raging fire in her eyes.
“Both of you are acting like children!”
Noire’s eyes slitted as Multimouse gasped. “We are not!”
“Yes, you are! Fighting and taunting each other when we need to decide what to do to save everyone we love and care about… and Chloe.”
Multimouse felt shame swallow her whole as she realized that they had indeed been arguing like a pair of school aged girls when everything was hanging in the balance and depending on the three of them finding a solution and working together.
Kitty felt a similar sense of shame… but also anger. “You don’t think we fuckin’ know that?”
Ladybug stood to her full height - only an inch or two above her alternate selves - and put her hands on her hips. “I know you know, but you need to act like it too! I know we’re all stressed and worried and still reeling from being dropped into this random ass bar in a void by our respective Bunnyxs-”
“Which is so weird right?” Multimouse interrupted. “That of all things that differ from reality to reality - which miraculous we received, the leader, who we love-”
“Excuse you, but I think you forget that we’re all dating Luka so that’s not different.”
Ladybug shook her head. “Actually, I’m dating Luka and Adrien so it is different.”
Multimouse’s nose wrinkled. “Really? And it doesn’t feel like kissing your brother?”
“Of course not!”
The mouse shrugged. “Well, with all that, isn’t it weird that Bunnyx is the only thing that’s remained the same in regards to the miraculous?”
An identical look of curiosity came across all of their faces before, as one, they all shrugged and stated, “Time is weird.”
“Like I was saying,” Ladybug continued after shaking her head, “I know we’ve had a lot to take in, but we need to find some common ground so that we can mend the rift and return to our respective realities. Can we do that?”
Both of the strung up heroes nodded and Ladybug freed them from their string bindings. Noire rubbed the back of her neck as she approached Multimouse.
“Sorry bout that. I just get a little aggressive when I’m worried.”
Mouse nodded. “It’s better than freezing up and having a panic attack like I do.”
“Or being uptight and bossy like me.” Ladybug chipped in and the three chuckled together.
Grabbing Multimouse by the hand, Noire pulled her back over to the table. “So what’s the plan?”
Ladybug’s eyebrows rose. “You wanna take some time and plan things out now?”
“Yeah.” She looked down at the floor, blushing and avoiding their eyes. “We can’t just rush out guns a-blazing when we don’t know who or what we’re fighting against.”
“But,” Multimouse interjected, giving the cat a small smile. “We shouldn’t sit around for too long: things might get a lot worse if we do.”
The two shared a grin and Ladybug felt the first inkling of hope tickling her chest.
They could do this! They could save everyone!
“So what should we do first?”
Multimouse looked at her notes. “From what I can tell from our collective knowledge, there was an akuma in your-” She points at Ladybug, “- universe given the power to jump timelines and universes with a sentimonster capable of opening and closing the rift when needed. However, when it was opened in your-” She points at Noire who immediately swats the finger. “- universe, you-” another point and another swat “cataclysmed the monster-”
Noire groaned. “Don’t say it like that! It makes it sound like it was my fault! I didn’t know!”
“-and instead of just malfunctioning and going crazy, it fractured into pieces that were scattered amongst the universes that had been opened at that point in time.”
Ladybug nodded. “We each found our respective pieces and have put them together, but it seems like it’s still missing a piece and we have no idea where it could be.”
“That’s because it looks like it was split into at least four pieces but there’s only three of us!” Noire sighed. “And if there was another one then we’d know-”
“Hey Bug, Noire, and Multi. I hope I’m not too late.”
All heroines in the room turned and spotted the newest addition to the bar. Standing tall and calm as always was Viperion. A sigh of relief left each of their mouths and Ladybug was the first to speak.
“Viperion! You’re here! We need -.” Ladybug trailed to a stop as Noire pounced almost immediately, sending the snake hero reeling back at the greeting.
Covering his face with quick kisses, Noire purred. “I’m so happy to see you, Luka. This has been such a weird day!”
Ladybug was speechless at the sight of another her claiming her boyfriend.
Multimouse, on the other hand, was not. “Excuse you, Kitty, but he’s obviously my Vai.”
“Well-”
Ladybug cut him off. “How would you know that? He greeted me first so he’s more likely from my reality.”
“Actually-”
“We’ve already discussed how the heroes in my timeline are the only ones to know about the rift.” Multimouse explained confidently. “So if he’s here and not freaking out - like both of you did when we first met - then it makes the most sense that he’s my Vai.”
“But-”
“Excuse me.” The fought over snake said loudly, finally gaining the ladies’ attention. “If you would give me a moment to talk, I can explain.”
There was quiet in the room as Viperion gently but quickly detached Noire from his person and sat her on the ground before speaking. “I am Viperion, but I’m none of yours.”
Three heads tilted at the exact same time with the exact same expression and he laughed.
“I know, I know. It’s overwhelming but I’m from a fourth universe where I’m her Viper.”
The trio watched as he turned over his shoulder and held out his hand. A burrow opened and a hand, wrapped in sleek blue and white leather, emerged from it to slide into Viperion’s hand. The trio looked on in amazement as she pressed a quick kiss to Viperion’s cheek before turning to them.
Another Marinette! Ladybug thought in exasperation. How many would there be?!
With a confident smile on her face, the bunny hero waved. “Hello ladies. I’m Chronotail, leader of the holders in my universe. Could you, perhaps, be looking for this?”
In her hands was the fourth and seemingly last part needed for the broken sentimonster.
“Y-Yes! Here!” Ladybug led her over to the table where the other three parts were and, with the confidence of someone who knew what she was doing, Chronotail slotted the piece into its proper place.
The bar filled with a soft hum as the pieces coalesced into a dark, shapeless mass that began to hover above their heads. Hairs on their arms stood at attention as time itself shivered around them and the black mass expanded into a cube, and flickers of real world places and scenes from different realities on different faces of the shape appeared.
Noire smiled. “There we go! Now let's go kick some ass!” She strode towards the cube before Multimouse grabbed her shoulder.
“Wait! We can’t just go to any universe. We have to wait until we see Ladybug’s since that’s where the akuma is!”
“She’s right.” Ladybug agreed. “Bunnyx - my Bunnyx said that all of us have to work together to defeat this akuma as it can hop timelines and realities and none of us have the power to do that except-”
“Me.” Chrono finished, twirling the umbrella between her fingers. “With my miraculous we’ll be able to keep up and more.”
“Which means it’s time to come up with our final plan of attack. Lucky Charm!” A red knitted scarf dropped into her hand and Ladybug looked at it quizzically. “How is a scarf gonna fix this?”
Multimouse chewed on the tip of her pen as she contemplated plan after plan after plan until one clicked. “I got it!”
Five minutes later, Noire clapped. “That’s fucking brilliant. Good job, Mousinette.”
“Mousinette?” Multimouse questioned, a small smile on her face. “I think I like Mousey better.”
Noire grinned back. “Then Mousey it is.”
“Fuck yeah.” Burst from Multimouse’s mouth, shocking her and everyone else in the room. “I’m sorry- ow!” She flinched, rubbing her arm where the excited cat heroine had bitten her.
“I bite to show affection, sorry.” Kitty said, apparently not remorseful even a little bit, and beamed with pride. “I’m just so fuckin’ proud of you. I’ll make a sailor of you yet.”
Mousey giggled. “Unlikely, Kitty. If my Vai couldn’t persuade me to curse on the regular, I doubt you can. Maybe I’ll teach you the proper way to show affection… like a motherfeathering hug or kiss on the cheek.”
Kitty’s grin was wide and toothy. “Doubt it.”
The two heroes smiled at each other and Ladybug felt a sense of pride at them getting along before focusing on the task. “Well, we have a plan. Everyone ready?”
Nods went around the room.
“If we’re all ready,” Chronotail waved her hand and a portal opened in front of her. “Then let’s go save the multiverse, girls.”
And so they did.