Chapter Text
Currently, in an alternate reality…
He walks along the railing of the metal bridge, lightly trailing the tips of his fingers on it as he moves, and sighs.
This is not how Nino thought things would go.
He had hopes and dreams. Desires and aspirations. Harsh reality nipped those in the bud rather quickly. It’s ambitious to believe there’s anything beyond what they are stuck in now. People have the tendency to reach for the unattainable, and that is just what this ambition will lead to. He loves his companion dearly, but he just doesn’t share the same opinion as her.
Their city is doomed. A kingdom ruled by two horrific tyrants.
Shadybug and Claw Noir.
Only speaking of their names causes a shiver to pass over his spine.
He’s known for being a creature of darkness, feeling at home in the night. She’s become one with the blood of anyone who dares cross her.
The duo says they do it in the name of justice, but there’s nothing just about their actions. Destroying the system requires upholding morality, and they’re very far removed from such virtues. Their envisioned future is all littered with vices.
A rumble travels from the ceiling down into the deepest part of the basement lair. Nino’s eyes widen.
They found us.
He doesn’t know how, but they did. So he has to warn the others.
For the sake of protection, Nino grabs a ray gun from their weapon compartment. Better safe than sorry. Now all he has to do is go down the stairs.
But it’s already too late. They come crashing through the ceiling, and Nino lands on his rear. The weapon springs out of his hand and clatters on the floor in front of his feet. He hastily scrambles for it and aims at the pillowy cloud of dark smoke pouring towards him. The gun rattles in his unsteady grip.
Two silhouettes pop out into vision as the obstructive blanket ebbs away. He tries to semi-appear to be standing his ground, but his knees won’t allow him to stand up. All he does is crawl backwards as they take a step in his direction.
“Where is she?” Shadybug starts with a demanding tone and her arms crossed. Her expression is bored despite her ominous presence and murderous voice.
Nino refuses to answer, but can’t help but tremble before them.
“You better answer the lady.” Claw Noir grins from behind his partner, tongue curling behind sharp teeth and black-lined lips. He drops his head back to peek at Nino with smirking eyes. “Last time I gave her the silent treatment, it didn’t end so well. No, didn’t quite like that.”
He leisurely stalks forward, his weapon of choice – a deceivingly simple black staff – dragging on the stainless steel platform of the bridge. The grating noise it emits is painful to the ears; reminiscent of the suffering that follows the two of them like a shadow.
Claw Noir stabs his staff loudly between Nino’s legs, the echo of it vibrating in tandem with his nervous heartbeat. “Want to know what she did?” The boy in front of him whips his green hair out of his eyes and leans down to Nino’s level, both hands holding on to the staff. Purple glowing eyes eerily pierce through him. “She dislocated my shoulder and didn’t want to set it back for a week. Isn’t that disgustingly sweet?”
“I’ll break it instead if you continue to waste time like this. He’s been looking at the staircase this entire time. She’s down there.” Shadybug eyes Nino now, offering a mocking pout. “No convenient copout this time, I’m afraid.”
“I was just making a point, lovely dearest,” Claw Noir growls with bared teeth, standing up straight to glare at her. “Someone as rotten as you surely must understand.”
Shadybug tuts. “Like you will ever fully understand me! I hope you die in a fire.”
He tightly grabs the leather on his chest, squeezing. “And my wish is for you to burn with me. So slow your skin melts off.”
Nino’s gaze darts between the two of them as they continue their conversation as if he’s a mere pebble in the room.
“How romantic. Let’s discuss that over dinner tonight.” Shadybug cutely bats her eyelashes. “Only the fanciest of restaurants will do.”
“Then I suppose we need to find equally fancy attire to fit in.” Claw Noir lowers his eyes and presses close to her, purring as he presses a nose to her neck. “A brooch will do well, I’d say.”
“What do you know, you do understand me.”
Adrien
It’s not the first time his gaze falls over it this night; not even the first time in general. But he just can’t let go of the doubt. It continues to eat at him again and again and again. After everything, it feels more than silly to have these insecurities. It’s annoyingly frustrating that it doesn’t just let him rest.
Quite literally. It’s almost 4 a.m. and yet he’s still seated on his couch in front of a static TV. He didn’t even bother to put on pajamas.
Adrien gently twists the ring on his left hand, the slight scraping sensation oddly grounding. His skin must be rubbed raw underneath the metal.
“Oh, it’s moping hour already?” His Kwami yawns from his place on the armrest of the sofa. He stretches before twirling up in the air to hover in front of Adrien’s nose. “Thought that was scheduled for late afternoons.”
“Hilarious as usual, Plagg.”
“Don’t take that tone with me, young man,” Plagg responds nasally. He plops down onto Adrien’s knee and curiously stares up at him. “You can always tell me whenever something’s bothering you. In exchange for a good, stinky camembert of course.”
“Of course.” Adrien reaches for the side table, remembering a leftover piece of cheese to be there. His guess is correct, and he offers it to his Kwami who happily snatches it from his fingers to nibble on it.
“Speak,” Plagg attempts to say with his mouth full. Luckily Adrien has learned his friend’s language a long while ago.
“I don’t really know what it is. Everything should be fine, but for some reason I feel like something’s missing? Is that odd?”
“The definitions of odd to you mortals do not conform to my standards, kiddo.”
Adrien grunts, slumping back against the back of the couch. “Very helpful.”
In a way, he does know what troubles him. As it typically does, it all comes back to her.
His Lady. His partner. The one he would willingly die for – has many times – and the one person he always thought he could understand, and could understand him.
But there’s a distance now.
They’ve been this duo that would strictly stick together no matter what. Sure, the occasional ally would turn up out of pure necessity, but every time it ended up the same.
Us against the world.
But how can it be them when there’s a horde of other heroes, just as capable, that can be called upon. Is it selfish of him to wish there was no need for them?
Truly though, is there? The threat is gone. That’s the whole reason the other heroes can exist in the first place. If it wasn’t for her – not him, he failed and couldn’t be there – no, her… then they still would be stuck in the previous mess.
It’s a better world now. Adrien should be happy about all they’ve achieved.
And yet he wonders if he’s somehow excluded from being a participant of this newly reformed world.
Marinette
“Hm. You’re actually serious about that, huh?”
“I don’t know!” she whines. “Either options feels cursed to fail.”
“Girl, you have such a tendency for dramatics. If you just chill out, you can think more clearly and see there’s nothing to worry about.”
Marinette bites her lip and closes her eyes. Why doesn’t her best friend see it from her point of view? She understands where Alya is coming from, but it’s just that–
“Things are different now,” Marinette lets out with a deep puff of air. “At first we had no choice. And now…”
“Sweetie, no offense, but you’ve always had a choice.” Alya tilts her head to the side and places a consoling hand on Marinette’s. “You just did what you thought was right at that moment. But like you said, things are different now. And different is good! No more big bad guy. No more looming threats. If there ever was a time, it’s now.”
Marinette pulls her legs onto the chaise and hides her chin between her knees. “What if he says no?”
“Why would he? Isn’t it his dream come true?”
“Because, again, things are different now.” Marinette groans, rubbing her palms roughly against her cheeks. “He had a totally different motivation. That was before he got some mystery girlfriend.”
Alya squints her eyes with a slight mischievous smile. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”
“What? No! I’m over it, trust me.” She decidedly shakes her head and x’s her arms. “I’m happily with Adrien, you know that. I’m just saying… doing it has to be for a good reason.”
Alya deadpans, chin resting in her palm. “And being a dynamic duo that faced many life-and-death situations head-on for about a year isn’t a good enough reason?”
“Well,” she chuckles, “when you put it like that.”
Marinette still isn’t convinced though.
It’s been buzzing around in her brain for weeks.
Now that their nemesis has left the battlefield, peace has returned to Paris and they have an established team of trustworthy allies…
…wouldn’t it be the perfect time to finally, finally, share her identity with her longtime partner, and vice versa?
If she can only make do with just Chat Noir for the rest of her life, she’ll take it, no problem. He means the world to her, and having a name and face attached wouldn’t change that. It would be great, however, to be able to say ‘thank you’ to the one always at her side; to see him whenever she wants – not just in dire situations; to text him whenever she requires his stupid puns and idiotic ideas.
There have been so many situations where she wished she could see and talk to him, because she knew he would be the only one who could understand. And she’s sure he feels the same. He’s told her as such before.
Really, there’s only positive sides to it now, if she thinks about it. It’s just the ever-present fear of the ‘what if’.
“Look,” Alya starts with a sigh. She turns to Marinette and places two hands on her shoulders. “Take when you told me, for example. Yes, there were risks. But it’s gone okay in the end. Now that Monarch’s gone, what’s there to lose?”
Ugh, she hates when her bestie is the rational one out of the two of them.
“When I told Nino, I broke our promise,” Alya continues to say. “It hurt me a lot to betray you like that. And yet I’ll still never regret it one bit. He’s the support I needed. Just as you needed me.”
“I see what you’re trying to say,” Marinette mutters with a pout. “But I–”
“No, no more buts.” Alya laughs, smacking Marinette lightly on the knee. “You deserve that just as much. And not just you, you know? Kitty boy deserves that as well.”
It’s easy for Marinette to wind up stressed out by whatever’s on her plate. Especially when she became the Guardian, the added load of responsibility made her spiral more times than she’s proud to admit. Her reasoning to tell Alya in the first place was because she couldn’t keep doing it anymore.
The people she was able to rely on were vital to her wellbeing, she couldn’t keep up with her new schedule otherwise. Chat Noir is one of the most important people in her life, probably has earned such support more than she has, and is still doing this on his own. It’s unfair to never have given him that same opportunity.
“Obviously I’m right, but I can understand your apprehension.” Alya moves in closer, tightly squeezing her in a warm hug. “While you think about it some more, let me get some snacks, all right?”
Marinette nods, smiling gratefully at her friend. She really does always know what to say to calm her down. “Sure. Do be quiet though. It’s almost 5 and my parents have tomorrow off. They try and sleep in when they can.”
“No problemo.” Alya winks with a thumbs up as she opens the hatch and slides down the stairs.
So, Marinette’s alone in her room, even if it’s only for a short while. It’s lovely to have Alya around for one of their biweekly sleepovers, but a moment of quiet is nice, too.
Being alone with the silence also means she’s alone with her thoughts though, and Marinette would like to avoid those for the rest of the night. It’s why they’re still up so early in the morning. Her brain just didn’t allow her to fall asleep before this conundrum was solved.
Before her mind can wander into dangerous territory once more, a blue-ish purple… hole? Portal? Whatever it is, it opens up right in her room.
Marinette hops off the chaise and takes a few protective steps away from the ominously glowing portal.
Then, a shadow appears. It hurries out of it into view and flies to the top of the portal. It seems to be a woman with… a Miraculous! If her outfit is any indication, at least. And not just any Miraculous. That’s the Butterfly!
The woman groans as she floats in front of the portal. Her eyes strain and–
Hold on. That face is very familiar.
Is… is that–
“I-I can’t hold them back… any longer!” The woman can barely speak, her voice suffering under her labored breathing. She looks exhausted.
“Who?” Marinette is able to ask despite her stupefied state. She has no idea what’s going on here. “What are you talking about?”
Her question is immediately answered when another shadow comes up to them from inside the portal. It comes closer, and closer. It steps through it.
It’s another hero with a Miraculous, it seems. Only this, it’s…
Her!?
“What the–”
Marinette’s eyes widen in shock. Now that she takes in the new girl’s appearance with a more detailed gaze, it’s clear that – while this is definitely the holder of the Ladybug Miraculous and, more importantly, herself – she seems far from a hero. There’s a sinister aura surrounding her.
She… has many thoughts racing through her now. One of them being why?
“No way, not you, too!” The purple hero says from above them. She still keeps pushing all her strength into whatever she’s doing with the portal. There are more people that want to come through, and she’s doing everything in her power to keep that from happening.
The eyes of the Ladybug mirror image travel around the room slowly, scrunching her nose at the furniture. “Pft, what a dump.” She swings something in her hand as she goes back and forth around the room.
Marinette swallows roughly. His design looks a little different, but she recognizes the poor creature in that hand to be Markov. Or whatever counterpart he’s supposed to be.
“You’re boring me.” The girl directs her attention at Marinette now, lowering her chilling red eyes. “I was thinking you’d be more interesting, considering everything. Too bad, I suppose. Lucky Charm!”
Not expecting a Lucky Charm to get thrown into the mix and too afraid to find out what it will be, Marinette ducks out of the way, hiding behind her mannequin.
The summoned object falls down into her counterpart’s hand.
No…
It’s a grenade!
A small, devilish smile creeps up on her opponents face. “Just what I ordered. Here, catch!”
What?!
Marinette has not enough of time to think of an escape plan before the black bomb falls in front of her feet and engulfs the room in smoke and flames. She hears the glass of the window break, sees the ceiling crumble to pieces and spots her enemy jumping above into her bed for safety.
Then everything becomes warm and white and bright. Until there’s nothing.