The Price of One || Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

Chapter Thirty-Five: Past and Future

Cat Noir

Loveless lunged at the two heroes but they managed to jump out of the way - a mixture of fear and determination in their eyes.

“Cat Noir! Get us out of here!” Ladybug exclaimed as he nodded. “Cataclysm!” He bellowed, slamming his palm onto the eiffel towers as the memory shattered around them, and they were back in the Paris of the past.

“Whoa. What...happened here?”

Every parisian seemed to fit into the perfect picture of misery. Some were curled up and sobbing into their knees, others wailed in agony, but then there were the ones that just stood still - gazing into nothingness as silent tears fell down their face.

Cat Noir walked up to the nearest citizen - observing the blue feather mark on his cheekbone. “It’s Loveless. She must have done something to show everyone something that makes them miserable.”

He stepped away. He felt guilty for experiencing this - everyone’s worst selves put up on display, all against their will. Cat Noir’s fists clenched in anger. Hawk Moth had stolen from everyone today, and he was determined to make him pay. But the civilians came first, and they were going to save them all.

“Lucky Charm!” Ladybug shouted, and a polka-dotted tablet fell from the sky into her waiting hands.

“A tablet? How are we supposed to defeat Loveless with that?” Cat Noir asked, but Ladybug only gasped in realization.

“Master Fu,” She explained. “He had this book of superpowers. One of the powers was to gain the knowledge of other miraculous holders from the past and present. Think about it: if we gave Emma a miraculous, we had to have given our other kids a miraculous too - namely Louis. We can do the spell twice - first to ask my future self what miraculous she gave him, and a second time to summon Louis. I bet he could distract Loveless long enough in the 5 minute timeframe so we can break her choker and purify the akuma.”

Cat Noir wrinkled his nose in confusion. “But I don’t understand. Hawk Moth took that tablet when we were fighting Miracle Queen. We don’t have access to those powers anymore!”

Ladybug simply smirked.

- - -

“It can’t be this easy.” Adrien grumped as Marinette followed the spell from a picture on her phone - Tikki and Plagg helping by pouring in the needed ingredients.

“The wonders of saving photos to the cloud.” She shrugged. “Hawk Moth might crack the code to these mixtures and power-ups one day, but before Master Fu passed down the miracle box to me, he made sure I knew how to make most of these. Hawk Moth is just leveling up the playing field - but we’ve got the experience.”

Adrien nodded, turning back to Plagg - who had just finished his wheel of cheese. “You ready?” He had expected a groan - or even a plain ‘No’, but instead, Plagg only flew up to Adrien’s eye-level - lime eyes solemn. “You have to bring her back - before she does something she’s going to regret.”

Adrien was pleasantly startled but nodded, giving his kwami an easy going smile. “We will, Plagg. Emma’s going to be alright - you’ll see.” The charcoal kwami gave his holder a cocky smile. “Go save your kid, kid.”

“Plagg! Claws out!”

Cat Noir turned back to Marinette, who looked oddly sober, but before he could ask, she shook herself out of it - pouring the contents of the pot into a small cap. “Drink up, Tikki.” She said tightly. Tikki nodded, downing the substance as glowing golden designs appeared over her body.

“Tikki! Spots on!”

Ladybug now stood before him, the red of her costume now replaced with a metallic gold. “You think this is going to work, m’lady?” He asked.

“Only one way to find out,” She took a deep breath. “Past and Future!” She cried out, and with a flash, a second Ladybug stood before them.

She was tall and slender, her midnight hair cut short and her face more mature, but her bluebell eyes had remained the same, and she acknowledged her younger self with a nod. “Marinette.” Future-Ladybug gave the both of them a small smile. “If memory serves, I believe the two of you brought me here to ask about Louis?”

Her voice broke, and Ladybug couldn’t quite hide her flinch as she spoke. “Emma got akumatized, and we need to know the miraculous you gave him so we can help her.”

Future-Ladybug’s smile faltered. “I...I gave Louis the snake miraculous. After Luka moved away to America with Kagami, I thought it suited his personality nicely.”

“Are they happy?” Cat Noir blurted out. Now that he knew that his Lady was also his Marinette, it wasn’t even a question who to choose. But he had hoped that Kagami would also get her happy-ever-after - even after he officially declined her romantic interest in him.

His answer was a large smile and a swift nod.

“Thank you.” Ladybug said earnestly - about to say the words to send her back when Future-Ladybug suddenly grabbed her by the shoulder. “Wait.” Her lip wobbled, but her bluebell eyes were sure. “When you two save Emma...will you tell her that her family loves her? With all the stars in the sky?”

Ladybug looked at her future-self with wide eyes, but quickly recomposed herself and smiled. “Of course we will. And you’ll get a chance to say it yourself when we get her back home to you.”

“Time Reset!”

A single tear slipped down Future-Ladybug’s face as she faded away in a mass of golden mist.

Ladybug then turned back to Cat Noir - a questioning brow raised. “I don’t understand. She’s been us before - she knows how we save Emma and how we get her back home. Why do you think she was so upset?”

“She probably misses Emma - she’s been here for months. Everyone in the future probably misses her so much. I know I already do.”

Ladybug took his hands in hers - giving him that gorgeous Marinette Dupain-Cheng smile. “She saved us, kitty. And now we’re going to save her. Together.” She promised.

“Together.” He swore.
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