Imperfect Future [ON HOLD]

prologue | the machine

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"Lila? Lila, please come out."

Lila Rossi rushed over to the door and made sure to lock it, getting annoyed with how her mother disrupted her whenever she was super busy. Groaning once again, she walked over to her window, and after opening it, hopped out of her room. She didn't want to have to go through the front door, knowing there was no way her mother would allow her to go out at this time. Once she landed on the garbage bin with only a scratch on her knee, she carefully jumped off of it, landing on the ground with a thud. Lila breathed out a sigh of relief, before she took out her phone and checked the time. 10:23 PM. Just like she had thought. She was already late all thanks to her mother. Stuffing her phone back inside her pocket, Lila started running towards where her destination was, not wanting to waste any more time.

Finally getting there, she stopped, breathing heavily. She was never really the type of person who loved running, but her whole life depended on this and if she hadn't gotten here soon, the deal would have been off. Looking around and spotting not a single soul, Lila walked up to the garage right in front of her and banged her fists against it, hoping the person who she was making the deal with was on the other side. It wasn't long before the garage door started opening up, and Lila grinned to see the person standing there.

"Hello, Mr. Agreste."

"You're late!" Gabriel Agreste growled at her, getting Lila to quickly nod with a tiny bit of fear. "We agreed on 9:40!" He sighed with a roll of his eyes before he made way for the girl. "Come on inside and see what I've got for you. You didn't tell anyone else about this, did you?"

"Stop worrying, Mr. Agreste. I assure you, I'm the only one who knows of this." Lila heaved a huge sigh, getting tired of the same questions being asked towards her. Ever since she had been informed of this deal, she had gotten frequent calls from Gabriel asking her if the secret was still a secret. It annoyed her to the core, but she tried not to show it. Walking inside the garage, it was at first dark, but when Gabriel flipped on the light after closing the garage door, Lila immediately widened her eyes once she saw what was in front of her. "What is this?!" It was this huge machine sitting right in the middle of the gigantic garage, covered in some sort of glass. Lila noticed a tiny chair that had been placed on the machine, with a tiny wheel right in front of it. It was just too hard to explain all the details because there were just so much. She looked back at Gabriel, waiting for him to explain.

"This is the machine that I've been working on, and I'm perfectly sure that it works, although I haven't tested it," Gabriel spoke, walking towards the machine. "The thing is, I can't test it all by myself, because I sort of got all the measurements wrong and ended up making the seat too small. It's too tight for me to try it on, but. . .it's the perfect size for you, which is why I brought you here. Now, before you ask the question, allow me to explain first. This machine is supposed to take you to the future, and when you're in the future but you don't like how it is, you can. . .change it. I asked you to come here not only to help me, but to also help you."

Lila was shocked with the words, although she tried her best not to show it. "You want to take me to the future, and have me change it to my liking? What about you? What do you get out of this?"

"Change the future however you like, Lila," Gabriel grinned. "But just make sure that Ladybug and Chat Noir aren't superheroes anymore. Make sure that the biggest villain, Hawk Moth, gets what he wants, which is the miraculous. Make sure that he wins. That's the only thing I ask from you. The rest is up to you! Changing the future will also change the present. Not the past, but the present. You can get whatever you want, but please, make sure you do as I say as well."

Lila stared at the machine once again, wanting to know how long this had even took him to build, but she didn't question it. Besides, how could she be so sure that it worked anyway? "Alright, deal!" She shrugged, not having any high expectations for this machine. It was most likely going to break down the moment she sat down on the seat. Still, she walked up to it anyway, wanting to have a go. Gabriel pressed a red button, and the glass covering the machine opened up. With the help of Gabriel, Lila was able to climb up and get down on the seat. Gabriel pressed another button and the glass closed once again. He did a few more things in which Lila paid no attention to, but soon she felt herself shaking and she looked directly at Gabriel. "What's going on?"