In Pressing Luck, there are a few new names! So, I thought it best to make a timeline of the Rebellion!
Timeline— 20 years:
Amara(Mylene/Ivan)— 13
Verity(Nino/Alya)— 10
Aglaé was found 5 years into the Rebellion as a baby, she’s now 15
Mylene had Amara 7 years into the Rebellion, she’s now 13
Alya had Verity ten years into the Rebellion, she’s now 10
Year 0, when Supreme makes her Wish, Felix and Kagami die, without Dusuu, all previous Senti-Monsters are destroyed.
First attack at the school, 3 years in, Kim dies protecting everyone.
In year 3.5, Ella is killed because Supreme believes Alya is still alive somewhere, when even a death won’t change their minds, she accepts Alya is dead.
4 years in, and Rose loses her battle with Cancer, Juleka taking her own life soon after.
7 years in, they’re found in Chloe’s Hotel, Nathaniel is captured, Ivan loses an arm, and Sabrina is killed trying to save Chloe, Chloe is turned into Supreme’s ally.
14 years in, Alya and Nino come close to finding Supreme’s lair, but Nino is killed because they got too close.
In year 19, Supreme destroys Agreste Mansion, killing Adrien
In year 20, Alix is killed when she destroys the Burrow to get Aglaé to the past.
With Natalie's help, Marinette retrieves the Kwamis from their cells, collecting all of the rings. With the Grimore's help, she starts to put the jewelry back to how it was. Adrien had been in his room for days, only letting Marinette in sometimes, but never talking much. Felix had released Kagami, who had gone back to her mother, despite Felix hating the idea.
That left Aglaé. She still kept tabs on Cerise, who had transferred to a different school. But wasn't doing much other than trying to make herself seem popular. The Kwamis never wanted to be separated from Aglaé, all of them fascinated by her journey.
Then, a few days after the incident, a portal opens in Aglae's room, and a teenage Bunnyx hops out. She apologizes to the shocked and startled Aglae, who quickly realizes who she was.
"You're the Timebug that Marinette was talking about, right?" Aglaé could only nod, still a little shocked by her appearance. Bunnyx motions her to follow through the portal, and she obeys without a word. Inside the Burrow, Aglaé gasps, trying to keep her balance as the floor disappears.
"No worries about balancing here, there's no direction." Bunnyx jokes, floating over to her. "Ladybug once told me about a different dimension, where the Hawkmoth there used a power that let him travel to different dimensions."
"Really?" Bunnyx nods.
"I thought, if you used that here, with the Rabbit and Butterfly, you could find your own Timeline." Aglaé's eyes widen and she smiles.
"You'd let me??" Bunnyx mirrors her smile and nods, handing her the pocket watch.
"Fluff, de-transform me." Aglaé's eyes sparkle, and she combines the two Miraculous. She summons a Time Butterfly, and the whole Burrow turns purple, the Burrow holes flickering to different scenes. Alix looks in wonder at the holes she could see into as BunnyBug scoures them.
"There!" She stops at a bubble to see herself get pulled through a different portal, the process destroying their timeline's Burrow, with Alix inside. Meanwhile, Marinette runs down an alleyway, Supreme right behind her.
"I— I need a way to hide her— to save her!" BunnyBug panics, grabbing the Goat Miraculous. Alix stops her.
"Woah, Timebug, combining two is already taxing. I'll help you." BunnyBug nods, and Alix puts on the Goat Miraculous, transforming. In an instant, she creates a wall behind Marinette, blocking her from Supreme.
"It's exactly like the walls around it. We can't let Supreme know there's other magic involved." BunnyBug nods, and jumps out of the Burrow, startling Marinette.
"Aglaé??" She whispers, shocked.
"It's me, Master." BunnyBug smiles, tears in her eyes.
"Ladybug, c'mon!" They both turn to the voice, seeing Rene Rouge with a sewer cap open.
"Alya??" BunnyBug gapes. She thought Alya was dead!
"How do you know Alya??" Ladybug asks, BunnyBug shaking her head.
"We've got to go. I can save you!" She begs, pointing to the portal.
"But.. the people here, I can't leave them." Tears go to Aglae's eyes.
"You can't save them if you're dead!" She panics, "I saw! If you don't come, she'll kill you! Please, I can't lose anyone else!" Her voice was getting louder, and more desperate. Ladybug and Rene look at each other and nod. In a swift motion, Ladybug scoops BunnyBug, and the three jump into the portal. Goatix dissolves the wall while Supreme was busy searching elsewhere, and de-transforms.
"Aglaé, you did it!" Ladybug sets her down. Aglaé couldn't stop smiling at Marinette— her Marinette. She gives Alix the pocket watch back, and detransforms from Nooroo. Ladybug's eyes widen as she sees the small Kwami.
"You... You got them back— you really got them all back?!" She twirls Aglaé, clinging to the embrace. The Burrow was back to normal, so they leave it, entering Aglae's room, which now seemed much smaller. Racecar jumps to life from the bedside table.
"Markov Prime and Rene Rouge's Mini Trixx detected!" He spins with joy, welcoming the two. They both take their masks off, their civilian aliases returning. Aglaé, unable to contain herself, jumps onto Marinette once more, koala hugging her.
"You're here! You're safe!" She cries, letting out a sob, Marinette hugging her back.
Then, Marinette rushes into the room, having been notified by Tikki that Bunnyx had appeared.
Older Marinette looks down at Modern Marinette, who was slack jawed staring up at her, still holding the doorknob.
"Hi." She waves awkwardly, Aglaé still clinging to her. "I guess.. we don't really need introductions, huh?" She snorts. Tikki comes up in front of Mininette, waving a hand in her face.
"Marinette, you have to breathe!" Mastenette stares at Tikki with misty eyes, reaching towards her with a shaky hand.
"T... Tikki..." Her voice breaks a little, the Kwami looking over at her.
"Oh dear! Don't cry! She'll be fine, I mean— you know.. you well enough.." Mastenette brushes Tikki's face, tears starting to fall onto Aglaé's head.
"I'm so sorry, Tikki. I failed. I failed everyone." Tikki pushes into her hand more.
"No, no! You didn't fail! You fought until the very end, that's why I chose you, you keep fighting." She reassures her, "And from what Aglaé has been bragging, you've fought hard!"
"Oh? Hopefully nothing embarrassing." She chuckles, ruffling Aglaé's hair, receiving a giggle.
"Don't worry, I'd never tell them about the time you nearly hit a window-washer while yo-yoing." She replies playfully.
"Good." She snorts, patting her head again.
"Do me and Adrien get a hamster when we're older??" Mininette finally blurts out, surprising them all. Aglaé looks up at Mastenette, who's surprised look slowly morphs into a devilish smile.
"As a matter of fact..."
"Oh dear." She pulls out her wallet, opening it and unclipping a pocket. Dozens of pictures on a line tumble out. Each one was a picture of a hamster.
"This was our first one, Muffin, her husband Phil— Adrien named him, and her little crumbs, Flour, Sugar, Egg, Milk, Salt and Vanilla Extract. Oh and the guinea pig is Adrien's, his name is Moldy Cheese." Mininette coos at the pictures.
"She has more pictures of her hamsters than her own daughter." Aglaé jokes, finally climbing off of her. Mininette freezes, slowly looking up at Mastenette.
"Y— I— WE HAVE A DAUGHTER?!" Aglae immediately puts her hands up, Mastenette shaking her head rabidly.
"No no no— oh dear—" Mininette looks over at Aglae.
"Are you— are we— did I—?!"
"Oh my gosh, no!" Aglaé starts cackling, grabbing her stomach as Mastenette stutters over an explination.
"The Rebellion grew up to be very tight-knit, to the point of family. Aglaé grew up in that environment, so she calls a lot of different people mom or dad." She finally gets out, Aglaé rolling on the floor in laughter.
"Oh phew. So... who are your real parents?" Aglaé sits up, wiping tears from her eyes.
"No clue. Nathaniel and Marc are the ones who adopted me officially, though." Mininette thinks.
"Why would Nath and Mar.... Oh." Her confusion breaks into a smile, "They make a cute couple!"
"So... why did Aglaé think Alya was dead?" Mininette asks. They had been talking for hours. Alya was hanging out with Aglaé below them, connecting their Mini Markovs.
"Oh, right, that." Mastenette sighs, "Alya and Nino decided they were going to try and find Supreme's hideout, but they needed to disappear to be able to do that. So, we decided to fake their deaths, only I knew about them."
"Woah... that's really brave of them."
"Yeah. They got pretty close.." She trails off, shaking her head. "Anyway—" Alya pops her head up, getting their attention.
"Yo, Mini, can you call Bunnyx?" Mininette blinks a few times.
"Why?"
"I need to use BunnyBug, school's about to let out." Mastenette shares Mininette's confused stare.
"So?"
"I gotta pick up my daughter." Mastenette goes bug eyed.
"Not your actual—"
"You have a DAUGHTER??" Mastenette yelps, standing abruptly and tackling her to the ground with a loud thud. "When were you going to tell me?!"
"Ow." Mastenette gets off of her, helping her up, "Once we found Supreme. I didn't want you worrying even more."
"Wait, wait, wait... so you have an actual daughter?!" Mininette asks from the bed, Alya nodding.
"We need to get the rest of the Rebellion anyway, right? What's one more trip?" Mastenette shakes her head.
"I don't know... all of the Rebellion suddenly disappearing would cause her to become suspicious.. what if she uses Nooroo to come here?” Bunnyx arrives from Mininette's call, listening to them debate.
"Well, what if we pick a time when Supreme tried to wipe us out, and grab them all then, so she thinks she defeated us?"
"Like the most recent attack? But that was before we sent you here.." Bunnyx pops into the conversation.
"That would probably destroy your timeline. It's already quite messy with key players gone." The group falls silent.
"Is... that really so bad...?" Aglaé asks meekly, the four looking at her with horror. She grabs her braid. "I- I mean.. if we get the Rebellion here, and let the timeline break, that would destroy Supreme, right?"
"But... all those people."
"Those people exist here, though.. right? They're happier in this timeline too."
"Who are we to decides who gets to live and die?" Mastenette protests.
"We can't exactly bring a whole 'nother Paris here." Bunnyx brings up.
"Would bringing people here affect our timeline?" Mininette asks, Bunnyx shaking her head.
"Unless they bring a Miraculous." She shrugs.
"It's not really killing people if they can relive a better life... right?" Mastenette sighs. She was pacing the room. She takes a breath in.
"Okay. We get the Rebellion out." She decides, Bunnyx nodding. "If we use a time before Aglaé gets here, will that rewrite her out of this timeline?"
"No. Timelines aren't connected as securely as Time-Travel. Whatever is done to one, doesn't change the other." Mastenette sighs with relief.
"Okay. I will be the only one going."
"Nu uh. I'm coming too." Alya interjects, Mastenette sighing. She could never win an argument against her.
"... Fine." Aglaé hands her Nooroo, petting his head.
"Alright. I need Trixx and Sass."
"Will Sass work with time jumping?" Mininette asks, grabbing the Miraculous.
"Let's hope we don't need him." She replies. She gives both to Alya, while she uses Nooroo and Fluff.
They land in Marinette's room. It was as dark as ever. The only light was the green hue of the Shell-ter that surrounded all of Paris.
"Alright. You go get your daughter."
"Couldn't we have traveled to a time where more Rebellion fighters were alive?" Alya asks, Marinette clenching her fists.
"... This is the most logical event. Any other time and we risk Supreme catching on before we're done." She says softly, Alya nodding.
They go their separate ways, Alya heading to her secret base, while Marinette goes to the Agreste Mansion.
Marinette slips into Adrien's office. She knew where.. she was right now, and knew she'd be fine. Adrien was getting ready for a meeting with The Kingdom.
"Adrien, you have to gather the Rebellion." She says, startling him. He immediately goes to usher her out.
"Mari, you can't be in here—"
"Adrien, listen to me. Collect all of the Rebellion into the Crypt. Natalie can stall The Kingdom."
"Stall..? What are you talking about??"
"Supreme knows we're here. She's going to attack us, we need to get to the Crypt now!" She demands, Adrien's face flashes with horror before turning stern and nodding.
"Plagg, instruct all Minis to the Crypt, red alert."
"Don't alert Markov Prime or Racecar." She adds, Adrien giving her a weird look.
"I'm right here. It doesn't need to alert me. Aglaé is undercover." She lies, Adrien nodding.
"Stall as long as you can, Natalie, but make sure you get to safety as well." He instructs, Natalie nodding.
"Good luck."
They take the elevator into the Crypt, finding half the Rebellion already there. Others were making their way through other entrances, and everyone was confused.
Once she gets a head count, spotting Alya in the shadows with a child near her, she uses the Miraculous to transform.
"M-Marinette?!" Adrien shouts in surprise, everyone looking over at her.
"What the—!"
"Where'd she get those??"
"The Miraculous are back?!"
"LISTEN UP!" Marinette shouts, opening a portal. "Supreme is about to destroy the mansion! This portal leads to a Burrow from another Timeline! Where Aglaé has defeated Supreme!" She explains, pointing to the portal. "Everyone needs to go through, now!" The group nods, following her directions without any protest, which they were no stranger to. Adrien stays planted, staring at Marinette with confusion and shock.
"Wait— are you not my Marinette, then??" Marinette smiles, coming up to him and cupping his face.
"I'll always be yours. I'm just from a bit in the future, a future where we win." Adrien smiles and kisses her, joining everyone else in the Burrow. She closes the portal, then turns to Alya, who nods, using Trixx to create an illusion of the Rebellion fighters all around the Mansion. Her Mini Markov goes off, alerting them of a massive magical attack— too late, of course, just like last time.
The building above them erupts with sound. Walls caving in, statues tobbling, floors crumbling. The ceiling above them shakes, some pieces of flooring dropping around them. Natalie stumbles down the stairs, clutching her ears. Marinette quickly makes a portal under her, sending her to the others.
"Just a few more minutes!" Alya shouts, focusing on the illusions, making sure that they did just as they had done before.
"I'll be right back!" Marinette shouts, getting a quick nod in return.
The rumbling finally stops, Alya and Marinette meeting up again.
"Sorry, I had to grab someone else." Alya nods, and they both enter the Burrow. Somehow, it wasn't crowded. Some people were watching old holes, unable to interact with them, while a few looked towards holes in the future. Marinette detransforms from Nooroo, and the Burrow glitches into its regular white color, the holes showing their new Timeline.
"Alright, everyone. Through here." She instructs. While the Rebellion wasn't as big as it used to be, there were still plenty of people. Marinette had found an abandoned lot away from people, so they didn't spook anyone. Marc floats over to Marinette.
"So.... Why did you bring Nathaniel's dead body?" He asks, pointing to the Pollen-ified Nathaniel. Marinette shakes her head.
"In the new Timeline, we have the Bee Miraculous. We might be able to reverse it." Marc's frown deepens.
"And if we can't?"
"Then we can finally give him a proper burial." She says softly. Marc nods, and follows the others.
On the other side, Aglaé was waiting with Minibug and Alix. The portal opens and Aglaé bounces on her heels, practically buzzing with excitement.
Chris, Harmonie and Maya are the first to appear, Aglaé squealing with delight and running over, hugging them all. Nora, Etta and Verity arrive with Alya. Manon, Aurore and Socqueline in tow. Manon and Aglaé do their secret handshake, then hug tightly. Max, Luka and Marc come through, and Aglaé nearly throws Marc to the ground with how hard she hugs him. Mylene, Ivan and Amara arrive, followed by Adrien and Natalie.
"Papa!" Aglaé cries, running over and jumping into Adrien's arms.
"Aglaé! I saw you twenty minutes ago and you've gone and grown again!" Adrien jokes, tears forming in her eyes. She nods silently, hugging him tighter.
Finally, Mastenette exits the the portal, and turns to Minibug.
"Hey, Mini... could I borrow Pollen?" She asks, Minibug nods, deciding a while ago to just roll with what's going on. Once Mastenette gets Pollen, she disappears back into the Burrow.
"Will I ever get my bunny back?" Alix scoffs, rolling her eyes.
"I mean... there's not really a need for you to go back to the Burrow, right?" Marinette says, Alix deflating.
"You've got a point."
"You can still keep Fluff, I know you guys are friends."
"Best friends!" She chirps.
Mastenette comes back with Nathaniel in tow, who was perplexed and a little dazed, but physically fine. Like he hadn’t just spent the last 13 or so years as a statue.
"Hey, Aglaé! Marc!" Mastenette calls, both of them looking over. Tears immediately pour down Marc's face, and he stumbles towards them, collapsing into Nathaniel's arms and sobbing. Aglaé just stares, unable to move. It's not until Adrien bumps her that she snaps out of her trance, running at them full speed and hugging them.
"Dad!!" She sobs, Nathaniel wrapping his arms around his family. Mastenette returns Pollen to a very confused Minibug.
"So.. why did you need Pollen?"
"Nathaniel was caught by Supreme and turned into a living statue with Pollen's power. I wanted to see if using the power again would reverse it, and it worked." She explains, handing Fluff back to Alix.
"So... what do we do now? You guys can't exactly... return to our society with younger versions of you wandering about." Mastenette shrugs.
"We're good at keeping low profiles, and changing our identities." She chuckles. "Plus, some of us might travel away from Paris. It's been awhile since we could."
The next day, Marinette had already called Adrien twelve times by the time Aglaé meets up with her at the Eiffel Tower.
"I hope his dad didn't change his mind about Adrien going to the dance." She murmurs, worry written on her face. It was a few hours before the party.
"He's fine." Aglaé reassures her. "But we need to get ready." Marinette gives her a strange look.
"We.. are ready." Aglaé smiles and shakes her head.
"Follow me."
They take the elevator to a dark room in the Eiffel Tower, a projector facing a blank wall.
"What's...?"
"Let Felix explain, okay?" Marinette's eyes widen, narrowing at Aglaé, who just waves from the closing elevator, leaving her alone.
Then, the show begins.
Marinette leaves the Elevator deep in thought, Aglaé joining her.
"Things make sense now?" She asks, Marinette shaking her head.
"Not... really..? So... Adrien, Kagami and Felix are.. they're made from the Peacock..? Why does that matter? They're still people, right?" Aglaé nods.
"What else did he tell you? He said he'd do things 'his way', he's way more theatrical than Adrien's ever told me." Aglaé scoffs.
"He didn't tell me anything else... I think. The story was a little... weird." She admits, Aglaé shrugging.
"Well, he did his part, now it's my part!" She says, skipping away from the Dance, Marinette jogging to catch up.
"Where are we going now?"
"We're going to defeat Monarch." She says, Marinette stopping with shock.
"Where are we going??" She repeats, baffled.
"His house!" She chirps with a smile, Marinette once more having to jog to keep up.
"Is this what you were up to yesterday?"
"Sorta." They get to the Agreste mansion, and Aglaé disables the security, allowing them to sneak in. They make it past the garden, and to a window that faces the entry way. Gabriel was pacing on the phone.
"What do you mean he's missing?? He's supposed to be on the plane to London in two hours!!" Gabriel snarls. Argos lands behind them, and Marinette jumps in her skin.
"Alright, I'm here. What now?" He grumbles.
"Want to help beat up your Uncle?" Argos smiles at that.
"Definitely." He releases Adrien from the Red Moon, and he looks around in pure confusion.
"Felix! You seriously used the Red Moon again?!" He snarls at his cousin.
"I told him to." Aglaé says, pulling his attention towards the two girls, making him even more confused.
"What are you doing here— what's going on??" Aglaé looks over at Argos.
"You seriously didn't explain the main problem??" She whisper shouts, Argos shrugging with mild interest.
"You think he'd believe me?"
"He idols yo— whatever." She turns to Marinette. "What did we come here for?" Marinette gives her a look.
"You said we were going to Monarch's house." She says, Aglaé nodding.
"Adrien, why would we be going to Monarch's house?" She asks, turning to him.
"I— I dunno... Why not just tell Lady..." He trails off, looking at Marinette with wide eyes. She was looking at the mansion with a look of realization and dread.
"You.." Adrien whispers, Marinette looking over with wide eyes, connecting the final piece.
"You..." She whispers with sympathy. Aglaé intervenes once more.
"It's only a matter of time before he goes looking for you, Adrien. He's at his weakest right now, you have to defeat him." She instructs, Marinette putting on a brave face, nodding and transforming, jumping through the window and sending glass against the marble floors of the mansion.
Adrien just stares with terror, trying to get a grasp on his thoughts.
"Adrien. You need to do this. Think later, act now." She says softly, Adrien nodding and coming back to his senses, transforming and following Ladybug's lead. Argos crosses his arms.
"My way was much less traumatic." He mocks, Aglaé rolling her eyes and putting on her mask.
"Just go kick his ass."
"Remember your end of the deal." He warns, jumping into the mansion.
Meanwhile, Imago sticks to the shadows and corners of the mansion, watching the fight from afar. She quietly opens a door, peaking in and finding Natalie. Tears go to her eyes as she sees the horrible state she's in.
"He's awful... Marinette told me he was a monster but..." She goes to her bedside, Natalie looking over weakly.
"You... Who are you... where's Ladybug... she needs to know... he.. he's gone to far... he.."
"Sh, I know. It's okay. Just relax, we'll handle everything, I promise." She whispers, holding her hand gently. "Just rest." Her voice breaks as Natalie shuts her eyes, and she quickly leaves the room, rubbing her eyes harshly as she returns to the battle ahead.
The Mansion starts getting destroyed as Monarch tries desperately to stop the three. Imago sticks to the shadows, acting as back-up, as a last resort. This was their battle, not hers. Due to their rage towards Monarch/Gabriel, Ladybug and Chat Noir had unlocked the ability to summon their power more than once without a timer, but it had its toll. Acting on emotions always does. Monarch was losing badly. Between the three bombarding him, his injury limiting him, and the heroes not needing to recharge, even with the rest of all the Kwamis, he was weakening. Imago smiles. Her present— their future— would be perfectly fine.
Then, right as she feels some hope, she spots Lila. She adorned a new alias, and had slipped through a hole in the wall to access the mansion. She scowls and follows her, jumping in front of her before she could get near the battle. She had transformed with Ziggy so she'd recognize her.
"Hey~"
"Ugh— you!" She snarls, backing away.
"Do you really wanna test how long you can survive in that box without food?" She warns, Lila glaring. "Leave."
"I will get that Wish. You'll regret ever crossing me." She leaves the way she came in, and Imago continues to watch the battle. It had crashed into the basement while she was busy, where Emelie's crypt was. They had him surrounded, all the rings were off of him, scattered through the mansion from the battle. Now, he only had the Butterfly Miraculous. He had Ladybug and Chat Noir in front of him, Argos behind him, in between the Glass Case and him. It was either face the heroes, or the abyss below.
"You're a monster!" Chat Noir snarls, advancing on him. "You ruined so many people's lives for your own selfish gain!" He advances towards him, his hand pitch black, raised threateningly towards the man. Imago narrows her eyes, jumping in between the two of them as Monarch trips and falls backwards.
"He's beaten." She says, Chat Noir glaring at him with hatred. "He's already dying, remember?" Chat Noir's eyes widen as he realizes, and he staggers back, the cataclysm disappearing. Imago turns to Monarch, who was on his back.
"In my time, you used the Wish to exchange your life for Natalie's, saving her."
"Your... time..?" Aglaé glares at him, reminding him to stay quiet with just a look.
"Will you do the same in this time?" He stares at her with fear. "You've killed Natalie the same way you killed your Wife," Chat Noir makes a noise of distress, "you've killed yourself in your grab for power. When will it stop?" Tears go to Gabriel's eyes, he had de-transformed due to exhaustion.
"I... I just wanted my son to have his mother again."
"... By destroying his remaining family?" Chat Noir gets out, tears rolling down Gabriel's cheeks. He stands slowly, giving Aglaé the Butterfly Miraculous.
"I want to save her. I need to.." He musters, Aglaé nodding and looking towards Ladybug and Chat Noir.
"Let him make the Wish." She instructs, Ladybug resisting at first, but nodding sharply once she sees Argos ready to attack Gabriel from behind.
"Please... just don't tell my son... I don't want him to know me as a disappointment." He begs softly as he steps towards the two. Both Ladybug and Chat Noir take off their jewelry, Adrien looking up at his father with pure hatred as he drops the ring into his father's shaking hands.
"He already does." Gabriel takes a ragged breath in, wanting to say something, anything as the gravity of everything crushes him. He smiles a little, looking down at the jewelry.
"I... I really am a fool. Please... don't ever forgive me." He whispers, turning and stepping away from them.
He says the incantation, and a barrier goes up around him, Gimmi looking down at him, and reading his heart. Just as before, always the same sacrifice, the same loss. Nothing gained. Everything gone.
The inside of the barrier glows, blinding the group for only a moment. When the heroes blink, the barrier was gone, and so was Gabriel, leaving both Miraculous in his place. Aglaé goes over and takes them, handing them back to the two teens, who were too shocked to do much other than receive them. Adrien falls to his knees and grabs his head, starting to sob, Argos rushing over and hugging his cousin the best he could. Marinette looks over at a gaping hole in the ceiling, seeing Natalie descending with a crossbow. Marinette runs over, helping her balance as she steps onto the uneven catwalk.
"Are you feeling alright??"
"Y... Yes... I feel fine... Where is he? I need to stop him, he's gone too far." She says, Marinette looking towards the now empty crypt.
"He saved you." Marinette says softly, tears rolling down her cheeks. They weren't for Gabriel, or the Kwamis, not even for Natalie. She was crying for Adrien, because she couldn't possibly say enough to make things better.
The next week was a whirlwind of events. Aglaé successfully gets video of Lila and Chloe planning to ruin Marinette's reputation after Akumatizing Sabrina at the set up for the Dance. Later, she experiences the horror of the Red Moon in the safety of a dark closet, but everything turns out alright in the end, and finally, Adrien texts "Imago" that his father told him about London.
She sets her plan into motion.
Aglaé: Hey Kagami, how can I contact Felix?
Kagami: I don't know what you're talking about.
Aglaé: You and Adrien need to disappear soon, and I know he can do that.
Kagami: What are you talking about? You're acting strangely.
Aglaé: I'll explain everything... just.. please?
Kagami: I trust you. She sends Aglaé his number, and she smiles.
Aglaé: Hey, can you make Red Moon again?
Felix: who this??
Aglaé: A hater of Gabriel/Monarch. After a tense few minutes, he responds.
Felix: listening.
Aglaé: good. I need you to make Adrien and Kagami disappear during the "end of the year party"
Felix: Y? I won’t make em just to destroy em.
Aglaé: because if Adrien goes to London, you'll lose the Peacock and both you and Kagami will be killed. She had finally remembered the story Marinette told her when she was young. About the two Senti-Monsters that lost their lives because of the Wish.
Felix: Fine. She smiles.
The next school day, it's revealed that Lila was replaced by Kagami on the Alliance Rings. She takes the opportunity to suggest that since she has more time, she should take Marinette's responsibilities of class president, since she's so focused with Adrien and the Dance.
"There's only a week or two of school left, wouldn't that just complicate things?" Aglaé brings up, Lila scowling at her.
"I want to help all my classmates succeed, but I can't help Chloe without class representative privileges, and since Marinette has already dismissed helping Chloe—"
"Chloe isn't even upset she got caught! She's been copying off Sabrina for years, and won't suddenly change now!" Marinette protests.
"I just want to help!" Lila shoots back. Aglaé smiles as Racecar comes to her, and she connects him to the classroom screen. An image of Lila and Chloe comes up, and the video starts.
"We can ruin Marinette's reputation in one go. We just need to pull a few strings, and everyone will think she's a thief." The feed then shows Sabrina running off crying at something Chloe said to her off screen. The video cuts and another plays, this one is from the locker room, Lila and Chloe are talking by some far lockers.
"Once we convince those saps that I should be class rep, we'll get access to the student files. Then we use Sabrina to make Marinette look like a complete fool. Her friends will turn on her, and you'll be on top."
The video ends and the classroom is silent. Lila is standing there, her mouth open with shock. In a swift motion she clenches her jaw, and runs out of the room without a word. Everyone turns to Chloe, who stammers.
"And here we thought you could actually change." Adrien scowls.
"Chloe, go to the principal's office!" Bustier instructs, Chloe standing with a huff.
"Hah! My father will hear about this!" She storms out of the room. Bustier goes to her computer, trying to look for the videos.
"I have no idea how those videos appeared..." She murmurs. Aglaé feels Racecar buzz and she excuses herself to the bathroom, running down the hall while pulling her mask on. She slams the door open right as an Ultrakuma appears through a portal. Lila turns with surprise at the same time Aglaé chucks her knife at it, pinning it against the wall and breezing past Lila's hair, cutting some off. Lila screams in rage, looking at the mirror.
"You ruined my hair!" She screams, glaring at her. "Who even are you?! Monarch has all the Miraculous!" She snarls. Imago collects her knife, glaring at her.
"Ziggy, Transform me." She snarls, Lila's eyes widening. Before she could run, Imago surrounds her in a soundproof box. She then grabs an "out of order" sign and hangs it on the door, and locks it from the inside.
"You monster!!" She screams in rage. "Let me out!"
"No way. I'm not letting you anywhere. I'd rather watch you die in there." She seethes, Lila glaring.
"You'll have to let me out in five minutes, when your stupid powers disappear." Imago jumps on the counter, swinging her legs.
"I won't let that happen." She decides, Lila scowling and yelling for help. "No one can hear you but me."
"The heroes will save me." She threatens, Imago laughing.
Imago was right. She didn't de-transform all day, leaving Lila to become bored, sitting in the box and just stewing in her hatred. Imago was looking through the news, when an announcement for Police Robots being implemented comes across her screen. She checks the time.
"Only a day until the end of the year dance." She murmurs. "That means Monarch should be trying to act now... but without Chloe.. hm.." She mutters to herself.
"Where'd you even come from? How'd you kill that Akuma?" Lila asks out of boredom. Imago glares at her.
"My sole purpose of being here is to stop you. By any means." Lila huffs, glaring away.
"I'd have thought you heroes all wanted Monarch defeated. I wonder how Ladybug and Chat Noir would react to you holding a civilian hostage." Aglaé cackles at her.
"Trust me, they know I'm stopping something much worse, Cerise." She snarls, Lila looking at her with surprise.
"Whatever, so I fib to get what I want. It's not a crime."
"It is when you're involved." Looking back towards her phone, she sees that Audrey and Chloe had left for America.
"Oh good. Ziggy, de-transform me." In an instant, the box was gone, and Ziggy lands in Imago's hand, exhausted. "Sorry. I'll get you any food you want." She says remorsefully as Lila runs out of the bathroom. She pulls up her phone.
Aglaé: Project Red Moon ready?
Felix: I do things my way, and you're explaining everything to me later.
Aglaé: I promise. She runs to Marinette's house. It was pitch black, and silent inside. She gives Ziggy free reign over the fridge, and Tikki flies over to her.
"Where have you been? Marinette's been super worried."
"I had a small project I needed to do. Don't worry, everything will turn out fine."
Over the weekend, Marinette's room becomes a larger mess than before. Her and Zoé were chosen to organize the end of the year dance, and she was whirlwinding through ideas. She had two sections she was working on. One for the Dance, and another for getting her and Adrien to share a kiss.
"I'm sure Zoe'll like all your ideas." Tikki reassures her as she crumbles yet another failed idea.
"I know, I know, but these ideas have to be perfect! It's Zoé's first year here, and her first dance!"
"Isn't it your first dance too?" Aglaé points out, Marinette nodding.
"Exactly!" She hears a knock on her door, and Zoé comes up, smiling at her. Marinette smiles back, then looks around at the mess.
"Sorry! Sorry! I'm just uh... reorganizing my.. recipes..?" She tries, Zoé glancing at a discarded paper, Marinette turning and practically throwing the "Adrien Plan" Board to Aglaé, who shoves it under her mattress, jumping on the bed.
"Is dancing on the moon allowed?" She reads, "Look into space program for answers." Marinette turns red, and Zoé giggles.
"I'm as excited for the dance as you, don't worry!" Marinette nods, and asks if she wants a tour. Aglaé leaves to her own room, Ziggy and Tikki following.
"Are you sure something bad happens at the dance?" Tikki asks, disheartened.
"Not at the dance. Marinette and Adrien share their first kiss around the dance, but then only a day later, she defeats Monarch alone." Ziggy gives her a worried look.
"Fighting him alone sounds scary." Aglaé nods.
"I remember Adrien saying that he was being protected by his father for some reason. That he had been trapped somewhere, and then learned later about Monarch." She explains, trying to look into what activities Gabriel had been up to. Surprisingly, it showed that he had pulled most of his public appearances, and meetings. The only scheduled event was the Diamond's Dance.
"Hm... that's odd." Tikki says, Aglaé staring at the event. She stands abruptly.
"How could I have forgotten about the Diamond's Dance??" She yelps, concerning both Kwamis.
"What's wrong— what's going to happen??" Aglaé shakes her head.
"No... no they fix everything. Everything will be fine if I don't interfere." She murmurs to herself, both Tikki and Ziggy were concerned and confused. "I need to figure out some things myself. Tell Marinette that I'm going to the library or something." She declares, starting to leave.
"Take me with you, please!" Ziggy begs, Aglaé frowning. "If you're going to do something dangerous, I want to be able to protect you!" She thinks, then finally nods, taking the hairclips and attaching them to the inside of her bag.
"There. Let's go." Ziggy nods, and disappears into the bag.
"Where exactly are we going?" Ziggy asks, Aglaé smiling.
"I'm going to stop Lila, and keep Adrien away from London."
"London? Why would he go there?"
"That's where his father trapped him." She explains, coming up to the Agreste mansion. She sees Lila at the front gate, and hides behind the wall.
“Ugh. Why is she everywhere?” When the camera leaves, she hears Lila curse at Gabriel. She pulls her mask on and turns the volume up to listen in.
".. regret this, Monarch. I know your secrets." She seethes and storms away. Aglaé pulls her mask off, her eyes wide. She stumbles back a second, memories and theories circling her mind.
"It.... It all makes sense." She whispers, coming back to reality with a dreaded thought. "Adrien's in danger."
"Lila is getting away... what should we do?" Aglaé glares towards the mansion.
"Lila only gains power because Monarch is defeated. She takes the Butterfly when Ladybug and him are fighting.... But if I fight him.." Ziggy comes in front of her.
"Don't! He's way too powerful! You only have me to protect you, he has every other Miraculous!" She insists, Aglaé nodding.
"... Right. We'll focus on Lila." She turns to Ziggy.
"What are the limits of your powers?"
"Anything you can thing of can be created. It disappears once you de-transform, you can only create something once and have a timer, since you're a child." Aglaé nods, and leaves her hiding place.
"Racecar, I need you to follow Lila at a far distance. Record anything suspicious she does, and report back when we get back to school." She instructs, Racecar giving a thumbs up. "Now we can focus on Adrien." She smiles, going to the wall where Adrien's room was.
"Ziggy, transform me!" She instructs, and jumps through one of Adrien's open windows. He walks in and gasps at Aglaé.
"Who are you?!" He yelps, Aglaé putting her hands up, putting a finger to her lips.
"It's me, Imago. I'm an ally." She says, Adrien nodding.
"Why are you here? Is Ladybug in trouble?"
"No. You are." He gives her a weird look.
"Look. Your father is going to send you to London after the school year ends. He'll trap you somewhere where you can't defeat Monarch." She explains, Adrien giving her a look.
"Why would he do that? He's finally starting to become a good father."
"I... I can't say. It'll ruin everything. Just... text me when your father informs you." She says, Adrien nodding. "And believe in Felix. He's a good person deep down." With that, she leaves, detransforming and going back to Marinette's house, leaving both boy and Kwami utterly confused.
Aglaé: Clumsinette strikes again. Ran out of the house in pajamas. Kagami cracks a smile, and Lila peeks at her screen. Kagami had just been talking with Lila about her feelings for Adrien still being there.
"Who are you texting?" Lila asks, annoyed that her attention was being pulled away.
"A friend I met recently. She's keeping me updated on how Marinette and Adrien's relationship is going."
"Really? Does she know how much you care for Adrien? Isn't it like rubbing salt in a wound?" Kagami frowns a little, putting her ring down.
"I'm... happy that Adrien has found happiness, even if it's not with me."
"Aren't you worried about Marinette hurting him, though? You and Adrien have been together through so much, you know him better than anyone. Marinette acts more like an obsessed fan of his sometimes." Kagami narrows her eyes a little. "She uses everyone just to get close to Adrien. She's only your friend because you're close to him. She even uses her own cousin, pretending she's falling behind so that Adrien will help. It's all just so he feels bad for her." Kagami looks at her with worry.
"You think so?"
"I mean, you've seen how weird and clumsy she gets around him, but she's fine around everyone else! It's just an act. True friends can see when their friends are being used." Kagami stands.
"I... I need to go." She marches out of the park and down the sidewalk towards Adrien's house. She gets a message, and pulls it up.
Aglaé: since love-birds are busy, do you want to hang out? Kagami grits her teeth, remembering what Lila said.
Kagami: Marinette is just using you to get close to Adrien. She's pretending to be helpless. She was met with silence, making her angrier.
Kagami: Don't try to deny it!
Kagami: Marinette is always so clumsy when around Adrien! She's just using him! Finally, Aglaé responds.
Aglaé: Haven't you ever been in love? It makes people crazy. Kagami lets out a noise of hurt and anger.
Kagami: I was in love with him!! Tears form in her eyes.
Kagami: I know when he's being used for his fame! She tries to dry her tears, collapsing onto a street bench and starting to cry. Then, she feels a breeze go past her, and looks up to see Aglaé facing away from her.
"Rough day?" She turns, shoving something into her pocket and brushing black dust away. She comes to sit next to her. Kagami wipes her eyes.
"I had... a moment of weakness… I'm fine." She lies, Aglaé frowning at her.
"I'm your friend, Kagami, I want to know what's bothering you." Tears go to Kagami's eyes once more and she refuses to look at her.
"I don't seem to have many real friends right now." She whispers.
"Why do you say that?"
"I thought I had Marinette... but she's just been using me to get to Adrien." She gets out.
"Have you talked to her?"
"No. She'll just lie to me. All she ever wants from me is advice. Advice to try and win him over." Aglae puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Friends give each other advice, don't they?" Kagami blinks, her head starting to spin a little. "Do you go to her for advice?" She nods slowly.
"But... what if she's only my friend to get closer to Adrien?"
"The only way to find out is to talk to her." Kagami plays with her hands. "If you don't tell her how you're feeling, she'll never know how to help you."
"What is it is all a lie?" She whispers, Aglae smiling a little.
"Then we can slice her in half with a fencing sword and go get ice cream together." Kagami finally looks at her.
"They are called Epee, Saber or Foils." She smiles a little, "Would you really stay?" Aglaé nods confidently.
"I would never betray our friendship." Kagami looks down at her lap.
"... Could you accompany me to talk with Marinette?" Aglaé nods again.
"Someone has to be there to Foil her plans if things go wrong." She jokes, nudging Kagami, who thinks for a second, and then snorts.
The two of them head towards Adrien's house, and they pass the park, Aglaé sees Lila calling someone. She spots her, and Aglaé sticks her tongue out at her. She just stands there in disbelief and anger.
Aglaé goes towards the front gate, but Kagami pulls her away.
"Over here." She smiles, going towards a different wall, and using randomly placed objects to climb the fence, jumping into a plant with huge leaves. Aglaé joins her and giggles.
"Adrien created it when his father wouldn't let him out."
"Clever." They spot the two on a balcony, and they head inside. When they open the door, both Adrien and Marinette are spooked for a second, but smile when they see Kagami.
"Hey, Kagami, Aglaé. What's up?" Aglaé bumps Kagami for support, and she takes a breath in.
"I... I want to know, Marinette... is our friendship based solely on you getting close to Adrien?" Marinette blinks, and she stands.
"Of course not! You're one of my dearest friends, with or without Adrien." She insists, Kagami looking down.
"I wish for our friendship to not always include Adrien... so I know that you're being truthful." Marinette nods.
"Of course, we can always hang out just you and me... what brought this on?" Tears form in her eyes, and Aglaé takes her hand, Kagami looking at her and smiling a little. She turns back to Marinette.
"I... my feelings for Adrien are still persistent. I won't do anything with these feelings, but it seems recently you've only needed me to get closer to him, and it's made me... feel unsure." Adrien stands now, sadness in his eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Kagami. I'm the reason you feel unsure. I was an awful boyfriend to you, I used you to try and figure out what my own feelings meant without considering yours. Then I turn around and ask you for help with my feelings with Marinette. I'm truly sorry." Kagami's eyes water, and she tries to dry them.
"T...Thank you... I didn't know I needed to hear that..." She musters out. Both Adrien and Marinette go for a hug, and Aglaé lets go of her hand so she can hug them back, Kagami starting to cry.
The date devolves into a hang out for the four of them, but neither pair of the couple minded one bit. Adrien got to brag to Kagami about how good he's gotten at video games, while Kagami got to brag to the rest of them about her championship win with Fencing.
By the time they were running out of things to talk about, it had started to get dark. So, they decide to call it a day.
Adrien pulls Marinette back from the group as they leave the mansion, Kagami walking home and Aglaé walking down the block a bit before stopping.
"Marinette... today was really amazing." He says, Marinette nodding, then smiling a little.
"I really want to kiss you... is that alright?" She asks, Adrien smiling brightly and holding both of her hands. They lean in close to each other, but Adrien suddenly pulls away.
"I... I have to go... something feels... weird." He says with a hint of sadness, leaving Marinette at the entrance, alone until Aglaé runs over to ask what happened.
A few days later, and the stress strikes again. Aglaé could only watch with bated breath from the school projector as Ladybug and Chat Noir fought in space. Her desperation to help nearly led her to putting on the Goat Miraculous, but she couldn't bring herself to. All she could do was make sure to comfort Max, who was terrified for his mother's safety. He was also desperately trying to find solutions to a problem he couldn't solve. She made sure not to touch him, but started making Origami next to him, which got his attention. She gives him her half finished piece, and he starts to work at it. His gaze would only slightly change back to the origami as he worked, but it calmed him.
By the time Ladybug and Chat Noir had saved the day, he had made a dozen paper cranes. Nathaniel praises him.
"I only recently started, after it was confirmed my mother would be taking part in Space Travel. I only know how to make paper cranes." He admits, turning to Aglaé. "Thank you. It helped me stay calm." Aglaé smiles and nods.
"Anything for a friend." She replies. Of course, Lila butts into their business.
"It's really odd how you knew that, Aglaé.. he hasn't told anyone about it." She pressures, Aglaé simply walking away from her, and towards Marinette. Lila scowls at her. "Are you seriously ignoring me?" Markov comes up next to Max.
"Perhaps she does not want to interact with you because of what happened between the two of you." He offers, Lila pouting.
"I'm not the one being nasty... I can understand if she doesn't want to be friends, but I can't understand why she'd be so mean, I apologized and explained everything." Max shrugs.
"Unfortunately some people hold grudges, there isn't much to do about it." Lila sighs.
"You understand, right? I didn't mean to hurt her... I couldn't help it! Some people just never understand, or just refuse to!" Max nods.
"I understand you perfectly, Lila. That feeling hurts. But, staying by friends and away from those who won't understand you, you'll feel better." Lila smiled brightly, hugging him.
"Thank you, Max!" Aglaé scowls from afar, turning to Marinette.
"Are you sure I can't tell him? He was the glue of the Rebellion, he'd be useful now as well." Marinette shakes her head confidently.
"No, he said it himself, secrecy is the safest option right now. He'll be helpful later, right? But right now it's our problem and ours alone." Aglaé nods, and they leave the classroom.
After school, she starts to text Kagami, who would just be finishing her lesson.
Aglae: Are you sure this plan will work? You can't really force romance.
Kagami: Of course you can. If the scene is perfect, the feelings will be perfect
Aglaé: right...
Aglaé looks over at Marinette, who was being directed by Nathaniel, while Adrien was getting hyped up by Juleka. Both looked uncomfortable. They were in front of the Ferris Wheel. Kagami arrives soon after, taking her place next to Aglaé.
"Sunset is in an hour and twenty-two minutes." She tells them, the band setting up.
It goes very poorly.
Both Adrien and Marinette were too awkward to do anything but just sit and wait for the ride to be over. When it finally lets them off, Marinette blames herself for the awkwardness, saying she's the problem. Aglaé watches her run off, while Kagami goes for Adrien. With him taken care of, she goes to Marinette.
"Marinette, wait up!" She calls, Marinette had stopped on a nearby bench, her knees tucked to her chest.
"I'm awful at love, aren't I?"
"No, you aren't. You can't force love, no matter how many times you try." She tells her, sitting down next to her and rubbing her back.
"But I love Adrien! Why can't I kiss him?!" She grumbles, clenching her fists.
"Because you aren't ready. No amount of fake romantic moments will make you ready! You'll just know." She replies, Tikki agreeing.
"Why don't we go home and eat ice cream, Marinette? We could watch a fun movie too!" Tikki suggests, Marinette nodding.
The next morning, Marinette wakes up to a text from Adrien. The two had fallen asleep while watching movies, loose popcorn was scattered around the bed.
"Wha—??" Aglaé shoots up, blinking away her tiredness.
"Whatzwrong, whahappened?" She slurs, still half asleep.
"Adrien wants to have a picnic at his mansion, just the two of us!" Marinette squeals, jumping up and stumbling down her steps. Aglaé cringes as she reassures her she's alright.
"Ah!! I need to pick an outfit, and.. oh! I gotta bring my latest sewing project in case we don't have anything to talk about! Oh! I need—"
"Marinette, quit overthinking it." Aglaé yawns, climbing out of bed.
"But what if he gets bored of talking to me?? Ah! I need my laptop for gaming and—" She gets another text from Adrien.
"He... says his dad won't let him." She deflates, Aglaé frowning.
"Well.. maybe it's for the best? Maybe you aren't ready for spur of the moment activities." Aglaé tries reassuring her, Marinette nodding and going to put her hair up.
As soon as she finishes, she gets another text.
"Adrien can picnic again!" She cheers, Aglaé clapping. She quickly looks around for her bag, but Aglaé pushes her towards the door.
"Don't overthink! Just go! His dad might change his mind!" Aglaé instructs, Marinette nodding confidently and running downstairs, and out of the bakery. Ziggy and Aglaé watch from the window.
".... She's still wearing her pajamas." Aglaé facepalms.
A few days later, and Aglaé watches skeptically as Marinette once more is avoiding her phone. Alya and her were talking about her relationship with Chat Noir versus Adrien. She had witnessed her spiraling a few days ago as well, convincing herself she was actually in love with Chat Noir, which made things even more confusing and hurtful to her in the end.
"He did this cute hand raising thing with me... so maybe we're in a relationship now?" Aglaé smiles warmly at the memories that gives her. Their secret ways of reassuring each other, or deciding things without needing to talk. Tikki was sitting on her shoulder. They give each other a look of "we both know", and they giggle quietly. Marinette's phone goes off again, and Aglaé frowns at it.
"Why don't you answer?" Marinette sighs.
"It's Kagami... I don't want to tell her how badly I'm failing with Adrien."
"But what if she isn't calling for that?" Marinette smiles.
"I know my best friend. She's so happy for both of us, I don't wanna let her down." She explains, Aglaé shrugging.
"That's fair."
"I'll call her later, when I make headway with Adrien."
For the next day and a half, Aglaé watches with growing cringe as Marinette tries and fails to hold Adrien's hand.
"Are you sure they get together in the future?" Tikki whispers under Aglae's braid. Aglaé nods, but cringes once more as Marinette panics and runs.
After school was even worse. She was still ignoring Kagami's calls, and desperately trying to force herself to say 'I love you' to Adrien— well, a picture of him.
"Forcing yourself to love someone isn't going to work." Aglaé drawls from Marinette's bed.
"But I do love him!! I just can't say it!!" She complains. Ziggy comes in front of the picture.
"Then why don't you sing it? The movies alwaaays sing their love for each other!" Marinette sighs.
"That's just movies, Ziggy! If I can't even talk to him, how will I sing to him??" Ziggy thinks, deflating a little. She apologizes, to which Marinette immediately hugs and reassures her.
"Well, maybe try to think of why you can't say it, instead of trying to force yourself to." Marinette grumbles, staring at the picture. Her eyes soften as she looks at him.
"I... I don't know. He's just so perfect, and I want to be perfect for him too."
"Perfect people don't have trouble saying I love you." Aglaé jokes, Marinette grabbing her head.
"Exactly!! I gotta do better so that Adrien thinks I'm perfect!!" Aglaé rolls her eyes.
"Are you worried he doesn't love you?" Marinette looks up at her, then looks down, then at the picture.
"I don't know... maybe... I just don't want it all to be a lie." She admits, Aglaé shuffling closer, leaning over the bed to see her better.
"A lie?"
"What if he's just pretending to like me? He's never shown interest before... why now? Maybe he's just trying to play with my feelings." Aglaé scoffs.
"What makes you think that? No one's that cruel." Just then, Marinette has a memory come to the front of her mind. A memory about two years ago, when she had a crush on Kim, and how he and Chloe humiliated her because of it.
The pool.
The confession.
The gift.
The insects.
The laughing.
The lies.
The embarrassment.
"—nette?" Aglaé calls, and she blinks back to reality to her alarm going off.
"Wha... WHA!! We're gonna be late!!"
"Late?? To what??"
Later that evening, they arrive at the Couffaine Houseboat to set up for Kitty Section’s concert, and Aglaé notices Luka.
"Who's that?"
"You don't know?" Marinette asks back, Aglaé shaking her head. "He's Luka, Juleka's twin. He's a really talented guitarist, and he helped get Kitty Section together." Aglaé nods, turning when she hears someone else arrive.
"Kagami! It's been so long!" Rose smiles, Kagami nodding at her and going towards Marinette.
"Marinette—"
"Luka! I need some help with something!" She shouts, avoiding Kagami. Kagami pulls out a piece of paper as she disappears into the crowd, frowning at it. Aglaé, who was also ditched by Marinette, goes over to Kagami.
"Hi, Kagami, right?"
"Yes. Who are you? How do you know me?" She demands, Aglaé smiling.
"I'm Aglaé. Marinette's told me about you."
"Oh? What has she told you?" Aglaé shrugs, not noticing the tension around Kagami.
"She keeps saying she doesn't want to disappoint you because you're her best friend." She replies, Kagami's eyes widen with confusion, the tension leaving her immediately.
"She's worried about disappointing me? How?" They had moved to a couch, out of the way of the people setting up.
"Because she's a klutz around Adrien." She chuckles, Kagami cracking a smile.
"That's a given for Marinette." She breathes out a laugh. "Why has she not called, then? She knows I give her advice." Aglaé shrugs again.
"I think she just wants to impress you." Kagami smiles, looking down at her piece of paper. Aglaé glances at it.
"What's that for?" Kagami looks up at her, crumpling the paper.
"A friend of mine gave it to me, she said it's how you can tell if your friend is really your friend." Aglaé scoffs.
"There's no set definition or rules for friends, and if you'd rather have them, you should talk to them, not trust some paper." Kagami smiles again.
"You're very wise for your age."
"Aw, thanks!" She giggles. Kagami looks around.
"I only really came here for Marinette. I don't really engage with music, Mother says it's not stimulating enough." She explains, Aglaé looking at the band, who was nearly set up.
"These guys are stimulating, trust me." Kagami smiles and turns to her.
"I do trust you. Would you like to be friends?" Aglaé smiles.
"Of course! I'd love to be your friend!" She pulls out Racecar, who connects to Kagami's phone. "There! Now we can text each other. I'd love to hear more about you." Kagami nods in agreement, and the band starts up. Aglaé stands, so Kagami follows suite, Marinette joining them.
"Hey!! Sorry I missed your calls, I finally figured out how to tell Adrien my feelings!" She exclaims as the music starts.
"I'm very proud of you, Marinette." She responds, Marinette smiling brightly and hugging her.
"I couldn't have done it without you!" Then, surprisingly, instead of Rose coming to the microphone, it's Adrien. Alya pushes Marinette slightly forward as he starts singing. Aglaé gasps.
"I remember this!" She breathes, Kagami giving her an odd look, but instead of focusing on her, she instead looks to the stage, smiling as Adrien starts to sing.
The song finishes, and a light shines on Marinette as Adrien steps towards her.
"I love you..." He finishes, the lights solely on the both of them. Marinette freezes as his hand extends towards her, and she glances around at everyone. Her eyes land on Aglaé, giving her a look of worry. If anyone knew if Adrien and her were meant for each other, it's her. Aglaé nods confidently, giving her reassurance as she faces Adrien. She takes his hand.
"I... I do too." She whispers, her eyes still sparkling from the song. Her friends start to clap as the lights come on, and Adrien goes to kiss her, Marinette pulling back slightly.
"But.. I want to take it slow." She admits, looking down. As others go to move to get ready for the rest of the show, Marinette gets closer to Adrien. "I want to know this is real." She admits, Adrien smiling.
"We can go as slow as you want, I'm just glad I finally found words for the feelings I've had for you." He replies, Marinette blushing.
"Me too."
Earlier, when Marinette was blowing off Kagami, she was rushing to go talk to Luka, her emotions swirling from the conversation Aglaé and her had talked about mere moments ago. Luka acknowleges their secret code, and takes her to his bedroom.
"What's up?" Marinette sits on his bed as he fiddles with his guitar.
"I don't really know. All day I've been trying to get myself to confess my feelings to Adrien, and each time I've tried, I've failed! But, then Aglaé said something and suddenly I'm remembering last school year, and I'm like, 'what's this got to do with Adrien'? But I remembered that day at the pool! Where Kim and Chloe set me up, he pretended he liked me, he listened to me share my feelings and.. and he..." Marinette shakes the thoughts away. "I'm just so scared that this is all pretend! It's all fake! Adrien and Chloe have been friends since childhood, what if this is just some elaborate prank??" Luka smiles softly at her.
"Listening to your heart can lead to magical things, Marinette, but listening to your head can lead to logical things."
"What do you mean?" Luka strums his guitar softly.
"Has Adrien ever pulled a prank on anyone before?"
"... no.. but—"
"Do you really think he'll pull one now? With so many people around? People who care about your happiness and have helped you to become confident?" Marinette smiles after a second, and shakes her head.
"No."
"Adrien's never broken anyone's trust, right? Even when he didn't know his feelings for you." She nods again, smiling even brighter.
"Thank you, Luka." Her eyes suddenly widen and she hits her head.
"Augh! You probably hate me, I shouldn't be asking you about my love life when I broke your heart!" She cries, "I'm sorry!" Luka just smiles, strumming more.
"My happiness is yours, Marinette, that's what friends are for. I'm happy with our friendship since it lets you find your true love." Marinette smiles warmly and hugs him, heading upstairs with him joining a minute later. He watches her go up to Kagami, and a girl he's never seen before. His eyes widen slightly when he spots Tikki hiding in her braid, watching the stage. The Kwami looks over to Marinette, and flies into her bag without being spotted. He couldn't focus on what he had seen, though, as Juleka calls him over to start.
The concert finishes, and Luka watches as the girl starts to leave. He jogs over.
"Hey, I haven't seen you around." He says, the girl smiling and extending her hand.
"I'm Aglaé, Marinette's cousin. You're awesome on the guitar!" She exclaims, Luka thanking her.
"I've got some extra merch I've been working on in my cabin, do you want some? We try and give it out to any fan, so they can tell others about us." Aglaé claps her hands together and nods enthusiastically.
"Please!" Marinette reassures her that she'll wait outside, so Aglaé follows Luka below.
They get into the cabin and Luka pulls out the drawer of stickers and pins, letting her rummage through them.
"So, are you just visiting?"
"Er.. you could say that, yeah." She replies, scavenging through the stickers.
"How are you getting along? I hope Marinette isn't too crazy for you."
"Trust me, I'm used to her." She chuckles. Luka leans against the door, his guitar leaning on his bed.
"And how's Kwami babysitting going?" Aglaé's head shoots up and she stares at him with wide eyes.
"What?"
"How do you know Marinette's Kwami? I saw her under your braid." He accuses, Aglaé standing.
"And if I tell you it was a toy you saw?" She accuses right back.
"I was entrusted with the Snake Miraculous a few times, I know what they look like."
"How do you know it's Marinette's and not mine?" She accuses again, looking for an exit. Luka narrows his eyes.
"I know she's Ladybug." He says lowly, Aglaé narrowing her eyes more. "Why do you know that?"
"Why do you?" She snaps, Luka tensing his fingers and huffing.
"... When I was Vespirion, there was a timeline I saw where they both got de-masked. I reversed that timeline, but I know their identities."
"Identities. You know both."
".... Yeah."
"Do they know?"
".... No." Aglaé nods and forces herself to relax, standing up.
"Well, at least you can keep a secret. I'm not Marinette's cousin."
"Figured, your tune was off."
"My tune? Whatever. I'm here to stop a villain stronger than Monarch. I just can't figure out how to." She admits, Luka thinking.
"Maybe try figuring out how to stop Monarch, then go for the bigger one?" He suggests, Aglaé nodding.
"Obviously! But I don't know anything about him!" She grumbles. Luka smiles.
"Well, now you have someone to brainstorm with." He says, stepping away from the door, "The others are waiting, c'mon." She grabs a sticker and a pin, and follows him out. She meets up with Marinette and puts the sticker on Racecar as they walk off the boat.
Marinette grumbles as she once more declines a call from Adrien.
"Why are you ignoring him?" Tikki asks as Marinette organizes her theory board alongside Aglaé's.
"I don't have time for my brain to go all haywire around Adrien! I need to focus!"
"But he's worried about you! Isn't that romantic?" Ziggy coos, staring at the phone as it buzzes.
"No! It's annoying! I've gotta focus!! The whole reason I lost you all was because I wasn't focused!" She retorts, turning the phone off once more. Aglaé comes up to her room, and she smiles warmly at her.
"Hey.. how are you doing?"
"Much better. I shouldn't have caused you so much trouble yesterday." Marinette scoffs.
"The only trouble you caused was towards Lila, and I'm all for that." She chuckles, writing down more notes. "But who cares about her. I might've figured out a solution to the video problem."
"Oh?" Aglaé takes a seat, staring up at the board.
"So, Racecar is only programmed to identify Nooroo's magic, and we saw Gabriel get Akumatized, but Racecar didn't. Why? I think it was an illusion!"
"What? Why would he do that?"
"Exactly! I think someone close to us ratted our plan to Monarch, who saw we were targeting Gabriel, so he made an illusion of him getting Akumatized, while also secretly akumatizing him somewhere else!" Aglaé nods.
"So he pretended to give illusion Gabriel the Horse, so we would try to analyze the video, and focus on that instead of him!" She exclaims.
"Exactly!"
"That's why you guys never figured out how he did it! It was a faked video!" Marinette nods, looking back at the board.
"Now we have other issues to solve, though. Who would rat us out to Monarch? Or does he have spyware in the school?"
"If he had spyware, he would probably see you transforming." Aglaé points out, Marinette nodding and crossing it off.
"My second thought was Lila. What if she's secretly Monarch? What if she already has power?" Aglaé shakes her head.
"She can't be. You guys defeat Monarch and then Lila takes her power." Marinette grumbles, crossing out the second theory as well. "But what if she's working with him?"
"Hm... maybe. What would she gain from it, though? If she wanted a Miraculous, wouldn't he have given her it already?"
"She wants the Wish." Aglaé says, "that's how she combined herself with the Kwamis."
"Hm... so she's just using him to get the Wish..."
"Makes sense."
"So, how do we stop her?" Marinette huffs, sitting down on the floor.
"I have no idea. It's not like we can just follow her twenty-four seven. We don't know her schedule, and we can't just stalk her." Aglaé starts to giggle, and Marinette looks at her weirdly.
"What's funny?"
"Sorry... it just reminds me of how you and Adrien met. My Marinette would always get so embarrassed when Adrien brought up how much she followed him, memorizing his schedule just to say a hi in the morning." Marinette blushes with embarrassment, making Aglaé laugh more. "I guess it makes sense you look the same when embarrassed!" Marinette starts to laugh as well.
While Marinette was helping in the bakery later that day, she ponders about what Aglaé said.
"She made it sound like Adrien and I were really close.. or.. are going to be..? Augh, time travel." She huffs, rolling dough.
"Maybe in the future, you finally confess your feelings to him!"
"Uh... yeah no way! My feelings for him got me into this mess! Those feelings are nothing but trouble!"
"But, if you don't follow your heart, how can you be happy?" Ziggy asks, Marinette frowning.
"I don't deserve to be happy when I fail this much." She musters, Tikki crossing her arms.
"You aren't a failure!! Aglaé is proof that you aren't! You think a failure could lead a Rebellion against a foe bigger than Monarch? You think she'd call you Master if you were a failure??"
"Everyone makes mistakes... it's your drive to fix things that makes you strong." Ziggy adds, Marinette smiling warmly.
"Thanks."
The bell chimes up front, and Marinette perks up when she hears Max's voice. She brushes off her hands, and Tikki and Ziggy fly off to hide.
"Max?" Max smiles as Marinette pokes her head into the shop.
"Ah, Marinette! Max was just talking about a new video game he wanted to show you and Aglaé."
"Oh! Sure, yeah, head upstairs, I just need to clean up a bit!" She smiles, and Max nods.
"Alright."
Max opens the door to Marinette's room, and Aglaé looks over at him in shock, trying to shove a theory board into a closet.
"Max! Hi! Total surprise to see you!" She smiles, pushing the door closed with a crunch.
"I see how you and Marinette are related." He observes with a smile. "Marinette is cleaning downstairs, but truthfully I made this visit to see you." Aglaé tilts her head.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes, I wanted to ask about the little robot you showed off earlier. It was very similar to Markov, the robot I created." Aglaé's smile widens as she stresses slightly.
"Ohhhh right... that!" She starts stumbling over her words until Marinette enters the room. "Marinette! Why don't you tell Max about the little robot he saw?" Marinette blinks at the two of them.
"Oh... right.... That.." Max stares at her, and she looks to Aglaé, who looks just as stressed as her. "It's from... Bunnyx— Alix! It's from Alix! She uh.. gave it to me for a trial run. It's supposed to let her talk to us!" She lies, Aglaé nodding quickly.
"And uh.. she based it off Markov because your tech is so cool!" Aglaé adds, Max nodding slowly. He looks towards Markov, who blinks a couple of lights at him, Aglaé's eyes widening.
"No, wait—" Max looks towards Marinette with a frown.
"Why are you guys lying to me?" He asks softly, obviously hurt. Aglaé looks away in shame.
"I... I really don't want to, Max." Marinette admits, Max standing.
"It's... fine. I thought I was trustworthy, but you must know better." He says, standing and going towards the door.
"It's not that Max, I promise you're trustworthy! You're my best friend!" Marinette begs, Aglaé tugging on her braid.
"Friends don't lie to each other." He whispers. Then, Racecar flies through the door, blinking at Aglaé.
"Emotional sensor has detected distress! Please state calming method—" Aglaé grabs Racecar, Max staring at it, then looking at her.
"Why can't you tell me?" He asks, Aglaé looking down, then looks towards Marinette, who shakes her head.
"Max.. I... he's... he's your design. I got him from a dear friend, but I can't say anything more. No one has stolen your designs." Max gives her a look of utter confusion.
"I haven't made anything other than Markov." Aglaé nods, then shakes her head.
"I can't say anything else, I'm sorry." Max thinks, looking towards Racecar, seeing the ladybug sticker on him.
"... is it something to do with Chat Noir and Ladybug?" He asks, and Aglaé's eyes widen. She nods once, and Max smiles with relief.
"I see. I understand, then. I'm sorry for being pushy." Marinette relaxes a bit.
"I'm really sorry, Max."
"It's alright, I promise!" He smiles, "Ladybug and Chat Noir need to use any tactics to defeat Monarch, with how powerful he is, secrecy is the best option." He explains, Marinette nodding.
"Yeah, you aren't wrong. Ladybug didn't even give me Racecar directly." Aglaé admits, Max nodding.
"That makes sense." He relaxes. "Well, now that my mind is at ease, would you like to play a new game I brought?" Marinette beams, nodding enthusiastically.
A day passes by without a word from the Resistance, until one day Nino leads the group down to the boiler room, where more of the classmates had gathered. Including Lila.
"Why is she here?" Aglaé immediately bristles, already tired from the long night, and definitely not in the mood to play nice. Lila gives her an innocent look.
"I want to help defeat Monarch just as much as you guys do!" Aglaé rolls her eyes. Sure she does. "Why are you being so hostile?"
"Maybe because you framed me? Maybe because you blamed me when you dropped your ring? Maybe because you keep bad mouthing Marinette behind her back?" She lists, the room was getting more tense, though, no one steps in.
"I have a lying disease!" She cries, Aglaé rolling her eyes.
"What's it's name? Are there peer reviewed papers on it? Have you been medically diagnosed?" She pressures.
"Alright you guys, let's calm down. Aglaé, we've had incidents with Lila's disease more than once, it's not right to question someone's medical history. But, Lila, I think Aglaé is still just annoyed from your guys' last encounter. I bet if you both apologize—"
"Stop talking for me." She snarls at Nino. "It's a constant that none of you listen to people, huh??" Nino steps back slightly. She points towards Lila.
"I don't need to apologize to her, and I won't! What I've asked is basic information of a claim, which clearly you haven't done! Your girlfriend is a famous journalist for crying out loud! You want to investigate into Monarch's identity, but can't even discern that Marinette is uncomfortable around Lila? I've been here a week and a half and she's accused of something she had no proof for!!” She screams. Marinette was by her side, trying to calm her down, but it was falling on deaf ears. "Isn't citing your sources and finding evidence for claims the whole point of investigations?? Why don't you question the girl who's faking her own identity?"
"What are you even talking about?? You're crazy! Marinette told you that she hates me, and now you're trying to make up stuff to make me look bad!" Aglaé bares her teeth at her.
"Lila don't egg—"
"The only thing Marinette has ever told me about you is the lies you've created. Let's do some real investigative journaling, hm?" She pulls up Racecar, Max's eyes widening.
"Has Jagged Stone ever written a song about Lila?"
"Research shows that all of Jagged Stone's song meanings are public and heavily talked about by Jagged Stone. There is no account of a "Lila" being featured, mentioned or attributed to any song."
"Was Lila Rossi ever in Achu, or near Prince Ali?"
"Achu's documents of international travel does not have a Lila Rossi passport on file."
"Was there ever a meeting of officials about Climate Change that involved Lila?"
"Enough!!" Lila shouts, throwing a shoe at Racecar, who quickly moves away. "You're awful!! That little bug thing of yours is just spouting whatever you want to be true!" Aglaé narrows her eyes. "You think this'll get you liked? Are you doing it to be popular? Pick on the girl with a disability! Believe the girl who bullies her! That'll get people to like you!" She accuses, Aglaé rolling her eyes.
"I don't care if any of you like me. Most of them d—"
"Alright! Aglaé!" Marinette shouts, pulling her away. "You've made your point very clear. I didn't want to join in on this anyway!" She says, going towards the stairs.
"You don't want to help Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Nino asks, Marinette glaring back.
"I don't want to be involved with anything Lila is in, it's just asking for trouble." With that, she walks up the steps, and disappears.
Aglaé tugs harshly on her braid as they walk, Marinette dragging her by the wrist.
"Aglaé, you've gotta be more careful!"
"I'm sorry."
"I get that Lila is annoying, and gets under your skin, but you gotta ignore her. What if pushing her and revealing her lies is what gets her to turn to power?"
"I'm sorry."
"You could've caused an Akuma!"
"I'm sorry."
"Marinette, stop." Tikki whispers from her shoulder, Marinette turning towards Aglaé. She was crying, tugging on her braid as it gets looser from the force.
"Aglaé..."
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry.. I've never shouted like that... I could've destroyed the Rebellion... what if an Akuma found us? I can never shout, I'm sorry." She blubbers, Marinette leading her to a bench and helping her sit down. "I... I can't even look at her without seeing... everyone. She's killed so many people... so many Rebellion fighters— your friends." Marinette gives her a devastated look.
"I... could never imagine what you must've grown up with... and seeing her so vulnerable, so.. human... must be really hard." Aglaé nods, wiping her tears.
"I... I almost revealed everything." She realizes with dread, "If you didn't stop me.."
"But, I did. Everything will be alright." She hugs her tightly and Aglaé starts to sob.
The next day brought the weekend, which made Aglaé happy. She could finally do more research into Monarch and Cerise. Tikki phases through the ceiling, into her room as she plugs Racecar into the computer.
"Hello, Tikki!" Racecar chirps, Tikki sitting on Aglae's shoulder.
"Technology can't see or hear Kwamis... why can yours?" She asks, Aglaé smiling.
"He can't actually see or hear you.. it's something to do with waves. He senses the change and links it to a certain name I give him."
"Oh, neat!!"
"It's also how he can alert me when Akumas are around, and track them."
"Very impressive."
"Yeah, Max was a genius." Tikki turns her attention to the screen.
"What're you doing?" Aglaé pulls up a window.
"I'm learning about Hawkmoth.. er.. Monarch more. I mostly remember my Master being really upset whenever he was brought up, and she'd change the subject, so I don't know much about him."
"Your master?" Tikki asks.
"Oh uh.. My Marinette, I mean." She replies, Tikki smiling widely.
"Wow... she grows up to be as great as to be called Master. I knew she would."
"She taught me so much." Aglaé murmurs, Tikki looking over with worry.
"I didn't mean to make you upset, are you alright?" Aglaé nods, focusing harder on the screen in front of her.
After a weekend of studying her new world, and watching Ladybug and Chat Noir fight a new Akumatized Villain, which Aglaé scolds her for, "You should've been more aware”, "I told you those Rings were bad news", "You put your friend in danger!" Once even Tikki had enough of Aglaé's scolding, she finally stopped. She was fascinated by the Magical Ladybugs, which Marinette showed off with permission. Finally, with the whirlwind of the weekend done, they get back to school to Nino acting strangely.
"— thought Ladybug didn't want regular people trying to fight Monarch." Adrien says, Nino smiling.
"We won't be fighting him, we'll be resisting him... I'm making a resistance." He whispers. "I can tell you more later... when there are less ears." Adrien brightens.
"Oh, speaking of later.. my fa- dad says that I can eat in the cafeteria today. He's going to be here for conferences too." He beams, Nino giving him a strange look.
"Huh. Are you sure he isn't akumatized?" Adrien scoffs, pushing Nino's hat over his eyes, making him snort.
During lunch, Nino helps Adrien pick out food, and they go sit down. Marinette has to shoo Chloe away, and then Lila, but finally they were alone.
Aglaé comes up behind Lila as she snaps a photo of Adrien.
"And I thought Marinette was stalker-ish." She scoffs, Lila spinning around.
"Creep." She snarls back, posting the picture. Aglaé sighs, bringing Racecar out.
"Delete the picture from account Adri-and-fan4087." She instructs, Racecar dinging in response. Lila gapes.
"There's no way you could know that account is mine. You stalker." Aglaé smiles.
"I know a lot about you. It's pretty easy when you know what to look for."
"You don't know anything about me. I'll get you back for yesterday." Aglaé walks past her, towards Marinette.
"Okay." Joining Marinette, she hears the tail end of a conversation.
"It's the perfect plan! Adults are always emotional when they think they have to prove something. Gabriel has to prove he's actually a caring dad, he'll be vulnerable!"
"And... what are we doing?" Aglaé asks, Nino smiling.
"We're setting up Adrien's dad to be Akumatized, so we can see how Monarch gives the Miraculous to them!" He whisper shouts. Aglaé looks towards Marinette, who smiles a little. "Isn't it great? We'll be Ladybug and Chat Noir's secret team!"
"That's a really bad idea." She replies, Nino frowning a little.
"But, it's foolproof! We know Gabriel is tempered, so—"
"So you'd risk everyone's safety to have a slight chance of revealing something Ladybug and Chat Noir never figured out??" She snaps. Marinette's eyes widen.
"Never..?" She whispers, Aglaé nodding swiftly, Marinette's face flashing with horror.
"You never know until you try!" Nino protests, but Marinette shakes her head.
"I'm with Alya... I mean.. what if when he's Akumatized, he goes after Adrien or something?" Nino sighs, pulling back into his chair.
"Fine. Adrien and I will just get the proof we need." Adrien hesitates, but nods. Aglaé scowls. She never knew Adrien's father, but she knew how much Adrien hated him in her time. Even Natalie would only say negative things about him.
What if this was the reason Adrien started hating him? He did something horrible while Akumatized? She needed to make sure Adrien was safe from his dad.
So, she watched silently from outside the classroom as Nino succeeds in messing with Gabriel, and she watches silently as he becomes cold and harsh towards Adrien, and she watches silently as they leave. Then, she goes into action, putting on her hero suit and following the car from a safe distance. Racecar had already locked onto it, so she wasn't going to lose them.
They get to the mansion and memories of her younger years start to surface. She pushes them back.
"Disable security." She instructs, and climbs through a window undetected. She sees Adrien behind a door, videoing something. She sneaks over, and looks through the door as well, but couldn't see anything, just weird waves, as if an area was giving off heat.
Magic. She gets closer, and Adrien nearly jumps out of his skin.
"What are you seeing?" She whispers.
"H... He just got Akumatized." Imago narrows her eyes. That wasn't right. Racecar had Akumas and Akumatized victims signatures in his database. Even if he couldn't "see" the magical aspect, he could still see the person, or the Butterfly, and he would have identified the signature that Nooroo's magic makes.
"That isn't..." Adrien pulls her away from the door, and into a different room, closing the door and only leaving a sliver. He was watching something intensely.
"What's happening?" She asks again.
"He was just given the power of the Horse." He whispers, then relaxes a bit.
"He used a portal. I don't know where he went." They leave the room.
"Why couldn't you see him? Didn't you come here because you tracked an Akuma?" Imago shakes her head.
"I came because I thought he would hurt you." Adrien scoffs.
"My father would never hurt me." Imago shakes her head.
"In any case, I didn't see anything. Usually I can see Nooroo's magic just fine, and even track it when it's corrupted something... but I didn't see any of Nooroo's magic at all. I knew it was magic, but my mask doesn't have the signature in its database."
"What does that mean?" She shrugs.
"I don’t know. Racecar is only programmed to see Nooroo's signature, because I was assigned him. It's too hard to program all the signatures into one, so each of the Miraculors had their own signature, and we would connect with Markov Prime to be able to sync the signatures together... but he can't connect to Markov Prime, so he can't see other signatures." She was pacing now, trying to connect the dots.
"Monarch gave him the Horse Miraculous, maybe that's why?"
"When?"
"Right after we hid in that room." Imago shakes her head again.
"But I didn't see him at all.... Just.. connect to the Alliance Ring." She instructs Racecar, and he sends a thumbs up on her screen. "I'll look at it later. Try to figure it out. Now that I'm connected I have your contact. I'll tell you want I find." Adrien nods, and she leaves.
Ladybug had already solved the problem, and Nino had to come clean. Surprisingly, Gabriel wasn't angry, and hoped they found what they needed. When Aglaé watched the video without her mask, she could clearly see Gabriel getting Akumatized, and getting the Horse Miraculous with some strange light.
"If they got this video in the past too, why couldn't they ever figure it out?" She wonders. She had even put her mask on to watch other videos with Akumatized villains, which showed up just fine. "What's wrong with this time?"
"Perhaps my sensors are not adapted to the Alliance Ring's video capabilities." Racecar provides, Aglaé nodding.
"Maybe... you're connected to Adrien's. Try looking at the active feed." Racecar's eyes go blank, and he projects the Ring's video. It showed Adrien's room, on a random bookshelf overlooking the large windows. It was set on "do not record", but the active feed was something that couldn't be turned off.
"Well, that proves you're seeing it perfectly fine." He stops projecting.
"I cannot analyze the video, therefore I cannot give a definitive answer."
"Yeah, that's okay. Thanks for checking off the boxes we could, though." She replies, glancing at a nearby whiteboard. Her Marinette's analyzing and overthinking tendencies rubbed off on Aglaé, making her great with a theory board.
Then, to make everything worse, a portal appears, and Monarch steps through with three Kwamis in tow. Marinette's eyes widen in horror, and Aglaé goes to shout, Marinette stopping her.
"What is this??" He snarls at the Kwamis, who explain in a scared, rapid manner. He turns to Marinette, who swallows.
"Give me this... gift." She nods, slowly climbing down, and going over to her desk. Aglaé stares wide eyed at the Kwamis and Monarch. She goes to move towards him, but he glares up at her, aiming Pollen's power at her.
"Don't hurt her, please!" Marinette squeaks, nearly tripping over her chair, giving him the key. "Ladybug gave it to me when I was Multimouse." Frustrated, he disappears again, and Marinette glares at the emptiness he left.
"What was that?!" Aglaé seethes.
"It's hard to explain, but I have to go. I'm going to get the Miraculous back." Aglaé blinks. This wasn't how she got them back.
"Be careful." She warns, Marinette nodding and transforming. "What if I came with?" Ladybug looks over at her, and nods.
Imago holds her breath as Monarch enters the museum room, and goes up to Chat Noir. She wanted to run up to him and stab him, but she had to stay still. She was a last resort.
The second he opens the note, the two take action, Aglaé smiling as they trap him. She aims her knife at him as he stumbles back in surprise.
Then, he cataclysms himself.
The two gasp and back away as he screams, and Aglaé launches her knife right as he stumbles backwards into a portal. Chat Noir rushes to Ladybug, terror in his eyes.
"Use your ladybugs! Reverse it!! He's a human being! I just hurt a human being!" He cries, Ladybug staring with disbelief.
"I— I can't— he took it with him... I can't reverse it—!" She cries, stumbling back. "I failed and I hurt someone!!" Aglaé runs to her knife, and smiles slightly.
"You didn't fail completely!" Her knife had snagged one of the Miraculous as he fell. They were hairclips. Marinette's eyes widen, and she takes them carefully.
"Z...Ziggy..?" She musters, a small goat Kwami appearing in a snap. "Ziggy!!" Tears go to her eyes as the Kwami gasps with relief, flying around her with joy.
"Ladybug, you saved us! You did it!" She spots Chat Noir, who was looking down at his hands, defeated. "You did.. right?"
"We got one of you back.. which means we can get you all back!" She smiles, pride and hope in her eyes. She turns to Aglaé. "You did it!! Thank you!" But her smile quickly falls as she sees Aglaé over at Chat Noir, trying to get him to look at her.
"Chat Noir?" He finally looks up at Ladybug, despair in his eyes.
"I hurt someone... what if it kills him...? I— I didn't want to hurt him.." He cries. Aglaé stares at him, then her masked eyes blink back to life.
"Chat Noir, you need to get somewhere safe, your vitals are spiking." He looks at Aglaé with wide eyes.
"I... how? I— I don't know what to do..." Aglaé turns to Ladybug.
"I'm taking him home." Ladybug nods.
Once in his room, Adrien de-transforms, breathing heavily and collapsing to his knees. Aglaé squats down next to him.
"Breathe. Try to breathe in slow and long, okay? You can't hurt anyone without your powers." Plagg scowls.
"He'd never—"
"Quiet." Aglaé scolds, Plagg crossing his arms. "Big and slow... there.... Just try and feel around you. Try to ground yourself. Think about where you are, count the things around you." Adrien glances around, grabbing anything he could get his fingers around. He crumbles an old shirt with his fist. After ten minutes of him just breathing in silence, his heart rate slows to normal. So, Aglaé speaks up.
"Y'know, I think this room could use more natural light." She says, Adrien scoffing a little. "It's a little stuffy, too. Is there a small window we could open?" Adrien looks up, and sits on his knees. Plagg flies over to him and hugs him.
"... wow... that really helped me." He gets out, his body relaxing more.
"Thanks, I learned it from you." She smiles, Adrien chuckles, but frowns a moment later.
"D... Did you know this would happen?" Aglaé shakes her head.
"My Adrien never talked too much about his past. He never mentioned any of this to me." He nods, looking down.
"I... I know I have the power of destruction... but it's.. I've never.. hurt anyone with it." He admits, Aglaé nodding.
"Nobody could've predicted what would happen. He chose to hurt himself instead of surrendering. That was his choice." Adrien nods silently.
"I know... logically I know, but... it still feels like my fault... he's suffering because of my power." Aglaé nods.
"It makes you a good person, yknow." Adrien gives her a strange look. "Feeling bad about it. You couldn't have stopped him, he chose to hurt himself, but you still feel awful about it. He's hurt so many people with his Akumas. He's hurt you guys by stealing the Kwamis. But he keeps doing it. He doesn't care who he hurts. That's why he's a bad guy, and you're a good one." Adrien smiles, genuinely this time, his eyes soft.
"Thank you." He whispers. Aglaé nods.
"Do you need me here, or are you okay?"
"I'm... I'm okay. I think I just need to think more." Aglaé nods, and leaves out the window.
Aglaé returns home, and takes off her mask. Marinette, Tikki and Ziggy swarm her.
"Is Chat Noir alright?? I was so excited about Ziggy, I wasn't even focusing on him!"
"He's better, but it really shook him." She replies, taking a large breath out. "It shook me as well. I didn't know anyone could willingly hurt themselves like that." Marinette nods.
"If he doesn't even care about hurting himself, why try and gain so much power?" She ponders aloud. Ziggy sighs.
"I don't know much about him, where he is, who he is... nothing.. but I do know he loves a sleeping woman in a glass case, like Sleeping Beauty!"
"A woman in a glass case? Creepy..." Marinette shivers. She glances down at the hairclips, and sighs.
"What do I do now...? I lost you all once, what if it happens again?" She asks, Ziggy frowning.
"It wasn't your fault! How could you have known?" She nods a little, but wasn't convinced.
"Well, maybe try a different hiding spot from before." Aglaé suggests. "Maybe give them to Chat Noir, Monarch will be looking for Ziggy from Ladybug, but not him." Marinette nods slowly.
"Maybe... I could talk to him about it on patrol. For right now, though, I'm exhausted."
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