Chapter Text
They were in trouble.
The latest card soldier was a lot more cunning than they had initially thought. It had been a frustratingly elusive cat Card with the power to turn invisible. As such, it had tricked Ladybug into using her Lucky Charm early. They had been chasing this particular card through the Auradon police station, and in her haste to go refresh her transformation, Ladybug had hopped into a darkened room.
“No! Ladybug!” Chat Noire called out, hot on her heels.
Ladybug paused halfway through the doorway, turning around to see the black cat miraculous holder running at her in a panic.
“What are you doing, Chat Noire?” Ladybug exclaimed as she saw the other girl’s Cataclysm had been activated.
She knew that her partner knew better than to be running in her direction when she was refreshing her transformation. And that she definitely should have known better than to have activated her Cataclysm if she wasn’t going to use it immediately.
Before she could berate her partner, she felt an invisible force push her into the room. She stumbled inside, crashing into a metal table in the middle of the room. From outside, she heard Chat Noire shout before the cat heroine was thrown into the room with her, the door locking upon Chat Noire’s entry.
Luckily, Ladybug had rolled out of the way as the other girl ran into the metal table like she had. Ladybug was about to scold her when her partner scrambled upward in a frenzy.
“No no no no,” Chat Noire said, her eyes widening at the table in front of her.
Ladybug was about to demand an explanation when she heard the rusting of the table, the legs and screws quickly detaching and falling apart in front of her.
A light from above turned on followed by a tapping heard behind a square mirror seated in the wall. Five beeps rang out from her earrings. Her blood ran cold and she made eye contact with her partner. It was then that she understood the situation they were in.
They were trapped inside an interrogation room. Both of them had run out their miraculous and were about to detransform, Ladybug’s own detransformation just a few seconds away.
“My Lady, I’m so sorry, I-“ started Chat Noire before she was interrupted by the intercom.
“If I’m correct—and I suspect I am—“ came the voice of the Cheshire Cat Card, “I would say that you both just ran out of all of your tricks.”
Her partner lunged at the two way mirror, trying her best to use her superstrength to break it.
The laugh of the Card came through the intercom, “It’s no use, you pathetic excuse for a cat, this two way mirror and the whole of the room is reinforced for magical threats like you. Perhaps if you had your Cataclysm but, oopsies, looks like you’ve run out of that. There’s no way out. Now stop fighting and say hello to the Card Queen, she sees everything that I see.”
The second set of five beeps rang out, signaling that time was up. She did her best to fight it, but the magic of the transformation started receding, beginning at her feet.
“Chat Noire, I-“ Ladybug started. If her identity was going to be revealed, then she wanted to make sure that her partner was ready for it. Before she could continue, however, she saw the black cat heroine’s eyes widen at something behind her. As she turned around to investigate, she felt hand grab her collar and pull her in, her vision going white.
“Ahhh!” Red screamed as she was pulled into a void of white, tripping and landing on her butt on the way in. Tikki flew out of her earrings, and Red lunged forward to catch the god in her hands, sighing in relief when she saw that her little companion was unhurt. Taking a look around, she saw that she was in a white spherical room, circular windows covering its entire expanse.
“Right on time, I see,” a man’s voice said from behind, startling Red.
Red whipped around and never could she have ever been prepared for what she saw next.
Standing behind her was a man in a blue trench coat and an all white three piece suit underneath. On his head was a blue top hat with white bunny ears poking through the sides. And in his gloved hands he held a pocket watch and an umbrella, both items matching his color scheme. However, the only thing that Red was focused on was the man’s face.
No mask had adorned it, and instead she found herself staring at her purple haired tutor.
“Maddox?” Red heard herself say, brain barely processing the events of the last few seconds.
“Ah, sorry your highness, but it’s Bunnyx while we’re in the burrow,” he said as he crouched down to help Red up.
Putting Tikki on one hand and then using the other to grab on to her former tutor, Red stood up, her knees slightly wobbling from the shock of the man that stood in front of her.
They took a couple steps before Red remembered something important.
“Wait, Chat Noire! She’s still back there, we have to go get her,” she said as she attempted to tug them towards the portal.
“She’ll be fine,” assured Maddox, “Though, we have more pressing matters on our hands.”
Red didn’t budge. She would never abandon her partner just like that, even if it was at the request of her friend/former tutor.
He sighed, “I’ll bring you back to the exact same moment, I promise…” a confused expression crossed Red’s face, so he added, “You’ll have to let me explain first, Princess.”
Red only regarded him in reluctance. It had been months since she had last seen him and their last interaction had left Red wondering if the man had only been friendly with her purely out of his duties as her tutor. As he had put it, he had to take off to ‘take care of some timely business’ before she could confide in him in her nerves entering Auradon Prep, leaving Red feeling already abandoned on her first day stepping onto campus. Nonetheless, Red still missed his presence after months of not being able to contact him and the urgency in his tone (compared to his usually composed one) made her want to hear him out. After a few seconds of deliberating, Red nodded and stopped trying to pull him back in the direction of the portal, trusting that Maddox had his reasons for everything.
He proceeded to lead her over to a table with chairs in the middle of the room. He pulled out a chair for her and Red gladly sat, grateful to have something supporting her underneath. He pulled out his own chair and sat across from her and only then did Red realize that the table was set for a tea party.
Maddox gestured to the hand she held Tikki in, and quickly figuring out what he meant, she set the kwami down in front of the sweets on the table, all while staring at the man in front of her.
“Mad-sorry, Bunnyx, what is going on ?” Red asked as the man poured her some tea. She gestured to his outfit and then to the space around them, “How are you… How is this…?”
He finished pouring her tea and reached over to place it in the saucer in front of her. Red ignored it. She didn’t have the stomach to eat or drink something right now.
He sat back in his own seat, picking up his own teacup and took a sip (much to Red’s annoyance) before he spoke up again.
“Welcome to the Burrow,” he said, gesturing to the space around them, “This is the interdimensional space where the bunny miraculous user, a.k.a. Yours truly, operates.”
“Bunny miraculous?” Red couldn’t help but repeat back.
He raised an eyebrow, “Surely you didn’t think the ladybug and black cat miraculous were the only ones out there in existence.” At Red’s blank stare, he sighed muttering to himself, “Right, I should have double checked the dates on that…” He addressed her again, “But yes, Princess Red, there are more than your two miraculous out there in the world.”
“How… when did you get yours?” asked Red.
“Oh this?” Bunnyx said as he held up the pocket watch, opening it for her, “I’ve always had it—no, well, not always I suppose… but ‘twas a gift passed down from my father.” He snapped the watch shut then tucked it into a pocket in his trenchcoat.
“Wait, so then you knew?!” Red yelled indignantly, her hands slamming on the table, “You knew that I was going to be Ladybug this whole time? Why didn’t you say anything? Why weren’t you there to help me earlier?”
He sighed and gave her an apologetic look, “I truly am sorry, Princess, but that wasn’t how things needed to play out.”
“Play out? ” Red repeated, still heated.
Bunnyx nodded, “Tell me, Princess Red, do you understand the true responsibility of the bunny miraculous?”
“No, but I have a feeling you’re gonna tell me,” Red deadpanned, catching a glare from her recovering kwami on the table. She raised her hands up and took a breath, aware of her growing temper. Tikki only hummed in approval before returning to her meal.
Maddox stood up and started pacing around the table, and Red couldn’t help but feel like she was in one of his tutoring sessions again.
“The Burrow is not only outside of space but it is also outside of time . And the true responsibility of the bunny miraculous holder is to monitor the timeline, only interfering when necessary. Each of those windows you see around us are portals into different parts of your timeline, sometimes different timelines altogether.”
“How do you decide when it’s necessary to interfere?” Red asked, fighting the urge to raise her hand.
“From the Burrow itself,” answered Maddox, “It will show me critical points where the bunny miraculous holder may be needed in order for the timeline to proceed.”
Red interjected, “So you appearing before I got unmasked means that…”
“It means that in order for the timeline to proceed correctly, you were not meant to reveal your identity in this way,” Bunnyx finished.
“So what? I just needed you to open up the Burrow so I can recharge without revealing my identity, and then I go back on my merry way?” Red questioned.
Bunnyx shook his head, “Yes, but no… It’s not that simple…” he trailed off, taking a glance at the confusion on his former student’s face.
He sighed, “I apologize, princess, but I’m going to need your help with something before you go back. Unfortunately, it is not something that I can handle myself.”
He motioned for her to follow him, and Red got up from her spot, curious as to what the miraculous holder that held the power of time couldn’t handle himself and needed her help with. Tikki joined her, settling on her shoulder as she walked behind her former tutor, taking in more of the scenery of the Burrow. It was then that she became aware that the portal windows weren’t stuck to the walls of the room (though Red wasn’t sure she could call it a room to begin with) as a couple of them floated about while some others stood stationary in the middle.
In one of the portals that they passed by, Red caught a glimpse of two figures fighting in a courtyard. One figure, she recognized as an alternate version of self, wearing an outfit almost entirely made up of red with the occasional black accents. What made her pause, however, was that she was wielding what looked like a flagpole and that she was attacking another girl who was defending with a sword while holding what looked to be a pocketwatch. Her alternate self’s opponent—some other girl—had a wild mane of baby blue hair, dressed in an outfit that was made up almost entirely of the same shade. Considering that she only knew of a handful* people with blue hair, and only one of them sporting a mane as wild as that, she guessed that the other girl was Chat Noire’s counterpart. She knew she should have looked away ever since she had noticed that her own counterpart wasn’t sporting a mask of her own, therefore Chat Noire’s counterpart wouldn’t be wearing one as well, but she couldn’t bring herself to tear her eyes off of their fight for the pocket watch in the alternate Chat Noire’s hand. Just as the alternate Chat Noire would have turned around and revealed her identity to Red, Bunnyx’s umbrella flooded her field of vision, blocking her field of view.
“What was that?” Red asked as she let herself get led away by the bunny miraculous holder.
“The burrow doesn’t just show timelines from our universe, but timelines from alternate universes as well,” he answered, “Nevertheless, even alternate universes can hold answers to secrets that you aren’t ready for.”
They walked a little longer before Bunnyx led her to a portal that upon first glance, Red could immediately tell that something was wrong with it. A gasp escaped her mouth. She didn’t know how it was possible, but the portal window seemed to have a huge crack down the middle, resembling that of a broken mirror.
“What happened?” she asked, stepping closer cautiously. Another portal passed by near the one with the crack and Red could see the one passing by flicker in and out of existence. She focused back on the cracked portal, having trouble making out any images that came from the portal. She suspected this was the reason Maddox had needed her help.
“The reason that the bunny miraculous holder is restricted from intervening more than necessary is that upon intervention, the timeline branches off in two directions,” he revealed. He held up two fingers and then separated them away from each other, “One where the bunny miraculous holder intervened, and the other where they never did.”
Red nodded along. She was finally starting to understand just how integral and expansive the existence of the Burrow—and by extension: the bunny miraculous—really was.
Maddox continued, “Even without the bunny miraculous, timelines will branch off naturally when there is a choice to be made. Sometimes the timeline corrects itself and two separate choices eventually lead to the same outcome, and sometimes the choice is much bigger in the grand scheme of things and a new timeline is born. However, intervention from the bunny miraculous forces a change in the timeline, and the timeline that the bunny miraculous holder chooses to deviate from becomes unstable. Sometimes it dies out, and usually it would be perfectly fine if it didn’t do something like this…” Bunnyx gestured to the cracked portal, regarding it with unease, “Rarely does it threaten the existence of the Burrow itself. And even rarer: I can’t seem to enter through the portal, nor much less see what happened so that I could figure out how to fix it.”
Red looked at him in alarm, “Wait, so if you can’t enter through it, then what makes you think I can go in and help you fix whatever happened?”
Her former tutor only raised his eyebrow, only pointing at the god of creation sitting on her shoulder.
Tikki spoke up, “As the kwami of creation, not only do I have the power to create, but also creation cannot deny my existence. And as my holder, that benefit extends to you as well.”
”Hold on, are you saying that if the universe blew up right now , only me and Tikki would be left??”
”Exactly! Good to see you’ve kept up with your studies, princess,” Bunnyx grinned proudly, ignoring the horrified expression on Red’s face. He continued, “Now, you’ll have to go in as Ladybug, neutralize what I can only assume is causing the crack in this portal, and then you’ll have saved all of the existences in the Burrow!”
“Oh yeah, simple, no pressure,” she squeaked dazedly, becoming more and more aware that the continued existence of everything she knew currently rested on her shoulders.
Taking a deep breath, Red summoned her transformation into Ladybug. Typically, whenever she transformed into her superhero alter ego, she would receive a boost of confidence that she would attribute not only the enhancement in her physical abilities, but also the power and anonymity of the Ladybug identity. But given the situation as it was right now, she just felt like an ordinary girl in a red and black costume, way in over her head.
She gave herself a minute to shake off the nerves before stepping up to the portal. Just as she was about to step through, Maddox grabbed her hand.
“Red, be careful, ” he said in a low voice, the concern for his former protege apparent in his tone, “Once you step in there, I won’t be able to save you.”
Red only offered him a smile, glad that he was still looking out for her not just because of his duty as the bunny miraculous holder, but as the friend she missed so much since leaving for Auradon Prep.
“I’ll be back, don’t worry. You still have a lot of explaining to do.”
“I will explain everything in due time, Princess,” Maddox promised.
With that, Red took in a deep breath in preparation and then stepped foot into the portal.
The first thing that Red noticed after stepping through to the other side of the portal was that it was all too bright. The second thing she noticed was that the brightness was due to the fact that everything around her was made of glass.
She quickly and nauseatingly realized that she was standing on top of the Great Hall of Auradon except that it was completely made of glass along with all of the buildings and plants surrounding it. She didn’t know how far the glass stretched, but a sense of dread settled in her stomach as the farther out she looked, the more it looked like that absolutely everything around her was made of glass.
The third and final thing she noticed was that it was dead quiet—almost completely silent if it weren’t for the sound of a voice singing in the distance.
“I’m just a girl. Arms open wide. Looking for kindness, somewhere in your eyes…”
The voice—it sounded familiar, but wrong in a way that Red couldn’t pinpoint. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and even under her magical Ladybug suit, she could feel goosebumps run along her arms. Investigating, Red didn’t have to travel very far before she located the sound to the glass-covered Auradon Museum of History.
“I’m looking for something I may never find.” Red rounded the corner and spotted a figure pacing in front of the entrance. As she got closer, Red could make out the figure dressed in all white with a wild mane of blue hair on their head. From the voice, Red realized that the figure in white was a girl.
“All I want is love… but what I want doesn’t exist. Love… ain’t it,” the girl in white laughed darkly to herself.
It was then that Red noticed a couple more things about the girl. On top of her head sat a pair of white triangles in the shape of ears, and swinging behind the girl was a white belt that resembled a tail. The pole that the girl rested on her shoulders and held down with both of her arms was reminiscent of a staff that Red was familiar with. And finally, the voice… the familiarity of the voice and everything else hit Red like a freight train.
‘No. It can’t be.’
The girl in white stopped pacing abruptly and whipped around, immediately zeroing in on Red’s position. She was met with a cold, steely blue gaze and it was then that Red felt her stomach drop.
“My Lady?” the girl asked, the cold gaze morphing into one of disbelief.
All of her instincts screamed at her to run. It was obvious that, somehow, her partner had become a victim of the Card Queen. But this was still her partner, afterall… right? Nonetheless, she had to get some answers and that meant conversing with the only living soul she had come across thus far.
Slowly approaching, Red asked, “Chat… Noire? What happened here?”
The girl met her halfway, seemingly mesmerized by Red’s presence. Ignoring the question, the girl stepped into Red’s immediate proximity. A white clawed hand softly grazed her cheek, and before Red could step away or ask, the other girl pulled her hand back as soon as it made contact.
“You’re real,” the girl stated incredulously, cradling her hand as if it had been burned, “And you’re here. How are you here? Are you really Ladybug?”
The alarm bells in Red’s head refused to die down, instead becoming louder at the other girl’s proximity, so she opted to skip the girl’s first question. “Um, yes, I am Ladybug… why wouldn’t I be?”
Once again, the girl ignored Red’s question in favor of her own. “That means you can fix all of this, can’t you?”
“I don’t even know what happened, Chat Noire,” Red replied, taking a step away from the other girl.
The action wasn’t lost on the other girl, her eyes following Red’s movement. A flash of hurt appeared on the other girl’s face, and despite herself, Red felt the need to comfort the other girl. “But I mean I could try with my Lucky Charm.”
The girl brightened up, a hopeful smile gracing her face. “You would?”
Red nodded and took out her yoyo. Throwing it in the air, she called for her Lucky Charm and she had to hurriedly lunge forward to catch the small object that it manifested as. The object was small enough to fit in her hand and in turning it over to examine it closer, Red recognized what it was. A Looking Glass.
Strange. Why would she need to see the future?
Red sighed, “Here goes nothing.” She threw the compact in the air but to their dismay, the magical ladybugs were not summoned and the Lucky Charm remained unchanged.
Red grabbed the compact from where it had fallen, apologizing to the other girl in the process, “I’m sorry, Chat Noire, I have no idea why it didn’t work.”
The girl in white glared at Red’s Lucky Charm. Red couldn’t blame her, but she also couldn’t help but think it was strange. If this was all the Card Queen’s doing, then why didn’t her power work? And why did the Lucky Charm choose to take the form if a Looking Glass?
The girl didn’t offer any response, the look on her face was disappointed before it turned into a contemplative one, and Red could see an internal debate going on in her head. A moment later, the girl turned her gaze to Red, evaluating the red and black superheroine with a chilly intensity that set off even more alarm bells in Red’s head. Noticing that the girl was watching, Red did her best to school her expression into a neutral one.
After a beat, the girl in white shrugged in a nonchalance that only served to make Red suspicious as the girl suggested, “What if we try something else?”
Red narrowed her eyes. She didn’t like where this was going. “Like what?”
“What if we have your kwami take a crack at it?” the girl proposed. She said it so casually that Red would have thought that she was joking if Red didn’t know any better.
“That would require me to detransform…”
The other girl only nodded as though it wouldn’t be a big deal.
She couldn’t take it anymore. There was something wrong with this Chat Noire, too many things she wasn’t willing to ignore, and she was getting tired of playing it cautious.
“Why would you even suggest something like that, Chat Noire. You know the consequences of revealing our identities. Besides, what could my kwami do to fix all of this anyway?” she demanded.
The girl only seemed to be mildly amused at her outburst. Red didn’t back down, tilting her chin up in challenge at the other girl.
The girl let out a laugh, shaking her head. “I should have known,” she muttered to herself before her expression changed.
The girl seemed to strip away her emotions and looked at Red with a steely apathy, instantly sending chills down Red’s spine. Although neither of them held any obvious advantage, Red felt like she was the one in danger.
“Your kwami was the one to do all of… this,” the girl revealed, gesturing to the glass that made up the environment.
Red froze, “Why would Tikki do such a thing?”
“It doesn’t matter,” the girl in white dismissed, “What does matter is that she has to fix it.”
“Or what?” Red questioned, but she already knew the answer.
The girl in white took out her staff and Red stepped back to create some distance. The girl started flanking to the side, and in an effort to keep the girl in front of her, Ladybug mirrored in the opposite direction.
“Or else I’ll have to make her do it myself. Even if that means I have to get through you first.”
Even though they circled each other at the same pace, Red couldn’t help but feel as though she were prey.
“Chat Noire would never do this.”
“Good thing I’m not Chat Noire then,” the other girl retorted, “I’m Chat Blanc.”
“Chat Blanc?” Red repeated with a skeptical look, testing the name out. She shook her head and attempted to taunt the other girl, trying her best not to show the fear she felt, “You’re just a poser with a bad attitude.”
A humorless laugh sprung forth from the girl in white in front of her, “You don’t know the things that I’ve been through.”
Without any warning, Chat Blanc launched herself at Red, bringing down her staff with such speed that Red was only barely able to dodge away. Using her yoyo, she threw it at the attacking girl’s feet and yanked. The line managed to tangle around Chat Blanc’s ankles, causing the girl in white to trip. Red pulled the yoyo back and threw it at the girl’s head, but Chat Blanc was fast, batting away the yoyo with her staff.
“Give me your kwami, Ladybug, I just need her to fix everything. I won’t hurt her,” said Chat Blanc as she advanced at Red.
“I really don’t trust you when you say that,” Red said through gritted teeth as she kicked the girl in white away from her, trying to create some sort of distance.
Chat Blanc stumbled backward, shaking her head. “If there’s anybody here that shouldn’t be trusted, it’s you .”
The girl in white danced away from one of Red’s flying yoyo attacks, her expression changing to one Red had never seen on her partner before.
Hatred. Red realized. It was pure hatred.
“I thought I could trust you,” the girl said, her tone biting, “But I know better now, and that I never should have trusted you in the first place.”
The girl raised her arm and from her finger she manifested a small magical ball of destruction and flicked in Ladybug’s direction. Red dove away and watched as the ball of Cataclysm seemed to bounce off of the glass ground.
The glass—it hadn’t been affected by the Cataclysm, Red noticed. The glass was made of something that wouldn’t allow Chat Blanc’s power of destruction to actually destroy.
Red didn’t have much time to think about it any longer as Chat Blanc’s staff made contact with her abdomen. Ladybug felt the wind get knocked out of her, and she struggled to keep the Looking Glass in her hand. It was soon becoming evident to Red that the other girl was quickly gaining the upper hand.
“I know the Card Queen made you like this, Chat Blanc,” Red said, trying to negotiate, “Why don’t you just let me purify the card so we can release you from this curse?”
“And what, make myself weaker so that you can defeat me? Nice try, Ladybug.”
“That’s not what I meant!” Red exclaimed, “I don’t want to fight you. Can’t we try to talk this out?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Red found herself dodging another ball of Cataclysm. Ladybug growled in frustration. So much for that plan. She threw her yoyo at the white cat girl who dodged the head of the yoyo before grabbing onto the line. Red’s eyes widened, unable to react in time as the girl pulled on the line connected to her, spinning her in a circle and then releasing like a hammer throw at a track and field event. Ladybug’s back made contact with a nearby glass wall, hard enough to leave her sputtering blood from her mouth. Red didn’t have any time to recover as Chat Blanc advanced. She scrambled to get up quickly, wiping the blood from her mouth as she took a few swings at the girl in white.
“Are you naive enough to still believe you’ll get a happy ever after? A privileged little Purr-incess, a fairy fail disaster,” the girl in white mocked her as she easily dodged the swings from Red.
“I told you not to call me that,” Ladybug spat through clenched teeth, frustrated that none of her attacks were landing.
“That was a long time ago,” the girl in white said in amusement, “Remind me, what are you going to do about it? Cut off my head? Just like dear ol’ mommy did in Wonderland?”
Ladybug froze. How did she know? “You aren’t supposed to know that.”
The girl in white only laughed, “Your Chat Noire doesn’t know that.” In a blink of an eye, the girl in white dropped to the floor and landed a sweeping kick, knocking Ladybug to the ground.
Before Ladybug could stand back up, she felt the metal of a familiar staff tilting her head back up to meet the gaze of the girl standing above her. The girl in white sauntered closer before she crouched in front of her, reaching out a clawed finger to trace Red’s jawline.
“But I’m Chat Blanc. And I know your secret. It’ll be a pleasure to defeat you to get what I want, Red.”
Red’s eyes widened, and Chat Blanc caught on.
“Oh. You don’t know who I am, do you, Princess?” the girl in white taunted.
Red did the only thing she could think to do in retaliation. She threw a punch which connected solidly with Chat Blanc’s jaw.
The teasing tone and condescending smirk was wiped off Chat Blanc’s face in an instant as a trickle of blood ran down her nose—a stark contrast from her pristine white suit and mask. Red made to get up and scramble away, but the girl snarled and lunged at her, this time keeping Red trapped as she straddled the ladybug superheroine with her legs.
Once upon a time, Red would have dreamed of being in this position with the cat girl sitting on top of her like this. Unfortunately, the situation quickly turned into her nightmare the moment the girl in white started laying it on her, making special use of her claws.
Red attempted to keep her arms in front of her to protect herself, but the girl in white was relentless. Inevitably, Chat Blanc got past her defenses and Red felt a deep, piercing sensation as the girl’s claws dragged along her cheek, blood pouring out immediately from the gash the girl in white created as Red let out a hiss in pain.
“This whole thing is your fault!” the girl in white screamed, showing no signs of slowing her tirade.
More and more of the girl’s punches and scratches landed on Red. Red did her best to hold on, but she felt herself slipping from the pain and exhaustion. Chat Blanc quickly took advantage, and Red found a hand shot past her arms and grabbed hold of her neck, pinning her head down to the ground as the girl in white’s hand squeezed, slowly depriving Ladybug of oxygen.
“This is for everything you’ve done!”
The girl raised her hand above her head and to Red’s horror, the Cataclysm that she summoned started growing and kept growing to no end.
It was then that the puzzle pieces connected in Red’s head.
The infinite Cataclysm of the white cat, the glass that was immune to the Cataclysm, Tikki’s involvement, the Lucky Charm not working… somehow the Tikki of this timeline was trying to prevent Chat Blanc’s destruction of everything, most likely spurred by something the Red/Ladybug of this world had done after their identity had been revealed, and in trying to protect the world from destruction, Tikki must have made everything immune to it.
‘That must have been why it didn’t die out naturally like Maddox expected,’ Red realized.
And then the Looking Glass, still in her hand. It didn't make any sense. Why would she need to know about the future of a timeline that needed to be destroyed?
She didn’t.
But maybe it wasn’t the future of this timeline that mattered.
“Any last words, Red ?” Chat Blanc said, the girl in white holding a Cataclysm that seemed to stretch beyond the horizon in her palm.
“This never should have happened,” Red whispered before opening the Looking Glass in her hand and thrusting it in the girl’s face.
It took a second for the girl to process what she was seeing before she gasped and asked in a choked whisper, “What is this?”
She didn’t know what the girl saw, but it was enough to make her falter and call off the monstrous Cataclysm from her hand. The girl grabbed the Looking Glass from Red, watching the images in the mirror fervently.
“S-She’s alive,” the girl said, standing up, thus freeing Red from where she had been pinned to the ground, “She’s alive. H-how is this possible?”
Red heaved over and spat the blood from her mouth. She then took in a couple of deep breaths to replace the oxygen in her lungs before she could finally pick herself up off the ground.
“I told you, Chat Blanc, this never should have happened. This whole timeline never should have happened,” said Red.
“Timeline?” the girl in white tilted her head in question.
Red hesitated but she had to explain, “This timeline—your timeline…it was the by-product of us revealing our identities too early. And I have no idea what happened or what caused you to become like this, but as it is now, that future—my future—is being threatened by the existence of your timeline.”
Chat Blanc didn’t respond immediately, her eyes still stuck on the Looking Glass. After a moment, she met Red’s eyes, a look of sorrowful acceptance on her face, “Your Lucky Charm, it didn’t work because there was nothing to fix. Afterall, why fix a timeline that shouldn’t exist in the first place… isn’t that right, my Lady?”
Red could only nod in response.
“And you really don’t know who I am, do you?”
Again, Red could only nod.
The girl in white turned her gaze to the Looking Glass once more, a look of fondness and longing on her face. Wordlessly, she grabbed the blackened bell around her neck and held it out. She took a moment to examine it, no doubt reflecting on her time as the white cat. Finally, she summoned a Cataclysm, and a card flew out as the bell broke open. Red caught it and quickly purified it, and in doing so found herself face to face with a Chat Noire once again.
“If this timeline had to end, just promise me something then, my Lady.”
“I’ll hear you out,” Red replied, reluctant to promise anything.
“Never trust your mother.”
Red’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to ask the other girl to elaborate, but Chat Noire cut her off by holding up the Looking Glass to Red, “Call the miraculous ladybugs. I have a feeling it should work this time.”
Red shot her a look of doubt but decided that there was no harm in doing so. Plus, she didn’t want to give the other girl a reason to turn on her again, even without being under the influence of the Card Queen’s curse.
To her surprise, Chat Noire was right. As soon as she threw the Lucky Charm into the air, it burst into the miraculous ladybugs and the environment started reverting back to what it once was before it was all turned to glass.
In addition, the blood and injuries that littered both of the girls’ faces vanished, as though they never fought each other in the first place. But Red knew better. The superficial wounds of their battle may have been gone, but the memories of the hatred and the pain inflicted by the girl she knew to be a version of her partner would forever haunt her memories.
From the corner of her eye, she saw a portal open and the holder of the bunny miraculous stepped through.
“Mission accomplished, Ladybug,” he said, tipping his top hat to her.
Red sighed in relief. This meant that her job here was done.
The Chat Noire of this universe had stepped back in shock from Bunnyx’s appearance. Noticing the expression of the girl in black, Maddox stepped forward and gave a little bow, “Hello, Chat Noire, I am Bunnyx, holder of the bunny miraculous and keeper of the timeline.”
Chat Noire regarded him with narrowed eyes, “You’re the reason she’s here, huh?”
“She was the only one that could,” Bunnyx stated simply, “Before we continue, I must bring Red back to her own timeline.” He stepped closer and whispered in Chat Noire’s ear, “She cannot be here for the next part.” He stepped back and Chat Noire only nodded in reply, understanding what he was implying.
As Maddox made his way to Red, he opened up a portal and gestured for Red to step through.
Red let out a slow exhale as she stepped towards the entrance of the portal. Just like that it would be over. Once she stepped in, she would be returned to her timeline and this whole nightmare would be prevented from ever happening. But after everything, she couldn’t leave without saying one more thing to the alternate timeline’s Chat Noire. She turned back, making direct eye contact with the girl.
“I don’t know what I did, but I truly am sorry for everything you’ve had to experience because of me.”
The girl in black made her way over to Red and reached out, gently taking Red’s hand, “For a while now, I’ve thought that no apology could ever be good enough for everything that’s happened. But if everything that I saw in the Looking Glass is correct, then you don’t need to apologize for anything. So please make sure that future stays intact, Red. I’ll take care of everything in this timeline from here.” With that, she released Red’s hands and returned to Bunnyx’s side.
Red only gave her a small smile and a slight nod of acknowledgement before she stepped through the portal.
Maddox closed the portal right after Red entered. In the case she figured it out, he couldn’t have her coming back in for this next part. He turned to the black cat heroine beside him who was staring at the location where Red had just disappeared.
Chat Noire turned her gaze toward him, resignation written all over her face.
“Detransform.”
As the transformation was released, he was met by the face of the Princess of Cinderellasburg. The god of destruction emerged from her ring and she caught the kwami who had immediately started falling from exhaustion.
Both holder and kwami looked worse for the wear, having been bound to the transformation for such a long time. Maddox allowed them this moment of reprieve before he would make his request.
No words were said between the two, but the remorseful look on the young Charming girl’s face was all that needed to be said. Plagg weakly floated up and tucked a loose curl behind the girl’s ear in affection. Tears silently streamed down the blue haired girl’s face, and Plagg made his way over to her face, hugging the girl’s cheek in an effort to comfort her. Finally, Plagg turned and regarded Bunnyx.
“Tikki’s gone,” stated Plagg catatonically. The lifting of the glass curse had revealed that it was a warm and beautiful day. Tikki—his other half—she would have loved it.
“It’s time for this timeline to end,” stated Maddox solemnly.
The holder and the kwami shared a look and nodded in agreement. They knew what had to be done. Once Bunnyx made his way back through the portal, the god of destruction summoned one final Cataclysm.
Chloe Charming smiled.
“Good luck, Red,” she whispered before Plagg brought down the Cataclysm, ending the cursed timeline once and for all.