Cutscene: Sacrifice

In an alternate timeline

A hot sweat took over her body, making sleep uncomfortable and consciousness fight to return. Her eyes fluttered, a white light hidden behind it almost blinded her every time a slither fought its way through her stuttering lids.

She could hear talking in the background. One. Two. Three people... maybe more? What were they doing in her house? And where was Adrien? She listened again, fully aware his voice was not there.

"She's waking up!" she recognised that voice; that was her Maman, she could tell it anywhere. A shocking realisation came to her that she was back at home. Her mother and father were trying to wake her up for lycée, just as they had so many times before.

Had she dreamt the last ten years of her life and she was about to wake up at home, in her bed — alone? The thought made her shiver, the movement jarring and waking her up. Adrien — Chat Noir — there's no way she could have dreamt that up.

The voices became more and more pronounced. Louder and louder. Her eyes fought to open up and welcome her back to the real world.

"Marinette?" Her name was spoken softly, by a voice she didn't instantly recognise.

"Marinette?" There it was again. A voice so different, yet so familiar.

As her eyes began to flutter open, the light from the room burned her retinas, blurring the face of the woman beside her.

"Wake up, Marinette. Quickly! We don't have much time." Marinette's eyes finally focused on the woman's face, her brain moving through her index cards of people before landing on the correct one.

"Bunnyx? What are you doing here?" Marinette scanned the room, taking in all the people present. Her Maman, her Papa, and Bunnyx. No one else was there. Where had Sabrina and Alya gone?

"I'm here to save the world, like always," Bunnyx replied; her eyes darted from Marinette, across to the windows, over to the door, then back again. "Quick, we need to go. He's almost here."

The hurried tones of her voice had Marinette's anxiety increase ten fold, the sweat building up and prickling all over her skin.

"Who?"

"Luka. Just follow me into the burrow, then I'll explain," she opened a portal behind her and gestured for Marinette to follow.

Marinette gingerly slid out of bed and turned to face her. "What about my parents?"

"They need to stay, I'm sorry."

"But what if Luk-"

"We'll be fine, sweetheart. Go!" Tom said encouragingly. Sabine nodded in agreement. Reassured by her parents, Marinette followed Bunnyx, stepping through the portal and into the unknown.

Once both of them were inside the burrow, the sound of breaking glass vibrated through the room — the window. Bunnyx quickly closed the portal, moving Marinette safely into the centre of the room and away from a possible infiltration.

They stood silently together, Marinette's hands covering her stomach on instinct as Bunnyx stood with her umbrella ready beside her.

"What was that?" Marinette whispered, her heart beating wildly in her chest, each and every inch of her was overwhelmed with concern for her parents.

"That was probably Luka smashing his way through the window to kill you," Bunnyx said with feigned indifference.

"What?" Marinette was stunned stupid. Her hand shooting to her mouth to cover the shock. "Buh..Buh, m-my parents-"

"Will be fine, if we can fix this," Bunnyx cut her off. "Otherwise, it won't make any difference."

Bunnyx moved into the centre of the room to a console she'd never seen in the burrow before. She took the lapse in conversation to centre herself.

With everything coming at her all at once, she began to feel dizzy. Closing her eyes, she searched once again for her centre of gravity; finally she was able to look around the room without feeling like she was on the waltzers.

Marinette took in the many portals playing snippets from their key moments. She walked forwards, her hand coming up tentatively as she placed it against one of the many featuring Ladybug and Adrien — rewinding the video.

She began to tear up as she watched Adrien tell her that he trusts her 'Always' punctuating the statement with a leap from Gorizilla's hand and falling down towards the ground at a terrifying speed. Her yo-yo came around him, yanking hard to pull him towards her as she saved him, much to the applause of the crowds.

She moved to the next one, once again touching it and twisting her hand, rewinding the video.

"She has your eyes."

Marinette smiled, she always wondered what he meant, that was until the first day she'd met Emilie properly. The shaping was so similar, but it was that caring sparkle of life that Adrien always used to compare.

A lone tear made its way down her cheek as she moved again to the next portal. This time Adrien was comforting her during a panic attack, one she remembered all to clearly.

'If you're gonna trust me once, please, let it be this time!' She heard the words running wild in her head, just like the day he'd originally said them.

"Always," she whispered, echoing his reply from the earlier memory.

"You wouldn't have said it then, would you?" Bunnyx asked, having come to stand behind her.

"No. I was worried I'd never trust Adrien again after that day."

"Why did you? It was only a couple weeks after this when you officially got your acts together."

"It's simple really..." She moved to another portal, placing her hand on it and rewinding. She was dancing in a beautiful red dress, both of them content and happy. "I know, Adrien. I know I can trust him," she smiled as she watched them glide across the ballroom floor. She watched, as in the video she stepped on Adrien's toes — letting out a wet laugh in response. "I quickly learned that it was myself I didn't trust. My heart and my mind rarely agreed during that time, and I made so many mistakes because of it. But he was always there, the one constant I could trust. Well, two constants, actually."

The final portal she went to ripped the remaining pieces of her heart out and threw them onto the ground. A wail ripping from her throat in nothing but complete and utter pain.

Adrien and Luka fighting.

No, Chat Noir and Viperion fighting.

She collapsed down onto her knees, her hands slamming against the floor as sobs ripped from her in a never ending river of pain.

"No!" she screamed, looking up and watching as Viperion took a dagger and buried it deep into Chat Noir's chest.

Her sobbing was neither attractive, nor controlled, as she saw the blood ooze from the dagger and onto the deck, she mourned the life of her husband. Chat Noir became weaker and weaker as he stumbled backwards and grew more pale. Her love – dying.

She felt the comforting arms of her friend surround her, wrapping her in a tight, warm hold which, when removed, would only release the pain she was trying to keep contained.

"That battle led to the end of the world, Ladybug," Bunnyx whispered. "That's why you're here."

Looking up from where she was laying against the ground, she moved her head around the burrow, many, many images of herself and Adrien staring back at her. Their first meet, their first date, their first kiss... their last.

"What happened?" Marinette asked.

Bunnyx headed over to a close portal, fast forwarding the scenes and stopping to reveal Luka at what looked like the Agreste mansion... was that place the basis for all evil?

Tapping the portal again, the characters inside it began to move. Gabriel. Félix. Alya.

Each one was decked out in a super suit, advancing on Luka – Luka, who was wearing black. The black was leathery and harsh. The perfect costume for a super villain, but it was the ears pointing out of his hair which made her want to throw up. He had transformed using the cat Miraculous... Adrien's!

On her hands and knees, she crawled forward towards where Bunnyx was and knelt up. Luka and Scarabella were in a stalemate, one moved forward, then the other, each following with two steps backwards.

As the heroes closed in on their target, Luka seemed almost at a loss, when he summoned something in his hands, something that looked an awful lot like a...

'Cataclysm!' Luka said, his voice distant and weak.

The cataclysm expanded larger and larger, the black glow taking over almost the entire of the screen, the memories in the other portals turning fuzzy with the actions on screen.

"We failed him," Ladybug said. "I failed my best friend."

She looked up at Bunnyx standing beside her. "This isn't him, the man I knew would never do any of this. Bunnyx, what happened to him?"

Taking a deep breath, Bunnyx sat down with her. The battle still continued on the screen as Luka pulled back the cataclysm. Scarabella, Argos and Hawkmoth moved in for a counter attack. Each portal turned to static as the battle commenced, a clear signal that the end was near.

"It was the Guardians. Luka was special, he was strong. But there are only so many times you can be made to relive one of the worst days of your life, over and over and over again using 'second chance', before the insanity kicks in and you no longer know what is real and what is not."

Bunnyx placed a hand on the portal next to her, a young Luka appearing, as himself and others ran over the rooftops of Paris.

"The day Lila called for the final showdown, you died, Marinette. Something had happened with you and Chat Noir and he left the scene — you'd argued and it had left you vulnerable."

Marinette screwed her eyes tightly together, no they didn't – she would have remembered something like that. She'd remembered detransforming with Chat Noir, running to the boulangerie to beat Chat Noir there and then winning against Lila and the reappearance of Gabriel Agreste. It was only then her partner had indicated that he needed space — from her.

"You have no memory of it," Bunnyx continued, knowing exactly what Marinette was thinking. "It was rewritten... multiple times. The guardians saw it as a learning curve for Luka. Him having to save you over and over and over again. Hundreds and thousands of times. The wearer of the snake has to be strong in so many ways, but this broke him. You mean so much to him, Marinette, he couldn't keep seeing you die. They wanted to strengthen him by making him live through every way he couldn't save you."

She knew that feeling all too well. Everytime her partner — her husband — sacrificed himself, it tore her apart.

"Why did he do it? He should have just left me."

Bunnyx shook her head. "Because he only had to do it twice on the day it happened. It was after, at the temple, when he had to relive it endlessly."

Bunnyx slowly took her hand away from the portal, a look of sorrow and grief as the screen in front of them began to move. Luka screamed in pain, the vision of Ladybug dying fading into darkness, as he sat perched on a rock at the bottom of a deep, dark pit. He curled himself into a ball, ear piercing screams ripping from his throat in the most foreign of ways. A noise of pure torture.

"Again!" A voice demanded, Luka begging for mercy, just a small respite from the pain. His whimpers for a reprieve ignored by those around him. "AGAIN!"

Ladybug felt every part of her crumble at the sight of her friend being tortured by the Guardians, the Guardians who were meant to help and train him. This was not what he deserved. But it also didn't excuse his behaviour.

The picture suddenly changed to Luka and Adrien at Ivan's bachelor party, the snake hero making his approach on the cat. Playing with him and teasing him.

"I can never make it up to him. I did this! It was me!"

"No, you can't blame yourself for others' choices. Sooner or later we all choose a path. Sometimes you never look back, and sometimes life forces you to. I need your help to do something, Ladybug. Chat Noir, Adrien, won. It was only through the power of 'second chance' that we lost him. Luka was reckless."

Launching to her feet, determination surged through Marinette, fueled by an inferno of rage at what had been done to her friend, and the resulting bloodbath.

"Tikki, spots on!" The time for sorrow and remorse was over. Now it was time to act. "What do we do?"

*****

Level 22: Costs of Victory

Ladybug stood, power and determination coursing through her veins.

"We send a text message," Bunnyx stated.

Ladybug turned to her, confused as her heart was ready for battle. "What?"

"We're going to send a text," Bunnyx repeated.

The simple statement stunned Ladybug, and she slowly collapsed back to the floor again. How could sending a text message save someone's life? Was Bunnyx working with Luka? After all, they were both connoisseurs of time – maybe they had their own connection?

"I'm guessing you need more detail?" Bunnyx asked innocently. Ladybug nodded.

"Okay. I studied Chat Noir's final fight extensively, to see if there was any way to stop Luka from getting his hands on the black cat Miraculous, but I couldn't find anything. Until, that is, I spoke with Félix just as they were about to confront Luka that final time. He mentioned that Adrien had called him just before he died. Since he was in Tibet at the time, there was nothing he could do."

Ladybug surged back to her feet, hope coursing through her veins.

"So, if we can arrange for Félix to be back in Paris, he'll be able to help Adrien! Bunnyx, you're brilliant!" Ladybug cried out, giving her a big hug.

"So how far back are we going?" She asked, detransforming and looking around for her phone. She was still in her hospital gown and realised she hadn't picked it up before entering the portal. She looked to Bunnyx in fear only for the rabbit hero to be standing with her phone held out as an offering. A quick thanks and Marinette was pulling up her cousin-in-laws' number.

"I figure two days should be enough time for him to get to Paris," Bunnyx said, rewinding a portal showing Félix sitting on a hotel balcony, sipping tea with the Himalayas in the background.

"Spots on!" Changing back into supersuit 'just in case', Ladybug frantically typed a message on her phone, her eyes every now and then drifting to another memory in motion. This time it was her and Chat Noir, supporting each other the way they did best. Her lover, her friend, her partner.

"Ready with that text?" Bunnyx asked. Ladybug quickly looked back at her phone to finish off what she was writing.

"Ready," she announced.

Bunnyx opened a small portal behind her which Ladybug stuck her hand through. She glanced down quickly to check her thumb was over the right button and hit send, before pulling it back in. Bunnyx closed the portal, then they both watched Félix check his phone, immediately standing up and walking inside.

Ladybug brought a thumb up to her mouth and chewed down on it. "Do you think that worked?"

"Let's see," Bunnyx placed her hand on the screen, and tilted it, allowing it to fast forward to just before the fight began. To their utter horror, they watched their plan fail.

Despite being in Paris, Argos was still too far away to save Chat Noir. By the time he arrived, Luka had already killed Adrien and had claimed his ring. Blinded by rage and sorrow, Argos fought valiantly but was no match for Luka's black cat. He too fell, and Luka now had three of the most powerful Miraculous in his hands.

As Luka leapt away from the Liberty, presumably on his way to the hospital, Bunnyx paused the video and collapsed to the floor.

"No, this can't be right. This should have worked. It should have." Bunnyx was rambling, her voice getting higher with stress. Ladybug, devastated at having watched her husband's death – again – turned her tearful gaze towards her ever more frantic friend.

"No, nononononono. This can't be happening I need to fix this I can't have let everyone die then not fix this I need to- I need to- I. Need. To..." Bunnyx's rambling stopped, to be replaced by a pained keening. Marinette quickly embraced her, trying to hold her friend together.

After several minutes, Bunnyx spoke again.

"I'm sorry. I failed. I tried to do the right thing, but I've screwed it up." She wept into Ladybug's shoulder, her hot tears rolling off the supersuited material. "I had to sit back and just watch. Watching as my friends were killed one by one, knowing that I could save them but not letting myself be tempted. I told myself it was all for a reason, and that when I did act, it was going to be to save the world, and I would succeed." She drew back and looked up at Ladybug, her lip quivering. "But I didn't, I failed. I failed and now everyone is going to die, everything is going to be destroyed, and it's all my fault." She turned her head, staring off into nothingness.

"Alix," Ladybug said softly. "Alix, look at me." Bunnyx turned to face her. "You're the only one who can do this."

A look of confused horror washed over the rabbits face.

"Alix, you are the strongest person I know. Stronger than Alya, stronger than Adrien, Stronger than me. I could never have held back from helping our friends, but it had to be done. Only you are strong enough to do what needs to be done, which is oftentimes, nothing. That's why I chose you. That's why you are the last line of defence, because you will only do what is needed, not what you want."

"But-"

Ladybug cut her off. "But nothing. And you haven't failed yet, you just need a bit of luck."

Grabbing her yo-yo, Ladybug called out, "Lucky charm!"

A very familiar piece of material landed in her hand. Although polka dotted, the candy cane stripes on the ascot were instantly recognizable. "Gabriel." His name came out in a hushed breath.

"What? How can Gabriel's ascot help us stop Luka?" Bunnyx asked, a look of confusion on her face.

Ladybug stared at the cloth in her hand, a hand coming up to rub over her lips. "I don't —" Suddenly, an idea hit her like a freight train. "Bunnyx, rewind back to when we sent the text," she said. She grabbed her phone again and they both watched the portal.

As Bunnyx rewound, Ladybug typed furiously on her phone — this had to work.

"Okay, we're back, though I have no idea what we're doing," Bunnyx said questioningly.

"We're just sending a followup text, is all. Ready?" Ladybug replied.

"Ready." They repeated their earlier actions. Portal open, hand through, send the message, hand back, shut the portal... and wait.

"Now, what could another text possibly achieve?"

"Well, in the first one, I simply said there was an emergency, and Adrien and I needed to see him in Paris straight away."

As Ladybug spoke, Félix received the first text. As he reached the balcony door, he received the second text. Reading the message, it was clear it had hit the way she needed it to; his eyes bulged for a second, then he was racing inside.

"Wow. What was in the second text?" Bunnyx asked.

"Oh, I just asked that as soon as he gets into Paris, if he could pick up Gabriel then meet me and Adrien at the hospital. I told him to ask the front desk for my room number when he gets there."

"Impressive. Now how is that going to help change the fate of the world?"

"I have no idea. You can watch and find out, but I can't bear to see them fight again. Take me back, please. Tikki! Spots off!"

As Marinette stepped through the portal, she watched herself and Bunnyx walk into the first one. Bunnyx closed the new portal behind her just as the window shattered, sending glass flying through the room. After shielding herself from the flying fragments, Marinette saw Luka, fitted in Adrien's black, crouching on the windows edge.

She stood frozen, staring at the man in front of her. The man she loved in such a unique and special way. Luka glared at her, nothing about him was the way she remembered. "What did you do?" he asked, his words laced with doubt.

Without an ounce of fear, she walked towards him. Her eyes trained on him, watching for any sudden movements.

"What needed to be done," she replied simply. She stretched up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight embrace and allowing her emotions to set free. "I'm sorry for everything, Luka."

Then everything went white.

*****

In the current timeline

A hot sweat took over her body, making sleep uncomfortable and consciousness fight to return. Her eyes fluttered, a white light hidden behind it almost blinded her every time a slither fought its way through the stuttering lids.

She could hear talking in the background. One. Two. Three people... maybe more? What were they doing in her house? And where was Adrien? She listened again, fully aware his voice was not there.

"She's waking up!" she recognised that voice; that was her Maman, she could tell it anywhere. A shocking realisation came to her that she was back at home. Her mother and father were trying to wake her up for lycée, just as they had so many times before.

Had she dreamt the last ten years of her life and she was about to wake up at home, in her bed — alone? The thought made her shiver, the movement jarring and waking her up. Adrien — Chat Noir — there's no way she could have dreamt that up.

The voices became more and more pronounced. Louder and louder. Her eyes fought to open up and welcome her back to the real world.

"Marinette?" Her name was spoken softly, by a voice she didn't instantly recognise.

"Marinette?" There it was again. A voice so different, yet so familiar.

As her eyes began to flutter open, the light from the room burned her retinas, blurring the face of the man beside her. The man with the blond hair.

Marinette launched forwards and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, burying her head into his shoulder and letting out a vast array of sobs. She couldn't control herself, the tears flowing down her cheeks in an unstoppable stream of relief. He was here. Adrien was back.

Nuzzling into him the way he adored so much, her stomach churned as his smell hit her nose. A smell she didn't know and, certainly, was not used to. Since when had Adrien used a different eau de toilette? She sniffed again before pulling back and allowing her eyes to come into focus.

"Félix? Where's Adrien?"

Félix looked down and brought a hand to his nape, extremely similar to his cousin's tick.

"Félix, please, why are you here?"

He looked to her parents, the two clutching each other in a fierce and ferocious way. Tears silently trickled down their faces, Félix wiping fiercely at his own in response. She turned around again, examining the room. Alya, Tikki, Trixx and Dusuu showing their own remorse, but not as much as...

"Plagg?"

The small black kwami looked up to her, a quiver in his lower lip as his green iris began to drown in tears of grief. No, she shook her head, no!

She attempted to climb off the bed only for Félix to grab her and hold her down. "Let me go! Or I swear to God, I will end you!"

Félix swallowed, closing his eyes and sucking on his lower lip. He released her. Marinette clambering off the bed and ripping the IV out of her hand.

"Where is Adrien?" she queried, her voice failing to stay strong. "Where is my husband?"

She walked over to her maman, each step feeling like a step into hell. This could not be happening. Chat Noir was invincible in his suit. He couldn't get hurt. He couldn't!

"Marinette, sweetheart, please —"

"I can't live without him Maman!" She dropped down onto her knees in front of her mother, clutching the end of her tunic and burying her head into her mother's stomach. They fixed this! Félix was here! They had to have fixed it. "I can't live without him, Maman, I don't want to!"

"You won't have to," a cold voice said, breaking Marinette out of her dark spiral. Gabriel stepped forward, Émilie remaining standing in the doorway, a sad smile on her lips as Gabriel knelt down in front of her.

"I won't lie to you, not about this. He's in bad shape. He was stabbed in the stomach," Gabriel began. All colour drained from Marinette's face. "And he very nearly drowned." It felt like her heart had stopped, her own body reacting as his probably did.

"But, he didn't. He's alive, Marinette. He's in surgery right now, and when he gets out he'll be fine. Don't let anyone, not anyone here and certainly none of the doctors, tell you otherwise. You know him, if there's one thing he'll never do, it's leave you."

Tears still flowing, Marinette stood, and smiled. "Thank you, Gabriel. Thank you for saving him," she embraced him in a loving hug, one in which he returned. "You should know by now, I will do anything and everything to save my family."

They hugged even tighter, maybe finally the tin man had found a heart. After all, didn't everyone deserve a second chance?

Marinette had waited on tenterhooks all day for news about Adrien. He seemed to have been in surgery for hours and her patience was growing thin. Nobody seemed to be able to give her any news, instead she just had to hang around and wait. She hated waiting!

A soft knock sounded at the door, Marinette breathing out a sigh of relief when a nurse came in with some news. Adrien was out of surgery with a promising prognosis.

"Would you like to see him?" From around the corner, the nurse brought in a wheelchair, signalling for Marinette to climb in. She didn't need to be asked twice.

Marinette was wheeled down the hallway, and into the recovery room to see him. He looked so small for someone of such power and presence. Tubes came out of many different areas as a bandage could be seen from under the blankets; the repetitive bleep of the machinery was both terrifying and comforting. As he lay there still under anaesthesia, Marinette hoisted herself from the chair and climbed onto the bed next to him. Conforming to his side, she gently caressed his face with her hand, while whispering softly in his ear.

"Rest now, my love. You did it, you saved us. You still have me..." She took one of his hands and placed it on her stomach, "...you still have us."