27. Chapter 27
"You know." Marinette eyed a pile across her table. "Your plate is abnormally plenty for a topnotch model."
"They're just a regular healthy amount, Princess." Adrien retorted as he forked his linguine. "For a young man who grew up with croutons as a staple food."
"Croutons are not even a staple food, you bourgeoisie."
"Says by a person who inhales golden macarons 24/7, hypocrite."
She deadpanned. "That's because I lived in a bakery."
"Which makes you have no right to incriminate my diet," he answered, almost swiping a sleek hand that wormed its way to his quiche. "Hey!"
The designer laughed when she got caught red-handed, but instead of returning it, she took a bite shamelessly. And to add fuel to the fire, she placed the half-consumed pastry back to its owner's plate.
Said owner narrowed his gaze. "Are you still holding that grudge about the pretzel yesterday?"
"No. I'm just concerned about my favorite model ruining my favorite designer's clothes."
He harrumphed, patting his stomach. "Don't fret, my Lady, for I, Adrien Agreste, am not fat."
"Tell that to me once you reach the thirties."
He smiled at the thought - not about his physical state (God help him, he wasn't overweight!) but the fact that she was looking forward seeing him in the future. Her future. Their future.
"Hey, Kitty." she prodded, sensing his worries. "What's wrong?"
He shook his head, then looked at the terrain views for distraction.
One thing that he hated most about himself was his transparency towards his Lady and his vulnerability towards his Princess.
Small hands began to nudge his fingers. She didn't have to hear his explanations to know his sentiments. Words became unnecessary for Ladybug and Chat Noir - a trait that was now possessed by Marinette and Adrien.
"Once it's over..." he told her. "Can we revisit these places?"
"Without getting that L-word?"
He chortled, flushing all of his worries in the dumps. Leave it to Marinette and she'll make the world a better place.
"I think your Lady Luck can stabilize the Black Cat's curse."
"Of course."
"Of claws."
She glowered when he smirked.
He surprised her when he bought two first-class tickets going to Paris. She was very insistent to pay for her own fare, but his gentleman side won the argument. So she moped when they reached their seats, and more when he got them a breakfast 'fit for a King' (not a Princess, because no Princess can gobble a tower of pancakes).
Her broodings immediately vanished the moment he cracked a pun...which ended them to their current light-hearted banters.
After clearing their plates, thanks to their extraordinary metabolism, the two decided to take a short nap.
Marinette leaned her head on Adrien's crooked neck as he placed his own on top of her crown. Both snuggled, with hands linked together as they enjoyed the comfort and peace of each other's warmth. Sighing with contentment, they indulged themselves before they arrived in Paris.
It was a two-hour travel anyways.
.
.
.
.
Their consciousness went on full alert when the train abruptly stopped.
Looking around, they noticed that they were the sole occupants of the train's cabin - not surprising initially because they were on a first-class seat and that most French were vacationing 'out' of Paris.
No announcement about the inconvenience was made. No visible staffs to check the passenger's safety. No panic screams or frustrated wails. And for some unforeseen circumstance, their transport stopped somewhere that wasn't part of a train station.
"The Akuma's here." Adrien hissed.
All of the lights shut off, followed by the window blinds as if an invisible wind wafted them to intimidate the occupants inside.
The teenagers jumped out from their seats, ready to pounce their unknown enemy.
"Adrien, I - "
"Marinette, I - "
Before they could give their companions an excuse to transform, they paused.
They blinked at each other.
And almost smacked themselves for blanking out the fact that they knew each other's identities.
"Tikki, Transforme moi!"
"Plagg, Transforme moi!"
Red and green light burst out of their places, almost illuminating the darkened cabin, and transformed their clothes into their uniform tight spandex. The regular teenagers were gone and replaced by two Parisian superheroes who were prepping for battle.
"Get ready, Hot Stuff." Ladybug said as she untangled her yo-yo from her waist. "And keep your night vision available for..."
She paused when she saw his gobsmacked face.
"What?"
"You are Ladybug." a lop-sided grin got stuck on Chat Noir's blushing face.
"Okay...? I think we've already established that" she answered stoically. "Got a problem?"
"Oh, no no no no! Of claws No! Ne-fur!" he shook his head at an incredible speed. "I'm just...feline purr-ty good. Meow-velously good. Happy that I cat my dreams come true. Be-claws my Lady is you."
Despite the lame puns, she snorted, then sauntered towards him to flick his bell.
"Don't get cute on me if you got distracted in the game."
He bit the side of his cheek to control his smug.
She couldn't blame him. This was their first time seeing each other's transformation, which nailed the coffin about Adrien being Chat Noir and Marinette being Ladybug.
She might've been calm on the ordeal, but her spotted mask failed to conceal the rush of delight over the fact. He wasn't the only one who wears a heart on a sleeve anyway.
"A-paw-logize in advance, My Lady." he purred with a glint. "I'll try not to lose my train of thoughts."
His words finally earned him a gobsmacked face.
"I can't believe this." she uttered. "Am I going to suffer more of your puns?"
"Hey, puns about monorails always make for decent one-liners."
Before she could react, a strong cold wind coming from the end of the cabin almost pushed them away, as if their enemy was taunting them of its presence.
"This Akuma must have a high self-esteam." the black-clad superhero commented, extending his baton for possible projectiles. "That he can derail us from our standing position."
"Tell me about it." his companion rolled her eyes, maintaining her alertness in their surroundings.
Ladybug noticed a flicker on the farthest end, and with the minimal light coming from the blinds' gaps, she barely identified the silhouette as something from a child's. She didn't have night visions, but the way her partner's breath hitched confirmed her sight, and at the same time supported her hunch.
This child was not their usual Akuma.
Typically, Akumas would launch themselves with demands about them surrendering their Miraculous. This time, however, was different. It felt like they were facing an empty vessel.
"I am Twiddle Gain." the child announced in an eerie baritone-like voice. "And you failed to meet my expectations."
"Expectations on what?" the spotted heroine asked.
"Expectations to save me."
The ground shook underneath, throwing them out of balance but enough to steady themselves with the help of their weapons.
The darkened walls suddenly collapsed and replaced by wooden walls with unsecured bolts. The windows were flipped open and stripped the blinds down. The leather cushioned seats were gone and was substituted with crates and soot-filled bundles. And as they went closer, the bundles began to move, unveiling themselves as humans - one that was bony and angry.
"This is an illusion," she muttered with spite. "The Akuma must have pulled this out from a different timeline."
"I can see that." he grimaced. "And it's something that happened in the past."
She nodded as he pressed his back against hers. While she was busy facing the emerging shabby enemies affront, he eyed the lumps behind them, and much to his chagrin, they were all humans made of stick and bones.
"I'm starting to be a-freight, Buginette." she heard his whimpers. "They might skin the cat in me alive."
They were obviously outnumbered, and they didn't know if these mangy fellows were actually weak based on their appearances. Their hollow eyes mirrored the child's emotion, but with a mixture of hunger and fatigue.
"We're finally here to save you." Ladybug said without breaking the child's gaze.
"Too late, Ladybug." the eerie voice chuckled darkly. "Too late."
"Wait, let us do some - "
The heroine stepped forward, but the child immediately retreated and enveloped himself in the darkness. The lingering laugh that bounced inside the cabin wasn't innocent but ominous, and that was the signal for his dummies to attack.
Chat Noir twirled his staff when some of the bony people sprung towards them. He cringed when he heard some snaps as he tumbled the attackers off and flung them to the walls. Ladybug shared the foulness when she hit their skulls with a yo-yo, but instead knocking them out cold, the act only urged them to attack more.
In between struggles, the superheroes caught some murmurs like 'save us' and 'kill us', which freaking their wits out.
"I don't know how to express my displeasure, My Lady."
"Cover me, Chaton." she nudged him as she threw her weapon in the air. "Lucky Charm!"
And a can of soda fell on her hands.
"What am I supposed to do..." she trailed off, then groaned. "Oh, crap."
Her tone made him leaned back, almost missing a tackle on his arm. "What's the matter?"
She didn't have to think deeper about how to use the Charm, and when she shove the item on her partner's grasp, she didn't have to explain it further. His scowling face answered it all.
"Why do I have to do this?" he whined.
"Because you're the only one capable of doing it." she pleaded.
Despite his reluctance, he summoned his trump card.
"Cataclysm!"
Shaking the soda, he transferred it to his bubbling hand and promptly threw the item to their attackers.
The liquid disintegrated, creating a fizz and a smokey pop that made the people inside screamed for help. And in just a matter of minutes, they all limped out and died.
Ladybug and Chat Noir were unmoved for a moment to collect their bearings, as well as their confidence to move and chase their target.
"This is...the most loco-motive we've ever done." the black-clad deadpanned. "So far."
"Don't remind me."
When their first Miraculous warning beeped, they hurriedly ran towards the path were the Akuma's vessel went. It didn't take them awhile to search for the child, as he was waiting for them on the other side of the empty cabin.
There, he was sprawling on the floor with both hands on his face, and basing on the sniffles and hiccups, it was obvious that he was crying.
Ladybug stretched her hand to touch the kid, only to be stopped by Chat. He shook his head no, making his partner obliged and retreated.
Crouching down in a fair distance, she asked: "What can we do to help you?"
The child gradually slipped his hand out, revealing his blood-shot eyes and grimy face. Normally, a purple-colored butterfly mask would appear on the Akuma's face for instructions. This time, it didn't.
"Will you be able to free me, Ladybug?"
The sincerity in his odd voice clenched her heart. She nodded with a smile.
"Yes."
"Then...find me. Please."
The spotted heroine glanced at her partner with a questioned look. He simply shrugged his shoulders, then looked at the child like a jigsaw puzzle, which earned him a melancholic smile.
Then he recalled the fizz bomb.
"Save me, Ladybug and Chat Noir."
Without further ado, the feline superhero raised his baton and lightly tapped the child's shoulder. His body irradiated like a mini beam, wilting gradually until he vanished into the thin air. And in his place left a black butterfly.
Ladybug swiped the insect with her yo-yo, then pressed the middle button to release the purified version.
"Bye-bye, Little Butterfly." she murmured.
Their third Miraculous warning beeped.
Chat offered his hand for her to stand up, in which she gratefully accepted. Green sclera measured her bluebell eyes as he searched for depression. He was thankful he found none.
He handed her the remnants of the soda can, and with a silent nod, she threw it in the air.
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
Small ladybugs encircled the entire train, returning everything to its original place.
Seconds later, their transformation dropped.
"Cheese..." Plagg moaned as he fell on his charger's shoulder.
Adrien plucked him off nonchalantly as he stealthily walked back to their cabin. Afterwards, Marinette followed him with an enervated Tikki.
.
.
.
.
An announcement sounded on the speakers, assuring the passengers that the train would resume its normal operation.
Once the teens settled back to their seats, Adrien probed. "What the hell was that?!"
"I thought you figured it out, boy." the black kwami answered between cheese bites. "That it was something from World War II. Remnants of the past. People who were sent out to the concentration camps. That's why your girlfriend made you do a spoof akin to a tear gas. To scare their wits out."
"Which I don't like the idea. At all." Marinette miffed, but relaxed when she felt her kwami's nubs on her finger.
"But you have to, Bug. Besides, it's just an illusion. They're dead people associated with this railroad's past, and unfortunately, the Akuma used it against you."
"Which led me back to my question: What the hell was that?!" the blond interjected.
"I think...Twiddle Gain's power was to ruin the timestream by influencing iconic places and infrastructures from the past - and probably the future, too." the pig-tailed girl stated. "What I don't understand is why it creates an illusion. Why now? I know it's impossible he acquired it from Twiddle Doom because he freezes the time, but - "
"The 'illusion' part was Akuma's defense mechanism, being Papillion's cohorts and everything, and if my gut is correct, only Ladybug and Chat Noir can sense it."
"Since when did your cheesy gut fail you?" his chosen huffed with sarcasm.
"For non-Miraculous holder, what they could see was only physical damages." Tikki supplied. "Unlike you two, you could see the fragments - both past and future - once you entered the affected areas. Using the situation earlier, people might've seen the train transformed into a 1940s vehicle but not the ghosts that lingered on it."
"Safe to others." Plagg quoted. "But dangerous to some."
"How can you explain the black butterfly I captured?" the girl asked. "And the child?"
"It's like Stoneheart, Marinette. It multiplies if left unattended. You can cleanse them, but not as effective as aiming the main source." her kwami chirped. "That child was one of Twiddle Gain's subconsciousness. He lost his control, that's why he was seeking for your help."
The two teenagers eyed each other as they came up to a conclusion: they must go and speak with the Guardian.
However, when they reached Paris and arrived at his house, they were greeted with a demise.
Mr. Fu was nowhere to be found.