Miraculous: Tales of Ms. Ladybug and Tom Cat

Part 18: A Close Call

The houseboat was the home of Juleka, aka Reflekta according to Thomas, and it was nice. Really disorganized, but nice. The two siblings spent the time playing card games and learning to play musical instruments from Juleka's brother Luka; aka Viperion.

"Just put your fingers like that," Luka said, showing Thomas where to put his fingers. "And play this string, and then that one, there you go man!"

Thomas played the strings in order and successfully played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. "Wow! This is so cool!"

"Yeah," Luka said, "It can be pretty hard for beginners but I'd say you got the talent if you decide to go for it."
"You think?" Thomas said.

"Sure, Just practice a little more and you'll do great!"

Emilie just smiled as Thomas attempted to play. She leaned on the railing with a can of cold Orange Juice, slowly warming up in the sun. She couldn't help but notice Marinette's blush every time Luka was around.

"So, you and Luka," Emilie said. "You guys are good friends huh?"

"Well, yeah," Marinette said. "I mean, he's really nice. And I think I kind of like him."

"You like, Luka?" Emilie said in surprise. "But, what about Adrien?"

Marinette suddenly looked sad. "I don't know. I mean, I also like Adrien but Luka's so nice plus I always mess up my words around him."

"I think you just need to concentrate on Adrien, maybe focus on why you like him," Emilie said. She was slowly getting frustrated internally. How could she love anyone other than her Dad? It's like hearing her Mother was having an affair! Except, before she was married, or dating her father...but it was still bad!

"Well, I have been thinking about it recently. And I'm thinking of giving Luka a chance. Maybe just take him to the movies or something like that."

Emilie then banged her fist into the railing loudly. "You shouldn't give him a chance! You shouldn't give him the chance because he's not, he's not," she suddenly looked around to see everyone staring at her. In embarrassment, she ran to the other side of the ship.

"Emilie?" Thomas said, trying to go after her. "Just, give her a moment to calm down," Luka said. "I'm sure she'll be ok."

"Ok? What happened?"

Thomas looked up to find Adrien, apparently late to the party, with a pretty Japanese girl dressed in a white blazer, black shirt, and red skirt with black tights.

"Uh, nothing," Thomas said. "My sister is just a little upset right now."

"Maybe I'll go talk to her," Adrien said, walking in Emilie's direction. "You should wait, man," Luka said. "She did look pretty upset. She probably just needs some time to cool down."

"It'll be fine. I wanted to talk to her about something anyway." Adrien then walked over in Emilie's direction. Thomas quickly followed. As he caught up, he heard the two speaking. Not wanting to interrupt, Thomas listened from the corner.

"Hey, I heard you were upset, so I came to help," Adrien said, sitting beside her. "Do you mind telling me what's going on?"

Emilie sounded sad. "It's just something you can't know about. Future stuff and all."

"Well, you can't just talk about it," Adrien said. "Why don't you just make up names for these people? That way you don't end up spoiling anything for the future!"

Emilie sniffed and wiped her tears. "Ok. Well, someone very important to me, like critical to my existence, was talking with someone who she's not supposed to be with."

"What do you mean?" Adrien said

"Let's call her, L." Emilie said. "L was talking to someone, let's call him V, and she said she was going to give him a chance maybe. But if she does that, then she'll alter the future and I won't exist. And all I've done will have been for nothing."

Thomas wasn't very good at reading most people, but he could catch what his sister was saying. He knew exactly who she was talking about. His Mom, his kind sweet awesome Mom, talking about going out with another guy? And Luka? Luka was a nice guy but no one could ever replace his Dad. Thomas felt angry. But that was when he saw it. Flying towards his sister. A dark butterfly, covered in shadow.

"EMILIE LOOK OUT!" Thomas shouted

As quick as he'd seen it Thomas summoned his Miraculous power and cataclysmed the Akuma.

"Thomas!" Emilie said. "What are you doing?!"

"I had no choice," Thomas said. "The Akuma was near and would've akumatized you."

Emilie and Adrien just looked out in shock.

"Plagg, claws in," Thomas said. The kwami quickly appeared and looked exhausted. "Next time you decide to transform please give me a little warning? I was resting so peacefully and then you threw me into that."

"I'm sorry Plagg. Here," he handed the Kwami some of his favorite Camembert

"You can't do that Thomas!" Emilie said. "What if someone had seen?! You could've altered the timeline!"

"I didn't have a choice. If it wasn't for my Cat-like reflexes, you'd be akumatized right now and that would've altered the timeline."

"You're too reckless sometimes." Emilie got up and hugged her brother. "You're just lucky no one saw you."

But someone had. Above deck, a girl had been able to view and record everything. Her hair was long, with brown bangs that covered her forehead. She wore a gray dress with a red cardigan. Quickly she dialed a number on her phone.

"Mr. Hugo? It's Lila. I have something I think you'd like to know."