I promise to bring you back

14 - Princess Justice Part 2

Word Count: 1532

~Ladybug's POV~

I stared into the portal, as I wondered what happened. What akumatized villain was powerful enough to cause this? We haven't dealt with any villain this strong, even when Queen Bee, a superheroine, got akumatized. I was both amazed and terrified that the future led to this. This looked like it was years in the future, was hawkmoth really going to be around for that long? How couldn't we defeat him? How haven't we defeated him?

"This villain is going to know your every move, minibug. They may also reveal some sensitive information, so I need you to make sure you do not listen, under any circumstance. Okay?"

I nodded, and Bunnix pushed me into the portal. I found myself standing on a rooftop. I looked around, and there was nobody there. The scene was horrific. Most of Paris was burned to the ground. Store windows were smashed, tv and advertisement screens were broken into shards that laid across the ground. That's when I saw it. That's when I saw her.

I looked down and saw one person walking. They must be the akumatized villain. But they looked a little too familiar. I was looking down at a version of myself. I saw myself, wearing a purple dress with a white corset over top. I saw myself carrying a wand that represented the symbol of justice. I had a purple mask on, and I couldn't tell if this was me akumatized as Marinette or as Ladybug. I could only pray that it wasn't Ladybug.

I was so caught up analyzing her, that I didn't realize how visible I was. Someone came up behind me and grabbed my shoulder, and by instinct, I turned around and pushed them to the ground.

"Ladybug, it's me!" I saw Chat Noir on the ground in front of me.

"What are you doing here?"

"I think we both know why we're here." He got up and walked over to the edge of the building, "So, you've seen her then? I don't think she knows we're here yet."

I only nodded. What do you say when you see yourself akumatized? I couldn't even tell him, because he'd be able to tell it was me. Wait, maybe I could. That purple mask acted as my own, I could tell him that it's me as long as the mask stays on. Or maybe that would be too big of a risk. After all, after we defeat myself, what if she detransforms into Marinette instead of Ladybug? Then we'd both see it. I decided not to tell him.

"Are you ready?" I asked him. He nodded, and I told him the plan.

I needed to go down there and see if I could talk myself out of this, but if I did, he might figure out my secret identity, so I told him to watch from afar and come down when I gave him the signal. I jumped off of the roof and landed just behind my future self.

I looked up and surprisingly, the villain didn't turn around to greet me. I tried to be stealthy, maybe if I snuck up behind them, I could grab the akumatized object and destroy it? Then this whole nightmare would be over.

Just as I got behind the villain, she knocked me back with her wand. "I know you're here Marinette, you know yourself too well. You're too good at this."

"Who are you?"

"Princess Justice."

"Why'd I get akumatized?"

"Love."

I had no idea what that meant, but surely I could figure it out. I walked up to myself, very cautiously, and I tried to figure out where the akuma was.

"Hawkmoth took everything from me. From us. Join me, and we can fix this mess Marinette. We can put the world back to how it was before. We were finally happy, don't you want that?"
"Princess Justice, please help me so I can help you. Tell me where the akuma went..." I looked at everything on her, the only reasonable place the akuma would be, would be in her wand. "If you tell me where it is, I can help you bring back the world, and you can be happy again."

"Oh Marinette, you don't know enough about love."

That's when she struck me to the ground with a beam from her wand. It was a powerful blow, more powerful than I've ever dealt with before. It took me a minute to come back to my senses, and by the time I did, I saw Chat Noir in front of me, fighting Princess Justice. I figured I had enough time to just lay down for one more second, after all, that was all I needed. Or so I thought.

I didn't realize it, but that one second turned into minutes. I was so disoriented, I couldn't tell how much time had actually passed. I came back to my senses once again when I felt Chat Noir pick me up and bring me to the rooftop.

"Ladybug, are you okay?"

"Chat Noir..."

I was interrupted by Princess Justice, "Where'd you go kitty? I was just starting the fun!"

"I'm sorry Ladybug, but I gotta go fight her. I can't have you getting hurt again."

As I watched him fly off to fight Princess Justice, I whispered, "I love you."

I didn't mean to say it, it just came out. I have no idea why. I'm so glad that he wasn't there to hear me say it. Even though I have come to love his second identity, that doesn't mean he has fallen in love with either of mine.

I looked over the edge of the building and I saw Chat Noir fighting Princess Justice.

~Chat Noir's POV~

I laid Ladybug down on top of the closest building. After she was struck, she passed out. After every villain we have fought so far, I've never seen a villain stronger than Princess Justice. If this is what all of our future villains look like, I don't want to get older. When Bunnix picked me up to fight her, she didn't tell me anything. She did tell me that she would be the strongest villain I will have ever fought, and she really wasn't kidding. She mentioned something that made me think that she was just an akumatized Ladybug, and after seeing the mask on her face, I haven't been able to shake the feeling.

After I laid Ladybug down on the building, I immediately went back into battle with Princes Justice to keep Ladybug out of harm's way. My plan was to lead Princess Justice as far away from the building as possible. But after all of the fire brought the buildings to the ground, there really weren't many different directions I could go.

I decided to just take off and hope to find a pathway, when I heard Princess Justice shouting.

"Oh Adrien, where'd you go kitty?"

How did she know my identity? Is that what led to this whole mess? I couldn't wrap my head around it. I lost my focus, and tripped over my own feet. I looked back and saw Princess Justice walking my way. I couldn't get up, and I was so sure that I was about to be caught in her trap, when Ladybug swooped in, picked me up, and brought me over to safety.

"Looks like you're the one who needs saving now," she giggled.

"Thank you Ladybug. Do you think this is you in the future? I mean, she looks a lot like you."

"I'm not sure, kitty, it's definitely possible." Her saying 'kitty' just confirmed it all for me.

"Here, I used my lucky charm and it gave me these," she handed me a set of earplugs, "I got two sets, I think we're supposed to use them to prevent us from hearing anything she says." it's a little too late for that.

We put the ear plugs in, and went to defeat Princess Justice. After a long and harsh battle, we finally brought her to her defeat. The akuma was in her wand, and when she was deakumatized, we found out it was Ladybug in the future. I promised her that I'd fix everything, and Ladybug and I went through the portal that Bunnix had left open for us.

We brought Ladybug back first, then we were on our way to bring me back, and I knew exactly what to do. Ladybug must have discovered my identity, she must have seen me transform in my room. I have no idea how, but it was shortly after that when Bunnix brought me to the future, so that was my best guess. I told Bunnix to bring me 5 minutes before she picked me up.

Once we arrived in my room 5 minutes before I was brought to the future, I stopped myself from transforming. It was then that Bunnix went back to Ladybug to tell her to fix everything using her miraculous ladybug, and once she did, everything went back to normal. I remembered everything that happened, ladybug didn't, and I understand why we can't reveal our identities now, it all makes so much more sense.