Imperfect Future [ON HOLD]

chapter ten | back to the future

Reaching the bakery, Marinette could see a line of people waiting for their pastries. She had once again asked a random person what date it was, and it turned out she had arrived at the same date in the future: July 2030, 10 years from her time. Feeling a bit rushed, she pushed past the waiters, before getting to the front, but before she could knock on the door of the bakery, someone grabbed her arm tightly, pulling her back.

She turned around to see a very familiar man. It was that same man that had gotten angry at her when she had went to the garage after going to the future the first time. He had accused her of coming to his garage and stealing from him, mistaking her as one of those kids who usually did that to him.

"Get in line, kiddo!" He growled, dragging her back. "We were first. It's not fair that you get to cut in line just because you're a kid."

"I'm not here to buy!" I slapped his arm away, feeling angry all of a sudden. "I need help, and the only way I can get help is by going in there!" Again, she didn't even bother changing up her voice, not even caring about that anymore, even though she had her face all covered up. "My best friend is in the hospital. Marinette would help me: we're close friends!" Hearing her excuse, he instantly let her go and she carried on. This time, she didn't knock, instead just swinging the door opened, only to find a certain blonde on the other side.

Adrien looked, at first, surprised to see her, before he frowned, asking her if she needed anything. "I need to meet up with Marinette. It's important!" Marinette cleared her throat as she replied. It seemed like even though a few things had changed, Adrien and her were still together.

"Yeah, hold on." Adrien nodded his head before he headed back inside of the bakery, calling for Marinette. A few seconds, the older Marinette was standing there at the door, looking down at her. Marinette gulped upon seeing her future self for the second time, before she pushed past her, entering the bakery by force. Once she was inside, she pulled her older self closer to her, before shutting the door, determined even more now.

She grabbed ahold of her hoodie and pulled it down, revealing her face. Both 27 year old Marinette and Adrien gasped with shock, backing away in confusion. "Why are you acting as if you've never seen me before?" Marinette rolled her eyes as she looked at the both of them. "Come on, no playing. I need your help. I accidentally changed the present, so in other words, the future has changed as well, and- OH!"

She then let out the hugest groan as she slapped her forehead hard. "Of course. I changed the future, meaning I also changed the fact that you guys met me. A different present leads to a different future." She looked back at the older adults, and let out a frustrated sigh. "This is going to take a while."

~

"That was the last customer," Older Marinette announced as she flipped the 'OPEN' sign to 'CLOSED', before she turned her attention towards the others that were sitting in the living room, enjoying some freshly baked pastries. "Your story makes sense, Marinette, and then again, it sort of doesn't. So, let me get this straight. You've been to the future before; we've met you before, but because you changed the present and past, you also changed the fact that we met."

Marinette sighed, before grabbing a large piece of blanc paper and a pencil, getting ready to explain in details like she was some kind of a math teacher. She felt like one.

Using the pencil, she drew a circle at the bottom of the page. "This circle will be known as 'The Past Present'. This is where I live, where I'm supposed to be. This is my time. This was the present before I went on that machine"

She then went ahead and drew another circle at the right side of the paper. "This circle will be known as 'The Past Future'. It's the future I had experienced the first time I used that machine. Whatever happens in our lives has already been set; we don't know what's going to happen, but our lives have already been set. Well, The Present and The Future had already been set, but when I used that machine to travel to The Future, things started to change. Being in The Future affected my time; it affected what was going to happen in my life. In other words, The Present was changing up." She drew another circle and named it 'The Current Present'.

"In The Past Present, Alya never got sick. She never had anything that big of a deal that would be life-threatening to her. She actually only faced that in 2029. In The Current Present, she started having these bad feelings. I even found her on the streets in her own blood, which makes me believe that she's dying, but I don't know how and why. This past Present has already been cancelled." she crossed out the first circle she had drawn. "Now, new Present means new Future, right?" She crossed out the second circle she had drawn, 'The Past Future', and drew another one right next to the crossed out one. "This circle is The Current Future. It's this future right now; the one you're both in."

Older Marinette looked over at Adrien, before clearing her throat and looking back at her younger self. "I understand it now. You created a new present and future. Well, I have a serious question." She looked quite hesitant at first to ask, tucking her hair behind her ear as her eyes adverted down to the floor, but her younger self told her not to beat around the bush, so she just had to blurt it out. "In the last future, did we have three healthy kids?"

Marinette could feel her frown growing by the question. "What's that even supposed to mean? I mean, yeah, you did. . .but. . ." She let out a forced chuckle. "Don't you have them now. . ." Her voice trailed off as she looked at each adults one by one.

"We only have two."

"H-How? Come on, did I really change the future that much?" Marinette stood up from the couch, suddenly angry at herself. "I caused so much damage. How did you even end up with two kids?"

"We lost the first."

"Hugo?" Marinette's eyes widened.

"Yeah."

I really did change so much. Marinette clenched her hands into fists. By being in the future, I made Alya's death reach her even sooner, and I caused my future self to lose her first-born. I get it now. Being in the future may be all that, giving me information of what's going to happen and all, but it's also quite dangerous. The more I'm here, the more I'm changing up what's going to happen in the present, and the more that happens, the more the future changes as well.

"I-I need to go. It's not safe for me to be here. I'm the cause for all of this. The longer I stay, the more worse it's going to turn out for all of us. I need to leave!" She rolled her sleeve, showing the wrist-watch. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm ever coming back here. I came here to get answers as to why my best friend was near her death, but now I understand it was my fault." She shut her eyes as she pressed the button on the watch. "Good-bye."

In the last present, Alya died during the fight with Hawk Moth 2.0. In the current present, Alya is dying for some unknown reason. Does this mean no matter what, Alya has to die? Marinette shut her eyes even tighter.

Oh gosh, no!