Chapter Text
Time is a delicate thing.
At times it feels like there isn’t enough even when it’s infinite. At times it feels like it drones on while waiting for something big to happen. At times it feels like it only takes a single second to destroy what took years to create.
No one knew this better than Alix.
When something happened in the current that wasn’t as she remembered she would be forced into her burrow to observe how it would affect the future. Inside, time would stand still as she used her portals to survey her life’s time. Her present would remain unmoving as she observed the future and past to ensure that nothing was amiss that could cause a calamity. Then, and only then, would she be able to decide if her intervention was necessary. In most cases the answer was no. Even when she personally did not like the outcome, she would have to sit back and watch as long as the world as they knew it didn’t implode around her.
When Marinette had almost died due to the literal backstabbing done by Raven, it was hard not to run to her friends and offer her support. For all they knew Jason was permanently dead and Marinette was close to follow. But Alix couldn’t, she wasn’t allowed to go and tell them that Marinette would be okay, and that Jason would be alive once more before the end of the day.
Her absence she knew often offered a little reassurance. After all, it was a false comfort to believe that as long as she did not interfere, one could assume that everything turned out okay. But she knew better than anyone that there would come a time that it was not the case. For once in every life the Ladybug and Black Cat would die, and every death so far had not been naturally and without pain or grief.
After their deaths they would leave behind many who would grieve and not understand why they were dead, so was the life of superheroes with secret identities. At least in this life when the time came, they would leave behind those that would know why, but then likely turn on Alix to understand why she had not prevented it, changed it.
It was impossible for people to wrap around the idea that she would interfere and prevent death on some occasions but not on others. Not even when it was horrid and the people she loved suffered.
Her job was to maintain the balance, not sacrifice the future by preventing what was meant and often needed to happen.
She hoped that when that conversation came it would not be with the man in front of her. She feared for her life if she was forced to explain why they died in front of a being that could easily snap her body in half even in her super suit. She didn’t think that she was supposed to die today, but she knew better than anyone that everyone’s timeline was subject to change.
“Why couldn’t you warn us that Raven was going to betray Damian?” Jon swiped his hand through his hair for the hundredth time. His hair had an extra layer of grease, built from the extra attention he’d been giving it.
“Because it wouldn’t have changed the outcome,” Alix rolled her eyes. She had repeated herself a few times at this point as Jon’s questions looped.
“Marinette still would have almost died?” Jon placed his forehead into his hands rubbing his temple in a circular motion.
“Maybe not, but the future would have still come to the same crossroad.” Alix eyed the door wondering if she could slip out without Jon noticing or intercepting. The odds were not in her favor, so she remained sitting. “Look I know you want answers and things to be different. I could interfere to try and change things, but it doesn’t mean that the outcome wouldn’t be the same or worse.”
Alix grabbed Jon’s hands and pulled them from his head. She waited for him to look up at her before she continued. “In the beginning I use to try and change everything. Any time one of my friends would die, I would do everything in my power to prevent it. Sometimes I was able to, but usually at a great cost. Have you heard of the butterfly effect?”
Jon nodded his head.
“It’s like that. In most cases if I prevent one person from dying when they are meant to, it will have someone who wasn’t meant to die do so in their stead. Or in most cases force me to become too involved to prevent it. That usually means that I cause something else to happen instead, and often the side effects are worse than the thing I tried to prevent, like more deaths and destruction.”
Jon released a heavy sigh, not happy with the answer but understanding more. “I am meant to interfere only when what happens causes the balance to shift. For example, when Chat Blanc destroyed Paris, that was a huge universal shift. Or when Chris Lahiffe went back in time to destroy Ladybug and Chat Noir, I had to prevent that for obvious reasons. I hate having to make those calls and I hate how people look at me like I’m not doing anything when I don’t intervene, but trust me, I am. It kills me more than you know to sit and watch know the pain my friends are suffering and I can’t even offer them a heads up that its going to be okay in the long run.”
Jon sat back as if the words were a slap to his face. “I would hope that you know that’s not what I meant. I just hate watching my boyfriend and Marinette suffer with the knowledge that someone has the Butterfly Miraculous… again. And I hate to watch my best friend feel like he was the cause.”
Alix smiled at Jon. “I know how you feel, I have to watch it too. But, Ladybug and Renard Noir have known for some time that there was going to be a second Hawkmoth and they will accomplish what they did with the first one.” Jon’s body perked with her words, catching onto the hint that she had provided.
Hawkmoth 2.0 was not the great calamity that brought five Kaiduans together. Stopping him and Raven from getting the Butterfly Miraculous would not prevent or delay the future. As such, Alix was forced to sit on her hands and watch it play out. Though it would be trying for the Miraculous Team, it was necessary for them to grow both as heroes and in alliances that would be needed to fight what was instore in the future.
“As for Damian, he is not the cause, and he should know that. In the end when someone is jealous they are responsible for their own actions. No one should hold it against Damian to be happy, and trust me when I say that the only person who will ever make him happy is Marinette. Period, no ifs and buts about it. Raven’s jealousy brought about this future, her lack of control, not his. If it were not her feelings for him, something else would have happened that led to Dahl capturing the Miraculous.”
Of course, she couldn’t spill all her secrets relaying to that…unfortunately.
“I’ll tell you this and it is more than I should share-” She looked at Jon to see if he wanted her to continue, his slight lean across the table was her answer. “Hawkbitch is going to be a pain in our asses. But he’s going to be like a moth, he’ll show up out of nowhere to pester us. We’re going to swat him away before he shows up and does it again. Eventually we’ll set up a light that attracts him and squash him. No matter what happens with him were going have to deal with the hornet after. Still, don’t despair even with Hawkass flying around, the time in between will be great. We’re going to be happy. Just remember that.”
When he smiled back at her, she decided that was the end of the conversation and rose from the table to leave the hotel room the group had dragged her to after their confrontation with Dahl. As she was about to leave she looked down at her Miraculous, it caught the light just right causing it to shine at her as if it were winking.
Looking over her shoulder she gave him one more parting gift. “Adrien and you will get some of that happiness very, very soon.” Winking at him, she turned and exited the room.
Marinette was glad that they were returning on Mr. Wayne’s private jet to Gotham rather than a private flight. The final two days in Paris had been difficult. One of the people who had been turned in to Deathstroke’s minion had blabbed to the news that an Akuma was lose in Paris and that someone had the Butterfly Miraculous again. Fortunately having the Bats as ‘family,’ meant that the cameras were scrubbed and there was no proof of an altercation with Deathstroke and therefore Hawkmoth 2.0. No proof meant that everything was speculative and most chose to be in denial; choosing to believe Paris was free from the threats of an emotional terrorist still. Marinette hoped that her departure from Paris would renew that truth.
Marinette would no longer be able to hide from Hawkmoth 2.0 thanks to her identity being compromised. But at the very least, her position as Guardian was protected as the order, including Dahl, still adhered to spells that would prevent them from sharing information with outside entities. Well, that was if no one could gather that Deathstroke likely knew and offered to pay for his information. Damian and Jason reassured them that he would not part with the information without getting something major in return, it was hallowed reassurance, but it was all they had.
Before the flight, Jon had been nice enough to share the highlights of his conversation with Alix and the ‘good news’ that she had offered. Knowing that they would defeat Hawkmoth 2.0 calmed her nerves, but she wasn’t naïve enough to believe that there wouldn’t be trials and tribulations while they did so.
Keeping Hawkmoth from Gotham would have been her first choice. Gotham already suffered from its own array of villains, the idea of one as powerful as Dahl was terrifying. But, Marinette and Damian had to fix Gotham. The city needed healing and only the Kaiduan of Destruction and Creation could offer it. Marinette had already started the purge of Plagg’s essence during the three weeks she had been there before. Together, they could destroy and heal the city as needed. They both hoped in their lifetime they would be able to give Gotham what Damian’s father had always hoped to offer, a new start.
Perhaps their future success was the good news which Alix was referring to, but Marinette suspected it was something different.
“Was your father able to get everything together,” Marinette whispered into Damian’s ear, her lips brushing the tip.
Damian closed his eyes and growled softly, “yes. Are you certain it is a good idea? As soon as we stand before the judge it will change everything. Are you sure that it won’t happen because of a sense of obligation?”
Marinette considered his question. Obligation was born out of either a close relationship with another person or a sense of responsibility or guilt for something or someone. Would this fall into either category?
Of course, there would be some obligation but there was also love and want. It might be sooner than they hoped or were ready for, but it needed to be settled and thanks to her father-in-law it was happening quickly.
“I know we should ask first but… I want it to be a surprise. I know at the heart of it, it is what they all want and what they need. If you think that I should say something before I can go back there now and do it?”
Damian smiled again and shook his head. “I think that they will enjoy the surprise more. Perhaps we inform them just before so that they are not completely blindsided?”
Marinette looked across the aisle where Adrien sat next to Kelvin, Kaelyn and Jon in a cluster of four seats that faced each other. They had the table up between them and were playing a game with cards. Each had a smile on their face and Marinette loved to see Adrien so happy and content despite everything that happened with his father just a few days ago.
“They won’t be blindsided Damian, they’ll just finally have what they’ve always wanted.”