Chapter Text
“I’m so sorry I’m late.” she heard a meek voice say from her right.
Natasha Romanoff looked up from her desk at the student that had just entered the classroom. Mme. Bustier had mentioned to Natasha that this particular student was usually late, but that the girl was such a kind soul and good student that she had always seen fit to excuse her constant tardiness.
But Natasha was not so forgiving, especially since this was her first day as a teacher at Collège Françoise Dupont. It would be best to create a precedent now and make sure all of the students understood her desire for them to be on time.
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng was it?” she asked stepping around her desk to address the girl who was grinning sheepishly at her. “I understand you have a habit of being tardy to class. And I would like to inform you that I will be less forgiving than your other teachers in that regards.”
Marinette’s smile faded and she frowned, looking at her own feet in defeat.
“Please take your seat.” Natasha said and then watched as the girl moved sluggishly to her seat and plopped into place beside Alya Césaire. “Now tell me, Marinette. How is your Eng...lish…”
Nathasha suddenly found herself feeling a heavy case of déjà vu. She squinted at the girl she was talking to and a strange feeling of familiarity washed over her. It made no sense to her as this was definitely the first time they had met. Perhaps something about her reminded her of someone else she knew. Her own daughter perhaps?
“Uh. It’s not too bad, uhm, well, I…” Marinette stammered in response.
This reply further reinforced the feelings Natasha was having. For some reason, this young girl had invoked a feeling of familial bonds inside her that she couldn’t quite reconcile, and she felt a need to suddenly see her own daughter, Phillipa. But she knew that Phillipa was in her own class just downstairs and across the basketball courtyard, and doing so would likely embarrass her offspring.
“She’s hopeless, utterly hopeless I tell you.” the student named Chloe said.
“And just how much English do you know Chloe?” Alya retorted.
“I’ll have you know that I know quite a bit.” Chloe replied crossing her arms and raising her nose at Alya.
Natasha shook her head to clear her thoughts and then raised a hand.
“That’s enough.” she said, bringing order to the class. “You are all here to learn, so there is no shame in not having such knowledge already.”
Before Natasha could move into the lesson she had planned for the day there was a knock on the classroom door and Principal Damocles entered.
“I am sorry to interrupt your class, Madame Romanoff, but I need to speak with you out in the hall if you please.” he said to her.
She looked to the students for a moment and then followed the man out the door and when he turned to face her, the look on his face made her gut turn.
“What is it?” she asked, fearing the worst.
“I’m afraid it’s about your daughter.” he replied.
It was then, when she was told what had happened, that Natasha’s heart was shattered.
Six Months Later
Ladybug was thrown aside as the large metal eyeball busted through the wall of Marinette's bedroom. It seemed that the villain Truth had recalled his sentimonster and it had caught both she and Chat Noir off guard. She couldn't believe that this battle was taking place here of all places, but it seemed that the akumatized Luka was dead set on discovering Marinette's secret.
When she finished her flip to regain her footing, she gasped at the sight of the large eye’s beam of light now aimed at Chat, freezing him in place.
“Chat Noir!” she called out.
Truth hit Chat with his compulsion attack and turned the heroes lips white, indicating he was now under the spell. And that meant that he could only tell the truth.
“Chat Noir, tell me-WHAT?” Truth had begun to ask, but Ladybug had grabbed the nearest object she could find, a wrapped gift she had made for Adrien, and tossed it at the villain to interrupt his question.
“...do you think about my new role as guardian?” Ladybug said to finish Truth’s sentence and prevent Chat from spilling any important information. At the same time, she used her yo-yo to wrap and blind the sentimonster that had been holding Chat Noir in place.
“If it doesn’t change things between us, then I’m good with it.” Chat said, and then touched his hand to his cheek in thought. “Besides, you’ve been the guardian before, like billions of years ago, so I know you will do great!”
Ladybug was momentarily confused by Chat’s response, but the pull on her yo-yo by the sentimonster drew her attention to it. Her lucky charm vision caused it to blink in red and black polka dots along with a nearby umbrella, and the tin foil wrap she had summoned moments before the eye had arrived. So now with a clear picture in her mind on how to win, she and Chat Noir went about defeating Truth and his floating eyeball ally without any further issue.
When Truth had been deakumatized back into Luka Couffaine and her Miraculous Ladybug power had been able to reverse his compulsion spell on everyone he had used it on, Ladybug and Chat Noir leapt from the bakery's tiny rooftop patio.
Before parting ways, the two heroes met upon a nearby rooftop and she heard Chat sigh.
“Mi’lady, It’s been a while since I’ve had that much fun.” he said to her.
She thought about giving him a witty retort, but her mind was still focused on what he had said during the fight.
“Chat…” she began to ask. “What did you mean when you said I was the Guardian billions of years ago?”
Chat Noir looked at her puzzled.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.” he said clearly confused. “Did I really say that? Because that doesn’t make much sense. Unless… are you really billions of years old?”
She raised an eyebrow and then smiled at him.
“Maybe.” She replied playfully and then dragged a finger along her chin line. “I look really good for my age, huh?”
Chat chuckled and winked at her as his ring beeped and he pulled out his baton.
“Well, I can’t wait until next time, Bugaboo.” he said and then glanced at her before leaving. “Because truth is, I only ever have this much fun with you.”
He extended his baton and leapt off into the night, uttering a tiny ‘whee’.
Ladybug watched him leave and squeezed her hand into a fist.
“...Billions of years?” she said to herself.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in a neighboring reality...
Peter Parker tightened his grip on his backpack as he looked behind himself at the spinning portal of light and then back toward the two masters of the mystic arts that had summoned it. Stephen Strange and Wong were now both standing in fighting stances, ready to combat the cloaked figure walking towards them in the foyer of the Sanctum Santorum.
“Go Peter.” Strange said, glancing over his shoulder. “Complete your mission.”
Peter hesitated as the mysterious figure struck forward and the two wizards began to toss spells of light and sparks at their enemy to stop it’s advance. Unfortunately, Wong was almost immediately struck by a purple dust that the figure threw out from it's hand, turning him immediately to stone.
After witnessing this, Peter fought against his own trepidation and finally turned to leap into the portal, clearly no more time to waste.
As he passed through dimensions, light swirled around him in every color and hue possible, all fading and ebbing as if he was inside a kaleidoscope. Then after the colors vanished and he exited the other end of the portal, he found himself falling through the clouds, high over a cityscape in the light of a dawning sun.
When he realized that he was thousands of feet above the ground, he figured that there was only one course of action to take.
He screamed.