Work Text:
O N E / Where Are We?
She couldn't remember much. Nor could her brothers for that matter. One second they're mid battle with freaking HawkMoth 2.0, Nymphalid whatever, the three siblings finally about to take down the villain who was trying to rule over Paris, like that hadn't been tried before. Then she calls upon her power, zaps the trio and that's the end of the line.
Blackness. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Her head hurts. It's like she's drunk the entirety and every little drop from both her parents and Aunt Alya's secret stashes and then stared into bright florescent lights for an hour. The thought of her parents send shivers down her spine.
"They're dead Emma, get a grip of yourself." her brother's voice rang through her head as she sat up. She shook the word out of her thoughts, with instant regret as she cradled her head. She heard two groans, not alone in the pain then. She slowly sat up, accepting the help of a strangers small but strong hand. Upon opening her eyes the first thing she noticed was the warm and kind bluebell eyes of the person attached to the arm gently shaking her.
They were familiar eyes.
She shook herself again, more like a shiver, squeezing her eyes closed once more because the pain in her head was simply unbearable.
"Mon Chéri, are you okay?" She heard the woman speak, her French accent sounding like bells as the English rang through her ears. Emma opened her eyes again, looking around this time. She found the eyes of her older brother, Louis, as he was being consoled by a red headed woman. Hugo was not found in the general vicinity. Great, no really this is brilli-fucking-ant. He's ran off again? Her mind reeled, as if it were sent to her older brother in a mind message. Maybe the kwami's could do that? That'd be so cool, mental conversations could come in handy, especially fighting against Nymphalid. "Mon Cher?" Emma was snapped out of her inner ramblings as she looked back to the woman before her.
"Sorry, just a little disorientated."
"It's okay, do you know where you are? What your name is? I'm Marinette mon chéri, I won't hurt you."
Something clicked in Emma's head. She looked down at herself, freaking out when she saw her pyjama shorts, black and green tartan with a white ribbon bow, and her brothers old and tattered Daft Punk shirt she wore to bed. She was de-transformed. Emma didn't particularly care about her attire, she was comfortable with her body (considering who her father was and who her mother was) and she honestly was hardly ever cold at all. Miraculous bonus. Where was Liena? Her little white lion kwami. Her heart was racing, but she calmed down as soon as she felt a little pat on the small of her back. Liena was an incredibly smart kwami, that was for certain. She'd have to find her some sour worms soon.
Emma looked back up to the woman, now named Marinette. Her mother's name. Her lips twitched into a small smile as she accepted Marinette's hand to help her up. "Emma." She smiled. The two girls walked over to where her brother had just stood up with the help of the red haired woman. "This is my older brother Louis." She introduced him to Marinette, reaching up to tug the beanie on his head off, freeing his black mess he called hair, and on to her own mop of black curls. The siblings took after their mother, her black hair that looked like a deep blue had continued into their genes but while Louis had inherited their father's mess of straight locks Emma had been gifted with long curling waves.
"I'm Alya," the other woman smiled. "Are you two lost? I mean he's only wearing jeans and you're in pyjamas. And-" She dragged out the word, "I've never seen you two before, yet you look familiar. What did you say your last name was again?"
Emma was about to answer, mouth shaping the familiar household name before she was cut off, both by her brother's hand over her mouth and by Alya.
"AGRESTE!" Shouted Alya, the two teens blinked at her before she continued. "NINO! GET YOUR BUTTS OVER HERE!"
Before long two men had walked over with bright grins on their faces. The two newcomers froze. Emma felt herself saying her younger brother's name under the hold of Louis' hand. Hugo, the youngest Agreste, was the spitting image of their father with the subtle difference of having their mother's eyes. He was taller than both Emma, no shocker there, and Louis, which shocked everyone because Louis was fucking tall man. But their brother, Hugo Tomas Agreste's face was younger than the man walking towards them. That meant that the man could be none other than Adrien Agreste. Their father. Which meant Marinette, the girl who shared her mother's name was in fact her mother. Everything had fallen into place, clicked in their heads.
They were in the past. Emma and Louis simply looked at each other before sprinting off in the direction of their house. If they could even call it their house anymore.
"Huh... who were they?" Asked Nino as he approached the two girls, his girlfriend and his best girl friend. He wrapped his arms around Alya's waist, pressing a kiss to her cheek. Marinette was the one to answer, as Adrien tucked her into his chest, arms around her shoulders, a kiss in her hair.
"Emma and Louis... something, didn't get the last name."
"They sorta dropped out of nowhere, like they fell from the sky or something." Alya joked. Adrien locked eyes with Mariette, the pair sharing a singular thought wordlessly. Akuma related? Alya continued, "but then you two came, her eyes got wide like Mari's always does and then he grabs her hand and they're running away."
"Towards where your father lives." Marinette quipped as an afterthought.
"I hope they're alright. She looked so out of it."
"Not to mention she was only wearing pyjamas and he was only wearing badly ripped jeans. It's freezing out today. They should've had something warm on at least, any Parisian with common sense would know it'd be extremely cold today. It's been all over the news for almost a week! Storm alert! Storm alert!" Alya rambled on, starting to walk in the direction of the cafe they were getting lunch from. Her voice getting fainter and fainter as she and Nino walked farther and farther away from the other half of their quartet.
"You want to go after them don't you?" Asked Adrien as Marinette looked up to meet his gaze. He wasn't looking at her but over in the direction the two had run. Marinette simply nodded and Adrien chuckled, "me too." Once Alya and Nino had realised they were alone in their treck, the pair were nowhere to be seen. Alya's eyes rolled and Nino simply held back a smirk.
Adrien and Marinette were fast. They ran fast, reacted fast, thought fast. The two young adults had been running around Paris for almost eight years now. Adrien's twenty-second birthday had marked their eighth year as superheros. Mari's twenty-first, only two month before, marking the fourth year the duo had learnt of each other's alter-identities. They had grown so much after that, grown in tune with one another, stronger, faster, happier. When they arrived by the Agreste Mansion, the home Adrien escaped and probably wouldn't go back to, they found the two siblings just shoving each other, almost yelling.
The two Agrestes didn't know what to do. They had ran, towards one of the only places they knew would still be there. Unfortunately as they reached the gate of the mansion Emma remembered just how strict their grandfather was while Adrien was young. "Louis. Grandfather Gabriel only agreed to have the security system taken down when we were ten. He definitely still has it up how the hell are we supposed to do now?" she paused. inhaling a deep gulp of air. "What were we even going to do if we got inside? Just announce ourselves as Emma and Louis Agreste? The oldest two children of your son who probably hasn't even got our other as a girlfriend yet because we don't actually know much of anything about their childhood at all!"
"Well sorry for thinking we should go to the one place we actually know will be there!"
"Oh yeah? What about grand-mère? The entire bakery? Did you forget we have three houses and not just the one that would lock us out?!"
"You ran this way too!"
After a few minutes the two were pushing each other in front of the eye scanner that would open the gate to any Agreste or trusted staff.
"You look the most like papa you do it!"
"You're the one with the exact shade of father's eyes!"
"Oh yes, because the five foot three inch tall girl will fit the profile of a six foot two man!"
"You're just using your height to get out of this."
"Well it doesn't exactly help? Mr. I'm-so-tall-let's-just-hid-all-Emma's-things-on-the-top-shelf!"
"That was one time, two months ago, how are you not over it yet?"
"You hid the only tub of Nutella in the house when I needed it the most!"
"You say it like you would've died hadn't you found it when you did, two minutes after Hugo hid it."
"Hugo hid it?! He told me you did!"
"You believed him? Our younger brother with a prankster's temperament and the God of Destruction in his ring?"
"I look for the best in our brother. Besides, he hardly ever lies to me!"
"Yeah because the two of you are closer than he is with me!"
"Well, if you took an interest in anything other than the fact that he goes out with the girl you reckon you're in love with, which by the way he has no idea about, you'd be as close to him as you are to me!"
"We need to find him."
"You don't say"
There was a pause as Louis glared at his sister before he continued, "Where'd he go?"
"Most likely Celeste's house-" She was cut off by an almost inaudible grumble. While she wouldn't say it, she thought Louis' fascination with their brother's girlfriend was kind-sorta-a-little-cute. Their aunt Alya had told them it was very much how their mother was when she was fourteen and 'in love' with Adrien. "Or" She dragged out to shut him up, "grand-mère's house..."
Across the road Marinette and Adrien had stopped just in hearing distance. They heard pretty much everything from the moment the two started arguing about their heights. They shared a concerned look with one another.
Did he just say God of Destruction?
Adrien would definitely be asking Plagg about this when strangers weren't so close.
Before the pair of unmasked superheroes could do anything the strange duo took off running again, never once noticing they were being followed.
Now outside a lovely smelling bakery the two siblings looked in through the window sadly. Their grandfather, healthy as a horse, was smiling, laughing and helping out a customer. He was alive. The Agreste children hadn't met their mother's father before, for he had died before Louis was born.
The pictures didn't do him enough justice.
Emma felt a grip on her hand, fingers lacing in a comfort only brought by a brother. Her eyes felt heavy, water pooling at the ducts not wanting to overflow and upset the river. Grand-mère was smiling, a real smile that wasn't small or plastered on her face for the sake of her kin. Her eyes didn't hold pain and anger and the weight of losing the man she loved. No, they were bright and kind and playful as she threw a small handful of flower at her husband's face as he leaned in to kiss her. Her laugh was real and full of joy as grand-papa's jaw dropped in fake anger and he tackled her into a bear hug from behind.
The dam of her eye broke down just as she did, as did the heavens.
Before Louis could tug at her hand, pull her away from the happy (yet at the same time harrowing) scene, two voices cleared behind them. The duo spun around, eyes met eyes and hand met shoulders as Emma lost control of her knees. Adrien looked down at the shivering, crying teenaged girl who had the same look in her eyes he'd seen in Marinette every time she cried, he looked up to the young man and stared into a reflection of his own irises and his own stare softened.
Marinette caught his gaze, her own concerned, head tilted to let go of their curiosities and to simply bring them inside and out of the rain for now.
Sniffling snapped the pair out of their mental talk as Emma had untangled her arms extremely slowly from Adrien's hands as she fell back into the open ones of her brother. Marinette shuffled them inside the bakery, slid the open sign to closed and asked her mother if she could help make some cups of cocoa. Once they had settled into the couch, the four of them curled up in massed of blankets -courtesy of Maman Dupain, who was just appalled to see their attire out in such a bad storm- the two dark haired siblings had seemed to fall asleep on one another. The last question on their minds merging, where is Hugo?
Adrien couldn't stop staring at them. Marinette cuddled up to his chest, looking at them too, trying to place why they look so familiar. they were left asking the same question as each other.
Just who were they?