Chapter Text
It happened so fast that Remus Lupin only realized what Harry was doing too late to stop him. It's not Remus' fault, not really – they're in the middle of a battle against Death Eaters, You-Know-Who was going to arrive any minute and Remus was stuck in a duel with McNair and Avery at the same time. Normally, he would have been protecting Sirius' back, but since he'd run ahead to find Harry – and punch Lucius Malfoy, which was a completely relatable feeling –, Remus ended up losing sight of him in the confusion of spells and curses flying around. So no, it really wasn't his fault that when Sirius was pushed through the Death Veil by Bellatrix's spell, Harry did the obvious and tried to catch up with him only to be dragged along.
They fall through the black stone archway, but don't land on the other side.
This is how what's left of Remus' world ends.
This is how the apocalyptic future of another world changes.
Harry Potter was always made to fall. The only difference is that Sparkk is finally there to get him.
The end of the world begins, and it's glorious.
Fuu, as the Guardian of the Kwami for nearly two hundred years, had seen many strange, wonderful, and horrible things in his life.
But in two hundred years of watching over the Kwami and taking care of at least two pairs of Black Cats and Ladybugs and a few Bees and Foxes and Dragons and at least one Rabbit, he has never seen the Phoenix Kwami wake up. Not even Fuu's predecessor saw the Phoenix Kwami active, and she had been with the Kwamis for at least seven hundred years before passing responsibility to him. According to her, the Phoenix Kwami was so or more powerful than the Kwamis of Creation and Destruction, and as far as she knows, he only woke up once, and that was during the Trojan War, when Ladybug was the Amazon Queen Hippolyta and the Black Cat was Prince Hector of Troy. No Guardian, not even the one at the time, knew who the Phoenix Holder had been, but she hypothesized that the Holder was most likely Patroclus, Briseis, or even Achilles himself, even though with that personality he fit in better with Plagg than with Sparkk.
That said, it's obvious that when the golden red glow from the Kwami's Divine Vessel lit up Fuu's living room, he had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on until the tiny insect-like bird – like the other Kwamis – rose from inside the box, yawning and stretching as if it had just woken up – which, in fact, it actually had. He looked like a hummingbird, with tiny metallic feathers in bright red and fiery gold, swift wings, and tiny feet with curved claws and tiny arms that ended in four-fingered hands covered in red keratin scales. His golden beak was curved like that of a bird of prey, and he also had a small golden plume on top of his red head, much like a crown. His fanned tail was almost as long like his little body, much like a peacock's tail, except for the flame patterns at the tip, flaming yellow golden flames, the same color of his eyes, that were faceted like a dragonfly's eyes, very different from the other Kwami.
"You must be the actual Guardian." He says, his musical voice sounding somewhere between the masculine of Plagg and the feminine of Tikki. "I am Sparkk, the Kwami of the Phoenix and the God of Rebirth. What is your name, Guardian?"
"I'm Fuu, Lord Sparkk. I've been Kwami's Guardian for the past two centuries. The last time you woke up was just over three thousand years." Fuu replies, politely bowing to the little god. "The year is 2015, the city is Paris, capital of the country of France, and the continent is Europe. Tikki and Plagg are awake and with their respective Holders, and will certainly be happy to see you awake."
"They certainly will." Answers the Phoenix, regally floating around the room in an almost disinterested inspection – which doesn't surprise Fuu, as this Kwami is one of the most powerful and oldest in the world. So it's not strange that things like a television or a computer are not very interesting to a god, especially one like Sparkk. "My True Holder was born."
Well. We will.
"That's wonderful, Lord Sparkk." Fuu replies, not bent over at the waist as before, but certainly with his head bowed in deference. "Do you have a clue where they are?"
"On the way." Replies the Kwami, now inspecting the bonsai in Fuu's window. "He's special, different from the usual Holder. He was born of Death to die and rise from the ashes. He will be the last Holder I have, so I want you to take care of him, house him, and teach him. Teach for real, not whatever is going on with the Holders of Plagg and Tikki." The look the god gave Fuu was hard and scolding, and the Guardian lowered his head even lower. "I might be asleep, Guardian, but I always knew the basics of what was going on with the other Kwamis. And you failed in your duties to this generation's Ladybug and Black Cat, even though Plagg and Tikki enjoy teaching their young. However, I will not allow the same to happen to my Holder. You will teach him, and you will teach him well. The rest, I'll do it myself. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Lord Sparkk." Fuu replies, bending at the waist once more, hands demurely folded in front of him. "I will do my best for your chosen one."
"Good. Now..." The Kwami floats once more over the Divine Vessel, fingers barely touching the wood before he turns back to the Guardian. "Where are Duusuu and Nooroo?"
Oh dear. We will.
This explanation was going to be awful.
Harry fell. He fell and fell and fell again and again through darkness thicker than ink, colder than a dementor's breath, and deeper than the universe. He fell for a second and a billion of years, fell through the cracks between the worlds, through places where nothing and no one has ever been. He no longer had Sirius' coat clutched between his fingers, the old velvet running like water from his fingers, most likely never to be seen again – just like his beloved godfather.
Harry falls forever, eternal and alone and trapped in the dark with no one to catch him and pull him back home.
Until suddenly he isn't.
Tikki and Plagg are helping Marinette and Adrien fight a new akuma when they feel the pillars of the world shift just like it did the last time Sparkk came out of his beauty sleep – Plagg's words. It is not something mythical or obvious – even if it is mythical and very obvious to those who knew how to see what was happening – but it is an event that will become clear in a short time, since the last time Sparkk left the Divine Vessel of the Kwamis, it was to provisionally unite with the Helen of Sparta of all the damn people he could have chosen to stop those upstart Greek gods from sweeping away the damn planet in the epic tantrum that was the Trojan War.
Suffice it to say it wasn't pleasant and ended up with another one of Plagg's kittens dead.
So for Sparkk to be waking up now of all times, it could only mean the world was going to shit in a hand basket again, worse than it was during WWII or the Hundred Years War or even during the absolute clusterfuck that was Egypt.
Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, this was going to be a fucking mess of cosmic proportions, wasn't it?
Oh well. On the bright side, at last they would have that family reunion that is delayed for about two two thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years?
Holy shit, this was going to be one hell of a family reunion. Exactly as it was last time.
Yeeey.
"Tikki, do you ever get the feeling that something very important just happened and you probably missed it?" Marinette asks her partner Kwami, much later that day, when the two were already back in Marinette's room in the attic of the Dupain-Chengs' bakery. "Because I had a feeling during today's fight, and I still haven't decided if that's a good thing or not."
"I can't say yes, Marinette." Red Kwami replies, swallowing a piece of lemon and white chocolate chip cookie while thinking of an answer. Tikki loved Marinette, really loved her, but sometimes Marinette was too perceptive for her own good, and that was really great for a good Ladybug. But in this case... "I think you should listen to your intuition, but do this with a grain of salt. It's no use worrying about something when you're not even sure what it is, Marinette. Maybe wait and see what happens and leave it to your decision after you've done that?"
The teenager crosses her arms and leans back in her chair, her new sketch forgotten even though she still has the pencil in her hand.
"I think you're right. If I'm not careful, I'm going to be paranoid about it and I'm going to mess up even more than usual tomorrow, and I really don't need to give to Lila any more ammo." Marinette sighs wearily, and not for the first time since Lila Rossi crawled out of whatever sewer she came from and took over DuPoint Academy, Tikki wishes she were big enough to kick that horrible girl back to Italy from where she shouldn't have left. Marinette then looks dejectedly at her sketchbook and drops her pencil on the table before closing it, getting up and stretching before heading to the bathroom. "I'm going to get ready for bed. Will you come, Tikki?"
"In a little while, Marinette. I'll be there in a little bit." Replies the Ladybug Kwami, floating to the window and looking towards to Adrien and Plagg's house. "I just hope it doesn't end up like last time." She murmurs, still looking at the carpet of lights that was Paris, but remembering another city, another country, another life. "Oh, Sparkk. What will you have to sacrifice this time to clean up my and Plagg's mess?"
Across town, in Fuu's guest room, a black-haired boy that is passed out from magical exhaustion sneezes.