Pack the box
The dinner was finished and eaten, the students were called to go to sleep early as they were expected to start walking early the next morning. Marinette and Adrien knew their job was not finished, but full stomach and tired teens fell asleep quickly. They did not sleep for long. Pema was there to wake them up and take them back to talk to the teacher and take the miracle box.
"Wake up, Princess." Adrien whispered as he rubbed his eyes open and then was surprised by the fact that there was barely anything to see in almost complete darkness.
Marinette hummed in response but did not move at all.
"Come on." Adrien reached for her and straightened her. "I want to take the kwami for a walk once before we go." The boy was excited about meeting the little creatures. Plagg was probably slightly jealous because the boy felt slightly painful scratch under his onesie.
"Five more minutes." Marinette whispered as the boy was picking her up and raising her to her feet.
"Nope, we go, now." Adrien grinned as he supported her while she moved her feet forward.
When they finally reached the small room, Marinette was able to walk on her own and rubbed her eyes open to actually see where she was going.
The small room was lit up by a single candle, again, but the white walls made the room look much brighter. They moved a thick curtain when they entered and the candle light flickered and everything looked as if it was moving although everyone was perfectly still for a moment. The two teens were met by Tenzin and Dolma, Pema followed them inside and Dorje appeared at the door after everyone sat down. The young monk carried several parcels. Adrien quickly guessed that was the food for the kwami.
"We wanted to discuss what is to be done with the peacock and butterfly miraculous." Dolma spoke solemnly.
Marinette replied with one firm nod. She stared at the miracle box sleepily. She did not forget about the problem, she only let it slip her mind for a few hours, and it was fun to let her problems slide off her mind for a while, she felt so rested, so recovered, except now she would prefer to sleep, but she had a decision to make.
"Well, would they recover faster if I leave them here or if I keep them in the box?" Marinette asked the simple question she did not know the answer to.
"We do not know." Tenzin replied with a smile.
"Why do you want them to recover as fast as possible?" Dolma inquired.
Marinette pondered on her answer to that question. At first, she thought it was obvious, one should recover as quickly as possible and go back to … whatever they were supposed to do before they got sick. But was there really a need for Nooroo and Duusu to recover that quickly? Then she looked at Tikki who floated out from her onesie and Plagg who sat on Adrien's shoulder and looked at her with his green eyes glowing in the dark. Both kwami showed concern for their fellows and Marinette remembered how much Tikki missed her friends.
"I just want them to be well." Marinette stated simply. She was not trying to elaborate. She knew the other kwami missed Nooroo and Duusu, but that did not seem as a reason that would be good enough for Dolma.
"We are their guardians now?" Adrien asked quietly. All four monks replied with one firm nod. "Then we will put the brooch and the pin in the miracle box and take it with us." The boy replied as if that was the most obvious solution in the world.
Tenzin nodded, Dolma frowned. Pema and Dorje looked at each other and then smiled. Adrien felt proud of himself, but then he noticed Tikki was concerned about his proposal and Plagg quietly groaned on his shoulder.
"The temple had drained their energy. Can they get it back from the temple?" Marinette looked at Tenzin as she expected he was the one who would be able to provide an answer, but surprisingly, what followed was a brief discussion between Pema and Dorje that consisted mostly of shrugs and looks instead of words.
"We consider the two of you trained as wielders and … and trained as guardians too" Pema started to speak but then she paused as she contemplated how to continue. Dolma took a deep breath and huffed. Tenzin stroked his beard. Dorje waved his head.
"This might work, but you would have to wield them too for a while." Tenzin continued in place of Pema and she had to translate but she took it as approval to at least explain the possible plan.
"Dorje and me can try to transfer the energy back." She continued but Dorje waved his head again.
"Will that drain you?" Marinette asked quickly.
"Yes." All four monks answered.
"And you too." Tenzin added with raised eyebrows.
"Then we are not doing it." Adrien replied firmly while Marinette looked at him and then nodded that she agreed with his decision.
"We do not want to drain your energy." The girl added to confirm that.
All four monks relaxed.
"Then you will take them and wait for them to recover." Dolma spoke solemnly as if the matter was finished. "I wish you peace and tranquillity on your journey and in your future endeavours." The elderly monk got up and everyone else stood to their feet as she slowly proceeded out from the room. Then she suddenly stopped and turned around just before she got out. "I was truly honoured to meet such strong young and determined wielders as you have proven to be and I only hope you will be the protective and shielding guardians as I expect from you."
"Thank you for you kind words." Marinette replied simply once Adrien provided her the translation.
"Thank you for trusting us." Adrien added.
"It was the least I could do after you brought us back." The elderly woman smiled with a wide smile and then swiftly turned around and left before the moment of weakness overtook her and she showed even more affection.
Tenzin stroked his beard with an amused smile.
"Just one piece of advice." He raised his hand. "If you try to bring Nooroo and Duusu back, as you already did once, keep in mind that you might have to wield them for some time for them to recover. That would mean you would be wielding two miraculous each for some time." The teacher spoke slowly and stopped as he waited for his words to sink in.
"And that will drain our own energy." Marinette concluded.
All three monks nodded to confirm her conclusion.
"That is okay because we will not have to fight an akuma per day." Adrien muttered to Marinette.
"If you choose someone else to wield a miraculous." Tenzin continued. "You are now trained guardians and it is your choice if you want to reveal your identity to the wielder. But untrained wielders should not know the identities of each other, and preferably yours too."
Marinette sighed and looked at Adrien.
"Remember how master Fu first gave us our miraculous and we did not even know who he was?" Marinette asked.
"Yeah, how did you learn about him anyway?" Adrien asked as he tried to remember.
"Tikki took me to him when I retrieved the Book of Lore from the trash can." Marinette reminded him as she tried to avoid mentioning his father and Lila in the same sentence.
Adrien tried to look at Plagg who was still on his shoulder, but Plagg only looked down.
"Okay, what was done was done." Tikki sighed quietly.
"You are right." Marinette smiled as she wanted to cheer up Adrien. "Which kwami do you want to meet now?" That was a good change of subject and should keep the boy busy and away from gloomy thoughts.
"The Monkey and the Horse?" Adrien smiled. Marinette sighed but nodded. "And Fluff, I want to meet Fluff too." The boy added quickly.
"Good, but I will take the watch, Fluff and Xuppu together might be a bit too much." Marinette smiled.
In the end, Marinette only took Fluff and Mullo as she was already tired.
"Marinette, you might want to take Wayzz and Sass, they will help you keep the other kwami in check." Tikki reminded the girl.
"Right" Marinette replied as she took the bracelet first and Wayzz appeared.
"Good evening master." Wayzz greeted with a smile as the tiny kwami bowed.
"Good evening Wayzz." Marinette smiled.
Adrien took the other bracelet first.
"Good evening master." Sass bowed to Adrien.
"Good evening Sass." Adrien smiled. He liked this guardian duty. Dorje passed him some food for the kwami and Sass thanked him gratefully, but before the tiny snake proceeded to eat he floated up to the lever of the faces of the two teens.
Marinette already put on the pendant necklace and Mullo appeared.
"You might be interested to know that we sensed the presence of Nooroo and Duusu in the miracle box, but they have not appeared yet." Sass spoke quietly. All humans thanked him for the good news.
Soon Fluff was jumping around, Kaalki chased her relentlessly and Xuppu was doing an excellent business of making a fool of himself and having everyone laugh at him.
"I want to learn everything there is to know about you." Adrien smiled to Xuppu. "About all the kwami."
"I am afraid you will only learn about the contents of that particular box." Tenzin smiled as he stroked his beard.
"There are other miraculous stones and other miracle boxes." Pema smiled.
"Some of them work only inside the temple." Dorje added.
"While you should not wield us inside the temple." Sass warned.
"Oh I learned about that part." Adrien smiled back.
Xuppu was bouncing off the walls and from time to time landed on his head or any other random body part, but he always bounced back up. Adrien had to remember that he was also a tiny god and could actually phase through solid objects.
"What will we do now that Hawk Moth and Mayura are defeated?" Xuppu said as he balanced on his head and then jumped back up and floated straight into Adrien's face.
"Oh, I don't know." Adrien replied too quickly. But then he remembered and his face changed completely. Marinette lowered her eyes before she looked back at Xuppu.
"Well, we have to deal with some sentimonsters left over after the previous wielders and retrieve the Book of Lore back." the girl smiled as she spoke quietly to Xuppu, she did not want Adrien to hear her but he heard her all the same.
"We will take you to see your mother in the morning." Tenzin said quietly.
Adrien stared at the empty space before him. He forgot about his mother, well he forgot about the body of his mother, about what was left of her. He forgot about her for most of the time during this whole day and yet she was in this temple, as far as he knew. Or better yet, he did not forget, he just pushed it to the back of his mind.
"That is, unless you insist on seeing her now." Tenzin added quietly. "Because that could be done."
Adrien waved his head. He was tired and wanted to sleep. He did not want to burden himself with the thought of tasks that still waited for him to be done. The boy also did not want to cling to the body of his mother. He felt there was only and empty shell and decided to trust his guts. But he was willing to see her one more time before he left. It might be the last time he saw her. He wanted to say goodbye and make his closure.
"I do not have to see her this moment, but I'd like to see her before we leave." Adrien replied.
Tenzin smiled back.
"Tell me, please. When I saw her before, I felt that there is only an empty shell, that there is only her body, have any of you felt anything different?" The boy asked quietly. He suppressed to much hope from his voice, but still there was something left.
"I am sorry, but no." Tenzin replied calmly. Dorje and Pema simply waved their heads. Marinette held his hand and squeezed.
Xuppu hopped around, Fluff evaded Kaalki and all three kwami were annoyed by apparently sour mood that the conversation turned to.
"Hey, you two are both guardians now?" Xuppu said knowingly and there was tease in his voice.
Both teens nodded to confirm.
"Yes Xuppu. We share the duty." Marinette added.
"Don't you dare ..." Tikki started as she floated over to the monkey.
"So you two are together now?" Xuppu teased, his eyebrows moving suggestively, his tail flicked back and forth.
Both teens flushed. Plagg snickered. Tikki groaned.
"Yes." the monkey shaped kwami exclaimed and hopped around. "You are so young and so in love and so ready to share everything." The tiny monkey dragged the last word as he spoke.
Both teens were obviously not comfortable with the teasing.
Pema looked at Tenzin and then back at the two teens. She wanted to speak but Dorje took her hand and put an index finger in front of his mouth.
It did not take long for Fluff to pick up.
"I really like these two and I'm glad they like each other, but why are they so shy about each other?" Fluff said bluntly.
Kaalki finally caught Fluff and they rolled in the air together.
"Got you." Kaalki gloated.
"We have something more important here." Fluff replied.
"Yes, we have to tease these two until their faces are set on fire." Xuppu added.
"I think we should feed them and put them back into the box." Marinette told Adrien once she was able to speak again.
"I agree." Wayzz finally spoke.
Sass and Wayzz had silent exchange between themselves and Tenzin. Apparently they reached a conclusion and agreed that the teacher was the one to speak.
The two teens said goodbyes to the kwami and removed the jewels and put them into the box.
"This is important to repeat." Tenzin continued. "You have to share the duty and you have to continue to work as one and hide your identities. It is not wise to reveal them."
Adrien agreed quickly and only then turned to Marinette. She was still processing information that Pema told her.
"It is important that the two of you remain together when you return to Paris." Pema continued. "You do not have to live together or something like that." The woman understood that might be an issue. "But you have to remain close."
"They are married now." Dorje added with a smirk on his face. Pema rolled her eyes. Adrien blushed and Marinette pretended she did not understand what the young monk just said.
The three monks got up to their feet.
"We will say our farewell in the morning, before you leave." Tenzin said warmly.
"We will walk with you part of the way." Pema said on behalf of Dorje and herself.
Adrien took the box from the floor.
"This is going into my backpack now, I can't believe you carried that all the way here and never asked me to help." The boy scolded her gently.
"Well, you can carry it now." Marinette smiled as they both proceeded to pack it to the bottom of his backpack and bury it under the clothes.
Adrien cuddled Marinette closer. He was becoming aware that was not going to be so normal once they return. But they were told to remain close, and he was determined to obey that order.