09 August 2019
Prompt: Time Travel (Trope)
Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug
Character/Pairing: Alix Kubdel, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Fu Wang
Rating: K / G / All Ages
Notes: Timetagger. Le sigh. I could have taken the easy way out and hopped back in the TARDIS, but noooo. I had to play with bunnies.
"It's weird," Alix commented as she stretched, raising her arms high above her head. Kim looked down at her, an amused look on his face.
"Weirder than a bunch of French teenagers wielding magical jewelry to save the world?" he asked, and Alix punched his shoulder. They hadn't been teenagers for a while now, the goof.
"Not that, it's just…well, I guess I'm the oldest in the group now, huh?" she asked with a smirk. "Y'know, now that Timetagger had me take a two thousand year nap."
"Ah. So time travel's weird," Kim said, looking back to the television and the swimming competition he'd been watching before Alix got home. "Makes sense, though. You run to pick up takeout and come back two thousand years older."
"Our lives are weird," she huffed. He chuckled and glanced behind them, where Xuppu and Fluff were fighting over a carrot (Xuppu didn't like carrots, but he did love causing trouble).
"I like weird," he said with a grin. "It works."
"Dork," she laughed, knocking him with her elbow. She tossed a piece of orange chicken in her mouth.
"Granny," he came back, and her snort nearly had her choking on her chicken. Yeah. Time travel was weird.
– V –
"Yo! Marinette! You here?" Alix called as she opened the door to Marinette's boutique, the electronic bell chiming above the soft music playing through the speakers. The shop was empty, but considering they weren't actually going to open for another hour or so that didn't really surprise her. Marinette had told her she'd leave the door open when she'd asked her to come over the night before.
"Back here!"
She followed the voice through the curtain that separated the shop from the studio in the back. Alix whistled as she saw the half-completed designs decorating the mannequins. Her designer friend had been busy since her last visit (that or Luka had finally put his foot down on her taking work home). Said friend was currently bent over a sewing machine, her back towards the door.
"Just a sec," Marinette said when Alix appeared beside her. She finished the hem she'd been working on, snipped the thread, and removed the piece from the machine. Switching it off, she looked up and gave Alix a wide smile. "Hey! Thanks for coming in. I wanted to talk to you about yesterday."
"I figured," Alix said. She sat on the corner of Marinette's work station and fished her Miraculous out of her pocket. Fluff emerged a moment later carrying the second watch. Alix took it from her, and her kwami zipped off to visit Tikki. "My old man said this watch has been in my family for generations. Think any other keeper has broken it as many times as I have?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about…" Marinette sighed. She looked nervous – more nervous than Alix had seen in years. Not since they were kids. "Alix, I know it's an heirloom, but it is still a Miraculous."
"…you're not saying what I think you're saying," Alix said. Her eyes narrowed at Marinette. "No way are you saying what I think you're saying. Mari, come on! When you became the Guardian, after everything that went down with Adrien's dad, you said it was safer if we all kept our Miraculous – and if that's not good enough, like you said: it's a family heirloom! You can't take it back!"
"I'm not asking to take it back!" Marinette said quickly, holding up her hands. At Alix's confused look, she smiled. "I trust you've looked at both of them?"
Alix nodded, but she looked again to be safe. Even if they were both currently dormant, she could tell her Miraculous from her Mini-Me's. Hers felt stronger. Warmer. Fluff was active (excessively so, if the game of tag she was playing with Tikki was any indication). Both watches were whole, though – something that had surprised her when she'd returned yesterday, but only slightly. Marinette's Miraculous Ladybug cure had always been impressive.
"You – younger you – asked me yesterday when she was going to get her Miraculous," Marinette continued. "We both know she'll be getting it sooner than she thinks, so I need to ask you a favor."
"We don't need two in this timeline," Alix said, and Marinette nodded.
"I remember when you got that watch, Alix," she said. Alix remembered, too. Timebreaker was hard to forget, much as she wanted to. "I also remember when you lost it, and the first time I gave it back to you. I need you to give it to someone for me to make sure that still happens."
Alix smiled and held up her own watch.
"Fluff, clockwise," she called, and her kwami zipped over to her to join with the watch. When the light faded, Bunnix smiled at Marinette. "When to, boss?"
– V –
Fu Wang was used to weirdness. Being one hundred and eighty-six years old (and the last surviving member of a mystical order charged with guarding the Miracle Box and its Miraculous Stones), he'd had a lot of time to get used to weirdness. So when a bright, glowing ring of light opened up in his parlor as he enjoyed his afternoon tea and a superhero leapt through, he just kept his eyes closed and sipped his tea.
"Master Fu?" the blue and white-clad hero asked, and Fu smiled up at her.
"I was expecting you," he said, putting his tea on the mat before him. "Ladybug said you were a great help with the akuma yesterday."
"It is an honor to meet you, sir," the hero said, kneeling before him. He chuckled and waved her off.
"Sit, sit, Bunnix," he said. He smiled as she did. "No need for such formalities. I believe you have something for me."
"My Ladybug thought you would be the best person to watch over this for us," Bunnix said, digging the second Rabbit Miraculous out of her pocket. She handed the watch over to Fu. "Until my younger self is ready to assume her role as keeper of the Rabbit Miraculous."
"I am surprised you are willing to part with it," Fu said. "Ladybug also said your family has been keeping it safe for generations."
"But Mini-Me won't get to continue to do so unless I give it to you so you can give it to Ladybug so Ladybug can give it to her," Bunnix said with a wink. She paused and laughed. "Man, time travel is weird."
"You navigate it masterfully," Fu said with a chuckle. Bunnix snapped her fingers and dug an envelope out of her other pocket. She handed it to him as she stood.
"LB wanted you to have this," she said. She gave him a mini salute. "Take care of that watch for me, ok?"
"With my life," Fu said, dipping his head in a bow. A shadow passed over the heroine's face, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. With a cry of Burrow! she leapt through another wormhole and disappeared as quickly as she'd come. Fu looked down at the envelope curiously, and with a shrug he opened it.
Inside was a photograph of an army of superheroes. Ladybug and Chat Noir stood proud at the center, with Rena Rogue and Carapace at their shoulders. Chloé Bourgeois, unmistakable as ever, once again bore the black and yellow stripes of the Bee Miraculous. Bunnix, looking just as she had when he saw her moments ago, standing with her umbrella open behind them all. Heroes he did not recognize but knew from the Box surrounded them: the Snake, the Horse, the Monkey, the Dragon, the Pig, the Cock, the Ram…an army of heroes, strong and proud and smiling as brightly as their leader. A rush of pride surged through him, warming his heart as he flipped the photograph over. Marinette's delicate script swirled over the back, a ladybug doodled by a looping LB under her message.
Thank you.