47 What's the time?
"What's the time?" Max asked Markov. The boy sat in front of his computer and studied. The tiny robot was busy doing his own computations. Max was … staring at some formulas on his screen but his mind was elsewhere.
He was asked to teleport Ladybug and Chat Noir twice in one night and then Ladybug, Adrien and his aunt on another. There were no akuma, but he was still needed as a temporary hero. There were mysteries to explore and there was Adrien's mother to cure.
There was plenty of work for a superhero although the supervillains were already taken to custody and the jewels that gave them powers safely stored.
And the boy really wanted for his classmate to get his mother back, especially now that his father was taken into custody because he was a supervillain, so Max tried and failed to find any information on the internet.
"It is time when your maman usually asks you to come for dinner." Markov replied calmly and resumed his computations. The tiny computer was rather busy. Because Max did not forget to enable the power of curiosity in the small floating piece of hardware.
"I should have been studying history." Max switched to another tab in his browser. "According to my estimate, my current level of knowledge is a C+, I need to read this if I want to get a better grade on the test next week."
"I have many bytes of historical data, what do you need to know?" Markov inquired while his screen changed to show a smiling face, then a set of numbers started to roll over the screen, Max smiled in return and adjusted his glasses.
"The problem is I can't bring you to the test. I don't know why we have to know all these events but we are seldom explained how they happened." He frowned at the screen. "I mean, there was a whole chain of events that had lead to each world war, why would people do that?"
"According to the data I have it is due to international alliances that are formed to enhance trade and profit for few companies that have huge political impact ..." Markov continued to elaborate, while Max tried to focus on the fact sheet he was expected to know on the test.
"Come over Max, please, it's dinner time." His mother called from the hallway. Max pushed himself off from his desk and looked away from the screen. So many battles, so many people lost. Yeah they did some great inventions in war times but why?
"Coming." He replied and got on his feet. Studying history was depressing, it looked like there was very little progress and always at a huge price and the only thing that ruled the world was the greed of the few.
Max greeted Markov quietly and went to the kitchen where his mother was still working on their dinner while she read the materials she needed to study to become an astronaut. Max instantly stepped in to help her, she was a student after all.
"Max, dear, I want us to have a family dinner at least a few times per week. I know I study all the time and have very little time for you but this is so heavy a subject and it is so hard to return to learning once you started to work." She rambled.
"It is okay maman. I know you will get it. You will get used to learning again." The boy tried to reassure her while he sett up the table and brought the food. It was a simple meal, but the two students were more interested to talk about science than the food.
Max really enjoyed the evening with his mother, they discussed each subject she studied in her training for an astronaut. How the trajectories are computed, which cosmic velocities were needed for what and what space garbage was.
They talked, they made plots and computations on any piece of paper or napkin they were able to find, even the kitchen wall and the doors to the cabinets, they studied the lectures and assignments and the boy was more than happy to participate.
Then, his mother raised an issue of her physical exercises needed to prepare for a mission, and Max was full of information, his mother was amazed at his level of knowledge, all that time with Kim had finally paid off.
Max finally stumbled to his room and straight into his bed, it was late, or perhaps it was early already, when he became too tired for science as his body and brain begged for some rest and sleep after a long day.
"What's the time?" Jalil teased when he saw his little sister, Alix, unpack her backpack because he noticed that she took out the old watch. Alix rolled her eyes, but that only encouraged the young scholar to stop and cross his arms.
"It is dinner time." Alim interrupted the staring competition. "You better appear at the table, I got your favourite dish all warmed up." The man was wiping his arms and motioned with his head to be followed into the kitchen.
"Oh, mummy." Alix snickered when she entered and recognized the smell. However, her joke only irritated her older brother, which made her enjoy the whole thing even more. Alim was too busy with the pot to notice what unfolded behind his back.
"It is not funny any more, you know." Jalil scolded while he reached for the plates. He frowned and tried to look judgemental while he looked at his little sister. "It might have been funny to say mummy instead of yummy when you were … two?"
"Yeah." Alix snickered while she collected the cutlery from a drawer. "Well, it is funny to me." And she couldn't care less if it was funny to anyone else. There were people who found it disgusting, but she still found it funny.
"Just make sure you don't use it out of the house." Alim warned calmly. "Or in front of guests … or friends … or … " Alim was still busy with the pot as he stirred and tasted and stirred some more and not really concentrated on scolding his daughter.
"Or me? Why not me? I find that rather disrespectful!" Jalil protested, any other person would have been disgusted, but not Jalil. He placed the plates on the table and reached for other things to put on the table, mostly to move away while Alix set up the cutlery.
"Or Jalil." Alim added absent mindedly. "By the way, I was studying the scrolls from which your mother translated this recipe and I believe she got one of the ingredients wrong so now I'm testing if my theory is correct."
"What was wrong with the recipe maman got from the scroll? I liked it that way! Besides, just because you cooked it, it doesn't make it right, just tastes differently. Yeah, so you are allowed to test your theories, while I'm not?" Jalil protested.
"Maybe because our papa did not try to sacrifice anyone to test his theory and resurrect and ancient queen? Or summon ancient aliens or present your crazy theory on an obscure TV show or … " Alix listed anything she could think of.
"Why would I bother with something as obscure as detecting what kind of recipes were used for dinners in ancient Egypt? If the ancient Egyptians had a way to resurrect their dead, that would have been a real discovery!" Jalil raised his nose.
"Well, at least nobody had to be scarified, and no museum was destroyed while making this dinner, as I said, at worst papa destroyed a few eggplants and some spice." Alix leaned towards the pot to smell it.
"Do not underestimate the power of food. It is important to study the day to day lives of our ancestors. There is so little known about how they lived, what they ate, we only know about how their rulers were buried." Alim added.
"And their cats." Alix added and then snickered. That particular comment made Jalil fume even more. Alix mewed and pretended she was cleaning herself with her fist. Jalil crossed his arms, looked away and took a few deep breaths.
"Studying how the cats were mummified and their significance in Egyptian mythology is an important branch of Egyptology and you should be proud that the largest expert in the field in the world is having a dinner with you." Jalil retorted and demonstratively sat down.
"I bet they just trained on cats before they did it on people." Alix shot back and snickered. She brought napkins and proceeded to bring the bowls to the table that her father had filled from still steaming pot.
"Well, I guess we already have a topic for your future research." Alim noted to Alix as he sat down. "That would be a really interesting theory to prove." He tapped his chin with his index finger. "Now, how would we begin to validate such claim."
Alix looked at her watch. She knew exactly how she was going to make sure she knew all her theories were valid, but the watch wasn't working, because she had the one that got hit by Chat Noir cataclysm.
They enjoyed the meal and chatted about the meaning of the different hieroglyphs and tried to decide if they liked the first recipe better than the second, but they remained undecided while Alix continued to fiddle with her watch, she had a feeling she needed it soon.
"What's the time?" Marinette whispered into the darkness of her room. The digital clock was showing 2:42 in the morning, but somehow she felt that wasn't the answer she needed. She plopped back onto her bed and stared through the rooftop window.
Adrien wasn't there. Was she so used to him being there? She blushed in the darkness. Yeah, they had to separate, to sleep in their own beds and not sneak out in the middle of the night and sneak into the other's bed. Huh, when did she start to think like that?
Was he alone too? Was he awake too? Did he think of her too? She missed him so much. Was he sad because the memories haunted him now with new information that his father was the villain they fought and his mother was in the basement.
But then her eyes flicked back to the clock that still showed 2:42, and her phone had the same time on it, but somehow she wasn't satisfied with that. There was something about time and what was it that bothered her more than usual, and she was known to be late.
The next second she was opening the miracle box. Her hands hovered over the butterfly pin and the peacock brooch, but then she shook her head and extracted the watch. Fluff appeared and yawned. Was Fluff sleeping too? Did it matter?
"Hello my dear guardian." Fluff greeted groggily and yawned again. "How can I help you?" The tiny rabbit then stretched its legs, first the front then the back and then he scratched his ear with his leg and the ear danced in the air.
"Fluff, what's the time?" Marinette asked while the rabbit was still waking up and grooming. It was the only question on her mind and the real reason she was up, and the kwami was the master of time, if anyone knew, it was him.
"What's the time you need it to be?" Fluff answered. "It can be any time you need, you just say the words." Marinette smiled at the tiny kwami and scratched between his ears, this answer was not unlike anything Tikki ever replied.
"I have some carrot cake here." Marinette offered. "Can you transform Alix after that … I think we should go to the temple to speak to the guardians." Contrary to what she thought she knew about the future, giving Alix the rabbit miraculous now seemed like a good idea.
Fluff happily hopped over to the cake and was still eating when Marinette woke up Tikki, fed her with a macaron, packed more food for the way and transformed.
"What's the time?" Adrien asked and rubbed his eyes and stretched while he tried to focus. In the darkness of his room he saw Ladybug by his bed, she was waking him up and asking him to get up, she wasn't there to cuddle, obviously.
"Get up, we are taking Alix to the cave." Ladybug was her usual serious self although she blushed in the darkness because she really wanted to sneak under that blanket and cuddle up next to Adrien and just close her eyes and fall asleep.
"I had a strange feeling we missed something, like we were supposed to do something." Adrien replied as he got up, nudged Plagg to wake up and tossed a piece of cheese that got swallowed in one bite. "But I think it is too early ..." He trailed off and stared at the time on his phone.
"It is 3:03, but that's not important. The time is not important." Ladybug was trying to explain something, but her hands flailed all around as she tried to from words, sentences, to translate her hunch into something understandable to a human being, or at least a kwami.
"No, I did not mean too early in the morning, I meant … that we are a few years too early, that Alix is going to become Bunnix in a few years, when she grows up. But maybe that is what is bothering me." Then he shrugged and called his transformation words.
"You are picking up Max, I'm going for Alix, see you on the top of the school." Ladybug showed a box with the horse miraculous to Chat Noir and launched her yoyo through the window.
"For someone with a time travelling miraculous, you are definitely in a hurry." Chat concluded before he vaulted away in the direction of Max's place.
"What's the time?" Max asked when Chat Noir woke him up. The boy did not ask more questions when he realized just who woke him up. Maybe he muttered something about China express but he obliged and transformed anyway.
"What's the time?" Alix asked when Ladybug landed in her room. The pink haired girl was woken up and instantly reached for her watch. It took her a few moments to remember that Hawk Moth was defeated and she wasn't summoned to go to a battle.
"Alix, this is the rabbit miraculous." Ladybug offered her a box and smiled brightly. "This is a working rabbit miraculous." She corrected herself. "I need you to transform and go with me to a place where we will learn what to do about your training."
"Yes Ladybug." Alix beamed, she took the watch she was given and in turned light blue, then a small rabbit appeared from the watch and Alix smiled. This was the real working miraculous, what she had was just a watch, apparently.
"Hello my master." Fluff greeted. The tiny rabbit floated close to Alix's face. "I am Fluff, the rabbit kwami." Then the kwami chatted about the power of time travel in all tenses, Ladybug frowned as she tried to make sense of it but Alix only giggled and smiled.
"Please, call me Alix." The girl replied and scratched Fluff between the ears before she fed him some carrots. "This watch is far cooler than mine." She pointed towards the pocked watch by her bed. "Mine is only showing time."
"I believe that it was fixed." Fluff replied while he observed the other watch and nibbled on the carrot. Ladybug took the watch in her hands, this was a watch that Alix got from … herself? Her future self? But wasn't it fix after she launched the miraculous cure?
"Whatever." Alix shrugged. "It is not working now." She made sure to stress the word now, talking to a kwami that is used to time travel was not always an easy task. She took a carrot and offered it to the rabbit
"For now, you only need to know your transformation words. You will learn how to make a burrow and how to jump through time." Ladybug explained. She wasn't sure which tense would Fluff use if he explained it.
"Okay." Alix agreed. Only yesterday she thought how she might never become a hero although she saw herself from the future, but future wasn't set I stone. "But I did not grow yet." She transformed and looked at herself in the mirror.
"Don't worry, you will … " Ladybug took her yoyo in her hand. "We need to meet Chat Noir and Peagasus on the roof of your school, hurry up, they might be waiting for us already." And then she launched her yoyo through the window.
"What's the rush? We have all the time in the world." Alix snickered while she observed herself in her super suit. She was about to leave, but at the last moment she stopped and reached for her watch and put it in the pocket of her suit.
The four heroes met on the school rooftop. Alix was the last to arrive. She wasn't used to being the last one and frowned at her umbrella and her feet. Wasn't she supposed to be faster in a super suit? Well she was faster than without it. Maybe if the suit had rollers?
"Bunnix, you are fine." Ladybug warned her. "And you are not supposed to use your power just to be the first one to arrive anywhere. The powers of the miraculous are not to be used for selfish reasons and you are a weapon of the last resort."
"Yeah, understood, you're cool." Little Bunnix confirmed and looked a bit sheepish, old habits die hard, at least it wasn't Kim who arrived to the meeting spot before her, and those were all heroes and she was a hero now, everything was cool.
"Peagasus, please make us a portal to the cave." Chat Noir asked the other hero and Bunnix gaped at them. It was a teleportation portal, of course it was, and that was a way to be really fast, except she had a power that allowed her to be somewhere even before she started to go.
"Voyage." Peagasus called and created an orange glowing portal. The next minute, four heroes passed through a portal and found themselves in a small and dark cave that was already familiar to three of them.