Talk time
"Why do you need me?" The same voice repeated. It sounded young and strong from pitch black darkness void unlit by any of the campfires around them. The intruder must have sneaked through the darkness the whole way and waited for them.
Ladybug stiffened, because suddenly there was someone in the dark, a person she wasn't able to see clearly, but whoever they were, they possibly saw Bunnix detransform into Alix, they overheard the conversation and they knew too much already. She observed the two rabbits who floated carelessly around each other and nibbled on carrots, a sense of relief was soon dispersed when she saw that Alix brought the second watch with her.
Alix wasn't impressed, there wasn't much left to impress her, really, she was in an ancient city, one that did not even leave ruins behind as the remains of stone and marble were scavenged and reused in other places build around over the centuries. And there were two Fluffs nibbling on carrots.
Peagasus remained seated, although his whole body was tense and alert, ready to react, ready to jump and do something, anything, he only needed a hint from any of the heroes. Logic was telling him that this was the person they were looking for, but he seldom met logic on his journey to that point in space and time.
Chat Noir was the only one of the four of them who saw the person clearly, and he knew she did not sneak up to them, he would have heard her, she was already there, in the dark, an unlit spot between the fires, a young woman with long dark hair that flowed to her waist unitied.
"Why do you need me." The she repeated quietly and calmly. She made no move to come closer, her eyes flicked from one hero to another, she was able to see the girls faces in the light of small fires around them.
Ladybug and Alix were actually far more easily distinguished from the dark background than Peagasus and Chat Noir on the other side of the tree although the fire on their side was much closer. The woman was able to see that heroes were alarmed by her presence.
Ladybug was cautious, on one side, they were four heroes, well one was detransformed at the moment, but they could easily run away or attack the owner of that voice, something had to be done, they were careless because that person already knew too many secrets..
On the other hand, this person asked if they were looking for them, for that person, and that meant that that person was master Shi, and in that case they should not run away nor attack, but what if they were not alone … then the wheels turned and she realized what was odd.
"Why do you speak French?" Ladybug countered. She straightened up and looked into the darkness determinedly, approximately in the direction that the voice came from, and she missed the spot by a few metres, but who knew, besides the person her eyes were searching.
"I learned a few words from a friend of mine." Was the answer from the darkness, spoken with so much clarity and certainty that it was obvious those were not merely a few words. But the answer was sufficient for that moment.
Alix held out another baby carrot, then she split it in two and observed the two tiny rabbits who floated to the palm of her hand and took a piece each. She did not need more information, whoever was there in the dark was a wielder just like her and that was enough for her.
"We are looking for master Shi, for a teacher for A … " Ladybug looked at Alix and stopped at the last moment not to reveal the identity to the only person there who still did not know it. " for the wielder of the rabbit miraculous." She added, keeping identities hidden was really silly, but it was her job.
"They are okay master." Both Fluffs spoke in unison and floated away into the darkness. Alix instantly went after her kwami. Ladybug grabbed her yoyo on instinct, but then she realized she can't catch a kwami with it, Fluff would simply phase through, so she walked after Alix.
Chat saw it before it happened. Alix somehow hopped over it in the darkness, but Ladybug did not see the small branch on the ground, she tripped and fell on her face. He was by her side in a moment and helped her up. The whole move was quiet, and he was dressed in dark suit, unseen by the intruder, but then he started to laugh and gave himself away.
"Sorry Bug, could not prevent that." He snickered. "Peagasus, stay where you are, be there in a minute." He glanced back to make sure that the other hero wasn't looking their way. He heard Peagasus sigh and slump his back onto the tree trunk.
"Hello, we are Ladybug and Chat Noir, and we are the guardians of the miraculous." Chat directed his greeting towards the young woman who looked startled by his sudden appearance as much as she was amused by the scene. Alix stood nearby unsure where to go in the dark.
"What happened to master Juli?" The voice from the darkness inquired, but the tone wasn't demanding although she tried to act that way. Chat noticed she was smiling and looked slightly to the side. She probably wasn't able to see them clearly either.
"He is fine, he directed us to go here." Chat tried to sound cocky and confident, he smirked and tilted his head. His tail swished around and wrapped around Ladybugs leg. She nudged him with her elbow and his tail unwrapped.
"So you are both guardians, hm?" The young woman inquired knowingly. Then Chat remembered that if this woman was educated in the temple, if she passed the training, then she knew what that meant, and he blushed. He noticed that Ladybug was rather pink in the face too.
"Yes, we are both guardians." Ladybug pushed the words out. "And this is A… uhm … " She wasn't able to pronounce the name, Peagasus was too close. "A wielder of the rabbit miraculous that we want you to train."
"Did you put them up to this?" The young woman looked at Fluff lovingly and spoke affectionately. "You must have been really bored in that box, weren't you? You got curious and wanted to see the outside world, weren't you?"
"Master, I haven't been out for years and years." Fluff replied and looked down towards the ground. "There was a guardian who was scared to put any of us out ..." The tiny took a short pause.
"As he should have been, obviously." Ladybug muttered to herself. She was feeling uncertain about the whole thing.
"Then we got a new guardian who would play with us kwami and listen to us." Fluff floated towards Ladybug while he spoke. The doubt she had in herself only grew, what if the kwami only took her on this journey because they were bored, Tikki wasn't like that, but other kwami?
"Obviously I shouldn't have." Ladybug cut in.
"Don't be like that Bug, they told you that we should go to China in the first place, didn't they?" Chat had to do something to reassure her.
"Nooroo and Duusu were gone for a long time." The tiny rabbit stressed the word long, but that was a rather undefined value for a time travelling kwami. "And then they returned, and we got one more guardian … but I did not get my wielder."
"And then the guardians told me how they met one of my wielders when she arrived from the future and they knew her identity and then I just … " Fluff finally stopped the ramble about everything that happened.
"Then you just wanted to meet her as soon as possible, didn't you?" The woman chided gently. Ladybug deflated, she felt like she was doing a poor job as a guardian, she was persuaded to give a miraculous to Alix too early, and by her kwami, and she was supposed to be a guardian.
"The Bunnix from the future did say that she got a miraculous when she was much taller." Ladybug admitted and then took in a sloe deep breath not to spiral into panic. "I guess we should return in a few years."
Two floating rabbits and one woman started to laugh instantaneously, Chat followed suit, then Alix and then Ladybug, as if that made a difference if it was 1275 or 1278, they needed to grow up, and then, probably, to return to the same time and place.
"In a few years, you say?" Chat replied teasingly and grinned.
"I meant when A … she grows up!" Ladybug stumbled out. Alix quickly turned towards the heroes and frowned. Chat was able to see it, but Ladybug was able to feel it. "I mean, when she becomes taller, just like she said, I mean, the older her ..." She trailed off and groaned.
"The future isn't set in stone." Two Fluffs echoed each other and then one of them floated away towards the pink haired girl. Alix rubbed her eyes and tried to catch a glimpse of Fluff in the darkness.
"Sometimes the actions we do change the future, and sometimes there is nothing we can do to stop it from going the way it does." The woman spoke solemnly. Two heroes, one girl and two kwami nodded to acknowledge that they understood.
"So it is okay if we had given A .. her the miraculous now?" Ladybug inquired.
"It is fine, as long as it was given on time." Chat grinned. Ladybug hit him with her elbow. He saw that the young woman rolled her eyes.
"It is not the time for your puns." Ladybug scolded quietly.
"Hey, you did it too! Not fair!" He laughed.
"Technically, you will give it to me." Alix cut in.
"Not you too!" Ladybug shook her head and whispered to herself while Chat laughed. This was no time for jokes, she messed up, big time, and she wanted to fix it, if she only knew how, tempted to launch her lucky charm, but certain that it would be just one more watch, just red with black spots.
"I guess we got here a bit early." Chat wasn't deterred. It was his way of coping with stress. Ladybug knew it, and right then she was worried that they messed up something, big time, so as lame as they were, the puns were a distraction.
"I'd say it is pretty late." She bounced back.
Ladybug and Chat Noir continued their time related banter while both Alix and the woman just stood there and listened without any attempt to join in. They both tried to look at each other, but it was too dark to recognize any features.
"Tell me, from which time are you." The young woman demanded quietly.
"More than seven hundred years from now." Alix replied bluntly, "We are from the future, very far future." She stated simply.
"Seven hundred, you say?" The woman sounded amused. "Very far future, you say." She grinned. "Well, that only means you consider this very far in the past." She shrugged with a wide smile with no intention to correct them nor reveal any information about their future that she knew.
"Well, because it is?" Alix wasn't so sure any more.
The two heroes finally stopped their banter and started to listen. Chat was tempted to announce himself as a guardian again, but more solemnly, with more authority, and order this woman to train Alix, he saw the way Khan treated his men, it was the way people communicated back then.
"Are you master Shi? Are you going to train … the new wielder?" Ladybug asked bluntly. She demanded to know who this person was, she almost forgot aobut her during the banter with Chat, but it became clear to her that she had to resolve that.
"There is a place where they call me master Shi." The young woman spoke calmly. She kept quiet after that and allowed for the others to process what she just said. What she did with her life was not that rare, but it wasn't a familiar practice, because everyone kept quiet about it.
"Can you prove it?" Ladybug demanded. Alix was the one to sigh, to her the fact that this woman was accompanied by a time travelling kwami was sufficient. However, she understood that a guardian perhaps wanted or needed more than that.
"I mean." Ladybug flailed her hands, it was frustrating to talk to someone whom you can not see, but she understood why they met that way. "We see that you have Fluff, too, how do we know you are master Shi and not one of his pupils?"
"I am the one you're looking for." Master Shi replied firmly and crossed her arms.
"But you … you are a girl .. a woman … shouldn't you be … a mistress or something?" Chat popped the question that was on everyone else's mind as the voice they heard was clearly not from a man, especially not an old one they imagined they were looking for.
"I may have pretended to be a boy for a while." She replied with a playful smirk. "I might be pretending to be a man in the guard of the mighty Kublai Khan on occasion, or anyone else I need to be. Sometimes a rabbit has to hide."
"Very well, it is just, we … um … expected … " Ladybug inquired and did her best to sound confident.
"You expected master Shi to be an old man in the temple and have a school of wielders of the time travelling heroes?" Master Shi asked without a trace of offence in her voice, she was teasing.
"I assumed you were a student sent for us because you are a wielder. I'm sorry." Ladybug was quick to apologize.
"Yes I am, but I do not hop from time to time irresponsibly, it could cause a great disturbance, time travel is the weapon of the last resort." She stated clearly and it sounded as if she was taking a critical look at their whole mission.
"Master Shi, I know I will wield the rabbit miraculous, I met myself from the future once." Alix explained. "And I'm sorry I used my powers, but it was absolutely needed for me to reach you." She continued determinedly.
"You met yourself from the future, hm?" Master Shi replied with a smirk.
"Yes, we met her too, from the future I mean." Ladybug explained.
"Technically, we are all from the future now." Chat teased.
"Stop it." Ladybug whispered.
"Yes, they met me, the civilian me and me from the future, because I had a message for them, it was stored in … my miraculous? ... and we exchanged miraculous. I mean me and the future me, because hers wasn't working … " Alix trailed off.
"You had a message for them stored in your miraculous?" The woman repeated. "And you exchanged it with your future self?" She stated calmly and waited for confirmation that was hummed by all three teenagers.
"The big me was stored in one of the Egyptian artefacts in the Louvre, I was supposed to lead the heroes to the artefact using the riddle that was stored in my … miraculous." Alix continued to explain. "They were fighting a time travelling akuma from the future."
"oh." Was all master Shi replied, but she was deep in thought. This was far more serious than she thought in the first place. An akuma from the future, and yet Fluff said that the abuse of Nooroo has ended. She had to examine this further.
Then, this wielder met herself from the future, these guardians met her too, that was why they knew. She had no idea why they came looking for her, she had met people from further in the future as well as from the ancient past, but this was different.
"I am not a teacher." Master Shi admitted. Those words sent jolts through all three teenagers. They were looking for a teacher, not another wielder. Ladybug thought how she should have known better than to go blindly into the past, Chat thought how they could have trained Alix themselves.
"But I am master Shi you are looking for. They refer to me as a master in the temple because I have become a permanent wielder of a miraculous. They have given me that name when I joined the temple." The young woman described.
"Can you help us?" Ladybug asked firmly, it was becoming clear, they started early and arrived early, this woman wasn't a teacher, at least not yet, but that did not mean she wasn't able to help them.
"A person chosen to wield the rabbit miraculous … it is not really the guardians who decide, it is up to the miraculous, it is up to the kwami, to Fluff, if you are not ready, if it is too early, then nothing happens, this ..." She pointed to her own watch. "It is just a watch."
Only Chat looked at the watch and saw her gesture, but both Alix and Ladybug understood what she wanted to say. Alix replayed the events in her head, her father gave her the watch, then there was a hologram, but there was no kwami when she took it in her hands.
"This is starting to make sense." Alix exclaimed. Chat grinned, he remembered Alix and her watch and the day she got akumatized (and two Ladybugs), but he also remembered the hologram and the riddle, he agreed, this was starting to make sense.
"But if you are not a teacher … " Ladybug was unsure what to do, go back, and really, return a few years later, in every sense of that word that was applicable, or maybe they were supposed to start just then or maybe …
"Yet." Master Shi exclaimed. "I am not a teacher yet. You were brought to me for a reason." This was different than any other assignment she had so far, it was always a problem she saw in her burrow, but these teenagers, they came to her on their own.
"What reason?" Chat repeated in a whisper to Ladybug, everything sounded so serious, but then he remembered. "To train Bunnix, right." He corrected himself. Yes, education was important, he was taking his superhero activities as fun, but this woman was taking it seriously just like his Bug.
"No." Ladybug whispered back. "Bunnix is a weapon of the last resort. She … this woman is a weapon of the last resort too. This is something else." She felt cold shivers go down her spine, this was like a calm before the storm, as if there was an akuma looming somewhere.
"How do I become cool and awesome as future me?" Alix beamed, her eyes glowed in the dark. "Or as you?" She added as she looked towards the woman, shoe thought she was able to see her. "I promise I will listen and not just create random portals."
"First things first, why don't we have a talk so that I know why you are here in the first place?" Master Shi asked cheerfully.