Burrow to the Past

Chapter 2

The Rabbit Burrow was an empty spherical space with window-like-circles in the white walls through which one could see every moment in past, present or future. If one stepped through these portals they would end up in exactly the moment the portal showed.

Even though Marinette had asked Alix to stay in the Burrow a dozen weeks ago, there was no sign of inhabitation here except for the red Chinese Miracle Box standing on seemingly nothing. Marinette had put it in here after Shadowmoth had made moves to get all the Miraculous into his possession. She thought it to be the safest here, where Shadowmoth could never reach it without the Rabbit Miraculous. And with Alix staying inside the pocket dimension there had been no risk of him getting his hands on it.

"We have to save Adrien," Marinette huffed, searching for the well-known blonde hair in any of the Burrow's portals. "We can't let Shadowmoth win. We have to go back and save him!"

The Kwamis swarmed to comfort Marinette as soon as they heard her voice. They cuddled up to her, saying not a word about the missing Kwamis of Creation and Destruction. Alix detransformed, gave Fluff something to eat and walked over to her friend to grab her by the shoulders.

"Marinette, please, look at me," Alix pleaded. Marinette looked up at her with a short glance, but Alix still saw her friend's teary gaze. "I know you're devastated but we have to keep our composure to figure this out."

"Alix is right," Ziggy confirmed, the rest of the Kwamis nodded along.

"You're always the smart one, the one with the plans, Marinette," Alix said firmly. "We need those plans now more than ever."

Marinette nodded faintly and wiped at her eyes. "I ... We could ..." But her head was blank. Everything in it revolved around the fact that Shadowmoth held Tikki, Plagg and the love of her life captive. The tears threatened to spill again. How could she be so useless in the face of the end of the world?

Alix closed her eyes for a second, and breathed out calmly. The panic inside her gut had risen alongside Marinette's, but someone had to stay strong and Marinette was currently not capable of that. With a few steady breaths she managed to suppress the panic for now. "You said you wanted to save Adrien, right?"

Marinette nodded weakly, "but I don't know if I'm strong enough for that."

"Of course you are!" Alix disagreed. "You're the Miraculous Ladybug, remember? You saved Paris and the world hundreds if not thousands of times from Shadowmoth's evil doings! You are more than capable of saving your husband out of his clutches."

Marinette smiled weakly and looked at Alix, really looked at her, not just looking through her. "Thanks, Alix. But I was never alone. We always did it together."

"And you're not alone this time either, Marinette!", Mullo squeaked.

"Yeah, we're here with you!" Barkk panted excitedly, her little tail wagging happily.

"And we're not going to let Shadowmoth win!" Alix smiled at the Kwamis floating next to Marinette.

"I will help you get Adrien back. And maybe punch Shadowmoth for making you sad while we're at it!" Stompp carried the nose ring of the Ox Miraculous to Marinette and put it down onto the palm of her hand.

It was as if a heavy weight had been lifted off Marinette's shoulders. She didn't have to go through this alone. And with all the kind and encouraging words from her friends it seemed a little less impossible to right everything that had gone wrong today. "Thanks guys. You mean the world to me. Let's save Adrien, Tikki and Plagg!"

"And the whole world," Sass added.

***

"Can we go over the plan again, please?" Alix asked, her head smoking from every little detail of Marinette's plan. Sure, her friend's plans were usually complicated, but this one took the cake.