Alya's POV

Why is everyone staring at me like I just said I was going to kill myself? 

"Are you mental?" Plagg cried. "Do you even know what we're talking about?" 

Uh, actually no. But what I said instead was, "Yeah, duh, you guys obviously need some critical help trying get Trixx and Wayzz back sanely and who else better than me?" I smiled, reassuringly.

"But do you even know where Kwamis go when they retire?" Tikki asked, blinking furiously. 

"The retirement home?" I shrugged. 

"We don't have a 'retirement home'," Plagg made weird quotation marks with his hands. "We go back to where we started. We shed our physical form and slip into a trance in our essence." 

"You're turning into Wayzz!" Nino screamed in agony. "Can we please speak human?" 

"In short, we literally vanish from the world," Plagg shrugged. His eyes gleamed. "But I remember one time, one of our friends did that and it was quite easy gettingㅡ" 

"Good grief, cut it out, Plagg. You slept through the whole thing and I was the one who did all the talking to Nooroo," Tikki rolled her eyes. Then she hastily explained, "Our friend Nooroo once got caught in a depression phase and we had to go into Nooroo's essence and drag him out. It took a lot of persuasion." 

"Well then do it again!" I demanded. "How hard can convincing Trixx be?" 

Plagg looked at me. 

"A lot." 

#

Mater Fu is such a dope person. I even got his autograph when he offered me tea. He taught us all about the history of LEGO as well iPhones. It's as if he's been there the whole time. It's like magic! 

"Nino," Alya hissed. "You're doing it again. Narrating your thoughts." 

"Sorry," I said, smiling happily. 

"Get that!" Plagg screamed as he raced down the street, floating things around, looking like a happy kid. A vibrant sprinkle of shining black particles rippled after him. 

"It's great to have magic back," Tikki sighed contently as she inspected her body like something was different. "I feel safe again." She rubbed her hands on her cheeks like a cold bunny in winter. 

"Now what do we do?" I asked. 

#

Plagg's POV

"Can we just go over the whole process again?" Nino complained as he shivered against the brisk night wind. "And why do we have to do it at night time? Like you Kwamis nocturnal or something?" 

"So," Tikki clapped her hands like a teacher ready to lecture. "There are a lot of aspects that we have to fulfill in order to rip through an essence. First, you need all the magic as much as possible. Then you find the right time and right place." 

"Sounds like 'How to make a good life'," Nino mumbled and Adrien hit him. 

"When we mean right time and right place," I smirked. "We mean it literally." 

"What do you mean?" Marinette wrinkled her nose. 

I slammed my hand down on the concrete floor, instantly creating a gust of wind to ripple out against the crust with a flutter of dust. My hair fluttered for a moment and it stilled, peace settling in. On the floor was a thin line of black. 

"What happened?" Alya asked, her eyes sparkling. 

"I stopped time at the right moment and I stilled the place at the right time," I said, brushing my forehead. "Boy, that's a lot of work." 

"Okay I'm still wondering why we have to do it at night," Nino complained as he shivered.

"There are only two Kwamis in the whole universe that mastered the act of ripping open an essence," Tikki smiled proudly as I traced my finger on the black line. It instantly gorged open into a gaping hole. 

"And that's me and Trixx," I said. "And we're both better at night than day." 

Adrien blinked at me in a new light. "I didn't know you were this important." 

"I'm Plagg, of course I'm important," I laughed as I shoved a hand in the hole and swiveled it around as the hole got larger and larger by the moment. 

Everyone subconsciously took a step back. 

"Hey, hey, it's alright," I reassured as I tried to grasp something against the murky darkness. It was harder than last time. Trixx was hard to find. I pushed both hands in, frowning a little. 

"No Trixx?" Tikki guessed anxiously. 

"Hey, it's alright, I'll find her and you'll get to talk to her," I reassured. "When your boyfriend is Plagg the word 'impossible' is wiped away from your dictionary." 

Then something sucked me in and I almost got driven into the hole by the momentum. I blinked, something hitting me. A massive wave of anger and shame hit me so hard I stumbled back, scowling at my burning hands. 

"Take back, Trixx isn't hard. She's dangerous," I winced. 

"You don't have to do it," Tikki placed a hand on my shoulder. 

"Tikki, you're going to live in guilt, I will do it," I retorted as I dug deeper into my hole, which started to emit black curls of smokeㅡwhich is not a good sign, by the way. I gripped hard on what seemed like a strangle of anger. 

"Okay," I took a deep breath. "Everyone grab on to each other." 

Two seconds. 

Two seconds it took them to desperately hold each other's hands like their life depended on it. Lastly Marinette grabbed Tikki and Tikki squeezed my burning free hand with concern etched on her face. I returned it with a smirk. 

"And, one, twoㅡ" I dove into the black mystery. "Three!" 

"I'm not ready!" Nino screeched. 

#

Nino's POV

"He's alive!" 

I blinked. Why do I always fall unconscious? It must be some sort of genetic thing.

I was lying on the ground with everyone surrounding me. I sat up, rubbing my throbbing head. "Where are we?" I asked, blinking furiously. The air was smoldering hot, the heat kept getting into my eyes. 

"This is Trixx's essence," Plagg raised his hand like a showman. "I welcome you." 

"Trixx's essence?" I mumbled as I stood up and looked around. There were sharp rigid pokes of rock and whatever-those-glowing-things are. They were filled with lots of flames that shimmered in different types of color from angry red to cold fury blue. "Why is it so hot in here?" 

"Well," Plagg raised a hand. "It's hot now but it will change really quick. This reflects on Trixx's mood-swings." 

As if on cue, the moment he said that, the heat just dropped down several million negative degrees, freezing everything. The darkness suddenly was sucked away, revealing more of the uneven terrain and blasting lightning and balls of power everywhere. They all exploded in sync, sending me sprawling a few feet back. 

"Her mood-swings are amazing," Adrien mumbled as another gust of wind, chilled us to our bones. It was a weird sensation, pulsing through our veins, as if channeling us with her thoughts and emotions. 

Something exploded somewhere. The sky literally ripped into two, revealing another layer of smoky orange atmosphere. A jet line of hot liquid shot through the air. 

"I wanna go home!" I whined. "This place is dangerous." 

"It's alright," Tikki reassured. "It won't hurt you. Trixx won't hurt a fly." She seemed uncertain. 

Suddenly, a piece of the ground just broke away and floated away like it weighed nothing. Then it crumbled into a thousand different particles of dust. It fell to the ground. Then the rock grew little tiny legs and started crawling away from us. 

"Is this like a creepy version of Wonderland?" Adrien asked, looking around. 

"This is Trixxland," Plagg corrected him. "Trixx rules everything here. She's the god." 

"Does that mean she can kill us?" Marinette gulped. 

"It means a lot of things," Plagg shrugged. "Trixx knows we're here. At least, I think so. We are trespassing on her ground so she must know it." 

"Unless it's her unconscious," I said, bobbing her head up and down. 

"You're learning, Nino, you're learning," Plagg slung his arm around me proudly as he started marching off in a direction. There seemed to be no time in her essence, there were jagged buildings from the 1600s and some weird structure that looked like it was from the future. 

"This is scary!" Marinette whimpered. 

"This is cool!" Alya screamed as she kicked another jutting out luminescent piece of ground. It suddenly grew wings and fluttered away. 

After a few moments of walking, I kinda realized we were walking in circles. 

"We'reㅡ" I started. 

"ㅡwalking in circles," everyone else finished it off. 

We stared at each other, blinking and looking absolutely blank. 

"And we're idiots," Plagg added helpfully. 

#

"Don't step on that tile!" Marinette cried just in time as I pressed my feet on it. The white tile exploded into little pink palm leaves. 

"Ugh!" Alya whined. "Are we getting closer to Trixx at any rate?" 

"Nope," Plagg scowled. "And even worse, she's toying with us. I should've brought photos of Wayzz to spray at her." He kept mumbling things about turtles and jade like that's going to help. 

"Just conjure it out of magic!" Adrien desperately said. 

"We can't 'conjure it out of magic'," Plagg mimicked Adrien's whiny voice, rolling his eyes. "Trixx is the god, we can't do anything without her permission." 

Suddenly the air started glowing a tinge of faint pink and red. 

"No, no, no," Tikki whispered. "Everyone duck." 

"What?" I gawked. Alya pulled me down just in time as a super long blade flashed right above my hair, slicing through the air with a tremendous crack of menacing thunder. 

"What are you doing here?" a voice boomed above all of us, making me jump. 

I stared up to see nothing. 

"Oh, hi, Trixx!" Alya waved meaninglessly into the air. 

The air changed subtly a little more heated. 

"Answer the question," Trixx's voice snapped, her anger clearly embedded into her voice. "I'm retiring. Now leave me alone." 

"No you're not," Tikki stood up. "You're not going to retire leaving me like this." Her eyes were filled with sorrowful determination. "I have a lot of things to tell you, Trixx." 

"Go ahead," Trixx spat. A wave of hot air struck me hard. 

"Um," Tikki cleared her throat. "I know I've been a little stupid and idiotic lately. I was such an arrogant little piece ofㅡ" She paused there, thinking for some moments. "ㅡcrap. And I really apologize to you for that. You and Wayzz are two different people, I now understand that it's neither of your fault. It's all my fault for pressuring." 

Trixx stayed quiet but a pool of red liquid started rushing by their feet. So is this a yes or a no? 

"I know I'm stupid," Tikki said, her voice wavering. Her eyes filled with tears. "But now I finally understand what kind of life you've been living. I know you're scared. I know you're sad. And I know it's all my fault. I don't deserve you." 

The ground erupted into an abrupt earthquake as a ear-splitting wail started exploding our ears. I winced, clamping my hands over my ears. "Someone do something!" I screeched. 

Alya pushed me towards the pit of lava. 

"What the heck, Alya!" I screamed. But too late, I slipped and I plummeted into the bubbling lava bath. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the impact to hit me. 

Then everything stopped like one fluid motion. I opened an eye, finding myself mere inches away from the death bath. 

"Are you crazy?" 

I looked up to see a pair of blazing violet eyes glaring. Not to me, but towards Alya. Trixx was standing there, full human form, her skin slightly glowing with a tingly sensation. Her hand was firmly gripped around my collar. 

"I'm not," Alya determinedly shouted back. "You have a soft spot, I know that Trixx. You care a lot about everyone in here and you wouldn't hurt them. Just help us out, Trixx. This one time." 

Grimacing, Trixx threw me on the ground. Hello, I'm still a living organism. 

"But this doesn't mean I forgive you," Trixx said, her eyes bursting into flames as she glanced at Tikki, who seemed bitterly content as she nodded her head slightly, keeping her distance. 

Plagg seemed to be the only happy one. "Alrighty then, let's get started. Trixx?" 

Trixx snapped her fingers. The whole heated-and-cold-at-the-same-time-with-natural-hazards-at-a-daily-basis world disappeared, replaced with a brand new place where the floor was marble and couches popped out of nowhere. Plagg contently sat down. 

"What do you want?" Trixx snapped, crossing her arms as she sat down in the most elaborate armchair, embedded with little tongues of fire in the edge. "I retired." 

"Why, Trixx? What made you do that? You finally got released and now you wanna go back to this? " Plagg gestured everywhere, raising an eyebrow. "And besides we need more important stuff to do. Like getting Wayzz." 

Everyone saw it. The flash of fears striking Trixx's face the moment Wayzz's name was mentioned. She grew unnaturally stiff, her pupils dilated. Then she winced, as if something bad had happened. 

"I-I don't want to talk about Wayzz," she whispered. Then she winced again at his name. Her face turned blank all of a sudden. Then she frowned. "Was I saying something?" 

Adrien and Marinette shared a concerned look. 

"Her memories are getting meddled," Tikki whispered. 

"Like amnesia?" I asked. 

Tikki ignored me as she marched up forward towards Trixx, who took a step back. "Trixx, do you remember me apologizing to you?" 

"Yeah," Trixx spat. 

"Do you remember Plagg talking to you about Wayzz?" 

"Wayzz?" Trixx's face turned ghostly pale once more. Then a few seconds later, her face turned dull and within another moment, frowning again. "What?" she snapped. 

"You have some kind of memory issue," Tikki explained. "Everytime we mention Wayzz, you think of something and then the memory self-destructs itself from further probing. It's the greatest kind of ancient magic." 

"Wayzz?" Trixx blinked. Then she repeated the whole fear-struck-blank-face-scowl again. 

"How do I explain this to her?" Tikki sighed. 

"Let me try," Plagg smirked as he stepped up. "Hey, Trixx. So we're talking about cheese right now. But whenever we mention a type of cheese, you forget the whole conversation because it brings up a trauma." 

Trixx raised an eyebrow. "I don't have any traumatic experiences with cheese." 

"Either way, someoneㅡeither you or someone elseㅡcast a very ancient spell on you that makes you forget about cheese instantly you remember the trauma," Plagg said. "And the only way to break that is if you can remember whatever incident that happened." 

"I don't have any traumatic experiences with cheese!" Trixx protested. "Unless it's that time you made that stupid cake."

"Okay, it wasn't a cake! It was those chocolate bar things with cheeseㅡ" 

Tikki shoved Plagg away. "It's not literally a cheese, Trixx. It's something that we won't mention because if you do, you get all hazy and forget it." 

"Okay," Trixx said, waving her hands. Her elaborate arm chair changed into a bed and she flopped on it dramatically. "Now what do I do? I can't properly retire knowing that I'm missing something!" 

"What did you do before you visited Master Fu? Anything weird happen that day? I mean, why did you retire anyways?" Marinette jumped on it. "I would never retire my job ever. Who wants to quit something they love?" 

"She loves fashion more than me," Adrien hissed in my ear. 

"Um," Trixx stuttered. "Er, I don't know. Why did I retire? It must be something very logical because I don't act on impulse." Everyone rolled their eyes at this sentence. 

"You guys are all idiots!" Plagg flung his hands. "We're in Trixx's essence. It's her world, all her memories stacked in carefully crafted against her conscious, filled with every one of her thoughts." 

We blinked at him. 

"Darn, you're all blind," Plagg screamed. "We can find her memories in here! It's a place of research and information about her!" 

Trixx looked alarmed all of a sudden. 

"Don't worry, we don't go into privacy," Plagg reassured. Then he brightened up. "So we in this or what?" 

"YES!" Alya shrilled. 

I need to write more. And work's killing me. Like literally cut me some slack teachers, what's your problem. Honestly though. 

Jue