Chapter Text
“Well. Ancient Rome was beautiful. At least Mirabel will like this,” Wilbur said as she parked the time machine, turning it off and opening the hatch.
He climbed out and checked on the golden necklace he had gotten. He made to turn, bumping into someone harshly that he had fallen back.
“Ouch...Carl..”
“Last I checked, I’m not a robot and my name isn’t Carl.”
He froze, pulling on a grimaced smile as he looked up at the girl standing in front of him.
“Miri…how are you?”
The hazel blue-eyed girl looked at him unimpressed. Her hair was up in a messy bun, her glasses perched on her nose as she looked down at him. She had her lab coat on, meaning she and their dad had just come home from the company.
“do you ever listen?”
“That is an excellent quest--- ow ow ow ow,” he said, the girl grabbing him by the ear and marching towards the travel tubes.
“This is the last time I’m covering for you. I should snitch on you---”
“But you don’t because you love your baby brother so much---ow ok ok I get it!” he said, rubbing his arm. Dang...she hits hard.
“Yes. I do love you. But this is completely unacceptable, Wilbur. The time stream almost collapsed when you brought Dad from the past to the future. You should be more cautious--”
“I didn’t do anything bad, Miri! It was just a trip.”
“Uhh huh. Right. Explain this to me,” she said, putting up her phone and showing him a picture of a painting. He grimaced.
"Hey that can be anyone--"
“I swear to it, Wilbur. I don’t care about your adventures. I care about your existence. What if you had gotten stuck there? Or worse, died?”
“Maybe you should—”
“No. I am never going in that thing,” she said walking to the tube. He chased after her.
“are you going to tell Dad?”
She uncrossed her arms and wrapped one around his shoulder. She looked really tired. The type of tiredness that needed a week of sleep and not a cup of coffee.
“No. I’m not but I need you to stop taking trips for now. You know Dad said that you can only use the time machine when his past self is involved and the last three you went alone,” she said.
“I know…but it would be way more fun if you came with. Technically, he knows about you since we use the walkie-talkies during my excursions for time alerts. He wants to see what you look like.”
“Dad said that? Yeah right,” she said, pushing Wilbur before going up the tubes. He followed after, and the two headed towards the dining hall.
“Wilbur, Miri---oh there you two are,” Cornelius said as he walked from the dining hall.
“Did you get your phone?”
“Yea. It was stuck between the console and chair,” Mirabel said, showing him the phone before putting it in her pocket.
“Good. Now come on you two. Carl is waiting for---”
“Hey, Dad remember that time I visited you in college?” Wilbur asked suddenly, making Cornelius stop.
“yes? What about it?”
“You remember me---”
“Wilbur shut up.”
“---telling you that I had an older sister right? You said you wanted to meet her---”
“I know where this is going and the answer is yes I remember and no you will not take Mirabel or use the time machine,” he said sternly before looking at the girl.
“What?”
“Do you hear me? No time machine.”
“Dad, you really think I would just randomly think one day ‘Oh there’s the time machine. Let me go visit Albert Einstein to learn more about the photoelectric effect and the quantum theory of light,’” she said sarcastically.
“You’re a nerd.”
“The point is I know the dangers of time travel and do not want to mess with what already happened. You know I’m smarter than that. Thanks for having so much faith in me,” she said, crossing her arms in offense.
He sighed amused, kissing the girl’s forehead as he ruffled her hair.
“Sorry for offending you, kiddo. It’s just sometimes you appear when Wilbur is in trouble.”
“Yeah, to clean up his mess.”
Wilbur went to retort before he shrugged. It was true. She often cleaned up after him.
“Ok ok. I get it. But no more time machine. I already have to go through traveling with one kid. Imagine two?”
“hey!”
The three of them all laughed as he nudged Mirabel.
“But hypothetically speaking…did you say you wanted to meet me?” she asked quietly, making him smile at her.
“My future son once told me that Franny and I adopted a beautiful teenager who is so much like the both of us. Of course, I’m going to be curious about you,” he said, standing between the two as he brought them close.
“So yes…if one day you happen to magically get involved in time travel…I would have loved to meet you. And overly freak out with the fact that you picked up A LOT of your mother’s habits and qualities.”
It made her laugh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was going over her mechanism in her room after dinner when a knock came from the door. Wilbur had pulled her aside and gifted her the gold necklace from Rome, making her soften up a bit.
She had to admit.
Every time Wilbur time traveled, he always thought to bring something back to her.
“come in,” she said softly, flipping through her tablet to redraw a couple of benzene rings and add in reductions before she yawned.
“Hey, my little mini-me,” Cornelius said as he opened the door.
“You know mom will say otherwise,” she said in a tired voice.
“very true. She would say that you’re more like her and I have to agree. Two different worlds, but the exact same person.”
Mirabel hummed as she finished up an equation and flipped to the next page.
“What’s up?”
“just wanted to say good night. Your mom should be here any minute after she’s finished scolding Frankie.”
“those poor frogs,” she said, writing again.
He stepped up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, the girl looking up at him.
“You worked hard All week. You should rest.”
“I can’t. Robert messed up my mechanisms for the new medicine prototype I designed. So, I have to finish 4 weeks of work and submit it tomorrow afternoon. It was a mess,” she said, rubbing her eyes that were red and irritated.
She looked like a tired baby in his eyes.
“you should have taken breaks---did you even eat breakfast or lunch throughout the day?” he asked concernedly. He remembered them parting ways at the company after a quick hug but didn’t recall seeing her at breakfast or lunch.
He noticed she had a really small appetite during dinner, just pushing her food around on the plate. Franny had to tap her a couple of times when she wouldn’t pay attention, overfilling her water cup and eventually misplacing her silverware.
He watched her freeze, making him groan.
“Princess I told you about skipping meals.”
“I know. I know, but I was so angry. I didn’t want to eat and then just vomit all over the lab.”
She had a point. Her digestive system hadn’t been the same since the incident. Her intense emotions messed with her stomach. It often led to her not eating at all, which often made her suffer more.
“oh, Miri—what am I going to do with you?” he said worriedly, not liking the redness of her eyes or the paleness of her skin as he caressed her cheek.
“yeet me?”
“huh—"
“knock knock—just came to say---what’s wrong?” Franny said as she opened the door, her brown eyes filling with worry.
“She’s overworking —”
“Dad!”
“Well, you are!” he argued back.
In a flash, Franny had taken Mirabel’s face in her hands checking her every way.
She took in the tired red eyes and the pale skin. The heavy blinking. The deep tired breaths.
“let’s get you in the shower.”
“Mom.”
“come on.”
“but my equations---”
“after you take a shower and rest,” Cornelius said, saving her work before closing the tablet.
He watched her get dragged off to the ensuite bathroom, Franny all but shoving her into the room before she closed the door and turned on the shower.
The door opened again as Wilbur walked down with his blanket and stuffed turtle.
“Uhhhh where’s Miri?”
Before he could answer, Franny came back out to get her pajamas.
“what the hell happened? She almost hit the counter when I was pulling up her hair and stepped right into steaming hot water,” she said grabbing the girl’s red shorts and oversized college t-shirt.
“Poor girl is doing 4 weeks of work with no break whatsoever.”
“was it Robert? Gosh, he’s such a know it all,” Franny said moving back to the bathroom where the hot water started creating a cloud of steam.
“turn the cold water on, dammit. You’re going to burn your skin!”
Cornelius shook his head as he heard a low groan.
“She’s either extremely tired or overly caffeinated ---why are you looking at me like that?”
Wilbur pursed his lips as she looked down, his eyes wide.
“Wilbur.”
“Hehe, nothing.”
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything—”
“Wilbur---”
“she’s been awake for over 67 hours,” Wilbur said with a grimace, taking out the tablet from her bed that had a stopwatch. The water turned off and they heard Franny mumbling that maybe it was time for her to stay with Mirabel again.
“Actually, it’s been 76 hours.”
Cornelius stood there frozen; his eye twitching.
“how--
“I’m pretty sure she slapped on like 6 caffeine patches before working at the crack of dawn….76 hours ago.”
Cornelius took a deep breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I mean she’s functional, right? Her brain is working,” Wilbur asked questioningly.
“Francesca.”
Both Wilbur and Cornelius looked at the door.
“what did she just say?”
“She just called your mother by her first name,” Cornelius said, wondering just how bad this was. He can just imagine the expression on his wife’s face.
“Why—why are there 3 of you?”
There was a loud crash and Franny’s shout of surprise.
“Cornelius, help me with your daughter!”
He pushed open the door and paused to take in the scene.
Franny was on her knees, holding onto a pj-covered Mirabel who was lying half on Franny and half in the shower. Her hazel blue eyes looked awful as they blinked heavily.
Ok, this is bad.
“Yea you’re going straight to bed young lady,” he said, moving to pick the girl up.
“but my circle things need to be weaponized,” she said as she was lifted into his arms, her mother getting up from the floor.
“Your benzene rings need to be mechanized.”
“That’s what I said, Cornelius.”
Franny choked on her breath, trying not to laugh as Cornelius rolled his eyes.
“You’re going to continue work AFTER you rest. Baby, you haven’t slept in 76 hours,” he said, placing her on the bed where Wilbur was sitting.
“Sleep is for the weak. You do it all the time Mr. Insomniac.”
“Go to sleep.”
Franny and Cornelius watched in amusement as she threw a small tantrum on the bed, tossing the blankets over her head as she made angry noises. She fell back into the bed and shifted multiple times, making Franny giggle as she sat on the bed near the girl’s head.
It only made the 15-year-old shift close to the woman before they heard a deep sigh and her head rested fully on the pillow.
When they pulled back the blanket, Mirabel was out like a light, her curly hair falling over her face as she shifted toward her mother.
“she is going to be asleep for a while,” Wilbur said as he tucked his stuffed turtle next to her and fixed himself on her bed.
“Her body will know when to wake up,” Cornelius said, tucking Wilbur in and ruffling his hair.
“we’ll check in tomorrow. Get some sleep.”
“Ok, Dad.”
Franny gently ran the pad of her thumb over the tip of the girl’s nose as she caressed her cheek before she softly ran it over the girl’s eye, watching her relax further into the bed.
With a quick kiss on her cheek, the woman got up and tucked her in, watching her shift again to hug the stuffed turtle.
They turned off all of the lights to make it completely dark before closing the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The light of the sub-level filled the room as Wilbur sneaked in.
It was the dead of night, and he had already snuck past the security system.
There was no way they wouldn’t catch him—
“caught you, you little shit.”
He froze as the voice echoed in the room. He turned to the corner, Mirabel sitting on the worktable with an eyebrow raised. She looked much better than she did 4 days ago, the color coming back to her skin.
The dark circles that began to form had disappeared from her face, and her natural doe eyes were no longer droopy and red.
“heyy Miri---”
“don’t hey Miri me. You’re disobeying Dad, Wilbur.”
“It’s for a good cause!”
“Is it now? What---lost your chargeball glove in a bet?”
“Pshh no. It’s---something else.”
“No. You’re not using the time machine. It isn’t worth it,” she said, crossing her arms. He scoffed.
“No worth it? You were running on low food and 6 caffeine patches for 76 hours because stupid Robert couldn’t keep his hands to himself. It’s his fault and I’m going to change that,” he said, opening the hatch.
“Wilbur what happened, happened. If you go back to change it, what makes you think it won’t happen another time? The day is unpredictable,” she said, approaching him with an angry expression on her face.
“You may not want to do it, but I couldn’t stand to see you like that. I held off until you got better so now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to change the past.”
He sat in the seat and began to punch in the date when she exhaled, her hands clenched the edge of the machine.
“fine. Good luck trying to find an excuse for Dad,” she said, reaching into the machine and pressing the alert button, red lights flashing around them as an alert rang out.
“I thought I could trust you!”
“Ditto!” she yelled back. She tried to pull him out, but the machine rocked and floated up in the air as the engine started.
“wait wait—WILBUR!” she said, holding onto the edge tightly as she dangled in the air, kicking her legs as the hatch opened from above, the machine ascending higher from the ground.
The sub-level doors opened, and their parents’ silhouettes emerged.
“Belle!” he yelled in fear, knocking in the wheel as he reached over the edge to grab her arms, the time machine tilting to the side. He grabbed onto her exposed wrists as he planted his feet against the metal.
“Wilbur what are you doing---Mirabel!” Cornelius yelled when he saw the scene. His heart was beating so hard against his rib cage, watching his daughter dangle from the time machine that continued to climb up in height.
“CORNELIUS DO SOMETHING!” Franny yelled as she ran underneath the machine.
He pressed on the intercom.
“Hel—”
“get to the garage now! We need help!”
“Mirabel!” Franny yelled out, watching her daughter struggling in midair. Her hand slipped, the girl now hanging by one hand as Wilbur reached for her.
“OH GOD! Mirabel!”
“Wilbur, grab her!” Cornelius yelled in terror, watching the boy try with his might to shift his grip on her. He stood underneath Mirabel, prepared for if she let go and plummeted down to the ground.
“Miri, you gotta give me your hand! Please!” Wilbur cried out. Gritting her teeth, she swung her arm, her palm catching his grip.
It made the parents panic before Wilbur pulled her up with determination, grabbing her waist as she pulled herself up and dragging her into the machine. The two fell into the wheel, his hand landing on the keypad and pressing random numbers.
“Wilbur! Mirabel!”
“Mom! Dad!” Mirabel yelled out just as the glass hatch closed, a series of lights swirling around the machine
“No…NO! Neil can’t you stop it?!” Franny said as she watched Mirabel bang on the glass hatch.
Suddenly, the scene changed before Mirabel’s eyes, the sublevel being replaced with a dark sky.
“Miri it’s ok—” Wilbur said as she began to panic, putting on her seatbelt before he buckled his on his lap.
“This can’t be happening. Why are we so high-- Wait a minute—are we in park?!” she asked in terror, his face falling just as the machine began to descend rapidly, nose-diving.
She held onto the seat as she tried not to scream her hair flying everywhere and she clenched her eyes shut.
Wilbur pressed the gas and yanked at the wheel, trying to pull up before they hit the dark mass below. Inches before they hit the ground, the machine curved, avoiding the mass as they flew straight forward.
“what the hell— look out!” she said, Wilbur making a sharp turn to avoid the buildings that appeared in front of them. The wheel wobbled as he navigated through the dimly lit city.
“Hey, we’re alive—OW WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!”
“Why don’t you ever listen?! I specifically said to not do it and what do you do? You do it anyways!”
“I’m doing it for you!”
“I told you it didn’t matter!”
“It matters to me! You mean more to me than anything in this world, Mirabel. Seeing you like that---I was terrified. You’re working yourself to death for an idiot’s stupidity. I can lose you. My world would be meaningless without you in it,” he said, tears streaming down his face as he turned to her.
“And how do you think I feel? Are you doing these time travel adventures without a care in the world? What happens if you alter the timeline, Wilbur? One mistake and everything is gone. You can’t go back and change the past just because you don’t like it. That isn’t how life works,” she said, wiping his tears as his eyes softened.
“I know I scared you, but it was my choice. That’s why you can’t change the past. It always begins and ends with our choices,” she explained softly. He felt the tension in his body leave as he nodded.
“you’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Just learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward.”
He shook his head as they flew.
“You sound a lot like mom.”
“two worlds, one person.”
“All right. Let’s head back,” he said, trying to punch in the date when the machine short-circuited, sparks flying.
“Uh, what was that?”
“I don’t know ----AHHHH!!” he started yelling when the machine nosedived again, spiraling out of control. He immediately felt Mirabel’s arms wrap around him as she tried to cover his head as much as possible when the ground got closer.
The impact was rough their bodies hit the edges of the time machine, skidding to stop harshly. He unwrapped his arms from Mirabel and gently lifted his head.
“Ok—not what I had in mind,” he said looking back at the girl who had her eyes squeezed shut as she clutched her head, pulling her hand back to find a trail of blood dripping from her temple.
“come on we should get out of here,” he said, opening the hatch and climbing out, helping her along the way. He looked around and paled.
“This doesn’t look right,” he said going to the keypad to check the date.
December 19th, 2019?!
“Why are we in 2019?! Wait a minute…we weren’t even born yet. Mom and Dad didn’t get married until 2022.”
“that means they’re in their early to mid-twenties,” she said, shaking her head softly before looking at the machine. She sighed.
“At least I packed a tool kit in the bottom compartment. Made the process a whole lot easier,” she said as she took off her sweater and wrapped it around her waist.
Wilbur looked around and saw someone familiar approaching. He immediately ran from the machine quietly while Mirabel was occupied with checking what needed to be fixed and assessing the internal and external damage.
“Dad!” he called out quietly, approaching the man who was shining his flashlight at him.
“Wilbur? What are you doing here? It’s 3 in the morning!”
“Aren’t you an insomniac?” Wilbur questioned; eyebrow raised.
The young Cornelius went to argue but Wilbur had a point.
“touché. Anyways, I saw you go down. Are you ok?” he said, checking the boy for injuries.
“I’m fine but…”
“But?”
“Well—remember when I told you about me having a sister?”
“of course I do. I remember saying I would like to meet her one day---what’s this about?” he said, just as something clanked and a curse-filled the air. His blue eyes looked behind Wilbur and he paused.
Standing there was a young girl he had never seen before. She had dark curly hair that fell down her back and a skin tone similar to Wilbur's. She was pressing her thumb into her palm as something dripped from her hand.
“Who is that?”
Wilbur pursed his lips as he watched Mirabel cut the fabric of her shirt and tie it around her palm before she went back to her inspection.
He pulled Cornelius towards the wreck just as Mirabel finished, wiping her head injury which smeared blood onto her forehead.
“Miri---”
“The keypad malfunctioned. The wires under the panel need to be replaced since they burned out. The wheel also has to be put back on before the exterior is fixed---”
“Miri---”
“I can try to fix it, but we need new parts. It could take about a week and a half, but I managed to steal the blueprints from Carl, so we’ll be fine---”
“MIRABEL!”
“What? WHAT?! Can’t you see this is how I cope with everything?!” she said turning to the boy before she paused. Blue eyes were staring back at her. Her face went slack.
Oh no.
“Wilbur, please don’t tell me---”
“Dad this is Mirabel…your older daughter.”