There are 60 seconds in a minute, 3.600 seconds in an hour and 86.400 seconds in a day. That makes 2.592.000 seconds in a month and 31.536.000 seconds in a year.

Seconds are a short measure of time, but they are not the smallest one so you can perceive them as they pass by. You can count them and use them in your favor if you want to. But there are moments when you are not aware of them, there are moments when those little numbers become too much to handle and you stop counting them and start to look into bigger fractions of time, fractions that are easier to handle in your daily life. Because, in all honesty, no one is counting their life in seconds, we don't really perceive them in their real measure of time… how sad. Maybe if we were more aware of how important seconds are and we learned to measure them right, we wouldn't end in such horrible situations.

There are decisions that can be made in the heat of a second, those decisions change the seconds to come, the seconds that will turn into minutes, hours, days, weeks and so on. Seconds are the base of change and we are unaware of it.

A decision made in a second can twist your world for good or for bad. The repercussions of a decision made in a second can stay forever, whatever you like them or not. That's why is so important to know the weight a second can have. Sometimes a second is enough to make an important decision. There are situations where you don't need a whole second to do it, your brain goes faster than the second can run, those kinds of situations aren't ruled by logic but by instinct, for that feeling that takes over your body and blurs your common sense. So, the question is, are those really decisions? Because they don't feel like one once you look back.

For example, Adrien didn't recall taking the decision to jump out of the building two weeks ago. If he went back and tried to play the memories on his mind, there wasn't a moment when his brain thought about the situation. No, he had only seen a civilian in the building in front of him, the building that was burning down. He saw the boy scream and kick, trying to get out of the rubble he was under.

There was no time to think what he could do, someone was in trouble and he could help so that's what his instinct told him to do. He just jumped.

It hadn't been a decision, it had been pure instinct. If he had thought about it, he wouldn't have died, if he had been paying attention he would have heard her call her magical cure, he would have known that the post he was about to grab would disappear, and he wouldn't have died.

Oh… if only.

There are decisions that you take in a second, but that you are not meant to take in that short period of time.

Adrien could see it now.

In front of his eyes, the consequences of his poorly made choice were playing as he was in a cinema. He would have to keep contemplating it for all the seconds to come in the future of what he believed would be a long, long existence. The ultimate movie with no finale.

He wished he could put a stop to the suffering his friends were living, or fasten the seconds to watch them move on quickly. He wished nothing but them to be okay, especially after today.

One of the worst things of today had been Nino. To see him so angry that he lashed out at Marinette and Alya hurt. Never in a million years he would have pictured Nino as the angry mess he was today, that was the opposite of what Nino's essence. He was caring and funny, a total gentleman who would have never raised his voice to anyone, no matter how disrespectful they were being with him. God damn, Nino treated his father with respect and put on a smile for him even when he knew that Gabriel couldn't stand him. The Nino he had seen that day was a horrible version of his best friend, a version that wouldn't exist if Adrien was still alive.

This was his fault, and he wanted to fix it.

He had been thinking about it the whole day, as he watched his friends suffer. In the background of his mind, he tried to look for a solution, a way to contact them and tell them he was okay -well, as okay as he could be- and that they shouldn't destroy themselves for him. But no matter how much he gave it a thought, he hadn't come up with a good idea. He had given up already, and then… then Marinette happened.

Marinette was still in the middle of the hallway, but she wasn't standing anymore, she was on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. Her hands were no longer in her mouth but in fists against her chest, grabbing the black hoodie she was wearing. Her eyes were looking to every corner on the room like she was looking for something like she was looking for… him.

Could that be the reason? Was it too crazy to think that Marinette could have heard him scream?

"Marinette!" He shouted.

He tries one, two, three times. But it is useless. Alya is right behind her, hugging her from her back and calling her name. Chloé has made another wild, and surprising apparition and is trying to bring Marinette back by talking to her. Marinette couldn't hear him even if she tried.

He was so dumb. There was no way Marinette could hear him, it was just a sad coincidence. It was just the timing.

xx

After crying for what she felt like an eternity but had been only ten minutes, Marinette came back to class.

Chloé and Alya guided her through the hallways and into her classroom, making sure the agitated girl wouldn't start crying again. They kept saying it was an illusion, they kept saying it was all in her head, they kept saying she had imagined it.

Adrien wasn't there.

But she had been so sure… maybe it was bad timing, maybe when she had been thinking about Adrien calling her name he had happened to hear someone with a similar voice and she confused it.

Maybe someone had seen an actual ladybug and she had confused their screams with Adrien's voice… maybe it was her mind playing tricks with her heart.

She tried to come up with millions of excuses but nothing could kill the recurrent thoughts of Adrien's voice. A voice so desperate and raw, trying to call her attention.

Marinette wasn't sure if she wanted that to be real or not. If it wasn't then she was starting to go crazy, listening voices calling her name was something to be worried about. But, what worried her the most, as if it had been real because that meant that Adrien was still here, and that couldn't be good.

That would make him a ghost, right? And ghost were spirits that had not found redemption, or that had died when it wasn't their time… it meant that Marinette had let him die before it was his time.

"Mari," She feels Alya's hand squeezing her shoulder.

She had not realized she was crying until that moment. Their teacher is looking at her with big eyes, full of pitiful sorrow, that was the look everyone gave Marinette nowadays.

"Maybe is time for you to go home," Alya whispers in her ear.

Marinette nods. She arranges her things and leaves the classroom without saying a word.

No one calls her out, not even the teacher, they all know Marinette is better at home.

xx

As she walks through the grey and cold hallways in the air lingers a presence that Marinette can't reach. It is like the wind that it's knocking the windows, making them slowly smash together, invisible but announcing its existence.

It was like in the first period, in the same hallway, but instead of being loud and calling out her name, right now it felt like it was about to touch her, but it couldn't reach her.

Marinette stops in the middle of her walk, spinning around, looking into every direction, trying to find a clue floating, announcing that there was a secret to be discovered. But the only thing around her were the lockers on the walls, the bending machines and the safety posters about to fall off due to the lack of glue.

She sighs; nothing has changed and yet nothing is the same, not anymore.

She opens her purse, trying to not feel alone, she looks at the bottom of the pink rounded bag, where two magical creatures are taking a nap. It makes her smile, at least Tikki has someone to hold her.

She takes a few steps before stopping again when she realizes Nino is going out of his classroom.

She is not mad at Nino, but she doesn't want to see him right now either; it was better if they stayed away for a while, treating their wounds without opening new ones. They couldn't afford to fight at these circumstances, time would give back their friendship at some point.

Marinette hid until Nino disappeared, being left alone in the hallway one more time.

As odd and unsettling the presence had been, she starts to miss it, to feel like there was something there, that that something could have been Adrien, males her heart jolt in the little joy that was still left in her heart, and with that the guilt.

She bites her lip and hugs her bag as close to her heart as she cans, without crashing the kwamis. She couldn't wait to go home, she needed to leave school now.

xx

Adrien followed Marinette home.

He wasn't sure why he had done it but it was too late to feel any regret, the decision of turning back should have been taken minutes ago but he had decided to follow her.

After the scream, he had been sure Mari had heard him, but it was impossible, no one could, and what made Marinette so special to listen to him? It was ludicrous, it was just wishful thinking. And still, he couldn't erase the thought of his mind, so he had stayed, sitting in the same place he had been when he had shouted Ladybug's name, waiting for some answer.

That's when he saw Marinette walking home, and watching her strange behavior had convinced him to follow her.

There was something about Marinette, he wasn't sure what it was, but that something made her different to everybody else and he had to figure it out.

When he walked beside her, it felt like time had stopped around them and only Marinette had grown old, she had changed in a week what others changed in years. The timing of his death hadn't been the best for her, she had not learned everything that she needed to learn to go through a situation like this.

He felt guilty whenever he looked at her, to know that he had put this amount of pain in her tiny body made his non-beating heart crack.

Adrien saw Marinette enter the home from the back door, not the bakery as she usually did. It was obvious that she was trying to avoid her parents.

Adrien wondered how were they handling the situation. Their daughter looked deader than he did, that couldn't be a good thing for a parent to look at.

Marinette made it to her room and all strength that she had been faking disappeared. She let her body fall and crash into the wooden floor. Adrien tried to catch her but in the middle of his motion, he realized it was impossible.

Marinette sobbed, but she did not cry. She hugged her legs against her chest and she looked at a dead point in her room.

"Mari…" Adrien tried again. "Mari is me. Adrien…"

Useless. Marinette was immobile, eyes wide open, like the ones in a broken doll.

Still, he keeps calling her name. Maybe something needs to happen for her to hear him, he just has to wait for the right time.

Sadly, what caught Marinette attention is not his voice, but the bells of her cellphone. She finally moved with that. She took the device from her back pocket and pressed on it. She stood up and sighed.

She looked around her room before spinning on her heels and walk to her desk, taking with her the little pink bag she always carried.

Adrien followed.

He looked at the photos plastered on the walls and the designs hanging on the mood boards. He tried to touch the tools on top of the desk and tried to feel the texture of the fabrics laying around. He couldn't feel anything, but to his surprise, he managed to move the dust in them. He looked back to share that little bit of joy, but no one could hear him.

He was alone, even if someone was by his side. Marinette didn't know he was there, no matter how much he wanted her to hear him, she was immersed in her own little bubble. She was reading an old book, biting the tip of her thumb, fully concentrated on it.

Adrien stood behind her, so he could read what the book was about, but it was impossible. He did not recognize the signs or the language she was reading.

"I had no idea you knew another language, Mari," He whispered in her ear. Marinette did not even flinch, but Adrien kept talking. "Remember how you begged me to help me with your Chinese? You had great pronunciation but you suck at writing," He giggled "It's funny because you're great at drawing but not much at talking, so I found it-

Adrien couldn't complete his sentence, the sound of someone hitting the ground made him turn around, startled. Marinette had the same reaction.

In front of them stood a beautiful blonde girl in a superhero suit.

"Queen Bee," Adrien whispered. Remembering the existence of the superheroine. A year ago, Ladybug had brought up the idea to recruit another superhero, that would help them in particular or very difficult missions. He agreed but did not have much to do with it. Ladybug had chosen the girl and she called her whenever they needed her. He never got the chance to know her better, so the relationship was amicable but he didn't share the bond he did with Ladybug.

Now the question was: why was she here?

"You shouldn't skip school," Queen Bee said to her.

"Take your own advice next time, golden locks," The hero flicked her blonde hair at the answer, "Is this really that important Chloé?"

Adrien did not have time to process Marinette's words. One moment she had said the name, the next the heroine was flicking her hair and going back to her civilian self, revealing to be Adrien's childhood's best friend.

All this time, Queen Bee had been Chloé? Adrien chocked on air. Was that even possible as a ghost?

"Yes. After your break down Pollen and I talked a little," Chloé said, looking at the bee kwami on her shoulder, getting ready to sleep.

She rolled her eyes and sat on the edge of the desk. Looking at Marinette from there. "And I think that maybe, let's really not forget the maybe on this, okay?"

"Okay," Marinette half smiled. Adrien could kiss Chloé in that moment. Marinette had looked alive in that little second. Could she do something like that again? It had been beautiful.

"I think you might really have heard him," Chloé stated.

Adrien froze. Heard him? As in him, Adrien Agreste? Ghost Adrien?!

"Why do you think that?" Marinette asked.

"You heard me? Mari, you heard me?" Adrien said at the same time. Talking to her as loud and close as he could.

"I saw you open your bag at that exact moment you heard it. I think you reached a perfect timing,"

"What do you mean?" Adrien echoed Marinette's words.

"They are in your bag, right?" Chloé asked. Marinette nodded.

"In the bag? Who is in the bag?!" Adrien tried to reach the pink bag on the top of the desk, but Marinette was quicker.

She opened the purse and showed the inside to Chloé. She picked with her finger and a little shout came out of it.

"They were sleeping," Marinette shouted as a big black furry body with cat ears came out of Marinette's bag.

Adrien felt like his non-beating heart had stopped.

"Plagg!" He shouted, tears forming in his eyes and streaming down his cheeks. Plagg was there, Plagg was alive! But why was he with Marinette?

"And I don't care because I have questions!" Chloé said back "You were there when Marinette had her break down, did you hear anything?"

Plagg looked down as if he was ashamed. That wasn't a usual look for him. The kwami turned around and looked straight into Adrien's eyes.

"Plagg?" Adrien stuttered. It wasn't like he was looking at a random point on the wall, he was looking at him, this couldn't be a coincidence "Can you see me? Can you hear me?"

"Hey, fur-ball, I made a question!" Chloé shouted. Marinette stood up, placed her hands on Chloé's shoulders and squeezed.

"I heard you," Plagg said, still looking at the blonde "I won't answer to you. If Ladybug wants the answers then I will provide the answers for her, but I won't say a single word to you, brat,"

"Hey!" Chloé took the kwami by his ears "Don't talk to me like that,"

"Ladybug?" Adrien asked. He looked at his kwami, then at Marinette. Could it be that… No, no, no. But what if? "Plagg, I can tell you see me, I don't know if you hear but if you do you need to answer me, please. Is Marinette Ladybug? Please answer me this, I need to know. Please, Plagg.

Adrien became unaware of the discussion between Marinette and Chloé, he couldn't hear them and he did not realize when Chloé turned back into a superhero and left the room. He did not realize when Marinette started crying and ran to her bathroom because he was only looking at his kwami. The kwami who was not answering any of the questions he was shouting, the kwami who did not move but kept looking at him without flinching or blinking.

"Plagg, please!" Adrien fell to his knees and sobbed. "Why won't you answer me?!"

Suddenly, Plagg spoke "It's not the right time,"

Adrien looked up, trying to find where he was floating before. But he wasn't there, he was once again right in front of his eyes.

"When will be the right time?" Adrien asked. This would confirm if he had imagined the answer or not.

"When you decide it is," Plagg answered. "Look back, put the pieces together and find the right time."

Adrien frowned. Decisions and timing? Wasn't those the reasons who made him meet with this situation? Weren't his decisions and the bad timing of them the reasons why he was dead today? He wasn't good with those.

He was going to be trapped forever and Plagg wasn't going to help him.

Adrien looked at the clock hanging on the wall. He could hear it tick but couldn't see it move… how was he going to know when was the right time when time didn't pass for him?