Valentin removed his virtual reality headset with a sigh, looking disconcerted, and stood for a moment staring into space, his headset in his hands.
"... What's wrong with me? I usually use this level as a warm-up, but here... Who was it, anyway? Why did he want to help me?..." he thought.
He sighed again, feeling no more advanced than before. He put all his equipment away and checked the time: 7am. He then headed for the Time Agency's rest room. Every corridor was bathed in the soft, pure light of the Timeline. Everyone who passed through felt their mind and heart soothe, but not Valentin. Every corridor made him think back to that turbulent night. He stopped several times to rub his eyes, trying as best he could to chase away the images running through his head. When he reached the doorway to the break room, he looked around at the large relaxation area and saw Rosa and Klein sitting on sofas around a small coffee table. Rosa, as usual, was taking care of her appearance, getting out her brushes, eye shadow palettes and her famous pastel pink lipstick. Her icy brown hair was not to be outdone. She had delicately left them loose, forming waves, and at the same time tied them up at the sides in two little pigtails, refining her delicate face all the more. Her pastel pink eyes sparkled as she delicately applied lipstick to her thin lips. As for Klein, he was half lying on the sofa, still reading one of his many books. He seemed to be concentrating hard on his reading. His navy-blue hair and blonde locks lit up his fine face and sparkling golden eyes. As always, they seemed to soften the room, and they also lit up Valentin's heart. He smiled slightly and went to meet them. He didn't have time to open his mouth before Rosa immediately jumped up from the sofa to stand in front of him, greeting him.
"Hi Valentin! How are you?"
"Ah, um... Fine, thanks! How are you?"
Rosa was smiling radiantly, lighting up the room. But Valentin still had a certain aftertaste of that night in his head... Even with his friends present, he could feel his throat tightening again. He sighed, as if he wanted to chase the emotions he carried inside him out of his body.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Rosa asked him more calmly, "You look a bit pale, and you've got a few dark circles under your eyes…"
He hesitated for a moment, remembering his nightmare again. He looked down slightly at his feet. Klein raised an eyebrow, adopting a straighter posture than before.
"Ok... Come with me!"
Taking his hand, Rosa led him over to the sofa and sat him down next to Klein.
"If you don't tell me, I'm warning you that you're going to spend the rest of the day with mauve eyeshadow and blue lipstick all over your face!"
"You wouldn't mind that, would you?" said Klein, as he closed his book, the title of which was 'Flirting: 7 days to make them fall for you'.
"Another dating guide? And I thought he'd already read them all…" thought Valentin, before coming back to reality.
"Watch out, Mister Schönheit!" You're next on the list if he doesn't say anything!" retorted Rosa, before turning her attention back to Valentin.
Valentin was finding it hard to bear Rosa's insistent gaze. Especially as the young girl kept bringing her brushes and palettes closer and closer to his face. Klein clung to her arm, trying to pull her away from the danger.
"Watch out Valentin!" shouted Klein, "She's coming!"
"So? What's your decision, Mr Bridge?" asked Rosa, her eyes both sparkling and threatening.
"I've got it! I've got it! I'll speak! I'll talk!" shouted Valentin in panic, "I'll talk! Get your brushes and palettes away from me now…"
A big, bright smile spread across Rosa's face before she complied. Fine drops of sweat beaded on Valentin's forehead. Klein was still clutching his arm, probably out of mistrust.
"It's just that…", he began, "I had a bad dream…"
His two friends looked at him, their eyes wide with disbelief. There was a silence that seemed like an eternity to Valentin.
"What is it? What is it?" he asked, "Did I say something wrong?"
His two friends remained silent, sharing a look and blinking. Then, all of a sudden, they burst out laughing. Valentin feigned incomprehension.
"No, but wait…" Rosa began, before stifling another wave of laughter, "You were all tense about that???"
"I was sure you were going to tell us that you'd lost your credit card for the bubble tea machine," Klein continued.
"Or that you'd never got your graduation and you'd been pretending for a week," added Rosa, hilariously.
Valentin's cheeks flushed with shame and embarrassment before he sank back into the sofa, arms folded. He rolled his eyes.
"Very funny... I should have kept my mouth shut," he said, embarrassed.
Their laughter faded slowly, and Rosa found a softer tone.
"Joking aside, you know that nightmares... they're still nightmares. They're scary, yeah, but that doesn't mean that what you saw will happen," Rosa reassured him.
Klein nodded in agreement, placing a comforting hand on Valentin's shoulder.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he finally said.
"Hum…"
"If you don't want to, it's fine. But, you know, it might do you some good too."
After a few hesitations, Valentin told them about his nightmare, his throat closing at the thought of describing their lifeless bodies. There was a slight silence, but not as awkward as the previous one. After a moment, Rosa put a hand on his shoulder and broke the silence.
"Do you often have such vivid dreams?"
He shook his head in disapproval.
"No, I don't. Never like this. Usually they're pretty vague, abstract, or I can't remember them. This is different... I still feel like I'm there sometimes."
Klein crossed his arms thoughtfully.
"Maybe it's stress. We finished our last end-of-year assessments just a few weeks ago, and everyone's on edge."
"Or you just ate a dodgy piece of lasagne yesterday lunchtime," Rosa offered with a falsely serious air.
"Go figure…" Valentin swung, with a slight, sincere smile finally appearing on his face.
They laughed again, this time more quietly. The mood was light and happy again. They had a knack for making him feel better when he was feeling down.
"Honestly... Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you. I think that shook me up more than it should have. Sorry…"
Rosa placed a hand on his other shoulder, looking comforting.
"Don't worry! That's what friends are for!" Rosa replied with a sparkling smile. "By the way, where are we with the present for Mrs Floralie?"
Klein gently pulled something out of his coat - a bound notebook, midnight blue, with a silver ribbon reminiscent of the Time Agency emblem.
"I've brought the memory book. It's handmade. Blue binding, just the way she likes it."
"Remind me again how you know it's her favourite colour?" asked Valentin, surprised.
"My dear friend, some secrets are best kept secret," he replied, winking.
"He spied on her and followed her around for over a week," Rosa reminded him, putting her make-up kit away and looking for something in her bag.
"Rosa! It was a secret!" shouted Klein.
"As if it really was! You were the least discreet person in the world!" she added.
"I remember now!" said Valentin, "She even threatened to kick you out of class for the rest of the year! It was so funny!"
"Keep it up and I'll burn that notebook!"
Rosa finally pulled a stack of photographs out of her bag.
"No! What's more, I've printed them out! Including the famous one where Valentin was making one of those faces in front of the old coffee synthesiser!" exclaimed Rosa.
"Why did you have to take that one? Am I supposed to be thanking you for that?" grumbled Valentin, taking the photo from Rosa's hands.
"But it's a precious souvenir!" she replied, sticking her tongue out at him.
Klein handed the notebook to Rosa, who began to carefully slide the photos inside, sorting them from the oldest to the most recent. Each one represented a moment they had shared together with their class and their time studies teacher, Mrs Floralie. Valentin cherished every one of them. Except for the one with that grimace in front of that unfortunate coffee machine... Shame...
"You wanted to write a little note to her too, didn't you, Valentin?" he asked.
He nodded, feeling nostalgic.
"Yes, I did. I've got something in mind. I'll write it down after Rosa has finished sorting the photos."
Rosa continued to paste the last photos with care, while Klein applied herself to writing the captions at the bottom of the page with his black pen. For his part, Valentin watched the album fill up, page after page, filled with an emotion he couldn't quite name: somewhere between pride, melancholy and tenderness.
"Your turn, Valentin," Rosa said softly, handing him the notebook with a smile.
He took it in his hands with a certain solemnity. He thought for a moment, turned to the last page of the notebook, which was already filled with many words from his various classmates, then bent down to write. The tip of the pen grazed the paper lightly. His message wasn't long, but every word came from the heart…
"Thank you Mrs Floralie.
I'd like to thank you for your unfailing support and commitment over all the years we've spent together. I've learnt an enormous amount about the Timeline, its flows, its temporalities and its history thanks to you, and I thank you for that! You've enabled me to take the first step towards my dream of becoming a temporal agent.
Once again, thank you for everything you've done for me and others! I wish you all the best for the future! I and the others will miss you.
- Valentin Bridge."
He reread his note one last time, then gently closed the notebook, the silver ribbon glinting in the soft light of the rest room. Rosa and Klein read it too, before putting it back in Klein's coat.
A few moments later, the three friends were walking together through the corridors towards their classroom. Their footsteps echoed on the smooth floor of the Time Agency corridors, lulled by the calm white light of the Timeline through the skylights. Valentin still felt a slight twinge in his chest, but he was no longer afraid of it. When they arrived in front of their room, several of their classmates were already there. Some were rereading their latest orientation reports from the previous term, others were chatting amongst themselves. Today also marked the result of their wishes to be assigned to the various departments of the Time Agency -a detail which, until now, had completely escaped Valentin's notice. The Time Agency was made up of seven departments in total, each dealing with a different concept, but which coexisted and helped each other. Valentin remembered opting for the DTSA (for Department of Temporal Security and Arrest), whose mission was to guarantee the security and integrity of the Timeline by dealing on the ground with those who endangered it, the temporal criminals. Valentin hated them. How could anyone put the lives of billions of people at risk, simply to satisfy a personal ambition or correct a past mistake? Were they unaware of the consequences of their actions? Valentin could think about it for hundreds of years, or even thousands of years, and he still wouldn't understand their way of thinking... Whatever the case, he was ready to fight to stop them.
No sooner had they crossed the threshold of the room than silence fell. A few laughs and whispers persisted in the background, but they vanished as soon as Mrs Floralie entered in her turn, with a calm, confident step. She still exuded her natural elegance, with her suit strewn with perfectly pressed shades of grey, her jet-black hair pulled back into a precise bun, and her clear, sharp but benevolent gaze. An aura of quiet authority accompanied her wherever she went. She stopped in front of her desk, looked around the room and then gave a discreet smile.
"Hello everyone", she said simply.
She was answered by a salvo of slightly garbled "Hello Mrs". She waited a few seconds, as if savouring the moment. Then, in a calm voice, she spoke again.
"Today won't be like any other class."
She paused for a moment, then continued, moving forward slightly:
"You'll probably receive the results of your assignments later today. Some will go to the DRTAP, others to the TACD, the DTIA or the DTSA. Whatever the department, remember this: you are now the guarantors of the integrity of the Timeline."
A slight shiver ran through the room. Valentin looked briefly at Rosa, then at Klein. Both were listening attentively, the memory book carefully placed on Klein's lap.
"You will be confronted with complicated situations, some of them even dangerous. You will face troubled times and uncertain futures. You will see people lie to save what they love, others betray out of fear or ignorance. Some will beg you to change their destiny. Others will seek to impose it," she continued, her voice tinged with a hint of gravity.
Valentin clenched his fists. These words awoke in him the dark silhouette of his nightmare. He tried to banish the image. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, calming himself. Then he opened them again and turned his attention back to his teacher's words.
"And in all this, what will preserve you, protect you... will be your integrity. Your determination. Your rigour. But also the people who will be there for you when you need them most. Never be alone. Meet people. Make friends. Make meetings. Because remember this: even the most brilliant agents have never achieved anything without support."
Rosa glanced at Valentin, as if to say "We're not going to let each other down now!". Klein sat up imperceptibly, more serious than usual. There was a short silence, full of determined, friendly glances.
"This course may be our last together. But it's not an end. It's just the beginning. So... get your notebooks. I'm going to ask you one last series of practical questions. Show me what you're made of."
Valentin opened his notebook without a word. The light from the Timeline reflected lightly off the edges of the pages. His pen slid across the paper as he began to write down the first situation:
"A report of the presence of a temporal criminal was reported in Dressly in the Holy Kingdom of Beamlantern in 1371. You have been sent on a mission to investigate. To gather information, you try to interview the manager of a nearby shop. You describe the appearance of the temporal criminal, but he tells you that he will only give you information in exchange for a purchase in his shop. What do you do?"
Valentin frowned. This kind of exercise is quite complicated because the answer, although subjective, can potentially have enormous repercussions if it constitutes a danger to others... Valentin took a breath, then began to think about his answer in his notebook. Rosa, beside him, scribbled a few words before turning her notebook in his direction. He looked back for a few seconds before stifling a small laugh. Rosa had just suggested that he throw a cup of boiling tea at the salesman... Valentin responded by writing in her notebook:
"You don't waste tea like that... Use salt water instead. In addition to the heat, his skin won't recover."
On the other side, Klein, who had already written a whole paragraph, rolled his eyes.
"Really touching, your aggressiveness... I hope the Department of Free Temporal Violence is recruiting," he muttered, falsely outraged.
"We have respect, but it's just that we also have a sense of priorities. That's not the point," Rosa replied half-heartedly.
"We've got a temporal criminal to put in jail," added Valentin.
Suddenly, Mrs Floralie looked up briefly in their direction. They immediately straightened up, pretending to think hard about their exercises. Klein leaned towards them and whispered:
"If she catches us, I'll report you both. And I'll say you copied from me, just because you didn't want to work."
"What a liar! You'll see, at the end of the course, you'll be under my brushes and my make-up!" retorted Rosa, looking threatening and petty.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I wouldn't dare lie like that."
Valentin shook his head, amused despite himself, and went back to writing. The scenarios went by, each more complex than the last, and yet, deep inside him, something had calmed down. The whispers of his two friends, the discreet nudges, the little pieces of paper they passed each other with absurd drawings... All this formed a protective bubble for him. He was happy and that was the main thing. He was prepared to protect that happiness at all costs, and that was what he had been working so hard to achieve.