To Lyger 0: So I take it that you guessed where this is going?
To Armadas: I hope this epic conclusion will live up to expectations!
"Had you ever been to Africa before now?"
Lila smirked, morphing the smirk into a warm smile, and nodded to Tanja in acknowledgement. She, Tanja, Marta, and Nadine were all sitting together in the tent that Lila and Nadine had shared for the last six weeks in the section of the refugee camp set aside for the Lynchpin-ions and Dark Acolytes – what moron had decided to call it the "Villains' Ghetto"? That might have been the dumbest and most insulting name imaginable! They had come back to the tent after dinner at the dining pavilion; Nadine had begged to just play cards or something together, instead of sitting alone in the tent until bedtime. Lila had just gone along with the plan – not that there was anything else to do in this dump… They had played a couple hands of poker, but without anything to gamble, there hadn't been much point to it. In the end, they had put the cards away and just started talking.
By now it was late into the night, probably at least ten or eleven, though Lila's phone had long ago died and didn't have anything else to tell the time. Around them, the quiet voices that had filled the camp had long since died out and turned to silence outside of their tent. The only light within was provided by a simple battery-powered lantern which attracted the bugs that swarmed around it, throwing shadows on the tent's walls. Were it not for the need to see, Lila would have just left the lantern off – the only insect she could stand was Pollen. For their parts, Pollen and Hernn huddled together on the box that Lila had requisitioned to keep her things in.
"Oh, Lila's been all over the place!" Nadine interjected, beaming brightly. "Her mother is an ambassador, and she's gone on tons of trips with her! Weren't you in Achu a couple years ago?"
"That's right!" Lila agreed, raising an eyebrow. "I'm so glad you remember that! I was helping Prince Ali set up his animal rescue center for all those poor animals that were getting hunted."
Nadine nodded slowly. "I remember you talking about that – I wonder if we could have gone to see it." She glanced at Tanja and giggled. "You could talk to the animals there and find out if there's anything they need! Achu can't be too far from here, can it?"
Lila stifled a nervous hitch in her voice. "Oh, I'm sure it's nowhere near here," she began. "And I'm sure Prince Ali is far too busy right now to worry about something like that…"
Marta cocked her head, eyeing Lila suspiciously.
Tanja frowned and shook her head at Nadine. "My power doesn't exactly work that way," she told her. "Or at least not that I've been able to figure out how to do it…" She glanced down at Hernn, who shrugged.
"Some of my holders have developed that ability," Hernn squeaked. "But it takes a lot of training to get to that point."
Tanja hummed. "It's too bad I never managed to get to that point in my training."
"Well, with all the Heroes of Paris and Guardians running around, I'm sure someone here could help you out, right?" Nadine suggested.
Tanja pursed her lips. "I'm not sure if any of them would be particularly interested in helping me with that," she finally admitted. "I wish I knew what happened to–"
"–to the person who was teaching you back in Paris?" Lila finished, cutting her off. That was not a connection that Nadine needed to hear about – especially in a camp surrounded by the Heroes of Paris… "It's too bad that so many people were left behind, don't you think?"
Tanja shrugged. "Yeah – of course," she agreed hesitantly. "I mean, it's not like I know all that many people in Paris – just about all the people I really care about are here."
"Aww…" cooed Nadine. "That's so nice! Wait…" Her face suddenly fell. "Do you mean just the three of us?"
Tanja nodded to Hernn. "And him…"
Nadine frowned. "That's so sad! You really don't have anyone else? Not back home?"
Tanja scoffed. "'Back home'. Not much of a home – hadn't really been for a few years. No one back in Finland to miss me. That's why I had no problem with trading in Oslo for Paris when the opportunity presented itself."
"Well, I'm glad you came here," Marta told her. "Or there, as it were," she amended, shaking her head. "Even if we didn't exactly get along at first…"
Nadine hummed. "I'm glad, too, of course," she agreed. "But it's sad that you're so alone."
Tanja shrugged. "I'm here with you girls, right? After being alone for so long, I'm perfectly happy with my friends."
"I'd like to think I have a few more friends," Marta began, chuckling, "though after last week I'm not so sure…" She cleared her throat. "But I'm glad I can count you among them."
"Same!" Nadine agreed, looking over at Lila expectantly.
"Definitely." Lila gave them a too-wide smile. Tanja quirked an eyebrow dubiously. After a moment Lila cleared her throat, trying to push away the awkward feeling in her chest. "But anyways… it has been pretty crazy here, hasn't it?"
"Everything about this whole experience has been insane," Nadine answered, nodding. "I actually went on patrol with the heroes last week! And there was that fight–"
"Wait… what?" Lila interrupted, her eyes wide, staring at Nadine. "What did you say to them?"
Nadine shrugged. "All I did was help Miss Pinky find a place for her garden. Why? What's wrong?"
Lila froze. Placing her hand on Nadine's shoulder, she grinned. "Oh, nothing. Just – with how busy the Heroes of Paris are…"
"Yeah…"
"We really shouldn't be bothering them, should we?" Lila continued. "Not when we're all trying to figure out what we're going to do about the Tarasque. Right?"
Nadine pursed her lips but nodded. "That does make sense," she admitted, looking down sadly.
Marta frowned. "That's the trick, isn't it?" she wondered rhetorically. "We all still need each other until the Tarasque is dealt with and we can all go home."
"I can't wait until we can get back to Paris," Nadine whispered, resting her elbows on her knees.
Lila made a face. "Having to live in this camp has been absolutely awful!"
Nadine cocked her head. "But didn't you say you had to live in a Liberian refugee camp for three months while you were negotiating to resettle the refugees? I thought you were used to this kind of living?"
Lila's eyes widened, and she swallowed nervously. On the box between them, Pollen looked up at her with wide, expectant eyes. Quickly, Lila turned her reaction into a pout, sniffling. "Oh, I had tried so hard to forget about that. Those poor people! But they at least had running water and clothes that could fit. So unlike what we've had to put up with here."
"I'd say we've been doing okay," Tanja objected, raising an eyebrow. "Definitely better than living on the streets, at least."
"The Heroes of Paris are trying their best," Lila allowed. "But they just can't do it all. Take Ladybug: she tries to do everything herself, but she can't actually do it all – even with all the experience she has with her miraculous, there are still some things that she just can't manage."
"Like defeating a Tarasque?" asked Marta wryly.
"Like that."
"To be fair, it's not like any of us did any better," Tanja pointed out.
"Had you even seen anything like that before?" Nadine wondered.
Tanja shook her head. "Not even close. I spent most of my life in or around Oslo; the first time I even left the country was when I came to Paris. And there was nothing like that in Finland!"
"Wait, you'd never traveled before?" Nadine's eyes widened in surprised.
"Not really," Tanja answered.
"We travel a little more than that," Marta responded. "But same: Paris is really my first assignment out of the country."
"I'd never been out of France," Nadine told them. "At least not before the trip to Germany. I'd hoped that this would take me a little further than Paris eventually – I know the Heroes of Paris go all over the place – but…" She shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I didn't expect it to come like this. So I don't think it's Ladybug's fault." She looked over at Lila. "Had you ever seen anything like the Tarasque before?"
"No; can't say that I had," Lila admitted.
"I hope they figure something out," Nadine fretted.
Lila frowned. As much as it pained her to admit it… "We really need everyone working together if we're going to defeat it," she agreed, swallowing back the bitter taste the words left in her mouth.
"After watching what happened in Paris…" Marta shook her head ruefully. "I don't know how anyone could stop it."
Tanja nodded somberly. "That… thing… was completely unlike anything I'd ever seen. I tried to control it, but it had absolutely no effect!"
"You know I don't say this lightly," Marta mused, "but that Tarasque, that was a true aberration, a complete and utter affront to universal balance."
Tanja snorted. "I'm glad to hear you saying that about something other than us for once!" She jerked her head toward Lila and raised an eyebrow. Marta chuckled, shaking her head ruefully.
Nadine cocked her head in confusion. "But why would either of you be an aberration?" she wondered.
Lila froze, her eyes darting back and forth between Marta and Nadine. Was this going to be the piece that connected everything together for Nadine? With all of the Heroes of Paris wandering around all the time, all it would take was one wrong word…
"The Dark Acolytes–" began Marta, before Lila cut her off.
"Those Dark Acolytes just hate anyone who uses a miraculous," Lila quickly explained. Marta gave her an annoyed look. "Or at least some of them do."
Nadine hummed. "I did see you fighting against those Dark Acolytes last week," she observed to Marta.
Marta pursed her lips. "The way they were going about it… I don't know if I can really bring myself to agree with what they say anymore. At least about the penalty for using a miraculous being death. Especially not when I've gotten to know miraculous users and seen them in action."
Tanja grinned cheekily. "So we're rubbing off on you?" she teased. Reluctantly, Marta nodded.
"You are," she agreed. With a frown, she added, "Don't let it get to your head."
"So…" Nadine dragged the word out, pursing her lips. "As, um, interesting as Africa has been, do we have a plan?" she asked Lila.
"Are we going home, you mean?" Lila raised an eyebrow. Nadine nodded, her wide eyes entirely focused on Lila's face. Lila shrugged. "At the moment, that's the plan – or at least eventually. Now that we got that miraculous back and might actually have a chance against that thing."
"That's good." Nadine looked down at the ground, her shoulders slumping. "I miss my family. I miss Philippe." She sighed heavily. "It wouldn't be so bad except – I wish I knew they were all doing okay."
Surreptitiously, Lila rolled her eyes. "You mean he didn't come through the portal?"
Nadine shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't seen any of them anywhere – at least not since I arrived."
Lila resisted the urge to stick her tongue out in disgust. "Well, if he's still in Paris, I'm sure he's fine," she assured Nadine. "Not everyone made it here; he's probably got plenty of girls there to keep him company – just as you do here!"
Nadine furrowed her brows, cocking her head in confusion.
"You have a family?" interjected Tanja, her eyes wide.
Nadine started and nodded. "My parents," she explained. "And a little brother."
"Aww… I'm a little jealous." Tanja grinned, though there was a shadow in her eyes.
Lila hummed. "Didn't you say you have the rest of us for a family?"
Tanja frowned. "You haven't seemed that interested in friendship before now," she objected.
Lila shrugged. "Getting dragged down here, getting our butts kicked by the Tarasque… it makes everything feel so… real. My mother, so far as I know, is still in Paris – she was keeping the embassy running after everyone else left to escape the city. And Paris hardly exists anymore. What if the Tarasque really is the end of everything? I'd rather have friends than otherwise."
"We'll stop it!" Nadine assured her, grinning confidently.
"I hope you're right."
AN: Given that Achu is a fictional kingdom, I should probably point out that it's most likely on the Arabian Peninsula (and thus nowhere near Angola); none of the characters present actually know/remember that, though.