Thirty minutes after the meeting ended, Sabrina sat on her cot, shoulders hunched over, staring down at the hard ground beneath her feet. On her walk back to the tent, she had passed several groups of the heroes, most of whose emotions had displayed ambivalence toward her – after the last few weeks, that was a nice change of pace from the outright hostility she had experienced when she initially returned. She frowned. She deserved all the anger and resentment she got: she had turned on her friends and tried to take away their miraculous, all to bring back her boyfriend… who had sacrificed his life so she could life – she and all the refugees living in the camp. He had been such a hero, and how had she repaid that? By smearing his memory and committing evil in his name.

She sniffled, sensing a hint of annoyance and frustration from somewhere outside the bounds of Hero Town – probably one of the civilians. Marinette had entrusted her with her miraculous. She had forgiven her, even if she didn't fully trust her yet. Of course, Sabrina couldn't fault Marinette for needing time to rebuild that trust; she didn't trust herself after what she had done.

Even if the people of Paris finally moved on and trusted her again, could she forget what she had done?

Sighing heavily, Sabrina closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe slowly and deeply. She had made her choice then, and now she had to live with it. All she could do was make better choices now, try to regain the trust she had broken.

A soft nickering roused her from her contemplation, and Sabrina opened her eyes again, glancing down at her lap. Nooroo and Kaalki perched on Sabrina's knees, looking up at her with wide, concerned eyes. On the other side of the tent, Aisha lay curled up on Chloe's bed, dozing after her training session with the other Initiates that morning – Sabrina had watched some of it before they sent their scouts, and she had been impressed: if she hadn't known any better, she would have assumed Aisha had grown up at the temple, rather than coming to it only a handful of months ago. Sabrina gave her a fond smile before focusing her attention back on the Kwamis. Pulling a package of fruit gummies out of the carton sitting on the crate between the two cots, she tore it open and handed it to Nooroo, who picked out a couple before passing the bag to Kaalki.

Kaalki poke her head inside the package and stuck out her tongue in disgust. "These things again?" Shuddering, she pulled out an orange-flavored one and popped it into her mouth. "It doesn't even taste like real fruit – to say nothing of the texture…"

"Sorry I don't have anything better to offer you," Sabrina apologized. She frowned, her stomach clenching as she looked off toward the far side of the tent. Back in Paris, she had kept a ready supply of fruit – grapes, apples, and carrots especially – in her room for the Kwamis, along with dried fruit chips in her purse. So often Max had forgotten to pack food – for Kaalki or for himself – and she had shared her lunch with him more times than she could count. She swallowed, her throat beginning to close up. "Max…"

Nooroo patted her hand, stroking her thumb with one of his paws. "I understand," he squeaked, his eyes wide and sad. "I know it hurts." His antennae drooped. "This loss will be there for a long time, even if you have accepted the reality of it."

Sabrina's hands clenched and unclenched helplessly. She sniffled. "It's just–there wasn't any closure, you know?" Her shoulders slumped. "We were fighting the Tarasque at Sorbonne University, and then he was pushing me through the portal, and then…" Her breathing hitched. She couldn't bring herself to say it. Finally she managed to add, "And almost before I could even take time to breathe, we had to start getting the camp in order. I know what happened," she went on quickly, as Nooroo started to open his mouth. "I know he's gone. I know it… but every time I think I might be starting to move past it, there's something else that comes up and I think about him again. About how much I wish he was here with me. Or how he would always come up with exactly the right solution to a problem."

"That's how you remember it?" snorted Kaalki, whinnying and tossing her mane. "He would have been absolutely lost without you. There were days he would have forgotten to sleep, had you not reminded him to do it! But you were good for him – just as he was for you."

Hesitantly, Sabrina nodded, shuddering. "I know." Finally she looked over at Nooroo, still staring up at her. "I'm–I'm so sorry," she whispered, swallowing hard. "For what I did." She sniffled, blinking back tears, shame welling up within her. "I promised never to hurt you the way that–that Gabriel did… but I did it anyways."

Nooroo fluttered up to sit on her shoulder. "Oh, Sabrina," he tittered. "That is the difference between you and my previous holder. He never felt any remorse for his actions; you have felt nothing but remorse since it happened."

"I–I so want to make up for what I did," she told him, her voice cracking. "And Marinette says that this will make up for it – that we're going to fight the Tarasque again, now that we've found it. Or at least in her eyes it will help to make up for it… will help the people of Paris to trust me again."

"That may be the case with them. But not so with me. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing you need to do," Nooroo insisted, his wings fluttering against her neck. She squeezed her eyes shut. "Simply being remorseful suffices to me."

"You know how remorseful I am," Sabrina murmured, wiping unshed tears away from her eyes.

Kaalki shook her head, rolling her eyes at Nooroo. "You are so forgiving," she observed.

Sabrina's lips turned down into a frown. "I'm sorry for pulling you into it, also," she told Kaalki. "I–"

Kaalki scoffed, flitting closer and placing a paw on Sabrina's cheek . "There's nothing to forgive," she interrupted, "because I was right there with you! Oh, maybe not on the Wish," she added quickly, "but believe me: I want to get that Tarasque-monster back for what it did to my kid, just as much as you."

"Well, we don't have to wait too long before we'll get the chance." Sabrina's stomach clenched. "We're going home – or at least back to Paris." She frowned and turned to Nooroo. "We're going to use an Akuma on Killer-Bee," she explained.

Nooroo's eyes widened in shock. "R–really?"

Sabrina nodded. "That's the plan. I will be able to keep her in line, right? I can do that with all my other Champions."

"Given that she is likewise a miraculous holder, It… depends on willpower," Nooroo explained delicately. "To 'control' any miraculous holder, and particularly one with a miraculous on a similar power level to your own, you must be strong in your purpose."

Sabrina's mouth set in a thin line, her eyes hardening. "After everything it did to my city – after everything it did to the people that I love… I don't think that will be a problem. I will to anything to stop the Tarasque."

"Very well," Nooroo responded, as the tent flap opened and Chloe stepped inside, Bee-atrice held in her arms.

"Ohhh…" Chloe groaned, edging around Anne's cot and moving further into the tent, turning around to flop down on her own cot. Sabrina hissed at her, drawing her attention, and Chloe finally glanced down at Aisha, just as she was about to lie down. Chloe's eyes very suddenly shot wide open, and she nearly stumbled before catching herself. Bee-atrice fell out of Chloe's arms, landed on the cot next to Aisha, and bounced off again to land on the ground in front of Sabrina. Before the puppy could run away, Sabrina lunged for her, grabbing her by the scruff of the neck and pulling her up onto the bed. Watching this unfold, Chloe shook her head and collapsed onto Sabrina's cot, which creaked from the sudden shift in weight. "One of these days, these girls will have to move back to their own tents," Chloe mused quietly, arching an eyebrow. Unconsciously, she reached over and started scratching Bee-atrice behind her ears. "I am not moving them all back to Paris with us when we go home!"

"Aww…" Sabrina pouted, giving her a wan smile. "Can't we keep them?" She chuckled. "Anyways, weren't you the one who insisted on this month-long sleepover?"

Chloe nodded in amusement, arching an eyebrow. "Until Bri decided that she was too good for us!"

Sabrina pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them, swallowing. "She's lucky," she whispered. Her stomach clenched. "They both are."

Chloe let out a breath. "Sorry."

"No… it's all right." Sabrina turned away from Chloe to find Nooroo giving her a knowing look. "So… how is the plan coming?" she asked Chloe quickly.

Chloe shrugged. "As well as you can expect under the circumstances," she answered. "Now that we actually know where we are going and what to expect, everyone is suddenly in a flurry of activity. Marinette has me checking in with all of our allies on an almost hourly basis, just to make sure they are clear on their roles in the fight. And then there's Adrien, who is constantly demanding that I reassign a different hero as Ladybug's personal bodyguard–"

"I thought that was his job," Sabrina interrupted, giggling.

"I think he's being ridiculous," Chloe retorted, arching an eyebrow. She groaned. "I'm glad we have a plan now… but it's getting to be such a headache."

Sabrina put a hand on Chloe's arm. Concentrating, she could feel the anxiety and tension that Chloe was trying to hide – from herself as much as from anyone else. She could feel the nerves, the worry. Chloe was so good at putting up a façade, at pretending to be so much stronger and more composed than she really was. But despite her best efforts, Sabrina could still read her like an open book. "You don't need to put up the wall," Sabrina told her quietly.

Chloe shook her head wanly. "Analyzing me again?" She sighed heavily. "I'm worried," she admitted. "Things went badly last time, and people died." Sabrina's breathing hitched. Chloe covered Sabrina's hand. "Sorry. We lost a lot of good people, all of whom were fighting to keep the rest of us safe. But if it happens again this time, if the Tarasque proves to be too much for us, what do we do? We don't really have a 'Plan B'…"

Sabrina swallowed hard, her mouth setting in a thin line. "Then we'd better hope we don't need a Plan B."