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Helly-Belly

After shutting the door on Adrien, Helena got dressed and pulled her still-wet hair back in a bun. She walked over to the desk in the suite's living room and turned on the computer on it, opening the web browser the second it popped up. Adrien had been… really adamant that she was Emilie, so maybe it was time to find out more about her.

She typed in the name and was immediately met with a litany of news reports discussing Emilie's disappearance, speculating what may have happened. She needed more than that, though. She needed…

A Timeline of Gabriel and Emilie Agreste's Relationship

That. That's what she needed. Helena clicked on the link and started reading through the article.

Everyone knows about Emilie Agreste's mysterious disappearance and Gabriel Agreste's departure from the public eye, but even before that, they were oddly out-of-sight for two major figures in the fashion world. As it is, it's nearly impossible to find anything about Emilie before she started dating Gabriel in 2003. They married only two months after, and the arrival of their son Adrien in 2004 had many speculating it was a shotgun wedding.

However, this cannot be the case. The timelines are close, but the don't quite add up. It's far more likely that Adrien was conceived on the honeymoon, and they just moved fast or had some sort of relationship before it came into the public eye.

The Agrestes were careful to keep Adrien out of the limelight until his fifth birthday, when he appeared in a photoshoot with Emilie, modeling the Gabriel brand's fall line. Sources say Adrien loved the camera, but his parents were reluctant to let him model.

2011 brought Nathalie Sancoeur into the Agrestes' lives as Gabriel's personal assistant. There are conflicting sources saying that Nathalie was either close friends or bitter rivals with Emilie, with no confirmation either way from the family.

On July 28th, 2016, Emilie vanished without a trace. Gabriel alerted the authorities the day of her disappearance, but they were unable to act until two days later when an official investigation was launched. As her husband, Gabriel was put under intense scrutiny, but was officially cleared of any wrongdoing on August 29th.

Helena frowned, trying to figure out why that date, July 28th, stuck out at her. It wasn't quite on the dot, but late July 2016 stuck out at her. She let intuition take over, and she walked over to her backpack. She pulled out her driver's license and passport, checking the dates on both.

Date of Issue: 29 July 2016

ISS: 07/29/2016

Helena closed the wallet and passport, a frown still on her face. Her license and passport were both issued the day after Emilie Agreste disappeared… but she had memories from before then! Of her childhood, her parents, her friends! It wasn't like she just spawned into existence on July 29th.

She shook her head, frustrated with herself for letting this kid get to her. She was there for a vacation- or at least that's what she told herself. She still hadn't managed to shake the feeling she was there for a reason.

The room shook, yanking Helena out of her thoughts, and she went out on the balcony to investigate. In the street stood a disaster of a monster, a pair of swords on its back and a series of… something attached to its belt. The akuma removed one and threw it at a building, and as it exploded, Helena realized they were grenades. This was going to get ugly fast.

She didn't think, just ran back through her room and out the door, then down the stairs. As she neared the hotel's entrance, André stepped in front of her.

"Mme. Oxley, I'm so sorry you're having to see this part of our city," he said. "Rest assured, Ladybug and Chat Noir have it handled."

"No, they don't." Helena wasn't sure where the claim came from as she ran past him and out into the street. Instantly, she was overwhelmed. Smoke filled her lungs and burned her nose and throat, bright flashes blinded her, and glass shattering seemed to be the only thing she could hear. Despite this, her eyes were drawn to an elderly Chinese man removing a bracelet from his wrist and handing it off to a teenage boy. She dismissed the sight and continued looking around, seeing Chat Noir lying in the street, eyes bright blue and glazed over. Next to him was Ladybug, fending off the akuma's attacks and trying desperately to protect her partner.

Helena stepped forward just as Ladybug broke away, keeping the akuma's attention on her instead of Chat Noir. Thank God.

Where did that thought come from?

"Ma'am, you need to get out of the street; it's not safe."

Helena turned her attention to her right and saw a young man- no, a teenager- in a green suit somewhat similar to Ladybug and Chat Noir's. She looked him up and down, her mind racing as she tried to pick out where she'd seen him before. "Right…" She took a step back, and the hero in green raced over to Chat Noir, trying to pull him out of his trance.

She looked to Ladybug again and saw that she'd somehow lost her yoyo and was fighting the akuma hand-to-hand. Go left. Ladybug ducked right and straight into the akuma's fist. She coughed, the breath knocked out of her, and Helena knew she wouldn't be able to recover on her own.

The akuma pulled out one of its swords, and Helena took off running. The akuma lifted its sword over its head. Helena lunged, tackling Ladybug out of the way of the sword as it came down. She grabbed a piece of glass off the ground and spun, throwing it at the akuma. It embedded itself in its hand, and Helena stood, pulling Ladybug up and running into a building as the akuma recovered.

"You… shouldn't… have done that," Ladybug declared, coughing intermittently.

"I had to; it would have killed you if I hadn't," Helena insisted. "Are you okay, kid?"

Ladybug nodded, steadying her breath, then asked, "Who are you?"

"Helena Oxley."

The reaction was not entirely dissimilar to the reactions she'd gotten from everyone else in Paris, but Ladybug managed to reign it in before mentioning Emilie. "Stay here until the akuma's been defeated," she finally said.

"SHELTER!"

Ladybug cursed under her breath, and they both looked out the window to see Carapace holding up a shield against the akuma, Chat Noir laying on the ground behind him. She looked back to Helena. "Stay," she repeated before running off into the battle once more.

"You okay, lady? That was intense!"

Helena nodded, paying the speaker no mind as she watched the rest of the battle. In minutes, Ladybug captured the akuma and purified it before setting the world back to normal. Helena walked out of the building as Carapace and Chat Noir left, and Ladybug noticed her, walking over.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" she asked. "Your accent- you must not be used to this."

"I'm okay; you're the one people should be worrying about," Helena insisted. "You're… what, fifteen? I bet your birthday was just last month!"

Ladybug blinked, obviously caught off guard. "I'm fine," she replied. "This is my job. You shouldn't get involved; it's dangerous."

Helena scoffed "I could say the same to you, kid."

Again, it was clear that something she said had put Ladybug off. "No one's gotten my exact age before, much less been so sure of it. The closest person is someone who'd spent over a year trying to figure out my identity."

"Um…" Helena stalled, trying to think up a reason, only to realize she didn't have one. "Lucky guess."

Ladybug's earrings beeped, and she winced. "I have to go. Don't get involved in any more akuma fights!"

Helena watched as Ladybug swung away, but her mind still raced with adrenaline. She wasn't sure how long she stood there, but when she felt someone bump into her, she snapped out of it.

"I'm terribly sorry, ma'am- Helena."

Helena looked to the man who bumped into her and saw none other than Gabriel. "Oh, uh… Gabriel, fancy seeing you here." She let out a nervous laugh and felt her heart flutter for a reason completely unrelated to the fight.

Gabriel smiled at her. "I do live around the corner," he teased.

"You do?"

"I do," Gabriel confirmed. He seemed to hesitate for a minute, then said, "There's a gala I have to go to tonight, and I would love some company. Would you like to be my plus one?"

"Uh…" Helena wasn't sure why she didn't immediately turn him down. She didn't know this man, just that his missing wife happened to look a lot like her, but still she couldn't say it. Something inside her pulled her to him. "I don't have anything to wear for a fancy gala."

Gabriel laughed a little. "I'm a designer, Helena," he said, "I think I can find you something."

Say no, say no, say no. "Sure. I'd love to."

"I'll have my assistant drop off a dress, and I'll pick you up at seven. What's your room number?"

"387."

"I can't wait."

As he walked away, Helena's rapidly drifted to why did I do that what the hell is wrong with me he's gonna get his hopes up and think I'm Emilie, but she squashed them down as she made her way back to her hotel. What the hell was she doing?

When she got back and saw the computer, still open to an article about Emilie and Gabriel, she knew. She had a life she had to get back to, but she also needed confirmation of it from before July of 2016. It had been years since she spoke to her parents, but she remembered their number with ease; once she talked to them, she might be able to get the numbers of some of her old school friends, figure out just what was going on between her and Emilie.

Helena walked over to the hotel's phone and picked it up, dialing in that familiar number and waiting for the ringing to stop.

"Hello?" It was an exhausted, frail-sounding man on the other end, and Helena couldn't help but wince. Dad hadn't sounded that bad last time she talked with him. Then again, she reasoned, it was also around five in the morning there.

"Hey, Dad," she greeted, a smile forced onto her face.

Instantly, the man's tone changed from tired to absolutely ecstatic. "Helena!" he cheered. "Oh, it's so good to hear from you, darling! How are you doing today?"

"I'm good, Dad," she replied. "Uh, look, I was wondering if… if you and Mom had another kid? Or… somehow knew a woman in Paris named Emilie? She's about my age."

The man laughed. "Don't be silly, Helly-Belly. You know you're an only child- and a rebellious one at that; there's no way your mother and I could have handled two of you!"

Helena let out a sigh, whether one of frustration or relief, she wasn't sure. "Yeah… right, of course, I just-"

"Who is this?" Helena was cut off by an angry woman, one who sounded around the same age as the man but in better health. Again, she asked, "Who is this?"

"Mom, it's me," Helena explained. "I know we haven't talked in a while, but-"

"Whatever the hell kind of scam you're running, you can fuck right off with it," the woman snapped. "My daughter died in a car crash three years ago."