Sorry this chapter is so late. Things have been crazy in my world lately, but I'll go further into that in the end notes.

Maybe He Was Out for a Walk

Helena… still wasn't sure what happened. Chat Noir had been too focused on her to notice, but she saw her kidnappers. In addition to the one smeared on the side of the Arc de Triomphe, the other two had clearly broken necks and multiple wounds. Even Chat Noir had a cut on his forehead, but she had gotten away without even a bruise, and any soreness had vanished by the time she walked over to the ambulance.

The paramedic looked her over, confusion in his eyes. "This is the craziest thing…" He turned over his shoulder, calling to his partner. "Hey, Bernard!"

A woman with her hair in a brown braid turned, walking over.

"Look at this," the man said. "She's totally fine. It's like she wasn't even in the van."

The second paramedic started looking her over, checking her eyes and her reflexes. After a moment, she shook her head, amazement written all over her face. "Okay," she said, "looks like you're free to talk to the police."

"Thanks," Helena said, standing up. "Make sure to take good care of that kid. He's special."

Bernard laughed and smiled. "Oh, believe me, madame. We know." She gave her partner a soft hit to the arm. "Andres, start running a double check on our supplies and get some anti-nausea medication out. I think he's gonna need it." She turned and headed over to Chat Noir, trying for a second time to grab his attention.

Helena walked over to the police officers, her heart fluttering with anxiety as she approached. She knew what kinds of questions she'd be asked, and the thought of reliving what just happened made her skin crawl.

"Hello," the officer said. "May I get your name for the record?"

"Helena Oxley," Helena replied. "Can I know yours?"

The officer paused, looking up at her for a moment before turning his attention back to his notepad. "It's Officer Dunlap. Now, what were you doing in that van."

Helena scoffed. "Fighting off my kidnappers, that's what," she snapped. She caught herself and took a deep breath, then elaborated. "I was leaving a friend's house, and when I got to the sidewalk, a van pulled up, and two guys jumped out and grabbed me. I don't know why; I just know that I'm lucky Chat Noir was nearby."

Slowly, the officer nodded, writing down her words. "And what was he doing in the area?"

"I don't know," Helena replied, lying through her teeth. "Maybe he was out for a walk; you'd have to ask him." She glanced over to the teen, watching as he sat down on the edge of the ambulance. "All I know is that he jumped on top of the van, clawed it open, jumped in, and saved my life because of it."

"And you have no idea why they kidnapped you?"

"No. I've never even seen them before in my life."

She swallowed hard and looked over to Chat Noir- no, at Adrien. Every move he made reminded her of him now, and all she wanted to do was find Hawkmoth and kill him for what he had put that boy through. At the same time, though, there was a little something nagging at her in the back of her head, scolding her for not knowing what it was.

She blinked, and the image of Chat Noir sitting in the ambulance transformed into one of Adrien sitting on a desk. He swung his legs back and forth as he spoke to a girl his age; his arm was in a sling. With his good arm, he rubbed at the back of his neck at the same time as Chat Noir. She blinked again, and she saw Adrien as a child, sitting on his father's desk, legs swinging. Helena saw herself pick him up and take him 'flying' across the room over to Gabriel, who put a small, butterfly-shaped brooch down on the coffee table in front of him. And somewhere, deep inside her heart, Helena knew what it was.

"Madame? Madame?"

Helena blinked, jerking back to reality. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You're free to go," the officer declared. "Maybe back to the paramedics to get double-checked for a concussion."

"Uh… thanks." Helena turned and started walking away, her heart pounding in her chest, even harder than it had been those men had kidnapped her.

She knew who Hawkmoth was. She knew who Chat Noir was.

Did they know about each other?

Helena made it back to the hotel and up to her room, her hands shaking so badly she almost couldn't get into her room. She threw her purse on the sofa once inside and marched over to the computer, opening the web browser and typing in a single line:

Hawkmoth's most dangerous akumas

About 101,000 results (0.58 seconds)

Helena clicked on the first link, Akumas that probably killed someone (or at least could have)

Hello, gentle readers. Today, we're delving into a rather dark topics: akumas that have straight-up killed someone. I mean, they're not dead anymore, sure, and the victims can't remember anything from being dead, but imagine what would happen if Hawkmoth won after sending out one of those akumas. Yikes!

Anyway, on with the list!

1. Stoneheart: Yep, Hawkmoth's first akuma definitely killed people. He brought down a skyscraper, for Christ's sake!

2. The Bubbler: Once the adults were far up enough in the atmosphere, they couldn't breathe anymore.

3. Timebreaker: No one really knows for sure, but according to Ladybug's account, shit went down.

4. Gamer: He turned people into xp to power up, so I'm counting it.

5. The Collector: Collected people in his little book thingy.

6. Befana: People were turned into angels or ash, but somehow, neither of those seem all that appealing.

7. Robustus: A ton of cars were crushed or turned into parts for Robustus's body, and most of those dumped their people out beforehand, but there were some that didn't.

8. Glaciator: Ice cream. Warm night. Enough said.

9. Syren: People drowned, Susan. They drowned.

10. Bonus: Gorizilla: Okay, so no one died, but I had to include this one because did you SEE ADRIEN AGRESTE JUMP OUT OF GORIZILLA'S HAND? I know people have been controlled into doing some crazy s#!t before, but that was all the kid.

He what? Helena groaned and sat back in her chair, astonished by the boy's nerve. Sure, he was Chat Noir, but he sure as hell didn't look transformed in the accompanying photo. She'd definitely have to talk to him about that- wait, no, she didn't have any right to do that.

She let out a sigh, scrolling down the rest of the length of the page and reading the advertised articles.

Families with more than one akuma victim

Does Hawkmoth have it out for a class of collège students?

10 people who could totally be Hawkmoth

None of those did anything for her. She knew Gabriel was Hawkmoth, no doubt in her mind, she just needed to know how far he was willing to go. Pretty far, obviously, if his son was a direct victim of an akuma. And to think she'd actually started to like him!

God. She'd slept with Gabriel just last night. It felt like it was so long ago. And she probably needed to talk to him again because of the kidnapping; she was taken right in front of his house, after all.

Somehow, her train of thought wound back to the conversation she'd had with her not-parents the day before. She remembered the car crash, remembered spending months in rehab, remembered getting in a fight with her parents over her independence and leaving, not speaking to them again until that call.

Was this the Mandela Effect? Was it two alternate universes colliding into one? It was hard to say it was impossible when there was a man running around Paris making supervillains for God-knows-why.

"AAAAHHHHHHH!"

Speak of the devil.

Helena groaned and sank down in her chair. Three days. She'd been there. For three days. Not even that! She was just barely passing 48 hours! And catching her flight was out of the question by now. She might as well brave the akuma to yell at Gabriel.

Helena walked toward the door, only to stop and lean on the frame once she opened it. The world spun, and when she blinked, she was someplace else. The air smelled of metal and oil, and she hated it there. She looked up, seeing a man a few years older than here. "You knew you only got so many years."

"That's why I'm here, isn't it?" she replied without even meaning to.

Helena blinked again, and she was back in the hotel. Whatever that was…

Getting to the mansion should have been easy at only a block away, but between dodging the akuma and Ladybug and Chat Noir, it took her almost the entire fight. As she knocked on the door, she heard Ladybug call for her lucky charm in the distance.

Nathalie opened the door. "May I help you?"

"I need to talk to Gabriel," Helena grit out, short of breath from her trek. "Preferably before he does something stupid enough to reveal his identity to all of Paris."

Thank you all for your reviews on this fic; they really mean a lot to me. My work and medical lives are kind of imploding right now and your kind words really help me get through.