Chapter 5: Negotiation, An Important Business Skill

It was around two in the morning when fluttering wings drew Gigi's attention.

"You are awake, Gabriel?" said Tikki, very softly so as to not wake Marinette. Granted, it probably would've taken a flashbang grenade to stir Marinette from her current level of sleep, but better safe than sorry.

I am what you have made me, came Gigi's reply, just as quietly. And part of that is 'nocturnal.'

"What is it that you think that you are doing?"

Gigi's stare was a blank one.

I am staring at the walls of Marinette's bedroom, as on any other night, he replied. I am suppressing the urge to take a run on that plastic wheel, as it would be noisy, as well as a bit degrading. Albeit fun, I will grant. I am suppressing another urge, to climb into that little box in the corner of my cage, and to do something else there that you would enjoy witnessing far too much.

"First off, ewwww. No one wants to watch you do that, trust me," grimaced Tikki. "And secondly, you keep claiming that you didn't poo into cardboard boxes regularly when you were human, and I'm still not buying it."

I ASSUME, sniffed Gigi, in a failed attempt to pretend that Tikki's quip went unheard or had missed its mark, that you did not come over here merely to insult me.

"I did not," she confirmed. "I'm... it's something else."

Well?

Tikki studied him from all angles, fluttering around the cage, making Gigi uncomfortable. "I am not sensing... any signs... of recent magical activity. Other than your inherent transformation," she muttered aloud. "Not that I should have expected to. But..."

Out with it. What is it that you suspect me of doing? What am I even capable of doing? frowned Gigi. Look at me. I can open my cage door, and I know where the Miracle Box is, but could I open Marinette's closet door without aid? Or even reach its doorknob? Or open the Box itself? Or seize a Miraculous ring, which you have told me wouldn't work for me anyway, without its Kwami appearing and turning me into a doorstop?

"Fine. I'm being being a bit rude, I'll admit. Let me ask you something different, then," offered Tikki. "You have sent out more Akumas than any other living being in four centuries. You are better attuned to Nooroo's power than anyone else alive. Close your eyes. Feel the air. Really feel it, deep inside you. Do you sense anything?"

Grudgingly, Gigi concentrated for several seconds.

No, I do not, he answered. I smell lavender, likely from Marinette's bath soap. There is a cinnamony aroma as well, likely from the bakery downstairs-

"Don't use your nose to smell. Sensitive as yours is now," Tikki interrupted him. "Use your soul."

Again, Gigi's eyes closed.

"...Anything?" the Kwami wondered.

It's... subtle.

Gigi's frown was easy to discern, even if one was not fully accustomed to deciphering hamsters' facial expressions. If I was not as familiar with the Moth as you say, I could not have sensed anything. I am not entirely sure that I am sensing it now, and not perceiving what it is that you want me to perceive, he noted. But there is a faint... pulse? of some sort that seems... oddly familiar to me.

"Is it the Moth? Has someone activated it and claimed Nooroo as their own, as you once did?" asked Tikki. "I asked Wayzz, and he said that he felt no 'pull,' such as he did when you first became Hawkmoth. But he was active and also out in the open then, not resting in the Miracle Box when that happened."

I do not think so? he pondered. I am not a Kwami, so I cannot feel Miraculous awakenings as you might...

"You're more magic than living creature right now," Tikki assured him. "So, go on. I'm listening."

It is hard to pinpoint. Whatever this is, it is very faint, and it is not constant. Like a chirping sound that some machine makes in a room you are in, but only at occasional intervals, he clarified. But once you start hearing it, it may be hard to stop hearing it, or even anticipating its next beat, maddening as it may become. If someone was using the Moth and creating active Akumas, its power flow would be more of a steady hum than this, I would think.

"I tend to agree," admitted Tikki. "And I can't think of a way in which you could be reaching out as Monarch, 'beyond the grave,' so to speak... so if I sounded like I was accusing you just now, I apologize."

Apology accepted, Gigi grumbled. He then stood very still, as if lost in thought. You would not be asking me about this if you did not sense something very disturbing yourself, he reasoned further. What have you encountered?

"The same as you just told me. A sense of wrongness, of energies gathering and dissipating, only for a moment at a time," said Tikki. "Faint, but strong enough to feel as if it is happening here in Paris. Part of me was hoping that I could catch you scheming, banish you to some other dimension and be done with it."

I do thank you for holding back on that, said Gigi, dryly. This incarnation leaves much to be desired, but at least I have a roof over my head and food pellets here, rather than floating in an endless void.

"And i feel it more strongly today than I did yesterday. That concerns me," she continued. "It's strong enough now that you can sense it at all, which even in this form, you probably shouldn't."

Is Marinette in danger? Is Adrien? What are you...

For a moment, Tikki stared at Gigi with obvious surprise.

What is it?

"You asked about Marinette first. Not yourself. Not even Adrien," she explained. "I didn't expect that."

She is my primary caretaker, is she not? Gigi evaded. And Adrien's. And of far, far more than that.

"I've been listening to some of your conversations with her. I am not about to declare you repentant, by any stretch of the imagination," insisted Tikki. "But your tone has certainly changed for the better."

Marinette is a remarkable child, I will grant. Her heart and will and imagination are equally formidable. I now recognize how she bested me, time and time again, with relative ease.

"I will quibble with you there. Except for your final clash, she didn't best you alone... they bested you, time and time again," Tikki reminded him. "And she is certainly no longer a child."

No, she is not. She is a young woman, blossoming before our eyes. The world will be her oyster, once she is ready to seize it. She was mature enough to match me, power for power without any cooldowns in our showdown, he replied. And she is a surprisingly promising match for my Adrien.

When Tikki raised an eyebrow at that, he smirked, i am not ready to welcome her into the family YET, as I still find her to be impulsive, unrefined and frightfully impertinent at times... but that is a father speaking, who wants perfection for his son, and who must yet agree that his son has indeed aimed high.

"You didn't think that a few weeks ago," chuckled Tikki. "I must admit that part of your... punishment, if you will... was to give you an opportunity to get to know Marinette and to recognize the impact of your actions. Both upon her... and, by extension, upon Adrien."

How about this, then? I wholeheartedly accept that this world is a kinder and safer place with Marinette in it, and with her holding the power of the Ladybug. And perhaps no person will be watched over more carefully than Adrien... in both of her forms. That is a world that I can accept for him. A proper world.

"How gracious of you," Tikki snarked.

As for the boy... yes, he played a substantial role in my defeats as well. I must not discount his contributions, admitted Gigi. His bravery and tenacity were as mighty as his ever-yapping mouth.

"As you know, he has been my host as well, on occasion," she noted. "I can vouch that Chat Noir has just as caring and tender of a heart as Marinette's... a perfect complement to Ladybug."

Gigi stared at her, weighing the possibilities...

Is there something that you wish to tell me about Chat Noir? he asked, testing the waters. Something else that I should know?

"It would not be my place to tell, if there was something to tell," said Tikki, simply, "even if the magic would allow me."

Marinette confirmed that my son has had a Miraculous on at least one occasion. Implying that if I speak to him, mind-to-mind... he could hear me. If I speak to Chat Noir, am I speaking... to Adrien?

"Gabriel," Tikki sighed, "I cannot stop you from projecting to either of them. Regarding Chat Noir, I will remind you that his Kwami absolutely hates you. Plagg has been discussing this with his host for about a week now... a host who can kill with a powered-up touch. Your call, but I don't think I'd want to chance it in a defenseless hamster body."

I thought that I was impervious to all harm?

"To physical harm. A Cataclysm is very potent magical harm. Big difference there."

Very good to be aware of, Gigi shuddered.

"And as for your son... just think before you act, please?" pleaded Tikki. "He is a charming young man, and Marinette simply adores him. He is in a very fragile emotional state, and Marinette is helping him through that. Consider what a voice in his head saying 'Hello, I am your dead father who was the Monarch and is now a psychic hamster' would do to him."

Believe me... scarcely an hour passes in which I do not consider that.

At that, Tikki departed, leaving Gigi alone with his thoughts once more, and a newfound and uncomfortable sense of vigilance.

Something has to give.

It was a lazy afternoon, three days later, when Marinette caught herself gazing across her bedroom and watching Gigi sleep. His tiny body twitched slightly, and there was an occasional faint snuffling sound as if he was undecided where he was willing to commit to snoring or not.

I get it. I really do, she thought to herself. It was brilliant of Tikki to work this out the way that she did. Saving Gabriel's life, even as he was throwing it away. A chance for his redemption. To turn this new world into something better than just... HIS desires for it.

And is there anyone more qualified than me to watch over him? Probably not. The Order of the Guardians could do it... but then he couldn't see the results of his choices. Or his son. Especially his son. And who even knows how to mail a hamster to Tibet safely, and what would it cost? And I'd have to see Su-Han for the address and I REALLY don't want to see him just yet, after what happened.

And I have wanted a hamster for a very long time! And he IS so darn cute.

But he's not a hamster. He's not a real hamster. I can't let myself OH MY GOD LOOK AT THAT LITTLE NOSE TWITCHING IN HIS SLEEP HE IS ADORBS!

FOCUS, Marinette, she demanded. You know what he really is. You're a teenage girl with your boyfriend's father living secretly in your bedroom. How can that even begin to be a good thing?

It can't be a long-term thing. It just can't. I don't know how long I can keep up the charade.

Mama and Papa have to be wondering by now. "Oh, a bird dropped him on our roof!" I'm so sure they bought that.

And as for HIM... I don't like him. I don't know that I ever will, or can.

I mean, I understand a lot more about him now... in talking with him, now Hawkmoth's - Monarch's - endless quest makes a lot more sense as to how and why it happened.

I despise what he did with the Miraculous. I don't hate... him... as much, knowing why he did it. Now that he's acting like a normal person around me, which is hilarious when I think about it, given what he looks like now... and not like GABRIEL AGRESTE, we can certainly coexist for a while.

I think he understands me a little better now, too. Maybe he's just humbled by his pooping in a box now. Maybe he's making nice so that I'll take good care of him. A little of each?

But so many ways in which I know he's mistreated Adrien...

It's up to Adrien to forgive him for those. Not me.

And that still doesn't tell me what I'm going to DO WITH HIM?

He's a grown man, but now he has to be handled like a tiny child, even while he thinks like Gabriel. That can't be good for his state of mind...

Yes, he's paying the price for his misdeeds, but how long can we keep this up?

And what happens when we can't any more?

As she watched over him, Gigi rolled over in his sleep, exposing his furry belly.

I guess I should just enjoy what I can while I can, she smiled. Look at those BELLY SPOTS!

When Gigi awoke later that evening, he stretched his front paws out... and frowned.

That sensation... that pulse in the background that Tikki and I spoke of. It's strengthening, and doing so rapidly. If I can sense it without Tikki's prompting now, then...

He glanced around the room, finding himself alone. The room lights were on, but there was no sign of Marinette.

Marinette? Tikki? Are you nearby? he projected, with no response.

Without much effort, he popped the simple latch on his cage and scurried across the desk, back and forth, in the hamster equivalent of worried pacing.

Marinette needs to know about this. Surely, Tikki has told her about her concerns? he reasoned. Whatever this is, it is not someone using the Moth to create new Akumas, I am sure of it. Based on intuition and experience alone, but I am sure of it. The aura, the... SCENT of power, of newly unleashed energy, I know it because I did it myself a hundred times, even if I didn't have an animal's sense of smell or an innate magical attunement then.

This almost feels... stale by comparison.

Potent, though! Potent enough to be detectable this far from wherever it is! And on the move, an active threat!

What am I going to DO?

Scanning the room, he fretted, I have few options. I cannot turn on her computer by myself, so as to send her a message that way. She would have taken her phone with her, but of course I do not have one of my own. And the closet door, where the Miraculous are in hiding... as she noted, even if I could get through that door, I cannot wield one myself.

WAIT!

The sound of footsteps on the stairs made his tiny ears twitch with excitement.

MARINETTE! he projected in that direction. I must speak with you urgently! If you are not alone, make an excuse and withdraw with me to somewhere that we can...

The hatch from the stairwell opened, and Gigi's mood fell.

Ah. This would be trickier.

Sabine entered the room carrying a laundry basket, filled nearly to the top with a variety of items. She went over to Marinette's dresser with it, and began folding and sorting items and placing them on top for her daughter to put away when she returned.

"I do appreciate having a daughter who does her own laundry," she muttered to herself. "Now, if I could just get her to remember to empty the clothes dryer...!"

A squeak from behind her made her turn around and glance at Gigi, who was perched on the desk between the cage and the dollhouse, staring at her.

"Hmmph. Did Marinette leave you out, or are you a sneaky little devil?" she wondered. "Just a moment and I'll attend to you."

The squeaking intensified.

"Fine," grumbled Sabine, walking over and scooping up the hamster. It nearly leapt into her grasp, but then wriggled in protest as she maneuvered it back into its cage and latched the door.

"You know that Marinette would rather have you in here when she's not home," she lectured him through the thin cage wall. "And she's out with a friend right now. She wouldn't want to come back and find that you've been nibbling on her things... or pooping all over them."

There it is again, she thought, watching Gigi's reaction to that statement. He doesn't look angry so much as... disgusted by the notion, that I'd think that he'd do that?

Stepping back to finish up the laundry-folding, a familiar sound made her pause and turn. Sure enough, there was Gigi... reaching a tiny paw through the cage door, fiddling with the latch and popping the door open!

"Hey! What did I just tell you?" she exclaimed, picking him up once more.

It let out a barrage of squeaks, as if trying to explain something to her...

I suppose that I could not be so lucky as to your having hosted a Miraculous at one time or another? projected Gigi, as hard as he could. That you are not unfamiliar with these magics and games that are in play in your city?

Privately, he weighed his words carefully. I do not believe that she is aware that her daughter is Ladybug, he reasoned. I must at least try to protect Marinette's secret until she is ready to share it with her family.

Sabine stared down at him, not unkindly, but also not responding in any way to his mentally-projected words.

Lovely. We shall have to do this the hard way.

As she picked him up, he let loose with a most undignified series of squeaks and chirps, intent on passing on his level of urgency to her, if nothing else.

"It's a good thing that you're so darned cute," mused Sabine, studying him. "Because you can be a little troublemaker, I see. You are so much smarter than you look."

Thank the heavens for THAT, he grumbled.

"So what is it that you want?" Sabine asked. "Can you... show me, somehow?"

A tiny paw reached out and pointed to Marinette's computer desk.

Sabine watched this, looked at the desk, looked back at Gigi... and noted that he was still pointing there, with even more emphasis.

"Okay..." she said, carrying him over and setting him down by the mouse. "I don't know what you think that you're going to do here."

The hamster stared at the monitor, which was off. It scrambled around the desk briefly, as if checking the connections, then tapped the closed laptop as if asking, "Turn it on, please?"

"Oh, no," Sabine chided him. "I don't know what kind of program she was running to amuse you earlier. I don't mess with her computer. You'll have to wait for her to come home... what?"

Again, she watched with some astonishment. Having checked that the power cable was plugged in, Gigi was pushing at the laptop lid with all of his miniscule might, seemingly understanding that that was a vital piece of the process. It wasn't budging, but he wasn't stopping.

"You're... I don't believe this," she muttered to herself.

He paused, out of breath and ideas. Looking around the desk, it was as if a light bulb went off over his tiny head; he darted over to the remote control for Marinette's television, instead. Surveying it briefly, he spun it around to face the TV, clicked the Power button to turn it on, and was reaching for the channel selector when two firm hands grabbed and lifted him.

Seeing a range of emotions in Sabine's eyes, Gigi held still, not knowing what to expect.

"Stop right there," she demanded. "I may be an everyday woman, but I've seen some... strange things in recent months... and I'm not an idiot. I don't know what you are, but I know what you're not, and that's an ordinary hamster."

I have blown my cover, fretted Gigi, sighing quietly. And the only way for me to explain myself directly is for her to discover the Miracle Box, so that she can hear my words... which would betray Marinette's trust. I...

...I will not allow that.

"Look at me!" insisted Sabine, drawing a small squeak of protest. "Don't zone out on me like that. We're going to have a talk, you and I."

Gigi nodded slightly, which widened Sabine's eyes a bit.

"You can understand every word I'm saying, can't you?" she accused him.

When he nodded in the affirmative, she let out a small shriek and stepped back, dropping him on the desk in the process. He held his ground and gaze, a bit rattled by the rough handling but intent on seeing this through.

"Okay..." she ventured, hesitantly approaching him once more. She reached out, unsure of whether or not it would be safe to pick him up, then settled for staring him down for now. He watched her do so, attentively and motionless.

"Can you talk?"

He shook his head briefly, then squeaked, as if to demonstrate his vocal capabilities.

"But you understand yes and no. You can gesture yes and no. I just watched you do that," she recalled, this time not recoiling from his confirming nod. "Then be honest with me now, okay? If you lie to me, at all, I promise you that I will carry you straight up to the balcony and pitch you right off the roof, whatever you are."

As he clasped his front paws out in a submissive gesture, as if pleading "Please don't do that," she studied him for a moment.

"Answer me," she continued. "Are you here for a reason?"

Nod.

"Are you here to hurt my daughter in ANY WAY?"

VIGOROUS head-shake.

"I mean it. Magical hamsters just don't... show up. You're not part of some Akuma, or some plan of Monarch's?"

Firm head-shake.

"What the heck ARE you?" she wondered. "Wait, that's not yes or no. Are you... hmmm. Are you one of those things that one of Marinette's teachers claimed to have discovered? The little floating magic animals that have something to do with the Miraculous?"

Head-shake.

"You are here to help, somehow?"

Nod!

"To help Marinette with something?"

NOD!

"And there's something that you think you have to do right now?"

NOD NOD NOD!

"...All right," she relented. "Show me. But I'm watching you, and at the very least, mess with me and you'll go underneath this laundry basket with something heavy on top of it. I'd like to see you unlatch that."

Moving very slowly and deliberately to demonstrate a lack of sneakiness, Gigi walked over to the remote control once more. He switched the channel over to TVi.

If I know this tabloid news network, he reasoned, even the vaguest hint of villainous activity will bring these ambulance-chasers running. Surely, they will - ah, yes.

** SPECIAL REPORT - AKUMA ACTIVITY? ** blared out from the chyron at the bottom of the screen, while the familiar sight of Nadja Chamack on location filled the rest of it.

"Okay, we're taking you now to our resident Hawkmothologist, Peter Alden, in studio. Peter?" she declared. The screen split between Nadja and a bespectacled man standing by a whiteboard filled with diagrams and scribblings. "Ladybug and Chat Noir had informed us that Monarch had been captured, and that we should be safe for the moment. Has our vacation from Miraculous terror ended?"

"It is difficult to say," Peter ventured, with the look of someone who wasn't entirely comfortable being in front of television cameras. "The phenomena reported by several witnesses near Montmartre certainly seem to have Akuma-esque properties. They are definitely not natural, and I must stress, they appear to be quite potentially dangerous! Do not approach them if you see them; call our hotline instead, with the details of what you have seen, from a safe distance. And whatever you feel a safe distance may be, double it until we know what we're dealing with."

"You heard him, viewers," Nadja agreed. "That number is-"

"Selfies with them are right out," Peter added.

"I would like to think that goes without saying, but... well, we know what some of our viewers can be like," she conceded. "What makes you think that Monarch may not have returned?"

"Well, there are a couple of things," he replied, tapping illegible portions of his whiteboard with a pointer. "For one, traditional Akumas are somewhat... one-dimensional. They have a theme, they have powers that support that theme, and they lash out until they are defeated by our resident heroes. This entity seems... more complicated. And unstable, to say the least. Early sightings of it indicated that it appeared and disappeared, showing up and then vanishing like a soap bubble on a summer day. And while it appears to be more... permanent now..."

"Go on."

"...its characteristics keep shifting. Its color scheme, the hints of what powers it contains. One moment it emits tiny electrical arcs, another makes it seem more of a brute-force threat, and then other manifestations differ. It's as if it can't make its mind up as to what it wants to be, so it's trying them all out at once. Which is still quite dangerous to its surrounding area, I must stress again."

"What has it done so far?" Nadja persisted. "Perhaps that will give us a clue as to its true composition."

"That is the other oddity," Peter stressed. "Typically, an Akuma is not at all shy about declaring its existence and its purpose. This entity has not spoken, as far as we have heard, and is... wandering, I suppose you could say. Or if it does have a goal, it's as if the goal is as malleable as its physical form, shifting back and forth. Instead of targeting someone or something specific, lashing out, as of yet it just... is."

I do not like this. I do not like this at all, Gigi growled to himself. There is a certain... familiarity to what I am hearing here, but I cannot put a finger on it... and yet my sense of responsibility is tingling.

"Do you know what this is?" asked Sabine.

GIgi's eyes were glued to the screen, and one of his paws waved at her in a polite, but unmistakable gesture of Please shush, I'm watching this.

"Hmmph," she grunted, unamused.

"I have word that we do have some video footage of the phenomenon?" Nadja asked Peter.

"Yesssss... we do," he confirmed. "Some idiot-"

"Some brave but misguided viewer," Nadja quickly interrupted, "managed to capture the phenomenon on his cell phone. So if you see anything resembling this, keep a safe distance, and we'll hope that Ladybug and Chat Noir are available soon to investigate."

The video played. Gigi saw a beastlike figure, seemingly unsure of whether it was meant to walk on two or four feet. As Peter had described, it was as if one of Monarch's villains was a shapeshifter jacked up on far too many espresso shots; it mutated as it wandered, with different power signatures and costumed segments coming and going at random, sometimes in combination.

"Do you recognize it?" worried Sabine.

"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAKKKKK!"