Chapter Fourteen: Lion's Den

Although this version of Paris looked like any other, it was apparent to Gabriel as soon as he stepped out that a sort of invisible gloom hung in the air. The city was bustling as always, but he could feel the melancholy of its people. It seemed that the deaths of its heroes had left an indelible mark on the populace.

"Let's get this over with," said Alix, clearly not happy with being here. "You guys were the ones who wanted to come here so bad, so you lead the way. I'm interested to know how you plan on proving my Gabriel's still alive."

"That wasn't what we said," said Hawkmoth. "If you think he is dead, we believe you. However, I find it hard to believe he has nothing to do with the havoc that is being wreaked beyond this dimension. And if we are to investigate, I know the perfect location to begin." He leapt across the rooftops, leading the way.

As they traveled towards the familiar locale, they took in the city around them–at least, the ones aside from Alix did. They may not have had the empathic connection to people that Hawkmoth did, but they didn't need it to tell that Paris had been deeply shaken by the attack. Though hard to explain, essentially, the usual cheerful atmosphere they had been used to was nowhere to be found. Of course, their Parises were little different.

Adrien's journey halted when he noticed something he recognized from Alix's story. He stood on the rooftop, looking out at the long city block that had only just recovered from its devastation; this had to have been where the heroes made their final stand against their Gabriel. Even though most of the damage had been rebuilt, the scars their showdown had left were still quite visible.

"Hey, are you gonna come with us, or are you just sightseeing?" asked Alix, heading back for him. She looked over the rebuilt buildings as well, the memories of that fight returning to her. "Oh…yeah. Yup, this is where it happened. Right, now that you've seen it, can we get a move on?"

"Did any of them…make it?" Adrien asked softly. "I-I know that's not a question you want to hear right now, but…"

She shot him a glare, perhaps understandably, but her expression soon softened. "Yeah. Sabrina's still around. Mylene and Ivan, too. After everything that happened, Zoe kinda…fell into being the leader. She helped give out the ownerless Miraculous, and was pretty much responsible for keeping us together. 'Course, I say 'us,' but I stopped being part of that team a long time ago."

Adrien stepped closer to her, stopping just short of offering a hug. "Hey…do you still have those earrings your Marinette gave you?"

She fished them out of her pocket, handing them over. "Here, why?"

"Because I want to try something." Holding the faux-Miraculous in his hand, he concentrated his power before tossing them into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" They sailed up high, only to come clattering to the ground, just like his expectations. Despite this failure, he scooped them up once more. "Wait, wait, let me try again…Miraculous Blackbug!" The change in name did no good, leading to the same result as before. "Oh…Alix, I'm sorry."

She gave a small smile, picking them back up. "Don't worry about it. I already tried pretty much everything I can think of to fix things here. Thanks for trying, though." She looked wistfully at the buildings, though her smile quickly faded. "C'mon, we should probably catch up with Gabe and bat-girl."

The two of them followed after the others, who, to their surprise, had been waiting for them. "What kept you guys?" asked Marinette. "Or was it something you'd rather keep a secret?"

"Just reminiscing," Alix said. "So, you guys ready?"

They stood just beyond Agreste Manor. The building was quite run-down, a far cry from how immaculate it had looked in just about every other timeline. It seemed that with no Agreste to look after it, it had become a shadow of its former self.

"Yes. Let us see what my counterpart has to hide," Gabriel said. Blackbug gave them an entryway by making a hole in the roof, repairing it once they had gone inside. As expected, it was just as dark and dismal as it had seemed at first glance.

Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, and cobwebs sat everywhere they looked. "Yeah, it's…just as bad as I was expecting," said Marinette. "So nobody's claimed this place yet?"

"Not a one," Alix replied. "After everything that happened, I don't think anyone wants anything to do with this place, not even to tear it down. Doesn't help that some people say it's haunted."

Adrien glanced over at her. "You didn't mention that part," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "The only ghosts here are the metaphorical kind. Now c'mon, I'd rather not be in here longer than I need to be, ghosts or no ghosts." She pressed on into the library, figuring that was the best place to start looking for clues. Gabriel agreed, following her.

"So, uh, I think I'll head up to my room," Adrien said. "Wouldn't be surprised if something important was hidden up there. And we could probably cover more ground if…"

Marinette knew what he was asking. "Sure, I'll come with," she said. The pair of them ascended the stairs. "So, what's it like seeing your own house like this? Not that I don't know, but still."

"There's definitely something surreal about seeing it so abandoned, but it's nothing I haven't seen before." Something about this statement, and how casually he said it, seemed odd to Marinette. Maybe he was just talking about the many battles he had fought in his much longer tenure as Paris' protector. Either way, they had more important matters to attend to, heading inside Adrien's room.

Aside from being just as dusty and cobweb-y as the rest of the house, the room was exactly the same as Adrien remembered. Almost eerily so. Most likely Gabriel hadn't touched the place after his Adrien left. And given what had happened when he came home, the creep factor only increased. "Huh…suddenly that ghost story is sounding much more plausible," said Marinette, on a similar train of thought.

"I'm with Alix: this place doesn't need a ghost to be creepy," Adrien replied. "If Gabriel really hadn't been in here, there probably aren't any clues. Still, it might be good to look anyway."

Marinette made her way over to the window. Despite being clouded with as much dirt as anything else in the house, she could still make out Paris' skyline. "So…do we really go most of our lives without knowing the other's real identities?" she asked.

He walked over from his desk to stand beside her. "In most cases, yeah. As far as I can tell, timelines where we know each other, really know each other, are few and far between. And the ones where we find out…well, they're not always pretty."

That was something she knew all too well. She tried to get the image of a powerless Adrien in Hawkmoth's grasp out of her head. "I just don't understand how you can stand having a father like that! I mean…you know, right? What happened when you first found out?"

"A lot of things happened," he said sadly. Marinette looked over to see that he had brought something over from his bedside table: an old cracked photo of his family. Himself, Gabriel, and Emilie at a meadow, all looking perfectly happy. "I try not to dwell on it too much. We can worry about the past after we've saved our universes." He turned to look at Marinette, smiling.

She returned the grin, but blinked in confusion when Adrien kept staring at her. "...What?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

He chuckled. "Nothing. It's just strange seeing you so young. It reminds me of back when we had it easy…chasing Akumas all day, not having to worry about our friends being in mortal peril, those were the days."

"In case you forgot, our friends were in mortal peril," Marinette responded dryly. "And trying to save our brainwashed peers from using their newfound superpowers to cause chaos so a madman could take over the world wasn't exactly my idea of a good time."

"But you have to admit, things were much easier back then," Adrien said fondly, placing the picture back where he found it. "Because of the two of us, everything would always turn out alright. Ladybug and Cat Noir; we were the wonder-duo." He glanced out the window sadly. "That's part of the problem with growing up: as your life gets bigger, so do your problems."

"True…but right now, our problems involve disappearing dimensions and insane, possibly-dead Gabriels," Marinette replied. "You said it yourself: the past can wait. For now, we should–"

The moment was interrupted by a loud clatter coming from downstairs. "What was that?" said Adrien, turning to the door. "Sounded like it came from the kitchen."

"Hope the Ripplers haven't found us," Marinette said, as the two of them made their way to the source of the sound.

Books, books, and more books. Gabriel never expected the library to have anything else, but he figured something in there could at least lead them in the right direction. But so far, it seemed like his counterpart's library was no different than his own. As such, there was nothing in there that he hadn't already read. Still, he rifled through the dusty tomes, trying to think of where he would have hidden something if he had gone through the same thing.

Alix was helping in the search, though far less enthusiastically. "I told you there was nothing here," she grumbled. "Now can we get going? If we wait around here any longer, the real threat behind the Ripplers could strike!"

"You've been awfully insistent on avoiding this place," Gabriel noted as he continued his search. "I never took you as the superstitious type."

She rolled her eyes. "Ha-ha. I'm not afraid of any ghosts, if that's what you mean." She looked around warily. "Still, I hate bein' in here longer than we need to be. The more we're in here, the more it feels like Gabriel wants us here."

Gabriel put away his book. "You think he's led us into a trap?" he asked.

"Maybe. With everything he did, it was hard for me to believe he really was dead. For years, I kept feeling like he was still out there, waiting for the right moment to launch some new scheme." She chuckled humorlessly. "I guess he's still hanging over my head even now, huh? Even when he's dead, I can't escape him."

Now might not have been the best time to bring up the theory that he was still alive. "For what it is worth…I am sorry for everything you've been through," Gabriel said awkwardly. "I know that may not mean much, coming from another version of your tormentor, but I am willing to extend you my sympathy, should you ever need it."

Alix turned to look at him with a slight smirk. "Ah, you're just sayin' that!" she said.

"Sympathy was never something that came easy to me," said Gabriel. "Perhaps if I'd had more of it, things would not have turned out the way they did. But as things are, it is the least I can do to offer you an ear to listen should you require it. And that goes for all of you."

"Look at you–you've come a long way from Monarch," said Alix, sounding almost proud. "Maybe we'll make a hero out of you yet!"

In spite of himself, Gabriel couldn't help but feel at least a little proud of himself as well upon hearing that. Before now, all he had cared about was restoring his dimension, regardless of what would be waiting for him in it, if anything at all. But perhaps, more than he knew, there was just enough goodness in him to lead to him becoming a hero–someone Adrien could be proud to have as a father.

The moment was interrupted by a loud clatter coming from nearby. Both of them turned towards the source of the disturbance. "That came from the kitchen," Gabriel said. Unsheathing his sword, he crept in that direction.

"You don't think that was the others?" asked Alix, likewise on guard.

"If it had been, I would have heard them speaking," Gabriel replied. Aside from the clatter, there had been no other noises, voices or otherwise. Upon reaching the room in question, he slowly opened the door, keeping an eye out for any interlopers.

The kitchen was, at the risk of sounding redundant, just as dusty as the rest of the house. A pot had fallen off the stove, though no apparent reason was obvious. They weren't, however, alone. "You guys heard that too, huh?" said Marinette, she and Adrien having entered the kitchen through the other side.

"It'd be hard not to hear that," Alix replied. "So you mean that wasn't you guys?"

Adrien shook his head. "We were wondering if it was one of you." He went over to inspect the pot. "You don't suppose someone's been hiding out in here all this time, do you?"

"More than likely it was only a rat," said Gabriel. "Seeing as we are likely the first people in here for years, it would not surprise me. Rather than worrying about pests, we should be focused on–"

He was interrupted by another noise, this one coming from the main stairway. From the sound of it, something large, far too large to be a rat, had scampered up the bannister. This was then followed by the sound of a door bursting open. "Still think we shouldn't worry about pests?" asked Marinette, her bat at the ready.

Alix led the charge into the foyer, but by the time they arrived, the culprit was long gone. "I'm startin' to think this place really is haunted," she muttered. She made her way up the stairs, soon finding where the source of the sounds had gone.

The door to Gabriel's study had been forced open. A cloud of dust still hung in the air, the only sign of a disturbance, but more than enough. "What are the chances it wants us to go in there?" asked Adrien.

"It doesn't matter. Whatever the nature of this interloper, I will not be frightened away so easily," said Gabriel. He crept inside the room, head on a swivel for potential attackers. But despite the loud clatter just moments ago, the study appeared completely empty.

"Alright, I'm convinced: it's a ghost," said Marinette, looking around the room. "Unless whoever came in here can turn invisible or go through walls, in which case they're basically a ghost anyway."

Unwilling to accept the paranormal as the only explanation, Gabriel continued looking. "In case you've forgotten, there is somewhere else they could have gone." He eyed the portrait of Emilie.

"Y-your secret lair?" said Alix, sounding a bit nervous. To her knowledge, only two people in this universe knew about Hawkmoth's lair: him and Nathalie. And given one of them hadn't been seen in a while, she didn't particularly like what that implied. "Are you sure?"

"Couldn't hurt to check it out," said Adrien. "There might be all sorts of stuff hidden down there! I say we check it out."

Everyone clustered together, as Gabriel pressed the hidden buttons. The four of them descended downwards in an extremely crowded elevator, which everyone found rather uncomfortable, Gabriel most of all. Surprisingly, and fortunately, it was still functional after all this time, if a bit rusty.

The enormous underground atrium opened up beneath them. With all the dust that had gathered on the windows, the room was bathed in an eerie brown glow, as though it had been washed over with sepia tone. The garden around Emilie, once lush and green, had similarly faded to brown.

Upon reaching the bottom, the foursome squeezed their way out, looking around the chamber. "Stay alert," Marinette warned. "This is the perfect spot to launch an ambush."

But Gabriel's focus was fixed on the coffin in the center of the room. He stepped forward, fearing the worst. But much to his surprise, despite the state of the rest of the room, it was still intact. It was not covered with dust, and the power was somehow still running. And Emilie was still inside, just as beautiful as ever.

Adrien likewise stepped forward. "M-Mom?" Like Gabriel, he had seen versions of her in his travels across the multiverse. But seeing a long-lost loved one rarely loses its impact, especially when they're in a state like that. "How is this possible? How is she still…?"

With the two of them occupied, Alix noticed something they had largely overlooked. "Hey, check this out," she said, turning their attention to the floor. Starting in the center of the room, a large black mark spread out in all directions, at points even climbing up the walls. "Doesn't this look like a scorch mark?"

"I'll do you one better: it looks like a Cataclysm," said Adrien. "Whatever made your Gabriel the way he was, it happened down here."

With a feeling of growing apprehension, Gabriel looked at the ashen marking. It had spread dangerously close to the coffin keeping Emilie alive. Had his counterpart really become so obsessed with power that he was willing to forsake his beloved? And considering what he had done to his Adrien… He decided it was best not to think about it.

Not that he would have had a lot of time to do so anyway, as his attention was soon drawn to something moving along the ceiling. "Up there!" he shouted. It was difficult to make out in the shadows, but whatever it was barely looked human.

"Holy–What is that!?" yelled Marinette.

"Whatever it is, it's not alone!" Adrien replied. More of whatever that thing was were climbing up from beneath, surrounding the group. Loosely shaped like a person, they were jet-black in color, possessing sharp claws on their hands and feet, and a mouth full of enormous fangs. The creatures snarled at them, corralling them into the center of the room.

Everyone got their weapons ready, but the creatures had yet to attack. "A new type of Rippler?" Gabriel surmised.

"Not one that I've seen!" replied Alix.

Marinette got a closer look at one, realization crossing her face. "No, look." In lieu of eyes, each of the creatures bore a familiar-looking circular sigil, as though carved into a statue. "They're Sentimonsters!"

Indeed they were, Gabriel realized. "But that would mean…"

"Stop!" The voice echoed throughout the atrium, and the creatures obeyed. As they receded, Gabriel felt he had heard that voice before. It sounded deeper than he remembered, and eroded with age, but he knew who it belonged to.

His suspicions were concerned when the voice's owner, and the Sentimonsters' master, stepped out of the shadows. Flanked by her creations, she limped closer to the four, a look of disbelief crossing her face. "Gabriel? A-Adrien?" she asked, as though convinced she was dreaming. Gabriel was just as shocked.

"Nathalie…?"

AN: It's funny because ghosts canonically exist in the Zag-verse.