Chapter Fifteen: Undergrowth

The room was silent as everyone processed what they were seeing. This universe's Nathalie was not only still alive, but had been down here below the Agreste manor all this time. She seemed to be in just as much shock to see the two Agrestes she had assumed were dead back here, alive and well, with another assumed casualty no less.

"H-how is this possible…?" she asked, slowly approaching them. Her Sentimonsters had backed off from the intruders, but remained ready to attack should she give the command. "All of you…but…"

Bunnyx stepped forward. "Um, hello there. I can imagine this is all pretty confusing, but there's a good explanation for everything. See, we–rather, these guys all come from alternate timelines, and…you're not getting this, are you?"

She wasn't, because Nathalie was too distracted by Adrien and Gabriel's presence. She approached the pair, reaching out to touch them as though to make sure they weren't only in her imagination. "Is it really you?" she asked.

Gabriel raised a hand to grab hers. "I am…not the Gabriel you know," he said. "But I am real, and I am really here. All of us are."

Nathalie said nothing. Instead, she raised her hands up to Gabriel's cheek, doing the same with Adrien, before pulling the both of them closer. The pair couldn't help but hold onto her as well, sensing the bittersweet joy that she radiated. "I don't know how this is possible," she said, wiping a tear from her eye, "and there's a part of me that doesn't care. You're here. You're both here."

"We are," Adrien said. "But why are you here? After everything that happened, I thought…why would you want to stay here? Isn't it all a reminder that…?" He let the question hang in the air.

For her part, Nathalie did nod in reply. "There were times when I wanted to. So many times when I would have liked nothing more than to leave this city behind, and forget everything I had been a part of. I am partially to blame, after all–none of this would have happened if I hadn't made Gabriel into what he is…was."

This statement caught Alix's attention. "So, you know how he got all…like that? What happened?"

The Sentimonsters milled about as Nathalie looked around. She raised an arm, and all of them dispersed. "Follow me. I will explain everything to you, as I hope you will explain everything to me." She made her way back across the bridge towards the elevator, only to pass it by, going instead to a cobbled-together stairway that led down into the chamber's lower part.

The party followed her down the steps. As rickety and shabby as the staircase looked, it held together under their weight just fine. It led into where there had previously been water, all of which had been drained some time ago. In its place was almost an entire jungle; a muddy bog with trees and other plants growing everywhere. Marinette half-expected to see monkeys swinging from the branches, but the only wildlife here were the Sentimonsters, peering at them from just out of sight.

"This is…quite impressive," said Gabriel, stepping through the mud. Which it was, just perhaps not in the most sanitary way. "Did you create all of this yourself?"

"In a sense," Nathalie replied. "Most of the plants here are technically Sentimonsters, created from my power leaking out. Everything else I had my Grievers create. That's what I call them: formed out of my grief over those I've lost."

Some of the creatures she made–Grievers–watched the party as they traveled on. "How were you able to create so many Sentimonsters at once?" asked Marinette. "And what did you mean by 'your power leaking out?'"

The group soon reached what appeared to be Nathalie's camp: a small settlement containing a tent and a portable stove located in a cleared-out portion of the localized rainforest. "Here we are. I will explain everything in time–you go first," she said, heading inside the tent. A group of Grievers hung just outside the clearing, watching the four carefully.

"Uh…alright," said Bunnyx, following her inside. The others followed suit. The tent was just barely big enough for five people, but it was more than a little snug. "Basically, after the battle–you know, the battle–I tried going back in time to fix everything. But whatever I tried only made it worse, and pretty soon, I had attracted the attention of other mes from different timelines."

Nathalie blinked. "Other…timelines?"

"Yeah, like alternate universes," Adrien said. "All three of us are from a different one. We've gotten wrapped up in something of a crisis. Da–Gabriel, you could probably explain it better than me."

He nodded in agreement. "The reason we allied with Bunnyx is due to our universes being consumed by an unknown force. As for why we came here…we believe your Gabriel may have something to do with this phenomenon."

It took a few moments for Nathalie to process this information. "I see. I'm not sure how he would have been able to gain access to other dimensions, but if he had, it wouldn't surprise me the amount of destruction he would be capable of. After his transformation, any trace of the man I once knew was gone."

"'Transformation,' huh?" said Bunnyx. "So you know how he got his new powers?"

"I do. In fact, I am to blame for that," Nathalie said. She got to her feet, making her way over to the tent's door, where a Griever handed her something. "This is how he was able to use the powers of the Miraculous without having them on his person." The device was some manner of high-tech syringe gun. The white coloration led Gabriel to guess that Tsurugi was involved in some way.

Marinette gingerly took the device to examine it. "So, did you use the Miraculous to make some kind of empowering serum?" she asked.

"Of a sort," replied Nathalie, looking away. "After years of misusing the butterfly Miraculous began to take its toll on his health, Gabriel sought out a way to remove the restrictions a Miraculous imposed on the human body. He believed finding one could help me as well. O worked tirelessly to find a way, even with my health deteriorating as well. Before long, I had found a solution–a theoretical and highly dangerous one, but that was enough for him. And then when he…acquired the black cat Miraculous, he had me administer it immediately.

Utilizing laser technology, the Miraculous were broken down into dust," she continued. "Mixed with the right compound, when injected into the body, their power would be absorbed by the subject, granting them the ability to use it with theoretically no restrictions."

Gabriel was reminded of his tenure as Monarch. He tried to put thoughts of how viable this strategy would have been out of his mind, and kept himself focused on the present. "I imagine the stressing of 'theoretically' is relevant?"

She nodded. "It was only after Gabriel had already absorbed the butterfly and black cat Miraculous that I realized the drawbacks. Although it allowed one the ability to use the powers of the Miraculous at will, this came at a great cost. Instead of controlling these powers, it would be more accurate to say these powers controlled us. For instance, although my body is no longer slowly decaying, the same cannot be said about my mind. New Sentimonsters appear whenever my emotions become particularly strong, which has been happening more and more frequently. And considering Gabriel gained the power of two Miraculous, it stands to reason that the decay would be even faster."

"That explains why he disintegrated," said Alix. "Wait, so you have the peacock Miraculous inside of you right now?"

"I have what used to be the peacock Miraculous inside of me, yes," she said. "It would be more accurate to say that, due to it currently flowing through my veins, that it has become one with me. Even the Kwamis that would ordinarily have been able to provide council, whether or not it would have been listened to, are silent due to this process. Worse still, it is completely irreversible, despite my best efforts."

"I'm…so sorry it had to come to that," Adrien said. He briefly stared at Nathalie's face, before looking away. "I wish there was some way we could help you."

"Thank you, but I've gotten used to my new life," said Nathalie. "As long as no more harm comes out of what I've done, I am satisfied. I just wish there was more I could do to help you."

Ever since she had revealed it, Gabriel had been eyeing the syringe gun. "Perhaps there is…" he said thoughtfully. "Adrien, do you remember that time we combined our powers, allowing us to perceive the attack on Marinette's timeline before it happened?"

"How could I forget?" Adrien responded. "That was bizarre. But you think we could do that again?"

"I do–especially now that we have something to hone it," said Gabriel, picking up the syringe gun. "If I'm not mistaken, this tool should still hold some latent energies from the Miraculous it was used to inject. If what we were seeing really was the Gabriel from this dimension…"

"...Then this will let us track him down!" Adrien exclaimed. "We can finally put an end to this once and for all!"

Alix, on the other hand, was far more skeptical. "Wait-wait-wait. Like I said, I'm still not convinced that the local Gabe's the one causing the Rippler problem. But even if he is, we shouldn't just go chasing after him. I already told you what he did to just about every Miraculous holder here, and that was without an army on his side. If we want to take him down, we'd need a plan–and ideally, an army of our own."

"Well, Nathalie does have those Griever things," said Marinette, glancing over at her. "Any chance you'd be up for helping us take on your crazy former boss?"

"As much as I do want to atone for my past mistakes, I can't bear to leave Emilie alone," she admitted. "She is the entire reason I have remained here for all this time. Even after everything else has crumbled, I could not let her disappear as well. Even in the slim chance I find a way to cure her condition, I'm not sure she would want to live in this new world. Perhaps I'm being selfish."

"You only want what's best for those you care about," said Gabriel, looking away. "For all he claimed to do so, it's clear your Gabriel had no such compunctions when everything else was eroded away. In this way, the two of us were…more similar than I would like to admit." He glanced over at Adrien before likewise turning away.

Alix stood up. "Okay, well, we can figure out the army part later. First, we should at least make sure this works at all. Why don't you two give it a try?"

Hesitantly, Gabriel held out the syringe, and Adrien reached out to touch it. Before he could, however, there was a disturbance from outside. Something had the Grievers riled up, with distant screeches and shouts filling the jungle. "Intruders," muttered Nathalie. "Come on!" She exited the tent to see what the commotion was.

"Intruders? Who could've gotten in here, and why?" asked Marinette, as the four followed after her.

"We got in here," Adrien replied. "It'd make sense if we aren't the only ones interested in what's been going on in here after all this time."

As they soon saw, the Grievers were indeed fighting with intruders. However, far from being locals, as most of them had expected, these intruders were ones they were very familiar with–most of them, anyway. A trio of brightly-dressed heroes, though not necessarily Miraculous holders, were holding back the army of Sentimonsters. "Not these three again," Alix groaned.

"Friends of yours?" asked Nathalie, waiting for confirmation before ordering her Grievers to stand down.

"Not 'friends' exactly," she replied, stepping closer. "What are you doing here, anyway? Did the Director send you after us?"

The Hunters converged before the group, warily watching as the Grievers fell back. "Well, look who it is," said Time-Hopper, sizing up the foursome. "Looks like you added some new friends to your little crusade. What are you doing here, anyway? Eager to return to the scene of the crime?"

Alix growled bitterly, clenching her fist. "I'm actually trying to get to the bottom of things, which is more than I can say for you," she said, managing to keep her cool. "And, considering this is my home universe, at least I have a reason to be here. You?"

"Okay, you caught us," said Darner. "Director Bunnyx asked us to keep an eye on you. She said you'd lead us right to whatever it was causing the Ripplers to–"

"Sabrina!" said Killer Bee, nudging her into silence. "She is right, though. Director Bunnyx didn't trust you to handle this on your own. Maybe it has something to do with messing up this timeline a bunch of times, refusing to work with us to fix it, and running off with a gang of rejects when told to fall in line. But what do I know?"

Again, Alix had to calm herself. "Well, you're here now. And you clearly didn't do a great job tailing us, since I'm pretty sure following someone means staying hidden." Killer Bee scowled at her, about to say something, but Time-Hopper nudged her in turn.

"Weren't we just talking about needing an army?" asked Marinette. "I know you guys and the ITAA don't have the smoothest history, but this is the end of the world we're talking about, right?" She stepped in between the two parties. "If it means ending this all, shouldn't we at least try to cooperate?"

Adrien seemed to take her words to heart, but nobody else seemed to go for it. "And why should we believe you even want to help us?" asked Time-Hopper. "For all we know, you're just in this for the glory! Saving the multiverse all by yourself would earn you some major brownie points with the Director, wouldn't it?"

"Oh, stop pretending I'm like you!" Alix shot back. "Did you have to deal with all your friends being wiped out? Did you try, over and over again, to fix your world, only to find that anything you did made it worse? Did you watch helplessly as your timeline crumbled, leaving you as the only survivor? No? Then I don't think you're in any place to talk!"

"Enough." Nathalie held up a hand, stepping forward. "I may be a stranger to your conflict, but I know the pain of having your entire world torn away. If my Gabriel is truly the cause of this crisis, then I wish to do what I can to make things right, as should we all." She turned to Gabriel, holding out her hand. She was reaching for the syringe.

He hesitated. "What? Are you sure?" Given their last encounter with these three, he expected them to run off with their only lead once it was in their hands. "There has to be a better option."

"This is your better option," said Killer Bee. "We've got the resources, you've got the…what is that, anyway? You know what, nevermind, it doesn't matter. Just hand it over so we can save everyone."

Gabriel didn't trust those three one bit…but he trusted Nathalie, no matter what reality she was from. Wordlessly, he passed the syringe back into her hand. "You aren't as similar to my Gabriel as you might think," she said with a small smile, which he shared. She then handed the device to Time-Hopper, who gingerly took it in her hand. "I trust you know what to do with this?"

"We sure do," said Time-Hopper. "With our technology back at the Warren, we can analyze this thing, and track its signature to every timeline your guy's been to recently. If it matches up with the ones that've been destroyed, we have our culprit. Now c'mon–let's go save the world." With a stomp, she created a time portal leading back to their base.

Alix was pleasantly surprised that her counterpart was choosing to take their advice for once. She began to lead the others towards the opening, only for Time-Hopper to nod to Killer Bee. Without warning, she suddenly shot a flurry of her bees towards the unsuspecting group. Being in their civilian forms, they had no defense against this, and were paralyzed, with only Nathalie avoiding such a fate by blocking the bee with her fan. Her Grievers closed in on the Hunters, who readied their weapons.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted you!" Alix hissed, struggling to stand up. "This was all a ploy to take the credit for yourself, wasn't it!?"

Time-Hopper shrugged. "A little, but you have to admit, the four of you aren't very well-equipped to handle a world-ending threat, are you? Trust me, it's better this way: the ITAA can handle things from here." With that, she headed through the portal, followed by her two cronies. The portal closed, and the effects of the bees wore off.

Gabriel brushed himself off as he stood up. "Our best lead, gone." They now found themselves in a bit of a dead end, with Nathalie having given away their only hope of tracking down his counterpart. He didn't blame her, though–he believed sharing a common enemy was enough to have them see reason, too.

But while he didn't, Alix sure did. "Why did you give it to her!?" she shouted at Nathalie. "It was five on three plus your army of monsters! We could've taken them! You didn't have to trust them!"

"And yet, I did," she said, a little annoyed, but that was all. "It would not be the first time I put my trust in someone I should not have. But she had a point–perhaps this truly was for the best."

"What!? We have no way of tracking this guy now!" Alix shouted. "How could this possibly be for the best!?"

Marinette spoke up. "I mean, we did say that we needed an army. And the ITAA has one, and we're just four misfits. I'm sure they can handle it a lot better than we can."

"It's not about that, it's the principle of the thing!" she retorted. "All of us have had our homes destroyed by this guy, this is personal! They don't care about that! You heard her, the whole reason she's doing this is so she can cozy up with Director Bunnyx! All she cares about is getting a promotion!"

"Hang on, I thought you didn't believe your Gabriel was causing this," Adrien pointed out. "Did you change your mind?"

Alix looked away. "I… Look, there's no time to argue. We're obviously not welcome in the Warren, so we can't go after them, but I might know somebody who can help. If everything goes right, all we need to do is follow the ITAA, and they'll lead us right to the source–who may or may not be my Gabriel."

The others agreed. Even though it was clear the ITAA was better equipped to handle this than they were, that didn't mean they wanted to just sit the fight out. "Lead the way," said Gabriel.

"Right. Just…prepare yourself," she said, glancing away absently. There might be some…unfinished business between us two." She led the party back the way they had come, with the Grievers watching as they left.

"I wish you luck with saving the universe," Nathalie said as they headed back to the elevator. "And please…be careful. My Gabriel, he is…dangerous."

Adrien looked back, offering a warm smile. Don't worry–so is ours!"

And so they left, hoping Alix's friend could show them the way. With the way everything was going, this might be their only shot at getting back on track.