Gabriel's Return

Lila's Revenge

Lila Rossi was furious. After getting a hold of the butterfly miraculous, when Gabriel Agreste had been defeated, she had hurried to leave the building, which was about to collapse anyway. Hearing from afar, while she fled, how he had still managed to betray BugNoir's trust and steal both miraculous from her. If only she had stayed a little longer. If she had, she would know the identity of Ladybug by now and would be able to get her own wish fulfilled.

She knew, that Gabriel had spoken out his wish, because she could not only feel all the lost miraculous' essences, but his too, when she used Nooroo's powers to transform.

Yet the number of kwamis without being bound to a magic jewel was decreasing, and that was the cause of her anger. That and the mere fact, that the man, who had betrayed her, was still around, despite his body being dissolved into thin air. She knew, he was very confused still. He had no idea what and where he was.

Lila though, couldn't exactly tell, in what kind of dimension he was, but she knew very well, that he was still in the basement of his by now rebuilt mansion. The despicable young woman loved the mere thought of him, being trapped right beneath his own property, where his dead and lately revived wife was now living with their son and 'his' former assistant. She hadn't fully figured out the relationship between those women, yet she was certain, that neither of them was aware of Gabriel's presence on the premises.

However, she knew very well that the designer had had a very close connection with his assistant and even if she couldn't prove it, she was sure that Nathalie had at the very least been his lover, maybe even more.

As she just went back into her lair in the catacombs beneath the Eiffel tower, she could suddenly feel a very strong emotion and quickly called out,

"Nooroo, dark wings rise!"

Transforming into her new villain self, Lila then focused on said emotion and started to grin viciously. It came from whatever was left of 'the' Gabriel Agreste and it wasn't anger or frustration, it was pure, primal fear. Despite not being sure, if she was able to akumatize him, without him having a real body in this reality, she still sent out her akuma and spoke coldly,

"Fly away, little akuma and punish the man for what he did to me!"

Gabriel was very scared at that very moment, because he had somehow managed to find his way out of his very own basement and up into the first floor of his mansion, where he had felt not only his son pass him by, but as well his wife and... her. Nathalie. And then he had even been able to listen in to their conversations for a short period of time. But the things, he had heard, had made him very anxious and weakened him so much, that all connection to the conscious world had been interrupted and he couldn't hear or feel his beloved family any longer. He had heard Émilie and Nathalie quietly talk, and the blond woman had scolded the dark haired because she wasn't taking enough care of herself again.

"Nathalie, you really should be resting. The doctor told you, that your body might have been healed, but you still are very exhausted and malnourished. You need to gather some strength, so you won't put you and your baby in danger!" Émilie had said.

"I need to finish this first!" was Nathalie's short and emotionless response.

"Didn't you tell me, back in London, that this" the older female placed a hand gently on her lightly showing bump, "is by far more important than anything else at the moment? I want you to lie down for at least two hours, Nathalie. Afterwards, you can go and read in this grimoire again. I am still very certain, that you're only dreaming. It's impossible, that you can hear Gabriel's calls for you. He isn't around any longer, he's dead. And we should accept that instead of making the same mistake, he did and try to use some ancient magic to bring him back!"