The butterflies of love
Prologue
Written by Yumestar
With a sigh, Gabriel Agreste looked down at the noble, white glass coffin and his navy-blue eyes suddenly changed into a darker, sadder blue. The tears wanting to break out of him like streams of water were kept well-hidden as every time he came down to this place. He could never let himself cry in front of her; it wasn't like she was able to comfort him anyways. He glanced at her with stubborn, hard look for a very long time, looking at her beauty in death. Her shiny, wrinkle-free skin was as white as the coffin in which her lifeless body lay. She had her eyes closed like being in a peaceful sleep. Her straw-blonde, glittering hair, as Adrien had inherited it from her, was tied in a ponytail that lay on the right side of her shoulder. Her slender body was clad in a fine white suit, and in her pale hands she held a bouquet of red roses and white tulips. Her husband had given it to her as a symbol of love. Her pink lips looked lifeless and sealed, as if she'd gone with a never-know secret. Gabriel sighed; he knew her hidden secret too well, because in the end, that secret had taken her life.
"Why wasn't I able to protect her?" He asked himself silently, sounding a little desperate, "How could I have let it come that far?"
Gabriel took a deep breath trying to hold himself together. The tears were ready to break out of him, but he didn't want to show them. He could never let himself cry because he didn't want to bring more sadness to her. When she had taken her last breath, he had promised not to cry over her death. Emelie's last wish was his happiness, but he couldn't take that last promise. For him, there was no need to be happy: the woman he once loved lay dead in front of him. No movement. No breathing. No sign of life. Whenever he was painfully remembered that she was dead, he wanted to break into tears, but he never could. It had nothing to do with showing strength or shame; he just couldn't cry. But he wasn't able to smile for her either.
"I'm giving up."
He said these words softly as if these words had only a little meaning. He sounded calm, although a storm of emotions was raging inside of him. It was difficult for him to maintain the cool facade; after all, he was talking to his dead wife. He gave a sigh of lamentation before continuing, "But I can't yet. I'm about to win. I can do it. I'll save you, Emelie."
Of course he got no answer, so he remained silent. Again, he became painfully aware that no one was listening; that he was slowly falling into loneliness. He had no friends to talk to about his worries and fears; he couldn't get professional help; he could not talk to anyone about this because it was a secret. The secret of the Miraculous that no one should know about. Now that Emelie had taken this secret to the grave, it was Gabriel's turn to protect that secret from the outside world. He couldn't tell anyone that he was Hawk Moth; that he was to blame for the akumatized villains in Paris; that he was only doing this for his wife. Who would listen to him? Who would believe a super villain? In the end, he could only keep quiet about what he had been trying to save for almost a year. What he had done was never about power or fun. No, he did this all for his wife; so that Adrien could have a mother again and Gabriel could hold his beloved wife in his arms. The longer he thought about his dearest wish, the more distant his wish became to him. It felt like reaching out for a bright star that disappeared when he was close to touch it. Far away was his goal, for which he strove, for which he had become so evil. His embittered attempts to reach for this shining star failed miserably and kept hitting him hard like the reality; He couldn't save his wife.
Nevertheless, he wasn't even close to giving up, as he was believing that giving up was similar to losing her completely. If he forgot about her, who would he be? Who could he be? A broken, old father who couldn't even take responsibility for his own life? No, he wasn't like that. He wanted to carry all by himself.
In addition, there was no turning back; he couldn't change back from Hawk Moth into normal Gabriel. It was over even before it really started.
"If only there was another way to get her back ..." Gabriel thought and looked down sadly. His eyes glittered like the stars in his simile "I would do anything for fulfilling my wish, no matter the cost."
All the sudden, he looked up with new courage. His first hesitant eyes now radiated with determination; yet they remained as serious as ever. He didn't smile, but he felt confident; confident that it wasn't too late. There was still a way to save his wife: he had to get the Miraculous of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Only with these two magical pieces of jewelry he was able to get his wife back alive.
So he knew he had to go on. He had to continue to be Hawk Moth and send out his black butterflies to Paris. These butterflies, called Akumas, were not just black, malignant butterflies, no, they were the butterflies of love; Hawk Moth's yearning and love for his missing wife. Even though they embodied pure evil, they still had pure white under their black-painted wings. They were as white as innocence, purity and sanctity, but also salvation. But the color white meant death and the mourning, so these white butterflies, whose wings had become black, were also a symbol for the mourning over the death of his wife. The black on the other hand, what had settled over the wings of these butterflies, stood for lack of light, sadness and mysterious things. It was the feelings of Hawk Moth that lay like a black cloak over the white, light-filled insects and made them impure.
But the truth is: they were just butterflies of love.
So, this is my first Miraculous fanfiction in English. It's only the Prologue and it's quite short compared to the length normal chapter will have. (Likely 2000-3000 words per chapter)
This story is mostly written as a Sickfic, because there is no Sickfic about Hawk Moth aka Gabriel Agreste.
And come on… Gabriel x Nathalie is getting canon~
And I'm gladly looking forward for reviews ^-^
Thank you for reading
-Yumestar