Chapter 4
The silence stretched for an eternity. Gabriel didn't dare be the one to break it. He kept his hand outstretched. The muscle burned. He suffered through it. His hand couldn't seem to stop shaking.
"Father?" The crack in Adrien's voice nearly broke him. "You... you're...?"
"I am so terribly sorry, Ladybug and Chat Noir," Gabriel repeated, emphasizing their heroic names. Would repeat again and again and again if it meant he didn't lose his son. He continued to face away from them.
"Why?"
He turned around at last, dropping his hand to his side. Adrien stood facing him, one arm outstretched in front of Marinette. Protecting her. She, in turn, had angled her body to the side, her own hand out in front of Adrien's chest. Holding him back.
Both stared at him with a mixture of shock and disbelief.
"You have everything you could possibly want," Marinette said, more curious than accusatory. "What could you possibly wish for?"
He sighed – long and weary and shouldering the burdens of his villainy – and addressed his former nemesis. "No, I had everything I could possibly want. Then she was taken from me. And my world collapsed."
Her expression shifted from suspicion and judgment to one of sympathy and understanding. She spared a quick glance to Adrien.
"Mom?" his son clarified. "You decided to terrorize Paris to bring Mom back?"
"To wake her up, Adrien," Gabriel corrected. Adrien frowned in confusion. "She's here. Alive. But in a magical coma. Nothing can wake her. Nothing, I had believed, but your Miraculouses."
For her part, Marinette saw past the emotional bombshells and seized upon the one out-of-place word in his statement. "Mr. Agreste, you said 'magical' coma. What kind of magic?"
Gabriel looked at Nooroo. The kwami flew forward and cleared his throat. "Miraculous magic," Nooroo explained. "See, Emilie discovered Duusu's brooch and delighted in using it. She reveled in the soaring freedom she got when she transformed." Adrien shifted on his feet at this. "But the Miraculous is ill, and that illness spread to Duusu's wielder. By the time Gabriel activated me, it was too late for Emilie. The darkness had claimed her."
While Adrien and Gabriel both looked stricken at this story, Marinette frowned and stepped closer to Nooroo. A curious gleam shone in her eyes. "When you say 'illness', what exactly do you mean?" She seemed no longer afraid of Gabriel, ignoring him entirely in favor of his kwami.
"Kwamis can get sick," Nooroo said.
"Yeah, I know," she replied, startling both Gabriel and Adrien. Father and son exchanged surprised looks.
"Oh!" Apparently the humans weren't the only ones astonished by Marinette's knowledge, as Nooroo's bulbous eyes widened even more. "Well, as you can imagine a kwami's illness isn't caused by the same things that sicken humans. Because we are beings created by abstract concepts, so our life forces are in part influenced by what created us."
"I'm with you so far," Marinette said.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. She is? he thought. He slid a look to his son to see if he was following along and met Adrien's green eyes. He jumped. Adrien quirked a rueful grin at him. Gabriel nodded at Marinette and Adrien shrugged his shoulders. The two of them shared a tiny, private smile.
Perhaps things would work out after all.
"So if creation is Tikki's life force, then destruction would harm her?" Marinette inquired even as Gabriel narrowed his eyes in thought. Where had he heard that name Tikki before?
Before his mind could seize upon the answer, an indignant voice squawked out, "Hey!" A black blob flew from Adrien's shirt and zipped right into Marinette's face. "Don't you dare say anything like that! Tikki is more special than the sun. It would take more than a little bit of me to dim her light." He folded his paws and glared at her.
Gabriel tilted his head, intrigued to see another kwami even as Adrien shouted, "Plagg!"
Marinette smiled and scooped up the grumpy kwami, scratching behind his ears. "Of course not, Plagg," she cooed. "I know you would never harm Tikki. You probably absorb all of the negative energy around her."
The kwami melted at her touch and Gabriel found himself fascinated at how this girl could charm anyone and anything she met. Crotchety kwamis and fashion moguls together.
"Well," Plagg said, mollified by her words, "so long as you know."
"Hello, Plagg," Nooroo said in his soft voice, a tiny smile upon his face.
The black kwami barely spared him a glance. "Hey, 'Roo. Have you finally convinced this ice bucket you call a wielder to stock some cheesy popcorn?"
Gabriel bristled at that. "Excuse me?"
The two kwamis ignored him.
"I've gotten him up to caramel popcorn now," Nooroo said.
"Blech! That's Tik's sugar rush."
A red head popped out from Marinette's purse. "Ooh, did I hear something about caramel popcorn?"
The other two kwamis turned to the designer expectantly. Adrien watched with unabashed glee as Gabriel struggled to make some sense out of the situation in front of him. The black kwami – Plagg – flew in his face.
"Yo, Hawkbreath," he sneered. "You heard the lady. You got any of that caramel popcorn around? And while you're at it, how about some camembert?"
For one brief moment, Gabriel was extremely glad he never managed to acquire the two Miraculouses. He had a sneaky feeling that the black cat would find continuous new ways of driving him insane. "Uhm, upstairs?" he offered, his meek bafflement at odds with his usual commanding presence.
He definitely did not imagine the smirk of satisfaction spreading across his son's face.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Plagg snapped. "Go on and get it!"
The look of chagrin upon his face broke Adrien, who burst out into laughter at his father's befuddlement.
"Plagg, play nice," the red one chided. She flew up and joined her partner in the air. "You don't have to get it now, Mr. Agreste. Nooroo was in the middle of his story. And he does a much better job of explaining than I do. I can wait until Nooroo is finished. Thank you, though."
"Uh, you're welcome?"
Did he just get tricked into bringing popcorn down for the two kwamis? The warm smile Tikki beamed at him erased any lingering annoyance, and he was left feeling ashamed at doubting the sweet kwami's intentions.
Oooh, she was quite possibly more dangerous than her destructive partner.
It had been quite a long time since anyone pulled anything over on him. He nodded; a respectful nod, conceding defeat to the kwami who cleverly gained the upper hand in this encounter. Tikki's smile broadened. Her eyes twinkled. There was no maliciousness in her kind expression.
"Please continue, Nooroo," she said. Plagg flew back to Adrien and settled upon his shoulder. Gabriel's eyes followed the flight path, admiring the ease and camaraderie between his son and his kwami. Adrien absently reached over and patted Plagg's head. The kwami fluffed up and met Gabriel's gaze. The designer expected there to be something in the expression – hatred, disgust, a sneer – but Plagg merely watched him with his large luminous eyes.
It appeared all of his expectations would be shattered today. And in a good way.
Nooroo swept forward once more, commanding the attention of everyone in the room. "Destruction wouldn't sicken Tikki," he explained. "But rather it would be the lack of creation; the stifling of artistic minds and the loss, essentially, of knowledge."
Marinette shot a concerned look to Tikki, who hovered up to comfort her chosen.
"Since obviously negative emotions don't sicken you," Adrien spoke up, a hint of bitterness in his voice. "What would make you ill, Nooroo?"
The purple sprite smiled at Adrien. "Simple. The lack of emotion. Gabriel has almost too much emotion –," and at this the designer in question choked and sputtered out denials with a flaming face, "– so his essence, while full of negativity, grief, and desperation, fueled my existence."
"That make sense," Marinette murmured.
Gabriel was glad that someone could make sense of everything.
"So what about Duusu?" she asked.
"Ah, Duusu is passion. But what made her unique wasn't the lack of passion. It was the oversaturation of it. When we were last active, before she and I were separated, there was a sudden increase of feverish passion coming from everywhere at once. It... became too unbearable for her. With no healer around to siphon the excess energy, it began to poison her."
Adrien frowned. "What's wrong with passion?" he asked.
"Nothing," Nooroo assured him. "But as with everything, too much can harm. And this passion wasn't normal passion. It was passion channeled into a cult-like mentality. And that passion turned into fanaticism."
"And that is dangerous," Tikki chimed in.
"So why couldn't a healer heal her?" Adrien asked.
The kwami sighed, long and despondent. "We tried to alert the healers. The ones that listened weren't powerful enough and the ones that could were too blinded by their zealotry to remember their duties. When we got locked away and lost, Duusu carried that sickness with her. It remained dormant all those many years: never fading, never strengthening."
"Until Mom found it?"
"Nooroo wasn't active at the time," Gabriel said, picking up the story. "And Emilie was so very enamored by Duusu and her powers. She would often talk with her into the early hours of the morning. More than once I walked in on her transformed." He turned away, lost in the memories of yesteryear.
"And Duusu didn't say anything?" Adrien demanded.
"She tried," both Gabriel and Nooroo spoke simultaneously. Gabriel bowed his head to the kwami.
Nooroo continued. "Duusu tried to warn Emilie that she wasn't well," he explained. "She feared the consequences of prolonged exposure to an untrained human in her condition. As the weeks and months went on, Emilie began to suffer side effects."
"Coughing, mostly," Gabriel said, fixing Adrien with his expression. The boy paled as understanding sank in. As he surely recalled all those instances of cough.
"She said they were allergies," Adrien choked out, his voice hoarse. Marinette slid over and wrapped her arms around him. "She told me not to worry."
"Neither of us connected it until it was too late," Gabriel said. "By the time we remembered we had acquired two Miraculouses, Emilie's condition had progressed too far."
"So she's dead?" Adrien cried, breaking down into tears. Marinette tightened her grip upon him. Gabriel's own heart ached to comfort his son himself, but he dare not move a step in his direction until granted permission.
"Not dead, Adrien," he said instead. "In a magical coma. Your kwami might not have fully revealed the extent of his powers to you, but kwamis are amazing." He smiled at Nooroo.
"You know, kid," Plagg interjected. "I've often encouraged you to rebel against your father."
"You've what?" Gabriel exclaimed even as Plagg shot him a smug smile. The designer scowled at him. Plagg ignored him and turned back to Adrien.
"But this time, you might want to pay attention. We kwamis are pretty amazing."
"You don't need to tell me that, Plagg," Adrien said with a watery smile. "I've figured that one out all by myself."
"Teenage rebellion ploys aside," Gabriel continued, making a mental note to speak to Adrien about this at a later date, "Nooroo managed to envelop Emilie into a type of equilibrium. Her very own cocoon."
"She'll get better?" The note of hope in his son's voice brought Gabriel back to the darkest hours of his life. Hours where he swore he would do whatever it took to bring Emilie back so he didn't have to see Adrien like this anymore. He shoved those thoughts aside. There was hope. He just had to believe.
He shook his head. "She remains in a stasis. That's why I needed the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses. Only a wish can cure her now that all of the healers are gone."
Frenzied whispers drew his attention to Marinette, engaged in a low heated debate with her kwami. At last, she looked up. "Hypothetically," she began, drawing out the word in such a way that made Gabriel suspect it wasn't as hypothetical as she claimed, "if we were to find a healer, what would it take for them to heal Mrs. Agreste?"
Nooroo thought for a moment. Gabriel's breath caught. Did she truly know of such a healer? He knew a guardian still survived, but was there also a healer?
"They would have to heal Duusu first, so that she can siphon the energy from Emilie. But it wouldn't be instantaneous. The process would take several sessions, and the healer, Duusu, and Emilie all need to rest in between."
More whispers between Marinette and Tikki. Gabriel couldn't take his eyes off them. What were they discussing? Nooroo sensed his agitation and flew over. The tiny sprite fluttered close to his chest and his heart rate steadied. Marinette looked over to Adrien, bit her lip, turned back to Tikki and continued arguing. Finally, Tikki nodded at Marinette. She smiled.
"I might be able to help," she announced, and Gabriel's heart stopped. Even Adrien stared at her. "Tikki got sick a few months ago, and I brought her to someone who healed her."
He staggered back against the wall. The motion caught Marinette's attention, who turned to him with concern. "Are you okay, Mr. Agreste?"
Was he okay? He couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't see. His chest tightened. The roar in his head drowned out everything else and he couldn't breathe!
"Breathe," a gentle voice commanded in his ear.
Some part of his brain obeyed and he inhaled.
"Again."
He complied.
"Emilie?" he croaked out.
His vision cleared. He looked up into his son's eyes – her eyes. He blinked. The blur sharpened.
"Are you okay, Father?" One hand gripped his shoulder.
Was he?
"Take it easy," the same gentle voice advised and he recognized it now as coming from the Ladybug kwami. Marinette knelt beside Adrien, wearing an identical expression of concern.
"You gave us all a scare," Tikki continued, and Gabriel caught the double meaning behind her words. "Especially your son."
Adrien. His eyes flew back over and locked onto the green. "I'm sorry," he apologized.
As the boy's jaw dropped open in astonishment, Marinette leaned over and wrapped one arm around his back, looping his own arm around her shoulders.
"Come on, Mr. Agreste," she grunted as she helped him to a standing position, "let's get you over to the couches."
He stared around the room. "What happened?" he asked, his fuzzy brain still trying to process everything. He pressed his hand against cool wall to steady himself.
"You fell down," Adrien said. "You didn't seem like you could hear us at all. You got all pale."
He fell down?
He allowed himself to be lifted up and guided toward the sunken couches in the middle of the room. Tikki floated over a glass of water. He accepted, grinning wryly as he imagined how this would look on his security cameras. After a couple of sips, he recalled how he ended up in this position. He turned to Marinette.
"Do you really know someone who can heal Emilie?"
Her face crumpled, and so did his hopes. "I don't know," she said, wringing her hands. "I mean, he healed Tikki, but I don't know if he's powerful enough to heal Duusu."
His mouth felt like cotton. He gulped down another mouthful of water. Marinette smiled at him.
"But I could ask," she said, and his vision clouded once again.
When it cleared, he met her gaze. "Why would you do this for me? After everything I've done to you?"
"Why wouldn't I?" She seemed genuinely confused by the very question and in that moment he almost grabbed Adrien and declared his son marry this girl today. "I don't want to get your hopes up," she told him and he almost replied it was too late for that, when she continued with, "but even if that won't work, I'll think of something else." She capped it off with another reassuring smile.
It was everything he could have asked for, and she had offered so selflessly without any prompting by him.
"Thank you," he said.
"You're welcome. Now," she said, her smile dissolving into a frown, "I think we need to discuss your Hawkmoth activities."
He gulped.
Author's Note: Thank you to PerditaAlottachocolate for extensive beta-ing this chapter (there were many plotholes!) and for Lilafly for additional beta edits!
Also, there was a reference in there to RicardianScholar Clark-Weasley's story The Teenage Rebellion Revenge Ploy, an amusing story on it's own.