Terra looked at her boyfriend. "Gabriel, do you know this man?"
He stuttered. Master Fu smirked. "So this is where you've been all these years."
"Were you looking for me?" Gabriel finally managed to ask.
"Not necessarily. After Le Paon mysteriously vanished, I went traveling in hopes of finding another successor. But unfortunately, I've failed every time."
Terra remembered the superhero who helped to reunite her and Gabriel. "Le Paon is your successor?"
"He was supposed to be, but he ran away. I wonder why..." He looked at Gabriel.
"Gabriel? Is there something you've been hiding from me?" Terra asked.
He shuttered again. "There's so much to explain, but beforehand, we must get to a more private place. No one must overhear this."
"He's right. I know just where to go."
The three traveled to Master Fu's apartment. There were Chinese banners, decorations like fans and even a Chinese zodiac poster on the wall.
Terra asked, "What's going on?"
He sighed. "Terra, you remember Le Paon, right? Well, the thing is... I am Le Paon."
Terra gasped. "You're... you're the superhero who saved me?"
"Me and Master Fu here... We're Miraculous wielders. Master Fu, the holder of the Turtle Miraculous, is not just a Miraculous wielder, he's also the Great Guardian. He's been looking for a successor. As the Peacock Miraculous wielder Le Paon, I was supposed to take on the responsibility of training to be the next guardian. However, once I heard about your parents grounding you and trying to separate us, I gave up my dream of being a fashion designer and ran away from being the Great Guardian."
He explained everything, about his kwami, being Le Paon, everything.
"Gabriel... You sacrificed your dream just to save me? But why?"
"Because I love you, Terra. You mean the world to me."
"And I'm also guessing that you never told Terra the other half of the truth, did you, Mr. Agreste?" Master Fu asked.
"How could I?" Gabriel asked.
"What other half?" Terra chimed in.
Master Fu sighed. "The truth is, Gabriel got the Miraculous by accident because I got two addresses mixed up. The one who was supposed to get the Miraculous... was... actually you."
Terra gasped. "Gabriel, why didn't you tell me this?!"
"Terra... I... I'm sorry." She ran out of the room. "Terra!" He sighed. "I don't think she's taking this well."
"I never should have mentioned Le Paon to her." Master Fu stated. "I fear I may have soiled your relationship with her."
"Now what do I do?"
"Isn't it obvious? You must find her."
"How do we do that?" Duusu asked.
"I don't know. Duusu, feathers up!"
He transformed and went searching for Terra. He hated being seen in the daytime, but he didn't even care. After searching for hours, he feared his efforts were all in vain. Then he heard a scream on the rooftop. "Let go of me!"
He climbed up to the roof. Terra was struggling to hold back a black cloaked figure. He had grabbed her wrists.
"Leave her alone!" Le Paon exclaimed.
"Paon?" Terra asked.
The figure got punched in the face. Le Paon got out his fan and used it to drive him to the edge. It seemed as if he had the upper hand, then the figure stole the belt with the Miraculous on it and tossed it aside. Le Paon involuntarily detransformed into Gabriel.
"Gabriel Agreste. Just as I thought." he spoke.
Gabriel gasped. He recognized that voice anywhere. "Jacques?"
He removed his cloak with his hand. "Hello there, brother."
Gabriel was furious. "Why are you doing this?!"
He held onto Terra's wrists. "I thought you were doing to do something terrible to this young maiden. There's a reason Terra's parents were so concerned."
"You gave them photographic evidence?!"
"I sure did."
"You traitor!"
"You're the traitor, Gabe. Do you know what happened after you left? Father died of a heart attack, mother fell into depression and committed suicide because we all thought you were dead, and I failed my entrance exam for law school. You're a coward, a liar, and a traitor!"
Gabriel felt ashamed of himself, but he dared not show it. "You never answered my first question. Why are you doing this?"
He tried to put himself in a good light. "I thought you were lusting over her, and I just wanted to protect her."
"You want her for yourself!"
"Is that so wrong?"
"YES! You are going to pay for this!"
"And how do you plan to do that? You're without your Miraculous. You're powerless."
Gabriel was enraged. "That matters little! You messed with my love life, and now you will pay dearly!"
After beating Jacques harshly, Gabriel retrieved his Miraculous belt and Jacques disappeared. He was presumed dead. The two lovebirds went back to Paris afterwards. He tried to bring Terra back to her parents, but they had passed on and the mansion she lived in was bought by Otis Cesarie. Shortly after their return, Gabriel was lucky to get an internship with a major fashion company in Paris. Terra became a choir singer and Le Paon continued to fight crime once again. Within three years, Gabriel founded his own fashion company, the Gabriel brand. In the summer, Gabriel proposed to Terra and they would be married three years later. Everything seemed to be perfect. That is, until a tragedy occurred.
Adrien widened his eyes in fear. "A tragedy? What happened?"
His father sighed. "You know of Princess Diana, right?"
"Yeah. She was the Princess of Wales, beloved by her people. I remember she died, but I'm not sure of the cause."
"On August 31st, 1997, she died in a car crash. The impact didn't kill her immediately, but the doctors failed to save her. Everyone thinks that the driver was drunk, but... This isn't true. I never meant for any of this to happen, but... I was the one who caused her death. I never meant any harm, but everything went wrong early that morning... It was around midnight..."
Le Paon was chasing a black-cloaked thief down the streets of Paris. He tried to get to the Alma Underpass, a tunnel close to the Seine River. To try and stop him, the peacock themed superhero got out of fan and activated his power.
"Vigorous Gale!" Le Paon exclaimed.
He hoped to knock him into the Seine River and then bind him in ropes, but the robber dodged the attack and instead of hitting him, it hit the car, causing it to spin out of control and crash into the wall. The criminal got away. He gasped. Princess Diana was out unconscious, Dodi and Henri (the driver) were both killed instantly, and the only survivor, Trevor, was terribly injured. Police sirens could be heard, and Paon fled the scene.
"I was so ashamed of myself. From that day onward, I made myself two promises; One, that if I ever had a child, I would raise him or her at the house to protect them, and in hopes that they would never receive a Miraculous. Two, I swore to never use the Miraculous again. I was never able to forgive myself for causing this accident. Unfortunately, I failed to do both of these things. Despite my best efforts, you would eventually gain the Cat Miraculous."
"What about the second promise?"
"Well, unfortunately, sometime before the school year started, an intruder broke into the house. You were asleep during all of this, but the intruder used a spell. It was supposed to trap me in the Peacock Miraculous, but unfortunately, he got the wrong target, and Terra became trapped in the brooch I swore to never use. I never figured out who it was, but I have a bad feeling that it was Hawkmoth. After Terra became entrapped in the Miraculous, I contacted Master Fu, and he gave me the Miraculous book. Duusu, who knows some of the code in the book, tried to help me translate the book to English in hopes of finding a way to save her. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I finished the translation a week ago, I still haven't been able to free her."
Adrien looked at his father in realization. "No... no wonder you're always gone."
"I've made many decisions in my life, some good, some bad, some accidental, some on purpose, but I always tried to do what's best, and I was always trying to save her. If only I could forgive myself... Even now, in 2016, nearly two decades later, I still haven't forgiven myself for my mistakes... "
Adrien's phone started vibrating. It was requesting a videochat call from Alya. Gabriel noticed. "Who is it?"
"It's my friend Alya. Should I answer it?"
"You should. Interacting with your friend would be good for you."
Adrien pressed answer, and it started loading. "Hi Alya."
"Hey, Adrien! You finally picked up! Hey Nino, get over here!" Alya ordered.
"What is it?" he asked off-screen. "I've been trying to..." He turned towards his best friend. "Adrien!"
"Nino!" He greeted.
"Well, if I was actually with you in person, I'd hug you like you're a long lost relative. But since I can't do that, onto the next part." He breathed in deeply. "Dude, where have you been?! I've been trying to call you for the last two hours!"
Adrien nearly jumped in surprise. "Two hours?!"
"Yeah, dude. You disappeared on us. I'm glad to see you're safe and sound and..." He noticed Gabriel. "Oh... He's here."
"What's the problem?" Alya asked.
"Adrien's dad... Doesn't like me."
"How come?"
"Long story. I'll explain later."
"So... Alya, what happened after I ran off?" Adrien inquired.
"School was cancelled for the day. It's the first time in forever that the school was closed or delayed and it wasn't because of an akuma attack. The blond haired menace has summoned her forces. At least half of Paris's police officers are pursuing Marinette at all times, whether they want to or not."
Adrien was baffled. "Whether they want to or not?"
"As I was leaving the school, I saw Sabrina, one of our classmates, speaking to her father, Lieutenant Raincomprix. I couldn't hear the first thing she said, but it was something along the lines of, "...Shouldn't have to do this, father." He looked at her and said, "Why don't you want me to pursue her?" She responded, "Because I believe she's right. Chloe is totally evil!" Roger then said, "Marinette has no proof of that, or of Lila being a Miraculous holder. But we do have evidence that states she assaulted Chloe, stole her comb, resisted arrest, and she's on the run from the authorities. That's four reasons to arrest her." She cried out, "You don't have to do this!" "I have to, whether I like it or not. If I don't, I'll be fired. Again. And this time for a legitimate reason!" Sabrina frowned. She was about to say something, but he got into the car and drove off." Nino answered.
Alya looked at Nino curiously. "I don't recall Sabrina being friends with Marinette. Why didn't she want her father to hunt down Marinette?"
"I'm not sure. It's possible that after Sabrina betrayed Chloe during the Chemistry Catastrophe, that she befriended Marinette. Or perhaps she wanted to take Chloe down a peg or two. Either way, it didn't work." He turned towards Adrien. "So, what have you been up to?"