Guest Reviews;
Guest (1); Thank you! Well, I update every other Friday, with occasional Interludes. So, yes, I update them fairly quickly.
Guest (2); They do make such an interesting duo.
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Guys! We just DOUBLED the amount of reviews my second most reviewed-on story has! It had 55, and we just made it to 111 reviews! Thank you so much! You're all so amazing!
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I don't usually pair song titles with my Interludes, but this song is a favorite. 'Gabriel' by Alec Benjamin.
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Merry Christmas everyone! Here is my belated Christmas gift to y'all! Finally, an explanation that I know some of you wanted.
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Gabriel Agreste – thus, Hawkmoth - was no fool.
Sure, he was positive Ladybug and her little group probably assumed he was an idiot. Reasons for this being as such; Akumatizing Chat Noir had only driven the hero into hiding, thus making his Miraculous unreachable.
Ladybug most likely thought her adversary a great fool for not bringing himself and Mayura out of hiding to fight beside his akuma. Or, at very least, he could have had Blanc immediately deliver his ring to Hawkmoth. Then, Hawkmoth already could have had half of his needed tools. But he hadn't.
No, he had held himself back from taking the obvious route. Instead, he plotted.
Chat Noir had practically dropped off the map, leaving Ladybug alone.
Hawkmoth knew with certainly that he was helpless against the duo if they really put their minds to it. They could easily incapacitate him, truly.
Unfortunately, it would be near impossible to separate them. If Chat Noir was hit during an Akuma fight, and was incapacitated, Ladybug gained an unholy fury and worked twice as hard, because she would murder anyone and everyone who got too close to her partner. Anyone who hurt him might as well have a giant target on their back, after all. (It was a miracle she had yet to find and slay Hawkmoth.)
On the other hand, if he so much as even tried to hurt Ladybug, Chat Noir straight up panicked. (Something Hawkmoth had randomly noticed was Noir's odd tendency to fiddle with his left wrist whenever Ladybug was in any kind of danger.) Despite his panic, he attacked viciously, and didn't get sidetracked by other things; always focused solely on protecting Ladybug.
(Gabriel was beginning to believe that when one was injured, their extra physical strengths were gifted to their partner, helping the other become super charged.)
However, if Chat Noir or Ladybug simply…didn't show up, the other lacked the aggressive drive to easily defeat the Akuma. Ladybug was nearly defeated in Style Queen, and, honestly, Hawkmoth wasn't sure at all how Weredad was defeated.
In short, Gabriel believed, if he simply found a way to dispose of one of them in a non-destructive manner, the other would be helpless on their own due to the fact that they weren't fueled by rage or whatever it was.
Of course, the obvious one to dispose of was Chat Noir. He was Ladybug's sword and shield, and was, from what Hawkmoth could tell, the most emotionally injured. While Ladybug let out a tiny burst of negative feelings maybe every week or so – not powerful enough to grip onto and didn't last long enough to get a proper feel for – Chat Noir let his anger, fear, and sorrow build up. Kept them bottled until the cork wouldn't go on again, then he poured them all out for hours, then began to fill his bottle up again, hidden behind fake labels full of smiles.
Problem was, Hawkmoth had to wait and wait for him to burst. He had to wait for two months after the original plan for Chat Noir to properly explode with so much emotion that lasted approximately enough time for Hawkmoth to get his claws in.
He had to wait until he was transformed and releasing emotion, too, because he was unable to track Noir unless if he was his super alter ego.
When Noir finally emerged with high emotions, he jumped at the chance. He honestly had been on a roll while fashion designing, but he ditched everything – ignoring a strange look from Natalie – for the whole purpose of properly Akumatizing Chat Noir.
He looked onto that emotion of complete sorrow and grief, and then he –
For the record - or, perhaps, off the record because he had to keep a very low profile - Hawkmoth was not expecting Blanc to go on a killing spree.
However, despite his initial surprise, he didn't veto the idea. On the contrary, he gave the go ahead and watched as Noir killed three hundred people in the first ten seconds of his Akumatization by destroying the nearest apartment complex - over seventeen floors, each floor with ten luxury apartments - and everything within. Before the ash had even begun falling, Blanc was taking care of the next building with one arm and using the other to destroy anyone who got too close - usually by fleeing. He even, at one point, destroyed two buildings at once.
Hawkmoth was a bit confused about how Chat Blanc somehow was able to target everyone except a single family member. Even when he destroyed entire apartment buildings, areas with multiple people were completely destroyed save a single survivor. Occasionally, Blanc tracked down specific families to Cataclysm one by one.
Hawkmoth was honestly the most confused by this, and his Akuma, his minion, wasn't telling him anything.
Hawkmoth started not to care halfway through it all. Chat Blanc could kill the entirety of Paris; as long as the Ladybug earrings were intact, everything would be fine in the end.
After three hours and almost a million people destroyed, Hawkmoth was beginning to doubt whether or not Ladybug was actually still alive. He was starting to think he'd have to have Blanc dig through all the ash until he found two, magic earrings that were, hopefully, untouched, when Ladybug crashed onto the battle ground, eyes filled with so many heartbreaking emotions that Hawkmoth was seriously considering withdrawing the Akuma from Chat Blanc so that he could Akumatize her instead. (Or put it into Natalie, who would become Catalyst again, so he could just maybe get two butterflies to them before their emotions simmered down.)
He stuck to his plan, however, and, though he did his best to defeat Ladybug using Chat Blanc, wasn't exactly surprised when Ladybug defeated him. Sure, it took a few hours, but Ladybug finally purified the Akuma – Hawkmoth wasn't sure how she broke the ring using a bag, but he was long past spending hours contemplating it – and Blanc became Noir once again.
Just as he planned, it took only a few days for Noir to disappear off the map, guilt weighing down on him. Hawkmoth was prepared. After all, his guilt would keep him away for as long as Hawkmoth desired him to be.
The plan from here on out could be explained quite simply; send Noir on a guilt trip, get him far away. Lull Ladybug into a false sense of security with easy Akumas, then release a Heroes Day-like situation. She'd be completely confused, caught off guard, and then he'd crush her beneath his thumb. Chat Noir would most likely charge out of hiding at that, fueled by that infamous wrath, but, even double his strength, he'd be no match against hundreds of Akumas. Hawkmoth would get his Miraculous, too, and everything would be his.
Maybe his plan might take months, but it'd be oh-so-worth it. If he planned it right, Emilie would be reawakened on his son's birthday; the perfect gift. It'd make up for all the times he neglected his son to become Hawkmoth or ignored his offspring to go catch up on all his important fashion design work he missed.
He wasn't a bad father, really. He hadn't physically abused his son yet, and 'Daddy Issues' – as the kids called it – only strengthened people, correct?
Yes. Astoundingly correct.
Well, anyway, his mother returning would make up for it all, and Adrien would be happy once more. They'd both be content, and there'd no longer be a wall between them.
All he needed was for everything to go according to plan, and everything would(for the most part at least); because if there was one thing Hawkmoth was, it was a planner. Heroes Day may have been a flop, but he made a strong comeback.
Then, out of the blue, Aspik joined the battle.
…well, that was okay. Hawkmoth could work around it. As normal. Besides, surely, this egghead was much less a hero then his predecessor. Surely, this would be like taking candy from a baby in comparison to the old duo.
(There was one theory running around his head that maybe, juuust maybe this was Chat Noir in a new form, but he dismissed it. Stupid and improbable theory.)
Yes, in the end, Hawkmoth would be victorious. He wouldn't have it any other way.