The curse

'One man's curse is another man's blessing.'

Hawk Moth attacked Adrien and Marinette, two detransformed kids, who defended themselves with two wooden sticks, and a lot of experiences fighting akumas, not to mention the determination, willpower and the pure power of love.

Of course, the kids had no chance, he smashed the sticks they held with a few easy blows, but while Adrien dodged his attempts, Hawk Moth went to grab his hand and broke the lucky charm bracelet. The beads rolled on the floor and he managed to slip and fall. This enabled Adrien and Marinette to both throw themselves on him.

Marinette pushed Hawk Moth's cane away while Hawk Moth was jumping to his feet. Adrien 'fell' onto Hawk Moth and pulled both earrings and the ring from the villain's pocket while he was getting on his feet. Hawk Moth swung his stick once more and Marinette used the tapestry to distract him and get a few precious parts of a second and both teens escaped just out of the reach from the villain's weapon.

Tenzin, the old teacher monk cheered on the side.

"You should be proud of me!" Adrien shouted. He hid both hands behind his back. There was a small flash of light and Plagg appeared close to the ring. But the old deity of destruction and bad luck had sufficient experience to first hide into Adrien's onesie and assess the situation without ceremonial greeting of his chosen. He felt Plagg phased all the way to his pocket where he kept the cheese.

Adrien was not sure if Hawk Moth noticed that Adrien snatched the ring and the earrings back. But since the villain did not throw himself at the two kids with full force, the boy assumed he did not. Adrien quickly passed the earrings to Marinette behind his back and took one step before her.

"You should be proud of me, father!" Adrien shouted at Hawk Moth.

Marinette took the earrings and in a small flash of light just behind Adrien, there was Tikki. Marinette lowered her head and put her index finger over her mouth while she smiled. Then she put the earrings and Tikki in her pocket where she stored the cookies before.

"Proud of you?" Hawk Moth snarled. He was distracted by the fact that the person standing before him was Adrien. His own perfect and obedient son was this boy with ruffled hair, sunburned face and ridiculous clothes.

"Proud of you?" he stressed the word proud differently. Because the boy who stood before him was also Chat Noir. The pest he was fighting for over a year, the annoying and ridiculous clown was his own son, he even did not have the decency to keep his politeness and grace.

"Proud of you?" He spat the words. And the disappointment with himself, because he had failed to recognize the ring he so long strived for, although he held the Book of Lore, that feeling had soon transformed into the disappointment with his own son.

"You want to prevent me from getting back the only woman I love!" Hawk Moth shouted. How could he? How could the boy fight against his own father and prevent him from bringing his own mother back? What kind of monster was he raising under his own roof? With each sentence Hawk Moth swung his cane once more at the two kids before him.

Mayura tensed at his words and turned around giving Dorje precious moments to compose himself. Ye decided to step into the battle by grabbing anything that could be used as a weapon and passing it to the young monk. Ling sneaked over to Pema and gave her a hand to help her stand on her feet all the while she held her phone up.

"I thought ..." Adrien trailed off as he evaded another blow. The boy had a standard move. He stood close to a wall, and then jumped to the side while Hawk Moth would hit the wall that used to be behind him. He would jump as soon as Hawk Moth raised his cane because once the villain started his swing, it was hard to stop the momentum.

"I thought you were with Nathalie now!" Adrien yelled as he rolled over the floor and away from Hawk Moth.

"Why would I be with her?" Hawk Moth shouted incredulously. The question has distracted Mayura sufficiently for Dorje to give her a blow. But she kept her miraculous safe. She grabbed one of the items that Ye had passed to Dorje, it looked as a flat piece of wooden board, it was probably used in the kitchen for cutting something and she threw it as if it was her fan. It rotated, hit the wall and then it changed the rotation speed and the angular momentum brought it back to her. She smirked, perhaps Chat Noir did cataclysm her weapon, but she found a new one.

Hawk Moth was turning around to give another blow to Adrien, but dense cloth (that was in fact a tapestry) wrapped over his face and was held on it by someone who was actually on his back, pushing themself against his back on their feet.

Because, Marinette grabbed the same tapestry again and this time threw it over his head and used it as a leverage as she jumped on his back. This way Hawk Moth could not see and that gave Adrien precious seconds to escape.

But, there was no way for the boy to run away while Marinette was in danger, oh no. The urge to protect her, to shield her from danger, had only increased ever since he had learned her identity. Loosing two close friends instead only one, loosing both girls he loved in place of one, was far more treacherous.

Hawk Moth swung his cane wildly and blindly, it was easy to evade his weapon while Marinette was on his back because the villain had to avoid hitting himself too.

"Kid, you can transform." Plagg advised from the boy's hood announcing that he ate his cheese and was ready. The tone was deep and serious, the old deity was having no nonsense.

"But that might endanger you." Adrien brushed off the suggestion. The boy did not understand exactly what would happen to his kwami, apparently nobody did, but he was sure that transforming in the temple would affect Plagg and his powers.

"Kid, you are already in danger. Let me help you!" The old black cat like kwami pleaded.

"Stay hidden." Adrien hissed back. Because, if Hawk Moth thought he still had the ring and the earrings, Adrien was safer from his wrath. At least that was the logic that the boy was sticking to.

Adrien threw himself on the cane and held it tightly. Hawk Moth shouted but the sound was muffled by the cloth. He waved the cane frantically and Adrien flew in the air along with the cane, almost as if the boy was a flag. But he could not hold onto it for much longer.

"Let go, run away" Marinette shouted from her position while she balanced pushing herself off from Hawk Moth's back. She had, nevertheless, used the opportunity to hold both ends of the tapestry in one hand, while she tried to reach over Hawk Moth's collarbone and grab the pin of his miraculous with the other hand. She crawled her fingers over his chest and was centimetres away from reaching it.

But Hawk Moth used his other hand to grab Marinette's hand and pull her over his shoulder. She flew away from his back while she kept her hold onto the piece of tapestry that was over his face. The tapestry fell around his neck and he could see again.

He aimed to smash the cane (and Adrien) into Marinette. But Adrien managed to turn and direct his body so that he hit Hawk Moth's arm that held Marinette first. Hawk Moth let go of Marinette. Adrien let go of the cane and fell to the floor together with the girl. They both rolled away together as they did so many times while they were in their superhero suits.

"Can I transform Tikki?" Marinette gritted her teeth as they fell on the stone floor.

"It will affect my powers and me." Tikki whispered worriedly. "Permanently."

"But Adrien will get hurt." Marinette whispered to her kwami who was hiding in her onesie.

"Don't!" Adrien hissed. "Don't do this for me!" He noticed Ling at the other end of the corridor with the camera. And then he knew, his father had already lost, he just did not know that yet.

"You despicable excuse of a human being, you do not deserve to call yourself my son." Hawk Moth snarled as he ran for the next attack on the two kids. Marinette rolled them away and behind a stone Buda statue that she fell over the night before. Hawk Moth hit the statue, but the statue did not shatter, his cane bounced off the surface. And that confused Hawk Moth sufficiently to stop his action and stare at the statue incredulously.

This gave time to Adrien and Marinette to jump to their feet.

"You are wrong!" Marinette shouted. "You do not deserve to call yourself his father!" she snarled at the villain while the only thing she had to threaten him with were her bare fists.

Hawk Moth laughed at the girl in front of him. He could not believe her stupidity, a simple civilian girl was threatening him with her bare hands?

"He is the biggest disappointment of my life." Hawk Moth shouted at the girl as if he expected his own breath would just blow her away.

"Yes father, you should be proud of me." Adrien stood tall, he got his ring back, his lady was by his side, and he was sure he was on the right side.

Unfortunately, Hawk Moth also thought he was on the right side.

"You disobey me!" Hawk Moth snarled. "You stand between me and the woman I love."

Mayura took another hit from Dorje, but she recovered quickly. Pema got slammed into a wall again, Ye got hit with the wooden board and Ling escaped and hid behind a tapestry.

"Why are you doing all this? Only to get mum back?" Adrien shouted.

Mayura approached both teens from their back. Dorje threw himself on her back to stop her.

"It is for you. To get back the only person I ever loved." Hawk Moth shouted. All logic was lost on him. He had the eyes of a mad man running through a desert and seeing an oasis where there was no water, only sand and scorching heat.

"You are lying. I never wanted any of this. And you kept her body in the basement of the house where we lived. How sick is that?" he refused to take up the blame for his fathers actions. Adrien was too preoccupied to notice the villain behind his back.

Hawk Moth glared at the boy without any words. He kept her well hidden, he only brought her here for a moment, but she was shielded by the shield from the Carapace sentimonster.

"Yes father, I saw her when you created that teleportation monster. I saw where you kept her. I never knew such room existed in the house." Adrien continued to shout. "And she did too." Adrien motioned towards Marinette. "You just want mother for yourself, I thought you were happy with Nathalie."

Mayura threw her weapon at the two teens. But her moves were far less determined, her eyes were not focused and her face was blank. There was no emotion. She was still fighting, but her mind was somewhere else. She was not sure where.

"Never. She could never replace your mother." Hawk Moth was incredulous, how was Adrien even able to suggest something like that. The villain was not hiding his intentions. Mayura stopped in her track while her eyes followed the wooden board, was there regret in her eyes?

Marinette was turned with her back to Hawk Moth, back to back with Adrien, she saw and deflected the flying wooden board with a piece of a stick she picked up from the ground. Mayura sighed with relief, but then she looked at Hawk Moth and she was flushed with devotion all over again. Perhaps if she just got those two kids to sit and listen, they would understand, at least Adrien should, she was not so sure what to expect from the girl.

"You prefer to have this girl instead of your mother?" The man snarled at his son with contempt.

"I love her, father!" the boy cried back. "I love them both, but mum is gone!"

"Too bad, I was hoping she will be the one to use to bring your mother back!" Hawk Moth gloated while she shouted the words. He expected to mess up with Adrien's mind, that he would loose concentration because of such a threat.

Marinette stared at Mayura who was taking her time while she was picking up the weapon from the floor where it fell after it ricocheted off the stick and the wall.

"She is nothing." Hawk Moth threw himself forward and grabbed Marinette by her neck. Adrien jumped to the side and pulled her along, but he was too slow.

Mayura raised her eyes. There was a tear flowing from one of her eyes. How many times she had to hear that? How many times was her heart to shatter to pieces and she would still love him? Because, even then, she could not bring herself to fight against Gabriel.

"Let her go, father!" Adrien begged. He watched how he grabbed the neck of the girl he loved. He hoped he will not snap it. Because the enhanced strength Hawk Moth had would enable him to do so in a split of a second.

Marinette just felt the pressure on her neck. She could still breathe with difficulty and there was blood reaching her brain so she was conscious, but dizzy. She tried to hit Hawk Moth with a piece of stick she still held in her hand.

But Hawk Moth preferred to keep her wiggling and watch Adrien panic. He had time to change his mind and end the girl's life with a literal snap of his fingers.

"Let her go and take me. I am giving myself away willingly." Adrien dropped whatever he picked up from the floor previously and planned to use as a weapon, he raised his bare hands in surrender.

"Please father?"

It made sense, she could bring him back whatever his father did to him.

"You can transform kid." Plagg urged from his hiding place in the folds of the black hood of his onesie.

Hawk Moth held Marinette high like a trophy in his left hand while he continued to threaten Adrien with his cane. He stopped attacking and looked around. He was not there to fight his son, he was there to bring his wife back, and for that, he needed to teleport her, or himself, and for that he needed an akuma or a sentimonster with such powers.

"You have distracted me long enough!" the man despised the boy in front of him. The villain turned his head around while his eyes searched for a butterfly, but there was none. Then he stared at Mayura.

Adrien looked at Marinette's face worry and sadness all over him. She concentrated on her breathing and tried to reassure him with her eyes. Adrien breathed in and strengthened his resolve.

"We need a sentimonster, the one that provided teleportation the first time would suffice." Hawk Moth issued the order as if he was ordering his morning coffee.

Mayura stood in her spot and stared at the villain reluctantly. She did not move, did not produce a feather and did not evilize it.

"Look at this mess you've made." Hawk Moth continued to scan the area with his eyes. And then he noticed the underwear with the signature logo of his name. Hawk Moth looked at the offending piece of underwear with disgust. It was his name, it was his company logo all over them, it was his own design, it was a special line, it was worn by his own son and worst of all, of all items, he had to lose a piece of underwear. (But the writer expects such item would really have the name written in huge letters on it.)

"And look what disgrace you brought to my name!" Hawk Moth shouted from the top of his voice. Finally he made a decision, he dropped Marinette unceremoniously to the floor and bent over and grabbed the offending item while he stared at Adrien. He only noticed that there was a stone when he was already raising his hand.