I don't know if I can trust him... Mr. Agreste? I want to trust him, I do, but it's hard. I know he's my dad, and that's the scariest part. One of the people I'm supposed to love the most, the one I'm supposed to look up to for unconditional love and support, I'm terrified that I could be wrong. It's the most crippling thing you know? Lou and Emm trust him completely but I've been grappling and grasping at straws to even find it in my heart to trust him. My mind keeps saying the opposite and I wish I could stop listening to it, but it's almost as if I trust my mind more than my heart. Eventually, finding the answer became almost like a maze, searching for the answer in the midst of the tricks the mind plays on you. I still haven't found my answer, but I suppose that's why this is my challenge.

"Hey, sometimes, being a little mistrusting is good. It means you have a good sense of judgement, it's rare to find that in an eight year old kid," Hugo thought in his head as he remembered the words Adrien said to him. Hugo ogled openly at the large walls before him, a wide corridor beckoning him within. Hugo almost couldn't find the strength to take a step until he heard a shriek come from inside the maze.

"HUGO! HELP ME!" A voice rang out through the mist as Hugo shuddered from the chilling air he felt surrounding the maze.

"Maman... she's in there... and she needs me," Hugo murmured as he felt a unknown determination fill him, "I'm coming Maman!" Hugo called out as he finally took a step forward and ran into the maze. As soon as he did though, he felt the mist get thicker in the maze as if that was the ONE thing he needed in that moment. He turned a corner and kept running, listening to his footsteps as they pounded in a steady rhythm against the ground. Eventually, he heard another scream and found it coming in different directions, "Her screams... they're everywhere, this maze... it seems designed to throw me off." Hugo huffed as he wandered deeper into the maze. Eventually, he arrived at what seemed to be a dead end: a giant chasm in the corridor with the corridor continuing on the other side, its bottom unknown.

"A gap? How did this get here? Hmmmm... It seems pretty far... 15 feet maybe?" Hugo thought aloud as his feet turned to go back the other way, "I better turn ba-." Hugo stopped mid-sentence as he heard movements behind him. He whipped around to find creatures coming out of the walls of the maze. They moved with a mechanical rhythm that wasn't even human, their joints moving suddenly and spastically like robots or puppets even. However, they did seem to take a human form and when they started to stand up straight and the mist cleared, Hugo could only freeze in horror. He looked fearfully at the things that seemed to take on Gabriel's look, their faces ever fixed on the increasing despair on Hugo's face. Their bodies constantly moved and bended in ways that weren't humanly possible but their faces just remained on Hugo regardless.

"Mr. Agreste? Well... my dream certainly did a good job making them as horrifying as possible. He's not even human in real life... to ruin Lou's first recital with Papa watching by blowing up the recital hall. Even here... he's ghastly..." Hugo murmured as one of them suddenly rushed forward and sprinted towards him. Panicked, Hugo took a step back into his fighting stance, his hands up and clenched. The Gabriel puppet dashed up to him and swung its arm at Hugo, who dodged before using his elbow to pierce the puppet in its stomach and he was surprised to find out that it was like wood. Hugo then used his fist to hit the puppet in the face and side-kicked him back, causing the puppet to collapse on the ground, its parts breaking apart. Hugo looked at it before looking at the rest of them and oddly enough, they just stood there in place as if they were waiting for something. Hugo looked at them curiously before looking at the puppet he just defeated and saw that the parts that fell apart were gravitating back to the real body and fixing itself. Hugo gasped as the puppet slowly rebuilt itself back on Gabriel and its eyes burned into Hugo as he felt his hands shake and his legs tremble. Suddenly, the other puppets started to sprint forward and Hugo yelled out in surprise as he turned around and ran towards the gap. The only choice he had now was to jump it, there was no way he could fight that many puppets.

"You have no hope to escape..."

"Just disappear quietly like your mother..."

"Your siblings have failed in their dreams, what's stopping you from sleeping?"

"You're the most forgettable out of your siblings, you might as well be dead..."

"Are you commiting suicide now? By jumping off a cliff? You won't make it to the other side... or perhaps you will... in a different sense..."

These were the things Hugo heard from the puppets as the edge of the corridor neared and with a huge jump, Hugo leaped across the giant chasm. He didn't feel fear, which should have been the first thing he felt, but it wasn't feeling, it was instinct. Hugo saw the ground of the corridor of the other side coming up to meet him; only problem was, he wasn't gonna land on it. Hugo saw that he could reach to grab the edge of the cliff just barely as he stuck his hands out and grabbed the cliff just in time, his arms feeling like they just had their muscles ripped apart if he had any. Slowly, and with a lot of effort, Hugo raised himself onto the corridor floor and he lied on his side as he massaged his arms with a tired victory sigh.

"Oh my god... I actually made it..." Hugo laughed as he looked back to the other side and saw that the puppets were just falling off the cliff, fixed on getting to Hugo. Hugo then looked back at the continuing corridor and propped himself up as he saw more Gabriels starting to come out of the wall. Hugo quickly got to his feet as he saw the Gabriels immediately sprint at him and he felt that feeling well up inside him again. It was the instinct to survive and Hugo faced them with a new vigor, with a new will to attack. Hugo ran forward and intercepted them with attacks of his own, skillfully dodging and weaving through the Gabriel's with a grace that he never displayed before. As he made his way towards the end of the crowd, he turned around and back kicked the last remaining into the air and ran further into the maze. Hugo then ran towards an intersection and he checked over his shoulder to find one of the Gabriel's lunging at him. Without missing a beat, Hugo turned around and grabbed the puppet's arms, using its momentum to spin it around a couple of times before releasing it back in the other direction, the puppet crashing into the others. Without another step to spare, he kept running.

"A maze?" Adrien asked as the mist cleared for the pair and the giant structure appeared before them, it's doors opening slowly to reveal the first corridor inside.

"Hugo could be anywhere in this maze... it may take a lot time to find him," Marinette sighed as she quickly examined how big the maze was from just the look of the first corridor.

"True... but we will find him. You know, when you really think about it, this maze is Hugo's manifestation of the mixed feelings he has for me," Adrien surmised as he thought back to the time when he first talked with his son one on one.

"His mixed feelings? Yes, I do remember him telling me that he wasn't sure about you, being his father and all. Poor Hugo, he wanted to trust you, he really did. But he could never find a good enough case to really find an answer," Marinette thought aloud as she remembered how Hugo spoke with her about how he doubted being able to have a regular father and son relationship, " I suppose I have only myself to blame. Hugo was always... more meticulous than the other two, he knew that your family was my source of suffering. He could never look past that, and so, he hated you both. I did a terrible job at reassuring him." Adrien looked at her sadly as they both walked into the maze.

"You don't have to go through all that to have them keep a good opinion of me. I would hated myself too," Adrien murmured as Marinette sharply looked at him with a disappointment in her eyes that made him regret his choice of words.

"One's children should always have a good image of their father. If they can't even trust one of the key figures in their lives who loves and supports them unconditionally, then what do we have then as a family? A dysfunctional ticking time bomb that's bound to implode on itself. That's why, I told them all the stories about the great things you've done and the bad as well, but how you've matured to be the kindest people I have ever met," Marinette stated firmly as Adrien couldn't help but smile warmly at her.

"Thank you and I promise, I will never make them feel abandoned again," Adrien nodded firmly as Marinette nodded back and he couldn't help but add, "I know I make promises like these a lot and it doesn't seem like I fulfill them because of everything that's happened but I will set things right. Once and for all." Adrien walked ahead into the maze with Marinette.

Hugo kept running, feeling his lungs struggle to keep up with him with every passing second. He felt like he was pretty deep into the maze now, but he still had no idea what he was supposed to do. Was he supposed to find his way out on the other side of the maze or in the middle? The Gabriel puppets kept hounding him every turn he made and he fought back with a ferocity he'd never felt before. He was dodging every blow, gracefully yet forcefully making his way through. Suddenly, he entered into a wider, more open area as there was no longer corridors but open space. Or at least it seemed that way; Hugo could tell that that the scale of the maze just became bigger and the corridors were merely gigantic enough to be considered an open space. Either way, it was a perfect place for him to consider his options.

"This is starting to get old, what's my challenge?" Hugo thought as he continued to flip over one of the Gabriels and side-kicked him in the face, sending him back. The walls seemed to keep moving and changing as if they were waiting to crush Hugo. He ran towards the middle of the open area and then he stopped as projections started playing on the walls all around him. Looking closer, Hugo could make out either Adrien or Gabriel in each of the projections doing something different. In one of them, he could see the moment Adrien called his mom a gold digger, and in another, he could see Gabriel having that dreadful one on one conversation with his mom when she and Adrien reunited. Whipping around and examining all of them, Hugo then realised something terrifying as he staggered and tried to keep his eyes on the projections.

"These projections are like reminders... of how much I hate them... Gabriel and Adrien.. but Adrien... he's trying to be better for Maman. He, he helped me with my speech, he gave Emma the father-daughter dance she always wanted. He performed with Louis at his piano recital when Louis messed up and gave one of the most moving performances I have ever seen. And yet why... WHY CAN I NOT FIND IT IN MY HEART TO FORGIVE HIM!" Hugo yelled out to the projections as if they had an answer, "I wish I could love you, and see you as my dad, but something's holding me back and I don't know what it is." Hugo didn't really think anybody would answer him, but to his shock, someone did.

"It's quite simple really," Hugo turned around to find one the Gabriel puppets strangely calm and collected unlike its spastic behaviour before; it was acting like regular Gabriel. Hugo slowly backed his way as Gabriel slowly made his way towards him, "you just don't think you can truly trust your own father, just like Adrien had a great deal of mistrust for me a long time ago."

"Papa still doesn't trust you even now, so it's not like anything changed between you two," Hugo retorted while Gabriel chuckled as he slowed to a stop, just a few steps away from Hugo.

"That may very well be true, your mother, you, and your siblings mean everything to him. It's quite sickly noble if you ask me," Gabriel scoffed as Hugo made a face of disgust at his flippant attitude towards family sentiment.

"Didn't you use to have that?" Hugo asked as Gabriel narrowed his eyes at him.

"Have what?"

"Have something precious that meant the world to you? I mean, you don't seem like the kind of person who would ruin their son's life on a daily basis," Hugo explained as he saw a flash of loathing and remorse cross Gabriel's eyes.

"Something... precious? Yes I do believe I had that once..." Gabriel recalled forlornly as Hugo thought about he meant. He then suddenly remembered his mom telling something about Papa.

"You mean... with Grandma? Maman told me about how Papa told her about Grandma being in a coma for a very long time. Is that why you changed?" Hugo asked as Gabriel looked indignantly at him, with a rage that definitely answered his question.

"I have nothing to lose now... she's never going to wake up... no medicine, miracle, occult method, or anything will bring us back... to that blissful moment, when our future was happy," Gabriel looked darkly at Hugo, who shrunk back in fear as he tried to find a way to stall for time. Stall for what, he doesn't know.

"So you think because your future got derailed, you think it's justified to ruin your son's? Because if you do, that's the sorriest excuse I've heard for a father," Hugo felt his backbone regain some of its confidence as Gabriel looked calculatedly at him, as if he was gauging something.

"You wouldn't understand... the pain of having to keep a family together, when it's falling apart," Gabriel shook his head as he again slowly made his way towards Hugo, who backed away.

"You're not supposed to keep your son in the past, to suffer alongside you, because you're never gonna let it go. He's finally found happiness for himself when he reunited with Maman, and you would rob him of that? Even though he's already faced years beyond my comprehension of sorrow and pain?" Hugo asked as he found that Gabriel didn't answer but he continued anyway, "and you're wrong, I do know what it's like to have a family that's tearing at the seams," As Hugo kept explaining, he felt his eyes watering as he remembered how hard it must have been for Louis, "Or at least, my brother knows, Lou's been through more than what I can imagine. He's been traumatised when he was my age, having to fight battles that he's too young for, and on top of that, Maman and Lou had to raise both me and Emma by themselves. And as much as I know that Lou was so happy to have siblings and for Maman to have more precious bundles of joy, I also know that I derailed their lives, because they had to constantly watch their backs, BECAUSE of you wanting to murder them every week. So don't you tell me I don't know what it's like, because I don't want Maman and Lou to feel like that." Hugo knew the tears were falling down his face but he didn't care, he knew what he was saying was true. Truth be told, he didn't want Adrien to feel like that either, "and you know what?"

"What? Boy?" Gabriel asked.

"I don't want Papa to feel like I derailed his life either because he now has three children who really want to love him and get to know him. And I don't want him to feel as if he's being cornered by something as overwhelming as this," Hugo cried as he stopped backing away and just let Gabriel approach, who seemed ready to kill him.

"You're right, you derail the lives of everyone around you, and it's all the more reason for you to disappear. You were a mistake to begin with, you were never meant to be born. And can you live with that? Being a mistake and a burden to everyone around you?" Gabriel asked as Hugo felt a wave of fear hit him as he let those words sink in. He didn't want to believe that those words were true, but they were, but hearing them out loud, just made him feel broken. Hugo could only stand there in fear as Gabriel inched closer, his spastic behaviour returning slowly but surely. Suddenly, Hugo felt a hand on his shoulder and Hugo almost jumped but turned around in alarm to see Adrien and his mom looking straight at Gabriel.

"Papa?!" Hugo exclaimed as Adrien took a moment to look at him and smiled softly, filling Hugo with a warmth that gave him confidence again.

"I heard what you said Hugo, and I don't feel as if you derailed my life. You may have been a shock for sure, but I really do feel like it was meant to be this way," Adrien softly said as Hugo felt his eyes watering again and Marinette immediately hugged him, soothing him by rubbing circles into his back.

"You okay sweetie?" Marinette asked as she checked for any signs of injuries, which there were since he was fighting a horde of monsters inside a maze, "you've had it rough until now, and I'm sorry I didn't look closer at your doubt towards your father."

"It's fine... but... how are you guys here?" Hugo asked as Adrien turned his head to look at him.

"That's not really important, but there is one question I want you to answer Hugo," Adrien looked softly at Hugo, who awaited the question.

"Do you trust me?"

Hugo was taken aback slightly by the question but he immediately composed himself and broke out into a wide grin.

"Of course I do, I'm sorry it took me a while, but yeah, Papa, I trust you," Hugo wipes away his tears of now joy and Adrien smiled wider.

"Thank you... that's all I needed to hear buddy," Adrien winked as he drew a fencing saber out of midair and brandished it at Gabriel, who looked amusingly at it.

"You think by defeating me, your problems will go away? Don't make me laugh. I am just one out of many," Gabriel grinned evilly but he drew out his own fencing saber, "but I'll entertain your little fencing game, COME ADRIEN!"

Gabriel lunged forward to stab Adrien, who dodged and hit the saber slightly to the side to make it barely miss him. Gabriel kept lunging and attacking but Adrien expertly parried every single attack with a fluidity that was almost seamless. The two kept at it, slashing at each other for a while with Marinette holding Hugo close to her. Suddenly the pair heard a rickety sound from behind and they turned around to find that more Gabriel puppets were making their way into the open space.

"Oh no, there's more coming!" Marinette looked frantically at them all while Hugo scanned through the crowd to gauge how many there were. Adrien made a momentary glance at the incoming enemies and grit his teeth. However, Hugo couldn't do anything but smile.

"Hmph, we've got this, those things aren't a match for us," Hugo steeled his resolve as Marinette looked between him and the puppets and smiled knowingly.

"You've really grown inside this dream haven't you?" Marinette asked as Hugo scratched his head in slight embarrassment.

"I suppose you can say that, but we need to fight these guys off Maman!" Hugo exclaimed as Marinette nodded and faced the puppets again, somehow pulling her signature metal extendable staff out of thin air, "how did you get that?"

"It's a dream remember? You can think of anything you want," Marinette explained as Hugo's jaw dropped.

"Wait, then couldn't have thought myself a way out of this dream a long time ago?!" Hugo exclaimed as he shook his head in frustration.

"No I don't think it's all that simple but you can conjure anything you think can help you, without cheating the whole dream world challenge," Marinette guessed as Hugo shrugged and conjured a pair of daggers he uses for martial arts.

"I was never really good as using these in real life, but now's good time to start," Hugo sighed as the pair charged into the horde of puppets, immediately taking out a group within one attack. They continued to fight until they subdued them long enough in order to make a run for it in the opposite direction. Miraculously, as they ran, another corridor opened as if it was opened upon completion of something. The trio ran into that corridor and made a few more twists and turns until they made it to a giant circular room with a portal in the middle.

"Is that? Our way out?" Marinette asked as they made their way closer to the portal, its wisps of celestial energy passing by Hugo. A voice then suddenly ran out of nowhere, booming throughout the maze.

"Hugo... let me ask one question: do you feel whole?"

Hugo furrowed his brows in confusion as he thought about what the voice meant. However, he felt extremely happy now that he could accept his father into his life, and he felt like that was an answer enough.

"Yeah, I feel as if, my family is finally back together, and that makes my heart feel whole."

The portal shined brighter to that response and the voice spoke again.

"It seems you have accomplished your challenge, you three may proceed into your last dream before you have to save a life lost to regret," The voice called out as Hugo tilted his head in thought.

"Wait... a life lost to regret?" Hugo asked as Marinette replied for him.

"Louis, didn't complete his challenge, he may be stuck in the abyss of sleep, forever," Marinette replied slowly as she remembered the events of his challenge with Hugo immediately gasping in horror.

"Lou, he... failed? Then we have to save him and Emma! They're suffering! Being left alone to face their fears. Maman, Papa, let's save them, together!" Hugo barely got his words out as Adrien and Marinette nodded in agreement as they all headed into the portal together to face the next dream.

Emma's.