Ladybug took her yoyo and opened it silently, quickly typing.
Ladybug: Chat Noir I need you at the Agreste Mansion.
"Ah, Adrien, we were wondering when you would come back to us," Hawkmoth said, his footsteps echoing slowly but consistently around the cold room.
Ladybug: I will explain later, but please come.
She waited, but there was no reply. He was probably still angry and upset, but she knew she needed him and she wanted to make that clear.
Ladybug: Chat I know I haven't been good in anyway recently but I really need you.
"No need to hide, son. Mayura and I just want to have a little chat with you. Is that so wrong?" Hawkmoth said.
From the direction of his voice, Ladybug guessed that he was near Adrien's desk, heading slowly in the direction of the bathroom. Ladybug curled up, careful not to make a sound. She froze as she heard Mayura's voice, coming in a similar direction to Hawkmoth's.
"Come on, Adrien. Surely you don't want to betray your father again... you do have some heart in you, don't you? Or was it all broken by Ladybug?"
Ladybug: I do need you, I can't do this without you.
"Hmm... Ladybug... she broke your heart, son. I have no idea why you wanted to go to her, rather than your own blood." Hawkmoth muttered.
Ladybug pressed her eyes tightly together, when she was the sofa in front of her eyes become damp with her tears.
Ladybug: Chat please I am so so so sorry.
"They say blood is thicker than water, Adrien." Nathelie piped up.
Relief flooded through Ladybug as she saw the three dots appear, showing he was typing.
Chat Noir: It's okay.
Chat Noir: I am outside. Are you inside?
"It is quite odd how you chose to keep your unhealthy relationship with Ladybug, rather than stay with your family, who love you so, so much." Gabriel continued. "Your mother and I did everything for you... we fed you... clothed you... your mother even let you into our bed when you were scared. Is this how you repay her? By betraying her?"
She heard the footsteps getting closer, and pulled a blanket that had been beneath the sofa onto her, hiding her body.
Ladybug: Yes.
Ladybug: I am on the sofa.
Ladybug: I think Mayura and Hawkmoth are behind me.
Ladybug craned her neck, peering through the blanket.
Ladybug: I can't see them though.
Chat Noir: I think I can see them.
Ladybug looked around, seeing a faint shadow by the window she had come in through. She almost jumped as she heard a foot smash into the ground with anger.
Chat Noir: Are they saying anything?
"Come out, kitty. You con't hide forever and when we get our hands on your traitorous bod-"
"We'll be able to bring your mother back..." Nathalie interrupted. "Wouldn't you like that? She could be here, really here, and give you those hugs you used to like, and kiss your forehead and tell you she loves you... because she does, Adrien... that's why we want to bring her back. For you... surely you wouldn't rejecft such a gift..."
Ladybug: Just stuff like come out kitty.
Ladybug: Not important what they're saying.
Ladybug: Can you get inside?
Ladybug gulped, and frowned as she realised that the footsteps, and speaking, had stopped. She closed her yoyo, clutching the picture of Emilie close to her. She listened, but no sound was heard, other than the gasp she produced when Hawkmoth pulled the blanket off of her.
Hawkmoth's face visibly morphed into confusion, before anger. He gripped her hair and picked her up, throwing her to the floor. The picture fell from her hands, and the glass smashed on the floor, covering it with shards.
Mayura came to her and pinned her arms, but Ladybug used her legs to kick her away. She attempted to pick up her yoyo, but it was too far away, beside the broken frame. She reached for it, but by doing so she left her lower half vulnerable. Hawkmoth took his chance and reached over to her earrings, teeth clenching as Ladybug twisted her head. The three jumped as they heard a banging from the window, as the shadow gripped the window tightly and somehow managed to pry it open.
Chat Noir leapt inside, freezing for the briefest moment as he saw what was happening. He snapped out of it and lunged at Hawkmoth, tackling him to the ground at pushing Mayura away. Ladybug stood up with her yoyo swinging in her hand, and engaged with Mayura. From her peripheral vision, she saw Hawkmoth throw Chat Noir off of him.
She ran to catch him, but Mayura grabbed her legs and pinned her to the floor again, narrowing her eyes as Ladybug struggled.
Hawkmoth stepped closer to Chat Noir, and gripped his jaw tightly, his fingers pressing on tiny bruises.
"You had everything ! You had a family , and they risked their lives for you every single day . And you, the ungrateful son who does everything in his power to defy those who know better... you are not worthy of being in this family. Not worthy of having friends, either. They left you, didn't they? It's because they learnt who you truly are. Without a mask." Hawkmoth snarled.
"No! You know it wasn't your fault-" Ladybug said, rolling she and Mayura over so that she could run to him.
She connected her foot with Hawkmoth's face, forcing Hawkmoth to let go of Chat Noir in favour of clutching his face.
"Oh I'm sorry, did that hurt? 'Cause it hurt your son way more when you forced those wretched thoughts into his head. When you betrayed him-" Ladybug all but screamed at him.
"I didn't leave my family and abandon them in favour of doing something else, did I?"
"Yes, you did! You abandoned your son when he needed you! You left him to go save your wife, and I'm sorry Hawkmoth, but she's gone. She's gone and she's not coming back. You've got to accept this and start caring about who is actually here!" Ladybug cried, gesturing to Chat Noir.
"Who? Him? Why should I care about him? I did everything for him- I let him go to school, I feed him, clothe him-"
"Oh really? Then why has he been staying with me for the past few days? Why did we have to get him new clothes? Why did he eat at my place?" Ladybug said, her voice lowering as she got more and more angry. "Why does he enjoy being places you're not?"
"Because he has no respect for his elders, that's why-" Mayura attempted to say, before Ladybug sharply interrupted her.
"Respect for his elders? I don't know, why would he have no respect for you people? Yeah, it's not like he was neglected and touch starved and emotionally manipulated and probably emotionally abused too." Ladybug said sarcastically.
"I did nothing wrong in his upbringing. He deserved everything that happened to him-"
"Dammit, Agreste, no, he didn't deserve any of it!"
"He did and you know it, Ladybug. He deserved everything that happened here, with you breaking his heart, everything that had happened at school, with Lila framing him with the gum-"
"You did it..." Chat Noir's quiet voice said from behind Ladybug.
The three others in the room stared at him in complete confusion.
"You were the one who told Lila to do the thing with the chewing gum- that day when we went to the park... you probably told Lila to frame Marinette, too..."
Ladybug glared at Hawkmoth in shock, the anger she was feeling obviously written all over her face. She clenched her fists and refrained from punching Hawkmoth right there.
"Maybe I did, what does it matte-" Hawkmoth burst out, clearly trying to take the blame off of him.
"What does it matter? How can you say that? You set your own son up to get emotionally destroyed at school, after you gave him that stupid letter, too! You betrayed your own blood, not him! You're the traitor!" Ladybug snapped, taking small steps towards him, her fists shaking with rage.
"Am I the one choosing someone who broke my heart over my mother?" Hawkmoth shot back. "No. He is. Family is important, and this wretched boy completely ignored its worth-"
"No! Sure, family is important, but it's not the most important thing at all! Ladybug's stuck with me this entire time, while you, my family, hadn't." Chat Noir rolled his hands into tight fists, restraining from getting physical with his father. "There's so much more than just family, and- and I think it's time you see that."
Hawkmoth's jaw visibly clenched, and the exposed bit of skin beneath his mask turned red with anger.
"Listen here, boy-"
"No, I won't! I'm not going to do whatever you say just because you're family and my father. I'm sick of you controlling my life!"
Ladybug looked between the two, seeing Chat Noir finally let out the emotions he had clearly been bottling up for so long.
Hawkmoth clearly noticed, and decided to change his tactics.
"Son, wouldn't you do the same for your own love, Ladybug?" Hawkmoth asked, turning to Chat Noir as his voice softened.
Chat Noir slowly shook his head in response. "Not if it meant sacrificing another in her place."
The tears dribbled down his cheeks, leaving slight trails behind.
"But that's what love is, son," Hawkmoth murmured, taking slow steps towards him.
"No. That's not what love is." Ladybug interrupted. "And love... what you have with your own son... that's not love either."
Hawkmoth leered at her, then turned back to Chat Noir.
"Are you really going to let her ruin this for you? To ruin love? I love you, son, and your mother does too. Ladybug has no idea what she's talking about-"
"She does. And she's pretty much been there for me all the time, as both Adrien and Chat Noir. Even when she thought I had betrayed her."
"Which he didn't," Ladybug continued from where he left off. "He has the right to choose what side he wants to be on, and he made his decision, just like us. He's not going to join you simply because you're family."
Chat Noir nodded shakily in agreement.
"And family-" he started, "this isn't family. It- it's a lie. And I don't want to live a lie anymore."
He met his father's eyes, green eyes shining.
"For years, years, my entire life , you've made me be who you want me to be, but now-" their eyes locked as Chat Noir grew in confidence. "Now I'm going to do what I want. Not you, or whatever an 'Agreste' would do. 'Cause if being an Agreste means I have to throw my life away, I'm not going to do it."
Hawkmoth curled his lip in anger, seeing no more point in talking. He drew his cane, watching Mayura do the same out of the corner of his eye.
"I think you've already thrown your life away, boy."
Hawkmoth's feet swept of the floor as he ran to Chat Noir, his cane pointed out in a dangerous angle. The sudden lunge caught Chat Noir off-guard and he froze, completely vulnerable to the incoming cane.
Ladybug however, jumped into action.
Throwing herself in front of him the same way he had done so, so, so many times before, she pushed him out of the way. Her leg kicked up in an attempt to defend herself, and when the cane and her ankle met, there was a literally bone-crunching crack.
Hawkmoth's eyes, and everyone else's, widened as they heard it, none of them having experienced any real injury from their lives with miraculouses.
Ladybug shut her eyes instantly after feeling the blunt but sharp impact, revelling in the brief moment of bliss before the sickening pain overtook her, spreading from her ankle up her leg to her whole body. Her mouth hung open as she fell onto the marble floors, panting heavily as she struggled to contain her reaction.
Chat, on the other hand, made no attempt to contain his reaction.
His jaw fell to the floor in pure shock, eyes widening as his body numbed.
Hawkmoth attempted to retract his arm, and the staff along with it, but Ladybug gritted her teeth and swung it out of his grip, limping as she did so. Chat came back to his senses mere moments later, grasping at the staff as it swung past his face.
Calling upon his Cataclysm, he forced it to crumble to dust in the palm of his hand.
Hawkmoth did not feel the same mini internal victory Ladybug and Chat Noir felt.
He took a step back as Mayura tensed, her guard down.
Sensing that they had a clear opening, Ladybug and Chat Noir moved forward, cornering their enemies. Despite the obviously serious injury to her leg, they had the upper hand. Together, they lunged forward, in sync once again, and tackled Mayura and Hawkmoth to the ground, their miraculouses ripped away.
As they detransformed, Gabriel and Nathalie looked up at the heroes in defeat, scowling as they were restrained.
Chat Noir didn't forget the look on his father's face as the police took him away.
4 weeks later
"I... didn't realise... what it was like," Marinette said slowly, her slight limp evident to those who paid close enough attention.
Adrien was silent beside her, sensing she had more to say.
"And I've barely been stuck at home for more than a month because of my foot, while you'd been kept prisoner in your house for your entire life... and I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to properly understand what that's like. But I can feel a tiny bit of what you feel, and... and I'm sorry. I should have realised that, no, I'm not the only one in the world, and everyone else has their own problems and a lot of those problems are worse than mine." She looked up and met his eyes. "I feel like I understand you a lot better now."
She did, she truly did, and it was something that she really couldn't be more grateful for. She offered her hand to is, knowing very well that he needed support just as she did.
He took it, of course, he was the forgiving type.
The two looked up, seeing a purple-tinted butterfly flutter across the blue of the sky. It wasn't an akuma, of course, but their adrenaline levels rose quickly.
A.N: there might not be purple-tinted butterflies in Paris guys i dont know but hey lets just go with it