Mayura and her partners, Ladybug and Chat Noir, were surprised when the next days involved no akuma attacks. They were both worried that Hawkmoth was planning something big and Ladybug had warned some of her rare time allies that they might be called to use the miraculous again. On Monday, Mayura decided to meet with both Ladybug and Chat Noir alone, figuring they would both have greatly different opinions.

"...and I'm pretty sure that's why there haven't been akuma attacks recently," Mayura finally finished explaining the situation to Ladybug.

"You think Hawkmoth is stalking you, knows your true identity and you waited until now to tell me?"

"I don't know if that's true, I just know he was looking for my civilian identity but found Mayura there instead," Mayura explained.

"Take advantage of it, he clearly has a weak spot when it comes to you. He has given you a rose and kissed you on the cheek, sounds just like the crush Chat Noir has on me. Use it, have him come over to the good side, or steal his miraculous."

"I can't just take advantage of his feelings, he may be a villain but that doesn't make him heartless. I'm not going to pretend to love him, that would make me just as bad as him."

"I didn't say to pretend," Ladybug pointed out.

"You can't possibly believe that I'm in love with Hawkmoth!"

"Oh, so the rose in your hair is different from the one he gave you?" Ladybug smirked knowing she had Mayura in a corner, "you don't see me putting Chat Noir's flowers in my hair."

"I can't-" Mayura objected weakly.

"In any other circumstance, I wouldn't like this but I think if anyone can change him, it's you."

"But... I- I'm in love with someone else," Mayura stuttered.

"Sometimes we think we know what we want, when we actually don't have a clue," Ladybug told her and revealed a rose that Chat Noir had given her last night while patrolling.

"Go for it, at least he isn't a villain," Mayura said with a small smile before leaving.

Mayura reached for the rose she had put in her hair. Somehow it made her feel special, a way she hadn't felt in a while. A part of her wanted to go back to Gabriel but that hadn't worked for her, maybe it was time for her to move on. It at least seemed like Hawkmoth cared for her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Chat Noir, "love problems?" he asked.

"Yeah," Mayura signed.

"Who is it?"

"Hawkmoth," she answered.

"You're joking, right?"

"Not even a little bit."

"I feel like I skipped a few chapters of the story here," Chat Noir said confused.

Mayura explained her solo encounters with Hawkmoth and how he had been looking for her civilian form. She also went on and told him what Ladybug had told her to do.

"You went to Ladybug before me?" Chat Noir asked, pretending to take offense from the fact.

"That's what you took away from all that?"

"I don't see what else there is to take away, you clearly love him, and if he didn't like you, your miraculous would already be stolen."

"Maybe but-"

"Mayura, don't argue. I know you want to see him tomorrow, just be yourself, it sounds like he already likes you."

"But I'm not just Mayura!"

"And he's not just Hawkmoth. You both have a lot to learn about each other."

"What if this is just some game to him? What if I'm falling into his trap and this is exactly what he wants?"

"Then show him what happens if you mess with Mayura," Chat gave a grin because he knew better than to mess with the blue heroine. She could get revenge hungry and nobody made a fool out of her and got away with it.

"Thanks, Chat," Mayura gave a small smile before going back to her apartment, she would have an early Tuesday morning.

Hawkmoth arrived 45 minutes after Mayura, although he didn't let his presence be known immediately. He watched as she skated with precision and concentration. She skated with beauty and elegance while holding such charm and grace. Mayura posed, signaling the end of the routine, and Hawkmoth began applauding as he came into the light.

"I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing you skate," he told her, "when did you start?"

"Really young, maybe around 5?"

"I'd love to see your civilian form skate," he tried.

"Not happening but it's my turn for a show," she said handing him an ice power-up.

While Hawkmoth wasn't the same elegant beauty that Mayura was, she still enjoyed his attempt. She could tell he was trying despite some struggle to maintain his balance.

"You're quite beautiful on the ice," Mayura mocked.

"Thank you," he smiled although he could tell the statement was sarcastic.

"You know they wouldn't expect it if you came over to the good. You could create good superheroes off of positive emotion."

"In your dreams, Mayura," the way he stretched out her name made her knees slightly weak.

"You don't know what I dream of."

"Well, my little peahen, I'll see you on the battlefield because I will win and get all of your miraculous fair and square."

"We'll see about that," Mayura smirked and ran a hand down his chest and gently touched a finger to his miraculous.

"Don't think the fights are going to be easier just because we are skating every Tuesday."

"Oh, this is a weekly thing now?"

"I assumed you knew."

"I'll see you next week, butterfly," she kisses his cheek before leaping away.

Nathalie isn't surprised when she gets a notification from her akuma alert app that says there is a new villain. Despite Hawkmoth's promise, the fight is easier. Mayura and Chat Noir had defeated the villain alone but Ladybug, who had been running late, showed up in time to purify the akuma.

"It might take some time to draw him to this side," Mayura admitted after the fight.

"I can't imagine it's going to take that long, that was the easiest villain right behind Mr. Pigeon," Chat pointed out.

"Are you good to patrol by yourself tonight, Mayura?" Ladybug asked.

"Yes, that's fine, no need to change up the schedule," Mayura agreed.

Mayura went back to her apartment before detransforming, knowing she would have to be out there patrolling the city in another hour.

"What do you want to eat Duusu?" Nathalie asked her energetic kwami.

"Do you have any strawberries?" they asked.

"Here you go," Nathalie said pulling out some strawberries from her fridge, "be sure not to eat the leaves this time," she warned remembering the last time she gave Duusu strawberries and they ate the whole thing, leaves included.

"I won't, Miss Nathalie," they swore.

Nathalie ate a sandwich before she was ready to transform again.

"Ready, Duusu?"

"Do you think Hawkmoth is going to come?"

"No, Duusu, he shouldn't."

"But you guys are so cute together!" Duusu squealed as they looped around the room.

"He is a villain, I'm a hero. It's never going to happen," Nathalie told her kwami who wasn't paying attention to her. Though she supposed she wouldn't mind if Hawkmoth paid a small visit during her patrol.

Nathalie rolled her eyes at the kwami's hopeless romanticism as well as optimism, "come on, we have a city to look after. Duusu, spread my feathers!"

Mayura stood on the Eiffel Tower admiring her beautiful, and currently peaceful, city. A sight from the tower was something she believed everyone deserves to see, it was like no other. Above it all, Mayura didn't let anything bother her, until one of the thoughts that kept plaguing her, made his appearance.

She didn't notice that he was behind her until she felt him loosen her bun. Mayura whipped around which snapped her hair tie and let her hair fall down her back.

"Hey, that was the only one I have on me!" Mayura complained not even being surprised by Hawkmoth's presence.

"You look really pretty with your hair down. I bet your civilian form is even prettier."

"It's still not happening."

"Fine," he agreed, although sounding reluctant.

Mayura turned back to the Paris skyline. Hawkmoth stood beside her and wrapped an arm around her. She felt warmer than she ever had been standing next to him. Her brain was telling her to pull away and she knew if she didn't, she may never, but she was okay if she never did.

"You lied about the villain thing, that was one of the easiest villains yet," Mayura said after a moment of silence.

"I don't want to hurt you," he admitted.

"Please, you don't have to be this way. I can help you, I know you can change."

"I can't," Hawkmoth said, suddenly jerking away from her.

Mayura reached out already missing his touch. Hawkmoth had turned away and looked like he had his arms cross. She was almost worried he was crying, what had he been through? Why was she so worried?

Slowly resting a hand on his shoulder she asked, "why?"

"I am not a good person. I'm not like you and I never will be."

"You, you don't have to be," Mayura decided, "I'll stop asking."

Mayura turned to leave, she felt somehow she had struck a nerve. She didn't expect to see him, she shouldn't have loved a villain, she shouldn't have cared, she never should have expected him to love her back.

Hawkmoth stopped Mayura from leaving by grabbing her hand.

"She was so good," he said.

"Who?"

"My wife."

"You're married?"

"She died two years ago."

Great, Mayura though, another man she fell in love with whose wife had died yet he was still in love with, she might as well start a list.

"I'm sorry," Mayura said, realizing she had been quiet for too long.

"It might be the only thing you two have in common. She was so good, always doing things for others, I loved her so much. I wanted the miraculous to bring her back."

"Someone else would have to give up their life though, there's a consequence," Mayura reminded him.

"It was a rather short-term goal," Hawkmoth admitted.

"I'm sorry," Mayura repeated, she didn't know what else she could say.

"Take it," he said, laying a hand over his miraculous.

"No!" Mayura shouted, "don't do that."

"Why? This can be over."

"Because I don't want this to be over, I don't- I- I need you. I don't need to know who you are, I don't need anything else, but I don't want this to end."

"You don't have to show me who you are," he promised, "but I'm done," he said and removed the brooch revealing Gabriel Agreste.

Mayura froze, she didn't know who to expect but Gabriel Agreste, a man she had been trying to get over, of all people. She didn't expect it, he had been terrorizing Paris, for Emilie, she reminded herself. His lips moved but all Mayura could hear was the pounding of her heart in her ears.

"No, no," she mumbled, still not quite believing it.

He eventually grabbed her hand and set the miraculous down.

He turned away, "I'm sorry, I know I wasn't what you were expecting."

"Gabriel, wait!" Mayura shouted, her brain finally caught up to what was happening, "you know who I am."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do," Mayura said and took a deep breath, "fall my feathers."

"Nathalie?" He was shocked, it made sense, he had expected to see Nathalie skating on Tuesday morning but it was Mayura because she was Mayura. Gabriel just hadn't expected to see his assistant as a woman who was his rival.

"Yes, sir," Nathalie said simply.

"I can't believe you have been working with me yet against me this whole time."

"Does Adrien know?"

"No, nobody does, well now you do."

"You know Ladybug and Chat Noir are going to want to know who you are," Nathalie mentioned.

"Can you hide it?"

"I'll tell them you left your miraculous in a box and I found it, that I have no clue who you are."

"Thank you, Nath," he says and hugs her, "and I was right, your civilian form is very beautiful. You should wear your hair down more often."

Nathalie hides her blush by refusing to look up at Gabriel, she keeps her head on his chest and she isn't sure when they separate. Mayura brings Gabriel Agreste back to the Agreste mansion, luckily nobody else sees because the pair aren't sure how they would answer the questions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't know who he is," Mayura told Ladybug as she handed her the butterfly miraculous.

"He just left it?" Chat asks looking at the miraculous, suspecting it's a fake.

"The note was addressed to me, he somehow knew I would find it. It isn't even signed."

"I'm sorry, Mayura, I bet you really wanted to know who he was," Ladybug says.

"It's alright, I told you it wasn't meant to be," Mayura feels bad lying to her partners but wasn't going to break her promise to Gabriel.

"Do you think we can reveal our identities now technically that Hawkmoth is gone?" Chat asks.

"I don't see why not," Ladybug shrugs, "spots off."

"Marinette?" Chat is shocked, "claws in."

"A-a-Adrien?" Marinette can't believe it, she had been rejecting the cat for her crush, who was the same boy.

Mayura couldn't believe that Gabriel had been fighting his own son. He would be crushed to find out. Could she even tell Gabriel that Chat was Adrien? Wait, she had to tell Adrien now that she was Nathalie. How would Adrien take this?

"Your turn Mayura, you can trust us," Marinette said.

Mayura supposed she didn't have much time to think about the consequences now, she took a deep breath, "fall my feathers!"

"Nathalie?" Adrien gasped.

"Hi, Adrien."

"Our family is awesome!" he exclaims.

Nathalie gives a small smile, she likes that Adrien thinks of her as family. She remembers again that his family probably isn't awesome to his standards, that his father was Hawkmoth, that his family is broken in a way that will probably never be fixed. She lets him have his moment, it won't last very long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You can't tell Adrien you were ever Hawkmoth," Nathalie tells Gabriel the next day.

She had cleared some time in both of their schedules in order to go ice skating. It might have seemed like a wasteful thing but it was something they both enjoyed. Nathalie skated backward, facing Gabriel, as he moved forward.

"Why not? It's all over."

"Trust me, it will break him."

"You're not making any sense. When I first told you, you said that I should tell Adrien because it would strengthen our relationship and now you're saying it would make it worse. It's not like he is Chat Noir and he deserves to know."

Nathalie stayed silent signaling that he had been correct in the statement he claimed to be false.

"No," Gabriel said and tripped over himself.

Nathalie stopped and changed her direction to help him up.

"I've been fighting my son this whole time?"

Nathalie nodded as she reached a hand down to help Gabriel back onto his feet.

Gabriel reached up but yanked her down on the ice with him. She ended up being in a rather awkward position with her legs straddling his waist. Not giving much thought to his action, he kissed her.

Nathalie knows her blush is covering her whole face. Gabriel finds it adorable.

"You should tell him," Nathalie decides, "even if it hurts him, I do think he deserves to know."

"You're right, you always are."

"No, for a while, I thought that I would never love you. I was very wrong."

"I fell in love when we first fell on the ice," he admits.

"I loved Gabriel way before all this, but I fell in love with Hawkmoth around the same time you fell for Mayura, it just took me longer to admire it."

"Wait, you loved me before all this?"

Nathalie nodded again, "I just- you still loved Emilie and you are my boss so I didn't mention it."

"I'm glad to have you, Nath. No matter who we were or who we are, I need you by my side."

Nathalie smiles and gets back on her feet, "come on," she says offering him her hand, "you wouldn't want to be late for your meeting at 11."

They both wish they could stay on the ice forever. Their problems don't feel as big there and that's if they acknowledge them at all. The Agreste Fashion company doesn't matter and neither does her long list of emails that she has to answer. When they skate it's like there is only the two of them instead of billions of people out there in the world. Falling was never so bad when they fell with each other and helped one another stand up. There isn't an experience like it when you fall in love with the ice and on the ice. While your routine has to come to an end, the connection that one forms never does.