A/N: Okay, so I had another idea as I've been working through the other fic I've been working on. So I took a break to write easily the shortest chapter in this series so far. Hope you enjoy it anyway. Sorry for spamming you with updates!

Chapter 7: Perception

After learning his father is Hawkmoth, Adrien sets out to stop him.

"All this time. . ."

Gabriel squinted at the teen sprawled out on the floor in front of him then back to the sharp end of his cane now coated in red. He had his suspicions, but now it was spelled out clearly before him. His son had been Chat Noir all along. Why had he not seen it before? Their hair color and eyes were the same (with the exception of the yellow glow of Chat's eyes). Additionally, Chat Noir often behaved as Adrien had when he was younger, before he learned to suppress his preposterous behavior and adopt more becoming manners. The two were one and the same, and it had come to this.

Adrien gasped as he clenched his gut with his fist in a sorry attempt to stem the blood pouring from his abdomen. He watched the man he once called father standing unresponsive a few feet from him. The man was still dressed from head to toe in a deep purple suit, the guise that set him apart from other civilians, identifying him as the villain Hawkmoth. Adrien already knew who he was. That's why he came to stop him. Only, he didn't complete the task he had set out to do. The man was faster and more cunning than Chat had given him credit for and he soon found himself on the receiving end of the pointed cane, earning his gut a clean laceration across its width. Plagg had been run so weary over the course of the day that his strength had given out entirely, leaving the teen de-tranformed, feeling more vulnerable than ever. But Adrien would never fault his best friend. It wasn't his kwami's fault and Adrien knew he'd have to let the mask down at some point. The blonde redirected his furious gaze to his opponent.

"Disappointed?" Adrien growled, bashing his teeth together defiantly.

". . ."

He continued to glare at the man towering over him only to have angry tears prick at his eyes. Adrien felt upset, frustrated. Completely betrayed. But there was no denying he had hoped his father would have at least been the least bit apologetic upon realizing he had been fighting his own flesh and blood for the last couple of years. But the man had no remorse. No pity. Adrien berated himself as Hawkmoth's steely eyes bore into him. He should have realized such and never pinned his hopes on something so impossible as for his father to have feelings. Not after his mother disappeared.

The blonde barked a wet, bitter cough at the irony. His mother had disappeared, and that tore his father down to his core, as empty as he was. And Adrien was the spitting image of his mother. Was it really any wonder that he didn't care? The man now had an escape from the reminder that haunted him day in and out. His spouse was no longer around, but his dratted offspring was. If Adrien ceased to exist, the man could move on with his life. He wouldn't be weighed down by a dependent that only reminded him of what happiness he once had.

Adrien's strength gave out, leaving him to collapse on the crimson stained cement below him. Ragged coughs interrupted the boy's wet heaving as he lay writhing on the ground, wishing he would just die already or that his dastardly father would have the decency to just end him. He had suffered enough at the hands of that man already. Putting him out of his misery was the least he owed him.

"S- so fin-ish it," Adrien demanded, his cheeks now completely drenched in the cool saline liquid.

As if to answer his plea, the man lifted his hand.

Adrien slammed his eyes shut.

. . .

It never came.

A brilliant flash of purple burst through the room. The man known as Hawkmoth transformed and Gabriel Agreste immediately dropped to his knees. The last minute had gone by incredibly slowly, but even now his mind was reeling at a gillion miles a minute. He ripped his blazer off, wading it arbitrarily before pressing it hard against the blonde's gaping wound. Adrien hissed. Gabriel winced at his reaction but maintained the pressure, calling over his shoulder to instruct Nooroo to call an ambulance. The purple kwami dashed out of sight and out of mind as the silver haired man desperately attempted to staunch the bleeding against the terrible trembles that jerked at his hands.

"Adrien."

His voice hitched when he spoke his name as Gabriel knew he was no longer deserving to call himself the boy's father. Adrien only responded with a stifled sniffle, more tears coursing down his face as his eyes creased with anguish. Gabriel's heart splintered as their respective worlds came crashing down around them. The boy's face was ghostly white, and it was a wonder he was still conscious.

"Ade- You-ll be al-ight," Gabriel stammered, feeling overwhelming emotion wash clean over him.

It was a sensation he hadn't experienced in years. His own eyes felt an unfamiliar wetness as tears proceeded to gush from his lids. Adrien looked up, surprised to find a glimmer of the man he once knew staring back at him. The blonde's vision was blurring beyond that of the tears now, and every bleary attempt he made to blink only made it worse, but he had seen him. Darkness now surrounded him on all sides but his pain was also subsiding, dampening into a dull numbness as all feeling seemed to leave him. His father was saying something. Nothing coherent, but that was trivial. He had seen a glimpse of the father he once had, signifying the man was making a return, and that's all that mattered to Adrien. He could rest now, knowing that he had succeeded in what he had set out to do. He had saved Gabriel Agreste.

A/N: When starting this, I totally intended to make Gabriel more of a monster, but this is how it turned out in the end. xD I struggle writing him completely evil. . . Totally messed up, yes, but not evil.