A/N: Hey guys, sorry it's been so long since my last update. Been going through some things and they're just now starting to get resolved. Thanks for your messages in the mean time. I appreciate your interest and feedback. I'm a little rusty, so hopefully this addition isn't a complete disaster.

Chapter 17: Fault

Scenario based on the aftermath of Mayura. Potential spoiler warning. Make sure to watch the season two finale first if you haven't seen it yet.

Adrien blew a sigh in relief as the charity event came to a close. He didn't know how, but somehow, despite the immense amount of pain that plagued him, he had managed to survive the night. Grinning his way past his discomfort, Adrien had successfully interacted with some of Gabriel's most important clients over the course of the evening. As a result, he was confident that his father's company and said clients' relationship had become more secure and he had exceeded his father's requirements. His experience in modeling had definitely paid off tonight there was no doubt, but interestingly enough, it was his ability to ignore distractions more than anything else that helped everything run smoothly. He gingerly rubbed at his gut as he made his way through the doors of the mansion, starting his way up the stairs after thanking Gorilla and bidding him good night. Nausea had churned his stomach since the picnic he had only briefly attended earlier that evening and while he managed to disregard it so far, it only seemed to be increasing in intensity now that his need to appear picture perfect was no longer necessary for the remainder of the day.

The fight with Hawkmoth had been brutal. Being one of the toughest fights so far, Adrien wasn't remotely surprised he felt achy and miserable as a result. Plagg's protection helped immensely, sure, but it didn't prevent all injury. 'A man who has nothing left to lose', Hawkmoth had said. . . the way the man had proceeded to pummel him and Ladybug after making his statement had effectively proven his point. With little time after the fight to clean up before the greatly anticipated picnic with his friends, Adrien had only just managed to conceal the bruises along his jaw but hadn't been able to evaluate anything else. He cringed as he continued taking the painstaking steps up to his room, replaying the battle on repeat in his mind. The swing where Hawkmoth had connected his abdomen with his arm felt like it left a serious bruise. He prodded his stomach lightly, determining that he really should have checked the damage earlier as the smallest of touches seemed to aggravate the bruising he was almost positive existed. The long evening was catching up to him as his fatigue mounted and all efforts to ignore the growing discomfort were quickly being overrun by a desperate need for rest and recovery. He found his strength wane upon stumbling up the final stair. Landing on his knees and expelling a huff, Adrien collapsed against the banister. He just needed to rest for a moment.

Plagg poked his head out of his hiding place to stare at Adrien worriedly. The tiny godlike entity opened his mouth, about to ask a question when his ears perked up to a subtle sound and he suddenly darted again out of view into the confines of Adrien's over shirt.

"Adrien?" A familiar time worn voice spoke to him from down the hallway. "Son, what are you doing? Are you alright?"

"I'm- fine," Adrien replied, waving his hand dismissively. "I'm just exhausted. A long day, you know, what with the whole Hawkmoth thing earlier."

Adrien winced as his side flared up when glancing up at the approaching figure of his father and Gabriel seemed to notice. The man frowned, but Adrien couldn't quite place what this particular frown meant. It wasn't an expression of disapproval or frustration, but more like something he had rarely, if ever seen since the disappearance of his mother.

"Were you hurt?" Gabriel asked.

The faintest hint of urgency in his father's voice piqued Adrien's concern further. He actually seemed to be worried about his well being. Adrien muted the smile that spread over his face as he attempted to reassure his father. Had it been anyone else (except Ladybug, he supposed) a smile to such a question would not have been his first response. Not by a long shot. But as his father rarely involved himself in his life, Adrien found it difficult to contain his excitement to find that the man actually cared.

"I'm fine," he said, only to catch his breath when the slight flex of his abdominal muscles churned his stomach. "I just- I just fell down earlier today during the chaos and may have strained my ankle a little. That's all."

Gabriel nodded solemnly as he would have expected. However, much to Adrien's surprise again, the man then suddenly stooped down and held his hand out, gesturing for Adrien to take it in support. The teen carefully took hold of the offered hand and Gabriel pulled him upright. Adrien smiled tiredly up at him and the man appeared to almost reciprocate with a smile of his own. Upon standing, Gabriel assisted Adrien down the hallway when a shooting pain darted through Adrien's core mid step, causing his gait to stutter heavily. He caught himself on the railing with a stifled whimper which resulted in Gabriel inadvertently grimacing. The man paused as Adrien regained his footing, hands hovering around the boy, hesitating as he debated with himself on whether or not to- or rather, how he should intervene. But as Gabriel observed Adrien more carefully, he noticed that the boy's skin had become pallid, as though he could pass out at any moment. Gabriel stepped forward.

"Adrien, if I may-"

The younger of the two looked at the man in surprised confusion before nodding in agreement. Gabriel gestured toward himself to which Adrien smiled again, albeit weakly at his father's uncommon display of kindness and leaned against him. The man took Adrien's right wrist, gently guiding his arm over his own shoulder as he wrapped his left arm around the boy's torso, pulling him close to his side when Adrien took in a sharp gasp, completely crumpling. Gabriel's attention immediately shot to the boy in alarm as he tried to stop the blonde's descent by lifting again at the blonde's waist only for Adrien to make a choking cry when vomit suddenly cascaded all over the carpet.

"Adrien, what-?"

"I- m-may have lied." Adrien stammered thickly, letting fall what remained from his mouth. "I think- I got badly- inj-ured."

"By whom?!" Gabriel shouted lividly.

"I- guess you could s-ay. . . by H-hawkmoth," Adrien replied, avoiding his father's gaze by directing his eyes at the stained flooring in front of him.

Gabriel gaped as reality flooded over him. There was no way it could actually be Hawkmoth who hurt him. After all, he never interacted with Adrien directly when he was transformed. Adrien was obviously referring to the general fault being Hawkmoth's, as it surely came as a result of one of the akuma. Then Gabriel remembered he hadn't seen Adrien near the battle since Gorizilla had lost hold of him. Could Adrien have been in the crowd of Parisians standing against the akumas? Had he been so careless in his observation of the akumas since he was so preoccupied with Ladybug and Chat Noir that he didn't notice when Adrien had been attacked? His glare traveled beyond Adrien.

"Which akuma did this to you?"

"I-"

Adrien couldn't tell his father he was Chat Noir. He couldn't let him know, it was out of the question. He should have just stuck to his original tale, just sucked up the pain like a real man and dealt with it. Gabriel noticed his hesitation and repeated the question but Adrien's head was swimming in black, his vision overcome by a pulsing sensation which took with it any excuse he managed to construct. He slumped in his father's arms as vertigo brushed into him, tipping him over lightly like a blade of grass in the breeze when Gabriel's voice came again more desperately. Adrien blinked stupidly at his father as he was placed down on his back on a dry space of carpet. Quickly, but carefully, Gabriel pulled Adrien's shirt away to expose his belly. Gabriel's breath caught in his throat as Adrien's abdomen came into view. A vibrant red-purple swelling covered a large portion of the boy's gut, pulling the affected skin tight like an over inflated balloon. Gabriel's voice bellowed across the grand entry and a summoned Nathalie was immediately ordered to call an ambulance.

"H-how bad is it-?" Adrien asked tentatively as he tried not to shiver. He wasn't entirely certain if his father was actually as pale as his eyes told him he was.

"It's-"

Gabriel's response died on his lips when gaze returned to that of Adrien's as he only then noticed a substantial bruise along the boy's jaw. Apparently Adrien had hidden it earlier, but the concealing foundation had all been displaced by the vomit he had expelled moments ago. The bruise on his jaw, the massive internal bleeding at his stomach. . . the discoloration on his forearms that had become more apparent as Adrien had become paler. . . All of it suggested Adrien had been in a serious altercation. But only his largest of akumas would have used blunt force against him, and if he remembered rightly, they were all quickly contained by the use of industrial and military vehicles almost immediately after they had chased Ladybug and Chat Noir into the city. So then who-?

"Son, please, tell me. How did this happen?"

Try as he might, Adrien couldn't recall a time where he had ever seen Gabriel's face lined with such worry on his behalf. His vision focused in and out as he stared at the man's foreign expression, contemplating what to say. At this point, he didn't know what else he could tell him other than the truth. Based on Gabriel's change in demeanor, Adrien could confidently assume that his situation was more grave than he suspected. After what seemed like an hour of a moment in trying and failing to develop a feasible excuse, Adrien repressed the lump in his throat and looked directly back at Gabriel.

"I'm-"

"Don't say it. Don't say you're-"

"Chat Noir."

Gabriel's breath abandoned him as his stomach pitted. That couldn't possibly be true. It couldn't be true, but even more than that, he didn't want it to be true. If there was one thing he didn't want to be true at this very moment, it was Adrien being Chat Noir. If it were true, then he- Then Gabriel, he himself had. . . But Adrien kept his unfocused eyes on him, his expression riddled with an uncomfortable pain laden worry. As if he had just disclosed his deepest, darkest secret, one that he had sworn to never reveal. Adrien parted his lips to speak, his ghastly white lips- His voice cracked with anxiety.

"P-please don't be angry, father. I-"

"Adrien."

Tears welled up in the man's eyes and his voice faltered, shattering into a billion pieces. His trembling fingers clumsily brushed Adrien's bangs back, running his hand through his hair as he tried to soothe the son he had all but murdered- something he had only managed to fail in attempting. His remorseful apology spilled from him like water from a fountain and he whispered for Adrien's forgiveness repeatedly. Adrien forced a weak chuckle in an attempt to lighten the situation, telling him that it was Hawkmoth who owed him an apology, only to be cut off mid-sentence when Gabriel let out a heartbreaking sob and bowed his head in agonized shame. Adrien could now feel Gabriel's hand on the ground, his thumb and forefinger trembling crazily against top of his head. His gray vision grew darker as Adrien realized what was said in Gabriel's reluctance to agree. He felt his chest tighten as he started to heave erratically for breath. Gabriel took his hand and grasped it. Adrien didn't want to believe his father was Hawkmoth, but Gabriel's inconsolable release of emotion seemed only to serve as greater evidence that the notion was reality.

"Father-"

Gabriel flinched at Adrien's addressal but couldn't bring himself to look up. It was just as well anyway Adrien decided, since the tears in his own eyes only further decreased his ability to see clearly. He forced his voice beyond a choke when his breath hitched at another spike of pain.

"I'm sorry- f-father."

He squeezed the man's hand gently as an additional effort to let him know that he'd be alright only to result in Gabriel breaking down entirely. The man placed his eyes against their clasping hands, drenching them as he sobbed, whispering his regretful apology in broken syllables. Adrien knew he didn't need to apologize to Gabriel, but he didn't know what else to say. What could he say? After all, Hawkmoth had injured him and countless others on multiple occasions. While Adrien had a brief moment of satisfaction when Carapace's shield knocked the villain for a loop, now that he knew it was his own father- as much as he knew he deserved it, Adrien couldn't bring himself to celebrate their albeit small victory. But on the same token, however, he wasn't sure how or if he could forgive him either. He just wished it had never been this way. Large tears rolled down his cheeks and he gasped for breath but it only made his abdomen hurt all the more, cutting his already short gasp even more brief.

Gabriel panicked as Adrien now choked on air. His hands flew to the boy's head, trying to guide his chin upward to open his airway more fully. Emergency service personnel darted around him at some point, applying oxygen and checking vitals before hastily moving Adrien onto a backboard and Gabriel watched in slow motion as Adrien's eyes fell shut and his body drop limp. Urgent communication and movement between the medical staff melted into a haze as Gabriel watched everything unfurl with Adrien's unconscious form at the center of it all. The ambulance's blaring siren rang in his ears as they flew down the street, speeding toward to the hospital and all Gabriel could think about was how he had done this to him. In an effort to restore his family, he had destroyed what remained of it. In his fight to bring his wife back, he had managed to kill his only son. He wasn't dead yet and Gabriel hoped still that Adrien might survive, but what he had done would never be reversed, regardless of the outcome.

And Gabriel would never forgive himself.

A/N: Ideas or suggestions for more Adrien/ Gabriel interactions? Let me know! I don't have anything planned for the next update yet, but hopefully it'll come sooner than this one.