Exit music for a film – Radiohead

Mama is back!

Darkness. A great void empty of any light, or any sort of feeling whatsoever, was all that surrounded her. It had been like that for a while. She didn't exactly know for how long, but she was sure that some time must have passed since she got trapped in this senseless world of oblivion.

The blonde woman was already used to this new strange universe, although she missed her family so much it physically hurt. Was she dead? Was she stuck in some kind of limbo, waiting for her next life?

Suddenly, the familiar feelings of nothingness changed to something different, to something cold.

Suddenly, she started to hear voices. Correct that, she started to hear screams, agonizing screams of despair, although she didn't recognize the voice. She thought she might have heard Gabriel screaming her name, but that was impossible, she was alone, trapped in this strange place.

The environment around her started to get even colder, and the voices even louder, and that's when she felt it. For the first time after what felt like years, she felt a touch on her skin.

Green eyes opened for the first time after a whole year of sleepiness. Émilie was lying on the floor, her head was resting on someone's legs. When she looked at the face staring back at her, she couldn't stop the water gates in her eyes, as she stared at her husband's grey eyes for the first time since what seemed like forever.

"Gab- Gabriel…" Her voice was hoarse, clearly not being used for a long time.

"My love, you're here! You're finally here!" He sobbed, placing soft kisses on her forehead.

She was so confused. Why was her husband sobbing like that? What happened? The last thing she remembered was getting terribly sick, then the endless darkness, and now, she was here, in a place she didn't recognize, being held by her husband who was sobbing like she had died.

OH GOD! Did she die? She was so sick, so certain she would perish from her strange condition. But then, how was she back? What had Gabriel done to save her? To bring her back from oblivion?

"Gabriel, what did you do?" She asked, her voice quivering from fear.

"It doesn't matter, my darling! You're here. We can finally be together again, as a family."

A family… They could be together as a family. But she had died. She had left her family. Her damaged miraculous had taken from her the opportunity to watch her son grow up, to be the fine man she was certain he would be.

Émilie's eyes widened in terror, as she remembered her son. What happened to him? How was he dealing with her disappearance? Had he forgotten her? A small part of her hoped that had happened, so he wouldn't suffer, while another part of her wished he was here with her, the two of them finally reunited.

She sat abruptly, startling Gabriel, as she took in her surroundings for the first time. She was in a massive room with a small garden and a broken glass casket. Her eyes drifted to Nathalie, and she smiled, content to see that their faithful assistant was still with them, although the brunette was staring back at her with a baffled expression. Next to their employee, two teens were also staring at her in complete shock, the boy was sobbing madly in a mix of shock and despair, leaving Émilie completely confused. She had no idea who they were, had never seen them before. Were they Adrien's friends? Next to them was Chloé, she looked so different, she had grown so much since the last time Émilie had seen her, she too looked completely devastated.

Now, the woman was terribly bewildered. Why were they all here? Why did they all look so sad? Did something else happen?

Suddenly, she heard a ceaseless wail mixed with some unintelligible words. It the middle of those cries she heard something, "Adrien… please wake up!"

The woman's heart seemed to have stopped at those piercing cries. "Adrien…" She whispered. Scurrying to her feet, she ran to the source of the wails, ignoring Gabriel's cries for her to stop.

Arriving at her destiny, Émilie had to fight the urge to throw up, as she saw a girl holding her unconscious son. The girl was a mess, she had a loose pigtail, and was sobbing desperately, pulling Adrien's limp head to her chest. She approached them carefully, noticing the girl pull her son even closer to her body as if shielding him from any possible threat.

"What happened?" She asked the strange girl who was muttering apologies to Adrien. Her heart constricted in her chest as she took in the appearance of her son.

He looked beautiful, he was so much taller than the last time she had seen him, however, in this girl's arms, he looked so small, so fragile. He was so thin, so pale, a thin trail of blood made its way down his nose and chin, patches of dried blood also adorned his clothes, his neck was severely bruised, as well as his arms and wrists as if he had been attacked and bounded against his will.

All air seemed to have stopped entering her lungs as she noticed the small brooch on his shirt. Her brooch, her damaged, damn miraculous, which had killed her once, was on her baby's body. Gears started to shift in her head, as she came to a terrible realization. Her doubts were answered when Gabriel approached them from behind, he as well shocked at seeing their limp son.

The girl's devastated posture changed to one of fury, as she looked at Gabriel with daggers in her eyes. She held Adrien even more closely, and the other teens in the room, seeing the designer approaching the young couple, ran to their side as well, standing between the adults and Adrien, as if shielding him from Gabriel.

"Do not touch him! You got what you wanted, leave!" The girl shouted at Gabriel, stroking Adrien's hair. Émilie's was finally starting to make sense of what might have happened, as she took a step away from her husband's side. Looking at him with terror in her eyes, she asked slowly, "Gabriel, what did you do?"

"Darling, it was for you, I couldn't live without you, Adrien couldn't live without you…" He argued.

"Can you stop manipulating your family for once?" The girl wearing glasses said enraged.

"What?" The blonde woman asked confused.

"He used his own son to bring you back! He lied to him, threatened him, and even attempted to kill him when he wouldn't obey his demands to get the miraculous." The teen boy confessed, shaking in fury and grief.

"You did what?" Émilie's voice quivered. A feeling of anger and betrayal consuming her soul. The instinct to protect her child kicked in, as she kneeled next to him, and rested a hand on his face feeling its wetness from what she was certain was spilled tears.

"Émilie, please, you have to believe me, he also wanted you back, he helped me willingly."

"That's because you threatened him, you bastard!" Chloé shouted, not attacking him as she was being held by both the other teens.

The sobbing girl on the floor carefully placed Adrien on the floor, rising to her knees, she ran towards Gabriel. She tried to punch him, but the older man held both her arms to restrain her, as the girl squirmed to try to escape his grip. Between sobs, she shouted, "You knew! You knew the miraculous was damaged, you knew what it could do to a person, and you gave it to him anyway! You made him hurt himself to satisfy your selfish wishes! You willingly traded his life for your wife's!" Her voice broke in the end, as the girl gave up on trying to attack the designer, exhausted from all the strong emotions.

Gabriel let go of her and walked towards Émilie's, who was hugging her son, sobbing in despair, after everything she had learnt.

"DON'T!" She threatened, her body language could be compared to a lioness protecting its cub.

"Darling, please…" He reached a hesitating hand towards his family.

"DO NOT SPEAK TO ME! DO NOT EVEN LOOK AT ME! You traded your son, your child for me? How could you? You are a monster, a beast! So, do not come near me or my baby, do you understand?" Émilie was shaking in fury, rocking back and forward with Adrien close to her chest, she hugged him and kissed his hair, muttering apologies, feeling utterly guilt for all the agonizing moments her son had been through for her.

Sirens were heard, and suddenly, Nathalie had come back to the room, followed by the police and paramedics. Émilie didn't even notice the assistant leaving, but she was glad she had called for help, as she was certain that if no one showed up to restrain her husband, she might have killed him herself.

Heavily armed men approached Gabriel from behind, the designer tried to escape from their grip, but they were quick to arrest him.

"ÉMILIE, LOVE! THIS WAS FOR YOU, I LOVE YOU! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!" He yelled maniacally, and that was the moment she realized that her husband was no longer there with them. The Gabriel she knew and loved with all her heart was gone, perhaps ever since she was ultimately defeated by her own miraculous.

Two paramedics approached her, one rested a comforting hand on her shoulder while the other tried to separate her from her child. This only seemed to trigger even more her motherly instincts as she hugged her baby tightly.

It was a mess, between Gabriel's insane shouts as he was being dragged outside the room by the police, Nathalie being arrested as well, despite the woman being strangely calm as if a weight has been lifted from her shoulders, and the teens' sobs as they watched all the commotion. She only wished they could turn back time, to that moment in Tibet when they had found the magical jewels for the first time. She would have never taken them if she knew what would happen in the future. Her family has been destroyed because of them. Damn those jewels, damn the people who had created them. Damn these medics who wanted to take her child from her! Her baby was dead because of her, her husband had gone mad because of her naiveness. How could she had ever thought that they could be heroes? She had only wanted to help people, to make Paris a better place, and instead, she only dragged the ones she loved down.

More paramedics came through the secret elevator, as they approached the other teens, tending their injuries, it was only then that Émilie had realized that they were also hurt, Gabriel had hurt them when they tried to save her baby. The medics who had come for her and Adrien didn't leave them. Eventually, one of them was able to grab her son's frail wrist, checking for a pulse.

"Hm, Madame?" The medic asked, "He has a pulse. He's not dead, please let us treat him."

She sighed in relief, "He's alive?" She asked, slowly letting go of Adrien to let the paramedics work.

"He is. But he needs to be treated right away, his hanging for a thread, we need to help him. You can come with us if you want."

She let go of him, letting the paramedics put his unconscious body on a stretcher. They immediately started to work on him, connecting his right arm to an IV line. None of them wasted any time. They were the last ones to get out of the daunting room, running towards the ambulance in an emergency.

"Please, save my baby… You hang in there, sweetie…" She pleaded, sobs racking her exhausted body, as she seated next to her child inside the ambulance.

Hope you liked the chapter! Gabriel had his wish only for it to completely turn against him. I promise I'll stop hurting our cat-son, but there's still much to do before the story is over.

Thank you for the reviews, and see you next chapter!