First of all thanks for the suggestions on Kagami and Luka. I spent my weekend musing about it while baking and I have a solution (but it'll take a while for you to see.
Marinette knew that, if this were any other situation, Adrien would be pointing out how similar this was to an anime show. Or, if they were watching movie, she would be saying this was the part where the protagonists got all the lore information on how to save the world.
To think they would be in that position well, it hadn't really crossed her mind.
"I know you said it was too soon to bring them here," Tikki floated towards the old man "but you must see what they've discovered."
Marinette and Adrien looked at each other. Were they supposed to know of this place?
"Wait… I've been here before!" she turned to Tikki "when you were sick, I… I brought you here! So…I'm guessing you're not really a vet?"
"Not really," Master Fu stood up "I did meet both on your first day of school, and that wasn't a chance meeting either."
Adrien remembered now, the old man he had helped stand up!
"Marinette, you are always ready to help others no matter the situation," he turned to Adrien "and Adrien, you are so selfless despite your chains to help others too, but that wasn't all" Master Fu glanced at Tikki and Plagg "a strategist and a warrior, more than suitable for the Ladybug and Black cat miraculous."
Adrien felt his cheeks flush from the sudden praise. Him, a warrior? Sure, he remembered that day, he had rebelled against his father and while he lost his chance the first day he didn't regret helping that man. In the end he had got his wish and turned into the best time thanks to meeting Plagg, meeting Marinette, having friends in general.
But how did that make him a warrior?
"But…who are you?" Marinette asked, her hand suddenly finding Adrien's to squeeze. Adrien appreciated it, the small reassurance that she was still there with him.
Master Fu walked towards the old phonograph, both teens following as it opened a secret compartment to reveal an ancient jewelry box with the same symbol on top as the one that was on the book.
"Master Fu is the last known member of the Order of the Guardians!"
"Guardians of the Miraculous" a green kwami popped out of the phonograph, standing before Marinette and Adrien "I'm Wayzz, Master Fu's kwami, it's a pleasure to meet you both."
"Oh, ah you too" Marinette offered a small smile, now being Adrien's turn to squeeze her hand as he turned to the kwami.
"Nice to meet you too Wayzz" he said while Master Fu retrieved the box.
"We guardians are responsible for protecting and distributing the Miraculous for the good of all humanity, we are chosen in childhood and trained for many years, especially for this mission," his eyes were down cast now, as if the memory pained him to be brought back "when we were much, much younger we…" he sighed "I made a mistake… the Guardian's temple was destroyed all because of me."
He opened the box to reveal a set of seven slots of different colors and what had to be two miraculous resting inside.
"Two of the Miraculous were lost that day, the butterfly and the peacock… also gone forever was the ancient spell book."
"But, it only has pictures and strange symbols," Adrien said, "are you telling us this is coded?"
"Indeed it is" Master Fu nodded "I've been taught enough to partially decipher the code, this book will also unveil secrets and spells capable of giving Ladybug and Chat Noir special abilities we haven't known until now."
Adrien and Marinette looked at each other. This was a load of information, but it added up to what they had found. Marinette handled him the book and opened her purse to retrieve the brooch.
"Is that…" Wayzz gasped as Master Fu looked at the miraculous "Master it's Duusu!"
Master Fu placed the book on the drawer to retrieve the miraculous, handling it with delicacy as he examined it over.
"Ah, I'm afraid it would be in worse state" he looked at them "a broken Miraculous is very dangerous to use, especially to a human being."
"We, well I found it like that" Adrien shifted on his feet "is the kwami going to be ok? Is he…?"
"Oh, Dusuu is not dead" Master Fu placed the brooch on the jewelry box, locking it back into the phonograph "but dormant in order to heal himself. Alone it would take decades, but with the book, it may take a few months."
Adrien took a quick glance at the kwamis, happy to see that Plagg didn't hide away his relief. He may not know who that kwami was but he could tell Plagg cared about him, in his own ways.
"However, this only raises my suspicions that whoever had the book also had the peacock and the butterfly miraculous."
"Uh…"
"I found them in my father's safe" Adrien stepped up.
It was inevitable at this point. All hints were pointing in that direction. Adrien had to rely entirely on the warmth of Marinette's hand so he wouldn't spiral into despair and become an akuma himself. Would he? A part of him thought, would his own father be capable of akumatizing him?
"Your father?"
Adrien started to talk about how they had had the suspicion before, when the hypnotist guy was akumatized, and how intrigued Gabriel was over his ring as both Chat and Adrien, as well as Ladybug's earrings. The fact that he had those two items in his safe were just piling against him.
"To think there were not two but three miraculous in that house" Master Fu closed the book "and him suspecting of your identity."
"You're…does this mean I can't be Chat Noir anymore?"
Marinette's head snapped back to Adrien in shock. She couldn't do this without him! Yes, it was a big risk now but a part of her wanted to be selfish. Adrien was her closest friend! They worked amazing as Ladybug and Chat Noir!
"Oh, on the contrary" Master Fu eased their nerves "I believe this is an amazing opportunity to have an intel from the inside, but it is an extremely risky move."
"I'll say" Plagg grumbled "but not the first time I had to deal with this situation."
"Wait, you want me to spy on him?"
"Yes but no," Master Fu said "Hawkmoth wants your miraculous because once combined they can grant the holder one wish, but wishes are never free, they must come at a high price, you cannot obtain something without losing something of equal value before."
"Oh, like in FullMetal Alchemist," Adrien said, earning a confused glance from Master Fu and an eye roll from Marinette "what? It's so like that, equivalent exchange!"
"Yes Adrien, except I don't think Hawkmoth wants a philosopher stone to revive…"
She didn't need to fill the rest of that sentence, Adrien's eyes widening and then looking down enough to complete that gap.
If Gabriel Agreste was indeed Hawkmoth, they had found the very reason he wanted so bad the power of a wish.
"Adrien…"
"No," he looked up "as much as I miss my mother, she's gone, and you cannot bring back the dead" he looked at her "I grieved her, I miss her and I love her, but I learned to move on. I'm not willing to sacrifice a life for hers."
Just then a phone ring startled all three of them, Adrien taking his phone out and wincing when he saw it was Nathalie.
"Ah, hello?"
"Adrien where are you? Your father demands speak to you,"
"I uh," he glanced at Marinette "got caught up in a project about… Chinese influenced healing studies in the Western world…"
"Adrien, I hope you have a very good reason for going through my things and stealing my book."
Gabriel's voice was cold as he looked at his son, but Adrien couldn't feel the same type of fear anymore. This was not only his father, this could be the man that had been inflicting damage to people, abusing their weak moments to create monsters and forcing them to do things against their will.
"I…thought it was so cool because it had superheroes and I wanted to try posing as some of them- "
"That book is the source of my inspiration Adrien, not to mention that brooch was a memento from your mother."
"How could I know if you hardly tell me anything?" Adrien snapped, receiving a squeeze on his hand.
"I hope you enjoy that project as it will be the last you'll do; you'll be homeschooled again unless that book and brooch are back where they belong."
The phone went black as the call ended, Adrien glaring at the screen and the reflection of his own anger looking back at him.
"We can't give those back" Marinette said "if…if he really is,"
"Hawkmoth" Adrien got tired of hiding the possibility "if he is Hawkmoth, who knows what he's capable of doing with that information."
"On one side," Master Fu said "the only power he's had up until now is what he must have pulled out of Nooroo, the butterfly kwami," he stood up to retrieve his phone "if he hasn't discovered anything from it for an entire year, then we are at advantage."
"Are you saying we should…give them back?"
"One thing we will need in this fight against Hawkmoth is trust," Master Fu took the book and started taking photos of each page "ah, the wonders of technology."
"Well that's one problem solved" Adrien turned to Marinette "but what about the brooch?"
"We can't just give him a fake one, he'll know right away…won't he?"
"Unless he realizes months later," he opened the phonograph to retrieve a fox tail necklace, very similar to the one Lila had bought from a store. Oh, no wonder the book was apparently a Gabriel inspiration if anyone could buy replicas of miraculous.
"This is the miraculous of the fox, it will grant the power of illusion"
"Oh, I see!" Marinette turned to Adrien "with it we can create a small illusion on a fake brooch just enough for Gabriel to believe it to be real."
"And since he just keeps it locked in his safe then the illusion doesn't have to hold on forever!" Adrien snapped his fingers, catching up with the plan.
"It is a risky plan, and for now I will be the one holding onto the Miraculous for it to work "Master Fu put it on, a bright light showing up with a small fox kwami "hello Trixx,"
"Oh, the Ladybug and the Black cat!" Trixx waved at them "so good to finally get to meet you."
"Likewise,"
The sudden alert on their phones caused them to turn and see there was an akuma on the loose, but when they saw the stream they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"Since the book that used to fill my life is gone, I'm going to use your life to fill up this new one!" the akuma said into the screen, cutting off the transmission.
"You'd think if Hawkmoth was indeed Gabriel he'd have way better taste in the akuma's looks" Marinette mumbled.
"How could he be akumatized though?" Adrien looked at Master Fu, "all hints pointed at him!"
"Unless…he wants to throw Ladybug and Chat Noir off-trail?" she frowned "if he was akumatized then he couldn't be Hawkmoth, so to speak."
"You must release the akuma, once you do, come back here so we can give this back and clear your name."
They nodded and called their transformation.
"Wait" he looked at Ladybug "we cannot discuss anything about it out there, who knows if he will remember any of that."
"Got it" she opened the window "now let's get to work Chat!"
Their first hint was, of course, Adrien's house, finding it a complete mess once they got inside the studio.
"Looks like there was a fight in here," Ladybug eyed Chat, who picked up a frame of a drawing he remembered doing years ago, when he was just a little kid.
"Seems like it" he put it back on a shelf, hyper-aware of the fact there could be cameras and microphones inside, otherwise how else would he had known of the book "we must check on his son! Maybe he'll know what happened,"
"Good idea Chat" Ladybug followed after him out of the studio, even if they both knew Adrien was not in his room. Unfortunately for them, they ran headfirst into the Collector. Ladybug knew by now the akumas gave diverse abilities to the victims, like speed and strength but she couldn't help but wonder how flexible and agile Gabriel Agreste was, especially in an outfit so tacky he wouldn't be caught wearing had he been a regular human being.
They circled around the house, throwing things at the book that was the obvious hideout of the akuma, Chat glad he could secretly toss things he had always found tacky of his own home. But they needed to purify it and they had to do it fast.
"Lucky charm!" Ladybug called her magic, a pedal falling into her hands.
"I…" she looked around, hoping to see a clue that could help her out but nothing around seemed useful to what she could put the pedal into action. Besides, they needed more time for Master Fu to have all the photos and the fake brooch ready.
"We need to stall him," she held the pedal close just as the stairs behind them disappeared.
This fight was, in Chat's opinion, one heck of trouble. He was fighting his father after all! And while in this occasion he was under an akuma's influence, what if he had to fight him again while fully aware of his own consciousness? Chat didn't know how he was even going to handle that situation if the time came to it!
"No!" he heard Ladybug gasp, her yo-yo now part of the book. Now both were weaponless, and they needed the yo-yo to purify the akuma!
They took refuge in Adrien's room, barricading the door with everything around.
"Any ideas LB?" he pushed the piano all the way to the door, with her looking around for options.
"What if there were no more pages in his book?" she glanced at Adrien's video collection, Chat throwing her an aghast look "
"But those seem limited ed-ok yes" he ignored Ladybug's frown "what's your plan?"
"Toss me your belt," she said as the Collector barged in, making it even more complicated for her to create her ploy.
Chat threw it at her, catching the Collector's attention to distract him long enough for Ladybug to create a machine similar to the ones they used in tennis courts.
"Cataclysm!" he called on his shelves, the cd's flying around him ready for him to toss at her to throw at the Collector until his book was full.
The rest was easy, call the cure, get their things back and purifying the akuma.
"Are you ok sir?" Chat approached Gabriel as soon as he was back to normal.
"Ladybug, Chat Noir…what happened?"
"You were akumatized by Hawkmoth, but don't worry, it's over now."
"Thank you," he gasped "my son! Where is he?"
"He must be hiding," Chat smiled "he sure knows the safe protocol to do in case of akumas,"
"Chat is right, otherwise he'd have reappeared here."
"Ah, yes, he did mention he was on a project…"
The beep of their miraculous made them take a step back and leave the room, looking at each other as they made their way back to Master Fu.
"So, either Gabriel Agreste isn't Hawkmoth…"
"Or he tried to trick us into thinking that," Chat said, landing close to the tea shop "so it would be best if he believed that."
Their transformations wore off, Tikki and Plagg diving into Marinette's purse where she had already stashed food for them.
"Adrien…" she tried "I'm…"
"No, Marinette" he looked at her with a sad smile "don't say you're sorry."
"But- "
"If you think I'll turn Darth Vader for this you're wrong" he added "my place is with you, fighting evil caused by him… but I could try the Luke Skywalker way of talking to him once we find him with his hands on the air."
"I don't think that's how the saying goes," she sighed "but just know Adrien, you are incredibly brave and kind."
Adrien's cheeks flushed, his eyes moving down to see a snickering Plagg from Marinette's purse.
"But we really have to get that book and brooch back," she pointed at the shop, urging him to follow after her.
The plan was simple, they would both go back to Adrien's place, with an excuse ready while Master Fu was transformed on the rooftop with Trixx, just until Gabriel put the book and brooch back in the safe.
The weirdest thing, in Adrien's opinion, was how Gabriel fell for it, hook line and sinker. Plus, it had helped to bring Marinette as she started going on and on about fashion rather than the real content of the book, which seemed to sell more their excuse.
"Does that mean… I can go back to school?"
"Well, you did return it as told so and," he glanced at Marinette "considering you just wanted a reason to impress rather than lose it, I suppose there was no real harm done."
"Thank you, father!" Adrien hugged him, startling Gabriel enough to hug him back "this means so much to me!"
"Very well, next time you want to show your designer friend about the business make sure to consult first with me."
"Oh, yes of course," he turned to Marinette "ah, we have to get done this research now,"
"Ah yes, the one about Western medicine in the Eastern world,"
"The other way around sir," Marinette smiled at him innocently, both going to Adrien's room to just sit and wait until one of the kwamis came to tell them the book and brooch were back in the safe to dissipate the illusion.
"Good news and bad news," Plagg said once they came back.
"Good news is that it worked?" Marinette asked, the kwamis nodding.
"Bad news is…" Tikki frowned "your suspicions were correct."
The teens looked at each other, their conversation following through text just in case there were cameras or microphones in Adrien's room. Plagg would check on that later on but for now, it was the safest route.
Catdrien: So, he thinks we are fooled
Buginette: But now this will be a long term plan
Catdrien: I'm scared Mari, I don't want him hurting anyone else
Marinette reached out to him, holding the hands that were typing. She loved him too much it pained her to see him this hurt. But she didn't need to voice out what she wanted to tell him right there. He was not alone. They would triumph and he was not going to go through this by himself.
Adrien gave her a small smile. He knew he would always count on with her, and at the right time, he would let her know just how much he loved her. Perhaps not that day, not after big revelations, but with due time, he would gather that courage.
"You know" Marinette reached to her sketchbook, flipping to a blank page to start scribbling down things "I liked that, you the warrior,"
"And the strategist," he added, pointing at her "what are you going to do?"
"Something subtle" she shrugged "but easy for us to tell that we will be victorious, I'm thinking a hoodie or a beanie with the word knitted on it."
"Yours could be black and green and mine red and black" Adrien smiled, both soon throwing ideas as Marinette sketched.
Things were going to work out.
Somehow, they would make it work out.
I was between making Adrien use the fox for this but it'd be too complicated, but that is now a post it on my wall.
Also, I think I'll do Despair Bear next, after all, I did start the "Chloé gets redeemed" train and if I remember that episode had some shipping material. Plus Prime Queen is just mean, kids don't need live tv embarrassment
Thanks for reading!