Author's Note: I hope you are all safe and well during this time of global crisis and turmoil. I'm trying to write a little bit each day to keep sane, and to contribute to the positive interactions between humans right now. It seems like the only thing I can do, you know?

Anyway... this chapter does contain a few implied references to scary things, as we learn a little bit about Gabriel and Nathalie's plans. I promised to share any trigger warnings as we go; this is me doing that. Please take care of yourselves and your loved ones!

Chapter 3

Gabriel Agreste's pencil hovered over his sketchbook. It had been years since he'd just sat and sketch. Nowadays, he only ever approved designs from his team. Nowadays he gave the orders and people obeyed. Time was a commodity that should never be squandered on something as frivolous as sketching. Doodling. Idling.

The images wouldn't come. It was his last-ditch effort to jump-start his brain and it wasn't working.

Disgusted with himself, he chucked the blank book across the room, where it collided with the wall and slid to the ground. He dropped his head in his hands and pressed his eyelids with his thumbs in a vain attempt to alleviate the pounding ache behind his temples. He couldn't even sketch. What had happened to him? This man of vision, of strength, this pillar of decisiveness couldn't even put his pencil on the paper and draw a basic pair of trousers.

There was an emotion, bubbling in his chest, trying to escape. No. He swallowed hard and refused to let it come to the surface. Whatever horrid turn of events had led him to this shadowy corner would not consume him; he was greater than petty emotional currents. So he'd been robbed of one of his senses (or so it felt)—he would have to learn to adapt.

But how? It had been over a month since Lila Rossi had betrayed him and stolen the Peacock Miraculous, then lost it to Ladybug—that brat. He hadn't been able to recover it. He was lost. He was broken.

No. He would not let himself be overcome by these wretched emotions. He would not be weak like his victims. He was Hawkmoth. This was beneath him.

He stood and marched stiffly to the window overlooking his courtyard and the statue of Emilie. "This wasn't supposed to happen," he growled to her. "Not that I needed the Peacock Miraculous to beat them; that was always just a bonus. But I wasn't supposed to lose it."

There was a soft knock at the door. It opened before he had a chance to respond. Only one person had the gall to enter uninvited—

"Nathalie. What do you want."

He could hear her breath and sense her emotions. Hers were the only emotions he was that close to—usually he only detected the strongest emotions of people nearby, but Nathalie was different. He had scoured the translated grimoire for a reason why he could always sense her emotional state, no matter the distance or the strength of it, but he'd come up short. Until recently, he'd felt a sense of pride that they'd entered into uncharted waters with their miraculouses; the only logical reason for there not being an explanation in the grimoire was that no one had ever used the peacock and moth brooches like this before. Today, though, he felt hollow. He didn't want to feel Nathalie's nervous edge. He didn't like that connection. He wanted to sever it.

She wasn't speaking. Gabriel became aware of the seconds ticking by in silence. Finally, he turned slowly to see her standing there, staring at him coldly.

"What do you want?" he snapped again.

She shook her head. "This is how you're going to end it, then?"

The two glared at each other. Nathalie's rage was churning. "I'm ending nothing."

"Don't you dare lie to me. All this time… I've never once told you no, never once asked for favors, never once doubted you. Don't you dare lie to me now. You owe me so much more than that."

He didn't break eye contact. "It's not a lie. I'm ending nothing."

Finally she moved, rolling her eyes and taking a series of giant steps toward him. "Oh come on, you call that trying? That pathetic akuma, an American mid-west tourist, forcing people to apologize to each other every time they bumped into someone on a train? You're falling apart, Gabriel, and you know it!"

He lifted a silver eyebrow. "The akuma accomplished everything I needed it to."

"Is that so? Then how come Emilie is still downstairs in a coma?"

He outright sneered. "How dare you!"

"Enough. So, you're no longer trying to revive her, is that it?"

He pushed past her and sat at his desk, aimlessly flipping through the designs on his computer just to feel important. "I need time to think through this. I can't let Ladybug and Chat Noir become complacent. The akuma was about keeping them frightened."

"I see. Well, when you've finally thought through this, please do share your brilliance. Heaven knows that's the only thing that's kept us afloat this last year and a half. Your ideas, your plans, your sacrifices. I await your orders, oh great one, so when you've figured it all out, please command away. That is, if I'm still here." Nathalie made for the door.

Nearly every day of his professional career, someone threw a threat to quit in Gabriel's face. But Nathalie Sancoeur had never been one of them. "Wait, Nathalie," he said softly. She paused with her hand on the door, chest heaving, frustration and anger coursing from her in stabbing waves. "You're right. I couldn't have done this without you." She turned back to him with steely eyes. "Losing the peacock miraculous has been harder on me than I care to admit. I… don't know what to do next."

Her brows furrowed. "So you're giving up?"

He didn't respond. Icy silence hung in the air.

Nathalie at last pinched her eyes closed, inhaled slowly to steady herself, and continued, "I'm not ready to give up, even if you are. I'm prepared to do this without you. I want you by my side, but if you're not able to devote yourself to this cause, I'll continue alone."

His response was barely audible: "I want to continue."

"Very well. Because the time for childish villains, cartoonish games, ridiculous attempts at taking the miraculouses has passed. We can't afford to squander the power we have again. No more attempts to train a new Mayura. No more wasted akumas, and no more leaked information. Everything we do will be with purpose."

He felt the old, pleasant greed bubbling inside of him. Or maybe it was bubbling inside of her? Either way, it was intoxicating. How he had craved it, needed it, waited for it. Of course, masked, carefully trained, practiced Gabriel Agreste knew how to keep the greed from seeping out (though he couldn't hide it entirely from his eyes). His voice was steady as he hissed, "What do you have in mind?"

Nathalie was pleased with herself. She parked herself on Gabriel's couch and relaxed. "We're going to learn everything we can about Ladybug and Chat Noir. We've both noticed that all the auxiliary heroes seem to be connected to each other in their personal lives. Perhaps Chat Noir and Ladybug are part of the same social group."

Gabriel frowned. "They're teenagers who enjoy video games and eating junk food. That's hardly headline news."

She shrugged and inspected a fingernail, "It's still information that could lead to more. We will gather information and use that to extrapolate their identities. Once we do, we will know exactly who to target."

Gabriel nodded slowly. "That's all fine and well, but if we learned anything from our dealings from young Miss Rossi, it was that the Black Cat and Ladybug miraculouses are more powerful than even the two super-brats know. It's going to take some serious leverage to get them."

"And once we know their identities, we will have that leverage." He saw her point, even if it was preemptive. "But that's only one facet of my plan. I have been studying the grimoire. It claims that damage from a miraculous is incurable, but there are massive gaps in the research on it. There are so many things the guardians were never brave enough to try. I have some ideas for how we can use the power of the moth to re-animate, perhaps even jump-start a damaged mind."

He reeled back in revulsion. "Are you suggesting that we akumatize Emilie? GET OUT!" He hurled his laptop at her. She dodged it easily and it shattered across the marble floor. His lamp was the next to be launched in her direction. "GET OUT THIS INSTANT, YOU VILE, BETRAY—"

She smirked and chided, "Gabriel, contain yourself. I would never suggest trying something on Emilie that I wasn't absolutely certain would work."

Anger still pounding in his veins, he paused and looked at her with hatred. "How do you propose we test your theories for using akuma energy to re-animate miraculous damage?"

Her smile sent shivers down his spine. "Gabriel. I've brought you a gift."