This is a Prologue, a setup. You can skip it if you want to, but please get back here before the chapter "Felix".
"What do you mean you don't know?!" Felix roared at Duusu.
The kwami cringed in fear. Could this new owner be worse than the previous one? At first, he hadn't thought so, but he had just found out that Felix was much more temperamental than Hawk Moth. Gabriel had never raised his voice like that.
"I'm sorry, master, but my memories are blurry," Duusu explained. "You must understand: my miraculous was damaged. So I don't know what uses Emilie Agreste gave to my powers."
Felix leaned back against the chair, feeling defeated. His last and only hope was gone: he had believed Emilie had figured out a way to free him and Adrien, but even if she had, Felix had no way of finding out.
"If I may be so bold, master, don't you think you should get the Graham de Vanily's rings back from Mr. Agreste?"
Actually, Felix had been thinking about it for a while. With Duusu's power, he was convinced that he could devise a plan to steal the rings from his uncle. After all, he had already done it once. However, such insistence might raise suspicion in his uncle, and if he dug too much and discovered the true power of the rings… the consequences would be catastrophic.
"I gave my ring to my uncle to wear instead of Adrien's," Felix explained. "Otherwise, my cousin would be compelled to follow his commands, and I wouldn't wish such fate even to my worst enemy."
Duusu was shocked. His new master had given the object on which his life depended to the evilest man Duusu knew… for the sake of his cousin? Perhaps Felix was not like Gabriel, after all.
"B-But if Mr. Agreste breaks the ring by accident, you would be gone forever!" Duusu worried.
Felix waved off his concerns and explained:
"Gabriel would never allow that. The rings are one of the few things that remind him of his wife. As stubborn as the Agreste are, he will protect them with his life."
"But what if Mr. Agreste finds out he can bend your will with them? It would be terrible! You would be at his mercy!"
"Luckily, my uncle doesn't know the power of the rings!" Felix exclaimed.
In truth, that was what his dilemma boiled down to: if Gabriel were to discover that the rings could control Felix—and Adrien by extension—then he would use them to get Duusu back, and Felix's hopes of being free would be gone forever.
"Tell me, Duusu," he asked, "is there any way for Gabriel to be unable to bend my will even if he finds out the secret of the Graham de Vanily?" Felix wasn't really expecting a "yes" for an answer.
"Well… maybe," Duusu blurted out.
Felix sat up with renewed optimism.
"If you're tricking me into releasing you..."
"I cannot lie to my holder, master! It's a kwami rule!" Duusu defended himself. "Since you are not entirely a sentimonster, I may be able to free you from the bond of servitude that binds your will, but I cannot break the bond that binds your life. I can get you not to have to obey anyone's orders as long as I'm close, but if the ring is destroyed, you will die. I can't help that."
Felix scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"Do it. Break the bond. But my uncle will keep the rings. Right now, with Ladybug and Chat Noir looking for me, he'll keep them safe better than me."
Duusu nodded and raised his tiny arms to begin the spell.
"This is going to hurt, master," he warned.
Felix took a breath.
"It's okay. I'm used to pain."
Despite his words, when Duusu activated his power, Felix let out a cry of pain that shook the Earth to its core.
Master Su-Han was running through the rooftops of Paris on his way towards Marinette's house. He needed some explanation. What had happened? How had Hawk Moth gotten hold of the miraculouses? Su-Han had placed his trust in that girl, but when he'd seen Hawk Moth's ominous shadow rise in front of the Eiffel Tower, he'd begun to question whether he'd made the right decision.
Regret consumed him, he felt guilty for leaving Tikki in the hands of a teenage girl, but most of all he was worried. The last time so many miraculouses had fallen into the wrong hands—
He pushed that thought away. He didn't want to summon greater evils.
He was about to reach the Dupain-Cheng bakery when a shadow intercepted him.
"Su-Han?" a deep voice called out.
The Celestial Guardian recognized the voice immediately, but he turned around thinking his imagination was playing tricks on him. As soon as he did, however, he spotted a man whose mighty figure towered in front of him. He had long hair that had turned gray over the centuries and bushy eyebrows framed his eyes. But his most recognizable features were his wide nose and brown skin. When they were still mere apprentices, that unusual appearance used to get him into a lot of trouble.
"Yumay!" Su-Han exclaimed incredulously. He thought Hawk Moth was trying to trick him with the fox miraculous until he realized there was no way Hawk Moth knew what Yumay looked like. "But… you died when the temple was destroyed."
Yumay burst out laughing.
"I'm sorry you had to spend so much time in the belly of that beast, my old friend," he said. "It was an accident. The Elder wanted you to escape with the rest of us, but fate had other plans for you."
Su-Han began to understand, and the light of the incredible revelation lit up in his eyes. If the Elder was still alive, and the other Celestial Guardians too, then there might be hope for Paris.
"Come on," Yumay rushed him, "the Elder wants you to update her regarding those two new holders of Creation and Destruction. Besides, I have a lot to tell you. Have you watched TV lately? Do you know those new heroes from New York? Well, those are my guys" he revealed to Su-Han with great pride.
Su-Han, however, shook his head.
"I'm afraid I still haven't figured out the ways of that magic box they now call 'television'."
Yumay sighed with disappointment, but began to tell him the story anyway:
"Their leader is called Eagle, who…"
Gabriel Agreste was in his office pondering an important dilemma. In front of him, on the desk, was the rabbit miraculous: a pocket watch with the ability to travel through time. Now that he had it, Gabriel could travel back in time and prevent Emilie from using the peacock miraculous. That way, she would never have gotten sick and fallen into a coma.
However, Gabriel was not stupid: he knew the risks of altering the timeline and was not shy about admitting he was afraid of the paradoxes it might trigger. Hence his dilemma: with the rest of the miraculouses in his power, was it worth taking the risk of using the rabbit?
Unfortunately, any hesitation he had was nothing compared to the intense desire to see his wife again. So he let his emotions make the decision: he took the rabbit miraculous and started to open it. Then he heard a soft voice before him:
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, honey."
Gabriel looked up and his jaw dropped. A ghostly figure had appeared in his office: a slender, blonde woman with a smile that was as bright as the sun. It was a face he knew too well: Emilie's.
Was she a ghost? An illusion created by the fox miraculous? Because there was no way she was really there. Completely impossible.
Such was his bewilderment that he became a statue. He was unable to reply, so the ghost spoke first:
"If you go back in time and prevent me from getting sick, then Adrien will be the one to die," he said harshly.
The ghost approached him, came around the table, and stroked his cheek. Emilie wasn't fully corporeal because the future she came from wasn't solidified yet, but her touch was still as comforting as Gabriel remembered.
"Emilie…" he whispered. He couldn't believe it. Was she really in front of him? "I don't understand. Who… What are you?"
"Bunnix brought me. Well, the Bunnix from where I come from. The future in which you use the rabbit miraculous," she explained as she continued to caress his cheek. Her hand sometimes touched his skin and sometimes phased through it like air. For a fleeting moment, her gaze conveyed deep sorrow, but a split second later, she had a serious look. "Listen to me, my love. I'm here to prevent you from making a huge mistake. I'm afraid you can't use the rabbit miraculous. Even if it pains you, you must let me use the peacock miraculous and get sick. Do you understand, Gabriel?"
Gabriel blinked in confusion.
"Why?" he asked. He was unable to say more because of all the emotions he was feeling: love, joy, confusion, fear.
"I can't reveal too much to you. All I can tell you is that if you use the rabbit miraculous to alter the past, you will get me back at the cost of our son's life."
"Why?" he repeated. That was the only word in his mind.
"Because right now you don't have all the information. Altering the past blindly would have dire consequences."
"Tell me what I don't know then!" he begged. His voice cracked. "Please, my love, help me get you back. Please. I beg you" Gabriel cried. He couldn't believe Emilie was in front of him, telling him not to save her.
Unfortunately, Emilie just kissed his forehead and replied, "I can't tell you that either. All I can tell you is that you must resist the urge to use Fluff's powers. For Adrien's sake."
"Will we ever see each other again? Will I get you back?"
"I don't know. I don't belong to that future."
Gabriel tried to reply, but then Emilie leaned forward and silenced him with a kiss. It was a deep but unsatisfying kiss because she did not have a full physical body. Still, it felt to Gabriel as if he had been suddenly pumped with oxygen after being trapped in the darkest part of the ocean for too long.
When Emilie finally broke away from him, Gabriel knew the farewell was near and felt tears threatening to spill down his cheeks.
"You have to let history take its course, my love. Do not worry. Everything is going to be okay." And after those words, Emilie disappeared.