Never Alone

Chapter 5

Resolutions

Marinette bumped her head repeatedly on her desk. "What do I do, Tikki?" She asked. For years, she had imagined that the moment she discovers who was behind Hawkmoth's visor, all her problems would be solved but she didn't imagine Hawkmoth could be Gabriel Agreste again! The first time she didn't have any attachment to this man. Now she has talked to him many times. He has commended her for her work, endorsed her in front of fashion legends like Audrey Bourgeois and more than that, he was the father of the boy she was hopelessly in love with. Though Adrien was outwardly calm and happy, she knew how sensitive he really was. He was wrecked when he lost his mother but finding out his father was a supervillain mastermind who had been terrorising Paris for years together, would destroy him. Adrien looked up to his father, put him on a pedestal even and finding out that his father was the reason behind the near destruction of Paris countless times… She didn't know he would react.

Gabriel deserved to pay for his crimes. But did Adrien deserve to lose his father to prison?

"Talk to Chat Noir." Came the glum reply. "He is your partner. He deserves to know."

"Right." She beamed at her. "He would know what to do. He always does."

Tikki sighed, not meeting her holder's eyes.

XXX

"So milady, why did you call for an emergency meeting?" Chat flashed his perfect smile at her as he leapt at her side, sitting on a rooftop overlooking the Seine.

"I found out who Hawkmoth really is." She whispered to him.

"You did!" He exclaimed cheerfully before noticing her grim demeanour. "How? And why aren't you happy about this?"

"I was almost akumatised and while I rejected it, one of my teachers saw me doing it and talking to Tikki afterwards. She found out I was Ladybug."

"Don't tell me she is Hawkmoth, milady? Did she hurt you?" He asked alarmed. "And you were akumatised? Just tell me who upset you enough for that and I will make them pay."

"No, no. It wasn't anything but normal school drama. My teacher, she helped me deal with me and it was her idea that helped me to find out who Hawkmoth was. We used the rabbit miraculous to peek into the timestream but Bunnyx stopped us and told us point-blank who he was."

"Well, who is he? Is he someone you know?"

"I do know him, just an acquaintance but he is the father of one of my friends. I know Hawkmoth needs to be punished and go to prison. He has done so much harm to Paris and her people. He has blackmailed, emotionally manipulated and hurt so many people so many times. He does not need pity but at the same time, my friend… he lost his mom a few years back and Hawkmoth is the only person he has left." Chat's eyes softened.

"That doesn't excuse him with ruining other people's lives." He said, smiling at her. "And your friend… well, he has you. I wouldn't worry about him. You would take care of him."

"Oh Chat." She looked at him tenderly. "Of course, I would be there for him and so will our other friends but I can't help but feel guilty for putting him through everything that he is about to go through. There is a warrant for Hawkmoth. If he gets captured, he will be imprisoned for decades, maybe even for life. I will be robbing him of his father."

"Ladybug, you are not fault here." He said sternly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hawkmoth did all this to himself. He targeted kids, leave that, he akumatised babies! He didn't think of his victims. We lost so much of our time stopping him, put our relationships with friends and family due to going out at random times to stop him. There was no line he would cross to get his hands on our miraculouses. He doesn't deserve pity."

"Thanks, Chaton. I really needed to hear that." She gave a quick peck to his left cheek, making him blush furiously. "But we need to plan this properly so that he doesn't see us coming and you need to know who Hawkmoth really is."

"Yeah, can't wait to put a face to the guy who has been wrecking our lives since forever."

"We actually suspected him before but he fooled us." Chat's eyes narrowed before recollecting the incident and his eyes shot open wide with shock.

"You can't mean-"

"Hawkmoth is Gabriel Agreste." And that's when time seemed to freeze around him. The first time his father was accused, it was just suspicion but this time, it was confirmation. He had just spent the last few minutes convincing Ladybug that his father… his own father didn't deserve any mercy and all this time, he had been fighting against his own father! Defying the one person he had always obeyed, often without question. And why would his father do all this… The wish… His mother! He was trying to bring back his mother. The cost of it being this entire universe… After the wish is cast, this version of the universe would be lost forever. Whatever succeeded this universe, the universe crafted by his father would be his universe… the versions of him and others perfected by him and even then, there would be a price. Someone else would die instead of his mother in that universe. Someone else would go through the pain he went through… the loss that drove his father to commit such evil acts would drive someone else to do the same things and start a vicious cycle of loss and pain. This needs to stop. His father needs to be stopped. His father.As the realisation sunk in, he found it harder to breathe. The world seemed to zoom in and out. He started sweating. This was all wrong. He felt his knees buckle as he lost balance and fell to the ground with an unflattering thud.
Everything started to spin. The ground. The sky. Ladybug's red suit as she reached out for him. Black spots started to cloud his vision and he found it too hard to even keep his eyes open.

"Chaton!" Ladybug's concerned voice was the last thing he heard before everything faded to black and he was enveloped by complete silence.

XXX

Kayla rubbed her forehead as she paced the lobby of her small apartment. She wasn't sure what she was getting into getting involved with the miraculouses and Ladybug. But how could she not? What kind of responsible adult would she be if she let her own students battle devious superpowered criminal masterminds? She couldn't be afraid not even teenagers were battling monsters on a daily basis! It was her responsibility to fight beside them, to support them as best as she could! One thing was clear… She couldn't stay in the side-lines while kids fought back against adults twice their age!

Gabriel Agreste, a global fashion mogul, with all the money and power in the world was a supervillain! It was hard to digest. It's easy to think all supervillains were desperate scums who want power to escape poverty but this man…he had all the power in the world. The only thing he couldn't do was accept loss and move on from the death of his wife… And Kayla couldn't fault him over it.

Her boyfriend, Ziggy died in a freak car accident five years back. His death destroyed her, made her a shell of her former self. With him, she was so carefree, laughing at silly jokes and making shadow puppets using nothing but their hands and flashlights in the dark. She missed him so much and maybe if she knew about the absolute powers of the miraculouses then, she might have gone down the same dark path as Hawkmoth. However she and so many others in the world had to grieve in the normal way and accept death of their loved ones as a part of life….a nasty, ugly facet of life but nothing they had control over.

It was something everyone on Earth did. While she understood Gabriel's loss, his actions as Hawkmoth were despicable. He fought against teenagers for god's sake, sent monsters after them.

She had lost count of how many times the students of her school were akumatised or were victims of akuma attacks! Hawkmoth even akumatised babies on a couple of occasions. This was inhuman. This man had no sense of basic human decency or ethics! Maybe he started on this road in the name of love, but this entire mess made her sick top her very core!

Morever, Adrien was in the centre of these attacks as a bystander more than once. This man did not spare his own son from the horrors of his demonic creations.

She had no sympathy left in her heart for this man. He could have chosen to go to therapy, spent time with his son, grieve and mourn like a normal human but instead he chose to attack teenagers and prey on the emotions of innocent Parisians.

Just then, there was a knock on her door. She shook herself out of her rageful train of thoughts and looked at her watch. It was six in the evening. She grumbled. Most probably, it was her clown neighbour, trying to flirt with her again with his homemade pastas and macarons from the Dupain Cheng's bakery. And while she enjoyed both his company and the delicious food he brought her, he was too familiar to Ziggy. And just like him, he wasn't deterred in the least with her cold heartless exterior. However, she wasn't in the mood to spare any time for him today.

She opened the door to see Marinette stumble into her arms, with tears in her eyes.

"What happened?" She asked concerned, leading her to the couch.

"It's Chat. I told him about Hawkmoth and he…" She said, before starting to cry again.

Tikki flew out of her purse and nuzzled her cheek.

"Chat fainted. We got him back to consciousness but he was clearly shocked. He revealed his identity to Ladybug."

"It is Adrien." Marinette hiccupped. "I wanted to reveal my identity to him too but he didn't let me. He was right. It was a risk but he went back to his house… Haawkmoth's house to gather intel. We strike next morning with every miraculous hero we can recruit."

"This is twisted!" Kayla sat down herself, hugging Marinette. "He shouldn't be going back there."

"We said the same thing but he didn't want to do anything to tip Hawkmoth off." Tikki said sadly. "This man is a monster. Adrien was hit by many akuma attacks. He let an akuma drop him off from the top of a building and turn him into a statue and that's when he was a civilian. Lord knows how many times he was hurt as Chat Noir fighting akumas."

"I wish he didn't have to go through all this." Marinette whispered. "He has been fighting his own father all this time. And he is in so much pain and I can't do anything."

"You have to respect his choices, Marinette." Tikki said calmly.

"This shouldn't even be your problem." Kayla shook her head. "You two have been protecting all of us for years but you are only children. This is not right."

"But this is how it has to be." Tikki gulped as Kayla glared at her. "Out of everyone in Paris, these two were the only ones who passed Master Fu's tests. No adult came to help him when he fell down while crossing the road or climbing stairs. You two did. You two have heroes' hearts."

"They are kids! How could this Fu select them in their right minds?"

"Probably because he was a kid himself when he was dragged into all of this." Tikki sighed. "Believe me, if any adults had passed his tests, he would not have chosen these two. He conducted the test seventy-seven times in different parts of the city with help of Trixx and Orikko, using solid illusions and out of all those instances, only Marinette and Adrien stepped up to selflessly help Master Fu. They were the only real candidates."

Kayla closed her eyes and sighed again. "No matter. We have to plan properly and bring in as many heroes as we can. Marinette, do you have a way of contacting the United Heroez from America. I recall you fought with them. I am not underestimating you but cornered criminals lash out unpredictably. We need to have backups, just in case."

"Right. I will ask Kalki to open a portal to New York as soon as I get back home." Marinette said, wiping her tears.

"Stay strong, Marinette." Tikki said calmly. "All this pain will be over tomorrow when we finally apprehend Shadowmoth and free Nooroo and Duusu."

XXX

Ladybug steeled her nerves as she faced her selected heroes, some old and some new. It was mid-afternoon, a time when Gabriel was in his office. They had alerted the United Heroez and to their surprise, they were in contact with the Order of the Miraculous and Jessica Keynes was leading a Miraculous team of her own now, using the Native American Miraculous Box.

"Everyone ready?" Chat Noir stood stoically beside her as they looked at their team. Alya as Rena Rogue. Nino as Carapace. Sabrina as Honeybee. Mylene as Polymouse. Ivan as Minotaurox. Alix as Miss Hound. Kim as King Monkey. Max as Pegasus. Luka as Viperion. Kagami as Ryuko and last but not least, Kayla as Huntress, wielder of the Tigress miraculous.

The head of the Guardians, Celestial Guardian Su Han stood alongside them. Despite having reservations against Ladybug being the Guardian, he was quickly brought to line by both the adult heroes of United Heroez and the stern glare of Kayla Mendeleiev.

"This will not be easy. Shadowmoth can conjure up akumatised supervillains at any point so remember the plan. Su Han and Tigress will try to covertly take out Gabriel before he transforms, and if that fails, King Monkey will hit him with Uproar and Miss Hound will hit the miraculouses with Fetch. And to ensure we don't have to face him after he creates sentimonsters, Viperion will use his Second Chance. You guys ready?"

Luka nodded at her, setting his timer.

"Alright. Paris' fate depends on this mission. Let's go."

XXX

It took a few tries with Luka's Second Chance but they finally succeeded, the police and the United Heroez showing up to apprehend Gabriel. His past actions of hijacking nuclear weapons in New York and attempting to start a World War made him a war criminal and liable to imprisonment for life.

Nathalie was also apprehended but due to her being ill and Gabriel openly admitting that he coerced and emotionally blackmailed her lessened her sentence to just five years in a mental health facility.

His mother's body was recovered from a secret cavern underneath the Agreste Mansion. Adrien's aunt and cousin moved to Paris to take care of Adrien and his mother got a nice funeral.

That was where they were all now.

Adrien stifling while Marinette held his hand. After the battle, Marinette had revealed her identity to him and they were almost inseparable. They weren't in any romantic relationship but the air was cleared between them. The fact that Adrien was constantly getting rejected as Chat Noir by Ladybug for himself wasn't lost on him and he ended up laughing, the first laugh he had after his father's defeat. For now, they were what they always were… partners united against the world.

Kayla grimaced. It had been a heavy burden for them to bear but in the end, they had persevered and been victorious. She was relieved, most of all, that the horrors were over. That these kids won't be pitted against monsters anymore. That she was able to support them, even if it was for a very short and right at the end of their battle.

Marinette turned back to give a small smile at her. She smiled back.

Who could have known the sweet bumbling latecomer to her classes was Paris' resident superheroine!

And even heroes need help sometimes.

Kayla knew she wasn't extremely brave or heroic. She was smart but that hadn't helped Marinette when she had needed help the most.

Ladybug had been her own hero.

The only reassurance she had needed was the statement that help can come from the most surprising of places and the fact that she was not alone.

XXX

Sorry for the late and unfortunately final update for this story.

I know the ending is rushed. Heck, I even skipped out all the fight scenes. The truth is that I lost interest in this story right after the first two chapters but writing the first chapter itself had helped me a lot to work through my personal issues so this story was dear to me. I wanted to end it even if this end was far from satisfying. I just didn't want the story to be left hanging. Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoyed the story somewhat and let me know your thoughts and criticisms in the reviews. Anyway, bye for now. There are a few other Miraculous stories which I have in the works and genuinely interested for.